Matilda hummed to herself as she carried her groceries to the front door. She had stepped out for a few hours to do the grocery shopping, leaving Cranky to do as he wanted, though she had suggested he get onto the computer and try some of the new chat sites everyone’s been using. Get his roots to grow back, especially since it had been almost a week since he had dipped below a hundred points. She knew he could do it though.
Looking to her door, she felt her heart skip a beat. A piece of parchment had been left, and she now began reading it, expecting the worst. The handwriting was really fancy, and the language even more so. Fortunately, her years with Rarity and travelling the world had expanded her language enough to get the gist of it.
Cranky had accepted an invitation to Canterlot where he would spend two weeks under the tutelage of the princesses, before returning to Ponyville. All done in a hope that he would be able to make friends then, and live a happy, fulfilling life.
Matilda felt a little uneasy about the formality of the document, but there was no way for her to be certain, and if this had to do with his score, she couldn’t even entirely blame them for having acted upon it. Cranky had gotten so many ponies to come and try to get him to make more friends, or more positive posts, but nothing they said could have made him budge.
Matilda breathed in, a smile splitting over her face. “If anyone is going to make my sourpuss be willing to come to bridge with me at the end of the month, I guess I should have known it would need to be the princesses.” A small chuckle escaped her lips as she came into the house and began unloading the groceries, willing to wait, and trust in harmony.
Two weeks later, Cranky did indeed come back, and it was easier to make him smile. He also agreed to come to her bridge club, or spend time online talking to strangers just so they wouldn’t be so strange to him anymore. In fact, if Matilda had really paid attention, she may have noticed he didn’t really say no to much of anything.
But hey, at least his score kept going up. That’s all that matters, right?