Chapter 26: The Life of the Party
It had been two weeks since Bryce had gotten the feral kitten from the walls of Rarity's boutique. In that time Rarity would visit Fluttershy's cottage on an almost daily basis. Rarity was trying her hardest to help tame the feline, but was having a tough time getting it to take to her.
Some days, Bryce would be there as well; mostly on days he'd finished his chores early enough and Dinky hadn't been dropped off under his care. When Bryce arrived, the kitten would always run to meet him. She would run her body between his large legs and caterwaul for his attention. This only made the blue-eyed unicorn jealous.
On Bryce's third visit since he'd brought the kitten, Rarity had had enough. "How do you do it?"
Bryce was being cautious as to avoid stepping on the small Persian. "How do I do what?"
Rarity pointed a hoof at the kitten. "Why does she always run to you. It was in my wall, you were the one it jumped on and nearly ripped to shreads."
Bryce bent down and picked up the kitten. "I don't know. Maybe she's grateful that I saved her."
"All you did was fall down the stairs and kick a hole in the wall."
He held the kitten out to Rarity. "You tell her that."
Rarity stared it straight in the eye. "All he did was-" The white kitten lashed out and spat at the unicorn. Rarity was able to get back in the nick of time to avoid its wrath. "Bah! What's the matter with you? I only want to give you a warm home, good food, maybe a little brushing of your beautiful, majestic fur. Doesn't that sound better than anything he could provide?" Rarity gave a small smile.
The kitten looked up at the human. "She has a point. All I can give you is two dogs and a snake." Bryce placed the kitten back down on the ground close to Rarity.
"So, what do you-" The kitten turned around and walked away from the two, her head held high, stopping to only look back as if to spite the mare. It worked. "Ooooooh, who needs you." Rarity walked back home.
"Rarity, I'm sorry." Rarity didn't turn back at his plea. Looking over at the kitten, Bryce asked, "Why do you love me?"
The kitten only stared him in the eyes.
"That's not a good reason." Bryce steadly made his way over to Fluttershy who was busy refilling the bird feeders.
Fluttershy took note of his approach. "Oh, hello, Bryce. Are you here more dog food?"
"Yeah, more dog food. I'm sorry to keep asking, but Corn is... bigger than most dogs."
"O- oh yes, of course. D- do you think you could give me a minute to finish feeding the birds?"
"Yeah, sure. Is there anything I can do in the mean time?"
"Hmm, if you want you could feed the chickens. If you don't mind?"
"Okay, I can do that." Bryce walked off to do as she asked.
On his way to Fluttershy's chicken coops, he heard someone humming. Turning in its direction he found a pink pony literally hopping along the path that ran past Fluttershy's cottage. Suddenly the pink pony stopped hopping and started convulsing in place.
Shit, she's having a seizure! Bryce ran over to her, jumping clear over the stream, and grabbed the pink mare. He pushed her down onto her side, facing him. "It's okay, you're going to be..." Just as soon as it had started, the pink mare's 'seizure' ended. "What the H...?"
The pink mare looked up and asked, "Oh, what are you?"
"Um... I'm a human."
Bryce was thrown back when the pink mare jumped up. "Oh, that's a weird word. Hhuuuuuumaaaaaannnnnnn. What's your name, human?"
"It's Bryce Smales."
"It's nice to meet you Bryce Smiles. My name's Pinkie Pie. Hey, why are you so big? You are super big." Pinkie hopped to Bryce's side and lifted up one of his arms. "What's this thing? What are those pointy things on your hooves? Wait, those don't look like hooves. What do you call your hooves? Oh, you probably have different words for all your parts. I've never seen anything like you in Ponyville. Actually, I've never seen anything like you in Equestria. No, wait, I've never seen anything like you on all of Equus. That's where we are. What are you doing at Fluttershy's, is this where you live?"
Bryce was almost surprised to hear her stop. "I... live at Sweet Apple-"
"Sweet Apple Acres? That's where Applejack, and Big Mac, and Apple Bloom, and Granny Smith live. They grow lots of apples there, but you probably knew that. But I bet you didn't know they were the sweetest apples in Ponyville. Though you've must have had one if you live there."
Bryce turned around to walk back to Fluttershy's, but Pinkie had other plans as she jumped on top of Bryce's head, her tail hanging front of his face. "Whew, it's high up here! I think I can Sugarcube Corner from-"
Bryce grabbed Pinkie Pie by the base of her tail and held her up to his eye level. "Good, you know where you live. Stay off my head, go there, and leave me alone." Bryce set her down on the ground and turned back around. Pinkie Pie was standing in front of him.
"How long have you been living at the apple farm?"
"A- about a mon-"
Pinkie Pie gasped in shock. "A whole month?! I need to go and get everything ready. See you later, Bryce Smiles!!!"
Bryce had to shield himself from the dust cloud the pink mare threw up. When the dust settled, he could only stand there and try to wrap his mind around what the pink pony had said to him. What the H was that about? Is she on sugar, energy drinks, or meth? Bryce shook his head and walked back to Fluttershy's cottage to feed the chickens.
Just as he was finishing up, Fluttershy came over to check up on him. "Are you almost done, Bryce?"
"Yeah, just finishing up now. Hey, do you know a pink earth pony with a poofy mane and tail?"
"Oh, you must mean Pinkie Pie."
"Yeah, she said that was her name. Why is she...?"
Fluttershy evaded his question. "Did you... see her?"
"Yeah, she said something about getting everything ready and ran off. Why?"
Fluttershy turned her head away. "Oh, no reason. Bryce, do you think you could help me with something?"
"What is it?"
"I need somepony's help in doing something I haven't had the time to get to. Follow me."
"I really need to get back."
"It'll only take a minute."
Bryce sighed. "Well, if it'll only take a minute.
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Six hours later...
"There, all done."
Bryce grumpily asked, "Are you sure?"
Fluttershy nodded. "Emhem, I'm positive that my home is clean enough. Oh, look at the clock. I'm sorry it took longer than expected; but it's always better to get the job done now than later."
"Yeah, but I have to get home for dinner."
"Okay. Bryce, have fun at your party."
Bryce stopped dead in his tracks. "My what!?"
"Oh, nothing. Get back safe, okay?"
"Uhm, I'll try?"
Fluttershy smiled as she showed him out the door.
The entire way home, Bryce had time to think about the recent events of the day. What the H is going on? For a minute there, I actually thought she was trying to keep me there for some reason. And did she say 'have fun at your party'? At least the worst part of the day's over. I think all those chemicals we were using were starting to go to my head.
Bryce was relieved when he finally came in sight of the farm house. "Well, there it is. Just going to go in, get a bath, have some dinner, mess around with Sprout a little while and then go off to bed."
As he got closer to the house, he took notice of something not of the ordinary. He looked at his watch to confirm the time. "It's past 8 and there's no lights on in the house." Suddenly, it hit him like a ton of bricks. "Holy shit, Fluttershy was serious about the party!"
Bryce stopped, stood in the dirt, and looked around. "Well, I guess there's only one thing to do."
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Inside the house, Pinkie Pie had invited almost everypony in town to Bryce's welcoming party, even all of the ponies that had met him so far. Sneaking a peek outside a curtain, the party mare saw the human approach. "Shh, everypony. He's coming! Now everypony just stay... calm... and get ready to give our new friend the biggest surprise welcoming party of his life!"
Everypony immediately scrambled to find theirselves a hiding place; some hiding behind the few chairs the living room had or in the kitchen. In Pinkie Pie's case, she'd decided to hide up on the living room's chandelier.
Pinkie Pie spared almost no expense when it came to welcoming a new face to Ponyville. There were vast quantities of cake, ice cream, and other sugary treats waiting on folding tables. Party decorations were set along the walls. Hanging from the rafters was a large banner that read: WELCOME BRYCE SMILES!!!
As everypony waited, the only sound that resonated was the rhythmic inhales and exhales of the partygoers, and the ticking of the grandfather clock's as the pendulum swung back and forth. Soon the seconds drew on. Second after second they waited.
When the seconds started to turn into minutes, one pony shouted, "What's going on, you said he was coming."
Pinkie Pie hopped down from her hiding spot. "I did see him, he was coming up the path."
"Well he better-"
At the moment there was a knock at the front door.
"HA!!! See, that's him now, Doubty McDoubtersoningtonpants!" Pinkie rushed to the door and threw it open. "SURPRISE, WELCOME TO PONYVILLE, DOG FOOD BAG!!!"
Everypony started to shout with the pink mare, but stopped when it registered what she had said.
"Wait, Bryce wasn't a bag of dog food before." Sure enough, the only thing sitting at the door was a lone bag filled with dog food.
The bag spoke, "Uhm... Pinkie Pie..."
"Huh, dog food isn't supposed to talk. What'd you do with Bryce?"
"No, Pinkie, it's me. Fluttershy."
"Nah uh, you're dog food."
"I'm behind the dog food." Pinkie pushed the bag to the side to reveal the pegasus hunched down in fright. "Bryce left befor I could give this to him."
"Good, get on in here before he arrives. The more ponies the better." Pinkie went out and carried the pegasus inside.
"What, he hasn't arrived yet? He left my cottage only a half hour ago. Have you seen him?"
"Like, YEAH. But he never came in."
"A- are you sure it was him?"
"Hmm, maybe not. Come on and hide before he really shows up." Pinkie Pie jumped back up to her hiding place while Fluttershy made her way next to Rarity.
"Rarity, did Pinkie really see him?"
"I';m not sure. She said she did, but he is real easy to pick out in a crowd. If she saw him she saw him."
"Well, what can we do?"
"The only thing to do now is wait for him to show up."
The next few minutes passed by in total silence. When the first hour passed, a few ponies who had other places to be left. The second hour had a few more leave saying they better things to do. On the third hour, more than before decided they'd had enough and left out in a huff; some of them taking a few of the sweets so they didn't go to waste.
When the fourth hour passed, the only remaining guests were the ones who had known Bryce personally.
Apple Bloom was the first to speak, barely able to stay awake. "What happened, where's Bryce?"
"Ah don't know, sugarcube, something tells me he's not coming."
Ditzy stepped forward, her young daughter struggling to stay awake on her back. "I hate to leave, AJ, but I need to get this little filly to bed."
"Ahh, but mama, I'm not-" Dinky wasn't able to finish her sentence as she fell asleep.
"That's my cue. If you see him, tell him I'm sorry I had to leave on such short notice."
"That's fine, Derpy, I'm sure he got caught up in somethin." But under her breath, Applejack said, "At least he better have.:"
Soon after, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy decided to leave.
Lyra was very persistant that she and Bon Bon stay. "Come on Bons, just 'one' more minute?"
"Lyra, we really need to get home. I still need to make bon-bons to sell tomorrow."
"But he'll be here any minute."
"Who, this so called 'human'?"
"Yeah, Bryce."
"Lyra, I know you have a thing for humans, but enough is enough. Now I have to get up early, are you coming home or not?"
Lyra regretfully did as her roommate asked and they both left for home.
Applejack picked up her snoozing little sister and dropped her off upstairs in her room. When she came back down the apple mare yelled up at the chandelier. "Come on down, sugarcube, he's not coming."
Pinkie hopped down, the spring lost from her step. "AJ, where is he?"
"Ah really don't know, but he's got a lot of explaining ta do when I find him. You head on home now and try ta get ta sleep. I'm sure it'll be better in the morning. We can always try again tomorrow." Pinkie Pie left without saying another word.
Applejack walked out into the front lawn to see her off. When the party mare of out of view, she siad to nopony in particular, "Where in the hay-" Applejack let out a sneeze.
"Salute!"
"Huh?" Applejack turned herself around to find Bryce propped up against the side of the house.
"Well, how was the party?"
"What do yuh mean how was it? Where were you?"
"That's for me to know, and you to find out." Bryce's eyes shifted away from the apple mare and back to her.
Applejack turned to see he was looking at the barn. "You hid in there for almost five hours?"
"I'm not saying I did."
Applejack snorted before rushing forward a placing either hoof beside Bryce. "Look, I know you're new here, but you've been here for a whole month. All she wanted to do was welcome yuh ta everypony."
Bryce shot back, "Well, I hate crowds!"
"That's no excuse!"
"Well, I'm afraid of crowds then."
Applejack stared him in the eyes. "I've let yuh get by with a lot of stuff, but this really takes the cake."
Bryce smirked. "Actually, it looked like all the other horse things were the ones taking cake home."
The apple mare gritted her teeth. "You're something else, yuh know that? You overreact ta every little thing, yuh refuse ta eat some of the food we cook yuh because 'it feels funny'. What the hay does that even supposed ta mean?"
"Well, I'm sorry my mind doesn't work like yours."
"Now you're just making excuses."
"The hell I am! I am the way I am, and you just can't stand that, can yuh?"
"You just aren't normal."
Bryce spat in her face on that last comment. Applejack began to shake in anger. "I'm gonna ride your rump with chores tomorrow for that."
Bryce smirked again. "Lookin forward to it, sugarcube."
Applejack fell down on all four hooves. "And don't expect ta get outta your party tomorrow, It's happenin rather yuh like it are not."
"*Pfft* The H it will."
"Oh yes it will." Applejack pointed a hoof in Bryce's face. "There's gonna be a party for yuh tomorrow, and you better just cheer up and let it happen.":
After a second, Bryce said, "Fine, there'll be a party." He walked into the house. But there no way you'll make me go to it.