Chapter 2: The Training Begins
A bell rings rapidly signaling the end of yet another school day for many of Ponyville’s children. The teacher, an Earth pony named Cheerilee is talking to her students about upcoming lessons.
“Remember everyone, we have a quiz next week so don’t forget to study. See you all Monday,” She says, hoping the students would be aware.
Sadly they didn’t listen because the weekend is here and all they want to do is have fun and not worry about their studies. Many of them pack up their books and went outside. Some students go out with friends while others head home by themselves. Snails fortunately heads to the town of Ponyville. He’s going there to start his training. It was a special kind of training that involves his curious interest: balloons. After a party yesterday, he asked Pinkie if she could teach him. He even went as far as demonstrating what he can do but it only made him feel bummed. It was enough to convince her that he has what it takes and decides to take him under her wing. Now that today is the day, he’s really excited.
“Hey Snails, what’cha doing?” says Snips, a small unicorn pony that catches his attention.
“Uh, nothing,” Snails responds, “I’m heading to Sugarcube Corner so I can eat and then I’ll go home.”
“Can I come along too? I’m hungry,” He asks.
Snails then dissuades, “No, it’s fine. I have to do something there anyway.”
Snips asks again, “Oh okay. Can I come along with ya?”
“No. Listen, I need to do something and I have to do it alone,” He responds. But then starts feeling bummed that he doesn’t want to hurt his friend.
Feeling dejected, Snips tells him, “I see. Okay. I’ll see you later then.”
But Snails then responds, “Wait.” It catches his friend’s attention.
“How about after I finish things in Sugarcube Corner, maybe we can go to the park later? I hear some friends will be playing there,” He follows, hoping to please his friend.
“Sure, that would be nice,” His friend Snips agrees.
With that set in mind, Snips waves his friend farewell as he heads off elsewhere. Snails lets out a sigh of relief. He didn’t want anyone to know what he’s really going to do. His attention shifts to Sugarcube Corner, which is straight ahead. Heading there, he sees the place as busy as ever with ponies enjoying snacks, chatting and having a good time. He spots the front desk where Mr. and Mrs. Cake, a pair of earth ponies (that are also husband and wife) who are serving customers. He waits on line like every customer would but the line was long. The line lasts quite a while but ultimately, he reaches the front.
Mrs. Cake spots him and says, “Hello there Snails, how are you?”
He replies, “I’m fine ma’am. I’m here because Pinkie Pie asked me to come by for some tutoring.”
“Oh, I see. Well, she’s expecting you upstairs. I hope you study well okay?” She assures him.
“Erm, Pinkie Pie’s room is on the second floor. You’ll find her inside,” follows Mr. Cake.
“Thank you. It’ll really help me out.”
He then heads upstairs to the second floor as per instructed. The second floor consists of several doors that lead to different rooms. One room belongs to the Cakes, the other is for the twins and a certain pink door is home to the party expert of Ponyville. Snails goes for it giving that door a knock. He then waits hoping for somebody to answer. Fortunately, someone does.
The door opens with Pinkie Pie checking to see. With a jubilant glee, she says, “Snails! I knew you’d come!”
“Of course I did,” He replies, “I’m here for the training like you told me.”
“Okay. Give me a few more minutes. I need to get everything ready okay?”
“Sure.”
Snails then waits a bit giving Pinkie some time to prepare. Whatever she’s planning, he hopes that it’ll help him train. The door eventually opens with Pinkie coming out.
“Okay Snails, come in. You’re going to like what’s inside,” She tells him.
Snails enters her room to see a sight where words are too impossible to define. He couldn’t contain his excitement. He sees balloons… lots of them. Pinkie’s room looks like an amusement park with decorations that reach the ceiling. Balloons of all kinds float up in the ceiling with strings holding onto them. Many balloons are also seen on the floor teetering about slowly. The colors also reflect in the light letting off a vibrant feel. Pinkie sees him amazed but notices he isn’t saying anything. He’s still in awe. She then decides to bounce around to get his attention.
“Woo-hoo, so you like what you see Snails?” She asks him.
Nodding, he responds, “Yeah. I mean… this is just… just so amazing!”
“Uh huh. It is! I had to use so many balloons for this that I think ”
“So… when do we start the training?”
“Well, I think you need to first learn about it. You want to know how and why right?”
Snails nods as her teacher continues, “Oh-kay, let’s go!”
He looks at Pinkie bounce about for a bit before her attention is directed to a bouquet of 11-inch helium balloons. Taking one of them, she heads closer to Snails and ties the string to one of his fore hooves. She then puts on some kind of science outfit (that she borrowed from Twilight earlier) and then a blackboard immediately comes out of nowhere. With teaching stick in hand, she gets to work.
“Alright so you want to know how balloons pop right? Like I said, there are lots and lots of ways how. You know that when you sit on a balloon, it gets squishy right?” she says, pointing to a drawing of someone sitting on one. Snails nods in response.
“You’re applying pressure on it hence why you bounce on it a lot hoping to break it. Once it gets too squishy then the balloon will go BOOM popping it,” She explains.
Understanding this, Snails responds, “So that’s why I couldn’t pop that red balloon yesterday.”
“Uh huh. Whether you sit on it, stomp on it or even hug it, the only way the balloon goes boom is if you put more pressure. More force. You need to show it who’s boss to make it pop!”
“Oh… kay, I guess.”
“Now then,” She pushes the blackboard aside showing the huge 11-inch helium balloon bouquet nearby, “We’re going to be popping these balloons so you can see how the idea of pressure works.”
“So we can pop them any way we want right?”
“No. We’re going to sit on them. We’ll save for any way later. I have to show you all the different ways to pop them first. You said so yourself that you want to learn right?”
Snails nods and says to her, “Yeah, of course.”
“Then let’s get to work!” shouts Pinkie.
Pinkie collects a blue balloon by the string placing it on the ground. She then gently sits on it, not applying any pressure whatsoever. Snails watches her bounce on the balloon like a bunny. Her actions cause the balloon to bulge repeatedly showing its neck. The balloon eventually explodes reducing it to nothing more than small shards. In response, she lets out a giggle followed with a hoof gesture. It’s enough for him to try it out himself. So like Pinkie, he does the same thing but he sits on the balloon gently. He begins going up and down, bouncing like Pinkie has done before. Pinkie in the meantime gets another balloon and joins in on the fun. Snails goes at it but at a much stronger pace until his balloon let out a loud bang. Shards fly off in some direction and it’s enough to excite the young colt.
“I guess you’re liking it huh?” Pinkie asks him, still bouncing on her balloon.
Snails doesn’t say a word, only so much as giving her a nod. He then gets his hooves on the next balloon and does the same just like before. One by one, sounds of explosions are heard. The bouquet that was once filled with vibrant colorful helium balloons would gradually decrease until it’s nothing more than strings and a mountain full of colored shards. When it ended, Pinkie is still jumping about ready to continue. Snails however, not so much.
“Ow, I didn’t think sitting on them would hurt,” says Snails, who checks on his tush, “I hope I don’t get blisters.”
Pinkie then responds, “Don’t worry. It won’t hurt that bad but now we must move on to the next lesson.”
“What? There’s more?” Snails wonders in response.
“Yep.”
“I hope I don’t get hurt by all of this.”
“Don’t be a silly filly, Snails. Of course you won’t. Besides, don’t you want to know how?”
Snails nods and then heads to another part of her room where this one has balloons except for one thing, they’re un-inflated. This makes him curious but for Pinkie, it’s all part of her plan.
“Pinkie, what are these?” He asks her.
She replies, “They’re balloons. What else would you think they are?”
“Uh but aren’t they supposed to be round, not flat?”
“Are you forgetting already?”
Snails looks at Pinkie in a stupor, as if he didn’t understand her. She grabs one of the uninflated balloons from the floor. After breathing in and out for a bit, Pinkie takes the plunge pouring air inside her balloon. It starts changing shape becoming more round with each breath. Ultimately it reaches at a point where it’s fully round.
“See how it looks now? Watch this.”
Pinkie takes a deep breath and then pours more air into it. Unfortunately this gets Snails on edge. He covers his ears, his sight not letting go of Pinkie. A few seconds later, the two hear a loud “bang”. Pinkie isn’t affected but Snails is a different story. He didn’t want to hear the sound of it exploding next to his face. Noticing his sudden rise of fear, she comforts him. She didn’t want to see her student not having fun.
“Did I scare you?” She asks him.
Snails nods at her, not saying anything.
“Aw, I’m sorry. I had no idea it scared you.”
“It’s okay. Seeing you do this got me scared. It really did.” Snails replies.
“Well, balloon popping can also hurt. I forgot to mention that.”
“Did it ever happen to you?”
“Sometimes but I always shrug it off because I'm used to it. I know you will be too. Of course for today, we’re going to pop another balloon. We already sat on some and you saw me blow it up. Now we’re going to try stomping but we’ll do one together then one by yourself.”
“Sure. I just hope it doesn’t scare me.”
Pinkie giggles in response to his words. She then gets to work inflating two balloons for the next task. Snails in the meantime, gets a few seconds to be at ease. Seeing her cause the balloon to burst like that has him thinking second thoughts. He wanted to learn how and why they explode as a means of curiosity. But now he feels that it isn’t a good idea.
He then turns to Pinkie and says, “Pinkie, can I ask you something?”
“Hmmm, what is it?” She wonders.
“I really appreciate all you’ve done but… I don’t know if I can go through with it. I mean when I saw you blow that up until it pops, it scared me.”
“Oh, I’m sorry if it happened.”
“It’s okay. It’s that sometimes balloons scare me.”
“Scare you? But how?”
Snails takes a deep breath before he continues, “It happened I think… when I was a foal. It happened at a birthday party for another kid in class. We were all having fun until one of the kids took a balloon and decided to pull a prank.”
“What did he do?” Pinkie asks him.
“I end up being the one in the prank and the feel of it just… it just scared me. Since then I always was scared of having balloons pop in my face. If it was anywhere else, it’d be okay but having it that close just… just…”
“I had no idea. I’m sorry.”
“No… it’s okay. It’s that I’m somewhat afraid of balloons.”
“Well don’t worry because I will help you conquer your fear 1-2-3!”
“How?”
Pinkie giggles in response, “Let’s get to it!”
He sees Pinkie get things ready. Taking a deep breath, Snails only hopes that nothing else goes wrong.
“We’ll cover blowing them up later. I think you’ll like this one.” She tells him.
“Hold on,” Snails interrupts.
“Huh?”
“Let me at least do this.”
Pinkie nods, letting him take a balloon. He shuts his eyes, reminding himself of how a simple prank make him scared of something that he’s curious about. He goes to work putting air into the balloon. More and more, Pinkie sees the balloon increasing in size. Snails keeps on going. The balloon gets bigger with each breath he puts into it. But then he notices that it’s unable to contain all the air. He keeps going regardless until it explodes in a loud “KER-PLOP”. He flinches slightly but seems unfazed by it. In fact… he seems happy, happier than he’s ever been. But suddenly Pinkie hugs him from behind, congratulating for a job well done.
“I knew you could do it!” She praises him. He simply shrugs it off, like it’s no biggie.
“Ah it was nothing. I mean that,” He replies, blushing.
“So are you ready to continue?
“Of course!”
“Yay! Let’s go!”
Pinkie bounces to another balloon bouquet and gets to work with her next lesson. Fortunately Snails is just as excited as she is right now. Pinkie instead has another plan.
“I think we’ve been through a lot and I know you want to learn on how and why these pop. So I decided that for the rest of the day, it’s anything goes!”
“So that means we can do whatever we want right?”
“Yep yep yep.”
Pinkie didn’t waste any time. She grabs a yellow balloon and is already using her butt to bounce on it. Her student gets a purple one and puts it on the floor. Raising his forehoof, he slams on the balloon. It bounces off the rubber innocently, sending him back teetering a bit. He gets back on his hooves and tries again. This time, he uses both his forehooves pressing them down fiercely. His strength ultimately causes the balloon to break, splitting off into shards.
Smiling, he whispers, “Finally.”
He then joins up with Pinkie, who has another balloon with her, in an embrace. Looking at her, she gives a nod as a sign telling him to join in. Snails can’t refuse and he does that embracing both her and the balloon in-between. Their embrace gets stronger turning it into a very tight squeeze. Snails keeps pushing harder, even shifting one of his hindhooves to improve solidity. Unbenknownst to them both, Snails’ other hind hoof steps on a strand of rubber causing him to trip. Pinkie holds on as he falls landing on his back. But due to the force of the impact, it’s enough to cause the balloon inbetween them to break letting out a loud “BAM”. The two scream in response but it soon gets replaced with a lot of giggling.
“So want to go again?” She asks.
Snails responds with a nod and the two continue to have fun. Hours pass and many of the balloons that are in the room become replaced with falling strings and broken rubber pieces. Many of the shards end up becoming a mountain. Celestia’s sun has set making room for Luna’s moon blanketing the starry night sky. Pinkie sees her student Snails embracing a balloon that’s already under a tight squeeze. Suddenly it explodes sending rubber flying. He feels different than what he used to be. He’s more confident, happy and feels like having fun.
“Guess that’s all for today Snails? Did you like your lessons?” She asks him.
He nods and responds, “Yeah, I did. I’ve learned a lot… despite some minor problems.”
“Ready for more tomorrow?”
“Of course. I want to learn though I feel I have a good idea.”
“But there’s so much I haven’t told you. We had so much fun today that I forgot all about it.”
“Yeah, I guess so. I’ll be there tomorrow. I promise.”
“Yay! I can’t wait. Tomorrow will be great!”
With that, the two head out of Pinkie’s room. They reach the lobby of Sugarcube Corner and see the place empty. The shop’s closed for the night and the Cakes are getting things ready for tomorrow.
“So it’ll be same time tomorrow right?” She says. Snails simply nods, “Great. I can’t wait. We’re going to have a lot of fun alright.”
“I know. I really am excited,” He responds, “But before I go, I have two things to say.”
“Yes? What is it?”
“I have a request. Think we can have a party after all of this. Just the three of us?”
“Three?”
“You, me and boss.”
“Boss? You mean Robbie right? I think he said that you shouldn’t call him that.”
“I know. It’s a habit I can’t let go. He did so much for Snips and me. I can’t ever thank him enough. I want to show him what I’ve learned. He saw us pop that balloon yesterday right? Well we can show him we can do this.”
“We’ll see Snails. We’ll see. What’s the second thing you wish to tell me?”
Snails doesn’t say a word. He simply goes to Pinkie’s cheek and gives it a soft kiss. Her reaction to the kiss is one of shock. Her face immediately turns beet red, her eyes widen and her mouth opens slightly. Clearly, it’s Snails’ way of saying thank you to her.
“Thank you Pinkie. Thank you so much for teaching me. I hope that we’ll have more fun tomorrow. Bye.” He says, heading off.
Pinkie replies, waving weakly to him, “Y-yeah. Bye Snails.”
Her forehoof touches the cheek that Snails kisses and she simply looks in shock. But then she smiles seeing that it’s a job well done and tomorrow is going to be just the same.
To be continued