//------------------------------// // Chapter 21: The Party // Story: The Recluse // by Live Light //------------------------------// Light returned to the cottage. As soon as he opened it, he was pulled in, and hugged. I should be used to this by now. Flutter-cuddles for the win. "Hey, Flutters. How are you?" Light asked. "All the better for seeing you, Light." She said, placing a kiss on his cheek, getting a blush from him. "Aww. Nice to see you missed me. Anyway, I don't think we'll need to worry about the 42,000,000,000,000 bits anymore. Gotten on good terms with the thugs. Which also means, cuddling without anypony watching." "Oh, really..." Fluttershy said, with a rather seductive tone in her voice. Wow. I really wish this could happen right now. "I know what you're thinking... but the party's in ... probably 40 minutes now." Fluttershy's mood went from happy to surprised. "Oh... oh, um... I don't know what to wear..." "Well... you know... I'm going as the Unavenged Stallion... you could go as Mare-Do-Well." Light offered, remembering the dream that got them together. "Hm..." Fluttershy thought about it. "That does sound like a good idea. Then your character won't be so lonely, hm?" She said with a smile. "Exactly. So then, we should get ready." Fluttershy nodded, and (reluctantly) let him go to go upstairs to look for her Mare-Do-Well costume. Light went over to his bag, and pulled his character's suit. *5 Minutes Later* Light was now dressed in his attire. He hovered over to a mirror, and examined himself. Yep. Badflank. "Hey, you." Came a familiar, confident voice. Light turned around, and came face to face with Mare-Do-Well. "Well, well, Mare-Do-Well." He said, in his character's voice, only briefly noticing the rhymes. He felt it best to call her Mare-Do-Well, so she was confident. For a party, he'd assumed she needs a lot of confidence, and was willing to let her stay in character to achieve it. Mare-Do-Well giggled at the rhyme. "Well, shall we go see our friends before going?" "Sure th-" Light began, before mail fell through Fluttershy's door. They both looked at it. Light went over and looked at it. It was a dark blue envelope. "Oh. I haven't received word from him in a while." Light said. "From who?" Mare-Do-Well asked. "Oh, I wasn't entirely alone in my hermitage. I had a pen-pal. His name was a weird name. John Smith. From the way he writes, he seems rather quirky, sometimes he makes up gibberish in place on complicated words. But he's a cool guy. Although, I wonder why it took so long for him to get back to me... or how he knew where to send this. Anyway. Best I have a look." Light opened the envelope, and read the letter inside. Evening, Light! I'm sorry I haven't spoken to you in a while. You see, I'll tell you now, I've recently moved to Ponyville. Can't quite tell you what I look like yet, but what I'm about to tell you is rather important. I can't tell you what will happen at the costume party, but I will give this advice... protect your mouth from any intruders. Unless that intruder is your friend, by all means let her intrude. Just... nobody nopony else. Hopefully, you won't need to understand the ambiguity of this advice tonight. Well, great to write to you again. Don't write back until after the party, there's only about 30 minutes by now. Talk soon! Yours sincerely, John Smith Light had finished reading the letter out loud. By then, both were rather confused. "...So basically..." Mare-Do-Well began... "He's aware of our relationship... and... wants to keep it alive or something?" "...Not sure how he knows. But I usually follow his advice when he tells me this sort of thing. ...But my muzzle isn't protected by my costume..." "Oh. Well..." Mare-Do-Well said, in the tone of voice one gives when one is going to suggest something, "I have a spare Mare-Do-Well costume... Rarity made it a size too big. You could be... one of the male ancestors to Mare-Do-Well." "Oh cool." "What's he called?" Er. "Fine Equine?" He suggested. "...Hm... that could work." Mare-Do-Well agreed. "...Cool." *2 minutes later* Mare-Do-Well was waiting for Fine Equine. Soon, a figure, dressed similarly to her, appeared before her. "How do I look?" Light asked. "Awesome." Mare-Do-Well responded. *27.5 Minutes later* Mare-Do-Well, and her great-great-great-great-notsogreat-great-great grandfather, Fine Equine, walked over to the building that was on the address. There were many other ponies behind them, which could only be seen in silhouettes, and their costumes some of them be in the strangest shapes. The pair opened the door, and could see the other 5 of the Mane 6. Although... they had similar ideas... Twilight, Applejack and Pinkie were dressed in a Mare-Do-Well costume, Rarity was wearing a version of the costume that was coloured similar to her coat and mane. However, Rainbow, being the original victim of Mare-Do-Well, and therefore not having a costume like theirs, wore a costume in the style of the Wonderbolts. "...Hi." Fine Equine said, in a voice similar to the Unavenged Stallion's. "...Hello." Flutter-Mare-Do-Well said. "Evening." Twilight said. "Evening." Rarity said. "Evenin'." Applejack said. "Hi!" Pinkie said. "Hey." Rainbow said. "...Well..." Fine Equine began. "This... is awkward..." "It was better than Star-Swirl the Bearded." Twilight said. "A simple dress isn't a costume." Rarity said. "Mah scare-crow suit itched." Applejack said. "It was better than my chicken suit!" Pinkie said. "The Wonderbolts are awesome." Rainbow declared. ... ... ... ... "So Lighty, if you're gonna be going with that grim personality, then you won't have much fun for this party." Pinkie said. "But I just thought of an ancestor of Mare-Do-Well. Fine Equine. Why not?" Fine Equine said. "You can put him in your novel. But for now, go put your party suit on. I have a spare." Light went out of character. "How do you have a spare?" "I made another one. Since Pinkie was afraid one of the suits would be damaged, and then it would be getting cleaned, and nopony could wear it..." Rarity explained. "So now, since you left yours at home, and can't quickly go home to retrieve it, you can use the one she has. That's what it seems like. "Ah. Good thinking, Pinks." "Thanks! You can get dressed in the guest room!" "Ah huh." Light said, making his way there. *3 minutes later* Light came back in his party pony suit. With the added stetson. His costume was now complete. "How do I look?" He asked. "You look ready for a party." Twilight said. "Mediocre." Rarity said. Just because it's not your preferred fashion. "Where'd ya get the stetson?" Applejack asked. "From me! And doesn't he look awesome, Rainbow?" Pinkie asked. "I guess..." Rainbow said. She obviously considered it a lower level of awesomeness, under the Wonderbolts. Can't blame ya. "He looks good." Fluttershy said, still dressed as Mare-Do-Well, and confident. Everypony watched as the place had filled up in the three minutes he'd been getting changed. "Well then..." Light began. "Let's go start the party." "'Kay!" Pinkie said. Light ran up to the stage, and Pinkie bounced there. "Everypony, I have an announcement to make." Light said to the audience. "I think you all should know, a certain party pony is returning. With the best party pony. He's been a hermit for a while. But. He is back. And he is me. That is correct. Live Light is back. And we can't be party ponies without a party so... Pinkie, think we should start the party?" "Of course!" Pinkie responded. Light nodded, and spoke to the microphone. "So let it be said... So let it be done!" ----- The party was successful so far. The ponies were happy to see the party duo back. Many a thing was happening. Many a thing indeed. Vinyl Scratch was the DJ for the party tonight(Who else?). There were a lot of familiar ponies who came along. For example, Lyra and Bon Bon felt like paying a visit, they didn't have any costumes of their own, though. Colgate, the town dentist, came along, in something akin to that Doctor Whooves thing Light sees a lot. Ditzy Doo came along dressed in paper bags again. As long as she didn't try to squash Light again, he was happy. Roseluck too. And Big M... now he's turned into Snowflake. ...Never thought he'd take my steroid advice... yikes. A few more Mare-Do-Well impersonators... a few ponies came as pirates.... A few memorable moments too. Lyra started sharing a human theory to a group of other ponies, which led to others listening to her good ideas. Then, Snowflake chased Light because it came up in a topic of conversation he was not a fan of 50 Shades of Grey. He then sang Equestria Girls Karaoke-style, as an alternate payment for wrecking a table during the chase. Finally, he left. Probably to find more 'roids. But this was the more memorable bit. "Hey, Pinks." Light said to Pinks. "Yeah?" "I brought a song for us to do a karaoke duet of." "Oh, I'm not sure I can do a song right now." Eh? That's... kinda outta character... "Because uh... my voice hurts a bit. After the shouting. At the pony who broke the Pinkie Promise." If you say so. "But sure, I'll put it on!" Light handed her the CD, containing Owl Pony's Good Time, ft. Marely Rae Jepsen. "Ooh, this is a good one!" Pinkie said. She placed it in the CD Player, and began waiting until Light had someone to help sing it. Light could only think of one pony who'd hopefully be willing to sing it. He flew over, to Fluttershy, still in character. "Hey, Mare-Do-Well." "Hey, you." She said, with a probable grin. "Was wondering, err, would you be willing to help me with a duet?" Fluttershy went out of character, shocked. "Oh, u-um... I-I'm not sure if I could do that..." Light didn't question it. He didn't want to force Fluttershy into anything. "Okay, I understand." Light gave her a smile, and turned around to fly to somepony else to help, until, "Wait!" He turned around, to see Fluttershy, standing confident. "I'll do it." "Really?" "Mm hm." He gave her a hug. "Thank you." They both hovered to the stage. Light nodded to Pinkie to start the song up. Fluttershy got nervous as it began, but Light offered her a re-assuring smile. Fluttershy nodded, and got ready for what was to come. It was Light's turn to sing. "Woke up on the right side of the bed, What's up with this Prince song in my head? Hooves up if you're down to get down tonight... 'Cause it's always a good time "Slept in all my clothes like I didn't care, Hopped into a cab, take me anywhere, I'm in if you're down to get down tonight... 'Cause it's always a good time..." And then, it was Fluttershy's turn to sing, "Good morning and good night... I wake up at twilight... It's gonna be alright..." "We don't even have to try, It's always a good time!" "Whoa-oh-whoa-oh, Whoa-oh, Whoa-oh-whoa-oh, It's always a good time Whoa-oh-whoa-oh, Whoa-oh Whoa-oh-whoa-oh, We don't even have to try, it's always a good time!" ----- When the song ended, the audience gave their best applause. Light felt like he'd done something awesome, and Fluttershy felt relieved. She gave him a hug to get all the fear out of her. They smiled at each other, and Flutershy flew off to talk to her friends. "Nice one, Light!" Pinkie said, appearing next to him. "Come here, I got something to show ya!" She said, dragging him by the hoof to the basement. Judging from the fact I'm being dragged to the basement, there's a cool collection of stuff. Or maybe an artefact. I dunno. When they entered the basement, Pinkie closed the door behind her. The base looked relatively empty. "So, err... what's in h-" Light said, before being interrupted by a passionate kiss from Pinkie. Wait, what I erghaaffghh. Light wasn't quite sure what to make of it. He slowly opened one eye to check if Pinkie Pie had her eyes open. They were closed. She was probably waiting for this moment. He opened both his eyes, and tried to look around the room while he tried to wait for it to end... he was a bit disturbed when he saw a rather insect-like, chitin wing flickering on the Pinkie kissing him, and... an unconscious pony wearing a Mare-Do-Well suit, with a familiar frizzy, magneta coloured tail. And then, at that point, he remembered something. ...The letter... "Protect your mouth from any intruders." ___________________________________________________ AUTHOR'S NOTE The plot thickens. Hah. Plot. Okaybye. PS: I know the picture is probably Mare-Do-Well... but sometimes Mare-Do-Well looks like a colt. Sometimes. Pretend she's a colt, I could find no gender-bender pics of Mare-Do-Well, 'K?