Pinkie Pie's Bass

by MegaTJ

A Late Night's Guest

A Late Night’s Guest

Luna’s moon casted its cool, radiant light over the land of Equestria. The town of Ponyville was blessed with silence as its residence enjoyed the relaxing comfort of sleep. A cool breeze provided an updraft for the local owls. They glided around the town, in search of anything to satisfy their midnight hunger. In the middle of swooping down to snatch up a scurrying mouse, one of the birds let out a disturbed “HOOT”! The shadow that fell over the bird of prey belonged to a very tired unicorn.

“Owls…” The unicorn rolled his eyes. He walked along at a sluggish, weary pace. He winced with each step. His breathing became heavier by the second and soon he couldn’t even walk straight. The next step he took was his last before his hooves gave out. He hit the ground hard and almost flipped forward.

“Oh, great. I was so close…” he groaned. “Looks like I’ll be waiting here until somepony finds me. That’s what I get for not stopping to camp.”

A few minutes dragged by, but to the impatient unicorn, they felt like hours. He looked around for a place he could stop for the night. Many of the buildings were too dark to make out in the night. Thankfully, one shop was brightly lit by the full moon. It was a bakery, that he was sure. The whole building looked like a giant cake! Relief washed over him when he realized it wasn’t that far from him. And that there was a light on inside! When he tried to stand, a burning stab hit him right in the bottom of his hooves. He quickly sat back down. An irritated sigh forced its way from his mouth.

“Now how am I getting over there?” He asked angrily. It took about three minutes of thinking until a thought smacked him with reality. He was a unicorn for crying out loud! “Of COURSE I would forget I can do magic!” By concentrating some energy into his horn, he created a force field around his body and carried himself to the door of the shop. When he got there, he misjudged the distance between him and the ground and dropped himself ever-not-so-gently to the ground.

“Owww…” He groaned. He focused another force field. This time he only put it around his hooves and legs so he could stand up. With a deep breath of hope, he raised his hoof and gave the door a gentle knock.

Pinkie Pie nearly jumped out of her skin. At a quarter after twelve at night, the knock sounded like a cannon blast echoing in the kitchen. She shoved a cookie into her mouth and quickly took a sip of her warm milk before standing to answer the door. As she made her way to the door, she couldn’t help but wonder who in Equestria would be knocking past midnight.

She pulled open the door to reveal a light navy blue unicorn. She instantly recognized him as a new pony.

“Sorry for knocking so late”, he said apologetically, “I just came into town and my hooves are killing me. I was wondering if there was someplace I can crash for the night.”

The pink pony thought about it for a second. Mr. and Mrs. Cake wouldn’t mind it if she let a tired pony stay for a night. She had done it before. She stepped aside and let him enter.

He made his way over the threshold and stumbled forward. He forgot to concentrate on his magic again. Pinkie Pie immediately helped him back up.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Thanks…uh…” He looked at her, expecting to get her name.

“Pinkie Pie”, she whispered with a smile. She wished it wasn’t in the middle of night. Being quiet wasn’t one of her strengths. It also didn’t help she was very, very excited.

“Nice name. Mine’s Bass Strings. Just call me Strings for short.”

She led him into the kitchen. “I have some cookies and milk. Hungry?”

He shook his head. “Nah, not really.” He took a seat at the table to give his horn a rest.

“Are you suuuuuurrre?” She grabbed the plate of cookies from the table and held them up to his face enticingly.

He levitated a cookie from the plate. “Umm, thanks.”

As he bit into the cookie, Pinkie Pie gulped down her milk, leaving behind a white mustache on her upper lip and nose.

Strings chortled, almost choking on his cookie. “You look funny, Pinkie Pie!” he laughed with his mouth full.

“You sound funny!” she countered.

He shrugged and snagged another cookie.

Snack time lasted only another few minutes before Strings started some serious yawning. “I think now would be a good time to ask where I’m sleeping tonight.”

Pinkie Pie dropped the two dishes into the sink. “Come on. You can sleep in my room.” She started to walk out.

He stood up. “You sure about that?”

“Mmmhmm!” Pinkie Pie hummed. “I don’t think you’re a bad pony.” She turned in the doorway to the kitchen. “And besides, I think I can take you.”

Strings nodded honestly. He followed her up the stairs to her room. The stairwell was dimly lit by gas lamps. The unicorn thought it was old-fashioned, yet super peaceful. His legs were on fire again, but not as bad as before. Pinkie Pie led him down the hallway until she stopped and pushed open a door. The inside of Pinkie’s room was hard to make out in the dim light, but Strings saw Pinkie Pie walk to her bed and grab a small blanket and pillow.

“You don’t hafta take those for me”, Strings objected. He tapped his horn. “I’ll just make my own.”

“These are for me, silly. You’re sleeping in my bed”, she replied.

“Miss Pie, that’s totally unradical—” He started.

“You need a comfy bed more than I do, besides, I can’t sleep tonight anyways. And call me Pinkie Pie”, she interrupted.

“I…” he tried, “Thanks, Pinkie Pie.”

Strings used his magic to place his guitar beside the bed and climbed into it as Pinkie Pie created a nest-like cot beside it.

As he settled in, Strings thought about what Pinkie Pie had said about her insomnia. He felt bad for her, so he quickly decided to do her a favor. “Pinkie Pie?” He whispered.

“Yes?” She looked up at him as he hung over the bed. “Hmmhmm”, she giggled, “you look silly upside down.”

“You’re the one upside down”, he chuckled.

They shared a quick, quiet laugh before he continued. “I wanna thank you for letting me stay here…”

“No thanks necessary, all you have to do is be my friend.” She smiled wider.

“Then let that be the first of my six returning favors”, he said, “and let this be my second.”

Before Pinkie Pie could squeal in excitement at the thought of a new friend, Strings’ horn glowed and a short, small burst of sparkly dust fell over her. Her eyes instantly became heavy, and she yawned. Her body became relaxed as the dust rained over her. The last image she saw was his smiling face.

“Two down, four to go. I’m looking forward to it”, Strings said to himself. He looked at Pinkie Pie again before turning. “Heh, she should’ve been named Pretty Pie.”

He blushed at the thought. “I hope she likes music.” His last yawn was followed by his eyes closing, and finally, sleep found him.

_________

“Wake up…wake up!”

“Mmmmoooommm, it’s Saturday. Let me sleep in”, Strings complained in his sleep. He rolled over.

A familiar giggle tickled his eardrums. When he opened his eyes, he saw Pinkie Pie standing over him.

“Good morning! Filled with sunshine and pancakes, it’s rewarding!” she sang. She bounced throughout the room, continuing her song. “No sleeping in, there is so much that we have to do! So please oh please, keep your eyes open and wakey wakey why don’t you? Good morning!”

Strings gaped in awe. “That is one rad singing voice you got there. Heh, it’s music to my ears.”

They both laughed at his bad joke.

Before he could sit up, she pushed a tray in his lap. “Surprise! Breakfast in bed!”

He eyed the loaded platter. It was piled high with food! “Whoa, where do I begin?” he asked in amazement.

“I like to eat the breakfast cupcakes first. Then, I usually eat the waffles. Then…” she started.

To be honest, Strings really couldn’t hear a word she was saying. His heart was pounding so hard that it managed to reach his eardrums. Her eyes were a maze of happiness. Her voice was so her. She was just…well, he couldn’t even find a word to come close to describing her.

“…and that’s how I eat breakfast.” She picked up one of the cupcakes and stuffed it into her mouth.

“I’m not in an eating mood right now, Pinkie Pie. Thanks anyway, though.” He hopped off the bed and stretched.

“What do you want to do then?” Pinkie Pie asked. “I mean, I have so many things we can do, but you just got here and you probably wanna do something you wanna do first instead of letting me drag you around!”

“I’m low on cash. I think I’ll go look for a job. Hopefully I’ll find a gig somewhere.” He stretched again and looked up to see Pinkie Pie’s confused expression.

“What’s a gig?” She asked expectantly.

“That’s what I call a job that I can play my guitar at. Sort of a small concert type thing.” He began to walk toward the door.

“Ooh, can I help? I play all kinds of instruments.” She bounced in place, hoping he would say “yes”.

Pinkie Pie’s eyes looked directly into his as she waited for the answer. For that moment, he couldn’t breathe. It would seem as if all of his internal organs had stopped completely. The only things that worked were his eyes, as they looked right into hers.

Pinkie Pie, however, was confused. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t pry her stare away from his pair of lighter sky blue eyes. It was so strange, just like being lost in the hedge maze back when Discord made it rain chocolate milk. There was a tickly feeling in her tummy. This made her feel weird and giddy at the same time.

Strings did his best to pull himself together. He finally managed to stutter, “S-Sure, Pink. But before you can, I gotta find work first.”

Pinkie Pie’s heart hit her throat at his answer. She was so happy at the fact that she might get to spend more time with him. And not like the regular kind of happy. She couldn’t describe it, but it felt better than the regular happy.

He left through the door and down the stairs. There was bustling in the kitchen of the bakery, but Strings ignored the noise and left to find a bulletin board.

Pinkie Pie followed closely behind, hoping to figure out what those weird feelings were. She would definitely have to ask Twilight about them later.

For some reason completely unknown to her, she wondered if he had a fillyfriend…

Author's Note:

Story number three! Sorry for the delays, but I've been more focused on posting them on Fanfiction. If you'd like to read the rest of the updates, then all you have to do is go to Fanfiction.net/~MegaTJ.