I hate trains, I thought, as I walked out into the dusty streets of Appaloosa to stretch my legs.
It was just after eight when the train finally arrived at the Appaloosa station, eight in the morning! And I thought we were making good time too, looking out my window and seeing the landscape of the badlands whiz by. It took a while for the train to get up to speed, but once we were well underway, the ground looked similar to the last time I could remember driving my car down the highway, so I figured we had to be going at least fifty miles per hour.
By sundown, however, it became apparent that I had misjudged the size of the Badlands, as we had only just reached the Macintosh mountains. Then the train slowed to a crawl as it weaved through them, as there was no train tunnel going under these mountains. We were probably only going about ten when I went to sleep.
The train I rode in on was on a curcuit towards Manehattan, and had started boarding as soon as the exiting passengers were off. I bought my ticket for the train to Ponyville, but that one wasn't boarding for another half hour, so I decided to take a small tour of the town while I waited.
As I walked, I noted that the peace between the ponies and the buffalo seemed to be progressing nicely. There weren't very many buffalo in town, at least that I saw, but the ones I did see appeared to be well accepted members of the community. They weren't avoided, or given odd looks, and some of the ones I saw were even engaged in friendly conversation with the ponies. After a few minutes, I came across the Salt Block Saloon, and decided I could use some real food in me. The food they had on the train was really insubstantial, and breakfast had been particularly unsatisfying.
Walking through the saloon doors revealed that it wasn't very busy, which was nice, that meant I wouldn't have to wait too long for the food. I didn't want to miss my train, after all. There were only a few other ponies in the place, all sitting at one table chatting, like some sort of breakfast club. Against the wall, opposite the door, was the bar, with a surprisingly small number of bottles on display behind the counter. There was a half-door off to the right, where the bar ended, showing part of the kitchen.
"Howdy, an' welcome to the Salt Block Saloon," greeted the bartender enthusiastically. "What can Ah getcha Sir?" He asked as I took a seat at the empty bar. I took a few seconds to look over the breakfast menu, scrawled out in chalk on a blackboard above the bar, before settling on that morning's special.
"I'll have the apple cinnamon pancakes." He nodded and walked over to the kitchen door.
"One mornin' special!"
"On it!" A voice called back.
"So what'll ya have to drink," he asked, coming back over.
"Just water, thanks," I replied, idly looking over the drinks menu, and slightly perplexed that there even could be seventeen variaties of apple cider. I also was able to see that the few bottles on the wall were lagitimate liquors, like at the bar in Minotauria. I didn't know there even was real alcohol in Equestria... Ponyville must just be a dry town, I guess. A full glass was clinked down in front of me a few moments later. I took a few sips, and proceeded to quietly wait for my pancakes.
"...Y'know, Ah've never seen you in 'ere before," the bartender started by way of conversation. "You new to town?"
"Just passing through, my train'll be boarding pretty soon, and I figured I'd get some breakfast first."
"Oh, so you must be headin' on down into Minotaria then, huh? Ain't no other rails that I know of stop by here on their way ta anyplace else."
"Actually, I'm coming back from there," I said, taking another sip of my water.
"Oh really? Did you have a good trip? Ah hear those minotaurs can be a bit unfriendly."
"Eh, there not so bad once you get to know 'em, they just have a different culture."
"Order up," called the cook, walking out of the kitchen and passing the plate off to the bartender, before taking a seat at the bar during the downtime.
Soon enough, I had a stack of three steaming pancakes in front of me, each almost as big as the plate they came on, with a generous dollop of butter melting away on top. I'd never had apple pancakes before, and it took me a second or two of staring to realize that the apples must be inside them.
"Enjoy," said the bartender, setting a jar of maple syrup and some silverware next to my plate. I nodded my thanks, and levitated the jar...
*A few minutes later*
That was a little disappointing, I thought, setting my fork down on the plate. They haden't been as good as I'd assumed they would be, but they were definitely edible, and they filled me up at least. I guess the combination of apples and panecakes just isn't my thing.
Soon after, I paid my bill and left without complaint. There was no need to mess up their day with my personal preferences, especially since I was unlikely to ever come back again anyway.
The train ride from Appaloosa was fairly peaceful so far, mostly consisting of me staring out the window in incremental boredom. A boredom that culminated at about lunch time, when I conjured up a square piece of paper and folded it into an origami crane. It still frustrated me how bad I was at conjuration, making that one piece of paper had taken more effort than transfiguring twelve kilograms of TNT did. It had frustrated Twilight, as well, when she was teaching it to me, but no amount of practice had managed to improve my efficiency with the spell, and eventually we just sort of gave up on it and moved on.
Performing the final fold, I crimped it's nose into a downward angle and started inflating it slowly, as not to tear it. I inflated it telekinetically, because I didn't want to draw attention by making blowing sounds. This motive, however, proved moot, as my attention was drawn away from my little project by an awed vocalization.
"Wow..." said a little filly, who had walked over at some point when I wasn't paying attention, and now stood mesmerized by the intricately folded bird. She was a unicorn with a dark yellow coat and two-tone green mane, she looked to be about the same age as the crusaders. "That is so cool, how did you do that Mister?" She asked, looking up at me. Looking into her eyes, my heart skipped a beat. They were the exact same shade of cerulean blue as Pinkie's, which, for reasons I could not explain, shocked me for a second.
"W-well, uh, how did I do it? With lots of boredom and too much free time, heheh," I joked, not exactly comfortable with somepony elses kid talking to me while unescorted. She laughed too, so at least it wasn't as awkward a situation as it could have been, but I really just wanted her to go back to her parents... "Y'know, if you want... you can have it."
"*gasp* Really?" She asked, wide eyed and excited at the prospect of being given a gift, as all children are.
"Sure," I replied, floating it a little closer to her. She seemed to hesitate for a moment, before scrunching her face up into just the cutest look of concentration. A few moments later I felt my grip on the bird being contested, letting me know that she had a hold of it now, so I let go. "Why don't you go show it to your parents," I suggested, when she didn't move and just kept staring at it. "I'm sure they'd love to see it to."
"Okay, thanks Mister!" She said enthusiastically, as she turned and started running towards the back of the car.
"Your welcome," I half-heartedly replied, glad that she was leaving.
Even after spending a year in Equestria, it's still kinda scary just how trusting the majority of ponies are, I reflected, watching the filly go through the door to the next compartment. Her parents are letting her wander the train, unsupervised, and beyond their line of sight. Dismissing that train of thought, as it really wasn't anything new, I focused on my reaction earliar. If I reacted that strongly, just to someone with the same color eyes, than I am so not ready to see Pinkie again... With a sigh of resignation, I went back to staring out the window. It's not like I could jump out of the train and walk the rest of the way. I had a schedule to keep.
Unfortunately, the damage had been done... I was thinking about her now, and with that came the butterflies.
Stupid flesh, I thought, annoyed, I really disliked this semi-nauseous feeling. Luckily the food cart came around a few minutes later, the food quelling the butterflies, for now. Sadly, it did nothing to quell my imagination, which was busily churning out scenario after scenario of how my return would play out. Some were far less... realistic... than others, but none the less, I felt a nervous energy building up inside me with every passing mile.
Within the hour, all four of my limbs were tingling with excess energy, and tensing them up for a while wasn't getting rid of it. Usually when I found myself in this type of situation, I'd get rid of the energy by repeatedly punching the sofa cushions, or sprinting from one side of the room to the other a few times. Neither option was open to me, however, because, best case scenario, everypony in the car would think I was an extreme spaz.
After a few more minutes of trying to ignore the increasingly twitchy feeling spreading through my body, I finally decided to try going for a walk. Just as I was about to get up, however, I hesitated. I didn't want to leave my saddlebags unattended, old habits die hard, after all, but walking through the train with them on would look really wierd...
Torn between my general lack of trust in other living beings, and the ever increasing levels of ATP in my leg muscles, I suddenly remembered a spell I learned while I was studying with Twilight. I had more or less forgotten about it up to now, because I'd never had any use for it... a locking spell. It coats an object, usually a door, in your magic and locks it into place, with the caster's own unique magic frequency as the key. It took a minute or two of thinking before I remembered how to cast it though.
With that settled, I felt safe leaving my bags alone for a while, and started my journey by walking towards the front of the train. The spell wouldn't stop anyone from just cutting them open, but that would make it very obvious that they were stealing.
Eventually I made it to the iron door of the engineer's car, whereupon I turned back around, idly counting the cars as I went. I passed my saddlebags, still intact, and continued on, eventually being greeted by that one filly, now sitting with her parents, as I made my way to the last car. The walking was helping, but by half way through the second lap, I realized I was still dwelling on what would happen when I met Pinkie again. I needed to get my mind off it for a while, so when I got back to the last car again, I opened the door and went outside.
I stood there for several minutes, admiring the retreating scenery and feeling the wind on me. A chill shot through my body, making me shiver for a second. It's nice being back at an agreeable latitude, I reflected. I liked the wind, for as long as I could remember, it was one of my favorite things. It was nice to be able to feel it again, without the threat of impending death, I mean. A breeze is always nice, but ever since coming to Equestria, I've never encountered any strong winds, aside from the occasionally scheduled thunderstorm. Thunderstorms always came with rain though, so I was never really able to enjoy the wind on those days. The last time I actually got to enjoy a nice wind, was when I took Pinkie skydiving...
And just like that, I could practically feel the warmth of her face again, as she gave me that one, and only, nuzzle in thanks. Another shiver ran down my spine, but this one wasn't from the wind. My heart rate picked up as I remembered that feeling, and imagined feeling it again... It didn't take long for the butterflies to come back.
Dammit, I'm trying to not think about this. Turning around, I went back inside and started on another lap, trying to find something else to focus on. That something I found at the front of the train, when I realized that there should have been a coal car blocking passengers from reaching the engine car. Curiosity piqued, I opened the door, wanting to get a look at what a magic powered steam engine looks like.
A sudden increase in temperature was the first thing I noticed, before shutting the door behind me and being greeted by the surprised face of the engineer. He was an earth pony, beige coat, dark brown mane, and wearing his engineer's cap.
"Hey, what are you doing in here! Passengers aren't allowed in the engine room," he said, placing himself defensively between me and the boiler controls.
"I just wanted to look at the engine, I've never seen one before. I promise I won't touch anything, I know it's delicate 'n all that."
"Never seen one!?" He asked, flabbergasted. Taking a quick peek at his cutie mark, I saw a train's steam whistle with a little gout of steam coming out.
Excellent, I thought, seeing an opportunity. "Yes, I've heard about these 'Steam Engines', but I don't really know anything about them. How does it work?" I could almost see his eyes light up, as he completely dropped his guard and started giving me full tour of the rather cramped engine room. I had to wade through several minutes of him explaining all the different guages and valves, before we finally came to the part I was interested in.
"-And this is the firebox," he went on, "it supplies the heat that runs the whole system." He opened the door to let me look inside, and it was... absolutely beautiful...
A deep violet amethyst, flawlessly cut and polished, hung, seemingly unsupported, in the center of the chamber, a brilliant flame emanating from it in all directions, coating the metal sides of the chamber in a cherry red. He closed it a few seconds later, so as to not waste too much heat.
"Only the highest quality enchanted crystals will do for a steam engine," he elaborated. "If there are any imperfections, it could crack from it's own heat, breaking the enchantment and leaving the train stuck between stations."
"So where's the battery crystal at? I didn't see it in the firebox."
"A battery crystal doesn't go in the firebox," he said, like that should have been obvious. "They'd definitely crack. We keep 'em over here," he said, moving to a panel on the side of the machine. He opened it, revealing a smoggy, obviously low quality, crystal. It glowed faintly, and was held inside some kind of two piece glass chamber, the top half being held in place by several pins. "We've found that the quality doesn't have much impact on the effectiveness of a battery crystal, so the company buys the cheaper ones. We keep a few spares around, incase one runs dry on us."
Soon after that, I thanked him for the tour, and left him to his work.
That is just the coolest damn thing, I thought, walking back through the train cars. I was passing through the third car when one of the passengers addressed me.
"I say, young lad, this is the sixth time you've walked by here... Is something the matter?" The stallion asked in a posh english accent.
"No, I've just been walking off some nerves is all," I replied, turning to face him. He was a unicorn, white coat, dark blue mane and tale, he also had a mustache, and was wearing a trilby. Sitting next to him was, presumably, his wife, also a white unicorn, but with a two toned mane of very pale pink, and wearing a straw sunhat with a few flowers on it. Wow, they look really familiar for some reason...
"Nerves, hm? Are you heading to a job interview?" He speculated.
"No, I'm just going to see a friend," I said, trying to think of why they would look familiar to me. They had to have been on the show, that's the only reason I'd recognize anyone.
"An zis friend makes you... nervous?" His wife asked, with an eastern european accent.
"Well, I kinda disappeared on her for a week and a half without warning, so..."
"You walked out on your marefriend?" He asked, almost accusatory in his tone.
"Why does everyone just assume that? We're not in any sort of relationship-"
"Zen vhy does she make you so restless as to pace ze train six times?"
"W-well, u-uh..." Fuck, how can I change the subject? "...What's with the third degree here! Why do you care, I don't even know you ponies!" At this the stallion's eyes widened, like he'd just realized something.
"Ah, yes, how terribly rude of me not to introduce myself. I," he began, dramatically, and placing a hoof to his chest, "am Fancy, and this lovely mare is my wife, Fleur." She nodded her head at me in acknowledgement, though her eyes were narrowed. No doubt annoyed at my avoidance of her question.
*blink* "Fancy? As in... Pants..? ...Yeah, I can see that now, I didn't recognize you without the monocle... or the suit... My name's Cotton, by the way." After saying that, he stared at me for several seconds in deep contemplation.
"...You'll have to forgive me but, I can't seem to recognize you. Have we met before?"
"No, I just heard about you from a... not a friend, really, more of an acquaintance. What's a big name from Canterlot doing in Appaloosa anyway?"
"Switching trains, actually, we just finished a nice little vacation in Minotaria." Seeing that that haden't satisfied my curiosity, he elaborated further. "I own a hotel in the city of Tolmiros, and I like to check in on my investments personally. It keeps me more... down to Equus, as the saying goes."
"Hm... Well, I'll leave you two alone now, I've taken up enough of your time. Have a nice trip back to Canterlot," I said with a small wave.
"Yes, of coarse, may you have a 'nice trip' as well to... where was it you were headed?" He asked, placing a hoof to his chin, as if I'd actually told him at some point.
"A little town called Ponyville, it's the next stop on the line," I answered, already half turned to walk away.
"Ah, well, I hope the rest of your ride is pleasent, and good luck sorting out that situation with your friend."
"Yes, I do hope you've gotten her zomething nice to make up for it," Fleur interjected before I could leave.
"Got her something?" I questioned.
"Why of course," Fancy replied, "one does not simply show up on a mare's doorstep emptyhoofed. It's simply ungentlecoltly."
"Right," I said dryly, "thank's for the advice..."
Well... I finally made it, I thought nervously, walking out of the Ponyville station. It was about seven thirty, roughly eleven hours from Appaloosa. I started off towards the market area, only a vague idea of what I was looking for in mind.
After the encounter with Fancy and Fleur, I had pretty much given up taking my mind off of Pinkie. Everything I tried to distract myself with just seemed to keep coming back around to her at some point. I also eventually came to the conclusion that those two were right about getting something for her. Anyone can just walk up and say their sorry, but words are no assurance of sincerity. I'll need to do something to prove it, and getting a gift would be the easiest thing, hence, the market.
While I was walking, I noticed that many of the ponies were looking at me and whispering to eachother.
Huh... I didn't think my presence would be missed enough to get everypony's attention like this. I guess I'm more noticable than I thought... Once I arrived at the market square, I took some time to survey the area and see what was available.
Carrot-pony was attending her carrot stall, mixed-vegies-pony was at her lettice, celery and rhubarb stall, Big Mac was at the apple cart today... After a few minutes of looking, my eyes fell on the flower stall presided over by red-flower-pony. The sign read one bit for a half-bouquet, two for a full one.
Girls like flowers, right? ...Well, Pinkie likes cake, but she lives in a bakery so getting her that would be pointless... Flowers seemed a good a gift as any. When she saw me walking over, she started to look at anything else, like she was trying to avoid eye contact. "Excuse me," I said, to get her attention.
"Uh, y-yeah?" She replied, like she didn't know why I was talking to her.
"I'd like to buy some flowers," I clarified for her.
"O-oh, uh, sure. What would you like?" She asked, still nervous.
"...Is something wrong? Why are you so nervous?"
"Nervous, who's nervous, I'm not nervous, you wanted flowers right?" She spoke in a single breath, before grabbing a full bouquet and practically shoving it at me from across the counter. "Here ya go!"
Hmm... I was only going to get a half-bouqeut, but I guess bigger would be better in this case... Telekinetically feeling around inside my bags, I found one loose bit and pulled it out, before continuing my search. After a few seconds I determined that I had no more loose bits. "Just a sec," I said, preparing to break open another roll, though I didn't get the chance.
"That's fine!" She exclaimed, snatching the bit out of the air. "This is good, consider it a 'welcome back to town' discount."
"Hmm," I hmmed, looking at her critically for several seconds. After four, I could see the fur on her forehead starting to get wet, as she perspired under my intense gaze. "...Alright," I said slowly, grabbing the bouqeut and placing it inside my left saddle bag. An open market isn't the place for an inquisition, I thought, turning away and heading in the direction of Sugarcube Corner. Ponyville has a powerful, and active, rumour mill. I can only imagine what stories have been thought up regarding my sudden disappearence.
I was just about to make the turn onto the street that would take me to the Corner, when a sign caught my eye. It was a sign of three little wrapped candies, Bonbon's sweet shop. For an instant, the image of a heart shaped box of chocolates flashed through my head. For several seconds I stood there, considering it, before rejecting the idea.
No, that's just... too obvious, too... cliche, I decided, turning away from the sign as I continued onward. I stopped again after only a few steps. Pinkie does live in a bakery, and eats cake and cupcakes all the time... I thought, looking over my shoulder and back at the sign. Maybe... she'd appreciate having a different kind of snack for once..?
I chewed on my lower lip for a few seconds, thinking it over, before fully turning back around and walking up to the door.
Well... I rationalized, pushing the door open. I suppose cliches... are cliches for a reason...
*ding-a-ling* "Hello, and welcome to Bonbon's sweet shop!" Greeted the mare behind the counter, eyes closed in a large, friendly, smile. "How can I he-" The words died in Bonbon's throat when she opened her eyes. Her jaw was stuck half way through saying 'help', and her eyes started widening.
Jesus... the fuck kind of stories are going around about me..? Thankfully, she seemed to recover after a few seconds, clearing her throat and trying to pretend nothing happened.
"Ahem... Hello, um... Cotton, was it?" She paused, aparently actually wanting a confirmation. I nodded, though I found it odd that she knew my name at all. I couldn't remember ever interacting with her before this. "So, what are you looking for?"
"Just a box of chocolates," I informed her.
"Oh, okay," she said, somehow seeming relieved, like I could have been in here for something else. "Costum selected, or prepackaged?"
"Prepackaged is fine."
"Okay, chocolate boxes are over there, against the wall," she directed, pointing to the back. I nodded my thanks and went to the indicated area.
There were seven different boxes of varying price and size, and while I didn't want to be a cheapo, and get the smallest one, I also didn't want to get one that was too big to hide in my right saddle bag. Carrying flowers and chocolates around, out in the open, would miscommunicate my intensions to any onlookers...
Well... miscommunicate might be the wrong word... I thought, catching myself eyeing up the only box with a heart design. It didn't help that it was the perfect size...
"Did you find everything alright?" She asked, seeing me walking back towards the register.
"Yeah," I replied, placing the box on the counter. Seeing the red heart shaped box, she paused before ringing it up.
"This... wouldn't happen to be for... Pinkie, would it?" She hesitantly asked.
"So what if it is?" I said, trying to mask my blush with a scowl.
"N-nothing, nothing, that's great!" She said, quickly backpedaling.
"Okay, what's going on! Why are you scared of me?" I asked, finding the inside of an, otherwise empty, store to be a much more appropriate place for an extended questioning.
"S-s-scared?" She asked, ears flat against her head and flank nearly pressed to the wall after my yell. "Heheh, w-who's scared?"
"You're a horrible liar. What stories have been going around about me?"
"Oh, j-just, silly stories," she dismissed, spinning her hoof in the air. "I don't believe any of them," she assured.
"If you didn't believe them you wouldn't be shaking," I deadpanned. "And would you please stop cowering? I'm not going to hurt you. Honest." That seemed to calm her down a bit, though she remained by the wall, maintaining her distance. "Now, tell me the romour."
"...Well, there's... a few..." I waved my hoof in a 'go on' gesture. "One is that... you're an... assassin. That's why you never talked to anypony about yourself... or tried to make any friends."
"Ah, geez... What else?"
"Another is that you're an... alien," she said, with greater confidence than before. My lack of significant reaction must have encouraged her a little.
"An alien?" I skeptically replied.
"Yeah, and you're gathering intelligence for an alien invasion of Equestria." I just shook my head at that.
These ponies really need something else to do with their free time.
"The last one, is that you're a spy."
"A spy? Did Rainbow Dash start that one?"
"I don't know who started it, but who you're a spy for is still up for debate. Some ponies think it's the Griffins, others the Saddle Arabians, a few think you were spying for the Changelings, which is just silly. Everyone knows that Changelings are just a fairy tale."
"Heh, right," I agreed. She seemed to have fully relaxed by now. "So... how much for the box..?"
"Oh, right! Hmm, let's see..." she replied, pulling a book out from behind the counter. Flipping through the tabs sticking of the the sides, she quickly found the right page. "This one's four bits." Nodding, I open up a new roll and place four bits on the counter. "Sooo..." she started, as I slipped the box into my right saddlebag. "Is it for Pinkie..?"
"Why do you think it's for Pinkie?"
"Well it just... makes sense. She was the only pony that you ever spoke to on a ragular basis, besides Twilight, but she was just teaching you advanced magic. Plus, when you went missing, Pinkie organized the whole town into a search party, not Twi-"
"There was a search party for me?" I interrupted, taken aback by the news.
"Yeah, and the cupcakes were great, by the way... *blink* Hey, where were you anyway?" She asked, a tinge of anger entering her tone. "Pinkie got really sad when we had to call off the search! This town just isn't the same when she's not happy."
"That really wasn't my fault," I replied, raising my hooves defensively. "Discord threw me out of Equestria, and I only just got back."
"Discord!? Oh, I'm so sorry, that must have been just terrifying!"
"Heh, you can say that again. I'd prefer to leave flying to the pagasi from now on..."
Shortly after I left Bonbon's shop, I heard the 'whoosh' sound of something attaining a great amount of speed all at once. Looking up, I saw the fading rainbow trail of Dash, and so dismissed it as nothing of note. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, I found myself at the door to Sugarcube Corner.
My heart was racing.
Moment of truth... I thought, raising a hoof to open the door, however, I hesitated to grab the handle. Staring at my raised hoof, I had to concentrate much harder than I should have needed to, to make it stop shaking. *gulp* I am so not ready for this. I reached foreward and opened the door before I could change my mind.
*ding-a-ling* "Welcome to Sugarcube Corner, how can I help you?" Asked Mr. Cake from behind the counter.
Huh... he must not keep up on local gossip. "Yes, i-is, ahem... is, uh... Pinkie in?" I managed to ask.
"No, she has today off. Why, do you need to see her?" My heart rate started to lower the instant I heard she wasn't in the building.
"Well... no, it's... it's not important. I'll try again later..." I replied, feeling an odd mixture of relief, and soul crushing disappointment.
"Are you sure?" He asked, seeing my dejected look. "I could take a message for you," he said, pulling out an orders notepad. "From, uhh... Who are you? I'm sorry, it's just that Pinkie has so many friends, it's hard to keep track sometimes."
"I'm Cotton, and you don't need to take any messages, just... let her know I'm back," I said, turning to open the door.
"Cotton... Cotton," I heard him mutter to himself. "There's only one Cotton that Pinkie's talked about," he said, his tone turning from pleasent, to sour. I had the door half open already, but turned to look at him, and let him finish. "You better have a darn good excuse for just disappearing without a word like that! Do you have any idea how worried she's been?"
I proceeded to explain what happened, just like I did with Bonbon.
"...But it's been almost two weeks! Where did he send you, Zabrica?"
"No, he only sent me to Minotauria, but it took me a while to earn enough money for a train ticket."
"And it never occured to you to send a letter, and let her know you were safe?" He questioned critically.
*Blink* "Uhh, actually... no. I didn't even think of that," I replied, sheepishly rubbing the back of my head with a hoof. "Oops..." He just continued to glare at me for a few seconds, before letting out a sigh and seemingly letting it go.
"*sigh*... Well, I guess I can't really stay mad at you for it. It wasn't your choice, after all... I'll let Pinkie know that you're back when she comes in, but I expect to see you here again in the morning, got that? And you better have something in mind to make it up to her for not thinking to send a letter."
"Yes sir, and I already have something, so don't worry. You have a good night," I bid, walking out the door. The Cakes have always been very... parental, when it comes to Pinkie. Official papers are pretty much the only thing between them, and declaring her their adoptive daughter. Though that has a lot to do with them being greatful for her help...
I was reminded of the time Pinkie told me the story of how she first moved in with the Cakes. It was a... semi-typical day, with Twilight calling off the day's study session on account of some kind of fashion emergency with Rarity. She did that fairly often when her friends were involved. It would be a few more months before the skydiving incident, and the development of my... well there's really no denying it anymore, crush on Pinkie Pie...
"-And the lights and the sounds were like, whoosh! And wacha!" Pinkie narated, while making extravagant gestures. "And Hoity Toity was like, 'encore, encore!', it made Rarity so happy!" She finished, totally ecstatic that her friend had been successfully lifted out of her gloom.
"Hm... sounds like this'll be a real boon for her business, getting a high society authority on fashion interested in her designs. I bet her parents are very proud of her." I said amicably, not really caring at all, one way or the other. I expected an immediate responce, as she usually only gives herself just enough time to breath, before talking again. However, she actually seemed to be lost in thought for once, staring meaningfully at my tent.
"Hmm... I just realized, your tent doesn't have a mailbox!" The sudden change of subject made me blink in surprise. Pinkie's brain can shift gears in a way race cars could only dream of.
"Of course it doesn't, it's a tent."
"But don't you see! If you don't have a mailbox, than you don't have a mailing address! Who knows how many letters your parents tried sending to you that you never got! Oh, they must be worried sick..." She said, lowering her head sadly.
"I'm sure their fine, they don't usually write to me anyway." Technically it wasn't a lie, my sister wrote to me all the time on facebook, but neither she or my parents mailed me letters...
"*gasp* I've got it!" She exclaimed. "You can use my mailbox! You can write them a letter right now using my return address, and I'll pass on any letters that come in for you! It'll be perfect! At least, until you have enough money to get a house for yourself."
Mail a letter to my parents in Manehatten who don't exist? Not a good idea... "Speaking of housing, I've been wondering, how did you end up living with your employers anyway?"
"The Cakes? It's a funny story actually, ya see, it all started after I got my cutie mark-" Luckily she took to my change of subject without suspicion, and quickly forgot all about the letter idea.
She proceeded to explain that it was a few years after her cutie mark before she managed to convince her parents to let her leave the farm in persuit of her true destiny. However, if she was going to move away, she'd need a place to live, so her parents took her to Dodge city, which is a few hours south of the farm, to look at some housing adds. There weren't any places for rent listed in the local paper, and so had to expand the search. They found several adds for apartments in the big cities like Philadelphia, Manehatten, and Baltimare, but were uncomfortable with sending their little girl to a big city all alone, so they kept looking. Eventually, they came across an add for a room in the little town of Ponyville.
That room, as it turned out, was the guest room in the Cakes home above their shop. Their business... wasn't doing too well, to put it nicely, and they needed to rent out thier guest room to keep themselves afloat.
Now, Pinkie's parents weren't exactly rich, and so could only afford to give her thirty bits, after buying the train ticket. That was enough for the first months rent, and maybe two weeks of food, so she needed to find a job fast. Naturally, seeing that her land lords also owned a store, she asked if they needed any help. She didn't have much baking experience, and only really knew how to make bread, and follow simple cook book recipes, but they felt sorry for the little filly who could barely feed herself, and so gave her a chance.
This, as we all know, turned out to be one of the best decisions they'd ever made. She learned the trade quickly under the guiding hoof of Ms. Cake, and that, combined with her endlessly cheerful demeanor, and natural ability to befriend every pony she met, made her truly invaluable. Within a matter of months, Sugarcube Corner went from nearly broke, to one of the most profitable businesses in town. All thanks to Pinkie.
I don't think they even charge her rent anymore, I recalled, starting to unzip my tent, which remained, somehow, undisturbed.
"There he is!" I heard somepony shout. Turning to the source, I just managed to see Rainbow Dash as she dived back to the ground, just behind one of the hills towards Ponyville. A few seconds later, the whole gang crested the hill, and were headed towards me.
Huh. Must be the welcome parade or something... I thought, putting my saddlebags into the tent, not wanting any of them to see what was in it...