The place was wondrous. Unlike every other building it was made out of an old hollowed out tree, and that helped the atmosphere all the more. I’d not seen this many books in my entire life. Granted I was from griffin country and reading, while a fine pastime, was not exactly wide enough to even allow for full on bookstores that could stay around unless they were in the middle of the city.
I had heard that the king was the reason for that, but since griffins were also proud tradition wise there wasn’t much parchment in general to work with if you were not rich anyway. Something others of my kind it would seem have not known, and the better for it.
Books filled almost every wall of the place and I was tempted to just sit down and see if there was anything for me to read, something in old fairy tales and myths. However with my load still just as tempting as ever and the knowledge that the further away I got from this place the better chance I had at getting away from my pursuer, I decided against it.
Leaving the bags in what I guessed was the bedroom I proceeded to try and leave this entire thing behind. I say try because as soon as my hoof was on the front door, I was flung into the wall by somepony rushing into the place and scrambling around throwing streamers everywhere.
“Ugg…wha-“ I felt my muzzle get smacked again by the door as the pink blur dashed out and came back in to set a table. “Ow! Sto-“slammed again with another table. Okay, that’s it. I rolled away this time before speaking.
Before I could however the blur jumped in front of me and I was greeted with bright blue eyes staring into my own. “Oh my gosh, I didn’t see you there. I’m so sorry.”
“Whoa,” grunted pushing her back, “personal space please.”
“Oh sorry I’m just so-“ I wasn’t exactly sure what happened as the next think I knew I was having my head dunked in some water and the feel of a sink. “I completely forgot to clean you up.”
“Personal Space,” I cried again pushing her away. “What is wrong with you mare?”
“I’m not mare, I’m Pinkie Pie.”
“Wishful Thinking,” a answered accepting the hoofshake.
“Ooh,” Pinkie gaped pulling my arm and turning to see my marks. “Cool tattoos. What’s the number for?”
“Nothing,” I said quickly pulling my hoof back quickly. “Just something goofy you wouldn’t be interested in. So what are you doing here anyway.”
“Well,” the girl for some reason decided to back flip out the bathroom door as she continued and I followed. Her speech becoming more rapid as she went. “I’m here to throw a welcome party for the princess’ representative and silmaltanious Summer Sun Celebration party. And I thought and tried to think about how to make two parties, when it occurred to me that I could just make one. So I packed everything into wagon and decided to move everything here for the bash. I wish I had a faster way to do all this though. MaybeIshouldconsiderworkingonthatlater. Ohwell.”
Any remaining speech she had was lost to me as she began to talk so fast I wasn’t even able to hear it as it seemed to get higher pitched too. I’d feel bad for any dogs in the area if I wasn’t so relieved.
When she was done she was catching her breath since the entire thing was done without one inhale. I’d admire that if the act itself wasn’t something that made me wanna rip out my own ears.
“So….wanna help me set up this party?” I thought she mumbled something involving bucking trees afterword but I wasn’t exactly sure what it was. Whatever it was I agreed and the two of us got to work.
Sure enough, huge party. It looked like half the town was here as a big banner reading "Welcome Party" was draped over the place. It had been going for well over an hour now and Spike was busy dancing with a lamp. I didn’t see Twilight or anyone else I knew, including Pinkie and thankfully not Gale.
Where there is a party there is of course....bingo cider! It was rare to have such things by home but some guards took pity on me when I lost my horn so I was able to get some before. In retrospect they likely only did it to get my grossed out reaction to none prison food since that was most of my palet, but I got used to it soon enough.
I grabbed a rather large drink from the table and took a big swig of it before I was interrupted. "Hey, that was mine ya moocher." I turned to find yet another lovely mare. Orange fur a much lighter shade than my own, freckles that made her stand out compared to most others here and obvious muscle tone that showed her physic off nicely. One of these days I have to see without my libido.
“Sorry,” I apologized moving to the back of the place. I might as well go check on that Fire Ruby again. I mean with all these other ponies around it would be in danger of somepony else walking into a private bedroom and stealing it on accident.
I shut the door neatly behind me. How had I lost track of so much time? It was near the dead of night at this point.
"Can't you all just leave me alone," grumbled a voice behind me.
I looked up, and sure enough there was the pony I didn't see at the party. Twilight rolled out of my sight and mumbled incoherent garbage so all I could respond with was, "it's a pretty narly party out there. What're you doin staying here?"
I could hear a pillow fly as Twilight shouted, "all of you ponies are CRAZY! I don't get how you all even get along so well, let alone act like its normal. How can the princess ask me to befriend a bunch of weirdos?"
I was gonna agree with her, Pinkie Pie alone proved her point. I could have also made up some lie about how everyone is crazy, which to an extent is true, but that would not help. So all that ended up coming out of my mouth was one word: "Wrong."
Twilight got up and stared at me, and I responded with whatever came to my head. No planning, so act, no persona, just some honest part of me I had not voiced in a long time and had been waiting to come out.
"Every creature in this world is different and sometimes ya just gotta roll with it. Friends are part of life and every pony needs it. Some will betray you. Some will even fool you, believe me I know. But if you don't keep trying to find a friend than you'll be alone; and trust me, having no one sucks. Finding good friends are rare, and from the few I’ve met these would be some pretty good friends to anypony. So I suggest you don't pass it up."
"Thanks," Twilight whispered as she trotted down the stair to meet me. "I really needed that."
I slowly started to back off a bit as she approached. Was she infatuated with me now or something? I can't say I'd be reluctant if that we're the case, but nothing about what I just said seemed like something that would do that. Then her fore hooves took me in an embrace. Did I offend her somehow? Why now would a girl of all creatures wanna harm me? I prepared for the worst.
This embrace was different. No intention of ruff housing or malicious intent. It wasn't some comical squeeze to knock the wind out of me. It was soft, warm, even downright pleasant. I could feel this filly's heart beat, and feel my own match it till it started to beat faster. I couldn't let her notice that last part so I pushed her away.
"Something wrong?" Twilight's question caught me off guard. I couldn't tell her that was my first real hug in my life. It would lead to having to tell her about my past, and one thing I learned is that ponies like Twilight will change after they realize they befriended a felon.
"It's nothing, I just never…" I said giving her a playful pat on the head. "Now come on. I believe you had something you wanted to say to all of them right?"
At this, Twilight suddenly seemed to change her expression instantly. Suddenly becoming very serious, "I can't believe I didn't warn them. Come on, we don't have much time."
The scene we entered however was deathly quiet. Everypony was looking up at a rather large mare with both a horn and wings. My body froze as I recognized this creature. It was like a creature every foal was afraid of and thus my elder sister got me with it for years before I was sent to prison and the inmates only made it worse when they found I was afraid of her. The master of the night itself and queen that ruled over all a thousand years ago and was thought by many to not exist anymore: Nightmare Moon.