//------------------------------// // Meet the Ponies Part One // Story: Return of a Hero // by Teridax1234 //------------------------------// Chapter 2- Meet the Ponies Part One Derpy Hooves and Kodai were still in the clear blue skies above Ponyville. Originally, the pair was in a rush. But the grey mare, who normally kept close tabs on her shifts, remembered her route time begins 30 minutes ahead. Kodai had amusedly halted in mid-air, his eyes smaller than needle points. Ditzy giggled and apologized. They flew in relative silence then, until Kodai brought up something that had been eating at him. “When was this village founded?” Derpy stopped in mid-flight. The Pegasus pony whirled around with a look of puzzlement. “What do you mean by that?” Kodai’s eyes lowered into a bored position. “I mean, when was the village made?” She rubbed her chin quizzically. “I don’t know. I don’t think there is anyone living who remembers that. You could ask Granny Smith when we get to Sweet Apple Acres.” “Who?” She waved a hoof. “Meh, don’t worry about that right now. You’ll see.” He was not entirely satisfied with her answer. But still… I remember this place… why do I remember this landscape? The grey mare quickly descended to the ground below, and Kodai followed downward. The mailmare landed lightly, but seemed to wobble slightly, her amber eyes rolling. Kodai landed with a powerful slam, still getting used to the flight mechanics. It resounded throughout Ponyville, causing the denizens to look around. Derpy shrugged to herself. She began to walk towards the door and knock, but a new mare opened it. She was a unicorn, whose coat was pure white. Her eyes were lined with light blue eye shadow, while her irises were azure. Her mane was purple, and well styled with royal curls. Without a doubt she was beautiful, Kodai would give her that. She takes great pride in her appearance, he guessed correctly. “Derpy!” She exclaimed. Her voice sounded like that of a high-class civilian woman from Kodai’s time. “I believe you are here to deliver my fabrics?” “Indeed I am.” The grey mare picked her way through the mailbag and pulled out a medium sized box. Kodai looked at her quizzically. The unicorn’s horn glowed blue, and the package gained a blue aura. “Oh, marvelous! These fabrics are so hard to come by! As soon as I heard they had a stock in Bermane, I just had to purchase. These top-quality materials would surely do my dresses justice!” Derpy Hooves nodded. “I brought a friend with me.” She stepped out of the way as Kodai walked up to her. “Call me Kodai, Miss...?” “Miss Rarity, darling.” She looked at him flirtatiously quickly. “And my, I had no idea Derpy had such handsome friends.” Kodai blushed very slightly. “Where did you two meet?” “At the hospital,” said Derpy, “He had recently woken from a coma.” Rarity looked back at him in surprise. “So you must be the pony who saved the town? I hope you’re all right.” She gasped quickly and but a hoof over her mouth. “Darling, whatever happened to your horn?!” Kodai gave a sidelong glance. “I… lost it in the fight. Snapped clean off,” he lied. “Oh my. But… with the horn and the wings… Are you related to the princesses?” He breathed deeply. Time to fabricate a story. “No, Rarity. I hail from a land far from here. Because of my status, I was wondering… Derpy said you made her mailbag. I was wondering, if you also make dresses like you said, do you think you could create a hat for me? I’d rather have my status be kept… low key.” Rarity brightened. “Oh, of course darling! As a matter of fact, your current wardrobe needs some work. I’d be happy to help you, absolutely free of charge. Consider it my thanks for rescuing the village.” Kodai smiled in gratitude. “Derpy, you need to be on your way. I’ll catch up.” “Okay. But how will you?” “Do not fret. I shall.” Derpy Hooves winked at them. “Play nice, you two.” She took off. The duo stared after her. Rarity began to walk back inside the boutique. “Come inside, Kodai.” The new stallion nodded and followed. He entered the boutique to find several fabrics lying on tables, and mannequins of ponies adorned with dress designs. In the middle of the floor sat a young unicorn filly, with a white coat, a two toned mane and olive green irises. She looked up at the newcomer, puzzled. “Sweetie Belle, this is Kodai. He’s new here in Ponyville. Kodai, my little sister, Sweetie Belle.” Sweetie Belle looked up at him. He looked down, smiling warmly. “Hello.” The filly stared at him for a moment or two, then smiled gleefully. “I should introduce you to my friends! Maybe we could be travel guides. That could be our talent!” She bolted out the door at mind-boggling speed. “Bye Kodai! Bye sis!” He stared after her, completely dumbfounded. “By Amaterasu,” he said lowly, completely inaudible. Rarity laughed lightly. “You’re sister has some energy.” “Sometimes, it is difficult to keep up with her,” said Rarity while rummaging through a closet, “If I leave her in the design room for even a minute, all my precious fabrics are strewn about the boutique. She means well, though.” “I’m sure,” replied the stallion, eyeing the boutique carefully, taking note of all entry points. It was a course of habit. Rarity continued to bore through her supplies, until “Splendid! I have it!” She turned around with a black hat of moderate size floating in front of her. “This is a fedora I made some time ago.” She used her telekinesis to place it on his head, over his broken horn. “Darling, you look so wonderful! It goes perfectly with your coat and mane! Let me add you look quite… studly with it.” There was peculiar emphasis on that last sentence. Ignoring it, he looked at the fedora strangely. “Do you have something less… haute corture?” Rarity seemed to brighten up even more; surprised he knew his fashion terms. “It’s either this, or a top hat.” Kodai quickly placed the hat back on his horn. “This.” Rarity smiled in satisfaction. “Now, let’s get this ragged, dusty old cloak off you. I’m sure I can do something about this.” Once she lifted it, the unicorn noticed his cutie mark on his flank. It was an infinity mark, surrounded by six stars, a sun in one loop and a crescent moon in the other. But instead of having color, it was a lifeless gray. “You have quite the odd cutie mark, darling. What does it represent?” Kodai shook his head. “I don’t know. I have… never known,” he lied again. The Guardian should know. “Interesting. As you can see, my three diamonds represent my sense of fashion and the ability to locate any type of gem.” Kodai smirked. In my day, you would have been enslaved for the former. Gems were worth a quite a bit. Rarity noticed his silence. “Is their something wrong, Kodai?” The maroon alicorn shook his head. “Mm. Anyway, you should be fine with the fedora. Your cloak may take some time to spruce up, and you mustn’t keep Derpy waiting. Come around in, say, an hour?” Kodai smiled. “Are you positive you don’t want anything in return?” Rarity waved a hoof at him. ‘The thought is preposterous! Why, I should owe you more. You saved everyone in Ponyville.” Kodai smiled “Thank you so much, Miss Rarity. I really must be off.” He opened the door and was halfway through. “Thanks again for the hat. I’ll see you soon.” The “pegasus” took off. “Don’t be a stranger,” she called after him. Kodai took little time to track down Derpy. His lens had more than one use. It was a tracker, a hacking device, and a recorder all in one. He scanned the land below. It was acres upon acres of apple trees. Even in his lifetime, no apple farm contained so many trees maintained by one family. I think… He spotted Derpy and an orange pony exchanging a few friendly words. He smiled; pleased he found his friend and that his lens was still in tip top shape. Besides, I doubt these ponies would have technology advanced enough to repair it if need be. He hovered above them for a moment before calling out. “Derpy!” The duo looked up. Derpy and the orange pony smiled. Figuring he must have been mentioned already, he descended downwards, holding his fedora over his broken horn. Once he was on the ground (with a slightly softer thud), he got a better look at the farmer. She was orange… earth pony, he decided. She had a far more simple appearance then the Rarity, much more robust. Her irises were green, and she had white freckles on each side of her face. He mane and tail were yellow and tied by a red band. Lastly, she wore what seemed to be a cowboy hat from the olden time. She was attractive nonetheless. It feels odd thinking this about a horse, when I’m truly a human, he realized. When the pony spoke, she possessed a deep southern accent. “You mus’ be that new pony Ditzy was telling me ‘bout!” She held out a friendly hoof. The disguised maroon alicorn extended his own but once he reached the orange pony’s hoof, she shook it rather vigorously. “Mah name’s Applejack, but mah friends call me AJ!” “Kodai,” he said in a low but surprised voice. He managed to break off the hoof-shake as politely as he could. I’m going to be feeling that in the morning, he thought, noticing a slight soreness in his lower right foreleg. “Well I’m pleased to meet y’all. On behalf of the Apple family, welcome to Ponyville!” He nodded once. “Thank you. If I may inquire, who owns this farm? Its quite well maintained.” Applejack turned to look over the vast plains of apple trees. “The deed is owned by mah granny, but me and mah brother harvest these trees.” “You have a brother?” The farmer pony turned back to him and nodded. “Yeah, and a little sister. Mah brother, Big Macintosh, is around the farm, and my little sister, Apple Bloom, is out with some friends. Now if I can ask, where did y’all get that fancy hat of yers’?” “I met up with another pony, a white unicorn named Rarity,” he responded calmly. Applejack cocked a brow but smiled. “Rarity? Figures, I guess she would give you somethin’ flashy.” When Applejack saw Kodai’s questioning stare, she immediately understood. “I know Rare’ because she’s a close friend of mine. Generous to a fault.” “True. She’d given me this fedora free of charge, and the cloak that I had she offered to repair it.” Applejack winked at him quickly. “Well, you two must be busy. I don’t want to hold up y’all.” Derpy Hooves, who had remained quiet throughout the exchange, nodded, her irises rolling in two different directions. “Yeah, I need to be on my way. Kodai, there is still so much more to see!” The grey pegasus checked her mailbag, scanning for the letter that would take her back on her route. “The next stop is Sugarcube Corner.” Her expression brimmed with new excitement. “Great, I can get my daily muffin snack while I’m there!” Kodai cocked brow but waved off his confusion. Applejack chuckled lightly. “Sugarcube Corner? You’ll be meetin’ with another one of mah friends. ‘Er name’s Pinkie Pie.” Derpy was already on her way in anticipation of her snack as Kodai turned to follow, but paused for a brief moment. “How will I know who she is?” The farmer pony winked once more at the stallion. “Trust me, you’ll know.” Kodai took her word reluctantly and soared off in order to reach his guide. Kodai was in the sky with his guide as they began to lower to the ground and this time, he landed gently. He was still getting the hang of flying and landing. What he saw in front of him was a toddler’s paradise: the bakery actually seemed as if it were constructed of confectionary treats. He was slightly apprehensive to enter the bakery. But because Derpy was his guide, he had little choice but to follow her in. Inside was rather impressive- it was brightly painted in the colors of different candies and other goods. It was extremely festive and cheerful. The “pegasus” stallion stood behind the mail-mare as she rung the bell on the counter. Kodai heard bouncing coming from the other side, presumably where the kitchen was. Out from the door hopped a bright pink and pink-maned earth mare, with an audible sproing. Her mane was frizzy and poofy, and she looked cheerful and carefree. She stopped moving forward at the counter and turned to face the duo. “Welcome to Sugarcube Corner! How may I-“ She suddenly stopped short and her mouth hung open as she stared at the maroon stallion. Kodai cocked a brow as the mailmare stood there nonchalantly, daydreaming. She gasped and jumped in front of and around Kodai. What ensued for the next ten seconds confused the pony to his core. “Omigosh I’ve never seen you before which means you must be new here because I know all the ponies in Ponyville and I mean all the ponies here are you two friends how long did you two know each other where did you get that cool hat and you know what we should throw a huge party for you!” When the pink pony stopped, Kodai’s cobalt eyes rolled around in his head, much like Derpy’s. When he focused again, he regarded her with some apprehension. “You must be Pinkie Pie, I take it.” Her eyes became as wide as saucers as she gaped at the maroon ‘pegasus’. “Are you psychic or something?” Before she could go off again, Kodai replied to her. “No I am not. A farmer mare named Applejack told me who you were. She said you worked here, and that you are a close friend. And as for the other question about the hat- I received it from a pony named Rarity.” Pinkie Pie grinned when he mentioned their names. “You know Rarity and Applejack! Wow, you get around. Rarity’s really giving and AJ can spot a lie a mile away!” “Only because I have a good guide, right Derpy? Uh, Derpy?” The grey mare was totally lost in thought. Kodai looked to Pinkie Pie for assistance. The pink mare shrugged and laughed a little. “It’s just Derpy being derpy, that’s all! Actually, she always comes at this hour for her mid-afternoon snack!” Pinkie went behind the counter and got a tray of warm blueberry muffins. The scent reached the mail-mare’s nose as she was broken from her trance. “Muffins,” she squealed excitedly. Kodai lowered the fedora over his eyes in embarrassment as Derpy happily scarfed a few down. “Can I get these in a bag,” she asked as she handed a few golden coins to her. Kodai could see them clearly. What in Amaterasu’s name is with these ponies?! They are tossing around gold and jewels as if they were nothing! By the Gods, what happened while I was gone? Later, the duo was strolling through the town square as Derpy Hooves happily munched on her snack of muffins. She had offered her friend one as well, but he turned down the offer, not feeling very hungry, even though he had not eaten in weeks. Well, millennia, he corrected himself. As they walked, Kodai noticed the mares give him flirtatious and sometimes even sultry looks. The maroon stallion was confused as to why so many were doing that. Surely there were more stallions around?! “Derpy,” he began in a hushed tone, “Why are they all” “Staring at you? It’s not like I can’t see with these eyes.” Kodai nodded inscrutably. “Well, if you want my honest opinion- we don’t have that many stallions around Ponyville. There are a very high number of mares. The stallions that we do have are somewhat scrawny to say the least, except for Big Macintosh, Applejack’s brother. Then you arrived. You’re larger and stronger then him, not mention more… attractive. You are the desirable stallion in Ponyville as of now.” She paused her speaking for a moment to let that sink in. Kodai questioned her mindset- her little swings first. Then he questioned the legitimacy of her statement, and it was probably true. For the first time he felt something he had never felt in his entire life, and probably never will again. He was feeling exposed. Though he hid it well, this was not a good situation, not to him at least. “By the way, it’s not helping that they are able to stare at your plot as you walk.” He froze for a second before following her. There were at least a hundred curses going through his head. This town is crazy.