//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Mane 6 Meet and Greet // Story: A Pegasus Tale // by Forge //------------------------------// Chapter 3 Mane 6 Meet and Greet Forge continued on his way through the forest, only now he had three little companions that haven't stopped asking him questions or running around his legs since he rescued them from being a manticores lunch. While he enjoyed their company, he was silently hoping that the trip towards the apple orchard wouldn't be much longer as they were starting to get on his nerves. "We're almost there Mister Forge", said Apple Bloom. "Sweet Apple Acres is jus' around the corner. Soon you'll have all the apples you can eat!" Forges stomach growled as he thought about the delicious apples waiting for him. "Great. I'm starving. Oh and you don't have to call me Mister Forge, Apple Bloom. Just call me Forge." "Sure thing Mister Forge". Forge facehoofed as she continued calling him mister, but ignored correcting her and continued walking. Eventually the four reached their destination and were soon surrounded by acre upon acre of apples. Forge stared in amazement and his mouth slowly began to water as he stared at the apples. His stomach growling loud enough to make him jump a little. "Your family owns all of this!" Forge said in disbelief. "Na this is just the first hundred acres," Apple Bloom said proudly. "The rest is over there." Forge turned his head in the direction of her hoof and his jaw hit the ground. Their were at least a thousand more acres of apple trees, each one covered in fresh, ripe apples. Forge stood their frozen in disbelief before a nudging on his hoof snapped him out of his trance. "Mister Forge," said Sweetie Belle "are you all right?" "Yeah. I'm just impressed is all." "APPLE BLOOM! SCOOTALOO! SWEETIE BELLE! WHERE Y'ALL GONE TO?!" The Crusaders all looked in the direction where the shouting came from. Forge didn't notice and was busy getting dozens of apples form the nearby trees. "Hey, that was Applejack!", Scootaloo shouted excitedly. "She must be worried sick about us." "Then we better get going before she sends a search party for us.", Sweetie Belle added. Apple Bloom began galloping in the direction of her sisters voice, while Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle began shoving Forge after her and away from the apples he'd collected. "Come on Mister Forge", Sweetie Belle said as she and Scootaloo pushed Forge towards Applejack's voice. "We want to introduce you to Apple Blooms sister!" "What? Hey wait a minute!", Forge pleaded as he was dragged away from his precious apples. "I still haven't gotten anything to eat yet!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Applejack wandered around her apple fields looking everywhere for any sign of her little sister and her friends. "Where in tarnation could they be", Applejack thought to herself. "it's not like em' to run off without tellin' somepony." "APPLEJACK!" Applejack wheeled her head around as she heard the little voice call her name. She smiled as she saw Apple Bloom galloping towards her, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo right on her hooves. "There y'all are! Where have ya' been! I was worried sick about you!" "We're fine sis. We just went to the Everfree Forest." "What?!" "Yeah", added Scootaloo. "And then we were attacked by a manticore!" "What?!!" "We were almost eaten", Sweetie Belle said. "WHAT?! Apple Bloom what were ya' thinkin'! You now the Everfree Forest is dangerous! Did the manticore hurt ya'?! How many hooves am I holdin' up?!" "That's just it sis! The manticore didn't do nothin'. Mister Forge saved us and sent it running with its tail between its legs!" "Who's Mister Forge?", Applejack asked suddenly curious about who was dumb enough to tangle with a manticore. "I am", came a voice from behind the girls. Applejack looked up and noticed the tall black pegasus now looking at her. "And you must be Applejack, Apple Blooms sister right?" "That's right. It's nice t'meetcha", she said as she began to shake Forges hoof furiously. "N-n-nice m-m-meeting y-y-you t-t-to", Forge desperately tried to say as they continued shaking hooves. "Uh...sis? I think you can stop shaking hooves now." "Oh right". She stopped shaking and looked at the ground, an embarrassed grin on her face. "Sorry bout' that". Forges' hoof shook in midair for a bit before Scootaloo stopped it. "Don't worry about it." "Well I do appreciate what ya' did for my sister and her friends. Ya' must be pretty brave...or stupid." "Thanks...I think." Applejack smiled at him before she gasped and ran right up to him. "What happened to your wings!", she shouted. Forge suddenly felt a rush of pain go through his body. All the adrenaline from fighting the manticore had worn off and he was once again fully aware of his injuries. Forge collapsed onto his forelegs from the pain while the Crusaders and Applejack looked at him with worry. "Apple Bloom, run ta' Fluttershy's cottage and tell her ta' bring her medical kit! This poor fella's hurt bad!", Applejack demanded. "Sure thing sis! Come on girls!", Apple Bloom said as she began galloping towards Fluttershy's. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle followed closely behind. Forge watched as the three fillies ran for help before letting out a groan of pain. Applejack looked down at him with a reassuring look. "Now don't you worry bout' a thing sugacube. If anypony can help ya' out, its Fluttershy." Forge smiled back at her as she began to try and get him on his hooves. "C'mon now", she said as she began nudging him towards the barn. "I got some nice hay in the barn for ya' to lay on." "Thank you...", Forge said weakly. "Its the least I can do for ya'. You saved ma' sister and her friends after all." They made it to the barn and Applejack managed to lie Forge down on a pile of hay. Forge sighed in relief as he lay there. The hay was so soft and warm, Forge felt as though he was lying on the world's fluffiest cloud. "Now you just rest up, Fluttershy and the girls will be here in no time at all." "Thank you, Applejack...", Forge managed to give the orange pony one last smile before drifting of to sleep. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Forge had slept for what seemed like days. He was barely conscious when he heard somepony's talking about him. "Is he gonna be alright?" Forge recognized the voice as Apple Bloom. "He's gonna be just fine sugacube." The southern accent, clearly Applejack. "How bad were his injuries Fluttershy?" More voices began speaking as he continued listening to the conversation through his semi-concious state. None of which he recognized. "Oh...um...they weren't as bad as you thought", came a rather quiet voice. Forge assumed this to be Fluttershy. "Poor guy", came another voice. "How did this happen?" "Apparently, from what the girls have told me, he was caught in that storm yesterday and crashed in the Everfree Forest." "Oh the poor dear. He looks positively dreadful." "Yeah, he looks like he got run over by a cart." "RAINBOW!" Every voice in the room seemed to shout at once at that moment. "I'm just saying." "Well it ain't funny Rainbow! He's already fought back a manticore so whatta ya' expect him ta' look like!" "I wonder if he likes parties? (Gasp) When he wakes up I'm going to throw him a "Glad your not hurt, welcome to Ponyville and thanks for saving the Crusaders"party! There's gonna be cake and balloons and music and games an..mphf" "Ssshhh. I know your excited Pinkie but please be quiet, your going to wake him up." "Okie Dokie Lokie!" Forge had enough of listening and began to stand up. He looked in the direction of the voices and noticed Applejack and the Crusaders had their back to him while five other ponies were looking directly at them. As he began to walk towards them, he noticed that his wings were bandaged to his sides. He smiled in relief over the fact that he still had them. He turned his attention back towards the group of ponies and made his way towards them. By this point the Crusaders had noticed him and ran to greet their hero. "Mister Forge!!!", they all shouted in excitement. One by one the other ponies turned to see the black pegasus walking towards them. Forge stopped in his tracks as his hooves were embraced by Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. "Its nice to see you to", Forge said as the three fillies clung to him. He looked up and noticed Applejack and the other ponies had made their way into the barn and were now smiling at the sight of the three fillies. "Nice ta' see your still with us pardner", Applejack said. "No kidding. How long was I out?" "Bout' three hours. You looked pretty bad when I brought ya' here." "It'll take a lot more than a broken wing and a lighting strike to keep me down!", Forge said proudly. Applejack just rolled her eyes. "Forge, I'd like ya' to meet my friends." Forge looked at the five ponies standing behind her. Each one had a sheepish smile on their face. It wasn't long before the purple pony came forward and introduced herself. "Hello my names Twilight Sparkle." "Hello Twilight, my names Forge. Its nice to meet you." "It's nice to meet you to", Twilight said. Twilight then went and got a pony who was hiding behind a barrel of hay and pushed her over. "This is Fluttershy. She's the one who fixed your wings and helped with that burn on your back". Forge looked at the pony. She was shaking and her eyes were the size of raisins. "Uh...", Forge said cautiously. "Hi." "Eep", Fluttershy mentioned before running back behind the barrel of hay. Forge looked at Twilight a little stunned. "Was it something I said?", he asked. "No, no. She's just a little unsure of you right now. She'll warm up to you eventually." Twilight said reassuringly.She immediately noticed that Forge looked a little crest-fallen. "Are you alright?" "Yeah...It's nothing", Forge answered. He then cleared his throat and looked back up at Twilight. "So who are the rest of your friends." "Oh, of course", Twilight beckoned for the white unicorn to join her. "This is Rarity. She's the local tailor." "Wonderful to meet you darling," Rarity said in a somewhat snobby tone. "Ah, I just love your mane and tail. The colors are simply divine! Tell me, how did you get them that way?" "Well I..." "Oh no matter", she interrupted. "But you must stop by my Boutique at some point. I have some suits that would go great with your eyes." "Umm...okay. I'll drop by sometime." Rarity smiled at this and trotted back towards the other ponies. Twilight then pointed to a blue pegasus pony."This is Rainbow Dash." "That's Rainbow Dash, the fastest pegasus in all of Equestria to you mister!" Rainbow said as she hovered above Forge. "No one can match my speed!" "You're the fastest pegasus in Equestria? Ha!" Everypony gasped as Forge laughed at Rainbow's assumption. "What? You think your faster than me." Rainbow was now inches from Forges face. "I know I'm faster than you! I could fly circles around you!" Forge shouted back staring directly into her eyes. "Oh yeah!" "Yeah!" "You have no idea who your messing with do you!" "Do you?! As soon as I get these bandages off, you and me are having a race!" "Fine! I'll watch you embarrass yourself as I leave you in the dust!" "You'll be the one whose going to be embarrassed as I cross the finish line and make you eat my dust!" "Your on!" Rainbow and Forge were now butting heads, staring daggers at each other. They looked as if they wanted to kill each other. Everypony had backed away until a peculiar sound came from the two. Laughter. Forge and Rainbow had broken their stares and were now rolling on the ground laughing, much to everypony's confusion. Rainbow was the first to get up and flew back towards Twilight and her friends. Wiping a tear form her face she said "Oh I like this guy." She turned back towards Forge and said "I think we're gonna get along just fine." Forge had stopped laughing and turned to Rainbow. "Oh, yeah we're gonna get along great!" "Okay...", Twilight said still confused from the what had just happened. "Anyways, this is Pinkie Pie. She...", Twilight stopped as she noticed that her pink friend was no longer behind her. "Where'd she go?" Everypony pointed towards Forge and Twilight saw Pinkie already staring at him, and bouncing with joy. "Oh my gosh hi there! I'm Pinkie Pie and so so so glad your not hurt! If you were I'd be really sad because you'd be hurt and thats not good! But your all better now and you seem really really nice! (Gasp!) I just remembered i have to throw a party for you to welcome you to Ponyville! Do like parties?! I like parties! I throw parties all the time! don't you worry about a thing because i'm going to throw you the biggest super-special surprise party ever! There's going to be cake and balloons and punch and music and games and dancing and...mphf!" "Pinkie", Applejack said with her hoof over Pinkies mouth. "Calm down, your overwhelming the poor boy!" Everypony turned to look at Forge who now looked shocked and a little confused as to what just happened. "Sorry about that," Twilight said to the now confused pegasus. "She just get's really excited when she meets new ponies." "Yeah, I noticed." Forge replied. "Anyway, we've been talking so much about ourselves we don't know anything about you. I have a couple of questions I wanted to ask you!" Forge yawned before answering Twilights question. "Can I tell you tomorrow? I'm kind of tired." "Oh, okay I guess", Twilight said, disappointed. Forge looked down at her and couldn't help but feel a little bad. "Look, what if tomorrow you gave me a tour of Ponyville. You can ask me as many questions as you want then." As he said this Twilight seemed to perk up and she smiled at him. "Okay! I'll see you tomorrow!" Forge said goodbye to everypony and soon went back into the barn. Applejack came out later with a pillow and a blanket. "This'll keep ya' comfortable till I can find another place for ya' ta' sleep." She said. "I hope its all right." "It's fine", Forge reassured her. "Thank you Applejack." "No problem pardner, oh and welcome to Ponyville." Forge smiled as she went back into her house. He'd never felt so welcome anywhere. He was accepted. "Maybe...maybe this is where I belong." he thought to himself. As the thought of being home swirled around in his head, he couldn't help but have a huge smile on his face as he went to sleep, wondering what tomorrow will bring him.