//------------------------------// // 4 Ponyville, part 2 // Story: Bucking Magnets, How Do They Work?! // by SiMoS MCmuffin //------------------------------// --Location, In front of Twilight's house-- The sun was really shining outside as Simon kept his hand on his forehead to block some of the light, as his eyes adjusted to the brightness. He could make out outlines of surrounding houses. *Hmmm... seems kinda homely infact* He thought as he looked at the wooden walls and hay roofs of the nearby buildings. "Oh, I nearly forgot my saddlebag." Twilight perked her head up and ran back inside. She came out with a two bags slung around her middle. "This way Simon." She motioned as they started to walk towards the market. Simon noticing couple of the other ponies staring at him, whispering something unintelligible and decided stay close to Twilight. "I think I might be getting some unwanted attention" He nodded sideways to the ponies, hanging his head low. Trying to make himself feel smaller, with little success. "Relax. They're just curious as they haven't seen a human ever." She tried to cheer him up. Continuing towards the market, Simon started to feel more out-of-place with every stare and whisper he could hear. Arriving to what seemed to be town's center he was slightly baffled at all the different stands selling everything from vegetables to roses to bolts of cloth. The market, was in it's busiest time of the day with ponies everywhere collecting the needed supplies for their shops, dinner and hobbies. The amount of ponies was not something Simon had expected and was starting to regret coming here. Luckily they happened to be passing by a restaurant with outdoor tables. "Hey Twilight... I'm not feeling comfortable with this many unfamiliar ponies, so would you mind if I waited here at the tables?" He nearly whispered. "Ok. Here's a couple of bits, so you can order something to eat meanwhile" She looked at him understandingly and pulled couple of gold coins from her saddlebag and hovered them to Simon. "I'll be back in just a bit! Stay here!" She yelled as she let go of the bits and galloped over to the stands. Simon grabbed the falling coins in his hand and walked over to an empty table. After sitting down, a waitress arrived and hoofed the menu over with a very questioning look. "Hi there. I'm new here, name's Simon." He began, trying to break the ice with a warmest smile he could muster in the situation. Opening the menu he looked at the available dishes. Sunflower toast, no. Fried hay, no. Apple pie, maybe. Carrot soup, don't think my stomach would agree with that. Muffins, YES! "I would like one blueberry muffin, thank you." He announced as he handed the menu back to the waitress. "That would be two bits, please." Stated the waitress and Simon handed over two of the gold coins. "Thank you. I'll be right back with your order!" She said as she headed inside the restaurant. Alone again, Simon's thoughts turned back to the events two days ago. Leaning his jaw against his hand, *I wonder if I can salvage anything from the super magnet... I need to get it out of the forest first of course... hmmm... Might need some help with that* ran across his head. The magnet seemed to be the key for all of this mess, so maybe with good luck he could try to use it again and get back to earth. There were couple of problems though. One of them being getting the magnet out of the forest, second would be to see if it still worked and third and maybe most crucial one was, where he would get the electricity to power it. His pondering was interrupted as a small plate with big blueberry muffin was delivered to his table. He said thanks to the waitress who went off to serve other customers. Deciding to inspect the muffin first for any unwanted surprises. Picking the muffin up he first turned it around like a wine taster inspecting the color of the wine; *Looks normal* He concluded and then took a good whiff of it; *Smells normal*, now practically drooling he took a big bite out of it; *Tastes normal!* He praised as tears threatened to leak from his eyes. He kept savoring the texture and taste, *Oh god, this is so good!* he thanked, swallowed, and went for another big bite as "Mmmuffinnn...." voice from right next to his ear stopped him right as he was about to bite down for another chunk. Whipping around to his right he came face-to-face with a gray face, a blonde lock of hair and two golden globes staring at different directions. Surprised by this Simon quickly tried to pull his chair backwards, but succeeded only at tipping himself over on his back. Letting out a big sigh he took another look at the interrupter. She was a pegasus, with a gray coat, blonde hair along with looked like a mailman's cap, a slingbag with letter's picture on it and two now worried looking eyes. "You okay there mister?" She asked tentatively, moving closer. "Yeah... I'm getting quite used to falling on my back." Simon said still lying on his back with his head propped up, looking at the pegasus. "Sorry about that. I'm Derpy Hooves. I'm a mailmare" She stated while rubbing her head with a hoof embarrassed. She leaned in and offered a hoof to him. "Well hi there Derpy. I'm Simon." He replied, taking a hold of her hoof and pulling himself back up. "May I ask why were mumbling something about muffins right next to my face?" He queried, holding his head. Feeling the start of headache. "OH! I noticed you were eating a blueberry muffin. They are my favorite and I guess I got a little sidetracked from my mail route... eh he hee..." She replied, fiddling around with her front hooves, hanging her head low. Her eyes still looking unfocused. Simon sighed deeply. "Go ahead. You can eat it." He admitted, looking defeated. His now proper headache making him forget about his hunger for the moment. "Thank you Simon!" She piped and hug-tackled him back to the ground. Thankfully he didn't hit his head so hard this time. He looked at the mare on his chest hugging him with a warm smile thinking *Sometimes I think I'm just too nice...". "Hey! What is that monster doing to that poor mare?!" Came a shout from the neighboring table. Simon looked up to see a angry looking colt moving his way. "You let her go before I kick your face in foul beast!" He yelled storming towards Simon. *Uh-oh* Was all Simon could think, before quickly getting up and setting Derpy down on the nearby bench. "Hey hey hey" He quickly exclaimed waving his hands dismissively in front him. "I think there has been a mis-", but was interrupted by another mare who had been walking by. "I saw it too! He pushed that poor mare to the ground!". Simon could feel the situation start to spiral out of control. He was a mythical creature here in Ponyville, dressed in torn and bloody clothes... "I saw it myself!", "I think I saw it too" The air filled with more accusations as more and more ponies started to approach Simon, with intentions on stopping this bloodthirsty beast. "GET HIM!" Roared the assembled mob as Simon took of into the town streets. "Bye Simon!" Waved Derpy at him, as she nommed on the muffin. Simon unfortunately couldn't hear this, as he was more preoccupied by the uproars of the mob he was running from. His right ankle didn't protest against this race, yet, but he wasn't sure if he could lose them. Especially in their own town, but he wasn't going to find out as he jumped to a back alley and took a quick sprint through it. The mob was following right behind with air still filled with dreadful things they were going to do to him when they caught up. Bursting through the other side of the alley he quickly surveyed the possible escape routes. Back to the tree house was sort out of question as he didn't know anymore where it was, going back to the town market would probably net only more mob members. He looked around for any buildings he could hide in and noticed a weird gingerbread looking house topped by a, cupcake? There was a 'closed' sign on the door and made a beeline to it. *Please don't locked! Please don't be locked!* He hoped as he turned the doorknob... And it opened! Jumping inside and throwing the door close he crawled to a nearby window to see if he had managed to lose the mob. The mob ran out of the alley and surveyed the area, but didn't seem to have seen him. Couple seconds later someone pointed a hoof in another direction and the whole mob went storming that way with still evident promises of tar and feathering -malarcy. Simon hadn't noticed that he'd been holding his breath, but a quick tap on his shoulder made him let out all the air along a big sigh and raised his hands in the air. "I give up! But I assure you, it was a misunderstanding!" He announced with head and shoulders slumping low, eyes shut and hands high in the air. He slowly turned around, expecting couple of ponies to have followed him and about to take him into a dungeon or something. Instead of a hoof contacting his face, a flurry of giggles erupted in front of him. Making him open his eyes and watched a pink pony with a very poofed mane roll around the floor holding her stomach. "So you're not going to throw me in jail?" Simon's face full of confusion now. "No silly. Why would I do that?" She suddenly stopped her giggling looking at him questioningly too. She took a couple of looks at him and on her face suddenly grew the widest smile he had seen and her eyes were full of cheer "Hey are you new here?!". She jumped back on her hooves and bounced over to him in a way that defied physics and muscle capability. She pulled his hands down and started shaking them very vigorously, "Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie!". "A-a-and I'm-m S-i-m-o-n." His managed to say from all the hand/hoof shaking. "C-o-u-l-d y-o-u s-t-o-p s-h-a-k-i-n-g m-y h-a-n-d" His cast arm starting to hurt from all the vibrations. "Ok", and she sat down on the floor. Taking a second gander she finally noticed that there was something different about Simon. "You look weird. What kind of diamond dog are you?", She asked tilting her head a little. "A diamond wh-" He managed, "No, Wait! Twilight told us that she was sheltering a something called a h-u-m-o-n" She rubbed her chin, seemingly lost in thoughts. "You mean a human? Wait, you know Twilight?", Simon raised an eyebrow. "Well sure I do. I know everyone in town! I'm this towns party pony!", she started jumping again in circle, but stopped and looked at him "Why were there such a big mob of ponies after you?". "Well I was enjoying a nice muffin at the restaurant next to the market, but Derpy popped in unannounced and I then offered her the rest of my muffin and she tackle-hugged me to the ground to thank me and apparently some ponies thought I was doing something else to her. That mob wasn't going to listen for my pleas. And I then ended up here.", Simon shuddered at the thought of the mob chasing after him. "Well let me welcome you to the most super-duber bakery in Ponyville! The sugarcube corner!" She paraded with confetti and balloons suddenly falling out of somewhere. "Care for a sample?" She asked leaning in on his face. "Uuuhh... Sure. What's with the balloons and confetti though?" He asked with a bit of a confused and surprised expression. "Well duh. They don't call me the best party planner in the town for nothing. I'm always prepared!", She explained as she bounced towards the kitchen. Sooner than he could try start making the ends of the situation she bounced back from the kitchen holding a plate with another cupcake and a glass of milk. She set them down on a table by the corner as Simon dusted himself off and walked over to her. Finally with no other ponies around except for Pinkie, he managed to calm himself down enough to not spill the milk in his shaking hand. Taking a bite out of the muffin his eyes grew wide, the flavor just seemed to explode all over his tongue! "mmMMmmm... These are excellent! Do you know who baked these?", he managed to ask mouth full of muffin. "I baked them. I work here!" Her smile just grew at the compliment. Pausing for a moment He looked at her disbelievingly for a moment, but decided to continue munching on. "So you work here, huh?" He finished his muffin. "I have always wondered what it would be like to work in a bakery. Do you work here alone? Do you own this place?". "Nope. This place is owned by the Cakes and I just help them around when they're busy. Oh! and I live upstairs here!" Pinkie pointed up to the ceiling. "Well now that they have foals, I usually babysit them when they're too busy with a big order." Emphasizing the word 'big' with the hoofs. "The foals are just so cute that I wouldn't mind babysitting them forever" Hugging herself tightly along with a giggle. "That sounds sweet, but I think I should start looking for Twilight" Simon started to get up from the chair, "So we can see how to get me out of this mess.". "You're going back outside?!" She looked at Simon like a he was a total loonie. "I could go find her and get her super-duper fast here!" Lifting her front hooves on the table with her tail shaking like an excited dog. "Noooo no no, I don't want to impose myself anymore on you than possible." Simon shook his head. "If you want to come along that's okay, but I'm not going to stay here any longer" Crossing his arms. "Besides. What if the mob happens to find me and barges in and wrecks the place?". "Hmm... good point." She agreed, thinking even harder now "...I know!" Bouncing at least a meter in the air. "We'll disguise you!" rubbing her hoofs together with a plan in mind. "And how we're going to do that?" Simon raised an eyebrow. "I'm not exactly conspicuous with my height, and my clothes, and my face, aaaaand my arm" he tapped on the cast. "Hahaa, you underestimate me!" She ran to upstairs her room. Approaching her equipment closet where she kept all her gag and joke items. Pulling it open, revealing a massive stack of barely organized pile of items, which started to threateningly lean outwards. The sound of items banging against the floor, caused Simon to look up to the ceiling in wonder. "Where are they? Where are they?" Throwing items aside as she looked for something specific "...Found them!", running back to downstairs with two items in tow. Dropping them in front of Simon. He looked at the items with a stupefied expression on his face. It was a hay bale and one of those cheesy 'masks' with a overly big fake nose, a fake mustache and a black rimmed glasses with huge eyebrows. Looking between the items and her he finally gave up, "Okay, you lost me" rubbing the bridge of his nose, "How am I supposed to disguise myself with these again?". "Isn't that obvious silly" She rolled her eyes. "You get inside this hay bale and put the mask on for added disguise" she beamed. "No one will know it's you! It's super-duper foolproof!" jumping on the bale and stomping a hoof on it. Simon wasn't nearly as excited as was the pink counterpart. Looking at the bale, wondering if he could even somehow fit inside; He grabbed the mask of cheesiness and inspected it, sighed, but put it on. "Okay, I'll use the mask, but I'm not gett-" the front door swung open! Panicking, he jumped behind the cash register table for cover. "Pinkie!" Shouted Twilight as she bust in and spotted her. "Have you seen my new friend who I told you about a day ago?!" Panicking and erratic. "We went to the market together, but he stayed at the restaurant while I went to get some apples. After I came back he was nowhere to be seen and I asked couple ponies around if they had seen anybody different. Weirdly Derpy said he had met Simon and seen him off as he had suddenly ran away, chased by a mob!" The lavender unicorn explained clearly in worry and disarray. "Oh yea, I've seen him." Smiling nonchalantly, "He took cover here from the mob." She replied. "Hey Simon it's okay, it's just Twilight." She yelled towards the cash register. Hearing that it was a false alarm, Simon rose from behind the table, the mask still on his face. "Thank god it's you Twilight." holding his chest in relief as he saw the lavender unicorn. "I thought the mob was coming to ge-" Looking down, interrupted by a sudden hug from Twilight, burying her face in his stomach. "Oh god I feared the worst!" Burying her face deeper, "I thought you had ran out of town!" She yelled in his stomach, pulling away for a moment to look at him with teary eyes. "What's with the mask?" raising an eyebrow. "Oh, this?" He took the mask off and threw it back on the hay bale. "Well consider it plan B" winking at pinkie, who giggled in response. "But let's be serious for a moment" Looking Twilight square in the eye as he slowly removed her from his mid section. "What are we going to do? Half of the town thinks I'm some kind of bloodthirsty monster, who attacked the mailmare!" Throwing his hands around. Twilight went from looking teary eyed to lost in thoughts, as she tried to think of away how to rescue the situation. "I think you need do some PR stunts, so the townsponies can see that you aren't a threat." She concluded her train of thought. They needed positive image for him to counter the earlier negative views, and that meant getting rid of his old bloodstained clothes in the first hand. Realizing how important first impressions were. "We need to go see Rarity for new clothes for you" Looking now calmed down and a serious expression on her face, pointing at him with a hoof. Taking a second look at his clothes, well... rags might be more suiting term. "Yea... these clothes do give sort a bad vibe" He admitted. "So how are we going to get to Rarity? I don't think I should be seen with these clothes." Making a point as he lifted the bloody shredded leg of his trousers. "Easy, we'll teleport to Rarity's boutique" Smiling at Simon. Simon's face went slack, trying to comprehend what she just said. "You mean like, here now, *POOF*, there now?" making a explosion motion with his hands. "Yup" Twilight replied bluntly, a small smile of pride growing on her face. "No... Way" Simon paused between the words. "Heck yeah, let's do it!" Almost giddy with excitement, "So how does it work? what do I do?". "Just put your hand on my shoulder and I'll do the rest" She motioned him to come closer. Simon almost ran, stopping right next to Twilight as he placed his hand on her shoulder. Oh wow her coat is so soft... His hand petting around a little. "Ready?" Twilight turned to him. "Ready." Simon replied with a confident voice. "Oh and thanks Pinkie for the muffin!" Remembering to thank her new pink party pony friend. "And the disguises!". "No problemo" Pinkie threw back, "Pop in some time again soon and I'll throw you a welcome party!" yelling in glee as she waved her hand at Simon. Turning back towards Twilight, her horn started to glow brighter and brighter as the world was slowly consumed by the ever increasing glow. Suddenly it felt like his body was pulled in every possible direction and his stomach did an internal barrel roll. With a soft crackle the world suddenly appeared in front of him, but instead of sugarcube corner they were evidently in some kind of clothing parlor. Mannequin ponies and unfinished dresses and suits lying around the room. "Rarity? Are you here?" Twilight shouted as she moved to inspect the connecting rooms. "I'm in the bath darling" Came a yell from the spiral staircase that lead to upstairs. "Could you hurry! We have a sort emergency here." Twilight shouted into the staircase. Simon meanwhile was looking at the mannequins and unfinished clothes. The owner sure seemed popular to have this many unfinished clothes simultaneously. Spotting something sparkling he took a close look at a dress on a mannequin. No way! They were using gems in their clothes?! Spotting a what seemed be a half closed storage box, he walked closer and realized it to be full of fist sized gems of all kind of shapes and colors. This was unbelievable! He turned towards the staircase as hurried hoofsteps could be heard descending them...