~~*Fluttershy*~~
The sun was shining and the air was sweet on this perfect, sunny day. Well, it was an almost perfect day. That was only because, in addition to the humming of insects, the songs of the birds and the sighing of the breeze, there was a persistent voice coming from an annoyed white unicorn.
“I’m sorry, darling, but that simply doesn’t make any sense.”
Fluttershy could tell that Rarity was a little bit upset, since she didn’t even seem to be aware of the fact that her brow was furrowing and that her mouth was turning down at the corners right then. It was a sure sign of her agitation, since her unicorn friend ordinarily tried to avoid frowning so as to prevent frown lines from appearing.
“It does, though,” Fluttershy said as she moved over to a hanging bird-feeder. After a small hoofful of seed and a smile at the resident bluejay family, she continued talking. “If I take money from you, then I’m actually getting a feather-care kit and bits from everypony. It’s not right. The money should go to Erin, since it was supposed to be a gift for her in the first place.”
“You can’t afford it, though, can you?”
Fluttershy flinched. Trust Rarity to get right to the awful heart of the matter. “I’ll be okay,” she said softly. “I have money saved up.”
Money that was meant for medicines and medical supplies. But Fluttershy could make it up. After all, grass was free. She didn’t actually need to buy food for herself when her entire front yard was a feast.
Not a particularly nice feast, but still, it wasn’t like she’d starve, and her animal friends would still get the care they needed. So, everypony would win, which was really the best way.
Of course, she’d have to cut back on the weekly spa trips with Rarity for a while. Just until she got caught up on her expenses. She dropped some chopped carrots in front of a rabbit burrow and then fidgeted with her front hooves for a while, already trying to come up with believable excuses that Rarity would accept for her missing out on their regular spa dates.
It would be difficult. Rarity was a sharp one. Not as book-smart as Twilight, but much more observant than anypony she knew. Well, anypony but Pinkie Pie on the rare occasion that she could actually focus.
Fluttershy sighed. No, lying wouldn’t do. She knew from past experience that she was a terrible liar, and the guilt would simply eat her alive. Better to simply tell Rarity that she couldn’t afford spa trips for a little while. It meant that Rarity would keep on asking her to accept money for the Feathermaster kit, but it was something she would simply have to—
Rarity’s sharply raised voice broke into her reverie. “Fluttershy!”
Fluttershy squeaked and flinched, her wings flaring defensively. After a moment of panicked hyperventilation she managed to say, “Yes?”
“Were you even listening to me?”
“Oh, yes!” Fluttershy smiled and nodded at her friend before her head sagged and her ears drooped. “Actually, no. I’m sorry.”
Rarity hmphed and shook her head, though the effect was spoiled by the ghost of a smile on her muzzle. “I was saying, dear, that it’s not fair that you are the only one to give a gift to Erin. We agreed that it would come from all of us, and now we’re all quite caught out.”
“Oh.” Fluttershy considered that for a moment before spotting the flaw. “I’m sure that there are other things that Erin needs for her house. Maybe everypony could chip in on something else, instead?”
Rarity sighed and shook her head once again. “I see that you’re planning on being stubborn, Fluttershy.” She smiled, then, a gleam of challenge in her eye. “I’m afraid that you give me no choice, then! I simply must keep trying to convince you to change your mind, even if it means I have to badger you until next spring!”
An angry hissing growl sounded down by Fluttershy’s fetlock. “Oh, I’m sure she didn’t mean anything by that, Mister Badger,” she said, directing a comforting smile at the annoyed creature.
“Oh… No, of course not.” Rarity chuckled uneasily and backed a step or two away. “I only meant that badgers are, of course, quite fierce and persistent when they wish to be. A most admirable trait!” she added when the badger kept on staring narrowly at her.
“There, see? She didn’t mean any offense.” Fluttershy set some fruit in front of the irritated badger. “Here, have some food.”
Animosities were forgotten as the badger munched happily into a fresh strawberry. Fluttershy smiled at him as she went on her way. Rarity followed, giving the dining badger a wary glance and a wide berth.
“I really am very sorry, Rarity. I just wouldn’t feel right accepting it.” Fluttershy smiled gently at her friend as they walked along. “I can’t take your money when I’ve already received an equivalent gift.”
Rarity sniffed and rolled her eyes. She opened her mouth, most likely to continue trying to convince her to accept the money. Instead, she paused, then frowned, looking back over Fluttershy’s shoulder.
“It looks like somepony is coming up the road,” Rarity said. “Oh, is that Erin?”
Fluttershy looked around. “Oh. Yes, I think it is."
“Hello, Erin!” Rarity called, waving a hoof. “We’re over here!”
“Hey there!” Erin called as she crossed the little bridge near Fluttershy’s home.
Fluttershy broke into a smile, happy to see her friend. And not just because having Erin around meant that Rarity would have to stop pressuring her to take her bits. “Hello, Erin. Welcome!”
“Thanks! I’ve got some presents for you,” Erin said as she came to a stop in front of them. She was grinning widely as she nodded at her saddlebags. “Can we go inside the house?”
“Oh, of course. Though, I will have to join you in a few minutes, I’m afraid.” Fluttershy offered an apologetic smile. “I still have some animals to feed, you see.”
A frown drifted across Erin’s face before her sunny grin returned. “Oh, that’s fine. It can wait until you’re done. I really wanted to give you both your gifts at the same time.”
“How nice!” Rarity smiled. “Though, you know you didn’t have to do that, you know.”
“I wanted to,” Erin said, shrugging.
“Well, if you want to, you could go inside and wait while I finished, and then we could all open the gifts together?” Fluttershy suggested. “Rarity, perhaps you could make tea?”
“That’s a marvelous idea!” Rarity trotted towards Fluttershy’s cottage, calling back over her shoulder, “Erin, perhaps we could discuss the alterations to your dresses that you’ll need, now that you have wings?”
Erin began trotting after her. “That sounds like a good idea!”
Fluttershy allowed herself a brief smile as her two friends let themselves inside her home, after which she resumed feeding her animal friends. It took a bit longer than the few minutes she’d said, but not too much longer. Ten minutes later, she was on her way back inside to join the others, pleased to have the job done and all of her furry friends eating happily.
Her friends were sitting on either side of Fluttershy’s coffee table, with Rarity on the couch and Erin in the overstuffed armchair. The smell of freshly brewed chamomile wafted through the house, much to Fluttershy’s intense satisfaction. Rarity knew her well and had brewed her favorite tea for her.
The two greeted Fluttershy as she went in and sat down before helping herself to one of her slightly chipped teacups. Mister Bear tried to be careful, but he always ended up chipping her tea set with his big claws whenever they had a tea party. As she put the sugar in her cup, she noticed that Erin was holding her teacup in the slightly awkward way that she was so used to seeing from her once-human friend, the bottom balanced on one upturned hoof while the other hoof braced it to keep it from falling.
“I was just discussing the gift we gave to Erin,” Rarity said with just a hint of smugness. “She was unaware of it being a gift from all of us.”
Fluttershy froze with the teacup halfway up to her lips, a twinge of irritation ruffling the feathers of her wings.
“I… I see,” she said carefully. “Well, um…”
“Of course, for some reason, Fluttershy is refusing to take our money, even though we all agreed,” Rarity continued on relentlessly. “Something about getting a gift in return? I was wondering if you could clear that up for us, dear.”
Fluttershy flushed and stared down into her teacup. Rarity didn’t have many faults, she reflected, but if Fluttershy were to complain about one, she might mention that she could be just a little pushy. Sometimes. Okay, maybe more than sometimes.
“But that wouldn’t be right,” Fluttershy mumbled towards her steaming tea. “I just couldn’t.”
Erin shook her head. “Twilight reminded me earlier today that friends don’t keep score. Still, it’s really up to you if you want to take the money or not.”
Fluttershy shot Erin a grateful smile while Rarity let out an unlady-like grunt of frustration. Still, the idea of keeping score did bother her. She took a sip of her tea as she considered the idea.
“Well, you’re right about keeping score,” Fluttershy said eventually. “Though, that may not apply to Applejack and Rainbow Dash when they get competitive.”
Erin chuckled at that, and Rarity displayed a wry smile.
“Well, if it will make everypony happy, I suppose I could just take the money.” There was a surge of relief when she said that, realizing that the next few weeks would be much easier now. Of course, there was also a small swell of guilt. Fluttershy decided that she would take the time to do something nice for Erin to balance the scales a little bit. Perhaps she could knit her a sweater or something. She was on good terms with all of the local sheep, after all. She could buy quality wool in bulk.
While Fluttershy sipped at her tea, Erin went over to the peg she’d hung her saddlebags off of and removed two gift-wrapped boxes. After checking the labels, Erin passed one box to Fluttershy and passed the other one to Rarity.
“Thank you, dear,” Rarity said as she took her present in her magical aura. “Oh, what lovely paper!”
“It’s very nice,” Fluttershy agreed.
It was like the slowest race in Equestria as both Rarity and Fluttershy slowly and carefully peeled the wrapping paper off of the gifts. Fluttershy because she didn’t like just tearing into things, and Rarity because she was carefully untaping each corner in order to fold the paper up neatly. It was a habit that Fluttershy had noted in her unicorn friend that she thought was just the slightest bit odd. After all, it wasn’t as if she ever used the wrapping paper again. She just wanted it to be neatly folded when it was thrown away.
After some time had passed this way, she noticed that Erin was tapping a forehoof impatiently against the arm of the comfy chair. She met Fluttershy’s eyes and stopped with a cleared throat and a blush.
“Sorry,” Erin said sheepishly. “I’m just eager to see what you two think of the presents.” Then she straightened up in her chair. “Oh! I forgot, can I ask that you don’t talk about this to Rainbow Dash and Applejack? I still have to give them their presents. I was going to head out to the farm after this.”
“I do believe Applejack is in town today, selling off the last of her family’s winter store of apples,” Rarity said as she peeled the last bit of paper off of her box. Fluttershy glanced over and saw her friend’s eyes widen at what she saw. “Oh, my goodness,” Rarity whispered, bringing a hoof up to her mouth.
Fluttershy looked back down at her own box, still covered by too much paper to make out what it was. Judging by Rarity’s excitement, though, it was obviously something nice. She reached out a trembling hoof and removed the last bit of wrapping paper obstructing the front.
“Oh, my…” Fluttershy said faintly as the picture on the lid of the box showed, quite clearly, a tablet computer. Her heart fluttered between wonder and guilt. She’d have to make Erin at least three sweaters, now. Maybe more. She wondered vaguely how much it would cost to buy that much wool.
“Do you like them?” Erin asked eagerly, leaning forward with a huge grin across her features. “Open them, the surprise isn’t over yet!”
Rarity got her box open first, of course. A unicorn’s magic made short work of simple tasks like this. Still, Fluttershy wasn’t far behind, getting her own box open just as Rarity gasped once again.
The tablet was a soft yellow in color that very nearly matched her own coat. She reached inside and pulled it out.
Erin was so excited that her feathers were ruffling as she bounced in her chair. “Turn them around!”
Fluttershy did so and drew in a surprised breath. Her cutie mark of three butterflies was painted across the back. She glanced over to see that Rarity’s own white tablet had three blue diamonds on the back, as well.
“Erin, this is simply amazing!” Rarity said. “I never expected this! Oh! Thank you so much!” Rarity hopped down from the couch and crossed over to give Erin a big hug, the box and tablet floating along behind her.
Erin hugged her back. “Aw, you’re welcome.”
When Erin, still hugging Rarity, looked over at her, Fluttershy averted her eyes.
“Fluttershy?” Erin released Rarity, getting out of her chair to come over. “Is something wrong?”
“N-no… No…” Fluttershy swallowed against the lump in her throat. “Oh. Yes. I’m sorry. It’s too much. I love it, but… it’s too much, Erin. I don’t know if I can accept this. Aren’t these expensive?”
“Well, a little bit, yeah,” Erin shrugged and smiled. “But it’s not like I don’t have money. It’s fine.”
“But… I mean, I know you said not to keep score, but… The feather kit, and now this?” Fluttershy smiled weakly, blinking against the tears welling up in her eyes. “How can I possibly pay you back?”
Erin blinked at her a few times. Rarity, meanwhile, had taken a few steps back and was looking back and forth between her and Erin with concern in her eyes.
Eventually, Erin started speaking, her earlier eagerness gone and her tone calm and serious. “Fluttershy,” she said, “do you really want to talk about scores? Because we can do that, if you want.”
“N-no, that’s—”
But Erin hadn’t finished. “Nevermind the fact that I was a stranger in an alien world, okay? And that you, and the others, became the best friends I ever had. And forget that you stayed with me even after you found out I wasn’t who or what I said I was…” Erin trailed off briefly, her throat working as unshed tears glistened in her eyes as well. “You six, you saved my whole planet, Fluttershy. I could give you everything I own for the rest of my life, and it wouldn’t come close to touching that debt.”
Erin stepped closer and put a hoof over Fluttershy’s, which was on top of the yellow tablet in front of her. She offered up a trembling smile, which Fluttershy faced only with extreme difficulty. “Please, will you accept this gift?”
Fluttershy felt her mouth open and close wordlessly a few times. Finally, mutely, she nodded. Erin’s happy smile returned as she gathered Fluttershy up in a hug.
“Thank you, Fluttershy,” Erin said as she hugged her.
Five sweaters, Fluttershy thought while Erin embraced her. At least five sweaters. Five sweaters and a quilt.
Erin eventually released Fluttershy, cleared her throat and rubbed a fetlock across her damp eyes before heading back to her seat. Fluttershy looked over at Rarity, who had a handkerchief out and was dabbing at her own eyes. She shot her friend a look, silently pleading for a distraction so she could have some time to get her emotions under control. Rarity smiled and nodded.
“So, tell me,” Rarity said, “how does one go about using these lovely devices?”
Erin chuckled. “I really should have gotten you all at once. I could have shown you all together.”
“Oh, yes.” Rarity nodded. “You mentioned that Applejack and Rainbow Dash still need theirs. Does that mean that Twilight and Pinkie have gotten the same?”
“That’s right,” Erin said, nodding. “They came over this morning. I got them started, and Pinkie ran off to do ‘research’. Which, honestly, I’m a little nervous about.”
Fluttershy managed a smile while Rarity and Erin both chuckled at that.
“Then Twilight helped me move some boxes of stuff around,” Erin continued. “I still have a lot of unpacking to do, but at least everything is in the right rooms now. She said she’d help Spike figure out how to use his tablet, and that I should give out the rest of them.”
“Oh, dear Spikey-wikey got one too?” Rarity’s ears perked up. “How nice! He’s such a sweet little thing, and I know he feels left out quite often.”
Erin laughed and nodded. “He sure seemed excited to get it! I put some action movies and comic books on it for him, since I know he likes that kind of thing.”
“Is that mostly what this is for?” Rarity asked, holding up her tablet. “Books and movies?”
“And music,” Erin said. “And you can draw with them and take pictures and videos with them. Like, yours I loaded up with all sorts of fashion magazines, and Fluttershy’s has some animal documentaries and pictures of cute animals.”
Fluttershy, who had been slowly sinking down in her seat for the last few seconds, perfectly content to let the other two talk around her, suddenly sat bolt upright.
“Cute animals?” she repeated, ears up and eyes sparkling. “Could you show me?”
“Of course!”
As Erin started teaching the two of them how to use their tablets, Fluttershy’s guilt slowly began to recede to the back of her mind. Not forgotten, but momentarily overwhelmed by pictures of kittens and other cuddly animals in adorable poses, oftentimes with funny captions on them that made her laugh.
“I think I could get used to this,” Fluttershy said, smiling.
~~*Erin*~~
Applejack was right where Erin had expected to find her. She had her display wagon set up on the east side of the open-air market, next to all the other wagons and stalls with produce for sale.
The apples in the wagon weren’t her best by a long shot, having been sitting in Sweet Apple Acres’ apple cellar all winter. Still, though they were a little shriveled, there were plenty of ponies buying, especially at the huge discount that Applejack was currently selling them for.
Erin faltered as she trotted up, her happy grin fading into a grimace of self-recrimination. She should have figured that Applejack would be too busy to just drop everything just because Erin had a present for her.
AJ hadn’t seen her yet, instead paying attention to a customer who was asking some question or other. Erin sighed, turned, and trotted away. She still needed to give Rainbow Dash her present, after all.
A quick trot through Ponyville later brought her to Rainbow’s house, a fairy-tale construction of clouds and rainbows anchored on Ponyville’s south side. Dash occasionally wanted different scenery, which meant she would drag the house somewhere new. It could occasionally be a nuisance to find her, especially when she forgot to tell her friends she’d moved her house.
Erin came to a halt on the dirt road almost directly under Rainbow Dash’s house, shouting “Hey, Rainbow!”
A long moment passed before a semi-groggy voice rasped “Yeah?”
“You home?”
There was another long pause.
“No, I’m out. This is just my answering service.” A scowling and disheveled rainbow-maned head poked over the side of the house, the scowl dropping away into a grin when she saw who was calling up to her. “Hey, Erin!”
“Hi, Rainbow! Can you come down?”
“Why?”
Erin grinned and waved the giftwrapped box over her head. “I’ve got a present for you!”
“What, really?” Rainbow’s ears perked up and her grin got even bigger. “Yeah, you got it!”
Rainbow kicked off of her cloud house, and Erin’s heart caught in her throat as her friend plummeted like a stone, only to flare her wings at the last second in order to come in for a soft touchdown.
Erin shook her head in admiration. “That was pretty cool.”
“That was cool?” Rainbow snorted. “Girl, you ain’t seen cool yet.”
Erin chuckled, then started digging through her saddlebags. “Sure I have. I saw your sonic rainboom, remember?”
“True, true,” Rainbow said as she buffed a hoof on her chest.
Erin chuckled as she pulled out the box with Rainbow Dash’s name on it and passed it over to the pegasus, who was grinning and hopping back and forth between her front hooves.
“Neat! Hey, want to come up for a bit while I open it?”
“Uh…” Erin glanced up at the cloud-house above her. “Yeah, I still can’t fly, Rainbow.”
“Pfft!” Rainbow waved a hoof dismissively. “Like that’s a problem. Hold this for a sec,” she said, passing the wrapped box back to Erin. “Wait right here.”
Rainbow jumped and flapped her wings at the same moment, launching her almost straight up. After she passed her house, she curved, leveled off, and streaked off across the sky.
Erin, waving a hoof in front of her face and coughing at the dust Rainbow had kicked up in her face, momentarily lost track of her. When she spotted her again, Rainbow was streaking back, pushing a pony-sized cloud ahead of her.
It was strange, Erin reflected as she put the giftwrapped box back in her saddlebags, how the cloud didn’t dissipate as it got closer to the ground. In fact, it looked oddly solid, cradled as it was between Dash’s forelegs. When Rainbow landed, causing still more dust to billow up into Erin’s face, she released the cloud and pushed it towards her.
“Hop on,” Dash said with a grin.
“Uh…”
“Trust me. You may not be able to fly, but you should at least be able to do this much.”
Erin looked doubtfully at her friend’s smiling face before shrugging and poking tentatively at the cloud with her left forehoof. It went straight through, much as Erin had suspected it would.
“You have to to think of the cloud as solid,” Rainbow said. “Watch. It’s solid.” She poked at the cloud herself. Instead of sinking through the cloud, her light blue hoof pushed it gently in Erin’s direction.
“Um, okay. I’ll give it a shot.”
This cloud is solid. This cloud is solid. Erin thought on a repeating loop before reaching out and poking the bundle of mists once again.
She gasped as her hoof met resistance. It was like poking a balloon filled with jelly, the cloud initially giving way before springing back and scooting a short way back towards Rainbow, who was busy grinning back at her.
“You got it!” Dash said. “Now, hop on up!”
Erin squealed with excitement and, giggling, attempted to climb up onto the squishy, shifting cloud. “Hahah, this is aweso-whoop!” Erin tumbled sideways off of the cloud with a shriek. The next thing she knew, she was lying on her back and staring at the sky while laughing hysterically.
Rainbow snorted. “Nice one, Erin.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Erin said, chuckling as she got back onto her hooves. “Let’s try that again, huh?”
Her second attempt was more successful. She climbed up with one leg at a time, moving slowly and managing to keep her balance. She stood up on top of the cloud, mist rising up to tickle her fetlocks as her legs trembled with the effort of staying upright.
“You doing okay?” Rainbow asked.
Erin was still giggling as she answered. “Yeah, I think I got—whoah!” She almost lost her balance, overcompensated trying to recover, and ended up flopping over on her side. It was like landing in a foggy beanbag, the wet mist dampening her hair and coat.
“Eh, good enough,” Rainbow said. “Don’t move, okay?”
“Why, what—” was all Erin managed before Rainbow scooped up the cloud and shot up towards her house. Once again, Erin shrieked and giggled, her wings half-opening as the wind hit her feathers. The trip was over in just a second or two, the cloud level with the bottom floor of Dash’s house.
“Top floor, everypony off,” Rainbow said.
“Uh…” Erin stared at the “landing” out in front of Rainbow Dash’s house. Unlike the rest of the clouds she could see, these clouds were darker and perfectly flat on top. “You’ll catch me if I fall through, right?”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “You’re not going to fall through.” A few seconds passed. “Come on, already. Or do you want me to just shove you off of the cloud?”
“No!” Erin yelped. She took a deep breath, braced herself, and reached out to touch the landing, all while chanting this is solid, this is solid in her head.
Much to Erin’s surprise, the landing felt firm but springy, kind of like a gym mat. She poked it with her hoof a few times before jumping off of the cloud. She then spent a few seconds walking in a small, tight circle and marvelling at the feeling of it.
“Cloudstone,” Rainbow Dash said as she landed next to Erin. She stomped a hoof on it, causing an oddly hollow thunking sound. “Specially treated cloud. Kind of expensive, but it stops stuff from falling through.”
“Oh, neat!” Erin jumped up and down a couple of times. “How’s it made?”
Rainbow snorted. “Heck if I know.”
“Oh.” Erin’s disappointment was short-lived as she happily trotted in place on the cloudstone. “This is so cool!”
Rainbow snorted again and shook her head. “You find the weirdest things cool, Erin. Anyway, come on in!”
“You know, I never expected to be able to come up here,” Erin said as she followed Rainbow into her home. The front door opened into a pony-length hallway, which in turn opened up into a larger room.
“I’ve had some friends over, but not very often,” Rainbow Dash said with a shrug. “Most of my closest friends aren’t pegasi, after all. Anyway, can I get you something to drink?”
“Uh, sure. Water?”
“We’re in a cloud,” Rainbow said with a smirk. “I can do water. Be right back. Uh, and don’t snoop through my stuff, okay?”
Erin nodded as Rainbow trotted off towards what was, presumably, the kitchen. She took advantage of her friend’s absence to gawk at her house. Erin never had any real ideas about what Rainbow’s house would look like on the inside, but she found herself not being too surprised by anything she saw.
In the short hallway by the front door was a row of wooden pegs, somehow bolted into the cloud wall itself. Rainbow’s slightly-tattered saddlebags were hung on a peg, right next to three pairs of flight goggles, one clear, one tinted yellow, and the last tinted a dark grey. The small room Erin was currently in had one doorway straight ahead, and another to her left, which Rainbow had gone through a moment earlier.
Erin wandered further into the first room, looking around curiously. It was no surprise at all that there was a large Wonderbolts poster on one wall, directly opposite a low couch. What was a surprise was the low bookshelf with a few well-read books in it. One book, a Daring Do novel, was on an end table next to the couch. A half-empty glass of water was set on top of it, which made Erin’s eye twitch a little bit. She always tried to keep her own books in good condition.
In front of the couch was a low, dark oak coffee table. The beautiful wood was somewhat marred by rings, some of which still had their half-empty glasses still standing in them. A huge pile of magazines was stacked on top of the table, looking like it was in imminent danger of collapsing at any moment. Under the table, more magazines were stacked. They had names like Weather Reports, Wonderbolts Quarterly and The Inside Loop, the last of which seemed to be about stunt flying.
On the wall behind the couch was a set of shelves holding a collection of trophies, including a circlet with a pair of wings on either side and a lightning bolt on the front. Most of the trophies were gold, though there were a couple of silvers or bronze, placed unobtrusively behind the golden ones. On either side of the shelves were pennants and flags, and one last poster of the Wonderbolts.
Erin shook her head, wondering how all of that stuff was attached. “Cloudstone” or no, it seemed weird to be able to build stuff into clouds.
“Hey, I see you’ve found the trophy case,” Rainbow Dash said as she came into the living room. There was a glass of water balanced on her outstretched wing.
“Yeah, I hope you don’t mind.” Erin plopped down on her hindquarters on the floor and took the glass in both of her front hooves. She took a sip; the water was shockingly cold. “That’s a lot of trophies.”
“Yeah, I’ve got a few,” Dash replied with exaggerated modesty. Then she grinned. “So, what’s this about a present?”
Erin grinned back and set the water down on the floor. She took the box out with her teeth and passed it over to an eager Rainbow Dash, who tore into the paper with gusto. When she saw what was printed on the box, her magenta eyes widened in shock.
“No way!” The box lid was ripped off, revealing a light blue tablet inside. Rainbow pulled it out and held it up to her face. “This is awesome!”
“Turn it around,” Erin suggested.
Rainbow did so, letting out a squeal when she saw her rainbow-bolt cutie mark painted on the back. “Even better! This is so cool!” Her grin started fading after a few seconds as she stared at the tablet. “Uh. So, what does it do?”
“I put some movies on it, and some music I thought you might like. There are some adventure books I liked, and a few comics, too. Also, I put some races and stuff on it, and some stunt flying.”
“Oh, that’s cool. So, uh… How do I use it?”
Erin smiled. “How about I show you?”
~~*Applejack*~~
AJ sighed, pushed her hat back on her head and flipped the sign on her cart to “Closed”. It had been a busy day, but all of her stock was finally sold. She had even sold off the last few apples, the smallest and most wrinkled of what she’d pulled out of the apple cellar. An old mare had bought them with the explanation that she planned on making applesauce.
The sun was inching its way towards the horizon by now, the shadows in the marketplace getting longer as the day wore on. She was about to hitch herself up to her cart and head on home when she heard a familiar voice calling her name. Looking around, she saw Erin trotting towards her, green saddlebags around her midsection and a happy smile on her face.
“Well, howdy, Erin!” Applejack offered a smile as her friend trotted up. “What can I do for ya?”
“I’ve got a present for you,” Erin replied, nodding towards her bags. “I’m glad I caught you before you left for home!”
“Oh, that’s mighty nice of ya, sugarcube, but ya didn’t have to get me a present.”
“It wouldn’t be a present if I had to give it to you, AJ,” Erin pointed out. “Did you want to open it now? We should probably go somewhere indoors to open it.”
“Well, I was just about to head back…” Applejack trailed off at the look on Erin’s face. “Well, if’n you’re gonna turn the puppy-dog eyes on me, I reckon’ we can go somewhere really quick.”
“Sugarcube Corner?” Erin suggested. “I’m a little hungry.”
AJ’s stomach took that moment to rumble. She chuckled and said, “Sure, that sounds good. I could do with a snack myself.”
Sugarcube Corner was mostly empty by the time the two of them arrived just minutes later. A smiling Mrs. Cake was behind the counter, fetching a big slice of key lime pie for Erin and an even bigger slice of warm apple pie with ice cream for Applejack. As she bit into her first forkful, AJ reflected that, while Mrs. Cake’s apple pie couldn’t touch Granny Smith’s, she was still a top-shelf baker.
Erin, fumbling with her fork in the way she usually did, regaled Applejack with details of her day so far. It turned out that everypony else got their presents already, even little Spike. When Erin started talking about being in Rainbow’s house, AJ really started paying attention. She’d never been able to get up there, of course.
“So, what’s it like?” Applejack asked.
“Rainbow’s house?”
Applejack nodded, shoveling another forkful of pie into her mouth.
Erin shrugged. “She didn’t give me a tour, so I only really saw one room. It was just a couch with some trophies, pennants and posters. And lots of magazines.”
“Hmph.” Applejack stabbed at her pie again. Not that she was dying with curiosity or anything, but she’d visited all of her other friends in their homes. She really wanted to know what it was like in there.
“You should get Twilight to cast that cloud-walking spell on you again,” Erin said after swallowing another mouthful of key lime pie. “You could go up and see for yourself.”
Applejack blinked. “I reckon’ I never considered that. I don’t wanna be an imposition on Twi, though.”
“I don’t think she’d mind,” Erin said with a shrug. “Want me to ask her for you?”
“I think I can manage asking by myself,” AJ replied with a stiff smile while smothering a small twinge of irritation. Erin was just trying to be nice by asking, after all. She forked the last bit of pie into her mouth.
“Okay.” Erin shrugged before finishing off her last bite of dessert as well. After a quick slug of milk, she grinned and held up a hoof. “It’s present time!”
“Sounds good,” Applejack replied with a smile, shoving aside both her empty plate and her idle thoughts of building a scaffold to get up to Rainbow Dash’s house.
Erin was already ruffling through her saddlebags, which were on the ground next to her chair. She came up a second later with a wrapped package, which she passed over with a huge smile.
“Thank you kindly,” Applejack said, holding the box uncertainly for a moment. With a shrug, she peeled the paper off, aware of Erin getting more and more excited as she got closer to revealing the gift inside.
Applejack crumpled up the last of the paper and put it on the table, staring blankly at the picture on the box in front of her. It took her a second to recognize it as a picture of a tablet computer, like the one Erin had shown her earlier. Slowly, it started sinking in that Erin had given her one of her very own.
“Oh. Huh. Well, would you look at that?”
Erin’s smile was fading fast, AJ noticed with an internal flinch.
“You don’t like it?” she asked.
Applejack shook her head quickly. Granny would likely beat her flank redder than Big Mac’s if she thought AJ was less than grateful for a gift from a friend. “It ain’t that! It’s just… I don’t know what I’m gonna do with it, honestly.”
Erin’s grin returned. “That’s easy! I’ve loaded it up with all sorts of stuff on farming and gardening techniques, both books and documentaries. Also, I’ve got some music and movies on there that I thought you might like.”
“That’s nice and all,” AJ replied, her hat tilting back as she scratched at the side of her head with a hoof while staring at the tablet. “But I don’t reckon’ I know if Earth farmin’ techniques will work on Equestria, and I ain’t gonna have a whole lot of time for watchin’ movies, what with getting the farm goin’ after winter.”
It was a reasonable, honest explanation. And, for some reason, it didn’t seem to be working all that well.
“Oh,” Erin said, her head sinking and her ears drooping.
Applejack cursed herself, feeling like she’d accidentally kicked a puppy. “What I mean is, I don’t really know how to use it, so I don’t know what I can use it for.” She pushed a big, hopeful smile onto her face. “You see what I mean?”
Erin sat up straighter and a smile ghosted across her muzzle. “I could teach you, if you wanted?” she offered.
Applejack’s smile softened into a more natural one. “You know, sugarcube, I think I’d like that.”
Erin perked up still further, her grin returning full force. “And, for what you can do with it, it plays music and movies and takes pictures. Oh, and I can show you something kind of neat, if you want?”
Applejack nodded and passed the tablet over into Erin’s waiting hooves. Her brow furrowed as she watched Erin pick up some black stick-like object with a strap on it out of the box. Her friend wrapped the strap around her hoof, and then start tapping on the tablet for a few seconds.
She didn’t even have time to start feeling impatient before Erin held up the tablet in front of her, with the apples on the back pointed right at AJ’s face.
“Say something, Applejack,” Erin said, her eyes gleaming with mischief.
Applejack shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “I ain’t sure what you want me to say.”
“I guess it doesn’t matter,” Erin said, tapping something on the screen in front of her. “I’m just showing you this. Here,” she said, passing the tablet back over.
AJ took it, and then the stylus with its strap when Erin passed that over as well. Erin told her to use the stick to tap the screen, so she did, giving a little jump when her own face showed up on the tablet.
“Say something, Applejack,” Erin’s disembodied voice said from the tablet.
Applejack stared in shock at her own frowning face. “I ain’t sure what you want me to say,” her voice said, sounding too high-pitched and nasally to her ears.
Erin’s voice spoke up one more time. “I guess it doesn’t matter.”
And then the screen went dark. AJ stared at the tablet with a lot more respect. “This makes movies? Like, if I wanted to record ponies walkin’ around and talkin’ and such, I could do that?”
“Yup!”
“Land’s sake,” Applejack said, already thinking ahead to the next Apple Family Reunion. If she could get a movie made of the event, it would be the first time in the Apple family’s history! Too bad it had gotten her voice wrong, but maybe Erin could help fix that.
“Not only that, but once you guys get internet, you can share videos and pictures and stuff,” Erin said. “Say, with family members?”
Applejack looked across the table at her friend, whose grin had turned sly. She chuckled and shook her head.
“Well, I reckon this is a mighty fine gift, Erin.” Applejack put the box down on the table and walked over to give Erin a great big hug, which was enthusiastically returned.
They were still hugging when loud, though muffled, laughter filtered down from the top of Sugarcube Corner. The two of them broke apart and shared a confused look.
“What the hay was that?” Applejack asked.
“I think it’s Pinkie Pie,” Erin said cautiously.
“She’s been at it all day,” Mrs. Cake said, with just a hint of exasperation as she came around to clear away the empty plates from the table.
Erin glanced upwards as more laughter pealed out from upstairs. “I think I figured out what Pinkie’s ‘research project’ is,” she said.
~~*Erin*~~
Erin arrived home with a sigh, dropping her saddlebags next to her door as she walked inside. It had been a fun, though emotionally draining day, and she was looking forward to nothing more than a light snack and getting some sleep.
Which reminded her that she still hadn’t bought a bed.
“Well, I guess it’s the couch again,” she muttered, yawning as she walked into her much-cleaner living room. There was so much more space with most of the boxes out and in the other rooms. So much so that it almost felt like an entirely different place.
One last gift-wrapped box remained, propped next to Erin’s fireplace where she’d left it earlier that day. Emotions tugged at her as she looked at it. One friend still hadn’t received her present. And, given how that particular friend had never quite forgiven her for her spying mission to Ponyville, Erin wasn’t sure if she ever would.
She frowned as she ran a hoof over the smooth wrapping paper, envisioning the bright yellow tablet with an open ledger painted onto its back. Then she sighed, turned, and went into the kitchen.
Tomorrow was early enough to worry about that, she decided.