//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: Lofty Skies and Pinkie Pie // Story: Two Worlds; One Family // by MrEnter //------------------------------// Harry sat in Sugarcube Corner, drinking a milkshake alone while Pinkie Pie ran about the bakery. She was hanging up paper hearts and other decorations for the holiday: Hearts and Hooves Day. Harry sighed, it was probably his least favorite holiday, and he was more depressed than usual. Pinkie took notice. "Why are you looking so glum on such a special day?" she said, passing him another milkshake. "Because this 'special day' is the worst day of the year. I don't want to talk right now Pinkie." "Ah come on, tell Auntie Pinkie why you think that this is the worst day of the year? Is it all the gross mushy squishy talk? That kinda gets to me too." Harry sighed. Ever since Pinkie became the owner of Sugarcube Corner she thought that she could butt into his business just because she gave him free milkshakes and other goodies. And she was right. There was no way that Harry could withhold anything from Pinkie Pie. Still, Harry didn't have to be nice about it. "Pinkie, isn't it obvious? Do you really think that anypony would be my special somepony?" "Um... yes?" Pinkie asked. Then she started jumping up and down. "It's yes, isn't it!? Did I win!? Did I win!?" "No Pinkie. Every filly I asked always said no, just because I'm not a pony. I'm tired of asking, and I'm tired of rejection." "That doesn't mean you should stop trying. I'd never be where I am today if I didn't ask and ask and ask and ask and ask..." "I get it!" Harry snapped. "Sorry. Now tell me, is there somepony you've had your eye on?" "Well... there is one," Harry said reluctantly. "She's got a really pretty sky blue coat and a gorgeous pink mane. Her name is Lofty Skies. And yes I do have a crush on her. There, are you happy now?" "I won't be happy with you until she's your special somepony. And you know that ponies don't like me when I'm not happy. You don't like me when I'm not happy. Remember what happened last time I wasn't happy? "Um... yes I do. I'll be back a little later," Harry said, and then he ran off. Harry walked through the streets of town, kicking a pebble after him. Now he was stuck. He had to make Lofty his special somepony or else Pinkie would... well, he didn't want to think about it. As he walked he noticed various ponies with their loved ones. It kind of made him sick. He didn't want to do this. In fact, he just wanted to forget all about this. Lofty's house was about halfway across town so it gave Harry plenty of time to stall. He walked as slowly as possible, just kicking that pebble. Maybe if he walked slowly enough the sun would go down and Hearts and Hooves Day would be over before he would have to deal with the embarrassment. He even thought about just going home until he heard somepony calling him from above. Harry looked up and saw that Pinkie Pie was following him in her crazy flying contraption. She waved to him with a wide smile. Harry broke into a full run. When Pinkie said that she didn't take no for an answer she clearly meant it. She chased after him, all the while humming to happily to herself. Harry made it to Lofty's house in less than five minutes. He took some time to rest on the door, trying to catch his breath until he looked up. Pinkie gave him one of the angriest glares he had ever seen. Deciding he had enough breath, Harry began to pound on the door. "Coming," said a voice from inside the building. Harry heard a latch come undone. A dark blue pony appeared from the building. She saw Harry and gasped. "You—you're Fluttershy's kid, aren't you? What do you want? Please don't have her hurt me!" "I wasn't going to... wait, what? No, I... um... I wanted to talk to your daughter, Lofty." "Yes, of course," the pony said. The pony shouted at the top of her lungs for Lofty. A pegasus with a light blue coat and pink mane hovered down the stairs. She had a smile on until she turned to see who was standing in her doorway. The smile instantly vanished and turned into somewhat of a grimace. "What's the freak doing here?" she demanded. Harry slunk into his shirt. "I was going to... um going to..." Harry began. He was about to stop and just give up before he noticed that Pinkie was still hovering right above him. "I was going to ask if you would be my special somepony for today." "What? Are you crazy?" Lofty asked. "Can you excuse us for a moment?" Lofty's mother said. She closed the door in Harry's face. Harry turned up to Pinkie and shrugged. Her glare didn't vanish. It sent a shiver down Harry's spine, only stopped by a commotion coming from the other side of the door. A lot of it was incoherent yelling. Harry didn't know what to make of it, until the door opened and both of the ponies were covered with dust. "She'd love to be your special somepony for the day," Lofty's mother said, pushing Lofty out of the house. "Have fun you two, and um... Harry is it? Send my best regards to your mother." Harry turned around once more to see if Pinkie was still watching him. She was still up there, but her glare had changed back to a wide smile. She waved and flew off. Harry breathed a sigh of relief and noticed that Lofty was walking off. Harry hustled up and started to follow along by her side, curious as to where she was going. "I'm only doing this because my mom said that I had to," Lofty snapped. "It doesn't mean we can't have some fun," Harry said, defensively. "Come on, we'll go to Sugarcube Corner." Lofty gave a pained sigh and rolled her eyes. She followed Harry to the bakery, moping all the way. Harry was still high off the relief that Pinkie wasn't stalking him anymore. Come to think of it, Sugarcube Corner might not have been the best suggestion to get a bite to eat. It was just the first thing that came to his mind. He didn't have any money, and Pinkie always did understand. Speaking of Pinkie, she had been busy in the fifteen minutes it took to walk back to Sugarcube Corner. She had made it look like one of those Canterlot restaurant with fancy tablecloths, candlesticks, and beautiful tapestries. Even after all of these years, Pinkie still managed to surprise, Harry thought to himself with his mouth agape. Whenever it seemed that she reached her limit of zaniness, she managed to one up herself. "Welcome," Pinkie said from behind Harry, causing him to jump. The voice was hard to recognize at first because she was speaking in a French accent. Pinkie definitely seemed to be playing the part. She was not only wearing a waiter's uniform, but a fake mustache as well. "Right 'zis way you two, lovebirds." Pinkie Pie led them to a table in the middle of the restraunt and pulled out Lofty's chair. While doing so, she gave Harry a wink. He didn't quite know what to make of it. He just did what you always do when Pinkie is involved. You sit back and see where it's going, because with Pinkie Pie it could go literally anywhere. "I vill be right back with ze menus," she said. She dashed off to the backroom, leaving a dust cloud in her track. "Um, this is... odd. Isn't this supposed to be a bakery?" Lofty asked. "Yeah, well Pinkie is odd," Harry said, without even thinking. "Today'z specialty is cheese souffle," Pinkie said. She began tossing down the menus and started juggling plates. "But might I recommend hay en flambe." The plates suddenly caught fire, but Pinkie kept juggling them unfazed. The same could not be said for Harry or Lofty. Lofty almost fell backwards, but Pinkie dove forward and caught her chair. The plates crashed down and landed in her free hoof, unchipped and unharmed. "How about I bring you zome bread while you make your decizion?" Pinkie kicked the chair to its resting position and zoomed into the kitchen. Before either Harry or Lofty could say anything Pinkie stood exactly where she was before she left. And now she was juggling knives. They were butter knives to be sure, but still you can never be comfortable when Pinkie Pie is juggling knives. If that wasn't scary enough Pinkie's eyes were on Lofty's menu, suggesting all kinds of things. Eventually Harry managed to break away from the spell of Pinkie's juggling to look at the menu. All of the food looked strange, and Harry had a hard time deciding whether it looked delicious or disgusting. Harry picked one at random, and it seemed that Lofty did so as well. Pinkie nodded and tossed the knives into the air. Then she dashed into the kitchen. The knives fell to the floor, creating a heart-pattern around them. With Pinkie's absence Lofty and Harry were able to calm down, and Lofty was able to remember that she didn't want to be here. She made that clear through her expressions alone. She looked aggravated, annoyed, like she was wasting time. Then a clang was heard from the kitchen, followed by what sounded like somepony getting repeatedly hit with a frying pan. "Um, is she always like this?" Lofty asked, her attention fully on the kitchen door. "Well... yes and no," Harry replied. That actually led to them making small talk. It started slow as they talked about Pinkie and her wild antics, but Lofty seemed to actually enjoy it. She even got a chuckle or two. Time passed and Harry had gone through stories of both Twilight and Rainbow Dash before Pinkie came out with a platter balanced on her back. She unveiled her cullinary creations and placed a plate in front of both of them. The food in person didn't look any different than the food in the menus, so the both of them were hesitant to try it. "Go on, try it," Pinkie said. "Don't make me zing in zis accent." That threat didn't do much. The two of them kept staring at their food until— "Be our g—" Lofty nervously tried nipping at the food. The second she took a bite her eyes lit up and she started to eat more vigorously. Harry took a nervous bite himself. The food was good, really good. He still had no idea what in Equestria it was but that didn't change the fact that it was simply delicious. He hardly noticed that Pinkie had gotten away once more. Then the music started to play. Harry stopped stuffing his face for a moment to see where the music was coming from. Lights from the ceiling where shining on a band that stood in the back of the bakery. Pinkie stood in front of them, conducting them. And she was doing a really good job at it, not that Lofty seemed to notice. She was too consumed in her food. When they were getting close to finished with their meal, Pinkie wheeled out a cart with a giant mound of dough on it. Lofty looked at with curiosity, even going so far as to touch it. The second her hoof hit it, the top exploded with chocolate which drizzled down the mound. Harry was beginning to think that this was bit much, even for Pinkie. "So, did you enjoy zee food, madamme?" Pinkie asked after the hour it took them to eat most of the chocolate volcano. "Um yeah. It was really good. Hey Harry, you're alright. Don't get any ideas—I still think you're a freak—but you're a good one." "But zee night is still young," Pinkie said. She shouldered Harry and gave him another wink. "Zir Harry still has another surprize for you, in zee meadow just outside of town. He worked zo hard on it." At the insistence of Pinkie, Lofty followed Harry to the meadow. Lofty kept asking what the surprise was, more out of annoyance than curiosity, but Harry was just an in the dark as her. Still, going into the unknown was better than not doing what Pinkie said. By the time that they had gotten to the meadow, the sun had nearly gone down and stars began to speckle the sky. They sat there, staring at the sunset, just waiting for Pinkie's surprise. "Come on Twilight, do it!" Pinkie begged from the brush. "No!" Twilight said. "This is why you pull me away from studies and bring me out here? I'm getting eaten alive by bugs, so if you don't mind I'll just be going." Pinkie jumped to Twilight's hooves and gave her a big puppy-dog look. "Do it for Harry, Twilight. For Harry." Twilight rolled her eyes and began to shoot fireworks into the sky. Explosions of blues and reds in the sky turned Lofty and Harry to silhouettes in the distance. As the show went on Harry turned to Lofty, and Lofty turned to Harry. Pinkie broke into one of the widest smiles she ever had. "Come on, kiss. Kiss," she kept urging. Twilight would have rolled her eyes again if she wasn't too busy giving them their grand finale. Lofty and Harry stared at each other for a few grueling minutes before Harry fell backwards and Lofty took off into the skies. Pinkie galloped out of the brush towards him. She was foaming at the mouth. She wanted to know what happened. They were so close. "I tried to kiss her," Harry said, even more sullen than he was this afternoon. "She pushed me back, gagged, and flew off saying that she didn't want anything to do with me." "I'm so sorry," Pinkie said. "It's not your fault. It's not anypony's fault. Thanks for trying though. When I look like this, what would you expect? I'm surprised that she didn't fly off sooner." "Come on," Pinkie said, sitting down next to Harry. "You look cool. I mean really cool!" "Is that why you like me? Why you don't run away in disgust? Why you don't cringe at the sight of me?" "I don't care what you look like. You could be a giant space monster made out of spaghetti for all it matters. You're a nice guy Harry. If Lofty doesn't want to be with you, then it's Lofty's loss. Hey, that's really fun to say. Lofty's loss, Lofty's loss, Lofty's loss." "Pinkie, if I wasn't Fluttershy's son, you wouldn't have anything to do with me." "Give me more credit than that!" Pinkie said, giving Harry a light nudge. "I was there from day one, well day two to be accurate, but that doesn't change the fact that I've always cared about you. Sorry I pushed you into this. It really wasn't my business, I just thought it would make you happy." "No, it's okay. I don't regret this. It's better than wondering about what if's. Now I know for sure what she thinks of me." "That's a boy Harry, don't let the bad things get to you."