//------------------------------// // Newcomer // Story: A Friend Not Met // by Legioner8 //------------------------------// Spike was waiting for the opportunity to tell Rarity about his fillings for such a long time that he was beginning to wonder if he will ever have guts to do something like that. But he could not just come up to her and blur things out. No! She is the most beautiful pony in the world and she deserved only the best. But Spike always was a resourceful and clever dragon, so of course he had a plan. For months he was saving up bits to book a table at the most fabulous and prestigious restaurant in Canterlot. He had to pull some strings to invite Octavia and royal orchestra to preform on that special day. But the most difficult thing was to get Twilight to cast the mustache spell on him again and not being suspicious about it. The final part of his perfect plan was to send Rarity an anonymous letter from the Sicret Admirer inviting her on a date. And so he did. Everything was just perfect. When a chariot arrived and its door opened, Spike was left wondering how was it possible that he didn't lose his sight then and there, for he had his eyes on the Divine Beauty itself! Rarity stepped out of the chariot and the dull bleak street of Canterlot was graced by her presence. Her coat was sparkling white, her mane expertly curled, her spectacular dress, no doubt created by herself for this exact moment, was floating on a light breeze. Rarity looked around and noticed Spike and, when their eyes met, he saw in them confusion that was swiftly replaced by happiness. "M'lady," Spike bowed and extended his claw to her. "Would you do me the honor and accompany me to this lovely restaurant?" "Oh Spike..." She took his claw, a small blush slowly spreading to her face. "When I got the letter I thought... I hoped..." "Hush my dear, there is no need for words," He started to lead her towards the doors. "Come." The music started to play immediately as they entered. The staff was already waiting for them by their table. When they approached Spike waved one of the waiters off as he attempted to move a chair for the beautiful mare in front of him, and did it on his own. "This place is lovely," Said Rarity as she took a sit. "The most beautiful mare in the world deserves only the best," Spike answered, taking his sit. "Please choose what ever you like. Today is Your day," He added. She took the menu and looked through it with a small smile on her face. "That is not my journal!" She shouted all of a sudden... In Twilight's voice no less... *** Twilight stood on her bed and stared at the book. This must be it, She thought. There is simply no other explanation! "Wha..?" Twilight heard Spike's mumble. Oh, shoot! I must've woke him up. She envelope the journal in her magic and quickly teleported out of the room. Spike opened his sleepy eyes and looked around the dark bedroom. Oh, just a dream... He thought. Maybe if I'll fall back asleep I'll still be able to enjoy it? Or I'll just bribe Luna later... And with that Spike was out once again. *** With a purple flash Twilight appeared in the middle of castle's library. Without a moment hesitation she levitated the journal to the nearest table and practically dove into one of the drawers. "Okay, I need some parchment! Check! And some ink. Check! And a quill... Oh, come on! Where did I put all my quills?" Twilight shouted while frantically looking around. After a minute of fruitless search she finally noticed one quill lain on the table, right next to the journal. "Check." She sighed. "Alright!" Twilight announced to the empty library, and started writing. "Unfortunately today's experiment failed, witch lead to the destruction of almost all relevant documentation regarding the portal. However I am certain that most of the information can be retrieved from the notes made by Sunset and Starlight, even if some crucial data is missing, it's going to be but a minor setback. For I have a proof that our calculations were correct! It seems that during the experiment my journal swapped places with its counterpart from the other side. Unfortunately it seems that my own counterpart used the same enchantments that I did, and it resulted in some complications. Regardless, I will use this opportunity to document any differences between our worlds I'll be able to find." *** ..."I gather that's you?" I watched as a new pony approached us. She was an earth pony, or at least I assumed so. Her long bluish-grey coat with a faded golden outlines, that covered her flanks and hind legs, had no slits for the wings. Long sleeves covered her front legs almost to the hooves. Underneath the coat she was wearing some kind of jacket of the same color with several belts crossing her chest. I wasn't sure, but it looked like she was wearing pants as well. The whole getup looked rather archaic, as if she walked right off the pages of a history book. Why in Celestia's name would anypony wear all this clothes on a warm summer day was beyond me. It must've been boiling hot under the sun! I looked at her again expecting to see a sweat drenched pony, but was surprised to see no traces of discomfort upon her face. Her tan coat and short brown mane were completely dry. As she got closer I saw three thin parallel scars on the left side of her face that crossed her eyebrow and cheek. I also noticed that Applejack was looking at the newcomer with the same curiosity I was. "Right you are, Sugar Cube," she answered. "And you are?" But before the strange mare could introduce herself, Applejack exclaimed. "Oh! Ah know! You're that filly mah brother was talking about! Said Ah'll know you when Ah see you." "Eeyup," she answered. For some reason that made Applejack chuckle. "To be honest I never thought that you can hire a merc and give them the instructions on what to do using only two words." She was speaking with an accent, it wasn't as apparent as Applejack's southern one, but it was there. The way she was dragging on her "o" and "u" and rolling "r" was reminiscent of some of the foreigner diplomats I met at Princess's court. What's with this farm and the accents anyway? "That's mah brother ta you, he doesn't like ta run his mouth," The farmer grinned. "So, what can Ah do you for?" "Right, regarding your timberwolves problem..." Now that got my attention! "Excuse me?" I interrupted her and looked at Applejack. "You have timberwolves running around the place?!" As if Nightmare Moon was not enough! We're also threatened by the carnivorous plants! I really didn't want to deal with this. Applejack stiffened and quickly turned to looked at me. A little too quickly. "Oh! Ehh, you see..." her eyes were darting from side to side, looking at anything but me. "He-he, there might be a little... infestation going on..." She muttered. I simply facehoofed at that. If that's was the case, there is no way I could allow for Princess Celestia to visit this town! Not that the timberwolves could pose any threat to the alicorn, but still... "Not anymore." The mare stated and reached into her coat. She pulled out a cloth bundle and tossed it to the ground in front of us. Applejack and I shared a look. I carefully reached with my magic and tried to unwrap the bundle, when the cloth was removed we saw a hoof sized wooden... something. It was oval in shape with a roundish protrusion on the side, the streaks of green glow were visible on its surface. And that thing stunk! "By Celestia! What is that thing?" I shouted and threw the bundle back to the mare. "Alpha's heart-root," She scrunched her nose as she reached to cover it with the cloth once again. As she did so I noticed a hilt of a sword sticking from behind her back. "Without it the timberwolf can't pull itself back together." I simply stood there, looking at the strange mare and the bundle at her hooves. I've read about this, almost all elemental creatures have cores similar to that root, they act a central magical node and a power source. Also, if the body is damaged or destroyed, it will attempt to recreate the elemental using the available materials of the same nature. And she brought it with her... "And you brought it to the apple grove!?" I snapped. That mad mare looked at me and... smirked? "Not my first time dealing with the elementals," she said, reaching to the bundle. She turned it over and removed a piece of cloth, revealing a rusted nail that was sticking out that thing, a green vapor coming out from around it. Apparently that damage was enough to render the core inert. I breathed a sigh of relief. "With their alpha gone the pack will return back to its grove and hibernate until the new one grows up. So your little infestation is dealt with, for the time being, at least." She concluded. I heard Applejack whistle. "Well Ah'll be. When Mac told me that he hired somepony ta help us out, Ah thought you would help Mah uncle to patrol the farm border or something. Ah didn't expect that you would go on the hunt!" The mare shrugged. "It's easier that way." Easier? To go and hunt down monsters? I had no idea how that could be easier for her, but that certainly made things easier for me. "Alright, I see that the crisis is averted." I said. "Can we please get back to business? I am on a strict schedule." "Hmm? Oh right, the food!" Applejack stood proudly once again. "Don't you worry none, Sugar Cube! We Apples pride ourselves on our cooking! Would y'all care to try some?" "Well, as long as it doesn't take to long." "Can't say no to the free food." We said that in unison, but apparently Applejack didn't even intended to listen. She bolted to the nearby house and rang a triangle. "Soups on everypony!" She shouted. The ground shook. I looked back and saw a whole herd of ponies running towards us. That was a real stampede! "Where did they come from!?" The mare shouted. That might have been an interesting thing to ponder, but my mind was preoccupied with trying to find a way to escape. A shield spell? Telekinesis? Kinetic burst? Oh why didn't I practice my teleportation!? Before I could think of something, the stampede rolled over us. Spike and I were lifted upon their backs and carried somewhere. The world was still spinning when I found myself back on the ground in and by the table, Spike beside me, thankfully unharmed. With a grown the mare in the coat popped up from underneath the table. "Ugh, that was unexpected..." she muttered, rubbing her flank. "Heh, sorry bout that Sugar Cubes,"Applejack hugged us by the shoulders. "Here, let me introduce you to the family!" What followed was a real avalanche of names, faces and food. Seriously, how big is this family!? And are they expecting me to actually eat all of this? She even unceremoniously shoved an apple down my throat. Applejack ended the introductions with an old mare, Granny Smith I think, and nudged me on the shoulder. "Why, Ah'd say you're already a part of the family!" Ok! Red flag! There is being friendly, and there's being too friendly. I need to get out of here before they'll try and actually Make me a part of the family or something! I spat the apple out and laughed nervously. "He, he, I see that the food situation is handled, so we'll be on our way!" "Aren't you gonna stay for a brunch?" A little filly, Applebloom I think, asked. She looked as though she was about to cry. She was so cute, I almost changed my mind. "Sorry," I said, trying to look as disappointed as I could. "But we have an awful lot to do." A collective "Oww..." sounded from all around, and everypony hang their heads. Oh, come on! Did I accidentally broke some sort of a tradition or social norm? "Tsk , tsk, tsk, Miss. That's cold." Said the clothed mare. She was already munching on the slice of pie and had smirk on her face. No doubt she was having fun at my expense. I looked at everypony once more, and, with a defeated sigh, muttered "Fine..." Ponies around us erupted in the cheers *** The food was good. Surprisingly so. Originally I was planning on taking just a quick bite and calling it quits, I even tried to thank everypony and leave, but after the first slice of pie came the second, then some apple fritters and juice. Then the second pie... I knew that all of this tasty delights were going straight to my flanks, but in all honesty I didn't care one bit. I even wondered if that's how the Princess feels about her cake obsession. After some time ponies started to break up into smaller groups and chat with each other, Applejack and her mercenary decided to discuss the payment, and the adorable little filly was nowhere to be seen. All in all the perfect time to make my escape. So I grabbed Spike, who was still stuffing himself with various apple treats, and, despite his protests, levitated him away from the table. Some ponies saw us going and tried to start up conversations, to which I politely declined, others simply waved us goodbye. Good, I didn't want to loose any more time. So the moment we got sufficiently far from the table I bolted. *** For the future reference - running with the full stomach is a very bad idea. For the last five minutes I was fighting off the waves of nausea. And I think I was loosing the battle. Thankfully Spike saw the state I was in and decided to walk on his own. "I had to much pie..." I had to stop as I felt a new wave of nausea approaching and covered my mouth with the hooves. This one was bad, I wasn't sure if I could hold it. That's when I noticed a bucket was shoved in front of me. Without thinking I grabbed it and stuck my muzzle inside. What followed was a few moments of a desperate struggle against my own body, but thankfully I managed to preserve both my pride and my brunch. I felt better. I took a long breath and mumbled, "Thanks Spike." "Uhh, wasn't me Twi." Came the reply. I looked up and saw the mercenary mare from the farm. She was giving my an amused look. "Did I miss them also giving a free booze or something?" She smirked. An annoyed glare was my only answer. "Hey, are you okay Twilight?" Spike asked getting near me, to which I simply nodded. He took the bucket from me and gave it to the mare. She took it and, without looking, simply tossed it over the nearest fence. "Uhh, it was empty, right?" She asked after a moment hesitation. "Yes, yes it was," I answered. "But thank you anyway miss..." I stopped. "Huh, I guess we were never properly introduced to each other." I stood up straight and cleared my throat. "My name is Twilight Sparkle and this is my assistant, Spike." I said and extended my hoof "Hi!" He waved. "Hey, kiddo," she answered him with a nod and bumped my hoof with her own. "Name's Tzana." "That's a weird name." Spike stated. "Spike!" I shot him a glare. "That's rude!" I scolded him, even though I thought the same. Thankfully Tzana didn't seem to be offended. "So I've been told," she shrugged. "So, you're some important pony from the capital, right? Some kind of inspector?" "No, not really." I answered as we started to walk. "But Princess Celestia did send me here to supervise the preparations for the celebration." "Sent by the Princess herself." Tzana whistled. "So you are Very important pony from the capital." She said, putting a big emphasis on the word "very". "I'm not that important." I mumbled. Maybe if I was, Celestia would've actually listened to me. "I am just a student." "Still impressive though. So, how are the preparations going?" She asked. "We've only started the inspection. The food was first on the list, and I can definitely say that Apples are doing a good job at preparing it." I answered, holding a hoof to my still heavy stomach. "Oh, and thank you for your contribution miss Tzana." "Just doing my part." She shrugged again. "And just Tzana is fine." I nodded to her and turned to Spike. "What's next on the list?" "It's the weather!" Spike announced after looking through the letter. "A pegasus named Rainbow Dash should be keeping the sky clear." "Clear huh?" Tzana raised an eyebrow. I looked at the sky. A lot of fluffy white clouds were slowly carried around by the wind, and no pegasus in sight to clear all that mess. "Well, she is not doing a good job is she?" I stated me, admittedly obvious, conclusion. "Watch out!" Tzana shouted suddenly and shoved me to the side. Not a moment later I saw something colorful collide with Tzana with a loud "Oomph", sending them both flying. Then my vision was covered with dirt as I myself hit the ground. "Twilight, are you okay?" I felt Spike's claws on my side he as tried to help me to get up. "Yes Spike, I'm fine." I answered as I stood up and dusted myself off. "What just happened?" I looked around and saw Tzana standing on top of a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail, who was currently lying in the middle of huge puddle. It seems that we have found our weather pony. "He-he-he. Oops." The pegasus, presumably Rainbow Dash, said. "Excuse me? Hey could you, maybe, get off me?" She squirmed uncomfortably under the earth pony hooves. Tzana, however, payed her no mind, as she looked at the right sleeve of her coat. It was torn near the shoulder, and I could see a glint of small metal rings underneath it. Was that a chain mail? "Now look what you've done." She said that calmly, however something in her voice made me feel uneasy. Apparently the pegasus felt the same way as she doubled her efforts to get free. "Hey, I said that I'm sorry, okay?" She sounded irritated. "I didn't mean to crash into you or your friend out there." She pointed her hoof at me. "I was practicing one of my cool stunts when you two showed up." "Well you managed to pull quite a stunt out there." The pegasus smiled when she heard that, however that smile was short lived, as Tzana lowered her head and looked her in the eye. "You messed up my stuff." That was when I decided to intervene. I didn't want anypony to get hurt, especially the weather pony designated by the Princess herself. "You are Rainbow Dash I suppose?" I said loudly as I moved to stand next to them. Tzana spared me a glance and, with a sigh, released hers would be victim. Angry or not she must've understood that it never a good idea to get in a way of the Crown. As for myself, I silently thanked Celestia, that she turned out to be a reasonable mare. I didn't want to see what a pony capable of taking on a timberwolf pack could do to the poor pegasus. Said pegasus didn't waste any time lying on the ground. The moment Tzana moved her hooves she bolted into the air with a powerful flap of her wings. She made a small loop and landed on all four in front of me, wearing a smug look on her face. "The one and only!" She announced as she started to hover right in front of my face. "Why? You heard of me?" Well that one certainly had an ego. "I heard suppose to be keeping the sky clear." Rainbow's expression fell almost instantly and she started to drift upward. When she reached the nearest cloud she just... lay on it. As if she didn't have any bother in the world. I closed my eyes and shook my head. This town and its inhabitants didn't want to go easy me, did they? First overly friendly farmers, now this lazy weather manager. Well, maybe a reminder that this task was given by the Princess could motivate her? "I am Twilight Sparkle and the Princess sent me to check on the weather." I said, hoping to get a reaction. I certainly didn't expect that she would wave me off, because that's exactly what she did. "Yeah, yeah, I know." She said dismissively. "I'll do that in a jiffy. As soon as I'm done practicing." "Practicing what?" Tzana asked. "Bomb-diving into unsuspecting ponies? Cause it seems like you got that covered." That ruffled her feathers. "No!" She got up and pointed at a big poster that was glued to a wall of the nearby building. "The Wonderbolts! They are going to preform at the celebration tomorrow and I am going to show them my stuff!" She announced proudly and did a double loop in the air. Well, it seemed that her ego was even bigger than I thought. And that was a good thing. I felt how a mischievous smile appeared on my face as I came up with a simple plan. "The Wonderbolts?" I asked. "The most talented fliers in all of Equestria?" "That's them!" Rainbow answered proudly. "Pff, please! They would never expect a pegasus who can't even keep the sky clear for a one mizzly day!" I said as dismissively as I could. If my assessment was correct, Rainbow would never let that kind of hit to her pride slide. "Hey!" She shouted. "I could clear that sky in ten seconds flat!" Gotcha! I heard Tzana snicker beside me. "Wanna bet?" She asked. "If you can't clear all of this -" she waved her hoof around "- in ten seconds, you'll pay for my armor fixing... tenfold." That didn't sound particularly fair to me. I admit, I just used her own ego to try and trick her into doing her job, but Tzana was baiting Rainbow into unwinnable bet. Surely she was not that gullible. Rainbow glided down to us and hovered almost snout to snout with Tzana. "Oh yeah? And what if I win?" She challenged. Then again, I've been wrong before. "Then you are free to go." Tzana shrugged. "In that case, I hope that you like some extra ventilation in that coat of yours." Rainbow Dash raised her head proudly as she took a few steps away from us. "Because I am the fastest flier in all of Equestria!" She looked at us triumphantly. Rainbow walked right into Tzana's trap and did so willingly. Besides she did ruin Tzana's coat. And to be absolutely honest a small lesson in humility won't hurt her either. So I had no second thoughts when I looked her straight in the eye and simply said "Prove it." Rainbow Dash bolted into the air with such speed I felt a tug on my mane. When the dust cloud she kicked up settled and I could see her flying from one cloud to the next, destroying them effortlessly, my jaw literally hit floor. The speed was incredible! I could barely follow her movement and mostly had to just track the rainbow colored blur that was left in her way. She zoomed through the sky so fast, she didn't even need to touch the cloud, the wind she created simply tore them apart, causing them to dissolve. I could have sworn that Rainbow could break the sound barrier with just a few more flaps of her wings! The sky was clear in no time. With her job done, Rainbow Dash flew back, did yet another loop in the air and landed on the bridge in front of us. "What did I tell you?" She asked, beaming with pride. "Ten. Seconds. Flat." We just stared. Tzana was the first one to regain her composure. "You're pretty good." She said. "Pretty good..." Rainbow repeated, as if contemplating something. "Ha! That's not how you say awesome!" She flapped her wings once again and started to fly around us. "You guys are pretty cool." She said with a giggle. "Can't wait to hang out some more. See you later!" And she was off. "She is amazing!" Spike shouted. Yes, there was no denying that. And her claims of being the fastest flyer might as well be true. "Yeah, she's something." Tzana agreed. "Were you going to start a fight with her?" Spike asked crossing his arms. He never liked it when the ponies fought over small things, Shining Armor taught him that. "Nah, I'm not that petty, kiddo." The mercenary waved him off. "That sort of thing-" she poked the ripped sleeve "- happens all the time. I simply wanted to make her to deal with it for me, and make some extra bits." She let out a sigh. "Greed will be my undoing after all. Any way, I gotta get that fixed. See you around." She turned around and started to walk in the direction of the town market. "Goodbye." I said after her, and turned back to Spike. "What's next on the list?" "The decorations." He said after checking the letter. "The celebration will be held at the Town Hall, so we should check it out." I nodded and started to walk. This day was filled with the distractions so far, and I really hoped that there won't be any more problems with the preparations. I still haven't had a chance to read up on the Elements Of Harmony or Nightmare Moon. The sooner we finish the better. *** "There you are, Twilight!" Twilight flinched and looked around, blinking owlishly. "Huh? Why is it so bright all of the sudden?" She thought out loud. The library was lit by the warm morning sun light coming in through the windows. "That's because you did exactly what I thought you would!" Came the reply. Twilight turned around and saw Spike standing in a doorway. He had his arms crossed and was giving her a disapproving glare. "You didn't sleep at all, did you?" He asked. "No, I didn't." Twilight admitted. There was no point denying it, even if she would try to convince him otherwise, her disheveled looks and bloodshot eyes were a dead giveaway. "I couldn't fall asleep, so I decided to check something. And you know what? It worked! Not exactly how we intended, but it worked!" Twilight grabbed the journal and practically shoved it in Spike's face. "See? We were right in our calculations! They swapped!" "Twi, you don't make any sense." He moved the book aside and walked closer to Twilight. There was no point in trying to understand her when she entered the 'Mad Scientist' mode, but thankfully Spike knew what to do in almost any situation regarding Twilight's slightly less than stable psyche "Listen, I know that this is very important to you, but if you won't have some rest, you'll be a shambling mess again." He talked calmly, letting it to sink in, all the while preparing his trump card. "And how would you work on your project in such a state?" Spike watch with satisfaction as a comprehension dawned on Twilight's face. Even if she wanted to protest before, she would never do it now. Playing on the efficiency of her studies never failed him. Twilight nodded. "Yes, Spike. Of course you're right. I'll go-" she yawned, only now realizing how exhausted she really was "-I'll go to sleep. Clear head and all that." She smiled at him. "Thank you for looking after me." "That's what I'm here for." The dragon answered proudly. "I'll wake you up in a few hours." This time Twilight fell into Luna's realm even before her own head hit the pillow.