So my plan so far had gone great. Almost too great. After I had mentioned to Twilight that I could take her to my vault—since it’s just me I might as well claim ownership—the mare went nuts. Thankfully, it wasn’t the kind of nuts in which she would try to kill me, but more along the lines of her excitement shooting through the fucking roof. I already had a hunch that this pony was bottling up her emotions, because the way she acted around me just felt a little... forced.
“Ohmygoshreally?!” Twilight squealed as she shot up from her throne, startling the shit out of me in the process. “You mean you actually have an underground house? One with research labs, data, books, tools–you have to take me!” The mare flew right up into my face, forcing me to press my back against the chair I was in.
I gently placed a hand on her extremely soft chest and pushed her back. “Alright, alright,” I chuckled and smiled, “I’ll take you to it.”
“When?” The pony was beaming with contagious excitement.
I laughed at her adorableness. “Right now would be perfectly fine with me,” I said, then mumbled, “Just as long I don’t have to wear that damn cloak again.”
I looked back at Twilight and the mare seemed like she was about to explode. ‘Okay this is getting a little insane now,’ I thought when I noticed her literally vibrating. ‘This is a princess? She’s vibrating like a toy... Should I rephrase that? Nah...’
And then suddenly she was gone in a flash of purple light.
“What the fuck?!” I swung both my legs onto my chair and climbed up it. “Where’d she go–?!”
There was another light, and she was back again with a pair of red rimmed glasses, a saddlebag and a clipboard. “Okay I got everything settled,” she said checking, a box with a feathered quill. “Spike said he’ll man the library on the first floor and Owlowiscious will make sure he doesn’t get too distracted–okay then!” The board and quill vanished into thin air and Twilight looked at me from under her glasses with a massive smile. “You ready?”
I looked down at her from my crouched position on the chair, my left eye twitched a bit. “H-h-... I can’t even...” I took a deep breath and regained my composure. “Fuck it!” I stepped down and smiled at her. “Let’s go!”
:[-]:
“OhmygoshIcan’tbelieveit!” Twilight swept passed me and landed onto the cobblestone with a skip in her step. She turned to me and continued to walk backwards down the empty street. Evening had fallen and it looked as if all the residents had returned to the homes they resided. Because of this, there wasn’t really a need for me to wear the cloak Quartz provided me with, but what made it even better is that the temperature outside had dropped a good amount, so I wasn’t sweating like a pig!
Twilight smiled at me while she pranced backwards. “I had a feeling something wasn’t right about you!” This statement caused me to cock an eyebrow, Twilight immediately caught onto what she said. “Eh.. what I mean is that, I had a feeling that you weren’t like the humans I saw back in the other world.” Her expression fell a bit. “That you hadn’t come from some other dimension and what not.” Twilight continued to fumble with her words as she tried to fix what she said.
My expression softened and I laughed at the mare. “It’s alright,” I said, “I understand what you’re trying to say.”
Twilight lightened up again and spun around so that she was walking correctly. For a few minutes we walked down the road in silence until we reached a curving point in the road and we continued down another street. “Say...” Twilight said slowly.
I glanced down at the pony. “What is it?” She bit her lip and looked up at me.
“Could I ask you a few questions... personal questions?”
I frowned and turned my attention back forward. “If it’s about my sex life then no.” I looked back at her out of the corner of my eyes and gave her a sly smile.
Twilight’s face grew a deep crimson and her eyes widened. “Nonononono–it’s nothing like that!”
I laughed. “Well then, what do you want to know?”
“Uh... okay... hold on.” Twilight’s horn flashed, I turned my head back towards her and saw that she was levitating an entire notebook full of questions. ‘When the hell did she fill that out?’
“Aside from the stalli–uh-I mean man, you’re looking for...” Twilight cleared her throat. “Are there anymore of your kind that you know of?”
I cringed at the question. ‘Way to start things off great...’
I gulped some air. “Uh...” My voice grew quiet, I took a deep breath and let off a shaky sigh.
I looked away from Twilight and continued walking in silence. “Oh...” I heard Twilight close her journal when she noticed my pained expression. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t...”
“It’s... fine.” I looked back at her with a shaky grin. “Any other questions?”
Twilight nodded. “Yeah. Uh... no can’t use that one... hmm, nope.” Twilight flipped through her pages while we walked. “Ahha! Here’s something simple, male or female?”
I gave Twilight a dead look. “I think you can figure that one out yourself.”
Twilight frowned and a small blush resurfaced on her cheeks. I snarled. “No! I’m not saying check for yourself!”
Twilight giggled. “I guess it's safe to assume female?” I nodded as she checked that off her list. “Where are you from?” As we rounded another street corner, I could see the market place up ahead. Surprisingly, there were still a few scattered groups of ponies.
“Manhattan,” I answered her.
“Don’t you mean Manehattan?” she questioned.
“What?” I looked at her with a slight confused look. I shook my head. “No. I’m from Manhattan, New York.”
“Oh, where’s that?” Twilight persisted.
It was slightly irritating answering what would normally be dumb questions; however, I had to remind myself that places such as Manhattan don’t exist anymore. Or at least as far as I know. I took a deep breath as we entered the market place. “East coast of the United States.”
“Alright, alright,” Twilight mumbled as she jotted that down, “and where is that–”
“The east coast of this land mass.” I stopped in the center of the shopping square, and I began to look around the place, hoping that I could spot Quartz and Crystal. “I really hope they didn’t leave me here,” I whispered to no one in particular.
“So...” I pivoted around and saw Twilight tapping her chin with a quill. “You’re saying that Equestria used to be a place called ‘United States’?”
I looked over Twilight, checking to see if we didn’t pass them on the way in. “Yes. Though the full name is ‘The United States of America’.”
Twilight nodded and jotted that down. “Interesting. Have you ever gone to school?”
“Highschool... Damnit, where are they?” I whispered the last bit under my breath.
“Highschool?”
“It’s like elementary but at a higher level.”
“So like a university?”
“No. Lower than that.” I turned away from her again and continued deeper into the shopping district with Twilight trotting along behind me.
“I thought we were going to your home?” She asked.
“We will. However, I can’t find my ride anywhere.” I stopped by a nearby apple stand and began to look around once. Finally I got irritated and cupped my hands around my mouth. “Quartz! Crystal! Where are you guys?!”
“What in tarnation!” shouted a startled pony from my right.
“Applejack!” Twilight happily exclaimed.
I spun around and faced the concession stand beside me. Manning it was an orange colored pony with a blonde mane and a cowboy hat. The pony was looking at me with a pair of shrunken green eyes and a mouth that opened and closed like a fish.
I bit my lower lip and slowly raised a hand. I waved at the startled pony. “Hi,” I said, my eyes wandering away. I realized that every single pony that was in the market place was now looking in our direction, each and every expression they shared matched the ones of the pony behind the concession stand.
‘Perhaps I should’ve worn the cloak after all.’ I thought.
“Twi,” the orange pony whispered, “who’s yer friend?”
Twilight beamed and stuck a hoof out towards me. “This is Ms. Cooper, she’s an ambassador from Echo.”
My features faltered and I looked over at Twilight with a bewildered face, she winked at me. I blinked and then quickly proceeded to clear my throat. When I was finished I turned and stuck a hand out to the orange mare. “‘Allo there,” I said opting for a poor English accent for no particular reason.
The cowgirl eyed my hand as if it was some foreign being—which in a way, kind of was. “She wants to shake your hoof, AJ,” Twilight clarified for her, “It’s a formal way of greeting.”
The orange pony named AJ looked at my hand, her confused expression unchanging. Timidly she raised one of her legs and reached over the counter and placed her hoof in the palm of my hand. My eyes widened briefly at the gentle, soft touch. ‘Feels exactly like Twilight’s hoof, if not a tad rougher but still soft.’ I shook it briefly then let go.
AJ cleared her throat then smiled lightly. “Howdy,” she said, “sorry about mah rude reaction... ah wasn’t expectin’ somepony to go screamin’ like that.”
I stared at the pony directly in the eyes, stunned by the sound of her voice. The southern drawl in each of her words caused butterflies to form in my stomach. ‘For God’s sake,’ I thought as a wave of disappointment fell over me, ‘if only she was human, I’d take her to bed just to hear that voice a few notches higher.’
“So yeah... Ah’m sorry about that.” The pony broke eye contact with me and was immediately drawn to the apples on her cart. The look on her face appeared to be filled with discomfort.
‘No shit, she’s talking to an alien. Say something to lighten the mood.’
Before I could say something Twilight stepped up. “We’re having trouble looking for her chaperones. Have you seen them?”
“They’re about this tall.” I brought my hand up slightly below my chest. “One is a blue pegasus and the other is a white-ish cream unicorn.”
AJ bit her lip and leaned towards Twilight. “Ah take it they’re ponies?” Twilight nodded and AJ replied with one of her own, she looked back at me. “Well, ah do recall havin’ two mares who matched those colors come up to mah stand earlier. For some reason they tried sellin’ me some strange lookin’ junk.”
My lips curled back and I had to use all of my willpower to suppress a sigh. ‘Yep that has to be them.’ “Any idea on where they went?” Twilight asked.
“Last ah saw they were headin’ over to Sugarcube Corner.”
“Where’s that at?” I asked.
“Don’t worry about it, Ms. Cooper.” Twilight tugged on the side of my shirt with her magic, “I’ll lead you there. Thanks for the help, AJ.”
“No problem, Twi... and, uh... nice meetin’ you, Ms. Cooper.”
I looked at AJ and winked at her. “C’ya later, love.” I turned just before I could see AJ’s reaction and followed Twilight down the road.
:[-]:
By the time we reached possibly one of the weirdest shops I’ve ever seen in my entire life, night had fallen upon us and the sky had opened up to a beautiful spiraling galaxy up above. However, despite the cosmos and all of its beauty, my eyes were drawn to the bizarrely constructed store. Despite the darkness I could still make out the gingerbread like roof and the cupcake on top, which had three lit candles sticking out the top. The shop was primarily pink, save for the roof and chimney, though there were a few exceptions when it came to the flourishes and the cream colored wood on the walls.
To sum it all up: It was a gingerbread house with a goddamn cupcake on top.
“Well this is it,” Twilight said, “Sugarcube corner.”
“Is it open?” I asked.
“I don’t see why it isn’t; Pinkie Pie usually keeps it open all day and night.” Twilight started to walk towards the front door and I followed behind her.
“You’re saying the owner works twenty four hours non stop?”
“Well it’s not just her running the shop.” Twilight and I reached the front door. “The Cakes are the ones who own the building, they usually work it during the day.”
I nodded my head as Twilight opened the door and the two of us were thrown back outside by a spazzing pink blur. Both Twilight and I landed at the bottom of the steps on our backs, each of us had a pink hoof pressed against our chests. “Twilight!” The pink horse practically screamed with excitement. “I can’t believe I found you! You won’t believe what I’ve seen to–GAAH!” The horse released a drawn out gasp when her eyes fell on me. “YOU!” She screamed and vanished back indoors.
I sat up and placed a hand on my sore chest. ‘That’s going to leave a bruise.’ “What the hell was that?”
Twilight pushed herself onto her haunches. “Well... that was Pinkie Pie.” Twilight turned her head towards me. “And I think she might’ve seen you earlier.”
The pink horse reappeared by the front door, her head hung out the open entrance while she glared daggers at us. “What are you waiting for?!” She waved a hoof at us. “Get in here!” Her hoof then pointed directly at me. “Especially you, Frowny McFly!”
“What?” I frowned.
The pink pony slammed the door and Twilight took a deep breath. “Well.” She looked at me. “We better not keep her waiting.”
:[-]:
The bell above the door chimed when it opened. The inside of the shop was rather small, warm, and smelled of sweets and pastries. Towards the back of the store was a counter top with a cash register, below it was a glass case showing all the kinds of sweets you could buy. On the far right towards the windows were a few tables, occupying one of these tables was a familiar cream colored unicorn. “Chloe!” Quartz shouted when her head turned and she saw me. Her eyes lit up and she got up from her seat. “Where have you been?”
“I could ask you the same thing.” I smiled at the sight of the cream mare. It was a strange feeling; being happy to see that pony. I couldn’t quite place why I had felt that way, however, seeing her face light up at the sight of me made me feel all the more welcome. “Where’s Crystal–” Out of the corner of my vision a black and pink blob struck me right in the mouth. My head recoiled back, my tongue and nose was overwhelmed by the taste and smell of chocolate. I stumbled backwards and bumped into Twilight, who caught me before I tumbled right over her. My eyes were wide with shock and every nerve in my body tensed, but I couldn’t move; the surprise chocolate was too overpowering.
I slowly reached a hand up to my mouth and grabbed onto the creamy end of whatever struck me. Ignoring the stickiness that enveloped my fingers I pulled whatever it was out of my mouth and held it out in front of me. My mouth fell back open when I saw that in my hand was a chocolate cupcake with pink frosting. “What the fu–” A light thump came from my left and once again my mouth was invaded by the brute force of another chocolate cupcake.
Twilight caught me for the second time with her magic and growled. “Pinkie stop it!”
I spat the chocolate dessert on the floor and wiped my lips. “Are you trying to choke me?” I growled.
“Whoopsy! I’m sorry, Frowny.” The pink pony from before popped up from behind the counter with what looked like a large potato gun in her hooves. “That last one was meant for Twilight.”
Twilight came up by my side. “Wait what?!” The pink pony hoisted the gun up and fired another cupcake which impaled itself right on Twilight’s horn, splattering her face with pink frosting in the process. The lavender mare sighed out of frustration. “Thank you, Pinkie.”
Quartz giggled at the sight of us and I flashed her an irritated look. ‘Yep my happiness from seeing her is now gone.’
“Don’t worry,” she whispered to me, “she got me right in the eye when Crystal and I walked in.”
“Do you like it?” The hyperactive mare named Pinkie hopped up onto the counter and balanced the gun on her back.
“The cupcake?” Twilight asked as she magicked the pastry off her horn along with the bits of frosting.
“Well... yeah, but I’m talking about this cool thing!” She bucked her rear in the air and tossed the gun over her head, she then reached out and caught it with a hoof and twirled it back to her side like a professional majorette.
Apparently I was the only one surprised by that. “How’d she...” I pointed at the gun, then at the pony, “but she doesn’t have hands!”
Pinkie looked at me and smiled. “You don’t need hands to do this, silly.” She kicked the gun out to the side with her left hind leg and caught it with her left fore hoof, she then proceeded to twirl it some more before slamming the barrel onto the floor in front of the counter. Pinkie smiled and rested both her front hooves on the butt of the gun and leaned forward. “See? It’s easy.”
My mind went into full meltdown. Twilight nudged my side, I looked at her and saw that she was shaking her head. “Don’t question, Pinkie,” she said. “Trust me. I’ve learned it’s a lot easier if you just go with it.”
“But how–”
“Listen to the Princess, Chloe.” Quartz grumbled and nudged me from behind. “C’mon, let’s go sit down.” Quartz motioned with her head over to the table. I looked back at Twilight like a child waiting for her mother’s approval.
“Go on ahead, Chloe, I’ll be there in a minute,” Twilight said with a smile. “Pinkie and I just need to have a little... chat.” She turned her head towards the smiling pink pony.
“Oh! Oh! What are we going to talk about!” Pinkie kicked the cupcake launcher to the side and hopped off the counter. “Wait! Don’t tell me, lemme guess, uh... my cupcakes–” Twilight walked over to the mare and wrapped a wing around her, guiding her into a back room. “Wait no–” Pinkie sat on her haunches and forced Twilight to push her while she continued to ramble “We’re gonna talk about you and your new friend and how she’s an alien!”
“Yeah,” Twilight said, “something like that.” The two entered the back room and closed the door, leaving me and Quartz alone in the dining room.
“Well... that was something.” I looked over at Quartz who was sitting alone at a table nibbling on a cupcake and reading the newspaper.
“Well that’s Ms. Pie for ya...” She lowered her paper and grinned at me. “Personally, I don’t see how the princess can put up with her. If I was her I’d have gone crazy a long time ago.”
I walked over to the mare and sat across from her. “From what I just saw, I wouldn’t blame ya.” I smiled. “So where’s Crystal?”
Quartz took a deep breath. “She left early to try and scrounge up what little money she can from any shops that may still be open. Or she’s sleeping in the back of the wagon, or getting drunk at the Nightingale Pub. I dunno... I decided to take a little break and come here.”
“So...” I giggled, “she’s probably working her ass off to get money, and you’re just here wasting it all.”
“Put it like that you make me sound like a jerk! Well... you may be right, but hey! She could be too.” The unicorn giggled and took a bite of what looked like a vanilla cupcake. The smell from it was sweet and the texture of it looked very soft, the sight of it made my stomach grumble. Quartz’s left ear twitched and she raised an eyebrow at me, the smile that appeared on her face told me she knew what was up. “You’re hungry aren’t ya?”
I bit my lower lip and looked away. “Uhmm... yeah; I am.” I rested my elbow on the table and ran a hand through my hair.
Quartz’s smile grew even more and she levitated her cupcake over to me. “Here, you can have a bite of my cupcake.”
I looked at the dangling pastry with disgust as I saw half of it was already eaten. “What?” I looked at her. “No. I’m not eating that.”
The unicorn’s smile grew devious and she chuckled. “I’m not telling you to eat it, just take a bite out of it.”
“But you’ve already bitten into it!” I gestured at the small nibbles that littered every side of the pastry.
The mare shrugged. “So. Think of it as an indirect kiss or something.”
My mouth fell open and I used a hand to cover the light blush on my cheeks. “How is that going to help me in any way?”
Quartz laughed. “Alright, alright.” She wiped a hoof across the bottom of her left eye. “Here, I have another untouched one in my bag.” The pony pulled a saddlebag out from under the table and lifted it onto the table. There she opened it and dragged out a small decorated box filled with carbon copies of the cupcake. “Reach in and take whichever one sticks out to you.” She pushed the box over to me. I smiled lightly and hesitantly reached out to grab the box. “C’mon now,” Quartz said playfully, “she doesn’t bite.”
I shot the pony a look which only seemed to make her laugh, the joyfulness on her face forcing me to chuckle along with her. I reached all the way over the table and took the box Upon opening it, I didn’t really make decision when it came to grabbing which one I wanted. Pulling back I sat against my chair and examined the treat, like I said it was no different than the one Quartz was eating. It was a plain, boring, vanilla cupcake without sprinkles or any wacky design in the frosting. Just a small round pastry with a bit of white frosting glazed over the top. Exactly how I like it.
I glanced up from the cupcake and saw Quartz looking at me with a raised eyebrow. “Are you going to eat it or just make love to it with your eyes?” she asked me. I snorted a laugh and sat the cupcake on the table. “What’s so funny? I’m being serious here.”
“S-sorry...” I giggled. “It’s just that I wasn’t expecting someone like you to say that.” What she said also reminded me of Eva back when we first met. The day I first arrived in the vault, we were in the breakroom and she had offered me a glass of wine. At first I was confused and doing nothing but staring at it, and like what Quartz said, Eva practically said the exact same thing.
I sighed happily and picked the cupcake back up. Looking across the table I smiled at Quartz and held it up like I was about to give a toast. “Bottoms up,” I said and tilted my head back before dropping it in.
What happened next was something I was not expecting.
The second I bit down on what looked to be a delicious pastry. Turned out to be an imposter, a spy perhaps. Yes it was vanilla, but it wasn’t plain vanillia, there was something else. Something... evil inside that treat. It tasted like someone had dumped a bag of dried grass into the mixing bowl when baking it, it was awful, just absolutely awful.
“Chloe?” Quartz looked at me worried. “Chloe, are you alright–”
I hunched over the side of the table and fell out of my chair. Scrambling to my knees I saw a garbage can by the door and scrambled towards it, instead of pushing the flap to open it I tore the entire roof off it and ducked my head into the container and vomited. Quartz ran over to me and placed a hand on my back as reassurance.
“Oh no, I had a feeling you wouldn’t like hay flavor,” she said.
I pulled my head out of the can and looked at her. “That was fucking hay?” The unicorn nodded I took a deep breath and shook my head. “Goddammit.” I dipped my head back into the bin.
“Here try this!” an excited voice called from over my shoulder. I raised my head out of the bin and turned to see a plate of cookies in my face. I grimaced at the sight of them, afraid that they weren’t what they looked like.
“Nah, I’ll pass–” Out from under the tray a pink hoof appeared and shoved a chocolate chip cookie into my mouth. Terrified I stumbled back and accidentally shoved Quartz over, I spat the cookie onto the floor. “Stop it!” I yelled at Pinkie Pie, the mare was standing by the trash can with the tray on her hoof. She tilted her head at me like a confused dog. “I don’t want any cookies,” I said, “As a matter of fact, I don’t want anything you guys make.”
“That’s just silly, you can’t just ignore everypony’s gifts–”
“I think I can.”
Quartz pushed herself up and rubbed a hoof on the side of her head. “What the buck?” she groaned.
I looked at her “S-sorry, I didn’t mean to shove you over.” I turned my attention back to the pink mare. “Where did you come from anyways?”
Pinkie frowned a little and shoved the tray into her mane. She sat on the floor and tapped her chin with a hoof. “Well I was originally born on a rock farm–”
I tossed my hand to the side and disregarded what I just saw. “Nevermind, I don’t need your life story. Who are you anyways?”
The mare’s face lit up. “I’m Pinkie Pie!” She bounced up onto her hooves and zipped towards me. I scrambled back and rammed myself against the wall. Pinkie’s forehooves shot out and latched around my left hand and they began shake up and down sporadically.
‘How the hell is she gripping onto it?!’ I watched with wide eyes.
“I’m really happy that I got to meet you, Frowny–speaking of which why were you always frowning? Something must be bothering you isn’t it?” The pony proceeded to fire a ton of questions at me.
“N-no!” I tried to push her away but to my surprise she was very strong. “It’s not what you think really.”
“Alright, Ms. Pie,” Quartz got onto her hooves, “I think she’s had enough.”
“Pinkie, where did you go?” Twilight’s voice called from the back room.
The pink pony stopped shaking my hand, a serious look overtook her previous joyful attitude. Pinkie raised an eyebrow and proceeded to lean real closely into my face. She then whispered in a bone chilling tone, “You’re unhappy because you lost somepony?”
My mouth fell open. “That’s enough, Ms. Pie.” Quartz wrapped the pony with her magic and dragged her off of me. “Could you please go get us some fresh cookies?” Quartz then asked politely.
“Oh I’d love to!” The pony suddenly flopped back into her enthusiastic attitude and zipped away.
“There you are!” Twilight’s voice drifted out the now open door behind the counter.
“Well I'll admit,” Quartz cleared her throat, “that was really weird of Pinkie Pie–Chloe?” I hadn’t moved from my spot since Pinkie ran off. My heart was racing and I could feel my entire body beginning to tremble. Quartz came by my side in an instant. She dropped onto her haunches and rested a hoof on my shoulder. “Chloe? Chloe, what’s wrong?”
“H-how did she know?” My breathing escalated. “H-how did she know?”
Quartz placed a hoof to my chin and turned my head so that I was looking deep into her ocean blue eyes. “Chloe, you need to calm down. Everything is fine.”
My bottom lip trembled. “B-b-but h-how does s-she know, Quartz?” I began to ramble. “Th-there’s know way sh-she can know about them–wh-what if she knows th-that it’s all my fault!”
Quartz pressed a tip of her hoof into my upper chest. “That’s impossible, even for Pinkie Pie!” she assured me. “She’s probably just guessing; not only that, but it isn’t your fault! Your friend in the screen even said so!”
My eyes began to water. “But that isn’t true–I had a chance to stop it!”
Quartz bit her bottom lip, she had no way to respond. She didn’t know what I’ve gone through, if I really had a chance or not. Her hooves were tied. “That’s besides the point, Chloe, Pinkie is just wondering.” She sighed and began gently rubbing my shoulder with her hoof. It was oddly calming. “Her whole reasoning is to make everyone happy, have it be ponies or... humans. That’s her job.” She smiled sheepishly.
I closed my eyes and turned my head towards the floor. “She didn’t do a very good job.”
“Well it’s not like Pinkie Pie is going to know what makes you happy right off the bat, Chloe.” Quartz explained. “Like most ponies she needs to get to know you.”
“Well she knew why I was depressed right off the bat despite me trying to hide it.” I retorted.
Quartz fell silent and released an irritated sigh seconds later. “Chloe, that’s besides the point. Give yourself some time, I’m positive Pinkie Pie will make things up for you. Trust me, I bet she’s already planning some kind of party for you.”
It was my turn to release a shaky breath. I sniffed and wiped a few loose tears out from under my eyes. I looked at Quartz. “It’s going to take a whole lot more than a party to make me feel happy.”
Quartz frowned and her eyebrows raised. “Now don’t go saying–”
“You have no idea what I’ve been through.”
“And you’re right I don’t, but there is no reason to give up hope, Chloe.”
I felt the tears returning and my breathing once again became sporadic. “M-my en-entire sp-species is p-practically gone!”
“But you seen the other human in the screen, there’s still hope–”
“That could’ve been thousands of years ago!” I pointed at her. “You said it yourself, Quartz, those other ponies sounded young!”
Quartz eyes widened a bit then settled, her expression became soft. Almost motherly, she rubbed my shoulder again. “I know what I said, Chloe, but you mustn't give up hope.”
“But I’m most likely the only one.”
“And that’s why you need to keep living,” Quartz said quietly. “Don’t let your race fade quietly in the dark.”
I looked at the pony with tear stricken eyes, before I could say anything Twilight’s voice came from the other room, “Is everything alright in here?” Both Quartz and I looked over to see Twilight coming out of the other room with Pinkie following shortly behind with a batch of cookies.
Quartz and I looked at each other. Without words she nodded and turned back towards Twilight. “For the most part, yeah.”
Pinkie placed the tray of cookies on the counter and walked over to us. She glanced down at me with a slightly guilty look. I sniffed. “I’m sorry if I hurt you,” she said, “I wasn’t thinking straight at the time, please forgive me.”
I took a deep breath and pushed myself up pressing my back against the wall as support. In doing so I thought back to what Quartz said to me about giving the the little pink pony a chance. I took a deep breath dabbed my eyes a bit and smiled at the pony. I reached out and placed my hand on her head. “I forgive you.”
:[-]:
“I’m sorry,” Twilight said as Pinkie waved goodbye to us from her shop door. Twilight, Quartz, and I stepped out onto the cobblestone road, the light from Pinkie’s shop vanished as she closed the door. Taking a cookie the mare had given me I popped it in my mouth and chewed it with a small smile on my face. Raisin. Not a lot of people liked raisin cookies yet the ones Pinkie had made as an apology weren’t bad. Especially since there wasn’t any hay in it.
“What are you apologizing for?” I asked Twilight.
The princess sighed and turned towards me. “Well... I was the one who brought you here in the first place. Because of that, Pinkie accidentally upset you and–”
“Hey.” I cut her off. “It’s alright, okay. I already went through this with Pinkie, and I ain’t going to go through it with you... I forgive you too.”
“So...” Quartz spoke up. “Are you two love birds done talking yet?”
“Excuse me?” Twilight glared at her.
Quartz’s eyes widened in fear. “Oh, Princess! S-sorry, I-I forgot... y’know like how it’s been only a year... and... I’ll be quiet now.” She looked away, her ears down cast.
.
I chuckled lightly and patted her on the head. “It’s alright, I don’t think she minds...” I looked at Twilight and winked. “At least I don’t.”
Twilight’s face became flustered and she blushed. ‘God that’s adorable,’ I thought when she broke eye contact. She then turned her attention to Quartz. “Ms. Quartz, I know it’s late. But I have proposition for you.”
The miner pony’s ears perked up. “Y-yes, Princess, I’ll do anything.” She smiled.
“I want you to take us back to the vault Chloe came from.”
Quartz’s smile wavered a bit and she cast her eyes towards me. I nodded. “I told her we’d take her to it, and for that I’ll let you take some more of my things to sell.” That seemed to catch her interest.
“Alright.” She looked at Twilight and nodded her head rapidly. “I’ll do it, however, Crystal needs to come along to.”
“Speaking of which.” I glanced out into the darkness that draped over the small village. “I wonder where she is now.”