The New Adventures of Carrot Top.

by Capitola

July 4th (part 4)

There was an awkward silence that hung in the kitchen after the green mare offered her snack. Not even the shouts of ponies from outside broke the tense moment the three mares shared.

Lyra nervously eyed the two ponies and offered the dairy treat again. A small bit oozed out and onto the floor with a resounding splat. Silence reigned yet again.

“Uhm … I can clean that up. I just … I was kind of hungry and-.” The green mare did not finish as Bon-Bon rushed up to her friend, pulling her into a hug.

“I was so worried, I thought something had happened. When I saw the big scaffold go down I thought you had been crushed by the rubble and you were dying under there.”

Lyra blinked in surprise and smiled, patting her friend on the head. Carrot sighed and walked over.

“What are you doing back here, anyways? The whole town is on fire, y'know.” Carrot stated. Lyra placed her Go-Gurt onto the kitchen counter and coughed into her free hoof.

“When the fires started I got a little … nervous and I came back here. I was thinking I should lay low here for a while and also I was pretty hungry,” Lyra stated, nodding to the yogurt.

Carrot Top was silent. Her left eye did a little twitch and she tried to calmly breathe in and relax herself. She knew that if she didn’t calm herself down she was going to kill a certain pony, and it wouldn’t be Bon-Bon.

Fortunately at that moment Bon-Bon decided to speak up, disengaging from her hug and looking the unicorn straight in the eyes.

“Lyra … we need your help, okay?” Bon-Bon voice was very soft and mellow as she spoke to Lyra, as if she were a little child and Bon-Bon had to say everything slowly so she could understand.

“There are some nice ponies that need your help outside. There water machine has broken and they don’t know how to fix it. It would mean a lot to me and to my friend if you would help the friendly ponies fix it so they can help all the other ponies who are being burnt alive.”

Carrot Top frowned and scratched her ear, trying to figure out if she had misheard that last bit. Lyra seemed to be thinking it over while Bon-Bon cooed over her. After a few moments Lyra nodded and walked off.

“Wait … she agreed to help, where is she going?” Carrot looked over at Bon-Bon, who was smiling proudly.

“You’ll see.”

A couple of minutes passed by as Carrot paced back and forth in the kitchen. She kept telling herself to remain calm, but it didn’t seem to be helping. Bon-Bon, meanwhile, had gotten a basket of yarn and needles from somewhere and was sewing an intricate scarf. There was a loud bang from and the green unicorn reappeared with saddlebags on her back. She enveloped her yogurt knockoff with her magic and lifted it towards her mouth.

“Alright,” she stated. “Let’s go.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As they approached the three mares could see that the Firefighters were still working on their machine. Carrot and Bon-Bon stopped a few feet away, but Lyra went up to the biggest pony there and started taking with him.

“I see you’ve got a problem with your Hydro-cart, mind if I take a look?”

The pony, which was bright orange like fire, looked down at Lyra like she was some strange alien creature. He reluctantly nodded and she smiled before waltzing over to the machine and checking it over, humming as she worked. Occasionally she would cluck or mutter under her breath.

“See, come over here.” Lyra instructed.

“What is it?”

“Well, that it is your problem. Long story short your Motor Coupling is dead and your Driver’s block is all rusted to pieces. Hay, I’m surprised it hasn’t fallen apart. You do know you’re supposed to clean these, right?”

“Uhm … uhm …but …” the Firefighters eyes were crossed in confusion. Lyra sighed and tapped his leg.

“Okay, listen closely; I’m not going to say it again. When you’re working with these Hydro-carts you have to know what model you’re dealing with in order to know how much you’re supposed to clean it, what kinds of parts it needs, and stuff like that. This one here is ’95 model, which is amazing, seeing as how something like this should have broken down ages ago.”

“Now if you click this and open this up here,” she gestured as she opened up the machine. A small gush of black water erupted out. “See, did you see that? That’s bad. Now look at this big part here, the thing that looks like a wheel. That would be your Motor Coupling. See how there’s a piece missing? That’s bad too.”

The stallion sat on his haunches with a bewildered expression. Carrot’s eyes were wide with shock as she tried to fully comprehend what was coming out of the green ponies’ mouth.

“Now I have some Motor Couplings in my bag here, but you’ll have to help me install them. I’ll show you the first time, then you can do the rest. Now watch as I put it in.”

Lyra instructed the pony, who continued a steady nod throughout the whole lecture. When she finished she handed him the parts he needed and left, walking back over to Bon-Bon and Carrot Top.

“Excellent job, I’m very proud.”

Lyra smiled at the compliment and hoisted her bags up onto her shoulders with her magic. She pulled the half-eaten Go-Gurt out and started sucking on it before looking over at Carrot Top. She blinked her eyes and looked over to Bon-Bon and then back to Carrot.

“Hi … uhm, who are you?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

… and then she asks me who I am. Who I bucking am!

I was about ready to knock her off her feet and strangle her, or some other unpleasant thing when Bon-Bon startled giggling (This isn’t funny! How is this funny?) And hugging her friend. It was at that moment that I completely lost the ability to care. I just sat there, staring, knowing that if I could somehow muster the energy I could kill them both and hide them. No one would ever have to know.

Surprisingly enough, all the fires were stopped soon after that. Despite my annoyance (and when I say annoyance I’m being nice) at the green pony (Lyra) I still can’t help but feel amazed at all the things she said. I would have never guessed that she was someone who could build and work on such complicated machinery. Part of me is scared knowing that other ponies trust her with said complicated machinery.

Also surprisingly enough no pony tried to find out who the culprit behind the fires was. It should have been obvious and all, but I guess everyone was just too happy to be safe.

By the time everyone had gotten things figured out it was morning. I was exhausted, but Bon-Bon and Lyra dragged me to a café in order to celebrate (congratulations on burning your hometown down!). As we got to talking I found I liked them more than I had first thought. They were nice ponies, despite being a little insane (in my opinion). Bon-Bon was a baker and worked out of her house, selling her creations to Sugar Cube Corner and to anyone who ordered something. Lyra, on the other hoof, was something much different (brace yourself, dear diary). Turns out Lyra had graduated from a prestigious coastal school and worked on the oversight of construction projects for things like cranes, trains, and other machinery related things.

I found myself liking them for some odd reason. Later on in our discussions Bon-Bon went to go get our orders while Lyra and I talked …

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The streets had gone back to normal, save for rows of carts filled with building supplies being pulled by ponies. Lyra watched as Bon-Bon entered into the shop and then turned to Carrot Top.

“Hey, uhm I just wanted to say I was sorry … I probably should have thought this all out better I was just so excited to tell people about these things. No pony ever believes me … so I guess I decided to go overboard with it.”

"Yeah, you really did. Bon-Bon was really worried about you. You should have seen how terrified you made her when she couldn't find you. She was so happy to see you were okay."

Lyra turned a little pale and moved awkwardly in her chair. She looked around towards where Bon-Bon had vanished and leaned in even closer.

"Between me and you, when we get home and no one else is around I'm gonna get the biggest lecture of my life. Bon-Bon's the nicest friend I could ever ask for, but she's actually really mad. The only reason she hasn't exploded yet is because we're in public," Lyra gulped as she said the last part, imagining the pain she would recieve once they got home.

Carrot looked over at Lyra and frowned, unhappy with how joking the mare was acting. She decided to bring her back down to the ground and remind her of what she had done.

“Ponies could have died in that fire, Lyra. Houses were burnt, family possessions were destroyed. I’m not sure you should be apologizing to me.”

Lyra nodded and picked up her drink, slurping on it until there was only ice and then continuing on. Carrot’s eye twitched again and for the third time in the past few hours she had to fight the rising urge to hit a certain pony.

“Yeah, I know I went overboard, but I think you’re over reacting. You haven’t been in Ponyville long enough, so you don’t really get how things fly around here. Wait a few weeks and you’ll see what I mean.”

Before Carrot Top could comment back Bon-Bon had arrived with their food. Carrot, who hadn’t realized just how hungry she was until there was food in front of her, busied herself with eating …

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

… and I still don’t know what it means. She doesn't make any sense; she's like a small filly! As for what she meant I’ll have to figure that out for another time, though. I’m too tired for any thoughts right now. I just want to sleep for the rest of the week.

One more entry before I go to bed, though. After I finished my meal with Lyra and Bon-Bon (who I have dubbed Looney and … well I haven’t come up with one for Bon-Bon yet) I remembered where this had all started. I made my way back to Sugar Cube Corner, hoping to see Pinkie. As I turned the corner I saw her sitting in a group with five other mares.

As I approached she noticed me and excused herself before walking over. There was something different about her, but I just couldn’t tell …

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey, Pinkie! I’m glad to see you’re alright. I saw you run off, but I lost you in all the smoke.”

“Yeah, I had to go and do that something that I told you about,” Pinkie said, looking back over her shoulder at her friends. It was then that Carrot Top saw the smoldering remains of Sugar Cube Corner.

“Oh my Celestia, Pinkie I am so sorry. I saw it on fire, but I thought they had doused it out.”

“Yeah, me too,” Pinkie replied. For a second there appeared a small frown on Pinkie’s face before it was replaced by another smile and a hollow chuckle. “But I guess they were too busy.”

Carrot looked away awkwardly and dug into the ground with her hoof. She felt bad for her friend, but didn’t know what to do. She looked over and noticed that Pinkie’s hair had changed. It wasn’t a huge change, but her hair was slightly less poofy than it normally was. Carrot assumed it was because she had been so stressed from the fire and from her home being burnt down.

Carrot didn’t know how the idea came into her mind and she didn’t know what insane quirk cause her to say it, but the next words that left her lips took her completely by surprise.

“Hey, if you need a place to stay, you can sleep on my couch.”

Pinkie looked up at Carrot with a surprised expression. Carrot, for her part, looked as equally surprised. Then she did it again.

“Also, if you want, you can stop by my house sometime and I can help you bake something.”

Carrot Top bit down on her tongue to prevent any more promises escaping. She had no idea where any of that came from. Perhaps all the crazy was rubbing off on her.

All of a sudden Pinkie exploded upwards, causing Carrot Top to step back in shock. When she landed her hair was a mass of tangled curls and she wore a big grin.

“All back to normal!” She told her friend. “I’d love to, Carrot, thank you so much!”

Carrot Top was enveloped in a back-breaking bear hug as pinkie continued.

“I’m already going to be staying at a friend’s house, but I’ll come by this Thursday and we can spend the wole day baking! It’ll be super fun, and we can catch up on all the talking we didn’t do at the party!”

“A … All day?” carrot Top stammered.

“All day!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

… and yes, I know what I got myself into is probably way over my head, but I just couldn’t help myself. I just couldn’t stand to see Pinkie so sad and depressed.

Sure she drives me crazy, but she’s still my friend. And it just feels unnatural for her to not be smiling. If I hadn’t done that then the universe would probably have fallen out of line and something crazy might have happened. Either way, I’m in for it now.

Afterwards she tried to lead me over to her friends, but I told her I was too tired and went home. I’ve been here since. Now that this day is done I think I’ll go ahead and take my rest. Celestia knows that I deserve it.

-Carrot Top

(I’ve really got to figure out why I’m signing these.)

Comments

[Capitola]

1091408

Thanks! I'll make a note to make those corrections as soon as possible. Also, I am glad you like my characterization of her. The next few chapter I am going to try and show how she interacts with normal situations.

Yes, haha, Carrot has a love/hate relationship with that diary.

[Capitola]

1102178

Thanks for pointing that stuff out! I am glad you liked Bon-Bon's entrance!

[Lonepone]

This is amazing. A favorite, a like, and a follow follow for you.

[Lonepone]

Are you still writing? I just saw the dates, and well, ya.