//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: I can be social. Probably. Maybe // by Heavensguard //------------------------------// I can be social. Probably. Maybe. ---- It was a peaceful winter night. Twilight had Spike and I write up a letter to Celestia last night. She wanted a lot put on the letter, so much that it took us three scrolls. Not the usual scrolls either, but the really long ones. "...and I believe we are done!" I cheered. "Finally! Sweet sleep! GLORIOUS SLEEP!" Spike might be taking after me abit. "I'll set this aside here and you and I shall give glorious love to our beds." "Aye, Aye." My room was under renovation thanks to a recent incident involving my ever adorable followers, the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Twilight set up some room up on the loft with her and Spike. After that night I told the story of the Odyssey(No where even close to finishing), Spike has been taking advantage of the fact that I apparently make a good pillow. There was an enlarged version of Spike's old bed, this was for the both of us. I dropped down into the cushion and propped up one of the super large pillows against the wall. Spike then plopped down into my lap and made the best cat impression I've ever seen. He was out like a light in seconds. It took mere moments for me to follow shortly. *Gasp*"Ned, Spike, Wake up! Wake up!" Or so I thought. "It's Winter Wrap Up day!" Twilight continues to call to us. "Huh? Mommy?" Spike was roused a bit. "Go back to sleep, Spike." The dragon seemed inclined to agree with me. "Winter Wrap Up!" "Don't worry Spike. It's just a banshee. Let her holler to herself" I was tired too. "Come on you guys! The first day of spring is tomorrow!" Twilight's voice now hit a new high note. "Everypony in Ponyville needs to clean up winter. Now help me get ready" "Everypony? Well then, that excludes Me and Spike." Spike nods his agreement. I didn't see it, but I felt his head move against my stomach. "Come on. And Ned, its Spike and I." Ah you grammar Nazi. "Sure, you and Spike can go ahead." I retort. Spike groans. "Clean up winter? Who cleans up winter? Don't they use magic to change the weather like in Canterlot?" Well, thats something I didn't know. "No Spike, Ponyville was started by Earth ponies, so hundreds of years, they've never used magic to clean up winter. It's traditional." Twilight sighs as she trots off. "No magic? That's ridiculous" Spike comments "Well, for what it's worth. This is the first time I heard it both ways." I add my two cents. "Okay, let's see: scarf, check; saddle, check; boots, check; Spike and Ned refusing to get up, check; Spike going back to sleep, check; Ned getting up to learn something new," She pauses to look at me. Now I have my eyes open. "You expect me to get up just to learn something? After you made Spike and I work on that theory of yours all night?" The look on Twilight's face said it all. "Make it worth my while" "I'll get Applejack to make you that apple cinnamon pie" "Guh. Hey! Whats the big idea? Jumping out of bed!" Sorry Spike. Twilight just said the magic words. "I'm up, I'm up. Let me get covered and We'll go learn something." Perhaps I'm a little to easy to control. "Ned getting up to learn something new, check; Ned getting Spike to get up, check. It's a good thing I'm so organized, I'm ready. Bright and early." I had already donned my shirt, pants, shoes, and hoodie(Thank you Rarity). I also grabbed Spike and his blanket. I walked with Twilight out of the library. "Oh...Perhaps a little too early?" "Nevermind Spike. We're going back to bed. Catch what sleep you can. I feel like prissy here will wake us in an hour." Once again, Spike agreed. Twilight made a face. Still a good night. ---- "I gotta say, Rarity really outdone herself making all of these vests" I glance about seeing various ponies wearing blue, green, or tan vests. We were all gathered at town hall, Twilight and myself were just walking in. Spike was riding on Twilight, he is still bundled in his blanket. "She truly did. I wonder which vest I'm going to be wearing?" Twilight asks "I'm already wearing my vest of softy sleepiness. It's too early." Spike still grumbles. "Well, I ha-" I started, but..."Thank you everypony, for being here bright and early. We need every single pony's help to clean up winter, and bring in spring" Mayor Mare broadcasts over the crowd from her podium. The ponies cheer, the mood was overwhelming here. "Now, all of you have your vests, and have been assigned to your teams. So let's do even better than last year, and have the quickest Winter Wrap Up ever!" Once again a wave of applause greets her ears. "Oh, this is exciting! I wonder which team I should go for?" Twilight then beams at me. "What team do you want to try out for?" I scratch my head nervously. "Well, Twi. I already promised Applejack I'd help her with the plows." Twilight's face fell when I brought out my green vest(Gotta say Rarity is extraordinary at this), but perked right back up. "You think I can go with you?" "Perhaps, you should check out what everyone does first, before making your choice." Hey, looks like they're breaking into song. ---- "Winter Wrap Up, Winter Wrap Up. Let's finish our holiday cheer~" "Ned, the song ended like twenty minutes ago~ You can stop now" Spike seemed a little put off seeing me sing. Who could blame him. "What, it's catchy." Twilight nods in agreement as she took in the fact that, yes, I did join in on the festivities half-way through. It was pretty scary. "So, Twilight. Have you decided which team to go for?" I look at the purple unicorn. "Well, not exactly. I'm going to check and see if Rainbow Dash could use some help." She says as she catches sight of Dash and her team. "Hold it! You're forgetting something very important." Twilight stops and gives me a look. I point my finger back at her. She looks puzzled. I point my finger again. Now she realizes what was the problem. "I guess I can't actually help with no wings, huh?" Right you are Twilight. "Go see Rarity. I'm sure she'll get you something. She's tan team. I'm off to the fields." I turn on my heels and wave over my shoulder. It took several moments before I made it to the fields. There were plenty of plows scattered across the fields clearing the snow. I spotted Applejack and walked towards her. "Ello, Jack." "Ned! Just the human I was looking for." "The only human you could be looking for, Jack." We both laugh and then got down to business. Jack showed me the plow she had for me and went over the plan. There was no plan. Just told me to clear the fields of snow. This is going to be fun. "Hey Smokestack! You look like you're about to give up!" Well, it should with Smokestack here. "Oh shut it. I'm doing just fine. You're the stamina freak here." It was an odd thing to hear. I may have had pride in my ability to run before, but I never had the stamina to run long. The manticore chases have been the longest of my life. I would be lying if I said I didn't take notice of some change since I've gotten here. The lack of meat and junk food was hard to deal with, but I've become accustomed to it. Mostly. What I'm trying to get to is that I'm slimming down. To a point, that I might actually guess that I'm fit. I'm quite proud of that. "You're the pony my friend. You have four legs, I got two. You should be out doing me here." The grey stallion flushed in anger before pushing on ahead. Would have been effective had I not caught up to him in a second. Only got him to flush even more. The plow wasn't made for humans in mind(Duh) and it was showing. It was incredibly awkward to push, but I've managed worst in the past. Smokestack and McIntosh had to show me how to work with it and from there it only got easier. I was easily out doing my workshop boss and a few other stallions, but McIntosh is on a whole other level. I would say that in the past four or five hours, we cleared out two fields. We were on good time. "Hey Ned!" "Yea, Smokes?" "McIntosh, Caramel, Harvest, Berry, and I were going to get some pie from the farm, wanna come with?" It's pie, Smokestack. What do you think I'm going to answer? "F- Yes!" ---- "I friggin' love pie." "I believe we noticed." Caramel pointed out. "Eyup" Stay classy McIntosh. "Hard to notice, mate." Smokestack adds as he takes another bite of his pie. The lot of us were sitting on a red picnic table a little off from the field we are currently working on. Applejack joined us shortly after we got our pies. She chided us for slacking, but with McIntosh siding with us, she relented and said we could have our break. We eventually got back to work, Applejack constantly glancing at the sun and the field got on our nerves. It was going to be a typical work day. "Hey Ned, isn't that Twilight over there?" Smokes pushed his plow over to my own and gestured his head towards something. I turn to check it out. "Why, yes, it is. I wonder if she is taking up being part of the plant team." "That would probably make planting go faster. Wait, she's getting on a plower" Why is she doing that? Heck, Applejack can barely push it. "I got a bad feeling about this." "What makes you say that Ned?" "Call it a gut feeling, let's just get back to work." Hopefully, I'm wrong. The two of us continue our workload for short while, I could hear Twilight struggling with the plow. I was going to stop and help her out, but then I could no longer hear her struggling. "Well, what do you know. She got the big thing moving!" I hear Smokestack call out. He was right. I saw Twilight pushing the plow with great vigor. And a tad too much speed. That wa odd. "She's pushing it pretty fast." Way too fast. Not even McIntosh could push it that fast. How is she doing so, it's like ma- oh. "Twilight..."I muttered under my breath. She was zooming past the other plowers. Then she switched direction... "Oh no. Incoming!" I hear Smoke and Caramel shout out. They weren't looking and somehow go their plows to crash into my own. "Ah crap." I said before the frightened sound of all three of us got drowned out by a third collision from Twilight. "WHOA!" "This is bad" "Wheeee!" Needless to say, we had our reactions in the air. We landed in a pile in the snow. Our plows were all busted up and I had difficulty getting my bearing back. I shook my head and heard a low rumbling. I turned my head. Color drained from my face. "AVALANCHE!" "Is everyone alright?" I ask. A few heads pop out of the snow. "I'm all here." Smokestack "Eyup" McIntosh "Okay over here" Berry Punch "Yea!" Caramel "...P-present" Twilight "Well, then. I'm glad no one's hurt." I say as loud snow crunching is heard. "Nuts, Twilight! You Used Magic!" I hear Applejack shout. Twilight was already looking apologetic and Jack wasn't making things better. "The nerve. Can you believe her?" I glared at Spike. He caught my look and could only scratch at his head embarrassed. "...Jack. Don't you thi-" I started. "That's not how we do it 'round here, Twilight, and especially not on MAH farm!" Jack interrupted me. "Well, see," Twilight was on the verge of tears. "I just wanted to..." She dashed away breaking into tears. "Dammit Jack. She was just trying to help!" I snapped at Applejack as I made to chase after Twilight. I motioned Spike to hold still and that I was disappointed in him. ---- It took me a short bit to find Twilight. I first tried the tree-house, but she wasn't there. She wasn't at Sugarcube corner either. Tried the Mayor's office, but no luck there. Or was there? "Twilight..." I say hesitantly. There was a bush not too far from Town Hall with a violet mane with a pink streak popping out of it. It twitched. "I'm a winter mess up." She moaned. "Causing an avalanche isn't something to doom yourself to that title." "It wasn't just the avalanche, it was the nest-making, ice-skating, and animal-waking too." Oh wow, maybe she do- No. "Twilight, perhaps they just weren't to your strengths. You would have been great at seed planting I'm sure. There's also the fact that you don't need to use the plow to get rid of snow, you have magic remember." "I can't use magic. It's not part of tradition." "To heck with tradition. Tradition didn't mention a human helping out, now look at me." I spread my arms to make my point. Twilight stuck her head out of the bush. She almost looked like a furry pony, but with leaves... yea. "That's true. Thanks Ned. For making me feel better." She smiles. "That's what a good guy does. Put smiles on girls faces" I quip. Twilight laughs. "Rainbow Dash, y'all on the weather team need to melt the rest of the snow on the ground and the trees, pronto!" Both of us turn to see Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. Spike was there too. "Got it" Dash answers and makes to fly. "Wait. My poor little animal's homes will get flooded if the snow melts too fast." Fluttershy stops Dash. "Got it" Dash answers. "I'm tellin' you Rainbow, you gotta melt that snow now." Applejack states. "No, you simply must wait" Fluttershy counters. "Okay" Rainbow Dash "Go!" Jack "Stop" Flutters "Go!" Jack "Stop" Flutters "GO!" Jack "STOP!" Wow Fluttershy was shouting. "UGH! Make up your minds!" Dash finally brings an end to the argument. "Oh! What in Equestria are all you arguing about?" Mayor Mare(I swear that name is weird), "This sort of silliness is why we were late for spring last year, and the year before that, and the year before that." Huh... That's less than ideal news. Twilight's brow raises. "Did she say late?" The purple unicorn asks. I nod my head. "I was hoping my amazingly inspirational(I snort) speech would urge everyone to do better than last year, but now it looks like we're going to be later than ever. I mean just look at this catastrophe. The ice scorers made the ice chunks too big to melt; the nest designer is horrendously behind, we need several hundred, and she's only made ONE!" The mayor lists off the things going wrong. I swore I could here Rarity crying in the distance. "And, don't get me started on all the clouds in the sky, the icicles on the trees... This isn't good, not at all!" The mayor finishes. This eventually led to the ponies delving into bickering among themselves. Until the mayor said a keyword. A keyword that Twilight picked up. "...organized? Oh! Ned!", "Yea?", "Get my checklist and clipboard!", "On it." I begin to sprint back to the tree-house, this time with Spike in hand. Need him to help me find Twilight's stuff. As we approach the library, we both heard Twilight cry, "STOP!", but we figured it wasn't directed at us. We came back shortly with a pen, paper, and clipboard for Twilight. She immediately began to give out orders for every pony to follow. A set plan that actually seemed logical. It was slightly complicated for us snow-clearers though. Because Twilight broke four plows, we needed something to help us clear the snow. I then got the brilliant idea to take the parts of the four plows and make it into one. Smokestack and I got to work and with the power of duct tape(They have it?), we managed to make one monster of a plow. It required more than McIntosh to push it. So we decided that since it was so large, McIntosh, Myself, Smokestack, and Caramel would push the darn thing. We had several ponies, Berry Punch, Lyra, Bon Bon, and Applejack sit at the back of the plow to plant seeds as we cleared up the snow. It worked out pretty well. Within a few short hours, all of the ponies in Ponyville were back in front of Town Hall. "I can't believe it. Spring is here! ON TIME! And we have you to thank for it. If it weren't for your organization skills we would still be arguing." Mayor Mare was congratulating Twilight. "It was a team effort." Trying to be humble now aren't we Twi. "And since you helped every team, we have an official vest for you. WE give you the title, 'All-Team Organizer'." Mayor wouldn't have none of Twilight's humbleness. Hmm. All-Team Organizer? "Gosh, I don't even know what to say. Thank you everypony" Twilight crossed her hooves in embarrassment. "And hereby I declare that winter is... wrapped up on time!" The mayor announces. The whole town goes up in cheers. "All-Team Organizer?" I quip at Twilight. "Yea, my own team." "Not really a team if you're the only one in it. Also, makes you out to be a dictator. Your bossiness." I added a bow to the flushed face of Twilight. "I'm not bossy..." "Says the All-Team Organizer. Most Organized pony." I retort and retreat. It would be smart to back away from a frustrated unicorn capable of telekinesis. "I regret nothing!" I shout as I run. "GET BACK HERE!" ---- I gotta say. I'm really missing the white snow. I've always loved winter. The cold brisk air mixed with the frosty snow makes for some nice walks outside. Accompany this with hot nice cocoa, a book, and a pillow and it is all heaven for me. Twilight would agree for the most part. Dash, not so much. Oh well. It has been a few days since the Winter Wrap Up and there was still some coolness to the air. I was currently walking through the Everfree forest(again), this time with both Applebloom and Twilight. "Ned, I haven't seen any crazy gold furred monsters of absolute destruction. You sure its here?" Twilight was giving me that look. The look of contempt. Dammit "It's just backing off. It can feel you two here so it won't attack. The smart bugger. It's waiting for me to be alone." I grumbled. "Don't worry Neddy! The Cutie Mark Crusaders will save you from the manticore!" Applebloom tried to cheer me up. "Don't you need Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell?" I ask. "Right, probably should wait until I have them around..." We parted ways once we passed Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight and I eventually made it back to the library in time to see Spike, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack hard at work. "And that should be the last one! Got my section all done Twilight." Spike wipes his forehead free of sweat. Mostly. "Thank you so much for helping me clean up all these books guys. It was a crazy week of studying." I swear, only Twilight could make studying crazy. And adrenaline pumping. Odd. Then I heard something, along with seeing Pinkie's tail twitching. "Oh come on!" I shout. Everyone looks toward me, only for me to brace myself. Cue glass breaking and something slamming into my body. I so called it. Whatever collided with me, came with me on my short flight to the bookcase. Needless to say, books were a fallin'. "Rainbow Dash, you rock! Woohoo!" I heard a soft voice then gasp. "Did my cheering do that?" "Yes Flutters. Your super charged cheering was pretty powerful..." I remarked. "Hehe. Sorry about that ladies. And guy. That was truly feeble performance." I hear Rainbow say as she rises off of me. I also sit up and spit out a bit of Rainbow's mane. "Actually, it wasn't all bad. I particularly liked it when you made the clouds spin." Flutters comments. "Ugh." Rainbow face-hoofs, "I'm not talking about my performance, I'm talking about yours. That feeble cheering!" Rainbow shouts. "What are you two arguing about?" Twilight asks as she levitates some books. I realize that Rainbow was still sitting on me. "Hey Das-", "Were we arguing? I'm sorry." There is no evil bone in Fluttershy. "Hmm. I wish you guys could come to Cloudsdale to see me compete in the Best Young Flyer Competition." Dash crosses her hooves and plops down further into my lap. Ow. Twilight asked what the competition was and Pinkie began explaining all about it in her funny way. Dash made it clear she wanted us to join her, who could blame her. Fluttershy isn't someo-pony to choose for loudness. Then Pinkie said something about a sonic rainboom. Sonic Rainboom? "What's a Sonic Rainboom?"I ask. "Neddy Teddy. You really need to get out more( I grimaced). The sonic rainboom is legendary! When a Pegasus like Rainbow Dash gets going soooo fast... BOOM! A sonic boom and a rainbow can happen all at once!" Wow, when put from Pinkie's view. It sounds like friggin' awesomeness. "And Rainbow's the only one who can pull it off!" Applejack tosses in her two cents. "It was a long time ago... I was just a filly." Rainbow... acting sheepish? That's a first. Pinkie and Applejack were all for encouraging Rainbow for her filly accomplishment. She also told us that she really wanted the grand prize of hanging out with the Wonderbolts, her idols. She made her exit shortly after under the premise of resting up. Something wasn't right. And Rarity was the one to confirm it for me. "Go on, go on." Rarity motions for Twilight. "Go on what?" Twilight asks. "Find a spell that will get us wingless ponies... and human into Cloudsdale. Didn't you see how nervous she was?" So Rarity noticed it as well. Applejack called Rarity out on that, but then again, Rarity is familiar with personal appearances. Twilight had a hard time finding the book in the mess, but Pinkie found it pretty easy. Turns out during the crash earlier, the book had landed on Pinkie's face. Talk about coincidences. Anyway, to test the spell for it was something Twilight wasn't strong enough for, Rarity volunteered to be the guinea pig. Needless to say, It worked. ---- "Whoa..." I was speechless. "You can say that again partner." Applejack and the rest could only join me in dropping our jaws. "There's a place in my mind~" I start to sing. "No one knows where it hides~" Pinkie continues. "And my fantasy is flying~" I follow up. "It's a city in the sky~" Pinkie finishes. I could only stare at Pinkie Pie for a few moments. "How-?" "The writer told me." She says with a straight face. I continue to stare at that unwavering smile. Suspend belief. Save sanity. "Right..." it was all I could say. I turn my head again only to realize that everypony and Spike was looking at the two of us. "Let's just get to Cloudsdale before your spell wears off Twilight." I say as I made every effort to keep looking forward. We docked onto Cloudsdale shortly to find that Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash have already seen Rarity's butterfly wings. Yea, they were speechless too. "How are guys up here?" Rainbow asks us. "Well, I found a spell that makes temporary wings, but it was too difficult to do more than once. So I found an easier spell that lets the rest of us walk on clouds." Twilight answers with no hesitation. "And we came to cheer you to victory!" Applejack states proudly. Dashie smiles, "To be honest, I was starting to get just a teeniest, tiniest bit nervous. But I feel a LOT better now that you guys are here." She says. "Even me?" I had to add. "Even you, Nedster." Nedster? Well that brought some feeling of nostalgia. I smile back. "Since there's some time before the competition, why don't Fluttershy and I show you guys around our town?" Rainbow asks. We all agreed. I was already mesmerized by a city of clouds. A few passersby took notice of Rarity's wings and made compliments. Applejack suggested that we all find out how weather was made. Ah, I've always been curious. "You guys make snowflakes?" That was something I didn't expect. There was a whole factory floor dedicated to pegasi making snowflakes. I guess thats why each one is unique. However, Rarity's wings began to cause a ruckus and mess. Rainbow quickly moved us towards something else. That something else being RAINBOWS! Pinkie dipped by a river of liquid rainbows and took a sip. Her face began to change colors and steam shot out of her ears. "Spicyyyyy!" She cries. Well, with a reaction like that, one would avoid rainbows... "HOT Damn! She's right!" However, I've been known to be a slow learner at times. "Yeah. Rainbows aren't known for their flavor." I now know why Dashie. It also seemed like Rarity was getting another gathering of admirers. This lead to Twilight trying to get Rarity to play the humble card, but Rarity was basking in envy. Rainbow's spirit were visibly being drowned. Before we knew it, Rarity had agreed to be part of the competition. Well, crap. ---- The start of the competition went without failures and there are a lot of decent fliers. Each having a bit of quirk to them. Take for instance, there was this really buff and muscular pegasus with the smallest wings(Even smaller than Scootaloo's) and he was doing loop de loops like nothing. I check back on the pamphlet(Which no pony seems to be reading) and realized that Rainbow Dash was suppose to be number 2. We just finished with number 9. I excused myself from our viewing booth under the reasoning of bathroom. Curious, do pegasi have bathrooms? Nevermind. It took a little bit to find where all the contestants were being held, but when I did find it, only Dashie remained. I haven't heard Rarity being called, so I was curious where she was. "Hey Rainbow." The pegasus looked catatonic lying against the wall, twitching. That wasn't a good sign. "Dashie." I said a little louder. This time I caught her attention and I made my way beside her. "Stage fright?" I ask. "...No, I'm just...uh... just-", "Scared witless?", "Yea! I'm just scared- hey!" Her anger flashed over her face. "There we go. Come on Dashie. You're better than this." "I'm... It's just that what if I mess up?" "It's alright to be afraid of that. It means that you're ready. Heck, I was once afraid of my own shadow. Do I look like a fraidy cat like Flutters?" Dash laughs as I quirk my face. "I mean, sure enough I got over my fear of shadows only for it to jump to the boogieman under my bed. You shouldn't really be so worried what you look like. You are who you make yourself to be." I place my hand on her head. She gives me a look, but makes no move to shake it off. "Really?" "Really, really Dashie. I was once told that the greatest of individuals are not the ones that never mess up, but the ones that keep trying when they do. Flutters says you've been practicing the rainboom thousands of times, but never got it down." Rainbow's expression fell, "But that never stopped you from practicing. You kept getting back up. You will do the sonic rainboom, Dashie, and you will win this competition." I gave her head a quick scratch and rub before standing. A representative came into the room with a clipboard, at the same time Rarity popped out of another room, wearing an elaborate dress that went fairly well with her wings. "Rarity... Is Ready!" "Look ladies... Sir are you also a competitor?(I shake my head) Good, there's only time for one more performance. If both want to compete, you'll have to go out together." The representative said before leaving the room. "Well, I'll get back to my seat. Good luck you two. And Dashie?" Said pegasus looks at me. "You'll be great. I just know it." ---- "Took a long time in the bathroom Ned." Twilight says as I take my seat next to her and Spike. Pinkie and Applejack were munching down on some popcorn. Spike kept stealing handfuls. "Everything is white Twilight. I couldn't tell what was a toilet and what was someone's piece of art." I quip. Twilight snorts before we both turn our attention to our two friends coming out for the performance. "This is it" Spike says. "GO RAINBOW DASH! GO RARITY!" Shouts Pinkie. And then they were off. Rarity seemed to have picked the music(Classic Orchestra doesn't sound like Rainbow's schtick anyway) and was prancing and dancing in the air. Dash was swerving in-between cloud pillars, but clipped the last one which sent her into a wall. "Way to go, Rainbow Crash!" I heard from the side. I stood up as Rainbow flew up to some rounder clouds. I scooped up a chunk of cloud(Geez it was wet and cold), rounded it into a ball, and threw it at a trio of pegasi. Clouds maybe soft, but from what I learned from Twilight, softness can hurt like a lego under a foot. The cloudball exploded into smoke as it made contact. When it cleared, the three pegasi were soaked and shivering. I turn back to watch the show, but Twilight was glaring at me. I could only shrug my shoulders. Oh, looks like the two were going for their finales. Ah, Rarity is going with the transparent light alteration with her wings. Didn't Twilight say something about the wings bein- oh dear. Rarity's wings dried up into thin air, which Twilight shouted. The marshmallow began to fall, there wasn't anything I could do. Wait. "Twilight, think you can give me wings?" I ask in a hurry. "I don't know, it's a hard spell remember!" She looked crossed, but then made up her mind. Her horn began to glow and was about to point it at me. "Wait! Look!" Spike shouts. Both Twilight and I stop and look only to see that three blue uniformed pegasi were knocked out by Rarity. Spike! Twilight needs all of her attention to cast the spell! We need to sav- Is that Rainbow? It was. There was a streak of a rainbow trail zooming towards the four falling ponies. I could hear Fluttershy gasping and jaws hitting clouds. Is that what I think is going to be? "A SONIC RAINBOOM! SHE DID IT! SHE DID IT! WOOOOO!" That would probably be the loudest I've ever heard Fluttershy. And I can't blame her. That was bloody awesome. Rainbow Dash was going so fast that a cone began to form around her with rainbow edges. The cone started out round before finally condensing to a point which led to a sonic boom, a sound barrier explosion of rainbows. It was bright as heaven and there was an audible pop to all of our ears. Pop does it no justice, it was a rock solo to pure awesome. Better than a double friggin' rainbow. Dashie managed to save everyone, carrying Rarity by her hooves and the Wonderbolts on her back. That was pretty epic. "Best day EVER!" ---- Rarity apologized to Rainbow for getting caught up in her vanity. She also apologized to the rest of us for some reason, but we took it in stride. When Rainbow Dash brought up the topic that she wanted to meet her idols when they were conscious, she would find out that they were just behind her. Princess Celestia made her appearance(Turns out she was one of the judges for the competition) and placed upon Rainbow's head her victory crown. Rarity also apologized to Celestia and essentially made a lesson on friendship letter on the spot. Adding more to that was the three pegasi(The ones I caught with a cloudball) came and apologized to Dashie. Dashie was going to spend the whole day with the Wonderbolts, but before she left, she gave me a legitimate hug for the first time since, well, ever. "Thanks Ned." She says, I smile, "No problem Dash." I hug back. ---- After such a eventful day, it was good to be back in Ponyville. Twilight and Spike were already asleep, but I couldn't follow. Had too much on my mind. So I decided to take a midnight stroll. I was rounding the outskirts of Ponyville when I heard something cut through the air. "Good evening, Princess." I say in my most English voice. Gotta love them English. "Good evening, Ned. We have noticed thou be'th not in slumber." Her voice was a tad loud, but it was definitely better than the previous meetings. "I seem to have a bit on my mind, Princess Luna." I recall the first time I met this princess. It would be a couple weeks ago. Scared the living crap out of me, but we eventually got along. She was curious on me before and I was the same. It is usually how our talks went. Just purely learning more about one another. "Be'th about the competition today? We wished we could spectate, but we were unable." I nod my understanding and the two of us began to walk. "No, it's something else. I'm just a little homesick." It was true. As much as I enjoy Equestria, I still have a longing for home. My friends, my family... "Ah, We apologize that we could not help thee." I felt something on my shoulder, I look over to see dark blue feathers. Seems like Luna was comforting me. "It's alright. I've gotten used to the fact. Still, I miss Abby." "Abby... would this be your significant other that you have been telling us?" "Yea. You can definitely say that." God, I still remember her face, her smell, her laugh. I guess I would do anything to have that again. "Is there something that you wish to speak to us about?" Luna was trying to steer me off the subject. Bless her. "Yea, I've been noticing different creatures in the Everfree Forest. None of them are on current bestiaries." It has been bothering me and I've been concerned for a while. "Ah, what kind of creatures. Perhaps I can identify them for you." "Well, that's the thing. I already know what they are." "Then, what be'th the conflict?" "The problem is that even though I know them, they aren't part of your bestiaries. I know them because they are common creatures in human folk stories." I pause, "And worst, your books say nothing about dark age creatures." That put a shock expression on the princess's face. "Dark age creatures... such as?" She was being cautious. I wouldn't blame her. "Werewolves, faeries, dire wolves, and so much more." "I see, that is troubling. Thou seeth, my sister and I sealed away such creatures many a millenia ago. It is hard to deal with something that should have been solved." "I understand. Is there ways to protect Ponyville?" Perhaps Luna knows the way. "We are afraid, that we do no know" Damn. "For now, We shall inform my sister. You, Ned Delostrinos, must defend Ponyville." I nod my head. "But, Princess. I'm not skilled in combat. I only have my skill in the bow." "I have faith in your abilities. You will be a grand guard for Ponyville." Great, now how can I pass up if the princess is so trusting. "Very well, very well. I shall do what I can princess." I bow towards the dark blue alicorn. Didn't really know a while back that there was a name for a unicorn with wings. Oh well. The two of us made small talk before fatigue finally clung to me. She decided to be convient and teleported me back to Twilight's tree-house. Took to my room and finally got some shut eye. I'm socially awkward.