Battle Ready

by D101 Reviews


Chapter Five: The Party

Chapter Five: The Party

"Is everything ready?" Twilight asked Spike.

"There's no such thing as ready when it comes to Pinkie Pie," Spike reminded her.

"That's true," Twilight agreed.

"I can't understand how somepony actually manages to organise a party with barely a days notice," Battle said from his potion on Twilight's desk, turning the page of the book he was reading.

"Pinkie Pie," Twilight said, as if that would explain everything.

Battle rolled his eyes and smiled before turning the page of his book again. He was quickly shooed off the desk by Twilight, who preceded to tidy away any loose papers on her desk and put away any books she had left out. Battle walked across the library and leaned against the shelves, continuing to read. Spike glanced at the title. 'A History of Equestria.'

"Good reading?" Spike asked.

"Very informative," Battle muttered. 'Or at least it would've been if I didn't already know half the stuff in here,' he thought to himself. He turned another page, noting how the engravings of the founders of Equestria looked remarkably similar to the six mares he had met just today. Weird.

"So, what does a Pinkie Pie party usually entail?" Battle asked out of mild curiosity.

"Mostly games and dancing," Twilight said. "Although I've never heard her describe a party like she did earlier." She bit her lip and frowned. "My guess is that she has something planned."

"Why does that fill me with dread?" Battle asked.

"Oh believe me, you're not the only one," Twilight chuckled nervously.

A knock at the door caught Twilight's attention. A purple aura wrapped around the handle and tugged it open.

"Come in," Twilight called, still replacing a few books.

Pinkie Pie bounced in, dragging several bags behind her. Battle briefly pondered what Pinkie had in the bags when Pinkie vanished, replaced by a pink blur that rushed around the room. Upon each complete circuit, one more bag would be empty and other party essentials would be set-up. Balloons were hung from almost every available place imaginable. Streamers were plastered against every available surface. A second table appeared out of nowhere and was instantly lost under plates and platters of cakes and sweets and other such edible treats. A disco ball was suddenly hung from the ceiling, and various lights were scatter throughout the library.

In less than three seconds Pinkie had emptied each of bags and had turned the library into a party hub.

"Ta-dah!" she cried happily. She froze and her tail began to twitch. She looked over at Battle. "Um, sorry."

"For what?" Battle asked. A book sipped from its place above his head and struck Battle on top of his head. "Ow," he said simply, rubbing the point of impact.

"And the Pinkie sense comes through again," Twilight chuckled.

"You are not telling me she knew that would happen," Battle said incredulously.

Twilight merely responded with a sly smirk. Battle eyes the other unicorn warily as he knelt down to pick up the book that had struck him. As he did so a line of barrels rolled through the door. They were quickly followed by Applejack, who looked around at the library.

"You got this place set up real quick Twilight," she said in appreciation.

"Yeah that wasn't me," Twilight said, pointing towards the overly excited pink mare.

"Oh," Applejack realised. "Well it would be Pinkie."

Later...

Battle hadn't been sure how many people would turn up. But from looking around at the amount of ponies that had appeared, it seemed the entire town had showed up. The flashing lights and throbbing music was controlled by the town's local DJ, a pony named Vinyl Scratch. So far almost every pony in town had come up to him, shook his hand and struck up a small conversation with him.

Battle smiled. If this is what life in Ponyville was like all the time he could definitely get used to living here.

Pinkie suddenly climbed up one of the walls, drawing most ponies' attention.

"Who want's a drinking contest!" she cried over the pulses of music.

All noise ceased. A competitive atmosphere had suddenly appeared. Instantly a table was set up, a small stack of barrel's, which Battle now knew contained cider, arranged beside it. Battle raised an eyebrow at the speed at which they appeared. He walked over to Twilight.

"What's going on?" Battle asked, confused.

"Pinkie does this sometimes," Twilight as the music came on once more, but quieter, heightening the atmosphere. "Every pony has a chance to play. One pony's is selected at random from the hat, and they choose their opponents."

"So it's more of a drinking tournament than a drinking contest?"

"Yep."

"Wonderful."

Twilight snickered as she edged to get a better view. Battle shrugged and attempted to get a better view himself.

The first few matches were over fairly quickly, as the lightweight drinkers were picked off easily, leaving more serious competitions to take place. Battle was thankful her own name hadn't been selected. He had no idea who to challenge. He was the new guy after all.

After a while some of the observers had pealed off and had begun dancing once more. Battle stayed to watch. Not out of any feeling of awkwardness. He just wasn't a good dancer, especially when it came to club music. As the table was cleared again the the loser was dragged away to be revived, Pinkie Pie began to rummage around for another name. She pulled it out with a flourish and looked at it.

"Rainbow Dash!" she announced. The blue pegasus clenched her fist in victory and sat down in one of the chairs. She put her hand to her chin, pondering who to pick as her opponent.

"Let's see," she thought aloud. She scanned the crowd and smiled. "I pick Battle."

The crowd parted to look at Battle. He cocked an eyebrow as he walked to the table and sat down opposite Dash.

"You ready?" Dash asked as their first tankard's of cider were filled.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Battle replied.

Dash gripped the handle of her tankard and smiled. Battle followed suit. The two waited, tensed for the start. Dash's eye twitched slightly. Battle smirked. A short whistle blast sounded and Dash threw her head back, drinking mouthful after mouthful of the cider. After a few, deep swallows she set the mug down again and wiped the foam off of her lips on the back of her arm and smiled. It froze when she saw Battle already being handed his next drink. He looked back at Dash and smiled.

"Oh I forgot to mention something," he said smiling. "Where I come from, we did this every night and... well let's just say I'm the best and leave it at that?"

Dash ground her teeth and took her next mug full of cider. Battle settled back into his seat and waited. Dash narrowed her eyes. The whistle blasted again and Dash threw her head back. She was halfway through the cider, when she heard the unmistakable sound of a wooden tankard striking a table top. She set her finished mug down slowly and glared at him. Battle smiled back.

"You're fast," Dash conceded, "But let's see how long you can hold your liquor."

"Oh let's," Battle said as the whistle blew again.

After another ten flagons of cider Dash was begin to loose focus. It took all her brain power to lift the drink to her lips and swallow after the whistle blew. Whilst she was waiting for the next whistle, she glared at Battle. The unicorn didn't seem to be affected by cider whatsoever. A little looser perhaps, but by no means less coherent or less in control. He demonstrated this by balancing his most recently emptied tankard on his horn, to raucous laughter from the other ponies.

They were each handed their thirteenth cider. The whistle blew and Dash drank her cider as fast as she was able, her head swimming. When she was finished she slammed the cup down, her hand shaking. Battle merely looked at her, curious. Dash mumbled something intelligible as they were given their next cider. She waited until the whistle blew with baited breath. Her head was swimming in and out of focus and darkness was coming to her vision.

When the whistle blew Dash's brain shut down. She slumped forward onto the table, snoring. Battle finished his drink to cheers from the ponies around him. He stood up smiling.

He was definitely starting to like Ponyville.