The apples of late summer were not quite ready for Applejack’s special bucking. Cider season would be soon, but not quite yet. The sky was clear and nearly cloudless. The fliers had been posted all over Ponyville:
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Come One, Come All!
WUBSY’s BIRTHDAY will be celebrated in Sweet Apple Acres’ barn!
Just in case you are thinking of NOT going, this will be a
PINKIE PIE PARTY !!!
IT WILL TAKE FIVE SHOTS OF THE PARTY CANNON TO SET IT UP!
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The day was here and so was the crowd! Pinkie Pie, wearing a hard hat, came through the crowd. She was pushing her famous Party Cannon and pulling a cart with FIVE big brightly colored things that could have been mistaken for cannon balls of unusual size!
At the doors, she called out, “Open up in the name of Partying!”
Big Mac stuck his head out the doors and just said, “Eyup!” He pushed the doors on open.
Pinkie Pie set up her canon, aimed at the interior of the barn. She swabbed the barrel and rammed home the first of the five shells. Taking aim carefully at the interior, she made a small adjustment of the cannon and pulled the lanyard.
To a not nearly deafening boom, a huge cloud of smoke and confetti filled the barn! It settled enough to show tables and a fountain like thing in place. Pinkie swabbed and loaded her next round. Once again, it was a boom, but not too loud, and smoke filled with confetti concealed things. Pinkie was already ramming home her next round as the watchers saw table cloths, plates and all sorts of settings. The next round blasted forth, and the barn was filled with cheerful streamers, and a big banner saying, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WUBSY! Another round was fired into the barn! As the smoke and confetti settled, all manner of snacks and food filled the tables to groaning. Pinkie Pies’ last shot brought OOHs and AHHs from the crowd. The fountain was flowing apple cider and there were filled punch bowls on all the tables!
Facing the crowd, Pinkie yelled, “PARTY TIME!!” The crowd surged forward.
The party was going full blast. Wubsy was swamped by friends and well wishers. They were singing and dancing was getting underway.
Wubsy saw his friend Matt and his marefriend Windemere dancing and having a good time. Aside from not having a particular marefriend of his own, the white pony with his almost flame like yellow and orange mane was having a fine time! There were plenty of mares who wanted to dance with the birthday pony.
Wubsy noticed that Matt was behaving somewhat erratically. Then he overheard AJ speaking to Big Mac. “What is in that cask that Matt has been getting into?”
The slow drawl of Big Mac answered, “Don’t rightly know. 'Member that barrel of cider went bad and bubbly, last year? Never got around to chucking it out. It froze last winter but there was still some cider left in it that did not freeze for some reason. I poured it into the little cask there and forgot about it.”
Virtuously, he added, “I did clean out and save the big barrel. We can use it again, this year at squeezing time!”
AJ put her hoof over her eyes. “Do you have any idea what you made, Big Mac? Any idea at all? That is very strong apple brandy in that cask! No wonder Matt is wobbly. He is drunk!”
Just then Matt snapped, loud enough to be heard by all, “What do you mean, tone it down, Wendemere? I am behaving perfectly well. You just don’t want me to have any fun!”
The straw maned light brown pony with her darker spots on her legs and freckles shook her head sadly. “No, Matt, you are not behaving well at all. You smell like you have been out drinking beer at the Watering Hole.”
“You are not my Dam! Quit trying to be my mother!” Matt stormed at her. He turned his back on her and, taking another swig, stomped out, leaving Wendemere behind. She was at the edge of tears.
Not wanting anyone to be having a bad time at his party, Wubsy, wandered over close and whispered the old line, “How come you have not drawn flies, Honey?”
Wendy smiled a little and retorted, “I seem to have a bar fly for a coltfriend. Not to mention that you are here too!”
Wubsy nodded and replied, “Perhaps, but while I am drawn to your sweet self, I can’t be a bar fly!” He made funny a shrugging of his shoulders and pointed out, “No wings!”
She replied, “Matt seems to have gotten high without them.”
Wubsy nodded, his flame like forelock bobbing. “He got into a cask of apple brandy that Big Mac made by accident. Some cider fermented and later froze. He saved it!”
Wendemere shook her mane sadly, “I really don’t know what to do with Matt these days. He has been stopping for a few beers at the Watering Hole before he comes home. He gets really unpleasant when he does.”
Wubsy led Wendy to the refreshment table and piled on the cakes and slices of pie. “Matt says that I might get fat, if eat too much.”
Wubsy lifted his head alertly and looked about. “He seems to be elsewhere! He can’t possibly say that you might get fat! Besides, these are Pinkie Pie treats! Not everyday hay!”
Giggling, Wendy did find a table and started to graze her plate. She looked up at Wubsy, with glistening eyes. “Thanks for caring, Wubsy. It helps a lot. I’ll be OK now. You do have other guests.”
Wubsy nodded, “But they are not alone in this crowd. You are. So am I.”
She made a good humored shooing gesture and said, “Maybe so, but you are the host! Go. Do host things!”
Wubsy returned to the other party goers. The party ran on into the evening.
Wendy found a modestly sized bottle and quietly filled it from the cask. She sipped a small amount. It was actually pretty good tasting. She stored the bottle in her saddle bag.
Her friend Hailee found her shortly after, and the two mares left together.
The next day, Wendemere was awakened by Derpy knocking on her door. “I had a card for you, but I seem to have dropped it!” there were a number of letters scattered about.
Wendy smiled and helped Derpy to gather her fallen mail. She said, “It’s OK, Derpy! See? I found it!”
Inside, she looked in shock at the plain postcard. Not even an envelope to hide the brutal words. “W. I have had it with you trying to run my life. Whether I drink or not is MY business. I will find some other mare, one better than you! Matt.”
She sat hard. Her saddle bag was on top of the cushions and she felt that bottle from last night. While moving the saddle bag out from under her, the bottle fell out. When she picked it up, she remembered the previous night and how nice it tasted. She took a sip. And another.
When Hailee showed up on her doorstep, Wendemere invited her in. “Have a little cider, Hailee?”
“Not really, Wend. Why are YOU dipping your snout in hard cider?”
“Here, Hailee. See for yourself.” Wendemere hoofed over the somewhat crumpled card.
Hailee took one look. “Ouch. No wonder you got into that stuff. Mind if I change my mind? I think that I will have a sip!”
The two mares shared the bottle back and forth a few times. “What are you going to do now, Wend?”
“I don’t really know, Hailee. Wubsy was pretty nice to me after Matt left. Maybe . . . No. He would be ashamed to see me like this.”
“What do you mean, Wend?”
“Well, maybe I could ask him if he wanted to go out with me. Could you ask him for me, while I sober up?”
Hailee grinned, “I could, yes. What if I ask him out with me instead?”
Wendemere gave her friend a steely eyed glare and pronounced, “Next time you show up, I will give you a clover top burger … With thistle thorns in it!”
Hailee lifted her hooves in mock horror. “I will be good, Wend! I’ll ask him for you! Pinkie Promise!”
Shortly, Hailee did take her leave.
Sitting in Wubsy’s living room, she finished up, “So that’s what happened. He’s dumped her and dumped her hard. Will you go out with her? Say, meet her at Caramel Treat’s Sweets tonight?”
“Um, sure, Hailee. Tell her to be there around seven. That was pretty mean of Matt. They are both friends of mine. I just hope that I don’t wind up in the middle of some nastiness.”
Hailee lifted a shapely but solid hind hoof. “If Matt tries anything after this stunt, I will personally kick him into the middle of last week!”
Wubsy was sharing the big clover tops burger and sea grass puffs with the House Specialty Giant Onion Rings. “I have to admit that I was kind of floored that somepony as lovely as you would ask me out, Wendemere. Caramel Treat’s is such a good place, too.” He dipped an onion ring and fed it to her.
She reached across the table and gently booped Wubsy’s nose. “I am just amazed that so nice a stallion as you doesn’t have a marefriend. I guess that we both got lucky.”
The palomino waitress, Peanut Brittle, quietly refilled their hot Rom Black tea. She was smiling. Peanut was at the party and remembered how badly Matt had treated this nice mare. She offered, “There will be a really nice view of the sunset over in the park, across the way.”
Caramel Treat, one of the two well known werewolves in Ponyville, the other was her mate, Fangrin, slid out of the kitchen in her wolf form. The monstrous Everfree Ridgeback wolf sat quietly between the two diners and the street. She was innocently blocking Matt from seeing or interfering with her guests. As Matt sensibly passed by on the street without comment, Caramel asked, “How is everything?”
Wubsy and Wendemere both turned to her and replied, “I don’t see how things could be better. The dinner is great too!”
Caramel Treat’s tongue lolled out in lupine laughter.
A little later, sitting in the park, leaning companionably against one another, Wubsy, looking at Wendemere said, “Peanut Brittle was right. The view here is lovely. Sunset looks great too!”
Soon the couple were seen about Ponyville, always together. They were known to frequent Sugar Cube Corner, the Pink Note famous for its fine food and live jazz, Caramel Treat’s, and often dropped in on the little unicorn who ran the Sweet Spot for candies.
The late summer progressed, and Sweet Apple Acres began their harvest. Apple pies and fritters showed up on menus. Wubsy and Wend were in the line for the fresh cider when it came out. As they sipped their mugs of cider, they gazed fondly up at the barn where their lives had first intertwined and shared a big hug.
Wubsy had Wend over to his house, where he made her a dinner cooked and served by his own hooves. They sat and ate together, pausing often to simply look each other in the eyes.
Wubsy got up for a moment and returned with a small box. Kneeling in front of her, he asked, “Wendemere, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
She looked down at him and smiled mischievously as she took the ring, “I am going to have to, Wubsy! I want you to be by my side for a LONG time and if you have to eat much more of your own cooking, who can guess how long you will last!?”