//------------------------------//
// To the Elements 
// Story: Extending the Olive Branch 
// by Clickety-Whinny 
//------------------------------//

Olive Branch awoke to the song of birds in the morning. He leapt out of bed, and fluttered downstairs while occasionally doing pirouettes. He giggled to himself while murmuring his new name, before landing in the floor of his kitchen.

Trixie, who was currently draped over her seat at the table, raised her head just enough to greet him. "Morning."

His wings flared as he spun around to face her. "Ah! Oh, sorry, Trixie. I didn't see you there. Good morning to you too!"

Trixie furrowed her brow. "I did not say 'good' morning. If I had to describe this morning, I would sooner call it foul and agonizing!"

"Oh dear, I'm sorry to hear that." He walked up to the table, and sat across from her. "Did something happen?"

Trixie brought her wizard hat over her eyes. "Well, when I finally managed to go to sleep, my dreams insisted in repeating the embarrassment I suffered at the bowling alley yesterday. Except this time, I was in my underwear."

Olive Branch looked at the mare in front of him, then at her trademark outfit of only a cloak and a hat.

She looked at him, then slouched. "It's stupid, right?"

"Well, I don't think so. I'd hate to be in your place."

"What even was the last time you saw anypony wearing underwear? I can't even remember the last time I wore some!"

"Wouldn't it be hard to know if somepony was wearing underwear, since they'd wear it under their other clothes?"

"Well- I- you- the, ah, FORGET IT!" Trixie grasped her hat with her magic before crumpling it into a ball. "Let's talk about literally anything else! For example, why did you say YOUR morning was good?!"

Olive flinched at the sudden change in tone. "Um, it was because of you, actually."

"...What?"

"Well, remember how I said 'Flutterguy' was a work in progress?" She nodded in response. "So, I think I might've come across the finished version!"

He sat up, balancing against the table on his forelegs, cleared his throat and said: "What do you think of 'Olive Branch'?"

Trixie squinted, her head tilted to the side. "You mean like the food? I think their taste is a bit too strong. How'd they become part of a symbol for peace, anyway? I'd much rather we gave each other crackers on such an occasion."

Olive opened his eyes as wide as they'd go, then closed them along with a deep breath as he looked for what words to use. "Alright, but what I'd meant to ask is what do you think of me using 'Olive Branch' as my name?"

"Huh?" Trixie blinked wearily thrice, rubbing her eyes with the back of a hoof, "What do you-" before jolting backwards on her seat all at once.

"Your name? I think it fits you!" She balanced on the two back legs of her wooden chair. "Wait, did you get it from- did the Great and Powerful Trixie give you the inspiration for that?!" Trixie teetered on the two left legs of the chair before abruptly shifting her weight to her right. "You're right, this really is a good morning!"

Olive Branch barely heard her celebration over the sound of her chair nearly snapping from the stress placed on it, but he could tell she was happy. "Yes, yes it is. Now could you please stop that?"

All at once, Trixie's wobbling ceased, her chair rattling as the excess kinetic energy was dissipated. "Stop what, Olive Branch?"

His relief over seeing her stop couldn't compete with the euphoria he got out of being addressed by his new name. A warm feeling blossomed in his chest, and made its way to his face where it pulled his lips into a smile. He began to subconsciously rise in the air, basking in the feeling.

Trixie folded her forelimbs behind her head in satisfaction, then leaned back on her chair just enough to immediately fall backwards with a THUD!

"I'm fine!" Trixie said before Olive could start worrying. "First lesson of magician school is how to fall down without getting hurt!"

Olive let out a relieved breath at her reassurance, and gently floated down into his seat. "I'm very glad to hear that. Now how about we have breakfast? I should have some bread in the pantry for us."

"Ooh, do you have peanut butter to go with that? Today just keeps getting better!"

"I might! let me go rouse Angel too and we can get started."

And so, they ate, chatting away about their lives. 





"...And so, that is why I need your help in taming a manticore so that I may get swallowed whole before reappearing inside a box!" Trixie said, leaning over the poster for The Humble and Penitent Trixie's Equestrian Apology Tour (working title) and grinning.

Olive Branch stared, dumbstruck. "Trixie, I appreciate the free magician history lesson you gave me, erm, 'in my house', but don't you think that's a bit, um, dangerous?"

"Firstly, it's 'on the house', not 'in', and secondly, that's why I am asking you for help! If there's anypony who can make diving headfirst into a manticore safe, it's you!"

"Yes, I could convince a manticore to swallow you without chewing, but there's so much that could go wrong. For one, what if you don't manage to teleport out in time?"

"Well, I'd simply, uhm... maybe you could have the manticore puke me out if it comes to that?"

"I don't think I can train a manticore to just throw up on command like that, Trixie. Besides, this is all supposing you do get shot straight into the manticore's mouth. If you missed by even a few inches..."

"Pah, alright!" Trixie puckered her lips and sniffed. "Since you don't want to help me with my apology gift to Equestria even after I gave you that last bout of inspiration you needed..."

Olive took a deep breath and leaned over the table. "Listen, I'm very, very grateful for what you've done for me, but what you're asking me to do in return would put both you and an innocent animal in danger. I'd be happy to help if you could prove that you had the 'reappear in a box' part down, at least."

Trixie grimaced, and grit her teeth in response. "Hrmph! The Great and Powerful Trixie shall prove that right here and now!" She curled into a ball while grunting, her horn lit up.

"W-wait!" Olive shouted. "You don't have to do that!"

He began backing away just as the sound of her exertion reached a crescendo, until a flash of light filled the room.

Once he gathered up the courage to open his eyes again, he saw a dumbfounded Trixie glaring at Angel, who was fast asleep in a heap of eggshell white cloth. The fabric was speckled with red hearts, and just below angel's head was a torn-up label.

"Olive, why is your pet sleeping in my underwear?"

"I don't know. But you made it seem like your underwear looked much worse than these. I think they're quite nice. How come I've never seen you wearing it?"

"...I only wear this pair to bed. Could you pry him off of it so I hide it in the deepest recesses of tartarus?"

"Of course." He gently eased a hoof under the rabbit's body. As he began to lift his hoof, Angel began to stir. He opened one eye, then the other, then slowly looked around his surroundings.

He slipped off the hoof the very moment he made eye contact with Trixie.

"Uhrm?! Agh!" He landed on his feet, and hopped away as fast as his groggy body would let him. Olive caught him as he jumped off the table before setting him down on the floor.

"HEY, GET BACK HERE!" Trixie galloped after the rabbit, forgetting about her boxers entirely.

"I have to serve breakfast to my animals, so play nice, you two!" Olive shouted after them. With another deep breath, he shook his head and went to listen to the singing of the birds.

A trio of birds flew up to the window, and he opened it to greet them with a genuine smile on his face. "Oh, good morning little friends. Your singing is oh so pretty."

"Only the best song on a day such as this," the birds tweeted in response. "Won't you join us, sir?"

His menagerie took the news surprisingly well, considering most of it hadn't been aware of the concept of gender until recently. To them, his word was the only window by which to learn about ponies, and as such they trusted him completely.

He consdered the proposal for a moment, then answered. "Yes, it is a very beautiful day today, certainly something worth singing about. There's just one thing I have to do first, though."

Olive fluttered out of the kitchen, swiftly putting his forehoof inside three rings of lace, each stuck to a pinecone covered in fat and birdseed in a single motion. He took the fat balls with him as he flew out of the front door of his home, 

He slowed down as he approached a tree filled with small birds, and took a big breath. "There's music in the treetops," he sang as he hung the bird's breakfast on the tree, "And there's music, in the vale." He exaled as his hoof lingered after hanging the last fat ball.

He headed back inside to fetch two baskets, one filled with grain and one with vegetables. He flew outdoors, leaving the greens basket by a rabbit burrow and spreading the other one's contents across the floor of his chicken coup.

"And all around me, music fills the skyyyy..." He sang about the music in the river as ducklings ate a hoofful of oats, and about the music in the grass as a sparrow delivered acorns to a family of chipmunks.

Olive Branch took the bird in one hoof and smiled at it. "And the music makes your heart soar in replyyyy..." 

Olive took a deep breath just before finishing his song with a collection of Aa-aahs, meditating on the past week. Going to the bowling alley had been a fulfilling experience, and getting to know the New and Improved Trixie was also fascinating. He thought of the support of his animal companions as he cantered down a dirt path, and of how Angel helped him get the point across. 

Three birds laid an oversized flower crown on his head, which soon came to hang on his neck in the image of a bowtie. He paused to admire it in a river, and seeing himself on the water's surface filled him with joy. This new era of his life might not be perfect, but he was quite literally floating with glee. 

He ended the song on a high note and a pirouette, then basked on the applause of his animal friends. "Oh, thank you so much. You're too kind," he said, and he felt well and truly proud of who he was- and the standing ovation only helped.

Until an innocent expression of wonder cut through the air like a knife against a loaf of bread.

"WOW!"

Olive Branch snapped towards the voice, and saw his best friends staring back, slack-jawed. "Oh. You, um," he scrambled to think of anything to say with all of his might. "You didn't hear me, um-"

"-singing in the most beautiful voice EVER?!" Pinkie cut in. 

"Yeah we did!" Rainbow answered. "Also, I'm liking what you did with your mane!"

Olive froze. He could feel each and every muscle in his legs and wings tensing up like a bow ready to fire, ready to launch him to anywhere but here. He scooted away while hiding behind his forelegs until his flank bumped against a rabbit.

"Wow!" proclaimed Twilight. "I've never heard you sing a solo like that before." 

Applejack teetered to her right, and smiled. "It was like a little slice of heaven..."

"...With ice cream on top!" Pinkie finished.

"Fluttergu- ahem." Rarity began. "...I cannot believe your spectacular voice isn't already part of the Pony Tones."

Olive Branch swallowed back the lump in his throat. "Um, well, about that..."

"Especially since you'll be having us perform for your Ponyville Pet Center Fundraiser tomorrow night."

"Well, you see, I-"

"Rectifying this shall be easy! You've already made friends with half of our line-up. You must share that stunning voice at the event!"

"Yeah!" said Pinkie, appearing beside him. "It'll be so amazing! You'd be there on stage, basking in the hooflights, the center of attention, a shining star..." Olive flinched at both that idea and the accompanying hoof-swing.

Pinkie, undeterred, kept the barrage going. "With everypony staring at you, judging you, jealousy noting how they could be WAY better than you! Why wasn't it them? Why wasn't it them?" Olive could feel his eyes beginning to water. "And then, when you choke, they'll turn on you becoming a seething-angry mob, and you'll be horribly humiliated," Pinkie paused for a quick inhale, and Olive dared to hope. "NEVER ABLE TO SHOW YOUR FACE IN PONYVILLE AGAIN!"

Olive was about to go see if Harry's cave had a guest bedroom when Rarity brandished a rolled-up poster against his tormentor. "Pinkie Pie!" Thwack. "Don't be ridiculous!" 

He turned his focus towards Rarity completely, and watched as she walked away. "Come, darling. You will join the group making the Pony Tones Quartet into the Pony Tones Quintet!"

He tensed up his face, then relaxed it. Inhale, "No." exhale.

Rarity stopped as if she nearly tripped, and craned her neck back at him. "...Pardon me?"

He gulped. "I love the Pony Tones. I'm one of your biggest fans! But I do not want to perform with them."

He shrunk back against the ground as Twilight asked him- no, asked Fluttershy "Why not?"

"Well, you see..." He frantically looked for some form of plausible excuse among the grass. "I... I have-" He looked to Rarity for help, and met with a worried look on her eyes. "I-I have..." He wrapped his limbs around himself and tried to force anything other than the truth out of his mouth. 

Rainbow jabbed him in the shoulder with a hoof, perhaps a little harder than the aspiring Wonderbolt meant to. "Spit it out!"

Olive suddenly he had an idea of what to say. "I have... stage fright!"

A gasp erupted beside him followed by the rustling of leaves, but he couldn't make out any individual words after that, focused as he was on Rarity's gaze. "I'm very thankful the Pony Tones are singing at the Pet Center Fundraiser-" Her pupils suddenly shrunk to a third of their normal size "-And I'm really looking forward to the performance!" Her eyes met his before she began to scour the dirt, looking for a hole to hide her sudden regret in. "But I'll be watching safely, from the audience." 

Rarity swallowed dry. "Well, I understand that you're not comfortable, and I apologize for trying to shove that role onto you so suddenly."

"Thank you." Olive said with a smile before a white smear caught his attention. 

"Pssst! You-two-are-being-super-awkward-and-we've-still-got-to-finish-working-on-the-stage-for-the-Pony-Tones-!" Angel stage-whispered at him.

"Ooh!" Olive cheered. "Angel's right! We better get going. There's a lot of work to do before tomorrow's event!"





"Everypony's saying you should learn to express your voice," Olive sang along with the Pony Tones as he stacked five birdhouses in the shape of a pyramid. 

"But if talk-" He bit down on his tongue as soon as he spotted two mares walking along the path to his left, and listened to the rest of the song in silence.

Olive caught the last part of a sentence by Spike as he got near the stage. "...Eh, the rest of you were pretty good too."

He walked to the front of the stage, and made eye contact with one of the singers. "Oh, I thought you were all amazing, Pony Tones."

The red-maned mare to his right spoke up. "Thanks, Fluttershy!" Wince.

Olive thought he saw Toe Tapper blink with unnecessary force, and Rarity breathed in carefully before changing the subject. "Now, Pony Tones, I want you all to rest your voices for the remainder of the day, starting now. We'll do a final run-through tomorrow before the big event. Is that all right?"

"Sounds great!" The mare from earlier answered before following Big Mac past the curtains.

"Hey, buddy." Toe Tapper said. "Sorry about Torch Song, there."

"There's no need to apologize," Olive reassured. "If anything, thank you for being so discreet about it. I'd like to let ponies know at my own pace."

Rarity walked in front of him. "I'm glad this is what you want, darling, but seeing you subject to that... are you sure there's nothing we can do for you?"

"You're already helping with the fundraiser, and that's more than I could ever ask for. Thank you again for helping me help the animals."

"Oh, I'm very glad to hear that! It is wonderful when a plan comes together without any sort of drama, isn't it?"

"Couldn't agree more, boss!" Toe Tapper chimed in.





"A-a- a turkey call?" Rarity's magic pulled Big Mac by the bowtie. "You lost your voice doing a... a turkey call?!"

"Lost his voice, and the title!" Pinkie punctuated her gloat with a near-perfect imitation of a turkey before bouncing away as fast as she'd arrived. 

Rarity watched in disbelief as Pinkie Pie pronked past. "...Okay. But now we can't perform tonight!"

Olive Branch stared in shock. "Wait, what? No! You have to perform! Otherwise, the fundraiser will be a disaster!"

Rarity walked to the edge of the stage, and crouched down to meet him. "I'm truly sorry, darling, but we cannot perform tonight with only three voices. It would take rearranging all the music, and we just don't have time.  I'm sorry, darling, but I have no remedy for this situation."

Olive's eyes shone with an idea as she finished saying the word "remedy". "Of course! A remedy!" He turned on his hooves and began trotting away from the stage. "Follow me!"

Rarity shrugged at Big Mac before both did as instructed.





"...So yes, that's what I had in mind, Zecora. Do you think you could do that?" Olive finished, and looked expectantly at the zebra.

"Hmmm. Yes, I've got enough Poison Joke to sate your woe. Lucky, that it'd change your voice so."

"Oh, Yes, yes!" Rarity pointed a hoof at Olive. "Your voice became really low, making you sound like-"

"-Flutterguy!" both Olive and Angel exclaimed in unison. 

Olive started to giggle as he considered having that handsome baritone voice again. "Thank you so much, Zecora!"

Rarity placed a hoof on her chest. "I'd also like to thank you, Zecora. Now we can get flutterguy here on stage!"

Olive halted, turned to look at her, then gulped. "Er, r-really? I don't think I can bring myself to sing on stage in front of everypony." 

"What if you sang not in front of everypony? What if Big Mac was onstage, moving his lips while you're behind the curtains singing his part? It would be just like singing in your house! Nopony would know it was you!"

Olive considered it for a moment, then nodded. "Alright. Zecora, mix it up!"





"So, with no further ado, please welcome the Pony Tones!"

Olive stood behind the stage, heartbeat at nearly a continuous drone. A shrill tone cut through the air, the cue for him to take a deep breath.

He sung the first note, and the sound of his own voice surprised him for what must have been the tenth time that afternoon. As he relished in his new voice, he allowed himself to relax. Once more a warm feeling crept across his body, and he extended his wings to savor it. As the song neared its end, a smile was plastered on his face.

The sound of cheering invaded his ears, and he peered beyond the curtain to see a mass of adoring ponies applauding the performance. He hid back behind the curtain, and practically melted with glee. 

He almost managed to sneak out of the back of the stage before a pink blur intercepted him. "Fluttershy," Wince, "you were on the wrong side of the curtain! You totally missed the show!" 

Rarity heard her, and walked up to aid him. "Uh, just like a true professional, our friend here was backstage making sure  everything ran smoothly!" She turned to Olive, and whispered to him, "And it was perfect" with a wink.

The warm feeling from earlier returned in full force, and Olive found himself taking deep breaths just to stop himself from looping around in the air. 

He was shaken out of his stupor by a father and daughter shouting "Tomorrow!" in unison.

Rarity recoiled. "Oh, gracious, I'm terribly sorry, but that's much too last minute."

The cream filly's face drooped, and her father let out a sigh. "Well... I understand."

Olive felt a pang on his heart as he watched the two mop away. "Oh Rarity, we can't disappoint that sweet little filly."

Rarity covered her face with a hoof as she whispered. "Are you sure you're up for it?"

Olive Branch nodded without hesitation.





Olive Branch hung from a ceiling rafter, breathing heavily after his latest performance. "...But we wouldn't want to disappoint the Mayor."





Olive peered from inside a barrel. "We wouldn't want to disappoint Lotus and Aloe!"





Olive floated in the surface of a jacuzzi. "We wouldn't disappoint Cheerilee and her students, would we?"





Olive stared down an exhausted Big Mac from the inside of a bush. "I see what you mean, but how could we possibly disappoint the Cakes?" 





Olive grinned to himself from behind the curtain at the latest Pony Tones performance, and began to prance on the spot. He nearly would've missed Rarity and Toe Tapper walking in behind him if she hadn't cleared her throat. "Darling, we need to talk. Big Mac's voice is all better now, so you no longer need to play his part."

Olive bolted up as if he'd heard a cannon going off, and turned to face her still in mid-air. "Wh- wait, sorry, what did you say? I'm sorry, I don't quite think I, um, got that..."

Toe Tapper took a step forward. "Listen, pal, we're awful glad you could ad-lib for Mac during the last full work week,"

"-And we're also keenly aware" - Rarity chided in - "of how happy you are with your new voice. But Toe Tapper here sought me out after yesterday's show, and he complained about the fact that you and me have been, um, working the rest of the Pony Tones down to the bone, so to speak."

"And the quality of your ad-libbing has also plummeted," added Tapper. 

Olive flew backwards until he had his back to the wall. "Look, I didn't mean to work you all so hard. And, um, if I mess up it's because I got too excited. But please, let me just sing one more time!"

Toe Tapper turned to Rarity. "I don't know... do you promise we'll get a break after this?"

Rarity opened her mouth to speak, but Olive spoke up first. "Yes! I'll do anything!"

Toe blinked in surprise, then slowly turned back to Olive at the same time as Rarity. "...Anything?" A toothy grin slowly emerged on his face. "How about getting us an all-expenses-paid trip to Las Pegasus?"

Olive gulped. "Well, I could go about renting out the cottage's guest bedroom..."

Rarity rolled her eyes. "Darling, please. We're quite happy to let you sing this last time," she snapped towards Toe Tapper, "for free."

Toe Tapper giggled in response. "Alright, alright! You're reminding me of when my own voice started to deepen. But after this I'm taking a break!"

Olive broke into a giant smile. "Ooh, thank you so much! I'll be sure to savor this one!"

Both made for the curtains, only for Rarity to pause just as her hoof met cloth. "Oh, and Olive, one more thing?"

Olive snapped out of his own cloud of glee. "Oh. Hm?"

"Please, do be careful, alright?"

Olive managed a quick nod.

After she'd crossed the threshold and introduced herself to the now fairly well acquainted audience, Rarity blew on her pitch pipe, providing the cue for Olive to being.

Olive took a deep breath, smiled, and began. "He-ey, find it! oh why, you can find it, In your heart, yeah, find the music, yeah!"

Rarity watched Big Mac's lips closely, and felt a single bead of sweat trail down her forehead.

Olive spun 810° degrees clockwise, and pushed against Big Mac though the curtain in his excitement. "It's in you right now! Oh, yeah!"

Toe Tapper saw Big Mac lurch forward, and tried his best at sighing and singing simultaneously. 

Olive flew up near the top of the stage, "Yo-ou can find the music!", and accidentally bumped against the top of the curtain, causing it to fall down on the Pony Tones. By the time he noticed the music had stopped, it was too late to run.

He noticed the sudden light from the spotlight even behind his eyelids, and opened his eyes to see a whole crowd of ponies staring back. At him. At his deepest secret, laid bare. 

As soon as he stopped shivering from fear, he bolted out of Sugarcube Corner's back door and ran away as fast as his legs would carry him.

Rarity climbed out from beneath the curtain just in time to see his pink tail disappear through the doorway. "Olive, wait!"

She clambered up to the door as fast as she could and looked around, but saw no sign of the pegasus other than a half-open back door leading into the night.

She trotted outside, stood on her hind legs and put a front hoof on either side of her mouth. "OLIVE! Where are you going!?"

No response was heard.

She called for him a few more times until it was clear he was far away. She walked back into Sugarcube Corner with her head hung low.

"-was livin' her dream in the shadows because she couldn't bring herself to come into the spotlight?" Applejack finished just as Rarity returned. 

At her brother's confirmation, she spun around and jabbed a hoof past Rarity, into the night. "Well, for corn's sakes! Let's go!"

Rarity stopped her with a hoof just as she was about to leave. "Actually, I think It'd be better for our friend if we made just a quick detour first, if you'd allow it."





Olive stared at the bathtub before him, breathing in the herbal scent. He contemplated the past week, how having the voice of a stallion made him feel. How good being praised for his singing felt. How horrifying it was to be known.

Angel hopped onto the border of the tub, and nearly slipped into the herbal bath. After making sure he wouldn't fall, he turned to talk to Olive. "Really, man?"

Olive shifted his gaze to the floor. "I know. I loved singing so much. And I love this voice, I really do. But... my friends are probably going to be so worried after I ran off like that. And it'd be very easy to just dip in and never bring up what happened."

"Yes, but that's assuming you wanna lie in the first place. Do you think that'll be necessary?"

Olive thought, again, about how his friends would likely react. He thought of Rarity, who decided to make him a suit free of charge even after the sudden change to his mane made her somehow even paler.

He leaned over the side of the tub, and dipped a hoof in as angel watched, ears flopping down. Then a strange sound was heard as the liquid began to flow out of the tube, revealing his hoof wrapped around the chain of a rubber bung.

"You make a good point. I don't think it'll be needed, no."

He subsequently dropped the bung as the bathroom door was pummeled. "He-ey-ey! Would you mind hurrying up? Trixie has to go and she has to go right now!" 

Olive held a hoof to his chest. "Actually, my friends should be arriving any minute now. I should be there to welcome them if nothing else."

"Alright! I'm gonna go and finish the chores that I've been forced to do since the pony who was supposed to do them spent the whole week singing." Angel hopped past him with a smirk.

As soon as he touched the handle, the door swung open and Trixie bolted inside. "Thank you so much I almost- hey, this place smells nice..."

Olive closed the door after him, and stood on the balcony. He took a deep breath, and let it go slowly.

The door to his cottage opened slowly, and Rarity's head peeked in through the gap. "Darling? Are you in here?"

"Yes, I am." Olive beckoned her in with a hoof. "Wait, what's that you're carrying on your back?"

"Oh, this? consider it an apology gift."

Rarity balanced a gift box on her back. The box was a very faint light blue, and it was wrapped with a deep pink lace. Near the top of the knot and too far away for Olive to read was a white gift tag.

Olive got a good view of it before the rest of his friends came through the door, accompanied by a pink blur. The blur leapt over Twilight, dashed underneath Applejack, leapt to the wall beneath the balcony and clung to it as she climbed, nearly sending a picture frame tumbling down. 

"That was totally unbelievable!" Pinkie got up to the railing and pulled herself over it, getting close enough to let Olive smell her sugary breath. "I mean, the curtain came up and there you were, singing in front of everypony! And you know, I don't think anypony was jealous, 'cause there certainly wasn't an angry mob!"

Well, that's one concern down, out of a half-dozen.

"But it must have been horrible standing there on stage," Well, flying above it. "All eyes glued directly on you!" Except for anypony under that curtain, that is. whoops! "It's like you were living your own personal worst nightmare!" And I lived through it... 

Olive gently laid a hoof on her snout as she tried to push him to the floor with it. "I-in a way, yes. But I'd say it was worth it..."

Pinkie pointed a hoof at his throat. "Wait! Why do you still sound like that?" 

Olive stared for a few long seconds, then tried to swallow spit that wasn't there. "W-well... it's, um, because..."

He tried to put some distance between himself and Pinkie, but the mare leapt after him, nearly headbutting him repeatedly. On her fourth attempt, she was enveloped and lightly shoved back by Rarity's magic. "That's quite enough of you, Pinkie. Now, I'd like you to have this." she stood in front of olive and knelled, nudging the gift with her horn. "Go on, open it!"

Olive tentatively bit on a loose end of ribbon and pulled. The knot unfurled, and the box lid opened itself once freed. He looked inside the box, and suddenly he couldn't contain himself.

"...I see you like it, then!" Rarity said after recovering from his excited cheer. "Want to try it on- and you're already putting the dress shirt on! Wonderful. Do you need any help with the bow tie? No? Then at least let me help with the wing holes in the sweater!"

Olive finished putting on his brand-new Pony Tones outfit with a delighted whinny. It wasn't until after he flicked the edges of his bow tie a couple times he noticed the rest of his friends staring back at him.

"O-oh. Um, you're all probably wondering why I've been acting different these past few days..."

"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash flew up to the balcony and rested her chin on the hoofrail. "Like, why'd you do that to your mane, and why isn't Rarity freaking out about it?"

"I've already gotten it out of my system. Now, darling, you were saying?"

"Well..." Olive brushed a hoof through his hair. "Do you all remember the day we met Zecora and got affected by the Poison Joke?" Everypony else in the room nodded. "Well, hearing myself that day was... hard to describe. And I've thought a whole lot about it, and I want you all to know that I'm a stallion now." He waited for a few seconds, and then stared at the floor. "So, um, yeah."

"Ohhhhhhhh!" Pinkie hopped in front of him. "Is that why you didn't want to sing on stage, Fluttershy?"

"Erm, yes. And, since you mentioned it, could you girls please call me 'Olive Branch' from now on, if that's alright?"

Applejack held her chin on a hoof. "As in 'extendin' an olive branch'? Why, I think it fits you like a glove!" The room was filled with murmurs of agreement.

Olive smiled, then wiped a tear that threatened to drip down his face. "I'm so happy to finally get this out of my chest. I don't know why I ran away on you all like that..."

Twilight walked up the stairs to the balcony. "Now, It's normal to feel nervous with something like this, but you know you can trust us with anything!" She laid a roof on his shoulder. "No matter what, I swear I'll support every choice you make, because you're my friend!"

Olive wrapped his forelegs around Twilight, and moments later he was joined by the rest of the Mane Six in a pile. "Oh, you girls just make me so happy!"

Just then, the toilet from the other room was flushed. "O-oh, Sniff sorry everypony." Olive raised a hoof in defense just as the group hug dispersed. "That must have been my guest, she's staying with me for a while until she can stand on her own hooves." 

A beleaguered Trixie stumbled out of the doorway shortly after. "Huff! Trixie would NOT go in there if she was-" she slowly looked around the room, noticing each of the elements of harmony in order, with Twilight last. "-you?"

Twilight blinked a few times, raised a hoof above her head, and brought it down to point at Trixie in a grand motion. "Every choice except that one!"

Any murmurs of agreement that might have begun were silenced by Olive raising an eyebrow at Twilight. Then, to the surprise of everypony there- his own included- he erupted into laughter.

Even Trixie eventually joined him as he realized what'd happened. It wasn't that he thought the situation funny, far from it, but that he was just too happy to be angry. And he didn't mind it one bit.