//------------------------------// // Clubhouse // Story: Rarity's Colt // by Mocha Star //------------------------------// The group sans Scootaloo reached the ramp and stopped, catching their breath with a jug of water they kept outside for just that reason, drinking it by taking turns they got enough to sate their thirst while their breath calmed and their hearts slowed. “Ah see Scoots made it, so ya ready ta say yer sorry?” “How do you know she’s here? She could be back at her home or something crying under her bed cuz I’m,” he sighed and shook his head, “I’m just mean to her and I shouldn’t be; regardless of how I feel.” Sweetie placed a hoof on his side. “It’s okay, we’re a team and no matter what we’re family, too. As long as you don’t go all crazy again, you’ll be fine and we’ll support you.” “Heh, crazy. You have no idea what that means,” he gave a sardonic smile and looked at the closed door. “Well, I’m not getting any younger,” he looked at his foreleg, “again. Let’s do this.” He took the lead and the girls followed closely until he reached the door. “Do I just go in, or what?” Apple Bloom opened the door and they peeked in to see Scootaloo wrapped in a length of cloth, struggling to get out of it. Paint and brushes lay on the floor matching his coat and mane colors. “Scootaloo, what in tarnation are ya doin’?” Apple Bloom asked when they walked in, she and her fellow crusader helping the filly to unwrap herself. “I was hanging a banner I made… but,” she looked at herself and pouted, “I tripped off the stool and tried to catch myself on the banner and it came down and then I got all wrapped up. Thanks, girls,” she said looking at the banner they were holding open and looking at. “Awe, darn… I’m sorry, Snickers, it’s supposed to say ‘Welcome to the Club’, but the paint got a smeared. “It’s supposed to be a joke about being in our club, our clubhouse, and the first male CMC, but I messed it all up.” “No, no! It’s fine, Scootaloo… I’m sorry, too,” Snickers pawed at the floor and couldn’t look at her, ears down and his posture slumping. “I was just mad, when I was grown up I went through a lot and yelling and cussin’,” he glanced aside to Apple Bloom, “was how I always talked to everyone.  “I didn’t mean what I said, well, not all of it… I didn’t want you there when I was talking near the end because I felt like I’d make it worse and blame you. Can we forgive each other?” He looked up into the grinning face of Scootaloo. “Why would you think I’d stay mad at you? You’re our nephew, we can’t be mad at you for that long!” “Wait, all of you?” he looked at the fillies standing side by side. “Eeyup. We’re not sisters by blood, but we’re sisters none the less. Yer one of us now, Snickers!” “Wait! First we have to swear him in, you know the rules.” He narrowed his eyes at Scootaloo. “You said I can’t swear, but you’re gonna?” They fillies laughed at him. “No, silly. We’re gonna induce… instruct…” Sweetie tried for the word. “Induct?” “Yeah, that! Thanks, Apple Bloom. We’re gonna do that to make you a part of us. C’mon, Scootaloo! Let’s get the scroll.” ... “That was the longest list of terms for acquaintance I’ve ever heard. Did you just open a thesaurus and go to town copying it?” “It was Scootaloo that wrote it, ask her.” “Hey! I wanted to be thorough. There’s no reason to skip on a way to say friend when it’s the most important part of what we represent. Second is getting a cutie mark!” The four moved together and clacked hooves. “Cutie Mark Crusaders, forever!” He laughed with them, delighted in the innocence of the moment. A loud series of knocks startled them. “Who the hay could that be?” “I dunno, check it out, Apple Bloom.” Apple Bloom looked at Scootaloo with frustration. “Ya know, all the times ya tell me ta do stuff, ya could just do it and not tell me.” “Or, by the time you get done talking to me you could have done it already.” “Says you!” The door opened and an explosion rocked the room, confetti and streamers covering the room. Pinkie hopped over Snickers and set a cake on the table against the wall. “Okay, so I have a lot to apologize for and I’m gonna do it the right way! I talked with Gummy and he helped me see the error of my ways. First, no more ice to wake a pony up, ever again. Next,” she looked at the colt, backing out of the door. He turned and tried to run, getting picked up carried back in and placed onto a chair with a conical hat on his head. “Next, I have a gift for you, Snickers,” she held a plain white box for him.  Hesitantly with trembling legs, he reached for it and brought it to his lap, then flipped the lid open, flinching like a bomb was about to go off. He looked at a small booklet and then to Pinkie. “It’s a Pinkie Pie Promise Pocket Packet, patent pending. There are five cards that let you do one of the things on each of them.  “You can even use the last one for anything you want and I’ll do it no matter what, as long as it doesn’t hurt anypony, make anypony sad, or violate Turning Test’s three laws of automations and golems. Let’s see, law one is--” “I know the laws, Pinkie,” he said sternly and picked up the booklet. He opened to the first page. “One free party for anything you choose,” he looked at the next. “One free back rub?” “Or scratch, or wash, or you can switch it up and use it on me! I give great rides,” she beamed. “I don’t doubt that,” he looked at her cutie mark and she Pinkie blushed. “Let’s see, one hour with Auntie Pinkie Pie?” He looked at Sweetie. “Nope! She’s not really your aunt, it’s just a name she uses.” “Yeah, who better to help you with a problem than the aunt you love bestest?! I’ll be there for you whenever you need me as soon as I get the card. The hour part is more of a guideline than a rule.” “Okay… lastly, one wire diagram? What the hay’s that mean?” “You’ll know when you need it, that one is conditional. Maybe you won’t need it, I don’t know, really. It’s just something Gummy told me to put in. And the last one is all yours! Anything you want… but you should save it. I think you might need it someday, and it’ll mean more that way.” He put the booklet in the box and thanked her. “So, do I have to use the first one to eat some cake?” he asked. Pinkied pulled a very sharp knife from seemingly no where and in a single motion cut a piece out, slid it onto a plate that wasn’t there when he’d looked away, and then she pressed the plate into his chest. “No way! First party’s free, I brought a friend and I hope you’ll get along,” Pinkie said looking at the door. She giggled and looked up. “Gummy, how’d you get up there?” she took the alligator from her head and nuzzled him. “This’ Gummy, he’s a great listener.” She put him on the table next to a small slice of cake that Snickers noted couldn’t have been there a second ago since he was watching Pinkie… who didn’t have an alligator on her head or body at all when she gave him his cake. He looked at her with disdain at how she defied logic, relaxing when Sweetie poked his side. “Don’t ask about her, just enjoy the party. You’ll go crazy if you try to figure out how she does stuff.” “I can imagine,” he said and took a bite of cake. His moan got everyone’s attention, alligator included. “Oh, howy fthit muw,” he said spitting crumbs. He got to all fours and put the plate on the floor, taking bites until his cheeks bulged. He looked at Pinkie with unbridled joy and mumbled words through his full mouth, chewing as he went.  The room was filled with jovial laughter and music started to play from the back of the room. “I know, isn’t it the best cake you’ve ever had? I made it with all the freshest and bestest ingredients just for you, Snickers. It’s my way of saying the party is called the ‘I’m sorry for scaring you and then sticking an ice cube up your butt because it wasn’t as funny as I thought it was gonna be and I felt really bad and cried for a little while but then--” “Pinkie,” he said feeling giddy and grinning at her with cake in his teeth, “I forgive you. That’s the best cake I’ve ever had in my life and as long as you don’t show me your teeth when you smile for a while, I think I can be your friend, too.” He hugged her and the fillies, who’d just started to dance, stopped and aww’ed at the scene. Pinkie was about to bounce around the room in happiness, but held back. “Thanks, Snickers. I can’t wait to introduce you to the other foals around town!” “Uh, not yet. First cake, then I gotta get home. Rarity’s gonna bitch me out, I bet,” he let Pinkie go and noticed a new slice of cake on the plate, Gummy holding the handle of the knife in his mouth to the colt’s surprise. He took the cake slice and backed away, noticing the plate he’d eaten off before was gone and his cake was on a new clean plate. “Now, that’s the last straw, Snickers,” Sweetie went to him and poked him with her hoof. “You, young colt, are getting a swear jar. Everytime you say a bad word, you put in a bit or have to do a chore for your auntie.” “Fine, I can get used to that. I should swear less, anyway; not very nice of me to do it, is it?” “Nope,” the room chorused and laughed again, breaking apart. So, we’ve got fillies dancing like nopony was watching, me gobbling cake like a Prench prostitute earns her rent, and a mare that’s bouncing around the room like cocaine was part of a healthy breakfast. Snickers giggled to himself. I can get used to this.