"Wake up! Wake up! Wakeupwakeupwakeup!"
"Pinkie!" I bolted up in my seat, and upon regaining four of my senses, the realization of that my location had been switched, occurred. I was under a warm and soft cloth, and that was under a pony who had recently stopped jumping up and down on my person.
"Yes?"
I shifted over in the bed to my left to let the party pony plop playfully on the other half of the bed. which, of course, she did. I just stared blankly at the ceiling, feeling like I was roughly shoved up some stairs, and ungraciously dropped onto the bed. And considering where I was last night, wouldn’t surprise me.. the party pony started nudging me in the shoulder, and even I could tell she was barely keeping herself from dragging me somewhere. I brought my left hand over my eyes, and started massaging the bridge of my nose with my fingers.
“What time is it, Pinks?” I asked groggily, not moving my hand from my dead ocular nerves.
“4:30, silly! if we don’t start now, we won't have time for your treats for a while! the Cakes want the bakery clean for opening time, and seeing as I’ll be doing most of the work, we gotta get started now!”
Strange, this pony, who'd i’d been told many times recently, was random enough to have her own phrase. ‘It’s Pinkie being Pinkie’. Huh, maybe I just haven’t seen her crazy side yet. Or maybe I DID, but couldn’t SEE it.
I dragged myself out of bed, and placed my feet on the ground, which was made of cold Hardwood.
“Argh! Pinkie! Where’s my shoes?” Soon, my shoes(and socks, thankfully) were nudged against my feet, and I proceeded to put them on. while I was tying them, Pinkie started talking. Again.
“Oh! so you CAN see! Why’d you lie to us? We would’ve been friends with you anyway.” All I could do was laugh at this.
“Thanks Pinkie, I needed that, and no, I still cannot see, I just have done this all my life, I know how to tie my shoes even without eyesight.” Once my socks and shoes were on, the fluffy maned pony(the texture reminiscent my of cotton balls, by the by) led me out of the room and down the stairs toward the kitchen, where she placed my almost-useless bum onto a stool. As Pinkie ran around, it sounded as if she was knocking over pots and pans, when a slow tired clip-clop made it’s way into the room.
“What’s going on, Pinkie? Oh, hello, human.” It was Mrs. Cake who spoke. “Did Pinkie wake you?” I nodded at the comment, to which a sigh was produced.
“Thanks for the bed, Mrs. Cake, I’m very gracious to your hospitality”
“It’s not a problem, Dearie. Pinkie let you sleep in her bed anyway, she just grabbed the sleeping bag we keep in the attic.” SHe returned sweetly.
I sighed. Another pony to thank for providing me with room and board. What was that now? Four? Six, if you include the Cakes...
"Alright dearies, have fun!" Mrs.Cake then trotted away, leaving Pinkie and me in the kitchen.
“Ok! what’s the ingredients?” Pinkie asked me. She was ready to record, apparently. How DID ponies write anyway?
---
“Alright, not we just let them bake , and we’ll put the icing on afterward.” I relayed to Pinkie, who had placed the last batch of cake pops into one of the ovens in the Sugarcube Corner bakery.
"Okie dokie lokie! Minty, whatcha wanna do?" The pink party pony pondered. I would've done a spit take if I had been drinking anything"H-how do you know my name?" I stuttered to her. I got off of my stool and groped around until I found Pinkie’s face. I was in no mood for her usual beating around the bush.
"That's easy. One of Luna's Night Guard left me a scroll laat night. IT told me your name... OH!" Pinkie seems to realize something. "The princesses also said in the letter" a bit of wrinkling followed, before pinkie cleared her throat. "Minstrel Song, if you so wish, you are allowed to apply for citizenship, here in Equestria. Twilight will help streamline the process. Take her with you. Also, before Celestia or I forget, if you want a home, we have arranged for one here in Canterlot for you. When you arrive in the capitol for your Citizenship Meeting, we can discuss the details.
HRH Luna "
I just sat on the ground for a while. Unable to comprehend what had just happened to me over the course of a few days and few minutes. I was given a new start, no, a new life. And all I paid for this chance, was my eyesight. I MAY be somewhat reliant on these ponies in the future, but that won't stop me from living this life to the fullest. (Not that I didn't like my life before, mind you.) Sure, I'll miss my friends, Lann, Karok, Evie, Fiona. But they have their own lives to live. We'd never forget each other. Ever.
"Pinkie. What time is it?" I asked tentatively, not taking my eyes off the spot
"6:30. Those cake pops took longer than we first imagined. I'll frost them later. Now!" Pinkie clapped her hooves at this point, If you're going to get a job and become an Equestrian citizen, you need to be presentable. So let's get you to the bathroom."
Pinkie then proceeded to goad me up from my shocked seat on the ground and led me back upstairs to a room. I knew we had entered the bathroom, as pinkies hooves went tick tack on the tiles. I asked her to leave, but not before asking her to let Twilight that I was coming over soon to discuss this.
After the shower, and replacing my clothes, I walked out the door and toward the kitchen/main area of the building's café.
Many ponies apparently liked Sugarcube Corner's food, as the entire floor was a sound of ponies talking, eating, and overall enjoyment of the day. After my ears had adjusted a bit more to the sound levels, the familiar voice of a certain pegasus I met in the hospital approached and started talking.
"Hey. Whatcha up t'?" Rainbow asked before landing on my back and wrapping her front hooves over my shoulders and stepping with her back hooves on my belt, bending it slightly, but giving her a small hoofhold. The way she was on my back only allowed my arms motion in front of me, and barely enough motion to allow me to reach behind my head and ruffle the forelock of her mane playfully before she shook my hand away and whispered something into my ear, so that nobody else could even attempt to hear her.
"Hey, I'm sorry about giving you a hard time in the hospital." Dash the laid her head on my shoulder, "I just didn't know what you were, and Fluttershy is my oldest friend, I didn't want anything to hurt her. Is there anything I can do to apologize to you?" The clearly sorry pegasus asked me. I thought for a moment, and after remembering the cider bit that AJ mentioned, I turned to the pegasus and asked her to guide me over to pinkie or a Cake. Whoever was closer. Dash was rational and guided me toward the Cakes, who were working the registers. Mrs.Cake noticed me at the counter and beckoned me over.
"Well, now that you're up and rarin' to go, do you mind doing me a favor before you leave, dearie?" I agreed to help out to say thanks for the room and board, and she hoofed dash an envelope, which she passed to me, which I promptly placed into my pocket. I was told to take the envelope to a pony named Bon-Bon. Easy enough. I thanked Mrs.Cake again before exiting the shop.
Dash and I left Sugarcube corner, and as Dash was my compass toward Bon-Bon's house, it gave me a moment to collect my thoughts. I recalled what the princesses had written to me, and sighed. I had a meeting coming up. Can't get all mopey right now. As we walked, Dash tried her best to keep me from making a complete fool of myself. Turning at the last moment tires a person out! Probably because I hadn't eaten breakfast yet.
"Hey, Dash, you mind getting me to a bench? I don't feel too good..." I managed to stutter out. Dash just gave me an 'alright' and led me to said bench.
Dash sat next to me, asking me if I was alright, to which I replied a positive, but I didn't have the energy to deliver Bon-Bon's note. Fetching the note out of my pocket, I held it in front of where I thought Dash was before speaking.
"Could you do me a favor? Take this to Bon-Bon. I'll wait here." I moaned before the note was tugged from my hand. A muffled grunt of confirmation quickly gave way to a swift flapping of wings, almost giving me a few moments to rest, if not for a familiar voice yelling at me down the street, which was rapidly getting closer.
"Hey! It's the stallion from before! Hi! it's me, Applebloom! What are ya doing out here, mister?" Applebloom yelled before jumping up onto my lap.
"Hey, 'Bloom. Where are Sweets and Scoots? Are you all alone today?" I asked the filly, who clambered off of me and sat down besides me, to my left.
"They both have 'family stuff' to take care of. Big Mac's here too! He's next to ya, can't you se- oh yeah...." Applebloom started before trailing off weakly. After managing to find teh filly’s head, I ruffled her mane, and came into contact with a piece of cloth.
“‘Bloom? What’s this?” I asked, giving a slight tug on the fabric.
“thats mah red bow,you do know what red is, right?” I nodded to the fily, , mister...well, what’d ya know, I dun’t know yer name! What is it?”
Well, I was going to be asked sooner or later, might as well make it now.
“My name is Minstrel Song, ‘Blooms, just call me Mint, a’ight?” I gave the accessorized filly a small noogie after wrapping her up in my right arm, just to have her giggle and try to escape. A thought came to mind.
“Mac? You there?” I spoke in front of me, to have his response come out to my left.
“Eeyep. Right Here, Mister Song.” He replied in his deep baritone voice.
“What are ‘Bloom and you doing here anyway? Are you running errands or something?” I asked, genuinely curious how one of my friends spent their days. I knew he was Applejack’s and Applebloom’s brother, but not much else.
“Eeyup.” Was my given response, so I turned to ‘Bloom, and asked her to elaborate.
“We just finished settin’ up the stall for tomorrow, What with the Runnin’ o’ the leaves an’ all, ponies are going t’ want something to quench their thirsts afterward. You got anything like that back home, Mint?” She explained. Seemed like a Fall marathon.
I nodded to the filly, while a thought came through my head. Turning to Mac, I asked him "Is ‘Bloom was old enough to be by herself for a bit, to help me out?" After another Eeyup, I turned back to Applebloom and asked her if she would do me a favor.
“‘Bloom, you’re a big filly, right? Can you do me a favor? Can you wait here for Rainbow Dash to come back? When she does, tell her I’m at Twilight’s library.” I relayed to the filly, who gave a hearty ‘uhuh!’, before turning to Mac and continuing. “And can you take me over to the library? I... still don't know my way around yet...”
After a few moments, and one awkward scramble up the Stallion’s back, we were off to the Library, source of prose, poetry, papers in print, and one (apparently, by Pinkie’s description) pastel purple princess pony's protege and her plum partner.
After Mac let me down onto a seat which after a bit of patting around, turned out to be a couch in the library and left, Spike spoke up.
"Do you want anything, mister?" the dragon asked as he scampered, around doing something.
"Yeah, do you know what Braille is?" I asked, an idea for me in my head.
"Braille? That's language for the bl-oh." Spike excused himself, in a bit later he came back before speaking." Sorry, we don't have any Braille books, I'll ask Twilight if she has any in her personal collection when she gets back. We don't keep records of them in the public logs. Can I get you anything else?" the dragon asked skeptically before my stomach spoke for me.
“Dude, you should have said you were hungry. Sandwich?” Spike graciously inquired, before I lowered my head in defeat. “By the way, what CAN you eat?”
“Uhh, I can eat almost everything ponies can, save a few... staples, like grasses and flowers. Fruits and veggies are fine though.” I answered vaguely, considering that I didn't know what dragons ate themselves, I didn't want to disgust the little guy with talk of bacon if he didn't eat meat here. For all I knew, he was an herbavore.
A few moments later, Spike returned, and placed a hard, cold ceramic disc in my lap. A plate, and upon inspection,of said plate, I felt a slab of a grainy, crumbly material that had occasional pockets: bread, and something wet, crunchy wavy… most likely lettuce. There was a disc of go-
“It’s lettuce, tomato, Colby jack, and spinach. On Rye. I know you’re blind, but there’s no need to take it out on the food I made you.” I could only laugh at that before munching at the remains of my dissection.
“Hey, I just realized something, I never got your name? What is it?” the dragon asked, as took away the plate from my hands, and gently place another smaller disc in my grasp. This one was a bit heavier, and Spike gently guided my hands down to my lap. After he was sure I wouldn’t drop it, her released my hands, and I gently felt around for the weight and discovered more ceramic in the shape of a teacup. How lovely.
“Minstrel ‘Minty’ Song at your service." I bowed, leaning forward slightly in my seat.