• Published 22nd Oct 2012
  • 3,706 Views, 140 Comments

Louder Than Words - Niaeruzu



A pony becomes friends with a mute dragon.

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6
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Chapter 4

A couple of hours and a whole lot of gestures later, Cirrus and Spike headed back home. They were both silent for a while, until Cirrus managed to work up the courage to say something. “I’m sorry you had to waste your afternoon like this, Spike.”

“You don’t have to say sorry,” Spike said with a dismissive wave. “It was kinda fun!”

Cirrus chuckled. “Well, thank you for your help.”

“Don’t mention it,” Spike said. “That’s what friends are for, right?”

“Friends?” Cirrus raised an eyebrow. “You’d say we’re friends?”

“Of course!” Spike said. “I mean, you’re nice, and we had fun, and I wouldn’t mind helping you out again. That makes us friends in my book.”

Cirrus didn’t know what to say. She thought making friends was a lot harder than this, and all of a sudden, she now had two of them. Maybe she had thought about this all wrong in the past. “Um... I guess? I don’t know.” she ultimately said. She needed a bit more time to think this through.

“What do you mean, you don’t know? You have other friends, right?” Spike asked.

Cirrus’ face drooped. “N-Not really.” She sighed. “Slatescale is my first friend.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, stop.” Spike said, putting a claw on Cirrus’ chest to stop her. “You’re living in Ponyville, and Slatescale is your first friend? Aren’t you friends with... I don’t know, Rainbow Dash, or something?”

“I don’t think so,” Cirrus said, taking a step back. “I talked to her a couple of times, but that’s it.”

“Okay then,” Spike said with a strange look of disbelief. “How about Pinkie Pie? Every pony in Ponyville is friends with Pinkie Pie!”

“Well, she did throw me a party once, and she asked me to—” Suddenly, Cirrus’ eyes went wide. “Oh no! I completely forgot!”

Spike raised an eyebrow. “Forgot what?”

“Pinkie Pie wanted to throw a party for Slatescale, and she asked me if I could ask him about the details!” Cirrus sat down and ran her hooves through her mane in panic. “I let her down, and now... and now—”

“Hey, calm down!” Spike said, putting a claw on Cirrus’ shoulder. “Pinkie Pie’s really weird, but she’s also a really good friend. She’ll understand.”

“B-But I’m not even friends with her!” Cirrus stood up and bolted away. “I’m sorry, but I have to go apologize! Bye!” She shouted, heading for where she thought Pinkie Pie would be.

Spike groaned and walked after her. “I’m going to have my claws full on this one.”


Sugarcube Corner was, as usual, abuzz with activity. Many ponies came to the local bakery to buy some delicious goods, ranging from simple cupcakes and donuts to complex, specially made cakes. While most of the customers usually took their baked goods to go, there were a few munching away at one of the tables in the shop.

But it wasn’t the loudest part of the building, not by a long shot. The noisiest room was the kitchen. Well, not usually, but anytime Pinkie Pie was there, it was guaranteed to be noisy, messy, or both. Most often both.

This was one of such times, as Pinkie Pie was rushing around the kitchen, working on baking many types of pastries at the same time. Any other pony would think she was rushing to meet fifteen deadlines at the same time, but for Pinkie Pie, this was her normal speed. In addition, she was humming a merry tune as she slid pastry after pastry into one of the ovens.

However, that was all suddenly interrupted, as a combination of loud crashing and surprised shouts came from within the shop, causing Pinkie to pause. “Huh, that sounds like the kind of noise Pinkie Pie makes,” she said. A sudden realization made her pause for a second. “Hey, wait a minute! I’m Pinkie Pie! Who’s making all that noise?”

She quickly went into the shop, and to her surprise, found a crowd staring at a blue pegasus pony with a single saddlebag, propped up upside-down against the wall of Sugarcube Corner. It seemed like she had entered the room a little bit too fast and crashed, so Pinkie Pie initially thought of Rainbow Dash. This pony, however, had a wispy white mane, and a different cutie mark, one of a rearing, white pegasus. So this had to be...

“C.C.!” she said, rushing up to the dazed pegasus. Pinkie picked her up and put her back on her hooves. “Are you okay?”

Cirrus wobbled about, dazed from her painful slam against the wall. “Wuh-buh,” she managed to mumble. “Is this... Is this Sugarcube Corner?”

“It sure is!” Pinkie said. “What can I get you?”

“I was looking for... uh...” Cirrus stared at Pinkie for a moment. What did she need again? Her head pounded, making it hard to think. “I needed a pie? No, I needed something pink. Pie... Pink... Pinkie Pie!”

“Hey, that’s me!” Pinkie said. “And you found me!”

Cirrus immediately bent forward, holding her front hooves up while leaning on her knees. “Oh, I’m so sorry!” she pleaded. “You wanted me to ask Slatescale about your party and I forgot so now you can’t throw your party please forgive me! Please?”

“What would I have to forgive you for?” Pinkie put Cirrus’ hooves down and helped her up. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Cirrus stared at her in disbelief. “B-But I let you down! I didn’t do what I promised!”

“Oh, that?” Pinkie Pie giggled. “That’s not a big deal, silly! I mean come on, who could get an answer out of a big, grumpy dragon that fast? And besides, do you know how long it takes to make a dragon-sized cake? I can’t just pull cakes out of nowhere!” Pinkie suddenly reached somewhere just outside of Cirrus’ vision, then pulled her hoof back, presenting a simple cupcake with pink frosting. “You don’t have to be upset. Want a cupcake?”

Cirrus gave her a wary look, carefully and slowly reaching for the cupcake with a hoof and accepting it. “...Sure?” She eyed the cupcake suspiciously, then looked at Pinkie, who was giving Cirrus a very hopeful stare. Cirrus hesitated for a moment, then took a small bite out of the cupcake.

“There! Feel better?” Pinkie asked, stepping next to Cirrus and throwing a hoof around her neck to give her a quick hug.

Cirrus gave a quick nod as she chewed on her cupcake. She felt a bit better, but also very, very confused. Pinkie Pie was being awfully accepting of her mistake. Plus, where did she get that cupcake from? Cirrus hadn’t seen any when she came in. Then again, she hadn’t exactly taken a very good look around during her high-speed entrance. Oh well, it was probably just standing on a table somewhere. And it’d be kind of rude to question such a tasty cupcake.

Pinkie Pie sniffed the air. “Huh. That cupcake doesn’t smell too good.”

Cirrus held the cupcake up to her nose. No, it smelled like it tasted: very sweet. But there was another scent in the air, one that smelled like something was burning. As Cirrus looked around to locate the source, she saw black smoke coming out of the kitchen. “Uh, were you baking something?”

“Uh oh,” Pinkie said as she rushed into the kitchen. A very loud series of bangs and crashes followed, causing everypony inside the store to flinch.

“Pinkie? Are you okay?” Cirrus said, placing her partially-eaten cupcake on a nearby table and walking towards the kitchen.

Pinkie Pie poked her head out of the doorway. “I’m fine!” she said, her face covered in soot. She coughed a few times, tiny black clouds escaping her mouth. “The cake I was baking is a little burnt, though.”

“I’m sorry,” Cirrus said, awkwardly kicking at the floor. “I shouldn’t have interrupted your baking.”

“Oh, it’s okay, this—” Something in the kitchen exploded, interrupting Pinkie’s sentence. “This isn’t the first time I made a mess.”

Cirrus tried looking over Pinkie’s shoulder, but a cloud of ash suddenly burst from the doorway, obscuring her view and covering her head in grime. She coughed and wiped the ash from her face. “Do you need any help?”

“I can handle it on my own,” Pinkie said. “This isn’t nearly as bad as last time, when I tried making a marble cake. I mean, why call it a marble cake when there aren’t even any marbles in there?”

“Okay then.” Cirrus looked over her shoulder and glanced at her cupcake, still standing where she left it. “Um, how much was that cupcake?”

“You can have it!” Pinkie said. “For free, because you were so upset. And I always give my friends free cupcakes!”

Cirrus blinked a few times at Pinkie in surprise. “Uh, right. Friends. Then I’ll just, um...” She went over to her cupcake. “I’ll just grab this and go.” She picked up the cupcake, but didn’t take a bite yet. “I’ll see you later, then?”

As Cirrus hopped up and flew out of Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie waved after her. “Sure will, C.C.!”

It was then that she noticed all of the shop’s customers giving her various looks of surprise. “Don’t worry, everypony!” Pinkie said. “I’ve got this completely under control!”

Again, something in the kitchen exploded. This time quite violently, as the blast nearly threw Pinkie forward. “Huh, that sounded like the blender. But I didn’t even use that!” She turned around and looked into the kitchen for a second, then turned back to the crowd of customers. “Okay, maybe I don’t have this under control. I guess marble cake isn’t made with marble rock, either.”


That night, Cirrus just couldn’t get to sleep. She tossed and turned in her bed, but remained awake, as she couldn’t help but think about what happened today.

Yesterday, she became friends with Slatescale. And just today, she became friends with Spike and Pinkie Pie! Her little social circle was expanding at an incredible rate. When she left Sugarcube Corner, Cirrus ran into Spike. He didn’t say it outright, but Cirrus was pretty sure he was worried about her. After Cirrus assured him that nothing was wrong, the two of them made plans to spend some more time together. Just thinking about it made her happy.

But maybe she had been looking at this the wrong way? Spike told her that every pony in Ponyville was friends with Pinkie Pie, and she was certainly very nice to Cirrus, even before Slatescale arrived.

Cirrus frowned. This whole time, she thought she didn’t have any friends, but it turns out she just wasn’t paying attention. A friend is a pony, or a dragon, or anything, who you enjoy spending time with, and Cirrus knew a few of those now. Maybe she could talk with Rainbow Dash soon, to see if the two of them were friends. After all, Cirrus really enjoyed having friends, so more friends was always good.

She also shouldn’t forget to thank Pinkie. After all, it was Pinkie who asked her to approach Slatescale, so it was because of Pinkie that Cirrus now had all these friends. Cirrus wondered if Pinkie even knew just how much she had helped.

There was so much to do now, all of a sudden! On top of her job, Cirrus now had sign language to learn and teach, friends to spend time with, and more friends to make. It made her feel all giddy. So giddy, that she still had trouble sleeping. Not because she kept thinking about what happened today, but because of what could happen tomorrow.

Author's Note:

I'm sorry this chapter is a bit shorter and took so long. I've been a bit sick lately, but I hope I can speed up my writing soon.