Author's Note: Periodically, chapters like this will be made if nothing really specific could be done with an episode. I promise that this story will eventually have more originality woven around the adaptation concept. Yeah, kinda messed up by not having Spike in this first part, but...
Chapter 5: Azure's Letters to Home I
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To my family in Canterlot:
You would not believe the day I had. No, really, I wasn't even fully aware of what was going on! And I don't even know what the "Grand Galloping Gala" is! Is that okay, for me, a colt from Canterlot, to not know? Twilight seemed alright with it...I'll get to that soon enough.
As it turns out, Twilight Sparkle is Princess Celestia's student--sorry, Most Faithful Student, to use her exact terms. That would explain the entire thing with the two tickets earlier. From what I can gather, the others I'd met on Day 1 were driving her absolutely crazy...
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Azure Courage was enjoying a day off from his job. It was one of those days where the country ponies didn't really have a lot to build, so he'd gotten off around lunch time. After that rain had passed, the cyan colt had decided to pass some time just by walking around town, seeing what he could do for fun around here. He wasn't quite sure what he'd do with himself. He knew he should have been training to protect the Element Bearers from potential harm, but he couldn't imagine what would harm them. Nightmare Moon was purified now, and had been happily living as Princess Luna (to his knowledge) for about five or six days.
On the verge of going back to see if he could write a rap about...anything, really, Azure suddenly felt somepony collide into him full force on his side, knocking the wind out of him. For some inexplicable reason, he and the pony that had run into him were sent rolling, straight into some bushes, through said bushes, and into a clearing. It was only here that the momentum stopped, and it was here that the cyan colt realized he couldn't see a thing.
"Oh gosh, Azure?!" Twilight's voice rang out, and a few moments later, the retreating purple chest of a pony came into view. She rubbed at the area where his horn must have stuck her, but thankfully, there wasn't a big puncture wound right there.
"Twilight, where's the fire?" Azure asked, now only annoyed that she'd collided with him. The look of concern on her face was replaced with one of frustrated terror.
"O-oh, oh no! Don't tell me you want the second ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala too?!" shouted the lavender mare. Azure was utterly confused.
"The Grand Galloping...what now?" It was quite odd that he shouldn't know. It sounded fancy enough to be a Canterlot event.
"Don't play dumb with me!" It was here Azure realized that Twilight was, inexplicably, at the end of her rope. "You probably want to go...to...to...to see what color you can spill that'll stain the most!"
"The word you used to describe me is 'reckless'," Azure retorted, only softening slightly. He was just irritated at the fact Twilight was accusing him of wanting something he didn't even know what it was. Did she honestly take him for a foal? "Not 'stupid'. What is the Grand Galloping Gala, or whatever you said it was?"
"You mean...you don't know what it is?" Her expression changed again, this time to one of utter bewilderment; clearly, she was caught off-guard by what he was saying.
"I don't know what it is, but it sounds too fancy for me. Whatever it is, I'm sure I have no interest in going." Azure said flatly. Now that he thought about the name, it sounded like something he didn't want a part of. Did he look like an effeminate sea serpent? Far before the cyan colt could react, Twilight was once again within leg's length to him, and inexplicably threw not one, but both of her forehooves around his neck, pulling him up into an awkward position with her, and squeezing him close like some kind of stuffed toy.
"Oh, thank you, thankyou, thankyou, thankyou!" Twilight squealed. The cyan colt had no idea what to think about the fact that she'd hugged him like this, but he did know one thing.
"Twilight, Twilight," Azure wheezed, patting her back to inform her of what she was doing wrong. "You're...hurting me..."
"The others have been driving me crazy about the other ticket! They all have good reasons to go, but I can't pick which one without hurting the others..." The mare continued to list what was wrong, a little wobble in her posture, but that was slightly because Azure himself was starting to wobble.
"Seriously, Twilight...I can't...breathe..." By now, the cyan colt had decided to conserve his strength, and let his hoof dangle at its side like nature intended.
"All I want to do is sit down and eat something so I can think hard about it, but I'm not getting any space, and--" Only now, the purple mare realized what she was doing. "Oh, gosh, I'm sorry!"
Azure flopped over like a dead fish, his chin and forelegs now resting against the crowd after Twilight inelegantly dropped him on his face. He tried to force air into his lungs before he passed out from a lack of it. He continued to idle out with his rump high in the air, not really sure what to say.
"Sorry the others have an interest in--wait, Rainbow Dash is interested in this?!" Azure finally realized what Twilight was saying. That tomboyish mare-interested in anything fancy?! He could certainly imagine Rarity being interested. Aside from Rainbow Dash, he was at least somewhat sure the others had good reasons, barring Fluttershy-he couldn't really understand why she'd want to go to a social event as big as it sounded.
"She says the Wonderbolts would be there." He couldn't see what Twilight's expression was, but something sounded off in her tone. If he didn't know better, she was calculating something, or--
"Oh. That explains everything." Azure said, starting to get back to his feet. "Well, I don't think the ponies chasing you saw where you went, so--"
A storm of voices in the distance immediately sunk that idea.
"Say, Azure," Twilight said in a very sweet tone, sweeter than he'd imagined her able to pull off. Bewildered, he turned to see the purple mare with an unreadable smile on her face. "Do you want to help me out?"
"I don't attack other ponies without--" Azure started, not getting what she wanted him to do at all.
"Of course you'd think that first..." The mare said snarkily, not even bothering to hide her impatience.
"Then what do you want me to do?" The colt responded, raising an eyebrow and closing his eyes to calculate the immediate odds, pressing a hoof to his forehead. "You've got about ten seconds before--"
He hadn't even been aware that Twilight's horn had started to glow, so he didn't think anything was wrong. It was only when he opened his eyes to announce his full assessment that he broke off mid-sentence to stare at his foreleg.
It was purple now.
"Wha--?" Azure looked at himself. He was almost convinced that Twilight had switched their bodies somehow, but the fact his voice didn't sound like hers, and as he examined himself, his body was still the same, just colored different--purple, to be precise. He looked to Twilight, who herself had not changed her color. She was examining him closely.
"It worked!" she said. "We're about the same height...if we're lucky, nopony should notice..."
The colt felt his eye twitch. Where did she get off--
"So, what, you want them to chase me?" Azure asked.
"That's right...when you lead them away from here, I'll run back to the library!" Twilight announced. "Now go!" She then proceeded to telekinetically shove the colt out from the brush. Perfect timing, too, considering that a rather large throng of ponies was rapidly approaching, and he managed to cross their path just before they were to enter it.
"Hey, look, there's the mare with the tickets!"
"Doesn't she seem a little...colty, to you, now?"
"Doesn't matter, she's got the tickets! Get her!"
It was only now Azure understood precisely what Twilight was talking about. If an invite, a ticket, to that Gala turned normally benevolent ponies into mindless zealots, then he definitely didn't want any part of it. The pony tried to do a very Twilight Sparkle-like jump onto his hooves, which failed since he had no idea how the pony moved about before she crashed into him, and proceeded to gallop in any direction, leading the crowd on a wild goose chase. He made sure to grab as many ponies' attention as he could, running wherever he felt he could.
The years of free-galloping did give him an edge. Thankfully, the crowd of ponies didn't seem to be able to tell the difference between an athletic colt and a bookish mare. Azure was still a little mad that Twilight had to go and change his blue fur without his permission. She should have at least told him what she was going to do.
This better not be permanent, Twilight! he thought bitterly to himself as he continued to lead the ponies about. Alleys, roofs, streets, dull corners, sharp corners, he gave the stubborn crowd a good chase. However, the crowd was starting to gain on him, especially since it appeared to have doubled in size since Twilight shoved him out of the bushes.
Gotta make a quick getaway! The colt found a bridge, with a rather calm river flowing underneath it. He decided to run across this bridge, and see if he could lose them in the "dangerous" Everfree Forest. Granted, if the other mares he'd been charged to protect weren't going to fall for that, it would at least thin the crowd. However, something unexpected happened. Another crowd of ponies, smaller in size than the first, slid into view, blocking his path. As soon as he got on the bridge, they too, charged.
The colt took a look back to the river, and quickly came to a decision. He leapt off the bridge, jumping into the water. Swimming wasn't exactly Azure's strong suit, but it was simple enough to fight the weak water by pumping his forehooves and kicking his back legs with all of his might. He hid underneath the bridge. Thankfully, the crowd of ponies did not seem to follow him. He surfaced just out of sight under the bridge.
He checked his hooves. The purple color was starting to fade back into the cyan hue it normally had. Azure breathed in and out as water dripped off his mane and horn, having gotten some adequate exercise during the chase. He continued to tread the water underneath the bridge, listening to the retreating sounds of hoofsteps. As they faded out, he grit his teeth in frustration.
"The things a mare can make me do...!"
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It's a good thing that Twilight's color change spell was only temporary, otherwise I'd be busting the door to the library down demanding she return me to my blue color. I was called "AZURE Courage", not "Laven Fearless" or whatever would have been my name had I been born that color! At least I got my exercise for the day.
Anyway, that was what happened to me. If there is one thing I can safely say Twilight is correct on, it is this.
The ponies in this town are absolutely insane.
Signed,
Azure Courage
P.S. I'm not moving back home. Don't entertain that idea.
----
With that, the pony set the quill down. He looked out to the night sky, taking a deep breath.
"Well, that was an interesting day, to say the least. Now if only I could find time to write about it earlier..." said Azure. "Maybe if I befriend the mailmare...nah, she has her rounds to do, and I've got mine."
The cyan colt stood up after hearing a knock to the door.
"Huh, wonder who that would be?" He stood up, adjusting his headband with his magic as he trotted over to the door. He then proceeded to open it, and saw none other than Twilight Sparkle standing there. "Oh, hey."
"You aren't...still mad about that whole 'turning your fur purple' thing, are you?" she asked. Azure felt his brow crease.
"Just let me know when I can turn your fur a fitting color..." he responded. "So, you came over here to apologize for that?"
"Well, sort of," Twilight fidgeted. "I just wanted to thank you for agreeing to help me."
"I never actually agreed to help you, but I guess I couldn't have refused." Azure said.
"Actually, there's something else I'm here for too..." Twilight reached into the small bag she'd had wrapped around her body. Within a few moments, a golden-colored strip of paper, a ticket, levitated into Azure's view. He took it in his hold, a cyan glow overlapping the magenta one for a few moments. He floated it down in front of him.
"Wait a sec, you're taking me? Didn't I say--" Azure asked.
"Actually, you see, I sent a letter to Princess Celestia about how she'd only sent two tickets, and how I couldn't decide between each of my friends. She'd sent eight tickets in less than a minute after I'd sent her a letter. There's one for each of us, including Spike." Twilight said. "Honestly, I'd imagine she didn't want you or Spike to be left out."
Azure gave a small nod, really glad he wouldn't have five mares giving him a hard time or ribbing him about Twilight taking him over them. The last thing he'd wanted was for Rainbow Dash to be teasing him non-stop about the purple mare.
"I get it. Well, I guess it'd be rude of me to not go." the cyan colt said in response. "If anypony expects me to dance, they're bound to be disappointed..."
Twilight gave a small giggle.
"I don't plan on dancing either..."
Both paused, wondering where that came from.
"Well, see you tomorrow, then," The purple mare said.
"Bye, Twilight," responded Azure. The door swung closed by Twilight's hold, and, once more secluded in the privacy of his home, the cyan colt took a deep breath. He began walking back to his desk so he could fold up the letter to his family and prepare it to be mailed tomorrow, when a sudden realization hit him like a train.
"...what just...happened...?"
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To Virid Strategem:
Just so you know, the strength of an earth pony is not to be underestimated. Given the right situation, they can be rather strong. Take, for example, a friend who happens to be a mare, Applejack, member of the Apple family. A strong, yet graceful one, if I do say so myself. Well, except for the past few days in which she'd run herself ragged trying to harvest several acres' worth of apples.
Surprisingly, she's doing a good job with actually harvesting the apples. What's she call it, "applebucking"? However, the rest of the town's suffered. Rainbow Dash got catapulted into the library, the town got stampeded by rabbits, and about ten ponies got food poisoning from some cupcakes. All this according to Twilight; well, the second one speaks for itself anyway.
Why? Because Applejack was charged with helping Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Pinkie, and in the end, she was too tired to do anything except kick apples down from a tree. Twilight's tried to talk some sense into her, but from what I can gather, she's apparently too proud to accept help.
Her fortitude in light of all this evidence should be admired. Kinda like you and your monstrous ego Virid. Whatever. Point is, something's up again and I'm bound to be sucked into it, if last week's incident with the tickets is anything to go on.
Signed,
Azure Courage
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It really had been a crazy few days, Azure recalled as he set down the quill again. Though he had been needed to repair some damages around town this week due to all the damages caused during the stampedes, he had some time off for the day. The first thing he'd decided to do was go straight home and write about the orange mare's stubbornness. It did remind him a little bit of Virid, and also proved that the green unicorn's magical hubris was completely unneeded as well.
Applejack had saved the town from a stampede of cows, with a little help from her dog, of course. The next day, when she went to accept her award for her effort, she looked absolutely beat, and from there, things that she was involved in just deteriorated, as he'd already noted in his letter.
"Now to put this in the mail," he mumbled to himself. "The mailmare shouldn't have been by yet, so..."
He quickly threw together the letter components, and went outside to his mailbox to put the correspondence in. Without a doubt, it was a strange day indeed.
There was some details he didn't note in his letter, though. The "Applejack too stubborn to accept help" saga had ended yesterday, but there was one small detail he'd omitted in the letter, because he overall didn't feel like messing with Virid any more than he was already...
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It was about late afternoon the preceding day, and Azure had gotten off work not too long ago. Some of the workforce had been unlucky enough to come into contact with Pinkie's horrifically botched cupcakes (courtesy of a sleepy Applejack), and his manager had, thankfully, cut the day somewhat short. Of course, he didn't get a whole lot of time to himself after his shift ended. Not too long after he'd left his workplace, he'd run across Twilight, who asked if he knew where Sweet Apple Acres was.
He had confirmed that he somewhat knew where it was, but only because he'd gotten lost. She gave him some directions from his house to get there, so he wouldn't get lost on the way. Twilight had decided enough was enough of Applejack's ego, and resolved to talk her down no matter what. While Twilight went to get the others, Azure was going to go up and see if he could do any better than the studious pony could at making her accept help.
For his part, he knew Applejack was stubborn by this point: the mare could barely stand under her own weight, yet insisted on harvesting those apples all on her own. From the one tree she'd kicked down on him, he'd have to assume she was pretty darn strong all on her own. Then again, she'd probably been doing it all her life.
It didn't take him long to reach the orchard, passing by a rather large red earth pony with a short orange mane and tail. He had a worried look on his face. From what Azure could see, there wasn't that much left...on one side of the orchard. Azure turned to the much larger male on his left, recalling that this one was Big McIntosh, though most of them called him "Big Mac".
From what the cyan colt could gather, Big had gotten himself hurt pretty bad, and Applejack decided to basically harvest the whole orchard on her own since her older brother couldn't do it. And even with that workload, she'd decided to help out Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rainbow Dash, which only ended in disaster since she wasn't sleeping.
"So, does she know--" Azure turned to Big, ready to ask about the condition of the orchard.
"Nnnope..." the larger male said simply, not even faltering with the straw in his mouth. Realizing he probably wasn't going to get many answers out of the stallion at present, Azure decided to head down there himself. Though some of his body ached from some of the lifting he'd had to do that day, he was still in decent enough condition to manage a quick gallop down to Applejack's location.
Even though the colt knew he had a horrific sense of direction, it wasn't too hard to follow the sounds of apple trees being struck, and a mare's tired, overworked grunts accompanying the sound. Well, it sort of helped that she wasn't too far off from where her older brother was.
Azure almost couldn't help but feel a sense of deja vu, but seeing as how there were only two trees left on this side of the orchard and Applejack was about to fall over tired at anymore, he knew for a fact there wasn't going to be any more fruit kabobs on his horn.
The cyan colt inhaled to say something, but found that he couldn't quite get the words out right away, as an old memory came rushing back to him.
It had been his first day in Ponyville, and Applejack had been kind enough to point him in the right direction, even though she knew him all of about three minutes, if that. Also, the colt did remember a rather awkward moment in which he thought she was about to ki--
Trying his hardest to keep himself from turning bright red at the thought, Azure inhaled again, this time, much more sharply than he had before.
"Applejack, we need to talk," the cyan colt spoke up. Applejack didn't even turn, though Azure couldn't tell if it was because she was focused on her work or incredibly tired. "Applejack?"
"I heard ya the first time," the orange mare beligerrently responded. "But if you're here to offer me help, I don't need your help! I'm just about done!" She continued to kick at the tree, shaking down a few stragglers.
Azure found himself debating on whether or not he should tell her then and there about the fact only half the orchards had been bucked. Thanks to those lingering thoughts, he was able to decide against it.
"You also haven't been sleeping trying to get everything done. It is that obvious." Azure responded, taking another step forward. He still wasn't sure why he wasn't telling her right now that the apples were only half done, but didn't bother. "Bunnies aren't cattle."
Applejack was not listening to him, slamming her back legs repeatedly against the so-called last tree, knocking down the apples within. After kicking it a good six or seven times, she stopped, breathing hard. She looked up to the branches, and immediately, her face broke into an utterly exhausted expression of triumph. The cyan stallion found that he didn't exactly have the heart to tell her that only half the orchard was harvested.
"I didn't need your help!" she called out, looking almost relieved. "I harvested the entire Sweet Apple Acres without it! How do ya like them apples?"
"Um," Azure almost jumped out of his fur at the voice behind him. He looked, and with surprise he noticed that Big was there. While he pondered how someone so huge could have moved so fast without anypony noticing, the larger stallion said more words. This in itself wasn't surprising, except for the fact he didn't say more than one word to Azure. "how do you like..." He turned and pointed to the unharvested half of the orchard. "them apples?"
Applejack followed to where her brother was pointing, and what came out of her mouth next was only describable as an incomprehensible garble of inquisitions and curses about the condition. Finally, with a beligerent, though clearly exhausted snort, the orange mare began trotting toward the other half, though Azure could see the cracks starting to form in her determination.
"Wait a sec...!" The cyan colt grunted, knowing full well if Applejack continued to work, she'd probably literally collapse all over herself at this rate, more mentally than physically. Big said nothing, though his eyes warned Azure to be careful.
"Move it, Az, I've still got work left to do!" The dirty look she'd shot him was beyond acidic, but Azure didn't falter long enough.
"I'm sorry to say it, but I can't let you through here!" Azure countered. "You're beyond tired, and it shows in everything you tried to do recently. I'm sure Twilight's already told you this--"
"And I told her what I just told you--" Applejack's eyes momentarily glazed over, and she looked like she didn't even have the energy to be stubborn anymore. "I don't--" Her eyes suddenly darted elsewhere and her face screwed up, "I don't need your help!"
What was that? The cyan colt thought. "I'm not so sure you even believe that anymore after what you just saw!"
"I..." Applejack faltered again, this time with a yawn, but there was no mistaking that something he was saying was starting to get through to her. "I can do this! Ain't nothin' I can't handle!"
"Except when you try to handle it all at once!" Azure cut off the pony's advance again. He was surprised Big hadn't said anything up to this point, though he suspected it was because he'd already had this argument. He was arguing with his little sister, after all.
There wasn't much in the way of statements. Applejack said nothing, the glare she'd been more or less shooting him this whole time slowly softening.
"You've taken on everything at once, and all you've done is overwork yourself," he restated, taking a few small steps forward. "I can fully understand wanting to keep your word to everypony, but you're just one pony. When you have friends like me and the others, you don't have to shoulder this burden alone. Giving help is good, but sometimes a pony just needs to accept it too..."
Inexplicably, with no more than a small groan, Applejack finally toppled over, dead tired. However, due to the way they were standing, Azure ducked, not realizing right away what that would do. Her chin fell onto the nape of his neck, and he stood straight up in alarm.
He couldn't well call this a hug or a catch. The fact she'd fallen asleep on him was no more than a happy accident.
"Um..."
Azure's ears flicked up at the feminine voice, and turned to see the other mares he'd befriended standing there with varying levels of amusement and/or confusion on their faces. It was Twilight doing the speaking again.
"Are we...interrupting something?"
The cyan colt tried his hardest to prevent himself from blushing as he turned away from them, looking to the fallen mare.
"I think she's ready to accept help now..."
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To my family:
Guess I'd better take this story from the top. It gets complex otherwise.
Well, things started innocently enough. Pinkie was doing that thing where she flies in the face of physics and chasing Rainbow Dash all around Ponyville. Either that or Rainbow Dash was practicing for the Wonderbolts again. Hard to tell. Anyway, the two quickly realized that pranking is fun. At least, that's what I'm to assume...
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Azure Courage couldn't believe it: he actually had a day off from his job smack-dab in the middle of the week! It was mostly because there wasn't anything to construct or He decided to practice his martial arts in a normal fashion. He'd chosen a clearing not too far off from Fluttershy's cottage, situated not too far deep within the Everfree Forest. The pony did enjoy being solitary when it came to his training. Well, he wouldn't have minded a partner, but the only two he knew were miles away in Canterlot now, and he didn't feel like making the trek just for a spar. So he was stuck with basic shadow boxing, manueverability, and testing his spells out.
He had just gotten finished with a rigorous forest application of freegalloping, something made slightly harder by the fact he had to be mindful of woodland creatures this time when he tried to manuever through the trees. The cyan colt had made a few errors in his step, almost spraining one of his ankles in the process, but he'd managed to hold it together well enough to make it back to the clearing.
Next came maintaining his balance while on his hind legs, using his forehooves for attacking. It was incredibly hard at first for him when he first started practicing, but over time, the pain in his hindquarters went away. There was still some endurance issues--he couldn't adopt this stance forever, not that he could use it unless battling another pony. He hadn't yet found a way to magically enhance the use of the stance yet either.
After practicing his moves for a good five or ten minutes: a series of hoof-jabs and kicks more reminiscent of a bipedal creature than anything, Azure flopped down onto his four legs, breathing only a little from the exertion. As soon as he got his breathing under control, lightly exercising to cool down his physical body, he closed his eyes, sat straight up on his rump, and began meditating. The same dim glow encompassed his horn as he continued his magical ritual.
He did this exercise mainly to find his "center", to keep his magic under control; since he was a bit more of a physical unicorn, his horn wasn't always firing off spells left and right, excluding the levitation spell he often used to make things simpler for himself. This was a simple mental exercise, but it hadn't granted him total control over the sporadic nature of his teleportation.
As he remained in that sitting position, minutes seemed to melt by. More time might have passed by if not for an interruption. He didn't hear it coming, but he was called out of his meditation by cold water splashing copiously all over his face. Out of pure shock, he fell back onto his back, his forehooves pinned against his chest and his back legs stretched out.
His headband somewhat soaked, his horn and mane dripping water, he searched around for the culprit. Thankfully, he didn't have to look long. His first clue was the remnants of a rubber balloon not too far from his fully extended tail. His second clue was the sound of feminine laughter nearby. It didn't take Azure too long to figure out precisely where the pony behind it was.
Or rather, ponies: specifically, Rainbow Dash, hovering in the air and laughing hard; Pinkie Pie not too far off giggling away at his expense. Azure blinked back into reality, and began to roll onto his feet, keeping his calm the whole way up.
"By the way, girls?" Azure asked, his voice somewhere between composed and vaguely enraged.
The two mares, surprisingly, stopped laughing.
"That one was free. Next time, I'm going to get you back."
"You can try!" said Rainbow Dash in response.
----------------
So that was their friendship becoming closer, so Twilight said. Just wish they didn't have to interrupt my training session for the day to do it. Anyway, some time passed between then and now. Turns out Rainbow Dash had an old friend who happened to be a griffon. Gilda was her name, and apparently hating ponies was her game. She made no exceptions except for Rainbow.
I still haven't forgiven her for what she did to the fragile Fluttershy...
----------------
It was another day where there wasn't much for Azure to do construction-wise, so after carrying some bricks to a location and receiving that week's pay, the cyan colt decided to make his way home. He'd decided to take a route he was familiar with to get home. By this point, he knew his way around Ponyville, so getting lost wasn't a big issue. He was just about to get home, when he noticed Pinkie Pie looking down on herself.
Seeing her being sad about something, or jealous, or whatever she was, shook Azure somewhat. He would have never expected to see the pink party pony in any other emotional state than disturbingly happy.
Which explains why he was now with Pinkie at her workplace/home, the Sugarcube Corner. The pony had told him all about Gilda's arrival and how she was an old friend of Rainbow Dash's. And about how mean she was to her.
"You know, I'd just about expect that from my cousin, Virid," Azure said, sort of slouching over onto the table.
"Nopony could be that mean, but maybe I'm just being super-de-duperly judgmental of her," Pinkie responded, "But it's very reassuring to hear that somepony else thinks she's a meanie..."
The colt was just about to point out he didn't technically say that when two voices were heard approaching. One of them was easily identifiable as Rainbow Dash, given he'd heard her laugh plenty since he'd first met her, and the other, as the beings drew closer, belonged to the griffon, Gilda. The first instinct of Azure was to flip a table due to her close resemblance to a chimera, but his refined side won out.
Her front legs had claws similar to Spike's, only golden in color. Her main body was brown, and covered in fur, extending down to the tail with a dark brown plant shooting out of it. Her wings were also dark brown. She had white down feathers on her head, which looked like an eagle's head.
So that's Rainbow Dash's old friend...? Huh. Doesn't look that mean aside from the lion-like body.
Apparently, neither one noticed the light blue colt and pink mare sitting right there. Rainbow announced she had some stuff to do. Gilda, meanwhile, announced her intent to "chow down", and the two split. Apparently, the griffon hadn't a moment to lose. Within moments, she was near a vegetable stand, where Applejack's grandmother, Granny Smith, was browsing.
She was a light green, aged earth pony, whose mane and tail were gray-white with age. However, she seemed capable of hobbling about just fine on her four legs. The Apple family was known for its resilience--Applejack herself had taught Azure that firsthand.
Gilda then proceeded to slither her tail within the produce not unlike a snake. The pony didn't even suspect a thing as she took an inhale of flowers. Her eyes opened, and sure enough, the poor old mare went into panic mode with a scream kicking off the outburst.
"A rattler, a rattler!" she wailed, immediately making a break for it in the opposite direction. Azure couldn't help but notice the mildly amused expression on the griffon's face as Granny Smith bolted. "Head for the hills! Everybody forsake yourselves!"
The cyan colt felt his eye twitch. He was raised to show proper respect to his elders. Pinkie, meanwhile, preoccupied herself with trying to convince herself Gilda wasn't all bad after she scared the hay out of an old pony. The griffon, meanwhile, turned back to the produce, only to be approached by a white pony with a blue mane whose name Azure didn't know offhoof. Gilda turned to the mare, and made a snide remark.
"This stuff ain't fresh, dude," said the griffon. As soon as the pony turned her back, the griffon immediately reached into the vegetables, pulled out an apple, and immediately began to eat it on the spot.
That punk! That's called stealing, you know! Azure began tapping his hoof on the table passively, trying to maintain his patience throughout the ordeal, but it was unbelievably tough for him to do so now. He'd never hit a female, and from what he could see, Gilda was clearly so. He hadn't yet been completely provoked. Meanwhile, Pinkie was still trying to convince herself that the bird-lion would somehow give back an apple she'd ingested.
Azure's ear twitched at the sound of soft steps, heralded by a softer voice. He tried to quiet his anger at Gilda's disrespectful behavior while he looked over to see Fluttershy guiding some ducks, giving them specific directions. The crisis came when the yellow pony didn't pay attention to where she was going herself, and bumped into the griffon. Both parties stumbled.
"Hey." Gilda's tone screamed annoyance.
"Please excuse me," said the pegasus in sincere apology.
"I'm walkin' here!" This was the griffon, now becoming even more annoyed by the meek nature Fluttershy provided. From there, it got worse.
"Oh, um, I'm sorry," This was the pegasus now losing even more steam now if that was even possible. "I-I-I was just trying to..."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Azure could feel his jaw clench as his anger continued to boil. He tried desperately to get himself under control before he walked over there himself and did something on Fluttershy's behalf that would only aggravate the situation further. Gilda was now mocking Fluttershy openly. "Why don't you watch where you're going, doofus?"
Fluttershy could only squeak right now, "B-b-but, I-I..."
Gilda reared up to her maximum height, and roared ferociously at her. Fluttershy made a noise that could only be described as bleating, before she flew off, crying. The griffon said something else, but Azure was too busy being mad to care what she said. The pegasus was so fragile that not even Rainbow Dash would offend her with a prank; seeing her abused like that completely pushed the colt over the edge.
He didn't care that Gilda was female anymore, and he most certainly did not even fathom that the course of action he was about to take would spark an international incident. All that mattered to him was that Fluttershy got chewed out in a completely uncalled for attack, and there was a price to pay for that.
"Pinkie, please excuse me, there's some retribution that needs to be dished out..." Azure snarled, trying desperately to conceal his rising anger and failing miserably at it. He took precisely six steps before something clamped down around his tail and arrested his forward momentum after another two steps.
"Noh, Ashie, hold on jussscht a sechond here," Pinkie slurred as she tried to hold him back by his tail. To his surprise, she was actually able to stop him from moving. "Violensche ish noht the anshwer."
"You saw what she did, right?" Azure asked. "You know as well as I do Fluttershy's fragile as they come..."
Pinkie, seeing she'd gotten his attention, released his tail.
"I agree, Fluttershy can't hold up to abuse like me and you, but there's a much better way to solve that problem." The pink party pony said.
"What are you talking about?" The cyan colt was honestly confused.
"You'll find out......."
----------------
Turns out Pinkie's plan for payback was a prank-filled party. Gilda's true nature was exposed to Rainbow Dash when she went off like a cannon, and from what I could plainly see, looks like we won't be hearing from that griffon for a while. I think I've finally found someone worse than you, Virid. At least you tolerate other ponies that aren't unicorns!
So that's it from me, guys. You haven't written me back a whole lot. Hope the mailmare's getting this to you...
Signed,
Azure Courage
P.S.: Apparently Fluttershy's a year older than Pinkie Pie. I would have asked exactly how old they were by now, but I think Rarity would hit me if I tried.
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Back in Canterlot, at Azure's old home, Virid and Blitz looked over the letters their younger cousin had sent since that night that had lasted too long. The only thing that he'd done that truly bothered them was rub it in how he'd seen it coming for years and was disrespected by his family for three straight years because of it. Virid read over the previous letter that had arrived, and could barely contain a chuckle from escaping his throat.
"Ha, well," the green unicorn colt said, folding the letter neatly. "Didn't expect good 'ol Azure to be a mare's stallion there."
"Virid, you're jumping to conclusions," reprimanded the red unicorn, running a forehoof along the spikes on the right side of his mane in minor annoyance. "I doubt Azure's going to play all of them like that."
"Yeah, but a couple of the letters seemed to hint at something," Virid retorted, smirking. "I mean, 'graceful and strong' in reference to a mare? C'mon, I know these things..."
"He also stuck up for one of them, jumped off a bridge for another, sat down with a third because she was feeling down, and respected the other two enough to not do things to upset them straight away." Blitz said. He turned away from Virid for a moment. "Unlike you, who would have probably pushed them away trying to make out with two of them at the same time..."
"Is that a challenge?"
"No, it's fact." With that statement, Blitz attempted to walk away, not in the mood to start a fight.
"I'm sorry," Virid headed off Blitz before he could completely leave the room, his jimmies clearly rustled. "but did I hear you wanted me to break off your horn and ram it down your throat?"
"No, I'm merely saying Azure isn't somepony who'd just try dating two mares simultaneously, let alone six." The red unicorn retorted. "And if you try, I'll break all four of your legs." Virid almost always managed to make him forget about any pacifism he'd had on his mind; a fact Blitz was reminded of as his body tensed in preparation.
"Hey, colts!" Azure's father yelled. "Take it outside!"
"And if you're so curious to see how Azie's doing, why don't you--" His mother continued, but Virid interrupted her.
"No time for that, fight time now!"
With that, Azure's cousins left the letters on the table, heading outside to engage in some good old-fashioned fighting...