//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 // Story: Behind the Veil // by FeralFox //------------------------------// ”Behind the Veil” Chapter 10 by FeralFox After Twilight and Marckus had finished their business with Fluttershy, they had decided it best to visit the resident Herbalist, Zecora, and thank her for the astonishing elixir that had cured the previously crippled man of his ailments. They walked down a relatively unused dirt road that continued passed the canary pegasi's cottage, towards the dark and gloomy Everfree Forest. As they made their way past the almost physical threshold of shadows into the forest, the air itself seemed to drop in temperature, amplifying the evil atmosphere of the place. The forest had an unnatural silence about it, making every footfall and breath taken seem more significant. They continued on for a short while until they came to a familiar clearing, containing the tribal-esque hut that played home to the generous zebra. Twilight walked up the front steps and gave a quick triplet of knocks to the door. A moment passed and the sound of hoofsteps approaching could be heard. The door opened up to reveal the teal eyes of its inhabitant. “Ah, young Twilight, what brings you to my hut? Hopefully, not an issue with your friend’s gut.” She looked past the purple unicorn at Marckus, and noticed his limbs free from their rehabilitative incarceration. He noticed her looking at him and raised his right hand above his head, with his first two fingers and thumb extended to resemble a check-mark, and swept it away from himself in a single wave. It was the personal greeting he used with most of his closer friends, whenever he got the chance to see them. She regarded the mare before her again and cocked her head to the side. “It looks like your friend is doing just fine, so what is it that I can do for you this time?” Twilight looked back at the man and gestured with her head for him to approach them. He obeyed and took two massive strides to close the gap between them. “Well, your potion worked so well, Marckus thought it would only be fitting that he come back and thank you.” Marckus crouched down on his left knee and looked down into his healer's eyes, locking gazes with a subtle intensity he used to emphasize his point. “I can't thank you enough for what you did. You fixed what could have taken months in the matter of a single day. Words can't express how grateful I am for what you've done.” He reached out and offered her his left hand. She looked at his hand and blinked in confusion. “I don't quite understand what it is, this gesture demands.” A bit embarrassed, he rubbed the back of his neck and gave a nervous chuckle. “Heh, sorry about that. Well, um, you're supposed to shake my hand. I guess you could say it's a human formality of sorts.” Zecora smiled and reached out with her left hoof and he grasped it gently, giving it a light shake, jostling her slightly. It was a bit awkward, but it felt right to him. Meanwhile, the lavender pony standing adjacent to them, eyes aglow, was getting giddy witnessing another aspect of human culture unfold before her. Once the act was finished, Twilight looked up at him with a large smile plastered across her face. “What kinds of things do you use that gesture for? Are there different kinds? When did this take hold as a formality?” Marckus laughed to himself at the completely expected barrage of questions. “Well, I'm not sure when exactly the handshake was first used, but it's been around for centuries, if not several millenniums.” Twilight's eyes seemed to sparkle at the thoughts of such an age-old tradition. “A handshake can be used for a cornucopia of different occasions. It can be used to finalize a transaction, as a show of thanks,” He motioned with his head to Zecora, showing what his had been an instance of, “but more often than not, it's used as a greeting. I'll get into the specifics some other time, I don't want to take up Ms. Zecora's time standing here at her doorway.” He stood up as he finished his explanation and looked down on a very satisfied looking unicorn. “That about covers it.” He turned his gaze onto Zecora. “Again, I can't thank you enough.” She smiled and waved a hoof dismissively at him. “Your thanks are enough, my gargantuan friend, as it is my passion, to make potions that mend. But if life ever takes another turn for the worst, than you know which zebra to come see first.” With a smile and a nod, he turned and started to leave, with Twilight's thirst for knowledge temporarily sated. He gave another check-mark wave over his shoulder as Zecora waved them off and shut the door. The two walked for a few minutes and passed Fluttershy's home. After another minute or so of walking, had made it back to the outer parts of town, so Marckus decided to break the silence. “So, where exactly are we headed now?” He looked down to his little escort. “Well, I was thinking about heading over to Sugar Cube Corner, that's where Pinkie Pie works, and lives. I figured she'd be happy so see you better. Well, she's happy to see just about anything, actually. You know, I don't really know if there's anything that upsets her.” They walked on and they reached the center of town, the streets were their usual hustle and bustle, ponies going this way and that about their business. The crowded streets seemed to clear in a wide radius around the two. Marckus never broke stride, though all of the constant reminders that he didn't belong in this world weighed heavily on his mind. He kept his gaze ahead and his expression was stoic, telling nothing of what he thought. They trekked on through the town until they reached a festive looking building that seemed unusually empty for this time of day. Twilight opened the door and walked through, causing the bell that hung just above the entrance to jingle, letting the patrons' presence known to those within. She held the door open with her back hoof and beckoned the man into the shop. He crouched through the doorway and stood in the lobby of what appeared to be a confectioner's shop of sorts. Inside the colorful shop were shelves lined with equally colorful candies, pastries, and cupcakes. The counter at the front of the lobby was home to a display case filled with some of the most delectable looking cakes he had ever seen. Cakes of all shapes, sizes and colors, decorated to meet the theme of any event. He took a deep whiff of the shop and was overcome by waves of sweet, sugary smells. His mouth would have been watering if not for the fact that he had just recently eaten, and that it was still much too early to eat such treats. Twilight trotted up to the counter and tapped a small bell that lie on its top, summoning the clerk. Marckus approached the counter and waited beside his violet companion and peered over the short counter. Just as he leaned forward, a pink pony with a mane that resembled cotton candy shot up from behind the counter out of nowhere. The large man flinched back from the her unexplainable presence. “Hi Twilight! Hi Marckus! What can I do ya for?” Pinkie said with an exuberant smile. “Hey, Pinkie. Do you have a minute to spare?” “Sure thing, Twi. It's been pretty slow today.” She hopped over the counter and between Twilight and Marckus, and trotted over to the door where she flipped the sign in the window at the front of the shop to display “closed” as opposed to “open” to prevent any interruptions. She happily trotted over to a shelf behind the counter and grabbed a tray of cupcakes, balancing it on her head while she walked over to a nearby table and set the tray down. “These cupcakes have been out too long for me to sell them.” she explained. “Want some?” She held a light blue cupcake in her hoof out to Twilight. She nodded and grasped it in her magic and levitated it to her mouth and took a bite, savoring the moist, sweet treat. Pinkie grabbed another and offered it to Marckus. He shook his head and politely declined. “No thank you, it's too early for sweets.” The pink pony recoiled at his statement and stared at him in shock, mouth agape. He raised an eyebrow and blinked at her expression. He looked to Twilight, who had just finished her cupcake, a look of confusion still upon his face. “Was it something I said?” “What do you MEAN 'it's too early for sweets'?! There's never a bad time to have a cupcake!” It seemed like he had said something wrong. “Is there something wrong with them? Do you hate cupcakes?” She gasped and looked at the floor, her ears laid flat against her head, her tone losing all of its happy energy. “Do you hate me?” The hyperactive mare said, instantly jumping from conclusion to conclusion as fast as they popped into her sugar-rushed mind. He was shocked at what he heard and instantly crouched down, sitting on his heels, and gently put a hand on the sad pony's shoulder. “No, no, I don't hate you. Why would I hate you? All you've done is offer me a treat, that's no reason to hate you.” She lifted her head up and looked him in the eyes. “So you don't hate me?” He shook his head. She immediately jumped into the air and began bouncing around the shop. “Yay! You don't hate me!” Suddenly, she stopped in mid-bounce, freezing in the air. Her jubilant expression turning to one of confusion. She dropped from her suspended place in the air and cocked an eyebrow at the man. “If you don't hate me, does that mean you hate cupcakes? Because they didn't do anything to you. Or did they? Did cupcakes steal your pet? Cuz one time, I thought that someone stole my pet Gummy, and when I found him, he was in a box of cupcakes, but I know they couldn't have taken him, because cupcakes have no arms!” Marckus raised an eyebrow and turned to Twilight for help deciphering what was just said. She merely shrugged and took a bite out of a second cupcake. “Um.....no. Cupcakes didn't...steal my pet.” He said slowly, still processing what he just heard. He shook his head to rid himself of the thought. “No, I love cupcakes, it's just that now isn't the time for 'em. I enjoy snacks and the like later at night because having that much sugar too early would give the wrong kind of energy, and I'd end up getting exhausted half-way through a long day of work.” Pinkie closed her eyes and nodded once in understanding, then skipped over to the table on which the multicolored confections sat. She grabbed the end of the tray in her mouth and flicked it, sending the remaining five cupcakes into the air. She dropped the tray back onto the table and opened her mouth peculiarly wide, facing the ceiling, tongue hanging on her chin. The assortment of airborne sweets landed in her open maw and she shut like a bear trap, chewing her meal with her cheeks bulging out comically. He thought about raising an eyebrow to this strange behavior, but decided against it. Somehow, his gut told him that this was normal. Then his mind asked him if he even knew what normal was anymore. Once finished with her mouthful of baked goods, she turned to Marckus with her head cocked to one side. “If you didn't come here for cupcakes, that what did you come here for?” Her wide smile taking its permanent place on her face. “Well, Twilight took me to Ms. Zecora's and she gave me a special tonic that healed my broken bones and such. So we thought it'd be nice to let y'all know that I'm all better now.” The bubbly baker looked him over and noticed that his cast, sling, and brace were all absent. Although it he didn't think it possible, Pinkie Pie's smile seemed to grow even wider. Suddenly, she was jumping all over, popping up in all different spots here and there. And with each time she reappeared, she would yell “You're better!”. She appeared one last time from behind the counter and threw her front hooves in the air, launching confetti over herself repeated once more, “Yippee! You're better!”. She bounced over to her two guests and proceeded to bounce in place between them. “Oh my gosh, I'm so happy that you're better!” She jumped into the air extra high as she drew an irregularly large breath in the form of a gasp. “You know what we should do?! We should throw a pa-” She landed on the ground and stopped mid-sentence, her face instantaneously taking on a grim and serious expression. She looked Marckus dead in the eyes. “May Twilight and I speak privately for a moment?” She said flatly. Her voice lost all of its elation and glee. The man shifted uncomfortably at the sudden change in attitude, but nodded nonetheless. Pinkie looked at the lavender unicorn and she stood up. Pinkie led her into what he could tell was the kitchen area, from the large oven he could see through the doorway. Peeking back through the doorway, Pinkie found the man distracting himself by spinning the tray that once held the cupcakes between his palms, looking in some nonspecific direction. She turned back to a now confused looking unicorn waiting for an explanation. She quickly leaned in close to her purple friend and the exaggerated smile she constantly wore returned in full force. She leaned even closer to Twilight. “Twilight! I just had the most fantastically amazing idea!” She said in a whisper quiet enough to rival that of Fluttershy. Twilight didn't say anything in response, instead, she raised an eyebrow and looked at her bizarre friend with interest. “We should throw Marckus a 'Welcome to Equestria' party!” She jumped to her hind legs and threw her front hooves over her head as she whispered her plan. She landed quietly back on all-fours and continued. “We could also celebrate his speedy recovery!” Twilight smiled as Pinkie as she finished speaking. “Pinkie, that's a wonderful idea! Although, who would be invited? If it's a 'Welcome to Equestria' party, than who would be invited? It wouldn't be very right for just the six of us to welcome him into a whole new world.” Pinkie brought a hoof to her chin as she thought for a moment. “Why don't we invite the whole town? If everypony's there, maybe they'll see he's not a bad guy and warm up to him?” Twilight thought on this for a moment before her smile faded away. “That's not a bad idea, but where would we hold the party? There's no way we'd be able to fit all of Ponyville into Sugar Cube Corner. And I'm pretty sure that Applejack wouldn't be to fond of the idea of holding a huge party in and around her barn at Sweet Apple Acres.” The Pink Premier Party Pony of Ponyville wracked her brain for the ideal location for a town-sized party that would also be of comfortable height for their guest of honor. Twilight could almost see the light bulb click on above her head. “How about in that huge atrium in the library? We held your 'Welcome to Ponyville' party in there, and there were plenty of ponies at that party. Plus, the dome on that place is huuuuuge! We don't want Marckus hunched over during his whole party.” Twilight smiled as the memory of that amazing party. “Wow, that's also a great idea! You're really on a roll today.” The bubbly mare cocked her head to the side and smiled brightly. “I'm on a roll? Where am I rolling to?” Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled at the wise-crack from her friend. With that they turned back and trotted back into the lobby area, where Marckus was patiently leaning against a wall, his eyes closed, bobbing his head rhythmically to a song that most likely was playing in his head. He heard the clacking of the two mares returning to the room and he opened his eyes, pushed himself off the wall, and watched them silently. Twilight awkwardly smiled at him and shifted her eyes, obvious signs that she was about to lie, which he picked up on keenly. “Oh, that wasn't anything important, Pinkie just wanted my opinion on a name for a new treat she made.” The cotton candy-maned pony looked at her with an eyebrow raised. “Twilight, didn't you hear anything I just said? I wanted to throw a p-” Her sentence was ended abruptly from a hoof in the mouth, courtesy of the unicorn still trying to keep the secret party a secret. “I liked the first one.” Twilight said through the teeth of a forced smile, her left eye twitched slightly when she turned to face the mare her hoof was currently silencing. The realization could be seen dawning on the muffled mare. She nodded her head and Twilight reclaimed her hoof from her mouth. “Riiiiight, the first one. Meee toooo.” Pinkie said with an over-exaggerated wink. Marckus pressed his lips up and gave a nod showing that he voluntarily bought the lie. He didn't hear what was said, but he did know that it was none of his business, so he didn't press the matter. “Well, I hope that your new treat is a success.” He said politely, then he was once again silent, his neutral face showing no hint of his perception of the deceit. “Heh,” Twilight began with a nervous chuckle, “well, now that you know the good news, we should be off to tell the others.” “Okie-dokie-lokie!” Pinkie confirmed in a fashion very suiting of her. She trotted up to the door and flipped the sign in the window back to “open” and held the door open with her forehoof. Marckus smiled and thanked her for holding the door, and Twilight thanked her for the cupcakes as she passed. Just as they were only a few steps out the door, Pinkie shot out and grabbed Twilight's tail in her mouth, snatching her back into the shop, causing her to give a “whoof” as she was whisked away within the blink of an eye. “Ow, Pinkie, that hurt.” The purloined purple pony pestered, rubbing her tail with her forehooves and sitting on her haunches. Pinkie checked the window and saw that Marckus had stopped to wait, not moving from his place. She turned back to her captive and whispered quickly. “Sorry about that Twilight, I just wanted to remind you to keep you-know-who busy until the party's ready. I should be able to put a super-mondo-town-sized-mega-party together by nine tonight.” “Pinkie, that's only ten hours away.” Twilight said in doubt. Pinkie simply sat back and raised her eyebrow. “A-alright Pinkie, I'll see what I can do.” She stood back up and trotted out the door to reunite with the patient man. They said their good-byes and Marckus waved over his shoulder in his signature manner, and Pinkie went back to her duties, minding the shop. As they began walking, Marckus turned to his leader with a question. “Where to now?” He asked casually. Twilight thought of who would be best at stalling them longest. Somepony far away. Somepony who might have work that needs doing. “We're off to Sweet Apple Acres, home of my friend Applejack.” She said confidently. They began down the road frequented mostly by said pony and her family towards their destination, the sun close to reaching the climax of its daily climb. To be continued...