Where the human known to Twilight as 'Peyton' was a large specimen -Standing a full head over a pony as large as Big Macintosh, who for stars sakes had the moniker big right in his name- both in height and gut, the new one was somehow even taller. He (Twilight assumed it was a stallion, the humans seemed mammalian in appearance, and didn't seem to have pronounced mammaries.) was a good half hoof taller than Peyton, although his torso was decidedly slimmer than his... friends'? Brothers'?
For all Twilight knew, Peyton could be the new ones father. Both of their manes were roughly the same length, Peytons being a dusky brown while the newcomers was a jet black. That wasn't saying much though. Everypony knew coat and mane color wasn't genetic. Their ages was hard to judge, especially seeing as they were a different species. Peytons voice sounded like a grown stallions (that being, it didn't contain the vocal strains notable in a younger colt) but humans could very well sound like drowning fish once they got older.
Peytons attitude and behavior struck Twilight as... slightly odd. It was almost like dealing with a colt at times, his motives and actions energy fueled and erratic. Actually, it was rather like dealing with another Pinkie Pie. A rather subdued Pinkie Pie (wasn't that a scary thought), but one in the same vein nonetheless.
Twilight hadn't even so much as heard the new human speak yet, so she couldn't very well judge him against the other one. He was a lot thinner, so maybe his voice would reflect that? Twilight suppressed a giggle thinking about the new human suddenly starting to talk in a falsetto. He would say something like 'I'm a human! I'm taller than Peyton and that makes me younger... somehow.'
"Yo? Sparks?"
Twilights head shot back upwards at the sudden voice, teapot jerking in her magical grip. More than a couple splashes escaped the teapots spout, but were quickly cleaned up with another spell.
After she had noticed the presence of the two humans standing in her libraries entrance, she had of course invited them in to talk. When one wanted to ply another ponies mind for information, Twilight found that offering something to drink and a paltry snack went leagues towards that end goal. Hectare Home style tea (Twilight found that while most ponies would rather have coffee, tea tended to render a pony into a more agreeable state.) and Baltimare style biscuits. She had already baked them, might as well use them. Otherwise she'd have just ended up using some cookies from the jar. If Spike hadn't eaten them all already. He should know better, but he'd been caught a couple times already.
"Sorry, just... a lot on my mind," Twilight bashfully stated, filling the other humans cup after she cleaned up the minor spill. "It isn't every day a brand new species just... shows up..."
"That's-" the new human started, and Twilight excitably catalogued the fact that his voice for the most part sounded normal. Maybe he was roughly the same age as Peyton?
"No problemo, Sparksie," Peyton crowed, waving a hand dismissively. Twilight didn't see why Lyra had such fascination with the appendages, sure they looked dexterous, but they looked so... fragile. "We won't hold it against you."
"Seeing as I'm pretty sure Peytons introduced himself," the new one stated pointedly, gaining a sheepish grin from Peyton. "I might as well do the same. You did welcome us into your... house? Library house? Anyway, my name is Tom. Tom Majors. Pleasure to meet you," he ended, holding out his hand.
Why was he holding out his hand? Did he expect her to touch it? Would touching it be considered an insult? Was it like a hoofshake? But they weren't hooves, what if initiating a hoofshake resulted in those delicate digits getting damaged? Oh goodness, what if she accidentally harmed one of them? Then they'd leave and she'd never be able to learn anything more about them!
Twilight gave the human a wide grin, extending her hoof... to gingerly tap the top of his hand. Better safe than sorry. The human gave her a bemused grin, shifting his arm to reach up and grasp her hoof. He then gave it a short, single shake.
His hand was... surprisingly strong. It definitely had more grasping power than she would have thought looking at the spindly fingers.
"A pleasure to meet you, Tomtom Majors," Twilight stated, the hand grasp going on for slightly longer than felt comfortable.
"Just Tom," he said with a laugh, "I guess I said that twice..."
Suddenly Peyton shivered, his eyes darting from side to side.
"What is it Peyton?" Tomto-... Tom asked, his reaction quickly mirroring his partners. It was stunning to Twilight how quickly their demeaner had shifted from a warm, genial attitude to this suddenly tight, wary countenance. One moment they were simply these gawky, tall apes, then what she was faced with were undoubtably the faces of two battle hardened warriors. She had seen this shift once before, years ago when her brother wasn't yet a full fledged guard.
Her brother had been sitting in their dining room, numbly shoveling cereal into his tired gob. Weakly laughing at a joke Twilight had told him whilst trying to cheer him up, going through the motions. Then suddenly, at barely a single sound out of the ordinary his whole body had stiffened. With a blur of motion he had placed himself between Twilight and the open window. A bare moment and he had quickly erected a shield of glowing magic, which further protected himself and Twilight against the hidden attack.
A water balloon. Shining Armors drill sergeant had been making his rounds, putting the fear of death into all the recruits by springing surprise attacks during their supposedly down time. It was a harmless attack, but an attack nonetheless. And Twilight had seen her brother turn into a warrior from one second to the next.
"Preemptive cake!" Peyton finally called out, swiftly reaching over to poke a hand under a book Twilight had rested on her coffee table some time ago. What he did next... he pulled out a cake. And threw it out the nearby window.
"Counter pie!" Pinkies voice called out from someplace outside the open window, slightly muffled by distance. Moments later, Pinkies threat was carried out as a raspberry pie sailed in through the window Twilight should have simply closed the second she heard Pinkie called out. It was going to splatter everywhere, and then she'd have to clean it all up she just knew it!
Goodness this was embarrassing. First (second, but what was that to stop Twilight?) contact and Pinkie was showing her very worst side as a prankster. What if they took offense? What if they decided that Pinkie was actually trying to attack them and decided to declare war on behalf of wherever they were from? Gosh darn it Pinkie you could have a just waited until they knew us better...
"Counter counter pie!" Peyton called back out, whirling on one foot in a feat Twilight would have sworn was impossible without the counter balance of a tail. His hand reached out as he spun like a top, snatching the pie out of midair and flinging it right back out the window. A viscous splat sounded from outside, followed by a long period of silence.
Twilight once more took stock of her guests, carefully inspecting their forms. She was almost on a hair trigger herself, ready to at a moments notice grab both of them with her magic. If they were about to spring into a fury then she would do her best to placate them until they came back to their senses. Surprisingly, neither one of them held the posture of an angry individual.
Tomtom Maj- TOM had slumped into a relaxed pose, leaning back slightly to rest comfortably in his chair. He didn't look worried at the current events, and instead held a bemused grin at Peytons actions. Peyton himself had a satisfied grin stretched across his face, his body tense in anticipation.
"You sunk my battle ship!" Pinkie called in from outside, prompting a stifled laugh from Twilight.
"Aha! The enemy is routed!" Peyton crowed, whirling to grab yet another two cakes from under two other misplaced books. Twilight wasn't sure how she should feel about that, she could have sworn that she had just set down those books earlier that very day, how had the confections gotten there in the firs- Pinkie Pie. Of course, why was she even surprised? But... how did Peyton know they had been there? "We must be away, and press our advantage!"
With that he sprinted out of the room, a moment later the thud of the front door signifying his departure. Tom still remained seated, a hand massaging his brow.
"Sorry about that," he sighed, demurely taking a sip of tea. "He should wind down in a little bit. Peytons a bit... high energy, but he can act mature when he needs to."
Twilight giggled, "Don't worry about it. I'm just glad Pinkie didn't mess up the kitchen, Spike just cleaned up in here!"
Tom nodded along, "Is she always like that? I wouldn't want to assume, but from what I've seen so far..." He stopped, looking around, "By the way, who's Spike?"
A brief moment of clarity rushed across her mind, signaled by the flash of sheepishness that made its way across her face. "Spike? He's... well if you see the little dragon wandering around, that's him. You can't miss him! Unfortunately he's not here right now, he's over at Rarity's at the moment. I'll introduce you to him later if you want..." Twilight trailed off, unsure of the wisdom of imposing on the human. What if he had other plans and didn't feel like sticking around to get drilled with questions?
"A dragon? Awesome." Tom noted, skipping over Twilights worry.
Twilight got to her hooves, carefully checking out the disturbed books left in the humans wake. "Darn it Pinkie," mumbled, careful to keep her voice low. The humans ears didn't look particularly strong, so at this volume she should be able to rant without disturbing him. "What did I tell you about leaving perishable food lying around the library? Wait," she stopped, a thought occurring to her. "How did Peyton know it was there?"
"Probably because Pinkie knew it was there," Tom replied, making Twilight momentarily splay her ears in embarrassment. He had heard her, so she obviously had been speaking way too loud. Thank goodness she hadn't been saying anything really embarrassing, as is it was slightly mortifying.
Then something in what Tom said wormed its way into Twilights thoughts. Pinkie? Knew?
"But... how did Peyton know?" Twilight reiterated, her attention fully on Tom now.
He didn't look too concerned, slightly confused but overall nonplussed.
"Because Pinkie... wait, did Peyton not tell you about Chaotic?" Tom asked, a slight smile crossing his face.