Chapter 6
A hoof busted through foliage on the northern end of Ponyville as Octavia Auditore stumbled out. She’d been walking for the last three days after promptly abandoning the rail car after Montana Ulan disconnected it from the Manehattan Express.
To say that Octavia was in a bad mood was an understatement. The ordinarily refined mare’s mane was out of place, horribly knotted and tangled. Her bow tie was ripped and dangling freely around her neck, and every so often, her eyes and ears would twitch uncontrollably. Worse still, Octavia’s anger over the situation had done nothing but fester the entire walk back to Ponyville. Celestia pity the fool who tried to converse with her, because she was not going to have it. Not today.
‘Well lookie here! Howdy do thar Octavia!’ called a voice from down the road.
Octavia turned to her left and discovered that Applejack was trotting down the road towards her. Oh wonderful, oh happy day! This couldn’t get any better! Applejack got closer to her and noticed that something was up.
‘What happened ta ya? Ya look like ya done gone through a cyclone!’ Applejack cried out in shock.
‘Oh something the likes of that...’ Octavia said, her eye twitching in anger. Applejack should be considering herself lucky that Octavia had not hit her yet.
‘Well c’mon then!’ Applejack said with a warm smile. ‘C’mon home with me, we’ll git ya cleaned up and a nice, home cooked meal!’
Octavia could only wonder how this mare did not pick up on the contempt she had for her. ‘That will be quite all right... thank you’, Octavia said, followed by both an eye and ear twitch.
‘Naww, Ah insist! C’mon now!’ Applejack said, and practically began to drag Octavia back to Sweet Apple Acres.
Octavia swore loudly in her own mind. Applejack was lucky that she had yet to be strangled.
...
As happy as Twilight was to see Benjamin Willoughby at this point, she was more concerned with finding Pinkie Pie. This was something that needed to be set straight.
‘Trooper...’ Twilight began, but was quickly interrupted.
‘Fusilier now, actually, but you’re my friend, and I’ve gotten comfortable with you calling me Ben’, Willoughby corrected.
‘Ben...’ Twilight began again. ‘I don’t mean to sound rude, but I’m kind of in the middle of something, I need to find Pinkie Pie’.
‘Pinkie Pie being the pink one?’ Willoughby asked with a smirk, chuckling at his own joke, he knew who Pinkie Pie was after all, after meeting her in Trotterdam, glancing around and eventually turning his eyes upwards towards the town hall. ‘Found her!’
Twilight’s eyes widened. ‘What?! Where?!’ she asked as she glanced around the street for her.
Willoughby could only chuckle. Twilight just wasn’t looking in the right place. ‘That’s the beauty of being trained to fight gryphons, they teach you to look up!’ Willoughby said with a grin, and pointed up to the town hall. Twilight Sparkle’s eyes widened in shock, there was Pinkie Pie, standing with a gigantic pony that Twilight didn’t recognise.
‘Who is that with her?’ Twilight asked.
Willoughby took a closer look and his jaw dropped. ‘That’s King George of Welara!’ he cried out in shock.
Twilight didn’t respond, she broke into a full on gallop towards the town hall, she drew in her breath and as loud as she could muster cried out to her friend. ‘PINNNNNNNNNKKKKKKKKKKKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!’
...
Rainbow Dash’s eyes popped open at the loud noise from outside and sat up quickly in surprise from the loud noise, causing her to tumble out of bed and onto the wooden floor. ‘What the hay was that?!’ she cried out, mostly to herself.
...
Pinkie Pie looked down to see Twilight running towards her, her heart began to sink and she wanted to run.
‘Pinkie Pie!’ Twilight called again. ‘Please don’t run! Please! Just come down here! We need to talk!’
Pinkie Pie looked over to King George, who gave her a polite smile and nodded to her. Indicating that he thought it was for the best. Pinkie Pie returned his smile with a faint one of her own and trotted down to the lower level. Twilight ran up to her and threw her hooves around the mare in a tight hug.
‘Oh Pinkie Pie! You had me so worried when you ran off! I’ve been so afraid that you were going to go and hurt yourself!’ Twilight said.
‘You... you’re not mad?’ Pinkie Pie asked unbelievingly.
‘Oh, Pinkie Pie... no, I’m not mad!’ Twilight said giving her friend an uncomfortable look. ‘It’s just that... well, we need to talk about this’.
Pinkie Pie nodded in understanding. The two mares trotted off to find a quiet place that they could sit and talk about what had happened this morning between the two.
Willoughby caught up, but found himself trailing back. This was something he didn’t need to stick his nose into, and he knew it. King George trotted out of the town hall not long after and gave Benjamin Willoughby a smile, causing the Fusilier to snap to attention as he was trained to.
‘Oh relax Fusilier, no need to be so formal’, King George said with a smile.
Willoughby didn’t budge, causing King George to sigh. ‘Some things never change’, he mumbled to himself as trotted off back to where his guard was located at.
...
Twilight and Pinkie Pie had taken a seat along the western road out of Ponyville. As peaceful a place as any where they could sit and talk. They sat quietly for a while, looking out to the west towards Sweet Apple Acres and beyond it, the Everfree forest.
After what felt like hours, Twilight turned to Pinkie Pie and gave her a glum look. ‘I’m sorry Pinkie Pie’, she said with a frown.
Pinkie Pie raised an eyebrow in confusion. ‘What? Twilight! I’m the one who should be apologising to you! After that...’
Twilight raised a hoof to shush her. ‘Let me finish, I’m sorry I didn’t pick up on how you felt about me, it should have been obvious... I just... I just...’ Twilight began to tear up and found it difficult to continue. ‘I’ve never been good at paying attention to other ponies’ feelings. I can’t imagine how many ponies’ feelings I’ve hurt in the past... I’m just so stupid!’
Now Pinkie Pie was frowning. ‘Oh, Twilight... you’re not stupid! You’re the smartest pony I know!’
Twilight wiped a tear from her eye and gave a slight sniffle. ‘I just... I don’t want you to take this the wrong way Pinkie Pie... You’re one of my best friends, and I care about you a lot, I just... I don’t have feelings for you... not like that’.
Pinkie Pie had to admit, that part stung. It was as if a bee had just landed on the back of her neck and drove its’ dagger into her. Pinkie Pie gave her a smile, not a big, goofy one that she was known for, but a real, genuine smile. ‘I know... that’s okay Twilight... just knowing that you don’t hate me... that’s enough for me, you’re one of my best friends! Maybe you don’t feel the same way about me, that’s okay; I can live with that, but you hating me because I... kissed you? I don’t think I could go without your friendship’.
Twilight smiled back at her. ‘Oh, Pinkie Pie! I couldn’t go without your friendship either, even if you drive me mad sometimes’, Twilight said with a chuckle. ‘We’ll always be friends!’
Pinkie Pie felt tears of happiness rolling down her face, Twilight may not have loved her the way Pinkie did, but their friendship would endure, maybe even become stronger because of it.
Pinkie Pie and Twilight embraced each other, and Pinkie Pie’s mane puffed back up to its normal, thick, unruly shape. Causing a goofy grin to appear on Pinkie Pie’s face, the giggly, bubbly, pink party pony was back, and this time, she didn’t even have to fake it.
They heard the sound of tank tracks rolling through the tree line from the west. Twilight and Pinkie Pie turned to the left, and their eyes widened as they saw an armoured vehicle rolling down the road towards them. It wasn’t a tank, per say, it was open topped and had a rather big gun sticking out the top of it, but was most worrisome about it was the fact that it was full of Gryphons.
Twilight recognised the gun as a Gryphon Rapid Fire 26 Pounder. The armoured vehicle rolled by them and one of the occupants, a female gryphon scowled at them as she passed.
‘Lance Bombardier! Stop staring at the wildlife!’ called another gryphon.
The gryphon who had scowled at them turned away. ‘Yes ma’am, Lef-tenant Razorwing’, she said, simply.
Twilight and Pinkie Pie’s mouths fell open as the armoured vehicle rolled by them, stunned by who they had just seen.
‘That was Gilda!’ Pinkie Pie cried out in surprise.
Twilight Sparkle nodded, trouble had once again walked, or more accurately, rode, its way into Ponyville once again.