Chapter 2
The Ticket Master – Part 1
Twilight looked at the two tickets in front of her, and sighed. How was she going to do this? She had an extra ticket to the Gran Galloping Gala, and five friends that she knew would want to go. This was going to lead to a decision that she didn’t want to make…
Alex looked at Twilight across the table, she had been sitting there worrying about the tickets for the past half hour, and had barely said a word to him or spike in that entire time. “Uh… Twilight, Is this really going to be a problem?” Alex asked finally.
Twilight nodded slowly. “I’m going to have to pick one of my friends to go… And I don’t like having to make that kind of choice…”
Alex thought for a moment, then said “Couldn’t you just take Spike?” He asked, “You could tell your friends that he… I don’t know, had dibs on it or something!”
Twilight shook her head. “I don’t want to lie to anypony!” She said, resting her chin on the table. “I just… Wish there was some fair way for me to pick, that everypony could agree with!” Then the light in her head went off, and her eyes lit up. “I know what to do!”
Alex turned to Spike, then back to Twilight. “…What are you gonna do?”
“I’m going to go out, and ask everypony what they would do if they had a ticket to the Gala!” She announced, standing up. “I won’t TELL anypony that I have a spare ticket, I’ll just listen to all of them tell me what they’d do if they had the chance to go!” Twilight made her way over to the front door of the library, “Once I hear all their reasons, I’ll be able to choose the pony who deserves to go most!”
Alex and Spike watched Twilight trot out the door, and both sighed. “Why does that sound like a terrible idea?” Spike asked.
“Because it is Spike,” Alex said to him, watching Twilight walk further away from the library, through the open door, “Because it is.” He repeated.
“So… Are we going to go after her?” Spike asked him.
Alex looked back and forth between Spike and the now distant Twilight. “Uh… Yeah, we definitely should.” Alex said to him. “Good thinking.”
Spike hopped up on Alex’s back, and the two ran out the door after Twilight, who had now turned a corner and disappeared. “I hope we didn’t lose her…” Alex muttered.
After some walking through the crowded market, Twilight turned herself and started heading down to the outside of town. Following the dirt path to Sweet Apple Acres, Twilight took some time to think about her brilliant plan.
This was going to be easy! She would casually bring up the Grand Galloping Gala, and find out what Applejack would do if she had the chance to go. It would be no problem at….
“Well, shucks Twilight!” Applejack shouted, cutting off her train of thought “You came a bit late!”
A surprised, and confused Twilight turned Applejack, who had been applebucking a group of trees nearby. “A bit… late?” She asked as Applejack made her way over to the path.
“It turns out I didn’t need y’all to win the bet I had with Big Mac!” Applejack said smiling. “I just about worked my rump right off getting’ it done, but I did it!”
“Oh?” Twilight asked tilting her head, “What was the bet you had with Big Macintosh?”
“I bet Big Macintosh that I could get all the Golden Delicious apples in the barn by lunchtime!” Applejack said smiling proudly, “An’ I did it! So now, he’s gotta’ walk down Stirrup Street in one of Granny’s girdles!” She said looking past Twilight, then suddenly going wide eyed.
Twilight turned around and immediately understood.
“You’re lookin’ real pretty there Big Macintosh!” Applejack called to her brother,
Twilight watched Big Macintosh walk down the dirt path in a very old fashioned pink girdle that covered him from just before his flank, all the way up to his chest. His midsection had been compressed by the outfit, and as a result, he looked quite thin.
“That pink sure does bring out your eyes Big Mac!” Applejack shouted, holding back all-out laughter.
Twilight was surprised to see that Big Macintosh still had his usual demeanor. She would die of embarrassment if anypony saw her walking around in one of those. And she was a girl! But, somehow, he just kept down the dirt road, as if nothing was wrong at all.
“Mornin’ Twilight” Big Macintosh said walking past the two girls, as if nothing was wrong. The truth was, he was embarrassed. But he knew he could rob his sister of some of her victory if he didn’t show the embarrassment. So, he simply walked on, dying just a little bit inside.
Applejack frowned as Big Macintosh walked over a hill, and away from the two. “That boy sure knows how to ruin a good time.” She said, turning to Twilight. “So! What’d you come ‘round for Twi?” She asked.
“What did I come around for...?” Twilight said snapping her view away from the pony in drag. “Oh, I wanted to know what you’d do at the Grand Galloping Gala if you had a chance to go!” Twilight said, realizing that this was probably the least casual way to bring up her question. Well, it was too late now.
Applejack looked at her confused. “Uh, why?” she asked.
“Oh! Just curious! You know… no other reason whatsoever! Ha...ha…” She laughed nervously.
“Well, if that’s all!” Applejack said smiling, “Well… I’d really like to go so I could drum up business for Sweet Apple Acres!” She said, picturing it in her head. “I’d get myself an apple stand set up there! Why, with all those hoity toity ponies, I could make a heap of money!” She continued, smiling at the thought. “We could replace that saggy old roof on the barn, and Big Macintosh could replace that saggy old plow, and Granny Smith could replace that saggy old hip! Why, I’d give my left hind leg to go to that Gala!”
“Hmm, that’s a very good reason!” Twilight said, smiling at her. “Thanks for telling me!” She said as she started walking away.
“Did you need anythin’ else…?” Apple jack asked her, suspicious again.
“Nope!” Twilight said smiling “Thanks Applejack! Anyway, I need to go see Rarity!” She said trotting off, back the way she came. “See you later!” She called over her shoulder.
Applejack simply stood there confused at the ponies quick exit. Twilight was hiding something… that much was clear. But, she had to finish up her work, so, she let it go. She’d find out sooner or later, she was sure.
Alex and Spike walked into the town square, unfortunately, there had been enough ponies out and about for the two of them to lose track of Twilight pretty fast.
“You see her anywhere?” Alex asked Spike, who was standing on his back, looking through the crowd.
“Nope, Nothing!” Spike replied, still scanning the crowd.
“She could have gone anywhere…” Alex said, sitting down on his rump, causing Spike to slide off of him, and onto the ground. “I don’t even know who to ask…” Alex said, frowning. “Any ideas Spike?”
“Uh… Maybe we could ask Applejacks brother…” Spike said, obviously distracted by something.
“Oh! Good idea! Where is he?” Alex said standing up looking around.
Spike simply pointed across the square, not saying a word.
Alex followed his finger and went wide eyed when he saw Big Macintosh. “Is… is that… a…” He stammered.
“It sure is…” Spike said, just as shocked
“Is that a normal thing in this world?” Alex asked. “Because, as weird as this place is, I don’t think wearing a girdle in public is something that could ever be considered normal…”
“Don’t worry.” Spike said, “This isn’t normal… But… we should probably still ask him if he knows where Twilight is.” Spike said, trying to focus on their task at hand.
“Yeah, let’s go!” Alex said, allowing Spike to climb back onto his back, and then following Big Macintosh, who had just gone out of view.
“He went down that hill” Spike said pointing to a slope ahead of them.
Alex walked toward the hill, just as a rather large wagon filled with trash, being pulled by very small mare started coming up it. He couldn’t help but be amazed at the strength that some of the ponies had. Even at such a small size, this pony could still pull a wagon that was piled high with garbage. It must have weighed a ton.
However, as if he had jinxed the small mare, the old harness that the pony had wrapped around her suddenly snapped and the wagon started rolling back down the hill, with no one to stop it.
Alex rushed past the dazed mare, to the top of the hill, and looked at the runaway wagon. It was almost half way down the hill, but luckily, there weren’t any other ponies on the road besides Big Macintosh. Alex knew the wagon wouldn’t seriously hurt him at the speed it was going, but he also knew that he wouldn’t be able to dodge the wagon, even if Alex had warned him. So, he did the first thing that came to his mind, and bowed his head, and hoped that he could remember everything that Twilight had told him.
“Alex!” Spike shouted jumping off his back, “What are you doing?” He didn’t understand why Alex wasn’t doing anything. “Hey, Big Macintosh!” Spike shouted down the hill, “Look out!”
Turning his head, Big Macintosh saw the wagon heading for him, but, as Alex had also thought, it was too close for him do anything about it. So, he simply braced himself for the impact, knowing that at the very least, he could stop it from damaging someponies home, at the bottom of the hill. So, he closed his eyes, and waited for the impact…
Alex could feel huge amounts of energy pouring into his horn, just begging to be used. Looking up, he focused the energy on the wagon. Then, an inch away from running into Big Mac, the wagon stopped dead.
When the impact that he had been expecting never came, Big Macintosh slowly opened his eyes and was happy to see the wagon slowly being lifted off the ground in a white aura. He sighed, and sidestepped the wagon, and started walking toward the top of the hill, to thank Alex.
However, Alex wasn’t out of the woods yet. He was filled with so much energy; his vision was blurring, and his head was starting to hurt. On top of that, he still didn’t know how to use magic properly yet, so he wasn’t able to pull the wagon back to the top of the hill safely. Instead of a nice slow pace, the wagon flew at him, at a much more dangerous speed than it had been going before. So, in a panic, he expelled all of his energy at once into the wagon, sending it flying away in the opposite direction.
Spike, Alex, Big Macintosh and the owner of the cart, all watched in awe, as the wagon flipped through the air over the rest of the town, flinging apple cores, banana peels, opened cans, moldy hay, rotten tomatoes, an even some broken jars, all over the houses below it. Then, after passing over the town, the cart kept on flying, until it finally crashed deep in the Everfree Forest.
The four stood in silence as they all slowly looked over the damage caused to the town. Luckily, nothing had been destroyed, nopony had been hurt, and the mess would be… easy enough to clean up.
“What the hay happened here?” A voice said behind them, breaking the silence.
Everypony turned around to see a cyan pony, with a rainbow mane, standing slack jawed, looking at the town. However, upon noticing the house made of clouds covered in garbage, her mood went from shocked, to angry.
“Well?” She asked.
“Well Rainbow,” Spike said smiling. “That was Alex! There was a cart headed down the hill toward Big Mac, and he saved him by stopping the cart with his magic!” He beamed, not realizing that this was just making Rainbow Dash angrier. “But, he’s not so good at controlling it yet, so, after he saved Big Mac, he lost control of his magic, and ended up throwing the wagon across the whole town! Pretty funny huh?”
At this point, Dash was staring daggers at Alex. He could almost see the air puffing out of her nostrils. “Oh yeah,” She said sarcastically, “It really is funny how he covered half the town in garbage. But, do you want to know the best part?” She said, looking at Spike briefly, then at Alex.
“Which part?” Spike asked excitedly, clearly not getting her sarcasm.
“The best part is my house.” Rainbow said pointing a hoof toward a floating house in the sky, made of clouds.
Alex cringed at the sight. This house had been hit badly. It was absolutely littered with the trash. This was not going to help with the ‘her disliking him’ situation.
“Listen, I…” Alex tried to say, but was cut off before he could continue.
“I don’t wanna hear it!” Rainbow dash said annoyed, “If you don’t know how to control magic, then don’t use it! Especially when it could get someponies house covered in TRASH!” She shouted at him.
At this point, Big Macintosh still dressed in his girdle stepped forward. “Now wait one second Rainbow Dash.” He said sternly to her, “Alex was just tryin’ to help me out, if I had been payin’ more attention, none of this would have happened.” He said, trying to take some of the flak off of Alex.
“It’s my fault too!” The owner of the wagon piped up, “I was using an old harness that broke, causing all of this to happen!”
“Yeah!” Spike said, “And I… Uh...” Spike tried to think of a reason it was his fault, but couldn’t find one. “Oh, never mind.” He said kicking a rock on the ground.
Dash growled. She didn’t like losing anything. Even an argument. But, she knew she was just a bit too mad, and wouldn’t be this worked up about it later. “Fine…” She said, “If you’ll excuse me, I have a house to go clean.” She then flew straight up, and started flying toward her house.
Alex sighed. “I don’t think that pony’s ever going to like me…”
“Don’t worry ‘bout her” Big Mac said to Alex. “I’m sure you two will work your issues out.” He said comfortingly. “Anyways, I’d best be heading back to the farm. I was supposed to walk all the way down Stirrup Street in this girdle, but I figure halfway is good enough.” He said in his usual slow tone. “Oh, and thanks for helpin’ me out. If that cart had hit me, I’d have been out of commission for Apple Buck season, leavin’ all the work for my sister... And I KNOW that wouldn’t have ended well.” He chuckled.
Suddenly realizing why he had sought Big Mac in the first place, Alex quickly asked, “Have you seen Twilight around? We’ve been out looking for her.”
“Eeyup.” Big Mac nodded “She was talkin’ to Applejack in the orchard. You could go check there.” He suggested.
Alex let Spike hop up on his back, and was just about ready to take off, when he realized he didn’t know how to get there. “Uhh…” He said turning to Big Mac.
Big Macintosh simply pointed a hoof toward an open field. “That’ll get you there fastest. Just keep headin’ straight.” He said.
“Thanks!” Alex said running toward the field. “Oh! And I’m sorry about your cart!” He shouted over his shoulder to the mare.
“Don’t worry about it! I need a new one anyway!” She called back smiling, just in time for Alex to disappear into the orchard at the other side of the clearing.
Alex and Spike had been in the orchard for a few minutes now, and had slowed to a walk, to make sure they didn’t miss the two ponies they were looking for. However, this path Big Mac had given them wasn’t the main road, so Alex knew that Twilight could be long gone, and she wouldn’t have passed them on her way out.
“I can’t wait to tell Twilight about what you did!” Spike said, rolling around on Alex’s back in laughter.
“Yeah… Me neither.” Alex said, still embarrassed over everything.
“So, why was Big Macintosh wearing that outfit?” Spike asked, calming down.
“I don’t know. We’ll have to ask Applejack when we find her.” Alex said back.
“Ask Applejack what?” A voice came from behind them.
Alex and Spike jumped, surprised at her sudden appearance.
“I’m just sneakin’ up on everypony today!” Applejack said laughing, “What can I do ya for?” She asked the two.
“We’re looking for Twilight!” Spike said, “Big Macintosh told us she was here!”
“Y’all saw Big Mac?!” Applejack said, getting excited. “How’d he look?” She asked, waiting for them to start laughing.
“Oh, funny.” Alex said, not giving her the reaction she wanted. “We were kinda… preoccupied.” He said slowly, thinking back to the garbage wagon. “Ask him when he gets back to explain.” Alex suggested. “So… Where’s Twilight? We’ve been looking all over for her.”
“Twilight left a while ago to go see Rarity.” Applejack answered. “She was askin’ me ‘bout the Grand Galloping Gala, then just up and left.” Applejack said scratching her head. “It was the darndest thing.”
“She’s headed to see Rarity?!” Spike said excitedly, standing up on Alex’s back.
“Darn tootin’!” Applejack said smiling at the baby dragon’s excitement.
“Come on Alex! Let’s go!” Spike said pulling his hind leg back toward the town.
“Alright, thanks Applejack.” Alex said, laughing at Spikes reaction as well, as he was pulled away from her by the dragon.
“Y’all take care now!” Applejack said, as the two left, as quickly as they had come.
Watching them head off back to town, she couldn't help but sigh, “I can’t believe that they weren’t laughing at Big Mac…”