//------------------------------// // The Party Arrives! // Story: Masked Rider: King of Friendship // by DEn-eaRP //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle couldn't help but daydream for a spell when she sifted through her old research materials. She recalled the times she had taken each word, each bit of data down, in the idyllic town of Ponyville. It had been a long while since she had been in Ponyville; it had been a long while since anypony had been in Ponyville. "Focus, Twilight!" she startled herself back to her senses. Her task was to figure out a way to pry Canterlot, or as it was now, the whole of Equestria out of the stalemate the pony population had perilously been placed in. For everything that was at stake, though, she did not panic, for she knew how well her loving mentor, Princess Celestia, had prepared for situations such as this. The answer to many past disasters had been solved thanks to aspects of Twilight's research, after all. This time was not easy, though, as she found herself going around in circles, so to speak. There was an aspect of this research cycle that made her pause every time she passed it, though; it was her findings of the time-traveling train and the pass she took from its stewardess. 1- THE PLOT BEGINS, ON-TIME! Spike took a deep breath and left the library to go grab a bite with the bits he was grabbing. His surrogate sister figure, Twilight Sparkle, had used to make breakfast for him every morning, but ever since the day after his birthday, she had stopped this practice. In fact, she had been a tad distant lately, treating him more like a co-worker than a brother. Spike was a little sad, but he kept his little head high because he had recently become a year older and so he knew in his heart that his pony friend was just trying to wean him into independent life. In hindsight, perhaps he should not have been relaying the events of the past week to himself as he strolled, because he crashed into an apple stand, sending a couple apples to the ground. Upon recovery from the crash, his feet found ground on the grounded apples, he slipped and so the crashes had been doubled. The small yellow pony monitoring the stand helped him up. She was trying her best not to giggle, trying to maintain a face of professionalism, but due to her age, ultimately lost her composure. "Apple Bloom!" Spike groaned as he picked the now-bruised apples off the ground. "Is it really that funny?" "giggle- snort- Maybe!" croaked the filly as she coughed to expel the remaining sillies from her. "Anyway Spike, you bruise 'em, ya buy 'em." Spike groaned as he counted the amount in his hands. Hopefully he would still have enough to go get his intended breakfast. Apple Bloom must have been gunning for a vendor Cutie Mark or something, because her tone of voice had lost its youth; she seemed really serious, faux-mature in the way she was handling it. "Running the stand alone again?" he asked, handing her the money. "Yeah... Big Mac's too busy today..." She lost her eye contact with Spike for a split second. "...but I'm doin' a bang-up job, arn' I?" Spike smiled as he walked away. "Don't worry, Apple Bloom; your apple stand really jump-started my day!" He waved and tucked the apples under his arm as he headed towards Sugarcube Corner. He drooled at the thought of the breakfast pastry selection, and by the end of his trip, there was a handy little river in Ponyville pointing towards the entrance of the sweet, sweet bakery. "Maybe today's the day Pinkie makes her so-called 'bads' again? That would be so great!" "Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Cake!" he announced as he rushed to the counter. "What can I get for, uh..." He held up his hand to display his finances. "...two bits?" It was early in the morning and Spike was the only customer in the shop, even so, the Cakes, like the professionals they were, were very alert and awake. Still, it seemed too quiet, eerily quiet, even considering the circumstances. "Good morning, Spike!" Mrs. Cake exclaimed. "They really oughta pay a growing boy more than that!" "Yeah." piped in Mr. Cake. "Most places, you'd get- oh, maybe a mini-tart or so?" Spike was about to explain that his money was actually his allowance from Twilight; he did not work at the library for wages. Though he was slightly disappointed that he came up really short today (his allowance hadn't been replenished since he received birthday money, in fact), he didn't want to guilt trip the couple into giving him anything he couldn't afford. "Oh. It's alright- Anything small is fine anyway, 'cuz you see, I kinda had to, um, buy these apples from Apple Bloom earlier and so I'm good, like, I'll be all full!" Mrs. Cake was touched at Spike's display of modesty and was about to speak when she noticed her husband going to the back kitchen. It seemed he was getting something? "Why can't he just ask Pinkie Pie to do what he's doing?" wondered Spike. Mr. Cake returned with a steaming muffin. "For you, young man, a lemon poppy seed muffin." He set the muffin on the counter to wrap it. "It's on the house." "Oh no..." After his little birthday incident, he was still a little weary about receiving stuff for free, though it would give him an opportunity to test the lesson he learned. It helped to try and see the silver lining of a sticky situation. "...I couldn't!" "Nonsense!" Mr. Cake pushed the muffin in Spike's direction. "It's just a reheated day-old muffin, and I- we would have given it to the birds anyway." "It'll put a little meat on those bones!" added Mrs. Cake. Spike nervously took the complimentary pastry and added a compliment to his gratitude. "You're both all too kind! Thank you a lot, Mr. and Mrs. Cake!" As he opened the door to leave, he shouted to them once more. "Say 'hi' to Pinkie for me!" Then he left. The Cakes blinked with blank confusion blanketing their faces and turned to face each other. "Pinkie?" they pondered. --- Heading home, Spike unwrapped the muffin, and was careful to make sure he deposited the wrapper in a proper waste bin. "Gotta eat while it's still hot! Look out, belly, here comes the train!" He opened his mouth wide to bite when suddenly, he felt odd. He couldn't move his body and strange sand was emitting from his skin. Spike could only watch as the sandy ingredient was added to the cooling muffin. "I... have arri- Ooh, a muffin!" He extended his long tongue and swallowed the thing whole, sand and all (though it wasn't that bad; Spike, being a dragon, was capable of ingesting far worse). Noticing the apples, Spike, though he still couldn't control himself, polished those off as well. "I require more sweets!" Was he saying this? He was sure he wasn't making himself say that! Why would he pitch his voice so high? Before he knew it, he was bouncing around town, looking for any unattended sugary foods. Spike wasn't known for bouncing as wildly as he was now. As such, starting with three easily-panicked citizens of Ponyville, the surrounding population was in a panic, fearing that Spike was starting to rampage. "The horror! The horror!" "Dragon on the loose!" "The mayor must be warned!" "Hide the fillies!" "Do dragons have springs for bones- I mean- HELLLLLLLLP!" NOM! A cotton candy cart was consumed. SLURP! A jelly jawbreaker entered the baby dragon's maw. CRUNCH! Mistaking Miss Mist's mansion's mechanical box for a macadamia nut cookie, he munched upon it. Elsewhere in the town, perhaps in response to the frenzied screaming, a unicorn mare stepped out of a door. Levitating a technologically out-of-place belt by her side, she set out. There could indeed be a Hobbler on the loose, so she had to find the Singular Point and fast! "Oh no! I'm losing control of myself again!" If Spike could control his eyes, he would have been crying. He had just raided a house full of candy canes, leaving a spectacled filly in tears. It felt different than the last time he lost control of himself, and somehow, the resulting confusion only made it feel worse. --- Back at the library, Twilight Sparkle had just asked a young colt to leave. Food and drink, especially crumbling cake, was absolutely prohibited from the premises. "All rules are in order!" she chirped. "I'm a good librarian!" Just as she punctuated her self-praise, a sweating pony swung the door open, letting in the sound of a young colt screaming. "The Singular Point will show the ability to repel the influence of a Hobbler." She scanned the purple librarian, looking up and town. No sign of Hobbler dust. In fact, the library was surprisingly sparse on dust or other dirtying elements, such as hair, dirt, or cake crumbs. "Not her." she confirmed to herself as she ran out. Twilight blinked, and because the pony had carelessly left the door open on her way out, she lighted her horn and shut it for her, so as to not let the sound of chaos inside. "I'd say they're HOT ON OUR TAIL!" said Spike, who, after raiding a donut stand, was on the run. On the sunny side, all this theft wasn't making him grow like last time; on the side of the moon, Twilight might tan his hide for this. He didn't even know where he was going, not that it mattered, given his lack of control over his legs. If he had to hazard a guess, a prime spot for sweets would be- Oh no! Not that! As soon as the location popped in his head, he hurriedly headed to the house of pastries, the bakery supreme, Sugarcube Corner. A cherry pie in the windowsill! Score! Spike's tongue twisted, ready to go in for the kill. At the front of the shop, the surprisingly-not-out-of-breath-at-this-point pony had confirmed that neither one of the Cakes was the Singular Point she sought. "No! I can't!" Spike froze. "I'm not a thief! I don't wanna be a thief! Stop, stop, STOP!" An explosion of sand emerged from his body, getting the attention of the searching pony. She ran to the back of the bakery, and sure enough, next to the pie, there was a sandy, wispy being, and the baby dragon that had forced it out. Rubbing his head, Spike moaned. "Oh man... what came over me?" "Me?" said the monstrous pile of pink sand. Well, that explained- wait, a sentient, monstrous pile of pink sand? "I've found it- I mean him!" The pony, Obscured Corporal Eve Stropper, was gladder than she had been for the long time. "The Singular P-!" The yell of a baby dragon cut her off. 2- THE TRAIN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OPENING Sugarcube Corner looked as great as ever, as far as its storefront, its facade went. The back was another story, the more interesting one. An O.C. whose face had been wiped of the glee she had experienced seconds prior was beholding the Singularity, a purple baby dragon, freaking out over the presence of the Hobbler, which she knew to be monsters from her time come to lay ruin to the past. The cherry pie on the windowsill was wrought with sand. Strangely, she was expecting the Hobbler to be rampaging as it was earlier today. It was instead patiently waiting, as if to try and explain itself to the dragon once he pulled himself together. And another thing, she was told that a Hobbler outside of a host would become... well, more solid. Perhaps this was different because it had foolishly tried to possess the Singular Point? Oh well, it was not yet dead, so time was of the essence. She levitated the belt and pass to the dragon. The Hobbler felt it was a tad rude for this pony to not wait for Spike's shock to subside. "This is for you." The unicorn's voice displayed the utmost form of seriousness; Eve Stropper was a no-nonsense pony. Before Spike knew it, she fixed the belt along his waist and placed a pass in his hands. "Wha-?" "Defeat the H- monster before it runs away!" she yelled, hopefully in terms the dragon would understand. "Monster!?" protested the monster. Eve let out an annoyed grunt as she forced Spike to swipe the pass over the belt buckle. In an instant, he found himself encased in a magic suit (fabric generated by magic had a different feel to it than physically made fibers, as Spike knew too well), with his chest and shoulder armored and his head shielded in a full mask. On the belt, strange pieces were hung. "Are these building blocks for a weapon?" he wondered. "What are you waiting for!?" growled Eve. Her mental thermometer grew closer to bursting each second the monster remained not-dead. "Kill it!" Spike got to his feet reluctantly. This... sandy thing before him did commit a series of crimes, but it wasn't worth killing something over. From birth, he was raised to know this. Indeed, even that despicable meanie Discord was encased in stone instead of sentenced to death! It shocked him that this pony would be so quick to want something like that! Before he could open his mouth to speak out, the monster itself, er- herself, protested the proposed death sentence. "Wait wait wait! I'm not dangerous, I just wanna have fun! Bounce around, eat treats, and party it up with everyone!" The voice sounded familiar to Spike, but he couldn't quite place his finger on what it was. The unicorn snorted in response; there might as well have been steam emitting from her every facial orifice. "Um..." The sandy spirit would have sweated profusely if it would have been possible. "I'll come quietly?" This seemed to quell the unicorn, but only just barely. Eve glanced at Spike, disgusted at his inaction, and then addressed the panicking Hobbler. "Very well." Now motioning to include Spike in her auditory sights, she continued. "Follow me." The costume was not entirely useless; as the trio headed towards the center of Ponyville, it kept anyone from noticing that one of the walkers was the sweets-crazed rampager, Spike. Though, no one was noticing the Hobbler either. The citizens still seemed to be in their spooked stage. Perhaps the scare from Spike's wild ride hadn't quite subsided yet. Now did not seem the time to make small talk. The unicorn looked far too hair-triggery. Deciding instead to observe his entourage, he first took notice of the unicorn's Cutie Mark. It was a stylized ear taking in a visual representation of sound waves. Perhaps it meant that this pony was an exceedingly good listener? Changing gears to look at her head, he couldn't help but notice that her mane was styled similar to Twilight's. She looked like a Twilight recolor! Of course, most ponies looked like a recolor of some other pony, so this really wasn't an unusual occurrence in the least bit. It was just an easy mnemonic to remember what this character looked like, is all. He now moved his gaze to look at the weird sand monster. By now, though, she seemed less sandy, like the shifting was done and a definite form was definitely evident. Was she ashamed, or just frightened? Her head was down, so Spike couldn't really see the face. The most he could make out about the head was that she had two draconic-looking horns made out of party hats on her forehead. The body was curiously proportioned similar to what his had metamorphosed into in the early stages of his birthday rampage. Well, the monster did come out of him, so maybe it was reflecting some of his thoughts on the ride into her being. In the middle of town, there was a train, which was strange, because as far as Spike knew, there were no train tracks in the middle of town, and indeed there... kind of were. The train was on tracks, of course, as all trains were, but a few meters from the front and back of the train, the tracks stopped, so it looked like the train couldn't really go anywhere. Was this, like, a spontaneous museum or something? Why was the unicorn taking them here? Why was he even asking these questions now? It had been established that this day was going to be weird already! A door in one of the cars slid open as they approached. It made such an odd sound, nothing at all like what the wood it supposedly was made of would make. "Get on." Spike and the sand-thing frowned. This unicorn was such a downer; her dialogue wasn't even fun! Nevertheless, they boarded the train, and found themselves in the train's dining car, nothing out of the ordinary. A gray pegasus waved to the new passengers. "Hi-hi! Welcome to FriendLiner! Take a seat, I'll get you muffins some muffins!" She opened a door that somehow led to a kitchen that couldn't have possibly fit in a train car. Great, as if Spike didn't have enough questions, now he had to be curious about the illogical space storage of this "FriendLiner". Perhaps some of the cranky, stick-up-the-tail attitude from the unicorn had rubbed off on him as well, as he remained standing. The sand-thing, on the other hand, actually did take a seat, giving herself a chance to at least try to relax. "Pass?" Spike's eyes shot open, not that anyone could see that under his mask. He, Eve, and the Hobbler turned to face the source of the voice. Before them was a brown Earth Pony with an hourglass Cutie Mark. If Eve was the dark side of serious, he was the paragon of calm seriousness. "P- p- pass?" Spike sputtered. "Only those with a pass can board the FriendLiner..." explained the stallion. Nodding, he added, "...or is he on your pass?" "Oh- well, he has the pass now." she replied, motioning to Spike. Leaning down to where, as far as she could guess under his helmet, his ear might be, she whispered harshly, "The thing you scanned on the belt buckle! You didn't drop it, did you?" "Oh!" Spike quickly produced the pass, which had been conveniently clipped on the belt. He held it in front of the brown pony's face. "This is the pass?" "Correct. Is Eve on your pass, then?" Eve shot Spike a dangerous look. Gulping, he yelped, "Yes!" "And the spirit?" "Huh?" Spike didn't realize that this weird monster thing would even be allowed on a train, and he looked into her eyes, completely oblivious to the look of 'you wouldn't dare' Miss Stropper was shooting. The monster was putting on puppy dog eyes, complete with stars and sparkles. Spike realized that perhaps being on this train might act as a safe haven for the thing, and- well... even though she made him do terrible things, she didn't deserve the death he was sure this 'Eve' fellow would insist on if she was to be on the loose again. "Yes." His voice reeked of resolve. "What!?" Eve shook Spike before facing the brown pony. "You can't let him do this! That's a Hobbler! We're trying to st-" "You're trying to hunt down the Hobblers." interjected the stallion. "I am only here to operate my vessel and ensure it performs according to rules." "I'm back!" sang the pegasus as she emerged with a tray of muffins, one for everyone! She took a glance at the scene and pointed to Spike. "Nice pass!" "Um, thanks?" That was an odd thing to focus on. Perhaps this pony had a few screws loose. Her wonky eyes certainly supported that theory. Spike pushed that thought to the back burner, though. He had been raised to not judge like that. "Speaking of rules..." the hourglass pony said, as if the interruption did not just happen. "...full body costumes are are not allowed on board." Spike began to fiddle around with his magic suit, wondering how the heck to get it off; it disappeared once Eve unbuckled the belt. So that was how! Spike made a mental note to remember that little detail. "Cute! A baby dragon!" Everyone stared at the pegasus who seemed to be making a habit of spurting her stream of thoughts. "Umm... are there any other rules I should be aware of? Mr.-" asked Spike. "I am simply the Owner: the Owner of the FriendLiner." said the Owner. "There are no further rules that concern you at the moment." He paused, and decided to get a few other tidbits of information out of the way. "The lady in charge of the Dining Car is Derpy; treat her with respect, and don't ask about the tracks you may have noticed as you approached. You will see soon enough how that works. I will be heading to the front; Derpy, preserve my snack for later." "Yes sir!" she saluted as the Owner exited the car. Sure enough, the train was in motion less than a minute later and Spike could see that the train generated tracks in front of where it was going through the window. Hopefully it would make a stop again here soon. "Twilight's gonna kill me if I get home too late!" he worried. But for now, things were finally calm. Sure enough, the calm was fleeting, as an impact called 'Eve's hoof to Spike's face' rocked the car. "You idiot! 'The Hobbler can be on my ticket!?' What's the big idea?" "Better it be in here than out there, in me, causing chaos!" Spike had not been too pleased with this Twilight recolor being mean to him; he worked in a library, so surely he was second to Twilight herself when it came to prowess in arguing with words. (He wasn't.) "Hobblers are monsters! Monsters are to be slain! You're a warrior now; you slay it! What is so difficult to grasp?" "Me!? If you want to slay it so bad, why don't you put the dumb belt on yourself!?" "HEY!? Can I have a say in this!?" The pink Hobbler yelled. Spike and Eve rubbed their ears; wowsers, could that voice of hers get really high. Derpy, like all seasoned food service workers, was unfazed by the shriek. "I told you, Eve, or whatever Mr. Owner called you, I'm not dangerous and now since I'm on the dragon's pass, I am on here and-" "Whether he slays you in here or in the car is none of my concern." "Eve! Fighting's not uh, uhhh-loud? Allowed- on the FriendLiner!" Derpy pointed out. "Besides, even if I could, I wouldn't!" Spike crossed his stubbly little arms. The Hobbler cleared her throat. "So as I was saying: I am safe now, Eve, so ha, ha, ha!" Eve's eyes narrowed in response to the monster's smug expression. The tension in the air could have been cut with a butter knife. Luckily, Derpy was using the knife to very lightly spread butter on the muffins. She was the best responsible knife wielder. Finally, Spike spoke. "Why do you want her dead so badly anyway, Eve? She only stole some food, and mostly junk food at that!" "Nothing to kill me over!" added the Hobbler. Eve grimaced. These fools did not realize the danger of the whole situation. Calming herself through deep breaths, she explained. "I was told that when I arrive here, enemies from my time would materialize. I won't explain the magic behind it because none of you look too bright, but basically they materialize as monsters called Hobblers. They're called this because the way they come to the past has disfigurements, in other words, hobbled bodies, as you can see in Little Miss Pink here." "Hey!" protested the Hobbler. The form wasn't her fault, and it wasn't that hobbled! (Neither she or Spike questioned who Eve got this information from.) Eve continued. "I came here on this train because I needed to seek out the Singular Point, who is the only one the Friend-O belt will work on." She put extra emphasis on the next sentence. "And that is why I can't put the 'dumb' belt on myself. You, dragon, have to do it, and use it to get rid of the Hobblers so they don't mess up your Equestria the way they messed up mine!" Woah. As far as Spike was concerned, that last bit did at least win her some sympathy points. "It's- it's Spike." he said with much less venom in his voice than he otherwise would have coated it with. "Well then why don't I remember having a mission to destroy Equestria?" piped in the Hobbler. The sympathetic sentence didn't work on her the way it did on Spike. "I don't even remember anything that happened before I was inside Spikey-wikey!" "Dude, that's creepy the way she worded that." thought Spike as he saw Eve sit down and wave her front legs in the air, giving up. "How should I know?" This was tiring. Maybe her mission was- no! Hobblers had to be bad news! They were destructive monsters that had to be destroyed! The one in this train that Spike had saved? Probably just a mentally defective one or something. Other than this exception, the others had to be evil! Spike would see; once another Hobbler appeared and started wreaking actual havoc, then he would see! More silence followed. Everyone but Spike ate their muffins. They were delicious. "Why aren't you eating, Mr. Wikey?" Derpy was sad that he was not enjoying her awesome muffin. "That's not my name; that pink person just made that up! Just call me Spike! And I'm already stuffed, plus I have no money anyway." He did wish he could eat the muffin, though; it looked very inviting. Maybe when he had more than two measly bits, he could- "Oh, meals come with your pass! No charge!" "Woah, really?" Spike perked up. "Really, really!" Derpy was glad! She was that when time passed and Spike was hungry, he would eat her heart out! (As she did like to pour her metaphorical heart into her muffins, that is.) The train stopped. Looking out the window, Spike saw the Library and thanked Celestia. He would be home at a reasonable time to finally end this overstimulating day! He was getting up to leave when... "There's another one." said the pink Hobbler. "What?" Eve was curious. "I just sense another one in town!" "How?" "I dunno." "How do you not know; you can't just have a sense that's nonsense! There are rules that magic like that has to follow!" "I don't think it's magic, I just know!" Spike facepalmed. This sounded familiar. He slid open the door to go, though he did wave 'goodbye' to Derpy first. She was really sweet. Eve was able to get her attention off of arguing against the pink one's 'sense' to notice Spike leaving. "Hey, Spike!" She threw the belt and pass his way. "Take these!" "I don't want 'em!" replied Spike. "Whether you want them or not does not matter. They are yours, end of story!" "I'm not going to use it to go hunting!" "We'll see about that, you little prick." Eve narrowed her eyes. "I don't care, but you still have to take them." Spike stood at the doorway for a few seconds. Even when he was upset, nay, especially when he was upset, he'd feel like making a show of it. Dramatically, he turned around to look Eve in the eye. "Fine." He picked up the items and departed. "You shouldn't be such a meanie." said the pink Hobbler softly. "Shut up." Eve coldly responded. --- Spike entered the library, too tired to notice the noises going on outside. Twilight noticed him and rushed over to talk. "Woah! Were you just out there in the chaos?" "I thought the chaos ended already!" protested Spike. Did she not know that he, well, he being possessed by a creature, was behind the snacking spree? Twilight just stared at her assistant. He usually wasn't this dense. "Nnnnno... it's still continuing." At this, Spike just had to look out of the window to see that indeed, a monster he had never seen or read about was destroying buildings! It must be the other Hobbler! Spike could not believe his terrible luck! He stared at the belt he held in his claws, knowing that the next decision he made might be one of the hardest of his life. The clear jewel on the front of the belt buckle looked back at him, and he felt for a moment that warmth Twilight had shown him in the past, the times she had told him, "Don't worry, Spike, everything's going to be okay!" "I hope that everypony still remembers to return their books today..." said the less reassuring, but at the moment, physical Twilight Sparkle. tick - - tock - - Next time: Contracts are made as Spike has to face a REALLY mean Hobbler! Can Eve and Spike settle their differences and truly work together? What about the friendly Hobbler? She's in it too, right? Friendship IS magic, after all! Next time, as THE PARTY ARRIVES! PART 2!