As Twilight, her friends, and the Guardians of the Sun walked out of the castle, it was getting dark. The night creatures let out their calls to the open air as the sky turned a gradual navy blue. All of Ponyville was basked in a dull color.
Noble Blade whistled impressively. "This is Ponyville? This quaint, quiet little place?" He smiled. "Just what I need."
"I don't know about 'quaint and quiet'," Rainbow said to him. "There's a monster attack from the Everfree at least once every two weeks."
"So there's a sufficient defense system in place?" Noble asked as they walked.
Rainbow chuckled. "Ah, heh heh, no. Usually the defense system is, you know, us."
"Ah."
They came into the main part of town. As the group walked towards Sugarcube Corner, Fluttershy's thoughts were on Noble Blade, who was only a few feet behind her. What was up with him? He seemed to be reeking mystery out of his bizarre cutie mark. First, she thought, swords and butterflies aren't exactly two things that could mix very well. So why did he have it? And second, what did it mean? Was he a kind-hearted warrior? She risked a glance behind her. Noble Blade was admiring Ponyville's architecture, his magical blue eyes sweeping around, lingering on the shadows between buildings. Then his eyes met Fluttershy's. They looked at each other for exactly two seconds before they both looked away in embarassment.
Finally the large group came to the center of town and the bakery came into view, looking like something out of a fairy tale. It had a fake gingerbread outside with fake candy decor all over it.
Firestorm licked his lips at the sight. "Okay, that's a tempting sight." He looked behind him. "Sorry you guys, I'm abandoning you all and living a life with that diabetes castle over there. She's the love of my life. See ya!" He flapped in the air over to the building and started to speak in a sultry voice. "Why hello there, sweetie," he spoke seductively, starting to caress the wall. "Come and give daddy some sugar." He started to kiss it, his hooves rubbing up and down the wall. After about ten seconds of this he broke off the kiss and he looked behind him. Some of the mares were blushing, but all of them wore quizzical looks. Noble just looked at him flatly, and Freedom Fighter was pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking his head. He looked back. "What? Give a guy some privacy, will you?" He then started to make out with the wall again.
"He reminds you of me, huh?" Rainbow asked Applejack out of the corner of her mouth.
"Ah've seen ya drink real old cider before," she replied. "Trust me, you'd be doing the same thing he's doing, 'cept you'd prob'ly take it up a notch or two with the wall."
"Aaaaanywayyyy," Twilight cut in, trying not to look at Firestorm seducing a wall, "We'd better give him some time alone." She laughed uncomfortably. "I mean, after all, if you were with the love of your life, you'd want to spend some time alone, right?" She then pushed all of her friends aside, laughing nervously, until they had disappeared down a nearby alley.
Once they were alone, Twilight whispered, "Okay, that was good. Let's get into position."
She charged her horn and the entire group was suddenly inside Sugarcube Corner. The lights were off in the spacious store. All around them, most of the townsponies were hiding behind tables and under desks, and had on party hats and held confetti. Twilight and her friends then hid behind several open tables and waited.
Meanwhile, outside, Firestorm was enveloped in an aura of blue light and was hauled away from the wall, amid his loud protests. Noble cut off his magic. "Sorry to separate you from your one true love, Storm, but we must decide what to do now."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, it's obvious that this is the party's destination, and yet all the lights inside appear to be off. In addition, Twilight and the others disappeared from our view, and I could swear I heard a teleportation pop. They're probably getting into positions right now."
Freedom Fighter made a few hoof gestures, almost invisible in the dark.
"Yes, Freedom, they are setting up an ambush, though it's more commonly known as a surprise party," he said dryly. "We must now decide if we play into their hooves and be surprised..."
Firestorm grew a wide smirk. "...or take matters into our own hooves?"
Noble smiled. "Precisely. After all, if it's a surprise party, who's to say we're to be the ones being surprised?"
"We're gonna surprise the elements of harmony?" Firestorm's grin grew to devilish proportions. "And you of all ponies suggested it?"
"Well, that wasn't the worst idea. They were going to surprise us." Noble's eyes sparkled with mischief. "And I have a pretty good idea of how to go about it, as well."
"What's taking them so long?" Rainbow groaned. She was up in the rafters, trying to listen for activity behind the front door. "They should have come in by now!"
"Hush, Rainbow," Twilight whispered. "This should be a surprise, remember?"
Pinkie was beside herself with excitement. "Oooooh, I can't wait to see the looks on their faces! Who's excited? I'm excited! I don't know if I've ever been this excited before- well, apart from all those other times in the past! I don't know what to do! Well, except for talking, of course. I love to talk. Has anypony noticed that?" she whispered.
Twilight suddenly remembered something. "Wait! Oh my gosh, I forgot, some of these guys are a bit aggressive when it comes to being surprised-"
The door was coated in a dark blue aura and it swung inward. On cue, the lights turned on, Pinkie took center stage with an absurd party hat on her head and a pitcher of dark red fruit punch, and everyone simultaneously lept out from their hiding places and yelled in a voice that could be heard from the outskirts of town, "SURPRISE!"
However, their excited tone turned to murmurs of confusion. There was nopony standing in the doorway. Pinkie's grin disappeared at the sight of it. Nopony was there.
"They didn't come?" she asked in a wavering voice. "But... but..."
Everypony had moved to the front of the room to try to surprise the newcomers, so the back of the shop was empty. Suddenly, with a loud pop, that space was filled with three stallions. One of them did a single word in sign language with over-exaggerated motions. The other two yelled, "SURPRISE!" at the top of their lungs.
Everyone else screamed and whirled around. Pinkie in particular was startled, and had thrown the pitcher of fruit punch across the room towards them in surprise.
The world seemed to slow down for Freedom Fighter, who was directly in the projectile's path. Years of combat training and finely-tuned reflexes made him arch his body almost completely backwards, standing on his hind legs and flailing out his arms wildly as the punch sailed less than an inch over his head, seemingly in slow-motion.
Unfortunately, it hit Noble Blade square in the chest. The red liquid splashed all over him and the impact of the pitcher knocked him backwards. Noble gasped and held on the edge of a table weakly for support, his other hoof held over the spot of impact. He held himself there for a moment, then with a sharp intake of breath he collapsed. Everyone else went silent in shock. He was slumped against a wall on the ground and he started to wheeze. He was dripping red liquid all over his front, the fallen pitcher of juice lying off to the side and spilling juice all over the place.
Fluttershy felt a pang of pain and had rushed over immediately to Noble's body. "Oh my goodness! Are you all right?" she asked him, a hoof to her mouth in concern and her teal green eyes wide in concern.
Noble saw a shining, beautiful sight above his head as he clutched his front, grimacing. He realized that the very beautiful sight was Fluttershy. He slowly, weakly raised a hoof and grasped Fluttershy's. She felt his strong grip gently close over hers, and she saw his face twist into a smile, then wince again.
But before either of them could say anything, Firestorm had rushed over and had kneeled over Noble's inert body. Firestorm shook him. "No, no, no! Come on, Noble! Stay with me! You're not going anywhere!"
Noble looked up at one of his oldest and best friends. He whispered faintly, "Is this... truly how I die?"
Fluttershy was scared, but a little confused. He was dying? He had been hit by a juice pitcher, that was all. But she was still a little worried. What if it caused internal bruising? Or internal bleeding?
Firestorm had dipped his hoof into the red juice dribbling over his front and was trembling as he tried to apply pressure to his fake injury. Noble took a hoof off of his now-red chest and looked at the dark red liquid dripping off of it in horror. Then he twisted his face into one of agony and he clutched his chest again. Firestorm wailed and he started to hug him fiercely.
"Are you hurt?" Fluttershy asked desperately. She looked all over him. No sign of bruising. No cuts. Then why was he acting like he was in mortal peril?
Noble looked at her with a sly grin. "Just play along," he whispered, and winked. Then his smile disappeared and he gasped loudly and sloshed around more red liquid dripping on the ground. He coughed a little bit more and he wheezed louder. "My adventure on this lifeplane is ended," he announced dramatically. "I go to start a new one with Faust." He coughed a little bit louder, took the fallen juice pitcher lying next to him, and dumped a little bit more on himself. He started to shudder.
The rest of the ponies were looking in confusion at the acting taking place, except for Freedom Fighter. He was shaking in silent laughter.
"Before you go..." Firestorm whispered to him, cradling his head, "I just want to let you know... I never really liked you all that much."
Noble chuckled weakly. "It appears the feeling is mutual, my dear friend."
Firestorm's eyes started to water. "You... you really mean it?" he asked hopefully.
Noble nodded. "Every word of it."
Firestorm started to bawl in happiness and he clung to him all the more fiercely.
Noble then turned to face Fluttershy, who had adopted a small smile at the stallion's mischievous antics. He said softly, "Please, stay. I wish to hold to something beautiful... before I pass away."
She went stiff. He had called her beautiful again! It wasn't as though she could move away, so she just stood there, staring in amazement at the punch-covered unicorn, who had a content little smile as his grip on her hoof went limp. Noble peacefully closed his eyes.
"Wait, wait, wait. Beautiful?" Firestorm asked suddenly. Fluttershy, now suddenly aware of everypony else in the room, hurriedly hid her head in her voluminous mane. Firestorm leaned in closer. "Did you just call her beautiful?" he whispered.
Noble opened up one eye in annoyance.
Firestorm continued. "What if I told everyone here that you called her beautiful?" he asked.
"Then I would tell you how the latest Daring Do book ends," Noble said.
Firestorm recoiled in horror. "NO!" he yelled in terror, his eyes twice their normal size.
"Don't you want to know how it ends?" Noble asked him, no longer pretending he was hurt.
"Not right now I don't!" Firestorm covered his ears. Then the two stallions faced the rest of the crowd assembled, who were silent, except for the occasional snicker. Firestorm cleared his throat and announced, "Okay, everyone. Much as I'd hate to admit it, that pony on the ground is not dead. At least this means we can go on with our 'surprise party.'" Firestorm made air quotes as he did so.
"Everypony, meet the newest Ponyville citizens- Noble Blade, Firestorm, and Freedom Fighter!" Pinkie Pie announced to all assembled. A cheer went up, and over in the corner a white unicorn mare with spiky electric blue hair started to play some music.
As the party went underway, Twilight came over to where Noble was still lying and extended a hoof. "Nice acting," she complimented him. Noble took her hoof and used it to pull himself up. "For a moment there I actually thought you were hurt, you were so good."
"Oh, it's nothing," Noble said modestly, levitating a few napkins over and starting to wipe the juice off of him. "That wasn't the first time I had to fake my death, actually. There was once one time I had to do it so I could work undercover to stop a criminal mastermind from destroying the capitol of Saddle Arabia with a massive system of explosives."
"That's interesting," Twilight said to him, her attention focused.
Fluttershy timidly spoke up. "I didn't like it all that much... I was really scared that you were actually dying." She avoided looking at him.
Noble felt guilt pierce him like a javelin. He had scared her. He had startled the elements of harmony. All because he had wanted to have a little bit of fun. Quietly, he said, "I am sorry, Fluttershy."
Her eyes went up when she heard her name come out of his mouth- in his strong, quiet voice. She noticed that his face looked guilty and she felt sorry for making him feel that way.
He continued to speak. "Can you find in your heart the will to forgive me?" he asked soberly.
It was easy, of course. Fluttershy wasn't one to hold a grudge, and wasn't one to make anyone feel bad about their mistakes. So she said, "Of course I forgive you. Why wouldn't I?" She smiled at him.
Noble looked stunned. She had just smiled! And it was... it was... beautiful. He shook his head as if he was going out of a trance. "T-thank you." He blinked. "Sorry if I'm disoriented, but every coherent thought I had was dashed when you smiled."
Fluttershy started to tremble, her brain shocked hard. It was consistent, one punch after another. What did that mean? Was he trying to flatter her? Or did he really mean it? What if he was just like this around all mares? But her mind was dominated by positive thoughts of it all. What if she was... special to him? What would they call it then?
She hadn't said anything, though, making the situation between them rather awkward. Noble, after not hearing her say anything for ten straight seconds, blushed sheepishly and uncomfortably backed away without a word.
Twilight, who was right there, had overheard everything. She felt a twinge of consternation. After all that he and Twilight had done- he had rescued her- he had to go after Fluttershy! Fluttershy, of all ponies! The warrior had to choose a peaceable mare? What was in Fluttershy that had captured his attention so much?
She gasped and held a hoof to her mouth. Her thoughts were jealous thoughts, the kind of stuff Rarity had thought during that whole Trenderhoof incident! She had to be better than that. She had to learn to just be calm about it and encourage the two of them, not try to break them apart. She had prior knowledge of how to handle that kind of thing- again, Trenderhoof. If she tried to force others apart, that would only made things between her friends worse.
'Besides,' she thought, 'I am technically his boss. He probably has a policy on dating princesses and his other higher-ups. He's the kind of stallion who would have that sort of thing in place.' She needed to ask him about it sooner or later... preferably sooner.
By now the party was well underway. The food was being served, ponies were chatting or dancing to the music, and Applejack had gone out of the room and had returned with a few barrels of-
"CIDER!" Rainbow Dash and Firestorm squealed at the same time. They both glowered at each other competitively, then sped in a flash to the first barrel. They both grasped one end of the barrel and started to play an intense game of tug-of-war with the barrel, involving a great deal of grunts and roars of determination. This ended abruptly, however, when Applejack pushed the two of them apart, fixing both of them a glare before she allowed both of them a hefty tankard.
As Firestorm drank, he paused his drink and looked at the drink curiously.
"Sumthin' the matter?" Applejack asked.
"Nonono, nothing's wrong. In fact, it's great. It's just that I've..." he swirled the contents. "This is familiar. This reminds me of the stuff I'd snoop out of Princess Celestia's private cider cellar."
"That's 'cause she orders only Sweet Apple Acres cider. She orders it exclusively from us durin' cider season," she announced proudly.
Firestorm's eyes widened. "This is Sweet Apple Acres cider?" he asked.
"Well, why wouldn't it be? Me and my family make it, after all."
Firestorm's breath caught in his throat. "You mean...y-you are the one that makes," he indicated his drink, "Faust's nectar? You, ma'am, are famous."
She blushed. "...Ah don't know 'bout bein' famous. Ah mean, Ah just want ta lead a quiet, simple life with ma family."
"You really make this?" He grew a wide smile.
"...Yeh..."
He stared at her for a moment, then announced to all nearby townsponies, "I like her. She's amazing."
Freedom Fighter was uncomfortable. Taking down over fifty Noxxa by himself? No problem. Facing down escaped monsters from Tartarus? That was what he lived for.
But trying to act sociable and normal for civilian townsponies in a party meant for him? He'd rather take a couple of rounds with Lord Tirek.
On the wall, with a plate of food that he was sneaking into his mouth bite by bite, Freedom nervously looked around. He had his mouth and eyes covered by his armor while still allowing him to see. This, however, was a problem when he tried to eat. He had to zip open a line in his suit near his mouth in order for him to open his mouth to eat. He would prefer it if he didn't show any part of his skin. That was a secret he wanted no one else to know about.
Around the room he was reminded yet again that there were an absurd amount of ponies for whom this was normal. The cake, the balloons, the streamers, the music- all of that was a normal part of their lives. While he, a guardian of Princess Celestia, was a stranger to most of it. It was a case of juxtaposition, of his hard, violent, hardship-filled life where every day was an uncertainty of whether you died or lived, next to these easy, slice-of-life ponies whose biggest concern was having their calendars disrupted by the weather, or having a tea party postponed.
Tea parties? Freedom Fighter didn't care about those kind of things. If he did, what would happen? Would his life be made for the better? Would he make the world a better place by sipping tea, or by destroying the dark and twisted ponies and monsters that threatened the welfare of the ponies that sipped tea?
He noticed a mint green unicorn that kept looking over her shoulder at him. He blended into the shadows in the corner of the room. She had a little bit of fear in her eyes. Freedom Fighter looked down and took another bite of a chocolate cookie. It didn't taste like anything.
'Congratulations, Freedom. You're scaring innocent ponies again.'
I can't help it! I am not doing anything, and she's still scared!
'You're standing threateningly in a corner wearing black all over your body. Big surprise that she's scared.'
So how do we change our outlook? How do we make ourselves good to hang around?
As if on cue, he noticed the peculiar pink pony and the prismatic pegasus beckoning him over. Unsure of their intent, he put down his food and made his way over to where they were. As he walked, other ponies gasped and melted out of his path. He noticed it, making a mental note to try to look less intimidating around the innocent. After all, if he was the one in place of the others, he wouldn't like to be scared.
Then again, since when have you been really scared by anything?
'Marshal Malice.'
You were infuriated. Not scared.
When he finally got to them, he bowed patiently, waiting for them to speak.
"Uh, hiya, Freedom," Rainbow said. "Are you enjoying the party?" She put on a nervous smile.
Perhaps he was scarier than he thought. He nodded again.
"We were just noticing you standing there in the corner- all alone!" Pinkie said to him invitingly. "And we didn't want to see you like that, so we wanted you to have fun with us!"
Her voice had risen in pitch considerably. Freedom winced and twitched his ears.
"But aaaanyway..." Rainbow continued, "We wanted to know if you wanted a, uh, cupcake?" She offered him a large chocolate cupcake with white frosting. But Freedom Fighter noticed that there was a maroon hole in the side of the cupcake that Rainbow tried to cover up. He also noticed an almost-full bottle of hot sauce they had tried to hide behind a pile of napkins.
Ah, a joke.
'Let's play along for this one.'
So he nodded, grabbed the cupcake, and turned away from them and kept his head low. He then popped the whole thing into his mouth and started to chew. As he did so, he noticed that both of them were looking at him excitedly, expecting a reaction.
So he figured he'd give them one. He started to pant and wave a hoof in front of his face, then imitated a drinking motion.
"What's the matter, Freedom? Need a drink?" Rainbow snickered, then started to guffaw along with Pinkie.
Freedom nodded vigorously. Then before either of them could respond, he reached behind the napkins, grabbed the bottle of hot sauce, and popped the top off. The laughing stopped immediately as he began to chug the whole thing.
Pinkie grabbed the sides of her head. "NO! DON'T DRINK THAT!" she yelled in terror.
Freedom ignored Pinkie and continued to drink the entire bottle of hot sauce. When he was done, he put the bottle down, then looked at both of them. He shrugged contentedly, and walked off without another action.
The joke had backfired. Rainbow and Pinkie gave each other a look of confusion and embarrassment.
"You just got pa-ranked!" a voice sang behind them. They both turned to see Firestorm casually nursing a tankard of cider behind them. Firestorm took another drink, then said, "He doesn't have a tongue."
"He doesn't?" they both said, shocked. Rainbow scratched her mane in embarrassment. "So that was why he could drink the sauce without dying," she realized. She then pointed at Firestorm. "But wait- why doesn't he? Did he lose it, or..."
Firestorm coughed uncomfortably. "It's just an old wound. Point is, he can take whatever you can throw at him, easy." His eyes sparkled with mischief. "But if you're looking for a prank to play on us new guys, I have a perfect opportunity."
"What is it?" Pinkie asked.
Firestorm indicated Noble Blade, who was alone. He drew Pinkie closer to him. "Now just follow my instructions carefully." He started to whisper into her ear.
Noble stood alone, quietly eating the delicious cake prepared. It was a sweet double-layered vanilla cake with white and pink frosting. He was lost in thought, looking through the crowds of ponies at a particular pony. A very beautiful pegasus, to be precise. Fluttershy was across the room, her back turned to him as she talked with a purple earth pony others had identified as Cheerilee. What made his insides jolt was that occasionally she would look behind her, for just a second, to look at Noble, then hurriedly turn away again.
For some reason, Noble felt nervous, which bothered him. He had faced monstrous, nightmarish beasts. But he hadn't been as nervous then as he was now in the same room as Fluttershy. Every time he was looking at the back of her head, he was mesmerized by the way it gently swished back and forth, how it hung around her, the way the colors of her mane and coat mixed so perfectly.
A series of squeaks hit his ears and he turned to see Pinkie Pie bounding towards him. "Heya, Noble. You like the party so far?"
Eager to speak, Noble said pleasantly, "Oh, yes. I haven't had a party like this in a very, very long time." That, at least, was true.
Pinkie continued. "You enjoying Fluttershy's cake?"
"Fluttershy made this cake?" he asked in wonder. Noble's eyes went once again to the most beautiful pony he had ever seen, across the room. He shrugged. "Well, then. I'll have to tell her later that her cake is very nice. It's very soft, and thick, and delicious..." He took another bite of the cake.
Pinkie erupted into a giggling fit. "Oh, you silly poo! I wasn't talking about that kind of cake." She elbowed him slyly.
"Not that kind of cake?" Noble was a little confused. He looked down at his cake, then back at Fluttershy. "What do you mean, not that kind of- " The realization hit him. " -oh." His magic cut off and the cake that was being suspended in the air fell to the ground. He blinked in embarrassment. "That kind of cake." He pinched the space between his eyes. "I walked right into that one, didn't I?"
"You sure did!" Pinkie grinned.
Noble groaned and he activated his horn. The cake on the ground floated over to the trash and threw itself away. Noble then started to walk away, still pinching the bridge of his nose. Fluttershy had probably heard that. He had managed to make himself look like an idiot in front of her again. "Congratulations, Noble," he muttered.
Pinkie followed him. "I know all about cakes! I work for the Cakes, actually! And I know that Fluttershy's cake is a pretty good cake! It's not, you know, a cupcake! It's more the size of an MMMM!"
Noble looked back in bafflement. "A what?"
"A Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness, or MMMM for short," Pinkie explained. "I'm telling you, that cake was so big it reached up to the ceiling! We all probably could have fit in it!"
Noble, now with a horrifying mental image of Fluttershy with a... cake... that big, facehooved, groaned in consternation, and started to walk faster.
"And you know what? The name even makes sense! After all, MMMM's the sound you make, isn't it?" Pinkie relentlessly followed him through the room.
Noble groaned in consternation a third time.
"Soft, thick, and delicious, you say?" Pinkie slyly said to him. "You want to tell Fluttershy that now or after the party?"
Noble ran away, his cheeks flaming.
"Hey! Where'd he go?" Pinkie asked, looking around her.
Nearby, Noble muttered, "I need to forget this whole miserable enlightening," inaudible to anyone else. "What, did she really think I'd look at that part of her? I'm better than that! I..." He looked once more at Fluttershy, who was now moving off to a spot in the corner. And his male brain drifted his eyesight down to her flank, which, he had to admit, looked voluptuous.
Noble slapped himself and shook his head. "Oh Celestia, what's wrong with me?" he groaned. "I'm an even bigger stalker for that!"
Outside of his peripheral vision, unknown to him, a pink earth pony trotted back to a dark orange Pegasus with a fiery mane and they gave each other a hoof bump in success.
"Why howdy, Noble," Applejack said, noticing the light blue unicorn slump his way over to the cider barrel. "What can Ah do fer ya?"
"I need a drink that can help me forget recent experiences. Do you happen to have any strong cider on hoof?"
"Nope. Sorry 'bout that." She thought for a little bit. "Although we do have cider with bolyporphin in it. It recreates the rush from alcohol without the negative side effects like, er, liver failure. But drink too much of it and you'll end up knocked out colder'n a leftover hush puppy."
"Perfect!" Noble said. He filled a tankard with some of it and took a hearty swig. When he did, his eyes rolled to the sides of his head. "Wooooaaah, that's good."
"Just remember- not too much, or yu'll end up on your back like a cow bucked ya in the face, and with a headache to match."
Her warnings were heard but not heeded by Noble as he filled up another.
There was a cough behind Noble and he turned to see Rarity behind him in line. Noble set his drink down. "Why, Rarity. Art thou doing well this festive night?"
"I most certainly am, thank you very much," she replied dreamily. "Tell me, do you happen to stem from Canterlot? I couldn't help but notice your exquisite manners and dreamy accent when you talk with the thees and thous."
Noble sighed. "Yes, I do come from there, I suppose. I was in close proximity to Celestia in my youth."
"You were close to Celestia?" Rarity gasped. "Then you must have been high in class! You must have hung out with the Canterlot nobles all the time! But, you know, you were the best, you know, Noble there! The only Noble there! Snrk!" She snorted and laughed.
Noble smiled.
Rarity continued. "The Canterlot nobles are the highest part of all of Canterlot! They're filled with so much class and distinction! There may be a few...exceptions, but all in all, they're an amazing, fascinating group of ponies! What do you think, Noble? You grew up there, and you're one of them, so you must like them! What can you tell me about them?" She circled her hoof on the table, leaning in close to hear his answer.
Noble drained the rest of his drink and slammed the tankard on the counter with a ferocity that surprised her.
"What can I tell you about them?" he asked, his voice a little deeper than usual. "I can tell you that those stuck-up, putrid peacocks disgust me. They act all powerful and important and want the best of everything, but the instant anything bad comes their way, they snivel and whine like the foals they are and complain that their jobs are too difficult or beneath them." His voice dropped even more. "Those unlicked cubs have no sense of self-reliance. They expect life to be a smooth plane of happiness and luxury. And so they grow lazy with the wealth they have, and they adorn themselves with that which hath no worth. They sell themselves for that which will canker. And so they become weak. Easy lives create weak ponies. Your money becomes a crutch that you lean on, never knowing your strength without the crutch. Once the crutch is kicked out from under you, you're crippled." He smacked his cup off the counter.
Rarity put a hoof to her mouth. She was amazed at the fury in Noble's voice. She looked down. "I... take it you don't like Canterlot."
"I tolerate it because of its marvelous architecture and Celestia's presence. Were it not for that, I would actively avoid that wretched hive of scum and villainy."
Rarity put a hoof on his shoulder. "But you are not at all like that! You are modest, and kind. Your shine overrules that of the others a hundred times over!" She fluttered her eyelashes at him.
Noble squirmed. He felt a little uncomfortable with Rarity scooting in closer and closer to him. "Please excuse me," he said, and he bolted off.
Rarity couldn't make head or tail of the whole thing. He was just so interesting, and he wasn't interested in her? Why?
She then took a hearty drink of cider herself.
As with all good things, however, the party had to end. It was at about eleven o' clock when the DJ started to pack up, the food was put away, and everypony started to leave.
"You know what?" Firestorm asked as he rested comfortably in his chair. "I've felt something tonight. For the first time in five years, I feel at peace." He noticed Freedom Fighter making a side comment with his hooves, and he scowled. "Hey! Freedom! I was speaking! And you have the gall to interrupt me? Gosh!"
Freedom pointed at himself quizzically.
"Yes, you! Now be quiet and don't talk when I'm talking. I'm trying to be sincere for the first time in my life and you're being loud. Stop it."
Freedom facehooved.
"The point is, being with you all and having fun tonight, when there aren't monsters trying to kill me 24/7... It's made me feel... happy. I feel happier now than I've felt in the past five years."
"That's prob'ly just a side effect of all that cider ya drank," Applejack observed, rolling a cider barrel out of the door. "But don't worry. Drink plenty o' water 'fore ya go ta bed tonight and it should be gone in the mornin'."
Firestorm sighed and jerked a hoof behind him at Applejack. "Is she always like this?" he asked Rainbow.
"You have no idea," Rainbow said unequivocally.
As Fluttershy got up to leave, Noble, who was near to the door, went over and held it.
"Oh... um, thank you, Noble," she said, smiling at him nervously, then blushing and bolting out.
Noble closed the door behind her, unsure of what to make of it. Was she scared of him? Embarrassed of him? He didn't know.
The rest of the girls followed him except for Pinkie, who was staying in Sugarcube Corner. Each of them thanked him for holding the door open. Twilight was the last one out, and she beckoned for the three stallions to follow her. The three Guardians of the Sun followed Twilight out of the door into the dimly lit streets of Ponyville. Firestorm waved at the wall he was making out with earlier, then turned away sadly.
"What's wrong?" Twilight asked him, spotting his face.
Firestorm sighed. "It's her," he said, and jerked his head back at the wall as if it needed no more explanation. "We just don't talk to each other anymore. Every time I do, it's like I'm talking to a brick wall or something."
Twilight needed a moment to realize he was talking about the wall, and she giggled softly. "So how was your first evening in Ponyville?" she asked as they walked.
"I liked it," Firestorm said. "No monsters I have to deal with, if you don't count Rarity."
"Oh, she's not that bad," Twilight said, secretly fearing he didn't like her.
"Yuh huh. Tell me, have you heard of a manticore that cares as much about clothes as her? An Ursa Minor? A Nox?"
"Nooooo..."
"Then they aren't as terrible as her. She terrifies me." He shuddered.
"I'll bet she would say the same thing about you," Noble observed.
"Then we might finally be in mutual agreement."
They reached the castle. The three Guardians went inside, said good night to Twilight, and then went to their guest rooms as Twilight went to her own room. Because Freedom Fighter was in the room opposite to Noble's, Firestorm had to be in the room next to Noble's. It was eleven thirty when Noble Blade finally slipped into his covers and thought about his day.
The only thing he could clearly remember was the first time he had seen Fluttershy's face. That beautiful shade of yellow and that beautiful color of pink. And the amazing, amazing teal green eyes that were so wide when she looked at him. It stayed with him, it captivated him, it was all he could think about as he drifted off to sleep.