HSNCTP Chapter 4 - Meeting the Mane Six
I awoke - once again - to the sun high in the sky. Sighing, I turned over... only to see an empty hut. It made sense - Zecora couldn't be expected to drop everything just because I was here - but all the same I felt a tightness in my throat. Sighing once more, I headed outside, reasoning that so long as it was daylight - and so long as I stayed within eyeshot of Zecora's house - I would be safe.
It was a beautiful day outside, with bright sunlight streaming in through the trees and many birds joining in song. I went inside momentarily and returned with cloak and boots safely packed away - it WAS rather warm out, after all, and it being spring it was only going to get hotter. I shook off the momentary sense of vulnerability and went to find somewhere to sit and write.
Zecora, as it turns out, was just beyond the clearing, gathering various plants. She waved and I trotted over. "What are you picking?" I asked, curious.
"Spices and herbs, like those used last night - come, and I'll show you, these plants don't bite." As she spoke, Zecora deftly plucked a short plant and tossed it in her pack.
Laughing a little, I trotted over to Zecora and we spent the better part of the afternoon picking plants. I learned about a ridiculous variety of plants and their uses - which ones were edible, which ones were poisonous, which ones had which effects, which ones made the best spices, which ones could be used for medicinal purposes... fortunately for me, Zecora had a copy of "Supernaturals" - why didn't I pack my copy? - that I could keep, as it was a spare. After a hearty lunch, Zecora walked me to the edge of the forest, where I bade her farewell.
"Farewell, Cold One, wherever you roam," she called out. "Always shall you be welcome in my home."
I set off back down the road to Ponyville, reinvigorated. Sure, the Everfree Forest had been terrifying. I hadn't found my calling yet - I had told Zecora that I wished to examine other possible avenues of work, but in truth the Everfree Forest scared me quite a bit, and I didn't really want to be in there long-term.
I met Pinkie down the street, where she appeared to be involved in some sort of disagreement between two Pegasi, one yellow with a pink mane and another light blue with a rainbow-coloured mane. After recovering from my initial burst of glee at seeing them (Pegasi are the BEST...) I trotted over.
"...Well, maybe if you just tried - just a little - to slow down.." said the yellow one... was her name Butterfly? I couldn't recall...
"Slow down? Slow down?! I'm Rainbow Dash! 'Slow down' just isn't in my vocabulary."
"Ooh! Ooh! Is 'sasparilla'? Or 'habanero'? How about 'donair'?" said Pinkie, bouncing around. Stoppong, she said "Aww... now I'm hungry..."
I laughed, causing three heads to turn in my direction. Immediately I felt my face heating up and I turned away, finding great interest in a flower next to me.
Pinkie came running up on the same instant, yelling "Snow! Snow!" as she did. I was tackled to the ground from the force of it. Dimly, a voice from above - I think it was Rainbow's - said "Geez, and I thought I was fast..."
Pinkie finally disengaged. Gasping for air, I could just make out the sound of the two pegasi laughing. I just sort of lay there, scarlet-faced, until Pinkie finally said "Hey - you all right?"
I nodded and stood up... only to fall back down like a newborn filly. My rear left hoof - which had never quite healed after the Cauliflower Incident - had decided to begin acting up.
To make matters worse, both Rainbow Dash and the yellow one - Fluttershy! Her name was Fluttershy - stopped laughing and grew concerned.
"I'm fine, really," I said, waving away attempts from Rainbow to help me up.
"Holy - she can talk!" shouted Rainbow. "All during the party, not one word! Applejack had me convinced you were some kinda mute pony!"
Something - maybe it was the tension of the past few days, maybe Pinkie's tackle had caused it - gave way inside of me, and I began laughing. Not just the amused titter from before, but a full-on laugh. Pinkie started laughing, too, and before long Rainbow and Fluttershy had joined in. There we were, four full-grown ponies in the middle of Ponyville, laughing like the loons we most probably were. Ponies on their way by stopped and stared momentarily before rushing off again.
Finally, finally, we recovered, standing up and giving way to the odd chuckle here and there. "You're a very odd pony, you know that?" said Rainbow, setting us laughing once more.
"One tries one's best," I managed, quoting from Derving Eddy's The Celestiad and even managing the mock bow that the character used as accompaniment. That got a good chuckle.
The loudest laughter came from behind, where I found Twilight and two other ponies had stopped on their way past. "I didn't know you read Derving Eddy," she said, and I grinned as Rainbow groaned.
"Oh, great, another egg-head," she said.
"An egg-head farmer? Ooh, that would be perfect! You wouldn't need chickens - well, you would, to get a new head after -"
"You're a farmer?" said one of the two ponies accompanying Twilight Sparkle. To my knowledge, she hadn't been at the party - or perhaps we just weren't introduced. "Funny - you don't look the type. What was your name again?" The ponies' attention was on me now. I had a sense that my life in Ponyville would only truly begin now, if I chose it.
I thought, momentarily, of home, of life subsistence farming on tje cold, hard tundra. I also remembered some advice my mother had given me as she lay dying: "No pony, however wealthy or beautiful or talented, is ever truly complete until they share their successes - and failures - with their friends."
The orange pony who had asked the question stood next to Twilight and a white unicorn from the party. On my other side stood Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, with Rainbow overhead. I didn't know these ponies - with the exception of Pinkie Pie - but I liked them. And I liked Ponyville. I might not have found a job yet, or a home to call my own, but for the first time, I had found ponies I honestly wanted to befriend.
Smiling, I said "My name is Snowy Night."