//------------------------------// // The Newcomer part 2 // Story: Shooting Star // by Comet Burst //------------------------------// "Cometh, thine enemy of mine. Let thy trickery be at an end!" Called out the brave knight as he charged the evil Lord Buckburn, sword at the ready. "Ha!" Laughed Lord Buckburn "Thou cannot defy me with such petty weapons thine wields, for I have drinketh from the golden goblet of King Brandywine. No mere length of steel fashioned by pony hooves can possibly --" SMACK! Twilight Sparkle fell backwards on her flank as she collided with what seemed to be a solid wall. Dazed, she realized reading and walking may not have been the best idea. "Twilight!" Came a frantic little dragons voice "Oh my gosh, are you okay?" Twilight shook her head and said "Heh, it seems I got carried away in that story." "I'll say." Came another male voice clearly not Spikes. Twilight spun around looking for who was speaking when she noticed a stallion rubbing his head. "That's the second time in less than an hour somepony has run into me." He was a white pony with an odd bluish tint, jet black mane and a white comet with a black tail for a cutie mark. His eyes were closed, but he opened one, revealing a stunning golden iris. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" Twilight exclaimed as she aided the pony to his hooves. He shook his head once again and said "That's twice now I've heard that. Today must be Deja Vu day or something. Twilight gave an amused chuckle and backed away from him. He was clearly not from here, or so Twilight assumed. She tried to put together who this could be, but drew a blank. Without meaning to, her eyes began to travel the length of his body. He was as tall as Big Macintosh, but his hind legs were exceptionally muscular. She thought he might be a race pony when she noticed a red welt forming above his right eye. "Ouch, that looks like it hurt." Twilight said obliviously. The pony tilted his head and said "Well, considering it wasn't there two minutes ago..." The sudden realization of her boneheaded comment caused Twilight to facehoof herself. "Oh, I'm sorry. Here, come by my house and I'll put some medicine on that." She turned and began to walk off when it hit her she didn't know his name. "By the way, what's your name?" She asked casually. "Er, it's Comet." He replied as he tenatively began to follow her. "Um, I believe you're forgetting your book." Twilight spun around and picked it up with magic. "Oh, thanks for reminding me!" She said cheerfully. "It's a collection of stories from the great Geoffrey Prancer. I was reading The Knight of the Moon, one of my favorite stories." The book was rather large and bound in tree bark, making it a blunt weapon, but Twilight tossed it to Spike and said "My name is Twilight Sparkle and this is Spike, my number one assistant." Comet's eyes went wide as he stared at Spike. "What?" Spike asked. "Oh, sorry, I've just never seen a dragon before." Comet said with awe in his voice. Twilight giggled as she started walking off again, but this time Comet didn't follow her. "Um, thanks for the offer, Twilight, but I've got someplace I've got to be in under ten minutes, so thanks but no thanks." He called out as he trotted off the other way. Twilight shrugged to Spike and kept walking. "So, he was pretty good looking, eh Twilight?" Spike said in a sly voice. "Whatever, Spike." She replied in an exasperated tone. "I just met him and hit him in the face with a book." "Yeah, but isn't that how that mare in your book met the knight?" Spike asked mischievously. Twilight rolled her eyes and ignored his comment. It wasn't like this was the first time Spike had tried to egg on Twilight when she met new stallions. He tried it with Caramel and Goldengrape, but neither one spoke to her often. Back at the Ponyville Library, Twilight was putting her book away and starting tomorrows checklist when an unexpected belch came from Spike. "Ugh, that is disgusting, Spike!" She called to him, but the sound of his claws told her he had something for her. Turning around, Spike stood there holding a letter from Princess Celestia. "Thank you Spike." She said as she magically opened it and began to read. "Dear Twilight," it began "As you know, the Sun raising festival is coming up in a few months and since it has been four years, this year will feature the Daybreak Dash. I am informing you of this because Ponyville has the honor of running the race this year and I intend to visit there and tell everypony personally." Twilight's eyes widened as she reread it twice and yelled "Princess Celestia, here?!" ________________________ Night had already fallen as Comet walked around his room again. Goldengrape didn't lie in his letters when he said the place was roomy. Being a storage room for barrels of wine, it was mostly a big box with a bathroom over to his left. It felt empty since only a handful of his things had arrived from Fillydelphia, but it was still very cozy. The welt on his head that purple unicorn had given him had nearly gone away, but it still stung. However, that was not his primary thought of the night. Despite his best efforts, he was thinking about how nice Rainbow Dash had been to him earlier that day. Comet didn't really have any friends in Fillydelphia since he had moved there not too long ago as well. He was a courier like his father, running parcels and mail around Fillydelphia, but sadly he went out of business quickly and now hoped to start again here in Ponyville. Since ponies were unusually harsh and stony in Fillydelphia, the kindness he was given here on his first day had given Comet new hope that maybe he could live here and be happy. Already he had two friends, Goldengrape and Caramel, who both helped him set up his room and took him out as a welcome dinner. "Finally." He said in a satisfied tone "My luck might just be changing."