//------------------------------// // Ch.8 - Beginning of a New Life // Story: A Change of Weather in Ponyville // by MLPDavester //------------------------------// Alright, went on more of a spree than I had previously intended. Could feel the creative juices going all weekend, and I've just needed to write to prevent myself from going crazy from the lack of a way to release it all. So as an added gifts to all of my fantastic readers, here's the newest chapter. Enjoy. ~Ponyville~ “Hey Twilight, long time no see.” Maghus said with a smile as he levitated his bags from out of the carriage to land neatly beside him. As he turned from the bags however, his vision was completely filled with a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane. “Um…hello?” Maghus asked with a confused tone as he wasn’t sure what this mare in front of him was about to do. “How do you know Twilight?” Rainbow Dash snapped at the strange blue unicorn in front of her. She didn’t know this stallion at all, and the fact that he somehow knew who Twilight was bothered her. “Are you some kind of creepy stalker fanboy or something?” “Whoa!” Maghus replied quickly as he backed up a bit to regain his personal space. “Calm down already, geez.” Maghus wiped off some dirt that had ended up on his muzzle before he continued. “Guy arrives in a new town to visit an old friend from school and ends up interrogated with dirt in his mane. Lovely.” He proceeded to levitate a towel from out of his bag as he conjured up a cloud above his head. The sudden appearance of the cloud completely threw everypony in the area into a state of shock, none of them having seen this type of magic before. Maghus was completely oblivious to this however, as he was humming to himself under the cloud that rained on his mane to wash out the dirt. As the cloud stopped and then disappeared into thin air, he quickly toweled off his mane, allowing the natural breeze and waviness of his mane to take over in the styling process. Everyone gathered in the square practically had their jaws on the ground in surprise save for Twilight and the Alicorn sisters. Twilight laughed slightly as Maghus finished drying himself off. “Never did like getting dirt thrown at you that much, did you Maghus?” She giggled as she looked at his sheepish grin as he repacked his towel into one of his bags. “Kind of funny when you don’t mind the rain or chocolate or anything like that.” Maghus chuckled as he remembered the chocolate rain cloud from 7 years ago. He had used the spell a couple times throughout his life, but not often due to it not being anything found normally in nature. “If it’s something wet, I can dry it out. Something solid and clumpy, that’s just a pain to deal with. You know how I am.” “Um, excuse us. But who are you exactly?” Rarity asked politely as Maghus finished. The fact that this pony was mildly interested in appearance seemed quite…refreshing to her, given her present company. Maghus turned quickly and gave a polite nod of his head to the white unicorn he could only assume was obsessed with fashion and looks given her very intricately curled mane and tail. “Sorry about that. My name is Maghus Uncorn. I’m actually kind of surprised Sparkle has mentioned me to anypony here to be honest. We did know each for what? Four years was it?” Maghus put on a smirk as he looked over to Twilight who now had a bit of a blush from when Maghus had spoken her nickname. “I told you before goofball.” Twilight said as she trotted forward to give her friend a quick hug, “I hate being called Sparkle. And you know it.” She trotted back over to her friends as she smiled back to him. “But it is good to see you again.” “Sparkle? Goofball? Four years?” Rainbow Dash asked quickly as she fidgeted next to Twilight. “What’s gotten into you all the sudden Twilight?” “I must agree with Rainbow, darling.” Rarity nodded her head slightly to show her shared confusion. This wasn’t much like Twilight at all. “This…” Rarity glanced over to Maghus before she continued. “…polite stallion here comes from no where and mentions he knew you for four years and you’re acting like a completely different pony. What’s this all about?” “It’s…a bit of a long story girls.” Twilight spoke sheepishly as Maghus moved towards the group due to the more relaxed feeling in the air. “Apparently long enough to completely hide a part of your life from us I see.” Rarity huffed as she tilted her head away from Twilight in a mock attempt to coax the truth out of her. “Rarity, knock it off.” Twilight sighed as she poked Rarity in the side with her hoof. “It really is a long story, and I never thought it was important to tell you girls about it.” Twilight groaned as she slumped to the ground in frustration. “Oh, so I’m not important enough to mention huh?” Maghus said as he put on a mock-sad face. “I thought we were friends Twilight? How could you?” Maghus threw some puppy dog eyes and a quivering lip in just to add to the hilarity of the predicament Twilight was in. “Oh you knock it off too.” Twilight snapped as she raised her head from the dirt, a slightly frustrated look on her face that immediately snapped Maghus to attention. He had gotten that look in the past and knew what would happen if he pushed further. “Alright. I get it.” Maghus chuckled as he put his normal expression back on his face. This expression quickly turned to surprise as a pink pony with a cotton candy mane appeared out of nowhere in front of him, their muzzles almost touching. “WHOA!” Maghus quickly tipped backwards onto his rear in surprise at the sudden appearance. “Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie! And you’re new! That means I get to through a Welcome to Ponyville for the New Pony party! And a Princess Celestia, Princess Luna welcome party! This is going to be so fun!” Pinkie practically shrieked out of joy, nearly blowing Maghus’ eardrums in the process. “Hi…Pinkie Pie…” Maghus groaned as he rubbed his head from the sudden headache he now had. He looked around with a smirk as he looked for help from the crowd. “Anybody got some aspirin?” He rubbed his forehead as he trotted back over to his bags, now eager to get them to his new home and sleep. A lot. “Well serves you right for picking on me you jerk.” Twilight snorted as she and the rest of her friends regained their composure from Pinkie’s sudden outburst to the new resident of Ponyville. The rest of Twilight’s friends proceeded to introduce themselves to Maghus, all of them quite willing except for Rainbow Dash. “Hello. My name is Rarity.” Rarity smiled as she gestured to her home. “I run the Carousel Boutique here in Ponyville and my door is always open should you need anything.” Next was Applejack who was very eager to meet this new friend of Twilight’s, so much so that Maghus could barely feel his hoof afterwards. “My name’s Applejack. My family here runs the local apple farm Sweet Apple Acres just down the way. Any friend of Twilight’s a friend o’ ours.” Next was Rainbow Dash, who was still unsure of the new pony given how he had picked on Twilight almost immediately after arriving. “I’m Rainbow Dash, the Best Flyer in all of Equestria. And I don’t like ponies picking on my friends.” She moved in really close to Maghus once again as she whispered menacingly in his ear. “Got that?” She backed away in surprise however as Maghus was clutching his sides from laughing so hard. “I’m sorry,” Maghus spoke amidst laughs as he tried to speak. “It’s just that the whole tough-pony attitude cracks me up every time I see it. It’s not your fault, really.” Maghus then proceeded to topple over in his mirth, flailing his hooves as Rainbow’s face began to get red from both frustration and embarrassment. “Oh yeah?” Rainbow then flew off suddenly in search of the first thundercloud she could find. Maghus slowly got back to his feet as he wiped tears of joy from his eyes. As he calmed himself, he noticed a yellow pegasus standing amidst Twilight and her friends, looking very unsure of what to do at the moment. Twilight and the others noticed almost immediately, and whispered to the pegasus to step forward and introduce herself. “Um…h-hello t-t-there…” Fluttershy squeaked as she attempted to introduce herself to the new pony. She had gotten a bit better at introducing herself to new ponies in the last year, but she still had troubles now and again like she was having now. “M-my n-n-name is…Fluttershy…” Her voice was barely a whisper as she tried to continue. “I’m sorry. I didn’t quite catch your name there.” Maghus attempted to make it seem like his own fault in an effort to make the pegasus feel better. “My hearing isn’t the best sometimes, it’s nothing major. I’m sorry.” “N-no!” Fluttershy stammered as she attempted to speak up. “I-it’s not your fault at a-all.” Fluttershy took a deep breath to steady herself as she tried again. “My n-name i-i-is Fluttershy…” She gasped for air as she realized she had held her breath for this last sentence. “Hello Fluttershy. It’s very nice to meet you.” Maghus smiled as Fluttershy squee’d out of nervousness. Maghus then proceeded to look around in an attempt to find the last of Twilight’s friends, the pink one named Pinkie Pie. “Where did Pinkie go?” Maghus asked as he looked around, now noticing for the first time the lack of a cyan pegasus as well. “And that cyan pegasus too…what was it, Rainbow Dash?” Maghus continued to look around with a confused look on his face in an attempt to find the two missing ponies. While he searched however, the rest of Ponyville had returned to their normal duties, the excitement of the present situation finally passed. The remaining ponies in the square consisting of Celestia, Luna, Twilight, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy all looked up suddenly to spot a dark cloud hanging above Maghus, a rainbow mane and a pink poofy mane both hanging from it. Maghus noticed their gazes and stole a quick glance up, only to be pelted by a torrent of rain. This caused the entire present company to burst into laughter, albeit the Princesses laughter consisting of some suppressed giggles by hooves to their muzzles. “So you wanna play it that way huh?” Maghus shouted up to the cloud. He smirked as he looked at Twilight and gave a wink, which she immediately understood and motioned to the rest of the girls too look up at the cloud. “What do you think he meant by that Dashie?” Pinkie asked Rainbow as the two of them laughed at their prank. Her question was quickly answered however as the cloud began to spin in place quite rapidly, as the two ponies hung out tight to prevent being thrown clear into any nearby buildings or trees. “Whoa! This guy knows how to have fun. FASTER!!” Pinkie yelled this last statement as Rainbow looked at her friend in horror. “You want it faster huh?” Maghus shouted as his horn began to glow even brighter. He chuckled to himself at the enthusiasm Pinkie showed at this, thinking of it more like a ride than a return prank. “I’ll give you faster. Hang on tight!” Pinkie and Rainbow could feel the g-forces begin to tug at them as the cloud continued to spin in a tight circle. Pinkie simply cheered with glee at the ride while Rainbow was using all of her willpower to keep her lunch down as well as not get thrown into the next town. She quickly swallowed her pride however as she wanted nothing more than to get off this crazy cloud. “Alright! I give!” Rainbow yelled at the top of her lungs, the cloud immediately slowing to a stop at her shout of despair. She quickly jumped down to the ground, literally kissing it as she felt solid earth beneath her hooves while her friends laughed. Pinkie however couldn’t stop spinning as the sheer force of the ride had temporarily thrown off her balance, something very hard to do to the crazy pink pony. She next proceeded to collapse in a heap next to Rainbow Dash, a goofy grin on her face as her eyes spun in their sockets. “So…much…spinning…and…fun…” The rest of the group couldn’t help but laugh at the two as Maghus levitated his bags next to him, the craziness of his arrival now past. Maghus cleared his throat slightly, an attempt to both gain everyone’s attention as well as attempt to fix the dryness he now felt from all the yelling and laughing. “Now that that’s over with, can someone show me where to put my things?” “This way Maghus.” Celestia replied as she led the group towards the library. This was not caught without surprise by Twilight and the rest of the group however, as they all knew Twilight lived there. “Um, Princess?” Twilight asked quickly as she trotted to the front of the group next to Celestia. “You know that the library is where I live, right?” “Yes Twilight. I know.” Celestia smiled as she opened the door to the tree with her magic. “But it is a very large tree, I’m quite positive that it can accommodate one more guest inside of it.” Maghus now took his turn to speak, having overcome the shock of hearing Twilight saying she lived in the tree. “You mean this library is a house?!” Maghus jaw could practically be heard slamming into the floor as he continued. “And Twilight LIVES here?! Why am I being put up here then? Why not some random house somewhere else in town?” Maghus’ face was very quickly gaining a red hue from a blush he tried very hard to hide from the rest of the group. He almost succeeded, save for Rarity catching a quick glance as he ducked his head into his bags in a mock-attempt to search for something. “Hmm…” Rarity thought to herself as she smiled. “Is this a friend of Twilight’s? Or a ‘friend’ of Twilight’s? Maybe that’s why she never mentioned him before.” Rarity put a hoof over her muzzle to suppress her giggles as Celestia explained the arrangements. “This library is quite large Maghus, I assure you.” Celestia smiled as she motioned to a dark door down a flight of stairs as she turned to Twilight. “I know you have equipment set up downstairs for experiments and tests Twilight. But could you possibly move them upstairs so Maghus can set up downstairs?” Twilight looked slightly upset at the fact she had to move her things, but she was also quite excited on the inside that her friend would be staying here of all places. It would make catching up on the last year very easy for the two of them. “Of course Princess. I’ll get Spike to start on that right now…Sp-” She was quickly cut off by the purple dragon as he stepped into the room from the kitchen. “I heard the whole thing while I was getting a snack Twilight.” Spike replied as he walked towards the group, raising a claw which Maghus quickly grabbed for a handshake then quickly pulled him in for a noogie to his scaled head. “Hey Maghus.” Maghus laughed as he rubbed the purple dragons head with a smirk. “Good to see you too Spike.” Maghus then let go of the dragon who proceeded to stand between him and Twilight in the circle the group had made. “Haven’t burnt any books I hope?” Maghus smiled as Spike groaned playfully at the question. “Like I haven’t heard that one before.” Spike then turned to Twilight, continuing where he had left off upon seeing Maghus. “I’ll get to work on cleaning out the basement now. Where do you want me to put everything for now?” Twilight rubbed her chin for a moment as she considered the best place to keep her things. “Just put them in the closet next to the door to the basement is fine. I’ll deal with it later.” “I really appreciate this Twilight, even though there are other perfectly reasonable places to leave.” Maghus finished as he pointed a half-accusing look at Celestia who simple laughed a bit to herself at his comment. What Maghus didn’t know was Celestia’s knowledge of his feelings for Twilight. And while it may not have been the smartest idea, it would surely be a way for him to eventually express his feelings. And if things happened to work out, then the two of them would already be close enough to share their time with each other. She quickly shook her head a bit to clear her thoughts as she imagined Twilight and Maghus as a happy couple with unicorn foals jumping around. How and why she pictured these thoughts was beyond her own imagination sometimes. “Anyways, now that that’s over with.” Maghus replied as he levitated his bags into a heap into the corner. He then looked over to Pinkie as he smiled expectantly. “Didn’t you say something about a party Pinkie?” Pinkie practically jumped through the roof in her excitement. “Yeah! Let’s all go to Sugarcube Corner and PAR-TAY!” Everyone laughed as they left the library, Twilight and Maghus sharing another quick hug as they tailed the group. They were both very happy to see each other after a long year and were very eager to speak to each other and catch up. One of them was a lot more eager than the other however as they made their way to Sugarcube Corner for the party. Maghus smiled as he looked up into the beautiful sky above. Things were going to get a lot more interesting in her life. He could just feel it.