Entries from the Diary of Amber Song

by meerkat8472

Outside, take two

February 11 1005

I haven't been doing much the last couple of days, just helping Mom out with housework, and she's been teaching me to cook a little too. I have read a lot about cooking, but Mom says there is no substitute for experience in cooking. I understood what she meant when, despite following the recipe perfectly, my first batch of vanilla cupcakes weren't quite cooked in the middle. Mom explained that the recipe was made for ideal conditions and any number of things will vary from batch to batch no matter how careful you are and sometimes you have to 'go by feel'. Hopefully I will understand this concept someday.

Today was certainly interesting, and very enjoyable. I decided that I would try to go outside on my own again. Dad has been encouraging me to do so as he believes that nopony will dare disobey a princess. So, around ten o'clock this morning I put on my saddlebags and left the house. Just to go for a walk, no particular destination in mind. I hoped I would see some of my friends, I still have find it hard to accept that I have friends, thinking about them brought a small smile to my face.

I decided to go to the diner that I can not name, for ease of reference from now on I will simply call it The Diner. Sure enough my friend who owns the place was there, again for ease of reference I will call her Strawberry, that isn't her real name but I feel I should call her something in this diary. I went to the counter and she served me.

“Amber, sweetheart, how are you?” She greeted me.

“I'm doing well, could I get one of your delicious Strawberry milkshakes please?”

“Of course, coming right up.” She said and I hoofed over the money for it.

While she was getting everything and mixing it I asked. “So, how's business?”

“Oh actually it's been going very well these past couple of days.” She said while smiling, she did seem more relaxed than usual.

“Oh that's good, I'm glad to hear to that.” I said smiling back.

“Yes, just two days ago Pinkie Pie came by and asked if I would like to provide sandwiches for all her parties from now on, of course I said yes.” She informed me.

“That's wonderful news, I wonder why she decided to that all of a sudden? I understand she's been throwing parties for years now.” I replied.

“Well, she said that Sugarcube Corner doesn't make sandwiches, as they tend to focus on pastries. So she usually makes her own sandwiches for parties, but she figured since her parties are usually so well attended she could afford to pay someone to make them so she can save time.” She explained.

“Oh I see, well that's great, with the amount of parties she throws that will mean a lot of extra business for you.” I said with a smile.

“Oh yes, why just yesterday I provided sandwiches for a small filly's birthday party, I think it went really well, everypony seemed to like the sandwiches, or so I was told later.” She said. “Here you go sweetheart.” She added as she hoofed over the now completed milkshake.

“Thanks.” I said taking it. I looked around and there were a fair few customers in the Diner. “You seem to be doing pretty well in here too.” I observed.

“Yes I know, isn't it great.” She smiled broadly. “I think word is getting around that I'm now Pinkies sandwich maker, and well Pinkie knows everypony, so I think they're coming to try out the sandwiches. I've certainly been selling a lot of them the last couple of days.” She explains.

“Well that's wonderful, anyway I'd better let you get back to work.” I said as I turned to take my milkshake to a table.

“Okay sweetheart, thanks for coming by.” She said.

I smiled at her before heading to a table in the back corner that wasn't occupied. I noticed a couple of ponies of ponies giving me strange looks that I couldn't interpret, but most ponies seemed to ignore me and were just minding their own business. So I tried to do the same, just concentrating on my milkshake, which was delicious. As I got up to leave I noticed Strawberry looking over at me and smiling. She wasn't busy with any customers at that time, so I brought over the empty glass to her.

“Amber, I was just wondering, is there something different about the way you're walking?” She asked.

“Oh yes, I've been learning to walk and talk more naturally from my friends.” I explained.

“Ah, I thought you were speaking differently too.” I nodded smiling a little. “Well it's certainly working for you sweetheart, you look and sound wonderful.” She complimented.

“Thanks, that means a lot to me coming from you, I've always thought you were an elegant pony.” I said.

“Oh thank you sweetheart.” She said, blushing a little. “Oh I've got a customer.” She said noticing a pony approaching the counter. “I'll see you later Amber.”

“Okay, see you later.” I replied and left the Diner.

I was walking along Mane Street thinking to myself that I'd have to thank Pinkie for helping Strawberry out, when I saw Pinkie Pie herself hopping along the street. I waved at her and called out to get her attention “Pinkie, Hi.”

She bounced over to me. “Hiya Amber! How's it going?”

“Very well thanks Pinkie, I just came from the Diner and Strawberry told me about you hiring her to make sandwiches for you, I just wanted to say thanks. It was really nice seeing her so happy.” I said and smiled at her. Pinkie smiled back and then started talking very fast without any breaks so it was like one long sentence, Thanks to my reliable short term memory I can remember it all though.

“Oh well you see I went there to take her some leftover cupcakes from your party except we didn't have any leftover cupcakes from your party so I really went there to apologize that I couldn't bring her any cupcakes sure I could have made more but then they wouldn't be from your party which isn't the same thing but when I got there I completely forgot about apologizing because she looked so stressed and I wondered why cause it didn't look like the 'I’ve been working too hard' kind of stress that Rarity and Applejack sometimes get but then I noticed how few ponies were in the place and I realized she was stressed cause she needed more business then I noticed that she had sandwiches on her menu and I thought I know I can pay her to make sandwiches for my parties that way I don't have to make them and all the ponies that come to my parties will be able to try her sandwiches and I'll tell them where they came from and then they'll go to her diner and everypony's happy.” She then let out a very loud gasp for air and started panting heavily. Speaking in between breaths she added “Somepony... usually... stops me.... before I … run out... of air.”

“Oh I'm sorry, was I suppose to stop you.” I asked.

“No no... it's okay... just not... used to it.” She took a couple of really deep breaths and then started breathing at a more normal rate. ”See I'm better now.” She smiled broadly.

“Oh good, well thanks again for doing that for her Pinkie.” I said.

“No problemo, anyway gotta go, I have to get some alligator food for gummy bye.” Then she raced off before I could respond.

“Alligator food?” I thought out loud. “Don't alligators eat meat?” I felt a little concerned about what Pinkie might be doing, but Princess Twilight had warned me not to try to figure out anything that Pinkie does, so I decided to ignore it. I continued walking down the street, then I heard Rainbow Dash's voice from above.

“Hey Amber.” Then she landed in front of me.

“Hello Rainbow Dash, you're looking well today.” I greeted her. I sat on my haunches in front of her and she sat down too.

“Yeah, going pretty well, you?” She asked.

“Yes, quite well thanks.”

“Cool, it's good that you're out and about by yourself again, you know, after...” She trailed off.

“Oh yes, I thought it was about time I got out again, I'm still a little worried, but I figured that nopony is very likely to disobey Princess Twilight.” I explained.

Rainbow Dash chuckled “Yeah, that egghead can be scary when she gets mad, even burst into flames once.” I was surprised by this piece of information.

“How could she burst into flames? Wouldn't that hurt?” I can't feel pain myself, but I'm told it's very unpleasant.

“Nah, didn't seem to hurt her and it went out in about two seconds, must have been magic I reckon.” She said waving her hoof through the air to dismiss the topic. “Anyway, I was thinking about that attack on you, and I was wondering, why didn't you fight back? aren't you s'pose to be super strong or whatever?” This was said with little tact, but I knew she didn't mean to be upsetting, she was just curious, so I answered her.

“I'm not that much stronger than the average Earth pony Rainbow Dash, and I couldn't hurt them.?

“Why not? They'd have totally deserved it.” She said sounding surprised. I shook my head.

“No Rainbow, they were scared and confused, faced with something unknown, I don't blame them.” I informed her. She looked shocked for a moment then sighed.

“Wow you're forgiving, I'd have totally given what for.” She said. I smiled a little at her bravado.

“I'm sure you would have Rainbow, but I couldn't have even if I had wanted to, it would go against my behavior protocols.”

“What!? You're not allowed to defend yourself?” She said looking really shocked now.

“Oh no, I can defend myself but only as much as needed. I can't fight back, just defend myself, or others, from hostile actions.” I corrected her.

“Oh... well that's better than nothing I suppose.” She said. “You are strong though right? and fast too?”

“I am above average in speed and strength, yes.” I replied.

“So, if I did this.” She suddenly raised her right forehoof to the side and swung it around attempting to hit my face. I could have let it hit as it was unlikely to cause any serious damage, but I knew she wanted a demonstration of my defensive capabilities. I quickly raised my left forehoof to block hers, positioning it so our hooves contacted each others so that neither of us would have any impact on our skin. Because I was already firmly planted on the ground, I was sitting after all, I didn't have to shift my weight to absorb the force of her attempted slap. I didn't blink or break eye contact with her, my left forehoof was the only part of me that moved. This display of efficiency seemed to impress Rainbow Dash, her eyes widened a bit. “Whoa.” She breathed out the word, sounding quite in awe, I just smiled back at her.

“Was that demonstration satisfactory Rainbow Dash?” I asked, still smiling, there was something about seeing her shocked that I found amusing. She lowered her hoof back to the ground and looked away. “Um, yeah, not bad.” sounding dismissive. I lowered my hoof as well, and looked at her with a worried expression.

“Um, are you okay Rainbow?” I was a little concerned I had somehow hurt her feelings, but she seemed to return to normal.

“Yeah yeah, I'm fine, so yeah, you can defend yourself, that's good.” She sounded relieved. I gave a small smile.

“Were you worried about me Rainbow?” I asked her seriously.

“What!? No! Well, maybe a little, you know when you said you couldn't fight back, but I see now you've got it covered.” She gave a small smile.

“That's very sweet of you Rainbow, I appreciate that, but you don't have to worry about me.” I said to her.

“Yeah, I know.” She said quietly looking down a bit, she seemed embarrassed, but then she seemed to perk up again. “So, anyway, do you want to come watch me practice my routine? I get a small solo part in our next show and I was going to show it to my friends today, fairly soon actually, you can come if you want. I know Fluttershy and Rarity will be glad to see you, they both seem to like you a lot.”

“That sounds wonderful Rainbow. I don't actually have any plans for today, I was just out for a walk, so I'd love to watch your routine.” I said.

“Great, be at the park on the east side of town in about half an hour okay?”

“Okay, see you then Rainbow.” I said as she took off.

As I had nothing else to do I decided to just slowly walk to the park. Along the way I got a couple of strange looks, but nopony approached me. I arrived at the park and immediately saw Fluttershy sitting by a tree talking to a pair of squirrels. I approached her, she saw me coming and smiled. I greeted her.

“Hello Fluttershy, hello... squirrels?” I said.

“Hello Amber, this is Mr. and Mrs. Squirrelton. This tree is their home and they were just telling me about a couple of dead branches up near the top that they think should be removed in case they fall and hit somepony.” Fluttershy explained.

“Oh, well they are very conscientious squirrels.”

“Oh yes, a lot of ponies don't realize that the animals in this town look after their houses just as much as they do. I was about to fly up there to see if I could remove them. Could you keep an eye out down here to make sure nopony walks under this tree? You know so the branches don't land on them when I drop them.” She asked.

“Yes I can do that.” I replied.

“Oh thank you Amber.” She then turned to the squirrels. “Come on you two, show me these branches.” She then took off flying into the canopy of the tree as the squirrels ran up the trunk. I took a few steps back so I didn't get hit with falling branches and looked around to see if there were any ponies close by that might walk under the tree, but there weren't any.

Fluttershy called out. “Is it all clear down there Amber?” Although I could tell she was trying to project her voice, I had a little trouble hearing her.

“Yes Fluttershy, nopony's under the tree.” I replied. A few seconds later two decent sized but obviously dead branches came falling from the canopy.

Fluttershy came floating down from the canopy. She laid the branches up against the tree. “I'll give these to Applejack later, she can use them for firewood.” She said to me, then she turned her head up and called out just loud enough for them to hear. “Thanks Mr. and Mrs. Squirrelton, have a nice day.” I heard some chittering noises in return. It was then I spotted Princess Twilight, Rarity and Applejack approaching the center of the park. Rarity spotted us and waved us over.

“Oh girls, over here!”

Fluttershy and I trotted over to them. “Hello Rarity, hello everypony, how are you?” I said. Speaking all at once they replied.

“Can't complain.” Said Applejack

“Good.” Said the Princess.

“Very well thanks darling.” Said Rarity

I smiled, then I noticed somepony was missing. “Um, where is Pinkie Pie?”

“Right here!” Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared from behind me, like she'd been there all along. This surprised me and I actually jumped forward landing in the middle of the circle of ponies, barely keeping my hooves underneath me. I turned around and addressed her.

“Pinkie, how did you do that?”

“Do what?” She asked cocking her head slightly to side, obviously confused about what I was asking.

I was about to clarify my question when Princess Twilight put her hoof over my mouth and said quietly to me. “Don't... just don't. This is what I warned you about.” I was going to protest that it was just a simple question but something in her tone of voice told me she was adamant that it was a bad idea, so I decided to let it go. Then, as if to change the subject she asked rather loudly so that all the ponies could hear. “Where is Rainbow Dash? I thought she'd be here by now.”

Almost as if on cue, Rainbow Dash flew overhead turned sharply and headed back towards us, she landed just before us all and struck a confident pose. “Hi everypony, glad you could all make it. As you know, this airshow in Cloudsdale will be the first airshow I've had a solo part in. It's not a long part, only about a minute, but it finishes with a Sonic Rainboom. Oh, and it's the finish to whole performance, so it's kinda important I get it perfect, and I won't lie, I'm a little nervous.” She was speaking rather quickly, even if she hadn't just admitted it, it was obvious she nervous.

“Oh, we all know you're doing to great Dashie.” Pinkie said.

“Yeah, you'll knock their socks off.” Applejack added.

“Why don't you show us your routine Rainbow.” The Princess said smiling encouragingly. The rest of us smiled and nodded, voicing various sentiments of agreement.

“Alright then, I'll do it over there” Rainbow said pointing to the side of the park that was furthest from the town, essentially it's empty space as the park is on the outskirts of town. “That way the Sonic Rainboom won't be too close to town, not that it will be anyway, it's going to be a high altitude Rainboom, so everypony can see the full circle of the shockwave. Also, doing it over there will give you guys a good side on viewing angle just like if you were at the stadium.”

“Sounds great.” The Princess said smiling. We all nodded in agreement.

“Alright, here I go.” Rainbow said before she took off at amazing speed heading for the side of the park to start her her routine.

I'm not familiar with many aerobatic terms, so it's hard for me to describe her performance. I could tell that her movements were very quick and precise. It was clear to me that she puts in a lot of effort in getting her movements perfect. Which would explain why she was impressed by my show of efficient movement earlier. The end to her performance was truly spectacular. She flew perfectly vertically into the sky getting faster and faster. Even with my vision I lost track of her completely, that is until she broke the sound barrier.

A massive circular rainbow shockwave appeared high in the sky, followed a couple of seconds later by a rumbling boom as the sound from the explosion of magic caught up to us on the ground. A second later I spotted Rainbow Dash heading back toward the ground leaving a powerful rainbow contrail behind her. Rainbow normally leaves a rainbow contrail but it is smaller than this one was and only remains visible for a couple of seconds at most. This contrail was bigger, brighter and remained visible for over a minute. As she got nearer to the ground she started flying in circles, each one getting increasingly tighter. To us, from the side, her contrail looked like a massive rainbow colored tornado shape. When she got to the lowest and tightest of the circles she had washed off enough speed to be back below the speed of sound and her contrail returned to normal, though she was still traveling very fast. She then headed straight for the ground at a speed that I thought was too fast to be safe. Just before she hit the ground she flared her wings out wide and decelerated quickly, she still landed very hard, though she absorbed the impact with her legs. I thought this last maneuver was strange, I couldn't see the point in hitting the ground so fast, but a fraction of a second later a huge gust of wind hit us and I understood. This gust of wind was of course from Rainbow's wake, she wanted us, the audience, to feel the power behind her speed. The blast of air was strong enough to blow our manes back and ruffle our tails, which was quite impressive considering Rainbow had landed some distance from us. I could see Rarity wasn't too happy about having her mane messed up, even so she seemed awestruck, just like the rest of us.

A short while later Rainbow came flying over to us, the circular shockwave was just reaching the horizon and the rainbow tornado pattern was just starting to fade away. She landed in front of us and took a brief look over her shoulder admiring her tornado pattern. She turned back to us and smiled awaiting a reaction. We were all speechless, so to break the awkward silence she asked. “So, what did you think?”

I was the first to find to find my voice. “That, was truly awesome!” I realized I had almost shouted that and I had a huge smile on my face, it truly was an inspirational performance. Rainbow smiled with pride and relief.

“Yeah, it was superduperamazingtastic!” Said Pinkie Pie.

“Rainbow Dash you rock, woohoo.” Said Fluttershy quietly, everypony chuckled at that, I'm not sure why, but Fluttershy didn't seem to take any offense, she just blushed and smiled a little.

“That was the best dang piece of flying I ever did see.” Said Applejack

The Princess nodded in agreement. “Truly spectacular.” She added.

“Well, you didn't have to mess up my mane, but it was amazing darling.” Rarity said while levitating a brush to return her mane to normal.

Rainbow Dash was smiling widely and looked relieved. “Thanks guys, it feels good to know that I'm ready.” She said. “I know only Twilight can make it to my performance this time, but knowing you all liked it, well it fells awesome.”

“I would come if I could, but I can't walk on clouds.” I said, everyone else chuckled a bit.

“Walking on clouds ain't no problem sugarcube.” Applejack said. “Twi here has a cloud walking spell she can use.”

“Oh, really?” I asked having not heard of this spell before.

“Um, yes, but I don't know if it would wok on you Amber, because...” The Princess trailed off.

“Because I'm not an organic pony.” I finished her sentence.

“Yeah.” She replied looking down at the ground for a moment, she then got a thoughtful look on her face.” I suppose I could try the object enchantment we use so pegasi can have things in their homes without them falling through the clouds.” She thought out loud.

“My skin does have some spells infused in it, as do many of my internal systems. It is difficult to know how my body would react to either spell.” I said.

The Princess shrugged. “I could just cast both spells, the cloud walking spell lasts for a day and the object enchantment lasts for a year. So as long as we have you back on the ground in a day, it won't matter which of the spells worked or not.” She said.

“Oh but darling, the airshow is next week and I've heard that it's practically sold out. Are you sure you can get Amber a ticket?” Rarity asked.

“Um, Rarity remember I am a princess, I get my own private viewing area in the stadium.” She scuffed at the ground and was looking downward. “I-I don't like to use such privileges as you know, but they won't use the area for normal seating so if I sat in a normal seat I'd be taking a seat that another pony could have had and I don't want to do that.” She said rather quickly, she seemed embarrassed.

“Even after all this time you're still having trouble accepting your royalty aren't you dear?” Rarity said chuckling a little.

“Well, you know I don't want others to think that I think I'm better than them, cause I'm not.” The Princess said. “Anyway, the stadium staff said I could cram in as many ponies as I want into the area and they wouldn't mind. As it stands I only have two guardsponies coming with me. I mean, I don't think having guards is necessary but Celestia insists I have guards with me during public events. So yeah I have plenty of room in there and I'd enjoy the company if you'd like to come along Amber?”

I smiled. “I'd love to. Going to an airshow as the guest of a princess, I'm honored Princess.”

The Princess smiled and blushed a little. “I've told you before Amber, you're my friend, you can just call me Twilight. There's no need to be so formal.” She said quietly.

“Okay, Twilight.” I responded though it felt a bit awkward.

“Oh Amber darling, this all reminds me of something I was going to suggest to you anyway, but this makes for the perfect opportunity.” Rarity said. I looked to her cocking my head sideways a bit in a gesture of curiosity. “Well, I've noticed you always seem to wear those large saddlebags you're wearing now, I presume they're to try to cover your, um...” She trailed off vaguely gesturing toward my flank.

“Lack of a cutie mark.” I finished for her, smiling to let her know I didn't take offense to it.

“Um, yes, and I was thinking I could design you some casual everyday clothing that would look much better and do a better job of it, if you'd like?” She said. “I was thinking something like a simple cape.” She added.

“That does sound good Rarity, but only if it isn't any trouble.” I said.

“Of course it's no trouble darling, you're going to an airshow as Twilight's guest, you should look your best.” Rarity said. “Come by the boutique tomorrow and I'll have it done in no time, how's eleven o'clock sound to you?” She asked.

“Eleven o'clock sounds fine to me Rarity, thanks so much.” I smiled at her.

With that sorted everypony started dispersing, I decided to head home and tell Mom the good news. She was so excited for me, so was Dad when I told him later after he got home from work. I'm curious as to what I'm going to look like in a cape. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow.

Author's Note:

Sorry this took so long, I don't really have any excuse for it. I know that not much happens in this chapter but I'm planning on having more action in the next chapter. Thanks for reading, any criticism is welcome.

Comments

[Kane Magus]

After the beginning bit, I was half expecting this to turn into a cooking lesson from Pinkie Pie or Applejack, but then Rainbow Dash had to show up and make everything more awesome, as usual.

The bit with Pinkie getting out of breath because nobody was around to stop her from rambling was quite funny, too.

[meerkat8472]

3070116 Thanks so much! Yeah I wanted to do a bit more of a cooking lesson scene with Julienne but I know practically nothing about cooking so I can't really write about it.

[Metaldrako]

After Amber started to talk more naturaly I tend to forget that she actualy is a robot, not that this is bad or something it just shows her progress.
Since there is no dark thag I guess there wont be such a thing like a anti-robot union or something like that?
Anyway I am really enjoying your work thank you for making it

[meerkat8472]

3823153 Aww, thank you. I know I've been a bit slack in updating this story, I do have another chapter done it just needs editing and polishing.