My Little XLR
Chapter 3: New Friends, New Tastes.
Inside Sugar Cube Corner on the second floor, otherwise known as the home of Ponyville's resident party pony, the ponies were in the middle of a celebration. Drinks and various snacks were going round and numerous cakes were set all over the long rectangular table in the center of the room.
The banner hanging up above read "Welcome to Ponyville." They were having a welcoming party for the new pony in town, not to mention him saving of all of Equestria.
"Welcome to Ponyville, Coop!" the six mares shouted.
The light brown stallion managed to hear the ponies' cheers over the sounds of his face plowing through the cake in front of him. He lifted up his head and grinned. Around him were the welcoming smiles of his new friends as they raised a glass of punch to toast their new friendship.
"Thanks girls, I gotta say this is a great party," Coop said as bits of cake flung from his mouth.
"Please, Coop dear. While I understand you are our guest of honor, that's no excuse for such crude manners. Please do not speak with your mouth full. And please eat properly. Did you honestly eat like that where you come from? I mean take a look at us; do you see any of us eating in such a manner?"
Applejack butted in. "Ah lighten up, Rarity. Coop here just saved all of Equestria from aliens. I'm sure you can let it go this once."
"Yeah! Besides, it's a party." Pinkie added, before plowing her face into another cake, similar in fashion as Coop had.
Witnessing her pink pony friend take part in the same eating habit she had just protested against, Rarity places a hoof to her head. "I give up."
After celebrating, playing party games and eating lots of sweets, the party reached its conclusion. It was noon and the ponies headed back to their homes.
"Awesome party as always!" Rainbow Dash said as she made her way to the door.
"I had a wonderful time." Fluttershy said. Before heading out the door, she approached Coop. "Welcome to Ponyville Coop, and thank you again for saving us."
Coop was a little surprised seeing her open up like that. When they first met, Fluttershy merely uttered a simple, "Thank you." Then again, it was just after the Glorft attack and she was probably frightened since Coop was in MEGAS at the time.
The rest of the Ponies also gave their thanks and goodbyes then went off; only Coop, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight Sparkle remained.
"Wow, this is probably the first time I didn't have any leftover cake," Pinkie said, astonished that another pony besides herself had finished all the treats.
Coop patted his stomach and belched, "Can't let good food go to waste."
"Alright Coop, we need to get going" Twilight said, trotting over to the door. "We have to go see how the princess's arrangements for your home are going."
"Aww, but it's almost lunch time," Coop pointed out, sticking one hoof towards the clock on the wall.
Twilight stared at him. "Don't you think you've had enough food for awhile, Coop?"
"All those sweets got me craving something different. I could sure go for a Philly cheesesteak right now," Coop groaned while rubbing his stomach, which grumbled at the mention of food.
In a familiar fashion, both mares gave Coop a confused look. Synchronized, they asked the same thing, "Philly cheesesteak?"
"How's about some hot wings then?"
The two girls looked at each other, clueless to what the colt was talking about.
"How have you two never heard of hot wings? Ah well how bout we go for some chicken?" Coop suggested.
"Chicken? You mean, eat a chicken?" Twilight said, shocked at the short haired pony's suggestion. "Uh Coop, we're ponies remember. We don't eat meat."
That last statement made by Twilight echoed inside Coop's mind. Its meaning tore at his very being; Coop felt his mind steadily slipping as he slowly realized what her words truly meant. His mind, working incredibly fast given the situation, came to a conclusion.
Ponies don't eat meat... I'm a pony now, I don't eat meat.
"Coop, are you alright?" Twilight asked, concerned over her friend's sudden silence.
Coop's vision became blurry then faded to black.
Over at Sweet Apple Acres, a hard working mare was busy collecting her next batch of apples.
"Phew, I still got lotsa apples to pick before the day's done," Applejack sighed, as she continued pulling a cart loaded with apples.
Twilight Sparkle, in a panic, rushed up to her. "Applejack, I need your help, it's an emergency! Coop has gone crazy!"
"Now hold on there Twi, what's this about Coop going crazy?" Applejack questioned, with a puzzeled look on her face..
"After everypony left, Coop wanted to get some lunch; He said he wanted to eat a chicken." Twilight said.
"Uh Twi, ponies don't eat meat."
"Exactly, but Coop didn't know that. Now he's gone mad and is going on a rampage through town. Thankfully I hid MEGAS with an invisibility spell, but it's only a matter of time before he discovers it." She trembled as a thought ran through her head. "I can only imagine what will happen if Coop manages to get in MEGAS in his present state."
"How're we supposed to stop em?"
"That's where you come in, Applejack; you can rope Coop down using your lasso. If we can just get Coop to hold still, maybe we can get him to try some food. I think that since he became a pony, maybe his taste in food has changed as well." Thank Celestia Coop didn't remain a human when he came here,she thought to herself.
Both ponies then ran off, heading towards Ponyville.
Back in town, ponies ran for shelter. Along the walkway, various stands were toppled over. Fruits and vegetables were scattered across the ground. In the distance, Twilight and Applejack saw the source of the chaos.
Observing what food was there, Coop eyed the cart, scanning it intently. Applejack and Twilight watched as he gave it a massive shove knocking it over. Daisies and tulips went flying, helpless before his meat deprived rage.
The cries of Pinkie Pie rang out as she chased after him. "Coop, Get back here!" She paused to catch her breath. "Wow, you're really fast when it comes to food," she panted.
Coop looked back. Noticing his pursuer, he took off again, continuing his search for meat.
"Coop, get back here and put these flowers back where they belong, and those carrots over there, and those cabbages over there," Pinkie hollered, pointing at each knocked over stand that Coop happened upon.
Twilight and Applejack ran over to their friend. "Pinkie Pie, Applejack's here to help capture Coop, now where did he go?"
Pinkie pointed down the pathway, "He went that way."
"Thats where Fluttershy's is," Applejack said.
"Come on girls!" Twilight said.
The three girls took off hoping to reach Coop before anything serious could happen.
They arrived at Fluttershy's cottage.
"Fluttershy!"
A little light yellow hoof popped out from a bush next to a large tree.
"Over here," said the owner of the hoof as it shook with fear.
The girls ran over to the talking bush. Pinkie Pie pulled on the waving hoof, yanking out the frightened pony from her hiding place.
Twilight reached out and gave her a helping hoof out of the shrub. "Fluttershy, what happened?"
Fluttershy, still shaken up, looked at her friends. "I was here, feeding my animal friends their lunch, when all of a sudden a big pony ran in. It tried eating the food I had for my animal friends, but when it took a look at the food, it started throwing a tantrum and thrashing about. It scared off the critters, and I jumped into the bush to hide."
"Did you see where he went?" Twilight asked.
Fluttershy pointed over to the shack.. "Just before you three showed up, I saw that pony run into my chicken coop. I'm so worried about my poor chickens."
Twilight gasped, both she and Applejack galloped over to the chicken coop. Pinkie Pie followed, pulling Fluttershy along with her. Twilight and Applejack peer into the coop and saw their friend.
He stood there, a chicken head sticking out of his mouth frantically trying to free itself. Both girls gasped at the sight. he grimaced in disgust at the taste of the bird in his mouth. He spat out the horrified chicken, which ran past the two girls and out the entrance. He then plopped down.
Twilight slowly approached Coop as Applejack stayed close behind her. "Coop?" she addressed the pony, in hopes that he still retained some sanity in order to acknowledge her.
Coop sat there, confused over the appalling taste of something he's eaten regularly back in his home world. Although it was an extremely raw version of what he normally eats, he could sense that the taste was off. His mind began to question whether the same was true for all meats he was accustom to eating.
Twilight came in close. "Coop, I know you can hear me. I want you to try something," she spoke softly as she pulled out a sandwich she had with her.
It looked just like like a normal sandwich, but in between the bread slices was something unfamiliar to Coop. Daisy petals stuck out from the sides of the sandwich. He reeled back in disgust, hissing as he looked at the travesty of cuisine his friend had in her hoof. He prepared to take off running.
Anticipating his move, Twilight shouted, "Applejack now!"
She twirled the rope and a lasso flew through the shed, wrapping around Coop's neck. He struggled to free himself but Applejack held strong. Twilight leaped at him in order to hold him down.
"Dog pile!" Pinkie shouted as she joined in to help hold Coop down.
Outside of the shed, Fluttershy watched as her friends scuffled with Coop. The entire shack shook from the force of their struggle. After the commotion had died down, Fluttershy opened her eyes, there she saw her friends standing next to a hogtied Coop lying on his back.
"Sorry there Coop, ya gave us no choice." Applejack apologized, as she and Pinkie held down Coop's head still as he lay on the ground.
Twilight, with the sandwich floating next to her, stood over Coop. "Now Coop, please just try this."
Coop tried with all his might. Wriggling around, trying to move his legs, but they wouldn't budge from the tightly wound knot.. Pinkie Pie and Applejack didn't give him an inch, placing their arms over his neck to hold his head in place. All he could do was close his lips shut. Suddenly, his mouth flew wide open; the invisible force of Twilight's magic forced his jaw open and the dreaded sandwich was jammed into his mouth.
Horror filled his face as the realization of what he had been forced to eat sunk in. "Ugguaahhaauughaaah!"
"Aww, come on. It can't be that bad." Pinkie Pie protested.
Afterwards, inside of Twilight Sparkle's home, Twilight and Applejack were enjoying a snack and conversation.
"I sure am glad that's all over," Applejack sighed. "But there's one thing I gotta know Twi, how did you know having Coop try that sandwich would work?"
"Honestly Applejack, I didn't. I thought if I could get Coop to just try some of our food maybe he would like it. I'm glad it worked. It's fortunate that Coop's physiological change into that of a pony also changed his taste in food."
"Physio-what?"
"Let's just say I'm glad Coop likes pony food."
"You're telling me Twi." Applejack said. "I reckon Fluttershy's chickens will be afraid of Coop from now on," she joked.
Both ponies shared a laugh.
Twilight's door opened and in hopped Pinkie Pie; right behind her Coop, with a sandwich in his mouth, and Fluttershy entered. All three of them were carrying bags filled with various flowers fruits and vegetables.
"Welcome back you three, how did everything go?" Twilight looked over to the trio and noticed their haul. "What's with all the food?"
"It went great, we just finished helping the ponies put back their knocked over stands and collect all the food that was scattered," Pinkie Pie stated.
"Yes, and Coop also gave everypony a sincere apology. Everypony was very understanding," Fluttershy added.
Twilight was happy to hear the good news, but something was still bugging her. "That's great you three. Now, what's with all those bags?"
Coop finished eating the last of a sandwich and answered her. "I got them." He went on to explain. "After I got a taste of that daisy sandwich you gave me earlier, I got an urge to try out every kind of flower," Coop explained, as he looked into his bag of goodies.
"Well, I'm glad you've taken a liking to pony cuisine Coop, but did you really need to get ten bags?"
"You might be right." Coop looked back over to Fluttershy. "I told you we should have gotten a few more." Coop and Twilight each gave her a distinctive look, each had different reasons behind them.
"Sorry." She nervously smiled apologetically for allowing him to buy so much food.
"Don't sweat it," the colt happily dismissed. "At least with this many, I can still try out a few different combinations. It'll be like when I first tried mixing different foods together." He drooled at the ideas he was coming up with.
Wiping the saliva from his chin, Coop turned and faced his new friends; his tone became serious. "Girls, I just want to say thanks for your help today. If you all didn't force me to try something new, I don't know where I would be right now."
"That's what friends do," Pinkie answered.
"Besides, it's the least we can do consider'n you saved all of Equestria earlier," Applejack added.
"It sounds like you learned something very important today Coop," Fluttershy pointed out.
A small scroll and quill lifted up from the nearby table and hovered in front of the large pony.
"I think this is a perfect time for you to write about what you've learned to the princess." Twilight announced. "Don't you agree girls?"
The other ponies nodded in agreement.
At the table, Coop sat down to begin his first ever report on the magic of friendship. He reached over to grab the quill with his hoof. He paused, pondering how he would go about doing that. Giving up on using his newly acquired hooves, he bit down on one end of the quill and began composing.
"Finished!" he blurted out, with quill still in mouth, taking pride in his masterpiece of literature. It being the first thing he's written in a long time that was at least longer than three sentences.
Twilight received the letter from him. "Alright then, Spike, would you please send this to the princess?"
Comming down the steps wasn't a pony but a baby dragon. Coop looked on with his mouth agape seeing him for the first time.
"Sure thing Twilight," Spike replied. He took Coop's letter in his claw, and set it aflame with his breath.
Coop would have been upset over the burning of his letter if he wasn't distracted over the green flames the young dragon breathed out.
"Cool," he uttered as his letter burned and the flames flew out the window.
Over at Canterlot Castle, Princess Celestia was enjoying a brief moment of relaxation when a green flame flew in and stopped in front of her, reassembling into a scroll. She lifted up the letter, examining it.
"Luna dear, would you come join me? I've just received one of my star pupil's reports on friendship, and this one is from Coop."
The younger princess rushed into the room "This is something I must witness." She positioned herself next to her elder sister.
"Now you shall see, there is no need to worry about our new guest." Celestia reassured.
She opened the scroll; both sisters squinted as they attempted to read the mech pilot's mouth writing. After straining their eyes for a bit, they gave up trying to decipher Coop's message.
"Well, at least this means he's learned something about friendship, and that's what truly matters," Celestia resolved.
"Riiiiight," Luna skeptically agreed.