//------------------------------// // Late for the party // Story: Creating the impossible // by theunknownuniverse //------------------------------// The events in the Everfree forest between Strider and Dinky wasn't kept a secret as a pegasus who happened to be flying be witnessed the whole fight. The news was soon spread all around Ponyville about a alicorn who fought a manticore and saved Derpy hooves's daughter. the news reached Derpy Hooves who was still delivering the latest news edition around Ponyville. She dumped the bag back at the mail office and dashed for home. She burst through the front door to find Strider and Dinky playing catch. "Dinky!" Derpy shouted at the now petrified filly "Please mother, I can explain!" Dinky tried to reason with her mother but she wouldn't listen "I thought you were dead! Your lucky Strider was there to save your sorry flank! If your father was here right now, you would be in so much trouble. Looks like its your lucky day after all as he's still traveling." "im sorry mum!" Dinky held her head in shame. " Just go to your room now! Your grounded for the rest of the week!" Dinky walked up the stairs and headed to her bedroom sulking. Derpy then turned to Strider who gulped fearing the worse. Derpy opened her mouth "Thank you for saving her Strider. I don't know how to repay you!" Derpy hugged Strider for a few seconds and let go. "Well I need to get back to work so can you take care of her for a little longer?" "Sure" Strider replied. Derpy then headed back out of the house and down the road. Strider sighed a breath of relief and headed up to Dinky's room. "Knock knock" "Come in" Dinky answered. Strider entered Dinky's room where she was laying on her bed sulking. Her room was stacked with books on a desk and drawings of what seemed like unicorns performing different magic tricks. "Sorry about getting you grounded." Strider said apologetically "Don't worry about it" Dinky replied "I thought she was going to rip my head of." "I did to. If I had to be honest, I would rather take the manticore any day instead of my mother." Strider chuckled to himself at that remark. "Well I guess im going to be here for abit longer then." "The whole town knows you now so yea. I would take the moment of fame." Strider hadn't thought about that one, if Derpy knew then all of Ponyville must know him now. He would have to go out and meet them eventually. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Two days later. Strider was waiting outside Ponyville's school for foals and filly's looking for Dinky. Derpy was busy delivering mail so she asked Strider to pick Dinky up from school. He happily agreed to and during that wait he had talked to some of the town residents about his fight with a manticore. He saw Dinky walking down the patio path talking to two other ponies one a foal and the other a filly. "He then jumped onto the manticore and rode him like a rodeo bull!" Dinky said to her friends. "COOL!" the foal replied. "I wish I could fight a manticore! I would be like a ninja on that guy!" The other filly exclaimed "Oh please, you cry like a baby when somepony turns of the lights!" the foal exclaimed. "Well you two can continue your argument, im going home now." Dinky told the two ponies. "See ya Dinky-Doo!" the other two giggled. "Stop calling me that!" Dinky snarled. "Whatever." The other two then walked off into the main part of Ponyville. Dinky waved hello to Strider and walked up to him. "Hey Dinky. How was your day?" "Oh it was fine. In Equestrian, we were told to write a creative story and I decided to write about changelings." "Really? What happened in your story?" Strider bit his lip hoping it was something good about them for once. "Well A changeling sneaks into Ponyville and slowly gets attached to one of the ponies in the town." "So you don't see changelings as monsters?" Strider asked interested now to hear her opinion on his kind. "Our teacher says always be kind and thoughtful of every-pony, so I see them just like us. Just living how they wish but with a evil personality." "Not all of them are evil surely?" "Im note sure. The only ones I have ever seen were the ones reported in Canterlot and they planned to destroy us." "I see your point. But I believe in this saying." "What saying?" "Never judge a book by its cover." The conversation broke off when Dinky saw her mother walking towards them. "Hey Dinky, hey Strider!" Derpy said to the two of them with a beaming smile. "Oh hi mum! What are you doing here anyway?" "Well I finished my rounds early today and so I decided to come walk with you two." "Cool, do you have enough yet to buy that shop on the corner you wanted?" "No, not yet but im close. Soon I'll have the money and I can go into business!" Strider was slightly confused on what this conversation was about. "Shop?" Asked Strider. "Oh yea! I forgot to tell you im planning on opening up a muffin shop soon." Derpy explained "sounds great. I guess that explains all those boxes in the living room." "So. Has any pony asked you about your act of heroism?" Derpy asked. "Yea. I was talking to some of the town's residents about it while I was waiting for Dinky." "Good to know, your the only thing the towns been talking about and most really want to meet you except Fluttershy..." "Fluttershy? Who's that?" "Oh, she takes care of forest animals and was kind of upset when she heard how you left that manticore. She does understand it was necessary but she still cares for all living things." "Well you cant win them all..." Strider joked. Just as he said this he bumped straight into a pink pony with balloons on her flank. "Whoa there silly!" The pink pony said. She lent out her hoof and pulled Strider up. "Wait, your that pony who defeated a manticore aren't you!?" "urr yea?" Strider said back a little bit puzzled by this pony's attitude to people who bump into her by accident. "WOW!" The pink pony cried in enthusiasm. "My names Pinkie Pie! But everyone calls me Pinkie. Whats your name?" "its Strider. Nice to meet you?" "Wait your also new to Ponyville aren't you? " She seemed to have forgotten he asked her a question. "I am actually." "Awesome! I love meeting new ponies! Hey, have you had a tour around town yet?" Pinkie asked. Obviously this pony was abit too social... Especially with ponies she had only just met. "actually, I haven't." Strider was interested in the idea of a tour around the town if it passed the time. "I could give you one if you want." Pinkie offered. But Derpy stood in deciding now was the time for her to join this conversation. "Don't worry Pinkie, I was going to give him one just now infact." "You were? Oh never mind then. See you around newbie!" Pinkie hopped off down the street and around the corner. "Guess I should give you that tour now then." Derpy said to Strider. "But mum! I don't wanna go on a walk." Dinky complained. "Hush now missy. Your still grounded for leading Strider into a death trap and nearly getting yourself killed!" Derpy scowled at Dinky. "I could carry you if you wanted Dinky" Strider offered. "Really?! Thanks Strider." "Sure just hop on my back" Dinky jumped up onto Strider and the three started trotting down the road again. Around a hour later Derpy was nearly finished giving Strider a tour of Ponyville with nothing missed out. Derpy really did know her way around Ponyville. "And this building here is where I plan to open my shop." The building was a cyan blue with two windows at the top and I giant observation glass pane at the bottom. Inside the building it was dark and dusty. It would probably take a while before this place was up to good condition. "so have you got enough money now mum?" Dinky asked. "Yea, I finally got enough after today's rounds." "Brilliant! So when do you plan to start setting up shop?" Strider said. "Well for the rest of the week Im going to talk to the owners about buying it and then on the weekend Ill start moving boxes in." "Anyway. I guess that's the tour, lets just go back to Sugar cube corner and get a cupcake for Dinky." "YES! I love Pinkies cupcakes!" Dinky cheered They headed down towards Sugar cube corner and stopped right outside Pinkies store. "Ill be right back with a cupcake. Just give me a minute." told the two. "Ok" Strider and Dinky replied. Derpy headed into the shop where she greeted Pinkie who was behind the counter. "Oh, hi again Derpy. I guess you want the usual?" Pinkie asked. "Yes please. Also can you make it two?" Derpy requested. "Sure. The extra one is for you friend Strider?" "Yea. I'm not sure if he will like it or not though. The only thing he seems to like is soup or muffins." "So he's not like the doctor and his butter?" Derpy giggled for a tiny bit and the two continued their chat. "Anyway. As Strider is new to Ponyville, i'm planning on throwing a surprise welcome party for him." "Ok. When is it?" "Tonight." "TONIGHT?!" Derpy shocked at Pinkie's plans. "Yea! Is something wrong?" "Abit short notice perhaps?" "Well can you come anyway?" "Yea... But how do I get Strider to go without knowing?" "You might have to think about that one.... How about you ask him to come help you explore the new shop?" "He already did that earlier today." "The inside?" "No actually. It might work, I'll see what I can do then." "Ok bye Derpy!" Pinkie handed over two cupcakes in a bag to Derpy. "Careful with the one for Strider. Its my special made cupcake!" Derpy gulped knowing full well what Pinkie does to her "special" cupcakes... "Bye Pinkie!" Derpy shouted to Pinkie. "See ya Derpy!" Pinkie shouted back. Derpy walked up to the two ponies waiting by the corner. "Here's your muffin Dinky!" Derpy handed over a pink iced muffin with sprinkles on the top. "Also I got a extra one for you Strider." Strider surprised by this offer but still took the cupcake of Derpy. The cupcake was iced red and with orange at the tip. Almost resembled a flame if the top wasn't lumped on one side. "Careful Strider. It's one of Pinkie's specials..." Strider wasn't sure by what that men't but he could guess the minute he would take a bite, something very bad was going to happen. Strider slowly bit into the cupcake waiting for the surprise to kick in but nothing happened. "hmmm. I don't feel anything.... Are you sure these are special cupcakes?" Asked Strider. "Don't worry Strider. You will find out soon enough.!" Dinky giggled and winked at her mother. Strider gulped regretting taking a bite from what seemed to be a perfectly normal cupcake. The three ponies walked back to Derpy's house talking and laughing, enjoying each other's company. Derpy walked up to the door and pushed a key inside the lock hole and turned. Opening the door. "Alright Dinky. I'll go easy on you today and you can have two hours before going to bed." Dinky smiled finally after her mother started to go easy on her after the ever free forest incident. "But you have to do your homework first!" Derpy added. "I didn't get any today though." "Is that right?" "Yea! You think I'm a liar?" "Well lets just see what your Homework diary says." Derpy walked over to where Dinky had dumped her bag and lifted out a small blue journal with her teeth. She placed it infront of Dinky and opened it to today's date. "Ooh! Whats this?! Draw your favorite place in all of Equestria. In for next week." Derpy smiled at Dinky and gave her a look that said go get on with it. Dinky scowled but did as she was told and went upstairs with her school bag. "Oh yea Strider." Strider turned his head towards Derpy and away from the bookshelf where he was browsing all the books. "Tonight Im going to go inside the store to check it out. Can you come to?" Strider didn't have anything else to do apart from talk to Dinky or think about the hive, that reminded him. He was planning on staying in ponyville for a tiny bit longer and then head out in search for his hive but one thing changelings didn't want and that was to be noticed. So his hopes of staying might be cut short and he would have to leave soon if anypony actually got suspicious of him. He hated the idea of leaving just after all that happened and he really did like Derpy and Dinky. Oh well, his hive was more needy of him and he had to know what happened to his brothers and sisters. "Sure I will. Will Dinky come to?" Strider asked "No. It's going to be quite late and she is grounded after all." "alright I guess. Just tell me when." Strider started heading for the bookshelf in the corner of the room. He had his eye on a particular book called the history of changelings. By the alicorn world of magic and knowledge studies. He lifted out the book and walked over to his bed which was the couch. He opened the book to the first page which was written in actual ink instead of printed out using duplication magic. This book is about the pony like creature called changelings. Little is known about their lifestyle except they live in hives and are quite like insects. They have a queen who controls the entire hive and is a lot stronger then the average breed of changeling. To survive they feed of other living organisms love for each other that they obtain in all sorts of different ways. Their main approach to feeding is disguising themselves as another pony and feeding of love for that pony. Sometimes if a changeling is desperate for food, they will force the love out of the pony using magic. This method is dangerous to all ponies as it drains not just their love but their life force and if a full feed out of the changelings greed, then it will leave the pony in a mindless state known as a husk. Normally husk's are then taken into the changelings hive to do manual labor but sometimes they are left to die if too far from the hive. Strider quickly read over the first chapter nodding if parts were true or grunting if they were false. After a hour of reading Strider threw the book onto the couch fed up with the false beliefs about his race. Yes they fed on love from others but only because they were forced to. Not like the book said they enjoyed every bit about harming a pony. Some changeling did but that was because they were raised to believe a pony was one thing. A food source and that was it... Strider wasn't interested in reading anymore after that book and was thinking what he could do next until Derpy was ready. The only few things he could think of was rest, talk to Dinky or go outside into the back garden and look for something to do. Strider didn't feel really tired and he had doubts that outside would bring any entertainment. So he decided talking with Dinky might be some fun. He climbed up the stairs to Dinky's room wondering if she had done her homework. If she hadn't then it was going to be little use talking to her as he had no clue how to help but if she had, then maybe he could do something with her. He knocked on Dinky's door and was met with the reply from Dinky "Im busy still!" "Brilliant" Strider muttered, now what was he going to do? Strider headed downstairs for his bed where he would try and think of something to do. After what seemed like hours, the only thing that Strider had thought of was to plan out how he would leave Ponyville and find his hive. Planning does take time after all. It took him a while to get his story straight and cover up any holes in case somepony wondered why he had left all of a sudden. He would tell Derpy he was going back to Canterlot to see if his family was alright then continue on his journeys. To make sure she believed it, he would head to Canterlot in search of information on his hive. He would also slowly hint about his departure so it wouldn't come a surprise to Derpy or Dinky. The only problem would be if he brought even more attention to himself then he would have to lie to even more ponies making the entire plan one big pain the in the flank.... He was interrupted by Dinky trying to get his attention by nudging him on the arm. "Strider, hello? Is anyone in there?" Dinky continued to tease Strider until he started paying attention. "What is it Dinky?" "Well you did knock before, so what was it?" Strider had forgotten about earlier... "It was about...." Strider paused for a while thinking what he was going to ask Dinky to do. "Ah! You want to play catch or something?" "Sure! But can we play hide and seek?" Strider had no clue what that game was and only figured it out thanks to its name. "Ok! Count to one hundred and I'll go hide!" One hundred! How does it take someone so long to hide? Strider got bored around fifty five and skipped to one hundred so he could finally start playing this weird game. "Here I come Dinky!" Strider headed for the kitchen thinking she might have slipped into one of the cupboards. "Come out where ever you are..." Strider pulled open each cupboard slightly so Dinky wouldn't be able to jump him if he opened it wide. She wasn't in any of the cupboard or in the kitchen. If I was a filly and I wanted the best hiding spot... Where would I go? Strider thought to himself, Strider then used some magic Dinky had taught him to make a light bulb appear infront of his head and brighten up. "The bedroom!" Strider crept up the stairs slowly trying not to alert Dinky that he was coming. All together there was three bedrooms, Dinky's Derpy's and a spare one for guests which at the moment, was filled with boxes of muffins. Strider searched the guest bedroom and Dinky's but to find nothing there apart from a note written saying: Its impolite to barge into peoples rooms Strider, love Dinky. So that's why she made me count to a hundred! So she could spend some of it toying with me. Strider headed towards Derpy's room and grabbed hold of the handle. Wait, she said knock first so that might get her to jump... Strider banged his hoof on the door twice and waited to hear somepony make a move. Nothing.... "Your good at this game Dinky, but not good enough!" Strider pushed the door open. He hadn't been in this room before but it seemed similar to all the house. Boxes stacked everywhere apart from a line heading from the door to the bed. The bed was a double sized one with metal casing at the ends that matched the color of the room, dark red. There was a huge wardrobe looming over the bed on the left wall that covered up most of the room apart from the bed. and a window looking onto the front garden aswell. Strider's main guess was the wardrobe but that seemed too obvious. There wasn't any room under the bed to hide and the curtains were wide open. So where had she gone to? His search was interrupted when he heard giggles coming from the top of the wardrobe. "hmmm? What do we have here?" Strider humored the hiding filly. He stood up on his two back hooves and grabbed onto the top of the wardrobe. After lifting himself up so he could see the top of the wardrobe. All there was on top of the wardrobe was a suitcase and a cardboard box full of scrap and junk. "Where are you Dinky?" Strider stunned at this ponies ability of stealth. He should know he was a changeling. "Right behind you Strider!" Dinky was laughing so hard at tricking Strider she fell backwards onto the bed. Strider jumped of the wardrobe and landed infront of the metal casing on the bed. "How did you?" Striders question was interrupted when a big heavy suitcase fell on his head causing him to smack face first into the metal bars.