Slowly the rain subsided, and the first rays of the sun appeared as pegasus ponies started to clear the sky. The streets were getting crowded with ponies doing their jobs or just enjoying the day. Some of them noticed the carriage in front of house Nr. 11 on Flower Street and were wondering themselves who the new ponies could be, but nopony really felt the need to knock on the front door and ask. They would get to know them soon enough. They all just had to wait for the Pinkie Pie’s welcome party. The pink mare sped through the village the whole morning and invited everypony in town. A big party in the town hall. Since it was the first party in 3 weeks, Pinkie Pie was planning something big and wanted to make sure the 2 new villagers would get the right impression of the Ponyville ponies.
Pinkie Pie happily jumped to the front door and rang the doorbell. A muffled noise could be heard in the house, and after a minute a small unicorn filly with a grey coat, black mane with a blue stripe, and beautiful blue eyes opened the door.
"Hello?" The small filly said, a little bit nervous.
"Hello little one. I’m Pinkie Pie and I wanted to welcome you and your parents in Ponyville." Out of nowhere Pinkie set a party hat on Zeldas head and threw some confetti in the air.
"And for this I’m hosting a big welcome party at the town hall at midday today. Everypony in Ponyville will be there and you will make a lot of new friends. There is cake, punch, balloons and some ponies surely will bring some presents too. Doesn’t that sound exciting? Well I am totally excited! Hi hi hi hi hi hi!" With every word that Pinkie Pie said, Zelda’s eyes grew bigger and bigger. What filly wouldn’t be happy to get a party with free food and presents?
"A party with cake and presents? Do you have muffins with honey? I love muffins with honey!" the little filly said excitedly.
"Why not? I could make some before the party begins." Pinkie answered.
"That would be so awesome! Thank you Ms. Pie!" Zelda said, excited.
"Please call me just Pinkie. Everypony does. Ha ha ha ha!" Pinkie Pie said.
"OK Pinkie. My name is Zelda. I promise my dad and I will come to your party."
"Oki doki loki! See you later Zelda!" Pinkie turned around and happily jumped away. She had an order to bake and if the little filly loves muffins with honey, she would make enough for her and Derpy Hooves together. Zelda closed the door and dashed to her father.
"Daddy! Daddy! There was a pink pony at the front door and she is going to host a party just for us and everypony will be there!" Manic Moon nearly choked on his breakfast apple.
"They did what? Zelda! I thought we wanted to go slow with this? I don’t think the ponies around here are ready to know...." he was searching for the right words "... what we are. We would be the center of the attention at this party, and I can´t hide my true race as easily as you. What would we do if they didn’t accept us? They could send us fleeing out of town or even get us arrested." Manic said while he walked up and down the kitchen.
"But.... but..... but daddy. They will bring present and candy and muffins with honey! Muffins with honey daddy!" she begged.
"No Zelda! The risk is too high." he replied.
"Pretty please!" Zelda said, her eyes getting bigger and she made a cute face.
"N-No Zelda! Don’t do this!" he tried his best to look away from her.
"Please, please, please, pleeeeeeaaaaase!" she said with her best puppy face and little tears in her eyes.
"Oh Luna forgive me! I can’t stand this any more. You win! We’re going to this damn party." The moment he ended his sentence Zelda jumped into his arms and hugged him as tightly as the little filly could.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You are the best daddy in the whole world!" Manic sighed and returned the hug.
"Yes, I know. But you aren´t bad as cute little daughter too. Ha ha ha ha!" he rumpled up her mane and they both started to laugh. After that they finished their breakfast and made some preparations for the party.
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Soon enough the clocktower of Ponyville struck noon and most of the ponies made their way to the town hall. Some of them also brought some presents for the new neighbors. For example, Mr. and Mrs Cake made a giant cake for everypony to enjoy, Derpy Hooves and the other mail ponies donated a new postbox and the Spa twins brought a coupon for a " Feel Well " program. Even Twilight couldn’t resist and laid a Daring Doo book ( " Daring Do and the Albino Changeling " ) on the table with the other presents.
"Now that’s what I call a good welcome party." Pinkie Pie said, bouncing to her friends.
"You sure can say so Pinkie Pie. These two new ponies will get one hell of a good first impression of Ponyville." Applejack said.
"Say Twilight, is it true that the new stallion in town already visited you last night?" Rarity asked rather interested.
"Well, yes. Actually he only asked me for directions to his house. Can’t blame him for not finding it in the middle of the night, and with this bad weather too." Twilight replied.
"And how does he look? Is he an handsome gentlecolt or more of a working stallion?" Rarity asked.
"Sorry Rarity. I didn’t see much of him. He was wearing a hooded cloak and a scarf up to his nose. All I could see is was that he had a black coat and mane. That and that he is as big as your brother Applejack. But he seems to have realy good manners and he moved here with his little daughter." Twilight answered.
"Oh yes! Oh yes! I met his daughter this morning when I invited them to the party. Her name is Zelda and she is a unicorn just like Rarity and Twilight. She loves muffins with honey and is soooooooo cute! You will love to meet her girls!" Pinkie Pie added.
"A unicorn. Does this mean her father is a unicorn too, Twilight? I was hoping on a pegasus pony, ‘cause our weather team could use a strong colt. Since Road Rage started his Wonderbolt training he rarely has time to help us with moving the big clouds." Rainbow Dash said.
"I don’t think he’s a unicorn too. I couldn’t spot anything like a horn last night, and that would’ve been easy to see under his hood. He could be a pegasus, since his back was covered with the cloak." Twilight answered.
"Well, I guess we'll find out soon enough. They should arrive any second now." Rarity said.
Not long after this Manic Moon and Zelda entered the town hall. Every eye in the room was turned towards them. Most of the ponies wore a confused expression on their face, because Manic was not only wearing the same hooded cloak and scarf as last night, when he knocked on Twilights door. No, he also had a big pair of sunglasses resting on his nose, so nopony could see his eyes.
"Oh my!" Fluttershy whispered.
"He definitely has no sense for fashion." Rarity said. Manic Moon looked into the crowd, obviously nervous. Zelda shyly stood behind him, not knowing what to say.
"Hello everypony! Nice to meet you all. Before we start this party, there is something we need to show you all and we both really hope this place is as tolerant as I was told." Manic finally said. He and Zelda slowly made their way to the big stage on the other end of the hall. He took the microphone and everypony looked at him eagerly.
"Well... first of all, thank you everypony for making this awesome welcome party for my daughter and I. We would really love to be a part of this nice community, but at first, we must show you what we really are." He took a step back from the microphone, and with one last sigh, took off his clothes.
At first nopony knew how they should react, but then the first of them realized what stood before the crowd. Manic Moon was a pitch black pegasus with a shock-headed, black mane and completely white eyes, without any iris. He didn´t have a Cutie Mark, but instead he had really sharp teeth. A picture perfect example of a demon pony. Twilight was one of the first who got it.
"He’s a demon pony!" When she said this out loud, nearly every filly in the town hall ( and Fluttershy ) shooed behind their parents ( FS behind Pinkie Pie ) or started crying. Rarity and some other mares fainted and most ponies made eye contact with the exit. Quickly Manic took the microphone again and started speaking.
"Yes, I’m a demon pony, but I don’t want to harm you ..." he looked to the scared fillies "... and I never ever ate a filly in my whole life, not even the bad ones. So please don’t run away or call for the royal guards. I just want to live in Ponyville like everypony else." No pony ran out of the building, but they all hesitated to say something or move any closer to him. All but one. A grey earthpony mare with a long mane, a pink bow-tie, and a clef note for a Cutie Mark made her way through the crowd and walked on stage.
"Long time no see Manic Moon. You still know how to get all the attention." she laughed.
"Octavia? Is that you?" Manic asked.
"The one and only." she said.
Twilight watched all this with an open mouth. Slowly but surely, everypony in the hall relaxed when they saw how friendly the pony and the demon talked on stage. Even Fluttershy seemed to come out of her shell.
"I didn’t know you lived here, Octavia. The last time we met was after your big concert in Manehatten 2 years ago." Manic said.
"I just moved to Ponyville seven months ago. I’m living in a flat shared with Vinyl Scratch. Nice to see you and Zelda again." she bent down to Zelda "Hello little one! You’ve really grown up since the last time I saw you." she stroked Zeldas head. Zelda hugged her and looked up.
"Hello Octavia! I’m so happy to see you. Thank you for helping my daddy." she said happily.
"He helped me often enough. It´s great that I can finally pay him back a little bit." she took the microphone from Manic Moon and addressed to the crowd.
"Listen everypony! I know how hard this may be to believe, but Manic Moon is one of the most kind ponies I’ve ever met and there is no reason to be afraid of him. He helped me in a time of my life when I hit rock bottom and thought I couldn’t go on anymore. To tell you the truth, without his help I wouldn’t be one of the most famous musicians of Equestria I am today." When she said this, Manic got a little red and bashfully looked away. After Octavia’s speech, Twilight and her friends walked on stage and one after another greeted Manic Moon.
"You sure do know how to make an unforgettable first impression Manic." Applejack said.
"Uhm... hello!" Fluttershy quietly said.
"Looks like we all believed too much in this old mare’s tale. I’m really sorry if we seemed intolerant to you, but strange and dangerous thing happen quite often around here and we’re all a little oversensitive with these things. " Twilight apologizing.
"It´s no big deal, but there is one more thing you all have to know before this party really can start. I heard about the big attack of changelings at your brother’s wedding and I could totally understand, if everypony around here has something against them..." He looked to Zelda and nodded.
Zelda didn’t really seem comfortable, but she closed her eyes anyways, and out of nowhere a green flame appeared under her hooves. Everypony in the hall gasped for air. When the green flame disappeared, there was still Zelda standing on the stage, but her horn got a little bit sharper and on her back everypony could see a beautiful pair of changeling wings.
"Tada!" Zelda said and made an great and powerful pose.
Twilight’s mouth nearly hit the ground this time. She never expected such a cute little filly to be a changeling. She thought every changeling’s only goal was to get as much love as possible, no matter the costs. On the other hoof, she never expected to ever meet a demon pony either.
"Zelda’s mother was a changeling princess, so that makes Zelda a half demon pony, half changeling hybrid. As you all can see, she is still a nice little filly and will do you no harm. I hope that you all could accept her the same way you accepted me a minute ago." Manic said as he lay his hoof on the filly’s shoulder.
This time, it was Pinkie Pie who reacted first by jumping in front of Zelda and happily poking her nose.
"You’re still a cute filly and I still made a lot of honey muffins for you. I’ve never had a changeling friend and this is soooo exciting!" Pinkie said. Zelda’s eyes changed their size from normal to big in no time. She euphorically jumped in tune to Pinkie Pie.
"You made some? Really? That is so awesome! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" she said happily.
Most of the ponies in the hall started laughing at the show they saw at the stage and soon everypony came up and greeted Manic Moon and Zelda face-to-face. When the last "Hello!" was said Pinkie Pie took the microphone.
"Ok everypony! Now let´s get this party started!" Behind her Vinyl Scratch switched on her DJ pult and the townhall became one big party stage. Some time later Zelda sat together with Derpy, Dinky, Pinkie Pie and the Cutie Mark Crusaders at a table and enjoyed the muffins with honey Pinkie had baked.
"They are so delicious!" Zelda said with a full mouth.
"You’ve got a good point there little one. Never say no to a muffin! Ha ha ha!" Derpy said.
"Do you wanna join our club Zelda? You could crusade with us and to find your Cutie Mark. You would be the first crusading changeling in all of Equestria." Sweetie Belle asked.
"That´s a nice offer, but my dad says neither demon ponies nor changelings get Cutie Marks, so I will never get one either. Still, thank you for the invitation. If you ever need help with your crusading, I´m happy to help." Zelda answered.
In another corner of the hall, Manic chatted with Octavia, Rarity, Fluttershy and Big Macintosh.
"I’m so happy you showed up today Octavia. I don’t think this would have ended so well without you." Manic said.
"Like I told you before. I still owe you a lot. So it was my pleasure to help you out this time." Octavia answered.
"Now Mr. Moon...." Rarity was about to say, when Manic interrupted her.
"Please, just Manic." he said.
"Ok. Now Manic, what does a nice demon pony like you do for work anyway?" she asked.
"Well. Back in Manehatten I worked as a bartender in a club called " Last Light ". As far as I know Ponyville doesn´t has anything like that, so I guess I’ve got to find something new. But there’s not a huge rush, there are some Bits left from my old job to live off of for a while." Manic said with a smile.
"Well, maybe you could help at the apple farm. There is always a lot of work to do. I mean, if that´s ok with you and if Big Mac and Applejack want help on the farm too." Fluttershy suggested shyly.
"Eeyup!" Big Mac said with a friendly smile.
"Maybe I will come back on that offer, but first Zelda and I want to settle in a little bit. I´ve never expected to be find new friend so fast. Seems like Ponyville was a good choice after all." Manic replied.
"That´s exactly what I thought, when I moved here too. For Ponyville!" Octavia raised her jar of apple cider.
"For starting a new life!" Manic Moon followed her example.
"For tolerance!" Rarity said, lifting her jar.
"For finding new friends!" Fluttershy said happy.
"Eeyup!" said Big Mac rising his jar too.
"Bottom up!" all five said in union.