//------------------------------//
// Surprise Turnaround 
// Story: The Capacity of Forgiveness 
// by Frenac 
//------------------------------//


“You know what the best kind of party is?  A surprise party!” -Pinkie Pie


Celestia paced back and forth in the reception hall of the Canterlot Castle.  The massive glass windows at the back let the brilliant yellow light of dawn flood into the hall.  Celestia looked out the windows and watched as ponies trotted back and forth through the streets.  And life goes on.
A sealed scroll appeared before Celestia.  She immediately opened it with her magic and read it:

Dear Princess Celestia,

Last night, I learned that not everypony wants to be friendly towards you, and sometimes it’s best not to push them into being your friends.  Instead, it’s best to let them learn for themselves the meaning of friendship.

Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle

Celestia smiled, rolled the scroll back up, and set it down beside her.
“Morning, Celestia.”
Celestia’s eyes widened. “Who is—Tom?” She spun around to face a pony in a ragged purple cloak.
“Just call me Shadowdancer from now on.  I think it would be easier for everyone else.”
“Everypony was very concerned.”
Shadowdancer sighed. “I remember Umbra telling me to give every pony a chance, and I thought of how difficult people made it for my parents when they first arrived as immigrants.  Then I realized I wasn’t any better and decided to come back.”
“That’s very thoughtful, Shadowdancer.”
“I’m sorry to have caused so much trouble for everyone.  I didn’t realize people would even go searching for me in the middle of the night.”
“I’m just glad you’re back, and that you’ve learned from your experience.”  Celestia picked up a sheet of parchment and a quill, wrote a quick letter, and sent it away.
Poppy Field, wearing a bright yellow jacket, darted into the hall and ran up the steps to where Celestia and Shadowdancer stood.
“Tom—Shadowdancer!” Poppy Field cried.  She slapped Shadowdancer in the face. “That’s for what you did yesterday!  But I’m still glad you’re back.  Now come back with me and apologize to everypony.”
Everypony?  I swear, why not just say “everyone”?  “Okay, okay.  Just let me finish talking to Celestia.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry, Princess Celestia!  I didn’t even notice you!  How are you today?”
“It’s no problem, Poppy Field.  And I’m just fine, thank you for asking.”
“Okay, I’ll be waiting outside, Shadowdancer.”  Poppy Field walked out the way she came.  Tom laughed lightly.  Poppy Field.  Sorry, I can’t help but imagine you high on opium with that name…Actually, no, get that image out of my head!
“So, Shadowdancer, what did you have to say?”
“Could you tell me more about Equestria later?”
“Of course.  I’ll find you later tonight if I have the time.  Will that work?”
“Yes.  Thank you very much, Celestia.”
“No need to thank me.  But you shouldn’t keep your friend waiting.”
“Oh, of course.  Goodbye, Celestia.”
“Goodbye, Shadowdancer.”
Celestia watched as Shadowdancer took his leave.  Even I must admit it’s a bit strange that he’s acting this polite just after last night.
Shadowdancer nodded to Poppy Field. “Okay, I’m ready.”
“Got a date with Princess Celestia?”
“Very funny.  No, she’s just going to tell me a bedtime story.”
“Ooh, lucky you!  Which one?”
“Heck, I have no idea.  Up to her.  Now stop with the silly jokes.  It’s rather annoying.”
“Hey, you started it!”
“Let’s see, you were the one who mentioned the date,” Shadowdancer said accusatorily.
“Okay, fine, Shadowdancer.  I was just trying to lighten things up a bit.  Aren’t you cheery.”
“Never.  Unless alcohol’s involved,” he said coolly.
“Shadowdancer!”
“Never in my whole damned—!  Sorry, Poppy.  I’ll stop speaking.”
“It’s understandable—”
“No, it’s not.  Let’s go on our merry way.”
A stallion in a grey suit and glasses stood at a stand selling flower bouquets.
“You two look like a fine young couple!  Buy a bouquet of flowers for your girlfriend, sir!” the vendor cried.
Shadowdancer looked toward Poppy, then back to the vendor. “Sorry, we’re not a couple and I don’t have any money with me.”
“Not a couple?  That’s a shame.  Here, take a free rose for her.”  The flower vendor threw a dark red rose, which Shadowdancer missed and dropped.
“Damn it,” Shadowdancer muttered.  Poppy giggled.
“Uh…thank you, mister.”
Damn it, damn it, damn it.  How the hell do we look like a couple?!  Maybe it’s because I’m a pony now…but even still…
“And we are here today to celebrate the birth of Shadowdancer and Poppy Field’s first child!”
Poppy raised a small foal wrapped in soft white cloth into the air.  It was blackish green and had scaly mane hair.
“What in Celestia’s good name is that?”
“I was thinking the same thing.”
“What?”
“Oh, nothing.  Just talking to myself.”
“Is something wrong?  You’re clutching that rose awfully tight.”
“Sorry.  Here you go.”  Shadowdancer handed the rose impassively to Poppy.
I know something’s up with him, but I can’t get him to say anything directly.  Maybe I could take it off his mind somehow.
“Alcohol?  Any alcohol in this place?” Shadowdancer asked with an almost urgent tone.
“Maybe.  I don’t know, you’d have to ask.  And why do you try to use alcohol as your solution to everything?”
“I don’t.”
Poppy sighed. “There’s the train.  Oh, and here’s your pass.  Show it to the conductor.”  Poppy handed Shadowdancer a blue card with a horn-and-wing seal imprinted on it.  The words “Canterlot Royal Pass, issued by H.M. Princess Celestia” were printed in gold in cursive script across the card.
Shadowdancer waved the card to a pony in a blue hat and uniform.
“Thank you, sir,” the pony said with a curt nod.
Poppy did likewise and directed Shadowdancer to an empty train section, where they sat beside each other.  Poppy set the rose on the table.
“Shadowdancer?  Are you all right?”
Shadowdancer already lay asleep in his seat.  Poppy smiled.
A dark red filly with silver mane and tail came through the aisle and sat across from Shadowdancer and Poppy.
Poppy sat silently, looking out the window, until the filly spoke.
“Hi, I’m Lamplight.  How about you?”
“Oh, sorry.  I’m Poppy Field.  Are you from Canterlot?”
“No, I was just visiting some family.  I live in Ponyville.  Where are you from?”
“I actually don’t come from anywhere in Equestria.  I’m from another world.  But that’s pretty hard to believe, isn’t it?”
Lamplight laughed. “No, not at all, especially with the way your boyfriend acted the other day.”
Poppy glanced at Shadowdancer, who was leaning against her, and blushed. “You don’t mean him, do you?  He…we’re not actually dating.  Please excuse what he did the other day.  He was a little…drunk.  I don’t know whether he likes me or not, but that’s an entertaining thought.”
“You like him, don’t you?” Lamplight said with a grin.
“Uh…no, I don’t know.  I don’t appreciate his alcoholism, or plenty of other things about him.”
“Don’t worry, people can change.  And you two look so cute together!  Look at how he’s sleeping against you!”
“Sure…But I really don’t know.  Anyway…what do you do in Ponyville?”
“Oh, I work at Café La Place.  The hours are long, but I love it there!  And sometimes I stop by Sugarcube Corner to help out a bit.”
Poppy chuckled. “This is only my second day here, so I don’t do much yet.  You should tell me some stories about Ponyville.”
“Hmm…well, one day when I was helping Pinkie, a handsome young unicorn came walking in.  I think he was pink and green or something like that.  But he started asking about cupcakes, and the strange part was the way he asked about them…”
Poppy gave a nervous frown.  I don’t like the way this is going.
“He said, ‘Do you have any of those cupcakes with that special ingredient?  You know, what makes them so soft and juicy?’  Pinkie just stared at him and said ‘Cupcakes aren’t supposed to be juicy, silly!’  Then the unicorn just unfolded his wings and flew off.  Never saw him again.”
Poppy bit the end of the rose stem. “That’s a little scary…”
“Scary?  I don’t see how that was scary, but it was really strange.”
“You—you don’t understand,” Poppy stammered, then brought her voice to a whisper. “He meant ponies.  The special ingredient is ponies.”
“What?  That’s ridiculous!  Nopony would ever do that to another pony!”
“Humans have.  You don’t want to know.”
“Humans?  You mean those wonky fairytale things?”
“Yes.  Remember, I told you I’m from another world.  I used to be a human.”
“That’s really funny.  But I almost believe you.  Maybe you should take me back to your world.  I’m sure it would be fun.”
“Just watch out for the rabid fans.  They might kidnap you.”
Lamplight twitched her nose, appearing a bit perplexed. “I have fans?  I have to go there!”
“Oh, I meant fans of ponies in general.”
“There are ponies there!  Even better!”
“Well, there are, but they’re different than ponies here.  See, they don’t talk like us or have magic or wings.”
“I’m not understanding this…”
“Long story short, there’s a series of shows and toys with ponies loosely based on our ponies, but like the ponies in Equestria.  So there are tons of fans of the shows and merchandise, and anything to do with ponies.  So that’s why they’d love you.”
“Okay, anything else I should know?”
“Well, a lot of things work pretty much like they do in the Everfree Forest.”
“I’m not so sure I want to go anymore.  Seems a little too weird for me.”
“Don’t worry about it.  If you do, I can guide you around there.  Besides, you said it would be fun, didn’t you?”
“I did, but I’m not so sure now.”
The train squeaked and ground to a halt.
“Well, I don’t know how I could get back anyway.  I don’t know how I got here in the first place.”
“I’m sure you’ll find a way if you want to go back.”
“I guess so.”
“I guess I should get going.  Don’t want to be late to work!  You should come visit me sometime!” Lamplight piped.
“Of course!  I will!  See you later!  It was great talking to you!”
“Bye, Poppy Field!”
Lamplight stood up and left.  Shadowdancer still lay asleep beside Poppy.
“Shadowdancer, wake up!  We’re here!”
Shadowdancer moaned and turned the other way.
“Tom!  Get up!”
Shadowdancer didn’t budge.
I hate to do this, but if I have to… “Vodka!” Poppy shouted.
“Did someone say ‘vodka’?” Shadowdancer said, bolting up from his seat.
“Haha, you looking for vodka, boy?” a red stallion with yellow tail and black mane and beard called to Shadowdancer.
“Yes!  Where is it?”
“Five biets for my flask here.”
“Sorry, I don’t have any money to spare.”
“Ah?  Well, I can always spare a free one for a good vodka-drinking comrade.  Cheers.”  He tossed a small glass flask with a cork to Shadowdancer.
“Thank you so much, sir!
“No problem, my friend.  Keep yourself on your hooves.”
The red stallion walked out of the train.  Shadowdancer turned to Poppy with a wide grin.
“Don’t even think about it until after we’ve gone back to Canterlot,” Poppy reprimanded.
“Okay, fine.”
Shadowdancer stepped out of the train.  Poppy picked up the rose and followed.
A crowd of ponies stood at the train platform.  Most appeared unfamiliar.  The pink curly-haired pony—Pinkie—hopped to the front.
“Hi Shadowdancer!  We’ve got another party just for you!  I promise this one will be better so you don’t run off again!”
“Uh, thanks.  Look, I’m sorry to everyone here that I was such a jerk yesterday, and that I ran off and caused all this trouble.  I won’t let it happen again.”
“Pinkie Promise?”
Shadowdancer nodded. “Pinkie Promise.”
“Cross your heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in your eye?”
“I’m not sure why I’d do that, but okay.  Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”
“Now hold it.  I wasn’t there pers’nally for most of this, but what was all this hooey about?” said Applejack from behind Pinkie.
“The alcohol must have gotten to me.  I apologize for everything.”
“Alcohol?  You better watch yerself there, boy.  I’ll be watchin’, that’s fer sure.”
“Well, what are we waiting for?  Let’s have a party!”
The crowd began to meander toward Ponyville.  Shadowdancer laughed. “After all that, I didn’t give you a bad impression?”
“Are you kidding?  That death metal dubstep was amazing!  Even though I didn’t notice any metal or dubstepping, whatever that is.  Gummy loved it too!”
Are you sure this ‘Gummy’ isn’t deaf? “Gummy?”
“You haven’t met Gummy yet?!  He’s my pet alligator!  He’s so adorable, and he can’t bite either, because he doesn’t have any teeth!”
“Wait, he doesn’t have any teeth?  How does he eat?”
“Oh, silly, I make sure to feed him food he can swallow!”
“Of course.  And it may surprise you, but I don’t actually listen to any music.”
“You don’t?  Not even music you hear in your head when you’re walking around and doing things?”
“Well, no.”
“But how can you go without music?  The world is full of music!  Even the trees like to sing sometimes!”
“Whatever you say, Pinkie.  Now are we almost there?”
“Yeppers!  I’ll show you in!”
Pinkie led Shadowdancer to a house in pink, brown, and white that appeared to be built to resemble candy or cake, like some sort of gingerbread house.  She took Shadowdancer inside to a room with banners and various vibrant decorations adorning the walls and ceiling.  A cake sat on a round table in the middle of the room, with “Welcome back, Shadowdancer!” emblazoned on the cake in dark red.  A small green alligator with purple eyes popped out of the side of the cake.
“Heehee, Gummy gets in everything!  Come on, try the cake!  Mrs. Cake and I made it just for you!”
“I really don’t like cake very much…” Especially not after an alligator’s been in it.
“It’s not bad!  Watch, I’ll take the first bite,” Pinkie said before she struck and engulfed a quarter of the cake.
That’s a bite? “Okay…if you insist.”  Shadowdancer approached and cut himself a small sliver of cake.  He studied the cake:  brown with white frosting and black…mint crumbs.  The red writing seemed to bleed over the edge of the cake.
“Huh?  What’s wrong?” Pinkie asked. “Did I mess the cake up?  Not enough frosting?  Too much decoration?”
“No, it’s just fine.  I’m just kind of tired,” Shadowdancer said dully.  He hesitantly put the slice into his mouth and swallowed it.
“Better than the cakes I usually get,” Shadowdancer remarked with a forced smile.
“Did you hear that?  He likes the cake!”
A peal of cheers rang through the room.
“Yeah, do you have somewhere I can crash?”
“Crash?  Why would you want to do that?  But that’s how I met you yesterday!  Does that mean you want to meet more ponies?  That’s why I threw this party!  So you could meet more people and make more friends!”
“Uh, no, I meant a place to sleep.”
“But it’s not even close to nighttime yet!  Besides, why would you want to sleep through a party?  I promise you won’t feel tired once we get started!”
“Nah, I think I’d like to sleep anyway.”  Shadowdancer collapsed under the table and noticed the little alligator was attached to his right hoof.  Whatever, I don’t care right now.
“Shadowdancer!  Come on sleepypinkiehe’shadenoughbutthisisaparty…”
“How is everything going?  Made any new friends?”
“Well, I think I’ve made a friend of the princess.  Well, at least I’m on the way to.  Celestia I mean.”
“Oh, good.  How about Luna?”
“Luna?  Oh, you mean the blue one.  I only saw her once yesterday, but I haven’t really talked to her yet.”
“You should.  I know you really don’t want to, but in the long run it will help if you make friends with everypony.”
“It seems like this Pinkie Pie wants to be friends.  Set up a whole party for me, but I fell asleep.”
“You’re ridiculous.  You fell asleep during a party?  Didn’t I tell you to make some friends?”
“Yes, yes you did.  I’m trying.  But I find Pinkie annoying.”
“Oh, haha.  You’re not the only one.”
“Now who am I talking to again?”
“Chrystal, remember?”
“Why do you keep showing up in my dreams?”
“Because it’s nice and comfortable in here?  You tell me.  It’s your dream, isn’t it?  But don’t worry about that.  Why don’t you wake up and enjoy the party?”
“Okay, I will.  Bye, Chrystal.”
“Bye.”
Shadowdancer opened his eyes.  A pink tablecloth was draped before him.  The peals of laughter and singing seemed to have died away.
“My party wasn’t that boring, was it?” inquired Pinkie as her pink head poked under the table.
“No, I’m sorry.  It wasn’t that.  I was so tired, I just couldn’t help it.  Is the party over?”
“Oh, sorry, everyone got tired and left.  A party can’t last forever, you know!”
“I was hoping to meet a few ponies.”
“You should have said something!  I could have told them to stay longer!  Then you could have lots more friends!  Oh, and Pop’s waiting outside!  She said I could dance with you for a few minutes before you left because you have to catch a train to go back to Canterlot!”
“Okay, sure,” Shadowdancer mumbled.  He drowsily rose off the floor to his feet.
“Watch out for that—!” Pinkie cried before Shadowdancer banged against the table edge and crashed to the floor.
“I don’t want to dance,” Shadowdancer groaned.
“It’s gonna be fun!  And ‘dance’ is in your name too!” Pinkie exclaimed, picking Shadowdancer up by the hooves.  She began with a sidestep, then a few backsteps, ending with a twirl and swing into the air.
“We should do that again!  You’re a great dancer!”
“No, not really,” Shadowdancer said jadedly.
“That’s why we should dance more often!  Then you can be even better and we can dance all night long!”
“Thanks for the offer, but I might pass on that.”
“Bye Shadow!  Come back soon!” Pinkie called, waving as Shadowdancer took his leave.  Poppy stood outside in the cool moonlight night with a small smile.
“Had a fun time with Pinkie?”
“Whatever.”
“You know you enjoyed it!”
“Yeah, as much as I love to dance, I’d rather stick a cupcake in my eye.”
“Suit yourself, Shadowdancer.  But I’d give a limb to dance with Pinkie.”
“You would?  Why not now?” Shadowdancer said with a crazed smile.
“No, I think I’ll keep my legs, Tom—err, Shadowdancer.”
Shadowdancer cackled and shook his head. “Well, shouldn’t we be getting to the train now?”
“Oh, that’s right!  We shouldn’t miss it!  Let’s hurry!”
Poppy and Shadowdancer sprinted to the station and waved down the train, which hadn't yet begun to move.  One of the doors slid open.  Poppy and Shadowdancer quickly climbed in, waved their passes, sat at the first empty section, and fell asleep almost immediately.


###


Luna stood over the rest of Canterlot on an outcropping.  The full moon glinted silver-white all across Equestria.  The spires of Canterlot shone as brightly as ever in the moonlight.  How could I have ever hated my sister?  How noble it was of her to take responsibility for her task and mine.
Light footsteps approached.  Luna turned and met eyes with the dark, cloaked figure of one of her royal guards.
“Night Shard?”
He threw back his hood.  His face appeared greenish, almost black.  His narrowed orange eyes appeared to be examining Luna, or glaring at her.  Shadowdancer.
“What do you want here?  Last I remember, you didn’t want to have anything to do with me.”
“Sorry about yesterday.  I was too angry with Aliya and this world to care about anything else.  Will you accept my apology, Princess?”
Luna paused and paced a few times.  Does he really mean it?  It is true that he directed most of his ire toward Aliya.  The poor girl.  But it seems like he’s seen his wrongs and made it up to everypony.
“Yes.  And please, call me Luna.”
Shadowdancer smiled and gazed toward the sky. “Do you really have the power to control the moon?”
“Of course.  Just watch.”
Luna’s horn glowed pale blue and the moon shifted slightly.
“Very nice.”
Luna turned back to face Shadowdancer. “I don’t wish to be rude, but are you from a different place than Aliya?”
“Don’t worry, I’ve been the rude one.  But yeah, you probably hear my accent.  My father was from Indonesia, and my mother was from Singapore, lived in China for a while, then came to the United States.  Sorry if you don’t understand me sometimes.”
“Oh, no, Shadowdancer.  You speak fine.  I just noticed you had a slightly different inflection.”
Shadowdancer laughed. “You don’t know where any of those places are, do you?”
“I don’t.  Are they lands from your Earth?”
“Yeah, but don’t worry.  Some people can’t even find them on a map.  I think it’s hilarious.”
“I nearly forgot.  Did you want that lollipop you mentioned?”
“Nah, I was being sarcastic.  I don’t like lollipops anyway.  They make my teeth hurt.”
“Oh, okay.”
Luna and Shadowdancer stood silent for a while.
“It was good to talk to you, Luna.  Night.  I’m feeling pretty tired.”
“Good night, Shadowdancer.”
Shadowdancer spread his wings and soared over Luna toward his Canterlot suite.  Luna watched, and once he disappeared from view, Luna flapped into the air and flew around Canterlot before finally flying through the window to her sister’s bedroom and landing beside her sister, who lay sprawled across a purple velvet cushion.
“Celestia?  Are you still awake?”
Celestia rolled around and stood up. “Oh, yes.  I haven’t been able to sleep tonight.  Is everything all right, Luna?”
“I just spoke with Shadowdancer.  He seems to be more comfortable with other ponies now.”
“Yes, he found me this morning and had me tell him some of Equestria’s history earlier this evening.”
“But don’t you find it odd, sister?”
“I do, but we should be happy about this.  Don’t worry, Luna, everything’s fine.  Do you want to sleep here tonight?”
“Okay,” Luna said with a small smile.  As she went to lay down, she noticed a rolled-up scroll lying on Celestia’s dresser.
“What does it say?”
“I haven’t read it yet.  I think one of Twilight’s friends sent it earlier today.  I’ll read it in the morning.  Good night, Luna.”
Luna laid on a blue cushion with gold lining and slowly closed her eyes. “Good night, Celestia.”