"NO. You're NOT going to just avoid the festival!"
You groan inwardly as your uncle begins to ramble. You had just returned to him from work to tell him your plans for tomorrow, and he wasn't taking it well at all.
"Look, I have to earn the bits for-"
"For college, I know. You keep going on about it. Look, kid, you can't just avoid your friends like this."
You rub your forehead with your hoof, feeling yourself getting a migraine.
"I'm not avoiding them..."
Your uncle scowls, and he looks you dead in the eye.
"Yes, you are. You never go to any of Pinkie's parties, you never go outside for lunch with Venture....you avoid every chance to just hang out with them. You need to hurry up and actually spend time with them, before you lose them."
You roll your eyes in an attempt to avoid looking at your uncle, giving him another annoyed groan.
"I'm not going to lose them, uncle. Besides, you know what ponies do at the Masquerade. I'm not fond of the idea of getting drunk, then partying away like the world doesn't exist. If I attend, I'll wake up with a damned hangover, then I'll be slowed down. I can't afford to slow down now, of all times! I'm too close to slip up now!"
Your uncle hangs his head, and you can hear his hoof hit his face as he facehoofs.
"Now you're just making excuses....you can avoid alcohol. Nopony's gonna make you drink it."
You let out an exasperated sigh, and turn away to return to work.
"I still can't risk it...I've never been good at resisting peer pressure."
You lift one of the boxes inside the stall's storage, and take it back to open it up and refill the containers.
"Really? Not that good, eh? You seem to be doing an alright job avoiding the party."
You scowl at your uncle, and toss the now-empty box into a nearby recycling bin.
"That's different. I'm keeping myself as far from the action as possible. If I'm in the middle of it, then I'll cave. But if I keep myself out of it before I'm given the choice, then I'll be fine. It's as simple as that."
Your uncle sighs, and takes his place at the front counter. You two were changing shifts, and it was time for you to hover aside and help customers find what they need.
"Boy, that is the most ridiculous and pathetic excuse I've ever heard. I trust you, Pinkie trusts you, Venture trusts you....I don't see why you don't trust yourself."
You close your eyes and sigh, remembering the incident that led you to working like this. You had to make it to college, for her sake...
"Uncle, I just don't want to. Why can't you understand and just accept my decision?"
Your Uncle gives you a long, stern look that lasts about a minute, before he closes his eyes and sighs.
"Fine. Have it your way. You can go ahead and keep working yourself to death. But trust me, boy.... if you don't spend time to relax and enjoy time with friends, then by the time you're ready to, there won't be any friends left for you to have."
You snort, finding this highly unlikely. Pinkie and Venture were the ones trying to hang out with you. They've never stopped, even when you asked them to. Why would they refuse when you were finally ready?
You nod, and give your uncle a hoofbump and get back to work. "Thank you."
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You open your eyes, only to squint fruitlessly at the darkness. You can't see anything, or hear anything. In fact, you weren't even sure if you were solid.
Suddenly, you jump at the horrible sound of glass shattering, and you're suddenly blinded by a flashing light of red, white, and blue. You cover your ears as a terrible wail of some kind rings out through the air, and you scream for it to stop.
You suddenly sense the overwhelming smell of blood and alcohol, and you try to cover your nose and your ears at the same time. When that doesn't work, you run off as fast as possible, stumbling blindly through the light, trying to escape the overwhelming sounds and smells.
You can barely see through the blur of lights, and you realize the wailing is only getting louder as you run. You turn the other direction, still trying to escape it all. You trip, and chip a tooth as you faceplant on the ground. You pull yourself back up, only to feel something push you back down and pull your hooves behind your back, leaving you pinned.
You scream and yell, struggling and squirming to get away from whatever it was that was holding you down, when three figures step out, still blurry through the light. You can't make any of them out, but one face stands out from the others.
It's a face of heartbreak. A face of disappointment. A face of hopelessness. You can't bear to look at it any longer, and you scream before you feel blunt force to your head send you out cold.
"I'm sorry!!!"
Your eyes flip open, and you awaken in cold sweat.
You find yourself lying on your couch, as you usually did in the morning. You wipe some of the sweat from your brow, and take a shaky breath before trying to recall your dream. What was that all about? You pull yourself up on your hooves, and check your clock.
5:30
Still a few hours until you had to get up and go to work. You let yourself fall back onto the couch, feeling fatigue weigh your legs down. That dream....you hold your hoof to your head, groaning as you feel another migraine. The same damned dream, ever since that night...
You shake yourself, and manage to pull yourself onto your hooves, despite the burning pain of movement. You walk over to your room, and towards your dresser, pulling on your jogging sweats. Time's like these, you needed to take a short walk to get your thoughts in order.
As you trot through the Everfree, you breathe in the scent of the freshly growing plants all around you, and Celestia's sun peeks over the horizon.
You're walking down a small gravel path cutting through the Everfree forest; Ponyville can be seen through the tree trunks. The forest, being the home of nature it was, was surrounded by all kinds of memorable sights, from beautiful plants to jittery critters. It always rejuvenated you whenever you jogged down this path...all these incredible sights weren't things you could see in a house.
You take a swig from your water bottle, panting from the jog, and trot down the hill towards Ponyville. The small town was already stirring, and you smile at the thought of getting to work after a nice jog.
That was your idea of a perfect day. In fact....now that you thought about it, your jogs were the only times you really relaxed....you sigh, and keep walking down the small street. You can see lights flickering on in some houses, signs that ponies were just getting up now, and you can hear yawns come from windows nearest to you.
You can see Celestia's sun slowly creeping up, and it's rays stretch out from the horizon to embrace the heavens. A few stars were still out, twinkling their goodbyes as they faded into evanescence.You smile at the wondrous sight of dawn, and trot into the marketplace.
A few stalls were opening, but most of the marketplace was still closed. You could see your uncle's stall just a few yards away, and you begin trotting towards it. You pause when you see a television in the front window of a shop suddenly get switched on by the shopkeeper, and you see ENN (Equestria News Network) was on.
You see the anchormare on the screen, and notice she wasn't dressed in her usual attire. That's when you realize the costume she was wearing was meant to celebrate the Masquerade.
"In just a few days time, the 467th annual Masquerade festival will be taking place in the small town of Ponyville, and everypony's excited for it! Many ponies are spending their vacation days on The Masquerade, just to attend!"
You roll your eyes, amazed at all those imbeciles wasting their time on a party. Who would be so naive, so lazy, as to use their vacation days on a holiday?
"Even renowned professor Test Tube, who has announced he is currently taking a break from his study of the merging of magical and non-magical metals just to attend this massive celebration!"
You stop dead on the spot, and whip around and dash to the television screen, unable to believe your ears. Professor Tube was attending?!
He was Equestria's most famous modern scientist, for his studies and theories of the expelling of magic by earth ponies, and discovering SEVEN non-magical metals on the stereotypical pie chart of elements!
He worked at Coltminister University of Canterlot, a university for earth ponies. It was there that Equestria's greatest scientific achievements were reached! If you got in there....any diploma from that school would let you have any job you wanted. If you got accepted...
You can't help but let out an excited giggle. Professor Test Tube was attending the Masquerade! This was your chance!
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You count the bits given to you by your last customer, carefully organizing everything in the cash register. You've been working harder than ever since you saw the news, and you did your best not to get in the way of the ponies putting up the Masquerade decorations all over the market. Only a few more days until the Masquerade came.
You sigh, and put away the last of the bits, annoyed at the fact The Masquerade preparations were slowing down business. Everypony was busy getting ready for it, whether they were shopping for costumes and masks, or putting up decorations in their houses, or both. All the other merchants were technically open, but busy with the decor as well. Even your uncle was getting in on it.
You sigh, and force an eager smile. You had to keep up the hard work! It always pays off in the end. That's what your dad always used to say. You turn, and decide to take a quick inventory of supplies, to estimate how long it would be until you needed more. Granted, you just got new supplies, but it never hurts to prepare.
You scowl when your uncle looks back at you with a teasing look that told you "You know you were wrong, c'mon, join us!" It was extremely annoying. You look away, and get back to counting up stock. It made no sense that your uncle, out of all the ponies you knew, would waste his time at a party. The thought of him lip-syncing to Filly Gaga while dancing like there's no tomorrow made you nauseous. What was worse...was that you were actually considering it. Making him right.
You walk back up to the cash register, done with counting up stock, and see the familiar green earth pony. Venture was still pissed at hearing you weren't attending, and the sight of him wrenched your gut every time. You force yourself to look away, pretending to count up the bits in your cash register. Venture walked past you all the time with a scowl, and you often wondered if he was just trying to guilt you into going. That never worked...but still hurt. Now that you've heard the news....you didn't know what to do.
Venture walks past you while you count your bits, and you avoid eye-contact as he passes you. For the last few days, he's acted this way, and each time you tried to negotiate with him, he grunted and ignored you. He's made it clear he won't talk to you unless you told him you were going to the party, and it really irked you at how he was being so unreasonable. You clear your throat to try to get his attention, and he turns to you with a scowl. You scowl as well, and walk towards him.
"Venture, it's just a party. Why do you have to be so hostile?"
Venture snorts, and tamps his hoof into the ground.
"It's about more than that, dude! This is about..."
He suddenly cuts himself off, and you raise an eyebrow.
"What?"
Venture shakes his head, and scowls.
"Dude, you've worked your flank off for two years now at that damned stall, and you've never done anything else. It's just ONE night!"
You sigh, and walk back towards the stall.
"Look, Venture, I'll go to a party once everything's out of the way.. Right now, I have to get to college."
Venture rolls his eyes, and snarls.
"College, college, college! It's always about that, isn't it?"
You bite your lip in frustration, and ignore him, getting back behind the stall counter.
"If you're going to get this pissed about a party, Venture, then fine. It won't change my decision either way."
Venture tosses his hooves into the air, growling, and walks off, angrily grabbing decorations in his mouth and galloping off to the town square. You sigh, angry at both Venture and yourself. Why did you do that? WHY did you have to say you weren't going no matter what? Test Tube was attending, for crying out loud!
What were you supposed to do now? If you told Venture your new plans....not only would it be tough, but you might lose him as a friend if he found out you were just attending to meet a teacher from Coltminister. Celestia dammit, why'd he have to be so right?!
You cry out in frustration, and slam your hoof onto the counter, immediately regretting it as you bite your lip and hiss. You pull your hoof back to nurture it, feeling it beginning to throb.
What now? If Venture found out you wanted to attend because of Test Tube, he'd either get pissed off and refuse to speak to you, or become so annoyingly unbearable. Chances were, it'd be the first option. But if you sneaked into the Masquerade and he caught you, then he'd hate you forever! But if you didn't attend, you wouldn't get to meet Test Tube, and hopefully by some completely unrelated chance of getting into Coltminister! Not to mention, YOU HATED PARTIES IN THE FIRST PLACE!! WHY DID LIFE HAVE TO BE SO CONFUSING?!
"Calm down...breathe, breathe.."
You grab one of the paper bags at the counter, and breathe in and out of it in your anxiety. Let your mind clear....it was a Masquerade, right? Everypony was dressing up? What if you just wore a disguise? That way, you could hide yourself from Venture and your Uncle, and still meet Test Tube in pony.
But...dammit, that wouldn't work. They'd recognize you by your voice if they heard you speaking, and you were a terrible actor. You couldn't do this alone...and you haven't been in a party for so long...they'd tell you apart just by your actions. The disguise was just one half of the plan.
Think, think....you'd need somepony else to help. Who did you know who was good at having a good time, was still your friend, and knew ponyville personalities by heart?
You search your memory for a name other than the one named after a bright red color, but you can't find one. She was the only pony who could help....
You sigh regretfully, and trot away from your stall and towards Sugarcube Corner.