//------------------------------// // No Sale // Story: No Friend // by Commander Joe //------------------------------// "All things considered I'd say we did well today." Twilight Sparkle thought as she trotted happily into Ponyville, her friends heading towards their own homes. She could still feel some tension in the air, but she wrote it off as the townsfolk not knowing the dragon had left yet. The two day journey had gotten to a rough start sure. It had taken a little...well...more then a little coercion to get Fluttershy up the mountain but in the end she really stepped up! Watching her stare down the dragon was a sight to behold! One easily worthy of a letter to the Princess. As she passed by the Carousel Boutique Twilight went through her mental checklist for the rest of the day. ___________________________________________ 1: Get home. 2: Make sure Spike didn't eat all the ice cream again. 3: Write a friendship letter to the Princess. 4: Reorganize the low-level magic section. 5: Take a three minute-twenty second bath. 6: Resarch the effects of smoke related compounds on various spells. 7: Sleep...maybe... ____________________________________________ She decided to keep the list short. She'd already had a busy day after all. No need to push herself too hard. The trot back to Golden Oaks Library was quick, there seemed to be fewer ponies then normal outside. Then again maybe this was normal? In some ways she was still new to the town, a lot of the more subtle things about it still went over her head. It was something she'd have to work on while she continued her friendship lessons. "Step one comeplete! Twilight thought as she opened the library door, revealing the cozy interior she was quickly coming to think of as home. "Now on to step two..." She immediately went into the kitchen. Upon first glance nothing was out of place. No dishes in the small sink by the window, no stains on the marble counters, and when she opened the fidge door the tub of ice cream was left just as it was. Spike was a good dragon, and the best assistant a mare could ask for. He still had his flaws however. Most notable was his struggle with self control. Most dragons didn't bother with such things, but most dragons were also rude, greedy creatures. Not Spike though, he always put in the effort to be as helpful as possible! Despite not being his mother she couldn't help being a little proud of him. She'd give him a reward later. "For now though, step three!" Pinkemena Diane Pie was ecstatic. Today had been an amazerific day! Not only had one of her bestest friends stared down a meanie-pants dragon that decided to sleep in the nearby mountain for some reason, but she also spent the day with her other bestest friends! It was a day worthy of a party in her expert open-onion! Though why she had an instrument of tears was a mystery that had yet to be solved. She would have pondered the ringed vegetable further but was met with something very interesting. Where there had previously been open air. There was now a house with much flair! Well...maybe not that much flair. It was a fun rhyme though! Reguardless of rhymes there was a new pony in town! How had she not seen this before?! When had it happened?! Were they nice?! Was it their birthday?! How had they built the house so fast?! Eventually Pinkie Pie realized that standing there staring would get her no answers. Which meant... It was time for a stake out! (Ohhh staaaake). I was sitting on the couch in the living room. The blinds were all closed and both doors locked. And I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do. "This place has magic! Actual magic! As in the do-things-with-a-thought kind! And if magic is a thing then who knows what else is out there waiting for me!" And that wasn't a good thing. Sure, what I'd seen from these ponies so far hadn't really been threatening. I had spooked them yea but that tends to happen when you suddenly appear in the middle of a town for no reason! However that didn't mean they weren't dangerous. I'd seen one of them make a shield around my entire house! If they could do that then what couldn't they do? "Well...sitting here worrying about it won't get me anywhere. I'll just have to make the most of it...somehow." I thought while fiddling with a toy car I'd gotten for a birthday years ago. I did have some cash saved up. But somehow I doubted they would take an American dollar on an alien world. My parents had been planning on making a grocery trip soon to restock on food and other essentials, that wasn't happening now...Hopefully the emergency food supply would last me a week or so. That would probably be enough time to find some work. At least I wouldn't have to worry about child labor laws anymore...hopefully. I looked down at the die-cast toy in my hand, and suddenly had an idea. "Maybe I could kill two birds with one stone..." Shining Armor was frustrated. Very frustrated indeed. He couldn't even say for sure if it was justified or not. It wasn't like that...human or whatever he is did anything bad, at least assuming he was telling the truth about being from outer space. Doubtful as that may be, he'd gone through almost every military training course he could get his hooves on. He'd trained against every species known to ponykind and never once did a human ever come up... In the end he didn't have a good reason to haul the human off to a dungeon. He would keep an eye on him however. Both for the humans sake and the ponies around him. As long as he acted like an Equestrian citizen, Shining Armor would treat him as such. This was his thought process upon returning to the aliens wayward home. Approaching the door he gave it a few quick taps and stepped back. It took a few moments for the alien to open the door. ("If he's going to be here a while I should probably get used to calling him by name instead of just alien.") "Good evening mister ali-er...Calway right? I'm here to inform you that under the Equestria's Foreign Protection Laws you will be allowed to stay until your former home can be found. Here are the proper documents you will need to sign." Shining spoke, hoofing Indie a couple thick scroll sheets. "They've already been signed by the mayor. As soon as you have it signed a copy will be taken to Canterlot Palace to be placed in the archives." "That's a bit of a mouthful." Indie replied while looking the papers over, a frown slowly descending upon his face. "I'm legally required to ensure you understand just what it is you are about to sign. Once it's done you will be a temporary citizen, at least until your home is found." "Huh, that's neat I guess. Thanks man." Indie replied, giving him a lazy salute before closing the door. "...man?" ("Well, that certainly makes things easier.") I thought trying to calm myself down again. Ever since I realized just how powerful these ponies are I've been on edge. I felt like it was somewhat irrational but give me a break! These guys could literally kill me with a thought. I'd rather not invoke that wrath. I went back to the kitchen table where I had been going through everything I wanted to sell. It wasn't a whole lot, just some things I hadn't thought about in years or things I wouldn't need in my stay here. Some of it belonged to my parents, but I'd already made sure not to sell anything they would really miss. I turned to the large bookshelf sitting in the living-room. I'd already known I would need to get rid of it at some point...guess that was now. With a small sigh I started to grab some of the less used books off the shelf. I didn't really want to sell them but what was I gonna do? It's not like anyone but me used them and I would really need the money if I had to stay any length of time. I really hoped that wouldn't be the case but better safe then sorry. It took about half an hour to gather up everything I wanted to sell. Most of it was just old stuff we never used. An old RC car, a DVD player that we replaced with a blu-ray, a bunch of movies to go with it, obsolete PC parts, lots of clothes, some shoes, a few toys, a TV, and a bunch of other things. With everything gathered up I grabbed the kitchen table, dragged it outside, and started to move everything on and around it. I took care to make sure everything was neat and organized, and nothing was dirty. Cleanliness is important after all. As I was folding the shirts I took notice of the townsfolk. They had noticed my little set-up but appeared to be more afraid then curious. That or they just didn't care for what I had. Once they saw me they would stop and turn away or try to get by as quick as possible while being discrete... Well...trying to be discrete. Just because you took a few slow steps first doesn't mean I don't see you galloping off at full speed. It was so strange. Here I was afraid of the potential threat they posed to me, and yet they were afraid of the teenager who could barely a lift carton of water...maybe it was for the best? The longer they were afraid of me the longer it would take to find out just how far their power went. It took about an hour for even one person...pony to show up. Surprisingly it was one that I recognized. The light purple colored pony I met from behind the shield before had come back. She seemed kinda nervous but more frantic then anything else. I wasn't even sure if she knew I was there but I didn't want to bother her so I just picked up a book and waited. Pretending I wasn't watching her. That lasted for at least a half hour and she was still looking. Just as frantically as before. "Hey, are you ok?" I finally asked her. "Ah! Oh...uh...yes I'm fine...thank you." "You sure?' "Yes I'm...sigh no I'm not. I'm in a bind right now and I could really use some help." "What's the issue?" "I was just wondering...well...I-I'm trying to find a gift for my mom. Her birthday is in a few days and I can't find Pinkie Pie sooo..." "You were hoping I had something?" I finished. "Yea, but I don't see anything she would like here! If I don't find something soon I don't know what I'm gonna do!" "If you want we can take a look inside and see if you can find something in there." "Thank you so much that would be great! Oh! I'm Cloudkicker by the way!" "Indie, nice to meet you." I held my arm out for a handshake. Cloudkicker simply tilted her head in confusion. Welp. I feel pretty darn stupid now. I pulled my hand back and tried to ignore her puzzled stare. "So, what's your mom like?" I asked. "Oh! She's probably the most determined pony I know!" She cried, forgeting the odd moment completely. "She's always going out every day to work at the weather factory in Cloudsdale, she's gotten employe of the month since as far back as I can remember, she even hosts a local fitness group over at the town hall! Though I wish she would come home more often. She almost always-" At this point I had gotten the idea and started to think about home. My own mother's birthday would be coming up soon. The idea that they could be spending it homeless was...well I couldn't help feeling guity. I knew that made no sense, considering how I got here was still a complete mystery to me. But that didn't make me feel better. Hopefully some outside family was willing to take them in. Heck maybe even miss Allison. She almost single handedly saved my school life for no reason other then simple kindness. It wouldn't surprise me if she took them in. "Are you still listening?" Cloudkicker asked. "Sorry, got kinda distracted." "It's ok. What we're you thinking about?" "Just home." "Oh...cool." Cloudkicker was a little confused. Why was he thinking about a place he was already at? "Do you live alone?" She asked. "Yep." "Is that why you moved to Ponyville?" "...Wait what?" "Did you move to Ponyville because you were lonely?" Cloudkicker rephrased. "Uh...not really...I'm actually looking for work." "Oh?" "Yea. I'm sort of out of a job at the moment. I came here hoping to change that." "Hmmm...what kind of cutie mark do you have?" I stopped just as I was reaching for a book off the shelf. "I'm sorry what?" I spoke out loud. "What kind of cutie mark do you have?" She says again, looking a quite confused. "...The heck is a cutie mark?" "You...you don't know?! First you didn't know magic existed and now you've never heard of a cuite mark!?" Cloudkicker shouted, making small hops as if to emphasize her point. "I'm not from around here remember?" "But a cutie mark! It's like...it's your special talent! Or at least signifies what it is! How could you not know of it!?" "Probably because humans don't get...cutie marks..." Geez what kind of name was that anyway? "They wha!-ugh..." Cloudkicker lowered her head and let out an exasperated sigh. "How bout we talk about something else?" I suggested, trying to calm her down without telling her to calm down. We looked around for a while longer before she decided I didn't have anything that interested her. But she did say that she would come over tomorrow? That was strange, it was a bit soon to consider us friends wasn't it? Imagine how that would go back home. "Thank you for shopping at Wal-Mart!" Sure thing Jan. I'll come visit you tomorrow!" And they proceed to awkwardly smile until you leave, then call the police and ban you from the store. Only in my case I didn't want to get anyone involved more then I absolutely had to. She didn't seem the ax murder type to me so I wouldn't do anything for now. I wasn't gonna rest easy for a while though.