//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 - Welcome Party // Story: A Changing Perspective // by Dragrace //------------------------------// Followed by Wings and Biggs, Jack increased his pace as he ran down the streets of Ponyville. Moments ago, the three changelings found themselves bored with absolutely nothing to do, but after getting caught up watching some races it seems they lost track of time. They had been running through town for no longer than a minute, scrambling to find Sugarcube Corner. The clock tower had said 7:57, and Jack did not want a bad first (technically it was his second) impression on the citizens of Ponyville. Racing past the Tree-brary for the second time, Jack slowed his pace to an eventual stop. Letting out a sigh of disappointment, he looked around for any clue to where Sugarcube Corner may be. 'Being late to the first thing I get a chance to make an impression at. This is just great.' Jack thought. The same wood and straw houses that he had seen earlier surrounded him; they had gone and done a full lap of Ponville. Wings and Biggs were eyeing each other, as if they wanted to say something, but they both remained silent. "Do you two have any idea where it could be?" Jack asked, not expecting any sort of response. Surprisingly, Wings lifted one of his front purple hooves and pointed just past a row of houses. "Alright, if you know something you really need to speak up..." Jack sighed. Trudging along the dirt path, passing a few more houses, they finally reached the giant candy themed building. >---< The gingerbread walls reflected the setting sun quite well, the sugar coating (or whatever it really was) catching each of the few remaining rays of sunlight. The icing itself looked like it was still edible, that is, if it was actually icing. Jack had no idea if Sugarcube Corner was edible in reality. Looking up above the main building, there was another room attached just on top. This one appeared to be two cupcakes stacked on top of one another, however only the highest one had the icing. There was one single window on the cupcakes that looked like a gem. The building itself made Jack's mouth water. Suddenly, the door was slammed open and Pinkie Pie stood in the open doorway, a giant grin going cheek to cheek across her face. "Ooooh! Yay! I'm so excited you three could make it! I knew you wouldn't be able to resist all of the sugary goodness I had planned! Oh and I made sure everypony in town came, so then you can meet all kinds of new ponies, and make all kinds of new friends! This is so exciting; I haven't had a welcoming party in months! Other than welcoming back all the animals after winter wrap up, but I meant a welcoming party for ponies! We haven't had many ponies move in to Ponyville for so long!" The pink mare quickly explained. "Well, technically we don't have any jobs yet, but Applejack said..." Jack began, to be interrupted my Pinkie shortly after. "Applejack is one of my bestest friends ever! Shes really honest and I like that about a pony! Well, I like a lot of different things about ponies; maybe that's why I have so many friends!" "Pinkie..." Jack said. "But then again I do have lots of parties, and I make sure to invite everypony around! I know they all love them, they're always laughing and having so much fun!" Pinkie continued. "Pinkie!" Jack said, elevating his voice slightly. "Oh, sorry, did you want something?" She responded, still holding the grin across her face. "Yeah, are you going to invite us to the party? And we still aren't residents of Ponville yet, if that matters." Pinkie turned around, ran back into the door, yelling "They're here! Let's get this party started!" followed by a large group of ponies cheering loudly. >---< Jack, Wings and Biggs entered the room. Jack stared in awe at the mass population sprawled across the room. Quickly turning both left and right to take a look at Biggs and Wings, both their expressions remained emotionless. Despite their reactions, the other ponies didn't seem to care, with the party was clearly very popular. With so many ponies were crammed into the room, there was barely enough space for the threesome to get to the confections table, something Jack had been eyeing ever since Pinkie opened the door. There were so many treats, all of which were carefully decorated and look extremely tempting. Just like Pinkie had said earlier, there were three large cakes in the center of the table. The center cake was covered with a grey icing and black icing on top. The two cakes to the sides were red and purple, the other being purple and red in the same style as the first one, from left to right respectively. They all looked so delicious... 'Huh, they even put forward enough effort to match our coat and mane colors. I wasn't expecting that, but then again it is Pinkie, you can't expect anything from her!' Jack thought. Before he had the chance to take a slice of cake, he heard Pinkie yelling over the crowd. "Everypony! Everypony can I have your attention! I have something super-duper important to say!" She exclaimed. The room fell silent within seconds. Well, close to silent anyways, there was still some whispering and music playing quietly in the background. "Okay, Twilight here just wanted to say something!" Pinkie said. Everypony in the room turned to face the purple mare. She was standing just behind Pinkie, and slowly stepped towards Jack and the other three. As she approached, Jack felt as if the Wings and Biggs were backing away slightly, as if she was determined to speak to him alone. She stared at him for a moment, tilting her head slightly as if there was something she recognized about him. Jack didn't move, he didn't want to for the fear that she knew what he was. The tense situation lasted no more than 10 seconds, before Twilight finally spoke. "Let's welcome our new three guests, everypony!" She said. "There's Cienna, Domina and..." There was a pause, and she raised her hoof pointing towards him. "Jack! Let's give them a nice, warm welcome!" The crowd erupted into another cheer, and the party resumed. Jack felt his heart pounding against his chest, as Twilight continued to approach him. "So where did you say you were from again?" >---< After explaining his 'story' to Twilight, he noticed she didn't ask many questions. He knew she was thinking about something, Twilight usually asked plenty of questions to keep on top of things. However, through his story of travelling far across the lands, fleeing from the poor lifestyle of Itrot, seemed to keep her silent. 'I know she's up to something, Twilight is never this quite when she hears about new things.' Jack thought. Perhaps it was just his imagination, maybe he had just gotten caught up in his story telling he didn't notice any questions. Smiling slightly, with a nod of her head, Twilight proceeded to return to the mass of ponies. He couldn't help but watch her talking to the other ponies. There was clearly something that she thought about him, not particularly about Wings and Biggs, and he could only wonder what it was. 'If she knows I'm a changeling, or recognizes me in any way...' Jack thought, 'Then why didn't she act strange about the other two, never expressing emotion and not saying a single word their entire visit...' He sat there, staring, as the ponies surrounding him consumed the massive cakes. Behind the counter he saw Mrs. and Mr. Cake smiling waving at him. He couldn't help but smile and wave back. >---< The party was definitely one of the most exciting parties he had ever been to. He hadn't been to an actually party before, the most recent one being to his cousin's. Or at least he thought it was his cousin's, his mind was even more unclear than the previous night. Giving in to his thoughts, he rolled his eyes in defeat and went over to the 'Pin the tail on the Pony' section. There was only a small group of ponies there, so he thought he might as well settle in. He walked off, leaving Biggs and Wings with all the food. "Hey, it's Jack!" came a voice from behind. Turning around, he saw a mint green pony approaching him. He recognized her as Lyra. "Well, I think it should be Jacks turn next, since he is the reason for the party." Lyra said. "Aww comon, you don't need to do it just for me!" Jack replied. "Well, everypony else has already had a turn, so it's only fair!" She said. When the brown pony before him finished, placing the tail right on the eye, Jack laughed a little and allowed Lyra to tie the blindfold on with magic. When the purple glow from the blindfold faded, Jack found himself in completely darkness. With the fake tail in his mouth, he was as ready as he ever would be. Suddenly, he felt hooves placed on his back and the pony which grabbed him began to spin him around. "One..." Came a mass of voices, "Two... Three! Go!" Jack stumbled around in the darkness. He knew he was not going anywhere near straight, but pressed forward anyways. When he finally bumped hooves into wood, he stopped for a moment slightly lowering his head. He knew that the tail spot wasn't quite at his height. Carefully pressing his mouth into the wall, he pulled the blindfold off with his front hooves. In front of him wasn't even a picture of a pony, he had missed by so much he had landed on a nearby bag of flour. Every pony around him began laughing, and he was quite disappointed in himself. Despite his lack of victory, he smiled and began laughing as well. >---< Jack's stomach growling, he finally remembered that he still hadn't gotten a piece of cake yet. In hopes of finally getting his hooves on one of those delicious pieces of art, he found each and every cake to be gone. The cupcakes were gone as well, leaving the punch bowl remaining. As with everything else, there was nothing left. The innocent looking punch bowl had let him down. Disappointed, he looked at both Wings and Biggs and saw bits of cake and icing upon their purple and red faces. 'Seriously? I was really looking forward to the cake too!' Jack thought, giving a little frown. 'Those two haven't done a thing all night but sit AROUND the cake. Ugh I should have just had cake first before I...' Jacks thoughts were interrupted by something resting on his back. The purple hoof of Wings was resting, as if to comfort him. As he stared at him for a minute, he finally noticed what he was trying to say, or the message he wanted to get across. Just below his purple mane, on the lower half of his face, he had managed to muster up the smallest smile. An overwhelming feeling of happiness washed over Jack, knowing that he got a response that wasn't just a blink, or a short sentence. Jack couldn't help but give what felt like a smile just as big as one of Pinkie Pie's back. 'Maybe those two aren't void of emotion after all.'