//------------------------------// // 1 - Welcome to Pony Vale // Story: Welcome to Pony Vale // by SuperCyclone //------------------------------// The beautiful lavender alicorn, who we all know as Twilight Sparkle, trotted along the dirt path in town. A strange town. A town known as Ponyville. She greeted all her friends and neighbors with a smile on her pretty face, and met up with her friends. Rainbow Dash. Applejack. Fluttershy. Rarity. Pinkie Pie. Strange but very interesting friends of the Princess of Friendship. They talked and laughed with each other carefree, no tribulation bothering them. That's when he came, the dog on the radio. He came on a train that usually never came at this time. He came into town. A strange town. Welcome to Ponyville Vale "So there's a new pony in town? Since when?" Applejack asked, interested in the new resident. Twilight nodded, "Since today. Princess Celestia asked us to greet the new face in Ponyville. She wants us to make him feel comfortable here." Pinkie Pie jumped up and around her friends as she threw confetti all around. "I'm so excited!!! I wonder if he'll be a unicorn or maybe an earth pony or Pegasus I wonder if he likes parties or if he wants vanilla cake or chocolate or strawberry or pineapple or app-" Rainbow put a hoof in Pinkie's mouth to stop her from rambling on and on. "Relax will ya! If you keep that up you'll scare him outta town!" "Oh, I sure hope he's nice," the shy pegasus said with a worried voice. "Do not worry, darling,"Rarity said with her ever so elegant voice,"I'm sure he's a nice stallion." Pinkie Pie then saw something that made her move Dash's hoof away. "Look! Look! Look! Look! Look! The train's here!" Everypony turned their heads to see the train in the distance. They watched as the train came to a stop next to them. The doors of the now immobile vehicle opened up to reveal a dog with a bag on his back. His fur was black and wore a white collar around his neck with a purple tie and black vest. They perfectly matched his purple eyes that seemed to almost glow. The group of friends stared at him with shock. "Is the new stallion behind the dog?" Rainbow asked. The dog stepped forward and smiled at the group. He spoke. "Hello there. I take it you're the Elements of Harmony?" Twilight was the first to answer after an awkward silence. "Yes, you must be the new pon-I mean resident?" The dog chuckled, his charming voice heard again when he spoke to her. "I know, I know. It's a bit unorthodox that a dog has come to live in Ponyville, but I can assure you that I'm a nice guy." The dog was startled when the pink pony, who was next to the princess, was now next to him. "Hi there! I'm Pinkie Pie and welcome to Ponyville! I would have brought my welcome wagon, but it broke yesterday because of technical difficulties! Hehe! What's your name?" The dog smiled at the party pony and shook her hoof with his paw. "Cecil, just Cecil." Cecil turned to the others and faced them. "Well I'm glad to be here. That train ride was a long one, and the food wasn't as great as you would imagine." He laughed and the others laughed along with him. "So, Cecil, why did you decide to come here to Ponyville specifically?" Rarity asked the charming dog. The group started walking together towards town as the dog explained, "Well, I've heard a lot of great things about this place. Especially about you six. You've saved Equestria numerous times! You're all so great that I've even talk about you on my broadcasts." Applejack raised an eyebrow and asked, "Broadcasts? What broadcasts?" "Well, I own a radio station up in Manehatten. But I decided to move to a more secluded place and build a radio station here." "What's it called?!" Pinkie asked full of excitement. Well," Cecil started, "It was called Manehatten news when I lived over there. But now that I'm living in Ponyville I guess I'll have to call it something different." "Hey! While you wait why don't you come to Sugar Cube Corner and try some of my cupcakes?!" "Sure! I still have some time until I go on the air. Plus I really need to eat something after that train food." The bouncy pink pony led him and her friends to the colorful bakery in Ponyville. The wondrous smell of cakes and baked goods entered Cecil's nose as they entered the building. The group sat down except for Pinkie who was bringing her friends some delicious cupcakes. "Try one! They're fresh from the oven!" Pinkie exclaimed as the dog took a bite from one of the cupcakes. His expression showed amazement as he chewed on the sweet treat. "Amazing! What's your secret ingredient?" Pinkie giggled, "Well, I guess I can tell you." She then whispered in his ear, not letting any of her friends hear. Cecil chuckled when sh finished telling him. "Interesting. Very." They rest of the mane five shrugged at what Pinkie had told him. It probably wasn't important anyways. Twilight and Cecil walked through Ponyville greeting the other ponies around. Twilight thought it would be a great idea to introduce Cecil to the town. After a long time of not talking to each other, Cecil broke the silence. "Your friends sure are wonderful, Princess." Twilight smiled at him, "Thanks, and you can just call me Twilight." "Alright, Twilight." Cecil said with a big smile on his face, "Your friend Pinkie sure is a hyperactive one. But she seems like a lot of fun." "Hehe, yeah. She can be a bit to much sometimes, but you get used to it." "You know, between you and me, you were the one I reported on the most." Twilight turned to him in surprise, "Really? Why?" Cecil turned to face her, "Well, besides you being princess and all, you are the most interesting pony I've ever heard about. I mean, you were the star pupil of Princess Celestia, you've had some crazy adventures, and even became an alicorn! That's pretty awesome." Twilight blushed, "Thanks. I would never have thought I would be a princess. If you told me, years ago, that I would become an alicorn and become the Princess of Friendship, I probably would have thought you were crazy." Cecil laughed, "Probably not as crazy as you did when you freaked out about not sending a letter to the princess." She gasped, "How do you know about that?" "I have some interns that tell me about some of the stuff that happens around here. Don't worry, I didn't tell anyone on the radio about that incident." Twilight blushed even more, but this time embarrassed. "I was a bit crazier back then, but I've grown a lot since then. Also..." The alicorn turned around to see if any pony was listening and then whispered in his ear, "I was a bit of a conspiracy nut back then." Cecil chuckled, "Really? What about now?" Twilight nodded, "Not anymore really. I guess I realized that conspiracies aren't real." "Really? You don't believe in conspiracies anymore?" "No not really." Cecil smiled at her, "Interesting." "So, where are you going to live while you get ready to build your radio station?" Cecil looked at her with a very shocked expression, "Get ready? But I've already built the station." "Really?" Twilight said with the same expression as the dog's. "Where?" Cecil pointed behind Twilight and said, "Over there on top of the hill that overlooks Ponyville." Twilight turned around, and sure enough it was there. It must've been half the height of her castle, and the symbol on the tower was a purple eye with the moon in the middle of it. "Strange, I don't remember this being here. How could I have missed it?" Cecil looked at the sun, it was now hiding behind the mountains. "Thank you Twilight for introducing me to the wonderful town, but I have to get up there right now. I'm live in thirty minutes." "Oh okay, I'll just stay home and listen to you then. I'll be sure to tell the others to listen as well." "Great!" Cecil exclaimed,"And trust me, you're going to love it." Twilight, Spike, and Starlight Glimmer sat at the Cutie Map with a radio set up with some tea and cookies to keep them company. "So," Twilight's pupil started, "This new pony is actually a dog? Strange." "Yeah, don't you think it's weird?" Spike said as he stuffed cookies in his mouth. Twilight nodded and took a sip from her tea, "No. Not at all. He seems to like it here, and is pretty charming." Starlight looked at her teacher with the 'I know you like him face'. Twilight, knowing what Starlight meant, rolled her eyes. "No, Starlight. He's a nice guy, but I just met him. And besides, I'm a pony and he's a dog, it would be weird. He would think I'm weird." Spike laughed, "So you do like him then?" Twilight blushed and quickly grabbed the radio, "Woah will you look at the time! The broadcast must be on!" She quickly turned the knob on the radio, trying to find the station in which Cecil was on. After several moments she found it and let the radio sit on the cutie map. The familiar charming voice came out of the radio saying, "A friendly joyful community where the sun is hot, the moon is beautiful, and mysterious lights pass overhead while we all pretend to sleep. Welcome to Pony Vale." Twilight sure was excited to hear him in the radio. Despite never hearing about him before, he told her that he was famous for some of his broadcasts around Equestria. The voice came again after the mysterious music silently faded away. Hello listeners. To start things off I've been asked to read this brief notice. The Mayor of Ponyville announces the opening of a new dragon park at the corner of Quills and Sofas. "Cool! A new park!" Spike said with excitement. She would like to remind everyone that dragons are not allowed in the dragon park. Spike shook his head, "Wait what?" Ponies are not allowed in the dragon park. It is possible, you will see hooded figures in the dragon park. Do not approach them. Do not approach the dragon park. The fences are electrified and highly dangerous. Try not to look at the dragon park and especially do not look for any period of time at the hooded figures. The dragon park will not harm you. Starlight blinked a couple of time before saying, "Well that was weird." "It really was," Twilight agreed. And now the news. Granny Smith, grandmare of Applejack, says the angels revealed themselves to her. Said they were ten feet tall, radiant, and one of them was black. Said they helped her with various chores around the barn. One of them made a sandwich for her with fresh new hay from Hay and Hay By Products. She is willing to sell the sandwich which was touched by an angel. It was the black angel if that sweetens the deal for anyone. If your interested, go visit Granny Smith. "Okay that doesn't sound like Granny Smith at all!" Spike said in disbelief at the voice on the radio. Welcome to Pony Vale would like to thank our new sponsor and friend Pinkie Pie. Sugar Cube Corner's cupcakes and baked goods are absolutely wonderful! Go to Pinkie's and get a dozen cupcakes! You won't regret it. And remember, no one does a cupcake like Pinkie Pie. No one. The music changed again as the voice on the radio spoke once more. Lights, seen in the sky above Ponyville. Not the glowing stars in the night sky, something closer yet beyond that. We know the difference. We've caught on to their game. We understand the lights above Ponyville game. Invaders from another world. Ladies and gentlecolts the future is here, and it's about a hundred feet above Ponyville. Starlight trotted towards the window and gasped. "Twilight, Spike, you might want to see this!" The two friends ran towards the window and gasped too when they saw them. The glowing lights hovering only a hundred feet from them. They flew in patterns that seemed random, but orderly. The voice on the radio returned. A team of scientists have just reported that there are actually earthquakes happening in Ponyville all the time, a magnitude of 10.5. I don't know about you, but the ground has been as still as the coffee mug on my table. The scientists have double checked and are sure that there are earthquakes happening right now. Well, submit an insurance claim anyway, see what you can get right? Spike shrugged, "He's got a point about that one actually." Now, Traffic. Police are informing citizens that there are ghost carriages riding amok. They want to remind you to not get in a ghost carriage, because ponies who have entered are never seen again. They also want to inform everypony to not try to match the speed of the ghost carriages, they are pretty reckless. But police say it is okay to match the speed of the mysterious lights hovering above Ponyville, since they are flying in an orderly fashion. And now, the weather. The three ponies jumped when they heard something outside the window. It was music. "Is that music?" Twilight said with disbelief at what she was seeing, or rather, hearing. "The weather is music?! What the hay is going in?!" The citizens of Ponyville, who were also listening to the station, ran outside to hear the weather. They all panicked. The music slowly faded away, and Cecil came back on the air. Welcome back listeners. The sun didn't set at the correct time today, says the scientist who has just handed me this paper. Apparently the sun set ten minutes later than it was supposed to. They are quite certain about it. I asked them if they had any explanation for this, but all they did was do a handstand and ran away. It was probably Celestia, she must've forgot to set it. Still, we must be grateful for her controlling the sun and all. It's easy to forget when it's really, really, REALLY, hot! But things would actually be harder for us without the sun. The next time the sun rises, whenever that is, take a moment to feel grateful for the sun. Yes, even when it's unbearably hot. Well listeners, I believe it's time to go to bed, we must have a good rest in order to feel prepared for what lies ahead. Goodnight Pony Vale. Goodnight The three friends stood in awe, they were unable to fathom what had just happened. Twilight was going to have a serious talk with Cecil tomorrow.