The Main Six
It was a rather lovely day out in ponyville. The pegasi, who controlled the weather in this world, had today scheduled to be nice and clear of any clouds. Ponies were out and about, going along with their daily business. Some had stands set up, selling various items as customers lined up. Most were either walking around or hanging out with their friends or both. No matter what they were doing, all the residents had their attention drawn to three specific characters—Twilight, who was dashing with a look of panic. Spike and Caleb are running behind, unable to match her speed.
"Twilight...!" Spike pants, slowing down before stopping to catch his breath. "Please... Can you please slow down...?" Caleb stops next to Spike. He may have had the energy to run away from a timberwolf when he first arrived, but he lacked the adrenaline he had then to keep with the unicorn.
"Yeah... Out of... Breath..." Caleb let out, thinking about how unfit he was. Twilight looks back at the two, her expression unchanged.
"We can't stop now; we'll be late to Pinkie's party!"
"But..." Spike started, pointing a claw forward. "Sugar Cube Corner... It's right there..." Twilight turned and saw that it was, in fact, right there. It wasn't too far away and could easily be seen in the distance where they were at. She looks over to the town's clock tower, which is in sight. They still had three minutes to reach the bakery. They must have been running faster than Twilight initially thought.
"Oh..." She mummers to herself, seeming to relax a little. "I guess we can slow down a bit since we're still close, but we only have a few minutes." Once again, Twilight started heading to the bakery, which Caleb noted as looking slightly like a gingerbread house as he and the baby dragon followed. As they walked to the building, the human instantly noticed the odd looks he was getting from ponies. Sure, the recent truth of Zecora being revealed has made the town folks less paranoid about creatures they didn't understand, yet that didn't stop most of them from looking at Caleb with strange looks.
"Um... Twilight...?" He walked closer to her; she turned to face him but didn't stop her pursuit of the shop. "They're all looking at me strangely... It's kinda making me uncomfortable." Twilight looks around and notices quickly that Caleb's claim is valid.
"Don't worry about them." Twilight looks back at Caleb. "They just haven't seen anything like you before. Besides, we're almost at Sugar Cube Corner." All Caleb could do was meekly nod as they finally reached the bakery, as the clock tower hit two o'clock. As the human entered the restaurant with the two, his senses were assaulted by the smells of sweets and something good that smelled like it was being baked. The inside was decorated with party decorations. Besides that, it seemed the place had a theme of candy going on, as some hung on the walls, and Caleb could even see Candy Canes in a vase of sorts.
"Right on time!" Twilight announced more to herself as she walked further in, Spike and Caleb following, though the ladder attention was shifted to the other ponies inside. Most of them didn't notice their presence yet, but a few caught his attention, mainly as they seemed to be the ones Twilight was going to. There were four ponies, an orange, white, cyan, and yellow.
The orange had a blonde mane and tail and was wearing a fedora. At least, that's what Caleb assumed the hat was. She had three white freckles on each side of her face, green eyes, and her flank had an image of three apples. The white one, a unicorn like Twilight, unlike the last one, who seemed like an average pony, had her purple mane and tail stylized. She had beautiful blue eyes, and her flank had a picture of three gems on them. The cyan one, who had wings and was hovering above the group, had a unique mane and tail, as they were made up of various colors, just like a rainbow. Her mark was a simple cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt from the bottom. Lastly, the yellow pony also had wings. Her mane and tail were pink, and she had light blue eyes and butterflies on her flank. Out of all of them, she seemed the most shy.
"Hello girls!" Twilight greeted the four, who all turned their attention to the three. Their eyes seemed to beam at the unicorn's arrival, then quickly turned to mild confusion as they looked at the human.
"Hey, Twi!" The cyan one said, being the first to approach her, then looking at Caleb, who felt a nervous tingle go down his spine, as he wasn't sure what she would say to him if she did at all. "Um, who's your friend?" She examined the human with a curious look on her face, a clear sign that she, like Twilight, had never seen anything like him before.
"I'm Caleb..." He introduced himself before the purple unicorn could do it for him. "And I woke up in a forest... I'm new and haven't ever been to a place like this before..." She gave him a smirk that gave off the impression that she was friendly and cool.
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Caleb! My name is Rainbow Dash, and I'm probably one of the coolest ponies you'll meet." She held out one of her hoofs, which Caleb slowly but eventually shook. As soon as he did, he felt a slight shock coming from his hand, which traveled to the rest of his body.
"Ack!" He pulled back and looked at Rainbow, who was trying to hold back a fit of laughter. Caleb looked at her hoof, which he overlooked had a strap around it. He turned it around and showed the strap in question was attached to a joy buzzer. Rainbow couldn't help it anymore and let out her laughter.
"Haha! Oh man, I had to change its position super fast, but it was worth it!"
"Rainbow!" Twilight scolded her friend, the pegasus stopping her train of laughter to turn her attention to Twilight.
"Relax, Twi, this is one of Pinkie's prank parties!" Twilight's disapproving look didn't change.
"I know next to nothing about humans, and neither do you. How could you know if that shock wouldn't hurt him more than it would a normal pony?" Rainbow stopped momentarily, considering her friend's words, before she looked at Caleb, worried her words were true.
"Shoot... I'm sorry if I hurt you or anything; I just wanted to do a harmless prank." Caleb, who was lost in his thoughts for a moment and was facing the ground, turned her attention back to the cyan pegasus. He gives her a slight smile.
"It's okay... We have joy buzzers back where I'm from... I think, but I'm fine." He reassured her. Rainbow looks back at Twilight, once again adorning a smirk.
"See? It's fine!" Rainbow puts a hoof up to her chin. "Though, like I said, this party has a lot, and I mean, a LOT of pranks, so be careful new guy." She snickers to herself again, and the orange pony introduces herself as Rainbow floats back up in the air.
"Howdy there, Ah'm AppleJack, nice to meet ya. Though you can also call me AJ if ya want." She introduces herself and holds out her hoof, and after careful inspection, he shakes it and makes sure that there isn't a joy buzzer.
"Likewise. You look kinda like a cowboy or cowpony in this case." Applejack gives a hearty chuckle at this.
"Ah'll take that as a compliment; thank you for much, but Ah'm a farm pony. Ah, live on Sweet Apple acres; you're welcome to drop on by if you'd like." Caleb nodded, considering the offer, though that would have to be later, as there were more ponies to get acquainted with. The next pony he turned his attention to was the white unicorn; he was about to introduce himself when she looked him down and let out the most terrified gasp he'd heard from any pony since his arrival, which made him tense up a bit.
"Oh my! What happened to your clothes!?" Caleb slowly blinked his eyes. That's what she was worried about? Before he could give a proper answer, her horn glowed, levitated some measuring tape, which so happened to be nearby, and started doing measurements on him. "This simply won't do! Your clothes are torn and dirty. I must make you a new outfit!"
"But you don't have to-"
"I will not take no for an answer!" She finished the measurements; Caleb was still confused but decided to proceed.
"Um, thank you... It's not like I have anything else to wear anyways, so that some new clothes would be nice." He rubs the back of his head. "Is it gonna cost anything, miss...?"
"Rarity." She levitated a quill on paper, writing down the measurements she took so as not to forget them. "And not to worry, for this first outfit, I'll do for free if you really have nothing else to wear; it's the least I can do for a new friend." Caleb seemed surprised by this. This pony, whom he didn't even know that well, was already giving him an outfit for no charge; she seemed interested in doing so before she knew he didn't have any other clothes to wear, which made the act all the nicer considering she was going to make him one anyways.
"Wow, I uh... Really appreciate that..." He said a little awkwardly, which may have come off as him being disingenuous about the gift, but was more him not really knowing how to react, yet still being grateful for it. Rarity picked up on that, smiling at him. Seemingly, the last pony to be introduced was the yellow one, who meekly looked over to the human.
"What's your name?" He said, trying to be less awkward about it than he was with Rarity.
"I'm... Fluttershy..." The pony meekly responds. Unlike the first time she talked to Twilight, she wasn't so quiet to the point of being unable to be heard, yet her voice was still very soft. It made Caleb feel bad for the pony, being so shy, but he just gave her a warm smile, the only thing he could do to comfort the mare at the moment.
"It's very nice to meet you, Fluttershy." The human seemed to be feeling more comfortable around the ponies. That comfort must have also passed to the yellow mare as she perked up slightly.
"I've never seen anything like you before... Twilight mentioned you were a human...?" Caleb nodded at the pegasus.
"I am, yeah. If I'm being frank, I don't think I'm from... well, anywhere near here." Fluttershy gives a nod.
"Well... No matter how far you're from, I think nopony will mind you staying in ponyville... If you want, I mean..."
"Yep, he's going to stay with me until we can figure out a way to get him back to his home." Twilight interjected before Caleb could say anything.
"Well, until then," Rainbow started. "We could show him around! Help him get comfortable or whatever, and show him all the cool stuff us ponies have to offer!" She seemed to beam at the idea of it.
"Only if he's comfortable with it, Rainbow," Aj interjected, looking up at the pegasus, still hovering. "We don't wanna push him too hard into doing things he isn't comfortable with..."
"Thanks... But I would love a tour sometime... After this party." Caleb gives another smile as he rubs his hand. He was still nervous about the idea, especially considering how many ponies were watching him earlier when he was walking down the streets, but if he was going to stay there for a bit, he should get to know them and show them all he's friendly.
"Heck yeah!" Rainbow shot her hooves up in the air. "And if you want, we could also pull pranks!" She giggles. "Those are always fun, just like this party is a prank party!"
"Speaking of the party..." Twilight interjected, looking around the room, finally noticing that one specific mare was missing. "Where's Pinkie Pie?" The rest looked around a bit, also seeing the absence.
"Last I saw her, she was going to the kitchen..." Rarity inquired, but before anyone could investigate the kitchen, the sounds of something shaking were heard. It drew their attention to a table, which held a purple present on it with an orange bow. It didn't look too big but was big enough that one would have to use two hands to hold it.
"Ummm... Who's present is that?" Caleb asked curiously as the others began walking up to it, the others walking up to it, or in the case of Rainbow, floating to it with a shrug.
"I dunno, like I said, this is a prank party, so it's probably going to prank whoever opens it." She stops next to the group, who all look onward at the gift, which shakes a little more.
"Hm... You're probably right, but I still wonder what's exactly in there." Caleb put a hand up to his chin, and the rainbow pegasus hovered next to him.
"Dare you to open and see." She smirks, taking Caleb aback.
"Wait, what? Why do you want me to open it? What if it's for someone else?" Caleb tried to say a part of him believed it was for someone else, but it was a prank party, so who knew?
"I don't see a name tag on it, c'mon; it won't hurt to open it, and I should know I planned most of these pranks, and so did Pinkie." Caleb ponders momentarily, looking at Twilight, who looks at Rainbow.
"He doesn't have to if he doesn't want to. Stop being so pushy." However, the more Caleb thought, the more he felt he should, even if he was being walked into a prank. After all, he would live amongst these ponies until a way home could be figured out. So making a good impression on them would probably be for the best. If Rainbow said it was harmless, then it had to be, right?
"It's fine, I can open it..." He goes over to the box without further delay or interruption, which still shakes slightly. The human goes to open it, gently placing his hand on the package; he carefully undoes the bow, then some of the wrapping paper, though he isn't careful enough and accidentally tears some of it. Finally, he lifts the lid, only for a pink blur to jump out of the box, with a loud pop and the sounds of confetti being shot out, making the human fall back onto the floor.
"Surprise!" The pink pony, who'd somehow fit in the box, announced, holding her hooves up and standing on her back legs. She stops for a moment, however, as she seems to think of something for a moment. "Oh wait, this isn't a surprise party, silly me!" She looks down at the human.
"Hello... How did you-" He doesn't have time to finish, as he's interrupted by a gasp from the pink mare in front of him, who has puffy hair and blue eyes and has pictures of two yellow and one blue balloon on her flank. She gets a little too close for comfort into the man's face as she starts talking incredibly fast.
"Ohmygoshi'veneverseenanythinglikeyoubeforewhatsyournameI'mPinkiePiewannabefriendsohmygoshIneedtothrowyouasurprisepartywaitohIjustsaidititwontbeasurpriseanymore-" The ramblings of the pink mare were interrupted as Twilight used her magic to levitate Pinkie away from Caleb gently.
"Pinkie, calm down." She looks over at the human, who gets up, looking over at the box and then back to Pinkie. The only thought going through his mind was how she fit herself in there. "He hasn't been around many ponies and probably appreciates his personal space." Pinkie looks over at the human with a slightly nervous chuckle.
"Hehe, sorry about that. I just get so excited wided whenever I meet somepony new!" She bounces over to him. "My name is Pinkie Pie! What's yours?"
"Caleb." He replies, pushing back his questions for now. "It's a pleasure to meet you, despite the startle." Pinkie gives him the biggest smile that he has probably ever seen from what little memory he has.
"I should totally throw you a party! After this one, of course!" The smile doesn't fade as she bounces back to the other ponies.
"Well... Now that you're introduced to my friends, how about we enjoy the party for a bit?" Caleb looked around at all the other ponies in attendance. They seemed to be mostly doing their things, talking with other ponies, or drinking some punch that had been on a table. He even saw Spike, who split off from the group to enjoy the party, sit on a woopie cushion on a chair, looking flustered. This was a prank party, after all. However, he still noticed a few eyes on him, making him slightly uneasy. Though if he introduced himself, It would most likely stop the watchers.
"Yeah... yeah, that sounds good."
"Awesome!" The cyan pegasus flies over to the others in attendance. "Let's go!" The group follows, Caleb ready to make an impression.
Hours passed, and the party was dispersing, nearly coming to an end. During that time, Caleb had met a few other ponies, all of which were interesting to learn about. For instance, there was a grey pegasus named Derpy Hooves, a name the human didn't expect anypony to have. Nonetheless, she was pleasant to talk with, learning she was a mail pony. She had also accidentally knocked over a table, which Caleb and others helped pick up.
Then there was Lyra Heartstrings, a lighter cyan than Rainbow, at least in Caleb's mind she was. She seemed particularly fascinated with the human, but she otherwise seemed nice. At one point, she even copied how he was sitting down. Caleb found it interesting, and his interactions with the unicorn were all reasonably pleasant.
Yet despite that, Caleb found himself most comfortable around the six ponies he was first introduced to. As they went about the party, they talked a lot. Caleb learned a lot about each of the six. Like their cutie marks, the symbols on their flanks that, before this point, he had no idea what they meant, but now understood what they meant. He forgot to ask how they specifically got it, but he learned the meaning behind each one, like how Pinkie loved throwing parties and spreading smiles, or Applejack loved working on her apple farm.
He also had little one-offs with them during the party. Caleb helped Rainbow prank one of the party guests, specifically by having the human distract a pony. At the same time, Rainbow surprised them with a blowhorn, or he and Twilight had a conversation, which was more questions she had about the human.
As most of the guests were leaving, the main six were chatting with the human. They wanted to get to know him better and where he came from. Though every time they asked him something about himself, he seemed to dodge the question for the most part, with an "I don't know." or would change the subject.
"Wow, that guy sounds so cool!" Rainbow said after Caleb recalled a movie he liked about an archaeologist. Twilight takes a sip of juice from a cup she had.
"That sounds a lot like Daring Do." She looks to Rainbow. "I actually think you'd like her. She reminds me of you a little." Rainbow brushed the purple mare off with a laugh, Twilight giving her an annoyed look.
"Oh, come on, Twi, readings for eggheads." The unicorn does a pony version of a shrug.
"Your loss." She sips some more juice. Rarity looks over at Caleb with a curious look.
"You know, you've told us quite a lot about your world and some of your interests." She started. "But you haven't really told us all that much about yourself, dear." He pauses his chuckling for a moment, looking over at her.
"Oh... Yeah." Before he or Twilight could say anything, Pinkie cut in with a huge smile.
"Yeah! Tell us some stuff about yourself! I mean, we already know you like movies, but what else?" She was eager to hear his response, yet by his expression, Caleb didn't seem all that keen to say. Once again, Twilight is about to speak to explain the situation but is again stopped when Applejack puts in her input.
"You okay, Sugarcube?" She gave a slightly worried look. "You don't look like you really want to talk about it."
"It's not that I don't want to talk about it... It's that I can't... Remember a whole lot about myself." He rubs his arm, looking away from the group. "When I woke up in the forest, I lost most of my personal memories... I only remember a few things, like that movie I told you about or how my world was, but when it comes to me, well... There isn't a whole lot to say, really."
"But he could start getting his memories back." Twilight finally got a chance to speak. "I'll look for spells and see if any of them help, along with figuring out a way to get you back home."
"Yep. And you betcha we'll help in any way we can." Applejack backed the unicorn up.
"Totally! I mean, I don't know much about memory loss or anything like that, but I would never leave my friends helpless when they need help!"
"Yeppers! We all will! And I can throw you parties and make you sweets and so many other super duper fun things and-"
"I think he gets the idea." Rarity politely cut off Pinkie's ramblings before they got out of hand. "But yes, I'm sure we and everyone else will be willing to make you feel as comfortable as can be." Fluttershy doesn't say anything but nods.
"Wow... You're all... Nice for doing that." He smiles at the ponies. "Thank you." Twilight looks at the time, seeing that it's pretty late.
"Oh geez... It's late. I think we should head home now." She eyes the area momentarily, looking for a particular purple dragon, quickly finding him slumbering on a chair. She thought he must've passed out earlier as she levitated him onto her back.
"Yeah..." Rainbow let out a yawn, heading for the door. "I missed some serious nap time today." The rest of the group followed. Since everyone else had already left, there wasn't anypony to tell to go. As they all reached the front door, they stopped just short outside the building. The beautiful night sky replaced the sunny one that was there when they arrived.
"Well, it was nice meeting you, Caleb. We should definitely hang out soon." She holds out her hand, offering another shake, which Caleb gives her a suspicious look. She gives an innocent smile. "I don't have a joy buzzer this time."
"Hmmm... Alright." He shakes her hoof and pleasantly finds that no extra electricity is coursing through his body. After the shake, Rainbow waves before flying off into the sky.
"See ya guys!" They all wave back, and Rarity starts walking away as well.
"I'll see you girls later, and don't you worry, Caleb, I put together a new outfit for you in no time!" The snow-white unicorn promised before heading out of sight.
"Um... It was nice meeting you... I'll see you around." Fluttershy said, walking away as well, Caleb waving at both the ponies as they left. Applejack tipped her hat to the remaining friends.
"See ya around, new friend." As Pinkie Pie was at Sugarcube's door, she started heading off, giving a friendly wave.
"Byyyyyyyeeeeee!" She declared before closing the door. Now, all that was left was Twilight and Caleb. She looks at the human before returning to her library, the human following closely behind.
"Wow... You're friends all seemed very nice." Caleb said, with a slight amount of relief present in his voice. "I was worried things would go somehow wrong... Like the town ponies wouldn't like me or something."
"Well, like I said earlier, we had a recent incident with a Zebra nearby where everyone misjudged her, so I think most ponies know better by now." She uses her magic to readjust the baby dragon slumbering on her back. "But I'm glad you got along with them! And everyone else at the party, it seems, as well!"
"Yeah! I actually had a really good time!" For the first time since he's been here, he felt relaxed. With him being somewhere completely different from the other stuff he'd been through, even when he was with Twilight at first, he hadn't entirely managed to stop worrying. After today, however, he knew that no matter how long he stayed here, he would find himself amongst ponies.
It didn't take long for the three to return to the library, which was named the Golden Oaks Library, to be specific. As Twilight walks in and turns on the light, she levitates a book from one of the shelves.
"Going to be doing some late-night reading?" He asked curiously.
"I sure am. Been wanting to get to this specific book for a while." Twilight places the book on a table, heading up the stairs, probably to put Spike to bed. "Besides, I don't think you'd be up for doing late-night research with me; you probably want to sleep, and I can do more questions and tests tomorrow." Caleb thought for a moment. He wasn't exhausted.
"You know, I could probably stay up late with you." Twilight's ears perk up as she turns to the human from the stairs.
"Really?"
"Yeah, I mean, you could ask more questions and do more tests, or we can do whatever else." The unicorn ponders for a moment before nodding in agreement.
"Alright! Sounds like a plan!" She continues up the stairs. Let me tuck Spike in really quickly. Caleb gives her a thumbs up as she completely disappears up the stairs. Caleb smiles to himself as he sits down. He was glad that such a friendly, welcoming, if not curious, unicorn-like Twilight managed to find him. Things could be much worse; he had some bad feelings earlier, but they would surely pass. Things would be okay, he thought to himself as he waited for Twilight to return so they could prepare for the night ahead.