//------------------------------// // Make Some Friends! // Story: Divergence // by grimchi3f //------------------------------// Part 1: Ponyville - Chapter 1: Make Some Friends! " 'My dear Twilight,' " read Spike, glancing up from the Princess's letter to look at Twilight who was continuing to stare dejectedly out over the side of the swiftly moving sky-chariot. " 'There is more to a young pony's life than studying. So, I'm sending you to super vise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration in this year's location, Ponyville!' " Spike gestured over the front of the sky-chariot at the town that had just appeared through the clouds. The town looked rural, and it didn't have the regal flair that Canterlot had. It's buildings looked as if they'd been made of wood and other such materials instead of stone, and some of the buildings were rather oddly shaped, with parts of them just jutting out with no visible means of support. Still, it did have a sort of charm to it. As the sky-chariot began descending towards the charming little rural town, Spike continued, " 'And I have an even more essential task for you to complete.' " He paused here and stepped closer to Twilight, smiling at what was next. " 'Make some friends!' " The purple unicorn rolled her eyes and groaned. Of course the Princess had to tack that last bit on. Celestia had been trying to get her to make friends ever since Twilight had become her student. The only problem was, Twilight didn't want any friends. She didn't need any. Because of this, Twilight had no friends besides her brother, Shining Armor, and Spike. And that wasn't going to change now. She had more important things to deal with now, like Nightmare Moon's return which, for some reason, Princess Celestia didn't seem to care much about. "Look at the bright side, Twilight," said Spike, still smiling. "The Princess arranged for you to stay in a library. Doesn't that make you happy?" Twilight thought about that for a moment, staring at the landscape below. Them, standing up, she smirked. "Yes, yes it does. And you know why? Because I'm right! I'll check on the preparations as fast as I can then get to the library to find some proof of Nightmare Moon's return." "But when will you make friends like the Princess said?" asked Spike, scratching his head. "She said to check on preparations," Twilight explained. "I am her student and I'll do my royal duty. But the fate of Equestria does not rest on me making friends." A few minutes later, their sky-chariot had landed in the center of Ponyville. After thanking the carriage pullers and watching the sky-chariot fly away, Twilight and Spike turned to face the street full of ponies. They all certainly seemed normal enough as they walked to and fro doing their daily business, though they seemed less inclined to wear clothes than the Canterlot ponies the two of them were used to. "Maybe the ponies in Ponyville have interesting things to talk about!" Spike exclaimed, eying the pink pony that was walking towards them. As the pink mare reached them, he added quietly, "C'mon Twilight, just try!" Twilight glanced at the pony and forced herself to smile. "Uh... hello." All of a sudden, the pink pony leapt up into the air, let out an extremely loud gasp, and then zoomed off behind them in a blur of bright pink. Both Twilight and Spike stared after the strange pony, wondering what had just happened. "That was interesting alright," said Twilight after a few seconds, frowning. At Twilight's words, all Spike did in response was sigh. Then, without further ado, the two overseers began walking down the street in the opposite direction from the strange pink pony. However, just as they started doing so, they quickly realized that they had absolutely no idea where they were going and, because of that, they stopped in their tracks. "Spike," said Twilight, glancing down at the diminutive baby dragon, "take out that overseer's checklist the Princess gave you." "What? Oh yeah, right," Spike replied, pulling out the checklist. "What's the first thing it wants us to check?" asked Twilight, once again observing the Ponyville ponies. "Um... well, it wants us to go check on the food preparations first which is being handled by a pony named Applejack," answered Spike, gazing at the parchment in his claws. "It says here that Applejack lives at Sweet Apple Acres." Twilight nodded. "Ah, good." She blinked. "Where exactly is that?" "It doesn't say," said Spike, rolling up the checklist. "Ugh," Twilight groaned. "That means I'm going to have to ask somepony direc--" Suddenly, something exceedingly heavy, yet surprisingly soft, hit Twilight right square on the noggin, forcing her to the ground. "Oops!" shouted a rather obnoxious voice from high above. "My bad! Sorry about that!" "Twilight, are you okay?" asked Spike worriedly, rushing up the the purple unicorn. "I'm... fine," Twilight responded, wriggling out from under the heavy object and then staring at it. It was... some saddlebags. No, not just any saddlebags; they were mailbags. Which meant... "I'm really sorry," said the gray pegasus mare who'd just landed. Her voice was definitely the obnoxious one Twilight had heard earlier, yet it was also a little slow and slurred. This gray pegasus had a blonde mane and her cutie mark was that of... bubbles, strangely enough. However, the weirdest thing about this mare was her eyes; they were crossed at an odd angle, with one looking up and the other looking down. "My bags must have slipped," she added, slipping the mailbags back onto her back. It was obvious to Twilight that this mare had some sort of disability, so instead of getting annoyed, she stayed polite. "Oh no, it's quite alright. Mistakes happen." "But you could've been killed!" said Spike. Twilight shot him a nasty look, causing the baby dragon to instantly shut up. "My name's Twilight Sparkle, by the way," Twilight said, switching her gaze back to the pegasus and holding out a hoof. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Twilight," the grey pegasus replied, shaking the purple unicorn's hoof with a little more vigor than necessary. "I'm Derpy Hooves, Ponyville's resident mailmare and probably Equestria's greatest muffin baker!" Derpy? Well, that was certainly... fitting. "It's nice to meet you too, Derpy. Now, I need to ask you--" "Speaking of muffins," began Derpy, not hearing Twilight at all, "I need to make it up to you for this. How about you come over to my place sometime so I can bake you a batch of muffins?" "I don't know about that," said Twilight, frowning. "But I really need to ask you where--" "Oh, but I need to know which muffins to bake you first," continued Derpy, interrupting Twilight. "What's your favorite type of muffin? Is it Banana Nut?" "Uh, no." "Blueberry?" "No." "Um... Pistachio?" "No!" "Chocolate Chip?" "NO!" "Blueberry? Wait, no, I already asked about that one..." "Derpy!" shouted Twilight as Spike started laughing. "Please. The Princess has asked me to oversee the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration, but in order to do that, I need to find out where Sweet Apple Acres is. Can you please tell me where it is?" "Oh, that's easy! You just follow this road all the way down that way," Derpy explained, pointing the way Twilight and Spike had been heading in the first place. "It'll be on your right. It's the place with all the apple trees, you can't miss it." "Of course it's that way," sighed Twilight. "Well, thanks. It was nice meeting you Derpy, but I've got to go check on those preparations now, so, um..." "Oh, yeah, of course," said Derpy, nodding. "I've got to go anyway to deliver the rest of this mail. But remember that if you ever want muffins, my door's always open." "Um, thanks," Twilight replied, silently vowing to never take her up on that offer. Derpy smiled and her eyes shifted their alignment. "Well, goodbye, Twilight. I can't wait to hang out some more." With that, she spread her wings and took off, not hearing Twilight's groan at the mention of hanging out. "This town has some very odd ponies," Twilight remarked, watching the wall-eyed pegasus clumsily fly away and almost hit a lamppost. Spike nodded. "I don't know, she seemed pretty nice... you know, besides the bag dropping on your head thing." Twilight rolled her eyes. "Yes, she did seem nice, but if she thinks she's gonna be my friend, she's mistaken. I don't want any friends, and I don't need any either. Now," she said, turning in the direction Derpy had indicated, "let's go oversee some preparations, shall we?" "Oh Twilight," whispered Spike, shaking his head as he and Twilight began walking down the road towards Sweet Apple Acres.