//------------------------------//
// 8. Tower-warming party 
// Story: Longma 
// by JeckParadox 
//------------------------------//

	Twilight woke with a start. There were explosions outside. She jumped out of her bed and grabbed spike from his basket, putting him on her back and raising her wings slightly. She whipped the door open and jumped again at the Longma standing right outside it. She shook her head slightly, remembering the events of the last three days in a rush and stumbled forward. 
"Princess, please stay inside, there's an assassin outside."
"What?!"
"The pink one, from yesterday..." Crescent said in her whispery voice. 
"Pinkie? She's harmless!" The tree shook with another explosion. "...mostly harmless."
Oscuridad's shadow entered the room and he rose from it with a black smoke. "Princess... your friend has broken into the castle, carrying a huge amount of explosives and strange objects... at the moment Jaeger and Crow are attempting to deal with her-"
Twilight glowered. "If any of you has hurt her I'll-"
"No! No of course not, they're making every effort to capture her unharmed." Oscuridad said with a frown. "Considering your trust for her... but under any other situation, if she was any other pony, we would kill on sight, I hope you understand. The only reason she's alive is because she's your friend, and I want to hear of the reason for this betrayal."
"But... Pinkie would never... maybe a changeling..."
"Well, that's what we're trying to figure out here."
Twilight winced as another explosion happened outside. Oscuridad frowned. "Den, Crescent, Sanguine, stay here, Kalt and I need to go help Jaeger..."
Twilight ran to the window the moment Oscuridad disappeared and Kalt galloped off. She watched as Crow and Pinkie once again became a blur of dodges and swings, the two moving impossibly fast, seeing blows coming at them they couldn't possibly see. Jaeger was flying around the edges of the fight, trying to get a hit or two in, but the earth pony and the longma were moving too fast for the leader of the bodyguards to be sure who he would hit.
Oscuridad and Kalt quickly changed the fight though, Crow noticed them and backed out of the close combat. And the three Longma flew circles in large arcs around Pinkie Pie, with Oscuridad summoning crystal all around her. Pinkie dodged the pillars shooting from the ground and walls, pronking cheerfully from one to the next, following some pattern no one would ever be able to understand.  
Oscuridad finally roared, a huge burst of white smoke bursting from him and shooting forward at Pinkie. She gave a yelp and dodged it, but couldn't outrun it. Oscuridad's head formed out of the cloud and lifted Pinkie into the air, he flowed up the staircase with her in tow. "Tell the Princess that I'll keep her prisoner until she's finished talking to her, then the Princess will have to decide her fate."
Jaeger nodded and flew back to the tree library, only to watch Twilight push Sanguine to get outside. "I heard what he said, I'm coming up."
The guards were on high-alert. One night in ponyville, and, first thing in the morning, there was an attempted assassination. They ran ahead of Twilight, peering into every room they passed, double checking every hallway they went through. Not that Twilight cared. She was becoming more irritated with every step. She'd never think that Pinkie would ever try to kill her, or even harm or insult her more that a few bad pranks, but she was confused at what was going on. She woke up to explosions, and waking up in general often irritated her. That combined with the long walk and her guards flitting about finally coming to her attention had put her in a bit of a grump. 
She entered the throne room to see Pinkie in a cage of amethyst. Upside down. In chains. Surrounded by three force fields. With an angry Shadhavar glaring at her. 
"Okay Pinkie, I'd like you to explain to me what's going on."
"I was throwing you a super special surprise housewarming party!" She gave a wide grin that managed to pass through the five force fields and still make Twilight smile despite being irritated. Yep, this was Pinkie alright. No changeling could give a grin like that. 
"Let her go Captain, she'd never hurt me."
"But Princess!"
"Upupup! I'm the Princess here, besides, I trust Pinkie completely."
"....Of course... Your Majesty...."
Twilight smiled as the crystals and force fields disappeared, and Pinkie was levitated down to the ground. "Sorry about that Pinkie, the bodyguards aren't really used to you yet..."
"Don't worry about it! It's fine!" Pinkie said happily. 
"Princess... bringing explosives, strange objects, and a honest to goodness portable cannon..." Oscuridad began. "Not to mention trespassing and resisting the Night Guard... Well, let's just say in the Empire, friend or not, she wouldn't be breathing right now." 
Twilight visibly paled. But a few seconds and she put on a determined expression. "Then I have a lot of things to change."
Oscuridad frowned and took a step back. "I am merely trying to emphasize the severity of her actions.. I wouldn't dream of sentencing one of my Princess's close... friends.. as harshly as a criminal... but her actions should speak for themselves."
"No, Pinkie will be speaking for herself, now then... Oscuridad, what are the items exactly?"
Oscuridad nodded and summoned two boxes that were piled on a little red wagon, as well as a blue and yellow cannon. 
"As for 'explosives'," Oscuridad began opening the second box and levitating some of it's contents out. "we have gunpowder-"
"For loading the cannon!" Pinkie cheered. 
"-...small rockets-"
"Fireworks for after the party! One of them has your cutie mark and another explodes into the words 'congratulations'!"
"Could I please continue uninterrupted?!" Oscuridad asked, his mane bristling. 
"Yep!"
"...and other various explosives, including what appear to be sticks of dynamite, grenades, and flash bombs."
Pinkie looked at him expectantly. He simply glared back. Twilight sighed and levitated the 'bombs' for her to see. "These are all fireworks Oscuridad. They're no danger to me, and Pinkie's usually really safe with them."
"What?! These look nothing like fireworks! Where are the phoenixes on sticks?" Den complained. 
"I guess they must just be new ones..." Crescent whispered. 
Oscuridad frowned. "And in this box we have the strange objects... I think these are either specialized weapons or used in the construction of some kind of device..."
Twilight sighed, looking into the box. "They're party supplies."	
"What are you talking about?! I mean... please.. explain, Princess."
Twilight smirked and levitated one of the objects out. Oscuridad frowned. "I don't understand what purpose this could have at a party! Is it a kind of disposable cup? For unicorns only? There's no purpose in this cone shape..."
"It's a party hat." Twilight said, placing it on her head. 
"There's a large amount of reflective scroll, possibly a magic trap-"
"Streamers." Pinkie clarified. 
"...would you kindly stop?"
"I'm just telling you what they are!"
"Fine! What the heck is this? What purpose could it ever serve?" He said, almost growling, pulling out an uninflated balloon. 
"It's a balloon!"
"It's made of rubber." Oscuridad said. 
"So?"
Oscuridad frowned. "It's tiny! It has no basket."
"And?" Twilight asked. Oscuridad looked from the two 'modern' ponies to the tiny rubber sack. 
"You know what... Princess, I trust your judgement... there are no weapons in here?" Twilight quickly levitated all the contents of both boxes into the air and looked over them. 
"Nope, just party supplies... you Longma aren't very big on parties, are you?"
"Well... we have several celebrations and festivals... but..." Den gestured to the stuff in the box. "Nothing that would require... paper cone hats..."
Pinkie slid up to him, making him jump. "I have much too teach you all then! And what better way to learn... than experience!" She then slid away and was now behind the party cannon. 
Oscuridad growled and sent a crystal spike toward the cannon, blocking the shot. "Princess!! All of this still doesn't explain why she has a cannon!"
"It's a party cannon!" Pinkie clarified. 
Oscuridad turned to Twilight. "Please, please tell me that cannons aren't just typical 'party supplies'..."
"Well... no,  but with Pinkie Pie it is."
The cannon fired several times and the Longma quickly surrounded Twilight, watching the ceiling where the shots landed. They watched, unbelieving, as streamers hung themselves, balloons tied themselves to weights all over the throne room, and confetti fell from the ceiling, sprinkling everything. 
Oscuridad incinerated the confetti that landed on him before turning to glare at Pinkie Pie. Twilight smiled at the decorations and at the Longma's reactions to everything becoming more colorful. "Well, it looks great Pinkie, once again, sorry for all the trouble. It won't happen again." She turned to the Longma. "Right? My friends are allowed in, no matter what, okay?" Seven hesitant nods followed. 
"It's alright! It was fun!" Pinkie assured. 


~~~~


"Princess, a gala takes months to prepare, we need invitations, we need to take stock, we need to hire entertainment, we need to set aside public and private areas and-"
"Captain. It's alright. Pinkie's already done all that."
"It's been two hours!"
"Beside, it's not a gala, just a housewarming party."
"She invited half the town!!"
Twilight sighed and turned to Rainbow Dash. "Did I really used to be so stuffy?" Rainbow had decided to come over after Pinkie Pie did, and got a more... welcome, response from her guards, seeing as she wasn't dragging a cannon.
"Hehe... sometimes you were worse." Twilight pushed her playfully as they went around the tower, watching Pinkie Pie dash about and put finishing touches on everything. Twilight had no idea where she got the chairs, tables, and silverware, or even how she carried it all in herself. Her bodyguards of course were following close behind. Crow was irritated, after he beat Rainbow Dash in the race, despite the fact he apologized, he had began acting somewhat cocky. Then Pinkie matched him move for move, and when he was both and exhilarated afterward, she hadn't broken a sweat, or even gotten out of breath. The fact that Pinkie didn't study martial arts or even train, yet still managed to match him, was a crushing blow to the soldier. 
"How does that even work?!" He grumbled to himself. Twilight chuckled. 
"I don't know, it's called 'Pinkie sense'. She can basically tell the future." She frowned. "Among other things... it's not magic, but I've seen that pony do incredible things... if you make a Pinkie promise, beware, she'll know when you break it, or even almost break, and will be there, waiting... somehow..." Crow's eyes had shrunk to the point they were pinpricks. 
"...is she a ghost?"
Twilight stopped walking and turned slightly towards him. "What?"
"...she can teleport, see the future, be there anytime someone's about to break an oath on her name... she... sounds like a Spirit..."
"What, like Discord?"
"Kinda..."
Twilight thought it over a few seconds. "That... that would explain way too much..."
"Hey Twi!" Twilight jumped in the air about a foot, Rainbow Dash laughing. "What were you talking about? I heard my name!"
"Well, Crow's confused on how you were keeping up with him..."
"Oh that's easy! I just did it!" 	
Crow sighed. "You just... did it?"
"Yep!"
Rainbow frowned and fluttered over to Pinkie, taking her to the side. "Um, well, Crow brought up an interesting point. Uh... Pinkie, don't take this the wrong way... but are you a spirit?"
"If you mean I'm dead; nope! If you mean I'm a free-spirit; yup!" 
"Oh... alright then."
Twilight shook her head. "Don't worry about it, Pinkie Pie is Pinkie Pie, and some things don't have to be explained."
"Well!" Pinkie Pie began, gesturing to the throne room. "I'm all done! What do you think?" 
"It looks beautiful Pinkie!" Twilight assured. "Thanks again for arranging this... maybe after a few of your parties I'll start to get used to all this stuff..."
"Hehehe, glad to know I'm helping!" Pinkie said enthusiastically. 


~~~~
\

Jaeger watched as the Princess danced strangely along with her friends. At first he had assumed it was some silly solar-pony dance, but after watching the other's reactions to it, and how most of the other ponies danced, he concluded that his Princess merely had no sense of rhythm or dance in the slightest. 
Den marched up to him, a glass of punch balanced on his hoof. "Thirsty sir?"
"No." He looked at the pink liquid and frowned. "Is it really any good?"
"Hmm... kinda... it's kind of weird... I don't think it's juice, and it's not alcohol. It's sweet at least."
"Hm."
They watched as Twilight tripped over her own dress and somehow made it into a dance move. "So... what are your feelings about the Princess?" Jaeger asked. 
Den nearly spit out his punch. "Huh?...well..."
"I won't question your loyalty... I just want your opinion."
Den nodded, but the hesitation was still on his face. "She... well, for a solar pony she seems to have accepted this pretty easily."
"From what Queen Nightmare told me, her life hasn't exactly been boring up to now. She's probably seen more monsters over the last two years than the average solar pony would see in a lifetime."
"What does that have to with it?"
Jaeger raised an eyebrow. "Simple, we're monsters to her."
Den frowned. "No... I don't think so."
"hm. Well, she has a... I don't think he's a pet exactly, but she has a dragon living with her."
Den froze and immediately looked for Spike. "He's a dragon?!" he hissed. 
"You didn't know?"
"Of course not! He doesn't have the smell yet! He's tiny... he has no wings!"
Jaeger smirked. "Think about the respect that'll get her back at Castle."
"We're all going to starve to death.. aren't we?"
"The dragon's this small, so it probably doesn't have that much greed. I think the hoard will be alright when we head back."
"Darn it sir, why'd you have to tell me that? Now I'll never relax when he's nearby."
"Then I've done you a favor, soldier. Now then, your opinion of her Highness?"
"Honestly sir, I don't know. She's a... well... solar pony, through and through. She's a typical unicorn. Even if she does have wings... she's not like Nightmare in the least."
"Nightmare trusts her."
"...I know. Times have changed. But Nightmare's part unicorn after all." Den said. He looked back at the dance floor, most of the ponies were getting tired by now and the music slowed. He noticed two earth pony stallions looking in the Longma's direction and gave a friendly fang-filled smile and made his eyes vibrate. He held back a laugh as the two turned and half-galloped as casually as they could to the other side of the throne room.  "Well... she's intelligent. She stood up to the Captain, she's willing to accept us being her guards without too much push... she's probably in shock, honestly. In a few weeks she'll be terrified and paranoid and will try to avoid us all the time I'm sure..."
"..." Jaeger looked at his subordinate. "Maybe, but we'll be there all the same."
"...I don't know what to think of her yet I suppose. She's just.. different than Nightmare. She's not regal, she's not imposing, and she's more cute than beautiful."
Jaeger nodded. "A completely different Queen than we had before."
Den frowned. "Now, when we get back to Castle... I'm worried."
Jaeger gave a grim smile. "That's when our real work will start."
"It'll feel like we lost. And then we get-" his face contorted slightly, and he spoke the next words with a little disgust. "-the protege of the Sun Princess to replace Nightmare Moon... It won't go over well..."
"Is that what you think of her as?"
Den frowned. "No. She acts nothing like the Sun Princess. Though I suppose there hasn't been time for Luna to choose a protege."
"And then the Elements of Harmony would have to decide to make that student an alicorn too." Jaeger gave a quick laugh. A single 'Bwah'. 
Den shook his head and looked down on his cup. "I guess I just haven't seen enough of her yet to get a good idea of what kind of pony she is... or really have an opinion of her."
"Would you die for her?"
"Of course, in an instant." He said casually. 
"Hm. Good, get me a glass of punch.... but is there any alcohol here?"
"Not that I've seen."
"Good. We don't need Sanguine making a scene during the first official event in the tower."
"You think too little of us sir, you really think she would drink on the job?"
"Of course." Jaeger said with a smile. "We're on call 24/7. She has to drink sometime."
Den gave a salute and walked back to the punch bowl, Jaeger smiled as several solar stallions and mares decided they no longer needed any punch. 
Jaeger looked back over the room and did another quick check. Nopony was hurt, the Princess was still dancing terribly, the Princess's friends were at various points in the room, safe. Sanguine was on the other side of the room, opposite to him, Crescent was hiding in a dark spot in the ceiling, not wanting to be seen by anypony below. Den was coming back from the punch bowl. Crow Moon was sitting at a table, eating from a bowl of crystals, but still watching the entirety of the room between bites, Jaeger made eye contact and gave a smile before moving on. Kalt was listening to the music, tapping her hooves a distance from the dance floor. And finally, their Captain, Oscuridad, was sitting nearby the archway, greeting and saying farewell to every guest. He had taken the most effort for the least reason, Jaeger supposed. Oscuridad had made an elaborate disguise, taking the form of a unicorn with a straight spiralled horn and regular eyes. All so he could just say hello and goodbye to every guest. Famous Shadhavar courtesy he supposed. 


~~~~


The party winded down around midnight, and the ponies of ponyville, as well as a few celebrities that had come to the party for the sole purpose of being at the first party in Princess Twilight's new 'castle'. It was a very profitable night for Rarity, who managed to get several new clients in less than an hour. Twilight and Oscuridad said farewell to the last few guests before she collapsed in a content pile. 
"Well.. that was exhausting." Twilight said with a smile. "Thanks again Pinkie Pie."
Jaeger picked up a chair and walked over to the Princess, the two Captains helping her up. "You really er... 'danced' yourself out your Highness."
"Hehehe... yeah."
Crescent fluttered down from her crevice and gathered with the other ponies near Twilight. Pinkie pronked over to them and gave a wide smile. "No problem Twilight, you only get to throw a housewarming party once til you move!"
Applejack nodded and finished off a mug of cider. "Well, this was a lot of fun sugarcubes, but ah think it's about time ah headed home."
The other ponies in the group all gave their assent and slowly filtered out the door. "Thanks for coming!" Twilight called out the window at her friends who were suddenly several stories below her. She stepped away and watched as the window reformed. She turned to her guards and yawned. "Well, this was an eventful day. I'm going to get ready for bed, I advise you to do the same, you guys must be exhausted."
Crow gave a short 'bwa' laugh. Twilight raised an eyebrow and Sanguine raised a hoof to smack him just in case. "Sorry, it's just that at Castle, this is around when most parties would start."
Twilight gave a grin and another yawn. As the six began to turn to follow her she gave another comment back. "And at the next party, you should all join in on the fun. Every single one of you was a wallflower like I used to be."
Jaeger raised an eyebrow as Twilight turned back around and continued down the stairs to the tree library. "Well Den, there's your answer."
Den stopped and turned to his commander. "What do you mean?"
"She sees a little bit of herself in us. I don't think it's just shock talking." Jaeger said simply. "....I don't think she'll make a poor Queen."