My Little Pony - The Legend of Friendship

by Danieru

5. Prankster

After a hard day of work, Steel Hammer was generous enough to invite Star Twinkle for a drink. They were both having some juice in a nearby restaurant in Ponyville and talked about some casual stuff. But in the middle of the conversation, Steel Hammer got distracted by something. He looked in Star Twinkles direction who was drinking his juice at the moment but he noticed the look he received from him.

“What?” He said while interrupting his drink.

Steel Hammer was puzzled for a second but then he quickly took out some bits and gave them to Star Twinkle. “I am still a little thirsty so how about you get us both one more drink? It's on me of course,” he insisted.

Star Twinkle was wondering why Steel Hammers behavior was changing all of the sudden but didn't think too much about it. He went to the counter to get two drinks and returned to the table. He placed the drinks on the table and noticed how Steel Hammer gave him a very wide grin making Star Twinkle very suspicious.

“What?” He asked once again.

“Nothing,” Steel Hammer replied while trying to keep a straight face.

Star Twinkle grew more and more suspicious of Steel Hammers behavior and wanted to ask him why he acted so strange but as soon as he sat down a loud farting sound echoed from Star Twinkle. There was an awkward silence at the table until Steel Hammer started to laugh at Star Twinkle who felt very embarrassed at the moment.

“Hey! that wasn't me!” He insisted while trying to act calm.

He suddenly noticed that his seat felt weird and that he was sitting on something. It was a whoopee cushion that made the fart sound. He picked it up and looked at it weird but then he heard some laughter behind him so he turned around. He saw Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash who giggled at him.

“Does that belong to you?” He asked while lifting the cushion.

“Yep,” Pinkie said while still laughing. “Your reaction was hilarious,” she added.

“Thanks for not blowing us out Mr. Steel Hammer,” Rainbow Dash said.

“No problem girls,” he said giving them a wide grin and waving at them.

They waved back at them and left, probably searching for another victim for another prank. Meanwhile, Star Twinkle laid down the cushion and sat down again.

“You knew about this?” He asked Steel Hammer while giving him an annoyed look.

“Yeah, they put it on your chair while you got us the drinks,” Steel Hammer explained.

“That would explain why you were grinning so much after I came back,” Star Twinkle said.

“Oh come on, it was just a harmless prank,” Steel Hammer said, trying to calm down Star Twinkle who seemed to be a little annoyed.

Star Twinkle was looking around him and noticed that there were like two or three other ponies sitting outside of the restaurant so the audience for that prank was not that big. He looked at the cushion in with a weird expression on his face.

“I guess,” Star Twinkle replied in a monotone voice.

After spending some time outside of the restaurant Star Twinkle and Steel Hammer parted. It was still early and Star Twinkle didn't know what to do, so he aimlessly wandered through Ponyville. Maybe somepony would like to spend some time with him. He actually came across somepony he knew, it was Fluttershy who ran towards Star Twinkle. Star Twinkle hesitated a second to try and get her attention since he hasn't spoken to her that much and she didn't seem like a pony with whom you would have long in-depth conversations but he had to start somewhere so he decided to call her out.

“Hello, Fluttershy,” he called out but she didn't seem to notice him and continued to run towards him.

Before he realized that she didn't hear him it was already too late. They crashed into each other, leaving them both on the ground. Star Twinkle already regretted to even try to talk to her, since he knew it would be a little difficult, but that was just unnecessary. They both got back on their hoofs and Star Twinkle was annoyed already but tried to be forgiving since he knew that Fluttershy is very sensible.

“Ehm...Are you okay?” He said, not trying to sound too annoyed.

Fluttershy got back up on her hoofs and that's when Star Twinkle noticed that she had tears in her eyes. Suddenly, his whole reaction to the situation changed. He knew that she was crashing into HIM but he didn't care about that right now. She must be hurt because of the clash, which made Star Twinkle instantly feel bad so he tried to comfort her as good as he possibly could. But Star Twinkle was not really good when it comes to this kind of situations, mainly because he never had friends before that needed comfort and since Fluttershy was very sensible, to begin with, he had to choose his words carefully which was difficult since he began to panic but before he could say anything, Fluttershy ran off and left Star Twinkle in the middle of the road, while still having tears in her eyes.

“Well, that didn't go as I thought it would,” he said to himself while still feeling bad.

“Don't worry it was not your fault,” Pinkie Pie said.

“Are you sure? It looked like...” he stopped in the middle of his sentence as he noticed that Pinkie Pie was suddenly standing behind him and jumped in shock. “Wow! Where did you come from?” He said in surprise.

Pinkie Pie just smiled as usual when she talked to Star Twinkle, probably because she enjoys his reactions to her randomness. “Hey! I'm going to throw a party later this day and you are invited too!” She excitingly said.

"Way to change the subject," Star Twinkle thought. He didn't want to go, as usual, but he knew that he would end up going to it, whether it was because of Pinkie Pie or his boredom. But Pinkie Pie insisted that he should come since it was very important as she said and Star Twinkle agreed to come, in the end. Pinkie Pie left with a smile and Star Twinkle went home to prepare himself for the party. That's when he realized that she didn't tell him for what occasion she was throwing a party. Was it a birthday? Or another important occasion? Pinkie Pie said it was important after all. But either way, it's not like he would change his appearance since he or pretty much every other pony rarely wear clothes.

Later...

He arrived at Sugar Cube Corner a few hours later where Pinkie Pie greeted him in the doorway. He used this opportunity to ask Pinkie Pie why she was throwing this Party in the first place to what she answered that it was a party for an old friend of Rainbow Dash named Gilda. Star Twinkle didn't know what he had to do with all this, after all, he didn't even know this Gilda person. Rainbow Dash wasn't anywhere to be seen so he was most likely a little too early to the party. Fluttershy, on the other hoof, was already present and Star Twinkle decided to talk to her so he could at least apologize for crashing into her, even though she was the one bumping into him. He wasn't hurt or anything so it wasn't a big deal for him, she was much more fragile and sensible so it felt just right to him to say sorry or something.

“Hello, Fluttershy...again,” he awkwardly said.

“...Uhm...hello, Star Twinkle,” she said while trying to avoid eye contact.

Normally, somepony would say something to keep the conversation going but since Star Twinkle and Fluttershy rarely talk much, this "conversation" was bound to go wrong somehow.

"Great, this situation is already awkward," Star Twinkle thought to himself.

He didn't know how he should approach her at all and she clearly didn't want to talk with him, making this conversation a lot more complicated as he thought.

“So...do you know this Gilda pony?” He asked.

“Yes...but she is not a pony, she's a griffon...” she said, still avoiding eye contact as much as she could.

“Oh, so you've met her already?” He asked.

“...yes...” She seemed to get more and more uncomfortable, making Star Twinkle feel more and more uncomfortable.

He thought he was out of options, so the only thing left was to get out the apology as quickly as possible. “Hey, earlier today when I bumped into you...” he was surprised how hard it would be to just say sorry, he never had to do that before because he avoided as much contact as possible with other ponies, therefore avoiding conflicts as well. But Fluttershy noticed that he was struggling, which caught her attention, making it even harder for Star Twinkle to concentrate on his words. “I just wanted to say, that I'm sorry, okay?” It felt like a huge relief for him to get those words out but he then realized that she still had to accept it, making him nervous again.

“Sorry? For what?” She innocently asked him, while looking at him confused.

“Well, for hurting you earlier this day, when we bumped into each other,” he explained.

Fluttershy seemed to be confused by Star Twinkle's behavior but then she remembered that she was crying earlier this day and that Star Twinkle may have misunderstood something.

“Oh no! I didn't cry because we bumped into each other so don't worry,” she assured him.

Star Twinkle felt relieved to hear that but couldn't help to doubt her words a little. Maybe she was just saying that to make him feel better or because she didn't want him to talk to her because she felt awkward about it. But would she really do something like this? He wondered. Once again, Star Twinkle was caught up in his inner monolog but he eventually snapped out and said something.

“Okay...I thought I was the one who made you cry or something so felt kinda bad about it,” he said in relief.

“You don't have to, you are a really nice. You would never do something to hurt somepony,” she proudly said.

This triggered another monologue in Star Twinkles head. "Why is she saying that with so much confidence? She barely knows me so how could she assume that I am “nice”? Is she just being naive? Or does she really think about me that way? I wouldn't call myself a bad person, but she doesn't know that. She can't possibly know what I think about her or anypony else since I rarely speak with anypony!"

Fluttershy noticed how Star Twinkle stared at her suspiciously, wondering if she said something wrong, she shyly backed away a little. Star Twinkle didn't notice that because he was too focused on his thoughts until he noticed some creature that entered the room. That creature had feathers instead of fur, claws, and paws instead of hoofs, giant wings, and a long tail. Star Twinkle was positive that he never saw something like that before.

“Who is that?” He asked Fluttershy.

She had a shocked expression on her face and tried to hide behind Star Twinkle, who was confused by her behavior.

“What's wrong?” He asked Fluttershy.

“It's nothing,” she replied in a quiet voice.

Star Twinkle saw how this unknown creature was accompanied by Rainbow Dash so it was possible that this was Gilda. Whenever she was or not, Pinkie Pie greeted her like any other guest, shaking hoofs with her...or claws to be precise. But suddenly, Gilda was shocked by something after shaking hoofs with Pinkie Pie, much to the surprise of anypony. Seconds later, Pinkie Pie revealed that she had a buzzer in her hoof, which was most likely the cause of Gildas extreme reaction.

“A prank, huh?” Star Twinkle thought.

Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were playing some pranks on the citizens of Ponyville today. At least that's what he heard from Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity.

"So it was a party involving pranks?" He thought.

After this little prank, Pinkie decided to introduce everypony to Gilda.

“I'd like you all to meet Gilda, a long-time, dear friend of Rainbow Dash. Let's honor her and welcome her to Ponyville,” Pinkie Pie said to all the ponies in the room.

After those words, Star Twinkle instantly notice something about Gilda. She was not comfortable or at least didn't like how Pinkie Pie introduced her to all the ponies. Maybe she was like Star Twinkle and didn't like to be pushed in the spotlight like that? After all, he only noticed because she was giving a fake smile most of the time when she got the attention of every pony, which is exactly what Star Twinkle would do in her situation.

Pinkie Pie was offering Gilda some vanilla lemon drops, who didn't hesitate to take one. But again, Gilda showed some unusual behavior, in fact, she was breathing fire all of the sudden. Star Twinkle assumed for one second that this is something griffons are able to do, but he was familiar with Pinkie Pies sweets to some degree. She once gave him a cupcake with hot sauce, which almost burned his tongue away. As a natural reaction, Gilda tried to find something to drink. She took a glass of punch but there was a hole in the glass and it all dripped on Gilda, most likely another prank. Eventually, Gilda found something to drink and cooled herself off, but she didn't seem to like how she was treated.

Rainbow Dash pointed out the presents for Gilda, so Gilda excitingly rushed over to them. When she opened one of them, to her surprise, a bunch of spring snakes jumped out of the present. Even though this party was arranged for Gilda, she didn't look happy at all, in fact, she looked a bit angry. Star Twinkle didn't understand what was going on exactly but he at least wanted to talk with Gilda once This party was held so that everypony gets to know her after all. So Star Twinkle approached her while mentally preparing himself and thinking about what they should talk about.

“Hello, my name is-” but he was interrupted by her before he could finish his sentence.

“Get lost, pony!” she said while walking past him in an annoyed tone.

Not sure what exactly happened there, Star Twinkle decided to just stand there confused while Gilda approached Rainbow Dash with who she seemed a little more comfortable.

“Did I say something wrong?” He wondered.

The party went on. Everypony was having fun, except Star Twinkle who felt out of place. Some of his friends accompanied him so he at least had somepony to talk to, even if they did most of the talking. Pinkie Pie was bringing in a big Cake with some candles on top. Twilight was suggesting that Gilda should blow out the candles since it is her party. So Gilda rushed to the cake and attempted to blow them out but to her surprise, they lit again. After some unsuccessful attempts to blow them out, she gave up. They were more likely re-lighting candles, meaning that she could never blow them out on her own. Gilda didn't seem to like getting all those pranks played on her and Star Twinkle was wondering if this party really was such a good idea.

Everypony took a slice of cake and talked about some trivial stuff. The cake tasted really good, even though Spike has ravaged most of it before anypony could eat a piece. Star Twinkle noticed how Gilda gave Pinkie Pie a mean look from time to time and wondered what that was all about. For him, it looked like Gilda wasn't even trying to get along with somepony other than Rainbow Dash.

After the cake, Applejack announced that it was time to play “Pin the tail on the pony”. It was a popular party game, where you have to pin a tail at a picture of a pony, preferably at the right spot, all while being blindfolded. Rarity wanted to go first but Gilda insisted that she should go first so she took the tail and Spike blindfolded her so that she could start. Pinkie Pie led her to the poster so that she could pin the tail, but for some reason Gilda turned around and walked in the other direction, where she slipped on a piece of cake, that laid on the ground, making her slip right into the kitchen.

She was a mess after she came out. There were cake and flour all over her body and the tail was now on her face.
And Pinkie Pies comment that she pinned the tail on the wrong side didn't make it better at all since all ponies were now laughing at her. Star Twinkle felt a little bad for Gilda but even he couldn't resist smirking a little. Gilda, on the other hoof, didn't seem to found it funny at all. She was quite angry in fact and finally snapped, letting out a scary roar that stopped the laughter of all ponies.

“This is your idea of a good time? I've never met a lamer bunch of dweebs in all my life.” She said in her anger, flying above the heads of everypony.

She was especially angry at Pinkie Pie, for playing all those pranks at her and said that she and Rainbow Dash are way too cool, to hang out with such a bunch of lame ponies. So Gilda attempted to leave the party and prompted Rainbow Dash to follow her, but to her surprise Rainbow Dash refused.

“You know Gilda, I was the one who set up all those weak pranks at this party,” Rainbow Dash admitted, to the surprise of everypony.

Rainbow Dash said that it was pure luck that Gilda was setting them all off. But Gilda didn't believe her and still blamed Pinkie Pie for all those pranks so that she could make Gilda look like a fool.

“Me? I threw this party to improve your attitude. I thought a good party might turn that frown upside down,” Pinkie Pie said, making a sad frown herself since her plan didn't work.

Rainbow Dash was upset that Gilda treated her new friends like that and advised her that she should find some new cool friend if that is all that she was caring for.

Gilda took the advice and left the party, leaving every pony confused in the room. Rainbow Dash apologized for bringing Gilda to the party but every pony forgave her. She said that she would rather hang out with her “boring” and “uncool” friends and so the party went on as if nothing happened.

It was still a fun party and nopony left with a bad taste in his mouth but Star Twinkle was always bothered by something and this time it was no exception. Having a conversation about Gilda was unavoidable after all that happened and Rainbow Dash really didn't understand why Gilda was behaving like that. She was just assuming that all her friends could get along no matter if old or new.

This conversation made Star Twinkle think that friendship is a lot more complicated than he thought and if it is all worth this complication.

He was never really Gildas friend, to begin with, but doesn't sharing a friend like Rainbow Dash automatically make them friends too? But instead, Gilda and Rainbow Dash just lost one friend. Was Star Twinkle indirectly responsible for that? Because he was one of Rainbow Dash's friends?

Thankfully, Star Twinkle didn't have to worry about things like that in the future because he doesn't have any old friends that he has to introduce to his new ones, so things like that could never happen. Star Twinkle wasn't as strong as Rainbow Dash. He probably couldn't decide which side he would have picked. But Rainbow Dash did, making him wonder if she was also talking about him when she was defending her friends. If she could have chosen between him and Gilda who would she have picked?

Star Twinkle actually thought about asking her but scrapped this idea really quick for unknown reasons. Maybe because he knew the answer? Or because he didn't want to bother Rainbow Dash? Either way, the party was coming to an end and Star Twinkle went home. And as usual, he fell asleep while thinking about the events of the day.

His last thought at this day was: “I feel sorry for Gilda...”

Author's Note:

Not much interaction between Star Twinkle and Gilda but whatever.

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