//------------------------------//
// A Friend to None 
// Story: Fables From Equestria 
// by Shingo 
//------------------------------//

The moon was high above Equestria, and most if its citizens were making their trip to the dream world. Up above a bakery in Ponyville, a certain pink pony was writing in a journal. She sat beside a fireplace with a snifter full of some unknown liquid. A smile was on her face as she wrote in the journal. A small alligator wearing a top hat and a small tuxedo walked up to her.

“A friend to all is a friend to none,” she said. The alligator blinked. “I’ve been told that whenever I tell ponies I want to be friends with everypony. They made many convincing arguments for why that statement would be true. Gummy, can you guess what they said?” Again, the alligator blinked.

“They said that if a pony had a large number of friends, details about said friends won’t be known. They said that the pony with many friends won’t really know each and every one. At some point, this is true. With a large number of friends, a pony won’t know how they work. They won’t know how to remove their insecurities to make them happy; all they’ll see is what their friends present them. And that means that you truly don’t know a pony.” The pink pony closed the journal.

“But I’ve worked hard to prove them wrong,” she said. The snifter was raised to her lips. “I’ve done my hardest to befriend everypony I’ve met. And I’ve learned every possible detail I could about them. That way, I can always find a way to make them smile. When I’m friends with them, I introduce them to my other friends, and then they have a larger number of friends. More friends equate to more happiness. I’ve done that with a hundred ponies so far.” The pony filled a second snifter with the unknown liquid. It was placed in front of the alligator.

“I hope I can keep doing that,” she said. “I hope that I can keep making friends. And I hope I can know each and every one of them like I know myself.” She raised her drink in the air.

“Here’s to the hundred friends I have,” the alligator gripped his glass. “And here’s to a hundred more.” The pony tapped her snifter against the alligator’s, and took a drink.