Finding Destiny

by grendal

Making New Friends

The reception at Ponyville station was not what Stew was expecting, especially since he hadn’t been expecting a reception at all. Somepony must have managed to send a message ahead from Appleloosa as several doctors were waiting for Stew on the platform. His sputtering attempts to explain he was fine were studiously ignored. The doctors quickly spirited Stew away to the Ponyville hospital, where he stayed for the next two weeks.

Unicorn magic had done wonders for the world of medicine in Equestria. Magic couldn’t be used to heal a pony, per se, but it did surgeries and fine work that nopony could have dreamed of doing with their hooves. They had reset Stew’s broken bones and reattached his torn ligaments. Sadly, there were limits to what magic could do, and the crossbow bolt had done serious damage to Stew’s hoof. If not for the skilled doctors he would likely have never walked again, but as things were now he would walk with a limp for the rest of his life.

When Stew left the hospital, he started limping towards the castle. Princess Twilight was undoubtedly back by now, so it would be best to get to his new job. He wasn’t really sure what sort of a pony Princess Twilight was. Rarity of course had nothing but kind things to say, but Stew had never met an employer that would take kindly to being 336 hours late for work. Stew was a little sad he wouldn’t get to do any exploring, Rarity had made everything sound so spectacular, though she had a way of doing that with anything she said. Stew was especially sad he wouldn’t get to find out why the cakes were so special. And then there were these “Cutie Mark Crusaders” Princess Celestia had told him to find. Before all the train nonsense Stew had been hoping that he would have time to track them down and get started on earning his cutie mark before Twilight returned. Now he wasn’t sure when he would have the time…

“SURPRISE!!!” An explosion of confetti knocked Stew off his hooves. Seemingly from nowhere, a pink mare was singing and dancing a welcome song. Stew tried to get up, several times, but each time he did the pink pony’s dance would knock him over again. So he resigned himself to staying seated on the ground while the overly energetic pony finished her song. “…So now it’s time to eat your welcome cake!!!” The mare sang as a canon rolled up, firing a batch of uncooked batter in Stew’s face. “Oops!” the pony giggled “I put the confetti in the oven and the cake batter in the party canon, again!” The mare ran a hoof through the batter on Stew’s face and licked it, smiling. “It’s still good though!”

“Y-you m-m-must be P-P-Pinkie P-Pie.” Stew stammered as he picked himself off the ground. Rarity had warned him something like this would happen when Pinkie found out somepony new had moved to Ponyville.

Pinkie Pie gasped “You’ve heard of me?! That’s so neat! Did somepony tell you about me? Oh no, did somepony ruin the surprise?! It was Gummy wasn’t it?! Betrayer!!!” Pinkie was now yelling at a cross eyed, toothless alligator. Despite the pain, the cake batter clinging in his mane, the two weeks of absolute boredom, and the dread of having to meet somepony new, Stew felt a smile creep across his face. Watching Pinkie argue with the mute alligator, and she appeared to be losing, was somehow exactly what Stew needed to cheer up.

“...I would love to see you try and eat pumpkins half as fast!” Pinkie Pie turned away from the alligator smiling triumphantly. It would seem she won the argument after all. “What’s you’re name? Where did you come from? Why did you come to Ponyville? Where did you learn that stylish walk? Have you ever tried a cherrychonga? Applejack promised to help me invent the cherrychonga as soon as I figured out what to call it...” Pinkie continued to fire an endless barrage of questions and anecdotes, that she seemed to have no intention of letting Stew respond to, as she skipped circles around the stallion. Stew decided it was best to just continue on his way to Princess Twilight’s castle, occasionally flashing a smile to Pinkie Pie to show he was listening.

The castle wasn’t quite like the one in Canterlot. Twilight’s castle felt older, more worn out. Dust caked the floors and walls of many of the rooms, clearly indicating how little of the castle was actually being used. Stew would probably have found the atmosphere of the place quite oppressive if it weren’t for the squeaky bouncing and endless chatter of Pinkie Pie beside him. He was grateful for the company, much to his own surprise. Now that he was in the castle doubts were creeping back into his mind. He was already sure Princess Twilight wouldn’t like him, but what if she didn’t let him have the job? What if he messed everything up and Princess Twilight banished him from Ponyville before he got a chance to meet the Cutie Mark Crusaders? Stew looked over to Pinkie Pie, who was still happily bouncing beside him. Having such a carefree pony going with him to see Twilight Sparkle was oddly comforting. It suddenly dawned on Stew that he had no idea where he was going. Somehow without really thinking about it he had wound up just following Pinkie Pie. “S-sorry, wh-where are y-you t-t-taking m-me P-P-P-Pinkie P-Pie?” Stew asked as they reached a large dark room.

“SURPRISE!!!” Lanterns all around the room lit up revealing five mares and a baby dragon. The room was filled with streamers and ballons, cakes, pies, tarts, muffins, cupcakes, and punch bowls. There wasn’t a single corner of the grand chamber that wasn’t decorated. Somepony had gone to a lot of effort to prepare this surprise party, and now they all wasted their good surprise on Stew. As he looked back to the ponies to apologize for not being who they expected, Stew found himself staring down the barrel of a canon. Again. A fresh batch of cake batter blasted into Stew’s face. Through the goo now flowing into his ears Stew could hear the ponies giggling before a napkin wrapped in a magic glow wiped cake batter from his face.

“S-sorry. I-I’ll h-h-help you r-r-r-reset f-for y-your g-g-guest.” Stew’s voice was little more than a whisper as he bowed to Princess Twilight who was wiping his face.

“Reset? Don’t be silly, this party is for you.” The Princess warmly indicated for Stew to rise. “Pinkie insisted we make it a party. It was a struggle to keep her from inviting all of Ponyville. But we managed to convince her that we should all get to know you first.” Twilight lowered her voice to a whisper as she leaned close to Stew. “You have Fluttershy to thank for that. She told me you wouldn’t like a big party.”

Stew nodded his agreement. He would have to thank Fluttershy. Even this size of party was feeling a bit overwhelming. Thankfully he drew strength from the fact that both Fluttershy and Rarity were there amongst the party guests.

Twilight began speaking in a normal tone again. “Come in Stewtary, I want to introduce you to everypony.” The purple furred princess lead Stew further into the room. “First I should introduce myself. I’m Twilight Sparkle, the princess of friendship. But please just call me Twilight. Being called Princess all the time makes my skin itch all over.” Stew gave Twilight a weak smile. He wasn’t really prepared to be chatting so informally with a princess. Everypony knew alicorn princesses were to be revered. It was going to take some getting used to before Stew would be comfortable being as free with Princess Twilight as she seemed to want him to be. He eyed the exit a few times, then ultimately decided running from such a sweet gesture would assure him not getting the job. So he continued along side Twilight as they approached the little dragon.

“This is my number one assistant, Spike. You’ll be working mostly with him.” Twilight said, pointing to the dragon. Spike seemed to be eyeing Stew warily. It would seem not everypony was thrilled to be meeting him.

Stew made a slight bow to Spike, “I-I h-hope to m-m-meet your e-e-exp… y-your st-standards m-master S-Spike.”

A knowing smile hovered on Twilight’s lips as she spoke. “Well, what do you think of that ‘master’ Spike?”

The tiny dragon was now puffing out his chest importantly, sharply contrasting with the goofy grin on his face. He seemed to snap back to reality as he looked at Twilight. “Oh, alright. It’ll be nice to have some help with this big castle. It’s nice to meet you Stewtary.” Spike offered his claw and shook Stew’s hoof before wandering over to the food tables muttering “master spike” to himself.

Stew felt he was missing something as all the mares exchanged amused glances, but Twilight was moving on in her introductions before Stew could ask. Not that he was ever going to anyway. “I know you’ve already met Rarity” Twilight said as they stood in front of the beautiful mare.

“It’s so good to see you again Stewtary. Fluttershy and I had wanted to go see you when we heard you were in the hospital, but Pinkie needed full time monitoring to keep her from throwing a party for you right there in your hospital bed. I hope you understand dear.”

Stew smiled gratefully at Rarity “I-I underst-stand. Th-thank you.”

“And of course you know Fluttershy.” Twilight said moving on.

“It’s um, really nice to see you again Stewtary. Mr. Cheesers said he missed you… and um, I missed you too.” Fluttershy said as she looked down, hoofing distractedly at the ground.

Stew too found himself unable to make eye contact, and similarly began hoofing at the stones on the floor. “Th-thank you. I-I missed y-y-you too. B-b-both of y-you. Mr. Ch-Cheesers a-and you, I-I m-m-mean…”

“Oh come on! Get a room you two!” a blue furred pony with a striking rainbow coloured mane shouted from across the room. Both Stew and Fluttershy turned bright red, stepping a few paces back from each other.

“Rainbow!” Twilight chided, “Sorry about that Stewtary. That’s Rainbow Dash. She can be a bit, loud, but you’ll never meet a more loyal”

“Or awesome!” Rainbow Dash interrupted.

“Or awesome,” Twilight continued “Friend. She really is great once you get to know her.”

Stew was still horrendously embarrassed, but he felt he had to try and say something. Princess Celestia had warned him it would be difficult to choose this path. He would do his best. “I-I-I-I’ve h-heard of y-y-you… y-you’re the b-best flier in a-all Equ-qu-questria.” Rainbow Dash’s reaction to Stew’s praise was not much different from Spike’s reaction to being called master.

“Well, that’s true. I’m pretty amazing. You’re alright Stewtary. If you ever want to hang and talk about how awesome I am, I’m totally down for that.” Rainbow zipped over and gave Stew a hoof bump. He had never been hoof bumped before. A slight admiration swelled in Stew’s heart. His first hoof bump ever was with Rainbow Dash! He felt cool just by association.

Next up was an orange furred mare with a pale-yellow mane and cowboy hat on named Applejack. She spoke with a thick country drawl that seemed familiar to Stew. Then it dawned on him. “D-do you kn-kn-know H-Honey S-S-Sickle?”

“Honey Sickle? Why, she’s muh cousin’s step-mom’s niece’s best friend’s second cousin twice removed! Course I know her. She’s practically family! Wait, how do you know Honey?”

Stew hadn’t quite followed the relationship, but it seemed Applejack did know Honey Sickle somehow. “I uh… m-met her o-on th-th-the t-train h-h-here.” He said.

“Well I’ll be. I didn’t make the connection ‘till jus’ now. Yer that Hero pony Honey told us about! Yer Stew!”

“I-I d-d-don’t know ab-b-bout th-that…”

“Don’t be so modest! She told me ‘bout how you fought three big Barker Brothers at once when they tried to take her necklace!”

“Th-that isn’t qu-quite-“

Rainbow Dash came zipping over “No way! You’re a lot shorter than she described you. Did you really catch a crossbow bolt in midair with your bare hooves to save Honey?”

“W-well not ex-“

“Honey told me about how you wrestled her free of Ma Barker herself, boldly staring her down to save your damsel in distress.” Rarity chimed in. “I can hardly believe that was you Stewtary. I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“N-no that’s-“

“What about when you kicked one of the Barker boys right off of the train when he tried to rob you? Or when seven others from the gang all attacked you at once? How did you manage to fight them all off? No wonder you had to spend some time in the hospital!”

“Th-that’s not e-e-even-“

“Yelling, yelling, dialogue, dialogue, punchline dialogue!” Pinkie Pie seemed to be in her own little world.

The three ponies continued to grill Stew about his exploits on the train, each tale more fantastic then the last. He couldn’t seem to get a word in to correct them, they didn’t seem to want him to. It was too much. Stew began backing away. He didn’t care if he lost his job, he didn’t care if he never got his cutie mark, he couldn’t handle this. Then a gentle hoof touched his shoulder, and Fluttershy whispered reassuringly to him. Stew took a deep breath, and looked back to the four ponies trying to all talk to him at once. He wouldn't run. Not in front of his friend.

“Girls!” Twilight finally interjected. “I think Stew is getting a bit overwhelmed by your questions, and whatever it is your doing Pinkie Pie.”

Pinkie just smiled “I’m participating!”

“Right. Anyway, I think this is a good time for Spike to show,” Twilight looked over to Stew. “Do you prefer Stewtary, or Stew?”

Stew shot Fluttershy a thankful glance before taking another deep breath. “I-I like St-Stew… To be c-called St-Stew I-I m-mean.”

“Alright. Spike? I think it’s a good time for you to show Stew around the castle. Make sure you show him where he will be staying. Afterwards Applejack, you can take him to see your sister and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They should be done school by now and Princess Celestia wants Stew to meet them as soon as possible. You can start working tomorrow Stew.”

Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow dash all looked slightly abashed. Pinkie just looked like she was having fun playing with a balloon. "Well, I'm glad ya saved Honey Sickle, however you did it." Applejack said somewhat apologetically.

"Yes. Sorry dear, I hope I didn't make you uncomfortable. It was just such an exciting tale that Honey Sickle told us. Perhaps I got a little over exuberant in my questions." Rarity added.

"You'll have to show me some of your moves!" Rainbow Dash said, more excited than sorry.

Spike led Stew out of the large meeting room. The ponies were silent for a little while, but it wasn’t long before the jovial sounds of a party started echoing through the halls. No doubt Pinkie Pie managed to get everypony back in a partying mood. Stew breathed a heavy sigh of relief. They were all wonderful ponies, and they seemed so close. It was just a lot to take in for his first meeting. He was glad Fluttershy and Twilight had been there to rescue him. Maybe working for Princess Twilight wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Author's Note:

Well, that was my first time writing all of the main six. I hope I got their personalities right.
Thank you for reading my story so far. I love to hear you comments, questions, ideas, anything you want to share. If you like it so far, please give it a thumbs up. If you love it, maybe consider giving me a follow so you know when the next chapter comes out. And if it's your favorite, well, I think they have a button for that too
Bye!

Comments

[Stonecrop Sedum]

Good stuff.