On the train ride there I remember a deep feeling of melancholy. Not only was I still grieving over Sugar, but I was starting to feel guilty leaving Chocolate like that. He knew it was for the best, and supported me, but still. And I had to leave poor Lil by herself too, not that I didn't want her there, but Velvet said if I wanted to take on this on my own, I didn't want some pony who reminded me of home, so Lil couldn't come with me. Though she protested, along with Heather, but eventually they gave in. Only because the train was leaving and I had to get on, but still. I watched as the world went by, the view, the ponies out the window, and the ponies in the train car. There were several. Mostly stallions, a few foals and mares, including me, but mostly stallions. I don't know why I remember that specific detail though, maybe it was my depression. A mare, about my age, walked up to me while on the car.
"Are you Quill Bird?" she asked, nervously. I simply nodded, not in the mood to even look at this poor mare. "Oh! Celestia! I knew it! Please, I have a copy of Windward Bounds here, will you sign it?" She asked, nervously but excited.
"I'm sorry," I said. "I don't have anything to sign with," I stated, looking back out the window. The poor mare was simply devastated that I had nothing to sign her book with. I felt bad, but I just wanted to get to Ponyville, and was too busy thinking of Chocolate. The mare walked back to her seat. Minutes passed, and the train finally arrived. I grabbed my saddle bag, filled with clothes, tooth brush, and other essentials, and I walked out on to the plat form. I will admit I was pretty excited, considering my outward appearance. This was because Velvet's friends' daughter, was Rainbow Dash herself. The Element of Loyalty! When I discovered them in the news paper, I was amazed at what they did. You see, during the Summer Sun Celebration, I was drunk off my plot because Sugar and Chocolate loved to party, and I didn't even know what was happening until I read it in the papers. I waited on the plat form for a good thirty minutes before deciding to find my own way around the town.
I made it to almost the middle of town before I got crashed into with immense force. I was on the ground, covered in dirt and coughing. "Oops! Sorry! I'm really late!" I heard a voice say, the dust cleared and it was Rainbow Dash herself.
"Oh... my..." was all I could say. For once, I was the one who was star struck. She stood me up, brushed me off, collected some of the things that fell out of my bag, and zoomed past me. I slowly accepted the fact that that just happened, then I started picking up the rest of my stuff. It wasn't long before Dash appeared again.
"You're Quill, aren't you?" she asked. I nodded. She looked so angry with herself and she kept on saying, "Rainbow! What the hell!? You promised you wouldn't be late! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!"
I couldn't help but laugh, "Hey! It's okay, I sometimes forget important stuff too!" I lied, but I never told her that.
"Oh, okay, but the reason I was so late was because I was helping Pinkie with your party!" she explained, confidence now restored.
"Pinkie? You mean the Element of Laughter!?" I asked, nervously. She was the one I looked up to most. Always happy, always cheering up her friends, she was everything I wanted to be. Instead of being straight forward and occasionally panicked.
"Yeah! Why? You a fan?" Rainbow asked. I nearly fainted. I was about to meet Pinkie, who had thrown a party just for me.
Reality comes back to me. "Wait, how did she know I was coming?" I asked.
"Because Velvet told me you were coming and I told Twilight, which in turn told Pinkie, and now the whole town knows you're coming!" Explained Rainbow Dash.
I, again could not believe it. I was feeling dizzy and was close to fainting. "Anyway, I'm taking you to Sweet Apple Acres, that's where the party is," Rainbow said, forcing me out of my daze.
"Huh? What?" I asked.
"Sweet Apple Acres, my friend Apple Jack's farm. We were going to have it in Sugar Cube Corner, but once word caught wind that it was you, an author who is extremely popular in Ponyville, it was clear that Sugar Cube Corner wasn't going to be big enough," Rainbow explained, simply. I nodded and followed her through town, now taking notice that there was barely any pony around.
I never new I'd be so important to so many ponies in one town. In contrast in big cities like Los Pegasus and Even Canterlot my name as an author was very small. I followed the mare through the rest of town, noting that it really did kind of look like some kind of ghost town. I'll be it, with a few ponies still around town but very, very few. One of them, though, caught my eye. I mint green unicorn with white in her mane and tail and golden eyes.
"Who is that?" I whispered to Rainbow Dash.
"Who?" she asked.
"That green unicorn back there," I explained.
"Oh, that was Lyra. C'mon, Quill! We're almost on the road to the farm!" Rainbow Dash explained.
I started to hover nervously. "Close?" I thought. "To Pinkie Pie!?" If only Lilac could see me right then. She used to comment all the time how she'd never seen me with nerves on edge, but right then, she would have been fascinated. Soon enough though, the fragrant smell of those sweet and juicy apples calmed me down, at least enough to stop hovering. Then, I saw them. Avast field covered in hundreds and hundreds of apple trees. I hadn't seen one apple tree before that day, and to see that many all at once was breath taking! They looked fresh too, like they just became ripe enough to pick that day. And the density of them. I only say that the Ever Free is denser because I've walked in both now, but on that day if i would have seen the forest too, I wouldn't have guess that it was denser and thought it was the same.
We walk up to a huge fire truck red barn I've read about in books but again, never saw in real life. Despite Rainbow's insistence that the party would be there, I saw no pony and made me a little discouraged. "C'mon, Quill! It's in the barn," Rainbow Dash said, hope rising in my breast. We get to the doors and I can kind of hear whispering. "In here," Rainbow Dash said. "Oh! And please act like you're surprised, I kind of told Pinkie I wouldn't spoil the surprise," Rainbow said.
"I'll try my best," I said.
Rainbow opened the door, I walked in, and was bombarded by a whole bunch of "SURPRISE!!!" And as instructed, I acted like a filly on Hearth's Warming, full of happiness and excitement. And there she was, bouncing towards me excitedly. "Hi Quillie! I'm Pinkie Pie!" she exclaimed. "Welcome to Ponyville! Will you be staying here long?" she asked, happily.
"Uh, well, I'm not planning to, I'm just here to clear my head of a few things that's all," I explained.
"Well that's not what they think!" Pinkie explained, the joy never leaving her face.
"The one writing this, silly!" Pinkie giggled, I never understood that. I was still shocked that she was talking to me, let alone that we were having a conversation.
I soon got introduced to every pony. There was Bonbon, Derpy, Big Mac, Mayor Mare, Granny Smith, Cheerilee, Thunder Lane, Carrot Top, Roseluck, Zecora, Mr. and Mrs. Cake, Matilda, Caramel, Berry Punch, Cloudkicker, Raindrops, and of course the Elements of Harmony.
"Hello, I'm Twilight Sparkle," Twilight said, kindly holding out her hoof. I took it hesitantly. It was my first time seeing an Alicorn up close and I didn't know how to react.
"Hello, I'm Rarity, and I must say I am a big fan of your work. All the drama and passion in everything you write just gives me goose bumps! I must insist you come to my boutique and I make you something amazing," Rarity said.
"Howdy there, Quill Bird! I'm Apple Jack! This here is my family farm! I'm sure you've already met my brother and granny," Apple Jack introduced.
"Um, Hi, I-I'm Fluttershy. Nice to meet you, Quill! I love your poems, I think they're so sweet!" Fluttershy, barely at a normal volume.
"Hey, Quill! Come drink with me!" Rainbow called from the other side of the barn. I thanked each of them for speaking with me and raced to Rainbow. I'm awfully shy when I meet idols. I mean, I was prepared to meet Rainbow Dash that day, but to meet the rest of them on the same day? It was nearly overwhelming. "How you holding up?" she asked, taking another sip of beer.
"Fine, I guess, I'm still trying to get used to everything and meeting so many ponies at once is a little hard on me," I explained.
"You look like you need a cider," Rainbow said. "Hey! Granny! Can you get us a cider for our guest of honour here?" she called, and the old mare behind the make-shift bar nodded and poured a glass.
"Thanks Granny," I said, taking a sip. And just like that, I was downing a glass of beer, cider, martinis, anything I could get my hooves on. Rainbow and I played a game of beer pong, and won, against Berry Punch and Thunder Lane, there was drunken banter between me and Twilight about books and dewy decimal system, I took shots with Rarity talking about dresses and Canterlot, I had a long quiet conversation with Fluttershy about social standings and anxiety, and I think the best part of my night was talking with Pinkie Pie.
"Hey! Pinkie!" I slurred, probably spilling cider or beer everywhere. "You're really, really really pink, you know that?" I asked, leaning all of my weight on to her.
She giggled and said, "Of course I'm pink! I'm Pinkie Pie! How's your night, Quillie?" she said, she sounded sober and I didn't like that.
"Hey! Pinkie! Have the rest of this!" I said, shoving my drink into her face.
Again, she giggled, "Okay! Thank you! You're too kind!"
"N-no! You're kind!" I hiccuped. "And I like you you're my favorite pony in th-this barn!" I said, my censor in pieces. "I like that you're pink!" I said, giggling.
"Thanks! I like you too, Quillie!" She said.
""Hey! Every pony! I have an announcement to make!" I shouted, everyone quieted down to hear what I had to say. "I like Pinkie the most and she's pink!!" I said, slurring everything. I got cheers from every pony and they all cheered to it. But just before blacking out, I remember talking to Apple Jack, I can't remember what I said, but I remember being angry. She was angry too. And ever since that day, he didn't like each other. We don't hate each other, we just don't like each other.
In the morning, while every pony was getting over their hang overs, Mrs. Cake walked up to me and told me what happened between me and her. Apparently, I was accusing Apple Jack of having everything I wanted. When I asked for specifics, Mrs. Cake told me, "You said 'Apple Jack you lucky plot, you have a family who loves you and I have nothing. My mom is dead, and I hate my life!'."
"And what did Apple Jack say?" I asked.
"She said, 'you know nothin' about losing the ones you love, you can't possibly understand my life!' to which you said, 'try me! I want nothing more to punch you in the face right now!' and Apple Jack said, 'Not before I kick your head in!' and then you tried and failed to hit her because you were drunk, and Apple Jack responded by bucking you in the face, which failed, and ended in Twilight separating you two," Mrs. Cake explained.
"Why was she so violent towards me? And me to her?" I asked.
"I don't know, dear, maybe you should go and talk to her," Mrs. Cake suggested.
"Good idea! Though, I should wait until my hangover is gone," I said, holding my head.
Fluttershy came over to us just then, "You snore, you know that?" She asked giggling.
I laughed too, though quietly and said, "I'm sure I heard you neigh in your sleep a few times." all three of us laughed.
"Welcome home," Mrs. Cake said, smiling at me.