Chapter 16: The picnic

Earth, New York City, 19th September 2003

Cold...and wet, New York City has seen brighter times but a lot of darker times. For Joseph Brooklyn, dark times as the boy was sat down on the wet ground as rain soaked him to the bone. Joe could feel his entire body shivered from being cold, water streamed down his face, mostly rain water but real tears as well. It was unusual for Joe to have sat there on the streets crying while people in black suits, dresses and umbrella's walked past him.

Joseph sniffled, hugged his legs tightly, today was his birthday, the day he was born...an important day for any child. For Joe, his father was overseas working and his mother and sister didn't pay any attention or realised. 10 years of his life Joseph putted up with, sometimes Gregory would come but a lot of those times he couldn't as much as he wanted to. Joseph couldn't stand it, the only people who cared for him was his father Gregory and the sweetshop owner Jay but wasn't enough. A bully from his class was always picking on Joe for the pleasure of seeing the poor boy cry and suffer in pain both verbally and physically. Yesterday was more than just pain at school, the bully threatened to kill Joseph with a knife tomorrow...today Joe knew he was on the hunt for him...Joseph didn't say anything, he was too afraid.

'I'm gonna stab you freak! I'll kill you, you ugly dumb piece of crap!' Joe heard the echoes from his bully.

"Why? What have I done wrong? Why do people hate me? I don't understand..." Joe whispered softly to himself, quietly sobbed in his knees.

Suddenly a man wearing a thick coat with a mask that covered his entire head, the masked man had a sports bag carried what seemed to Joe as money. The store owner chased after him, yelling curse words and threats. Joseph heard a sound of something heavy clack near his feet, he looks at the fallen object from the thief's bag. Joe carefully and slowly picked it up, he looks around but nobody noticed the object. Joseph hid the object away under his shirt and looked for a deserted ally way. He reached a deserted ally way, Joe looked sideways, made sure no one was watching or passing by. Once clear, the human boy slowly took the the object from his shirt and examined it carefully.

Joseph points it in front on him, heart beat was racing in fear and excitement "Its...its a gun."

---

Joseph woke up, gasping violently, he quickly straightened up and starts breathing heavily. Joe's face is pale, sweat constantly dripping from his face "a nightmare...it was just a nightmare" Joseph sighs with relief, he gets up off the couch then walking to the window. He looks outside to see if the sun is out, Joe turns his head around looking at the clock, 7am.

Joseph goes to the bathroom, turns the hot water on, rubs his face with soap and splashes warm water into his face. The human gazes into the bathroom mirror, looking at himself, trying to understand why he dreamt of something like that "I shouldn't tell them, it'll just be a waste of time, they shouldn't know anyway."

Joseph dries his face off, walking back to the couch he grabs a bright plain white t-shirt from Rarity and puts it on. Joe starts cooking their breakfast. Later he hears hoof steps behind him, Joe turns around with a smile "morning Twilight, sleep well?".

Twilight yawns cutely while walking down the stairs "thanks Joe, I needed that sleep after studying last night. How are you?".

"I slept well thank you for asking" Joe lied.

Twilight smiles "that's good to know, what are we having for breakfast?".

"our favourite...sunny side eggs with fried toast!" Joe says happily, putting the plate in front of her.

Twilight looks down at the eggs, licking her lips, she sees the toast and tilts her head sideways "um...Joe? The toast is burnt...again."

Joseph face fell when he actually saw the burnt toast "s-sorry Twilight! I-I'll make another for you!."

Twilight raises her eyebrow suspiciously 'what's up with Joe this morning? His cooking has been burning for a few days now.'

---

Equestria, Unknown.

Discord is sitting in his stone chair, leaning his face onto this hand in boredom, he sighs "I never thought of not having my power at full or even at half could be so boring."

The mysterious figure in the shadows seemed to be sitting on a wooden chair cross legged "as you said Lord Discord, it will come back in time. A long time maybe but however I found a solution to decrease this awful waiting time but its still being processed by our new allies."

Discord looks to his left and smiles "I'm not the one to take allies but having The Dark Arguros with us is very valuable. Since they seek revenge."

The mysterious uncrosses his leg and chuckles softly "indeed, thanks to your magnificent reputation, of course they will serve you. Which reminds me, would you like...more allies?".

This raised Discord's interests with a raised brow "oh? And who may these 'allies' be?".

"From what I've learned with your knowledge I decided to increase your chances of getting your power quickly back and maybe for other uses. I'm sure the Diamond Dogs and maybe some rouge griffins could join you. This will take quite a lot of time to do but it will be worth it."

Discord thought about it and chuckles darkly, he grins widely and walks forwards to a hole in stone wall that has Canterlot in view "this will be most entertaining...please go on with your suggestion my friend."

The mysterious figure stands up and walks to the door that two Dark Arguros opened for the figure, "oh! One more to recruit."

The figure stands still, waiting for Discord's command, "find a certain unicorn for me and bring her here at once."

"What if she refuses my Lord?" the mysterious figure asks.

Discord laughs and turns around "oh she won't until you mention the name Twilight Sparkle, she will defiantly come here."

"what is her name may I ask?"

Discord smirks "she likes to be called 'The Great and Powerful Trixie'".

---

Equestria, Ponyville

Joe is in deep thought while sitting alone on a bench in town square, the dreams from last night has been haunting him ever since he got returned from the palace. Joe massages his head and thinks 'come on Joe...don't think about it...don't tell anyone about it. This isn't a problem they should know of, it doesn't matter anymore'.

Joseph's thoughts got interupted by Pinkie Pie bouncing in front of him, smiling happily "hi joe! Whatcha doing?".

Joe smiles "h-hello Pinkie Pie, how are you?"

"I'm fine thank you! Me, Spike and the girls are gonna have a picnic on the fields! Please come with us! Pleasepleasepleaseplease!" Pinkie Pie said quickly.

"Y-yes Pinkie Pie! I will come" the human smiles 'at least it'll clear my head.' Joe thought.

Pinkie Pie hugs Joe tightly, rubbing her cheek against his, this caused Joe to blush deeply "u-um Pinkie Pie...I..." he stutters nervously.

Pinkie Pie opens one eye, giggling at his shyness "oh Joe! You're so cute when you're shy! C'mon lets go!" she drags Joseph to the picnic area.

"P-pinkie pie! I-I can manage!".

---

Applejack is bucking the apple trees, letting a grunt with every kick. Hearing all the apples fall into the basket, Applejack goes to the basket and puts it on her back "Boy howdy! That should be the last apple tree for now!".

Rainbow Dash suddenly flies down from the sky, floating in front of Applejack "hey Applejack! What's up?".

Applejack crosses her leg, smiling at her friend "well howdy Rainbow Dash! What can ah do ya for?".

"We're gonna have a picnic with Twilight and the others, want to come?".

Applejack took a minute to think about it and nods "Ah sure will, ah need to have a little break anyhow. Just let me put mah last basket into the wagon so Big Macintosh can take it to town and we'll be goin'!".

Rainbow Dash nods in response, she watches her friend and rival put the basket into the wagon, Rainbow Dash thought about a question which may shock Applejack but she had to ask "hey Applejack...can I ask ya a question?".

The farmpony's ear shifts and turns to Rainbow Dash, raising an eyebrow "sure thing Rainbow Dash, what is it?".

Rainbow Dash shifts uncomfortably, she didn't want to ask the question so suddenly but she wanted to know for awhile, Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and sighs "Applejack...what do you think of Joe?".

Applejack freezes at her question, she felt confused at first but quickly starts to know where this was going "w-what do ya mean by that Rainbow Dash? Of course ah do, he's mah friend."

"No no! I mean is...d-do you...y'know? Like, Like him?".

Applejack looks down at her hooves "y'all mean...am ah in love with him?".

Rainbow Dash could only nod in response, Applejack didn't need to hear or see her to know this is what the Pegasi wanted to know about. The farmpony didn't always think about Joe in a romantic way, she respected Joe from being an entirely new person by bonding with his friends by talking, hanging out and even helping with their problems, she blushes lightly while tilting her hat down "to tell ya the truth, I do love him, as a friend and havin' a crush on him since the day Joe helped me when ah acted stubborn. And when Spike teased Joe about why was Joe wanting to work with me...ah did felt somethin' warm inside but seeing as we're two different species...but he ain't perfect, nopony can be, he does lie sometimes and ah know he's not telling us somethin' and he does try too hard to impress us which sometimes goes wrong."

Rainbow Dash silently listens to Applejack, she gently touches the ground and walks over to Applejack "I gotta tell ya the truth, since there's no point in lying to you. I love Joe too, as a friend and something more."

Applejack lifts her head up, curious to hear what Rainbow Dash had to say, the pegesi smiles "I respect Joe too for training with me and hanging out. Sure he was kinda wimpy and he kinda still is being shy and all, but that's what I like about him. Joe's an honest...well, sometimes he is but he is kind! Yeah he does try too hard and it ends up in failure like when Joe somehow tripped on a flat floor when brining the cake. Ever since Joe cheered me on at the 'best young flyer competition' I felt warm inside too, when he was on my back as I showed him around Cloudsdale...I really loved him."

Applejack and Rainbow Dash stood in an awkward silence for what seems like hours, Applejack broke the silence by clearing her throat "well sugercube, ah guess we should head on over to the picnic."

Rainbow Dash smiles at her friend "yeah! Lets go! I'll race ya."

Applejack grins "oh y'all are on Rainbow Dash, no wings!".

Rainbow Dash snorts "I won't need my awesome wings to win!".

Applejack slowly starts pawing the ground, readying herself to gallop off, Rainbow Dash stands next to her, smirking "ready?".

Applejack nods "set?".

"GO!" they both yell and start galloping off to the picnic location.

---

Twilight Sparkle is walking to the Carousel Boutique with Spike resting on her back, eager to see Rarity "ooh! I can't wait to see Rarity!".

Twilight giggles "oh Spike, you'll be able to spend the time with her when we go to the picnic and meet the others."

Spike smiles "yeah, thanks mom, for inviting me to the picnic."

Twilight felt a little bit shocked to hear this from Spike, she suddenly stops, turning her head to look at Spike "its okay Spike, of course you could come, after all you're their friend, Joe's little brother and my son."

The gem dragon hugs her neck lovingly "I know mom, thank you...because sometimes you use to leave me so you and the others can have a girl club" Spike said while rolling his eyes at the end.

Twilight chuckled, rubbing Spike's head with her muzzle "oh Spike, girls need some time together and you even join us!".

Spike pretends to gag "yuck! No I don't!".

"Come on Spike, we better pick Rarity up and meet up with Fluttershy before they think we might have forgotten" said Twilight, trotting over to the Carousel Boutique and walking inside.

"Rarity! We're here!" Twilight called out.

"Just a minute!~" Rarity sings out from upstairs, she comes down wearing her latest design and a fancy sun hat.

Spike drools at the sight of Rarity "Rarity...you're sooo...beautiful."

Rarity giggles at Spike's compliment, her cheeks turns light pink, Rarity bends down and kisses Spike's cheek "thank you my Spikey Wikey."

Twilight smiles at them "Are you ready to head out?".

Rarity nods "Yes dear, I just need to get my things..." her horn glows, levitating bags of clothes and dropping them on Twilight and Spike.

Spike manages to grabs most of the bags, his knees begin to wobble, even with all his new strength, he couldn't handle this much weight, Spike along with Twilight collapses onto the floor. Twilight shakes her head, looking up to Rarity with disbelief "Rarity? Do you really need all this? Its only a picnic!".

Rarity lifts her head up, trotting over to the door "of course darling! It would be dreadful if I got one of my clothes dirty and I maybe need to dress differently for special occasions!~".

Twilight and even Spike gave Rarity a long silent stare, Rarity grins shyly and levitates the bags away "maybe I don't need THAT much after all".

Twilight sighs in relief and stands up "anyway, we should quickly meet with Fluttershy."

Spike nods, jumping gently onto Twilight back, the unicorns trot out of the Carousel Boutique and they travel to Fluttershy's cottage.

Fluttershy was feeding the chickens while humming softly "hello, are you enjoying your chicken feed? That's wonderful."

The shy pony hears hoofsteps behind her, snapping some twigs, Fluttershy yelps, quickly jumping in a bush, shyly peeking through the leaves.

Twilight slowly walks up to the branch with Rarity close by "um...Fluttershy?".

Fluttershy hears Twilight's voice, she slowly steps out of the bush, shaking off some leaves as she look bashful "o-oh! H-hello Twilight, Rarity and Spike...how are you today?".

"We're fine Fluttershy, we've come to pick you up for the picnic remember?" said Twilight.

Fluttershy nods "y-yes, I was w-waiting...for you" she blushes, embarrassed from hiding in front of her friends.

Twilight smiles "good, we can set off before we're late!".

As they were trotting off to the picnic, Spike in the mean time was shyly staring at Rarity and thinking about their interests in Joe. Spike clears his throat, catching the girl's attention "Girls...can I ask you a question?".

Twilight raises her eyebrows curiously "a question? And would that be Spike?".

Spike opens his mouth but closes it, having second thoughts about if he should ask them. Spike smiles happily, wanting the best for Joe "how do you all feel about Joe?".

The three mares stop trotting in shock, they knew where Spike is going with this question, Twilight tilts her head at him "we all care for him Spike".

Rarity raises her head up "right you are dear! Joe is our friend and we shall be there for him!".

Fluttershy blushes deeply "J-Joe is a kind and caring person".

Spike face palms at them all, he could not believe they skipped his question "Yeah, I know that! My question was how do you feel about him? Do you 'like' like him?".

Twilight and Rarity blushes lightly, Fluttershy blushing deeper, Twilight nervously looks away from Spike "w-what brought this up Spike?".

Spike smiles, almost smirking with joy "I may be a baby dragon guys but I'm not stupid, I seen the way you look at Joe sometimes. Your eyes go big and soft, smiling widely, you guys 'like' like him."

Rarity puts her hoof on her chest, baffled at what Spike was saying "S-Spikey Wikey, w-where did you learn this...way we stare?".

"It was in a book I read awhile ago in the Libery, called 'How to know if a mare likes you' by Storm Wave" said Spike.

Twilight blushes deeper when she heard the book, had no idea it existed before since every book was read by her! Twilight realised she might have not checked all of the new books that came last week "we're going to talk about this when we get home Spike" Twilight stares at Spike angrily.

Spike chuckles nervously "a-anyway...d-do you?".

Twilight looks up at the sky, thinking about her feelings "Yes, I'll be honest, I do like him...a lot. Joe is kind, caring, smart...for the most part."

Spike felt surprised when Twilight said that "wow Mom...smart for the most part? That's a bit harsh."

Twilight rolls her eyes "Yeah...I can remember you two doing silly things together like when you ran from me to clean the library when you should have stayed!".

Spike looks away "you can't still be mad about that? Seriously?".

"But besides him acting silly and clumsy at times, after living with him, going with him to places, getting me that book, cleaning with Spike and cooking some food even if he sometimes burns them. Makes my heart warm, Joe always wants to be there if I have a problem and wants to make sure that he's not a burden to me, which he is not a burden at all. I can't help but love him...maybe not the perfect guy in Equestria, but he's special."

Fluttershy smiles nervously, slightly stand up straight "J-Joe is kind, caring, adorable and brave...h-he was kind of like me to start off with b-but soon Joe opened up when he opened me up to have confidence in myself..to believe in myself. I love spending time with Joe while we care for the animals and cares for me too...a-and I agree with you Twilight...J-Joe isn't p-perfect, there is a few times Joe isn't willing to share his feelings sometimes, h-he HAS changed slightly s-since a few days ago, h-his cooking was being burnt more often a-and ever since he tripped with the cake...poor Joe...I-I saw tear drops but he laughed and made pancakes. I-I l-l-love him...and I'm proud to be his friend."

Spike smiles warmly at Fluttershy, he then looks over to Rarity giving Fluttershy a hug for doing well to say all that. Spike looks down 'I wonder if Rarity...has a stronger crush for Joe?'

Rarity sees Spike's sad expression, she walks over "my dear Spikey Wikey, what is wrong?".

Spike quickly maintains his happy expression, sweating a little "n-nothing Rarity! Please go ahead about Joe!".

Rarity sees what was wrong and so could Fluttershy and Twilight, Rarity gently nuzzles the baby dragon "Spike, I know what you're thinking...yes, I do love Joe...as a friend. I have you now, a me and you will talk to see how we can make this work out, we still need a few more years together. You're young by your size and nature but an adult when you are serious and thoughtful. You are MY Spikey Wikey...and don't anypony tell you otherwise."

Spike sniffs lightly, jumping down and hugging her foreleg tight "oh Rarity...yeah, w-we'll talk and spend time together to make...'this' work."

Rarity wraps her other foreleg around Spike then kissing his forehead, Twilight and Fluttershy metled inside at the scene "um...you two, as much as we all hate to ruin this, we should quickly head over to the picnic."

Spike and Rarity look at Twilight then at each other, Spike slowly climbs onto Rarity's back, hugging her neck "we're ready Twilight~" Rarity sung and they all start galloping to the picnic.

---

Joe gasps for air, falling onto his hands and knees "Pinkie...Pie...I...I can't...go on...".

Pinkie Pie bounces around Joe, laughing "oh Joe! You look so funny! We're here!".

Joe forces his head up, he sees a laid out quilt with red and white stripes with a basket on it. Joe smiles, collapsing on the ground "thank god...I made it."

Pinkie Pie giggles, biting onto Joe's t-shirt and starts dragging the human to the laid out quilt "c'mon you silly filly! You can't rest there! Rest here!" Pinkie Pie gently places Joe down as she got him a drink out of nowhere.

Joe sits up and gently takes the drink of orange juice, gulping it down "thank you Pinkie Pie and please don't pull me all the way here next time. We'll walk."

"Awww! But walking is slow and boring! You gotta work out more!".

Joe raises an eyebrow at her "but I work with Applejack on the farm, bucking apple trees and helping on the farm isn't working out?".

Pinkie Pie smiles widens, looking around "oh! There's Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity and Spike! YOOHOO! OVER HERE!" she jumps up and down at a height that shouldn't be possible.

The four of them trot over to Joe and Pinkie Pie, Twilight smiles "hello! Sorry we were..." the purple unicorn glances at Joe "...talking about somepony."

Pinkie Pie jumps around "oh I know! Youwerealltalkingaboutrightb ecauseIsawyou-" Pinkie said very quickly but Twilight shoved her hoof into Pinkie Pie's mouth.

"c-calm down Pinkie Pie!" Twilight then leans to whispers in her ear "yes...we were...about our feelings...".

Pinkie Pie slowly starts grinning bouncing with excitement but whispers "Oooh, I've got competition!".

Twilight, Fluttershy and Rarity and Spike felt very confused to what Pinkie Pie said, before Twilight could question her, she heard hoofsteps approaching very quickly. Rainbow Dash and Applejack gallop over a hill and charges towards the picnic area. Pinkie Pie waves flags with Rainbow Dash and Applejack's cutie marks "GO GO RAINBOW DASH! GO GO APPLEJACK!".

Applejack and Rainbow Dash stops in front of them, Rainbow Dash breathes heavily while Applejack breathes lightly "boy howdy! That sure was a mighty fine race there Rainbow Dash!".

Rainbow Dash smiles tiredly "y-yeah...it...was."

"Were you two racing?" a voice from the side said.

The mane 6 look to see Joe sitting cross legged on the quilt, setting out the picnic food and drinks. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Fluttershy blushes lightly at Joe, remembering their talks about him.

Joseph saw this and felt confused "um...i-is something wrong?".

Applejack rolls her eyes around nervously "um...nnnope sugercube."

Twilight smiles nervously, quickly sitting down "r-right, lets all sit down and enjoy ourselves!"

The girls and Spike cheered, they all sat down and start eating food that Pinkie Pie made with Applejack. Joe looks towards Spike, giving a look of 'what was that all about?' to which Spike gave Joe a grin and thumbs up.

Joseph then notices Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie staring at him but when Joe tries to look at them, they shyly turn away...expect for Pinkie Pie who just stares at him and giggles when Joe looks.

'I get the feeling that something is going to happen with me and them...I-I'm sure it'll be alright...right?' Joe thought, then going back to eat his cheese sandwich.

To be continued

Okay guys, first, I really want to apologise for the massive delay and I will tell you why, I've been in a deep depression in November through December, I had a cold and could hardly eat but I'm slowly starting to recover now.

I think I did a decent job with this chapter, not good but decent, please enjoy your Christmas present!. I'll tell you all what will happen in the next few chapters before the true plot. Joe will be going with each Pony for a...date if you like XD. And they'll be based around season 2 episodes. Discord won't be coming for awhile so he can step aside for the mares.

Again, I'm really sorry for the very long wait but I promise to finish this story! Please R&R!

Thank you all for your continued support with reviews, favourites and subscriptions.

Oh yes, please visit the Youtube user Bleed723 and listen to him read my story!

I'll see you next time, have a great Christmas and I'll have a good 19th Birthday on the 30th of december! And remember...FOR THE BRONIES!