//------------------------------// // For He’s a Hateful Bad Fellow, That Nopony Can Deny // Story: The Element of Hate // by Shadow Bolt //------------------------------// "People won't have time for you if you are always angry or complaining." ~ Stephen Hawking "For every minute you are angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Chapter 6: For He’s a Hateful Bad Fellow, That Nopony Can Deny Twilight now with confidence started thinking of what to do next. Okay so far Fluttershy and Applejack didn’t work out as far as I hoped, and with Rarity I would say it was a failure as well. Twilight started looking towards the sky hoping that she would happen to see Rainbow Dash up there. She looked around and noticed what Shadow was doing. While they were walking Shadow was looking at himself through his reflection from windows as they were passing them by. His face was no longer angry nor has the red aura appeared since they arrived at Rarity’s. It looks like there was a bit of success from Rarity’s experience after all, but I have to keep trying as she stared at his face she realized something. Ever since I met him he hasn’t smiled once. I mean sure he gave a smirk here and there but not a real smile, a smile of happiness. She then realized that there was only one pony that can be able to cheer up Shadow Bolt and put a smile on his face. Pinkie Pie, she loves making ponies smile, if anyone can make Shadow smile its Pinkie Pie. She did say that I could come back later so we could have a fun time and it’s been sometime since then so she’s probably not busy anymore. Twilight now made up her mind decided that she will take Shadow to Sugarcube Corner. As Shadow was walking with Twilight he started thinking of his experience with Rarity, about what she said about him and how she gave him a gift out the generosity of her heart. “You my fellow pegasus have such a look that only be described with two words: Bad Boy, oh how you must have the mares running head over hooves for you.” That comment really stuck with him since they left. Every now and then while they passed by a window Shadow would look at his reflection thinking about Rarity’s comment, every time he looked at himself wearing the sunglasses that Rarity gave him, “oh how you must have the mares running head over hooves for you.” He thought about that comment most of all. mare’s running head over hooves for me, more like head for the hills if you ask me. He knew that he wasn’t the type of stallion that mares would introduce to their parents and he knew that mares weren’t interested in him at all. He saw their faces: disgusted, hateful, and scared. He remembered that even a few ran away when they first laid eyes on him. Now he was looking at the ponies that were passing by. Some were still giving hateful looks, some were giving curious looks, and some didn’t even notice him as if he was just a normal pony. He even saw a few mares staring at him. He noticed the three closest to him. They were earth ponies and they all had flower cutie marks. One of them was a mare with a lime green mane, a pinkish purple coat, and her cutie mark was two daisies. The look she was giving him was a disgusted look. The second one had a pink coat and blonde mane, her cutie mark was three lilies which she also had one in her hair. Her look to him was a scared look and when he looked at her she simply fainted. So far nothing’s changed he thought but then he noticed the look from the last one. She had a pale yellow coat with a light red mane with pink streaks, her cutie mark was a rose. The look she was giving to his surprise was a look of attraction. He looked at a few other mares and saw the same look. Maybe Rarity was right about these glasses, they seem to be getting some better attention than I ever had without them. His concentration was broken by Twilights voice, “I’m taking you see another one of my friends and I know that she will be happy to see you.” Somepony who’s happy to see me? Now that I find hard to believe he thought as they changed directions towards their next stop. They soon stopped at a peculiar building. The building's roof was styled to resemble that of a gingerbread house. Above the roof was a pair of stacked cupcakes, with candles on the upper one. Posts on either side of the door have red and white candy-cane stripes, a purple rock-candy projection stands up from the roof, and a picture-sign of a cupcake hangs at one corner. As Shadow Bolt stared at this interesting building Twilight said, “This is Sugarcube Corner, it’s the best bakery and confectionery in Ponyville. My friend works here and also lives in the cupcake shaped house on top of this one. Why don’t we go inside and see what she’s up to?” As soon as they entered a few cupcakes started flying towards them, Shadow having good eyes was able to dodge the one that was coming at him. Unfortunately she same could not be said for Twilight as the cupcake hurling towards her hits her in the face which resulted in her face being covered in cake frosting. He lifted his glasses as he saw a pink mare bouncing towards them with a big smile on her face. Twilight now wiping the frosting off her face sees Pinkie Pie in front of them in her outgoing, energetic, and hyperactive self. She giggled and said to Twilight, “Silly Twilight, you were supposed to catch the cupcakes with your mouth not your face.” “Pinkie, why are you throwing cupcakes at us?” Twilight asked. “I was trying out my new idea for giving out free samples.” She said, “I thought what a good way to give out free samples than when ponies walk right in, they instantly get a taste of our delicious snacks.” Twilight facehoofed from Pinkie’s idea, “I don’t think that it’s a good idea for customers to get attacked by cupcakes as soon as they walk in. Unless you give them a heads up so they know that it’s coming or they’ll get taken by surprise just like me. “Okey-dokey-lokey!” was all she said. Twilight sighed as how sometimes being around Pinkie was exhausting. Distracted by the cupcake incident she forgot why she came here and quickly remembered. She then said, “Anyway Pinkie, I brought someone who I would like you to meet.” She pointed to Shadow Bolt. Shadow watched as the hyper pony started staring really close to him, what’s with these ponies that they have to stare at me at real close distance was what he was thinking as Pinkie stared real closely with one eye popping out. He didn’t like how his personal space keeps getting violated, especially after Rarity did it only a short while ago. Then the mare with the poofy raspberry mane stepped back and said in a rapid pace, “I've never seen you before. What’s your name? My name is Pinkie Pie but my friends call me Pinkie and everypony is my friend. I like your spiky mane, I think I’ll call you Spike. Oh but wait, I already know someone named Spike and I don’t want to confuse you two. Especially if one day you’re both were walking together and then I say Hey Spike? Then you’ll both turn around not knowing which Spike I called and then that will get really awkward.” It wasn’t until Twilight shoved her hoof into Pinkies mouth that she stopped talking. Then she said to Shadow, “I’m sorry about that, Pinkie is a little bit hyperactive.” She then said in a whisper so Pinkie couldn’t hear, “I think it’s because she eats way too many sweets.” Shadow didn’t know what to think of Pinkie Pie, she was nothing like Twilights previous friends. Either way Shadow decided to introduce himself. “Hello Pinkie Pie, I’m Shadow Bolt. It’s a………. pleasure to meet you?” Pinkie replied, “Pleasure to meet too Shadow, I’m Pinkie Pie. Oh wait I already told you my name. So I never seen you before, did you just move here?” “Yes, I just arrived here this morning,” he said. Pinkie seemed excited and said, “You just here that’s great, wait right here I’ll be right back.” She then zoomed out of the room in a flash. She quickly came back with what appeared to be a wagon. She then pressed a button and out popped up with some flags, a few horns, what appeared to be an oven and some tubes that were painted with candy cane stripes. Then a tune started playing and Pinkie danced around singing: Welcome welcome welcome A fine welcome to you Welcome welcome welcome I say how do you do? Welcome welcome welcome I say hip hip hurray Welcome welcome welcome To Ponyville today There was a pause then Pinkie said, “Wait for it!” Then the oven ding and opened to reveal a cake that had the word welcome in pink frosting over it, then confetti popped out of the candy cane tubes. She then said, “Yippee I didn’t screw it up this time.” Shadow started wondering what she meant by that but decided it wasn’t important. He then said, “What was that?” Pinkie replied, “That’s my special welcome wagon, I use it when someone moves here in Ponyville. Did you like it?” Shadow thought hard at the question, what a strange way to greet someone, but at least this welcome is better than any welcome I’ve ever gotten before. He then said, “That was probably the best welcome I’ve ever gotten in my life.” Pinkie then had a big smile on her face from his compliment. She then once again got real close to Shadows face and stared at his mouth. Again with the invasion of my space he thought, why is she staring at my mouth? Is there something stuck between my teeth or something? After some time Pinkie backed up and walked towards Twilight and said, “He said he liked my welcome song but he’s not smiling, did I do something wrong?” Twilight answered, “No you didn’t do anything wrong, I been with him all day and he hasn’t smiled. That’s why I brought him to you so you could cheer him up.” Pinkie smiled when she heard that it wasn’t because of her that Shadow Bolt didn’t smile. She then said, “Don’t worry Twilight, if I made Cranky smile then I’ll be able to make Shadow smile too. Your auntie Pinkie Pie is on the case.” She walked to Shadow and said, “Since you just moved here you know what this calls for? A PARTY!" Shadow was surprised by what Pinkie said. He said, “A party….. for me?” Pinkie Pie said, “Well of course a party for you silly who else? Don’t tell me who never had a party before?” Shadow with a sad look replied, “I’ve never even been invited to a party before.” Twilight and Pinkie got sad from Shadows comment, Pinkie had a sad puppy dog look in her eyes. Shadow was lost in thought, and then all of a sudden in an instant Pinkie Pie gave Shadow a big hug. Shadow was completely speechless, he had a surprised face. It happened so fast that he didn’t see it coming. Space, Space, why has my space been invaded? Since Shadow had never received any type of physical contact like this he had no way to process this experience. What is she doing? Why is she hugging me? Why do I feel warm all of a sudden? What seemed like an eternity was only seconds before Pinkie let go. Shadow couldn’t control the rush of feelings inside and just stood there while Pinkie Pie started decorating the bakery with what seemed to be a cannon. In an instant the room was full of decorations, a table with cookies, cakes, cupcakes, and punch were set up. Then Pinkie rushed out the door and shouted, “PARTY!” As soon as she shouted a stampede of ponies walked right in. Twilight walked next to Shadow who was still processing what was going on, he then turned to her and said, “Why is she doing this for me?” Twilight simply replied with a smile, “Because that’s Pinkie Pie. All she wants is to make ponies happy and smile. That’s why she’s The Element of Laughter. She likes to think that laughter is the best medicine when it comes to sadness.” “Not unless laughter causes sadness,” he said. “I’m pretty sure you remember my experiences in Baltimare and Manehatten, the way I was treated there? What was already a bad experience for me with the way they treated me, it was worse when they were laughing behind my back. The thought of them laughing at me really made me furious. It also didn’t help with the fact that I’m a blank flank. You’d think that the teasing will end when were kids, but it only get worse when you’re older. Hey everypony, look at that. A grown stallion who still hasn’t gotten his cutie mark. What a loser, he must be completely worthless, let’s all laugh at him.” As he said this the red aura was slowly reappearing. The laughter, oh how I hate it so. Those jerks from Manehatten and Baltimare how they made fun of me, and especially HER! His concentration was broken by Pinkie Pie appearing out of nowhere giving him another hug. Twilight watched as the red aura disappeared instantly when Pinkie hugged him. He had a shocked look on his face that showed how unexpected it was for him. Pinkie started giggling then said, “Don’t worry your silly willy head, nopony’s going to laugh at you here.” She turned him around so that he was facing the ponies that arrived for the party. She then said, “Everyone, I'd like you all to meet Shadow Bolt. He has just moved here, so let's honor him and welcome him to Ponyville.” The ponies started cheering, then Pinkie walked to a nearby record player and turned it on and with that the party officially started. Twilight was enjoying the party, she only wished that all her friends were here to be with her. At least she had Pinkie Pie, by her side and she noticed how Shadow was standing next to a table enjoying Pinkie Pie’s sweets. It seems that the party was starting to warm up to him since he had an interesting look on his face. These sweets are delicious was what Shadow was thinking as he was enjoying the party treats, he couldn’t remember when was the last time he had food this sweet. He looked around the room and saw all the ponies enjoying the party that was made for him. Over time a few walked up him to introduce themselves, he was really surprised that ponies wanted to talk to him. Others were talking with the other partygoers. There were two mares, one an earth pony with a pale cream coat. She had dark blue mane and tail with pink highlights, her cutie mark was 3 pieces of blue and green wrapped candy. Her companion was a unicorn with an aqua coat. Her mane and tail were a light grayish cyan with a white stripe. Her cutie mark was a musical instrument that was called a lyre. Shadow noticed that the unicorn was constantly staring at her hooves in a trance like state. He looked at the concession table and saw one mare talking to another. The one talking was an earth pony with a light yellow coat with an orange mane and tail, three carrots were her cutie mark. Earlier she introduced herself to Shadow. She said her name was Golden Harvest, but someponies call her Carrot Top. She was talking to a light purple earth pony with a darkish purple mane and she had a strawberry and a grape for a cutie mark. She’s getting a little friendly with that fruit punch bowl Shadow noticed as she kept eyeing it and drinking from it. He was so distracted that he didn’t notice the brown earth pony that walked up to him until he coughed. Shadow out of his trance, looked at the pony with blue eyes and spiked up brown mane, “Sorry about that,” Shadow said. “It’s quite alright,” he said with an accent. The brown pony stared at Shadow with curiosity and then he said, “There’s something different about you old chap.” “What you mean?” he asked wondering if that comment was supposed to be offensive or not. He said, “I can’t really put my hoof on it but your special, yup that’s it your special.” “Special how exactly?” Shadow asked. The brown stallion pulled out a long metal tube and put it in his mouth. A blue light lit up at the end of the tube and it made buzzing noise. He then took the tube out of his mouth and held the end with the light up to his eye. “I’ve never seen these readings before, that’s fantastic!” “What does it mean?” “Don’t know, I just know your special,” he said. “Your accent, are you from Trottingham? Shadow asked. “Oh no no, I’m from somewhere far, far away, you’ve never heard of it,” was his response. The pony deciding to change the topic said, “Anyway what’s your name stranger?” Shadow replied, “I’m Shadow Bolt, and you are?” “Oh, I’m the Doctor.” “Doctor who?” “Just the Doctor.” What kind of name is the Doctor? He asked himself. “Maybe one of these days we might have time to get to know each other more, would you like that?” The Doctor said. Shadow was little confused that someone wanted to hang out with him said, “Sure…. that would be just great.” “Fantastic, well I should be on my way then,” the Doctor said with a grin and then he turned around and walked away. Shadow saw the hourglass cutie mark the Doctor had and thought, why would he have an hourglass for a cutie mark if he’s a doctor? Shadow kept wondering about this until he came to a conclusion. He must be a clock repairman, he fixes clocks like he’s a doctor. Still I don’t think you can call a repairman a doctor. He saw the Doctor walked to a table where a gray pegasus was standing and started talking to her. Her mane was blonde and she had bubbles for her cutie mark, Shadow noticed that her yellow eyes were crossed and her plate was stacked with muffins. Seeing the ponies around the room Shadow came to a conclusion, there are some interesting ponies living in this town. I think I might like it here. The thought that there were someponies that didn’t hate him and some would even want to hang out with him made him smile. Once Pinkie Pie saw Shadow smiling she had a big grin on her face. She said to herself, “Mission accomplished,” she hoof pump to congratulate her success. Twilight was now feeling good about herself. Seeing Shadow Bolt smile made her confident that she was finally doing something right. My mission is now succeeding, this is so wonderful Twilight thought with a smile. I knew I could do it he is now seeing the magic of friendship. He’s now feeling the wonders that the power holds. Princess Celestia was right about me. I can’t wait to write to her about my success.