//------------------------------//
// Party Buzz 
// Story: To Find Your Smile 
// by FlashKenshin77 
//------------------------------//


To Find Your Smile

Chapter 2 - Party Buzz

"Love can sometimes be magic. But magic can sometimes… just be an illusion."

~;~


"How the hay do I get myself stuck in these situations…" He muttered to himself, standing outside the giant cupcaked building, or as the sign said, Sugarcube Corner. "Ok, just go inside and see what she wants." He shook his head. Gotta stop talking to myself or Mystic was right. He chuckled before slowly grasping the handle in his magic and opened the door.
The room before him was pitch dark, the moonlight somehow not entering the windows. What the hay? He hesitantly entered before the room exploded in light. "Welcome to Ponyville!" It seemed the whole town shouted.
His eyes opened wide as what seemed to be the entire town was somehow crammed into the building. The pink pony he met earlier hopped towards him, carrying a party hat that she put on his head.
"So whatcha think of your super awesome 'Welcome to Ponyville' party?" She asked, her face overrun by a huge smile.
His jaw hung open and all he could do was stare vacantly at her. She giggled before shutting his mouth. He blinked a few times. "Is this… all for me?" The last part he whispered.
"Of course silly filly, you're new and you need to make super duper friends and the best way to do that is through a party." She beamed. She grabbed his hoof. "Come on, I'll introduce you to everypony." She said, before pulling him along.
She quickly went through the room, introducing him to everypony that she could. All he could give them was a small smile and a quick hoof shake before she whisked him to the next pony. Finally after being introduced to everypony, twice, his stomach growled for attention and she let him go grab a bite to eat. He stumbled his way over to the counter and browsed at the selection.
A tall necked earth pony appeared behind the counter. "Welcome to the Sugarcube Corner Inky, I'm Mr. Cake. What can I get ya?" He said with a smile.
Inky quickly browsed through the selection, finally spying something he hadn't had in a long time, a muffin. "I'll take the muffin." He finally said, reaching around to grab a few bits.
"Whoa there, it's free."
Inky paused and turned to stare at him. "What?"
"Yeah, since it's your first time here, all purchases are free." He said with a chuckle. He bent down to open the glass and pulled out the muffin. He pushed it towards Inky as they eyed each other. "Thank you for your business and welcome to Ponyville!" The odd pony said before walking towards another pony that had come up to the counter.
Inky stared at the muffin before he grabbed the plate with his magic and started walking away.
"I'm sorry Derpy but we don't have any more." The long necked pony said.
"Oh… it's ok Mr. Cake. Thanks anyway." A voice replied. It had a sort of bubbly tone that was covered with a sad undertone.
Inky turned around and saw somepony he didn’t remember meeting. She had a bright golden mane that just went over her eyes with a golden tail. Her coat was a bright gray with a slight sheen to it. Her cutie mark, oddly, was a bunch of bubbles. But her most interesting feature were her eyes, those golden orbs. Her left one stared straight ahead like any normal eye would but her right seemed to be staring at the ceiling, almost as if it had a mind of its own.
She turned around with a small pout before she saw him staring. Her small pout turned into a frown. "Why are you staring at me?" She asked, her voice full of resentment and resignation.
"I… uh…" Inky stuttered, trying to think of something. Her eyes then glanced over to the muffin he was carrying and her anger was quickly replaced with wonder.
"Is that a muffin?" She asked, her voice full of curiosity.
He nervously chuckled. "Yes?" He asked, bringing the plate closer to her. "You can have it if you want."
She frowned slightly. "But didn’t you want it?"
"I'm not that hungry." His stomach disagreed, growling loudly. He blushed as she stared at him, her right eye staring at the floor.
"Are you sure?" She asked. He nodded and she gratefully accepted the muffin with a huge smile. "Thank you so much!" She said, walking over to him and giving him a friendly hug. "I'm Derpy Hooves by the way."
"Inky Scribbles."
She was silent for a moment, staring at him before her eyes grew wide and a huge smile appeared on her face. "I know who you are; I've read your books! They're amazing!"
He blushed. "Well thanks… it's always nice to meet a fan."
She looked around at the tables and motioned her head towards it. He followed her and sat down across from her.
She giggled as she devoured the muffin. "My daughter loves them too; she made me read them to her before she went to bed."
He chuckled. "I'm glad you and she liked them, I'll have to let my buddy know we have a couple of fans here."
She smiled, her eyes closed; her snout was littered with muffin crumbs and Inky faintly smiled. She looks just like Moonbeam when we went out for breakfast… His smile quickly turned into a frown.
She opened her eyes and saw his frown. "What's wrong?" She asked.
"It's nothing." He said quickly.
She stared at him as he hoped she believed his lie. Finally she smiled and tilted her head. "If you say so…" she said.
There was an awkward pause as they stared at each other. "So you mentioned you had a daughter?" He asked.
Her ears seemed to perk up. "Oh Dinky? She's the best daughter that anypony could hope for… especially after that." She said, her ears quickly drooping.  
There was a pause. "…How old is Dinky?"
"She just turned seven! I can't believe how fast she's growing. I remember like it was yesterday when I held her for the first time, her coat just like mine." She smiled faintly at the memory.
"Oh so she looks like you?"
Derpy nodded. "Yeah, as she got older, her coat became light purple and less gray but everypony still says she looks like me, except being a unicorn instead of a pegasus."
He smiled. "Really?"
She nodded. "Yeah and she's exceptionally good for being seven. Even Twilight was impressed."
"Did you take her to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns?"
"Yeah, we tried that… it was too expensive so she's in Miss Cheerilee's class."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I'm sure she would've fit in quite nicely."
"It's ok, she likes it in Miss Cheerilee's class, says she has a ton of friends." She paused. "Everypony seemed so surprised she could be so talented… coming from me." She said, the sadness evident in her body language.
"What does that mean?" He tentatively asked and soon regretted. She looked like she was going to cry. "Dinky sounds like a wonderful filly and if anypony questions that, they have to be really stupid." He said quickly.
She faintly smiled. "Thanks."
They stared at each other, before he coughed. "Well since you know what I do for a living, what do you do? Are you part of the pegasi weather team?"
She blushed and looked at the table. "I used to but I kept screwing up so they fired me. I was a mover pony for a bit… till that incident."
He looked at her curiously. "What incident?"
"I just don’t know what went wrong." She muttered, looking at him guiltily. "I was helping this couple move back to Cloudsdale and I guess I wasn’t holding it right and accidently dropped an anvil, then a piano on Twilight." She said, messing with the crumbs on the plate.
He stifled a laugh, imagining the scene like they used to do on old cartoons he'd watch as a colt. "So what do you do now?"
"I'm Ponyville's mailmare; Derpy Hooves, Ponyville Express at your service." She smiled, saluting him.
They both laughed as she lowered her hoof.
After a few more minutes of talking, she sighed and smiled. "Well it was nice to meet you, but I gotta get home to Dinky. It's getting pretty late and I have to get ready for work tomorrow." She said as she started heading towards the door.
"Would you like me to walk you home?" He blurted out, not even thinking about it. He quickly covered his mouth as she looked at him once more.
"No it's ok; you should stay here and enjoy your party. I'll see you around Inky and thanks for the muffin!" She said before leaving.
He blinked. Did she just call me Inky? He stood there for a moment before Pinkie appeared out of nowhere.
"So what did you think of Derpy?" She gasped before squinting at him. "You didn’t make fun of her did you?" She glared at him.
"No, I would never make fun of anypony. Besides, she seemed rather nice."
The anger quickly dissipated, replaced with a smile. "Oh that's good. I'm glad you made another friend. With that, I'd say this was another successful party." She said, putting her hoof down.
"Umm…?" He asked, looking at her confusedly.
Before she could answer, everypony decided it was time to leave, the clock saying it was ten thirty. Everypony said one final goodbye to Inky before they left, leaving him and Pinkie alone.
"Well that was fun." She said before grabbing a broom and started to sweep up the random streamers on the ground.
"Here, let me help." He offered, his horn glowing a faint red. The balloons and streamers that hung on the wall were brought down to the ground in a huge pile, while all the trash was thrown away. He pulled the broom out of her hooves and quickly swept up the floor. A dish rag appeared from the kitchen and wiped the tables off before he levitated them back to her.
"Well that makes cleaning so much easier." She giggled before giving him a hug. "Thanks for the help clean up buddy." She said, pulling away with a smile.
"I should really thank you Pinkie that party was actually pretty fun, best party I've ever been to."
"Really?" She asked, her eyes huge.
"Definitely." He insisted.
She smiled again and pulled him into a brief bone crushing hug. "Thank you so much!" She said, letting go.
He wheezed as he tried to get air back into his lungs. "Well, I should leave you alone now, thanks again for the party." He said, heading towards the door with a final wave goodbye.
He wondered around town, staring at the stars. Most of the town was empty, its inhabitants all bunkered in for the night. There were a few stragglers every now and then but it seemed as if he was the only pony in town. The few ponies he did see waved at him and he waved back. This town is so different than Manehattan… but yet, I find myself liking it more and more. He sighed, sitting down on a park bench. He looked at the stars, only to look down at the ground, the stars twinkling reminding him of Moonbeam. He held his head in his hooves. "Why…" He whispered as tears welled up in his eyes.
"Inky?" Derpy's voice asked from behind him. He paused and turned around to see her heading his way. He quickly turned back and wiped his eyes. She walked up next to him and sat down on the bench. "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing; I thought you had to get ready for work?" He asked, his voice cracking.
"I did but I saw you sitting out here by yourself." She paused and laid a gentle hoof on his shoulder. "Inky, what's wrong?"
"I don’t want to bother you with my problems." He finally said with a sigh.
"Inky, you know you can tell me anything." She insisted.
"It's ironic really, life. It seems when everything is going for you, it likes to pull the rug out from under your hooves and watch you flounder around." He kicked the ground. He put on a fake smile before looking at her. "Thanks for worrying though." He went to get up but she held him down with a hoof. He looked at her confused. "Derpy?"
She didn’t say anything; all she did was pull him into a hug and slowly rubbed his back. He sat there, horribly confused. "It's going to be ok." She whispered to him.
Something snapped inside of him and he could feel the torrent of tears flow down his face. He buried his face into her shoulder as he began to cry.