The Last Party

by Prony Boy

Chapter One

The sun was just rising over Ponyville, bathing the town in a warm light. Inside a house next to Sugarcube corner, light shone through the window of the top floor, revealing the sleeping form of a pony. Storm Stripe stirred in his sleep, turning his head away from the light. He slowly opened his eyes, rubbed them, and looked at his alarm clock. It was 6:59 PM. Storm Stripe squinted. In about a minute, th-

Before he could finish his thought, the time was 7:00, cueing an obnoxious fanfare from the alarm clock. He groaned, picking up the alarm clock shaking it vigorously. After a few minutes of smashing the alarm clock against multiple surfaces, he tossed it angrily against the wall. It sputtered a bit, and then died. Smiling in triumph, Storm Stripe got out of bed, and trotted over to a tall mirror, propped against the wall. A teal-colored Pegasus colt with a blond mane and tail looked back at him with curious red eyes. He was average size for his age, nearly 17. Across his face, side, and legs, were several cream coloured stripes. Storm Stripe turned his body, bringing his flank into view. He stared at his cutie mark. It was a silver crest overlayed on a wreath and flanked by a pair of white wings. Storm Stripe looked pensive for a moment. Even after his cutie mark appeared, he never understood what he was really meant to do. After brushing his mane back, and finishing his breakfast of honey and oats, Storm Stripe trotted happily outside. It was warm, with a cool breeze blowing; His favourite kind of weather. Ponyville was so much quieter than Manehatten, and the ponies were WAY more friendly. He thought back to his last day in Manehattan, when the landlord of his apartment had been robbed, in broad daylight. Five years in the Storm Chasers, and he still hated the thought of anypony being harmed. Storm Stripe’s mind meandered through his memories as he trotted through Ponyville, and found itself back in Manehattan Aerial Academy.

At school, he always had a talent for moving clouds around, constantly surpassing his classmates on flight exams. He had planned on putting his talent to use in the weather patrol graduating, but evidently somepony with connections had noticed his skill. About month after his third year, Storm Stripe received an invitation to the prestigious Storm Chasers, an elite group of ponies specifically tasked with handling unusual, difficult and sometimes treacherous weather phenomena. His first few assignments were easy enough, just storms that refused pass over. But on his tenth assignment, Storm Stripe was sent with a small squad of Storm Chasers to the desert surrounding New Haygas, with instructions to deal with a storm that had gotten to big for the local weather patrol to handle and was heading directly for the city. When they arrived, the winds had picked up to violent levels, creating a small tornado. As scared as he was, Storm Stripe worked alongside his squad mates, and managed to dissipate the clouds. But the tornado was still raging, and still growing. One of the younger squad mates, who had never seen a tornado before, flew a bit too close, and was sucked into the swirling vortex with a terrified scream. Without a thought of what he was doing, Storm Stripe dove in after her. It was extremely difficult to fight the raging winds, and even harder to keep his eyes open as the effort of keeping himself aloft and upright began to sap his strength. He had to find her quick. Through his squinting, he spotted the mare, being whipped around and around in circles. Storm Stripe thanked Celestia that the tornado hadn’t picked up any debris, or the rescue would have been far more dangerous. He carefully rode the raging winds, trying to keep level with the young mare as she was buffeted slowly toward him. As she whipped past, he reached out and wrapped his his hooves around her stomach, and shutting his eyes, he snapped his wings shut. Immediately the wind took hold of him, hurling him and the mare out of the vortex. The other squad members had been circling the tornado anxiously, debating if they should try to rescue the pair when Storm Stripe and the pink mare were thrown from the tornado. The two of them hit the ground nearly a mile away, fortunately landing in a large sand dune. The mare was fine, just badly shaken, but Storm Stripe purposely landed on his back. absorbing much of the impact. He was out cold.

Storm Stripe, upon waking up, found himself in the Storm Chasers infirmary back in Manehattan. His chest and wings had been bandaged heavily, but he could stand. Upon his request, a nurse informed him that the storm outside New Haygas had been taken care of. The young mare he saved, Bright Wing, had been found guilty of breaking formation and endangering a fellow squad mate, and had been sentenced to clean the mess hall for a week. When she was on her break, she would come up to the infirmary, and sit next to him. Hearing that last part made Storm Stripe blush. He had never been talented at “talking” with mares. Even his squad captain made him nervous, and she made it a point to tease him goodnaturedly. Even more importantly, while replacing his bandages one morning, the nurse found that his cutie mark had appeared. Storm Stripe beamed at this news, shaking the nurse’s hoof vigorously. He spent the next few days on medical leave, in the company of Bright Wing. Despite being squadmates, they never had much interaction outside of work. She was cherry coloured Pegasus with a black mane, usually tied into a braid ending in a light pink ribbon. She was two years younger than Storm Stripe, and a lot shorter as well. Bright Wing admitted that she was surprised to have been invited into the Storm Chasers. She was much better at studying storms than handling them, but with all her knowledge, she still struggled when it was time to put it to the test. Storm Stripe offered to give lessons and she gladly accepted. They spent the next few years practicing together, and they became good friends. On the fourth year, Storm Stripe had to take his two year long leave of the Storm Chasers, as it was required for all members. Bright Wing wouldn’t have her break until next year, but she promised to visit on her breaks, so the two of them made they’re goodbyes.

It was at that time that he decided to move to Ponyville, leaving behind the crowded streets of Manehatten. Even after a year, he really didn’t know anypony (no thanks to his shy nature), but he didn’t hesitate to help out if anypony asked. The only exciting times he had were at a club owned by Vinyl Scratch. He had taken up the responsibility of bartender, since until then, most ponies just took they’re drinks and left. It was his favourite part of the week. New ponies, new music, and a new drinks to mix. Storm Stripe chuckled. With all the drinks he mixed and served, he was surprised his cutie mark wasn’t a bottle of vodka or rum. Vinyl’s club was the one place for him to live a little. But it wasn’t until a few days ago that Storm Stripe had received something just as exciting from the local Mailmare. It was a party invitation from a pony named Pinkie Pie. The letter was pink all over, with a zig-zag outline, and the hand writing was rather large. Not one to say no, Storm Stripe had waited until the day of the party.

Storm Stripe stopped reminiscing, and realized that he was right in front of Sugarcube Corner. He swallowed hard. His time at Vinyl’s club still hadn’t given him any confidence when it came to mingling with other ponies. Especially mares.... But he also didn’t want to insult the host by not showing up. Storm Stripe took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

Comments

[SureFreeD]

Oh HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELL NO!