Sapphire

by Duke of Canterlot

Sugarcube Corner and a Little Competition

Sapphire and Pinkie Pie walked to Sugarcube Corner. Scratch that, Sapphire walked and Pinkie Pie bounced to Sugarcube Corner. She bounced so perfectly and never seemed to grow tired. Any time Pinkie bounced, he could hear a small 'boing', kind of like a spring.

"Hey Pinkie, how can you bounce like that?"

"I have no idea."

"Wow.. no joke here but that is incredible. I have never seen a pony do that before."

"Me neither and I know a lot of ponies."

"Me too. I guess it comes from my line of work."

"Ooh, could you tell what your line of work is? But don't bother, if you are a super secret spy because I wouldn't want you to break a secret."

"Super secret spy, huh? Heh heh. That sounds like fun and not super boring. No my job is more boring than that."

To think of it though, Sapphire was kind of a super secret spy right now. It did make him worry. What if he was found out before he could get any information on Twilight? All Sapphire had to do was prove his loyalty to Big Boss, but anypony who found out who tried to hinder Big Boss' plan would be tortured or murdered. This was something Sapphire knew that Big Boss would have no qualms about doing, especially in a place like Ponyville. Twilight, being an alicorn, would probably be able to hand herself just fine.. but what about a pony like Pinkie Pie, he barely knew Pinkie but he knew she was a pony he wouldn't want to see harmed.

"Tell me your job, I must know!!"

"Well, I am the financial advisor and bookkeeper for the Wonderbolts."

"Ooh, that's not boring at all. You get to work with the Wonderbolts, that is neato!! I wish I could fly like a Wonderbolt sometimes. But I might have to eat less sweets and that wouldn't be fun at all."

"I like sweets too."

"That's great!! I wouldn't have guessed that about you, you're so skinny!"

"I workout a lot", said Sapphire while flexing his arms. Sapphire admittedly didn't have much muscle but it seemed to amuse Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie Pie giggled. "You're too cute! Oh, here we are, Sugarcube Corner!"

Sugarcube Corner was a bakery right on the corner of two major roads, the name sort of fit. The one way to describe the exterior of the bakery was candy. The roof was decorated with artificial chocolate candy and towards the center of the roof, there was a cupcake-shaped structure on top with birthday cake candles lighting the top of the structure. It looked delicious.

"See the very top of the building where the candles are? That's where my room is!"

"Wow.. it's an interesting building to say the least."

"It's the best building ever. I love candy.. mmmmm..."

"So, do you own Sugarcube Corner?"

"No I don't. I help out 24/7 though. The owners are the Cakes, super nice and really talented bakers. They even have two twins. It's funny though. The Cakes are both earth ponies and their twins are a pegasus colt and an unicorn filly. Mr. Cake told me it was because his great-great-great-great grandfather was a unicorn, and Cup Cake's great aunt's second cousin twice removed was a pegasus. Makes total sense to me."

Not to me, thought Sapphire. However, Sapphire opted to be polite.

"Yea, makes sense to me."

"Okie dokie lokie! Mmmm..smells like cake."

Sapphire saw two ponies working busily on a cake. One was a male amber-colored pony with three carrot cakes as a cuite mark and the other was a female cerulean-colored pony with three cup cakes as a cutie mark. Sapphire guessed these were the Cakes. Sapphire chuckled at the idea that their names were likely Carrot Cake and Cup Cake.

"Hello, Pinkie Pie. Who's your new friend?", asked the carrot cake pony.

"Oh, Mr. Cake and Mrs. Cake, this is Sapphire and he is new to Ponyville!"

"It's a pleasure to meet you both, Mr. Cake and Mrs. Cake", said Sapphire.

"Oh please, you can just call us Carrot and Cup", said Cup Cake.

"How would you like to be our taste tester for this cake?", asked Carrot Cake.

"Consider it a welcome gift from us", added Cup Cake.

The cake did look good. It was a dark chocolate cake with strawberry frosting.

Carrot Cake cut a piece of the cake and gave it to Sapphire on a plate with a fork.

Sapphire took a bite of the cake and.. wow.. this was delicious. Sapphire finished the rest of his piece quickly.

"Thank you, Carrot and Cup, this cake is delicious!"

"You're very welcome, Sapphire", said Cup Cake.

"I just hope Pinkie hasn't gotten you in much trouble yet", chuckled Carrot Cake, "she's quite a prankster."

"Oh, the fun hasn't even truly begun yet", said Pinkie Pie with a devilish grin.

"If there's cake, I'm game", said Sapphire.

"Ooh ooh, I want you to meet my pet alligator, Gummy!"

"Alligator?"

"Don't worry, he's just a baby and doesn't have any of his teeth yet. So he can't bite."

"Carrot and Cup, it was a pleasure to meet you, Pinkie's going to take me on a tour to Ponyville."

"Likewise", said Cup Cake.

"I think you're going to like Ponyville a lot", added Carrot Cake.

Pinkie Pie bounced up the stairs. Sapphire could barely keep up. Sapphire was incredibly curious as to how Pinkie could bounce like that. Hell, that would be more interesting to him than gathering up whatever information he needed to on Twilight. By the time Sapphire got to Pinkie's room, she was already bouncing on her bed.

"What took you so long, Mr. Slow Pants?"

"Hold on, Pinkie. I'm going to see if I can bounce like how you do."

"Let's see what you can do. Watch out though, you're so tall.. you might bump your head on the ceiling."

"Better than being so short."

"Nah being short is way cooler! Makes it easier to give hugs. Let's see what you can do."

Sapphire tried to concentrate. If he could push enough energy downward. He could release it all to jump high. That's clearly what Pinkie was doing. Pinkie jumped to the floor and began bouncing.

Pinkie Pie's bounces were quick and held a consistent rhythm. Sapphire wouldn't be able to do that, but he needed to try. He focused all of his energy downward and then... jumped up to the ceiling. Sapphire felt his head lightly brush against the ceiling but then an alligator appeared at his line of vision. Sapphire lost focus and fell onto Pinkie's bed.

Pinkie giggled. "I see that you met Gummy."

Sapphire saw that Gummy was walking upside-down on the ceiling. How the hell could he do that? Ponies thought the Wonderbolts were amazing and they were, but he had a feeling that the most bizarre things he would be seeing in Ponyville would be associated with this pink pony.

"Hello Gummy. What are you doing up there?"

"That's how he likes to play. I think it is time for us to go tour Ponyville, huh!"

"Sure thing, Pinkie Pie. I'm game."

Sapphire and Pinkie Pie left Sugarcube Corner. They saw a light blue pegasus flying in the air. From so far above, the pegasus was doing all kinds of tricks in the air: all at very high speed. Most of the pegasi he was acquainted with were Wonderbolt groupies with no real talents of their own, so he practically forgot that pegasi were capable of flying so well. The pegasus flew quickly but with some grace. When the pegasus flew down low enough, he could see a look of confidence and determination on the pegasus' face.

Sapphire had trouble telling whether the pony was a stallion or a mare. He would find out soon enough though.

The pegasus spotted Sapphire and Pinkie Pie and called out, "Hey Pinkie Pie, who's your new friend?"
A mare, not a stallion. The voice gave it away.

"Rainbow Dash, come on down and you can meet him!!"

Rainbow Dash? That was the pony Soarin and Spitfire were raving about. Sapphire couldn't screw anything up here. Rainbow Dash indeed seemed as talented as the Wonderbolts suggested.

Rainbow Dash swooped to the ground.

"Hi there. Did you see my awesome moves?"

"Yea, they were one of a kind. Except for the Wonderbolts, I don't think I've ever seen anything close to that."

"It would be my dream come true to become a Wonderbolt, but enough about me, tell me about you. My name is Rainbow Dash."

"Pleasure to meet you. I am Sapphire."

Rainbow Dash laughed, "Isn't that a girl's name?"

"Nah. Among unicorns, in fact, Sapphire is exclusively a guy's name."

"Good thing that was cleared up. I would have trouble telling if you were a stallion or a mare otherwise."

"Very funny. It was kinda hard to tell that about you from up in the air."

"Thanks. Funny enough, I actually kinda take that as a compliment. I'm the farthest thing from a filly you can get!"

"Ooh, you two should have an arm wrestling contest or something! I wonder who would win."

"Heh heh, my bet is on Rainbow Dash", said Sapphire.

"Me too! You are so lanky, I could knock you down easily", said Rainbow Dash with a chuckle.

While Rainbow was cocky, Sapphire definitely knew that he could be good friends with her. Sapphire could be pretty cocky himself.

"Oh, it's on! Rainbow, I will challenge you to an arm wrestling contest right here and now!"

"Yea, bring it on. Where are you from anyway?"

"Canterlot."

"I could tell. You sound like a wimp."

Sapphire and Rainbow sat a table by Sugarcube Corner and began the arm wrestling. Pinkie was watching closely with that grin of hers. She would ensure this was fair. Rainbow was strong. Sapphire was trying his best. He had a size advantage over Rainbow but damn.. she was strong. Sapphire wouldn't give up just yet.

Sapphire heard a flap.

"Hey, no using your wings, Rainbow Dash", shouted Pinkie Pie.

"Wasn't planning on it. I don't like things to be easy", said Rainbow Dash.

Sapphire's arm felt tired. He looked at Rainbow. She showed no sign of exhaustion. She could probably go on with this all day.

"I think I'm ready to give up, Rainbow."

"Hmm, I knew you were a quitter", teased Rainbow.

"No way."

Another ten minutes, Sapphire's arm grew more tired. Rainbow began to show a little exhaustion but probably no where near the level of Sapphire.

Sapphire was losing strength... oh no... Rainbow slammed Sapphire's arm down on the table.

"I win! But you know, you put up a good fight. I like that in a pony."

"Thanks, Rainbow. Congratulations on your win."

Rainbow chuckled.

"That should be enough to get you with the Wonderbolts, right Sapphire", added Pinkie Pie.

A devilish look in Pinkie's eye, Sapphire got the hint.

"Hmmmm... I don't know. As a pony who works very closely with the Wonderbolts.."

"Hold on! You actually work with the Wonderbolts? But you're not a pegasus."

"I don't fly with them but I do manage their investments, I keep the Wonderbolts wealthy and happy."

"Oh my gosh! That is so cool! It must be the best thing to work with the Wonderbolts.. you know that I've met them before and they are just the best ponies and.."

Wow, Rainbow was beginning to sound like how Pinkie.

"But", said Sapphire.

"But what?", asked Rainbow Dash.

"I don't know if I can write a favorable opinion of you seeing that you beat me in that arm wrestling contest. What do you think, Pinkie Pie?"

"I have no idea!"

"Wait.. what? That isn't fair...", stammered Rainbow Dash.

Sapphire and Pinkie Pie began to laugh hysterically.

Rainbow Dash saw this and then chuckled lightly, "I knew it all along that you were joshing me, Sapphire. But do you really know the Wonderbolts?"

"I do and the Wonderbolts seem to know you."

"So, they have talked about me to you!"

"Yea. They are impressed. That's for sure, Spitfire talked highly of you after you went through the Wonderbolts Academy."

"Omigosh, omigosh!! Hey, you seem like the kind of pony that is up for a good prank."

"You a prankster pony?"

"The best prankster in all of Ponyville!"

"Oh, Rainbow Dash, that's a fantastic idea", said Pinkie Pie while clapping her hands, "Sapphire, what do you think?"

"Sure, I'm game. I am not a bad prankster myself."

"Pranking is super duper fun, whee!", cheered Pinkie.

"Also, not a bad way to see the rest of Ponyville, I guess", said Sapphire.

The three ponies got together to discuss what sort of pranks they wanted to do.

Author's Note:

Next chapter.. get ready for the pranks.