//------------------------------// // Welcomes, Popsicles, and The Most Confusing Gift Exchange // Story: The Third Diamond // by The Delirium //------------------------------// At the moment, Rarity happened to be very excited. She was on her way to the train station to meet her brother whom she had not seen in over a year. Rarity could hardly wait to catch up with him and to introduce him to all of her friends. While Neon was away, Rarity and her sister had greatly missed their missing Sibling, but that did not matter anymore. Yes, Neon Light was coming home to his sisters where he belonged. Rarity grinned at her thoughts and turned to see her sister with the same giant grin. At least, that's what she thought she would see. The unicorn mare was confused to look around and see a notable absence of her younger sister, Sweetie Belle. Rarity quickly calmed down when she spotted Sweetie Belle at the counter inside of the Cakes' pastry shop. "Sweetie Belle!" Rarity scolded as she entered the store. "You must not run off like that. It's rude and you had me worried." Sweetie Belle, who had heard her sisters voice, turned around to acknowledge her elder sibling. "I'm sorry Rarity. I just wanted to buy a treat to give to Neon when he gets there." "Oh, that's a great idea!" Rarity exclaimed, all previous anger melting away. "What did you have in mind, darling?" Just then Mrs.Cake came out of the back room holding to cream colored boxes. "Here is your order Sweetie Belle." stated Mrs.Cake. "Two dozen large popsicles to go." Rarity looked at her younger sister with mischievous look that said "good choice." "Thank you Mrs.Cake." said Sweetie Belle as she placed the right amount of bits on the counter. "Not a problem dear. Always happy to provide sweets for any cute little filly." Mrs.Cake commented while rustling Sweetie's mane. As the two sisters turned and left, Rarity called out once more to Mrs.Cake before exiting. "Mrs.Cake, could you be a darling and send Pinkie over to the Boutique when you see her. I have some pony very special I want them to meet." "Try and stop me. You know how much Pinkie enjoys meeting new ponies." Rarity couldn't help but laugh at the baker's remark. "She sure does." "The train will reach Ponyville in five minutes. Thank you for riding the Manheatten Express." boomed a loud voice over the speakers on the train. Neon Light opened his eyes, yawned, and stretched to greet the new day. And what an important day it was for him. Today was the day that he would finally see his beloved sisters again. Neon wanted the day to be perfect, so before he left on the train, he had gotten his sisters a little present he knew would make them happy. Neon glanced out the window and saw the town of Ponyville rapidly approaching. The unicorn stallion was not nervous. On his tour, he had been taught that nerves only led to problems and failures. Neon was surely excited, but not completely. The lingering doubts of his sisters expectations for him still lingered in his mind. If anything, he was... Before he could think of the right word to describe the way he was feeling, a loud yawn made him lose his train of thought. Neon turned to see that the pony sitting next to him, Rainbow Dash, was waking up. The pegasus noticed this and turned to him. "Were you watching me wake up?" questioned the sleepy mare. "What!? No. Of course not. That would be weird." hastily replied Neon. "Whatever. If you say so. Hey, there's Ponyville!" Rainbow was correct as Neon saw the train pulling into the station. "The train has now stopped at Ponyville Central Station. All outgoing passengers hop off. And on all incoming passengers hop on. It's not rocket science." boomed the speakers. "Well, this is it." sighed Neon. "It's time." With that, the unicorn gathered his luggage and made his way to the front of the train. "Do you see him? Do you see him?" asked Sweetie Belle who was perched atop her sister's back. "I can't fin him." she complained while searching the crowd of ponies exiting the train. "I'm sure he will find us, but please Sweetie Belle get off. Your not as light as you used to be." The filly hopped off her sister with a blush and a quick apology. "It's alright, but now we must find our brother in this crowd. Can you believe the number ponies that are coming from Manehatten?" "Well, well. Look who's here to greet me." said a cocky once that made both sisters turn. "I knew a true friend would come meet me at the train station." "Uh, Rainbow Dash. Were you in Manehatten?" asked a puzzled Rarity. "Of corse I was! The Wonderbolts Derby was being held in Manehatten this year, remember? Where do you think I was for the past week?" "Sleeping." both sisters automatically answered. "Very funny." said Rainbow rolling her eyes. "If you're not here to greet me, then why are you here at the train station anyway?" "We came here to see our brother. He was gone for a really long time, but now we get to see him again." squeaked Sweetie Belle gleefully. "He should be on this train." "Wait a minute." said Rainbow Dash, pausing to think for a second. "Does your brother have a blue and yellow mane, white coat like you, and a spotlight cutie mark?" "Yes, how did you know?" "I sat next to the stallion on the train. I though he looked familiar. Now that I think of it, he looks just like you two." "Is that supposed to imply a look like a mare?" asked the aforementioned unicorn who was strolling towards the trio. "Because I don't. Not even a little bit." "Neon!" exclaimed Sweetie Belle as she galloped to embrace her brother in a hug. "We missed you so much." "Hey, Sweetie Belle." gladly accepting the embrace. "I've missed you too. Wow, you've gotten so big. You really have turned into a great filly." Sweetie Belle smiled at her brother's remarks and continued to hug him tightly. "I'm here as well you know." said a voice that made the hugging siblings break apart. They looked up to see Rarity standing over them. Neon immediately smiled and pulled her elder sister into a hug that caught her off guard. "Rarity. It's been so long. I see you are looking as great as ever." complimented the stallion. "Oh, Neon. It's great to see you again. You've really grown up. Is that muscle I see?" joked Rarity. "You bet it is." said Neon flexing his forelegs. "Lifting spotlights and carrying them to where they need to be is hard work. Speaking of lights, I have a present for you two." Neon quickly opened his saddle bag and fished out two spheres with other multicolored spheres attached to it. He handed them to his sisters and waited for a reply. "What are they, darling?" asked Rarity. "Oh! I call them insta-party lights. All you have to do is throw them on the ground in a dark room and a bunch of multicolored lights will come out. They are machines of my own design. They only work once, so be careful with them." "Thank you so much!" yelled Sweetie as she once again hugged her brother. "Now, we have something for you." Rarity used her magic to place the two boxes of popsicles in front of Neon. "Oh, thank Celestia, I am starving." Neon stated as he opened the top box. His face quickly fell when all he saw was a puddle of strawberry and grape fluid. "It seems they have melted." The three siblings looked at each other awkwardly before all cracking up laughing.