The Welcome Party
Soral ran down the road with the girls. He wasn’t sure what Applejack was thinking, though he guessed her to be teasing about the whole kiss and make-up thing. That doesn’t mean he wanted to linger behind to bear more of her teasing attitude. Hopefully Suzy wouldn’t find out about this.
As they came around the back of the house they were halted by a loud shout. “Surprise!” The shout did exactly what it was intended, surprised the foals. The four of them locked up at the sight before them.
The girls quickly regained composer seeing it was a part. Soral however was looking around in a confused way. To his knowledge there was no reason for a party to be happening.
Pinkie Pie bounded over the his position excitedly. “Hi Soral! Were you surprised? Huh? Were you?” She asked inching closer with each question. The invasion of privacy unnerved the colt enough that he let out a squeak ran away from the pink mare.
He ran across the grounds, doing his best to dodge the numerous ponies that filled the Apples lawn. A flash of lavender caught his attention and the colt changed course. He failed to kill all of his momentum properly tough and tumbled to a stop next to Twilight.
“Soral?” Twilight asked, surprised by the colt entrance. “Why do you look like you just saw a ghost?” Twilight asked while picking him up off the ground.
“Pinkie.” He said flatly.
“You Called?” Pinkie Pie said appearing from nowhere.
Soral let out a sound somewhere between a squawk and a squeal and moved to hide behind Twilight. The party pony decided to give chase. They circled around Twilight causing to poor mare to become dizzy until she finally had enough.
“Stop!” Shouted the element of magic as she ignited her horn and held both ponies aloft in the air. “Now what is this about?”
“Well I went up to Soral and asked if he was surprised and then he made a sound like a mouse and ran off. I was gonna chase when Applejack chomped down on my tail and said “No Hold on thar’ Sally.” Which is odd because my name is Pinkie, I have never been a Sally and I don’t mph-ph mph mph.” The rest of her explanation became inaudible as Twilight summoned a bit of tape to seal the mares lips shut. Turning to the colt she raised a brow and waited for him to explain.
Soral squirmed under her gaze for a bit before caving, "She scared me okay. I had barely registered the party when suddenly there was a Pinkie less then an inch from my face grinning like a maniac." He exclaimed before he curled in on himself from embarrassment.
Twilight heaved sigh before releasing Soral and Pinkie Pie from her magic. "Soral, go and try to enjoy the party. Pinkie Pie, has anypony ever had a talk with you about personal space?"
The little colt made his getaway while Twilight began lecturing the pink mare. Soral headed for the buffet table and manage to grab a glass of punch while he tried to calm down. He knew it was silly to be scared of Pinkie Pie but she was just so overwhelming. He took a couple of calming breaths in between sips and it wasn't long until he had calmed down.
"Ya okay there sugar cube?" A certain farm pony asked from nearby, her approach masked by by the din of the party. Applejack wisely left a small gap between her and the colt, not wanting to crowd him.
"I am better now." He admitted to her. "It is just..." he trailed off trying to explain.
"I know darlin', but that is just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie. You get used to it eventually." Applejack explained to him. "So, how ya' handlin this shin-dig? Pinkie took a lot of time to set it up ya know."
Soral was quite for a time after she asked that. "I don't know. I mean... It is kinda the first time I have been to a party... for me." He told her. "I was always a little antisocial. I had friends but I didn't have very many. To many peo-ponies and things felt stifling." He tried to explain.
Applejack mulled over the what the colt said for a moment before giving a nod. "S'pose I can understand that." She told him. "Wanna know a secret?" She asked the colt who simply gave her a curious look. "I was in a similar situation at your age."
"Really?" He asked, honestly curious.
"Really. I was staying with my relatives in Manehatten. They were in the social elite and as such would host parties of their own. However their idea of a party was this formal affair, honestly I've had more fun at funerals." She explained. "So there I was, surround by a bunch of snooty ponies who didn't even know what a rooster was and they were all talking about the most inane things you could think of. I hated every moment of it. Felt like I was lying to myself and everyone around me."
"So you hightailed it out of there back to farm." Soral concluded for her.
"You bet your hide I did. Realized that the farm was the only place for me. That's also how I earned my cutie mark." She proudly said, then noticed Soral wrinkling his muzzle in distaste. "What's wrong?" She asked.
"Why do they call it a cutie mark?" he asked flatly.
The farm mare let out a bark of laughter at this. "Not to sure but I have a feeling it was started by a foal sitter somewhere. Your mark let's you know your special talent."
"No it doesn't." Soral stated.
"Beg pardon?" Applejack asked taken aback from the sudden denial.
"You even proved it doesn't with your own story. If your mark represented your special talent then you would have earned it here on the farm since you believe your talent is farming. However that isn't what happened. You only earned your mark after you realized who you were. An Apple." Soral said giving her his thought.
Applejack just stared at the colt in front of her slack jawed. A deep chuckle snapped her out of the shock. "He's got ya there sis." Big mac said with a smirk as he sat down next to them.
"What do ya mean by that." She demand, put out by being told she was wrong about her special talent.
"Your still young so ya might have missed it. Most ponies realize as they get older that the mark has nothing to do with talent." The large red stallion explained. "It ha to do with us."
"Bah, I got no time to figure out all yer phil-o-sophic babble." Applejack huffed and stalked off, leaving a chuckling Big Mac and a confused colt in her wake.
Soral turned to Big Macintosh, confusion still on his face. "Did I do something wrong?" Soral asked still confused as to why the mare stalked off.
Big Mac shook his head in the negative. "Nope. Sis just happens to have a stubborn streak to her. Doesn't like having her views challenged." He explained. "Why don't you go over to where the other foals are and try to make some more friends while your here." Big Mac told the colt while gesturing to where some of the party games were surrounded by fillies and colts.
Soral looked at the group that was laughing and playing, several of them from the school along with some older looking ponies. "I don't know..." He trailed off. The girls were one thing. He knew a decent amount from their personalities. "I really don't do well in big groups."
Big Macintosh just gave a shrug. "Your choice. No need to rush into something if you're not comfortable with it." he told the colt.
Soral gave Big Mac a look of gratitude before turning back to the glass of punch he held between his hooves. They just sat in silence for a while, Soral wasn't certain but he figured Big Mac wasn't exactly one to mingle in parties much himself. After refilling his cup Soral started wondering what he could do to pass the time. It wasn't long before he had pulled out his school supplies. Finding a blank piece of paper he began sketching.
Big Mac looked interested but otherwise remained silent as the colt worked. Soral was able to enjoy the moment, just focusing on his work for a good few minutes before being interrupted.
"Hey Soral!" Scootaloo called out as she and a few other kids ran up to him. "Why don't you come play." She told him
"Nnnmm." Soral mumbled back not taking his eyes off the paper.
“What are you doing?” She asked moving closer to look at the paper. The image as it was held basic outlines of ponies and furniture at the party. Soral was slowly filling in little details as time past.
“Wow, you good at this.” She said, surprised at his talent.
“Used to be better.” He grunted, “Fell out of practice a while ago.”
Scootaloo gave him a funny look, as if trying to decide how he could have been better. Soral didn’t think she had enough experience with art to actually understand it. She was more of an action pony anyway, a museum trip would probably do her in.
“Neat.” She finally said after a while. “So, you wanna come play?”
Soral, paused his drawing and looked at the filly. Then he looked back to his work and back at the filly. Finally he managed a shrug. “I’ll finish it later.” He said rolling up the drawing and tucking it away. He left his saddlebag next to the table as he followed Scootaloo to the other fillies and colts.
*-*-*
Big mac just continued to stand by stoically, letting the sounds of the party wash over him. It was not the first time that the farm had played host to one of pinkies parties. Nor was it likely to be the last. Most of the folks there gave him a hello as they passed. It was the clipping of of hooves that alerted him that somepony was coming. Looking up he saw Miss Sparkle.
“Hello Big Macintosh.” She greeted, before looking to the herd of foals running across the yard. “So, he finally decided to go play.” She stated.
“Eyup.” Big Mac acknowledged.
“Thats good. I thought he might have just tried to hide through the entire party.” Twilight said.
“Kinda like you tried to do when you first got here.” Big mac said with wry smile.
Twilight gave a sheepish laugh at that. She looked back to the foals and for a time no words passed between them.
“It is odd.” She finally said. “He is so outspoken. He has no problem telling ponies the way he see’s things. However, throw him into a social situation and he seems to go into a shell.”
Again there was quiet.
“Some ponies have problems with self worth.” Big Mac started. “They will hide it though. Normally with anger, or sarcasm,” He turned his head towards a different part of the yard, “or bragging.”
Twilight looked at the stallion in confusion for a moment then turned to see he was staring at Rainbow Dash. “Dash has confidence issues?”
“Eyup.” The red stallion said.
Again, things were quiet. Twilight had a hard time picturing Rainbow Dash being anything but confident in herself.
“You can see it you know. In they way they act, little things.” He started again. “For Rainbow Dash it is denying anything that could be a weakness. For Soral, well…” He paused for a moment, “He seems to avoid being put on the spot.”
“But he called out the girls during the ticket incident. He had no problem scolding five mares that were his senior.” Twilight said, trying to process the information. Social Science was never a very large part of her education.
“He was angry at the time.” Big Mac explained, the weight of experience in his words. Working the market in town allowed you to learn to read ponies rather well. He saw Twilights questioning gaze.
“AJ told us about it. Granny was rather disappointed at her behaviour.” He paused for a moment. “It is easy to overcome an obstacle if you have the right push. That doesn’t mean it isn’t there.”
Twilight sighed explosively. “I don’t get it.”
Big Mac allowed himself a small chuckle. “That is cause you only recently stopped avoiding ponies yourself.”
Miss Sparkle fixed him with a heated look. It faded though as she nodded her head in acceptance. Again the two of them watched the foals stampede across the yard in some game.
*-*-*
The party eventually died down as it the sun began to get lower in the sky. Some ponies helped to clean up the mess while others headed home. Twilight walked away from the festivities. Pinkies parties were tiring, certainly they were fun, but they seemed to pull the energy right out of you.
“Well darling, the party certainly seemed to go well.” Rarity said from beside her.
“Yeah, even given the rocky start it seems someone managed to have too much fun.” Twilight said.
“I can walk on my own.” A voice whined.
“Yeah.” Another agreed.
“Only just, dears, only just.” Rarity said to the children. Soral look like he wanted to glare from his position on Twilight’s back. However he could barely keep his eyes open.
Given the way Sweetie Belle snuggled into Rarity’s mane, her protest seemed rather halfhearted.
The two mares giggled at them as they continued the walk back to Ponyville.