Chapter 2
Usual Susupects
Twilight Sparkle was too concentrated in the questions her guest had for her that was startled when the Cutie Mark Crusaders (CMC) appeared to ask for the money so they could go to Sugarcube Corner, and after giving each of them the bits to go buy her cupcakes and their candy, she once again relaxed and started admiring the stallion in front of her.
Spike was at Soft Edge's side looking the drawing he was making "wow you are good at drawing, can I see some more?" said in a normal voice as not to startle the 2 at the other side of the room.
"Do you really think I am good at drawing?"
"Of course even if they are in a cartoony style, you can feel them almost as if it were a picture"
"Well thanks, here have this one, is of animals of the world" said as he levitated a bulky sketch book "in our travels we have encountered many creatures, most of the time I have to watch them at a distance but I still end up drawing them to my best, from the time I started travelling to now, hey, you are a baby dragon, maybe you would like a drawing?"
"Sure just finish there and let me see this ok?"
"Sure thing"
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The CMC ware waiting for their batch of goodies back at Sugarcube Corner, the Cakes were making them as it was getting a little late, the sun was at 3 quarters now meaning that in a couple of hours there would be no sunlight at all, and the plan would not be completed if they could not find Pinkie Pie before leaving.
"What a bummer" said Scootaloo "if only Pinkie were here we could ask her"
"Ask me what?" said a Pink pony hoping while entering the bakery.
"PINKIE" screamed the CMC.
"Oh Pinkie, so glad ya are here" said Applebloom.
"Why is that?"
"Don't ya know?"
"Ooooh a guessing game, a guessing game, mhhh? Ah I know there is a dragon heading to Ponyville?, no no no that's hardly something to be glad about, Princess Celestia is appointing Twilight as new Ruler of Equestria?, no she can't, unless she is marrying someone from the royalty, Oh I know Big Macintosh is marrying Princess Luna, ooh I got to get them a weding gift"
"Pinkie, that's not the case" Sweetie Bell said as she interrupted Pinkie's train of thought (or train wreck) if you will "is just that there are 2 new ponies in town and we thought that you should throw them a party"
"Is that true? Where? I have not heard of any new pony in town"
"They are 2 Stallions, seems Twilight brought them, they are at the library"
"Oh this is so exciting, but wait... why does Twilight brought 2 new ponies to her house? Let alone 2 stallions"
"Oh Pinkie you most certainly throw a party right now, and invite your friends" said Miss Cake interrupting.
"Of course that is what I am going to do"
"Can we come?" said the trio of ponies at her hoofs, all of them with big puppy eyes.
"ooh girls, you have never come to one of my parties right? Just ask your families, since it is this late and tomorrow is Sunday you can come and stay all night"
"YAY" the trio exclaimed with devious smiles.
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High Rise had looked at all the other houses from around the tree shaped library, he was ready to get down as he saw a streak of rainbow heading his way and before he could do anything it tackled him head on as he went down and landed outside of the little town.
As soon as he was mildly conscious he observed how far away from town he was and he also noted that something was weighting on him, a mare to be precise with a cloth slipping down from her eyes, it was a light blue pegasi with rainbow mane and tail, quite athletic as she just drove them away from town after the clash.
"Excuse me miss, are you alright?" Asked High Rise.
"Ugh... uh... ACK" grunted the pegasi as she jumped back "just what do you think you are doing pal?"
"Sorry?"
"You heard me, oh you pervert"
"WHAT? A pervert?"
"Why yes, you must have thought you could get in the way of my exercise, knock me out and try and touch me with your filthy hooves, well though luck jerk"
"Look here, I tried to be patient, as I thought you could be injured, it looks like you are not and certainly you are at fault, you were using a blindfold while flying, what the hay where you trying to do? Get yourself killed?"
"It is a training to sense my surroundings, that way I can make it through obstacle courses blindfolded without having practice them before"
"That's..." the stallion thought about it a second before answering "not a bad idea actually; you could sense your surroundings for danger and obstacles and use that to your advantage"
"Eh?"
"But you should clearly use it OUTSIDE THE VILLAGE, you could have killed somepony or hit yourself against a house"
"Oh yeah, tell me what where YOU doing hovering over the village?"
"Checking buildings" as he moved his body to let her see his cutie mark "but you really need to train more if you will, you are lucky that my body got used to materials falling on me during constructions, else I would not have been able to get back on my hooves"
"That explains it, you're an engineer"
"Architect thank you" High Rise replied on an annoyed voice "but back to my question, are you alright?"
"Well of course, I used to crash a lot back in my younger days, which made me resilient enough to hit a mountain, what's your name greenie?"
"The name's High Rise nice to meet you" extending his hoof.
"Rainbow Dash, the fastest flyer on all of Equestria" as she shook it with her own.
"Hey Rainbow Dash" a voice suddenly was heard from afar.
Pinkie Pie was hopping and behind her Applejack and Fluttershy
"Hey guys what's up?"
"Well sugarcube, first things first, who is your green friend here? I reckon I haven't seen him around town" said Applejack
"Oooh a third one" interrupted Pinkie Pie
"A third one?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"She must mean my brother and our friend, they were with the one your mayor called "Twilight Sparkle" I think"
"Great, that means we have one more honour guest here today" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.
High Rise looked at the pink mare with a confused stare.
"Hehe Come on "lemon pie" we'll tell you everything you need ta know on our way"
'Great, now I have a nickname... not half bad now that I think about it' thought High Rise as he galloped with this fine looking mares.
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Back at the library, Twilight, Spike and Hardcover were enthralled looking at Soft Edge drawing Twilight as he imagined she most have spent her days, the picture depicted Twilight resting on the floor with an open book, a cookie at her side and a night lamp.
"Good Celestia that is a great drawing" said the purple pony "and all of this other drawings are good as well, can you draw me how would My little Spike would look like when grown?"
"Sure I can just let me finish with these and..."
BAM the door opened, and the CMC entered with all the things Twilight had ordered, and even more "Girls please try not to slam the door, and tell me now, why does it look like you are ready to throw a party?"
"Uh, ya see Twilight since we saw that these 2 where new here in town, we told Pinkie Pie to throw 'em a party"
"What? You told Pinkie?"
"Who is this Pinkie Pie?" asked Hardcover
"Wait, I haven't told you about my friends?" Twilight asked facing the stallions "what have we been talking about then?"
"Ah no actually you were telling me about your life in Canterlot and we were getting to when you were ordered to come to Ponyville"
"Ok it's alright then, I shall tell you now, you see Pinkie Pie is..."
"An earth pony with apples as her cutie mark?" asked Soft Edge.
"No that is Applejack"
"Blue pegasi with rainbow mane?" asked Hardcover.
"Wrong that is Rainbow Dash"
"A beautiful white unicorn with perfectly combed dark purple hair?" Soft Edge interrupted.
"Wrong again, that one is Rarity"
"Yellow pegasi with a scared expression and overly shy manners?" once again Soft Edge inquired.
Twilight nodded her head sidewise negating what was said "Fluttershy"
"Then the one left is a hyper active pink pony, how come we missed her? She is named after her colour" asked Hardcover to Soft Edge.
"Well guys yeah it is kind of obvious" Twilight stopped there and collected her thoughts "how come you described all of my friends?"
Hardcover looked at Soft Edge and then to Twilight "psychic powers" he saw Twilights expression of mild fear and disbelief "nah just kidding, they are right behind you"
"Hey Sugarcube, will yah look at that, you sure know how to spend a night"
"What?"
"Oh Twilight my dear I am deeply hurt, here I thought we were friends, you should have told me, or is it that you do not want to share?"
"Hey what are you implying?"
"girls, ma-may I remind you" Fluttershy pointed to the CMC.
All the ponies froze at the sight of the trio of fillies looking at them with confusion in their faces.
"Sis, what are you talking about?" asked Apple Bloom.
"yeah tell us" spoke the other 2.
All the other ponies were dead silent, suddenly Pinkie Pie jumped from the second floor with a victory cheer "wahooo"
Everypony and Spike looked at her confused.
"It is time to PARTIE!!!!"
Nopony noticed, but in the time they had taken to try and get out of an awkward situation, Pinkie Pie had set everything up for the welcome party, surprised the three stallions where about to ask the mares what had happened, but they just gave the stallions a glance that said, 'do not ask'.
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Even though there were 13 guests at the party, it felt like they were 3 times that quantity, there were pies, and cupcakes; sarsaparilla and fruit punch; the music, the decoration and the occasional talk made the meeting all the more delightful.
Hardcover was walking to a side, as he wanted to just rest a little, even if he looked like a strong stallion his strength began to falter, he did not felt tired because of his lack of energy, as he was well trained, it was because of a feeling he had all but forgotten, a peace of mind; he for the first time in over a year felt truly and sincerely happy, he just wanted to set down a little, and enjoy that feeling, but just as he set down to rest the three little fillies sat just around him.
"Hello"
"Hi how are you? You are Apple Bloom right?"
"Yes nice to talk to ya, how are you?"
"Fine thanks, why the question?"
"You are here, and you should be there" Sweetie Bell interrupted "are you tired mister?"
"Hardcover please, and no I am not that tired is just... I... so eh girls do you know this library right?"
"Yes we do" answered the three
"Where is the bathroom? I would like to go before someone notices I am here, they seem to be more interested in the music right now, but that will not last"
The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked at themselves with devious smiles while he was distracted "sure come here"
They guided him towards the basement door, no one paid them any attention at all, and that was... good for the time being "Hey Sweetie Bell, be our lookout, kick once if someone is approaching got it?" Sweetie Bell saluted with her right hoof.
"Girls, are you sure this is it?"
"Yeah, Twilight has the bathroom down there mister, just be careful"
"Well, if you insist" Hardcover galloped downstairs, having an uneasy feeling about it, not like they could knock him out unconscious, he could easily kick them thru the room and straight out the house, still it felt somewhat tense down there.
"We got you" Apple Bloom exclaimed, as the stallion in front of her turned around just in time to see them leap at him with some rope 'where in the world did they got that?' he thought.
Hardcover thought to jump at a side or wave his hoof to throw them aside, he chose neither of them, he could injure them seriously and he had to know why they had decided to attack him, whatever that reason was, the fillies crashed upon him.
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They sure were quick to tie him to a chair; he was even wondering where they got that long lamp from "so mister, we wanna ask you some questions, first of all, watcha doing here in Ponyville?" Apple Bloom started questioning.
"Excuse me?"
"Ya heard me mista unicorn"
Trying to remain as stoic as he could he answered "well I am here to meet the greatest unicorn in all of equestria"
"You are lying mister, and a sad lie at that" finally spoke the little Pegasus "you see, we think you are something more than that" she suddenly looked ate him straight in the eyes
"Now now, why are you accusing me of something like that, you surely must have some kind of proof"
The fillies flashed out a familiar drawing, one his best friend had done after their first visit to the Canterlot gardens, now he was just asking himself how the hay did they got their hoofs on that one.
"Well mista unicorn? Got something to say?"
Suddenly a hoof knocks on the door that leads to the basement, no sooner the door opens, a mad purple mare floating a little filly unicorn with her magic, followed by the rest of the guests that where in the party "ah um hey sistah"
"Do not try to sweet talk me Apple Bloom, what in the name o' Princess Celestia were you doing?" Applejack glared at her sister, then to Scootaloo, and Sweetie Bell.
Scootaloo broke the silence "He is a bad pony, look at what his friend had in his sketch book"
All the other mares went in shock and looked at the now free stallion with a glare "haha you liked that one? Soft did that one on a school trip our old school had to the Canterlot gardens, right after I was transferred to Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns" all the ponies turned to the stallions.
Twilight interrupted "What? You where there? How come we never crossed paths?"
"Dunno, all I can say right now is that, that particular drawing was made exactly as the one Soft Edge did for you, he just imagined the pose and moved it like every other pony and animal in his sketch book"
"Oh that explains a lot" said Apple Bloom with a regretful tone in her voice, Applejack cut through her with an intense glare.
"An just what do ya think you fillies were doing?" asked as the three of them turned their heads in shame.
"Taking care of you" Soft Edge interrupted "they saw the drawing and maybe they were preoccupied that we might have been agents of chaos or something"
"You are quite right" said Hardcover as he liberated himself from the chair "they were doing detective work, but you know, they need something…. What could it be?"
"O no, you are not making me draw something like that"
"Aw come on, you can at least give them the trench coats for at least an hour, and the hats as well, you aren't no detective if you have no hat"
"Excuse me, what are you talking about" Twilight inquired.
The 3 stallions looked at each other and High Rise answered "it will be faster if we show you"