ACT TWO
Cadance and Shining Armor brought Violet back to the Castle of Friendship. Violet was very honoured to be there, and Cadance told Twilight everything about Courier.
“Sounds like some-pony has serious issues.” said Spike “Why would he reject all those mares going after him?”
“Well, obviously he has no interest in them.” said Twilight “But that’s no excuse to be such a grump about it.”
Violet looked really sad, “I just want to know what he has against me. Am I that terrible?”
None of the others said anything on that remark, not wanting to make the situation worse, but Twilight suggested “We need to talk with him again, all of us.”
Then she remembered Flurry Heart, and how someone should stay behind to look after her. Starlight volunteered. “You sure this is a good idea?” she asked “Cadance and Shining Armor were the ones sent to help.”
“Hey, we could use a little help sometimes,” said Shining Armor “Make a family outing?”
The ladies giggled, and they agreed to set off.
“Mind if I tag along?” asked Spike and he held up a small bag containing his cards that he finished, including a new one for Rarity, “I’d like to drop these all off.”
“Sure, Spike.” said Twilight.
Soon, the group headed off and Violet went with them.
No sooner had they left did Starlight smell an awful scent… coming from Flurry Heart, “Eww…!” she groaned, while the baby let out a tiny but very wet fart into her diaper, “…Ahhh!” she sighed.
The first thing done was Twilight stopped at the post officer to ask of Courier’s routes from his boss. “Please it’s very important. We’re on a friendship mission.”
With that kind of noble cause, the post-master was obliged to give the princess of friendship Courier’s schedule, and even his address. “He’s a good worker,” said the post master “But he sure acts strange-- doesn’t like to make friends, rejects all mares like their some kind of evil.”
Twilight found that very weird indeed.
Still, she and her gang went on their way to track Courier down, and while they did, Spike went to all the other ponies’ homes and dropped off his cards for them, and his friendly poems.
They were all very simple, such as…
“To Applejack, I give my heart,
Especially when she makes apple tarts”
Applejack found that funny, but thoughtful, and she pecked him on his head.
“To Fluttershy, so fare and true,
You’re a kind friend, and I love you.”
“Aw, Spike, that’s so sweet.” Fluttershy cooed, and pecked him back.
“To Pinkie Pie, happy and joy,
When I’m with you, I’m one happy boy.”
Pinkie held Spike close in a tight hug, smothering him, “Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” she kept going as she tightened her grip, making Spike gasp for air.
Spike kept going along, until finally he made it to Carousel Boutique. He could hear Rarity humming and singing up in her sewing room. She sounded very happy, and Spike almost fell into a loving daze when he heard the sound of her voice.
It also made him feel rather nervous about giving her the card he had made. It looked exactly like the one he thought he had lost, and with a simple poem he finally was able to make.
“Roses are red,
A heart is too
Rarity, you know how I feel about you.”
“Ohh…!” he groaned “This can’t be a great poem. Maybe I should redo it?’
“Spike…?” Rarity called from above. She saw him when she poked her head out the window for a breath of fresh air.
Spike looked up at her and waved his fingers nervously while blushing.
“Oh, Spike!” Rarity sighed “Thank you ever so much for the lovely poem.”
“Huh?” said Spike, and before he could question, Rarity held up a card, the exact one he thought he had lost, and she read it out loud.
“In life there many things that we must fight for,
But my feelings run deep and I can fight them no more.
I seek many words and find nearly none,
It is hard to describe you… my only one.
I may seem small, and different to you,
But the love that I hold is large and true.
I know naught how you hold me in your thought
But see you in ways that I ought…
Without you, I am single thing,
A winter that will never see spring,
You are my light, my only sunshine
You bring forth a feeling that is very divine.
Give a chance; take a leap-- a leap of the heart,
to a love that can never end from where it did start.”
Spike was most confused. Though that poem sounded incredibly romantic and loving, and it was on his card, he knew for a fact that he did not write that nor did he even send the card.
In his pondering, Rarity came downstairs and opened the door to him, and gave him a huge peck on the cheek, which made him stiffen and faint in a shower of hearts.
“Oh, Spike… this is the most romantic thing you have ever given me, or anyone for that.”
Spike sighed happily, and barely managed to find his strength to get up. “Um… I was wondering… if, maybe… just for today, you could--”
“Be your very special some-pony?” Rarity filled in “How could I say no after this lovely gesture.”
Spike felt like he was glowing, and asked her out for lunch offering to pay for it with his own allowance, to which Rarity agreed, and off they went.
Suddenly, just as they left Rarity’s property, they happened to see some stranger slinking atop a roof on a neighbouring cottage.
“Who’s that?” asked Spike.
Rarity didn’t know, but thought he had an odd taste for fashion for what he was wearing.
They watched as he seemed to be writing a letter using the quill from his hat, and spike caught a glimpse of the red rose on the other side of his hat.
Then the two saw him slip the letter through an open window.
“Hey, you…!” Spike called up.
The stranger looked and saw them, and he quickly ran and leapt out of sight.
Suddenly, they could hear the sound of a mare squealing from inside the house. It was a joyful squeal, and just as a lone stallion came by. That’s when the mare came rushing out of her house, and tackled the stallion to the ground in a loving embrace, “Thank you!” she cried “I will gladly be yours.”
The stallion didn’t seem to understand, but he embraced her back enjoying what he could take.
“I think we should find Twilight.” said Rarity.
Spike agreed.
Meanwhile, Twilight and her gang had looked all over the given routes by the post-master, but there was no sign of Courier anywhere.
“Maybe he gave us the wrong route?” asked Shining Armor.
It was possible, but it still confused everyone. “If Courier is such a good worker, why would he not be en-route delivering the mail?” wondered Twilight.
“Maybe we should try his house?” suggested Cadance.
Suddenly, they heard the sound of ladies screaming up ahead.
They dashed forth, and saw three teenaged mares, one with red hair, one with blonde hair, and one with black hair, yet all three of their manes had been badly parted down the middle-- deliberately by someone!
Some ponies laughed at the girls, while others were scared and horrified, especially one green teenaged colt.
Shining Armor couldn’t help but question him, “What happened here?”
The colt explained, “The blonde pony, I remember her. We used to date, and then she moved away, and I saw her again and tried to talk to her but she said she didn’t remember me, and her friends shoved me down telling me to get lost and calling me a brat.”
The others felt horrified, “But what happened to their manes?” asked Cadance.
The colt held up a red rose, “This just came flying in out of nowhere and parted their manes down the middle. It had this note attached to it.”
Twilight looked at the note, and it read:
“I know the truth, and so do you! Next time I shall not be as merciful!
You have been warned!”
Violet then looked at the rose closely, “I’ve seen this before.” and she explained how many ponies lately have had their mane parted down the middle so they look weird and ugly in public, and it always happened with the appearance of a rose identical to the one she held, and with an angry threat.
The gang felt uneasy, and Cadance realized the connection between all the ponies covering their heads. “Who would do such a thing?” she wondered.
“Twilight…!” Spike called as he and Rarity dashed up to the gang, “You’re not going to believe what we just saw.”
Before he could explain,
“HEY!! GET BACK HERE!!” shouted a familiar voice.
It was Rainbow Dash, and she was chasing after some stranger dressed in an odd outfit who was running and leaping along the rooftops.
“That’s the stranger we saw!” cried Rarity.
Rainbow ganged up on the stranger, ready to tackle him, but the stranger quickly grabbed the rose from his hat-- another rose then magically appeared where the first rose was-- and he pitched it right at her, smashing it head first in her face, blinding her with the petals.
Rainbow brushed the petals from her face, but the stranger had already fled before anyone else could try to chase him or catch him.
Rainbow angrily pounded the roof.
“Rainbow…!” Twilight called as she and Cadance flew up to her.
“You’re too late, he’s gone.” grumbled Rainbow.
“Who was that?” asked Cadance.
“I don’t know.” replied Rainbow “I flying overhead, and then I saw him dropping a letter into some-pony’s house. I thought he was a prowler, so I chased him.” She then growled and smashed her hooves together, “When I get my hooves on him, I’ll-- URGH!!”
Twilight then noticed the remains of the rose that hit Rainbow’s face. There was no questioning it; it was identical to the rose Violet was holding-- the one that pierced the school girls’ manes.
Twilight felt this was an even greater problem to address than the friendship mission.
Suddenly, “Courier…!” Violet suddenly cried.
The mail pony had come from around the corner, and he took one look at the group, especially at Violet. He scoffed and turned away, and disappeared inside a house which was his own.
Twilight told the others to go on ahead and try to talk to him, while she alerted the guards of the prowler, and then she flew off.
With that settled, all the others regrouped, and walked up to Courier’s house. Cadance knocked at the door, but no one answered it.
“Courier…?” Cadance called “This is Princess Cadance we’d all like to have a word with you.”
Courier refused to open the door, as was his right as a citizen. He did however slip a not out from under the door. The note was written in a very poor looking text.
“pLeAsE Go AwAy! I dO nOt WaNt To TaLk To AnYoNe, EsPeCaIlY tHe PrInCeSs Or ThAt NaStY, vIoLeT!”
Violet, was quivering as tears formed in her eyes, and she just ran off. “Violet!” cried Shining Armor, but she had already gone.
Cadance felt ready to kick herself for having read all that out loud.
“What a jerk.” grumbled Rainbow “What’s his problem anyway?”
“That’s what we’ve trying to find out.” said Shining Armor, and he explained about the Friendship Mission. “How can we help him if he won’t let us help him?”
Spike pondered, “Maybe… he doesn’t want to be helped.”
“Spike, how can you say such a thing like that?!” Rarity scolded, but even she herself began to feel maybe it was true, “But why in the world would some-pony with a friendship problem not want any help?”