“Hrrg…”

Sunlight entered through the window in the room, the human groaned and turned to his side, hoping to find the comfortable fluffiness that was his pillow next to him.

“… Where is it… Come here, pillow, pillow, pillow….” he said in what was a rough translation of his groan. Still half-asleep, he reached further and was rewarded with the edge of the bed, one which he quickly fell off from after losing his balance. “Argh! What the fu-” he quickly stood up and looked around rapidly, he was in a room, but it was not his room. It was somebody else’s.

“Where the hell…?” his nose quickly picked up a familiar smell, one that he had whiffed just a few days before, and in fact, just the night before. A rather sweet and intoxicating one at that.

“Oh, right…” he looked around and noticed the things around the room; balloons, pink decorations strewn in different spots, a cannon (“Not going to question that”) in the corner next to the bed.

“Yep, this is Pinkie Pie’s room alright,” he thought, quickly realizing what he was looking for.

“Speaking of… Where did Pinkie go anyway?” he looked around and noticed the bed again, more memories flooding back, ones that brought upon a very noticeable blush on his face after recalling the events of the previous night.

“Damn it Twi, this is your fault!” he hissed angrily, the memories replaying in his mind.

“Fun time, huh?”

“Not really, but it was relaxing for sure!” Pinkie exclaimed causing John to frown.

“Well, I had fun…” he replied, grimacing at her response.

“Wow, you must have never had real fun thenl” she responded, looking at him with a big smile on her face, causing John to flinch, seeing how close she hit the nail on the head.

“Ouch… My pride,” Pinkie giggled softly as they reached the library.

“You‘ll get over it,“ Pinkie replied, causing John to shrug in return.

“Well, thanks for walking me home, I would have gotten lost again. I really need to learn how to get around town if I‘m to live here,” he said looking to the side sheepishly.

“Oh, oh! I can give you the tour!“ Pinkie exclaimed cheerfully.

“Heh, of course, Pinkie,” he reached for the door and turned the handle.

“What the…”

It would not open.

“Oh, look, it’s a note!” Pinkie said looking at the door where said note hanged without seemingly any support.

“W-what?” he noticed the piece of paper hanging from the door, he hesitantly grabbed it and began reading it.

“What does it say, Johnny?”

“Well, I would tell you if I c- Wait… Did you call me Johnny? How did you know that nickname?” she seemed to think deeply for a few seconds and then turned her attention back to John shrugging, unable to come up with an answer herself. “I‘m trying my best, Pinkie, I really am…”

“What does it say?” she repeated, ignoring John’s confusion.

“Er… Well. I don’t know.” he said turning the note sideways while Pinkie gave him a questioning look.

“Can’t you read?” she asked looking worried.

“Not ‘Equestrian‘, or whatever this is,” Pinkie swiped the note from his hand and stared at its contents intently, her eyes growing bright at the message.

“Oooh! Unicorn dialect! My granny taught me this back at the farm!” John looked at Pinkie with wonder, surprised how many, well, surprises the pony had up her ‘'sleeves‘.

“Well, read away,” Pinkie nodded and commenced reading, her eyes growing in excitement at the contents of the letter, causing John to grow uneasy at each of her expressions when reaching certain parts of the letter.

“So… what does it say?” Pinkie stuffed the letter into his pocket and answered.

“Oh, it just says that Twilight is very, very angry with you, and that she won’t let you come inside as a punishment for today!” John was at a loss, he opened his mouth, unable to comprehend. He understood the reasoning behind Twilight’s anger, he deserved it after all. What he didn’t understand was something else entirely.

“Why are you so cheery about it!?” he asked her, voicing his obvious discomfort.

“Well, because you can stay at my house! Or rather Mr and Mrs. Cakes! But specifically, you can stay in my room, which technically is part of their house, but it‘s still mine!” John gulped at her idea, but Twilight could be hard-headed at times. She would not yield.

“I guess I don’t have a choice, huh?”

“Nope!” she replied.

“Simple and to the point… Alright. Let’s go Pinkie,” they began their walk, John following the now skipping Pinkie Pie across the empty streets of Ponyville, he looked back upon the library, specifically the balcony, where he managed to see the door close and the curtains being drawn to prevent anyone from looking inside. Including him.

John sighed wistfully and turned towards Pinkie, who was already further ahead, leaving John to his lonesome.

“Hey, wait!” he set himself into a quick run, quickly catching up to the pink pony.

Pinkie skipped while John tried his best to follow her, she skipped too quickly for him to keep up by walking, and he had to settle himself to a short jog to keep up to her pace.

“Are… We… There yet…” he panted, visibly tired after the short run.

“Yep!”

“W-what? Where?” he noticed the building, realizing where they were.

“Is this… Sugarcube Corner?”

“You know it already? Aww… I wanted to give you the grand tour…” Pinkie pouted after opening the door.

“I think I’d rather,” he interrupted himself as a big yawn left his mouth. “Hit the sack,” Pinkie stared at him, a look of mock sadness, but instantaneously reverted herself to her usual cheery self soon after.

“Okie Dokey Lokey then!” she closed the door behind them, and the pair made their way inside the dark store, the place seemed eerily different in the little night light that entered the windows, contrasting against the cheery looking place days before.

“Um… Where to now?” John asked, feeling slightly nervous as they went through the empty bakery.

“My room of course. Duh!” she pulled a cord that was hanging from the air and a ladder came down to meet them, an extremely sweet and familiar aroma hit John in the face, causing him to realize something; the overbearing sugary smell was coming from Pinkie’s room.

“Oh God…” he covered his nose with his hands, trying to keep the smell out, but to no avail.

“Oh come on! This smells delicious!” she sniffed the air, taking in all of the sweetness, getting John to stare at her with wide eyes. “What?” Pinkie asked with genuine confusion.

“Never mind…” he responded, and they made their way upstairs, finally reaching the door. Pinkie busted in, the great brunt of smells leaving it causing him to gag.

“Welcome to the Pinkie room!” she moved to the side, allowing him full view of the room, it was a lighter shade of pink than Pinkie’s coat, it resonated with life, it somehow brought upon him a smile, smell notwithstanding.

“Nice room, Pink-” he felt something on his arm as he gazed into the room, he looked to the side, and found the source.

A small green alligator had just bitten down on his arm.

“Oh, it’s an alligator… A-” before he could let out more than a single vowel, his mouth was already silenced by a big pink hoof.

“Don’t make noise, you’ll wake the babies!” she hissed through gritted teeth.

John’s eyes showed his fear, tears dripping from his eyes, Pinkie rolled her eyes and got off John as he breathed in exaggerated motions, he quickly stopped his hyperventilating and looked to the side to find the same alligator still in his hand, an odd attempt at chewing in progress.

“Why… Doesn’t this hurt?” he picked up his hand and stared at the small lizard, it creepily closed one eye after the other, its eyes staring into Johns as if it were reading his deepest thoughts.

“Because it’s Gummy!” she pulled on Gummy, getting him to let go of John’s arm, she hugged it affectionately, its eyes creepily bulging out of its sockets like it was nothing, she then set it down, it then made its way behind Pinkie Pie and bit on her tail, staying there as she picked it up in the air. “See? Isn’t he the cutest?”

“Well… It is a special gator for sure,” John hesitantly added as Gummy let go of Pinkie and dragged himself to another part of the room, he cleaned the spit on his shirt and returned his attention to his host. “Anyway, sorry for intruding, Pinkie. Don‘t know what I would have done without you.” John said while looking around the room once more.

Pinkie nodded and was instantly to his side. “No problem! So… What do you wanna do?” she asked shuffling in place awaiting his response.

“Er… Well…” he tried to come up with a nice way of saying it. “As I said, I’d like to go to bed.”

Pinkie’s smile reached unimaginable levels of size after hearing his request, she moved to the bed and patted the empty spot next to her. “Come on!” she called out to him, the human was unable to respond, a light blush on his face doing it for him, not really knowing what the pony was thinking.

“Does she… Want me to sleep with her…?” John shook his head and laughed off the idea. “That’s just stupid. A pony and a human? Ridiculous!” doing his best to remove the unwanted dirty thoughts currently floating in his head, he hesitantly made his way towards the bed, but instead of laying down with her, he rested himself on the floor, using a blanket as a pillow.

“Goodnight, Pinkie,” he waited for a bit, but Pinkie didn’t reply, bringing thoughts of some apparent offense to Pinkie.

“Actually, I wanted to ask you something,” jumping at the sudden topic starter, John turned his head to see a serious look on Pinkie’s face, poking her head from the bed..

“What’s the matter, Pinkie?”

“Why was Twilight mad at you? The note said nothing about it… And I want to throw her a stop-being-a-grumpy-pants-and-feel-better-party party for it!” she said rapidly.

“Well,” John thought about it for some time, but didn’t find a reason to keep the truth to himself. “I told Twilight what I said about you, and she kept me out as a punishment… at least I think that was the reason, seeing how this is the first time I’ve seen her angry with me,” Pinkie giggled a bit after listening to his retelling, something that John didn’t quite enjoy.

“Oh, she isn’t angry with you. You should see her when she is angry! Her coat and mane go like whoosh! Or, or like swish! It was like fiery or something! It was a little scary,” Pinkie finished by disappearing into her bed, John smiled, thankful she wasn’t going to bring the issue back.

“Woah, like a Ponyta!” John laughed, reprimanding himself for referencing something Pinkie Pie would-

“Oh, oh, or a Rapidash!” Pinkie Pie completed.

“W-wait, did you just say Rapidash?” Pinkie nodded while John sighed, feeling the randomness and the day‘s problems drain his will to stay up. “Well, I’m really tired Pinkie, so I’m going to sleep now if that’s alright with you.” Pinkie poked her head from the bed again and nodded.

“Aww, alright. Goodnight, John.”

“Goodnight, Pinkie,” he settled himself into the most comfortable position he could get himself into, and began falling into a deep sleep.

“Hey, John?”

Make that ‘tried’.

“What is it, Pinkie?” he responded trying to hide his annoyance to his host.

“Can you get on the bed?” the request was enough to bring him to his senses.

“What? I’m comfortable here.”

“No you aren’t. Besides, what kind of host lets their guests sleep on the floor! A bad one that is!” he didn’t have time to react as he was being carried off the floor by Pinkie.

“Jesus, what monstrous strength!” he was then set on the bed and found himself enveloped in the pony’s limbs.

“Er… Pinkie? Can you let me go?”

“Nope!”

“And pray tell, why not?”

“Go to sleep, mister,” she ordered him, lowering her voice to barely a whisper, and instantly closing her eyes and beginning to softly snore.

“You can’t be seri—” he was interrupted by the serene look in the pony’s face, followed by her mane deflating itself and covering Pinkie’s face “Peculiar…“ he noted, but found himself unwilling to wake her up again. “Nevermind then…” trying his best to ignore the pink pony breathing softly close to him, and cursing himself for not turning the other way, he closed his eyes and got as comfortable as he could.

“Damn, this is pretty comfy.” his thoughts became slurred as he eased into a sound sleep.

John let out a heavy sigh as he sat down on the bed, the memory replaying in his mind, as soon as his bum touched the bed, he felt something under him.

“Huh? What?” he got on his feet again and found a small note, he picked it up and found it to be the same note Twilight had written for him the night before, with a displeased grunt, he allowed the note to fall to the floor, he watched as it slowly fell, turning in the air, allowing a very noticeable bunch of pink colored letters to stick out.

“Wait, that wasn’t there before,” he reached down to pick up the note again.

He didn’t expect what happened next.

Gummy landed in front of him, grabbing the note with its toothless mouth and ‘chewing’ it, he gagged slightly and threw a piece of the note up, a single line could be noticed; ‘Pinkie Pie‘. John groaned annoyed and knelt down to be closer to Gummy.

“Do you hate me?” Gummy only blinked unevenly, almost making it seem like a mocking motion. “I don’t like you…” John told the alligator while squinting his eyes in an attempt to intimidate the small creature… Without any results.

“Fuc-” the door suddenly slammed open, revealing a rather tall yellow stallion with a broom in hoof. “Um hello?” the stallion trembled slightly at the sight of John, he needed to explain everything fast. “… I can expl-”

“AAH!”

“Or maybe n-” a broom to the head was all it took to interrupt him, and instead, drive him back into dream town.

“Ugh! Where did I put that stupid quill!”

Objects flew aimlessly in the air, sometimes landing into the mess that the floor already was, such was the anxiety of Twilight Sparkle, who eagerly tried to find her materials, her tidy library now a fine mess. Meanwhile, her beloved friends stood in the sidelines, watching the purple pony run about like a maniac.

*THUD*

“Darn it!” Twilight nursed her leg after she had hit herself with the side of a table, but quickly continued her mad dash, Spike closely following behind.

Her friends kept their gaze on Twilight, but none more than Pinkie Pie, who had been waiting for a good time to talk to her, she was getting antsy, so she chose to give it a shot.

“Hey, Twilight? I needed to tell you something about John, h-” Twilight turned around and gave Pinkie Pie an undeserving glare, something that did not go unnoticed by the other ponies.

“Whoa now, what the hay was that for, Twilight?” Applejack began. “You’ve been acting all weird since yesterday,” she sighed before continuing. “Look, I know you are nervous, but it‘s just a simple test. Okay? No need to get angry at Pinkie!” Applejack continued, while Pinkie Pie shrank away, much in the same manner Fluttershy was at that moment.

Twilight was already fuming at Applejack’s response. “Applejack, you don’t know what you are talking about. And did just say it was only a test? JUST A TEST!? The Princess is trying to give me some kind of BIG exam and you think it’s just a simple test!?”

“Well, of course, darling,” Rarity responded. “We all do,” the ponies all nodded in agreement, even Spike did so along with them, Twilight’s ears seemed to steam, much like the trains arriving in Ponyville in that same moment.

“I think we s-should hide now…” Fluttershy wisely suggested.

Meanwhile, at Ponyville’s train station, the happy couple of Lyra and Bon Bon were in the process of getting into a train headed to Manehattan, their first destination in an already planned trip around the nation, Bon Bon turned towards the town one more time, and gave it a good look.

“We probably won’t see this place for a while, huh? I‘ll miss it,” Bon Bon asked a struggling Lyra, who carried five suitcases with her magic, sweating from the incredible strain she was being forced unto, she was only able to grunt in response as she got on the train.

“BOOM!”

Bon Bon quickly turned her head to the source of the noise, and she quickly noticed even from the distance, it was a tree, it was in the air no more than a few seconds, but she easily recognized it as Golden Oaks, she chuckled at the sight and made her way to the train.

“Okay, maybe not TOO much,” she thought, shaking her head amused before making her way in, the door closing behind her, all the passengers already fixed into their seats, all while Lyra unceremoniously puked in a bag while awkwardly sitting in her own seat, arriving at the scene, Bon Bon gave her a playful, yet honest look of disgust. “Oh, don’t be such a baby,” Lyra managed a glare from her bag, but quickly lost it again and let the rest of her breakfast go into it, despite the disgust she could have been feeling, Bon Bon couldn’t help but giggle in return as the train left the station.

An apology, an icepack, a scolding, and more apologies later, John had finally made it out of Sugarcube Corner, after wasting thirty minutes trying to explain what he was doing in the room of their apparent surrogate daughter, he had managed to get Mr. Cake to believe him, and he’d managed to get Mrs. Cake to stop poking him with a broomstick the entire time, in the end, he had managed to leave with some muffins at hand for his troubles.

“Well, at least I don’t have to worry about finding breakfast,” he sighed while eating the food, trying to get the positives to bring his rather sour mood up, but to no avail. He walked the streets, subconsciously following the path he had walked before, it wasn’t long until he reached the market, he grinned as he entered it, noticing a grayish mare he recognized as Ditzy and… Golden Harvest aka “Don’t call me Carrot” there as well.

*Gulp* “It’s okay, John. She said she was sorry, there is no need to be scared of her… Besides, Ditzy is there too!

His resolve set, he began the walk to the stand, where he was quickly noticed, the Pegasus quickly flew in the air and landed on him, pushing him to the ground in a bone breaking hug.

“John! You are okay! Oh thank Celestia! Are you hurt? Can you see? HOW MANY HOOVES AND I HOLDING!?” John stared dumbfounded, registering the questions in his mind.

“Um… Yes. She didn’t really help. I am not. I can, and fially, Ditzy, you are holding up two hooves,” he finished, holding back a choked chuckle, brought by the pain the hug was bringing him.

“Where were you!? I thought something had happened to you!” she asked with a hint of tears in her eyes.

“Is this a bad time to say that you owe me ten bits, Ditzy?” Harvest chimed in from her stand, Ditzy turned her head and gave the pony a glare, one which Harvest took to heart, as she haphazardly returned to her vegetables on the table.

“Okay, ignoring this Bit business of yours, I can tell you that I had to take care of some business, but I’m alright,” he loosely explained, not wanting to give her the whole story.

“I see,, wwhere are you headed to now?” she asked looking confused. “Twilight’s home isn’t that way, so I‘m a little confused.” she astutely pointed out, causing John to groan.

“It’s a long story, Ditzy, and one I’d much rather not explain. At least not until I talk to Twilight.”

“Oh… Well, you might have a hard time talking to her.”

“What? Why?” John asked curious and somewhat wary.

“I was wondering why you weren't with her, but I saw her leave with two Pegasi, and from the looks of it, they were part of the royal guard, so I guess she was heading to Canterlot.”

John stared wide eyed at Ditzy, in the short time he had known her, he had realized she wasn’t one to lie, but still, it was crazy, she wouldn’t just up an leave without him, right?

Not even if she is mad at you? his subconscious told him, causing his short term delusion to end.

“I need to go, Ditzy. Sorry! We’ll hang out later,” he set himself into a run, nearly reaching the crowd of ponies trotting by.

“John!” Ditzy called out.

“What!? Sorry to say, but I’m in sort of a hurry!” he replied looking annoyed.

“Her house is that way…” Ditzy responded in a low voice, barely pointing to the opposite direction with her hoof, John gave a weak laugh and set himself in the right direction.

After a run that brought two cuts, a bruise, and singular ‘fuck’ out of John, he finally managed to arrive at Twilight’s house. He tried to make his way in, but he had no such luck, as the door was still locked.

“Damn it!” he slumped over by the door, tired and defeated. He felt something on his shoulder and looked to his side, where he found a piece of paper neatly set by his shoulder. “A note?” he grabbed it and read (to his fortune) its contents.

“John! Hurry! Or we are leaving you behind. We are at the train station!

…
…
…
Why are you still reading!? RUN!”

The pink letters allowed him to realize who the note was coming from: Pinkie Pie. He quickly got on his feet once more and set himself into another unwelcome run, instantly falling at the first step.

“Damn it, I‘m way too out of shape,” he put his hand in a fist and tried to get up, he managed to do so, his body being wobbly as he did, but instantly lost his balance and began falling back to the ground.

Or he would have, but he was stopped by a very familiar looking pony.

“Ditzy?” he asked surprised, staring at the serious looking figure that was the pony.

“Where to?” she quickly asked.

“Huh? What do you me-”

“WHERE TO? Aren’t you in a hurry?” he flinched at the rather demanding tone she had acquired, but a smile filled his face as he realized her plan.

“Train station. But how exactly do you plan o-” she nodded, and crouched slightly before taking into the air, ignoring the man’s question, the smile in John’s face disappearing as he quickly held for dear life onto her slender pony figure.

“HOLY SHIT!” John held the pony around her waist as she flew, surprised at how easily she could carry him, of course, it didn't though, ashe was too busy holding onto the pony. His grip was quickly faltering, but Ditzy quickly put her front legs to use and grabbed each of his arms, how she had managed to do so was irrelevant to John.

“I don’t care. As long as I‘m not a corpse splattered on the ground, I can live with it.“

He managed to get a glance of the town under him, most ponies were unable to notice him in the air, but the few who did pointed upwards, the strange sign of a human hanging from a pony wasn’t something these ponies would see any day, or for that matter, at all.

After a few minutes of flying while Ditzy still managed to hold his arms somehow, the train station came into view, the train he had arrived to Ponyville in at first in his line of sight.

“We are here! Wooh!” he yelled, knowing the pony carrying him wouldn’t be able to hear much thanks to the morning's strong winds.

“Um, about that… John?” the surprisingly clear voice of Ditzy cut through the wind buzzing in his ears, choosing to ignore yet another strange feat, he decided to respond in kind.

“What is it?”

“Long story short? We are in for a very rough landing, even by my standards!.”

“Wait, wh-”

“I suggest you hold on!” he gulped as they got closer and closer, descending at a normal speed, but wobbling awkwardly, he looked ahead and noticed the reason for the warning; the station’s wall.

“Oh shit… Wait!” he exclaimed out loud, a plan quickly forming in his head. “I have an idea!”

“How about you tell me already!” she looked ahead, the wall ominously growing in size, ponies around were already scrambling from the place, knowing the disaster SHE would cause. Despite the situation, this made Ditzy sadder than the crash itself would.

“Right… Descend! Let’s reach the ground fast, before we crash,” choosing not to question him, she tried her best to do as she was told, not wanting to do the alternative of crashing into the wall. She might have been able to get out of it unscathed, but John didn’t have the structure of a Pegasus, and if the crash days before had only broken his leg, an aerial crash like that might just…

“No! I won’t let that happen! Alright, John. I trust you!”

“Okay, when I tell you, close your wings!”

“Okay, scratch that. What!? Are you n-”

“NOW!”

Growling, Ditzy did as she was told, her wings quickly snapping shut, she didn’t have time to notice as John pulled her down into his arms in a “huggy” sort of way according to her own mind. To her own embarrassment, she found herself blushing at the situation.

Meanwhile, John growled as he realized the fall was higher than he had expected it to be, but doing his best of putting Ditzy in his arms and hoping for the best, his feet touched the ground. During the split second he fell the shock of pain throughout his body, he was thankful he didn’t feel the now uncomfortably familiar pain of a bone breaking apart in different places, but his mind quickly raced back as he arched himself forward, rolling sideways to the ground. He instantly let go of Ditzy, tossing her in the opposite direction where she landed softly, he kept rolling for a bit longer, until he finally came to a stop close to the wall that threatened to hurt the pair mere seconds before.

“Ha… Not this time… You cunt…” he breathed heavily, mocking the inanimate structure..

“John!” he looked to the side where he found Ditzy’s mismatched eyes already staring at him, but the look she gave him was not of worry. “Are you crazy!? You could have hurt yourself!” she huffed, clearly out of air.

“And you could have crashed into a wall,” he retorted. “So can we please leave this behind while you check if the girls are there? I don’t think I can get up right now,” he huffed rapidly, the action of getting oxygen into his lungs in his top priorities at the moment.

“Touché,” letting a half-smile show, she flew away, leaving him in the midst of a few dozen ponies staring at him, talking excitedly with each other.

“What?” he asked, cutting the ponies‘ chatter short. “Have you not ever seen a human do a dare-devilish stunt before? Oh, wait. Scratch that, of course you haven’t… Hmm… Ta daaah…?” he finished while the other ponies gave him a quizzical look.

“Oh. just leave me alone,” he whined, but he wasn’t going to worry too much about that, he had just survived what could have been a catastrophic crash, he was going to whine all he wanted.

“John!” he turned his head to the sound of the voice and noticed six ponies slowly approaching him, at the front was Fluttershy, her yellowish coat looking even more pale after noticing him on the ground. “Hey girls, I guess I made it in time, huh?”

“Oh my goodness!” Fluttershy was quickly by his side, instantly checking his body for any injuries. “What happened?” she asked after only finding a few scratches on him. He looked towards Ditzy who only fidgeted in place, he sighed in understanding, she had only been trying to help him after all.

“Well, I just flew for the first time from Albuquerque, and boy, are my arms tired,” the reactions were instantaneous; Fluttershy tilted her head to the side, obviously wondering how a creature without wings could fly, meanwhile, Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash facehooved and groaned at the same time, a reaction that John found much funnier than his ‘joke‘.

And finally, Pinkie Pie approached him slowly while shaking her head.

“That was terrible, John,” she started, barely holding her laughter.

“Not all can be gold, still, got a smile out of you,” he turned his gaze towards Fluttershy, who now seemed to be sporting a nurse cap for some reason, checking his body for a second time. “In any case, it doesn’t matter, I’m okay, and I’m here in time,” he sluggishly got on his feet and cleaned the dirt in his clothes. He ignored the glare Fluttershy had on her face, a lecture was sure to come from that. “But I’m confused, I thought you guys would be gone by now.”

“Actually John, the train doesn’t leave for ‘nother 30 minutes.” informed Applejack.

“Yeah, you could have just walked here, you know? Although I must admit that stunt was pretty co- Er, alright, by my own standards,” responded Rainbow Dash, looking flushed due to the ‘praise’ she had given.

“That was a praise? Eh, I suppose I’ll take them when I can get th- Wait, how did you know?”

“I was outside flying when it happened. Did you think I would stay on the ground just waiting? Boooooring!” Fluttershy’s eyes grew in size as she listened, and approached Rainbow.

“What happened, Rainbow?” she asked, but John quickly intervened, not wanting her to worry more than she had to.

“Look Fluttershy, it doesn’t matter, I‘m okay. What I want to know is why Pinkie wrote a note that told me to hurry up here if it wouldn’t leave for a while?” Pinkie smiled and moved towards Rarity, who had been quiet while the whole thing took place.

“Oh! Rarity told me! She said this would get you here faster, and it did!” John groaned, eyeing the marshmallow pony with curiosity, her face a mask without a single emotion.

“Alright now, it doesn’t matter y’all, let’s get going, we’ll wait inside, John, don‘t take too long,” she turned towards Ditzy standing next to him. “And thank ya kindly, Derpy,” she told the mail pony, tipping her hat in appreciation, after that, the ponies all followed Applejack, leaving John and Ditzy by themselves.

“Of course, it had to be a misunderstanding. And here I thought I helped,” Ditzy quickly began.

“Hey now,” John attempted to help, noticing the sudden change in her mood. “You DID help, you got me here fast, besides, there was no way either of us could know, right?” he asked hopeful that she would understand.

“Well, I could have helped better… I could have given you the idea to board the next train, maybe,” John flinched at that, realizing he could have done just that and avoided the chaos.

“Well… I-it doesn’t matter! You tried your best, and that’s what matters, right?” this brought a small smile to Ditzy’s face, she turned to him, her eyes momentarily keeping a straight path to his face.

“Um… Something on me?”

“No, just realizing something,” John gave her a questioning look, but she shook her head. “Can't tell you—it’s a secret!”

“Oh, come on! Please!” he begged, curiosity fueling his desire to know.

Suddenly, the sound of a train whistle reached their ears.

“All aboard to Canterlot!” followed the voice of the conductor in tow.

“No time! You gotta go!” she began, pushing John towards the station.

“Really? But I thought public transportation was supposed to be late or something!” he complained.

“No buts!” countered Ditzy. “Go! Have a safe trip, and I hope everything goes alright with Twilight!”

“Fine. But again, thank you for the help! As I said, we’ll hang out when I come back, okay?” he finished, waving goodbye to the pony and disappearing into the station.

“Of course, goodbye John,” despite knowing he was returning, Derpy couldn’t help but feel sad at this departure, she flew to the roof of the station, hovering in place without touching it; nopony enjoyed a random Pegasus standing on their roof after all.

She watched as John and the Elements entered the train, smiling as they headed right in. As the door closed behind them, the conductor pulled its whistle one more time, and the train took off, into what Ditzy already knew to be the royal town of Canterlot.

“That you are my friend…” she said the words out loud to herself, watching the tracks even after the train disappeared into the horizon.

Author's Notes:

As I said before, I have returned!

Amyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, and as always, leave a positive or negative comment on the comments below, I welcome either, I'm a big boy.

Notes 12 - 4.12/18

Boy... I sure... liked... using... ellipses...

Yeah, I overused them to a HEAVY extent. Not my favorite part when looking back at this. Once again, the OoC bits come to mind, but they aren't much to worry at this point, because I just feel like a broken record. If there is anything I will say, is that I actually had a reason for the behaviors of some of them, thanks to notes I actually found in my old computer (turns out I actually made somewhat extensive notes) that actually have the old finale I had in mind.

As for this chapter, this is where I began to delve into more action-like sequences, which is what helped me develop a style that I used further on. Not super great, but it was a fun start for me... even if the whole reasoning behind it was just an excuse, but hey! Horse fiction!