//------------------------------// // Chilling is my business... and business ain't so good. - Disc 1 // Story: The Masks We Wear // by the7Saviors //------------------------------// It was getting later in the afternoon when we finally touched down just on the outskirts of Ponyville. To be honest, it looked just as I expected a place called 'Ponyville' to look; old fashioned stone bridges, wooden carts being pulled around by various ponies, open air markets, and thatched roof houses - and that was just what I could see from when we were still airborne. I could tell that what happened earlier with the voice still weighed on Twilight's mind, and I didn't blame her. I was still kind of reeling from the shock too, in my own way. Still, we each decided to set the matter aside for the time being, seeing as we had no concrete answers and there were more immediate issues to distract ourselves with. Once we were grounded I hopped out of the cart, shortly followed by Twilight and Spike. Spike had opted to take a ride on Twilight's back rather than walk like the rest of us mortals. Lazy bastard... I stretched my arms a bit before giving the scenery a quick once over. What I saw was, well... idyllic. Very Idyllic. So idyllic I could've sworn it was all fake. I walked over to Twilight, not taking my eyes off the too-green pasture and overly lush trees, "Hey, Twilight?" Twilight 'hmm'd' noncommittally, eyes glued to the checklist she had written just before we landed. I waved my hand in front the list to catch her attention. It must've worked because gave me an annoyed scowl. "What?" she groused. I leaned in close to her and Spike, whispering conspiratorially, "This place kinda creeps me out." Twilight raised an eyebrow and looked behind me. Her gaze swept over the green landscape and back to the town a little ways into the distance. She glanced at the ponies milling about, minding their own business and then back to me, confused, "Everything looks normal to me," she whispered back. "Yeah," I responded quietly, "too normal. I don't like it." "I think this place is kind of nice," Spike added just as quietly. "Me too," agreed the pink pony, "but why are we whispering?" We all jumped and stumbled back in alarm. No one said anything for a moment - that is until the pink pony giggled, stopped giggling abruptly, gasped suddenly as her eyes bugged out, and then took off like the goddamn Roadrunner. I'm not gonna lie - it kinda scared the shit out of me. After a second I turned to Twilight, gesturing towards where the pink nightmare disappeared and gave her a 'This is exactly the kind of shit I'm talking about.' look. She looked at me, turned to Spike who had just gotten up and was dusting himself off after falling off her back, turned to where The Pink One, vanished, and then turned back to me. "Um," she began awkwardly, then she hovered the list over to her face and Spike to her back, "let's just... go to the first place on the list, shall we?" She began walking further into the open field and I took one last suspicious look back at the town before following behind her. "So, where we headed?" I asked as I caught up to Twilight. Spike took out the roll of parchment Celestia had given us from Twilight's saddlebags and looked it over, "It looks like we're supposed to go to Sweet Apple Acres and meet the mare in charge of catering for the Summer Sun Celebration." "Right," added Twilight, "according to my list, we're supposed to meet with a mare named Applejack." "Sweet Apple Acres, huh?" I repeated thoughtfully, "So, we're probably headed out to some farmlands then." Sure enough, we started seeing rows upon rows of apple trees as we walked further. An apple farm... of course it's an apple farm. Truth be told, I've actually never been a big fan of apples. Unfortunately - given the name of the farmlands, the name of the mare we were supposed to meet, and the abundance of apple trees - these ponies were most likely gonna be all about the apples. Joy. "YEEHAW!" Snapped out of my musings by the sudden cry, I looked up just in time to see an orange coated mare in a Stetson run up, turn, and buck one of the apple trees. Apparently the kick was so strong it knocked all the apples out of the tree and into some buckets set up at the base. She repeated this a few more times with some other trees before she stopped and looked over her work - looking all kinds of smug I might add. Well aren't you just a regular cowpoke? Before I could say anything to the farmer, Twilight walked over to her first, "Excuse me," she called out. Once she had the mare's attention she continued, "Sorry to interrupt, my name's Twilight Sparkle and-" That's all she was able to get out before the farm pony gave her one of the most intense hand - hoofshakes I had ever seen. "Well, howdy-do there, Twilight!" she greeted enthusiastically, "name's Applejack! Always good ta meet a new friend!" "Whoa there," I said, steadying Twilight once Applejack had finally let go of her hoof, "bring it down a notch, Calamity Jane." "Calamity who?" Spike asked. Everyone ignored him, naturally. "Well now, ain't you a big'n," she observed, looking up at me with a bit of surprise. I leaned down and held out my hand to shake her hoof, morbidly curious to see just how ridiculous her hoofshake really was, "Name's Terrence Thurston - call me Terry," I said with a friendly smile. My friendly smile turned a bit pained when she grabbed my hand and jerked my entire arm up and down, much like she had Twilight's hoof. "Don't rightly know whatcha are pardner, but it's good ta meetcha all the same!" she said with that same overbearing enthusiasm. "Yeah, well," I started, wincing a bit as I tried to rub some feeling back in my hand, "you're definitely a far cry from the nobles up in Canterlot." Applejack gave me a knowing smirk, "I'd imagine so," she chuckled and gave me a jovial smile, "ya seem like the friendly sort at any rate, so why would I treat ya any different?" "Fair enough," I conceded with a shrug. She nodded and turned to Twilight, "So, what can ah do for ya?" Twilight cleared her throat and went into... business mode, I guess? She looked over her notes one more time before addressing Applejack. "I'm actually here from Canterlot to check on the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration on Princess Celestia's behalf," she gave Applejack a pointed look, "from what I understand, you're in charge of the banquet, correct?" "Yes, ma'am" Applejack confirmed, then she looked thoughtful for a second before beaming at the three of us, "in fact, if yer lookin' for a taste test, me and mah family are about ready ta take a lunch break ourselves." "Oh," Twilight began nervously, "well, that's awfully kind of you to offer but it's getting late and we still have a lot to-" "Oh come on, Twi," Spike whined from her back, "I haven't eaten lunch today and I'm starving!" he folded his arms and gave a disapproving look, "and besides, you haven't eaten at all today. You said you'd 'get around to breakfast' but never did." "I know, Spike," she argued, "and I'm sorry, but it's imperative that we get this done before-" "Now hold on a minute," I interrupted, "he actually makes a good point. Because of all that Velvet Room crap, I never got to actually eat breakfast." Twilight went to retort but her stomach beat her to the punch and growled audibly. Her face reddened for a second, before she let out a defeated sigh, "Okay we can stay for a quick lunch - but only one serving," she quickly added. "Well that settles it then!" Applejack laughed, then she walked over to a wooden post with an old fashion metal triangle and rang it a couple of times. "SOOOOOUUUPS ON EVERYPONY!!!" And that's when all hell broke loose. It started out as a slight rumbling I could feel in the ground. "What is that?" Twilight asked, looking around nervously. I didn't answer her because I was too busy looking at a point in the distance she couldn't see with her lower vantage point. "What the fuck?" I whispered, squinting at a rising cloud of dust. "Oh no," I heard Twilight utter quietly, horror evident in her voice. I was wondering what she was worried about, when I heard it. Hooves. The sound of dozens - maybe hundreds - of hooves could be heard over the horizon, getting closer by the second. "Oh, hell no!" I cried. I turned to Twilight, "Twilight, take Spike and get the fu-" That's all I could manage before they were on us. For what seemed like an eternity, nothing in the world was right anymore. I felt myself being pushed and pulled in every direction violently. I think I heard Spike yell something, but I couldn't be sure. I didn't know which way was up, all I could see in this brand new world of disorientation were blurs of color. I swore I lost my mind at one point. And then it was over. I blinked a few times and looked around. Twilight, Spike, and I were now sitting at a table with a plate of apple pie in front of each of us. We looked at each other, completely dumbfounded at what had just occurred, when Applejack suddenly appeared right next to me, making me jump for the umpteenth time today. "Now that we got y'all settled in, lemme introduce ya to the family," she offered excitedly. "I don't think-" Twilight tried, but Applejack continued on. "We got Apple Fritter, Apple Bumpkin, Red Gala, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious" - with each pony named, more and more plates of apple based snacks were piled on top of what we already had - "Caramel Apple, Apple Strudel, Apple Tart, Baked Apples, Apple Brioche, Apple Cinnamon Crisp," she pointed over to a large red stallion, "Big McIntosh-" the big guy 'eeyup'd' and Applejack moved on "-Apple Bloom," the little yellow filly waved with a friendly smile, "and Granny Smith." The last pony in question was a wrinkled old bright green mare that snapped awake at the sound of her name. She mumbled something I couldn't understand and hobbled over to the table. The three of us just kind of sat there gaping at the size of the family and the ridiculous amount of food on display. We looked at each other again and with a shrug, Spike and I started grabbing whatever we could get our hands and claws on. "Hey!" Twilight snapped, "I said one serving!" I paused my ravenous consumption long enough to turn and give her 'the look', "Twilight, do you see how much food they practically threw at us?" "Yes, but that doesn't mean we can sit around eating the day away. We've got a schedule to keep," she argued, poking her checklist with a hoof for emphasis. "Relax, Twilight," Spike interjected, mouth full of apple strudel, "we'll be done in no time. Besides, this stuff is amazing!" swallowing his food, he offered an apple tart to Twilight, "you gotta try it!" Twilight looked at the tart and then to Spike and I. All we did was waggle our eyebrows and gesture to the mountain of food. With a snort she looked over to the Apple family who just gave her the puppy dog eyes - and when I say the Apple family, I mean all of the Apple family. Eventually she gave a frustrated groan. "Fine, I'll try the food and then we're off to our next stop." All the ponies cheered as she grabbed the apple tart in her magic and took an angry bite. And then another. And another. And before we knew it, she had polished off three apple tarts, two apple strudels, and an entire apple pie. In the end, she ate more than I did, with Spike eating the most out of the three of us. Once she had gotten over her embarrassment and I had answered some of the Apple family's questions about myself, we moved onto our next objective. "Hot damn," I exclaimed happily, "I am stuffed!" We made our way into Ponyville proper and I took the time to look around a bit more. I was still a little leery of the town, but I couldn't deny the sheer... coziness of the place. As I walked along the dirt path I made sure to come off as friendly as possible, smiling and waving like some president or king at a procession. The reactions of the townsfolk were... interesting. Some of them showed the typical fear response - hiding behind their various stands or rushing back into their houses, others just gawked, whispered to each other, or did a combination of both. And yet there were a few who actually returned my greetings - if a bit nervously. While I was busy trying to not make an ass of myself, Twilight and Spike hung back behind me, having their own conversation. At one point I heard my name come up. Curious, I pulled back to listen in. "...with all those weird words he uses anyway?" I heard Spike say, "what do they even mean?" "Honestly, Spike," Twilight responded thoughtfully, "I'm not one hundred percent certain, but based on the context in which he seems to use them, they might be human curse words." Spike nodded in understanding, "You mean like ponyfeathers or horseapples?" "Spike!" Twilight reprimanded, "you shouldn't use words like that, even as examples." "Hehe, sorry, Twi," Spike said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. Twilight shook her head and smiled, "It's fine, Spike. To answer your question though, yes, I believe they're similar to those words." I chuckled at the conversation and turned back around to face forward - just in time to see a rainbow colored blur speeding in our direction. I didn't hesitate this time. Whipping around, I ran towards Twilight and shoved her out of the way. I barely had time to register her cry of surprise before something slammed into me, hard. I was sent flying right into an inconveniently placed mud puddle nearby. Shit, not the headphones! At the last second I turned in the air so that my back hit the mud. I know it might've been a weird thing to focus on but, dammit, these things were expensive. Not only that, I doubt they would've sold this particular brand here in Equestria. Coat was pricey too but I could wash that so it was whatever. I coughed and spat out some mud that made it in my mouth, "Alright," I sputtered, "that one hurt." Hearing laughter somewhere above me, I looked up. Draped over my chest was a cyan pegasus mare with a mane so colorful it was almost painful. "Oh, geez. That was my bad," she said somewhat apologetically, "are you... okay?" She faltered as she turned to see who she was apologizing to. "Um..." she said, staring at me in confusion. I just looked back at her with an impatient frown. "You gonna get off of me anytime this week?" I deadpanned. "Huh?" she uttered, blinking in surprise, "oh, yeah. Sorry." She flew a little ways above me and I got to my feet, trying to wipe away some of the mud. I looked up to see the pegasus giving me a strange look. "What?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. She must've realized she was staring and started to responded, when Twilight ran over with Spike in tow. "Oh my gosh," she cried, "are you okay, Terry?" "Back's a bit sore, but I'm good otherwise," I replied, waving her concerns away. "What the hay are you?" a scratchy voice blurted out. Twilight whipped around and glared at the rainbow maned pony, presumably about to tell her off for her lack of tact, but I just laughed at it. "It's cool Twilight," I assured, still chuckling, "I got this." I turned to the cyan pony with a grin, "I'm a human from a place way outside Equestria. Name's Terrence but you can call me Terry." "A foreigner, huh?" she said, looking at me as though she was sizing me up. After a moment she shrugged, "That's cool," she then puffed out her chest and gave me a cocky smirk, "I'm Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in Equestria and future Wonderbolt extraordinaire!" Oh, boy, I though, rolling my eyes, here we go. "And what exactly is a Wonderbolt?" I asked, already regretting my question as I saw her face light up. "You don't know who the Wonderbolts are?" she asked incredulously. "Um, no?" I said flatly, and pointed to myself, "foreigner, remember?" "Oh, right," she said, chuckling sheepishly, then she continued excitedly, "Anyway, the Wonderbolts are-" "Equestria's premiere stunt flying team. They do shows all over Equestria and also serve as a royal military force when needed," recited Twilight, completely stealing Rainbow Dash's thunder. Rainbow glared at Twilight, who was too busy checking over her list to notice. "Ah-ha," she suddenly exclaimed, "I thought your name sounded familiar." Forgetting her earlier annoyance, Rainbow Dash smirked at Twilight's apparent recognition. "Yeah, I should've known ponies were already talking about me," she gloated, idly leaning back in the air with her forehooves behind her head. How the fuck? "You're the pegasus that's supposed to be keeping the skies clear for the celebration, right?" asked Twilight with a frown. "Oh, yeah," Rainbow Dash said with a roll of her eyes, "that." She flew up and proceeded to lounge on a nearby cloud. Alright, that's pretty neat, I thought with an impressed nod. "I got plenty of time to clear these up," she said, not bothering to look our way, "just gonna do some training first." For what? The Lounging Olympics? "I don't think the Wonderbolts are going to recruit somepony that can't follow a directive the moment it's given to them," Twilight challenged with a smirk. "Whoa, hold up," Rainbow Dash responded, finally turning around to face us from her cloud, "This is completely different from something like that-" Somehow I doubt that. "-and besides, I can clear these skies in ten seconds flat if I wanted to." Twilight snorted in disbelief, "Oh come on, that's ridiculous! I mean sure, you say you're the fastest flyer in Equestria but I mean really, even if that was true, the physics involved would-" "I say go for it," I suggested, cutting off Twilight's argument, "let your wings do the talking, RD." Rainbow Dash huffed, spread her wings, and took off like a chromatic bullet. What followed were a series of rainbow colored lines pinballing across the sky and clouds rapidly vanishing in their wake. After what seemed like a few seconds, Rainbow Dash appeared in front of Twilight with a smug grin. Well, damn. Way to put your money where your mouth is. "Like I said, egghead, ten. Seconds. Flat," she accentuated each word with a boop of Twilight's nose. "Alright already," Twilight conceded, batting Rainbow's hoof away, "somehow, you managed to do the impossible and defy established scientific fact." she gave Rainbow Dash an impressed smirk, "I guess that was pretty cool, Rainbow Dash." "You know it was," Rainbow Dash said with a laugh, then gave Twilight a friendly grin, "you're alright, egghead. We should hang out sometime." "My name's Twilight Sparkle, by the way," Twilight said flatly, "not egghead." "Yeah, yeah," Rainbow responded dismissively, then she flew back over to me, "hey uh, Terry, was it?" "Yup," I responded, "what's up?" "Sorry again about, y'know, flying into you and stuff," she said with an apologetic smile. "Nah, it's cool, Rainbow," I replied casually, "don't worry abo-" "So I'm gonna make it up to you!" She interject, and before I could say anything, she was pushing an ominous looking cloud over my head. Oh, fuck me. It took me a split second to realize what was about to happen and I only just managed to flip my hood up before I was nearly drowned in a deluge of water pouring from the rain cloud. By the end of it I was standing there, completely drenched - clothes and all. "Oh come on, seriously?" I cried glaring at the pegasus, "you couldn't have warned me first?" "Whoops," Rainbow said with a nervous chuckle, "here, hang on a sec." "Wait, don't-" It was too late. Before I could make any kind of protest, I suddenly found myself caught in a rainbow colored wind tunnel. I think Rainbow Dash was saying something but I couldn't hear it over the howling of the air around me. A few seconds later and the wind tunnel vanished, leaving me dazed, a little nauseous, and - to my surprise - completely dry. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's not how laundry works, but whatever I guess. "So, whad'ya think?" Rainbow asked, practically glowing with pride. "I think you should've warned me first," I responded, giving her a flat look. "Ah, whatever," she drawled flippantly, "you're dry aren'tcha?" I went to respond but she smacked my leg and flew off. "Anyway, I gotta fly," she called back with a wave, "see you guys later!" And with that, she was gone. "Wow, she was pretty amazing, huh?" asked Spike, staring in awe at where Rainbow had gone. I honestly forgot Spike was there, he hadn't said one thing since the cyan pony had shown up. "You're right about that, Spike," Twilight agreed, "she's definitely one of a kind." "Yeah, she's something" I added absently, "but seriously though, Twilight," I said, turning to the lavender mare, "I'm surprised you kept your cool when she actually managed to pull off something you swore up and down was impossible." "Well, I can't really argue with what I was able to witness with my own eyes can I?" she responded, like it was the most obvious thing in the world - which I guess in a way, it was. Wow, that's actually a pretty mature way of looking at- "And besides," she continued, giving me that dreaded manic scholar look, "I'm sure we'll meet again. And then we can discuss just how amazing she really is." Spike and I shivered.