Let Us Have A Quiet Life Which Slowly Ramps Into Awesome Adventures

by cupcake

In Which the Mane Six Are All In Attendance

As nopony had slept in the house that night, they were awoken at 5:30 AM when the sky began to become light, before Celestia had fully set the sun in motion across the sky. Aloise shuddered in the near freezing early spring morning air, and shook dew off of her coat as she stood and stretched. “Ooh! I slept so well last night!” she exclaimed. Her voice didn’t stir Ennuye, who continued to slumber peacefully. She looked around to find Applelack, but could not see her in the bushes where she went last night. She ate a piece of cucumber and shot the swill left on the bottom of the glass to break her fast, and heard the clop of hooves approaching on the center garden path. It was Applelack.

“Good mornin’, everypony! Look what I found while weeding in the back flower garden,” Applelack tried to say, but the words didn’t come out exactly as she was carrying a giant toad in her mouth.

“Croak,” said the toad.

Applelack set the toad on the ground, “I’m thinkin we need a water feature here in the front, and this guy will be the perfect addition!”

“Sounds delightful,” replied Aloise.

The sound of their conversation woke up Ennuye. “Whaaa? You guys are up? What time is it?” she muttered.

Aloise glanced down at Ennuye, “well, I am going to spend the day cleaning these thirty year old cobwebs out of the house, so its not dirty when the furniture are delivered this evening.” She stepped across the deck and opened the nearest of the French doors, stepping through, then suddenly,

“SURPRISE!!” Confetti and ponies of all colors came from every direction. Aloise was taken aback but quickly recovered, recognizing the pink pony she had met the other day. Within thirty seconds the quiet morning was turned into a raucous party. Dance music started playing.

Pushing a cup of punch into Aloise’s hand, Pinkie was all smiles, “took you long enough, silly! We’ve been waiting here all afternoon and evening and night for you to come back inside so we could surprise you!”

Aloise looked around, noticing some of the other ponies haggard appearance, but Pinkie was full of energy. “Wow, this really is a nice surprise. Thank you all for coming!”

Pinkie seemed somehow even happier than before, “my pleasure! Let me introduce you to my f-f-f-f--”

She couldn’t finish her sentence as she was struck by the sight of Ennuye entering the hall, still half asleep and rubbing her eyes.

Ennuye looked around, slightly dazed, “what’s going on here?”

A white pony with purple mane and diamond cutie mark turned, noticing Pinkie’s disquiet, and screamed, “A GHOST!”

Ponies tripped over each other trying to escape, and as Ennuye further entered the room they spilled in every direction like soap from a bathtub full of cats.

“No, no, calm down everypony!” yelled Aloise.

Everypony halted in place. “You mean she’s not a ghost?” asked Pinkie.

Aloise started to calmly explain, “well, she is a ghost, but -”

The ponies continued to panic, whatever Aloise said being lost in the din and confusion.

Applelack entered the room, looking concerned. “What’s the trouble here?” she started to ask, but was interrupted when she bumped heads with another pony trying to get out the same door. The two ponies were near twins, the only difference being their cutie marks: apples versus basket. The two ponies faced each other, glaring. “Oh, it’s you, Applejack” said Applelack.

Applejack responded, “You may be my cousin, but ah told you ten years ago what would happen if we ever crossed paths again, and I don’t break my promises.”

“I remember well, the only reliable parts of your character - your blockheaded stubbornness and your honesty.”

Twin straw hats went flying in the ensuing fight, the bucking and wresting more resembling hog tying than fisticuffs.

Aloise surveyed the scene: Ennuye huddled in the corner, unable to cope with the noise and disarray while a few brave ponies thrust uselessly with sticks through her incorporeal body, Applelack in heated battle, and her house taking its own share, crashes and screams coming from every direction. Well, if this was how she was going to be welcomed to Ponyville, two could play that game.

A blue glow started at the tip of Aloise’s horn and spread to her whole body. Her eyes glowed so brightly that Pinkie, who was still looking at her, had to turn away. Aloise floated up into the air as thick clouds gathered around her body. The whole room turned dark as a breeze picked up into gale force winds, whipping ponies around the room like rag dolls. Only Ennuye was unaffected. Ponies near the exit were sucked up into the vortex, which turned into a sort of liquid lightning, arcing between the ponies trapped inside. She laughed uncontrollably, “ahaha hahaha!”

A feeble ray of light shot into the vortex from under the archway at the far end of the room. It built up in strength and diameter, its purple beam mixing with the blue lightning in the vortex. Suddenly, the vortex was gone and the ponies in midair fell to the floor, spread around the room. Confetti rained down on everyone. Aloise too dropped to the floor, the glow extinguished. Silence all around.

“What is going on here?” cried a voice from the far archway, where the beam of light came from. It was a violet colored pony with dark purple mane with pink stripes, and twinkling stars for cutie marks.

Pinkie Pie was the first to recover. “Party time!!” She smashed the button on the boombox to start the dance music and recovered the punch bowl onto a nearby table, miraculously still half full. Ponies stood up and brushed themselves off, and began to dance! Soon the party was in full swing.

***

Aloise went over to Applelack and Ennuye to make sure they were all right, and Pinkie appeared in front of them.

“Hey you three, I’ll introduce you to all my friends!” She gestured wildly towards the far door, where some ponies were standing. The four ponies walked together.

“These are my favorite ponies in the whole world, Twilight,” she pointed at the violet unicorn who had diffused the tornado sporting an indignant look on her face, “Rarity,” a stylish white unicorn with purple mane obviously nervous being near the ghost, “Applejack,” Applelack’s seeming twin gently inspecting her red chafe marks and bruises, her lip bleeding, “Rainbow Dash,” a blue pegasus with a vibrant rainbow mane and a glare which meant she was ready to fight whoever had caused so much trouble to her friends, “and Fluttershy,” a shy yellow pegasus, the only one of the group who looked pleased to be meeting new ponies.

Pinkie turned towards the three ponies whose names had not been mentioned, “and here are my new friends! Aloise, and, um, what are your names?”

Ennuye was mostly recovered from her harassment, and responded first, “I’m Ennuye!”

Applelack followed firmly, “and ah’m Applelack.”

Rainbow Dash looked between the two orange earth ponies, “Applejack and Apple..lack? Are you two related?”

The two Apples responded in unison, faces cast down as if they were ashamed, “yes.”

After this brief exchange, the nine ponies stood in a circle facing each other, noone sure of what to say. Fluttershy broke the silence with her soft and warm sounding voice, “welcome to Ponyville, you three. I’m glad you’re here.”

“Actually, I’m the only one new here,” said Aloise, “these two have been around for ten and thirty years,” she continued, gesturing.

Pinkie’s wore a surprised look. “But I’m friends with everyone in Ponyville. So if you’ve been in Ponyville for decades, that means we must be old friends! I love meeting old friends! We have so much to catch up on!”

“I’m not sure that’s how that works, Pinkie,” said Rainbow Dash, but Pinkie ignored her and wandered off with Applelack towards the punch bowl, asking Applelack how her family was and how she was doing, just like old friends would. Rainbow Dash pushed the visibly nervous Rarity towards Ennuye, ostensibly chiding Rarity for being scared but to everyone this was an obvious front to hide her own insecurities. Twilight approached Aloise.

“So, Aloise, was it? I’m Twilight, as Pinkie already said.”

“Hello, Twilight.”

“Where did you study magic? That was a pretty powerful spell.”

“My teacher was Farriaday,” Aloise began. Twilight gave a nod of recognition, what pony hadn’t read Farriaday? Aloise continued, “but I feel mostly self taught by how much I actually met with him. We mostly correspond by letter. So you have your own studies in magic?”

“Oh yes, and my teacher is the same as yours in that we mostly only talk through letters, only I feel very close to her since I send her letters every day. And sometimes she sends me letters too.”

“...right.” Aloise’s left eyebrow raised.

“It’s Princess Celestia!”

“Celestia? Seriously? That is interesting. What is she like in person?” The left eyebrow went even higher.

“She is super nice, and kind, and smart, and wise, and beautiful... pretty much the greatest” Twilight gushed, thinking back on her life, raised by Celestia at magical boarding school instead of at home with her parents.

The eyebrow entered the stratosphere. “Interesting.”

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Applelack and Pinkie were bonding over both spiked punch and growing up feeling different and apart from the their families.

“Ah’m not even sure if I want ta go home,” Applelack was stating, able to be blunt after years of coming to terms with the Apple family’s rejection.

“That’s so sad! You know what would cure that? A party! Oh, we’re at a party!”

“Heh, yeah, it does distract a bit. Not sure if a party cures all my problems, though.”

With the combination of alcohol and sober thoughts, Pinkie herself opened, with a rarely heard personal reflection, “yes... my family is so silly too. I just want them to be happy, to enjoy their lives, and they make it so difficult sometimes. It’s almost as if they choose to be depressed, as if they enjoy that more than just... enjoying things! I love to see them at holidays, and would never abandon them, but my life with my friends here in Ponyville is much better.”

Not understanding this confession was almost out of character for the pink pony, and feeling sympathetic seeing the pony’s normally bright pink poof hanging dejectedly straight down, Applelack just nodded and put her hoof on Pinkie’s.

After a moment more reflection, Pinkie’s face brightened into a grin. “Haha, yes, my friends here in Ponyville, at a party!! Come on, Applelack, let’s dance!” He hair poofed outward so suddenly it bumped the table, spilling a few glasses of punch, but neither pony paid any heed. She pulled the momentarily startled but unresisting Applelack onto the dance floor.

“So, how did you become a ghost? Was it... gruesome?” Rarity seemed almost afraid of her answer, but it was because of the potential disturbing details and not because she was talking to a ghost, having quickly warmed up to Ennuye’s easygoing manner.

“I bet it was something cool, like you were an international gem smuggler and at the last moment you were betrayed and now you remain here to guard a massive chest full of treasure!” Rainbow Dash suggested, recalling a recent adventure of Daring Do.

“Well,” began Ennuye, “I actually don’t know.” She was unperturbed by this fact. “I don’t really remember anything except some vague feelings of being almost asleep, or resting, for a long time, until Aloise arrived and it kind of woke me up.”

Sleeping being uncharacteristic of cool adventures, Rainbow Dash was already onto the next topic, “so do you have any cool powers?”

“I’ve only been a ghost for a few days, so maybe there are more, but mostly I just float around and pass through things unless I really concentrate.”

“That. Is. Awesome!” Rainbow Dash’s wings fluttered in excitement. “Hey how fast can you fly?”

“I don’t know.”

“Let’s find out! Race you to the Town Hall and back!” Rainbow Dash took off for the front door.

After a brief hesitation and a nod goodbye to Rarity, Ennuye headed straight through the wall in the direction of Ponyville town center.

***

Aloise was still talking to Twilight an hour later when a brown earth pony holding a clipboard tapped her on the shoulder.

“Excuse me, miss, I was told this is your house? Please sign here for the delivery.”

Aloise’s eyes widened, “oh no! I forgot about the furniture delivery and the house isn’t clean enough to move it in!”

“Don’t worry,” said Twilight, “this is a housewarming party, isn’t it? I think my friends could lend you a hand there.” Twilight magically stopped the boombox from where she was standing and ponies looked around confused. “Listen up, everypony,” she commanded their attention by being the only pony talking, “this whole house needs to be cleaned up in the next twenty minutes. Divide up into groups. Group A on floor detail. Group B on walls and ceilings and fixtures. Group C divide up by room and do anything special that room needs!”

Used to Twilight’s self-appointed authority, fifty ponies quickly divided into ranks and files and split up throughout the whole house. Twilight having gone to supervise, Aloise and the delivery pony were the lone sturdy rocks amidst the chaotic flow of ponies.

“Actually, miss, I’m from Ponyville Hardware.”

“Oh! Well, that is actually extremely convenient. Why is my life always so convenient?” Aloise signed the form and opened boxes of rags, cleaning supplies, buckets, mops, furniture polish, and floor polish. “Actually, this would have been more convenient yesterday, perhaps, instead of cleaning the windows with bath soap and squares from a perfectly good sheet.” The delivery pony listened to this obvious monologue in silence, wanting to get out of there after already searching the house for twenty minutes trying to find someone to sign, and making his exit quickly before the monologue got longer. The supplies were quickly distributed and, when a pony found cans of old paint in the shed to match the current room colors, paint was distributed and all the rooms received a fresh coat.

Aloise tried to help, but it was over so fast and the party back under way that she couldn’t even begin. After bringing an entire case of wine from the cellar and breaking open the crate in the main hall, she stepped away from the noise of the party to give herself a second tour. The house was amazing. No longer the dim and dark cavern that she had first arrived to, it was warm and alive. It still had its Victorian charm, but now the woods were heavy and rich instead of dusty and the accents stood out and accentuated the architecture instead of merely holding extra thick layers of dirt. Maybe it was the paint fumes getting to her, but Aloise was becoming extremely fond of Ponyville in that moment.

The furniture arrived in due time and were arranged, along with Aloise’s trunks, in the appropriate rooms. Everything cleared out of the foyer, the mosaic was revealed to be a complex collage of hundreds of multicolored animals of all types, about one in ten were ponies but each uniquely designed, placed in concentric circles with an arrangement of lilac flowers taking up the center.

As the sky grew dim it was realized that the electricity was still not on. Candles were set up in the main hall, pizza was ordered, replacement batteries were found for the boombox, and after a brief break everypony seemed to need, the party continued with twice the ferocity. It even spilled onto the back porch as all the French doors were opened to clear out the smell of paint.

Aloise surveyed the room. She had met every pony at least once but couldn’t remember most of their names, but she remembered the ponies nearby at that moment: Pinkie and Pinkie’s five best friends, and her two new housemates. The nine of them formed a large circle and danced in the candlelight, a warm breeze bringing in heady smells from the garden and portending the true onset of Spring.

P.S. Unable to fully control her new body, Ennuye lost the race hardcore.

Author's Note:

TY to Trazlo for edits.