//------------------------------// // Kindness in Bounds // Story: A New Town, a New Start // by OceansBreeze //------------------------------// Clearly I was not prepared for today. I almost considered just passing out to not have to deal with what I was currently seeing, but that might have come off as a little bit rude. So instead of that I merely put my muzzle to the floor and kneeled down to bow. That is what you're supposed to do when in front of the Princess, right? Now that I come to think of it, that was never something taught by either the schools or my family. What to do in case a princess crashes your party. Actually two princesses, seeing as Princess Twilight was hot on Princess Celestia's left wing. However upon looking around the room I realized nopony else was kneeling to the floor like I was. They all simply bowed their heads down for a moment before relaxing to a normal position. Clearly they either have had Princesses crashing parties often or were simply in the know on 'proper princess presence performance'. Needless to say, I quickly realized how ridiculous I looked smelling the floorboards, so I snapped my head back up and tried to pretend it didn't happen. Most ponies noticed and were grinning with an expression of, "Newbie." "Good evening, my little ponies! I hope all of you are having a pleasant time?" Celestia inquired while scanning the room. She had a small smirk upon seeing Discord with Fluttershy. "Oh! Why hello Discord, how have you been?" Discord teleported to right next to Celestia, draping her wing over his shoulders like a fancy scarf much to a disgruntled Princess Twilight and an amused Princess Celestia. "Oh I've been simply lovely KK, thanks SO much for asking. I actually was trying to decide if I should get a new rug in my living room and would really appreciate it if you would accompany me to the department store later this evening to help me pick one. As I'm sure you're well aware, my other rug is simply drab and needs to be dealt with," he chimed while pulling her towards the punch bowl. Celestia seemed perfectly okay with Discord's kooky ways, even smiling it seemed. "Of course Discord, I'd be delighted. And I do agree, that old rug is simply dreadful," she answered while pouring herself a glass of punch. I still wasn't quite sure what was going on to be honest. Nopony else did either it seemed which at least was a relief to me. Applejack cleared her throat and piped up while waving her hoof, "Twilight, over here!" Wait. What. "Oh Applejack, it's nice to see you again. That delegation in Prance was a little boring," she shook her head while trotting towards us. "We didn't even have time to see any sights, or do anything else for that matter. It was all work and no play for almost a week." "Ah know how that can be," she replied with a chuckle. She motioned towards me with her forelock, "This here's the new guy in town." Oh boy here we go again, and this time with a princess. "Hello princess, my name is Dusty Tome. As Applejack here has stated, I have indeed just moved here from my hometown of Fort Vandercolt," I offered with a smile. Nailed it. "Ooh, from the north, huh? You do seem to have a more structured way of speaking. Well, my name is Twilight Sparkle, but I assume you already knew that," she replied as she held her hoof up in front of me. I then proceeded to hold it and kissed her hoof. My mother told me that's what you should do to any princess. However it didn't seem to be the correct thing to do as Twilight was a bright shade of red, and Applejack snickered at my actions. So much for the perfect intro. I quickly let go of her hoof and muttered with a blush of my own, "Sorry..." I'll be sure to give my mother a what-for next time I see her. Twilight however did a decent job of recomposing herself, despite still being slightly pink and almost cradling her hoof. "Um, n-no worries. It's fine," she stammered out. There was an echo of laughter from Discord and Celestia over by the punch bowl like some ironic laugh track. Well at least someone is having fun. "Alrighty then, now that that's over with," Applejack cut the tension with a grin, "Dusty here was actually opening a shop here in town, guess what kind?" "A bakery?" she offered with interest towards me, "A woodshop? Blacksmith? Ooh, a Reliquary?" she added getting kind of excited on that last one. "A bookstore actually." She let out a small squee, very much not like a princess but it was quite adorable nonetheless. "Oh this is wonderful! You've got to show me sometime! What kind of books? Poetry? Adventure? Mystery? Dictionaries?" she listed off. "A little bit of everything was the plan, actually," I said while Applejack just shook her head with a smile. This level of interest in literature was apparently common with the purple alicorn. "Well you are always welcome to come to my castle and check out my extensive collection. I have many books directly from the Canterlot Archives. Surely something will interest you. I'd love to see if you have anything new though," she offered up. Oh man, a royal library. Now that's definitely cool. I had one more question though that I really wanted to know though. "Pardon my forwardness princess, but could I ask who the other Elements of Harmony are? I've been very interested in meeting them. I lived in a somewhat news deprived area, so the most I ever got was your coronation and that the Elements existed." I inquired with a sheepish grin. Applejack and the princess started having a giggling fit, much to my confusion. What was so funny? "Sugarcube, I hate to break it to ya, but you're lookin' at one," she said through her chuckles. "Oh..." "The other's are Fluttershy over there," she waved her hoof at the demure yellow pegasus from earlier. What, her? But she was so cute and quiet. "Pinkie over there is another," she then pointed to the pink bouncing mare laughing at Discord's newly acquired monocle. Seriously? "Dash is one too," she nodded towards the Wonderbolt at the snack bar. Well I guess I could see that one just fine. "The last one is a unicorn friend of ours named Rarity." she finally finished. "Oh, I actually met Rarity when I first came into Ponyville, funnily enough..." I was simply taken aback by this sudden revelation. I'd already met them all and had no idea at the time. Just goes to show that anyone can achieve greatness. Guess that's encouraging, huh? "Really now? Well ah guess you got your wish then, huh?" she merely smirked at me. "Are we all ya thought we'd be?" "I don't know what I was expecting to be honest..." Now I felt bad for being surprised. I suppose friendship knows no boundaries, which in hindsight is pretty obviously going to lead to a diverse set of elements. "MAY I HAVE EVERYPONIES' ATTENTION!" Pinkie hollered above the conversations. The room went quiet as everypony turned to hear what she had to say. "I think it's time to officially get the introduction underway. Dusty!" Here we go let's try to get this one on the first try. I trotted over to Pinkie and she stuck a purple and white striped party hat atop my head. I have no idea where she got one, she clearly didn't have it literally two seconds ago. "Hey everypony, as you may already know my name is Dusty Tome. I just moved here from Fort Vandercolt and I have to say, this is already one of the friendliest, most welcoming places I've ever visited. I'll admit a bit more exciting than I thought it would be but adventure is fun, especially with ponies who have your back, and I feel like a member of the community already. Pinkie, I want to thank you for this awesome party. It's more than I could have ever asked for." Everypony in the room was giving me a reassuring nod or a smile or some form of thanks and encouragement. Pinkie grinned from ear to ear and started hopping up and down, "Oh silly-billy, of course! Everypony deserves a fun party when they first get to Ponyville! Who wouldn't?" "Nopony I know," I chuckled. Pinkie then turned to everypony else. "I, Pinkamena Diane Pie, do hereby declare this party, a success! Now, time for some presents!" She jumped over to the small table piled high with all different colored and sized presents. "Wait, are those for me?" I asked with hesitation. I barely even met these ponies, some I haven't even properly been introduced to, and they all got me presents? "Of course! Who did you think they were for?" she said this like it was something I should have known already. She then held out one with a tag on it that said, 'Lyra and Bon Bon'. "Oh wow, really Lyra? You didn't have to get me anything your help earlier today was plenty." She merely shrugged her shoulders with a small grin, "It's more from Bon Bon than me anyway if that makes you feel any better." Bon Bon beside her nodded her head in agreement. I tore open the paper to find a box of multiple different flavored hard candies, all tied in individual wrappers. "Thanks Bon Bon!" "Candies are my specialty. They sell them here at Sugarcube Corner if you ever want more," she offered up. Hmm, I could use these as a 'welcome' bowl in my store. That would definitely be nice. "Next!" Pinkie tossed another present to me. This one was wrapped in simple brown paper with a gray bow. The tag read 'Derpy and Doc'. A cute gray pegasus mare with a tousled blonde mane, the very same one who delivered the mail, came up with a smile, "The Doc couldn't be here, something about one of his Wimey devices or something going wrong, but he sends his best wishes!" She had such a cute voice and had bubbles as a cutie mark, though she did have some kind of problem with her eyes that became apparent as she blinked. I had never seen such a thing before in person aside from when I first saw her, and it actually kind of increased her cuteness by tenfold so I didn't really see the problem with it. It apparently made no difference to her, either way. It was endearing. I ripped open the paper to find a really intricate hourglass with blue sand trickling through, in the box. "Oh wow! This is so cool! Send him my thanks, this is amazing!" I said while looking at all the swirling designs and circles on the golden frame. "Yay! I knew you'd like it! The Doc made it himself you know," she said with a clap of her hooves. How in Equestria did he make this himself in a single evening? He would never have had the time. She then backed up to let Pinkie back in with yet another gift. It was a little overwhelming to be totally honest. This one was wrapped in green paper and was extremely flat compared to the other ones. There wasn't a tag on this one, though once I had taken the paper off I could see that it was a tupperware with a bunch of apple fritters inside. Applejack then spoke up with a wink, "It's from me and the family. Figured you should get to know some of granny's cooking." Aw yeah, more food. Pinkie then tossed another present my way like a basketball. Luckily it wasn't too heavy or I may have dropped it from that height. This one was pink with little blue butterflies on it. The tag was written in two different hoof writings, a small yet elegant writing and a large and messy one. It said 'Fluttershy and Discord' on it. Oh boy a gift from Discord. This should be interesting. I tore off the paper and in the box was a small discord statue with comically large hands, one of which was extended up and out in a circle, almost like he was holding something. "Oh ho! I see you've gotten to the most artistically inclined present," Discord suddenly popped up next to me, nearly giving me cardiac arrest. "As you can plainly see it's a cup holder," he motioned to the extended arm. "Of course, it could also hold other things, like a candle or a flower or your keys or even your hats! You see, he's a special little guy. He can change his size and hand to hold anything you like!" he then proceeded to try out everything he mentioned before, even stuck Pinkie in its arms much to her amusement. Sure enough, it would shrink or grow to meet its purpose. In order to hold Pinkie it was almost the same size as Discord himself. "This handsome guy is going to be keeping you company from now on, courtesy of me!" he then got a concerned look on his face all of a sudden and turned around to where Fluttershy was looking at him with an eyebrow raised. "Of course it was all Fluttershy's idea, I just made it happen," he said with an apologetic smile. "I think he get's the idea Discord," she responded with an accepting smile to his giving her credit. He then popped over to next to her and Pinkie hopped down from the statue's arms and it shrinked back down to its original size. Convenient! Pinkie then handed me more presents. Most of the other one's were from the other ponies I hadn't quite met yet including Amethyst, Carrot Top, Rose, Caramel, Berry Punch, and Ms. Cheerilee. I have no idea if her actual name is Ms. since everypony always includes it when they say her name but she is a school teacher so I'm not sure. Most of their presents were convenient things any new homeowner could need ranging from a welcome mat, to some flower vases to some new dishes even. Rainbow had gotten me a Wonderbolt poster with her signature on it, which was pretty neat. Maybe I'll hang it in the shop. Just as I was about to open up the last present from Pinkie and Mr. and Mrs. Cake somepony came rushing in the door. "Everypony stop!" It was Rarity and she looked like she had just rushed here like something was after her. Nothing came rushing in after, though she did have a very neatly wrapped present with white paper and a gem encrusted purple bow. "Oh, darling I'm so sorry I'm late," she said while trotting over to me, "I just simply took longer than I thought making this for you and it had to be perfect!" She then presented the present to me in all its glory. I took it from her and replied, "You know you didn't have to stress yourself out over me? I just barely got here what could you have been working on so hard?" I then tore off the wrapper and in the box was a striped scarf with a monogrammed D.T. on both ends. It was dark gray and gold stripes, just like my coat and eyes respectively. It was perfect. "Oh Rarity it's wonderful! You shouldn't have," I said while wrapping it around my neck. She merely flipped her hair and replied, "Darling I wanted to. You being from Fort Vandercolt I simply had to make you something for whenever you go home. Think nothing of it." "Alrighty then, last present!" Pinkie chirped with the last one, a pink striped present with balloons. It was fairly heavy and thin, it very much resembled a large book. Upon tearing off the paper I could see that it was indeed a book, a thick book with a wooden spoon and spatula on the cover. "A cookbook?" I said, turning to Pinkie. "Yup! It has all the recipes you could want! Well aside from the secret ones of course, cause then they wouldn't be secrets anymore," she said with a thoughtful look. "Thanks so much Pinkie! Now I won't ever have to bother my mother anytime I forget how many cups of sugar to add to my pancakes in the morning," I laughed. "Maybe I could share some of her secret recipes for some of yours, huh?" I said with a sly grin. "Mayyyybeee," she said with a scrunched face, "but probably not." I turned to address everypony in the room, "Thanks so much everypony for all your wonderful gifts. This has all been so much more than I could have ever asked for from anypony. Really I appreciate this from the bottom of my heart, and to those who didn't bring gifts simply being here and being friends is a great welcome in it of itself." There was a collective murmur of replies all around the room with all the accompanying smiles. This truly is the friendliest place in all Equestria. Just then one of Celestia's guards came in the door and whispered something into Celestia's ear. She had a tiny frown for a moment before smiling and announcing to the room "Thank you all for this wonderful evening and to you Dusty I wish the best in your settling, but if you will excuse me some urgent business has come to my attention and I must be off." she then trotted out the door with the guards in tow. Well can't have expected her to stay for too long after all. The rest of the evening was spent chatting with all the citizens of Ponyville, getting to know them better and have a general good time thanks to Pinkie's party games. Discord was quite the spectacle too for a majority of the party as well as he himself was an entire party just waiting to happen. More than once he would try to bring me into his escapades much to my chagrine. He would always be stopped by Fluttershy anytime he got a little too out of hoof thankfully. The sun had long since set by the time I finally left Sugar Cube Corner. Most guests had already left a little earlier but the princess and Pinkie were still there cleaning everything. They had refused my help in cleaning insisting that they had it covered, which I finally accepted after the princess merely magiced everything away in a matter of seconds. Guess that's definitely more efficient. I made my way home then, only getting slightly lost once. I pushed through my new front door with presents in tow with a yawn creeping out of my muzzle. The party was quite the energy drainer, not to mention how late it was. I merely just left the items on the ground floor, locked the door and mosied up the stairs to my new bathroom in order to get ready for bed. A quick shower and teeth brushing session later I slipped into bed for a good night's sleep. Dream's were always an excellent escape from a tiring day. Here's to hoping I get some work done on the shop tomorrow.