//------------------------------// // Friendly Greetings // Story: The Past Returns // by Robobrony //------------------------------// The Past Returns Chapter 2: Friendly Greetings “OOOOHHHH Nightshade, I missed you sososososososo much!” “Um…Pinkie…..it’s great…to …see you too…..but….could you let me go………..please.” Twilight took Nightshade to Sugar Cube Corner to see Pinkie Pie first and, as soon as Pinkie saw him, she rushed over from behind the counter and embraced him in one of her Pinkie Pie death hugs. Nightshade was barely able to get out the words he did as Pinkie was squeezing the life out of him. Twilight just stood there and watched, laughing at her coltfriend’s predicament. “Now Pinkie, if you break him, I won’t forgive you.” She said jokingly. Pinkie finally released her grip on Nightshade and he fell to the floor, gasping for air, and feeling such relief that he could breathe again. He rasped out, “Thanks” to Pinkie as she looked down at him with a smile. Twilight helped him up to continue the tour of Sugar Cube Corner and introduce him to Mr. and Mrs. Cake. Nightshade was finally free to look at the place he was in, there were tables and chairs set up around the main floor, a glass display case near the center of the room with all kinds of sweets inside that also acted as the counter for customers to place and pay for orders. To his left was a staircase that led up to the second floor which Nightshade could only assume to be where Pinkie, and Mr. and Mrs. Cake lived. Nightshade still had his hood on as he was afraid to draw attention to himself from others when he and Twilight made their way through town. Twilight then thought now would be a good time for him to meet the Cakes. “Pinkie could you go and get Mr. and Mrs. Cake, I want to introduce them to Nightshade.” “Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie happily skipped her way past the counter through a pair of free swinging doors into the kitchen where Mr. and Mrs. Cake were. “Mr. and Mrs. Cake, there’s some pony here I want to introduce you to.” Mr. Cake asked, “Who is it Pinkie?” “Come on out and see.” Mrs. Cake responded, “All right Pinkie were coming.” Mr. and Mrs. Cake were both earth ponies. Mr. Cake had a yellow coat with a short orange colored mane and tail with three slices of a cake for his cutie mark. He wore a white apron and a red hat with white at the bottom. Mrs. Cake had a blue coat with a swirled tail and mane that looked like swirled ice cream on a cone colored with pink and dark pink, she appeared to be on the chubby side and also wore a yellow apron, and had three cupcakes for her cutie mark. The Cakes followed their hyperactive baking apprentice to the front of their shop to meet this mysterious new guest that had Pinkie so excited. Nightshade was feeling nervous at meeting these two, but with Twilight by his side, he felt he could face anything. Pinkie and the Cakes finally stopped in front of Nightshade and Pinkie proudly introduced them to one another. “Nightshade, this is Mr. Carrot Cake and Mrs. Cupcake. Mr. and Mrs. Cake, this is Nightshade, the pony I told you about a month ago.” Mrs. Cake took a few steps closer to greet Nightshade. “It’s very nice to finally meet you Nightshade, and welcome to Sugar Cube Corner.” Mr. Cake then stepped forward to give his greeting. “Yes, were very glad to finally meet you, Pinkie told us all about you and the fact that you’re a shadow walker. We were a bit skeptical when Pinkie told us about you being from a tribe of ponies that existed two thousand years ago, but she’s never been one to tell a lie.” Nightshade finally said his hello. “It’s nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Cake.” Mrs. Cake spoke with a bit of excitement in her voice as she and Mr. Cake were curious to meet a pony from a clan they had never heard of. “Would you mind taking off your hood deer so we can see for ourselves what you look like?” Nightshade was still nervous about showing his face, so he tried to come up with an excuse for not taking off his hood in front of them. “Um, I don’t know, I…..wouldn’t want to scare you or anything.” Twilight spoke next to alleviate his fears and coax him into removing his hood. “Come on Nightshade, its ok, Pinkie already told them what you look like, besides, no pony here judges others based on looks.” “Well, all right, just…try not to be too shocked.” Nightshade lifted a hoof to remove his hood and show his face to the couple before him. The Cakes were a bit in awe at his appearance. “Well my boy, you certainly look like how Pinkie described you.” Mr. Cake spoke up. Mrs. Cake was next to voice her opinions. “You are quite the handsome stallion, different, but handsome, Twilight is very lucky.” Nightshade was a little surprised that they weren’t afraid of him. “So….you’re ok with how I look?” “Of course deary, besides, you are a bit of a hero for how you saved Twilight.” An Idea suddenly popped into Pinkie’s head and just had to yell it out. “OH MY GOSH, I just had a great idea! This calls for a WELCOME BACK TO PONYVILLE PARTY! We’ll have cakes and balloons and streamers and punch and games, and I’ll invite every pony in Ponyville, we’ll have so much fun, you’ll get to meet every pony Nightshade.” This thought of meeting every pony at once terrified him as his eyes went wide with shock and said quietly to himself, “Every…pony.” Twilight saw the fear in her coltfriend’s eyes and knew she had to say something to stop Pinkie, Nightshade just wasn’t ready for something like that. “Pinkie wait, I really don’t think that’s such a good Idea.” Pinkie stopped in her tracks and turned to Twilight. “Oh, why not?” Twilight motioned to Nightshade with her head to give Pinkie the hint. Nightshade was standing there with his eyes wide and shaking a little with fear at the mere thought of having to be around so many ponies at once. Pinkie got the hint and was a little disappointed that she wouldn’t get to throw Nightshade on of her famous Pinkie Pie parties. “Oh, ok Twilight.” Nightshade then snapped himself from his fear induced trance and quickly got an idea that might help cheer up his new pink friend. “Actually Pinkie, I think a party would be nice, just a small one with just you, me, Twilight, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, and Spike. That I could handle, besides, I feel kind of bad that I wasn’t able to fully enjoy myself last time you threw me a party.” This got Pinkie smiling again, happy she would be able to throw some kind of party for her friend. “Okie dokie lokie, you got it Nightshade, we’ll have so much fun, I’ll get to work on planning it right away.” Then Pinkie zipped upstairs in a pink blur to her room to begin planning the party. Twilight figured it was time to move on and see her other friends to give them the good news of Nightshade’s return. “Well, we should get going it was nice seeing you Mr. and Mrs. Cake.” Nightshade said his goodbye as well. “It was nice meeting you two, I hope to see you again.” Mrs. Cake responded with a smile, “Your welcome here anytime Nightshade, take care.” And so the couple left the bakery to find the rest of their friends after Nightshade placed his hood back over his head. “Why don’t we go see Rarity next, I just know she’ll be more than happy to show you the design she came up with thanks to the lunar lily you let us see.” Twilight suggested. Nightshade was a little confused about the word design. “Sounds good but, what’s a design?” Twilight had almost forgotten that Nightshade had been living in forests all his life and wasn’t exactly caught up on current things like fashion, so she explained. “You see, Rarity has a job that we call a fashion designer, she makes fancy clothes and dresses for ponies to wear. She almost always uses gemstones in her designs.” “So that’s what she meant when she said she could make me an outfit, right?” “Right, she’s like that sometimes, and she wouldn’t have charged you either.” “That’s fine, because I don’t have any money anyway. But I don’t think this fashion thing is something I would like.” “Just to warn you, she can be rather persistent when it comes to her passion.” “Why don’t I like the sound of that?” Twilight just laughed a little as they continued on their way to Rarity’s shop. It wasn’t long before they reached it and Twilight announced the name to Nightshade. “Here we are, Carousel Boutique.” They made their way inside and found rarity hard at work on a dress for one of her clients. Twilight called out to get her attention. “Hi Rarity, I came by for a visit, there’s some pony here I want you to see.” Rarity stopped her work to greet her friend and this mysterious guest Twilight had brought along. “Twilight, darling how nice for you to-“ She stopped midsentence when she turned to greet her friend and saw who was with her. “Nightshade?!” She said as she looked upon a familiar sight. Nightshade removed his hood again to show his face to his white unicorn friend. “Hello Rarity, it’s good to see you again.” Rarity ran over to give Nightshade a hug after not having seeing him in so long. “Nightshade, what a pleasure to see you again, OH I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you.” “Jeeze, we haven’t seen each other in a month and you act like it’s been longer.” Rarity broke the hug and looked upon Nightshade with a big smile. “Well with the way you kind of disappeared on us, I thought it would be longer than a month before we would see you again. So does this mean that you’ve gotten over your fears of others?” “Not quite, I just couldn’t stand to be away from Twilight anymore, so I just sucked it up and came for her.” “OOOHHHHH, how romantic.” Rarity cooed at Nightshade’s words. Nightshade looked at Twilight when he said that last part and they smiled at eachother. “Well, now that you’re here, you simply must let me take your measurements so I can make you a dashing suit for any future dates you and Twilight will go on.” “Uh…..that’s ok, I don’t really need a suit.” “Oh come now darling, you do want to look good for her, don’t you? I simply won’t take no for an answer, now come along.” Rarity grabbed Nightshade’s hoof and started dragging him upstairs to her workroom to begin her work. Nightshade looked back at Twilight and mouthed ‘HELP ME’ to her in hopes she would do something to help him. Twilight just followed behind them laughing at yet another predicament that Nightshade found himself in. “THAT was…the worst,.. most humiliating experience in my entire life.” “Oh come on, it couldn’t have been THAT bad.” “Are you kidding! I had an easier time facing down a dragon and I barely got out of that without a scratch.” Twilight and Nightshade had just gotten out of Rarity’s shop after an embarrassing time for Nightshade while Rarity was measuring his body size and build for a suit she would make for him. She was poking and proding him with pins by accident while she had him put some raw cloth material over him because he couldn’t stand still, he was very uncomfortable with the situation he was in. “WAIT, you faced a dragon, how did you do that?” Twilight couldn’t believe what she just herd, no pony could take on a dragon, not even Celestia herself. “When you grow up in a forest full of monstrous beasts that could easily turn you into lunch, you need to be tough to defend yourself, all my time there helped me grow in strength and power. Now I can easily handle any dragon that comes my way.” Twilight was impressed by this. “Wow, that’s incredible.” “So, where to next?” “How about Fluttershy?” Nightshade nodded and they continued on their way to Fluttershy’s cottage near the Everfree forest. They reached their destination and made their way to the front door. Twilight knocked and called out to her friend. “FLUTTERSHY, are you home.” Nightshade stood off to the side to surprise Fluttershy with his return. Fluttershy came to the door and opened it a little to see who it was. “Oh, hello Twilight, what brings you by?” “Hey Twilight what’s up?” Rainbow Dash was there too appearantly. “Oh, hey Rainbow, did you come by here for a visit too?” “Yep” Fluttershy interjected. “So what can I do for you Twilight?” “Acturally, I brought some pony by you might want to see.” Nightshade then stepped in from the side and got next to twilight so they could see him. As soon as Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash saw him, their faces lit up with joy and they both exclaimed, “NIGHTSHADE!” Rainbow Dash zipped out of the house and tackled Nightshade to the ground in a hug, happy to see him again after a month. “NO WAY, I can’t believe it, you came back already?! I thought we wouldn’t see you for a long time!” Nightshade looked at rainbow with a smile on his face, happy to see another friend. “You know, there’s something familiar about this.” He said rather slyly. Rainbow didn’t know what he was talking about. “What do you mean?” “If I recall, the first time we met, you tackled me to the ground just like this, only then, you were ready to beat the hay outta me.” “Oh yeah, he he, sorry about that.” She got off him and helped him up on his hooves. He just kept smiling and said, “It’s ok, I forgave you then remember. Besides, I understand why you did it, you were concerned for a friend.” Fluttershy then stepped forward to give Nightshade a gentle welcoming hug. “It’s very nice to see you again Nightshade.” Nightshade returned the hug. “It’s nice to see you again too Fluttershy, both of you.” “Come on in and I’ll make us some tea.” They all gathered into Flutteshy’s living room to sit and talk. Fluttershy made her way into her kitchen to make tea for everyone while the others sat and talked. “So now that your back, there’s something I’ve been dying to ask you since you showed us you have wings.” Rainbow said to him practically brimming with excitement. Nightshade looked at her curiously, wondering why the fact he had wings would be of interest to her. “What is it Rainbow Dash?” “What do you say to you and me having a race sometime? I would love to see how good a flyer you are, I doudt your as good as me though. I am the best flyer in all of Equestria afterall.” Nightshade didn’t really care about such things. “Sorry Rainbow, but I don’t feel I have anything to prove. I just know that I am good at flying, but I don’t care if some pony is better than me or not.” Fluttershy finally came in with the tea and gave every pony a cup. Nightshade and Twilight levitated their cup while Fluttershy and Rainbow lifted theirs with their hooves and each took a sip. Rainbow was not about to let this racing idea go so easily, she knew how to get to him. “What’s the matter Nightshade, you-“ Before she could finish, Nightshade cut her off. “Forget it Rainbow Dash, I learned my lesson last time, you won’t be goating me into anything again.” Twilight leaned over to Nightshade to whisper something in his ear. “Probably should have warned you, but Rainbow Dash can be rather persistent when it comes to racing too.” Nightshade then got a little worried. “Oh come on, PLEEEAAAAASSSSSSE!” Once again, Nightshade was face to face with that dreaded look Pinkie gave him when he first refused the decorations she wanted to put up around his house for that party. Rainbows eyes were wide as dinner plates and tearing up, lips were pouting with the bottom one quivering, and once again, Nightshade could swear he heard a whimpering dog. “Will you ponies stop giving me that look, it’s too much.” Finally, he caved in while Twilight just laghed at yet another predicament Nightshade was in. “FINE, how will we do this?” Rainbow Dash lept into the air with joy that she was going to get her way. “ALL RIGHT! We can meet up at Ghastly Gorge later today for a race!” Nightshade looked at her curiously. “Where’s Ghastly Gorge?” “Don’t worry, we’ll get every pony together and go there later so they can see us race.” “As long as it’s just our friends and no pony else.” Rainbow Dash was a little sad at this, she just wanted to show off in front of all of Ponyville. “Oh, come on, I just know all of Ponyville would love to see a race as epic as this. Picture it, the best flyer in Equestria vs. the last shadow walker. The ponies will go CRAZY over this.” “Look, I’m sorry Rainbow, but I’m just not completely over my fear of being around others I don’t know.” Rainbow Dash just wouldn’t let it go. “And what better way for others to get to know you than with a big race against me for them to see. I’m tellin ya they’ll love it.” Nightshade was getting very annoyed with how persistent she was being. Twilight was about to say something when Nightshade spoke up again. “That’s just the problem! They all know you, not me! In that race, every pony will be cheering for you, not me, because they already know you! I don’t even care about proving who’s faster than who, can’t you see that!?” Nightshade slammed his hooves on Fluttershy’s table, causing the cups to rattle a little to get his point across. This caused Fluttershy to recoil a bit in fear, while Twilight looked at him with worry on her face. Rainbow Dash finally got the message and felt bad for pressing the issue so hard. “Hey,…..i’m sorry Nightshade. I just got a little excited at the chance to show off against some pony else. I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m really sorry.” Nightshade took a deep breath to calm himself down. “It’s ok Rainbow, I just haven’t gotten over my fears completely, besides, even if I did, I don’t think it would feel very nice if every pony there who was watching would be cheering for you and not me.” “How about some other time, after every pony here gets to know you. I guess I can wait until then.” Nightshade looked back at her and gave a smile. “I would like that Dash, thanks.” He then levitated his cup and took another sip. “So, how’s the tea?” Fluttershy asked. Nightshade smiled at her when he responded. “It’s great Fluttershy, thanks.” This seemed to brighten the mood as every pony continued to drink their tea, sit, and chat for a while. Finally it was time for Twilight and Nightshade to go see Applejack at Sweet Apple Acres and inform her of Nightshade’s return. Twilight and Nightshade were on the road to Applejack’s farm when Twilight decided to ask Nightshade about what happened at Fluttershy’s. “Hey Nightshade, about…..what happened between you and Rainbow Dash.” Nightshade interrupted her. “Don’t worry about it. I’m still not used to being around others so I kinda let my emotions get the better of me there. I’ll try to work on that too. I promise.” Nightshade gave Twilight a reassuring smile as they continued on their way, Twilight smiled back, knowing that there wasn’t any hard feelings between him and Rainbow Dash. Soon they reached Sweet Apple Acres and made their way up the path to the house. Before they reached the door, Twilight spotted Big Mac and called out to him. “Hey Big Mac, look who’s here, you remember Nightshade right?” Big Mac kept a straight face as he walked up to the two and simply said, “Eyup.” Twilight continued with another question. “Is Applejack around?” “Eyup.” Is all he said and pointed his hoof out toward the apple orchard that he and Applejack ran. “Thanks Big Mac.” “Eyup.” Twilight and Nightshade made their way to where Big Mac pointed. “Is that all he can say?” Nightshade asked as he removed his hood again. Twilight chuckled and responded. “He’s just shy. Once he warms up to you, you can get more out of him.” Twilight then heard a familiar sound. “YEEHAW!” Followed by the sound of a tree shaking and apples falling into baskets. “What was that?” Nightshade asked. Twilight chuckled again and answered, “That was applejack.” The two followed where the sound came from and soon found the farmer pony bucking apple trees. Twilight called out to her, “Applejack!” Applejack stopped her work and looked at who was calling her. When she saw the familiar figure of Nightshade, her face lit up and she ran forth to meet them. She stopped just in front of Nightshade, grabbed his hoof and started shaking it vigorously. “Nightshade! It’s a real fine pleasure to see you again, I can’t tell ya how much we all missed ya, welcome to Sweet Apple Acres!” “IiIiTtTtsSs goOoOdDdD TtTtOooOooO SeeEeEeeE YyYyYyOoOuUuU TtOoOoO.” He said as he was being shaken about. Once again Twilight just laughed at another predicament Nightshade got himself into. Applejack finally released her grip on Nightshade’s hoof and he just gave a nervous pained smile to Applejack as his hoof throbbed in pain. Twilight then intervened. “So, I see you’re hard at work as usual.” “Darn tootin, it is harvestin time after all.” Nightshade got curious at this word. “Harvistin?” “It’s the time of the season when the apples are just right for bucking so we can collect them and sell them at the market.” Applejack informed. “Oh, I get it, when the fruit is at its peak of flavor. I kinda did the same thing with the fruit trees in Blackwood forest.” Hearing this, Applejack thought Nightshade would have some fun bucking the trees here, plus, she wanted to see just how strong he was. “So, you think you can handle buckin these here trees and lend me a hoof.” “Are you kidding, the fruit trees in Blackwood are thicker than these trees, I could buck these easily.” Applejack gave him a smirk. “Prove it.” “All right, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Nightshade got in front of one of the trees with apples still on them, turned around and gauged his stance and distance from the tree. He reared his back legs up and thrust them against the tree as hard as he could. *CRACK* Applejack’s and Twilight’s mouths hung open as the tree Nightshade bucked broke in half and fell to the ground. Nightshade looked behind him to see the damage he had done, he looked back at the two with a sheepish smile and rubbed the back of his head with a hoof in embarrassment. “Oops, uh he he, uh, guess I overestimated the force needed. Uhm,…..sorry….uh…don’t worry, I can fix it.” Nightshade then turned back around and faced the downed tree. He focused his magic in his horns and caused the tree to levitate off the ground while surrounded by a black aura. Nightshade put the tree back on to the stump it was on and caused the two to merge back to one, and just like that, the tree was good as new. Twilight and Applejack were still in shock at what they just saw. Applejack finally shook her head to bring herself back to her senses and spoke up. “Well I’ll be, you sure are one strong stallion, I’ll give ya that, how did you get ta be so strong like that anyway.” “Like I said, the fruit trees in Blackwood are thicker and stronger than these apple trees. I had to build up my leg strength to buck them and get the fruit. Sorry again about the tree.” “Ah, that’s all right pardner, at least ya’ll were able to fix it.” Twilight then came to her senses. “Wow Nightshade, you are just full of surprises.” She was very impressed with how strong he was. “So, shall we try that again, I think I’ve got it figured out now.” Nightshade asked Applejack. “That’s all right sugar cube, I can handle things from here. I’d best be gettin back to work then, we can catch up some other time.” Twilight said her goodbye to Applejack. “All right, we’ll see you later Applejack.” Nightshade said his goodbye. “Bye Applejack, see you later.” The couple left the farmer to her work and left Sweet Apple Acres to head back into town. “So…..now what?” Nightshade asked. “Well we could go back to the library and just spend time with each other.” “That sounds like a great Idea. I couldn’t ask for anything more.” Nightshade responded with a smile. Twilight smiled back, happy to be reunited with her love.