SteamPony Express

by SketchIt

Who are these friends of mine? Part One

It was dawn. A week has passed since the incident with the clown posse and the dream still unclear on what it meant, so far Sketch was just lost in her head. Today Lavender was coaching her over with a blindfold towards a building to reveal some big mystery.

"Aghhh what is it Lavender?" Lavender just snickered gracefully reassuring her blind companion that what she was about to see would astonish her.

"Almost there, just a few more steps Sketch darling, oh you are going to be taken away by this surprise..." As Sketch took a few more steps she mumbled,

"I'm pretty sure the increased surprise parties from Bubblegum has me all pooped out on surprises..." Lavender fully confident in her surprise scoffed,

"Well, I don't think Bubblegum would even dream of getting you THIS!" Lavender threw off Sketch's blindfold revealing...

"Ponyville Cultural Art Gallery....... LAVENDER...!" Sketch was taken back by this surprise that she was nearly breathless for a moment! "YOU DIDN'T!"

"Oh ho but I most certainly did, if you were noticing any of your artwork missing they are already put up in the main hall. Of course the cost was a hefty amount of bits but I managed. My parents sort of invested their money on my idea, of course they always ask Red if I'm lieing, they can't see me as an honest pony I guess." Lavender began to set her volume lower as she finished her last sentence making Sketch ask,

"What was that about asking Red...?"

"Oh nothing, it's nothing really. My parents just don't trusty anypony but Red... it's because Red's been around daddy since he was a little colt..." She paused on her words and immediately started to push Sketch's flank forward encouraging her inside, "Come on now I want to show you the interior, it's almost like a piece of Canterlot had been plucked and graced upon this little village we call Ponyville..."

As she was touring the newly purchased art gallery, a quiet little pegasus was flying overhead to go see if there was anything in the library for learning how to cook. She seemed a little frantic but kept a slow calm pace.

"Starlight, wha... wow it's a surprise to see you here..." Spike was caught off guard by the sight of little shy Starlight coming to visit the library. She seemed in a rush though as she barged in through bumbling,

"Excuse me, I'm sorry I can't talk right now Spike I'm really in need of a cook book and I need to hurry, my sister is coming over to my home and I told her I would cook this time instead of her. I know she cooks better than me but I really don't want her to have to cook for me at my house..."

"Oh... well they're over by shelf nine in the how to section." She spun around from the bookshelf she was scanning to head for the how to section. Owlicious on call had a book ready for her in his talons.

"Oh thank you yes this will do very nicely, thank you so very much! Ok I got to go now bye Spike and Owlicious..." As soon as she arrived Starlight bolted off. Spike stretched his claws and yawned,

"Weelllp if you don't mind Owlicious I'm going to snooze a bit since you're on the ball today..."

Jaxx's day was just starting with her mundane chores which was nothing really special as well, but two ponies specifically were having a rather awkward time with each other.

"Yes..."

"No..."

"YESS..."

"NOOO!"

"YeeeessssSSssssSS..."

"Nnnnnnnooo!"

"Aww come on North why won't you let me play on the carousel!!!" Bubblegum was out back behind North's home where she had large circus machinery laying out hidden from everypony. Bubblegum was in her mood to pester and North seemed the most fitting target with all the shiny doodads in her backyard.

"For the last time it's not working OK! I done disassembled the engine inside, so even if I wanted to it wouldn't work..."

"Pffft, why are you breaking everything then that's not productive at all..." Bubblegum hopped around North quickly making her frustrated as she was working on drawing out a schematic for a gear piece she seen in her books. Bubblegum popped up by her face responding in a hyper tone, "Whatcha drawin?"

"Aagghhh... Bubblegum you're starting to really bug me! I'm drawing a schematic for a gear piece, I'm going to take some parts out and make it OK, so I'm really busy why don't you go bug Jaxx, or Lavender, or somepony else besides me?" Bubblegum did not heed her request and started to tinker with the gears over in a salvaged pile.

"Ooohhh shiny, this one looks like a lumpy donut... OOOOH this one looks like a wheel and it's got all these rough thingies on it... maybe I can..."

"NO BUBBLEGUM STOP!"

"WHEWWW..." Before she could get a grip the large smooth gear broke from her hooves! "Whoopsies!" She watched as the large gear rolled over into the carousel and smashed the side. One of the dragon figures broke off as the heavy gear dented the metal siding. Innocently she smiled with North feeling her eye twitch.

"Omagosh would you pleasseee GOOO!" Bubblegum tried to reason with the angry alicorn,

"But I..."

"GOOO NOWWWWWWWW!" She spooked Bubblegum bad enough she bolted off from her house screaming,

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKK!!!" Bubblegum darted off down the road only to slow down and mumbled to herself, "Looks like somepony's attitude has... Gone South hheeheheeheh hyahahahahaa!" She laughed at her very clever joke, but for a moment she paused and felt like she needed to share this joke with somepony. "I know, I'll go see my first honorary Ponyville friend Sketch, I bet she'll be up for anything!" Happy little Bubblegum pranced her way back to Ponyville determined to see if her friend Sketch would be in the mood to play.

"Sooo bold so brashhh... she's fabulous!"

"AGHHH WHAT THE!?" Sketch out of nowhere was caught off guard by a pony who jumped around from one of her paintings on display! "Agghhh my eyes, what's going on..." The photographer pony gave a deep painful sigh mumbling,

"Nooo, no no... you're not supposed to shy away from zah camerah! How am I supposed to capture und MAGICKS like mein mutter..." He had the faint accent from a pony of Germaney. Lavender came to the pony's aid and soothingly assured,

"Oh I'm dreadfully sorry Photo Shoot, Sketch has not really been in any sort of photography before. Most of her fame deals with her artwork as you can clearly see, lemme just have a quick chat with her and we'll smooth this process over... ahahahaha..." With a nervous laugh she smiled over the small problem. The white coat Photo Shoot seemed in no mood for any trouble. He bobbed his rather bold slick blue and purple striped mane, His sunglasses sharp at the end resembling triangles which allowed him to give a sharp glare easily with a simple lowering of his head. Lavender quickly brought herself up to Sketch with a flustered mane snapping, "What are you doing...?!"

"What do you mean what am I doing I just got blinded by a bunch of flashes. What's he doing here anyway...?" Pausing for a moment they both stared at Photo Shoot who was now looking at the main attraction which was the picture of the pond with the perfect sunny glow on the Castle of Canterlot. His oohs and ahhs were followed by quick snapshots of the gallery exhibits.

"He's trying to help you darling Photo Shoot here is one of my few contacts in Canterlot I have. Seeing as you disappeared completely for a month or so now we're going to re-ignite the spark that is Sketch-It the foal prodigy of the visual arts, and what better way than to get an exclusive photo collection from the second most well known photographer, son to the ever stylish Photo Finish, Photo Shoot!" Lavender paused and wrapped a hoof around Sketch putting her cheek to hers and throwing her hoof out adding with star struck eyes, "It's perfect you'll be re-discovered and we'll have ponies from across Equestria coming here in this little town of Ponyville to find this! Lavender's Gallery of Ponyville's most Culturally talented artists including you of course of all ponies, the prodigy from GALLOPORT! Ahhhh I can almost taste the fame... ..." Sketch put on her nervous face as she thought about all the attention she would be getting, most of that attention scared her as a young filly which she had always hid around Lady and Master Mareweather during the interviews.

"Uhhmmm... I uhhh... ..."

"Well of course this whole thing is for you Sketch, so if you wish I'll keep it as low key as possible for your convenience..." In one of the bushes decorating the north west corner of the room was a sneaky gray mare watching and listening carefully.

"I don't know Lavender, this sounds like a lot of trouble on your part..." Lavender just laughed and trotted Sketch to the painting smiling,

"Nonsense darling it is absolutely no trouble at all. You are a friend and as such you are not allowed to be a burden under any circumstance..." Sketch sighed feeling she was being a big burden at the moment and Lavender seemed to be moving her around positioning her hooves and face by the painting. She didn't know what was happening until Lavender stepped away as she continued to babble on, "Ok now don't move a muscle, oh Photo Shoot. She is ready now..."

"Ahhh finally, let us see now... ooohhh yes as usual Lavender you always know vat the camerah vants! Give me all you got you delicious mare!" Sketch still couldn't stand the flash and as she was posing Lavender would jump in really fast and position her again. "Ahhh Wunderbar! She is capturing ze essence of a conquering artist! Sooo bold just like meinself!"

The gray mare jotted down the information and quickly began to sneak off from the building as the ponies were occupied by the photography session. "Ok I think we have plenty of good shots, I shall retire to mein development studio and create... DA MAGICKS! Before I go I want a word with you Miss Lavender." As he left towards the outside Silver Spoon still in the plant was startled into stopping in her tracks by the side of the building afraid she was caught. Inside Sketch smiled with a bit of anxiousness about the whole thing but could not help but comment,

"Photo Shoot seemed very nice compared to what I was told about those hard critic photographers..." Lavender tilted her head to the side answering with an unnerved cough,

"Ahem yes well... kindness is really a matter of opinion I suppose..."

"What?" Sketch being baffled by the response was given an even more curious response from Lavender as she felt she shouldn't have said anything,

"Oh nothing, if you'll excuse me I'll be right back, just go have a look around and tell me if there's anything you'd like to change..." She bolted out the front door where a very ill faced Photo Shoot was outside tapping his hooves on the ground impatiently. "Oh good you're still here..." Outside a limo stretched carriage rode up for Photo Shoot.

"It's about time Mizz Roze!" His accent began to grow sharper as he seemed enraged. "Ugghhkkk vat vere you thinking, she had no style, no poise... the gallery itself is beautiful I admit but she... she vas a wreck... ..."

"I knoww... I know it was short notice but I was in a hurry darling..." Silver Spoon watched as the juicy detail unfolded in the palm of her hoof.

"Listen I'll do vat I can, und remember who I'm really doing zis for, I owe your parents, not you... as far as I'm concerned zis will be more than enough payment to them... now I'll be on mein vay now Miss Lavender, auf wiedersehen." As he trotted over to the carriage she replied in a feeble tone,

"I know how much you're risking to do this Photo Shoot, I'm..." Before she could get a word out he gave a loud snarl,

"Hmmmph..." Photo Shoot left without another word spoken as his carriage rode off.

"Ohhhhh Lavender what are you doing......" She mumbled to herself afraid she was going to mess something up for attempting to rush the re-establishment of her career.

"Ohhh this is absolutely juicy, Madame Tiara will definitely want to hear about this..." Silver Spoon began to slink away intent on giving this delicious news to Diamond Tiara.

As the sneaky Silver Spoon was making her way she bumped into a blissfully unaware Bubblegum Berry.

"WOOP... what is this..." She paused and Silver Spoon froze. "Is this what I think it is...?" She started to skulk around it. "Hmmm..." She started to get real close to the bush and eyeballed it for a while. Ponies walking by were disturbed by the scene. "Hmmmmm...." She rubbed her chin with her hoof curiously and she pointed at the bush finally interrogating it, "Are you a Sneaky Bush!?" Silver Spoon felt sweat drip over her snout which tickled her nose making her react with a loud SNEEZE! The bush shook around with an ACHOO! "Huh... so you're a Sneezy Bush?" Silver Spoon caught a leaf in her throat and began to choke and hack! The bush at this time fell on the ground shaking. "Ok so now you're a Chokey Bush...?" She finally coughed out the leaf and began to make a wheezing noise as she tried to regain her breath. "And now you're a Wheezy Bush... or are you a Can't make up your mind Bush...?"

Silver Spoon could not stand this pony and made a very loud remark,

"I'M NOT A BUSH AT ALL SEE!" Silver Spoon growled as she poked her head out of the leaves! Bubblegum SCREAMED,

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKK!!! EVERYPONY RUN IT'S A CRAZY TALKING PONY EATING BUSH!!" She bolted across the sidewalk heading straight for the gallery with her eyes closed and her hooves blazing blindly she suddenly collided into a passing stallion who was rather curious about the gallery.

"Aghhh... whoa filly what's the rush?" She shook her head around and looked back to find the bush was gone.

"I unno... what was I running from? I know it was something super scary?" The stallion just laughed and began to make his way into the gallery replying,

"Well be more careful would you?" The sensible stallion waltzed his way into the gallery with Bubblegum watching him go through. Her eyes peered inside to find Sketch who was just standing around idly by Lavender. Immediately Bubblegum lit up happily!

"Aha, there she is!" She pranced into the gallery behind the stallion making her way over to the guest of honor.

"Wow, I can't believe it's just been a few minutes and there's already ponies coming?"

"Why of course darling there's a big sign that says 'Grand Opening...' did you not see it at the entrance?" Sketch put her head down feeling embarrassed,

"Well I wasn't really paying attention to that seeing as I was blindfolded..." She began to stop for a moment as the world seemed to pause around her. She had a strange haze come over her and almost immediately she shook it off and gazed behind Lavender's warm stare as she calmly replied,

"Well no worries, we're going to do some unveiling today and then..." Bubblegum began to prance towards them and in an instant Lavender's conversation was interrupted with,

"HEYYYYYYYAA SKETCH!" Lavender's cool attitude was turned upside down as she felt startled from the sudden outburst! She turned her head to see the bright face of Bubblegum Berry and scoffed,

"Ohh... it's just you, what do you want?" Bubblegum didn't understand the sarcastic tone she had and replied innocently,

"Just wondering if my number one friend of Ponyville would want to go hang out around that really awesome place SugarCube Corner and play some cards, or soda fight, or WHAT ABOUT A GOOD OLE FASHIONED BERRY SWIRL FAMILY FAVORITE, Creamy PieForAll!?!"

"Oh come now we're in no mood to play right now Bubblegu...." SHHHPLATTT! A pie came out of nowhere smashing cream all over Lavender's face. Sketch was about to snicker when the tin slid off her face and her mouth spit out cream on the ground with an angry growl, "Ohhh I really hope you didn't jus...." SHHHPPLAT! Another pie hit her in the face.

"Hyahahahaha... what was that, you have pie on your face? Well of course it's a pie fight silly!"

"Oh nooo..." Sketch began to whisper as she backed up. Lavender's face began to twitch just as bad as North's.

"Bubblegum... I really think you shoul...." After the third pie was thrown, Lavender was completely red in the face as she glared with an extreme hatred for the pony in front of her! A strange sensation began to tingle Bubblegum's body as Lavender screamed, "GET YOUR PIES OFF ME YOU DANG DIRTY CLOWN!"

"Uhoh I think she's madd..." Not being observant to what was about to happen a painting swung down and smashed over her head! In a daze for a moment she looked at the pure rage in Lavender's face and knew right then now was not a good time to play, "Uhhhmm... I think I should go now..."

"GETTTT OOUUTTT!!!" Like a dog being punished she yipped and galloped out of the gallery with the painting around her neck bumping into several small exhibits Lavender had been graciously given by some local talent. "Nooo not that, that's Lyra's bust!" Lavender's anger was replaced quickly with fright as the exhibits started to fly everywhere! She caught Lyra's big goofy smiling bust and let it lay on the floor gently as she ran after Le-Clerc's ebony crown vase! She almost lost it but managed to snag the bottom of it in time, "Oh thank Celestia... wait no..." The last exhibit tampered with was Felix Bucksworth's rare Rainbow Glass Gem... "NOOOOOOOO! He worked so hard to fit those pieces together!" With all her might she used her magic and just before it hit the ground, caught it just by a hair. The near save was extremely rewarded by the sound of everypony inside sighing in relief that the exhibits did not break. "Whew... that was close..." The only damage done was her overall status and the destroyed painting made by Sketch. "I'm dreadfully sorry Sketch, I just... I don't know what came over me..."

Sketch-It felt something about that pause in her head was trying to warn her of this occurring making her immediately want to see if Bubblegum was alright.

"It's ok I can draw another, but next time why don't you think before you do something like that!" Sketch's attitude turned a bit sour to Lavender as she started to trot off. Caught by her concern to Bubblegum she stumbled around her words as she blindly put the exhibits back in place,

"Wha... what about my feelings, she stained my perfectly groomed coat with whipped cream, I'll need to bathe again to wash it off before it soaks in, and the floor is all sticky too, Red washed these floors spotless... agghhhh... Sketch..." She looked back over and seen she had already left the gallery, "Hmmmph fine, be that as it may she has other friends I suppose. I can't expect her to hang around me all the time... ... though that was uncalled for, it was un-lady like of me... she just threw harmless pies and what did I do I smacked her face with a paint canvas oohhh Celestia what have I done... now they think I'm a complete JERK!" Lavender begun to feel regret for her rash behavior amazingly fast. "I'll just have to make it right I suppose, ohhhh and today was going so well. I'll have to bathe first, agghhkk I can feel it already soaking in my mane, ewww... eww...!"

Sketch galloped over to Bubblegum who was less downtrodden and more confused as she sat quietly on a park bench.

"Hey are you ok Bubblegum...?" She looked over at Sketch with the canvas still around her face.

"Huh... oh..." Realizing immediately she was talking to her and not a piece of gum she admitted, "Yeah I'm ok, I'm just confused, why do you hang out with a bunch of sour faces and prissy hooves?" Sketch had a feeling Bubblegum more than likely never had any friends in general, her parents did say her only friends were them so to speak. Sketch felt it was her duty being her first friend to give her some advice though however confusing it may be coming from her mouth.

"Well for starters you don't go starting pie fights everywhere you go. They usually are not all sour, maybe they were working on something or were stressed out. Everypony is good for being friends with but you gotta know when things are appropriate to do around them Bubblegum..." Bubblegum just stuck out her tongue and mumbled,

"Pffffttt, if a pony can't be themselves anyplace anytime then count me out, I don't have to be friends with your friends if they won't let me be me..."

Sketch suddenly felt a huge haze hit her and this time a flashback came with it as if something or somepony was trying really hard to point out something to her. The flashback brought her straight to a moment in her childhood when some of the orphans had started a fight and Sketch was hurt in the process.

"Stop it you meanie!" It was a filly picking on another filly and she was laughing at her,

"Look at this everypony Stitchy Hooves plays with old dusty ragdolls, look at this... you weirdo why didn't you ask for one of these..." She showed off her brand new plushie which was by far more vibrant and colorful than the little dusty toy Stitchy had. "Such a weirdo, what's with all that old creepy broken stuff..." The moment arrived though Sketch wanted to stand up for her. She approached between them but she was pushed by one of the goon fillies who were with the other filly and her plushie.

"Oh look Sketch thinks she's gonna be a hero, pfffttt you and your little crayons, just as weird as Stitch... hey everypony Sketch and Stitchy plays with Icky..." Someponies refused to laugh at the pointless ridicules and just went on ignoring them but, several fillies and colts who were friends with the pony laughed at them painfully hurting Sketch and Stitchy's feelings. No other pony would stand up for them and the two lonely fillies felt helpless.

She could remember though the one thing shining in the way against those painful memories was Lady Mareweather who had stepped in that day with her hoof firm,

"Satin Braid that's no way to treat your fellow ponies!"

"But Miss Mareweather look at what they're playing with? They don't play with the latest things or anything!" Raising her brow she replied with a very powerful argument as Satin Braid always liked being the favorite, but this was one time she crossed the line.

"That dusty old toy is actually my prized possession Satin Braid, my grandmother gave it to me when I was a foal, that Ollld Toy as you like to call it is all I have left of the fond memories of my grandmother and my youth. To be honest I would not trust anypony but Sketch-it or Stichy Hooves with it. It's a very delicate and valuable toy and one of a kind. Your plushie comes a dime a dozen at the toy stores did you ever think about that?"

"But..." Before Satin Braid could say anymore Mrs. Mareweather summoned the fillies and colts,

"Children, I want you all to gather here, I want to tell you all something here and now..." As she retrieved their attention she put Stitchy and Sketch side by side responding, "Listen up, you take a good look at these two. Now look at yourselves..." Confused the fillies and colts looked around as she continued to elaborate, "Would you have come to help if one of these ponies were being hurt?" They all started to feel uncomfortable as they began to look back moments later when they just ignored the bullying. Lady Mareweather stared down at all of them. She was peering in the room when the event happened so she knew what they all were doing. Before any could respond in defense she continued on, "I was watching from the doorway so don't try to act like any of you attempted to do anything..." Pausing a moment she gave a sigh and knelt down by Sketch and Stitch replying, "Look children, Sketch enjoys coloring don't you Sketch?" Sketch nodded as she levitated a paper up, she could remember always being excited to show her drawings to everypony. Mrs. MareWeather nodded and turned to Stitchy Hooves. "And Stichy enjoys playing with her dolls, but yet when Stitch was made fun of Sketch a pony who had the choice to not do anything stood up for her. This fillies and colts is an act of Kindness and Tolerance. Though they may end up finding out they have nothing in common, I can see these two would equally tolerate one another and would hang out despite their differences. This is something ponies nowadays are beginning to lose sight of children..." Lady Mareweather paused with a growing concern in her expression as she was probably thinking how few of those fillies and colts would take her words to heart. She wanted to give them all a group hug but instead she raised up and began to express her concern to them. "I wish I could just bring my childhood to all of you, the way it felt back then is so different to the way it feels now. I want you all to just know and try to take to heart what true friendship means, what tolerance means to all of us. The world of Equestria has changed since then but, we all still need to strive to tolerate and love one another for our differences because I know..." She turned her attention to the picture of her and her husband standing in front of their mansion. "I know, that two completely different ponies can still be friends, I know, because everyday I spend the majority of my time with one so different as I..."

The flashback began to fade out and it hadn't been but a few seconds passed. Sketch had a feeling she shouldn't mess with it so she just hopped over and sat on the bench with Bubblegum.

"You know what Bubblegum I say you keep on being yourself then, but also don't give up on them just yet ok?" She reached her hoof to Bubblegum to shake on it and Bubblegum put one of her hooves to her chin contemplating it.

"Hmmmm... ... Deal!" She returned her hoofshake with a shocking surprise!!!

"ZZZTTTTT TAAAHAHHAHHHHH!!"

"Hyahahahaha... Gotcha didn't I!" Showing the hoof buzzer she stuck her tongue out with a goofy smile raising her brows!

"Ahhh yeah you totally got me!" Sketch had to laugh after she was done shaking from the shock, it was rather out of the blue and unsuspectingly funny.

"Hey Let's go to the SugarCube Corner! I hear they have pies, cupcakes, and candy lots of CANDY! I really love my treats, big treats, small treats, any treat is a treat for me!" Sketch agreed to that idea all the while her mind could not help but feel these light headed hazes were caused by that mysterious pony in her dream.

'Somepony obviously knows a lot about me... But it is true sorta, my friends I've yet to really get to know any of them but North and still I barely know anything about her too...' She started to feel anxious to learn more about her new found friends she had been with for a month or so now, 'Who are these friends of mine...?'

The two mares trotted back through town towards the sweet candy coated palace that is SugarCube Corner.

"Ooohhh I can't wait to taste those sweet treats, you know I've been known to bake a few things..." Sketch turned to her raising a curious brow inquiring,

"Oh really like what?" Bubblegum began to look as though she was thinking very hard on this subject.

"Well my mom taught me how to bake, it didn't come naturally that's for sure, about the best thing I can do is make BlueCherry Swirl Pie cause mom taught everypony in our family how to bake our specialty, but my dad taught me how to make cotton candy and bubblegum which was crazy hard! Well not exactly crazy hard just getting everything right is key or you make nasty bubblegum bleckkk. We all tried my cousin's bubblegum and it was nasty of course his name is Spinach Dip Pie Swirl, he can bake a real mean veggie pie though!"

The mares had made it right at the entrance of SugarCube Corner when Sketch could not help to ask about her family.

"I'm curious Bubblegum how big is your family?"

"Well most of us are Berry Swirls, some are my uncles' family... we're pretty big branching from the pie family and the swirl family."

"What...?" Bubblegum took a deep breath and began to answer pretty quickly,

"Well starting with Cherry Pie Swirl that's my mom, then you have Blueberry Swirl that's my dad of course, and then you have my brother Jelly Berry Swirl, and my two sisters GooseyBerry Swirl, and LolliBerry Swirl, my full name of course is Bubblegum Berry Swirl, then you have my uncle who is Carrot Pie Swirl, he's my mom's brother, and my aunt but she's not a Swirl or a Pie, her name's Bobby Pin. And last but not least my three cousins Spinach Dip Pie Swirl, Cream Pie Swirl, and lastly Lil Pot Pie Swirl!" Bubblegum started to huff and puff as she tried to regain her breath.

"WOW... and you all live together?"

"Oh of course we do, our family has always traveled together..." Sketch realized that staying still for once may be a challenge for the family if they have never done it before.

"Are you like worried something wrong is going to happen staying in one place... won't you all miss moving all the time?"

"Nahh, with sweets as tasty as these there's no way I'd move anytime soon!" Immediately she shot off towards the pies and stared at them with a big hungry smile, "Ohhhh I want a piece of that one, and a piece of that one OOOHHH... is that Boysenberry Mmmmmm they all look so yummers I just want to eat everything here, but I shouldn't that would be rude for other ponies and it's always good to share pie with others that's what mom always says!" Sketch strolled over to a seat by the window and sat for a bit. With her hooves on the glass and her tail twitching about Bubblegum asked Sketch if she wanted some.

"Sure give me a slice of blueberry."

While Sketch took some time to get to know Bubblegum, Jaxx was making her way down the road with her dad, Lil Bullet and Chess Pie to Anvil's smithery on a job to pick up some materials for the ranch house.

She just so happened to catch North who was also seeing Anvil as well for a specific gear piece that she had desperately needed to repair. Jaxx waltzed in on the last bit of North's conversation to Metallic Thunder,

"You think you could do that for me, I mean if you can't it's ok..." MT levitated a gear to examine it closer.

"Nonsense I can fix this..." He examined the main problem which was a damaging crack between one of the grooves. "An inch longer and it would be unusable but than again you're talking to MT the Magic Tuner!" As he likes to call himself being a unicorn and in the business of engineering and other odd hobbies. North had yet spent enough time around Anvil's son but seeing as Anvil was busy she had a treat of dealing with him.

As it turns out he did her job really fast. "Good thing I had some of this already made huh..." A strange magic solvent he had mixed was very helpful in this situation to cleanly repair her gear. Like magic it grew back good as new. MT smiled with a warm reply, "Nothing like the wonders of magic to really make stuff easier huh?" North gawked at the solvent and nodded with a quiet voice,

"That was sooo awesome..." Immediately she raised her voice, "You gotta teach me how you made..."

"Ehem..." A voice cleared behind her as Rusty Copperplate trotted up from behind. MT had been dealing with Copperplate so he quickly nodded and pointed over to a wagon already loaded with the materials.

"There you are sir, all ready to go."

"Much appreciated MT, Jaxx here will take care of the payment..." Jaxx trotted over dropping the money on the counter waving at North.

"Hey there North, what'r you doin here?" North turned her attention to the green pony who was waiting for her response. She in turn responded by rolling her eyes replying,

"Psshh, nothing much really I got this big project I'm working on it's gonna be sooo AWESOME times nine thousand!" Curiously Jaxx made a gesture as she answered back,

"Oh really, care ta tell me, or is it a secret?"

"Oh you'll see when I get done with it practically everypony will see it too so yeah."

"Here you are good as new." MT handed her the gear and she gladly took it and made it nice and snug in her carrying sack.

"Hate to go but I gotta get back to work soon so i'm going to grab a bite from SugarCube Corner and then straight back home, I'm starving." North bolted off heading for SugarCube Corner, and Jaxx figured after helping her father haul the materials back home she'd go there too for something sweet to eat.

Meanwhile over at Starlights little abode. A growing situation had her even more upset than previously.

"Ohhh this is not enough, blechhh those taste horrible, ohhhh why can't I get these right..." In front of her was a pile of cookies that she attempted to bake but to no avail did she make any her worried mind could deem good enough for her sister's visit. "Somepony I am, I can't even make sugar cookies right..." One of her house pets, a little frog hopped up on the counter. "Oh... hey Sebastian..." The frog croaked looking sad that she was so down in the dumps. He ribbited curiously. "Oh it's nothing really..." As her calm voice stopped it was replaced with a quick anxious tone as she continued, "Just my sister the queen of sweets is going to be here and I got absolutely no talent in making sweet things and she's gonna be upset because I told her I was going to make the sweets and if she tasted any of these she'd... be disappointed in me!"

The frog nearly fell off the counter from her lack of pauses in her sentence. The frog croaked again and held a spoon in his hands. "What, I should keep trying..." Sebastian nodded licking a spoon and putting it on his head like a helmet, he held another spoon in his arms like a gun and gave her a very serious expression ready to go to battle with a loud croak! "hehehe, Oh Sebastian you silly thing you..." Her happy smile was returned with worry as she gazed upon her mess. "I'm afraid there's no way you could help me alone..." Sebastian without warning popped her in the head with his equipped spoon! "Owwwch... what was that for?" Sebastian gave a whistle and suddenly the room started to fill up with all sorts of critters. Crickets, frogs, fish were swimming in the small streams running through the kitchen, squirrels, rabbits, just all sorts of creatures had gathered into the room. Sebastian then pointed over with the spoon towards a picture of Starlight's parents and a saying they had wrote for her and her sister. "Help is never far behind when you take care of your own. A shining star of guiding light, a righteous path you will be shown." This saying was true for her as she had been helping all these woodland critters since she was a filly playing about in her little secret pond home. "You know what Sebastian, let's do it!"

Her kitchen was filled with crazy activity as bowls were moved around, sugar poured, dough was being pummeled and mashed. "Oh be sure to clean your little paws... clawss... errr feelers... don't forget them fins too, my sister likes clean food." Sebastian eyeballed every cookie before it was transported to the tin, sugar was handled with care by the crickets who were sprinkling it just right across the unbaked dough.

Moments later when the cookies were done baking Starlight took them out and blowing a few times to cool off one cookie she took a small bite. "PERFECT!" She absolutely enjoyed the end result and was confident her sister would agree! "Ok can I trust you all to not eat these cookies please? I'm going to town to get a little something for myself and all of you for your help." They all agreed they could hold the fort while she was away.

As she made her way to Ponyville, Lavender was having her conniption fit,

"Ohhhh, this is just dreadful simply just absolutely dreadful in every sense of the word... what ever shall I do Red?" Red was sitting his flank on the arm chair listening to Lavender as she groaned and complained with Humphrey occasionally howling. "I made myself look like a degenerate barbaric pony!" Red nodded a bit listening to her grumblings and suggested,

"Might I give a simple suggestion Miss Rose, apologize?"

"What, never... that pink swirly monstrosity rudely threw cream pies in the middle of the grand opening which I have to get back soon..."

"Miss Rose, have you not been listening to yourself, you threw a framed paint canvas over her head in response to a harmless pie..." Lavender's eyes darted around ignorantly as she agreed with Red on that fact,

"Well yes, I suppose I can't really expect an apology for that, but that pony really needs to learn some self control, she's been here a week already and I can account numerous times of seeing her cause such chaotic disruptions in town..."

"Well have you ever thought about talking it out with her, or maybe to Miss Sketch afterall she seems to be linked closely to your friend." As if she just discovered this on her own she turned to Red replying,

"Why yes, yes of course... she is, and as I said before I have to share it would be greedy of me to even think I could have Sketch all to myself, but I suppose I must grow some tolerance to her tomfoolery, I'm just not used to it I suppose." Red felt his job was done and he hopped out from the chair concluding with his slow and proper tone,

"Then I suggest Miss Rose, an apology would be in order. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to the library, I've been desperately wanting to read something since we left Canterlot." Lavender made her way to the door and as they both left she nodded putting her hoof up in a very lady like gesture bidding,

"Well good luck on your book search Red, I have a friend to apologize to, and apologize I shall."

Bubblegum was sitting and enjoying the pie as she slapped her face into it and completely made a mess everywhere! Sketch gave out a chuckle and took a small bite using her magic very delicate like.

"Ahhh this pie is just as good as my family's... mmmm mmmmm!" Mr. Cake and Mrs. Cake could not help but feel so warm inside as they seen a former pony they once shared laughs being resembled by this energetic bubbly pony.

"Honey you know she reminds me so much of Pinkie Pie..."

"She does dear, nopony could ever replace Pinkie Pie though..." Mr. Cake nodded but after watching for a good time as Pumkin and Pound Cake were joining the table laughing as Bubblegum pulled out a piece of gum and shared it with them, he felt that pony was going to ignite that laughter in this town they so desperately needed after more than twenty years without Pinkie Pie.

"Every new friend gets a personal piece of Bubblegum's very on BlueCherry Blast Gum!"

"Wow... thisshhh ishhh really good!" Pumkin cake felt a jolt of tangy flavors of zingy cherry and zangy blueberry shooting around in her taste buds.

"Don't tell my brothers, sisters, or cousins but mom and dad taught me how to make all of the family pies and bubblegum flavors. I still think my flavors are really special though cuz they're mine!" Sketch was curious about the cutie mark and while they were all cutting up and having a laugh she asked,

"Bubblegum what does your cutie mark stand for?"

"Oh I'm glad you asked, I always love telling about my talent!" She hopped up on her seat and she raised her front hooves in the air, "My skills are many but my talent is one thing and one thing only, the fun and happiness that comes with sweet tooths and fun activities, of juggling, tightrope walking and clowning around... to boldly LAUGH where nopony has laughed before! I like to think of myself as the Crusader of smiles, the Goof of Goofawwss! The Princess of Parodies!!!"

"I... did not get any of that but I'm pretty sure being completely zany and crazy is part of it." The pony's laughed at Sketch's comment and Bubblegum agreed,

"Yeah I suppose if you wanna be all boring about it..."

The day rolled slowly as plans of a certain tiara wearing pony began to unfold.

"You DOLT! Words on a piece of crumpled paper do not make for a convincing argument against this Lavender...!" Silver Spoon's notes were thrown at her by one Diamond Tiara which afterwards she began to open up an angry rant to her, "How can you be so incompetent, this is not going to do anything for my future plans. Why didn't you use any of your resources like you usually do, get a camera, a video camera, a tape recorder! SOMETHING THAT GIVES UNDENIABLE EVIDENCE... UGGGHHHHHH!... FETCH ME A CUP OF TEA THIS INSTANT!" Diamond Tiara spun her chair around to the window as she peered over to Ponyville in her small office. "Look at them all, I'm soo close, I'm just missing a few places in my complete collection of Ponyville... how dare this Lavender Rossee think she can go around me and buy out a piece of Ponyville and think she can get away with it..." She seemed to be petting a cat in her lap. "Ms. Fluffers do you like that these annoying ponies are encroaching on our profits?" The cat hissed viciously and turned its head away from the window. "That's exactly how I feel my little sweet'ms... don't you worry Fluffers momma's going to take care of these pathetic little ants... soon I shall begin phasing out all the small businesses with the completion of the Tiara-Mart, and the beginning of morphing this drab little town into a Tiaraopolis will begin muwahahahahah!"

"Here's your tea Miss Tiara..." Silver spoon placed the saucer very gently on the side of the desk with her teeth and backed away towards the other room expecting she would still throw the first cup as she usually does. Diamond Tiara sipped the tea and immediately she realized Silver Spoon had inched away into the other office. The evil minded pony grinned and with a sweet reply,

"Oh Silver Spoon I can't believe this, for once you actually got it right the first time..." Silver Spoon fell for it and she poked her head around the door,

"Really..." CRASH! A flying teacup splashed over her face and crashed on the floor with Diamond Tiara yelling,

"NOOO, now go do it right this time!" Silver Spoon slumped as her face grimaced from the splash of hot tea. For a scalding hot wave of liquid to splash on her face she took it really quite well as she went to get another cup. "Why don't we pay this Sketch a visit huh Fluffers... couldn't hurt to introduce ourselves to our potential investment." The cat once again hissed angrily as Diamond Tiara stroked her fluffy white fur.

In SugarCube Corner things were starting to get more lively as North pranced in with a giddy face. Seeing the quick repair of her gear made her excited and while grabbing a quick bite to eat she debated spending some time there to dine with Sketch since the repair was not going to take what she had thought it would.

"Hey there Sketch, I see You got Bubblegum stuck on you..." Sketch looked at herself asking,

"What where..." Poor Sketch-it did not get the joke but Bubblegum was laughing silly agreeing,

"Yep Hyahahahahaha, she sure does! Heyyy that was really good... I gotta question though." North turned to her chuckling at her own joke,

"Heh yeah what's that?"

"Where's North?"

"I donno that way...?" North pointed off towards a random direction though she had a feeling what Bubblegum was getting at, but she figured she'd play along.

"NOPE, You're right there silly!" Pumpkin Cake got a kick out of the jokes and Sketch was laughing herself silly when she figured she'd attempt one.

"I got one girls, Ummmm, what do you call Bubblegum when she's full of soda?" Bubblegum turned to her wondering where she was going with this,

"I unno what would I be called?"

"Bubble Pop..." North and Bubblegum looked at her for a moment with an awkward pause.

"Yeahhh... Sketch, you might need to work on your jokes, that was well... how can I put it, very weak sauce..."

"Awww snapp... no mercy!" Pound Cake blurted as he threw his hoof down!

"Nope North is never merciful..." Sketch let out a sigh rolling her eyes around. "Queen of Cold she is!" Sketch added as everypony chuckled of course Bubblegum seen her moment to strike and she let out,

"Well of course what did you expect she's North! Gosh Sketch I figured you'd read books about the North Pole, well known for it's icy cold, coldness!"

"Hey who are you calling a Pole, and Pffft I'm not always icy cold, I just don't want you getting made a fool of for making a bad joke." North snapped humorously.

"Gee Thanks, and your jokes were amazing?" Sketch raised her brow.

"Welll... not bust a gut amazing but they were a lot better than bubble pop... I mean what were you trying to get at with that joke...?"

"Yeah Sketch Jokes are supposed to have a meaning, it's like an artsy art like your art..." Bubblegum paused and took a punch bowl and lined up several cups full of punch adding, "But with PUNCH LINES! Speaking of punch who wants some?" North agreed reaching for a cup answering,

"I sure do I've been thirsty since all that wor.... BLUAHHHH!" Bubblegum's trick punch cup let out a splash as several wiggle worms set in a hidden container inside flew out slapping North across the face scaring her briefly! "Agghhhh Bubblegum you ninja'd me!" She jumped up on the table and with her trusty peashooter and bubblegum in her other hoof she made a ninja pose grinning suspiciously,

"I AM... tha ultimate Joke Ninja! HYAHHHH!" She shot a piece of gum out the door and the piece of gum hit Jaxx in the eye as she was about to stroll in!

"Ahhh what in tarnation... what's this, a piece o gum. Hmmm..." Bubblegum's face looked like it was about to burst with laughter, Sketch and North glanced over wondering what was about to happen. Jaxx unwrapped it and began to chew on it walking inside. "Well howdy maresss...OOMMPH!!..." Suddenly Jaxx's face puckered up and her ears began to twitch with her eyes as that first bite unleashed such a sour explosion!

"HA, GOTCHA! That's no normal piece of gum, it's my special joke gum, CHERRY TAMALE EXPLOSION, better watch out it's about to pack some serious heat in a second..." Bubblegum had given Jaxx the bubblegum chew of a lifetime! "Here get some punch quick!" Jaxx ran to rescue her mouth before the tamale heat hit! Jaxx spit the gum out and reached for a glass when the wiggle worms jumped out on her,

"GAHHHH!" Her face splashed with punch. "Agghhh real funny..." She muttered at Bubblegum slightly annoyed at the joke played on her. The others just laughed innocently when Bubblegum looked at her concerned that she was underestimating the power of her gum.

"Ummm mare you should get a drink soon, spitting the gum out doesn't stop the heat..." Jaxx's eyes grew wide when she uttered,

"Duwahh... MMMMPHHH!" The juicy liquid still in her mouth and plastered in her throat suddenly went ablaze! "AGGHHHHH!" Fire spit in the air as her face turned red! She tried cup after cup not knowing that they all were rigged!

"GAHHHAHAHAAHAa... WOWWW, THAT IS HILARIOUS!!! HOW DID YOU, BUBBLEGUM DID YOU PLAN THAT ALL ALONG OR DID THAT JUST HAPPEN!!" North dropped and rolled on the floor unable to hold in the hilarity that she had beheld. Bubblegum just shrugged and made the remark,

"Not really, I actually was thinking everypony would get a glass but you were the only one, that's some bad luck Jaxx..." Jaxx grabbed the whole bowl of punch and guzzled as much as she could falling on the floor giving a big refreshing sigh as she belched!

"Agghhh why would you do such a thing that was down right terrifyin! First mah mouth was puckerin like takin a bite outta dern lemon, then it gets hotter than mah grandma's spicy Apple'Bean Chimichangas, then I go to get a drink and four times all I get is splashed in the face with'a bunch'o dern plastic worms!"

"GAHHH NO MORE!!! STOP YOU SERIOUSLY ARE KILLING ME NOW!!! AHHH I can't take it!" North erupted hilariously unable to control her fit makeing Sketch's little snickers suddenly burst into a goofy sounding laugh and after that Bubblegum started to join in,

"HYAHAAHHAAHAHAHA, LAUGHING IS CONTAGIOUS HAHAHAHA!"

"Well I'm glad ya'll had a laugh at my expense, now if ya'll excuse me I'm gonnaaa aahahhhh AAAAHHHHH OMMMPH!!!!" CRASH! Jaxx slid on the slippery punch spilled floor right into a dessert counter dropping a cream pie right on her head! The ponies paused for an awkward moment, but when North looked over seeing Jaxx was ok she let out a whooping,

"GUFFFAWWAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!" Mr. Cake looked over the counter at Jaxx who started chuckling after that embarrassing blunder reacting with a bumbling response,

"Ahhh, I spose I deserve that fer actin like a sour puss..."

"If ya can't laugh at yourself then how are ya going to live when jokes are played on you ya know?" Bubblegum questioned the creamed pony. Jaxx agreed to the rhetorical question and added with another rhetorical question,

"Heheheh, I suppose there's a morale to that gum wrapper then huh?" Bubblegum nodded still chuckling from the whole disastrous prank,

"Yup there sure was!" North hopped up from the floor and took a deep breath replying,

"Oh Celestia that was good, I think I won't be able to laugh like that for a while now, whew... agghhh Bubblegum I totally underestimated you, that was absolutely awesome!" Bubblegum felt a huge smile come over her face as she felt accepted by North and she could not help but cry out,

"YESSSS!!! WOOOHOOO!!!" She hopped around and started chanting to herself as she pranced around North, "I got a new friend, I got a new friend, she's a very best friend and her name is NORTH! WOO! Hey you know what we should all do!?"

"What's that crazy face?"

"Celebrate by EATING MORE PIE!"

"I'd vouch for that!" Pound Cake responded as he quickly flew over to get some pie for everypony at the table.

"I'll get the punch!" Pumpkin took the punch bowl to go fetch more when her mother came out with another bowl,

"Already ahead of you dear, here... tell them it's on the house." She appeared to be giggling obviously from the stupendous act of hilariousness that had befallen Jaxx.

"Finally I'm might starvin fer something sweet on account of mah sour blunder."

Sketch took note of all the friends she had gathered here at the moment, she was just missing two more and the two that came to mind were Starlight and Lavender.

'This is fantastic, they're all getting along so far, really well.' She felt relived that They were getting along, but she still felt nervous that something may still cause conflicts.

Speaking of Starlight she had just begun to enter said establishment to come upon everypony eating pie and having a good time.

"Oh hey girls!" Sketch caught her and immediately cried out,

"Hey Starlight get over here mare join the party!"

"OH FOR REALS IS THIS A PARTY OHMAGOSH I wasn't prepared for this lemme just put on MAH PARTY FACE!" Bubblegum of course slapped on some funky looking glasses with googly eyes and smiled turning her face to North who was just about to drink some punch. "AM I READY TO PARTY OR WHAT!?" North blew out a stream of punch laughing her flank off!

"GGFFAAHAHAHHAAAA! Agghhhh Bubblegum you gotta slow down my insides can't take all this!!!" Starlight felt she was just going to be a burden noticing everypony was having fun. She let out a nervous reply,

"Oh I donno if I should, you all look like you're having a good time without me besides, I got to get back hhaaaa..." Pumpkin Cake and Pound Cake refused to take her refusal and slapped her up on a seat replying,

"Nonsense, any friend of these ponies deserves to have a good time!" Pumpkin and Pound Cake were tickled pink to have somepony that reminded them of a friend they had as youngsters. Bubblegum was just full of random tricks and fun which was a dose of smiles on most days which it took them effort to find some smiles.

"Ohhh... well ok maybe just a little bit..." Starlight didn't want to be rude now that she was on the spotlight.

"Hello there Names Bubblegum, and you're Starlight?" She extended her hoof out and Everypony noticed the buzzer... they wanted to say something but Starlight had already grabbed it,

"Hiiiiiiiiiiiaayyyyyeeeee!!!" She squealed out loud from the blast of electricity in her body. She paused a moment with a big eyed expression looking towards Bubblegum. Everypony was staring at her waiting anxiously for her reaction, when she quietly mumbled under her breath,

"That.... ... was..." She began to raise her voice as she randomly rejoiced squealing, "AWESOME! Do you know anymore tricks!?" Captivated by the funny trick played on her she seemed to be just as entrapped by common jokes and pranks as she was with magic. "I've always enjoyed practical jokes when I was a filly, actually I really like magic and circuses and all those kinds of things... I really wish a good circus would come soon, the last one wasn't as nice as the ones I remember..."

"Psshhh those clowns not nice, are you kidding they were softies..." Bubblegum begged to differ about the dangers of those clowns but Starlight knew from being shot at how dangerous it was...

"Oh no, they were mean, they were shooting their thingies at me... oohhhh what were those?"

"Guns..." North answered back. "They were guns and yes they may have been bumbling derpheads but they still were using something that would've ended a pony's life really quick..." Sketch gulped as she remembered seeing them and those awful faces torturing her, of course to help make her feel more nervous a freak storm occurred outside! "WHAT THE!?" North also felt unnerved. "That's twice Ponyville got hit with a freak storm..." Everypony turned at her curiously.

"Freak storm, I thought this was just unscheduled storms like making up for lost days?" Sketch never really watched or paid attention to the weather so North corrected her quickly,

"Er, News Flash... but we've had plenty of rain days, I was in cloudsdale last week and they didn't schedule these two, something's starting to go freaky with the weather... last I recall the Rainbow Factory said it was having a temporary shutdown, there was an accident in the production labs..."

"Accident..." Everypony's eyes widened.

"Yup, I probably should've told you mares but I thought they had told Ponyville, the weather for the first time is going to be unpredictable in Equestria, at least for a while until they get the device back up and running."

Sketch shook as she felt a chill come up her spine, the girls were stuck in SugarCube Corner for a bit.

Several ponies including one little dragon as well had begun to pile into the building with the mares. Mr. Cake felt it was his duty to care for them as they waited out the heavy hitting storm. One pony of which caught the mare's eyes as she lurched in whining and moaning,

"Ohhhh this is just nasty, my mane is drenched, my tail is nothing but a big floor mop, eewww ewww ewww... Ugghhhhh, I clearly am going to have to have a word with those lazy weather ponies, this is the second unscheduled downpour in this week!" Slapping her wet mane in a failed attempt to be graceful she had hit her body with a wet painful SLAAP! Her face curled as she grimaced!

"Fashionably late to the party..." North scoffed to the wet prom queen. Lavender turned her attention to the whole group and seen Bubblegum and Sketch.

"There's nothing fashionable about this at all!" She quickly diverted her attention back to Sketch and rejoiced, "Oh thank heavens, I should count my blessings I chose here to get away from the storm..."

"Ehem..." Spike and Red were standing both drenched as well. Poor Red would require an expert cleaner to get his tuxedo back to shape.

"Oh yes, well I was going to try and look for you two at the Spa which I suppose would be silly of me to think that you two would be there..." She paused her words sensing that could've been insulting and responded to correct herself, "I mean, not to imply that you do not groom yourselves... which is exactly the opposite of what I think I mean I ... I ughhh..."

"Actually..." Spike interrupted her and added, "The storm started and we were running for cover when Red spotted you girls and well here we are." Lavender with a rather harmless smile and her eyes showing her sincerety trotted forward attempting to mend the damage she did,

"Yes well, ummm you see... I've been thinking and... what I did today, it was..." She was trying to think of the words to put forward but she just couldn't, the more she thought about it the more she felt she had been a monster.

"I'll tell you what you were..." Bubblegum spoke out and Lavender gulped knowing whatever Bubblegum said would be more than punishment. "You were a big mean EXPLODY PANTS, and you were all like RAWRRR and I was like NUUUuuuuuu!" She started to animate again showing that she was really afraid of her and continuing, "Cuz you were like really really loud and GRRRRR, like some big scary URSA MAJOR, like if somepony really got you mad mad, I'd be really afraid cuz like you're totally not a softy you're like a big GINORMOUS BOULDER falling off a cliff when somepony yells at you because you're up on the cliff, 'HEY YOUR A BOULDER ON A CLIFF!' 'OH YEAH WHAT ABOUT IT!' SMAAASSSHHHHH!!!!" North and everypony felt a bit awkward from that explanation.

"Soooo, creepy clowns armed with guns that could kill a pony don't scare you, but a prissy angry mare will?"

"You were not there mare, she's got like the EYE OF THE TIGER, I bet if she was there rescuing everypony from those chicken clowns she would've been enough to just send them to the hills no questions asked!" Lavender liked the compliment but she really didn't want to make the impression of an intimidating monster and she concluded to them,

"Yes well, I shouldn't have acted as such, it was very un-lady like of me, and I'm... srrr.... ..."

"What...?"

"I'm srr....rrry..." Lavender felt her mouth stumble as she attempted to apologize. Red knew she was going to be stuck on this so with a deep sigh of regret he took a step forward and replied,

"What Miss Rose is trying to express is an apology to Miss Berry Swirl and Miss Sketch for her rude behavior..." Lavender blushed feeling embarrassed she couldn't say it herself.

"Aww it's okie Mizzzz Rozze, here, apology accepted just a simple shake of the hoof..." North turned her head and planted her hoof to her face knowing exactly what was about to happen.

"Ok... well that seems very gracious of yyyyoooooeueeeeeeeeeeeEEEE!" Lavender's wet hair suddenly started to singe and poofed out in a frow!

"Hyahahahahaa, Oh I'm on a roll today this is like the most fun I've had in AGES!!!" Irritated Lavender just muttled under her sour expression,

"Charmingg..."

Flashes of lightning and rolls of thunder continued on the hour as the ponies were sitting around idled by the overcasting weather thinking about the things they were supposed to be doing. The worst feeling was Starlight who was worried her sister would not make it.

"Agghhh this sure as sweet apple cidar's sweet one heck of a bad time fer a storm to pop up, probably by now mah dad's tryin to keep the dern house from floatin away, he had the roof open ready ta put in a new stove today... and we still have ta pour concrete under the house."

"Tell me about it those machine parts were not properly protected, I hope for Celestia's sake this don't rust them, most were in bad shape anyway. That entire circus machine was like over eighty percent not usable, as in this thing was never taken care of. There was soo much it could do if it was, there were tons of pneumatic tubes still in tact though, back in its day that huge system would've played music that could've been heard at a good distance, there was also a rotation stage too that could've allowed for scene changes and plays but it was rusted out... ugghhhhhh! I hate you rain!"

"Wow North you really been working hard on that thing huh?" Sketch asked striking up the topic to the curious ponies,

"Yeah well, it's a pain but I just seen the most amazing quick fix ever from that stallion over in the Smithery, I'm totally gonna try and find out how to do that. I can't really fork over enough cash really to fix all those parts!" Lavender opened her mouth to veer concern from North's project to her current one complaining,

"Well that's just charming really but I need to get back to the gallery it's still being unattended and it worries me to no end. This has just been a bad day for me..." Of course the final pony ready to give her complaint was Starlight who mumbled,

"I shouldn't even be here... I'm supposed to be back home waiting for my sister to come over so we could have our weekly hang outs... now I'm for sure it's going to be completely ruined because I chose to stay here..." Starlight began to push her hoof around the table with a downtrodden sadness in her eyes.

"Well maybe she came in with that large group of ponies what is she and what does she look like?" Sketch asked curiously.

"Well, she's pink, with black and red streaked mane, she's a well known chef in Cloudsdale and she's a pegasus, her cutie mark is a strawberry shortcake, and her name is Strawberry Delight."

"You mean like this one!?" Bubblegum pointed out a pony approaching the table with the same looks described.

"Hey lil sis, what's up?" Lavender in her all knowing knowledge knew who this pony was and flipped out,

"Ahhh sweet Celestia you're THE Strawberry Delight, part of Cloudsdale's Mane Cook Styles Magazine! Your food is the most exquisite, I heard you run at the top three most delicious and stylish cooks of Cloudsdale!" Lavender blurted with uncontrolled energy. Strawberry Delight just smiled with a nod modestly throwing her hoof out,

"Mehhh it's nothing really and actually right now I've dropped a few places, I got to say I didn't expect to be bested by that griffin Chef à la E-MOde, his style and cooking looked too depressing to me really..."

"Ugghhhkkk Griffins, I hate those featherbrains..." North grumped. Still sour about those feathery punks that got on her nerves that day.

"SIS!" Starlight cheerfully turned and hugged on her sister replying, "What a coincidence to see you here this is such a relief to know you came even though there was a storm!"

"Well I was on my way here when it actually showed up out of nowhere, call it a stroke of luck you're here too." Starlight turned her attention around to her friends and she introduced her sister to everypony. "Ohhhh so these are the ponies you were talking about last week..." Strawberry Delight caught sight of the new pony she had yet to hear about and she pointed to Bubblegum adding, "Ahh I see you also made another new one this week, my gosh my sister's finally making friends!" Like she was surprised about it, Starlight felt excited and happy to see her sister.

Sketch spent this time with her friends to really analyze who they were. The one called Bubblegum she could tell immediately without thinking hard on it she was outright crazy. A jokester and a lover of candy, pie, and practical jokes. She showed signs of probably being a mastermind or just plain had impossible luck on nailing Jaxx so hard with those pranks! She was a really good friend that liked being herself and tollerated everypony so long as they tollerated her.

North being the second most known pony a rather very intelligent Alicorn who seems to have shifted from wanting to work with magic to tinkering with machine equipment and now back to learning some sort of magic stuff that fixes her equipment, she seemed to be very nice and welcoming but had a strict side that occasionally could be seen and she was very straightforward sometimes. Though she did show signs of not wanting to be serious almost as if she can't make up her mind on being serious or comical. Something did stand out though, she sure was the brains of the group.

Jaxx the poor hard working pony, she's always taking care of her little sister and brother trying to do the jobs her dad does because she refuses to see him hurt his already over worked back. She was pretty fair minded about being honest and righteous about knowing when to be relaxed about stuff and when to be serious. With her crazy Appaloosan accent and challenging attitude she was pretty fun to be around. It felt she wouldn't lie to Sketch for the world.

Lavender was so far a bit of a pain to Sketch though. She seemed to have taken the opportunity to help Sketch in a way Sketch didn't feel comfortable with. Lavender practically introduced herself and squatted in her home without so much as any consideration to her feelings... Feeling that Lavender meant well she seemed to be showing a lot of her bad sides than the good though and it made Sketch feel she had yet to know the true Lavender really.

Lastly the quiet little Starlight, seemingly never around but popping up when you least expect it. She works at the tailoring shop, but goes directly home and tries to avoid large crowds but yet when she's around she seems to give mixed signals of happiness and nervous anxiety... Sketch started to realize she's that way too but the only difference in her anxiety was being surrounded by her friends made it manageable, but Starlight seems to bounce around. She's absolutely crazy about tricks, funny panks, magic, and something hinted that she was into science but her own lonely agenda seems too held tight to know for sure.

The storm began to blow over as a large fleet of pegasi from Cloudsdale had been dispatched to take out the problem quickly before anything damaging could happen in Ponyville.

"Bout time those lazy weather ponies came and cleared the sky..." North snapped yet again. "I'm sorry mares but I gotta go see the damage done at home, I'll chat with you all later..."

"BYE NORTH!" Bubblegum ran out as North zipped off in haste waving her hooves. "Woo Wee now that pony can laugh am I right mares?" Sketch giggled completely agreeing to Bubblegum's comment,

"Absolutely! I've been here for a while and never seen her laugh soo hard before, Bubblegum you got a real funny talent!"

"Thank a you I try my very best everyday cause Smiles is like money in the bank! It's a feel good currency!"

"Well I'm going to head back home Sketch and fix this disaster of a mane, Red would you please be a dear and hold down the gallery for me pleasssee?"

"If you insist Miss Rose..." Red didn't like it but he figured reading on the job wouldn't make her mad he direly wanted to get through the book he had in his satchel. Spike eyeballed the book as he walked by over to Sketch and the leftover group of ponies, he seen the face of Daring Do and snickered. Approaching the table Spike replied,

"I'm gonna hang out with you mares cause I honestly have nothing to do and my next nap time is like forever later, plus Owlicious reorganized the entire library without me this morning. I mean come on I spent like an hour shelving one book case and it was perfect I don't see what his problem with my shelving method is."

"Hey I've always wanted to go bowling do you ponies want to?" Bubblegum was excited about wanting to do something with her friends, she felt that with all these new friends she had to do something new and unexpected and she never tried bowling.

"Sure I suppose... what about you three?" Starlight and Strawberry Delight accepted her invitation. Jaxx told them she was passing on the offer and heading back home to see the damage done to the ranch house. "Okie dokie smokie, so we all ready to get our BOWLING ON!" Bubblegum whipped out a bowler cap and slapped it on her head. She waited for the others when Starlight and her sister stared at her curiously while Spike and Sketch giggled. "What... did nopony bring their Bowler caps?"

"Hehehehehe... Hyahahhaha!" Spike rolled on his back snickering and chuckling away!

"Gosh Bubblegum how do you do that... you tell jokes like it's second nature and I say one and get criticized..." Sketch grumbled expecting Bubblegum to give her an answer which Bubblegum did oblige.

"You just don't tell jokes a lot, you gotta learn jokes are not something that just grow on trees, well you can tell a joke about a tree that grows jokes, but that's no joke you gotta tell a joke like it's joke not just a bunch of words all jumbly jumbled that sound funny together, it would be funny if it was that easy... Bamboosly Wooosly Icky Picky WWEEEEEETLE DEETLE TEETLYYYY...!!!" The group gave another chuckle as Sketch gave a sigh with a sarcastic response,

"Thanks, that makes me feel sooo confident..." Bubblegum just smiled at Sketch and extended a punch glass,

"Punch? I guarantee if you accept this nothing bad will happen..." With an innocent and friendly smile Bubblegum offered her to take the glass.

"No thanks I think I've seen enough pranks today to know that's probably a clever TraaaaAAEEEE!!!" The still wet floor caught Sketch as she began to trot from her seat and she slid on the floor thwomping her head into a table where a group of ponies were about to eat a chocolate fountain cake! The fountain cake started wobbling and Sketch's friends cringed as they watched the fountain fall. "AGggggghhhhhhhkkkk!" The poor pony couldn't get a word out as her mouth was filled with chocolate syrup and cake with the rest splattering all over her!

"OOOoohhhh... that's smarts..." Spike felt a shiver go up his spine. "Sketch are you ok?" The poor chocolate stuffed pony made a horrible groaning noise.

"Ugghhhhhhkkkk...." Sketch attempted to make words only to gurgle chocolate syrup as she lay still feeling afraid moving would cause an upset!

"Miss are you ok?" The ponies at the table were concerned for her and all Bubblegum could say when Spike Starlight and Strawberry looked at her was,

"What... she should've took the punch..." Spike slapped his knee laughing,

"Hahahah that was a good one!" Sketch took a deep gulp clearing down the cake and syrup mumbling again,

"Yeahhhh... I'mmm...Okaiii..." She belched out a very thick chocolately fragrance as she felt her belly stuffed with pies, punch and now a ton of chocolate syrup and cake to top it all off.

"Clearly that was one punch she shouldn't have walked away from..." Spike attempted to add to Bubblegum's catchy play on words and she giggled,

"Hyahahahahhaha good one!" Bubblegum approved of the added play on words! Spike felt pretty witty. In slow painful response Sketch uttered,

"Clearly I should've taken... the... Urrp Punch...!" Starlight trotted over to her with Pumpkin Cake and Pound Cake who were cleaning the mess.

"Oh goodness I bet that's one mean tummy ache Sketch I suggest you not go bowling, you should get home and rest while your food digests..."

"I'm not gonna argue with that... ugghhhh but I might need help getting home..." Bubblegum glanced at Spike and Strawberry Delight asking,

"Are we still up for bowling?" Spike nodded,

"Totally!" To keep the formalities Bubblegum did of course introduce herself to the pony and dragon, which Spike introduced himself and Strawberry did as well.

"Hey Starlight when you're done taking her home come on down to the Bowling Alley ok sis?"

"Alright I'll be there as soon as I can Strawberry Delight." Starlight responded as she helped Sketch up to escort her home.

Back at Sketch's home Lavender had caught sight of another mailed letter from the Canterlot SteamExpress.

"Oh I done already done it, me and my nosy nature ohhh I'll just read a bit and put it back up. I must know how her brother is doing. He sounds like a rather dashing gentlecolt... Dear sister, I have enclosed a picture of me and some of my comrades, we're..."

(Flashback to Lieutenant Lightheart)

LightHeart had finally felt his hooves touch ground sort of as they arrived to their destination in pieces. It was as far as they would be able to get to the ground the Cloud base was suspended high up from the deep jungle. It was the first step to establishing a foothold into the Lost World.

"We done lost about eight ships from the last engagement... two of those were both the remaining transports..." One of his platoon soldiers had replied with a growing lurch, "These monsters are just never ending, Lieutenant sir have you ever seen their faces before?" Lightheart shook his head. Knowing that a pony was hiding in the mask just made it feel like a treason against pony kind and gave a deep sinking feeling that these ponies couldn't face the world without hiding their faces quite literally.

"I've never got to see one without his mask, but I've been snout to snout with one..."

"I've never had the courage to take those things off, i'm scared I'm going to see something not Pony, or something worse..." Lightheart shook his head as he took a step forward by the docks staring at Majesty's Harmony.

"We're here now, Cloud Base Nine. The first cloud island fortification in the Lost World..." LightHeart felt his skin curl as he mumbled to himself, "Why does it feel we've not even scratched the surface. Now apparently a new warship is being built back at Cloudsdale. Shining Armor is going to be aboard the largest ship ever recorded by Pony Engineering. They named it the Fury of Twilight and it is going to be leading the 1st Fleet."

"What..?" Lightheart had been listening to his superiors talking about it, the growing fear that the extreme push they had done dealt more damage to them than the enemy had forced SteamGale Technologies in Cloudsdale to construct the biggest and meanest dreadnought that Equestria would ever know. A flagship worthy enough to be commanded by the Prince himself.

"She's going to have guns that carry shells which will require ten unicorns to fire, the crew is already going to require hundreds of unicorns the shells are going to be strong enough to blow an enemy warship in half and then some using new MPB Shells, just imagine the enemy fleet being vaporized to dust as you steam forward..." Lightheart just felt completely depressed for some reason and beside him Big Macintosh was being pretty quiet even more than usual as he appeared to be respectfully holding any comments or his usual response 'Ayep...' "I can't even fathom what Shining Armor expects to do with all this in the end, will this all be worth it or are we sending another thousand on a big metal tin can to just to die to stop this, what is this anyway... an ideal that peace and tranquility suffers an entropy slowly descending into chaos. That chaos is our eventual fate so we must restore order to keep chaos so we don't fall into evil... I can't even think right now."

"Sir I'm not understanding what you're talking about..." Big Macintosh seemed irritated as he glared at the young platoon soldier stomping his hoof. "Sir is something the matter?"

"Leave the Lieutenant ALONE BOY!" Big Mac exploded and sent the platoon soldier running scared as he bellowed his voice out and Lightheart sighed,

"That colt wasn't even eighteen years old Macintosh... and he... ..." He could remember that young stallion running in front of him as a warbird chopped him up right before the Lieutenant's eyes. That red mist had bore an image in his mind that gave LightHeart a deep stressful depression.

"Don't beat yourself up about it, tain't nothing we can do..."

At the moment the sound of Majesty's Harmony bellowing her steam stacks was the only sound... the only sound for just a brief second that is. Without even noticing a single thing wrong the sound of a faint swooping noise of a warbird filled the air followed with the sound of a loud EXPLOSION! Shaken up they backed up from the dock and looked off at Majesty's Harmony!

"WHAT THE!!!!!!!!!!!!" The mighty smoke stacks were starting to erupt and huge clouds of steam and smoke started to plume as an alert signal was sounded by the steam stack!

"INCOMING!!!" warbirds and pegasi of the enemy force followed just above the massive cloud cover and out of the blue dropped like an angry swarm of bees on the dockyard! The docked ships started firing their anti fighter weapons into the sky the stationed pegasi and warbirds began to attempt a quick deployment!

The only ones that made it in the air were the pegasi armed to take on the swarm!

"DaisyChain Leader, squad Delta Wing Formation GO!"

"FoxTrot Leader, Squad Delta Wing Formation GO!"

"BaleFire Leader, Squad X Formation GO!" Three squadrons made it off the cloud hangers and soared into the skies as it began to light up! Pegasi armed down on Cluster Flak Arrays started blasting the air causing complete chaos!

"Watch our Stallions up there we got a few in the skies..." Easily located they stayed in formations and chased down the scattering enemy forces. The head leader of Daisy Chain was a young eager filly who was on her way to earning another Ace star for her devastating prowess in the sky. She was one of the few fillies in the Pegasi Air Force.

She had her wings out full extension chasing tails and unloading her dual 33mm Haymaster cannons. The flak blasted around her and her armored padding was soaking up several shrapnel pieces as she tailed a target!

"BREAK AND INTERCEPT!" She cried out. The group broke formation, which after that the only way to keep them from being mistaken as enemies was the clothing they wore of navy and blue, versus the enemy dark clothing.

She tailed that bogie for a long while as she popped rounds trying to knock him out of the sky. "WHOA that was too close!" A bullet came by her and she turned her attention over to the enemy bogie on her tail! "Gahh get off my tail!" She attempted to shake him as she flew through the heavy flak smoke pouring into the sky! She felt her goggles shake and ping as shrapnel still flew about!

"Watch your fire, watch YOUR FIRE!" A novice flak operator tried to aim ahead of the bogie but as he did bullets shredded the air around him until one blew his shoulder clean off jerking his body and firing a flak round too far ahead. Instead of the bogie he sent a flak round exploding right in front of DaisyChain!

"AGGHHH!" POOMPF! The silver coat and red mane of this magnificent flying ace was taken down by a dead flak operator. Her goggles cracked, a shard stuck through her shoulder, her glorious silver wings shredded.

"DaisyChain's down! Somepony GET HER!"

"She's falling too FAST!"

"I CAN'T I'm busy with bogies on my six!" Lightheart who was running caught sight of the quick descending filly and for some reason he felt a haze come over him. Without thinking he sent a blast of telekinesis grabbing her in mid air! A streak of bogies flew down towards them seeing the savior of the downed pony as a target to eliminate.

"LOOK OUT!" Big Macintosh stepped forward with his bit pistol ready to fire but Lightheart fearing the fate of his friend like the young stallion countered,

"NOOO MAC!" Afraid he'd lose his friend he tackled him to the side while trying to keep a grip on DaisyChain. The bullets missed on that strafe but Lightheart felt the dirt slap the side of his stomach dangerously close. Drawing the filly down to his back he yelled, "Don't you ever try to protect my life I don't care if I'm a superior officer that's an order Mac...! I'd rather die saving somepony..." An explosion nearby spooked them and that's when Big Macintosh crossed his superior answering,

"What did ya think I was a doing!?" Lightheart was caught off guard, Macintosh was doing the very same thing, he would rather die saving somepony not just his superior but his friend.

Letting her down on his back Lightheart pointed for the cloud hangar. With cloud walk they galloped across the puffy surface as strafing runs and bombs specially designed to blow clouds apart were dropped!

"HAMMER DOWN ON THOSE MOSQUITOS!" Officers were crying out trying to get the stallions riled up to fire more! It was working and enemies were dropping, but the problem was the damage had already been too great! Just about every pegasi at the station were targeted for elimination first leaving only one... and her wings were torn apart from flak.

As Lightheart arrived to the entrance of the hangar he took a look back at the rest of the cloud port. Puffs of clouds dissipating holes where he could see hooves trying to come up in a panic before they disappeared beyond his sights, docks twisted and warped, ships like open cans of fire! The sound of Majesty's Harmony creaking as the fires reached for her steam tanks, the compressed air exploded and he watched as that majestic beast seemed to suck up and implode! The sound of that megalith ship popping nearly deafened LightHeart's hearing.

"Dear Celestia, what have we done! We've just awakened the rage of some chaotic force we can't comprehend that's what we did..."

Running inside he gently placed DaisyChain down by a small group of cots where apparently some doctors had made a makeshift hospital. "I'm guessing the hospital was the first to get hit?"

"One of the first yeah..."

"The Twenty Second fleet will be here, it's just a cruiser escort with relief ships but they were designed specifically to take care of annoyances like this..." Lightheart turned to Admiral Red Mane who was apparently hospitalized before the start of the fight. He was glad to see that mustached old grump and hear his fighting spirit echo in his voice, "Yeah yeah look at me like that, my hind leg was splayed wide open those sons of banshees! Last engagement a stray flak shell pierced the glass shield on the bridge and BAM! Shrapnel tore me open! They moved my flank out of the med bay as soon as they could get me to more advanced medical care then these doggone flying marauders had to swoop down and blow up the hospital... now i'm back in a cot with limited medical treatment..." The Admiral seemed in a fit as he continued, "I would've been better off on my ship... now as far as I can see she's a big steaming pile of scrap... Agghhhh ahakkakiahuahhah!" He began to have a coughing fit after his long rant.

"Well it's good to still see you in one piece... what's the news about the other fleets if you mind me asking, because all I know is we're losing. It's pretty heavy on the mind sir..." Lightheart had been wanting some good morale boost to counter this feeling of dread. Admiral Red Mane Brushed his hoof to his forehead grumbling,

"Well there's not really much to say, we'll be getting relief hopefully, this blasted sneak attack isn't old news those dirty masked marauders have been hitting every outpost we put out here in the Jungle. 18th Fleet Expiditionary Force came in with some information on a large anti air defense array way ahead of our position, and 1st Fleet..." He coughed as he felt a feverish heat come over him, sweating the Admiral added, "Yeah I said it, the 1st Fleet, those lazy reserves are now being called out! Celestial Equines, they're the blasted stallions that are being outfitted with the new dreadnought. I hear Prince Shining Armor himself is going to be captaining it. Pretty soon we're gonna see that thing shadow over those accursed jungles HAHAHAHA... AHGKGGKK!!" He coughed again, "Aghhh Jeeze if this infection don't kill me first Arggghhh..." LightHeart gave a regretting look back at the ruined fires of the Majesty's Harmony, his superior replying, "And all those brave stallions gone for what... to fight for harmony... how is this fighting for harmoy AAGGGHEEUAAH! Looks more like we're the ones making discord... you know how this war started Liuetenant?"

"That part's unclear to me Admiral sir?" The response was unnerving to the Admiral as he answered back,

"Well what in Equestria are you doing here boy..."

"Fighting for harmony...?"

"Hmmph, if that's the only reason you're fighting then you should be shipped back home where you can AGGHHKKK, spend your time in sunny green fields and perfect weather... sunshine and daisies!" The Delerious Admiral seemed fixed on explaining this mystery but he was too frustrated and feverish he was hardly making any sense of what he was talking about. In face as the Admiral continued, LightHeart felt something really important was going to be revealed. "Listen to me Lieutenant we fight for more than just harmony and you know that... I'm pretty positive you knew that from the beginning, but you're just lost because I bet you've lost some good stallions eh, am I right?" LightHeart reluctantly nodded thinking about the few good stallions he knew who went missing when that transport ship finally blew. "Look the whole reason we're out here is because years ago... Princess Celestia had..." BOOM! A loud explosion rattled the hangar pausing the Admiral's story!

"Gahhh Owwwie, that's some big boom I tell ya, there's a biiiiggg ship thingy out there Lieutenant!" Snails started pointing out towards an object that looked like a bloated fish!

"What in Celestia's crown... ..." LightHeart tried to analyze the size of the object but he couldn't tell how close it was but there were tiny puffs of smoke followed by loud explosions rocking the clouds violently!

"WHAT IN BLAZES IS GOING ON OUT THERE!?"

"Enemy dreadnought, from the distance and amount of guns it's packing REALLY BIG SIR!"

"Those cunning little!" As the Admiral blurted out, DaisyChain started coming to.

"Aghhh what... happened... ahh, my squad where's my SQUAD AAHHHHHH!!" As she abruptly jumped up afraid for her squad she felt the pain of a shrapnel piece lodged in her shoulder. Her wings looked rather shattered after being open and taking a flak round directly! Bleeding and feeling extreme pain running through her shoulder she felt the sharp metal jerk around and slice at her muscle forcing her back down on the cot. "AGHHH! OK YEAH... now everything is starting to hurt!"

"Well cool yourself, you're lucky to still be alive, that flak was meant to tear metal apart, it's a wonder that padded armor saved your whole side from being split in two!" LightHeart continued to keep watch as the enemy ships went from being one big bloated fish to a bunch of smaller destroyer escorts coming in fast.

The rest of the docked vessels were derelict and torn to shreds the only significant loss was tremendous. The bombardment continued on the port through the growing sunset as field medics and small squads of naval stallions were running about trying to get everypony rounded up into the heavily fortified hangars.

"Daaaahhh... I miss Snips sir, he was sposed to be on that other ship when it exploded..."

A voice inside the hangar asked,

"Snails... is... IS THAT YOU!?"

"SNIPS IS THATT YOU TOO!?" The Admiral feeling the air was getting too lovely grouched,

"Oh Snips, Oh Snails ok so where's Puppydog Tails huh...?"

"I'm over here..." Slowly he turned his head to one of the doctors who in fact had puppydog tails as his cutie mark. He took a deep painful breath as he contained his cough and growled,

"Do I even have to tell you how ridiculous it is to see a field medic with puppydog tails as a CM..."

"No sir you don't, and it's not what you think..."

"I'm not thinking about it, and you're not going explain, just do your job soldier!" Meanwhile by the entrance LightHeart and Macintosh were watching the enemy fleet surround them.

The sunset was darkened by the billowing smoke and fire. When night had fallen the fires illuminated the cloud port like a beacon. "What are those dang blasted marauders doing now?" Admiral Red Mane asked. LightHeart shrugged reporting,

"Nothing it seems, they're just circling around us..." Suddenly the Admiral flew into a rage as he hopped from his cot and hobbled over towards the entrance grouching and coughing,

"Ahhheua.... lemme see this, it better not be what I think it is!" Red Mane glared out the opening watching the destroyers circling around with the bloated dreadnought just hovering idle. In a rage he spurted out something that sent a red flag in LightHeart and Macintosh's mind. "Those clever sons of diamond dogs... they know it's a trap..."

"What... ...?" LightHeart turned his attention to his superior unable to comprehend at the moment what he had said. Red Mane just answered unaware of his wording,

"Don't look at me like that son, I just said they're setting a trap!" LightHeart made a note that was not what he heard, but they were all very tired and in a state of confusion and panic he could've said anything.

(Flash forward to Lavender Rose)

Lavender heard the sound of a groaning Sketch as she was escorted into the house by Starlight's caring hooves.

"Ohhhh... oh my word! Sketch what is... is she alright!?" Lavender held her hoof over her mouth at the sight of the bloated pony.

"It's ok, she's fine she just needs some rest is all, she had an accident with a chocolate fountain cake."

"Oh dear oh please let me help you Starlight dear, upsy daisy. Ohhhh Eewwww, she needs a shower before she is put in that bed!" She helped Sketch up on one side trying to keep away from the chocolate soaked in Sketch's coat as Starlight held her other. Inside Lavender's mind she couldn't help but think, 'I must read the rest of that note as soon as possible. I want to know what happens of course they don't die why would that note be there and the PICTURE, i've not seen the picture, did they somehow manage to win, is DaisyChain going to be ok... is Admiral Red Mane going to kick the bucket, I MUST KNOW THESE THINGS!'

Lavender aided poor Sketch up the stairs to the shower before she would be escorted to the room.

"Ohhh, thanks girls... I'm sorry for being, a burden on you two..." Starlight just smiled with a sweet toned reply,

"Nonsense best friend of mine, it was my pleasure but now I must go, you have a good shower before going to bed ok?"

"Ok..." Grumbling as she made her way to the shower.

"It's no trouble at all darling, if you'll excuse me I have to finish some chores downstairs so when you are done you should go straight to bed..." Slowly exiting the room she closed the door as Sketch began turning the shower on. "I must know... I mussstttt KNOW!" She shot down the stairs, took the note with her magic and jumped in the arm chair putting on her reading glasses. "This calls for a spot of tea as well..." In the kitchen she poured some already made by Red, into a cup and levitated it over to her cozy spot. Lighting a fire up she snugged herself in the chair and opened the letter, "Oh brother tell me what has happened to you..." Lavender was getting rather into these letters, occasionally getting these were like receiving the latest magazine on the new hip thing in Canterlot.

(Flashback to LightHeart)

"What are we going to do?" LightHeart had his mind flying around with anxious sensations to do something about this but what, what could he do in the face of this problem?

"You know boy, sometimes you just gotta come to terms..."

"Terms with what sir?" Admiral Red Mane again coughed and replied,

"That we should perform a greater good, because we're probably not getting out of this alive..." LightHeart's hooves sunk and his literal heart hit him with a heavy thud! "You see that Filly over there?" Big Macintosh, LightHeart and Admiral Red Mane looked to DaisyChain, her wings were shredded but she could probably still glide herself and get some lift with some makeshift work done to them. "She's gonna be our last messenger stallions, we're going to alert the fleets of our situation so if you have any filly back home or young little brother... maybe some foals of your own..." He sighed deeply as he cleared his feverish throat concluding, "Ya better say your last goodbyes on paper..."

They all gathered around by the cots and as the fires outside crackled loudly, they began to tell stories to one another as they wrote their seperate notes, wills, testaments, love letters... they all were made to be the last notes sent.

"I... I don't wanna die...!"

"ME NEITHER, WE JUST FOUND ONE ANOTHER AND NOW!" Snips and snails cried out in unison,

"WE'RE GONNA DIE TOGETHER AGGHHHHH!"

"Oh shut it you big babies, you served your empire well, go out smiling and you won't regret it, that's what I told my son... ... before he got his flank blown clean off during a raid on an artillery position up towards Canterlee..." The Admiral took a look down at his pocket watch. "I know nopony really noticed it but this pocket watch here, has a picture of my wife and boy... yeah that's right I have family big whoop..." Before he snapped at the others he took a deep breathe coughing to clear his throat as he responded with a calm voice, "If it's any consolation I'm just going to send it back home to her with the words 'WE FOUGHT LIKE DOGS, BUT WE DIED LIKE STALLIONS!' She still doesn't know he died, it's best I leave the details out, the way he died had given me no end of gri... ahuahuahAAAACK Agghhh this fever!"

The few stallions still awake in the cots were talking about their stories, one even had a tale to tell about how him and his five brothers had fought together for the first tour of duty but when they seperated it was like a curse because they slowly died one by one.

"I guess it'll be my time now I suppose, figures we'd all die when divided that stupid commander of ours oughta get marked for treason for the death of all of us..."

"What about you two, LightHeart you and Macintosh haven't said anything all this time about your lives back home?" Admiral Red Mane wanted to know about these two ponies, these two grand stallions who had fought off a large group of soldiers during the Athenus raid, who had survived being on board a transport vessel descending to the depths of the jungle, who had defended said vessel before the dreadnoughts became too great for the fleet.

LightHeart smiled.

(Flash Forward to Lavender Rose)

Lavender's eyes were now jerking with tears as she read the end, "To tell you the truth, I wasn't expecting to come back home, I'm real sorry sis that it would have to end this way, I hope our death is not in vain. I wish there was a better way to end this story for you sis because even writing this and knowing my fate, I can still feel deep down inside I want to cry. I earned my wings the Admiral said but I don't think I earned anything sis because I denied you the priviledge to see me come back home, to tell you we won, to tell you the stories about our parents. If you know Big Macintosh's sister by now, which I'd bet you have she's a sweet little filly named Applebloom, don't be surprised if you find her crying her eyes out too. I'm really sorry I wish I could be there. If it's any consolation I give you this picture of the last group of comrades I was with before I passed on. Admiral Red Mane was right we Fought like Dogs, but in the end we Died like Stallions. FDDS was the acronymn. If you wonder what that saying meant, when I first entered the war I felt like a dog following my superiors going into engagements like cannon fodder. In the end though when we fought to the last pony, it was ultimately our decision to make and we decided to die like stallions. Brave, Proud, and Strong, just like Dad..."

Trembling Lavender picked out the picture and looked at the ponies which were a bunch of loose soldiers from other divisions, from the wounded pegasus DaisyChain, field medics, actual doctors, to a few of the platoon soldiers left in units salvaged from the downed transports. "No... noooo... this, noo... that's the most TERRIBLE, awful thing... I... I don't have any words to describe how..." She did not expect the ending to hit so hard. Pausing to continue on to that depressing conclusion was the worse let down she had ever read before!

She looked up to the bedroom where Sketch was sleeping quietly unaware of the new letter. Lavender purposely crumpled it up and whispered, "I'm just going to destroy this, there's no reason Sketch should hear this! AT ALL, what was her brother thinking those last moments, that..." She was choking up and wanting to cry but she refused to let her tears break, "What this would do to that poor mare would be ten, no a hundred times more painful than what it feels like to me... I feel so dirty looking at her mail now, but this was one letter that was never meant to be seen, Ugghhhh what was that ignorant minded stallion thinking!? Oh Celestia I'm babbling I'm babbling, I'm so nervous and frustrated, and angry, and sad I'm ranting non-stop even when I know I am I just can't..." She began to rip the letter apart and throw it in the garbage. The one thing she didn't want to throw away was the picture which still showed a warm scene a scene that would keep Sketch hopeful. "No I won't destroy this, she deserves to have this at least it'll be..." She sniffled as she remembered in the letter how he described the cloud port and she choked, "Like A b... b... beacon.... of hopppppppeeee Agghhhhh and there I go.... AGHHH!" Immediately she stopped completely scared of waking Sketch!

She put the picture back into the envelope and placed it on the table she found it and ran upstairs slowing to a creep checking if Sketch was asleep. Peering in the room she seen Sketch was sleeping soundly in the covers all clean as a whistle. Lavender removed a tear from her eye and trotted over to fix the covers perfectly. Tucking her friend in she mumbled,

"Poor girl, you rest well mare..." She returned downstairs to sulk on the couch putting her face into the cushions yelling, "OH LAVENDER YOU FOOL WHAT HAVE YOU DONE... my eyes will never unsee those images her brother has burned into my mind! It wasn't meant for me I know but still!"

Lavender's mind was going to be filled with guilt for her curiosity. Out of the blue as she was mourning for Sketch's loss she heard the sound of the door being knocked upon. "Oh who could this be knocking at such a time...?" She opened the door regaining her composure with her magic to behold the one thing she was in no mood to tangle with. Diamond Tiara!

"Excuse me but where is the one named Sketch..It?" Despite being caught off guard by Lavender, Diamond Tiara did not withdraw on inconveniences. Lavender just stuck her nose up and scoffed angrily as she threw her eyes down in a glare,

"She's asleep." SLAM! Diamond Tiara waited for a moment in a shock and growled,

"Agghhhh who does that mare think she is!!!" She began to bang on the door, "I DEMAND TO SEE HER THIS INSTANT!" The door swung open and Lavender barked again,

"She is asleep, what part does SHE IS ASLEEP DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND!?"

"The part where minor inconveniences ever stopped me from getting what I WANT!"

"Ewwwww.... you spoiled little brat!"

"Little! Who are you calling little you Mare-Hag!" Lavender's patience for anymore interruptions finally was just completely non existent!

The sheer exertion of her anger fit could be felt from the bowling alley where Bubblegum shivered to the bone! Spike noticed and asked,

"What's wrong?" Bubblegum's face turned serious as she whispered,

"I sense somepony right now is very very veryyyyyyy angry..."

"You can sense pony's feelings aww cool!"

"Yeah but it has to be like super serious, like this one... I sense a disturbance in the force with this one it's strong!"

At this exact moment Diamond Tiara was running for her life as a rabid Lavender Rose chased her down taking anything she could grab with her magic and lobbing it at Diamond Tiara screaming,

"HOWWWW DARE YOU CALL ME A MARE-HAG! WAIT TILL I GET MY HOOVES ON YOU!"

"DEAR CELESTIA WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU DON'T YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE DEALING WITH!? I'LL HAVE EVERY LAWYER ON YOUR TAIL FROM CANTERLOT TO MANEHATTEN!"

"LET THEM COME I'LL BEAT THE SMART MOUTH OUT OF THEM TOO!"

"AGGHHHHH!!!!"

As they galloped off a strange figure creeped into the building and up the stairs slowly. It opened the door to Sketch's room and quietly trotted over to Sketch's bed whispering,

"So you're that little filly he talked about back at the Hangar..." The figure paused from disturbing her and whispered, "Well I'll let you rest I'll just wait till you wake up..." The figure found a nice spot on the floor to rest itself while it waited for Sketch to rise from her slumber. Trying to situate itself it grumbled, "Aghhh this darned contraption is..." It scooted around in the darkened room making clanking noises. Despite the disruptions Sketch continued to sleep off her fun afternoon.