Various ponies from all over town were at Sugarcube Corner, various arrows and fliers strategically placed all over town by a certain party mare made it obvious that there was yet another party tonight. Mr. and Mrs. Cake were making last minute snack preparations, Vinyl Scratch was tuning up her bass cannon as Rarity, her friends and new neighbors arrived. Pinkie Pie trotted up to the stage and took a microphone and began to speak.
"Hello everypony, how are we doing tonight? This party is to welcome Ponyvilles newest residents and my friend Rarity's new neighbors Ace, Rocky and Bandit come on up here.
Ace, Rocky and Bandit walked up to the stage and most of the ponies stared at them.
"What are those things doing here?" "Eeeew, they brought diamond dogs here." Pinkie Pie overheard through various hushed whispers.
Bandit began to growl angrily as he sensed the hostility of some in the crowd.
"Dai, non rovinare questo per me che ci stanno dando cibo gratis." Rocky licked his lips as he pointed to the food.
"Some things are more important than free food, cicciomba." Bandit angrily huffed as he pointed to Rocky's stomach.
"Come on, there is no need for name calling. If we can't get along with ourselves than how are we going to get along with the ponies? What is the harm in hanging out for a while?" Ace asked.
"Fine, this is at least a better reception than we have had in most towns but once we eat we are out of here."
The crowd of ponies watched as they spoke among themselves, one of the crowd spoke up.
"Are you worthless flea bags going to say something!?"
Bandit angrily grabbed the nearest microphone and responded.
"Here is your response, if you mess with me and my pals here I am going to rip out your tongue and feed it to ya."
The crowd looked on in shock and horror at the threat, Pinkie Pie grabbed the microphone in attempt to calm the tense situation.
"I forgot to mention that one of them has a bit of a dark sense of humor." Pinkie Pie smiled nervously as she hopped the crowd would buy it.
"I must apologize, we come from neighples and some of our jokes get lost in translation ya know; some of our jokes sound like threats. Things like rubbing ponies out, sleeping with fishes, torching stool pigeons, cement shoes that sorta thing." Rocky nervously stuttered.
"Yes, we watch a lot of mafia movies and love to pretend sometimes. In the language of my home, grazie mille" Ace smiled awkwardly.
"My cats will never be safe around you monsters!" A member of the crowd yelled.
"We don't eat cats, believe me I have tried. It tasted lousy and gave me the worst heartburn. It was already dead and we hadn't eaten in days, I tell ya even pecorino parmigiana and pasta sauce couldn't dress it up enough" Rocky corrected him in vain.
"I specifically told you not to tell any of the ponies about that." Ace face pawed as he watched the shocked and horrified reactions of the party goers.
"That was obviously a desperate thing done during a desperate time, the house they bought next to Rarity is nice so they have enough bits now to not have to resort to that sort of thing."Pinkie Pie feigned a smile as she tried to calm an increasingly tense situation.
"Run them out of town!" Another pony from the crowd yelled.
"Throw them out! Throw them out!" The crowd started to chant.
Tears began to well up in Pinkie Pie's eyes as she saw the blatant prejudice in front of her, she like many of the others treated Zecora poorly for being a zebra instead of a pony yet she was becoming increasingly overcome with disappointment as she witnessed history starting to repeat itself.
"Wait a darned minute, these here diamond dogs ain't done nothin' wrong and here ya'll are already judgin' them. Is this what Ponyville is about?" Applejack asked angrily.
"Listen, everypony remember how we all judged Zecora and how nice she turned out to be? If you don't do it for them at least do it for Pinkie Pie, look how much you are upsetting her. Twilight Sparkle said as she pointed to her distraught friend.
There were some nods, some sincere, some a bit more reluctant, but the tension died down and most of the guests pretend nothing happened.
"I am really sorry you had to go through that" Fluttershy apologized.
"There is no need to apologize signorina, we tend to get this response no matter where we go." Ace said with hint of sadness in his voice.
"Bah, whatever they don't have cannoli's here but the food still looks good." Rocky said as he stared at the various snacks and deserts.
"I suppose I errr...they will get used to the three of you eventually and Pinkie Pie I do believe our guests are expecting a party." Rarity said.
Pinkie Pie smiled and nodded at Rarity as she began to return to her usual cheerful self, she pulled out her famous party cannon and fired a stream of balloons and confetti into the crowd. Vinyl Scratch began to play some music.
"Come on Bandit, where are you going? Things just got started." Ace said as he saw Bandit walking out the door.
"Idiota, can't you see we aren't welcome here? Those pathetic, cowardly ponies will never welcome us anywhere. I spit on their false hospitality."
"Oh well mmmore for mmme." Rocky said with his mouth full of food.
Part of Ace wanted to go after his friend and convince him to join the party but another part of him wanted to stay and accept the hospitality he was offered if anything, to prove Bandit wrong. He did what he always does when he has a crisis of conscience, he took out a coin.
"Heads I stay, tails I go" He thought to himself as he flipped the coin. Once it landed he simply nodded as if were making a silent agreement to himself and rejoined the party.
It seemed as if everyone was having a good time, but Ace was concerned that they were simply tolerating the presence of him and Rocky rather than them actually being welcome. He saw Rarity dancing with a fairly attractive stallion which wasn't unusual for a party, yet his blue suit and top hat made him stand out at this informal event. He could tell with Rarity's obvious blush and barely contained swooning that though she was having a good time that it was probably best he gave her a bit privacy. Ace went to go get something to drink, he saw several large barrels marked "Apple Family Cider" with Rainbow Dash greedily drinking from one of them, her juice dripping down her chin as she only stopped to take the occasional breath.
"We are usually in short supply of mah family cider but this year we were able to release significantly more than usual so ya'll can go ahead and dig in." Applejack offered Ace.
"Thank's Applejack" Ace said as he grabbed a glass and sat down.
Ace occasionally had cider, but none of it was quite as good as what he was tasting now. Part of him wanted to greedily gulp down as much as possible, yet another part of him wanted to savor it as if were a fine wine.Ace was still conflicted but resigned himself that perhaps Bandit would need some time to come around. He stared into the glass almost as if he was staring into a mirror as he took the occasional sip. Ace didn't know what it was, but something told him that he should check on his friend.
"You can come back to the party after ya check on him." Applejack assured Ace.
"Yes, I suppose I will for just a minute."
Ace took one last sip of his cider as he set it down, as he began to slowly walk out the door he heard a loud shrill bark.
"Oh no, no I recognize that bark anywhere" Ace thought to himself as he rushed outside.
As he opened the door he saw Bandit with three stallions, one earth pony, one pegasus and one unicorn surrounding him.
"Leave town now, your kind isn't welcome here." The earth pony said with contempt as he stared angrily at Ace.
"No, you don't know what you are doing you are going to get yourselves hurt or worse." Ace warned the stallions.
"Don't make me laugh, this shrimp take us all on?" The pegasus responded.
Bandit pulled a switchblade from his pocket and started down his opponents, his eyes overcome with bloodlust. He was done talking.
"I guess we will have to do things the hard way then." The stallion smiled as him and the others began to charge straight at Bandit.
"Stop!!!!!!" A loud, familiar voice echoed.
"Applejack, you know these diamond dogs are nothing but trouble if we don't get rid of them now than who know what they will do" the unicorn rationalized.
"Trouble, you three are ones to talk ya'll are the most wanted criminals in town. I am relieved my brother is no longer associated with any of ya." Applejack shook her head in disgust.
"Big Mac was weak." The earth pony replied in disgust.
"I don't need you ponies fighting my battles for me, I can handle these fools myself."
"Bandit, remember what the boss said." Ace reminded him.
"It is your lucky day, I am not going to kill you after all but that don't mean I won't rough you up a bit" Bandit said as he began to make fists.
"There will be no fight today" Rarity said as she came out with the other mane 6.
"I guess we will have to run them out of town some other time when there are fewer witnesses" The unicorn said to the others.
"Fine, you flea ridden vermin better watch your backs." The pegasus said as he trotted away with the others.
"Who were those jerks?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Some very dangerous ponies who my brother got mixed up with when he was in high school, I guess I will explain later." Applejack replied.
"In any case, though Bandit is a bit prideful I am certainly grateful for everything, but it looks like it is time for us to go home."
"But you just got here, please stay and have some cake" Pinkie Pie pleaded.
"How is Rocky doing?"
"He is mostly just eating everything in sight, I am trying to give him a chance but I must say I have never seen such dreadful table manners." Rarity replied.
"I suppose that sounds like him, it is best not to bother him while he is eating; he will probably catch up with us later. Please do me one last favor and make sure he is okay."
"You are my new neighbors, it is the least I could do and I am sorry things couldn't work out tonight."
"Don't be, we get this response no matter where we go. Come on Bandit, we are going home." Bandit said with obvious sadness in his voice.
"It isn't fair, it just isn't fair, they didn't even do anything." Pinkie Pie pouted as she watched them walk away.