Chapter 6
I usually don’t like waking up early in the morning but today it was necessary, it was Screwball’s first day of school. I’ll admit, I don't know how she's going to react to the whole thing or if she'll fit in at school but I'll deal with these problems as they come. I had to wake up at 7:00 in the morning which left me a little groggy but I needed to get Screwball up for school. I walked into her room and lightly tapped her on the shoulder.
“Come on Screwball, it’s time to wake up and get ready for school.”
She slowly opened her eyes and got up, stretching her forearm’s as she yawned. “Good morning.”
“Good morning sweetie, come on let’s get you ready for school.”
She hopped out of bed and followed me down the hall to the kitchen.
“So, who’s up for some oatmeal?” I asked
Screwball raised her hoof.
“Good.” I snapped my fingers and summoned two bowls of apple cinnamon oatmeal. We sat down and ate our warm breakfast, me with a spoon and Screwball with her muzzle.
After we finished Screwball put on her cap and I put on my black ensemble and we both walked down to the school house. As we were walking I wanted to see what Screwball thought about all this, it occurred to me that I hadn't aked her how he felt about all this.
“Are you nervous Screwball?”
“A little, I’ve never done anything like this before and I don’t know if I’ll like it.”
It was my job to reassure her even though school isn’t my favorite thing in the world. “I’m positive you’ll like it, school is filled with interesting things to learn and do, plus you’ll be able to make friends with other fillies and colts. Doesn’t that sound fun?”
She smiled at me “Yeah!” She said with enthusiasm.
“Good, trust me you’re going to do great.”
“Howdy Will.” As we were walking I heard a voice address me, I looked over and saw Applejack and Applebloom not too far from us.
“Hey Applejack, I see you’re here to drop off Applebloom at school as well.” I said
“Yes sir, oh this must be Screwball. I remember meeting her yesterday but I don’t think her and my sister have been properly introduced.” She nudged her sister. “Go on Applebloom go and talk to her.”
Applebloom walked over to Screwball. “Hi I’m Applebloom, nice to meet you.”
Applebloom stuck out her hoof and Screwball returned it with a hoof shake. “Hi I’m Screwball; this is my first day of school.”
“Really? Well then you’re gonna love it, you can meet Ms. Cheerilee and my friends, we can do crafts, and you can join the Cutie Mark…” Then she noticed that Screwball already had her cutie mark. “Oh you already got your cutie mark.”
Screwball looked dejected at first but then her spirits livened back up. “Well, that doesn’t mean we still can’t try to be friends.”
Applebloom smiled at that. “You’re right.”
The bell rang. “That’s the bell, we have to get going.” Applebloom said.
Screwball walked up to me and I leaned down and I gave her a hug. “Bye.”
“Bye Screwball, have a great day and i'll come pick you up when its over alright?"
She nodded. "Okay."
"Oh, and if you see any red flowers could you pick one for me? I love red flowers.”
Screwball nodded again and she walked off with Applebloom inside.
“I suspect my daughter is going to become friends with your sister’s friends.” I said, at least I hoped they would. The CMC may have their problems but deep down they're good kids and I hope Screwball becomes good friends with them.
“Probably.” Applejack said
“Well, I’ve got six hours of time to kill and I’m not sure what to do with it, any suggestions?”
“We could buck.”
The idea caught me severely off guard. I looked at Applejack with curious eyes. “Come again?”
“The apple trees are ready to be harvested and I was wondering if you’d like to help me buck all of the apples off.”
I exhaled in relief. “Sure, a little physical labor sounds good.”
I followed Applejack back to her farm and into her apple orchard. When we got there I was amazed at how massive it actually was, you could see apple trees for around a mile in any direction.
“Now, I don’t want you using your fancy magic to bring down all those apples, you got to do it the old fashioned way. Got it?”
At first I was a bit bummed I couldn't use my magic but I did offer to help and I had to stick to my word. “Okay, I’ll get them down the old fashioned way.”
“Good man, now I’ll take the apples to the east fields, you handle the western field.”
I nodded and headed off to the west and made it to the first tree. Now Applejack said I had to bring them down by hitting the tree but no normal person could hit a tree and have the apples fall down so I used my magic to increase my physical strength to super human levels, then I round house kicked the tree which caused all the apples to fall down into the baskets and my leg to hurt like hell.
“AH! Damn, even with increased strength that still feels like liquid death on my legs.”
I continued along the path kicking all the trees and knocking down the apples, however around the eighth tree I started to get tired and my legs began to burn like hell. This wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't for the fact that there were around two dozen trees left and I was fairly certain by the end of it my legs would be broken. That was where I drew the line
“All right, time for a combination of the old way and the magical way. Apple trees get ready to meet your match in the form of… WILLIAM’S PULVERIZING PINBALL!”
I curled myself up into a ball and started rolling in place to gain momentum, once I was fast enough I launched myself forward bouncing from tree to tree knocking down all the apples into the buckets. About 20 minutes later I had finished getting all the apples down, however when I stopped spinning and got up I had serious dizziness and fell down onto the ground. A short while later Applejack walked above me.
“You alright there sugarcube?”
“Just a knock on the old…monkey bus. Help me up please.”
I put my hand up and she grabbed it yanking me off the ground and onto my feet. I grabbed my head trying to keep my balance.
“Well, you got all the apples off the tree for me, why don’t you go home and have a little lay down?”
“Flibber flab man I’m as jacked up as the next hamburger.” I tried to walk forward only to stumble and almost fall down again. “On second thought maybe I should head home, see you later Applejack.”
“Take care Will and thanks again for your help.”
“No problem.”
I snapped my fingers and teleported into the center of town, unfortunately one I materialized again I slammed into a pony and knocking over her groceries while landed on my butt . After getting over my daze I looked up and saw I ran into Pinkie Pie.
“Oh no Pinkie I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to knock into you and make you spill all your groceries.”
She got up on her hooves and shook her head. “It’s okay; I should have expected something like this. I got a crick in my knee and a buzzing in my ear that means something is gonna come out and surprise me and boy was I surprised.”
I laughed a pity laugh. "Yeah I didn't think anyone would be around here when I materialized but clearly I was wrong. Although it could have been worse, science says that if I preformed that incorrectly our atoms could have merged together and we'd be one thing."
Now Pinkie began to laugh at that concept.
'It isn't funny, that could have been seriously bad."
She continued to laugh. "It's not that. I was imagining you with my hair and me with your legs and it's hysterical. Ha ha ha ha ha!"
I had to admit, the image of us being one being did look a bit funny and also pretty terrifying. “In any case, let me help you with your groceries.”
I used my magic to levitate all the objects that fell back into their proper bags and picked them all off the ground. I gave half to Pinkie but I held the other half with my magic. “Here, let me help you carry these home.”
She smiled. “Gee, that’d be great.”
I took the bags as I walked behind Pinkie back to Sugarcube Corner. As we walked along things were calm until we walked past one random house on the block from which there was yelling.
“What do you want from me Tavi?!?” A distressed voice asked, although I had a suspicion who it was.
“All I ask is that you pick up your stuff once in a while so that this place isn't a complete pig sty!” Said another slightly more civilized tone confirming my suspicions.
“Well maybe it isn’t my fault, maybe this is a normal amount of messy and its you who has to get the stick out of your…”
“Enough! I will not be talked to like this; I have a concert to get to in Canterlot we will talk about this later.”
“Oh yeah that’s just like you, afraid to fight it out so you walk away like a wuss. You know what, I don’t have to deal with this, maybe I should just get a new roommate so I don't have to deal with this bull.”
“Good! That would solve both our problems.”
“Fine!”
Then a mare stormed out of the house, she was a light grey earth pony with a purple bow tie, the one and only cellist Octavia Melody. Pinkie and I started our walking again after the argument was over.
“So...sounds like somepony has issues.” I said, a little bit awkwardly.
“I know, the whole neighborhood knows about Vinyl and Octavia’s fighting, they've been going at it on and off for a couple days now.”
“I know,when we had that house warming party for me I tried to get Vinyl to play the music at my party but when I teleported in I saw her arguing with her roommate so I decided not to interrupt them,”
Pinkie sighed. “And not even a party can solve their differences, I wish there was some way I could help them.”
“Yeah, I wish…”
I pondered this statement along out entire walk back to Sugarcube Corner, when we finally did arrive Pinkie set all the bags on the ground and I put down mine.
“Thanks for your help; it would have been hard to carry all those bags home myself.”
“No problem, now if you’ll excuse me I have something I need to get done.” I walked off with a devious grin in my face. Unfortunately, Pinkie noticed this and before I could walk out she stopped me.
“Hold on a minute, what’s with that devious grin?”
“What? I’m not grinning deviously, I’m just grinning.” I tried to sound as innocent as possible.
“Don’t give me that, you've got a look on your face that says ‘I have an evil plan and I plan to do it’ so what evil plan are you planning?”
I made a fake gasp of shock. “Evil? Pinkie my dear I would never commit an evil to two such innocent ponies. Now turning their chaotic friendship into something else on the other hand is a completely different story”
“And what exactly are you going to turn it into? A dove”
“Oh I don't know maybe...a relationship.”
Pinkie gasped a bit and fell backwards for drama. After the shock she got up and looked at me with distrust. “You can’t make two ponies fall in love, it isn't right.”
I chuckled a bit. “Oh yeah? Three words Pinkie, Cutie Mark Crusaders.”
Pinkie looked confused “What do they have to do with this?”
I realized my mistake. “Right, that hasn’t happened yet. The point is that i'm not forcing them together, i'm simply taking the emotions that already exist between them and adding my own little spin to it. Also think about this, if it does work they’ll be so much happier and they won’t fight anymore.” That’s a lie, couples fight all the time if not more.
Pinkie still gave me that look and wouldn’t back down.
“I’ll tell you what we’ll decide this with a flip of a coin.” I pulled out a quarter from my pocket. “If it lands on the heads side I’ll only solve their problems, if it lands on tails however I try and get them together, deal?”
Pinkie nodded. “Deal, although I’m not familiar with this weird kind of coin.”
"Too late, you agreed." I flipped the coin and it spun around in the air, when it came down it was…
“Yes tails, I win Pinkie.”
She shrugged. “Fine, do what you want, but try to be subtle about this okay?”
I laughed out loud. “Sorry, that words not in my vocabulary. Smoke bomb!”
I threw down a smoke bomb and teleported out of the restaurant. When I was back out on the street I formulated a plan.
“All right, so I have to get two mares to stop fighting and love each other with no background information on them, no plan, and no idea where they are right now, and I've only got…” I zapped a watch for myself and saw that it was about noon. “Three hours to do it, which should be enough time. First things first, I’m going to go home and make myself a sandwich because I am hungry. Secondly, I’ll use one of Discords oldest powers, the ability of deception, misdirection, and finding flaws in others. Third, I’m going to head to both Vinyl and Octavia and convince them that the other isn't so bad. This is what my powers were meant for, to twist people's emotions and it's about time I start using them for their intended purposes.”
I went home and made myself a sandwich (pastrami on rye with mustard and pickles) then I headed out of the house and towards the local club. I had met Vinyl at the huge house party Pinkie threw for me the other day and she told me that she works at a club as the DJ so I headed there. Normally she wouldn’t preform until later but Vinyl likes to come in in the afternoon to set up her equipment so I could go and see her now. To get her to calm down I plan to shape change into Octavia and tell her a bunch of positive things, and hope it will work.
As I approached the outside of the club I snapped my fingers to shape change into Octavia, I got every detail down and all I had to worry about was the voice.
“Hello, hello…” I worked my voice to become higher and more feminine. ”Testing, testing… oh hello Sir Reginald, are you having a grand evening at the fancy dinner party?" At this point I had copied her voice perfectly. "Ha ha, now that I’ve got the voice down its time to put it to the test.”
I walked into the club slowly and carefully like Octavia would and I approached the little turn table set up where Vinyl was preparing for the show. Vinyl took notice of me as I got closer.
“What are you doing here Octavia? I thought that we agreed work was a mutual zone.” Vinyl said, annoyed at my mere presence.
“I’m not here to fight Vinyl; I’ve only come to talk.”
“About what? About how foolish I’ve been? About how lucky you’d be if I was gone?”
I started to walk closer to the stage. “No quite the opposite in fact, I’ve come to say…I’m sorry.”
Vinyl looked shocked. “You’re apologizing? You never apologize for anything.”
“Well this is a special case. Look Vinyl, despite what you may think of me I actually do listen to you complaints about me, I know I’m a bit uptight but that’s because we’re from two different backgrounds and growing up I was always held to a really high standard so i'm used to that."
Vinyl's expression softened, she was definitely moved by my words.
"Can I be honest with you?” As I got closer I saw her eyes behind her shades and they looked like she listening.
“Of course.” She replied
“When I moved here from Canterlot I was sort of an odd duck, every pony around me acted differently and I wasn’t sure what the status quo was. But then I met you and you were so fun, carefree, and filled with energy. Only after I settled here did I realize you had so many qualities which I wished I had.”
“Octavia…”
I was only about a foot from her now and getting closer. “Please call me Tavi, it reminds me that we’re friends, that you see the real me and not some high class mare.” We were only inches away. “If all this fighting means I lose my best friend in the world then I won’t fight anymore. Vinyl, I’m really sorry about all this, can we please put this behind us?”
She nodded her head slowly. “Yeah, I guess we can.”
I looked overjoyed and came up and hugged her. “Oh, thank you.”
As I pulled back from the hug I looked at her and took off her shades revealing her magenta eyes. “Ah, I love the color of your eyes. I always wondered why you kept these silly glasses on even when you’re not working.”
“They make me look cool.” She replied.
“Well, can’t argue with that.” She grabbed the shades with her magic and put them back on her eyes. “Well, I’ve still got a concert to get to and I don’t want to be late.” I walked off the stage and towards the door. “One more thing Vinyl, if I’m late for my concert because of our little talk I might be a bit sore about it so prepare for that.”
“Okay.”
“But if I’m not…” I looked at her raising my eyebrows in a very suggestive way. “I'll have to...thank you for this little chat. Ta!” I walked out and around the corner before changing back to my original form.
“Well, that ought to leave her with something to think about. In the meantime, I need to head for Canterlot and give a similar speech to Octavia.” I was about to sprout my wings and take off but then I had a different idea. “Sure I could fly there, but I've been doing a lot of flying around and teleporting lately, I think it’s about time to mix it up. To the train station!”
I ran down to the train station and headed for the ticket counter, behind it was a brown earth pony with a striped hat.
“Sorry son you’re out of luck, the train left ten minutes ago and there won’t be another one for a whole hour.”
I flashed a confident smile. “Didn't need the train buddy, just the tracks.”
He looked confused until I snapped my fingers and made the spirit train engine from Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. Once it was there I hopped aboard, put on a black conductors hat, and blew my whistle loud and proud.
“All aboard for Canterlot!” I yelled.
“Hey, I’m going to Canterlot.” One pony said.
“Me too.”
“Me three.”
Suddenly I had about a dozen ponies walking up to me. “Can you take us to Canterlot sir? If I wait for the next train I’ll miss my job interview.”
I looked at him suspiciously. “Is that the truth or do you just not want to pay for the other train?”
He looked at me nervously until I laughed a bit. “I’m just messing with you; you can all ride the train for a fraction of what it would cost normally.”
“Really, how much?”
“Four bits, much less than the average train service right?”
Now they all looked really happy. “That’s a bargain, I’ll take it.”
“Good, every pony else come up to me, pay me your four bits and then head into the passenger car.”
I pulled out a small bag for the ponies to put their bits in; when every pony paid and got in the cars I had about fifty bits.
“Now where was I? Oh yeah, ALL ABOARD!”
Suddenly a pony, who I assumed was in charge of this station, ran out towards me. “Hey! You can’t drive that train on these tracks, it isn’t authorized.”
“Oh yeah? Well look how much I care.”
I pulled the lever and then the train started rolling off at a pretty admirable speed.
“Wooohoo!” I was so excited to be driving a train, sure I can fly with giant black bird wings but there was something so invigorating about feeling the wind on my face while driving a two hundred pound steam locomotive. Thankfully the train only has two levers, one for changing speeds and the other for changing directions on the track so it was easy to maintain. After about 15 minutes I started losing adrenaline and got a little bored.
“Now I remember one of the problems with the game, sometimes these train sections take forever! There has to be a way to speed this up.”
I looked over to the speed controls and saw that there was still one notch left, I kicked it up to maximum and suddenly the speed picked up and I got excited again. As we came over a hill I could see Canterlot about twenty minutes away, unfortunately I also saw a train that we were quickly approaching, if I didn’t do anything quick we were gonna ram into them. Of course I could have just slowed down, but I was in a more creative mood so first I zapped an intercom to warn every pony what was about to happen.
“Folks, this is the conductor speaking. Please hold on to something, the ride is about to get rough.”
With one quick magic enhancement I put another whistle on the other side of the train and super charged them, then I pulled the chain as hard as I could and steam shot out of the twin whistles like a missile propelling us in the air and allowing us to jump above and over the train, thankfully it was much smaller than the other trains in the show so I made it over without damaging the train. As we landed in front of the other train I saw the conductors looked very confused so I looked back and them a quick two finger salute before rushing off ahead.
Fifteen minutes later I slowed down so that I could pull the train into the station carefully, every pony got off the train and thanked me for that rather fast trip and even liked it when we had to jump over the train, quite a few of them thought it was cool. With everyone off the train I snapped my fingers and the train in my garage (Yes I have a garage, it’s where I’m keeping Travis’s motorcycle and the Gundam robot. Vehicles are harder to conjure than everyday items so instead of creating them from scratch every time all I have to do is get them from the garage.)
With that taken care of I walked through town, getting many strange looks from the upper class ponies until I came up to the Canterlot Symphony hall. I would have walked inside but I was stopped by two guards blocking the entrance with spears.
“Um, can I help you two gentlemen?” I asked
“Sorry sir but no one is allowed inside after the concert starts unless you work here or have a ticket. Do you work here?”
I thought of a totally believable alibi that would get me inside. “Yes, I’m new and I’m here to pick up my employee identification card so if you’re gonna ask me for I.D you’re outta luck.”
They both looked at me suspiciously, keeping a deadpan expression.
“Not buying it huh?”
They nodded.
“Well, can’t blame me for trying. You guys do your job well; I guess I’ll be off.”
I would have been bummed, if I didn't have about a dozen different powers that could get me inside. So when I got out of their line of sight I phased right through the walls and walked inside the building. When I got inside I snapped my fingers again and turned into Vinyl Scratch.
“Hello, hello?” This one had to be feminine but still as deep as my normal voice. “Yo, yo… d-d-d-drop the bass! Yeah, I so got this.”
I walked into the concert hall but was stopped when I saw Octavia on the stage playing her cello in front of a large crowd of ponies, I decided to sit in the back of the audience where she couldn't see me and waited until the show was over. Now I don't know a lot about music but she was excellent at playing the cello, it felt so inspired and emotional, like she was telling you a story through song and this was the end result.
Half an hour later the symphony ended and I made my way through the crowd and towards the stage area, sneaking my way behind the curtain and backstage. I found Octavia decompressing after her performance, she didn’t see me so I alerted her by slowly clapping. The minute she heard me she turned around.
“Vinyl, I never would have expected to find you here.” Octavia said, surprised but also a bit distantly.
“Well you know, it’s always a good idea to try new things.” I replied
“Why are you even here anyway? Don’t you have a club you should playing at?”
I gave a confident smile. “You know me; I’m always one for being fashionably late.” I moved closer to her. “Anyways, there’s a reason I came out here and it wasn't just to listen to your excellent cello playing.”
Octavia looked at me with surprise. “You like the way I play my music?”
“Of course I do, just because I’m into dub step doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy other types of music. Do you think I would have taken the half hour train ride here, deal with all these over-zealous and stuck up ponies, and possibly miss my gig if I didn't think this was worth it?”
Octavia looked a bit surprised by my actions. “Well- I suppose not.“
I nodded. "You might not think so but underneath this tough exterior there is a very nice and caring pony."
"Vinyl, I-"
I put up my hoof to stop her from talking. “Octavia can I tell you something a bit personal?”
She nodded.
“As you probably could have guessed I’ve never been a very girly or sophisticated mare like you but I was happy. But then I met you, and despite how I act around you I’m a little bit jealous.”
Octavia smirked a bit. “You, jealous of me? How did that happen?”
“Because whenever I’m out on the town ponies know me, but they treat me at face value and just see me as some hard partying rebellious DJ and nothing else. For once I’d like to meet somepony who doesn't just think they know me, but somepony who knows me for who I really am. Somepony like…you perhaps.”
Now Octavia looked really shocked. “Vinyl…”
“What I’m trying to say is that through the years we’ve know each other I’ve learned a few things from you, and you taught me things by just being around me and I'd like to think i'm a better mare for it. I really don’t want to lose you as a friend so I was hoping we can end this fighting between us, okay?”
Octavia nodded. “Okay.”
I came up and hugged her. “Thanks Tavi, you have no idea how much this means to me. I promise i'll try to be better, for both of us.”
I walked away preparing to get back to town and wait for the result of my work.
Octavia interrupted me. “Hey Vinyl…” I turned around and looked her. “I'm glad that you're my friend to, and for what it's worth I think you're a really nice pony.”
I smiled and nodded. “Thanks Tavi, I wish that I could say everything I want to say about you but...I can't, not now at least.”
Octavia looked confused as I walked out of the theatre through the back entrance. With no one around I transformed again back to normal.
I pumped my fist in the air for a job well done.
“Yes! Mission complete.” I looked at my watch. “And I’ve still got a whole hour before I have to pick up Screwball from school, time to head back home.”
I snapped my fingers and suddenly the webbing between my fingers disappeared and my hands became sharp and pointed on the ends turning them into claws.
“William used dig!”
I burrowed my hands into the ground and started digging underground, making my way back to Ponyville.
45 minutes later…
Pinkie was cleaning up the trash left by ponies at their tables when suddenly she felt a rumbling beneath her hoofs and the ground shook a little. Before she had time to question what was the cause the floor began to sink and a head popped up revealing a boy with dirt covering his face.
“Finally! Sugarcube Corner, I tried like three times to get here and I always ended up in the wrong spot, the second time I made a wrong turn at Al-buck-kerky and met a rather nice family of moles, but I’m here now and that’s all that matters.”
Pinkie looked happy to see me. “I guess you did your thing.”
“Yep, I apologized to both of them as each other and planted the ideas of romance in their heads, if all goes well they should be together by the end of the week.”
“I have to admit I didn’t like your plan when I first heard but when I went outside today I saw both Vinyl and Octavia when she got off the train and they both looked really happy, you’ve done a good thing.”
I smiled confidently. “Yep that’s me Mr. good deed doing…guy, I can be sensitive and fight dragons all in one day.” Suddenly I realized something Pinkie said. “Wait, Octavia’s back in town? When did she get back?”
“About fifteen minutes ago, why?”
“Because…” I snapped my fingers and summoned a crystal ball. “With my crystal ball I should be able to see if they’re going to make up or not.”
I rubbed the crystal ball as it searched for our two potential lovers. I saw an image appear on the ball, it was the outside of their house.
“Ah good, the crystal ball is closing in on them, now let’s see if… oh my. Well there definitely making up...and then some”
Pinkie tried to look at the ball. "What is it?"
This was kind of a private thing between them so I didn't want to show Pinkie. "Um, nothing."
She tried to maneuver her head around me. "Come on, just show me."
"I said it was nothing"
We both went back and forth for a bit with Pinkie moving her head all around me to try and get a better look and me pulling it away. Not wanting this to continue I threw the ball to the ground causing it to shatter into several shards of glass. Pinkie looked surprised by my actions “Whoops, it...slipped.”
“What the hay was that?” Pinkie asked both curious at what I saw and why I would throw something to the ground.
“Um…nothing.”
“If it was nothing, then why did you throw that thing to the ground? And further more-“
“Oh Pinkie I’d love to stay here and play ‘why is William so weird’ but I really have to go pick up Screwball from school so…yeah.”
I snapped my fingers and teleported to the school leaving Pinkie confused and with a mess to clean up.
As the school bell rang all the fillies and colts rushed out of the building and headed for their home. However there was one filly that stood in front of the school waiting as Applebloom passed by.
“Hey Screwball, why aren't you heading home?” Applebloom asked curiously
“I'm waiting for my...um, caretaker. He said he’d come and pick me up from school but I don’t see him anywhere.”
“I’m sure he’s just running a little late.”
Applebloom walked over to Screwball started staring into space. Suddenly, Screwball noticed there was a small red flower in the ground and remembered what her dad said earlier that day and decided to pick it. She walked over to it and grabbed it in her teeth and pulled but it was really stuck in the ground, she pulled harder and harder trying to get it out of the ground and when she did she noticed there a hand attached to it, belonging to me.
“Hello sweetie.”
“Hey!” She hugged me despite the fact that I was all filthy from being underground and I happily returned it. When she was done I got up on my feet, shook the dirt off of me, and we both made our way home.
“So Screwball, tell me about your first day of school.”
“It was great! First I met every pony and a lot of them were really except for two of them with…gemstone names, I forget.”
I scowled at the very mention of those two bullies, they made my heart burn with pure rage. “If they give you any problems you know you can come talk to me right?”
“Uh-huh, then during the day I got to play with a train.”
I found this situation amusing. “Funny, so did I.”
“And we learned about creatures that burrow in the ground like worms or moles.”
Yet another coincidence. “Heh, I saw them to.”
Screwball looked at me with disbelief. “Really? Gee you sure do some interesting things.”
“Yeah, I do.” As we were walking I heard a rustling coming from the trees, a suspicious rustling at that.
“You know, maybe one day I can have just as interesting…”
As she was talking I heard the rustling grow in volume and I had a nagging feeling it was bad.
“Get down!” I grabbed her and pushed her down as well as myself, seconds later I saw a mass of brown feathers pass me by. When it slowed down and I got up I saw the source, an old foe.
“Gilda.” I growled angrily.
“I’m back!” She proclaimed loudly with an evil plot in the back of her mind