//------------------------------//
// IX: Intermission 
// Story: The After Party 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

	"Of all the dumb luck in the world," Chrysalis said, pacing around the room like a rabid dog, "We had him cornered and yet he managed to escape. Thirteen Changeling soldiers, defeated before touching him. Damn that Ursa Major, at least it died."

Around her, occupying the beds on the second story of Rose Petal's house, were the same thirteen Changelings that had been defeated while they were following Rocket Sky. The unicorn was lucky to have defeated the Ursa Major with his sudden rush of power, but Chrysalis was sure he remembered nothing. When and if he awoke he was bound to remember nothing, which meant that he didn't know the Changelings were following him.

"And of course the Princess of the Night would show her face when the Major roared," Chrysalis continued, "She would only appear to see what the trouble was and to see if she could fix it without harming herself in the process. This is absolute torture. The stallion is here in the town, sleeping in the library, and we can't move because Twilight will notice us when we try to enter."

Rose Petal sat by the door to the second story and listened to the Queen rant on and on about her failure to capture the stallion. She honestly thought it was annoying to hear her speak about kidnapping a pony and harnessing their power to attack and defeat Celestia. She was tired of war and deceit, but as a Changeling she had her orders. She couldn't exactly disobey her Queen without some type of punishment.

A slight knock on her front door brought her back to reality and silenced the Queen in an instant. Rose gave a slight chuckle as she walked down the stairs after locking the door behind her. She had told the Queen that she was expecting a guest and it was painfully clear that she had nearly forgotten while she was ranting. Rose opened the door and found Peachy Keen, the pony she was supposed to be watching, waiting on the other side.

"Hey Rose Petal," the mare said, "You ready to go?"

"Of course I am Peachy," Rose answered, closing the door behind her before the mare could enter the house, "I have been waiting to meet the rest of your friends since I met you. Especially the one called Rocket Sky. He must be a pegasus of amazing speed and wing power."

"Oh, he's not a pegasus," Peachy said, startling her friend as they started for the library, "Rocket is a unicorn. His parents named him Rocket Sky hoping that he would be a pegasus, but were unwilling to change when they discovered he was a unicorn. Truth be told I don't know how much magical power he has, but he has the basic skills that any unicorn has."

Rose held her tongue. She didn't want to say that she knew exactly how much power he had because Chrysalis continued to tell her what he had done. Truth be told she wanted to hear everything from Rocket and his friends, not from the Queen. As far as she could tell she was unique among Changelings; she could actually feel emotions. Not like her brothers and sisters who fed on emotions, she actually had love and hate of her own.

"Rocket is our leader," Peachy continued, bringing Rose back to reality, "After we woke up in Canterlot after our party he took command and got us out of there. We came here and he answered the questions that Twilight wanted answered. He's a good pony and he is kind to others. Oh, there's the library."

True enough the library was right in front of them. Where Rose was expecting nopony to be around there were the rest of Twilight's friends and the other two ponies who had arrived with Rocket Sky. Tick Tock was playing his guitar, playing some tune that Rose was unfamiliar with but actually liked a bit. Inner Wisdom, the pony who had harassed Chrysalis in disguise, was writing something down as he watched over them all, thought he spoke to Pinkie quite a bit.

"Hey Peachy," Tick said, lifting a hoof as the two approached, "Whose your friend?"

"Rose Petal," Peachy answered, "She's helping me find my Cutie Mark and I figured that the best way to repay her is to let her met the rest of my friends. Get her to know the rest of us and hopefully everypony will be friends by the end of the day."

"That's cool," Wisdom said, pulling up in front of Rose and looking over her carefully, "I hope you know what you're getting into Peachy."

"Of course I do," Peachy replied, wondering if he knew something that she didn't, "Anyway, where's Rocket and Twilight?"

"Inside the library," Pinkie said, hopping around happily, "They've been doing something and won't come out."

"I was reading a letter Pinkie," Twilight said, the door opening to show the alicorn waiting for them, "and Rocket has been resting. It seems he was practicing his magic last night and exhausted himself before he was able to return. Apparently Princess Luna brought him back and failed to wake me up. But he's here in case you want to talk to him."

Inside the library the entire group was shocked to see Rocket standing by a window, twirling a gem in midair while he read from a book. Spike was sitting below the gem, waiting for the stallion to drop it so he could eat it. Rocket looked up and smiled as he noticed the group, closing the book while keeping the gem suspended.

"I see you're improving," Twilight commented, "Levitation isn't easy for beginners."

"I think we have established that I am not a beginner," Rocket said, allowing the gem to drop into Spike's awaiting claws, "Besides, I need a break before I try anything too dangerous. Who is this?"

"The names Rose Petal," Rose said, stepping forward to see the stallion fully, "I'm helping Peachy discover her Cutie Mark and she decided to repay me by allowing me to meet the rest of her friends. You must be the infamous Rocket Sky."

"I don't know about infamous," Rocket commented, "but it appears that more and more are coming to meet me the more  I stay here. Just an hour ago Vinyl and Octavia came by to drop off Tick for the day and I got to formally introduce myself."

Lucky, Peachy thought, I wish I could actually meet Vinyl and not miss her every chance I get.

"She also reminded us that Nightmare Night is only a few days away," Rocket continued, the entire group, excluding Rarity, gasping at once, "I take it the town is unprepared?"

"No no no," Twilight said, hurrying into her study, "I was so caught up teaching and making sure the town was stable that I forgot that Nightmare Night was around the corner. There is so much to do in so little time. Girls, we must prepare immediately."

Sure enough Twilight and her friends, save for Rarity, left the library to prepare for the special night.

"Ugh, such a dreadful night that is," Rarity said, looking over the five remaining ponies, "but that doesn't mean I won't accept a challenge. Come along and I will make costumes for the lot of you. Costumes that will put the scare into the rest of the town."

Rose had a feeling that something big was going to happen on Nightmare Night. Something that was either related to Chrysalis or not at all. And Rocket Sky was going to be the center of everything, she was sure of it.