Just as I thought it was over, I closed my eyes. My mind was racing. I didn’t know what she was going to do or say. After a minute of silence, I opened my eyes slowly. Pinkie Pie was right next to me, while Applejack was behind her, looking at Pinkie. Pinkie was just standing there, head slightly cocked to the left, staring at me, wide-eyed. After an awkward silence that just seemed to drag on for hours, Pinkie piped up.
“Hi!”
I jumped slightly. Her unexpected ‘hi’ scared the living daylights out of me.
“I’m sorry, did I scare you?”
I cleared my throat and spoke. “No, no. I’m okay.”
“Your name is Arjay, right?” She spoke with a very calm tone. It scares me just thinking about it.
“Uh, yes. And you are Pinkie Pie.”
“Where you from, Arjay?”
I wasn’t sure how to respond to this question. After a moment, I said, “I’m not from here, that’s for sure.”
I was very confused. Pinkie never acts like this. Never have I seen her calm, nor have I seen her where there wasn’t a moment where she wasn’t bouncing off the walls. I could tell by the look on Applejack’s face that she felt the same way.
“Okey dokey lokey!” She said in a hyper way. She began bouncing away, leaving me and Applejack to watch, confused, as she left.
“What in the hay just happened?” Applejack said as we watched her bounce over the hill and disappear.
“I wish I knew. I am just as confused as you are.” I said, then realizing I was alone with Applejack again, quickly added, “I’m gonna go, I’ll see you later,” then dashed up the hill in the direction Pinkie left. A couple feet up the hill, I fell on my face, considering I wasn’t used to the four legs. Looking back at Applejack, I could see Applejack rolling around on the ground, laughing her ass off. I stood up and dusted my self off, then grumbled to myself as I ran off again.
As I stumbled over the hill going from Sweet Apple Acres, I saw the late Ponyville in the distance. With the sun at my back, Ponyville looked like a small village in the distance, with tannish walls and brown roofs. However, as I got closer, I found that the roofs were, in fact, made of straw. With brown finishing on the buildings, each one looked like a barn with faded colorings, with brown instead of white finish.
The streets were bustling about normally: the ponies were running some stalls on the side, while others were just bustling about to go wherever they were headed. At the thought of the pony stalls, I remembered I hadn’t eaten anything for two days.
I walked up to one of the pony stalls, and the pony at the stall gave me a warm greeting. The pony was a dark gold on the coat with a black mane and tail. The pony also happened to be wearing shades. The pony was also a pegasii.
“The name’s Dust Storm. How can I help you?” He said with a smile. I looked at what he had at his stand. There was a variety of fruit: strawberries, cantaloupe, and watermelons. Pretty much everything except apples.
“Hi, Dust Storm. I’m RJ. I happen to be new to Ponyville. Do you think I could get some strawberries?” I say, fidgeting with my back pocket to try and pull my wallet out.
“Yeah, sure. So you’re new to Ponyville?” He said putting some strawberries in a paper bag.
“Yeah, I just got here.”
“That’s cool. Maybe we could hang out some time?”
“Yeah, sounds great,” I said, putting a dollar on the table and grabbing the paper bag, “Could you point me towards Sugarcube Corner?”
“Uh, yeah, but…” He was holding the dollar in hoof. “What is this?”
“Oh, yeah, I forgot the currency is different here…”
After a moment of thinking, I said, “One bit is like one cent, so that would be one hundred bits.”
“Really? A hundred bits? That’s really nice of you.”
“Heh. Thanks.”
“I think you and me will be great friends.”
Really? I thought, a real friend? I’ve never had a real friend before…
After Dust Storm points me in the way of Sugarcube Corner, I begin my trek to the cupcake-shaped place. Considering he told me it was just around the corner, it wasn’t long before I was standing in front of the multiple colored building. As I walked in, I was engulfed by the smell of freshly baked goods. The walls were lined with all kinds of sweets: cakes, cupcakes, lollipops; you name it, it was there. It was difficult to count how many things were there, considering there literally three large shelves going around the room lined with sweets. When I looked over at the only thing that was lacking a vibrant color, which was the front counter, I saw Derpy talking with Pinkie. Oh, Derpy. I felt bad for her for a moment, remembering all the shit she has really gone through. However, that all changed when I saw how truly happy she really was. I was surprised to see how good her coat, mane, and tail looked, considering how wall-eyed she usually was.
“Hello, Pinkie!” She said with a large smile. “I’m here for my weekly muffins!”
“I know Derpy!” She said in her normal hyper way. “You come here every Thursday at exactly ten o’ clock in the morning. Why else would you be here right now?”
“To deliver mail?” Derpy said in an annoyed tone.
Pinkie smile sheepishly. “Oh. Right…” She turned around and grabbed the box off the shelf. When she turned around and was right about to hand the box to Derpy, when she looked at me and froze for a second. She cleared her throat then handed the box to Derpy.
“Are you okay, Pinkie?” Derpy asked, clearly worried.
“Uh, yes. Yes, I’m fine.” There was a drastic change in her personality. Was it me? I sure hope not.
After Derpy left, I walked up to the counter where Pinkie sat.
“Welcome to Sugarcube Corner, Arjay. What can I get for you?”
“Uhh… I don’t know…” I was gazing around the room at the masses of sweets that were in the room. Then I spotted it: a purple frosted cake with blueberries on top. It was perfect.
“That one. That one right there.” I said, pointing at the cake.
“Okay. Allow me to get it.” She said, walking over to the shelf on the far side of the room.
“How much will it cost?” I said as Pinkie reached up to grab the cake.
She turned around with the cake in her hoof and smiled. “First time customers always get their first item free.”
“Really, that’s great!” I said with a smile. She set the cake on the counter in a box then closed it. I was about to grab the cake and leave, but Pinkie said something first.
“Hey, uh, Arjay?”
“Yes, Pinkie?”
“I was wondering if we could, uh, get to know each other a little better.”
Something wasn’t right here. Pinkie isn’t usually this calm when meeting new people.
“Sure. What do you have in mind?”
“A picnic!” She said in a hyper tone, but cleared her throat and said, “A picnic” in a much softer tone.
We gathered the basic essentials for a nice picnic. The quilted blanket, some fresh apple juice, which Pinkie said that she and Applejack made it this morning, which is what she was doing before she met me. We made some sandwiches of bread, grass, mayo and alfalfa. After we were packed and ready to go, I followed Pinkie to where we were going.
***
I have always loved picnics since I was a little boy. I remember how my family and I would always go to the park, sit under a large tree, sit down on a sheet, because at that time, we were a quite poor family, and eat some homemade burgers my mom had made the night before. The reason I bring this up is because the location of where Pinkie was setting up reminded me quite a bit of that. We were under a large tree, I think at the outskirts of Sweet Apple Acres, though I wasn’t sure, we were on a red and white quilt, and she and I had made sandwiches back at the Corner. So, I was a little reluctant to be there, the location bringing up some old memories, and I didn’t want to start crying in front of a pink pony. I don’t know who would.
“Arjay, are you okay?” She asked me. I then realized I was just standing there, staring at the tree.
“Uh, y-yeah. I’m fine.” I replied, clearing my throat and sitting down on the quilt.
For a little bit, we sat there eating the sandwiches in silence. They were surprisingly really good. Although, I was a pony now, so I guess they would taste better anyways. After I finished half the sandwich, the silence was killing me, so I spoke.
“So, uh, Pinkie. How is Sugarcube Corner doing?”
“Oh, it’s doing okay.” She said, finishing her first half as well.
“How are the Cakes?”
“Well, the twins are a handful, but other than that, they’re good, too.”
I don’t think this conversation is going to go anywhere, I thought to myself as I picked up another half of a sandwich. Just then, Pinkie pipes up.
“Well, what about you?”
“Well, what do you want to know?” I take a bite of the sandwich.
“Absolutely everything.”
I choke slightly on the sandwich, but nothing too serious. Everything? I thought. Well, better get started.
“Where to start?”
“How about you just tell me what brought you to Ponyville?”
“Actually, I just woke up at Sweet Apple Acres. I have no idea how I got here.”
“Huh.” She looks at a watch she had on. Never seen that before.
“Ohmigosh! We need to get back! The super pie is almost done!”
Within a matter of seconds, she had everything packed and she was running back towards Sugarcube Corner. I ran after her best I could, but I lost her after we got back to town. Out of breath, I fell on the ground. Looking around me, I saw I was drawing a crowd, so I got back up and dusted myself off. A gold-colored mare with a brown and blue mane and tail approached me.
“Are you okay?” She asked me softly.
“Yeah,” I started, “I’m just… tired from… running… after Pinkie…” I was so tired I could hardly speak. That pink pony moves fast!
She chuckled. “I know. She moves way too fast. Oh, allow me to introduce myself. Name’s Traily. I don’t think we’ve met before.”
“No, we haven’t. I’m RJ. Pleasure to meet you Traily.”
“Are you just arriving in Ponyville?”
“Yeah, I just got here this morning.”
“Oh, okay. Well, I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later!” She waves goodbye.
“Okay, see you!” I walk back to Sugarcube Corner to see Pinkie Pie cleaning up a giant mess.
“What happened?” I say.
“I didn’t get back in time. I have to start over now.”
I could tell she was upset. Her ears had fallen, and she sighed a heavy sigh.
“Hey, I’ll help you.” I said reassuringly.
“Really? You’ll do that?”
“Of course. It doesn’t look that hard.”
“She smiles. “Let’s do it!”
***
I was SOOO wrong. That was quite possibly some of the hardest work I have ever done. The dough got everywhere. I don’t know how it got on every single dish in the closed cupboard, but it did. After we finished cleaning it up, we started another batch for the super pie. It was just like a regular pie, except ten times more ingredients. After we threw it in the oven, I looked at her with a smile.
“Well, I best be going.” I grabbed the cake in the box and walked for the door.
“Okay. Thank you, Arjay!” She waved goodbye.
I waved goodbye, but then I was in a hurry. I had a purple pony to meet.