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Peace Negotiations
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The day in Ponyville had been calm for everypony, after Twilight found out that all she had to do was ask for more tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala. She was able to get one for herself, along with one for Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Alex, and Spike, just in case he would be needing one.
All in all, they had been thrilled.
Well, Rainbow Dash hadn’t heard the news yet, but Alex was excited to be the one taking her the ticket she had been sent, hoping it would improve the rather shitty relationship the two had at this particular moment.
Just so long as she didn’t fly off the handle and be a massive bitch to him, he would be a peach!
And as long as he apologized, she would have no reason to be upset with him! It’s not he had been that bad to her or anything.
Of course, it had taken Alex one full trip to her house, before he realized that he wasn’t able to reach the front door, and the last thing he wanted to do, was shout her name from below for as long as it took for her to come check on him.
So, Alex had to ask himself, how was he supposed to get up there? It made sense that there would have to be a way to make it accessible to everypony. But, after some asking around to the ponies in town, he found out that you had to have wings to even step on a cloud. Which, made zero sense to him.
But, there was always Plan P. Pinkie.
Of course, when all was said and done with her plan, he would have been happier finding his own way up. But, he didn’t know that when he first approached her.
“Okie dokie Alex!” Pinkie said, pushing his rump along with her head toward a lone basket behind Sugar Cube Corner, “Just hop in there! You’ll be at Dashie’s house in no time!”
Pushing him against the basket, Pinkie looked up in the sky and gasped, “Whoops! I forgot the something! One sec!”
Watching her run in to a tiny shed on the opposite side of the yard, he heard the sound of Pinkie rapidly blowing air in to a balloon.
“What is she doing?” Alex muttered, carefully stepping himself into the basket, glancing in to his saddlebag to ensure the ticket was still jutting out from the closed flap, “I don’t see a party balloon float—“
His jaw hit the floor as Pinkie came bouncing out of the shed, squeezing a massive hot air balloon through the tiny door of the tiny building, with zero issue.
“We wouldn’t be going anywhere without this one!” She giggled through the string in her mouth, walking over to the basket Alex was in, “Hey! You got in all by yourself! I wasn’t sure if you could!”
He would have voiced his confusion more, had he not been actively trying to get used to this world for the past week. But, insanity was a fact in Equestria, and he needed to finally accept that.
“I’ll just tie the balloon to the basket… and there we go!” Pinkie beamed, tying off the hot air balloon in four different places, while keeping a small metal circle under her hoof that was also attached by rope to the balloon.
“Good luck with Dashie!” Pinkie said, taking her hoof off the metal circle, freeing the massive balloon to take off in to the sky.
Alex yelped in surprise as Pinkie allowed the balloon to fly free, forcing the question of ‘how was she able to keep it down with just one hoof?’ out of his head.
“Aren’t you coming?” Alex shouted to her, as he rapidly ascended away from the earth, “I can’t steer this thing!”
“It’s on auto pilot!” She called, just before he was out of earshot, “It’ll take care of you!”
Alex glanced around the basket and balloon for any kind of machine that could possibly be the ‘auto pilot.’ There was nothing. But, he had faith in the pony. And, as it turned out, he was right to have that faith. He was flown straight from the Sugar Cube Corner, to the front steps of what looked like a friggin’ cloud mansion.
The trip was swift, and his ride parked itself on the edge of the clouds, waiting patiently for him to conduct his business.
But, this was a challenge in itself. If he remembered what those ponies on the ground were saying correctly, only pegasi were able to walk on clouds. Not earth ponies, and not unicorns. But… What about ponies from earth? He could fall, and splat so hard against the ground, that he wouldn’t even feel the impact. He’d just be dead.
No.
Not in the mood to die.
He was just gonna go back to the ground. Forget Rainbow Dash right now.
Softly pushing some weight in to the side of the basket, he expected the balloon to return to earth, allowing him sweet freedom from this horrible place to high above the ground.
But, there was no movement on the part of his transportation. It almost felt like it was fighting him.
“Come on!” Alex grunted, running his head in to the basket more, trying to force it to start moving again.
However, his efforts were cut off when a piece of paper floated out from inside of the balloon above him, and landed softly on the floor next to him.
Squinting, he read the still-wet ink on the note.
Dear Alex,
Quit being a big pussy!
-Pinkie
Growling in frustration, he turned back to the cloud house, and plotted the easiest, and safest path toward the door, from where he was. Of course, there was no path per se, he just made sure he knew exactly where each hoof was going to land, and how many it was going to take him before he reached his destination—the door.
Reaching out his front left arm, he slowly patted the cloud, ensuring that he would be supported by the weightless substance. And, luckily, he was.
Leaping out of his ride, he landed with each hoof on the cloud soundly.
“Thank god…” He said taking the next step, happy to feel that the ground was both solid, and even.
Walking up to the blue wooden door, he raised his hoof, and knocked on it three solid times, hoping the sound would reach all the way through the house.
“One- One sec!” Her voice was heard, along with the sound of swishing water.
As each second passed, his blood pressure increased. By the time two minutes had passed, he was sure that a stiff breeze would give him a stroke.
Finally, the sound of feet, or, hooves coming down the stairs was heard, which was followed by the door opening, and a deep frown appearing on her face.
“Hey, I just wanted to let you know that—urk-“ Alex gagged, as a horrible smell wafted out from the door in to his face, turning him pale underneath his white coat.
“Smell something?” She asked, tilting her head, “I wonder what it could be!”
Carefully looking over her, he realized just how much her mane had been stained by the garbage she had been coated in yesterday, however, her coat itself was the usual color.
“Did you know that I had to dye my coat to get it back to the color it used to be?” She asked flatly, looking at his chest at the place she had smacked him yesterday, “Even you have some stains here.”
Looking down at his chest, he could see the darkened spots where she had been hitting him, that he had tried to completely wash off.
“Well, I have this big grey spot already,” Alex laughed, flaring his right wing and exposing it’s different color from the rest of his coat, “What’s three more?”
“Why are you here?” She asked, a scowl still riddled across her face.
“Oh!” Alex said quickly, “Twilight got some more tickets to the horse-dance-thing.”
“The gala?” Dash asked, her mood visibly perking up at his gift, “I got a ticket?!”
“Yeah!” Alex nodded, reaching in to his bag and chomping down on the ticket.
She snatched it out of his mouth before he had the chance to turn back and face her.
“Yes!” She cheered, inspecting the golden piece of paper carefully, “I’m going to impress the crap out of the Wonderbolts there!”
Dash continued to cheer to herself, while Alex stood by awkwardly, unsure if he should just head out. But, the note from Pinkie was still burning in his mind.
“So, are we good?” Alex asked suddenly, as Dash’s attitude suddenly turned back to its sour one.
“You think that delivering a ticket to me, would earn my forgiveness?” Dash asked, cocking an eyebrow.
“I’m not trying to earn anything,” Alex asked, his tone notably more aggressive, “I was just trying to extend an olive branch.”
“So, after running every piece of hair on my body, you try and extend an olive branch?” She asked, scoffing, “You have to earn me as a friend at this point.”
“Earning you, would be like earning the bronze.” Alex spat back, “I came up here to patch things up with you, but it looks like you’re too stubborn!”
“I’m not stubborn!” She shouted, taking a step toward him, invading his personal space, “You’re just a dick!”
“Well enjoy your damn ticket!” Alex growled, turning around and throwing a hoof in the air, “I was gonna give you a real apology for the garbage, but I can tell you and that shit had a lot in common!”
“Screw off!” She yelled back, slamming the door closed.
Alex exhaled rapidly, as he cooled down from the state he had just been in.
That mare was infuriating, and yet he was trying so hard to please her! Bringing her the ticket himself, he was even nice to her! But no! She just keeps saying that he needs to earn her forgiveness, when all that she really needed to do was stop acting like a stuck up bitch.
“Geez, dude,” A voice said from his side, “You a friend of Dash?”
Alex looked over to the voice, and squinted at the new creature in front of his eyes, he recognized her as a gryphon. Something he never expected to see in his lifetime. But, at the same it, he never expected to see himself as a horse.
“She wishes.” Alex scoffed, walking toward the balloon, “Who are you?”
“Name’s Gilda.” She said, walking past Alex, “I was like that with her when we were kids.”
“Alex. And, you saw past that?” Alex asked, looking over his shoulder for a moment.
“Na,” She laughed, “It’s still there. You just gotta learn how to use that attitude to have fun with her.”
“I… have no idea what you mean,” Alex shook his head.
“Maybe you will someday,” She said, approaching the door, “See ya’, Alex.”
Stepping back in the balloon, he was happy to feel it start moving back toward the ground once again.
“Oh, Gilda!” Alex shouted.
“What?” She called back.
“Plug your nose!” He warned.
“What did you sa—“ She began, before a horrible gagging noise replaced her speaking.
“Yeah yeah,” Dash mumbled.
“Holy mother of Celestia! You stink!” Gilda was heard, “Like, the worst smell I have ever smelled! You need to go see a doctor! Or take a bath in bleach! Holy crap!”
Alex did feel a little guilty now that he had a few moments to calm down, but, even a second recollection reignited the fury he felt toward her, and the guilt melted.
Peace negotiations had failed… but he was going to be seeing more of her. Whether he liked it or not.