"I just don't get it," Izzy sighed, resting her head on her hooves, forehead touching the windowpane as she stared out. "Why does nopony want to be friends with me?"
Down the road, the last pink tail whisked around the corner and was gone. Only their laughter remained, echoing faintly in her ears.
Her granny's foreleg draped itself lightly across her shoulders. "It's not that nopony wants to be friends, Izzy. I'm sure that if they got to know you like I do they'd love you just as much."
Izzy sighed. "Then why…?"
The words trailed off, unfinished, and Izzy's gaze flicked closer, to the Tea Party Whirlatron, lying trampled and forlorn just beyond the bounds of the garden.
"It's just that…sometimes, it can be tough to convince ponies to take that first leap of faith. To get to know you." Her grandmother's hoof rubbed gentle circles across her shoulders, and a soft kiss was pressed into her hair.
Izzy sniffed. "But how can I ever convince them to try? The Whirlatron was my best craft project. The best one I've ever done."
"You'll find a way, pumpkin," her granny whispered. "I know you will. You just have to keep trying."
~~~
"I just don't get it!" Sunny's hoof hit the floor hard enough to make the wood groan.
Argyle winced at the noise, and Sunny flushed guiltily. She didn't want to hurt the lighthouse. But Sprout had been so…so nasty, and he'd gotten Hitch to go along and then all they'd wanted to do was play 'dragons eating ponies', and Spike hunted down the unicorns and the pegasi until only brave Applejack and mighty Pinkie Pie were left to stop him. It was just so stinking unfair.
"What don't you get, sweetie?" Argyle asked, bending low so that he could nuzzle her.
Sunny worked her jaw, and glared resolutely at the door that had slammed closed behind Phyllis as she bore the two colts away. An unhealthy temper, she had declared, a wriggling child under each forearm. And a bad influence!
The sound of the door slamming was looping in Sunny's head. Blam! So ugly, so final.
Sprout couldn't come without his mom's say-so – not that Sunny would want him here if he was like that all the time – and while Hitch's parents wouldn't care, Phyllis cared enough to make sure Hitch never came by again either.
"Why does nopony listen when I tell them unicorns and pegasuses are good?" she asked, and her voice was just a whisper. A bad influence.
"Because they don't understand, yet," Argyle answered. "It's our job to be patient and show them the truth."
"But how can I show them when they don't want to listen? It doesn't make any sense."
"You just need to keep trying, little one. Eventually, they'll listen."
~~~
"I don't get it," Izzy said, crestfallen. "I thought Hitch was your friend."
Sunny's orange fur was warm against her flank, but the unspoken question hung in the air between them. Why doesn't he like me?
"He…he is." Sunny sighed. "Or sometimes he is."
"Is he always like…" Like the foals at home, refusing to play, turning their backs because she was weird, or her granny was weird, or who knew what. "...Like this?"
"Not usually."
Unhappiness writ large upon her face, Sunny shifted her weight, and Izzy nestled in a little closer, enjoying the warmth of another pony.
Across the fire, the pegasus princesses lay curled up asleep, the firelight playing across their shiny feathers. At least they were kind.
"Or at least not all the time," Sunny went on. "He…I thought he'd get better away from Sprout."
"Sprout…" Izzy pursed her lips as she tried to pin down the name. "Oh, oh! Was he the angry little red one who chased us with a fork?"
Sunny stifled a laugh."The Unicorn Prong-Pricker 600, yeah. They've been selling those for a while."
"So your whole town…is just…like him?"
They'd discussed it for hours now, gone over and over it, but Izzy still struggled to wrap her head around it. They had really seemed like they were just playing. A weird earth pony game, sure, but Izzy had been more than ready to learn her new friends' traditions.
Sunny puffed air out through her nose. "Yeah. Way worse than Hitch. He's…he's nice, deep down. I thought he'd come around."
Izzy snorted. "Maybe really deep down. Geologically deep."
Sunny didn't answer, and when Izzy looked across she saw moisture glittering in her friend's eyes.
"Whoah, hey! I didn't mean it like that, Sunny. Come here." And she leaned even closer into her friend, pressing her muzzle into Sunny's jaw. "It's okay."
"He was my best friend, Izzy," whispered Sunny. "If we can't bring him round, how is there any hope for the rest of Maretime Bay?"
"We'll bring him round," Izzy said stoutly, though she believed no such thing. "We already got two crystals - how hard can one little earth pony be?"
Sunny sniffed and smiled. "Yeah. You and me together can do anything."
And that was something Izzy could believe.
~~~
"I don't get it," Sunny said crossly. "Why didn't the crystals work? We're no more magical than we were before. It should have done something."
Izzy frowned, twisting the crystals this way and that, just in case mashing them together in a different way would somehow make the magic work.
Zipp slumped to the floor. "So that's it? No magic?"
Pipp went to sit beside her sister, eyes big and watery. "For a second there I thought…"
"...That we might actually get to fly," Zipp finished for her. "Yeah. Me too."
"It's over," said Hitch dolefully. "Your plan didn't work, Sunny, and it's time we went home." He glanced around at the others. "Time we all went home."
There were a few beats of silence, and Izzy looked round with growing horror at her new friends as none of them contradicted him. "Go home? Wait, let's not – let's not jump to any conclusions. We can still try–"
"–Try what? It's over." Hitch stared at her in disbelief, and though the hate was gone, she knew he still didn't like her. He didn't like any of them.
Izzy looked past him, at Sunny, her first friend. The first one to smile at her, and sing with her, and play stupid games with her. The first one in all these years.
She looked at Sunny, and she knew she couldn't give up. Not yet. She couldn't just…go home. All that waited in Bridlewood was a big, empty house and the distaste of her peers. She was weird, and nopony liked her, and now there was not even Granny's smile to lift away the gloom.
"No," she said, and then louder, "No. I'm not going. We haven't – there must be something we haven't tried yet."
Pushing past Hitch, she sat beside Sunny, feeling once more the soft warmth of her friend's fur, and shoved the crystals into her hooves. "Come on, Sunny, think. You're smart – you're so smart. The smartest pony I know. You can figure this out."
~~~
"I don't get it," Sprout said, wrinkling his nose. "You like…the unicorn? That one with all the fuzzy blue hair?"
"Sprout…" sighed Hitch, but he was too slow.
"It's curly, not fuzzy," snapped Sunny. She pushed her coffee to one side, to better glare at him. "And yes, I like her, is that so hard to believe?"
"O-of course not," said Hitch, soothingly. "Izzy's…she's lovely."
"Uh, she's a unicorn," Sprout interjected. "Has everypony forgotten that but me?"
"Sprout!" Sunny pulled in a breath. "Are you seriously saying that right now?"
Flushing a deeper shade of red, Sprout ducked his head. "Well – yeah, okay, I know it's not a great look, with what happened and everything – but you're my friend, Sunny! Somepony's gotta talk sense to you, and it's obviously not going to be Hitch."
"And what's sense, Sprout?" Sunny asked dangerously.
Sprout's ears flattened, but he pressed on. "Well – you know I like having the unicorns here. And the pegasi. Trade is great, and it's amazing how much Canter Logic has been able to branch out – did you know pegasi get cold when they're flying? Mommy has designed a whole new knitwear collection–"
Hitch coughed sharply, and Sprout collected himself.
"Uh, right, sorry – tangent. What I'm saying is, friendship is one thing, but dating? Aren't you and whatsherface a little too…different for that?"
"Her name is Izzy," Sunny all but spat at him. "And if you were as reformed as you pretended to be, Sprout, you'd be giving me your advice on how to ask her out, like I wanted, instead of how to be a jerk!"
Sprout's face fell. "Sunny, wait, I–"
But he was too late. She shoved her chair back from the table and fled, blue satchel bouncing loudly against her shoulder with every step.
When Sunny finally slowed to a walk and wiped the tears from her eyes, she heard hoofbeats, and then Hitch was beside her once again, close enough to let their shoulders rub comfortingly as they walked.
"Okay, so it was probably a little soon for coffee," he said, smiling anxiously.
Sunny didn't laugh.
"But I still think you should ask Izzy out." He gave her an encouraging nudge. "She's clearly nuts about you."
That got her attention. "Really?"
"Yeah! She's always staring at you with these big eyes, and she gave you that…that, uh…"
A fond smile crossed Sunny's face. "The Tea Party Whirlatron."
"Yeah. That." He grinned. "She likes you. Ask her out! And I'll…I'll talk to Sprout. Next time you feel up to coffee with us, he'll be better. I promise."
"Okay," said Sunny, nervously, and then stronger, squaring her shoulders. "Okay."
~~~
"I don't get it!" Izzy protested, a giggle bubbling in her throat. "Why is he crossing the road?"
"Because he wants to – he wants to get to the other side!" Sunny looked at the confusion on Izzy's face and burst into another peal of laughter.
Izzy shook her head with a bemused grin. "But why is it funny? Earth pony humour is so weird."
Snorting hard enough to bring tears to her eyes, Sunny slung a foreleg around the other mare's shoulders and pressed their cheeks together. "Because it is!"
"Okay, okay!" Izzy surrendered and dissolved into giggles. "I guess watching to try to explain it has been funny enough all by itself."
"See, I knew you'd get it–" Beaming with delight, Sunny twisted her head to look Izzy in the eyes, and then their muzzles were suddenly right up against one another.
Sunny froze.
Izzy froze.
Sunny felt all the blood rushing to her cheeks and stared, fascinated, at the tiny flecks of colour with Izzy's irises. Had she ever been close enough to see them before?
And then Izzy let out a breath, so shockingly warm against Sunny's lips that it was almost enough to make her jump. She let her own breath, one she hadn't realised she was holding, and thought about how terrifyingly easy it would be to lean forward just a little and turn this into a kiss.
Izzy's big eyes shone, like amethysts, like stars, and Sunny leant in and did exactly that.
When it was over, when they finally surfaced, both gasping for air, Sunny started to apologise. To explain.
Izzy shushed her with a gentle hoof to her lips. "It's okay, Sunny." She smiled, and it was the most beautiful thing Sunny had ever seen. "I think I get it now."