Rising Sun

by Jet Howitzer

Chapter 3

The lunch passes, without any real incidents, although you did catch a few more glances than you thought you would. Just a minute after you sat down a purple lizard entered the room, and Twilight quickly explained that he was Spike, her number one assistant and a baby dragon.

After finishing your lunch you get up, and stretch some, still a bit stiff from your long stay in bed. The others quickly clean up the table, fast enough that you can’t even offer to help. Guess there is something to that magic after all, you think to yourself.

“So, would anypony like to give me a tour of the town?” You ask, and then continue, “I’m totally oblivious when it comes to Ponyville, considering how I got here.” As you finish asking you note they all get a sparkle in their eyes, but then they all glance at each other, clearly unsure of how to proceed. None of them seem to be taking the initiative about this. It feels like time has slowed to a crawl as they all look at each other, waiting for someone to make even the slightest move. Unbidden to you, an image of a small furry creature, like a rabbit or squirrel, surrounded by wolves appears in your mind. You shake your head for a moment, and decide to speak up.

“If none of you can decide, then I suppose I can just go explore on my own. I’ll be honest; it’s starting to get weird that none of you are talking.”

None of them seem to acknowledge that you said anything, so with a sigh and a shake of your head, you turn around, and head for the door. You notice Spike standing next to the door, and he motions for you to go through. After passing through the door Spike follows you, and shakes his head.

“They’re all crazy for you, you know that, right?” Spike asks with a small hint of amusement to his voice.

“I gathered as much. And Rainbow told me to my face that all of them are interested. It’s both flattering, and slightly bizarre. I’ve been here less than a day, and all of them are going gaga over me.”

“It is strange. But I’ll tell you a secret if you promise not to share.” He looks at you hopefully, as if eager to share his secret with anypony that will listen.

“I promise I won’t tell. If it has anything to do with those ponies in there, I’m interested.”

He motions for you to come a bit closer, which you do. “I have a crush on Rarity.” He whispers in your ear. You take a step back, and look at him with a quizzical look on your face.

“I’ll be honest with you, Spike, I picked up on that almost immediately. I’m amazed that Rarity hasn’t noticed.” You are amazed that he considers this a secret, but you promised, so you won’t tell anyone. “Anyway, Spike, I’ll be sure to keep my distance from Rarity. I know that you, a mighty dragon, would easily be able to vanquish me, should I interfere with your love.”

As you finish Spike blushes deeply, and then shakes his head, and starts for the main door to the library. As you follow you look at all the books around you, on their various shelves. There are more books here than anypony could ever hope to read. You pick out a few titles, such as; One Thousand and One ways to: Style your Mane, The Hoofhikers Guide to the Universe, and Einstallions Guide to General Relativity: Theoretical Magic, and You!

Spike opens the front door, and you walk out quickly followed by Spike. He takes the lead, and gives you a grand tour of Ponyville. Your first stop is Sugarcube Corner, the leading store for sweet treats in Ponyville. He leads you inside, and you are amazed at the various cakes that you see.

You walk over to the display, and simply stare at all of the various cakes on display. You see Pinkie Pie in the corner of your eye, and so you turn to look at her. She has a huge smile on her face, and you are pretty sure that it’s genuine. Although, you remember what Rainbow had said, and so you are cautious.

“Hey Pinkie. Spike was just giving me a tour of Ponyville, and so we came by, and decided to come in.”

“Yeah. Oh, I know. Maybe you can give him a free sample, or two, just so he can have a taste!” Spike is quick to chime in.

“That’s a great idea! The best way to get a customer to come back is if they know how great your food is! But what to let him sample, oh, there’s so many to choose from it’s nearly impossible to decide! Maybe one of each? No, that’s too much for any one pony to eat. Maybe if he had a bunch of friends with him that could work…”

“Uh, maybe just a simple cupcake would do.” You make your suggestion before Pinkie gets too carried away, although you are fairly certain that it’s too late for that. Instead she simply nods, and hops over to one of the displays.

“Here, you can pick any one you want, free of charge! And you too, Spike! I’d never refuse a friend a good cupcake, especially considering how nice you’re being to our new friend.”

You and Spike each pick out a cupcake, and you take a bite out of yours. It’s probably one of the tastiest things you’ve ever eaten. Although you can only remember one other meal, this is the better of the two by far. You look at Spike, and see that he has a look of happiness on his face as he enjoys his cupcake. As you finish chewing, and swallowing, you look back to Pinkie, and see a huge smile on her face. Clearly she noticed your reaction to the cupcake.

“This cupcake, Pinkie, is easily the tastiest thing I have ever eaten. Should anything I try ever beat this for taste I will be sure to let you know, so you can improve your recipe.” As you finish you notice her smile get just a bit wider, and her hair a bit poofier.

She hops up and down a few times, after hearing you, before she launches herself forward, towards you, as she gives you a quick hug. As she pulls back you notice a small discoloration on her cheeks. Looks like Rainbow was being serious after all, you think to yourself. They all DO have a thing for me.

“Alright, Pinkie. I’m going to go continue my tour with Spike, but I’ll see you later. And once I start earning some money I’ll be sure to come by and get some more cupcakes.” You give her a quick wave as you and Spike leave the shop.

As you walk through the main plaza in town you see a small cart covered in apples, with a trio of fillies standing next to it. Spike tries to steer you away from them, but it’s too late. They rush over, and look at you with awe on their faces.

The three of them are an odd collection. One is an earth-pony, with a very pale yellow coat, and an off red mane. Tied up in her hair is a large pink bow. Next to her, on her right, is a unicorn with an almost white coat, and a mane with pink, and purple mixed together. On the earth-ponies other side is a pegasus with bright orange fur, and a pinkish-purple mane. All of them, you notice are looking at your back leg, and you look at it too, wondering what has gotten their attention.

“Where’s yer cutie mark?” Asks the earth-pony. Her voice is tinged, slightly, by a fear that you don’t understand.

“What’s a cutie mark?” You ask this, completely unprepared for the answer you receive.

“You don’t know what a cutie mark is?” This comes from all three of them at an almost ear piercing volume. You aren’t quite sure what’s going on, seeing as how this seems to have upset all three of them quite a bit.

Spike steps in, though, to dispel the confusion. “Girls, he’s new, and still learning the ropes. Just give him some time to acclimate before you jump all over him.” They seem placated by this answer, at least for now.

“Oh, well I guess we can do that. But maybe later we can all work together to try and find our cutie marks?” The unicorn says this, with a voice filled with hope.

You crouch down, to look at them at eye level. “And, before I go, would you mind telling me your names? I feel like I should know the names of three fillies as cute as you three.” All three blush at this, and you feel a smile come to your face at this small victory.

They each tell you their names in turn, Sweetie Belle the unicorn, Scootaloo the pegasus, and Apple Bloom the earth-pony. You stand up straight after hearing their names. “I’ll be sure to remember those. I’ll see you around girls. Don’t go earning your cutie marks without me.”

They scamper off when you finish speaking, and return to the apple cart they were standing at before. You look down to Spike, and he motions for you to continue on your way. Before long you find yourself in front of an unusually fancy building. Spike seems unusually enamored by it, but after a moment he explains that it is the Carousel Boutique, and that it is run by Rarity. He continues for a moment about how great Rarity is at making clothes, and just how great she is in general.

You allow him to continue on his little diatribe for a moment, before giving him a small nudge, and asking him to continue on the tour. He blushes for just a moment, before heading down a small path.

After a short while you come across the entrance to Sweet Apple Acres. It’s a surprisingly large apple farm, run by the apple family. Spike takes a few minutes to elaborate about the farm, and the delicious apples they make. He also informs you about Applejack’s family, Big Macintosh, Granny Smith, and Apple Bloom who you already met.

Spike takes you back to the plaza, and then down a different path, until eventually a large forest comes into view. He informs you that the forest is the Everfree forest, and that it is filled with all sorts of “mean, nasty monsters” and that he recommends NOT going in there alone, if at all. Just a short walk later you come across a quaint little cottage that Spike explains belongs to Fluttershy, and that she takes care of all sorts of animals here.

Before long you find yourself standing outside of Twilight’s house/library again. You wonder if things have cooled off between the others while you and Spike have been out and about. You glance over your shoulder at the clock tower, and see that it has been almost two hours since you left.

You place a hoof on the handle, and look down at Spike. He nods, and you give the handle a small push and the door opens.

Comments

[Weavuh]

Nice story! Can't wait for next chapter! Good work and have some staches!

[Jet Howitzer]

279147 Oh my god! Staches! You have made my day with that. And I MAY just get the next chapter out tonight. No promises, though. Although it does remind me of the fact that I should involve Spike, considering they are in Twilight's house...

[Mard93]

Oh hilarity ensures as well as shenanigans

[Ansoulv]

I noticed this and confirmed it via Google dictionary.
Diatribe: a forceful and bitter verbal attack against someone or something

[Octaviscratch]

So is hec an earth pony? It would be interesting to see him learn to use magic

[Mr. Yoke]

I've read the first draft of this story and seen your writing improve. I hope that this time around you'll avoid making Storm into a "Gary Stu."

[Lucky424]

And Rainbow told me to my face that all of them are interested

Wait, when did she say that?

I had to restart at the beginning, because I couldn't remember what happened, and I didn't see anything about that in the last chapter.

[Alta]

2151413
I assume since this is (or was?) being re-written (Or whatever) It's something that was left over from the previous chapter before it was well... re-written.

Anyways, yeah... looking forward to more chapters

[Jason94]

Wow this was really good!

[Xavy T Drag]

"the apple family."

Apple should be capitalized.
Keep it up!

[Lenora Goff]

Is the re-write still going on?