Chapter 2: Ponyville
Avant had wandered Ponyville for a while, looking for the Ponyville press. He didn't like to trust other ponies, so he never bothered to ask anypony where it was. He had been walking for about an hour, though, and was becoming extremely impatient. He had traversed every lane and street he saw, occasionally going through another avenue more than twice, and hoped that the glorious building would be found down the next road. Every building he saw was either a house or some business that didn't look appealing at all. There was one store that caught his eye, though: a camera shop. He showed some interest in this, but continued his search for the press.
Avant's stomach emitted the sound of an angry lion. "Ugh, forget this," he jeered, and switched his target from the press to a diner, bakery, or anything of the sort. He remembered he saw an abstract building a few streets back that yelled, "This place sells food!" He trotted back to where he'd remember it had been, and found a vivid building bedazzled by sweets and icing. It looked like a life-size gingerbread house, had a room in the shape of a cupcake on top of it, and the aroma that escaped from it was the most heavenly smell Avant had found in his life. A sign that hung from the building revealed that the business was named "Sugar Cube Corner."
The bell inside the building chimed as Avant opened the door and stepped inside. Sweets on display decorated the interior. There was nopony at the counter, though. "Hello?" Avant called out. A clatter of dishes was heard from another room. "Hold on, I'm coming," a young mare's voice squeaked from the same room. Carrying a tray of sweets, Pinkie Pie ran in and put them on display.
"Oh, hi, Avant!" Pinkie was happy to see him again.
"Hi, Pinkie." He looked up and smiled at her, then dropped his head back down to browse the sweets and pastries they had in store.
"What would you like?" Pinkie asked as she brushed some flour off her hooves.
Avant thought for a moment. "I'd like one of those lemon cupcakes and one of those sweet rolls behind you."
"Icing or no icing?" Pinkie asked.
"With icing, please. Thank you."
"Gotcha. That'll be 5 bits." Pinkie proceeded to fill his order.
As Pinkie was getting the sweet rolls, Avant noticed the balloons Cutie Mark on her flank. He liked balloons. Especially the blue ones, because that was the color of the first balloon his mother had bought him when he was a baby colt.
The blue mare known as Mrs. Cake trotted into the room, and seeing a stallion eyeing Pinkie's flank with a large grin on his face did not look good at all. She noticed Pinkie had a little trouble getting the frosting right, and went to help her out. "I got this, Pinkie. Can you go help Mr. Cake with the next batch?"
"Alright, Mrs. Cake. Oh and Avant, can you tell Night the party's going to be at that big red barn over at Sweet Apple Acres? The Cakes didn't approve of our little party being here." Pinkie started to walk into the kitchen.
"Will do!" Avant hesitated for a moment before continuing. "And, um, do you know where the news building for Ponyville is?"
"See that building out the front door? That one." Pinkie then disappeared into the kitchen.
A frown appeared on Avant's face as he stroked his temple. He put the bits on the counter and took his food. "Thank you," he said, not noticing that Mrs. Cake was shaking her head at him. The bell rang again as he trotted out.
As Avant neared the Ponyville news building, a sing hung on the door saying, Closed. Come back later! Avant didn't show any anger, but it swelled up inside him. Instead of bursting in a fit of anger, he just stood where he was, staring at the sign, and eating his treats from Sugar Cube Corner.
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Night wandered throughout Ponyville for a while. He pulled out a book from his saddle bag and started to read it while he walked, being completely oblivious to his surroundings. As he kept walking and reading, he bumped into Pinkie Pie accidentally.
"Ow..." Night rubbed his snout. Night wasn't hoping to bump into anypony, especially Pinkie.
Pinkie inhaled at least five gallons of air. "Are you alright? You shouldn't read while you walk, silly. Oh, you know who also does that? Twilight! Did I ever tell you about the time where she was walking with a book and also bumped in to me? It was really funny! You know why? Because all the papers went flying everywhere; it was like confetti! It flew everywhere and I made paper-angels and Twilight's face looked like my birthday cake when I accidentally left it in my seat and sat on it!"
"What the hay?" were the only words Night could spew out after being bombarded by Pinkie's battalion of words.
"So, what are you doing?" Pinkie asked loudly, causing everypony around them to stare at the two.
Beads of sweat seeped out of the pores on Night's head and neck. "Trying not to attract too much attention." He then clapped his hoof to his face.
"Trying not to attract attention? Why would you want to do that?" asked Pinkie, cocking her head.
"I do not like attention, it's unsettling for me. I don't like being around other ponies that much."
"You don't? Well, If you don't want attention, then you need a disguise!"
"Right, a disguise," Night said sarcastically.
A purple unicorn had trotted up to the two. She quickly took a look at Night, then looked over to Pinkie.
"Hi Pinkie Pie, who's your friend?" asked the mare.
"Oh, hi, Twilight! This here is Night Sky. He's a new pony in town, and that means we get to throw him a PARRRRRTYYYYYYYY!" She screamed from the top of her lungs, but her voice never gave in.
"I see," Twilight said.
"Er...uh...nice to meet you, I'm Night Sky," Night quietly mumbled, but loud enough for Twilight to hear.
"Twilight Sparkle. Nice to meet you too." Twilight was staring strangely at the two.
"Um, would any of you happen to know where the Ponyville library is?" Night asked, still quietly.
Twilight looked over to Night. "Sure do. It's right this way, follow me." Twilight headed off to her library.
"See you later, Pinkie." Night ran to catch up with Twilight.
The two kept quiet for most of the walk, but then Twilight decided to break the silence. "So, Night, where are you from?"
"I'm from Manehattan," Night said, speaking louder than earlier.
Twilight nodded. "What made you move to Ponyville?"
"Things got really expensive over there. My roommate and I couldn't earn enough for even a week of food so we decided to move somewhere that was cheaper."
"Well, you picked a good place," Twilight said, smiling. She stopped at a large, hollowed out tree. "Here we are." Twilight took a key from her bag and proceeded to unlock the door.
Night was bewildered by the abnormal use of a tree. "This is the library?"
Twilight chuckled. "Well, it may not look like one, but it is." She walked in, Night following.
Night spun several times, astonished by both the number of books and the way the tree was used as a building. Nothing like this was found in Manehattan. "Wow, there are a lot of books in here." There was a huge gap between his lower and upper jaw.
Twilight walked behind her desk. "Mhm, so, what books were you looking for?"
"Uh, yeah I needed a book about the history of Ponyville, a book about that forest on the south side of town, if there is one, and, if you have it, "The Astronomer's Guide to Stars" by J.R. Nottingham."
Twilight looked up at Night. "You like Astronomy?"
"Um, yes, is there a... problem?" Night said slowly.
"Oh, no, I just find it interesting that a stallion actually takes time to observe the stars." Twilight headed to the basement. "I'll go get the books for you."
"You got books down there, too?"
"Yup." Twilight's voice was muffled and distant, but still audible.
A few minutes later Twilight emerged from the basement levitating the books. She dropped them onto the desk. "Here you go. Also the forest on the south side of town is called the Everfree Forest. Never go inside; it is filled with dangerous creatures and such. The book will tell you more about it."
Night took the books and stuffed them in his saddlebags. "Alright, thanks again, Twilight. I guess I'll see you later," Night said as he waved his hoof at Twilight and walked out the door.
She was a nice mare, Night thought to himself as he looked up to the heavens. Golly, it's getting late, I should go home. Night started to walk down the now familiar path to his home.
Twilight stood guard at the library's front door, watching Night until he disappeared over the horizon. After the sky had engulfed him, Twilight shut and locked the door, pulled the drapes over the windows, and rushed over to a small, sleeping purple dragon. Twilight pulled the blankets off of him and yelled, "Spike, wake up!" The young dragon groaned as he struggled to stay asleep.
"Twilight, can't this wait until later?" Spike searched with his hands for his blanket.
Twilight was already pacing. "No, Spike, I need you to send a letter to Princess Celestia. This is very important!" Before Spike could fall back to sleep again, Twilight grabbed him and pulled him downstairs. She quickly got a paper and quill and began writing.
Dear Princess Celestia,
Something's happened...
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Avant was still standing in front of the Ponyville press, but he'd already finished his treats long ago. He noticed the clock inside the building. "Mr. Clock says you should go home," Avant said to himself. After a few minutes of walking, he saw Night walking down another trail and decided to catch up. "Night, wait up!" he yelled. Upon hearing this, Night turned around.
"Hey Avant. I got some good news and bad news," Night said.
"What's the bad news?"
"I didn't get a job." Night let out a defeated sigh. "The good news is I found some books at the library."
"You and your books," Avant sighed as she shook his head. "The press was closed by the time I found it." Their house was straight ahead.
"Yeah, well, we have tomorrow to go back." Night unlocked the door to their house.
"Night, you hungry? Because I am," Avant said as he went to the ice box.
"Yeah, let's eat I guess." Night saw Avant pull out his pizza box. "Don't say it," Night quickly ordered.
"It's already in progress," Avant said with an evil grin.
"Don't do it!" Night snapped.
"It's too late for that," Avant said mischievously. Avant sucked in as much air as he could, and let it out with a, "IT'S PIZZZZZZZZZZAAAAAA TIME!"
Night covered his ears to protect them from the loud noise. "Must you always do that everytime we have pizza?" Night opened the pizza box.
"Sure do." Avant took some cold pizza and heated it up with magic.
"It's annoying, aggravating, irritating, nerve wrenching, shall I go on?" Night questioned in a rather annoyed tone.
"Haha, nope," Avant mumbled, mouth full of pizza.
The two friends continued to eat their dinner discussing matters at their makeshift table.
"Well, I'm going to bed," Avant said as he brushed his teeth and put his night hat on.
"Go for it, I'm going to study these books for a while." Night got the books out from his saddlebags and placed them on the table. "I have to do some research on this town, and why some ponies don't like us." Night pulled out his notebook and pen. "I'll see you in the morning."
"Yeah, sure. G' night, Night." Avant said sleepily.
"I hate it when he makes that pun," Night whispered to himself as he met his face with his hoof.
As the night continued to roll on, Night kept awake reading paragraph after paragraph, reading about the history of Ponyville, and about the dangerous Everfree Forest. As the night grew older, Night couldn't fight to stay awake and eventually slumped on top of his books.
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Night dodged the swiping claw of an angry Timberwolf, a wolf whose body was completely made of wood. Several others were behind the leader. Knowing he stood no chance against them, Night bolted off as quick as he could. He heard a muffled voice call his name. "Night! Night!" Night looked around. No sign of life except for the bloodthirsty Timberwolves. Being distracted, Night tripped on a tree's protruding root. "Get up!" the disembodied voice said again. The Timberwolves quickly caught up to Night, but sensed something in the air, and ran off into the woods. Night let out a sigh. He thought he was safe, but suddenly, a rushing flood of water gushed out of the woods and consumed Night.
Night woke up to the feeling of ice cold water trickling down his mane and body. Avant stood above Night, his face devoid of emotion.
"W-why-what did you do!?" Night knew what happened, but he asked anyway, not being prepared for what just happened.
"Oh, I just dumped some cold water on you. Nothing really," Avant said with a sly smile.
"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!?" Night went to get a towel.
"Because it's half past noon, you've been sleeping long enough." Avant walked to the door. "I'm going to go look for the Ponyville newspaper again. Catch you later." Soon after, he disappeared into Ponyville.
Huh, half past noon. How late was I up? Night was still damp. I guess it doesn't matter too much anymore. I'd better get cleaned up and go find a job.
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Night spent over an hour cleaning himself up. Night believes that proper grooming is very important, so he usually spends too much time getting his mane, tail and coat right.
Night looked out through one of the house's windows. From what he could see, it looked clear enough, but he heard that the weather ponies were going to make it colder that day. Night decided to get his jacket. Well, if he could find it. Night sighed; Avant had his junk everywhere. It was like an infection. His stuff was literally everywhere: on the floor, on the walls, even on the roof. Night pulled out his suitcase and opened it. He got out his turtleneck sweatshirt and put it on. Before he closed his suitcase, he noticed his pennant. The pennant was something his parents gave him when he was just a colt. It looked like a star of some sort. Night stared at his pennant for a while before putting it around his neck and walking out of the door.
As Night wandered through the streets of Ponyville, looking around at his surroundings, he noticed that this town was much more rural compared to Manehatten, and even his hometown Coltifornia. While Night kept walking, he saw what seemed to be like a central market place, with ponies from all over Ponyville exchanging goods for bits. Night decided to check the market place out later. After another half an hour or so of walking, Night sat down in a local park. Resting under a tree, Night pulled out the astronomy book he got from Twilight the other day. Night fixed his eyes onto the words inside the book and started to read.
After a few hours, Night finished the books he was reading, so he decided not to take the chance and lose them, but return them to Twilight. Night stood up and stretched his legs and put the books into his saddlebags and started to head off into the direction of the library.
Night decided to take the longer route to the library because he had some spare time on his hooves. On the way there, Night saw some animals running around with some nuts stuffed in their mouths. He saw bunnies hopping about in a wide open meadow, birds singing songs to their loved ones, and a deer hiding in the shrubs not too far away.
Nice town. It's very peaceful, no factory noises, annoying ponies, nothing, Night thought to himself.
Night had finally reached his destination of the library. He walked up to the door of the library and rapped at the door. A few seconds later, he heard hoof steps approaching, and then the door opened. He found himself staring at Twilight.
"Uh... um... hi Twilight. Just here to drop off these books that I borrowed the other day." Night said with a odd smile as he pulled the books out of his saddlebag.
"Wow, you read them in a day?" Twilight asked, a little amazed.
"Well, I was up a little late last night reading," Night admitted, a little embarrassed as he handed the books to Twilight.
"I do that sometimes too." Twilight levitated the books to their places in the shelves.
"You do an amazing job keeping this place organized," complimented Night.
"Thanks, I try and keep it neat," Twilight responded. "Is there anything else you needed?"
"Nah, I got everything I need. I'll catch you later Twilight." Night turned around and proceeded to walk away.
"Bye, Night."
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The fibers of Princess Celestia's red velvet caked silently split as she dug her fork into it. She prodded the now-separated slice with the fork's spokes and removed it from the fork with her mouth. She shut her eyes and let out an audible "Mhmmmm" as the slice disintegrated in her mouth.
"Do you like it?" asked the chef who'd prepared it.
"Yes, very. Thank you," Celestia said after she swallowed.
"Good to hear! I'll uh, leave you to your cake." The chef swiftly left the Princess' chambers and shut the doors behind himself.
Celestia waited for a few seconds before tossing her fork away and mashing the cake into her mouth with her hoof. As she licked the surviving crumbs off her hoof, a green flash of light produced a hastily wrapped up scroll. It was from Twilight. She grabbed it before it hit the ground and didn't even need to unravel it.
Dear Princess Celestia,
Something's happened. I met a stallion named Night Sky this morning. I know everypony here but I never saw his face until today. He says his roommate came along with him. What's going on? What do I do? Should I tell the others why nopony has came to or left Ponyville in so long? How come they got through? Please write back soon. I'm scared.
Your good and faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle.
Princess Celestia quickly levitated a quill and jar of ink to herself and wrote on the back of Twilight's letter, I'll send somepony soon. Treat them like everypony else in that town. Don't let them hurt anypony. Don't let them bleed. After Celestia sent it away, she sat in her bed, deep in her thoughts.
Author's Note I would like to thank Sirius who is now our Chief Supreme editor of Outlanders thanks Sirius!