//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 // Story: A Lost Friend // by Sirius Starshine //------------------------------// A Lost Friend Chapter 8   The next morning Rainbow Dash woke up groggy as usual.  Her first thought was to look around for Tank since she didn’t see him at all yesterday.  Not finding the tortoise in her room she left and went downstairs to look for her pet.  She searched for a couple of minutes until she noticed a piece of paper on the bar.  She looked at it for a few seconds deciphering what the sloppily written note said.   Hey Rainbow, took Tank for a walk, should be leftover pancakes in the fridge from yesterday. -Viridian Night   Relieved that she knew where Tank was she decided to go raid the fridge.  She then remembered what Spitfire told her last night and decided she’d talk to Viridian when he and Tank returned.  She found the pancakes and syrup in the fridge and brought them over to the bar.  She didn’t mind cold pancakes so she just dumped syrup over the fluffy discs and proceeded to devour them.  She was through most of them when she heard a knock on the door.   “Now who could that be?”  She wondered aloud as she walked over to the door.  When she opened the door she saw that Rarity was standing on the other side.  “Hey Rares, what’s up?”  The cyan pegasus greeted.   “Ah good morning darling, how are you today?”  The fasionista replied.   “Good as I can be with all this junk still on.”  Rainbow Dash answered with an irritated glance at her sling.  “What brings you by?”  She inquired with a curious look.   “Oh, Twilight asked me to come fetch you and Viridian.  She’s getting something in the mail that she wanted to show everypony.  Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie are all already at the library.”  Rarity explained.  “I also wanted to ask Viridian if he would be kind enough to come to the boutique tomorrow.  I’m working on some new designs and I need some male perspective on them, so I’d like him and Spike to be there to lend me a hoof.”   “Well Viridian is out walking Tank right now and I’m not sure when they’ll be back so let me just take a moment to write him a note telling him to come to the library.”  The rainbow maned mare said and she walked back to the note sitting on the bar.   “Of course dear, take your time.”  The white unicorn said.   Rainbow Dash flipped the piece of paper over and found a nearby quill and hastily wrote a note telling Viridian where she was going and asking him to meet her there.  With that done she walked back to Rarity, left the house, closing the door on the way out, and the two walked down the road to Twilight’s house.   Once they got to the tree library they went inside.  “I’m back everypony, and I brought Rainbow Dash with me, but it seems Viridian Night is out right now.  We left him a message however so he should be by later.”  Rarity said to the other four mares gathered in the library.     “Great, now if Spike would just hurry up.  What could possibly be taking that dragon so long?”  Twilight replied irritably.   “Where’d ya send him off to?”  Applejack asked.   Twilight sighed in frustration.  “I sent him to the post office to pick up a couple packages this morning, one of them containing what I wanted to show everypony, but he should be back by now.”   “What is it you want to show us, Twilight?  If you don’t mind telling us that is.”  Murmured Fluttershy.   “Well it’s a new magical device called a dream-catcher.”  Twilight said, excitement showing through her irritation at her assistant’s tardiness.  “You put it around a pony’s neck while they’re asleep and you can see what they’re dreaming about.”   “Oh Twilight, I’m sure he’s just being super-duper extra carful cuz he knows how important it is to you.  I bet he’ll be here any second!”  Pinkie Pie said with her usual exuberance.   A second later they heard something thump against the door.  “What was that?”  Twilight asked slightly shocked by the sudden impact.  A moment later her question was answered when the door opened.  Viridian Night walked through the door with Tank resting on his head and Spike riding on his back holding a couple short but wide packages in his claws.  They were followed by a fuchsia earth pony mare.  The strange thing, however, was that the baby dragon was wearing a lampshade on his head, and the green pegasus’ eyes weren’t quite focused as he swayed from side to side while being steadied by the fuchsia mare.   “Spike, there you are!  Where have you been?”  Twilight asked, happy to see the dragon was back.  She then turned to the fuchsia mare.  “Hello Berry Punch, what are you up to this morning?”  She asked.   Berry Punch replied with a smile.  “Oh, I’ve just been keeping an eye on this party animal.”  She told everypony and nudged Viridian Night in the side with an elbow.   “Hey Viridian, you alright?  Rainbow Dash asked.   It took a second for the stallion to focus on the rainbow maned pony talking to him.  “Huh?  Oh hey Dash, yeah I’m fine, I just saw my buddy Spike here carryin’ some stuff so I thought I’d lend him a hoof.”  He said lispfully, his response barley intelligible.   “Sorry it took so long for me to get here Twilight.”  Spike said.  “I was just on my way back from the post office when I saw Viridian coming out of that club Vinyl Scratch owns.  She was closing it down for the day and I saw Viridian talking with her and Berry Punch.  He then saw me and rushed over to ask me what was going on and if I needed help carrying these.”  The baby dragon explained.  When he finished Viridian Night nodded his head.   “Hey where’d you get that neat-o lampshade Spike?”  Pinkie Pie asked as she stared pointedly at the object resting atop his scaly head.   “Oh this?  Viridian was wearing it when he walked over to me.”  He told Pinkie, he then said to Viridian, “You were partying hard last night huh?”   “Yep!  I got it at Scratch’s place at some point while I was there and she said I could keep it.”  Viridian’s thick voice now laced with giggling.  “But I thought it’d look better on you.”  He then pulled out a large glass bottle from under his wing, Rainbow Dash recognized it as the one Spitfire opened last night except it was almost empty now, and took a swig from it completely draining it.  “Aw, I ran out.”   “Have you been drinking all night?”  Rainbow Dash asked with equal parts concern and surprise.   “Yep!”  Berry Punch answered.  “It’s kind of a funny story actually.   ***** Berry Punch was enjoying a nice evening to herself at home, just enjoying a few drinks, when she suddenly thought to herself.  Hmm, I haven’t been to that bar on the edge of town in a while. Wonder how everypony there is doing, I should stop in there and hang out for a bit.  Berry Punch was a little tipsy as she aimlessly walked down the moonlit street.  After traversing the route she remembered, while only knocking over a few trashcans and tripping over her hooves once, she made it to the bar.  She kicked open the door and called.  “I’m back everypony!”   She looked around and saw only one pony in the whole place.  He was a green pegasus stallion, sitting at the bar with a glass tipped over to the side, and a half-full handle of Equine’s Etch in his hoof.  He was staring at her, surprise freezing him on his stool.   “Wow, it’s really dead tonight.”  Berry Punch said as she made her way over to the bar, taking a seat on the stool next to the stallion.  “Hi, I’m Berry Punch, nice to meet cha.”  She said holding a hoof out to him.   The pegasus shook his head, his initial shock gone and met the earth pony’s hoof with his.  “Viridian Night, nice ta meet you too.”  He replied, his voice thick and his eyes a slightly glazed.  “What are you doing in my house?”  He asked confusedly.   “Wow you must be really hammered buddy.  This isn’t you’re house, this is one of the best bars in Equestria.”  The fuchsia mare said, chuckling at him.  “Hey do you know where the bartender is?  I could use a drink.”   “Like I told you this isn’t a bar anymore, it’s my house.”  Viridian said sternly.   “Wait you were being serious?  Aw man, this was my favorite bar too.”  The fuchsia mare said now looking disappointed.  “But hey, I know I wanna do some more drinking tonight, it doesn’t look like you’re done yet, and it looks like you’re fully stocked, mind if I join ya?”  She asked hopefully.   The pegasus picked up the tipped over glass and poured some bourbon in it and swished it around for a couple seconds.  “Sure, I’m tired of being alone with my thoughts anyway, help yourself.”  He said with more emotion behind the words than a usual pony would, but Berry Punch decided it was probably just the alcohol.   “Thanks, buddy!”  She said and she went around the bar.  After paroozing the selection for a bit she decided to make herself a white Stalliongrad.  Once she poured the mixture she looked around for something to blend it all together.  “Hey, you got any stirrers or anything to mix this with?”  She asked.   “Sure, uh, let me look around.”  Replied Viridian as he looked around from his seat.  Berry Punch just rolled her eyes when she saw him looking around aimlessly.  “Oh, I think Tank has some!”  He said as he looked down at the stool around the corner from where he sat.  He then reached down and picked up a tortoise that Berry Punch didn’t see there earlier.   “Um, why would a turtle have-”  The fuchsia mare began but was cut off by the green stallion.   “Hey, he’s a tortoise!”  Viridian Night retorted angrily.   “Okay, tortoise, jeeze sorry.”  Berry Punch said with her hooves up in a mock surrender.  “But I still don’t see why, why…”  She stopped when she looked back at the tortoise in the pegasus’ hooves.  In his mouth he was holding a cocktail stirrer.  Dumbstruck she took the stirrer from him and said.  “Thanks, but where did you get this?”  In response, Tank retracted his head back into his shell, and when he came back out he had another mixer in his mouth.  Berry Punch just stared.  “Huh.”  She then walked back and sat back down next to Viridian Night.  “So when did you move in here?”  She asked.   “Only about a couple days ago.”  The pegasus replied.   Gasp “There’s a really awesome club I gotta take you to then!  It’s run by the best DJ pony in all of Equestria, and she has some of the best alcohol and funnest drinking games to get you smashed.  Come on, you’ll love it!”  Berry Punch said excitedly.  She then grabbed Viridian Night by the hoof and started dragging him off his stool.   Viridian Night was taken completely off guard by the fuchsia mare’s sudden exuberance.  “Uh, okay I guess, let me just leave a note for Rainbow.”  He looked around for a second.  “I need paper and a quill… Oh, thanks Tank!”  He said when he saw the tortoise with paper and a quill in his mouth.  “Is there anything you don’t keep in your shell?”  He asked, but he didn’t wait for an answer as he quickly scrawled out a note, then placed the shelled reptile on his head.   “Great, let’s go!”  Cheered Berry Punch and she pumped one hoof into the air and led Viridian Night with the other.   *****   “The rest you already know.”  Berry Punch said as she finished her story.  She then looked up at the clock on the wall and her eyes shrunk to pinpricks in shock.  “Oh no, I didn’t realize how late it was.  I gotta get Pinchy to school.  It was nice seeing you girls.  We gotta party again sometime Viridian!  Kgottagobye!”  She said rapidly then rushed out the door.   Viridian Night, who looked like he was lost in his own world during the fuchsia mare’s re-counting of the night, snapped out of his reverie and said.  “See ya Berry.  So what’s in the boxes anyway Spike.”  He said as he turned to the purple dragon.   “Oh some magic thingy and a book Twilight ordered.”  He replied.   “Viridian I think you should lie down, you’re really drunk.”  Rainbow Dash said worriedly.   “Naw I’m fine, don’t worry about me, I just wanna know what’s in the boxes.”  Viridian Night said waving off the cyan mare’s concern.  His attention was immediately caught by something on the second floor.  His wings shot out and he flew up to the second floor, narrowly missing a few bookcases on the way up.   “Whoa!”  Spike yelled with a mix of surprise and thrill.   “Viridian, what are you doing?”  Twilight asked, distress filling her voice.   The green pegasus, shakily, landed on the second floor in front of a telescope that was facing out a window.  “Just checking out the new telescope you got.  It’s the new Pegastellation Precision telesope that came out a few days ago right?”  He asked as he started examining the telescope.  “You’re settings are off though, let me fix that for ya!”  He asked, and without waiting for a response he started adjusting the various knobs and dials.   Twilight, worried that the drunken stallion might break her brand new telescope grabbed him in a magical field and started pulling him away from it.  “No stop!  That’s what I got the book for!”  She cried.   “Hey!”  Viridian protested as he felt the magic field wrap around him.  Before Twilight could get him out of reach he adjusted one more dial and proclaimed.  “Perfect!”  He was then unceremoniously dropped back onto the first floor.  Worried for the baby dragon that was still riding on his back and the tortoise on his head; he turned his head and yelled.  “Spike, you alright little buddy?  Tank?  Spike?”  Once he saw the purple dragon was absent from his back he reached up to his head and felt the tortoise still there.  He pulled him off then set him on the floor.  Looking around again he called.  “Spike, where’d you go?”   “Right here dude.”  Spike replied in a calm voice above his head.  Viridian looked up and saw him encased in a pale blue aura as he was carried over and placed on Rarity’s back.   “Come over here Spike.  There’s no reason to stay with him while he’s in that condition.”  She told the baby dragon.   “Hey don’t judge me!”  Viridian replied indignantly.   “Viridian, just go sit down!”  Twilight ordered.  “Now I have to try to fix whatever you did to my telescope.”   “I just fixed it for you.  Your calibrations were way off.”  Viridian said but did what he was told and sat down on the floor in front of the tortoise.   Twilight grabbed one of the packages opened it up and pulled out a thick, hard-bound book with a picture of her new telescope on the front.  She marched up the stairs and went over to the telescope and opened up the book.  She held the book up in her magic and started flipping through the pages and glancing between it and the telescope, but didn’t touch any of the dials.  After a minute of this she closed the book and walked back down the stairs, glaring daggers at Viridian Night.   “They’re perfect, all the calibrations are perfect,” she said.  “How did you know how to do that?  That telescope’s only been out for two days.”  Viridian’s wings hung loose, and his head was down so she walked up closer to him to make sure he was listening to her.  “Hey, you okay?”  She asked.   “Yeah, just need a drink.”  The green stallion replied.   “I think you’ve had enough.”  Twilight deadpanned.   “I can handle myself.  You, you’re not da boss o’ me.”  He said.   “Well I’m still not getting you anymore alcohol.”  Twilight told him sternly.   Unbeknownst to anyone in the room, while Twilight and Viridian were talking Tank had retreated into his shell, and had pulled out a small bottle of Equine’s Etch and offered it to the green pegasus.  When Viridian noticed the proffered bottle he cheered.  “Tank, yer da best tortoise ever!”  He then took a swig from the bottle as his mood soared back up to where it was earlier.   “Tank!  Don’t encourage him, why would you give him that?”  Rainbow Dash berated her pet.   “…… … ….. ………”  Tank shrugged.   Viridian Night took another swig from the bottle and looked back at Twilight.  “Now, to answer you earlier question,” takes another swig, “I knew how to fix your telescope because I’m the pony who designed it.”  The pegasus stallion said nonchalantly.   Twilight Sparkle giggled in response.  “You really must be drunk Viridian, Star Bright, the famous astronomer designed it.  The same pegasus pony who’s written a couple other books about several discoveries he’s made regarding space.   “Yeah, he’s me.”  Viridian Night replied with a proud grin on his face while he placed his free hoof over his chest.   At this point Twilight Sparkle was getting irritated with the drunken stallion again.  She changed her tone and posture like she always did when she’s about to lecture sompony.  “Now see here Viridian.”  She said as she opened up the back of the book she’d been holding in her magic, and held it up to the green pegasus, revealing a picture of a white pegasus stallion with a fiery mane that was combed back and neat.  “THIS is Star Bright.  He’s the one you actually designed that telescope, and you look nothing like him.”   “Oh, perfect!”  Viridian Night exclaimed and he grabbed the book with his mouth and pulled it out of Twilights magical grasp.   “Hey!”  The purple mare yelled in equal parts protest and indignation, but was ignored by the target of her exclamation.   Viridian Night opened the book back up to the back, but he wasn’t looking at the picture, he was looking at what was written on the inside cover.  “Good you’ve got one of the copies I’ve autographed.  Does anypony got a quill and paper?  This’ll prove that that’s me.”  He looked around hopefully but nopony responded except the diminutive green and purple dragon.   “One quill and paper coming right up buddy.”  He said and he jumped off Rarity’s back and jogged over to the writing desk, grabbed the items and brought them over to Viridian Night.   “Thanks pal.”  Viridian Night said and gave Spike a noogie when he brought the items over.  He then scribbled something on the page, closed the book over it and offered it back to Twilight.   As she picked the book up in her magic and brought it back over to herself she asked.  “What did you do?”   “Just wrote something down that should prove that that pony is me.”  He said as he took another swig from his bottle, a smug grin across his face.  It then switched almost instantly to a look of curiosity and he looked back at the tortoise in front of him.  “Hey what else you got in there.”  He said indicating Tank’s shell.   The unicorn rolled her eyes but opened the book anyway.  When her eyes fell on the book they grew wide, and rapidly shifted between the book’s back inside cover and the piece of paper Viridian wrote on.  “But, but, how, why, huh?”  She stuttered.   “What’s the matter Twilight?”  Her number one assistant asked.   “… They match.”  The utter disbelief evident in the purple unicorn’s voice.   “What match?”  Spike asked.   “Both of these signatures match perfectly!”  Twilight said and she turned the book and page around with her magic so everyone could see.  Everyone moved closer so they could get a good look, except for Viridian who was now trying to stuff his head into Tank’s shell to look inside.  “No, this can’t be!”  Twilight said and she used her magic to grab two books off a shelf behind her and levitated them in front of her with them opened to the back as well.   “Let me have a look at that darling, I do have a keen eye for detail after all.”  Rarity said when she walked up to the book the purple mare was still holding so the others could look at it.  Twilight released the three books she was holding, as well as the page Viridian wrote on, into the fashinista’s magic so she could adjust them as she needed.  After the alabaster unicorn examined all four signatures for about a minute, scrutinizing them from about every angle she could, she passed everything back to the purple unicorn.   “Well?!”  Twilight asked.   “They all match perfectly.”  Rarity announced.   “Hoo-wee Viridian, you must be one smart pony to do all that, but why don’t ya credit yerself for it?”  Applejack asked.   “Well Princess Luna insisted I publish my work, and I insisted that it be done an- annon- anony-” Viridian Night slurred.   “Anonymously?”  Spike chipped in.   “That one.”  The green pegasus replied.   “But all this stuff you’ve done is amazing!  Why wouldn’t you want credit for it?”  Twilight asked staring in disbelief at the stallion before her.   “Don’t deserve the honor.”  Viridian Night replied simply.   “What?!  Why not?”  Twilight asked.   “Because of something that happened a couple years ago.”  He responded and took a long draught from the bottle, nearly finishing it off.   “What do you mean by that Viridian?”  Rainbow Dash asked concernedly.   “Something that gives me bad dreams.”  Viridian Night yawned.  “Hey does anypony know where I can get some coffee?  I’m gettin kinda tired.  Oh, and some ice cream, I could totally go for some ice cream right about now.  We should all go out and get some ice cream!  Hmm, I wonder if…”  He then picked Tank back up and tried looking through the hole where the reptile’s head usually comes out of.   “I’ll get you some coffee Viridian.”  Spike offered.  “And ice cream does sound good right now.  Mmmmmm.”   “No I’ll get it; I could use some coffee myself anyway, how do you take it?”  Twilight said and she made her way to the kitchen.   “Black.”  The pegasus stallion replied.   “I doubt Tank keeps ice cream or coffee in his shell Viridian.”  Rainbow Dash giggled as she walked over to him.  “Now hoof him over, I don’t want him giving you any more booze.”  She said and held out a hoof.   “Aw, okay.”  Viridian said and he hoofed over the tortoise to the sky blue mare.   Rainbow Dash then held the reptile up so they were eye to eye.  “Now no more giving him booze, he’s had enough.”  Tank’s expression then slowly shifted to an apologetic look at his owner’s words.  “It’s okay buddy, just, if a pony’s already dunk, don’t keep giving them more to drink okay?”  She said with a small smile that tank returned with a slow nod.   At that moment Twilight walked back into the room, carrying two steaming mugs of coffee in her magic, and floated one over to Viridian Night.  “Here you go, one black coffee.”  She said.   “Awesome, thanks.”  Viridian Night yawned again.  As the mug of coffee was floated over to him he stood back up on all fours and took the mug in one hoof.  He took a long sip and sighed.  “Mmmm, that’s good.”   “Glad you like it.  Now why won’t you tell us, why don’t you want ponies to know it was you who wrote those books?”  Twilight asked holding her own mug in her magic.   Viridian Night walked over to the nearest wall, miraculously not spilling any coffee while he listed from side to side, and leaned up against it.  “Because, I don’t want anypony to know who I am, or where to find me; It’s a bunch of attention I don’t want or need.”  He said then took a big swig from the mug.  He yawned again.  “Y’know this coffee isn’t helping much.”  He drained the rest of the mug and set it on the ground.  He then started snoring.   “…Did he just fall asleep standing up leaning against the wall?”  Applejack said dumbfounded.   “Twilight what did you do to that drink?”  Rarity asked.   “Nothing, it was just decaf,” Twilight replied.  “I thought he should get some sleep, but I didn’t expect him to fall asleep against the wall.  How is that even comfortable?”   Pinkie Pie stepped in front of Viridian Night and waved a hoof in front of his face and prodded him in the chest a couple times.  “Wow, he’s really out.”   “Well, I guess we should at least move him somewhere more comfortable.”  Twilight said.  She then picked up the green pegasus with her magic and floated him over the nearby couch and gently set him down.   While the green pegasus was being floated through the air Rainbow Dash’s eyes flashed between him, and the second, still unopened, package that Spike brought with him earlier.  After Viridian Night was set down on the couch Rainbow Dash trotted over to the package, ripped it open and pulled the magical device out.  “Rainbow, what are you doing?”  Twilight asked, her tone mixed with confusion and irritation at the cyan pegasus open her packages without asking.   Instead of answering right away, Rainbow Dash trotted over to Viridian Night, and slipped the large loop of string attached to the dream-catcher around the stallion’s neck.  “There’s obviously something wrong with him, and I wanna find out what it is.  He doesn’t talk to anypony about it, and he said he dreams about it, so I intend on finding out.”  The rainbow pegasus finally replied.   “Oh, but Rainbow, that’s a horrible breach of his privacy.  Don’t you think it’d be better if-”  Fluttershy started to say but was cut off when the dream-catcher pulsed with a faint white magical glow, and a smoky white tendril of magic curled up from the center of the device and rose a few feet above Viridian Night’s head.  It then formed a circle a couple feet in diameter which the inside then began to fill with color.   “Well it’s too late now.”  Rainbow Dash proclaimed as she turned back to the color filled disc and watched as the colors started to settle and form distinct shapes.