Why me? Why me? Does Celestia find it funny to torment me so?
When I turned away from Vinyl, I was assaulted by pink.
Pinkie had charged towards and jumped onto me. "I didn't know you liked karaoke Galey. Hey Vinyl, can we keep it going, I'm sure everypony would love to be able to sing songs of love, and flowers, and their very special somepony."
Along with the pain of having Pinkie jumping up and down on my back while I tried to get my shades away from her, I felt the stabbing pain from the words she was saying. Special somepony...
I let my mind wander about Octavia just briefly before I forced myself to stop. You have to stop think about the past. We came here to get away from that all.
"Sure I'm ok with that Pinkie, I was just about to get something to munch on. I'll be right back and we'll tell everypony over the mic about it." Vinyl said while passing by us to the stairs. "Oh, and also, you might want to stop teasing 'Galey Waley' so much." She just laughed at the nickname Pinkie had managed to come up for me.
Vinyl used her magic and took my shades off Pinkie and brought them over to herself. "Hey these shades are like mine."
I stopped moving and heard Pinkie mumble something about Fluttershy and shade. I don't know what she was talking about. "Wait, really?"
"Ya. They're like transition glasses. They get darker with more sunlight and get less dark when its dark, only, the outside of them don't change so nopony but the wearer would be able to tell. They are killer help with hangovers." She chuckled at her last words.
I never noticed that. Did Mom know this when she bought them?
"That's cool. So can I have them back?"
Vinyl's face grew and evil smirk. "I don't know. Playing keep away IS pretty fun. I could understand why Pinkie was doing it earlier."
"Oh come on, not you too? Weren't you just telling Pinkie not to tease me too much?" I pointed to the pink blob of chaos on my back who had managed to get a guitar from pony knows where and was trying to figure out something that rhymed with tree. How...nevermind I don't want to know.
"Hehe, just chill Gale, I'm just messing." Vinyl used her magic and tossed my glasses over to me.
I put them on and noticed the room didn't get any darker. Cool.
Then I heard ponies coming up the stairs and was met with Apachie, Twilight, Aj, Fluttershy, Man is she beautiful, and two other mares who I didn't know. One was a unicorn with a purple mane and white coat and the other was a pegesus with an odd rainbow colored mane and cyan coat. Rainbow?
"Heh, I knew you liked to sing every now and then Skitzo but damn, I never knew you were that good."
Everypony who didn't know Apachie and I looked at him confused as everypony heard the sound of a hoof meeting a face.
Vinyl and the rainbow-maned mare broke down laughing as Twilight seemed to facehoof with me. Aj and the purple-maned mare looked at Apachie, then to me, and then back to Apachie with that confused look from seconds ago. Pinkie had somehow gotten off my back and was talking to Fluttershy and saying something about where her shade was.
"What in tarnation is he talkin about Gale? What kinda name is Skitzo anyway?" Aj said finally taking her gaze off of Apachie.
"Surely he isn't serious Applejack, it's propably just a joke between friends. Hopefully." Said the mare with the purple mane.
The rainbow mare got up from her bout of laughter. "Oh man, that's too good. That name is so cool, but not as cool as mine."
"Heh, well atleast that's better than 'Galey Waley'." Vinyl giggled out.
"What's wrong with Galey Waley?" Pinkie asked starting to look sad which managed to throw me off a bit.
"Nothing Pinkie, I'm sure Vinyl didn't mean anything bad by it." Fluttershy said comforting her. She seemed to spring back to normal after that. Well, as normal as she can get anyways.
"Everypony calm down, Apachie was just kidding, weren't you?" Twilight said giving Apachie an annoyed look. Apachie seemed to be taken back by it.
"Ya, sorry girls, I was just messing with Gale a bit." Apachie said quickly.
"Gale aye? That's still a pretty cool name though I liked Skitzo better. Oh well." The rainbow mare flew over to me and put her hoof out for a shake. "Name's Rainbow Dash, I'm Equstria's best flyer."
Rainbow Dash. Funny, it fits. Heh.
I put my hoof out and shook hoofs. "My name is Red Nightingale, Gale for short. Have we met somewhere before?"
She looks familiar for some reason.
She seemed to get really happy by this. "Well, I did win the Junior Best Flyiers competion so ofcourse you'd see me around."
I racked my head trying to remember from where she looks familiar. Rainbow...
"Rainbow!" I shouted as the realization hit me like a ton of bricks.
"Whoa! Dude chill out." Rainbow Dash said having stumbled back a couple feet by sheer surprise.
"Oh sorry, just I remember why you look familiar." I looked past her towards Apachie. "Sorry. Hey Apachie come over here real quick."
Apachie walked over to me and I pulled him to the side. "What's wrong man?"
"She's the reason we crashed." I said looking over to Rainbow Dash.
"You sure about that man?"
"Well it explains what happened. I mean rainbows don't just appear out of nowhere and then disappear just as fast. That and she's pretty fast according to herself, so she might have flown by us without noticing. Bam. Accident."
"Well if what you're saying is right, then she's the reason you ended up in the hospital..." Apachie started to scowl.
"Dude, calm down, it was an accident just relax. I don't want anything bad happening here man. Not this time." I tried calming him down a bit.
His face relaxed, "Fine, I guess. But I'm making her say sorry for what she did."
He then spun around and started walking towards Rainbow Dash. Oh shit. He walked up to her as and tapped her withers to get her attention as she was talking to Aj. I ran over to hear what he had to say.
"Oh hey man whats up?" She said eagerly.
"We need to talk." Apachie said in his serious tone. I'm pretty sure everypony could hear it since they all got worried looks.
"Ummm ok what about?" Rainbow Dash said nervously.
"Do you remember what you were doing about three days ago?"
I looked over to everypony else and silently begged for forgiveness. I saw Twilight trying to make sense of Apachie's words.
"Umm, I woke up maybe around noon, went to work for a bit, fell asleep on a cloud, oh and I ended up creaming some ponies that were racing each other." Rainbow Dash seemed to perk up a bit at her last words.
Twilight gasped finally coming to the realization I had just moments ago.
"Really?" I saw the anger Apachie was trying to hold back.
"Hey Apachie just forget it. It's not important just drop this before it gets worse." I said trying to get in between him and Rainbow Dash.
"What in tarnation is this all about Gale?" Aj had come in close to figure out what was going on.
"It's nothing Aj don't worry about it ok?" I said trying and failing to push Apachie back a bit.
"Don't lie to them Gale." I heard Twilight say.
I stopped and looked down. "It's not important Twilight."
"My, my what ever are you talking about here?" The purple maned mare asked.
"Sorry but I don't just tell people I don't know about myself." I said while turning around and rubbing my muzzle with my hoof to try and relax a bit.
"Well then I guess an introduction is in order. My name is Rarity and from what I heard yours is Red Nightingale?"
"Yes."
"I must say that is a rare name if I must say so myself. Now do you mind explaining to us what it is you few are going on about?"
Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Aj stood before Apachie and I. Twilight walked over to the side of Apachie and tried to calm him down a bit. Vinyl was coming up down stairs with her drink while Pinkie and Fluttershy where off to the side watching the scene unfold. Pinkie had a confused look while Fluttershy looked a bit scared and worried.
I sighed. "Look it's not important ok, lets just get back to the party that Pinkie was nice enough to throw for us."
"You're lying." Aj said.
"Aj...please just drop this."
"SHE PUT YOU IN THE HOSPITAL." Apachie yelled out pointing at Rainbow Dash. She looked shocked.
"WE DON"T KNOW THAT!" I yelled back at him standing my ground. Apachie flinched and backed off a little.
"What the hay?! I didn't put anyone in the hospital!" Rainbow Dash yelled out in her defense.
"Hospital? Gale, what the hay is Apachie here talkin about the hospital?" Aj said looking worried.
"He was admitted into the hospital two days ago after the storm. I told you about me finding them sleeping in my tree yesterday." Twilight said.
"That doesn't explain how Rainbow Dash could have possibly put Gale here in the hospital." Rarity spoke up.
"Ya, I didn't do anything."
"Not on purpose atleast." Twilight said.
"Huh?" Rainbow Dash replied.
"You said you 'creamed' some ponies that were racing each other. Well those ponies were Apachie and Gale here. When you passed them, you accidently caused Gale to crash into Apachie, causing them to fall to the ground. Gale ended up breaking his hoof because of it." Twilight said.
"But wait if that was them, and I passed them..." Rainbow Dash's pupils shrank, "We were so up high! If you fell, you should have more than just a broken hoof! You'd still need to be in the hospital!"
"Are ya serious Twi? Ah mean not that Ah don't believe ya but Rainbow Dash seems to have a mighty good point." Aj asked.
"We're built alot tougher than most ponies." I said. Everypony turned their attention towards Apachie and I. "I only broke my hoof, though at first I thought I just sprained it. Apachie just shook the fall off."
Everypony except Twilight seemed to have their jaws hanging open. At this point I was just trying to get everything back to normal. Apachie had just kept quite after I had yelled at him. He know better than to get me mad.
"Look, whatever happened, you didn't put me in the hospital." I started telling Rainbow Dash.
"But-" Apachie said.
"Apachie!" I yelled.
He shut up. I could see Twilight flinch when I yelled out his name. I could also see Fluttershy trying to hide into the floor. Damnit, I'm only trying to fix this.
"Look, I got hurt from the crash, I wont lie about that. But, Rainbow Dash didn't put me in the hospital. The first night we came into town, we didn't have place to sleep, so we decided to sleep in a tree." I could see a look of horror on Rarity's face. "That night it started raining and I got soaked. I'm sure that's why I ended up in the hospital. Apachie is just over reacting." I said looking sternly in his direction.
"So iffen what ya are saying is true, then ya shouldn't be up and about." Aj said looking concerned.
"You shouldn't be out of bed so soon. You could get hurt again." Fluttershy had come close during the story and surprised us when she spoke up.
"She's right darling. No matter how tough you are I'm most definitely sure that you must be in some kind of pain if what Rainbow Dash is true. Surely a fall from that height would hurt." Rarity said.
"I didn't question any of that." I told them. "I haven't felt any pain. Like I said we," I pointed at Apachie, "are tougher than most. We've gotten use to these kinds of things. We've been hurt worse before."
There was silence on the floor. Vinyl was shifting on her hooves uncomfortably as she could tell she came into a conversation that wasn't exactly meant for others to hear. Rainbow Dash looked sorry for her carelessess, Aj and Fluttershy both looked shocked as to how Apachie and I could be standing after such a fall, and Rarity was trying to console Rainbow Dash. Twilight was standing near Apachie and looked like she was scolding herself for not making the connection earlier.
Rainbow Dash walked up to me looking down. "I'm really so-"
"Just forget ok?" I cut her off. "It isn't anything to me. I was just trying to figure out what happened."
She looked like she was about to say something but was interrupted again by Pinkie jumping in and grabbing the both of us into a hug. "This is to serious for me. Come on, it's a party. Ponies are suppose to smile at parties." She pouted at the both of us. I just laughed. For once, her craziness is a good thing.
"Sure thing Pinkie." I said to her with a smile. I looked over to everypony else. Ok I have to do something to get them out of this funk. "Hey Vinyl." she jumped a bit in surprise at hearing her name called out.
"Hah, ya Gale?" She said after managing to calm down a bit.
"You ready for some more karaoke?" I said with a grin.
"Hay yeah I am." She smiled back at me.
"Heh, alright," I began, "who wants-" I was hit in the side by Pinkie and was tackled to the floor.
"Ooooh, Oooh, let me go first Galey, pleeeeeeeaaaaaassssseeeeeeee?!"
Ofcourse it would be Pinkie. I just chuckled a bit, "Sure, why not Pinkie?"
She started bouncing up and down on top of me, making me lose my breath with each fall.
"Ummm...Pinkie?" Fluttershy managed.
"Ya Fluttershy?" Pinkie answered with still using me as a trampoline.
"Ummm...maybe you should stop jumping on Gale...I mean if thats ok with you."
"Hmm?" She looked down to see me gasping for air with each bounce. "Oh sorry Galey hehe." She got off of me and I began breathing at a normal pace again but I stayed laying on the ground. "Thanks again Gale for letting me go first. Here I have something for you." She pulled out a cupcake from out of no where. "I made this just for you." It had black frosting with red sprinkles all over it like the color of my coat.
She held it in her mouth above me, while looking down at me. I could smell how delicious it was. "Thanks Pinkie."
"No problem Galey, here!" She bent down and forced the cupcake into my mouth.
Normally I wouldn't mind it, I've had lots of things forced in my face but, this time was different. It wasn't because it was Pinkie or anything like that but more along the lines of while this was going on, she kissed me. OH DEAR CELESTIA! She's kissing me!
Everypony's jaw hit the floor except for Apachie and Vinyl.
"Well that's one hay of a welcome if I have to say anything about it." Vinyl said gigglying her head off.
"Man, you waste no time at all, aye Skitzo." Pinkie's little stunt managed to get him out of his little funk and he was now laughing so hard he could hardly breathe.
I just layed there on the floor and took it until finally Pinkie came up. She licked her muzzle of all the frosting and cupcake that managed to get on her face. "Hmmmm, tasty! Did you like it Galey? Cause I did." She gave me a sultry look and then ran off with Vinyl to start the next song to sing to.
I was stunned. The mix of chocolate frosting and bubble gum was ever present in my mouth. I couldn't think straight for about a good minute. When I finally came around, I swallowed the bits and pieces of cupcake that were in my mouth. I pulled myself off the floor and looked around in a daze. Aj's and Twilight's jaws were on the floor, Rainbow Dash and Rarity were giving me devilish smirks, and Fluttershy was blushing furiously and hiding behind her mane.
"Ummm...." I looked around nervously, "well it was a good cupcake."
And awkward silence. Apachie was still laughing like a maniac but I was worried aobut Aj. I could already tell what was going through her mind and it wasn't good. Seeing somepony you're attracted to being kissed by one of your friends is never a good thing.
"My, my," Rarity began, which made me jump a bit, "I had no idea you were in such a relationship with Pinkie."
"I'm not."
"There's no need to deny it sweety."
"I'm not denying anything." I said with a scowl.
"Rare, enough. Ah think he's telling the truth." Aj said. I don't know if anyone noticed but I could see the hurt in her emerald eyes. Didn't seem like it, cause nopony said anything.
More silence. Go away silence, you ruin everything.
Apachie walked over to me and put his foreleg over my withers. "Looks like you got another crazy one on your tail Skitzo." He just chuckled. I punched him which, like every other time, did absolutely nothing.
"Buck you." I could already feel a massive headache coming on. Celestia Damnit. Why does this have to happen now? Buck.
Twilight walked up to his side. "Well, we've learned never to question what Pinkie does but, this is weird even for her."
"Hey, there's nothing weird about what Pinkie did. She went for what she wanted just like me." Rainbow Dash said quickly in defense of her friend.
"That aint what's weird here RD." Aj said calmly. "What's weird here is that she done kissed somepony she barely knows," she looked in my direction, "and she aint ever done something like that before."
"Well maybe she did it...cause you know....she likes him..." Fluttershy managed to say though I could barely hear her over the music Vinyl had let playing.
That awkward silence from before just came back and had a hold around my neck.
Suddenly the music behind us changed and we heard Pinkie start talking on the mic.
"Hello everypony!" Cheers from the crowd below was all we could hear for a short while. When it died down Pinkie started again. "How you all doing tonight? Well I hope it's great cause I'm feeling amazing. Ok, so after Gale's preformance," she stopped as the ponies started cheering again. Then she continued, "we've decided to have some karaoke fun. I'm gonna kick this party off and you guys can come up and sing love songs to your very special somepony, or maybe sing songs about life and everything in between." The ponies down stairs cheered once more and we could hear a couple coming up the stairs to get their turn at singing in front of everypony.
"Ummm, guys," I said looking towards the stairs, "I think we should move or else we're about to get trampled."
"I'm going with his idea." Rainbow Dash flew off the ground and hovered in the air a bit.
Soon Fluttershy and I flew up as Aj, Twilight and Rarity stepped aside to see a crowd of ponies looking eager to sing their hearts out. Apachie was off in his own little world. The girls were worried that he'd get trampled but I knew better.
"Umm don't you think we should tell him?" Rainbow Dash asked me.
"Na, he'll be fine, and even if he wont be, he deserves it." I chuckled lightly.
Apachie stood strong as the first mares that ran up the stairs soon crashed into him and were soon on the ground sitting on their haunches rubbing their heads. Ya, I know the feeling heh.
"Oh. Sorry about that ladies." Apachie helped the mares up and then moved over to where Twilight was standing with Rarity. Twilight wore a scowl as she watched Apachie wave the mares bye. Twilight began to walk away with Rarity leaving Apachie behind and he looked over to me with a 'What the hay did I do' look. I just chuckled and shrugged.
The music started up again and we all moved over near Vinyl so we could see Pinkie sing. I felt like I shouldn't exactly be around Aj right now but if I just up and left it'd be rude to Pinkie. Damnit I'm going to have to make it through this night.
Vinyl nodded to Pinkie. The song started off pretty fast and then slowed to a crawl. The song was slower than the one I sang and I could feel it pull me in. It gave me goosebumps when Pinkie started singing.
Rush, pull me under.
The world is at my hooves,
And it's no wonder.
Your eyes speak to me,
They tell me to be calm,
They tell me to be strong.
Swimming out so deep,
Now I can't breathe,
And it's exactly where I belong.
Cause it feels like the ride of a lifetime,
And nothing's gonna save us now.
Let the waves come crashing down.
Cause it feels like I'm right for the first time,
And everytime I take you in,
I think my heart skip a beat again.
I'm drowning in your looooooove.
The feeling was undescribable. This barn has the perfect acoustics cause the music just comes back to you no matter where the speakers are. I didn't realise it but I had my eyes closed. It wasn't until I felt somepony lean against me did I take notice. I opened my eyes and saw a depressed looking Aj sitting down, lean against me. I decided to take a seat and I tried to make her feel better. I looked around us and on the dance floor below us and saw other ponies just sitting down, entranced by Pinkie's singing. I looked back to see Aj's hat blocking my view of her. I picking up her hat a little with my teeth.
I moved closer and nuzzled her. "Don't worry Aj, I don't have feelings for Pinkie ok?"
She just nodded. "Ok" She whispered softly. I moved closer as Pinkie started the next part of the song.
Love,
It's taking over.
There is no in between,
Till I find me some cover.
The tide is coming,
I don't know if I can take it.
I lose my focus,
I lose my focus.
With every breath,
I feel my inhibition breaking,
I can't control it, no no no,
Cause it feels like the ride of a lifetime,
And nothing's gonna save us now.
Let the waves come crashing down.
Cause it feels like I'm right for the first time,
And everytime I take you in,
I think my heart skip a beat again.
I'm drowning in your loooooove.
The music took us, as it did with everypony else. The smell of apples filled my mind as the music ran through my body giving me chills. I could feel Aj shutter against me. Heh. A smile grew across mine and Aj's face. We sat there togther not wanting the moment to end. I wrapped my wing around her and pulled her in deeper. Her hoof wrapped around mine and held it tight. We sat there until the song ended and when it did we finally pulled away. I brought my wing back and she let go of my hoof. I came out from underneath her hat to catch my breath and she did too. I looked back at her to see a deep blush on her cheeks. We nuzzled each other one last time before we stood up to see everypony else in a daze from the Pinkie's singing. It seemed to me that nopony noticed Aj and I. I sighed in relief.
"Gale..." Aj started in a whisper.
"It's ok Aj. Don't worry." She leaned against me. "We have to talk to Pinkie you know."
"Ya, Ah know but," she nuzzled my neck, "let meh just stay like this for a bit will ya?"
"Sure Aj. Anything you want." I nuzzled her back.
I'm going to pay for this. I looked down to see Aj smiling with her eyes closed. Eh, screw it. I'll deal with it later.