//------------------------------// // Chapter 21 (It's Party Time!) // Story: Moving Day // by Timothy48 //------------------------------// Chapter 21 “I don’t remember asking anyone to throw me a ‘Welcome to Equestria, glad you’re feeling better, sorry that you were kidnapped by a crazy god’ party,” remarked Allen dryly as he, Twilight and Lyra walked under the rather large banner hanging over the entrance to his farm. Looking down his driveway, Allen could see a large group of ponies milling about enjoying various activities and food in his front and side yards. “Well, that’s Pinkie Pie for you,” replied Twilight easily, as if this was the most normal thing in the world. “Pinkie Pie?” asked Allen, a baffled expression on his face. “What kind of name is that?” “Why it’s my name silly!” exclaimed a loud and excited voice from behind Allen. “Bwah!” shouted Allen as he spun around to discover the pinkest pony that ever lived. Her coat was a light pink, while her mane was a darker shade of the same color and reminded Allen of cotton candy. Her eyes meanwhile were a sparkling light blue and seemed to be filled with nothing but joy and happiness. Finally, plastered proudly on her flanks were a trio of party balloons, one yellow and the other two blue. Clutching his chest with one hand, Allen willed his heart to slow down. Meanwhile, the pink party pony was practically bombarding him with words so fast that he couldn’t tell when one ended and the other started. “And so I said, oatmeal, are you crazy? Then I-” a sudden hoof inserting itself into her mouth caused the unending stream of words to, while not completely stop, at least become muffled, and allow normal people to think. “Pinkie, please, Allen just got out of the hospital, so could you slow down a little? He’s not used to your... Pinkieness yet.” asked Twilight, the owner of said hoof that was now getting a little damp from Pinkie’s spittle as she continued to try and talk around her hoof. That can not be sanitary. Thought Allen disgustingly to himself. Pinkie meanwhile seemed completely unfazed by the hoof lodged squarely in her mouth, as if this was something that happened on a regular basis, and from what Allen could see, he wouldn’t be surprised in the least bit if it was a regular occurrence. Spitting Twilight's hoof out of her mouth, Pinkie took a deep breath, and Allen braced himself for another onrush of words. However, the pink party pony instead stuck out her hoof, and wrapping it slightly around Allen’s hand, proceeded to vigorously shake it saying, “Sorry about that! I have a tendency to forget that not everypony can keep up with me all the time!” After enduring the pink earth pony’s jackhammer like hoof shaking, Allen firmly retrieved his hand from her grip and replied, “That’s alright, just, try to do better to keep that in mind next time?” Shooting him a perky salute, she happily replied, “Okie doki loki!” Taking a moment to smooth out his shirt, Allen casually looked around and commented. “So, you set this little shindig up then?” Nodding vigorously, Pinkie happily replied, “Sure did! When Twilight told me that you were going to be getting out of the hospital, I knew that this was the perfect chance for me to finally throw you a ‘Welcome to Equestria’ party! Normally, I would have done this when you first showed up, but there were a bunch of Royal Guard’s who said that I had to wait because of reasons. Which made me sad,” her expression suddenly took on a sad forlorn look and her mane almost seemed like it had deflated slightly as a result. Allen for his part convinced himself that it was a trick of the light, as not even a second later, it was back to its springy self and the pony it was attached to was happily bouncing and smiling again. “But now, I don’t have to wait anymore, and let me tell you, I was about to go crazy~ if I had to wait just one more day!” Leaning back slightly from the pink ball of pure happiness, Allen replied, “Well, that’s... good to hear, that you didn’t have to go crazy from waiting any longer.” “Tell me about it! Even the Cake's were getting a little worried about me, and I’ve lived with them since I moved to Ponyville!” replied the hyperactive mare. “And how long ago was that?” Pinkie paused for a second as she put a hoof to her chin and screwed her face up in an expression of intense thought. “Hmmm, I think it was about ten years ago? It was just after this giant rainbow explosion that happened in the sky and I suddenly got my cutie mark.” “And are you always this... perky?” asked Allen hesitantly. Pinkie nodded happily. “Yepperoni! Well, except on days when I’m not, but those aren’t very often.” Good lord, those poor people. Thought Allen to himself as he tried not to imagine what living with this pony everyday for ten years would be like. If it had been him, he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to stay sane. Shaking his head, he turned his attention back to her and asked, “You guys didn’t go in my house, did you? I don’t want to sound like a jerk but, I’d rather not have a bunch of random people stomping around my house without my permission.” “Of course not! What kind of party planner would I be if I just randomly invaded pony’s houses without either their or their family’s permission? That wouldn’t be very nice of me if I did! Not everypony wants to have a surprise party, you know? I mean, I can understand why someponies might think I do that, but I’ve learned that the fastest way to ruin a fun party is to do something that somepony didn’t even want!” Pointing a hoof at the decently sized party behind Allen, Pinkie said, “My Pinkie Sense told me you probably didn’t want a party inside your house or that you’d like one of the surprising variety, so I just invited a few ponies that you knew, along with their friends and family so that you could make some new friends!” “That was... rather considerate of you, thanks.” Allen wasn’t sure how, but it looked like Pinkie’s smile only got bigger when he said that. “You’re welcome!” suddenly her ears perked up and her expression morphed into a look of surprise, “Oh! Itchy left ear, and twingy left rear hock? Gasp! The punch bowl is almost out of punch! I gotta go! Enjoy your party!” And with that, the pink mare took off like a racehorse at the Kentucky Derby, leaving Allen standing there with a perplexed look on his face. Turning to Twilight he opened his mouth to ask what that was all about when she quickly replied, “Don’t ask, I mean it. I nearly killed myself trying to figure her out. So just do what everypony else does around here, and try not to think about it, alright?” “Ooookay,” replied Allen, an unsure look on his face. However, after a moment, he decided to follow the local custom of just shrugging and moving on when it came to Pinkie Pie’s antics. “So,” he asked as the three of them began walking towards Allen’s home again, “I guess we should get this stuff inside and see what kind of party Pinkie Pie set up for me.” Looking up at Allen, both Twilight and Lyra smiled. “You’ll like it,” replied Twilight, a happy expression on her face, “Pinkie has a knack for making parties that others really enjoy.” “It is her special talent after all,” quipped Lyra with a giggle. “True, very true,” Twilight agreed, nodding as they walked up the brick sidewalk to Allen’s front porch. Stepping up to the door, Allen pulled the screen door open, slipped his house key out of his pocket, and into the front door lock and twisted it, unlocking it and stepping through. Standing aside, he held the door open for the two unicorns to enter behind him. Letting the screen door bang shut behind him, the group ventured deeper into the house. Entering the kitchen, Allen set his bag and things on the kitchen island, and motioning with a hand, took his things from the two unicorns as they floated them out of their saddlebags, and placed them on the island alongside his backpack. “Well, that should be everything, I’ll put it all back later, let’s just head outside and see what kind of shindig we got going on out there,” said Allen as he turned and ushered Twilight and Lyra out of the kitchen and towards the front door. Stepping back outside, Allen took in the sight before him. A group of maybe about twenty to thirty ponies of all shapes, sizes, colors, and ages were gathered around his house laughing, drinking punch, eating cake and playing party games, and just generally having a good time. From where he stood, Allen could see a couple of familiar faces out in the group, there was Pinkie Pie running around in a party fueled frenzy, trying to make sure that everyone was having fun. Looking away from the pink pony, Allen spotted, to his slight surprise, Dr. Stable and Nurse Redheart over by the punch bowl, laughing and talking with a gray coated pegasus mare with a straw yellow mane, and bubbles for a cutie mark who had her back to him. As Allen was looking their way, Nurse Redheart took that moment to look in his direction, and seeing him, shot him a bright smile and a happy wave. Dr. Stable, seeing Nurse Redheart waving, looked up from his conversation and, also spotting Allen, gave his own wave in greeting, which Allen returned. Having made their greeting, both Redheart and Stable turned their attention back to their friend and Allen shifted his elsewhere. By this point, a couple of ponies had noticed the trio standing on Allen’s porch and had made their way over. One of them, a cream-colored earth pony with a two-toned cobalt blue and light fuchsia-colored mane that curled up at the ends, was Lyra’s marefriend, Sweetie Drops, though most ponies, including Lyra, called her Bon Bon. Allen had only met her once when Lyra had stopped by to drop some things off for him at the hospital, but she seemed nice enough at the time. Lyra, upon seeing her marefriend coming her way, quickly trotted over and gave her a hug and a peck on the lips. Bon Bon playfully pushed her marefriend away with a heavy blush on her face. “Lyra,” she mock complained, “not in front of everypony!” Waggling her eyebrows in a suggestive manner simply said, “You know you like it when I show everypony you’re mine~” Chuckling at the mare’s antics, Allen strode down off the porch and extended his hand saying, “Hey Bon Bon, haven’t seen you in a while, how’ve you been?” Taking his hand with her hoof, she gave it a firm shake and replied, “Can’t really complain, business has been good lately, and it’s nice having Lyra in Ponyville more often these days now that her Ph.D. is nearly finished. It was such a pain only getting to see her on the weekends when she commuted to Canterlot for school.” Allen nodded in commiseration. “I feel you, I had a friend who did the same thing, he’d only be back home either during the holidays, spring break, or summer break. It was a real pain trying to stay connected at times, especially during exam week.” “Oh I know, I know, Lyra would do the same thing when finals would come around. She’d be so busy studying for them that she wouldn’t have time to come back to Ponyville for the weekend until it was all over,” lamented Bon Bon. Lyra, for her part, simply rolled her eyes. “Oh come on Bonny, it’s not like it was for that long or that I did it that often. Sheesh, you forgot about one anniversary because you’re cramming for an important test, and you’ll never live it down,” she grumbled softly to herself. Bon Bon for her part gave her marefriend a nudge with her shoulder and a soft smile, and said, “I’m only teasing Lyra, I know how much this means to you, and I knew going in that you’d have a lot on your plate. So don’t think I’m upset or anything about missed anniversaries... though now that your workload has lessened, you don’t have as much of an excuse now, so... try not to forget our next one, okay?” she finished, smiling sweetly at Lyra. Lyra just nodded, a pouty expression on her face. Chuckling at his friend's antics, Allen looked over at the second pony to come trotting up. She was a well-groomed unicorn mare, with a pearl white coat, indigo-colored mane and tail, and a trio of what looked like diamonds on her flank. Sticking out a hoof in a dainty fashion, she introduced herself, “Hello there, my name is Rarity Belle, but you may call me Rarity. I’m Ponyville’s resident fashionista, boutique owner, and friend of Twilight’s,” she said as she batted her azure eyes coyly at Allen as he gently shook her hoof. “Allen Ross, nice to meet you.” “The pleasure is all mine,” she said, “I’ve been dying to talk with you since I learned of your presence in our fair town.” “You have?” “But of course!” exclaimed Rarity melodramatically, “As you might have guessed by my introduction, I am a mare of fashion! Clothing is my passion and when Twilight told me a little about how people in your world wear clothes all the time, I just had to meet you and learn more. For in there,” she pointed to Allen’s home, and then to him, “and up there” she said, pointing at his head, “are an entire world’s worth of fashion ideas just waiting to be discovered! I simply could not pass up the opportunity to come and see you as soon as I could. Once I learned that you had been officially released from the hospital and that Pinkie Pie was going to throw you a welcome party, I knew I just had to come, and here I am!” she said with a giggle. Scratching the back of his head, Allen gave the fashion-minded mare an uncertain look. “I’m not sure that I’m the best person to be talking to when it comes to... well, fashion. I’m not really one of those people that really cares too much about how I look, other than making sure I don’t look like a bum, especially on Sunday.” Rarity giggled in reply. “Oh, you needn't worry about your fashion knowledge being an issue darling. As I said, I only wanted to ask you about what you know and maybe borrow some books from your world. My inspiration will take care of the rest, I can assure you. I’m sure that wouldn’t be too much trouble, would it?” she asked, a demure smile on her face. Allen looked back and forth between Rarity and an increasingly uneasy looking Twilight, before fixing the fashion-minded mare with his most charming smile and said, “Well as nice as that sounds, I’m afraid I’ll have to decline your offer.” Rarity’s smile quickly dissipated like a morning dew before the might of the noonday sun. In its place was a frown of confusion. “Huh? B-but why?” she asked, a slight whine in her voice. Like a child denied something sweet. Maintaining his charming smile, Allen easily replied, “I’m afraid I just won’t have the time really,” sweeping his arm out in an encompassing gesture of his farm, he continued, “I’ve got a lot of work to do if I want to keep a roof over my head and food in my stomach, and I’m afraid that ‘talking fashion’ with you won’t do it. So I’m afraid we’ll just have to put a raincheck on that idea, and maybe when things calm down we can discuss it some other time.” Shooting Allen, a disappointed pout, Rarity sadly, but gracefully replied, “Oh well, when you put it that way, I suppose that makes more sense for you to do. Sorry, I got so wrapped up in the excitement of seeing what a completely different world does for clothing that I didn’t think about anything else.” Allen gave Rarity a comforting smile. “Hey, no harm done. If it makes you feel any better, there wasn’t much to talk about anyways. As I said, my family doesn’t really have the time to be fashionable, so most of our clothes are for practicable purposes, you know, being farmers and all, so I doubt there was much I could have helped you with in the first place.” Sighing at the lost opportunity, Rarity returned Allen’s smile with a smaller one of her own and replied, “Oh, I think you might be underestimating yourself, Mr. Ross. While you might not wear the finest clothes, others do. Things such as books, magazines, moving pictures, and paintings, have all provided me with inspiration for new fashion ideas. However, I won’t press the matter, it would be very rude of me to do so, especially when I would be distracting you from your work. Goodness knows, I can’t stand it when ponies distract me from my own work, especially when I’m trying to meet a deadline.” “I appreciate the thoughtfulness, and who knows,” said Allen with a shrug, “that raincheck might come sooner rather than later. I know Twilight and Lyra have been pestering me about my world for weeks now, and I’m sure they’ve seen plenty of human clothing styles during their research, perhaps you might ask them about some of it in the meantime.” “Oh, I hadn’t thought of that,” said Rarity, a sudden gleam in her eye as she turned and regarded her fellow unicorns with a hungry look, “thank you very much for bringing that little tidbit of information to my attention, darling. Come along Lyra, we’ve got fashion to discuss~” purred Rarity as she grabbed Lyra with a friendly, but firm grip and began dragging the hapless unicorn away into the crowd. Calling out over her shoulder, Rarity bade a cheerful farewell as she departed with her new friend in tow. “Tata, Mr. Ross, it was nice meeting you~!” Lyra shot Allen a pleading look as she was dragged away, but Allen, being the smart man that he was, simply smiled and waved, confident that she would survive Rarity's proclivities for fashion mostly intact. Letting loose a breath of relief at having dodged that particular bullet, Allen turned to Twilight and said, “Well, that was something.” Giving Allen a sheepish grin, Twilight replied, “Ehehe, sorry about that, Rarity really likes to talk about fashion when she gets the chance.” “So I noticed,” remarked Allen dryly. “I should probably go and make sure Lyra doesn’t end up as one of Rarity’s ponnequins,” said Bon Bon, “it was nice meeting you, Mr. Ross,” she said as she turned to leave. “Same here, and you can just call me Allen, whenever someone calls me Mr. Ross, I think they’re talking about my dad,” joked Allen. Giggling at Allen’s reply, Bon Bon nodded. “Alright then, see you later Allen, I hope you enjoy the party.” “Thanks, same to you,” replied Allen with a wave as Bon Bon trotted off in pursuit of her marefriend and her captor. “So, anyone else you want me to meet right now?” asked Allen as he and Twilight began heading for the refreshment table. Twilight placed a hoof to her chin in thoughtful contemplation as she tried to remember who was at the party and who had elected to skip it, as contrary to popular belief, not everypony could just drop what they were doing to attend a Pinkie Pie party. Especially one that was as far outside of town as Allen’s. “Well,” she began, “as far as I’m aware, Pinkie Pie and Rarity were the only ones out of my close circle of friends that came to your party.” “I thought Lyra was a close friend of yours?” asked Allen as he selected a cupcake from a plate that said ‘sugar-free’ on it. He assumed that plate was meant for him as it didn’t look like too many ponies had elected to try one of them. Biting into the cupcake, his taste buds were pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn’t as bland as he was afraid it would be. “Hmm, that’s pretty good, normally sugar-free food doesn’t taste this good,” he remarked. “Well of course it doesn’t silly,” replied Pinkie Pie happily from the other side of the table. Where she had come from, Allen didn’t know, as she hadn’t been there a second ago. He tried not to think about it. “That’s why I used a little bit of honey instead! It’s not as good as one of my regular sugar cupcakes, but Dr. Stable told me to make sure that there were some foods here for you to eat!” Chewing the rest of the cupcake, Allen swallowed and said, “Well thanks Pinkie, this tastes pretty good, I wouldn’t mind having more of these later, so if you don’t mind, could you save the recipe for me?” Giving him a salute, Pinkie cheerfully replied, “Okie dokie loki, I’ll be sure to write down the recipe as soon as I get back to Sugar Cube Corner tonight! I just kind of threw this together to see if it would turn out alright, and luckily, it did! Though,” her face suddenly became serious as she lifted a hoof to rub her chin in exaggerated thought, “I think it could do with a few tweaks still.” “Well, I’ll be happy to test it out for you when you make the next batch,” replied Allen as he reached for yet another honey cupcake. A million-watt smile lit up Pinkie’s face as she happily exclaimed, “You got it! How’s next Tuesday sound?” Surprised by her sudden offer, Allen replied, “Uh, as far as I know, I should be able to come by for that, I guess?” “Perfect!” exclaimed Pinkie happily as she pulled a blue notepad out of her mane and quickly scribbled something inside it before then shoving it back inside her poofy mess of a mane. “I’ve got you scheduled for two o’clock, see you then!” and with that, she pronked off again to parts unknown. Shaking his head at the pink pony’s antics, Allen turned his attention back to Twilight and asked, “Sorry about that, what was I talking about again?” “You were asking me if Lyra was a close friend of mine,” replied Twilight, as she floated a honey cupcake over and took a bite, letting loose an appreciative hum at the taste. “You’re right, these are pretty good.” “Oh right, thanks. So yeah, what is the deal with that?” asked Allen. Grabbing a pair of cups from the punch bowl, Twilight kept one for herself and floated the other to Allen, who took it with a quiet, ‘thanks’. Taking a sip of her punch, Twilight thought of the best way to explain her relationship with Lyra, finally, she just shrugged and said, “It’s complicated. While I have known Lyra longer than my Ponyville friends, she and I weren’t very close, I would say we were friendly acquaintances at best, the same goes for the rest of my Canterlot social circle. Well, save for Moondancer, she and I were study buddies during school, and while we hung out with Lyra and some of our other classmates, we tended to spend a lot of time together.” “Okay, so is she still up in Canterlot then?” asked Allen as he polished off another cupcake. Twilight nodded in reply. “As far as I know. I... kind of fell out of touch with my Canterlot social group when Princess Celestia sent me to Ponyville to make some friends to help defeat Nightmare Moon and free her sister, Princess Luna.” “Oh yeah, you guys are some kind of national hero’s right?” interjected Allen as his memory suddenly drudged up an earlier conversation where Twilight told him about how she and her friends had saved Equestria a couple of times using something called the ‘Elements of Harmony’. Twilight blushed. “Well...” she said as she kicked the ground with a hoof in embarrassment, “I guess you could say that but the girls and I don’t really like being thought of that way... or at least most of us don’t,” she said the last part under her breath as she remembered some of Rainbow’s bragging episodes. Allen simply nodded in understanding. “Ah yeah, that’s right thanks,” he shook his head in self-deprecating amusement, “I swear, the more I learn, the more I forget. Half the time I feel like I’d forget my own head if it wasn’t attached to my shoulders.” Twilight giggled in agreement. “I feel the same way sometimes. Especially when I find a really good book, if it wasn’t for Spike, I’d probably be little more than a trotting skeleton right now from the lack of eating.” Allen shared Twilight’s amusement for a moment before he brought the conversation back on track. “So you were talking about your friends in Canterlot?” “Oh!” exclaimed Twilight as she suddenly remembered where the conversation had been going before it took a sudden detour, “right, my... friends.” Her expression took on a somber appearance and Allen suddenly felt a twinge of concern for the little purple pony. “Hey, you okay?” he asked gently. Twilight sniffed. “I’m just now realizing what a horrible friend I am,” she said, tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes. “Huh?” “I was in such a hurry to show Princess Celestia that I was a good student and to prove that I was right about Nightmare Moon’s return, that I left Canterlot without saying goodbye to Moondancer or the others. What’s even worse is that Moondancer was having a birthday party the day that I left, and I didn’t show up or even send her a card. In fact, I just left everything behind when I moved to Ponyville, including the few friendships I had back home. I was so focused on being the best student that I could be, that I thought of everything else around me as irrelevant.” Sensing that she was winding herself up for a mental breakdown, Allen quickly herded her away from the middle of the party to a more secluded area by the barn. Sitting down on a conveniently placed hay bale, Allen placed a finger under her chin and brought it up so that he could look her in the eye and say, “Hey, you’re not a bad friend, Twilight-” “But I am! Moondancer didn’t have a lot of friends and she tended to shy away from social interaction. So for me to not only miss her party but not even talk to her since I left a year ago... she must hate me.” Ah geez, here come the tears. Come on Allen think, use that noggin of yours for something other than running into low-hanging obstacles. Scratching his head, Allen looked around trying to figure out what to say to prevent the situation from spiraling further downward. Finding nothing, he gave a frustrated sigh and said, “Twilight, you are not a horrible friend. An inconsiderate one, maybe, but not a bad one.” Sniffing, Twilight used a hoof to wipe some of her tears away and asked in a squeaky voice, “Really?” “Really. If you were a horrible friend, then you wouldn’t be getting worked up over this right now. Look,” he said, spreading his hands in front of him, “you had a lot on your mind back then, and it’s easy to forget things if they aren’t in front of you all the time. You know how the old saying goes, ‘Out of sight, out of mind.’ The same thing applies with relationships, if you don’t see and talk with those people for a while, then it gets harder to remember that they exist and stuff, and... well, ugh,” he frustratedly groaned and rubbed his face with a hand as he tried to figure out what to say next. “Look, I’m not the best at this kind of thing. Living on a farm in the country, you don’t get a chance to make a lot of friends, and the few that you do either seem to stick with you forever or they end up moving on at some point and they leave you behind. Eventually, you just forget about them and move on.” “That’s so sad,” said Twilight softly, as she looked up at Allen. Allen just shrugged. “It’s just the way it is sometimes. Some friendships weren’t meant to last,” looking up, he gazed out at the happy party-goers and softly said, “or maybe they never existed in the first place.” Shaking his head, he turned his thoughts back to the present. “Look, if you actually care about this pony, and the others back in Canterlot, then it shouldn’t be that hard to make up your mind about what you’re going to do.” “But what if they are mad at me and don’t want to be friends with me anymore?” asked Twilight, an uncertain and worried expression on her face. “Then they are, and you can hold your head up high knowing that you did your best to reconnect with them. In the end, while it sucks, it’s not really the end of the world if you lose a couple of friends over something like this. If they really were your friends in the first place, then they should be willing to give you a chance to explain yourself, apologize and make it up to them.” “You really think so?” she asked with a hopeful look blossoming in her eyes. Allen shrugged again helplessly. “If Lyra is anything to go by, then I’d say you have a decent chance. If I were you, I’d suggest asking Lyra about what happened to your social circle back in Canterlot when you left and see if they’re still in touch with each other. After that, you’ll just have to do your best and trust your instincts.” Twilight adopted a thoughtful look as she turned her gaze to the happy party-goers and quietly digested Allen’s suggestion. After a couple of minutes of thinking, she nodded her head and gave Allen a grateful smile saying, “Thank you, Allen. I think I’ll go do that first thing in the morning.” “Why not right now?” asked Allen, a puzzled look on his face, “I mean, I figured you’d want to talk to Lyra as soon as possible.” Twilight nodded. “Normally I would, but given the fact that Rarity is probably going on a fashion bender right now with her, I’d rather not become collateral damage, if you know what I mean.” “Oh yeah, I’d forgotten about that little detail, good call,” replied Allen simply. Twilight giggled in reply. “So, staying on the topic of friends, how many other friends do you have here in Ponyville? You said that only Rarity and Pinkie Pie were here out of the rest of your friend group.” “Well, while I know a lot of ponies here in Ponyville, and I consider them to be my friends, they’re not as close as the other three Bearers of the Elements of Harmony,” replied Twilight as she took another bite of her cupcake. “And who are these other three members? Have I met any of them?” asked Allen curiously. Twilight shook her head. “No, well... at least not directly, you met Applejack’s grandmother, Granny Smith when Prince Blueblood was negotiating with the DOTI over land recompense. That’s probably the reason why Applejack decided to skip the party. She’s... taken the loss of part of her farm pretty hard, and I think she might be partly blaming you for its loss.” “Me? What did I do?” asked Allen, an irritated look on his face at the idea of somebody blaming him for a wrong he didn’t even commit let alone have control over. After all, it wasn’t his fault that some crazy chaos god ripped him and his home from his world and dumped it here. Twilight, sensing Allen’s growing irritation, quickly moved to placate him. “I know, I know, but... well, Applejack is one of those ponies that can hold a grudge for a really long time, and nothing makes her madder than hurting her family or her farm. Now, I’m sure intellectually she knows that you’re not to blame, but...” “But I’m a reminder of what that asshole did to her, and since he’s not here, I’m her only outlet,” finished Allen tiredly. Twilight sadly nodded. “I’ve only known Applejack for a short period of time, but I know that this section of farmland was very special to her and her family, and it’s just... gone now, with no known way of getting it back.” Allen sat there for a minute, digesting Twilight’s reply, finally, he said, “Well, so long as she doesn’t cause trouble for me, I’ll do my best to tread softly around her. Though that doesn’t mean I’m gonna let her walk all over me neither, and I expect her to eventually get over it. No matter how many memories were buried amongst those trees, in the end, they’re just trees, and I’ve found that getting stuck in the past makes seeing the future that much more difficult.” Twilight nodded. “I’m sure she’ll come around, she usually does in the end. Though, she can be really stubborn when she wants to be.” Allen snorted in amusement. “Sounds like my little sister.” “You have a sister?” “Sure, she just turned sixteen this year, and while I love her to pieces, some days I really want to strangle her.” Twilight giggled in response. “My brother Shining Armor probably felt the same way with me some days, especially when I’d found a good book and wouldn’t come out of my room till I had finished it. He got pretty good at breaking my magical locks by the time he left for Royal Guard training.” “Why am I not surprised?” “What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Twilight, a look of shocked embarrassment on her face. Giving her a sly smile, Allen simply shook his head and replied, “Nothing, don’t worry about it, I’m just having a little poke at you.” Shooting Allen a grumpy look, Twilight crossed her forehooves and said, “Yeah well, you’d put up magical locks on your door too if your brother had a habit of sneaking in and hiding your precious books while you were using the bathroom as a form of leverage to make you do things.” “And would those ‘things’ happen to be basic bodily needs such as eating and bathing from time to time?” asked Allen smugly. “No comment,” said Twilight, her pout having increased in intensity. Letting loose a laugh, Allen simply shook his head and gently nudged Twilight with a hand saying, “Alright, I’ll back off, but you gotta admit, he did have a good reason to do that if you were that bad at looking after yourself back then.” Letting loose a sigh, Twilight felt her pout lessen and eventually turn into an embarrassed smile. “I guess I was acting a little silly back then.” “Just a little?” prodded Allen. Rolling her eyes, Twilight shot back with a huff, “Okay fine, it was really silly, are you happy now?” “As a matter of fact, I am,” replied Allen cheekily. Still smiling, he continued, “So, that’s one of your friend’s absences explained, what about the other two?” “Well,” began Twilight, “Fluttershy doesn’t really like being in large groups for very long, and she’s still quite shy, though her anxiety isn’t as bad as it used to be, but she’d rather spend time around animals than ponies.” “Ah, the joys of being an introvert with crippling social anxiety," remarked Allen simply. “I had a friend like that, she’d rather die than get up in front of people and speak, and you could forget inviting her to a birthday party if there were more than a half dozen people there that she didn’t know. Even if she did know everyone, it was still a chore to get her to come.” Twilight nodded. “Yeah, that sounds a lot like Fluttershy. As I said, she’s very self-conscious around other ponies, and though she is getting better, it can still be really difficult for her at times.” Allen nodded in understanding. “That’s alright, if she has that much trouble being around others, then I wouldn’t want to force her outside of her comfort zone. I’m not hurting for social interaction at this party,” he said as he swept an arm over the gathered herd of ponies milling around and enjoying themselves. Shooting him a grateful smile, Twilight replied, “I’ll be sure to tell her you weren’t upset about her missing your party, and that you were very understanding about it.” “Sounds good,” replied Allen as he popped the rest of his current honey cupcake in his mouth. Chewing thoughtfully he then asked, “And your last friend that’s not here?” Twilight’s happy expression morphed into a frustrated scowl. “Rainbow’s being... Rainbow, I guess is the best way to put it?” “Oookay?” said Allen, an uncertain look on his face. Letting loose a frustrated sigh, she explained, “Rainbow Dash, like Applejack, seems to be avoiding your party on purpose.” “Why? I mean, I can understand your friend Applejack needing some time to come to terms with things, but what did I do to this Rainbow Dash character?” “Remember when I told you my friends and I are considered national heroes, and that we are Bearers of the Elements of Harmony?” “Vaguely,” replied Allen. “Well, each of us embodies a trait of Harmony, Pinkie Pie is the Element of Laughter,” said Twilight as she pointed in the direction that the party pony disappeared to. “Yeah, I can see that,” remarked Allen simply. “Rarity represents the Element of Generosity, Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness, Applejack the Element of Honesty, and Rainbow is the Element of Loyalty.” Allen nodded his head, a flicker of understanding forming on his face. “So because she’s this Element of Loyalty, and I’m assuming that she and Applejack are good friends, then she boycotted my party because she thought that coming would be like betraying her friend?” Twilight nodded. “In a manner of speaking, yes. Though she didn’t put it quite like that when I asked her why she wasn’t coming earlier.” “And what did she actually say?” asked Allen, a curious expression on his face. “I... really shouldn’t say, there are impressionable ears nearby, and I don’t want you to get the wrong idea about her, she can be rough around the edges at first, but once she gets to know you, she’s really sweet... if annoying at times,” said Twilight, a hint of uncertainty, and unwillingness to give Allen a bad first impression of one of her friends. Giving Twilight a look, Allen simply said, “Twilight, it won’t do anyone any good if this crap is allowed to fester. Now that you’ve given me a hint that I’m not well-liked by someone here, I’d like to know just how disliked I really am. That way I can take an appropriate stance when the time comes to sort this crap out. And if you’re worried about young ears, just lean in and whisper it to me.” Glancing around, Twilight motioned for Allen to lean in closer and repeated Rainbow’s words quietly in his ear. Allen for his part felt his eyebrow rise up, and leaning back slightly to look at Twilight fully, he asked, “Does she kiss her mother with that mouth?” “Oooh, and this is why I didn’t want to tell you, now you’ll hate her, and it’ll be all my fault and she just said those things because AJ’s upset, and that made her upset and she tends to get ahead of herself and-” Allen, seeing that Twilight was winding herself up, quickly put a finger to her lips and shushed her. Holding his hand there for several seconds, he waited for Twilight to calm herself down before saying, “Twilight, I could give two shits about what your friends think of me. I’ve got bigger fish to fry right now, and so long as they don’t mess with me or my farm, then I’m willing to live and let live, alright?” “But-” “Alright?” interjected Allen, his tone brooking no argument. Her ears drooping a little, Twilight despondently replied, “Alright.” Satisfied, Allen nodded and giving her a calm smile said, “Now, that doesn’t mean I won’t try to get them to bury the hatchet with me at some point, and hopefully not in my back-” “They would never do something like that!” exclaimed Twilight in horror. “Easy, easy, it was just a little bit of humor,” said Allen as he made calming motions with his hands. “How could you joke about something like that? That’s a horrible thing to say!” “Sorry, I kind of get my humor from my mother, her family didn’t have the easiest or happiest life before she met my dad, and it kind of warped her sense of humor, and I guess a little bit of that rubbed off on me,” replied Allen, an apologetic look on his face. Now it was Twilight’s turn to look apologetic. “I-I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that without knowing more about you and your life. I guess... I’m a little bit sheltered when it comes to the realities of the world. Not everywhere is as nice and safe as Canterlot or Ponyville.” “Your apology is accepted, and as I said, I’m sorry too, I know not everyone appreciates my sense of humor, so I’ll do a better job of keeping it light, sound good?” Shooting Allen a smile, Twilight nodded and seeing that she was okay, Allen decided to finish his thought. “So, as I was saying, I’ll try and make peace with them when they’ve had a chance to calm down. Considering everything that has happened lately, I can’t even imagine how they’re feeling right now. If half of what I’ve heard is true about this Discord fellow, he’s one sick dude, and it sounds like you girls went through the wringer when you went up against him. Stuff like that can change a person, and not always for the better, if I were you, I’d see about finding somebody to talk to about it.” “I... I never really thought about it like that,” murmured Twilight quietly, partly to herself and partly to Allen. But the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. She and her friends had gone through a seriously traumatic event when Discord had used his magic on them in an attempt to prevent them from using the Elements of Harmony. She shuddered at the memory of how Discord had warped them into the opposite of their normal selves, and how it had nearly torn them apart. If it hadn’t been for Princess Celestia sending her all of her previous friendship reports, thus allowing her to break through her Discord induced despair, Discord might have succeeded in his goal. Maybe, Allen has a point. I should definitely talk to Princess Celestia about this, she’d know what to do, right? Deciding to file that thought away for later. She turned her attention back to Allen and said, “I’ll keep that in mind, thank you. With everything that has happened lately, with defeating Discord, then helping you. I guess I haven’t really had time to think about what the girls and I went through, and I have a feeling they’re the same way.” Allen nodded. “Life has a habit of doing that, a traumatic event happens and then life just keeps going, not giving you a chance to stop and process everything properly. So you just shove it into the back of your mind and race onwards, hoping your mental scars can heal well enough on their own that you can cope with the pain. Take my advice,” he said, a serious expression on his face, “don’t ever think that. Even if you just talk with a family member or a friend, it will help to get it out in the open, even if they don’t fully understand what you went through, that’s not the point. The point is that you work your way through your experiences and figure out how you want to proceed going forward. Understand?” Twilight felt a pair of tears well up in the corners of her eyes as she looked up at Allen. Wiping them away with a fetlock, she sniffed and gave him a strained smile. “I-I’ll do that, I-I’m planning on going home to Canterlot this weekend, I-I’ll see if Shiny would be willing to talk with me, he might be able to help and if not, he might know somepony who can.” “Atta girl,” said Allen softly as he lightly punched Twilight on the withers in a show of camaraderie. “Now,” Allen said suddenly, as he levered himself up off the hay bale, taking a moment to brush the hay chaff from his pants, “how about we quit hiding way over here and go and enjoy this party that Pinkie threw for me, what do you say?” “I’d say that sounds like a great idea,” replied Twilight, her mood beginning to improve. “Well then, let’s go,” replied Allen happily as he began walking back to the main part of the party, Twilight quickly falling in alongside him as she hurried to keep pace with his longer strides. The two quickly became the center of attention as the other ponies took notice of their return, and for the next few hours, Allen felt himself forget about his troubles as he enjoyed himself. Talking with the townsponies, eating good party food, and even participating in some party games, though he found that the ponies hadn’t yet discovered the joys of Cornhole. Thankfully, Allen, as a good Hoosier, had his own cornhole set and quickly dug it out of the attic before setting up outside and teaching a couple of curious ponies how to play. Needless to say, it became pretty popular pretty quickly, to the point that they were able to hold Equestria’s first-ever Cornhole Tournament. He didn’t win, sadly, that honor went to Pinkie Pie, but he did place second, so that was nice, while Nurse Redheart managed to get third. Twilight didn’t even make it to the semi-finals. Apparently using magic for everything in life tended to impair one’s hoof to eye coordination, and seeing as they had decided to forbid the use of magic in any way during the game, that left Twilight with a distinct handicap. However, she took the loss in stride and simply said that she would ‘have to practice more for next time’. However, like all good things, eventually, the party wound down as the sky quickly turned to early evening, and soon it was just Allen, Pinkie, and Twilight left to do clean up. Tossing the last full bag of trash into a cart, Allen wiped his brow, and let out a sigh of relief at having finally finished. “You know, you didn’t have to help me clean up, I was going to take care of it,” said Pinkie as she packed away the last of her party games. “I know, but I’d feel like a jerk if I did, so I decided to help, plus it helps get you home before it gets dark out,” replied Allen with a shrug. “Aw, that’s really nice of you! Thanks!” said Pinkie happily. “You’re welcome, consider it my way of saying ‘thank you’ for the nice party. It was an unexpected welcome.” “Yes, thank you, Pinkie,” said Twilight as she trotted over with her saddlebags resting comfortably on her back, “I know it was hard to wait until Allen was feeling better to throw him this party, but I think you did a really good job.” “Well, I did have plenty of time to plan it so that it was just right!” replied Pinkie Pie happily as she strapped herself into her party cart. Giggling, Twilight replied, “That you did,” turning to Allen, Twilight gave him a happy smile, “and thank you, Allen.” Shooting her a confused look, Allen said, “For what?” “For your advice earlier, it really helped me organize my thoughts on how I want to do things.” A look of comprehension flashed across his face and he said, “Oh right, yeah sure, no problem. I figured it was the least I could do considering everything you’ve done for me.” Walking up to Allen, Twilight reared up on her hind hooves and wrapped her forelegs around Allen’s shoulders in a hug. Caught slightly off guard, Allen nevertheless returned the hug with one of his own. Though, after a few moments, he awkwardly broke the hug, and coughing into his hand said, “Well, I guess you two should get going before it gets dark and all.” Smiling gently, Twilight dropped back down to all fours and said, “Alright Allen, we’ll see you later, have a goodnight.” “See ya later, and don’t forget to be there Tuesday! Those cupcakes aren’t going to eat themselves!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie excitedly. Though, as far as Allen could tell, that seemed to be her default setting. “I’ll remember, and you two have a safe trip home,” said Allen with a smile and a wave as he watched the two ponies turn and start trotting away. He watched them go until they reached the end of his driveway and turned right onto the dirt track that served as a road between Ponyville and... whatever the other town it went to was called. Hmm, wonder if I can borrow a map from Twilight, might be useful to know what other towns are nearby. Thought, Allen to himself as he made his way inside. Letting the screen door slam behind him, he decided to leave the front door open to let some fresh air in before bed and made his way into the kitchen. Filling a glass of water, he sat down at the dining room table and took a sip, his mind awhirl with thoughts and feelings as he tried to figure out what he wanted to do next. However, the sound of heavy wingbeats out front followed by a loud crunch of ironshod wheels rolling quickly over his gravel drive pulled him out of his thoughts. Furrowing his brow, he stood up and started towards the front door to see what the commotion out front was. The sound of shod hooves thumping up his front porch, followed by a pair of knocks on the door frame caused him to pick up the pace a bit. Coming down the hallway, he quickly saw who his unexpected guest happened to be. “Prince Blueblood? I didn’t expect to see you here tonight, everything alright?” asked Allen as he opened the screen door. Though he didn’t move to invite the pony prince in just yet. Clearing his throat, Prince Blueblood replied, a serious look on his face. “I am sorry to come calling this late, but something has come up and I needed to speak with you as soon as possible.” “Nothing too bad I hope?” asked Allen, concern coloring his voice. “More annoying than bad, but it will still occupy my time, and time is something that we don’t have a lot of at present if we want to make this deal work,” replied Blueblood levelly. If it’s not one thing, it’s another, thought Allen as he heaved a weary sigh, before standing to one side and motioned for Blueblood to enter. “Well, come on in, and tell me what’s going on then.”