Learning to Soar

by Pinky Music


Chapter 13

To say that every function in my brain ceased at that point in time would probably be an understatement. My mouth hung open as it felt like almost everypony in town was there (though that would be impossible to fit in Sugarcube Corner). All of their eyes were trained on me, their smiling faces showed me that my fears of being unaccepted were unfounded. Inexplicably, the normal smells that were there came back as well, which I could only chalk up to something only Pinkie could do.

Fluttershy placed a hoof on my shoulder, “Maverick, are you ok?”

Her touch snapped out of my stunned silence and the corners of my mouth turned up at the amount of ponies there smiling at me. I looked at all the friendly faces and still couldn’t believe this many ponies were happy to see me.

I looked at Flutters, “I’m fine. I had thought that everypony forgot about the party. I almost forgot myself!”

Pinkie zipped in front of me and grabbed my head in her hooves, eyes wide, “I’m soo, soo, sorry Maverick! I would have had your party sooner, but got delayed.” Her eyes darted toward Twilight, and I put two and two together. Twilight must have convinced Pinkie to hold off on the party while I was still unstable. I vowed to thank Twilight later for that, because even though I knew a Pinkie party was awesome and all, I wasn’t ready for it at the time. Even I couldn’t tell how I’d respond. She must have also convinced Pinkie to not mention me turning into a pony.

Pinkie released my head and fired her party cannon, which streamed confetti over everypony. DJ-Pon3 was there providing tunes, with a suitable thump I could feel through the floor while Pinkie shoved a chocolate cupcake into my mouth. It was, quite literally, the best I’ve ever had, the smell of chocolate only serving to enhance the taste of it in my mouth, while it inexplicably melted as it hit my tongue. She also made a humongous cake, quite literally the biggest thing I’ve ever seen, ignoring the one made for the episode ‘MMMystery on the Friendship Express’.

Pinkie was getting the games started with the usual staples such as dunking for apples, pin the tail on Celestia (that was more fun than I thought it would be), and even a version of Twister. That was the first time I’ve played that game, and it was hilarious as at the end, myself, Dash, and Derpy found ourselves making a pony pretzel before we collapsed in a heap, laughing hysterically, along with the other ponies watching the game. While we were collapsed on the floor, I got a good whiff of muffins from Derpy, which didn’t surprise me much.

I drank some punch and mingled about the room. Hard Hat was there with a smirk on his face, and I hoofbumped him in return. As I moved about, I would briefly glance at the pile of presents by the cake as I spoke to the other partygoers, until my eyes caught a pegasus mare at the snack table talking to Thunderlane. I was so absorbed with her that I didn’t notice Rainbow flitting over to me until she waved her hoof in front of my face, “Equestria to Maverick! You all there?”

“Rainbow, who’s that,” I asked and pointed to the mare in question.

She looked over, “Oh, that’s Clear Skies, she’s on the weather team. Why?”

“Just curious. I haven’t seen her before.”

All Rainbow said was, “Uh-huh…”

“Everypony, time for Maverick to open some presents!” Pinkie yelled. She then picked me up and sped over to the table with the huge cake and presents nearby. When she put me down, I wobbled a little, dizzy from the extreme speed and sudden stop. As my eyes took in the sight before me, my lower lip trembled a bit. We never had a lot for Christmas or even birthdays when growing up, so this was completely new to me.

I slowly walked up to the table, mesmerized by the pile of presents, “Oh, you didn’t have to go to this trouble everypony.”

Twilight stepped up, “We wanted to. Given what you had been through, you deserve it.”

I picked up a present with some nice purple wrapping paper that had Twilight’s cutie mark on it. I ripped the paper off and opened the box within, which contained a Daring Do book and one on the history of Cloudsdale, “Thank you, Twilight, I love them.”

The next one I grabbed was a white box, adorned with a beautiful purple ribbon. I pulled the ribbon free, lifted the lid and saw a flight suit that was adorned with lightning bolts, but wasn’t easily confused with a Wonderbolts flight suit, “Oh, Rarity. This.is.AWESOME!”

“You’re welcome, darling! Perhaps you could stop by later for some formalwear ideas I have.”

“Most certainly, milady,” I bowed, causing Rarity to blush slightly.

Next was a pink box that just had to be from Pinkie. I ripped it open and as I pulled the top off, a bunch of confetti shot up with the sound of a party horn, which caused me to jump back slightly and flare my wings. There was a dozen cupcakes inside of different flavors, but most of them were the kind she had me try out the other day. The smells of all of them made it difficult to not grab one right away and stuff it into my mouth. I fluffed my wings a bit before I folded them back at my sides.

“Cupcakes! Thanks, Pinkie.”

“They’re for you to take home, so don’t eat any of them here.”

“I won’t, Pinkie promise,” and I go through the motions.

I opened the gift from Rainbow Dash – it was a poster signed by all the Wonderbolts, herself included, and a pair of flight goggles, “Wow. Thanks, Rainbow! I’m definitely going to get this framed.”

She flitted over and hoofbumped me.

The remainder of the presents were nice as well. Everything had something to do with a new homeowner, whether it’s dishes to necessary supplies. I couldn’t fathom where all this would be stored, but I was sure Twilight had someone I could put these. I felt like I owed everypony a speech or something, after looking through the crowd of ponies that I’ve worked with, helped in town, as well as my friends.

I stomped my hooves on the floor to call attention to me. “Everypony! First, I would like to thank you all for coming to the party. It means a lot to me to see everypony here. There are, however, a few that I would like to especially thank.

“Twilight, you were my first friend when I arrived here in Ponyville. I wasn’t in the greatest of places at the time. Your patience and understanding helped me get through it, even if I really tested that at the time.

“Fluttershy, there are not enough words that I can say to express my thanks for all that you did for me. You rescued me in more ways than one and I will forever be in your debt.

“Last, but certainly not least, Pinkie Pie. Your persistence in your efforts to make me happy and smile was a bright point in my days, even when I was depressed. You were always there for me and never gave up on me. I’m happy to call you my friend.”

Twilight beamed at my comments, and told me when I was done, “There’s one more for you.”

She levitated a scroll over to me, which I grabbed and unrolled. It was an official document related to the house I was interested in. The price noted…I had more than enough bits saved up to buy it. I looked toward Twilight and smiled while my eyes teared up, “Twilight…I-I don’t know what to say.” Words failed me – I never thought this day would come, but now I knew that everypony accepted me for who I am, forgiven me for my acts, and would stand by me when I needed help. I looked around at everypony, their smiles genuine. Tears of happiness and joy cascaded down my face, and I wondered when the hell did I get so emotional. Everypony came in and group hugged me, while everypony else stomped their hooves on the floor in approval.

“It’s what friends do. Just remember that house needs a lot of work, and it won’t be easy.”

I chuckle and wiped my tears off my face, “Twilight, if it was easy, it wouldn’t be worth it. Besides, I have a bunch of friends somewhere that I can ask for a hoof here and there.” I gave her a playful wink.

“Thank you again, everypony!”

After I set the presents aside to take home later, I looked around to take in the sight of all the ponies there, most of whom I recognized. There was Lyra and Bon Bon, Big Mac, the CMC, Roseluck, Lily, Daisy, Derpy and Dr. Whooves (at least that’s how I spelled it), the Cakes and their foals, among others.

Applejack even brought some of her cider, which tasted so good that I could see why Dash got so frustrated at not being able to have any thanks to Pinkie always getting the last mug. It smelled heavily of apples, which disguised the alcohol (or whatever their equivalent was) from me. I was starting to feel a bit tipsy after the second mug and by the third I was outright drunk.

“You ok, Mav? You look like you’re in some sorta trance,” she said, then followed my gaze over to the pony I was transfixed on.

“If you ask me, Dash, he looks a mite tipsy.” Applejack said, chuckling a little.

Next thing I knew, my head felt as if it was going to split wide open when I woke up in my bed. I gingerly opened my eyes and looked around. The first thing that I managed to focus on was Fluttershy sitting there.

“Ooohhh, my head,” I groaned as I massaged my temples.

“Good morning. Here, have some water, it’ll help. Drink it slowly.” she hoofed me a glass.

I nodded as I drank, “I guess I can’t hold my liquor, or rather, cider.”

“We were concerned when we saw you collapse like that. AJ carried you back here to the castle. Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I think so, I hope I didn’t make a fool of myself in front of anypony...did I?”

“No, you only passed out while trying to beat Applejack and Rainbow Dash in drinking.”

I facehoofed, “Well, at least it wasn’t anything real stupid. Did I at least win?”

“You managed to win against Dash, but passed out against AJ.”

I rubbed my temples, “Wow, I’m not going to let Dash forget that. I don’t know about you, but I could use some breakfast.”

“If you’re up to it, we can go down to the dining room. Spike should have some ready by now.”

It’s a good thing Fluttershy is so soft-spoken, otherwise I would be writhing in pain. As we slowly headed down to the dining room, I thought of yesterday’s party when the lights came on, and smiled. Fluttershy and Twilight were right, I had lots of awesome friends in Ponyville, and knew that they would help me deal with my issues. I just wished I could remember the pony’s name that I was walking to that night.

After a great breakfast of eggs, several pieces of toast, and haybacon (which actually is better than real bacon), my headache waned enough to where it wasn’t so...pronounced, which made it easier to be happy to be with Fluttershy.

“Thanks again, Fluttershy. I’m glad to have such great friends like you and the others to help me.”

She smiled, “You’re welcome. I do have to go and tend to my animals now. You should rest a bit.”

“I would, but I do have to go see about that house first.”

“I understand. Just promise me you’ll not overdo it, ok?”

“I promise,” I hugged her before she left, “I’ll take a nap after everything is signed and wait until tomorrow to move in.”

I found Twilight in her library where she told me that all my gifts were brought back to the castle and placed in storage. I thanked her for that and for her thoughtfulness in convincing Pinkie to hold off on the party until I was ready. If she had had the party while I was in such a fragile state, well, I didn’t know what I’d do. Once I was finished repairing the house, I was going to get her something special.

We went to the realtor pony to take care of purchasing the house. Once that was out of the way (and a lot of practice writing with my mouth), I took it easy for the rest of the day as Fluttershy asked (and my head demanded). The next day, I felt much better, so I went to get some supplies and tools from Barnyard Bargains to help me fix some of the easier problems, while I also made a list of things that I would need Applejack’s help with. The good part was that most of the major repairs were done before winter start-up, where the ones that remained could wait until spring, which made me a very happy pony indeed. I also moved everything I had from the castle to the house, with Twilight’s and Fluttershy’s help.

Who knew where this life would lead me, especially since I still haven’t gotten my cutie mark yet, but one thing is for certain...it’s not going to be boring, I am not going at it alone (not if my friends have anything to say about it), and I wouldn’t have it any other way.