“So who are we seeing first Twilight?” I asked.
“We're going to head down to Applejack's farm first. It's the farthest away and I'd like to get it out of the way. Pinkie Pie is going to be sad that she wasn't the first to greet you because she usually is with everypony that comes to this town. But I have my reasons for keeping you two separate for now. I have got to keep you two apart for the good of the world. You two will make everypony within a mile go crazy.”
“So what you're saying is I'm going to like her aren't I?”
Twilight sighed and pushed me out the door on the way to our first stop. “Yes, you two are going to get along famously. And it is going to kill the rest of us. Have fun.”
“Hmm, I don't know if I wanted to be a murderer, but if you say it's fun I guess I might give it a try.”
Twilight Sparkle just rolled her eyes and said, “You're not going to be a murderer as long I'm around, because there is no way I'm letting the two of you be near each other for more than a minute. As long as that rule upholds, everyone else will be fine. Now, changing the subject away from that nightmare, we're going to go to Applejack's.”
I groaned and followed along behind her as she trotted down the road, “Just hurry up so I can meet this Pinkie Pie pony. She sounds fun.” I got no response from her except for more trotting. “At least I get to walk on my own without you carrying me somewhere.” Still no response. Looks like I'll be traveling in silence for now.
We ended up heading towards a farm of some sorts, there were trees as far around as I could see. “So what does this Applejack farm?”
“Take a guess.”
That was the only response I got. So I did. “Potatoes.”
She spun around and gave me a bewildered look. “Are you kidding me? Potatoes? They don't even grow in trees! And you can see plenty of trees around here!”
I looked around as I had no idea what she was talking about, “Huh, I didn’t notice those there.” I shrugged my shoulders and walked past her towards the farm.
“Apples!” She yelled from behind me, “She farms apples!”
I stopped and put a hoof to my chin thoughtfully, “Dang, that was my fourth guess.”
“Fourth guess?! What were your other two guesses?!”
“Jelly beans and pancakes.”
She stamped the ground furiously, stopped, took a deep breath and muttered, “I'm going to kill this stallion by the end of the day.” I just flashed her a toothy grin. And managed to get carried the rest of the way to the barn. I take it that's her I've had enough and you're going to stop now reaction. So I became silent the rest of the way to the house that was in the middle of all the apple orchards, and she knocked on the door.
An orange, cowpony looking pony answered the door and gave a big smile when she saw her friend at the door, “Well howdy Twilight! And...you.” She said as she looked up to me with an eyebrow raised questioningly.
Twilight decided to answer the situation herself, “Hi Applejack, this is-”
“Good evening Madam Applejack, my name is Prince Cornelius of Canterlot.” I gave my best bow that I could while floating in the air.
“You're not a prince, shut up!” Twilight shouted.
“Aww, why not?”
“What do you mean ‘why not?’, you're not! It's as simple as that!” I think I was making a good first impression on Applejack, just my opinion though.
“She hates me Applejack, she crushes all my hopes and dreams. She's so mean to me!” I crossed my arms and gave a pout.
“I don't hate you! You're just-”
“LIIIIIEEEEES!!” I shouted while waving my hooves around in a little tantrum. “Lemme go!”
Twilight sighed and looked at Applejack, who was just watching the interaction without a clue as to what was going on. “This is Phantom, he's new to Ponyville and he doesn't have many friends yet. If you can't tell he resembles Pinkie Pie a lot, so I'm taking him to meet all my friends...but her last.” I stopped my tantrum for a second to give a cheerful wave, then proceeded to wave my hooves around frantically.
“Oh lord, just make sure Ah'm not around to witness when those two meet. Otherwise it's been a...pleasure to make your acquaintance Phantom. It'll be...nice to have two Pinkie Pie's around here.”
“That sounded like the most sincere greeting I've ever had.” I told her.
Twilight rolled her eyes, “He's not as bad sometimes, he can be calm and intelligent if he wants to. He just never does. The difference between him and Pinkie Pie is that Pinkie seems to have no idea what she's doing, it's just her. Whereas he’s just messing around.”
“Well, Ah guess that's not as bad as Pinkie then.” Applejack looked at me as I stopped my tantrum to look down at the two.
“You know, you two don't seem very nice to Pinkie Pie really. You keep saying I'm not as 'bad' as her, or the sarcastic remark that it would nice to have two ponies like her around. Is she actually your friend or just someone who hangs out with you guys?”
Both of them blushed and looked at each other, Twilight was the one to answer me first. “No she's our friend, I promise, she's just a bit much sometimes. Like I said, you can be calm and collected at times, whereas she cannot. It's just part of her nature, it can just be a bit more than we can all handle sometimes.”
I still wasn't satisfied with that, “So why put up with her at all if you can't do it all the time? I don't see a reason why a 'friend' of yours should be hard to put up with.”
Twilight opened her mouth a couple times to answer, but it seemed like she had none. I looked at Applejack to see if she had an answer.
“The way Ah see it is no one knows why they're friends with other ponies, everyone has their little tussles with their friends, but being able to get over that is what makes you friends. Ah don't think a day goes by that Rainbow and Ah don't find some way to argue about something, but we're still great friends. The same goes with Pinkie Pie, we may have times where our patience grows thin with her, but we still have fun other times.”
I nodded at that, satisfied this time. I pointed to the exit of the farm, “Onward my faithful steed! We must continue our quest of friendship!” I trotted in the air I was still being suspended in, getting nowhere.
Twilight sighed and looked back at Applejack, “Thanks for that, and I guess we'll see you later then.”
Applejack nodded in response and went back inside her barn, closing the door behind her. Twilight began walking away from the barn as we went on to meet the next friend that she had.