Finding the Dates! Part 3
Finding the Dates Part 3
With one day to go, Applebloom, decked out in a red parka and bright pink scarf, and Pinkie in her usual attire stood at the train station, awaiting the arrival of Babs Seed and Cheese Sandwich respectively. “So you got a date with Spike, huh? Good for you! I'm sure you guys are going to have a great time!”
Applebloom smiled back. “Thanks Pinkie, and it's good ya managed ta get Cheese ta come on down, especially this close ta Heart's Warming.”
“Well he'd usually spend Heart's Warming on his own, but I decided that'd be no fun at all, so then I thought, wouldn't it be fun if I invited him to spend time with me and my family like I did with you guys last Heart's Warming, you sure you can't come this year?” She suddenly asked, causing the little yellow filly to jump a little.
“Oh uh yeah, we're sure. Fluttershy's family can't make it to her place until New Years and she'd be alone unless we invited her over,” She explained, apologetically.
“Right a rooney, so anyway, I explained our traditions and he said it sounded like fun so he's going to spend Heart's Warming with us! Isn't that great?!” Before Applebloom could answer, a train pulled up to the station and opened it's doors.
“We have now arrived in Ponyville! Please ensure you have all your personal belongings with you, when leaving the train,” The announcer announced as two or three ponies left the vehicle.
Applebloom spotted the pink maned, orange filly dressed in a green parka and green scarf ahead of her and rushed up to hug her. “Cousin Babs!”
“Howdy cuz'!” Babs replied, smiling and returning her hug, before pulling away to look her in the eyes. “So a little birdy told me that youz got yer cutie mark, can Ah see it?”
“Only if ya show me yers,” Applebloom grinned, as they both turned and bumped their flanks together, giggling.
“Cutie Mark Crusaded! Yay!” They both cheered, as Pinkie bounced right past them.
Babs then looked around and sighed. “Guessin' that lazy bum of a coltfriend Ah have is sleepin' in, huh?”
Applebloom rolled her eyes back, good heartedly. “Give 'im break, Babs, it is seven in tha mornin',” She answered, grabbing one of her bags and motioned towards the farmhouse. “Now c'mon, Applejack's makin' waffles!”
“Sweet!” Babs cheered as the two rushed off. Leaving Pinkie to bounce into the awaiting hug of Cheese, who just wore his poncho and sombrero, which had several candy canes poking out of it. “Oh Cheese, I missed you so much! Last time you sent a letter was, like, four days, five hours, twelve minutes and twenty six seconds ago!”
“Great to see you too Pinkie Pie, oh I'm so excited! I've never been to a formal party before, I brought the perfect outfit!” He replied, opening his bag and jumped into it, before popping out, wearing a fancy tux and and monocle, Boneless Two popping out of the pocket. “I say, milady, would care for a hokey, cokey?”
Pinkie giggled, before composing herself, holding her chin high and placed her hoof into his outstretched one. “I would, kind sir Blue Cheese,” She replied, before the two started to dance in the middle of train platform.
“You two are so sickeningly cute!” Button's older brother, Gibson, mentioned from across the brown colt and white filly, wrapped around an overly long green scarf, her head resting on his shoulder, with Button blushing in embarrassment.
“They are, aren't they?” Love Tap, Button's mother, replied, setting out four plates of pancakes for everypony. “So, Gibson, do you have a date to the dance?”
“Huh?” The late-teenage colt asked, syrup dripping from his mouth as well as parts of pancake. Button and Sweetie Belle started giggling at him while his mother rolled her eyes.
“Date? Do you have a date?” Gibson swallowed his mouthful and grinned, proudly at her.
“Yeah, I'm going with this cute girl called Cloud Flitter. I met her when I went to get Button's Heart's Warming present,” He answered, grinning at the brown colt. “And I expect something in return this year.”
“I already did that!” Button replied, happily. “Sweetie kept pushing me away from the arcade whenever I got distracted!” Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes as she took a bite out of her meal, nuzzling into his neck, giggling.
“...Stop being cute, you two! I mean it!” Gibson threatened, teasingly. The two blushed and stuck their tongues out at him.
“No!” They replied in unison, causing Gibson to twitch. Love Tap sighed, but smiled fondly.
My children are growing up so fast, She thought to herself as her sons kept bickering while Sweetie Belle decided to just nuzzle her head into Button's shoulder. And yet, they're still just like little kids! She giggled and started to eat her own food.
Once they had finished their food, Gibson grabbed the plates and put them in the sink. “Alright mom, I'm gonna take these two to Sweet Apple Acres, then I'm going to meet up with Flitter for coffee. Don't wait up!”
As soon as they left, she sighed and looked at the family picture by the door. “Wish you could make it, Hard Disc,” She muttered to herself, knowing her husband couldn't get down from the Royal Guard until Heart's Warming Eve, so she'll be dateless for the dance. But, so long as her children enjoyed themselves, she'll be just fine.
Rainbow flinched as sunlight from her window hit her in the face and she buried her face into her pillow to try and keep it away.
That's when she noticed her pillow was surprisingly furry. When she cracked an eye open, she noticed a red hoof in front of her and her eyes snapped open, now noticing that she had fallen asleep against Mac, the foreboding soundtrack of Silent Hill still playing in the background with the 'You are dead' screen, covered in pixelated blood.
At first, she was kind of surprised, noticing that she had only fallen asleep against him, so they weren't hugging or anything, before shrugging and snuggling back up against him. Ah, beats my usual pillow!
Rumble knocked on the door to the farmhouse with a daisy in his mouth, quickly slicking his mane up in the reflection of Winona's surprisingly shiny food bowel.
The door opened, revealing itself to be Applebloom behind it.
The two stared at each other, awkwardly, for a few seconds, before Rumble asked: “Ish Babsh shere?”
Applebloom turned from the door and called out into the kitchen. “Babs, yer coltfriend's here!”
After she left, Babs quickly replaced her and gave the grey colt a big hug. “Good ta see you Rumble!” She said, nuzzling his cheek. “Ah missed ya!”
“I mished you choo, Babsh,” He replied, backing up and pointing to the flower in his mouth. “Thish ish fer you.”
Babs rolled her eyes and took the flower from him, their lips lightly brushing against each other and pulled back, taking it and putting it behind her ear. “Now Ah feel purdy.”
Rumble chuckled, grinning stupidly at her. “So do you want to go on a walk, or something? Catch up a little?”
“Uh...” Babs stumbled, looking back at Applebloom, who rolled her eyes and motioned towards the door. Babs smiled back, gratefully, and turned back to him “Sure, let's go!” She answer, pressing up against his side as they walked towards the orchard.
Discord hummed happily as he helped Fluttershy decorate her little cottage. She hadn't gotten around to it yet, since she had so many animals to help get ready to hibernate until spring, and Discord had mentioned it this morning.
“Oh Rarity was so happy that you helped her out, Discord! I've never seen her so...excited and...It was just such a nice thing for you to do!” She gushed to him as he scratched the back of his head, sheepishly.
“Well, after all that business with Tirek, I realized that I never really made up for it,” He explained, putting a giant, plastic candy cane on one side of the pathway towards her house while she was putting one up on the other side. “I just thought, maybe...”
“Oh Discord, I didn't know you were still feeling guilty about that,” Fluttershy replied, looking up at him in concern. “You know we all forgave you, right?”
Discord, uncharacteristically, sighed depressively. “I know that, my dear friend, but I just...It's this funny achy feeling that just felt better when Rarity hugged me...Like I was...appreciated,” He explained. Fluttershy then realised that she was wearing a doctor's coat and holding a clipboard, while Discord was spread out on a therapist couch.
“W-well...” She squeaked out, suddenly feeling like she was being put on the spot. “Maybe...you feel like you're not actually...well very kind even though you've been reformed. And when you finished those dresses for Rarity, and um...pizazzed her other ones, you felt good about yourself because you truly helped a friend out and were genuinely kind to her.”
“Hm...” Discord contemplated, rubbing his chin with his talon. “Well, the other time I felt like that was how happy you looked when I agreed to go as your date for the dance. I guess I helped you out and were kind to you as well, right?”
Fluttershy blushed, nervously, and hid behind her mane. “Um yes...It was very nice of you...”
He smiled, as if reaching an epiphany of some kind. “And I'm getting that feeling again now, helping you put up Heart's Warming decorations because you've been too busy to put them up by yourself!”
He picked Fluttershy up and hugged her tightly to his chest, which felt suspiciously like a pillow. “Oh we worked it out Doctor! I'm cured! I just have to go help out more often!” He grinned, causing Fluttershy's face to light up in both embarrassment and asphyxiation.
After a while of this, he looked down and noticed his yellow friend was looking a lot more like his purple one before his eyes widened and quickly dropped her. “Oh I'm so sorry, are you okay?”
Before she could answer, he clicked his fingers and he was wearing a Doctor's outfit. “Quick, I need ten cc's of air! Proceeding to letting her breath on her own and not doting over her like a new-born puppy!” He replied before he put a talon to his chin. “So it appears my plan is to do nothing...Sound good to me!” He smiled, cheerfully, throwing his Doctor coat away, hearing a crash and a cat yelping in the background.
Fluttershy shook out of it and looked up at him. He was now lounging in a hammock which is, apparently, being suspended in mid air by nothing, wearing a Hoovaiian shirt and drinking from a coconut. “Ah, doing nothing and still saving the day! It's every heroes dream!”
Fluttershy sighed, but still smiled fondly at him. It was just Discord being Discord.
She then turned and rummaged around in the box of decorations, deciding to just wait until he's ready to start helping again.
Rainbow sighed in resignation when she felt Mac finally start to stir. Well, it was bound to happen at some point, She thought to herself as she got up and stretched out like a cat would, Mac looking up at her, bleary eyed.
“Morning Mac Attack, you want breakfast?” She asked, smiling brightly. Mac blinked a few times, before smiling.
“Eeyup,” Rainbow sighed a little, rolling her eyes.
“And back to this,” She said before she knew what she was doing. Her eyes suddenly bugged out and spun to look at Mac, tilting his head to the side. “I mean. Uh, well. Just ignore me, I don't think right when I've just woken up!” She laughed, nervously, heading into the kitchen.
Mac lifted an eyebrow and turned to the game system before him. He had had a lot of fun playing the game and talking about some of the scenes with Rainbow, who had spent a lot of said talks 'geeking out', so to speak.
That's when the realisation suddenly hit him and he smacked a hoof into his face. Of course! Rainbow wants me ta talk more! He thought to himself, as if it were obvious.
He walked into the kitchen to notice that she was cursing to herself, fiddling around the place to try and find some thing. “Why do I keep forgetting where everything is?!”
He smiled at her and placed a hoof on her shoulder, causing her to turn and face him. “You need some help there?”
Rainbow blinked in surprise, before smiling brightly. “I sure do, looking for the eggs for omelets!” She answered, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. “It's the only thing I know how to cook.”
Mac chuckled along with her and pointed towards the novelty chicken with six eggs along it's back. “Is that them?”
Rainbow turned to them and rubbed the back of her head, sheepishly. “Eheh, yeah. Sorry, I only stay here two months out of the year, at most, so it's easy to lose track of things.”
She got about to making her guest something, at least, passable for breakfast as he went back into the main room to put away her game and such, the fire having burned out during the night.
She smiled, fondly, about last night and how well the two seemed to hit it off. She even managed to convince him to visit her in the future for more gaming sessions. She thought it was silly when Rarity told her that Button and Sweetie bonded over gaming, but she could see how it happened now!
She heard the music shut off and Mac went towards the pantry and fetched two plates, setting them on the table, before finding the salt and pepper shakers as well.
After she was done, she was oddly proud of herself. She managed not to burn them this time, and they didn't seem to be undercooked. She passed one to Mac, who nodded in thanks and took a small bite out of it, obviously trying to be polite.
Rainbow grinned, rolling her eyes. “No need to try and be fancy, Mac, just dig in!” She declared, taking a big bite out of her own and started to chuckle at his dumbfounded expression. Said expression, however, soon morphed into a grin as he started to match her bad table manners with his own.
After they were finished, Rainbow leaned back in her chair and looked up at Mac. That's when the whole scene suddenly hit her all at once. A little cottage with just her and Mac, waking up together, her preparing breakfast for the two of them and sitting down to eat. That sounded very...domesticated and homely.
She had to fight off the rather large blush forming on her face, trying very hard not to think about it too hard. Especially the sudden thoughts of moving down here permanently! She loved her cloud mansion! It was in the air, free and most importantly...
...empty.
She shuddered as that thought suddenly crossed her mind. Only two of her friends can actually visit her, without hassling Twilight for a cloud walking spell and her air-balloon and it'll be a while before Scootaloo could make it up to her home for a sleepover.
She's starting to see why a ground home appealed to Fluttershy so much. This little place is just outside of the town centre so all her friends could visit, it doesn't have many spare bedrooms, but she found out today that the front room was more than capable of providing a comfortable sleeping environment. She could even turn the guest room into a permanent room for Scootaloo so she could leave some stuff here and not worry about having to find her to get said stuff back.
And Mac could easily visit anytime he wanted too. She didn't have many things, so it'd be easy to transfer it down here and she could make a lot of extra bits selling...
She violently shook her head of those thoughts, causing Mac to tilt his head in concern. She sighed. “It's...It's nothing, don't worry about it.”
“Too late fer that,” She shuddered at the sound of his voice, looking up at him confused.
“Why are you talking all of a sudden?” The big red stallion recoiled a bit but, ultimately, did see the question coming. It wasn't like it'd be crazy to ask somepony as reserved as he is, why he's suddenly talking.
“...You seem ta like it when Ah talk,” He replied, shyly, rubbing his jaw a little as it started to strain. Rainbows eyes widened back, not expecting that answer.
“Really?” She asked, getting a nod in reply. “...Well in the interest of making me happy, why didn't you talk much before?” She inquired, trying her best to change the subject and, maybe, forget about what she was thinking previously.
“...Well...” He started, waving a hoof towards the window which, conveniently, showed the apple orchards in the distance. “Ah'm a farmer, thus Ah like efficiency. Short and sweet may as well be mah motto,” He grinned, pointing towards the sky. “Besides, Ah don't think Ah need ta have an in depth conversation about tha weather being nice.”
Rainbow got a chuckle out of that as she took the dishes and dumped them into the sink. Ah, I'll get them later...Or wait until Rarity comes round, she has a panic attack and does them for me. Whichever comes first.
“So, you got chores today?” Rainbow asked, causing him to look up at her. “Cause, you know, I have a spare scarf and hat and, well, I kinda wanted to maybe learn a bit about you and junk,” She continued, now flushing a deeper red then before. Jeez, that's the kind of stuff Rarity would say!
Mac blinked. Well Ah do have a few chores, like feedin' tha animals an' such... He thought to himself, looking up at Rainbow's flushed but hopeful face and he just couldn't say no. ...Aw shucks, Ah think AJ can handle handle that on her own!
“Eenope...Ah mean, no I don't!” He answered, shaking his head. Rainbow sighed in relief and grinned at him.
“Cool, and just because I like ya talking more, doesn't mean you have to answer all my questions with a sentence,” She said, leaving to fetch her spare winter gear.
“...What is this?!” Scootaloo asked, watching some movie with Featherweight where an incredibly fake looking eagle suddenly dived down and exploded on a building.
“Uh...Only the greatest movie ever!” Featherweight replied, grinning. “It is, by far the most incompetently put together film in the history of forever!”
“...And you say this is the greatest movie ever?” The orange Pegasus asked, raising an eyebrow. “Am I gonna have to called the psychiatric hospital again?”
“Haha! The background's moving but the birds aren't!” He laughed, pointing to the screen. Scootaloo continued to give him the deadpan stare. “Aw c'mon, you've never watched a bad movie just to make fun of it before?”
“No,” She answered, looking at the screen and then doubling over in laughter. “Are they using coat hangers as weapons?!”
“Not even wire ones,” Featherweight confirmed, looking up at the clock. “Aw, shoot! We're supposed to be meeting up with your friends at Applebloom's place, aren't we?”
Scootaloo looked up and cursed. “Guess we'll continue...Wait have I been here all night?!” She yelped, suddenly feeling her joints pop and crack, having done nothing for a while. He blinked and gave out his own gasp.
“Aw jeez, sorry Scoots. I don't sleep a lot, and I forgot you had to go home at some point,” He explained, getting up as well, strangely without the bone popping.
“I really think you should see someone about that, it can't be healthy to be awake for so long,” She explained, nodding her head towards the door. “But for now, we need to get to Sweet Apple Acres!”
“Wait!” She sighed and turned, impatiently, towards him. “Don't you need to let your parents know where you were?”
She waved a hoof in dismissal. “Ah, they'll assume I was round Sweetie Belle's place and Rarity will just cover for me since she doesn't actually know, whether or not, I was there,” She explained, walking towards him, grabbing his hoof, and pulling him towards the door. “Now c'mon, before they eat all the snacks again!”
Featherweight stumbled in step behind her, blushing madly. “Dad! I'm going out, see you tonight or tomorrow, okay?”
“YEAH!!” Replied an overly muscle bound stallion in the kitchen, eating some cereal in a bowel.
“Table over here, guys!” Pinkie called out to Caramel and Noteworthy, holding said table in their teeth from either side. They placed it down before Pinkie placed her hoof to her chin. “Actually a little to left!”
Caramel pushed and Noteworthy pulled the table a little. “Actually, to the right a little bit more!” They complied, causing Pinkie to reply. “Actually to the left more!” They sighed and did as they were told. “No wait, put where it was before!” They did so and Pinkie smiled, brightly. “Perfect!”
“This is the exact same place it was when we picked it up!” Noteworthy yelled out in realization, looking around the familiar environment. Pinkie rubbed the back of her head, sheepishly.
“Yeah I know, I was thinking about having it over there, but it actually looked better over here, so I got you guys to go in a big circle so it didn't feel like I wasted your time!” Caramel rose an eyebrow at her.
“So to make it feel like you didn't waste our time, you wasted more of it?” Pinkie nodded, brightly, causing Caramel to sigh. “Figures, I'm going to go see if Bon-Bon needs help with the tinsel,” He said, before leaving.
“Yeah I'm gonna make sure Ditzy doesn't knock the stage down again,” Noteworthy nodded, before leaving as well. Pinkie blinked and looked around, sighing.
“And now I'm alone...”
“No you're not!” Cheese announced, popping out from under the newly set up table, causing Pinkie to jump back in surprise. “Ha! Scared you!” He announced, chuckling. “Just had to hold onto the bottom of that table for three hours to do it!”
“I was wondering where you'd gotten too!” Pinkie replied, grinning and tapping him in the shoulder. “And you certainly did, that's fourteen to you and twelve to me!”
“You gotta catch up!” He replied, grabbing her hoof in his own in an attempt to pull her towards the fence to help set it up, only to feel a large electric shock shoot up his arm, causing his mane to poof up even more.
Pinkie giggled, revealing a joy buzzer in her own hoof. “I already am!” She replied, uncharacteristically smug, bouncing towards to fence set up area herself. Cheese shook the ash off of his mane, ginning competitively.
“Oh it is on!” He said, playfully narrowing his eyes and chasing after her.
“Got around to asking Doc for that date yet?” Noteworthy asked, passing a large novelty candy cane up to the grey mailmare.
Ditzy sighed, taking it and hanging it over the edge of the top railing. “No, deliveries have been hectic these last few days, I've barely had enough time to get a Heart's Warming gift for Dinky,” She answered, wobbling a bit as her balance was challenged, before she shot out her wings and got it back.
“Man that sucks,” He replied, looking over and noticed Doctor Time Turner himself trying to untangle Heart's Warming lights, only to end up tying up his own hooves together and falling over backwards. He then turned upwards, only to notice that Ditzy had fallen over and landed with a thud right next to him. “Ditzy...”
“I'm sorry! I just don't know what went wrong!” She interrupted, springing up, only for the four candy canes she set up previously to fall around her. “...Oops.”
“Hey why don't you help Doc out, I think he might need it,” Noteworthy mentioned, nodding towards the tied up stallion. Ditzy looked over, giggled and made her way over.
“Okie doki!” Ditzy answered, flying over towards him.
Noteworthy smiled at her improved mood, but cringed when she accidently crashed into her crush and got herself tangled up with him. He sighed and went off to find Cloudchaser. “Sometimes, I don't know what could have gone wrong, either.”
“Um...Hi Doc,” Ditzy said, sheepishly with their muzzles pressed together and the both of them tied together with the lights. Time Turner blushed in response, looking away from his friend's eyes.
“How do you do, Miss Doo,” He replied, laughing nervously. “Blimey, this is quite a pickle we've gotten ourselves into, huh?”
She blushed too, looking away as well. “Sorry. It's just...”
“You don't know what went wrong?” He answered, chuckling. “It's fine, I think I can get us out of this...hopefully,” He continued, kicking his one free hoof out, catching one of the wires wrapped around Ditzy's hind leg and pulled it off, freeing said hoof.
After a little bit of struggling, the two finally managed to find their way out. But it required a lot of touching and rubbing and such, meaning a lot of blushing and murmured apologies, especially from a few ill-timed leg jerks from Ditzy's side.
“Great, withering stallions! That took some time now, didn't it?” He exclaimed, glaring at some of the ponies who had looked over at the commotion. “Thanks for help by the way, much obliged,” Said ponies chuckled, sheepishly, and shuffled away.
Ditzy rubbed a forehoof with the other and quickly grabbed hold of the lights. “Need some help untangling these? I got kicked off of stage duty,” She said, rubbing the back of her head, sheepishly.
Time Turner just smiled, happy to spend some time with his friend, and sat by her side, grabbing the other side of the lights. “I could use all the help I can get!” He answered, causing Ditzy to smile, brightly, and the two to set about their task.
Rainbow and Mac had walked past the arcade just as Rarity and Thunderlane were walking in the other direction, causing the two pairs to bump into each other. “Oh, hi dear!” Rarity greeted, brightly, as Thunderlane helped her to her hooves.
“Hey Rares,” Rainbow answered, springing back up to her hooves, flapping her wings a couple of times for balance. She glanced over at the Pegasus by her side and grinned. “Finally got around to asking him out, huh? Took ya long enough!”
Rarity blushed and shot her friend a dirty look when she felt Thunderlane's eyes on her. “Yes, quite, I see you have a date as well?”
“Eeyup,” Mac answered for her, causing Rainbow to raise an eyebrow at his sudden change in demeanor.
That's weird, he was talking earlier.
“Oh right, Rainbow!” Thunderlane suddenly stated, causing said mare to turn to him as he fetched a few forms out of his saddlebags. “Lucky I caught ya, Captain, higher ups need you to sign these before the years end or it'll be a minor inconvenience for the big wigs.”
“Wouldn't want that,” Rainbow answered, rolling her eyes but taking the forms anyway. “I'll do 'em tomorrow morning and send 'em the next day. That should appease the mighty overloads.”
While she was talking to Thunderlane, Mac was listening to Rarity. “You did get the new rehearsal times, right dear?” She asked, referring to the Ponytones and when they were going to get together after the holidays. They couldn't preform at the dance because Toe Tapper had caught a bad cold and could barely say a word without hacking his guts up.
“Eeyup,” Mac smiled.
“Great, Fluttershy will be joining a couple of sessions too, so the first few will be used to try to incorporate her into a few of our newer songs, so it doesn't throw our previously mastered ones out of tune. That's okay with you, isn't it?” Rarity asked, the two not noticing Rainbow pay a little more attention to their conversation.
“Eeyup,” He answered again.
“Excellent, thank you Dear. I'm sure Fluttershy will be thrilled,” She smiled, turning to Thunderlane. “Well we best be off, we're going to help preparations for the dance so Pinkie and Cheese can go help the Cakes bake some cookies and such,” She explained, giving Rainbow a quick hug, before the two left.
Rainbow rose an eyebrow at Mac. “Back to one word answers, huh?”
Mac blinked and turned to her. “Oh uh...Well it's more a force of habit than anythin' else,” He answered, shrugging. “Ain't gonna change overnight, ya know?”
Rainbow shook her head, grinning. “So I'm an exception, huh?”
Mac mimicked her looked. “Eeyup!” He answered, causing the two to start laughing.
“Almost...Almost...” Soarin said, carefully holding an apple against a pile of others. Applejack was just below him, placing several others into place.
“Phew. All done down here Soarin!” She called up to him, admiring the height of the spire of apples they made. They were almost finished, she just needed to wait for Soarin to place the last few on the top.
“Aaaaaand, done!” He declared, smiling brightly. “So, we gonna make snow pony guards next?” He asked, excitedly. Soarin had always loved the snow, making snow ponies and having snowball fights, rolling around to make pictures in the ground and trying to catch snowflakes on his tongue! He could never think of anything more fun!
Applejack chuckled at his enthusiasm, and headed off to the barn to get the buckets of snow that Mac collected yesterday. “Sure, let me just get some more snow first,” She answered. When she opened the door, however, she took a large hoof full of snow to the face.
“Got her! Fall back!” Scootaloo announced as she and large group of young ponies escaped the barn through the back window. Applejack wiped the snow from her face, grinning.
“Oh no ya don't!” Applejack called back, fetching a bucket of snow. “Soarin! Change of plans! We're goin' ta war!”
“Sweet! Let me go get a snow cloud!” Soarin answered, taking off towards the sky.
Just as she turned back to give chase, several snow balls had been launched towards her. Only through her reflexes, did she manage to dive out of the way. “Darn it, reloading!” She heard her sister cry out as she saw a speck of pink and orange run between the trees, throwing more snow balls out towards her.
Applejack scrambled to her hooves, taking two or three to the chest before grabbing a bit of snow and throwing it back, nailing said speck in the cheek. “AH! Ah'm hit!”
Applejack used the distraction to take cover behind the barn, noticing Rumble grab her round her barrel and drag her behind a tree. Guess Rumble's playin' their medic, She grinned. But since they out number me an' Soarin, we get ta heal ourselves. They have ta git us in the head three times. Ah took one earlier, so Ah got two lives left.
She glanced up and saw Soarin pushing a cloud towards them. “They're getting air support! Load the catapult!”
Catapult? Applejack thought to herself, before rolling out to duck behind a larger mound of snow, throwing some quickly put together snowballs to force them behind the trees.
That's when she noticed Featherweight carrying a very large snowball and dumping it into a large, spooned wooden device. Ooh, catapult.
“Soarin! Look out!” She replied too late as Sweetie Belle and Button Mash both jumped onto the other end of the device and launched the massive pile of snow towards him.
Soarin eyes beheld the giant mound of frozen water as it blocked out light from behind it, his pupils turning to pinpricks when he realised he wouldn't be able to get away from it in time. “Well bu...” Was as far as he got before it smashed into him and he fell out of the sky.
Luckily he was close to the ground and the snow would cushion his fall. Not so luckily, Applejack was moving to catch him, so ended up getting hit too, the two being covered by a mountain of snow.
“Good shot, guys, two birds, one stone!” Applebloom cheered, as they, collectively, went further into the tree line.
Soarin's wings burst out of the snow heap and heaved the pile away, pulling Applejack out as well. “Damn, they're getting good. Guess air assault is out of the question,” He mentioned, waving towards the catapult. “If they're really good, they'll have multiple of those set up.”
“Got that right,” Applejack agreed, grabbing a snowball, grinning. “Stay low and let's show 'em how it's done!”
“Alright: brushed mane, brushed teeth, little bit of make-up, scarf...check, check, check and check!”
“Great,” Spike said to Twilight from his bed, rolling his eyes. “Now maybe you'll head over to the train station to get your coltfriend before his train arrives,” Twilight gave a smug grin from her vanity mirror.
“Not this time, Flash is coming here to pick me up to get some coffee, before we head off for some dinner,” She replied, before something occurred to her and she turned to give him her full attention. “And thank you so much for dealing with the electrician yesterday. I would've, but I needed to get some of that perfume Flash likes so much.”
Spike waved his claw in a dismissive manner. “It's fine, I got it sorted,” With AB's help of course, He thought, fondly. Twilight, in response, hugged the little Dragon to her chest.
“Of course you did, I didn't doubt you for a second,” She stated, using her magic to float a bag of gemstones to him, which he grabbed as soon as he saw them. “Here's a little bonus, as gratitude.”
“Shanks Twiyight!” He replied, already munching on one of the emeralds. “You're the besht!”
She smiled, brightly, and nuzzled him in the cheek. “And you're my number one assistant...and my best friend!” He smiled even brighter, hugging her back. “If you want I'm sure I can get Flash to agree to take you with us?”
“Nah, you have fun, I'll just head over to AJ's place to see if Applebloom wants to hang out later or something,” He answered, letting her go. When he noticed her looking at him funny, he explained. “Oh yeah, I'm going to the dance with Applebloom!”
“Oh! I could've sworn you were going to ask Rarity,” She mentioned. Spike sighed.
“Well, Rarity's already got a date, so since me and Bloom didn't have a date, we decided to go together,” He explained further, his eyes looking towards a plug socket, fondly. “Plus, when she got angry before, it was just so...so...”
“Attractive?” Twilight asked, knowingly. Spike nodded, before raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah, I just never noticed noticed how cute she was before she just flipped out at some guy,” He explained, with-holding who she got angry at to save face in front of Twilight. He didn't want her to think he couldn't handle some jerk.
That was when he noticed that Twilight had finished his last sentence and rose his eyebrow at her. “Wait, how'd you know I thought she was attractive?”
“Well, apparently, dragons have an affinity towards stronger females,” She explained, using a spell to hold up a book titled 'The Nature of Dragons' in a soft, purple glow. “It was just a theory at first, based on some of the dragons living around here, so I just guessed really.”
“...huh, neat,” Spike said, shrugging. It didn't matter to him, really, he had a date and that was that.
Twilight was slightly disappointed at the lack of response. At the very least, she was hoping Spike might want to read the book. Though she didn't get much time to dwell on it since the doorbell went off...before cutting off halfway through.
“Oh c'mon! Didn't the electrician do anything right?!” Spike exclaimed, about to go to the phone, before Twilight stopped him.
“It's fine, Spike, it does what it's supposed to do,” She explained, before rushing towards the door and opening it, only to find Flash looking at her, sheepishly, between a stern looking Shining Armour and an embarrassed looking Cadence. “Um...Hi Shining? Cadence?” She found herself saying.
“I'm sorry, Twilight,” Cadence said, sending a quick glare towards her husband. “But Pinkie sent us an invitation and Shining took any excuse he could to...'chaperone' Flash here.”
Twilight turned to Flash, who smiled slightly, before quickly wiping it away when he felt his CO's eyes bore into the side of his skull. “Um...Hi Twilight...”
“Full title,” Shining stressed, elbowing him.
“But she hates be...” He sighed when Shining glared at him harder. “Hi Princess Twilight.”
Twilight's eye twitched at the name and she grabbed him by the hoof, before igniting her horn, sticking her tongue out at Shining, and teleporting the two away. Shining blinked in surprise while Cadence rolled her eyes in exasperation.
“Well, what did you think was going to happen?” She answered his unasked question, walking into the building. “Now I'm going to lie down for a bit, I've been on a train for five hours, listening to all these 'rules' you've been giving to Flash which Twilight, herself, will probably break. I've got morning sickness and you better come snuggle with me, cause if you think about ruining Twilight's date, you'll be in the doghouse, mister!”
Shining gulped, turning to Spike, who had walked in to see what the commotion was, for help. In response, Spike grabbed his coat and snow boots, running out the door.
“Sorry dude, you're on own!” He called, running towards Sweet Apple Acres.
Applejack panted as she, Soarin and Applebloom leaned against each other with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle lying down, with their tongues hung out comedically, Babs and Rumble sat up against a tree, their heads pressed together and Button, holding a flower over his chest with his front hooves. The group were gathered around one of the clearings near the farmhouse, though surrounded by trees to give the area a forest like feel.
Applebloom pushed back, scooping up a snowball to throw, haphazardly towards them, managing to get Soarin to take him out of the game. “Just you an' me fer now, sis,” Applebloom grinned, leaning on one side, having slipped over and scraped one of her knees earlier.
Applejack smiled back, competitively, and scooped up her own as her sister 'reloaded'. “Just a good old fashion stand off...” She said, as the two started to circle each other, now gaining the attention of the supposed 'dead', no-one wanting to miss such a spectacle.
Applebloom grimaced everytime she put pressure on her injured hoof, counting her blessings that she could still walk on it, and decided to try and end this quickly by throwing her snowball right at the orange mare's face.
Applejack, however, saw this coming and quickly stepped to the side, chucking her own snowball, hitting Applebloom dead centre in the chest, causing her to fall back, dramatically. “Sorry, sis,” She gloated, walking up to her. “Ya should never throw first, gives tha other team tha chance ta counter...”
She paused when she heard Applebloom start to laugh and grin at her. “What's so funny AB?” Applejack asked, confused. “Soarin an' Ah won. We took ya out.”
“Haha! Yeah, ya took out tha distraction!” Applejack blinked before she felt a sudden cold sensation on the back of her head. “Good hit Featherweight!”
Drat! Ah forgot all about him! She thought to herself, turning in surprise to see the little colt, sitting on his haunches, looking apologetic.
“Too bad I couldn't save my friends but, at the very least, they've been avenged,” He said, dramatically, throwing the last one into Applejack's face, taking out her last life. The orange mare having been too surprised to do anything except say.
“Clever colt...” Before it hit and she fell over, sideways, her hat falling off dramatically. Featherweight looked amongst the scene around him and held a hoof to is chest, head lowered in contemplation.
“What have we become?”
After that line was muttered, the whole group burst out laughing, rolling around in the snow and creating many shapes in what remained of the snow after it was continually scooped up and thrown everywhere.
“Good job, you guys! You got us this time!” Soarin exclaimed, making his way onto his hooves. The others all following suit, however Applebloom flinched when she put pressure on her left forehoof again.
Applejack noticed this, and quickly looked her over. “Aw shucks, Sugarcube, ya shoulda told me ya got hurt,” She told her once she found the scrape which wasn't bleeding, but still looked pretty painfully.
Applebloom snatched it away, looking away. “But ya woulda stopped tha game if'n Ah told ya an' we were gonna win fer once!” Applejack blinked, but smiled and picked her up, depositing the yellow filly on her back. “Hey!”
“Oh you can't tell me that don't hurt none. Now we'll just go, put bandage on it an' then make snow ponies. That sound good?” She asked. Applebloom pouted and folded her hooves as she accepted the ride. Soarin getting the others gathered to make a start on said snow ponies.
After Applebloom was sure her friends and cousin couldn't see her, she turned and hugged her sister from behind. “Can Ah have cookie once we're inside, please?”
Applejack chuckled and nuzzled her sister back. “Of course, Sugarcube!”
“Okay Discord...” Fluttershy said, looking at the piles of lemons and limes sat on her table. “If this is some kind of prank, I don't get it.”
“What prank? I went to get the lemons and limes you wanted for that lemonade for the party!” He grinned, licking his lips. “And you do make good lemonade!”
Fluttershy blushed at the compliment, smiling, but still rose an eyebrow. “Okay, so why are there...”
“Seventy eight lemons and eighty nine limes? Well that's what you asked for, right?” Fluttershy sighed.
“No, I said seven to eight lemons and eight to nine limes!” She stressed, waving her hooves towards the pile which, for emphasis, caused the table to collapse under their weight.
“Oh...I thought I was getting a few too many, but I figured you knew what you wanted and I wanted to be helpful!” He replied, cheerfully, plucking one of the lemons from the pile, peeling it and began to chew it as if it were a piece of gum. His eyes then widened as he sucked in his cheeks. “That was a bad idea!”
Fluttershy let out another breath and picked a few up. “At least I have spares...So long as they keep, I guess,” She muttered, just accepting that this one wasn't actually Discord's fault. He had just misheard her.
Discord shook his head and popped up besides her. “Need any help?” To his dismay, Fluttershy shook her head. “Aw c'mon, Fluttershy! I want to be useful!” He stressed, clicking his fingers, a little, golden-yellow, Labrador puppy dog appearing in his 'hands'. “Wook at his wittle face! He wants you to make me useful!”
Fluttershy, not being able to resist a cute little animal throw in her face, immediately dropped everything to snatch the dog from him and stare at it with wide eyes, causing it to lick her face. “Aw! What an adorable little boy!” She squealed, then paused and lifted the puppy up a little, before bringing it down and smiling again. “An adorable little girl!”
Discord just floated there, waiting for Fluttershy to stop nuzzling the puppy for a few seconds before he sighed, slapping his lion paw into his forehead. “This is what I get, I suppose,” He mentioned, clicking his talon, a fedora suddenly appearing on his head, as well as a cape on his back. “Consider that your early Heart's Warming present, I'm going to go find adventure! Super Helpful Discord away!”
Fluttershy paid him no mind, even as he smashed through the side of her cottage, leaving a Discord shaped hole in the wall next to the door. “Oh I'm going to call you Lemon. You like that name, Lemon?” The dog yapped happily, her tongue rolling out of her mouth. “I need to make lemonade right now, so you can play right Angel right now, okay?”
She put the Labrador next to her snow white rabbit, before the puppy licked him in his cheek, causing him to give Lemon an unimpressed stare, that she was completely oblivious too.
“What a wonderful afternoon!” Discord said to himself, deciding to walk along the snow covered pavements rather than float. He was aware of the towns ponies steering clear of him, but he didn't pay them any mind. If they needed help, they'd ask for it. “The snow covered landscape, the scent of baked goods, the clear skies! Why it's just about per...”
“Look out below!” Almost inevitably, his rambling on how great the scenery looked was ruined by a grey Pegasus pony face-planting right into the side of his head, causing the two to crash into the house to their left.
After they realised what had happened, they looked up and came face-to-face with Lyra and Bon-Bon sitting on the sofa with a Porcupine between them, sitting much like Lyra was, holding a TV remote.
Ditzy and Discord blinked at the two, before Lyra rubbed the back of her head. “Uh...I can explain.”
“No, no! Go back to your business,” Discord quickly answered, suddenly feeling as if he didn't really need to make things any more chaotic than they appeared to be in this town, and pulled himself and Ditzy back through the hole, clicking his talon and fixing the wall.
Ditzy shook her head and rose an eyebrow. “Did that Porcupine have cheese and pineapple wedges on his spines?” Discord shook his head.
“The less questions, I find, the better,” He replied, before scratching his goatee. “Hm, that sounds like something Twilight would say...” His eyes suddenly bugged out and he held his talon to his chest. “Oh no! I've contracted Egghead!”
Ditzy blinked as Discord started to make exaggerated, hacking and wheezing noises. “No! I...I don't want to...be a...geek!” He let out, before falling flat on his back, a bouquet of flowers sprouting out of his chest. “Tell Blueblood...he's a jerk...”
The mailmare blinked again, before giggling and poking Discord in the side of his head. “Don't be silly, mister, Egghead isn't a disease.”
“It isn't?” She jumped a bit as she turned around and found Discord standing there with a bag of popcorn in his talon. “Huh, learn something new everyday.”
She turned back around and noticed that, where there was once a 'dead' Dracoeques, there was now only a bag of jelly babies. She shook her head of the weirdness when he came up besides her and smiled, brightly. “Now let me introduce myself! My name is Discord, fun if you're bored, all around adored, and I'm the best there is at what I do!” He grinned.
Ditzy smiled, brightly, and stuck out a hoof. “I'm Ditzy Doo, how do you do? I deliver mail to you!” She giggled, causing Discord to smile back.
“A little clunky, but not bad,” He mentioned, before noticing something. She had glanced in the direction of some brown stallion, before letting out a sigh of relief. “So what problems can I help you with, tonight?”
“Problems?!” Ditzy yelped, blushing slightly. “What do you mean? I don't have any romantic problems! And they certainly don't involve that hunk of a stallion, Doctor Time Turner, at all! Nope, not one bit!”
Discord smiled brightly, turning to continue on his way. “Oh okay, if you're sure,” He replied, cheerfully, about to start moving before he paused. “Waaaait a minute! You want that Doctor Time Turner to ask you out, don't you?!”
Ditzy cursed. Drat! How did he know?!
She sighed as he looked at her, imploringly, upside-down no less. “Okay, fine! But what can you do to help?!” She exclaimed, her ears folding down. “Why would he want me?”
“Why wouldn't he?” Discord answered back, poking her in the snout. “You're fun and cute, I'm surprised a pretty young thing like you hasn't been asked out already.”
Ditzy's face lit up like wildfire, a large smile spreading across her face, before her eyes slipped apart and she shook her head to get them back into place. “W-well, I'm really clumsy and I break things all the time!”
“Aw, c'mon! That's pretty much Ponyville's catchphrase at this point!” He shot back, clicking his talon and creating a large sign that ready: 'Welcome to Ponyville, we break things all the time!' with a picture of Discord on the top shrugging his shoulders with a 'well, what can ya do' face.
Ditzy contemplated this for a second, before the self-esteem boosting comments from this stranger overcame her and her confidence boosted through the roof. “Okay, I'll do it! I'll ask him out!”
“Great! Because I'm teleporting us right in front of him!” Before Ditzy could ask what that meant, she found out that was exactly what he meant as the object of her affection suddenly had his face pressed against hers for the second time that day, Discord in the background accidently landing in a box labelled 'From the Broken Glass Factory'. “YEOWCH!”
The two, as well as the rest of town, looked towards him as he plucked out all the shards of glass from his body, strangely leaving no blood. “Who decided to build a business around making broken glass?!” He asked, grabbing a bottle of water, taking a big drink.
After a few minutes of nothing happening, Time Turner rose an eyebrow. “...You know, I was expecting...” Before he could finish, several streams of water shot out of where each of the new , non-visible holes were made. “Ah there that's tired, old trope!” Time Turner finished, before turning to Ditzy with a smile. “Your new friend is very interesting.”
“Um...Yeah, eheh,” Ditzy replied, red-faced, suddenly at a loss for words now that he was actually in front of her.
After several seconds of uncomfortable silence, broken only by Discord trying his best to plug up each of these holes with smiley faced plasters. “So...Um...” Time Turner muttered, a little speechless after everything that had just happened. “How are...”
“Do you have a date?!” Ditzy yelped out, clenching her eyes shut, her red face burning ever-brighter. Time Turner blinked, but shrugged.
“Nope, didn't have the time between fixing my house up and helping set up for the festivities tomorrow night,” He answered, noticing that her wings were doing that thing they do when he was around. Start to straighten out and stand out like a ruler.
“W-well...I just...Maybe thought...I don't know...” She mumbled out, glancing at Discord, only to find him smiling at her, encouragingly. “Would you like to go with me as a date?!” She quickly asked, looking at the ground between them, Time Turner's eyes widening in shock.
Great withering stallions! I think she asked me out! His mind yelled at him, seeing her glance up at him, her eyes watering with embarrassment. She looked like she might just burst out crying if he didn't say something. ...Well, saves me the trouble!
“Of course I'll go with you, Ditzy, it'd be a pleasure!” He smiled, causing her to look up, equal in his shock earlier before her smile broke through and she tackled him in a huge hug, causing the two to land in the box next to the broken glass, this box stating: 'From the Pillow Factory'.
“Oh come on!” Discord yelled out when he noticed they had landed on something soft, covered entirely in plasters, before he shrugged with a smile broke out and he left. Ah well, Super Helpful Discord, away!
Spike walked in through the entrance to Sweet Apple Acres, blinking in confusion at all the snow ponies lining the pathway towards a large spire of apples in front of the farm house. “What the...?”
“Howdy Spike!” Applebloom cheered, a noticeable white bandage wrapped round her knee, running up to give him a hug.
“Hi Applebloom,” He smiled, hugging her back, before motioning to the snow statues. “Do you mind explaining these?”
She turned to them and rubbed the back of her head, sheepishly. “Well, we were only gonna make, like, three or four. But it just sorta got out of control once we got up to twenty three.”
Spike blinked, looking at the line of snow ponies, before shrugging. “Eh, okay. It's not the weirdest thing I've seen,” He mentioned, poking one of them, noting it's surprising sturdiness. “Sooo, want to do something? Twilight's out with Flash and I don't want to be stuck in the castle with Shining Armour and Cadence all afternoon.”
“Sure!” She grinned, turning to the farmhouse. “AJ, Ah going out with Spike, don't wait up!”
Spike blushed at her wording before he heard Applejack's reply. “Okay! Don't blow anything up while yer in town!”
“No promises!” She answered, grinning and pressing the side of her head into Spikes arm to move him. “Want ta go throw snowballs at Discord?”
“If we can find him, and if we stay out of sight. I'd rather not spend the next three days trying to figure out where he put my tail,” Spike replied, causing Applebloom to giggle and race off, Spike running to keep up.
While doing so, they ran past Big Mac and Rainbow, who had looked at the same snow ponies, before Mac sighed with a deadpan expression. “Eeyup, shoulda this comin'.”
Rainbow grinned, trying to push one over. However, it stayed up surprisingly well. “Okay, what kind of snow did they...”
“Boo!” The snow ponies suddenly shouted, throwing his hooves in the air, causing Rainbow and Mac to react in the only way they could.
“Nyaahh!” They both cried out, Mac jumping into Rainbow's front hooves before she raced the two of them away to the farm house, not noticing Cheese shake the snow away, looking on in confusion.
“Whoops, that wasn't Pinkie,” He mentioned to himself, before bouncing away in confusion. “And here I thought waiting at a place Pinkie isn't likely to visit any time soon would've surprised her even more!”
Once Rainbow had reached the front of the house, she quickly realised that she was carrying an Earth Pony Stallion at least a head taller than her and fell over forward, dropping Big Mac in the process. “Oof!”
Mac blinked and looked over to her, concern seeping off of his face. She looked up and waved it off. “Ah, I'm fine Mac, no need to worry!” She answered, rushing back to her hooves, blushing. Mac nodded and smiled with a proud look on his face.
“You certainly are strong, then, I must weigh about three hundred pounds, at least,” He mentioned, lightly punching her in the shoulder. “That's really impressive!”
“Well obviously!” She grinned, proudly, smoothing out the fur on her left forehoof. “I just radiate awesome from every pore!”
Mac watched this demonstration for a while, listening to Rainbow boast about how cool she was, with a smile on his face. Aw shucks, she's plain adorable when she does that!
She was about to continue this display before the door opened and Applejack rose her eyebrow at him. “Well there ya are, Mac! Where were ya all night?” She then turned to find Rainbow standing in front of him, grinning at him before she came to her conclusion, letting a devious look on her face. “Oh Ah see how it is.”
Mac turned to his sister, motioning with his hoof to tell her that it wasn't what she thought, before she stopped him and chuckled. “Hey now, what you two do ain't none o' mah business, jus' so long as ya keep it down while yer here,” He let a glare on his face as he stared at her, causing her to rub her forehoof with the other. “Hey, we're workin' on it, alright!”
She turned, leaving the door open to let them in. Rainbow then shook her head as she realised that AJ had been talking. “Wait I missed the conversation, what was she talking about?”
“She thinks you an' Ah did tha deed last night,” He answered, knowing that if he didn't tell her, she'd force the information from him in time. She blinked in response, before her usually blue face suddenly lit up and she chased Applejack into the house to argue that they did no such thing.
Mac sighed and shook his head. Love ta see try an' git outta this one AJ.
Editted so that the large, imposing chapter has now been split into three, more easily digestible pieces. It's still the same content, just in a form where you can more easily find your place if you decide to take a break from reading! Hope you enjoy and I promise to try and get the final chapter (Or chapters if I go insane on the length again 
) soon. Stay cool, my friends, stay cool! 
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I must admit, I read most fe MacinDash parts first then read over the other ship XD #priorities
I'm really enjoying this so far :D
6789905 I had a feeling you would.
Considering the story's length, I don't blame you.
6790068 I'm glad you enjoyed it and gave it a shot! (Just out of curiosity, which ship did you read it for?)
6787913 Thank you, I hope to keep the flow up for the next chapter! (And hopefully it won't be as long
)
Good job so far! Keep up the great work!