“Aaaw that's totally depressing!”
“Don't worry Scootaloo, maybe we'll find it tomorrow.” Sweetie Belle said.
“She's right, don't worry Scoot, your Hyper-whatever scooter won't drive anywhere!”
“Hmpf, yeah maybe.” I was pretty sure Applebloom was sarcastic, but I was too tired to get angry... so I held myself back. The sun was about to go down again and everypony already went home. We went down the small path to Ponyville, the sky filled with many kinds of red colored shades, the grass was rustling because of the cold wind blowing through the meadows. It was quite peaceful out here, but also kinda boring. At times like that, I always imagined how it would be soaring through the sky, rushing through the fluffy clouds, bathing inside of these amazing colors... aaw man!
I so hoped to find it out some day. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle seemed to be very tired too, they haven't said a word for quite a while. After about ten minutes we've finally arrived in our little village. The streets were empty, no pony anywhere as expected. We came across some small shops, went past the market and the Sucarcube Corner. It looked like a ghost town, which wasn't that unusual for that time of the day, although they were still at least a few ponies outside.
“Where is everypony? It's like a ghost town!”
“You don't say, Applebloom.” I answered.
“Maybe they're on a special event like a celebration... or is there a official holiday?”
“Does it matter? It's around late evening, I'll guess they're all at home.” I said.
“Hey girls, over there!” Sweetie pointed with her hoof into the direction of the Ponyville town hall. We saw a huge bunch of ponies standing in front of it, talking with each others.
“Ah wonder what they're doin'.”
“They are welcoming our new guests.” A female pony replied while trotting past us.
“New guests?”
“At this time?”
“Uuh maybe they're adventurers or something like that!”
“Well girls, there's only one way to find out, c'mon!” Applebloom grinned as she ran to the town hall. Sweetie Belle and I were following her until we've reached the colorful pony crowd.
“Ah can't see them! Ah can't see anythin' from here!” Applebloom said.
“Darn, it sucks being so small!”
“Applebloom, Scootaloo follow me! I've found a way through the crowd!.” Sweetie turned around and slowly went between the first two ponies in front of us. Almost more than half of Ponyville seemed to be there. We went past the crowd of mares and colts, getting nearer to the stage with slowly steps.
“I think I can see something... it's a green mare I'll guess.”
“A green mare? I can see a grey colt with black mane.”
“A green mare and a grey colt with black mane? Hm.” Applebloom mumbled.
“Look, isn't it Twilight?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Yeah you're right, but what is she doing on the stage?” We've found a little space between a few ponies were we gathered together. From there we could still barely see the stage, but it was better than before and we could also hear much more clearly. The major mare was standing in front of the podium, talking about Ponyville and stuff, nothing important at all.
“... but now to something special my dear ponies. Our dear Twilight has found a group of ponies inside of the Everfree Forest. They have lost their home and were now aimlessly wandering around.
What do you think? Shall we welcome our new guests Ponyville-style?”
Everypony began to scream 'YAAAY!' and began to stomp on the ground. Afterwards, Twilight came to the major and replaced her at the podium.
“While me and Spike were walking through the forest for some of my researches, I suddenly heard a strange voice and investigated it immediately. Well, what I've found was a funny bunch of native ponies, who seemed to have lost their home and everything they got throughout a mysterious natural catastrophe.” A natural catastrophe? When did that happen?
Twilight turned herself around and continued.
“Come on up and tell us something more about you.” She smiled.
“A natural catastrophe? Wow, that's bad.”
“Shh Sweetie, they're now telling something about themselves!” I whispered.
The first one who went up to the podium was a strong, sporty looking colt with brown fur and a cheeky orange mane. He grinned and began to talk.
“Greetings Ponyville! May I introduce myself? I am Gladstone... THE awesome Gladstone!
I'm the fastest and strongest pony in whole Equestria!”
“PAH! Who does that guy think he is? Rainbow Dash is the fastest and most awesome pony in Equestria!”
“Calm down Scoot, maybe he's just a bit conceited.” Sweetie Belle added.
“Oh come on Glad! Don't be so snooty in front of our new friends!” A grey colt with a crazy looking black mane walked to the podium and kicked this 'Gladstone'-guy away.
“My turn! HIIIIYAAAA PONYVILLE! Grey Hoof at your service- Celebration planner extraordinaire! I'm throwing the greatest and craziest parties you've ever seen! I can't wait for it,
even thinking of all the cupcakes makes me hungry.” He seemed to be kind of hyperactive, was he related to Pinkie? Whatever, shortly after the next pony came to the podium... very slowly though.
It was a shy looking colt with a lightly orange fur and blue mane. He hesitantly looked into the pony crowd underneath him and silently started to talk.
“Uhm, hi my name is Roneo.... I'm kind, I love animals and nature... that's it, thanks for listening.” He turned around and walked back to the others, without saying another word.
“That was weird.” Sweetie said.
“Indeed.”
The next pony was a mare... a beautiful white mare with a very long red mane.
“Wow, that mare looks almost like a second Rarity!”
“You're right. I'll guess sis would really like her mane, too.” Sweetie grinned.
She gracefully walked over the stage and smiled.
“Good evening dear ponies, my name is Starlet and I'm a fashion-designer. I can make any kind of clothes and dresses, so please talk to me if you want some of my outstanding fashion magic.
Thank you very much.”
“Uuuh it seems that your sister just got competition.”
“Competition? Not for my sister, she's the best fashion designer ever!”
“Hehehe, I was just kidding. Whatever, I think she's the last one.”
“Hello dear Ponyville.” Suddenly an unknown female voice approached from the stage.
There was another mare standing in front of the podium all of the sudden. Her fur and mane was green, although her mane color was a bit darker. Speaking about 'dark', something about that mare was... I don't know, strange and stuff.
“I'm very glad to be here and I thank you all for your hospitality! My name is-”
“Three Leaf...” Applebloom silently mumbled.
“Hm? Did you say something?”
“Huh, what? Sorry, ah was just a bit carried away.” She answered with a confused stare.
“Ooookay?”
“-Three Leaf, I am the major of our former home town. It's a shame that our wonderful town got crushed by nature, but we've learned to look forward and to overcome this pain very quick.
Although the wounds are still fresh, so we would like to avoid this topic for a little while longer,
we hope that you understand that. But please, lets forget this tragedy and lets start a new beginning.
May this town be... our new home!”
Everypony began to cheer and smile, pah, just because we've got some new ponies in Ponyville!
“What an overraction, they're just normal ponies like us!”
“But they went through so much trouble and sorrow, I think it will be lovely having them around.”
“Sweetie Belle, your sooo naive.”
“No, I'm not!”
“Yes you- BAH, I'm too tired for this game, I'm going home now.” I turned around and was just about to go back the way we came.
“Applebloom!” The voice of that strange green mare appeared again.
“Applebloom! There you are my dear!” She jumped down the stage and ran through the crowd, the rest of her friends were following.
“It's soooo great to see you again!” She rushed to Applebloom and hugged her very tightly.
“Ark, hey uhm... the pleasure is all mine... ah'll guess?” Applebloom moaned.
“Do you know each other?” I asked.
“Uhm, noooo?” Suddenly that green mare let Applebloom go and stared down at her, she seemed kind of shocked about her words.
“You... can't remember me?” She hesitantly asked.
“No? Should ah know ya'?” The mare remained quiet for a while, then her friends came up with a big smile.
“Yo little one, everything alright?” 'Gladstone' yelled.
“Hiya lil' lady!”
“Hey sweetie~”
“Hi there...”
Now everyone of these strange 'guests' were standing in front of the poor little Applebloom.
That was so totally awkward, especially for her.
“What's wrong lil' lady? It's me, Gray!”
“Uhm... nice to meet ya'?”
“She really can't remember, can she?”
“No, but that's not bad, pity but not bad. Come on guys, let's go get some sleep.” Green Leaf turned around and disappeared inside of the crowd. The other ponies were staring confused onto each other, but soon after they followed her.
“What in tarnation was that?” Applebloom asked with a raised eyebrow.
“I dunno... but it was weird.” The crowd was now about to split and everypony went home.
The sun was gone and princess Lunas moon took it's place on the sky.
“Well, whatever girls, lets go home already.”
“Yeah you're right Scootaloo. You're coming Applebloom?”
“Huh? Uhm yeah I-”
“Applebloom?” Twilight shouted from the stage.
“Twilight? What does she want?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Maybe she wants to talk?”
“Ah'll better go and see what she wants from me. You two go ahead, we'll meet again tomorrow at Sweet Apple Acre for the treasure hunt part two. Good night girls!” She grinned and ran up to the stage, leaving the two of us behind.
“Hmm well okay then, lets go Sweetie Belle.” So we turned around and headed back home, filled with joy and excitement for the next day and the next treasure hunt.

~The next morning~

“Oh no this is bad, this is soo BAD! How could I oversleep this important order from Canterlot?”
Because of our little picnic-evening yesterday, I totally forgot to set my alarm for today!
That was just terrible!
“Hearth's Warming Eve is coming closer and my Canterlot winter fashion is still unfinished!
Okay, calm down Rarity dear... there is still some time left... you can still make it!” I ran down into my storage room to get some fabric and gems, without even styling my fur and mane first.
I looked horrible! I thought I would die if somepony would see me like tha-
“Hi Rarity!”
“KYAAAAAAAA!” A voice appeared from behind and made me jump under the next table.
“What's wrong sis? It's just me, Sweetie Belle.” Sweetie Belle! Maybe she could help me?
No wait... the last time she tried to help me was a catastrophe! Well, at least she was no customer.
I crept out from under the table and tried to straighten my mane a bit with my hooves.
“Oh Sweetie, don't scare me like that! I'm in a hurry today and I can't risk to lose any more time!”
“Uhm, excuse me?” A female voice asked.
“In a moment dear. So Sweetie, like I'd said-” Wait, what was that? A female voice?
I turned around and saw a strange new pony, standing right in front of me.
“AH!” I jumped back under the table as fast as I could.
“S-sorry we're closed today, please come back later!”
“Oh it's you again.” Sweetie Belle said.
“Hm? Do I know you little filly?” The strange mare answered with a elegant voice.
“Yes, I saw you yesterday standing on the stage of the town hall.”
“Oh? Oh right you're one of Appleblooms friends, right?”
“That's right. Nice to see you again.”
“Hihi, same here.” They knew each other?
“Hey sis come out, she's a friend!” Sweetie shouted. I slowly came out again and scrutinized the mare. She was a very noble looking mare with a beautiful white fur like mine... well, usually.
Her clear blue eyes were wandering through my boutique, finally landing on me.
“Oh, hi again dear. May I say that your boutique is really magnificent? Your clothes and dresses are just outstanding!”
“Well, thank you miss-”
“Oh pardon me, where are my manors? Hello, my name is Starlet, Starlet Shine.” She smiled.
“Nice to meet you miss Shine.”
“Please call me Starlet my dear.” She added.
“Uhm, as you wish. I'm Rarity, high-class fashionista and fashion designer of Ponyville.” She really seemed to have class, did she came from Canterlot? If so, I had to impress her somehow!
“Please, feel free to look around, if you need help just tell me.”
“I will, thank you.” She smiled, then she continued walking gracefully through the room.
Where did she came from? I never saw her before, not even when I was visiting Canterlot.
I observed the mare a bit while longer while she was looking around. She went from one dress to another, always carefully looking for their sewing styles. Maybe she had an eye for good dresses?
“Oh what's that? It looks magnificent!” She moaned. She stood right in front of my newest creation. It was a very fine blue coat with synthetic wool and polished icy looking sapphires. It was a part of my Canterlot- OH NO! MY WINTER COLLECTION!
“OH NO!” I sreamed.
“What's wrong my dear?”
“N-nothing, really! I'll be back soon! Sweetie, please follow me!”
“But didn't you said that I should never ever again try to help-” I ran up to her and covered her mouth with my hoof.
“Heh it's okay Sweetie, you can always help me if you want to! Please take your time Starlet.”
I pushed Sweetie Belle into the next room and closed the door.
“What's wrong Rarity?”
“Listen Sweetie, we haven't got much time! I need to finish some more clothes till the end of this day! I want you to bring me a few things from the storage, okay? Here's a list, hurry up now!”
I gave her a quick written note into her mouth and pushed her back outside. I had to stay calm no matter what happened! First I had to style myself up a bit, after that I had to take care of my new and noble customer before she would leave forever. In the meantime Sweetie should have already brought the needful pieces for my new Canterlot collection, making it much more easier for me to sew everything together in time. That was a good idea, well done Rarity!
“Rarity?”
“WHAT IS IT SWEETIE BE-” I turned around and looked into the eyes of Starlet again. I just shouted at my new customer from Canterlot... how embarrassing!
“Oh uhm, I'm so sorry I didn't mean to-” But then she cut me short.
“Don't worry dear, I just wanted to ask you if everything is alright.” She kindly smiled.
“Well... yes, uhm not really. But it's okay, I can handle it!”
“May I help you?”
“Help me? Nononono it's okay I-” Oh who was I lying at? I really needed help!
“I would really appreciate a bit help.”
“Okay then, just tell me what I have to do my dear.” She was very kind, I really started to like her. But could I really take help from a pony I never saw before? Whatever, it was better than nothing...
“Thank you very much. Do you already have some experience in fashion design?”
“Me? Well of course I have. You know, I was the greatest fashion designer back in my old home town.”
“Oh really? Hihi, I almost thought something like that. Your style and behaving is so graceful and neat. Besides that, I really like your mane.” After saying that, I could swear I heard Sweetie Belle
laughing.
“Thank you, I like your mane t- Uhm...”
“My... OH NO, MY MANE! How embarrassing!” She put her hoof onto my shoulder and started to laugh.
”It's okay my dear, you don't want to know how I look like at the morning. Come on, let's get started shall we?” Her words were comforting and the clothes were much more important at the moment, so...
“Okay Starlet, dear. Thank you very much.”
“No problem Rarity, I'm always glad if I can help a friend in need.”

“So much to do, so much to do, so much to DOOO!” There was still so much to do for Hearth's Warming Eve! I mean, Dashie and I made tons of cakes a few days ago, but then there was that crazy accident aaaaand.... Well, yeah okay I admit it... I ate them all! I felt so bad about that so I had to bake them all again, which means I had to make about sixty cakes at one day!
And the worst of all: “I'm sooo huuuungry!”
Mr. and Mrs. Cake were at home with their little baby fillies. They didn't even knew that I was still in the bakery today, because they thought that the food was already finished for tomorrows celebration. I couldn't ask for help either! Neither the Cakes nor my friends... they've trusted me
and I didn't wanted to disappoint them!
“Okay lets see... I need sugar, something sweet, more sugar, a bit vanilla and strawberry flavour, more more sugar, chocolate aaaaaand sugar.” I ran through the bakery, searching for the ingredients
I needed while the time was drifting by very fast. Luckily the bakery was closed so I couldn't get distracted by any customer or something like that. Heh, and they said I'm not thinking things through. A few minutes later I've found everything I needed for the sixty cakes.
“Great! Good news: I have everything I need! Bad news: THERE'S NO TIME TO BAKE SIXTY CAKES! No, there HAS to be a way! Come on Pinkie, think harder!” After thinking things through... again, I found out that it was nearly impossible to bake that much cakes in such a short amount of time. I had to ask somepony for help, but who?
“Uuh is that strawberry?”
“GAH!” Scared to the hoof I jumped up at the ceiling. When I looked back down, I saw a grey colt brightly grinning at me.
“Who- who are you? What are you? How did you came in here?”
“I'm Gray Hoof, I'm hungry aaand through the window silly.”
“Oooooh of course, I knew I forgot something.” To be honest, I really forgot to close the windows. Oh my, some customers were really addicted to our cakes.
“Uhm, how can you stand at the ceiling without falling?”
“Oh, I don't believe in gravity.” I jumped back down to the ground and pushed that colt out of the kitchen.
“Hey whoa, calm down will ya?”
“Sooooorry but I have to work, see ya!” I closed the door behind him and went back to the kitchen.
“So, where was I? Right, the window!” I jumped over to the mentioned window above the left most counter of the kitchen and closed it. Now that everything was closed and locked, I had enough free space to concentrate on the-
“Wow, those recipes are just amazing! Is this a six floored birthday cake with caramelized apple pieces?”
“What?” I turned around and saw that crazy colt again, reading my personal cookbook at the other side of the room!
“How did you-?”
“You should lock the door to the cellar a bit more carefully~ Uuuh a recipe for a
'Apple-Pancake-Special'! What's that?”
“Oh it's delicious, NOW GO OUT!” After pushing him back outside of the Sugarcube Corner, I used a few tables and crates to block the entrance and the cellar door... just in case.
“Oh man, who's that crazy guy anyway? Reading my personal cookbook, that's way more private than my personal diary!” It actually really was, but don't ask me why. Now that EVERYTHING was closed, locked and barricaded, I could finally start baking. A few hours were drifting by and that strange colt didn't showed up again, luckily. I've managed to create three cakes, a few muffins and about thirty cupcakes, minus the cake I ate a few minutes ago and another two muffins and
cupcakes made a total ooooof... thirty-three cakes.
“Okay Pinkie, half way done... now I only have to-” While turning around to the other side of the kitchen, I noticed that the table was shaking. The table base seemed to break any minute!
“OH NO!” I tried to hold the table as long as I could. I had to find something that I could use as a replacement for the loose table base to underpin it... but I wasn't fast enough. I slipped and felt down along with the table and everything on it. It got dark, gooey and cold. I stood up from the cold floor and wiped my face. I knew what happened even though I don't wanted to believe it.
I turned around and saw the tasty cakes... scattered on the floor, mixed to a gooey colorful mess under my hooves.
“.Noo... my work, all these endless hours of work...” I sank to the ground and started to cry.
This wasn't fair! I knew that it was my fault from the beginning, but still! Why was life so cruel
to me?
“Hey pinkie, what's wrong?” Suddenly I could hear that colt again from before. He put his hoof onto my shoulder and tried to look into my eyes, which were covered by my flattened hair.
“Don't cry, it's not that bad at all! I mean look at all those crazy colors you've made,
they're totally... well, crazy!” Then he began to laugh. I shove some of my hair aside and looked to the ground, too. Well, he was right, they were some crazy colors on the floor... but still.
Even though I was totally depressed, I couldn't deny myself for a little smile.
“Hihi you see? It's not that bad right?”
“No... not really.” I looked into his face and his turquoise eyes. He seemed to be almost like me, kind, funny and very optimistic. Maybe I was a bit too harsh to him at the beginning.
“Thanks for cheering me up and... well, sorry that I've kicked you out of the store that rude.”
“It's okay 'pinkie', now come on and let's clean this up, I'll help you.”
“You would help me?” Maybe he could-
“Of course! We will clean this mess up and afterwards I'll help you re-bake these cakes, okay?”
“That would be great! Thank you-? Wait, what was your name?”
“Oh right, my name's Gray, nice to meet you!” Gray huh? What a nice pony and a really good friend, too. Thank Celestia that he came by today!
“Okay let's start then... uhm by the way, how did you know that my name's Pinkie?”
“It is? I just called you 'pinkie' because of your fur and mane color.” He grinned.
“Oh? Hihi well, I could've thought the same about your name, too.” Both of us began to laugh,
the feeling of loneliness and hopelessness was fading away and I felt that everything would get better from now on.
“Thank you Gray.”
“No problem Pinkie, I'm always glad if I can help a friend in need.”

What a wonderful day! Although the poor ground and trees were already bald and covered with tons of snow, the sun was still brightly shining from the sky. It was quite warm, but still very freezing out here. Luckily Rarity held her promise and made a couple of winter cloth for me and my animal friends at home. With my new green scarf, tightly tied around my neck and the cute green woolly hat on my head, it wasn't so cold anymore and the way to the market was really enjoying again. While slowly walking on I thought it would be nice to hum a little song I always used to sing when I was younger. It was so fitting to the current atmosphere of Ponyville.
Speaking of Ponyville, every house was colorfully decorated with many golden bells, beautiful garlands and fir branches. On top of it, the sunlight, which was softly reflected by the new fallen snow that morning, gave Ponyville the Hearth's Warming Eve atmosphere I loved so much.
“Oh I almost forgot what I wanted to buy!” I silently mumbled.
“Okay sooo, I need some carrots for my little bunny, a few cherries, some bags with bird seed, uhm... where's my checklist?” I turned my head aside to search my bag for the list I made at home. Normally I had my own garden where I could grow most of the fruits and vegetables I needed, but at this time of the year it was very hard to do so and I only had a scant stock unfortunately.
“Come on little paper, where are you?” Suddenly I got roughly pitchforked on the icy ground.
“Hey, watch out!” Oh my, I accidently bumped into an older colt which seemed to be very angry.
“Oh, uhm, I'm so sorry!” I hesitantly said, but he continued staring at me with his angry eyes.
“Hmpf, unbelievable!” Then he walked away, still railing against me... I thought everypony had
a good time this time of the year. Maybe I was mistaken, but on the other hoof it was my fault for not watching were I was going. I looked around and saw my bag and its content scattered all over the snow.
“Oh great job Fluttershy...” I silently whimpered.
“A-are you alright?” A quiet whisper softly asked. I looked up and saw a shy-looking colt in front of me. He had a light orange fur and blue mane which covered one of his blue eyes, while the other one was watching me worriedly. I never saw that colt before, was he a visitor?
“Here, uhm, let me help you.” He put out his hoof and began to smile.
It took a while for me until I finally grabbed his hoof and stood back up again. He was so kind
and looked so... different than the other ponies around. He was kind of-
“You, uhm, you squeeze my hoof a bit to hard.”
“Wha- oh my!” I brightly blushed while walking back a few steps.
“I- I'm sorry I didn't mean to- I mean... thank you! I-” What was that strange feeling? I was totally confused, overwhelmed by these strange situation.
“No, no I'm sorry! I didn't wanted to complain, I mean to offend you or something.” Both of us remained quiet for a while, staring onto each other.
“Here, let me help you with your bag!” He started to collect the items which fell out of my bag, putting them back inside.
“No please don't put yourself to any bother on my account!” It was so embarrassing for me already, I couldn't let him freeze his hooves for me! I started collecting too, when suddenly our noses met during the course of this action.
“Ah!” Both of us squeaked and blushed. It was such an awkward yet kind of wonderful moment, none of us were moving for a few minutes, then he suddenly turned away.
“Uhm, sorry I- uhm... should better go now, you know... buying some things from the market until
they're closing.” Oh he was about to go to the market, too?
“Wait! Uhm, wait please. May I... well, join you? Please?” Usually I wasn't like that, especially if I didn't knew the pony in the first place, but he was different.
“Huh?” He blushed and lowered his ears.
“Well, if you want to... I'm fine with that, I guess.” My heart made a little jump, I felt so happy all of the sudden and I began to smile.
“Thank you... uhm, my name is Fluttershy by the way.”
“Fluttershy? A nice name, I'm Roneo.”
“Roneo is a really nice name, too.” Both of us began to giggle. Afterwards he took my bag and gave it back to me. Shortly after I continued my way to the market, together with my new friend Roneo... the cute colt who saved my Hearth's Warming Eve.
“... thank you very much Roneo.”
“No problem Fluttershy, I'm always glad if I can help a friend in need.”

“Oh man! Twelve hours... twelve hours of cloud pushing and snowflake crafting! I hate Hearth's Warming Eve!” The same procedure every year! Nothing but work, work, work and work for almost a half a day! Sometimes it was really exhausting working in a weather factory,
especially around autumn and winter. Whatever, luckily it was finally done and everything was in place for the Hearth's Warming Eve snow-attack. And a few month later the next event would
take place in Ponyville.
“Winter Wrap Up.... Pah, first you're working until your wings are falling off to make a wonderful weather like that and afterwards you're working to detroy it.” This really decreased my motivation,
but hey, there were still a few weeks left sooo...
“It's time for a little vacation.” I was laying on a fluffy cloud somewhere near Sweet Apple Acre, taking a little break, resting my eyes and wings and was just about to take a little nap.
“HEY RAINBOW!” I cringed while the loud voice kept echoing through the hills.
“Hmpf, Applejack!” I angrily mumbled.
“AH KNOW YOU'RE UP THERE! COME DOWN FOR A SEC!” She continued.
“I can't hear her, I can't hear her, I can't-” Suddenly something hard hit the backside of my head.
“Ouch! What the- is that an apple?”
“AH CAN DO THIS THE WHOLE DAY YA' KNOW!”
“Oh great Celestia, what does she want from me now?” I jumped off the cloud, slowly flying
down to Applejack who was already waiting with a frown on her face.
“What is it Applejack? I'm tired and just wanted to sleep a bit darn it!”
“Oh sorry for interruptin' you sugarcube, but there's still some work to do and YOU have to help!”
“What? Oh nonono I already worked enough for this year! Who do you think made the weather for Hearth's Warming Eve?” After saying that, Applejack began to laugh.
“Hahaha what? Was this little bit of cloud kickin' too much for our little miss lazybones?” Did she just called me 'lazybones'?
“Did you just called me 'lazybones'?”
“Would you prefer 'lazydash'?” She grinned. I couldn't believe what I just heard! After all these hard hours in the weather factory, working for a good weather and a good harvest for Applejacks family, this is what I should get?
“HEY! Listen blondie, if I wouldn't 'kick some clouds' every day, all you could buck would be
plastic apples!”
“Ah know and ah'm really thankful for that, but you can't tell me that a bit flyin' around and playin' with fluffy clouds can be that exhaustin'!” It can't? She had no idea how much effort it was kicking over hundreds of clouds a day!
“Workin' on a barn is much harder.” She continued.
“Are you kidding me? I could buck every apple on your plantation in less than thirty seconds!”
“Pah, yeah sure sugarcube! Why don't you proof it?” Oh Applejack you couldn't fool me, I knew that trick way too good. She wanted to challenge me so I would do the work for her, well not with this pegasi! I turned around and walked away.
“Bah, nice try Applejack, but I'm no stupid-pony! Ask Fluttershy or somepony else.” Applejack jumped right in front of me and tried to block my way.
“I can fly you know?” I raised my wings and was just about to take off when Applejack suddenly grabbed my hoof.
“What are you-”
“Please Rainbow, you gotta help!” She said with a worried expression.
“Why? What's with the rest of your family?” She sadly looked to the ground.
“Well Applebloom is too small and not strong enough to work that much, besides that she still tries to find that weird treasure Pinkie told her.” Right Pinkie told me about that, too. Heh nice
prank Pinkie.
“And what about BigMacintosh?”
“He wanted to go to the market this mornin' and still didn't return.”
“And what about, uhm, Granny Smith?” Applejack made a frown again and slapped her hoof against her face.
“Yeah okay, I see why this isn't working. But come on, isn't there anypony else who could
help you? I'm really tired and-”
“You know what sugarcube? Forget it, I'll try to handle this on mah own...” She cut me short, soon after she walked past me, sadly looking and sobbing. She's my best friend after all, I couldn't just leave her like that.
“Hmpf, okaaaay... what do I have to do?”
“YEEEE-HAAAAWWW THANK YOU RAINBOW!” She jumped at me, hugging me very tight.
“Arg, stop that! Just tell me what I shall do!” She let go of me and helped me up again.
“Sorry that ah wanted to trick you back then, but ah'm really stressed!” Yeah sure, it's not like this would have been the first time she tried.
“Nah it's alright, but keep in mind that I'm only helping you until BigMac returns, got it?”
“Got it! Well okay, ah still have to harvest the vegetables on the other side of the barn. In the meantime, please try to buck as many apples as you can. Would you do that for me?”
“Bucking some apples? Easy-peasy! Leave it to Rainbow Dash!” I spread my wings and dashed right into the apple plantation.

Hours were passing by and the sun was about to go down. I tried as hard as I could to buck every tree, but because of my already tired wings and the endless-seeming amount of apples, I soon decided to make a little break. I used a few apples to build some kinda bed for me to lay down for a while. This plantation had about hundreds of trees... nah even more I guess. I managed to harvest enough apples to fill twenty baskets and still got more than two-hundred left! Good thing I didn't let it snow here by now, it would have turned this whole job into a icy business.
While I was laying on the cold self-made bed of apples, I looked up into the colorful sky and thought about my life.
I had a good job as a weather manager, great friends and a awesome life... besides that I was
blessed with incredible talent and an outstanding look.
“Hehe oh Rainbow Dash, why are you so awesome?” I laughed.
“Hahahaha, that was a good one you weirdo!” A male voice sneeringly answered.
“HEY! Who's there?” I jumped up and looked around. Nopony should ever laugh about me!
“Huh?” Suddenly I saw a colt laying on a bunch of leaves underneath one of the trees. It was a strong looking colt, almost as big as BigMac, but it wasn't him. This colt had a brownish fur and a cheeky orange mane, his eyes were closed... was he asleep? I flew up to him and poked him with my hoof repeatedly.
“Hey! Stop it Gray!.” He grumbled.
“Who the heck is 'Gray'? Wake up already!” He slowly opened his amber colored eyes and
began to distort his mouth.
“Huh? Hey you're not Gray. Who are you?” He asked.
“Me? Who are you? You DO know this is the plantation of the Apple Family right? What are you doing here?” He slowly got up and rubbed his eyes.
“If you MUST know, I'm Gladstone. Yeah you heard right, I'm THE awesome Gladstone! But I won't give any autographs today.” What an arrogant blockhead! But somehow the name seemed familiar to me... but why?
“Oh how disappointing mister arrogant, would you instead please leave this plantation?!”
“Hey why are you so rude, what have I done to you?”
“What you've done to me? I tell you! Nopony makes fun of me!”
“And you are?” He insensibly answered. Gosh how I hated this guy!
“I'm the 'weirdo' you were just talking about!”
“Weirdo? Oooh hahahaha.” He began to laugh! Why did he began to laugh?
“Listen miss color-mane, I didn't meant to offend you. I was talking about some other colt.
His name is Gray and he's a real REAL weirdo. “ He continued with a grin. So he wasn't talking about me? That was kinda embarrassing.
“Oh... well uhm, sorry for being so rude to you. But still, you're on a private plantation, so what are you doing here anyway?”
“Well, before you showed up I was just about to take a little nap. Hehe but thanks anyway for waking me up. I dreamed that I was trapped in a small room with Gray and he kept talking about parties an other mindless stuff.” Hm this Gray guy reminded me on some special pink pony I knew,
maybe they were related to each other or something? Whatever, I still had a job to do and I don't wanted to waste any more time, so I turned around and continued with the apple bucking. The sun almost disappeared behind the hills and it began to get colder, not the best or comfortable conditions to work, but I made a promise so...
“Hey where are you going color-mane?”
“Sorry but I'm busy! And stop calling me 'color-mane'!” I kept on bucking while this strange Gladstone guy kept on following me wherever I went.
“Do you really want to buck all these apples? You do know that there are at least a thousand trees around here?”
“Duh, thanks for the hint smarty-pants.”
“C'mon let me help you!” Helping me? Well I had to admit that a bit help would have been nice, especially for this stupid kind of work. On the other hoof, I didn't knew him and who knows if Applejack would accept letting a stranger bucking her precious apples. No, I had to do this on
my own! I just had about one... thousand... trees left...
“... what do you know about apple bucking?” I asked.
“Hmm you kick some trees and collect some apples?” Well that was enough to know about
this job so, why not?
“Fine, but listen 'Gladstone', don't screw around because I'm helping a friend out here and I don't want to disappoint her! Got it?”
“Yes sir, got it sir! No screwing around sir!” He raised his hoof and saluted in front of me with a very silly face expression. It looked so funny that I couldn't deny a slightly grin.
“Hey I've managed to let you smile! Well that's one step into the right direction.”
“Which direction?” I asked.
“To friendship of course. You know, after we've lost our home, many of my former friends disappeared without a trace...” He looked sad all of the sudden, but what did he mean? Wasn't he a native of Ponyville? Thinking of it, I realized that I never saw him before.
“Oh... I'm sorry.” Suddenly I began to feel bad. I was so rude and tried to ignore him, while he was only searching for new friends. We remained quiet for a while, looking around and waiting for the sun to go down.
“Sorry for being so rude, I'm just very tired and stressed.” I slowly began.
“Hey no problem, I'm not made of sugar. If I would, Gray would've probably already eaten me in a second.” We began to smile and the annoying colt from before disappeared. He was funny and
from his behaving even a little bit like me... even though I was not that arrogant as he was.
“Hey, isn't there still a job to do miss color-mane?” He was right! Darn it I almost forgot the apples!
“Yeah, sure. Let's get this over with.” I sighted.
“Stop sighing, I know how we could bring some more action in this situation. What about a little competition? A race if you want.” A race? He was an earth pony, how should he ever keep up with
a pegasi, especially me? I looked in his amber colored eyes and saw a strange spark shining inside.
It was the same flame I felt when I was about to attempt a race, a spark of excitement if you want.
He wasn't kidding, he knew what he was doing... and this seemed to be interesting.
“A race? Against me? Oh boy, you don't stand a chance!” We began to grin again.
“Well okay then, a race through the plantation. With enough speed, we should be able to harvest more apples in minutes and are also able to have some fun.”
“Sounds like a good idea to me. Well, then Gladstone...” We walked to the next tree nearby and marked it with a few apples on the ground, afterwards we went in our racing position and grinned on each other.
“By the way, the name's Rainbow Dash. Better remind that name because it'll go into the history books!”
“Good luck with that, I am already in the history books.” We started to laugh. Shortly after the sun was gone and our race was about to start.
“By the way, thanks for helping.”
“No problem Rainbow, I'm always glad if I can help a friend in need.”

“This... is just amazing!” Three Leafs said in excitement.
“Thank you. It took a while until my collection of rare books got that big, but it was totally
worth it.” I proudly answered. Leafs seemed to be the smartest pony in her group, kinda like me.
It was a real pleasure hanging around with her, talking about all sorts of science and old myths.
She knew a lot of things, like the legend of some sort of Crystal Empire, the story of Discord, the old myth of a mystical cure and she was even a big fan of Star Swirl the bearded! I was so happy that I found her and her friends inside of the Everfree Forest, I had to show her my collection.
“Do you have a copy of 'Legendary Creatures'?” She asked.
“Pff sure, right here.” I used my magic to take the book out of the bookshelf and hovered it over to her. She took the book with great excitement and began to read. From what she told me, she had a big collection of books too back in her old village, but it got destroyed unfortunately.
“Oh Twilight this is just wonderful! I could stay here forever!”
“Well, you can stay as long as you want until you get your own house in Ponyville.”
“R-really? Awww thank you Twi!” She jumped at me and began to hug me tight.
“You're welcome Leafs. But come on, I want to show you the rest of the house.” She smiled and nodded, her eyes filled with glee. We walked through the different rooms of the house. I showed
her the kitchen, my working room, bedroom and lastly my laboratory in the cellar.
“Wow... I don't know what to say but... wow.” Leafs slowly walked through the lab, looking herself around like a little filly in Sugarcube Corner. She curiously examined almost every corner, it was really amusing watching her doing so.
“Twilight Sparkle, you are the most awesome pony I've ever met in my whole life!”
“Thanks again Leafs, I can say the same about you.”
“Really? Oh thank you very much!”
“Oh come on you two, we have to go!” Spike shouted from above the stairs.
“Go? Where?” Leafs asked. Suddenly I remembered, the Hearth's Warming Eve performance was airing tomorrow! I also remembered the tension I had because of that, I didn't even learn my whole text by now! I wondered if my friends learned their texts, if they didn't, the whole show would end in an catastrophe! It's a theatre play of the history of Equestria and my very first performance on
stage! Besides that, it's also the most important thing in the year right after Winter Wrap Up!
“Everything alright Twi?” Leafs asked worried.
“Hm? Oh uhm, yes. Eeeeeverythings perfect!” Suddenly my tension grew bigger and I began to get nervous. I felt like that one time I forgot to write a report to princess Celestia!
“Are you sure? You look... weird.”
“Well, tomorrow's a very important Hearth's Warming Eve theatre play in Canterlot called
'The history of Equestria'. It's a tradition and every pony in Ponyville, Canterlot and surroundings will be there!” Saying that just raised my tension even more.
“Oh a theatre play? I love the theatre! Can I help you somehow?”
“Helping me? Uhm, let's see... you can help me with my text if you want.”
“How shall I-”
“PLEASE!” I shouted. Leafs looked at me like I was crazy or something... well, she was probably right. There were two things in Equestria who were able to drive me insane. First there was stress which got even worse when I forgot very important things like that. Secondly... there was Pinkie.
“Uhm, sorry for shouting at you... I'm just a bit stressed. This is my very first performance you know and I'm really really nervous.”
“Oh you're an actor in this show? That's great! You shouldn't be nervous, you should be excited!
I mean, isn't there anything more awesome than taking part in a famous show like that?”
Well, she was right... but thinking about all these ponies watching and grading me... brrr.
Besides that, even princess Celestia and princess Luna would be there!
“Twiiiiily?” Leafs placed her arm around my neck and shook me a bit.
“Hey come on, I'll help you with the text okay? Besides that, there are still some rehearsals
today right?”
“Yes, but-” Before I could finish my sentence, I got cut short by Leafs.
“You see? No problem! Let's get this over with shall we? Where's your text?” She asked. I used my magic to get my script, placing it right onto her other hoof.
“SWEET PRINCESS! You're Clover the Clever? The magician of princess Platinum and apprentice
of Star Swirl the bearded? What an honor!” We gasped.
“Yes, you see? That's such a heavy burden! What if I fail? What if-” And again she cut me short.
“Nope don't end this sentence because you won't fail! Now come on, let's get some practice.”
She put the script into her mouth and shove me back up the stairs, right into the entrance hall.
“What's gotten into Twilight?” Spike asked.
“Oh nothing, just a bit stage fright.” Leafs answered with a worried smile.
“Hahahaha really? Poor Twilight.” He continued laughing while walking outside, what a great help.
“What a charming little dragon you got there.”
“Spike is not a bad dragon. He's my number one assistant after all and helped me out very often,
but sometimes he's a bit... well, childish.” Probably because he was still a very young dragon.
“If he's your assistant, why isn't he helping you with your text?”
“Because he has his own text in the show, he's the narrator you know.”
“Oh I see. Well whatever, we still have a lot of work to do. Come on, we can start practising on our way to the rehearsals.” She said with a big friendly smile.
“And do you really believe I could make it?” I hesitantly asked.
“I don't just believe it, I know it!” I had to say it again, I was so happy that I found her inside of the Everfree Forest. Even though I had that strange feeling that I forgot something in that forest...
Well, I had more important things to do by now. I would check the forest some other time again.
“Thank you very much Leafs.”
“No problem Twilight, I'm always glad if I can help a friend in need.”

... helping...

... a friend in need...

... Applebloom...