Hearts and Crafts


                                            >It’s always a wonderful day in the neighborhood

                                            >Especially when it’s time for the bi-weekly community Arts and Crafts

                                            >And when you’re Mister Anon

                                            >The sign up sheet for this week filled up pretty fast, and this time there were six tables with additional chairs that ponies could choose from

                                            >Anyone could sign up for it, all you had to do was the crayon to sign your name and state what you planned to craft with others

                                            >From there the city would take a list of supplies you’d need, and by the city you mean just Mayor Mare, and provide them for the event

                                            >You came out as often as you could as either a station attendant or a participant to see what fun and creative ideas everypony wanted to show off and have others create

                                            >Last week you sat down at Davenport’s table

                                            >First he had everypony take a half sphere of styrofoam and color them brown with markers

                                            >Next two googly eyes were attached to each one along with a small fuzzy balls to act as noses

                                            >Then small holes were jabbed all around them

                                            >Ta-da! Nice little hedgehog colored pencil, crayon, or quill holders

                                            >He held up his example like a proud parent

                                            >Your own looked like a spitting image of his

                                            >Other ponies following along had their own takes on it, Derpy’s had charming mismatched eyes, Rainbow Dashe’s Hedgehog was colored similarly to her mane, and Roseluck decided she wanted to put the stems of her flowers into her’s so that it’d be a floral hog

                                            >You made sure to pat the head of each pony and gave an especially nice scratch to Davenport for leading the activity

                                            >Today you were going to manage a table but right now you’re standing outside of city hall as you wait for your art supplies

                                            >Waiting alongside you was an assortment of four other ponies who volunteered to lead tables with their own projects to share

                                            >”Hiya there Mister Anon! I hope I’m not late”

                                            >You turn your head to the voice and find a late addition to the line

                                            >As always your characteristic smile beams at the source as you kneel down to get to eye level

                                            ”And a fine day to you as well, Ms. Junebug”

                                            >The little olive coated pony does what many others typically do and trots a little bit in place in excitement

                                            >On her back is a bag that’s half her own size that you can see stuffed with pinecones, twigs, and bamboo

                                            >”You remembered my name!”

                                            “Of course I do, you’re a special pony afterall”

                                            >Just like every other pony

                                            >”Not a lot of ponies remember who I am though”

                                            “Now why would that be? You always greet me when we walk past each other and you’re certainly warm, I’ve seen you pass out flowers before”

                                            >”I’m just not in town a lot, I guess. My job is to take care of the insects by planting flowers near the woods so that they can eat or pollinate them”

                                            >She turns her flank to you and you see her cutie mark as a small orange cartoon drawing of an insect surrounded by blue flowers

                                            >”It’s why I signed up for today’s arts and crafts, I wanted to make some friends today”

                                            “It sounds like a very important job. I’m sure that the little insects appreciate you very much”

                                            >You pat her soft mane as she closes her eyes and giggles

                                            >”Thanks, Mister Anon! It’s nice knowing there’s another pon- er, human that cares”

                                            >Before you can question what she means, Mayor Mare opens up townhall and invites everyone to come in and grab their bin of supplies.

                                            >Junebug opens up her eyes again and starts to rush into the building

                                            >”Oh I’m so excited, I hope everypony will like my idea! I’ll talk to you later, Mister Anon”

                                            You can only chuckle as the tiny stampede of six ponies sprint past a narrowly escaped Mayor Mare and grab the boxes assigned to them

                                            >You walk peacefully into town hall and made sure to thank the mayor before grabbing your wooden crate of materials

                                            >You liked to keep your lists simple, things that could be found around a home so that nothing special would have to bought if a pony wanted to do some crafting on a rainy day

                                            >As you lift up your crate, you notice that Junebug is having some issues keeping her bag on her back and holding her box in her mouth

                                            >You approach her and as she looks up to examine you, you tuck your crate underneath one of your arms and use your other hand to grab her crate

                                            >She realizes what you’re doing and lets her mouth go off of the box

                                            >”Whew, thanks for the help. I didn’t think it’d be that heavy”

                                            >You take a quick peek at her supplies and notice that there’s nothing but small rectangular wooden boxes that are about the size of your forearm

                                            >Your eyes go back to Junebug and you look over her bulging bag again

                                            “Looks like you decided to bring your own supplies”

                                            >”Yep! Nearly everything I’ll need for my project are things you can find in the woods so I did some scavenging all by myself”

                                            “Sounds like a very nice project. I’ll have to go to your table later and see what it’s all about”

                                            >Stars fill her eyes as she once again trots in excitement, pinecones falling off of her bag

                                            >”I’ll be sure to save some material for you!”

                                            >You chuckle as the two of you walk to one of the empty tables, a trail of forest material following along with you

                                            >After placing her crate down and saying your goodbyes, you head off to your own table with your crafting materials

                                            >Ponies are already coming out of their homes and going about their daily business, a few of them going out of their way to ask how your day is going

                                            >As you make idle conversation, you set your things out on the table, enough to make at least ten projects and await anypony that would like to do arts and crafts with you

                                            >It doesn’t take long, normally your table is the first to get filled up

                                            >Thunderlane and his little brother, Rumble, are the first ones to take a seat as they tell you about how Rumble formed his first cloud

                                            >Cherliee was next, she enjoyed going to your tables and learning some new projects she could eventually use in her own classroom

                                            >You liked to volunteer your time at the schoolhouse occasionally and the teacher certainly appreciated the extra help supervising the students

                                            >Especially since she could then partake in nap time as well

                                            >After that it’s a quick stream of ponies coming up to you and putting their flanks in chairs as they talk about their days to you and each other

                                            >You look over at the other tables to check on them and see they’re getting a steady amount of participants as well, one table led by Matilda  has even started to create origami animals

                                            >Though there is one nearly empty table

                                            >Junebug’s

                                            >The little olive pony doesn’t seem to be bothered by it though as she looks around ecasticly, waiting for participants to come

                                            >You’re sure that other ponies will come over to her soon, her friends are probably just taking care of some business before they can play with her

                                            >Your attention turns to your table and as you speak, every pony immediately looks towards you

                                            “Hello neighbors”

                                            >In unison, all ten ponies reply back

                                            >“Hello Mister Anon!”

                                            “Today I brought us a little project that we can do together”

                                            >You reach into your crate and pull out a flat piece of cardboard

                                            “Can anyone guess what it’s going to be?”

                                            >Many guesses are thrown out by your guests

                                            >”Spaceships!”

                                            >”Castles!”

                                            >”A Box!”

                                            “All very good guesses. How about I pass everyone some cardboard and follow along with me?”

                                            >After handing out a piece of large rectangular cardboard to everypony present, you instruct them all to start drawing the walls of a maze with crayon, making sure that the pathways were at least the size of two crayons side by side

                                            >Some of the ponies were pretty creative with their mazes while others opted to copy your own design that you were using

                                            >Scootaloo got a little overzealous and accidentally made her maze unsolvable but you just had to give her another piece of cardboard to start over with

                                            >The next part was drawing circles in various pathways, making sure that there was still a way for the maze to be solved

                                            >Again Scootaloo got a little carried away and drew too many circles, rendering her labyrinth impossible

                                            >You reminded her that everyone made mistakes and gave her your example piece and started a brand new one so that the little filly wouldn’t get too frustrated and quiet

                                            >It didn’t take long for you to start from again from scratch nd seeing the smile of the filly as you handed her your previous work made it well worth it

                                            >Now was the time for adult supervision

                                            >You carefully took a pocket knife and cut the holes out of the cardboard

                                            >You did this for each pony while they gave you worried looks and warned you to be careful since Princess Celestia said to always be stay safe around knives

                                            >When that was finished, you took out smaller pieces of cardboard and glue, telling them to now glue a border around their mazes and paste pieces of cardboard on top of the crayon maze they created earlier

                                            >You also gently remind them not to eat the glue

                                            >Even though it’s non-toxic, as one pony pointed out in disappointment

                                            >After the final step was completed you took out some marbles and gave all the ponies a few to use in their homemade marble mazes

                                            >You demonstrate how moving the maze around in your hands moved the marble around the maze and the ponies gleefully start playing with their mazes

                                            >Anytime the marbles drop into a hole, you hear the distinct plop sound as the pony reaches for their marble to try again

                                            >It’s delight seeing their eyes light up whenever they navigate the marble through particularly difficult passageways and many of them are already trading boards to try out different mazes

                                            >The ponies that made original designs beg you to trade with them so that you can try out the fruits of their labor

                                            >You happily oblige as they take turns looking over your shoulder to see how well you, impressed that your hands give you such control over the board

                                            >The ponies all around you are happy as they fumble around with their toys

                                            >And that’s enough to make you happy

                                            >Your attention once again turns away towards the tables around you

                                            >Matilda just finished up the origami with her table and you see ponies moving their animals around like elephants, cranes, and tigers and making accompanying noises

                                            >Vinyl is putting the finishing touches with her participants and sealing the lids of mason jar aquariums filled with pebbles, plastic tropical  fish, plants, and blue dye

                                            >Derpy’s table is also nearly finished as well, making tree drawings out of brown crayons and glusing old puzzle pieces onto the paper to act as leaves

                                            >Every pony is having a great time

                                            >Expect one

                                            >Junebug is alone at her table

                                            >Her enthusiasm seems to be gone as she glumly has her head on the table and looks out at the other tables filled with laughter and socialising

                                            >Her gaze meets your own as her eyes quickly go wide and turn away from you, hoping you didn’t think she was staring at you

                                            >This is the first time you’ve seen an empty table during arts and crafts

                                            >Was no pony even curious to see what her project was?

                                            >One of your ponies speaks up as she notices your gaze is turned away

                                            >”Whatcha lookin’ at Mister Anon?”

                                            “Oh I’m just wondering why Ms. Junebug is alone over there”

                                            >The other ponies at your table turn their attention towards her

                                            >Some of them suddenly have shifty eyes

                                            >One in the group finally replies back to you

                                            >”Yeah...I don’t know”

                                            >They’re awful liars since they’re just not used to lying at all

                                            “Well I certainly wouldn’t want to be alone when all my friends are having fun”

                                            >”That’s kinda the thing, Mister Anon, she doesn’t have a lot of friends”

                                            >You raise a brow

                                            >A pony without companionship?

                                            >This is unheard of to you

                                            “That’s a shame, she seems like a really nice mare”

                                            >This time another pony speaks up

                                            >”Yeah but she’s always around bugs and bugs are icky!”

                                            >To this some of the ponies scrunch up their faces in disgust or stick their tongues out

                                            >”Yeah, I hated it when ants crawl all around our picnic”

                                            >”Bees are scary!”

                                            >”I saw a spider yesterday and had to call the townguards to get it out of my house!”

                                            >It’s going to take more than a five minute lecture on the importance of insects to change the minds of these ponies

                                            >And right  now Junebug needs a warm face

                                            “Well neighbors I have to say I disagree with your opinion. Right now I think I’ll play with Ms. Junebug. Does anyone want to join me?”

                                            >Once again you get shifting eyes

                                            >But three ponies do step up to your invitation

                                            >Cherilee is the first to speak

                                            >”Of course Mister Anon, I’m sure that we’ll have a fun time”

                                            >You expected her as a teacher to know what it’s like to support a student who is ostracized

                                            >”We’ll come too”

                                            >You smile at Thunderlane and his brother as they grin back at you

                                            >You’ve always known Thunderlane as a good big brother and this further reinforces that

                                            >The other pones look somewhat guilty but make no move to support Junebug

                                            >You, Cherilee, Thunderlane, and Rumble get up and walk over to the lonely pony

                                            >She doesn’t notice your approach until your shadows fall over her

                                            >Her head jerks up and once again she is shocked as her eyes sweep your little group nervously

                                            “M-mister Anon! Nice to see you again”

                                            >You politely wave as Cherilee and Rumble cheerfully greet her

                                            >After the introductions are finished you sit down at her table

                                            >The stoops meant for the ponies are a bit small for you but you don’t mind at all

                                            >Especially if it’s for a friend

                                            >Junebug’s glumness doesn’t go away

                                            >”It’s alright...I know what you’re all doing and you don’t need to. I saw you all having fun over there, you all can go back. I’ll be fine, I promise!”

                                            >She gives you a painted smile

                                            >No one wants pity

                                            >But this isn’t pity

                                            ”I said that I’d come to take a look at what you have cooking over here. You didn’t forget to keep supplies for me, did you?”

                                            >You wink at her and she giggles

                                            >”Of course not!”

                                            >And with that her excitement is ignited again

                                            >She takes out five pine boxes and sets them in front of all of you, along with entire piles of forest material from her bag

                                            >You see that your three accompanying ponies are eyeing the items warily

                                            >”So today I was thinking we could make some small bug hotels”

                                            >You hear Rumble’s voice quiver slightly

                                            >”Bug hotels?”

                                            >”They're for keeping bugs safe and cozy during the winter”

                                            >”Why would we want that?”

                                            >”Rumble!”

                                            >Thunderlane is about to scold his brother further before Junebug interrupts

                                            >”Oh it’s fine. You see, there are plenty of bugs that help us out too”

                                            >Rumble tilts his head

                                            >”Really?”

                                            >”Yeah! Ladybugs eat a lot of pests that make plants wilted. Spiders are also good too since they trap annoying things like flies and mosquitoes”

                                            >”Wait is that true?”

                                            >Rumble looks towards his burgundy mentor for guidance who gives him a grinning nod

                                            >”It’s all true, we’re going to cover it in biology about hmm...three units from now I believe. But it looks like I’ll have to invite a guest speak over for it”

                                            >”I’d love to speak to your students!”

                                            >Before too long the yellow pony takes clumps of pinecones, reeds, and twigs to arrange little patterns in the box with glue

                                            >The instructions are bare, but what she does offer is reasons as to why each part is used

                                            >It’s all educational about how each one is used by insects to burrow into for the winter and told by anyone else would be considered rather dry

                                            >But her words carry excitement in them and genuine care about the insects that inhabit the area around Ponyville

                                            >And enthusiasm is infectious

                                            >You would call her an entomology version of Fluttershy, but that would be understating just how special she is

                                            >You all get to work creating your own hives and everyone approaches it in their own unique way

                                            >The young Rumble decided to create a random selection of material, finding fun from working with his hooves to glue as many things together and trying to work it all inside his box

                                            >Cheerilee made a pattern of a tree out of the twigs and bamboo shoots, small amounts of dry grass acting as the landscape and clouds

                                            >For your own you decided to play with the colors of the forest materials, modeling it after the keyboard of your piano

                                            >The bright hollow bamboo shoots act as the ivory keys while the dark twigs play the part of black keys

                                            >Thunderlane seems to be the only one having trouble

                                            >The Stallion is used to living his life fast and that doesn’t integrate well with precisie mechanics

                                            >Especially when one lacks fingers

                                            >Pineconces keep getting stuck to his hooves but Junebug is always eager to help pull them away and check to make sure his hoof is undamaged by running her own around it

                                            >This happens a couple of times

                                            >You soon notice that her check over his hooves gets longer each subsequent time

                                            >And they both are starting to blush with rather bashful smiles at each other when they separate hooves

                                            >Your knowing smile at her only makes her fur around her cheeks glow an even brighter red as she turns away

                                            >Looks like there’s a lovebug looking for a hotel

                                            >Through it all every pony again chit chats about their days and plans, Cheerilee arranging to a date for Junebug to maybe bring in some of her insect friends to show and Thunderlane inviting her to an upcoming Wonderbolts show

                                            >You've never seen her so ecstatic before

                                            >You yourself offer some of your time to help her around the forest so that the poor pone wouldn’t be burdened with the responsibility alone

                                            >She gladly accepts it and arranges next tuesday for checking the beehives and planting milkweed for caterpillars

                                            >Various trots can be heard behind you as you turn your head

                                            >It looks like the ponies that were over at your table are starting to walk over to the new table

                                            >Rumble notes this too and grunts

                                            >”Looks like they’re coming over here. Wasn’t very nice of them not to come earlier”

                                            >A familiar tune comes out of you

                                            >Sometimes ponies get wet, and their parents get upset. But the very same ponies that get wet sometimes are the very same ponies that get dry sometimes”

                                            >The four ponies around you start to sway their head to the invisible beat

                                            “It’s funny, but it’s true. Isn’t it the same for me and...Sometimes ponies are good. And they do what they should”

                                            >Despite never hearing it before, the magic of the land allows them to sing along with you in the next verse

                                            “But the very same ponies that are good sometimes, are the very same ponies that are bad sometimes”

                                            “It’s funny but it’s true”

                                            “It’s the same, isn’t it for me and…”

                                            >The unfinished verse hangs in the air as the group finally reaches Junebug’s table

                                            >They look ashamed of themselves and nearly all of them are looking at the ground in defeat

                                            >One gathers the courage to ask

                                            >”C-can we play with you guys?”

                                            >Junebug doesn’t take a position of anger or smugness, but rather is overjoyed to get the opportunity to make even more new friends

                                            >”Sure! Just grab a seat and I’ll give everypony a box to work with. Don’t be shy about using anything, trust me there’s plenty of decomposition to use!”

                                            >The newcomers cheer and take stools to sit on, some even grabbing stools from the other table as it becomes overcrowded

                                            >Normally Arts and Crafts is over by the afternoon but today is a special day

                                            >Junebug fills the day well into the evening with interesting facts about insects and the ecosystem around ponyville

                                            >Ponies get a new appreciation for the little things that crawl around and even say thank you as they wave their hoof at a passing bumble bee

                                            >The Bug Hotels that are produced are as varied as the ponies that make them

                                            >Some create towers and forts out of twigs, others create landscapes and still some create orderly environments that are organized by shape, color, or species it’s intended for

                                            >Eventually you decide it’s time to turn in for the night

                                            >You stand up from your chair and Junebug instantly excuses herself from a conversation to speak to you

                                            >”Thanks for coming to my table, Mister Anon. And thanks for bringing over everypony too”

                                            “You don’t have to thank me for anything, Ms. Junebug. I promised I’d swing by to play with you because I thought it’d be fun and it was”

                                            >”But without you I wouldn’t have made so many friends today without you”

                                            “I didn’t force anypony to come with me or be your friend, Ms. Junebug. You did that yourself”

                                            >”How?”

                                            “By just being you”

                                            >”I...I guess I really did!”

                                            >She picks up her Bug Hotel and holds it up to you

                                            >Pinecones provide a dark background and you see that reeds have been shaped together to form a heart

                                            >”I still want you to have this though. You really did help me out today after all”

                                            “It’s always fun to give gifts to friends. How about we trade with each other?”

                                            >You push forward your piano box and her eyes light up in joy

                                            >You scratch behind her ear as she nuzzles your leg before you take off with your new heart Bug Hotel to place in your garden


                                            Next Tuesday...


                                            >It’s early morning as you walk out of your home with a nice straw sunhat and the garden shovel you normally use

                                            >The walk to the edge of town is a pleasant one as the morning dew glistens in the morning sun

                                            >You agreed to meet Junebug to help her out, but you notice something as you reach the meeting point

                                            >You weren’t the only one to come help today

                                            >Thunderlane and his brother are here along with six ponies that you were creating marble mazes with last week

                                            >They’re all listening in rapt attention to Junebug who has a beekeeping hat on about how the day will go and when nap breaks will take place

                                            >She stops though when you walk up and she trots in place in excitement

                                            “Hello there, Ms. Junebug. I hope I’m not late”

                                            >”And a hello to you too, Mister Anon!”

                                            “You remembered my name”

                                            >”Of course I do, you’re a special friend after all”

                                            The End