//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: The Calm // Story: Secure Containment for Ponies // by epiccuttlefish //------------------------------// Despite her best efforts, neither Josephine nor Saber were surprised. They were trying to make it look like they were, and they were doing a very good job of it, but not good enough to fool Pinkie. "Hello, new ponies! What are you names?" she said excitedly, not letting the fact that her surprise party apparently wasn't a surprise get her down. "Ooh! Let me guess! Is your name Mary Sue?" she added pointing at Josephine. "No, my name is Josephine," Josephine laughed. "Okay! This is your 'Welcome to Ponyville party!' Have fun!" Pinkie said. As they entered the building, the extent of the party became evident. It seemed like half of he town was present, with a table full of cakes, cupcakes, and other pastries, as well as punch in the back of the building. There was an off-white unicorn with an electric-blue mane acting as the party's DJ. A pair of large, purple glasses covered her eyes, while the turntable she was using prevented Saber and Josephine from seeing her cutie mark. "Who's that?" Saber asked, using a wing to point to the DJ. "Who? Oh, that's DJ Pon-3!" Pinkie replied. Seeing that the object of his curiosity was busy and probably wouldn't appreciate being disturbed, he mentally filed the information away for later use and joined the party. Elsewhere in the party, Josephine was making small talk with some of the other ponies present. "So, how is your family doing?" Rarity asked her. Instead of responding, Josephine looked down sadly, beginning to cry. Before the conversation could progress any farther, Saber noticed what was happening and intervened. "What's going on here?" he asked. "I just asked her about her family, and she started crying!" Rarity answered. "Let's just say that she has had some very traumatic experiences involving her family," Saber replied, wrapping a wing around the crying unicorn and leading her away. "That's no good!" Pinkie exclaimed, obviously upset that somepony was unhappy at one of her parties. "If you don't mind me asking, what happened?" Rarity asked, once Saber returned. "Only she knows exactly what happened, but I know that both of her sons were killed in front of her," Saber replied. "Oh, that's just terrible! How old were they?," Rarity said. "They were both between eight and fifteen years of age," Saber answered. "That's about Sweetie Belle's age... That's too horrible to think about, especially at a party," Rarity replied. "Agreed." After Josephine had recovered enough, she returned to the party, and everypony was wise enough to not ask about her family. However, they still asked about other topics. "Are there any humans where you come from?" Lyra asked. "Whatever gave you that idea?" Josephine laughed. "Well, you come from far away, and everypony knows that humans have existed in the past, so they might still exist somewhere else?" Lyra replied. "Are you bothering ponies about humans again, Lyra?" Bon Bon said, walking up. "No..." Lyra replied, somewhat embarrassed. Bon Bon raised an eyebrow. "...maybe." "It's fine. I'm interested in what the ponies of this land believe, and that includes humans," Josephine replied. "Okay!" Lyra said, perking up. "Here's what I've learned about humans..." "Oh great, here we go again..." Bon Bon grumped. Later... "Aw, come on, Josephine! Just try it!" Rainbow said. "Ah know you'll love it. Mah family made it," Applejack added. "I don't think this is a good idea..." Josephine hesitated. "What are you worried about?" Rainbow asked "Loss of control," Josephine answered simply. "Twi drinks this stuff and doesn't lose too much control," Rainbow replied. "'Too much' control?" Josephine questioned. "Her magic becomes less... precise, less... refined," Rainbow answered. Josephine seemed to become lost in thought. "I remember the last time I lost control..." "What happened?" Applejack asked. "I was angry at myself. I lost control to my anger. Then... everything exploded. The fireball was large enough to be seen from hundreds of kilometers up." Josephine replied, a sad look on her face. "That's... a large fireball," Rainbow said, shocked. "And that's why I am hesitant to do anything that might cause me to lose control," Josephine said. "So, alcohol would be a bad idea?" Applejack stated. "Yes," Josephine replied. The party was great (as all of Pinkie Pie's parties are), and lasted well into the evening. Eventually, though, it had to end, as all thing do. Twilight and her friends volunteered to help clean up, while Saber used the opportunity to talk to DJ Pon-3 and Josephine helped clean up, not willing to inconvenience the others by leaving. About half an hour later, everything was cleaned up. "Many hooves make light work!" Pinkie exclaimed out of the blue. "Indeed," Josephine agreed. "Well, I'm heading home now, I need my beauty sleep," Rarity said. "Ah suppose Ah should head home too," Applejack added. "Yeah, we should all head home. Good night everypony!" Twilight said. After that, everypony went home, with Saber and Josephine returning to the Castle of Friendship with Twilight and Spike. Once they returned to their rooms, Saber and Josephine began talking through their communicators, as they did the previous night. "Let's go over what we learned today," Josephine said. "Agreed. Applejack is a Type Yellow in addition to being a Type Blue. Specific classification unknown, situation indicated K," Saber started "I was able to get a bit more on her. She's a BKP. Whether she's a BKPX, BKPY, or BKPZ, I don't know, but she's definitely a BKP. Why did you not detect this earlier?" "Type Yellows only show up as Yellow when they use their power." "Hmm..." "Both Fluttershy and DJ Pon-3 (real name Vinyl Scratch) are both Type Grays and Type Reds in addition to being powerful Type Blues, but in different ratios. DJ Pon-3's Type Blue and Type Red abilities are being suppressed by something. I tried to talk to her about it after the party, but I was unable to learn anything about it." "Interesting..." "I have formed a theory about Pinkie Pie. It seems like her soul is a fragment of a much larger soul, and has fragmented into three itself." "Very interesting... So where is this 'larger soul'?" "Unknown." "That's slightly worrying... Anything else?" "Not that you shouldn't know already." The next morning went much the same as the previous one had. Twilight went up to get Saber and Josephine while Spike made pancakes, and the four of them were joined by Starlight for breakfast. They mostly talked about the differences between their societies, though there was much that Saber and Josephine weren't allowed to talk about, much to Twilight's frustration. "So, what would you like to do today, now that all of our paperwork is done?" Starlight asked. "I would like to visit a library, if possible," Saber replied. "I would like to just walk around town, maybe talk to some of the townsponies," Josephine added. "Sounds great! After we clean up breakfast, I can show you my library!" Twilight exclaimed, her love of books overcoming her earlier frustration. "I can escort Josephine around town," Spike said, secretly hoping that Josephine would give him more sapphires. Josephine smiled. "Don't worry, Spike, I'll give you some sapphires..." "Yeah!" Spike said excitedly. "...if Twilight approves." Josephine finished. "Aww..." Spike said, disappointed. "He can have a couple, but not too many," Twilight said. Josephine nodded in response, and Spike cheered up. After breakfast was cleaned up, Twilight and Saber went to the castle's library. "So, what type of book would you like to read?" Twilight asked. "I would like to learn about Equestria," Saber replied. "What about Equestria? History, culture... what?" "A bit of everything, though I would like to focus on capabilities, culture, and history, in descending order." "Capabilities? What do you mean by that?" "Technology, practical applications of magic, that sort of thing. In general, both what Equestria, as a nation, is capable of and what the citizens of Equestria are capable of individually." "Okay... that's a very broad topic. Are you sure that's what you want to focus on for your first research project in Equestria?" "Yes." "If that's your choice... Culture books are on racks C3 through C7, history is all of D and E1, magic is all of A and B, technology is C1 and C2. Fiction is on racks G and H, so you'll probably want to avoid those." "Understood." With that, Saber entered the library racks in search of knowledge. Meanwhile, Josephine and Spike were wandering the town. "Anywhere in particular you want to go?" Spike asked. "Not really. Anyway, you know the town better than I." "Okay... then let's go see Rarity!" Spike decided. Josephine snorted in amusement. "Of course..." "How are you reading so fast?" Twilight asked. "I have photographic memory," Saber answered, not looking up from the book he was reading and flipping to the next page. "That doesn't answer my question." "I take a mental photograph of each page and read them later," Saber replied, flipping to the next page. "I'm pretty sure that's not how photographic memory works." "It's how my memory works," Saber said, turning to the next page in the book for the third time in the brief conversation. Upon entering the Carousel Boutique, Spike and Josephine noticed that the bell above the door rang, as it had previously. "Welcome to the Carousel Boutique! I'll be with you in a moment," Rarity called out from the back of the store. After a moment, Rarity returned to the front of the store. "How may I help... Oh! Spike! Josephine! What brings you here?" "I wanted to take a stroll around town, and Spike knows the town better than I do, so I let him choose where we go," Josephine explained. "And he chose to come here first? That's..." Rarity said, trying to find the right word. "Not surprising?" Josephine supplied. "Not what I was thinking, but yes," Rarity replied. "I'm having trouble believing you can remember what you're reading, with how fast you're reading," Twilight said. "A Brief History of Equestria, Vol. 5, page 173, line 8: '682 CR, the griffin warlord Gerulf began his sixth invasion of Equestria, resulting in'." Saber replied, not looking up from his book. Twilight picked up the book Saber referenced from the pile of books he had read, finding it near the bottom. She turned to page 173, and found the eighth line to be exactly what he said. "I guess you weren't lying." Saber just snorted dismissively in response. "So, where should we go next?" Josephine asked as she and Spike left the Carousel Boutique. Before he could reply, Spike belched out a scroll. "Looks like Princess Celestia finally replied." "That's an... interesting method of communication," Josephine said. "What does the message say?" Spike opened the scroll and began to read it. "It says... the Elements are needed! Josephine could you tell Twilight that we're meeting at Fluttershy's?" Josephine nodded before vanishing with a slight pop. Spike barged back into the Carousel Boutique. "Rarity! The Elements are needed!" "What should I do?" "You get Pinkie and Applejack. I'll get Rainbow. Josephine is getting Twilight. Meet at Fluttershy's." "Okay," Rarity said, before the two of them rushed out to complete their assigned tasks. Twilight and Saber's reading was interrupted by Josephine suddenly appearing with a pop. "Spike got a letter from the Princess. Apparently the Elements are needed, and Spike said to tell you to meet at Fluttershy's," Josephine said. "Okay. You two stay in the castle," Twilight said before teleporting away. "Well, what do we do now?" Josephine asked after a brief pause. "You do stuff in the castle. I'll just continue reading," Saber replied. "Okay... guess I'll just meditate in my room, then..." Josephine said sadly. Twilight appeared out of her teleport outside Fluttershy's house. Seeing as she was the first there, she knocked on the door. After a brief wait, Fluttershy opened the door. "Oh... hello Twilight. Would you like to come in?" "Yeah, but I'm afraid this isn't just a friendly visit. Apparently Spike got a letter from Celestia and the Elements are needed, so we are meeting here." "That doesn't sound good... What's the problem?" "I don't know... I haven't seen the letter yet." At this point, Rainbow Dash (carrying Spike) flew in at high speed and did not quite stop in time, crashing into the house. Rarity, Pinkie, and Applejack came galloping not far behind. Spike jumped off of Rainbow's back and handed Twilight the scroll he had received from Celestia.