//------------------------------// // Chapter 11: Getting Settled // Story: Power Rangers Super Megaforce: Equestrian Adventure // by ariellewilson //------------------------------// Applejack had led Gia to her farm from outside of Ponyville, far from it, where the Yellow Ranger saw tons of apple trees with apples on them, along with leaves in the color of red, orange, and yellow. On the left side of her, there was a cornfield with plants in which Gia is guessing, looking to be ready to be picked off the ground since she isn’t a cowgirl like her new pony friend. There is a well and a chicken coop, along with three, red sheds. She even saw cows and sheep grazing, chickens squawking and flapping their wings, and pigs rolling in the mud. “Woof, woof, woof!” It didn’t take her long until she found herself on the ground after she was knocked down by something furry, licking her face all over the place. “Woof, woof, woof!” The animal lapped her up some more when Gia smelled the breath of the critter, realizing it was a white and brown collie, wearing a red collar. Applejack laughed. “Looks like Winona likes you.” “I can tell,” Gia smiled through the globs of drool. Still laughing, the orange pony grabbed her dog by the collar, getting her off of Gia. “Settle down, girl. Yes, we have a new guest and she’s staying here with us for a while.” Winona barked, wagging her tail as Gia stood up, her tongue lolling out, panting. Drips of drool dropped on the ground, creating a small puddle in front of her paws with her owner petting her head, rubbing the back of her ears. “Wanna see my barn?” Applejack asked, finishing calming down her pet. “You’ll meet my Granny Smith and my siblings there. And after we’re done, I can put you to work.” “I would like to see your barn, please,” she replied, watching the dog run off. “Follow me.” Taking her over there, Applejack swung the door open. “Granny Smith!” she called. “Where are ya?” “In the kitchen,” Gia heard a pony peeped, sounding elderly, the two of them going over there when Gia saw an old, lime green colored pony with droopy ears, wrinkles around her face, knobby knees with thin legs, orange eyes, and a light gray mane and tail which are tied up into buns. “Hello, Applejack, who is your friend?” the pony asked. “Granny Smith, this is Gia,” Applejack introduced. “Gia, this my grandmother, Granny Smith.” Gia stuck out her hoof. “Nice to meet you, Ms. Smith.” “Please, call me Granny Smith,” the old pony smiled. “This here is Big McIntosh, only we call him Big Mac for short,” she directed to a large stallion in the color of red looking like amaranth, his coat thick and long, the fur around his light yellow hooves. His mane and tail are a bright orange, with green eyes, and a yolk on his neck. Around his midsection are white bandages. He was over at the stove, stirring something in a pot. The blonde maned pony went up to him. “Are you making soup?” “Eeyup,” Big Mac shortly answered, stirring the liquid. “Big Mac, is my soup ready?” came a voice from upstairs, followed by a series of coughing. Taking a bowl and a spoon out, the red pony put the soup in it when Gia held out her hoof. “I can take it up to her.” “How thoughtful of you,” the Element of Honesty smiled at the kind gesture from her new friend. “I’ll show you where Apple Bloom is at.” Holding the bowl full of the warm, brown liquid, she followed the farm pony up the stairs, being careful not to spill it. Applejack took Gia to her sister’s bedroom where she saw a yellow pony with a red mane with a light, crimson bow tied to it. She was in her bed, having a coughing fit. She sneezed several times. “Hi, you must be Apple Bloom.” In front of the filly is another pony she had never seen before when she spoke. “My name’s Gia,” the pony told her. “Nice to - achoo! - meet you,” the filly answered, smiling at her. “I would give you a hug, except I don’t want you to catch my cold. Achoo!” She sneezed, turning her head away, covering her nose and mouth with her elbow. “Bless you,” Gia blessed. “Here you go. I wanna give you the soup your brother made. You know, to start me off for being a good friend.” “Thanks.” Taking the bowl, Apple Bloom set it in front of her. “By the way, where are you from?” she asked, taking the spoon, sipping some of the liquid into her mouth, swallowing it down. “My friends and I are from Harwood County,” Gia told her, who continued to enjoy the liquidly food. Apple Bloom scooped up another spoon full. “Harwood County?” She looked at her older sister. “Is that a place here in Equestria? I hadn’t seen it on the Map of Equestria.” “I don’t think Harwood County is here, sugarcube,” her sister chuckled. “I believe it’s far away from Equestria, right, G?” “You can say that.” She went over to the window, looking at all the apple trees. “You did say you tell me what this Applebuck Season is all about when Emma and I were talking to you and Rarity on the train.” “Yes, yes, of course.” The farm pony almost forgot all about it. “I’ll tell ya when we’re in the orchard.” She went up to the little pony. “Rest up, or else you won’t be able to come out of Nightmare Night that’s coming up.” She obeyed. “Yes, sis. See you later - achoo! - Gia.” She waggled her spoon with her hoof clutched around it. The earth pony waved back, going with the farm pony outside to where the orchard is at, walking over there with her dog yapping, running in circles around the two equines as they headed on over there. Getting there, Gia saw how the apples shined from the sun, looking good enough to eat. Except, they’re too high to reach, and since Applejack said the word ‘applebuck’, she guessed that they don’t use ladders in order to get the fruit off the branches. “So…” she began to speak. “Tell me what Applebuck Season is.” “Okay, Applebuck Season is where we harvest all these apples off the trees,” the orange pony started to explain, gesturing her hoof at each tree, the ones still with apples on them. “When they’re picked, we sell them for bits and we make apple treats out of them like apple cider. You can see that we Apples don’t use ladders in order to get our famous fruit off our trees.” “I see..” Nodding her head, she went over to one of the trees that had red and green apples hanging on the branches. Standing on her back hooves, she tapped the tree with her front ones. She may be one of the strongest members of the team, but none of the apples fell off. “They won’t get off the branches,” she turned and told the farm gal. “That’s because you’re doing it wrong. The reason why it’s called Applebuck Season is because we buck them off the branches. Here, I’ll show ya.” Going over to a different tree, Applejack faced forward, curled her back legs in like a spring - and shot them back, her back hooves connecting to the base of the tree. The tree shook and every single apple fell to the ground. “See?” She crossed her right front hoof and back one over her left ones, holding her head up proudly. “Nothing to it. Just a good kick with your back legs.” She then gave the Ranger a serious eye. “Do be careful, though,” she warned. “If you don’t get the bucking just right, you could injure yourself.” “Got it,” she affirmed, knowing how serious it can be. “Good, let’s go get some baskets and get you started.” Applejack smiled, going over to where the baskets are at with the new comer right with her. Meanwhile, Fluttershy and Noah had arrived at a cottage, far from Ponyville. They got off the taxi once the shy pegasus got her stuff as well as the book Twilight lent to the Blue Ranger for he could learn everything about this world. By the time they got off the taxi, the pony who was pulling it galloped off, leaving him and her in front of a small bridge. Noah looked at Fluttershy’s home, observing how small it is with burrows and trees around it, as well as bird houses hanging on the branches. Fluttershy seemed to notice. “I know it’s small, but we can make it work.” “I like it. It’s cute - like you.” This caused her to grin at his statement as the two of them went over there, up to the door. Opening the door, Fluttershy let him step into her house. “You even have bird houses in your cottage,” Noah noticed straight away. He even saw holes in the wall, indicating that where mice will go in. Fluttershy took off her saddlebags, dropping it on the couch, placing the book right next to it. “I’m glad you like it.” It was then a white bunny came up to her. “Hi, Angel, did you behave?” Angel crossed his arms, stomping his furry foot on the floor. “Yes, I know, I know,” she talked to the rabbit, with Noah being amazed on how she can talk to him. “I got your-” She gasped, placing her hoof on the side of her face. “Oh, no. The bunny food. I...I left it back in Canterlot when you tackled me,” she panicked, facing away from Angel to now looking at the unicorn. This got the bunny mad for he went up to Noah, jumped up, and began kicking his side. Due to his furry paws, it didn’t hurt him one bit, leaving the pony to stand there with a raised brow as the bunny kept lashing out on him. His owner didn’t like that, pulling him away from her new friend. “Angel! That isn’t nice. It’s not his fault.” “No, Fluttershy, it’s fine,” he assured her when she was about to scold her pet even more. “His feet are made out of fur. It didn’t hurt.” He looked at the clock on the wall. “We can go over to a store and get him the bunny food he needs.” “We can, except he likes the food from Canterlot.” She walked back to the front door. “I guess I’ll go to Sweet Apple Acres to grab him some carrots. It’s one of his favorite things to eat.” Before she could open up the door, the door got opened by Noah. Grinning at his politeness, Fluttershy stepped out of her home, and he stepped out, too, closing the door in the process. “I’ll go with you. I want to see Sweet Apple Acres. Sounds like a farm.” “It is a farm and A.J.’s home,” she beamed at his correct guess. “A.J.? Does that stand for Applejack?” he guessed correctly for the second time, having her nod. “Huh, we sometimes say G when we’re talking to Gia and she calls her friend Em sometimes.” “Nice. Here, I’ll take you over to Sweet Apple Acres. I do hope Applejack’s got carrots to spare,” she said, walking over the bridge with Noah right by her. Like last time, he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. Noticing this, she looked at him, starting up a conversation. “So...you like learning about things?” “Yes, I do,” he answered, making sure the conversation doesn’t get awkward. “Back at home, I’d always been into science. I love learning everything about it. And then I became a Power Ranger.” He looked down at the ground. “At first, I thought I wasn’t cut out for the team. It started out where I couldn’t lift my best friend’s Snake Axe.” Fluttershy fluttered her good wing, moving her hair out of her face. “A Snake Axe?” “It’s his weapon when he’s in his Megaforce form,” he explained. “Jake, Gia, Emma, Troy, and I each have their own weapons when we’re in our Megaforce forms. But when we became Super Megaforce Rangers, we used all kinds of weapons, using them to fight off the Armada.” “You Rangers must be brave to go up against them… Especially when you and I - well, mainly you since I keep on ducking away from the new evil changelings' attacks while you fought the, off with no problem,” she blushed, both embarrassed and along with something else. “But what do you mean by your best friend’s Snake Axe? What was wrong with it?” “Nothing was wrong with it. Jake’s axe is just heavy,” he shrugged, remembering the whole thing. “He brought it to school to the computer lab, needing it to be adjusted for it being a little off balance.” A small smile formed on his lips. “He wanted to impress Gia with it for how much he likes her. I couldn’t lift it for how much weight it had, thinking I should work out like him. And like I said back in Canterlot, you don’t need muscles to be a strong fighter. It’s all about believing in yourself. I did manage to pick up his weapon to strike at Virox, a monster who infected the people, turning them into loogies.” “I never heard of loogies,” Fluttershy said, not recognizing the term. “They’re the first henchmen my Ranger team fought,” he responded in explanation. “Sent by Vrak.” “Who you don’t know where he went.” During her right statement, he nodded his head. “I can imagine him being terrifying. I mean, my friends and I never saw him, along with Vekar when Gosei told us about them.” “He’s somewhere. Troy’s worried about Robo Knight after we finished off the Messenger.” Glancing at the sky, he saw two pegasi, though he couldn’t tell if it’s Rainbow and Orion. The walk went on, while Noah looked at every single pony who was simply taking strolls to selling items from fruits to other items. Foals played and frolic in the village, simply having a good time. He noticed that there are no vehicles, except the ones they have to pull. From being on the old fashioned taxi, he bet it was a carriage, designed as a taxi. The train he and his friends are on runs on heat, being added with coals to keep the train going. A stallion walked past them, a cart attached to him filled with oranges. He waved at him and he waved back. I guess the ponies here are a lot more nicer than the ponies in Canterlot, Noah assumed to himself. Except the one mare Troy met when he asked her if they can burrow the map, resulting in the pony to end up giving it to him for she doesn’t live there. He isn’t sure about all the Canterlot ponies being rude, but knows that most of them are unicorns. He doesn’t want to call them rude, snobby, hostile ponies, even though they have been giving him and his teammates dirty looks. Jake waved at a stallion that was there when they first arrived at the glamorous city, resulting in the pony to walk off with no wave back. Of course, he believed the most impertinent ponies are the unicorn couple. Those two said pretty harsh things to him from not liking where he and his friends are from down to the outfit he wears. They were even rude to Troy. Troy, a guy who’s cool as ice. Two foals - a filly and a colt - ran past him and Fluttershy, laughing as they galloped off, their little legs going as fast as they could go. It was like at home, children playing on the playground having fun. Even his friends fool around sometimes, the memories of them going down a sandy hill like they were sledding in the snow while he and Robo Knight at the time were playing Chess, only for the robot to win on the board game for being made out of metal. Too bad that he disappeared with no sign of him anywhere. Reaching the place he assumed to be Sweet Apple Acres, he and Fluttershy entered the farm. “Applejack!” Fluttershy called out. “Where are you at?” “Over here, sugarcube,” Applejack’s voice rang from the orchard, the two ponies following it where they both saw her and Gia. Noah saw the autumn colored up trees with apples on them, with the other apples in the baskets. “How do you get the apples off the branches?” he wondered, looking at each tree with apples on them. “I don’t see any ladders.” “You buck ‘em,” Applejack explained. “You…” He retracted his right arm back. “What?” “You kick the trees and the apples fall off,” Gia told him. She kicked a tree, letting it shake, and every apple fell in the baskets. “Oh. Is it hard?” Applejack shook her head. “No, unless you stay up everyday with no shut eye. I did that before and learned my lesson that I needed help from my friends.” “Uh, A.J., do you have carrots I can have?” Fluttershy walked up and asked. “I left the bunny food on the street in Canterlot.” “How come?” she asked, bucking another tree, letting all the fruit go in the baskets. One didn’t make it, and she picked it up by the stem with her mouth, placing it with the other apples. Fluttershy’s face went a little red. “Noah knocked me out of the way from an incoming cart,” she explained, digging her hoof in the ground. “It caused me to let go of the food I bought.” “I see,” she understood. “Don’t worry, you can have some of my carrots. Let me just run in the house and get them for ya.” She galloped off to her barn. When she came back, she held the basket by the handle with her mouth full of orange, crunchy carrots. “Here you go, girl,” she offered, handing it to her shy friend. Fluttershy took it with her own mouth. “Thank you,” she muffled. “Let’s go, Noah,” she directed towards him. “I’m right with you. See ya, G.” Waving he walked with Fluttershy, going back to her cottage. When they got back, they both saw Angel in the middle of the living room, thumping his furry foot on the rug, his tiny arms crossed over his chest when he saw his owner with her new friend holding the door open like a gentlecolt. Setting the basket in front of him, Fluttershy stepped back. “Here you go. I know it’s a lot of carrots, but don’t eat them all in one day, alright?” He huffed, rolling his eyes as he took out a carrot from the basket, munching on it. “There you go.” She petted his fluffy head. “Want me to give you a tour?” she asked Noah who stepped into the small house. “Sure,” he grinned. “Okay, this here is the living room,” she started off with the room they’re in now. “This here’s the kitchen as well as a dining room,” she then led him to another area. Noah saw more holes in the walls before they left to go upstairs. “This is the bathroom,” she pointed to her left, “right next to my bedroom.” They both entered her room. “I do have a spare bedroom, unless you want to sleep on the couch.” “I’ll have the spare bedroom,” he accepted, looking around in her room. “You have a nice bedroom,” he complimented. “Thank you,” she grinned. “It isn’t really big like the rest of the cottage.” “I still like it, though. It has a cozy feeling to it,” he grinned back. “I’m glad you like my home.” “Though, I do have a question to ask.” “Oh? What would you like to ask?” “How come your home is further away from the village?” His question got her frowning. “Too much? Look, I’m sorry for-” “No, it’s fine,” she told him. “I just like being away from Ponyville with my home being all the way here, even though the Everfree Forest is behind it.” “Ever-what?” he questioned. “The Everfree Forest,” she repeated. “It’s a scary forest, and it isn’t natural. The plants grow, animals take care of themselves, and the clouds move on their own.” Now he was more confused. “Huh? Fluttershy, plants grow all the time, animals can care for themselves, and it isn’t weird for the clouds to move by themselves.” “Noah, you don’t understand. We grow the plants here, we take care of the animals, and the pegasi move the clouds to bring in rain or snow,” Fluttershy explained, going over to her bedroom window with him right next to her. “I’ve been in there several times. I once encountered a cockatrice in there when I was babysitting three fillies.” Of course, being the egghead he is, he doesn't believe that a forest can do things that ponies find it weird, while he and his friends won’t find it strange since they’re new at being ponies. He doesn’t believe in ghosts, either, stating that there’s science behind it, though he does believe in the lockness monster. But here in Equestria, mythical creatures are real from the book Emma pulled out back at the school library when she looked at the section about parasprites. Leaving the window, he headed to the bedroom door. “I’m gonna read the book Twilight gave me,” he gave Fluttershy a heads up. “I need to learn about your world.” "Don't you want to see my Sweet Feathery Sanctuary?" she asked, turning away from the forest that's outside, facing away from the window. "It's what my animal sanctuary is called." “Maybe some other time, I need to-” He stopped when the girl titled her head, giving him the puppy-dog look. The same one she did on the train. He tried to brush it off, but due to her cuteness, he had no choice but to give in. “Fine,” he smiled, shaking his head. “I can go with you. Can I bring the book along with me, though?” “Sure,” she answered, happy that the puppy face worked the second time. “We can put it in one of my saddlebags so it’s easier for you to carry it.” “Sounds good to me,” he shrugged as they went back downstairs. Fluttershy took out her stuff from the saddlebags, replacing it with his book. Picking it up, Noah placed it on his back on his own without any sort of help from the pegasus. Fluttershy went to open the front door, when Noah beat her to it, grabbing the door by the handle, opening it for her. “Ladies first,” he politely said. Smiling warmingly at his nice gesture, she stepped out of her home with him closing the door behind them, and they headed off the animal sanctuary. The Sweet Feathery Sanctuary was phenomenal when they both arrived there, filled with all sorts of animals from bunnies all the way down to a giraffe. The sanctuary, Noah saw, had a river with a bridge going over what looked to be a good size pond, large rocks bigger than any other rock with small caves, along with a waterfall rushing down, logs in the ground, step ladders on the boulders with a couple of trees, as well as trees in the background. Of course, all the trees’ leaves aren’t green due to the fall weather and may fall at any time soon. A bird flew over to them, chirping at Noah. Fluttershy giggled. “He’s saying ‘hello’ in bird language.” “I see that,” he replied, the bird flapping around him. “But aren’t these birds supposed to fly south at this time of season?” “No, they fly south when winter gets here,” she told him, watching the bird fly off. “And all the animals will sleep through that season when it’s here. And when Winter Wrap Up comes, we wake them up.” “What’s Winter Wrap Up?” Noah asked, the two of them crossing the bridge. “It’s where we clean up winter,” she said, settling down at an oak tree. “I believe the book you have will tell you more information about it,” she pointed at one of the saddlebags, containing the book within it. Taking the book out, Noah opened it to the table of contents, searching the chapter about it. Finding what page and chapter it’s on, he flipped through all the pages, getting to that spot. He set the book on the ground, and laid on his stomach since Fluttershy’s doing it, mirroring her. He read a few paragraphs. “Cool,” he said, liking what he’s seeing. “So you ponies simply clean up the snow, plant new plants, wake up the animals, and so on. But how long does it take?” “Well, we all get up really early, the day before spring, and we’ll be up all night until the next day - the day spring arrives.” “Must be hard work to get everything done.” “It is,” she nodded. “You know, before Twilight moved to Ponyville, we kept on being late for spring.” “Late? From what?” he questioned. “We would argue all the time, and I mean all the time,” she told him. “But thanks to Twilight, Winter Wrap Up is a lot easier now, and do you know what I do during that time?” “Waking up animals?” he guessed. “Correct, how do you know that?” she smiled. “Is it obvious? Your flanks have three, pink, butterflies on them. Though I have no idea why ponies have those marks on their flanks,” he said, wondering about it. “Our cutie marks each represents a pony in a different way from their talent all the way down to a favorite hobby. Ponies get them when they’re little when they find their purpose in life.” “I get it. Like, if a pony likes science, they’ll have a science type of cutie mark,” he gave a good example. “Yes, you probably have one.” “Heh, yeah, right. And I refuse to remove my clothes, even though it’s strange that my friends and I are wearing full on clothing, shoes, and boots,” he said. “Even though we did see some Canterlot ponies wearing outfits, but not full on like us.” “It’s not strange to my friends and I,” she said, placing her arm over the other one, crossing them. “The only time we wear clothes is when we dress up for Nightmare Night and wear something warm for winter.” “And Nightmare Night isn’t your thing, right?” Fluttershy nodded. “Why?" Noah then asked. "Twilight did say that those ponies dressing up are just pretending to be someone else.” “I just don’t like it. Last year, I decided to scare my friends, when I realized it wasn’t fun at all,” she frowned. “I prefer celebrating it in my home, anyway.” “What about me going with you this year?” he offered kindly. “Maybe it’ll be a lot better when I’m with you.” Blushing, she accepted it. “Sure… I’ll be out for Nightmare Night as long as you're with me. What do you want to be for Nightmare Night?” “Back at home, I dressed up as a mad scientist, and I may want to be that again this year.” He looked down at the book, the page he’s still on. “What about you? What are you going to dress up as?” he asked, his ears open for the answer she’s going to say. “I’m not sure, actually,” she responded, thinking about it. “Last year, I dressed up as two different things - a masquerade ball without the mask and ended up being a vampire fruit bat to scare my friends. I guess I wanted to be, I don’t know, dress up something that isn’t scary.” Noah pictured what Fluttershy will dress up as for this year. Something cute, he saw, the image bouncing around in the inside of the inner of his skull. Turning the page of his book, he had another question to ask. “When did Hallo- I mean, Nightmare Night - came to be?” “It came when Princess Celestia banished her sister to the moon when she turned into Nightmare Moon,” she told him. “But we still celebrate it even when her sister is turned back into Princess Luna, and she joined the Nightmare Night Festival while I was at home, and she loves the holiday. She wasn’t there last year, so maybe she’ll come this year. I know a friend who knows the tale of Nightmare Moon.” “My friends and I would like to hear it,” he said, looking at her. “You sure? I never heard of it since I’m always cooped up in my cottage every year during that time of holiday,” she replied worriedly. “But since I’ll be out this year, maybe it won’t be so bad when you’re with me,” she then smiled. Smiling back, Noah shut the book, looking around. “Your animal sanctuary looks really nice.” “I know. It’s where all the animals come here after they visit Dr. Fauna, a vet pony, to recover here.” She dug her hoof into the soil. “I did have three experts help me, except they don’t understand animals like I do. They practically wanted the sanctuary the way they wanted to look. They didn’t respect my visions. The only expert I can trust is Big Daddy McColt, along with my friends help to make my dream come true. What about you? Do you have any dreams you want to accomplish?” Noah raised his eyes up in thought, playing with his eye wear. The question caught him off guard. Not much, just a little. “I do want to be a scientist…” he said slowly, thinking about it. “But I’m always too busy fighting off monsters with my teammates to think it thoroughly.” Fluttershy looked at her sanctuary. “You know, animals are part of science. You can probably be an animal biologist,” she suggested. “Great idea,” he said, smiling at her with her smiling in return. He stood up, placing the book back inside one of the saddlebags. “You wanna go?” “Yeah, let’s go,” she replied, standing back up. They had crossed the bridge when someone trotted up to them, and that someone is Starlight Glimmer. “Hey, Starlight,” Fluttershy greeted with a wave. “What are you doing here? Noah and I are about to head back to my place.” “Rarity wants you two to be at her Boutique right away,” Starlight told them. “The others are already there.” “Why does she need us?” Noah asked. “She wants you for something, nothing else,” she replied in answer. “The only thing she mentioned are measurements.” “Measurements?” Fluttershy looked at Noah and back at Starlight. “Oh, I see, she wants to get measurements from us, right? For the Grand Galloping Gala.” “No, just the Rangers,” she confirmed. “Let’s go, she’s waiting for you.” Using her horn, she teleported away, poofing out of sight. “What’s the Grand Galloping Gala?” Noah asked when she was gone, he and Fluttershy crossing the bridge. “It’s a party that’s held at the Canterlot Castle,” she answered, as the two of them headed out of the animal sanctuary. “My friends and I have been there twice, but it never went well. Maybe this year it’ll be a lot better when you and your friends are with us - especially you,” she bloomed. “Well, my friends and I never been to a Gala nor went to any school dances from all the monster fighting we have to do, so it’ll be a nice experience to have,” he nodded. “What is there to be expected at the Gala?” “There’s dancing, great music, food, everything,” she listed the things that happen at the Ball. “The first time my friends and I went there, I was in the Canterlot Garden where all the animals and birds were at, except they kept running away from me. I don’t know why they did, and I got frustrated to where I ended up hollering.” “Frustrated?” Noah can’t even imagine an adorable pony being frustrated. “Were the animals afraid of you?” “Mm, I was being a teensy bit insane…” she recalled. “Guess that’s the reason why they kept scampering off.” “What about the second time?” “The second time we were there everything was doing fine. I had a friend to be my plus one. Think of it as a date, but not in a romantic way. Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash had their sisters be their plus ones, and it was their first time going there last year.” “But what happened last time, though?” “Discord brought the Smooze, ruining everything, simply because he was jealous of me having a new friend.” “Discord? Who’s that?” “A villain that’s been reformed by me.” “Oh. And does Celestia get mad when the Gala gets ruined?” Fluttershy shook her head. “No. She says the Gala is boring every year, but when something happens, it makes it less boring.” “Huh. Are you ponies doing the plus ones again this year?” Noah asked. “I’m not sure,” she said, thinking about it. “Why?” She gave him a cheesy grin. “Is there somepony in particular?” “Ehh, maybe. Unless you are doing the plus ones, that is,” he chuckled, rubbing the back of his head, this time his face blooming, and the two of them continued their onward to Rarity’s Boutique.