The ride to Ponyville wasn’t all that interesting.
Only thing that really happened was Twilight asking me questions about where I’m from. Y’know, culture, geography, literature, who raises the sun and moon.
When she asked that last one, I answered like a good little astrophysicists, and told her no one did. I told her that it was the planet that moved around the sun, not the other way around.
The ponies seemed baffled at that. That’s how we got into the topic of what the sun was.
Apparently, in Equestria, the sun is a giant magical construct that was built forever and a half ago. It normally took a team of twenty unicorns to raise the sun, but Celestia came along, and the rest is history.
When questioned what Earth’s sun was, I happily replied.
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The train arrived at Ponyville around mid-afternoon. The sun was high, the sky was clear and everyone had a smile on their face.
Then I stepped onto the platform.
When I stepped out of the train car, I received a lot of odd looks, most of which were of fear. It blew.
I ignored all the looks however, and walked up to my escorts, who had formed a circle near the exit of the station.
“So ladies,” I said. “Where to first?”
Their whispering stopped, and Twilight answered, “Well, we all have jobs to get to. So we decided that one of us was going to show you around the town, just until you know enough not to get lost.”
I nodded. “And not to make sure I have a babysitter, in case I suddenly sprout demon horns, right?”
She didn’t respond to that. “We all decided that I was to be the one to show you around. I even have part of a schedule made for us!”
The other ponies either groaned or rolled their eyes at the word, ‘schedule’. From what the show had given me, Twilight was pretty OCD about her schedules.
I shrugged. “Sure thing, boss. Lead the way when you’re ready.”
Twilight beamed at me. “Great! We can go now!”
And then Twilight grabbed me with her magic, and dragged me across the platform.
I scowled at her, though she couldn’t see it, since I was being held behind her.
She was going on and on about useless face about Ponyville’s history. I tried to listen, honestly, it just so happened that I got bored of it after the first time she mentioned ‘apples’. Yeah, I know apples are a big part of Ponyville’s history, but that doesn’t mean that I need to know just where every apple tree ever was ever. It’s boring.
I did catch some useful facts, though. I caught the location of SugarCube Corner, Town Hall, the local tree-brary, and some other interesting stuff.
Something that I noticed during the tour (and Twilight’s constant babbling), is that the town didn’t have a club, or a bar, or anything like that. Just some cafes. It struck me as a little odd. I mean, ponies must have some sort of nightlife, right?
From my magical prison, I asked Twilight, “Het, T, does Ponyville have any clubs or anything?”
Twilight stopped her ramblings about how a fruit stand was something or other, and answered. “Not that I know of. Most ponies just stay home at night. The only night parties that we have are the ones that Pinkie throw, and those are usually at SugarCube Corner.”
I frowned at that. Well, that ain’t right. Someone needs to rectify that. And by someone, I mean me.
The tour continued all the way to the town’s park. We had just reached a bridge over a small stream, when a small buzzing noise could be heard. It sounded disturbingly similar to the noise remote helicopters make.
Suddenly, Twilight was spun around, and I was dropped onto the ground. Looking up, dazed, I saw a, orange pony on a scooter shoot past us, pulling a red cart behind them. The cart was full of other ponies, one white, the other yellow. The CMC had made their appearance, and had already caused me physical harm. And I had only seen them for a total of three seconds. Isn’t that a world record, or something?
Twilight had finally stopped spinning, though her eyes kept rolling in their sockets. Pretty funny stuff, honestly.
She shook her head, and seemed to compose herself. Then her face turned into one of anger and frustration. “Ugh! How many times do I have to tell them to stop running into others?! Somepony could get hurt!” And with that, she ran off after them, probably to give them a lecture about public safety.
And she left me alone, in the middle of town.
Great.
Whelp, when ever in a situation like this, I always go to my fallback plan.
Sit around and look cool.
I stood up from where Twilight had dropped me, brushed myself off, and walked to the nearest bench. I sat, readjusted my sunglasses, leaned back, folded my arms, and crossed my ankles. Now, we wait.
I didn’t have to wait long, because the pony next to me said, “‘Sup.”
The speaker had a tomboyish voice. I didn’t look over at them. “‘Sup”
“You new here?” She asked.
“What gave it away?” I responded.
If I were looking I would have seen them shrug. “The whole monkey thing. You don’t exactly look like you’re from here.”
I pointed a finger at myself. “Ape, not monkey.” I dropped the finger, and folded my arms again. “And, yeah, I’m kinda new here. Don’t even got a place to stay.”
“Sucks.” She responded.
I nodded. “Yup.”
There was a moments pause. Then she said, “I’m Vinyl Scratch.”
My eyebrows lifted at that. I looked over at my bench partner, and saw that it was, indeed, Vinyl Scratch. White coat, electric blue hair, cutie mark of some music thing I don’t know the name of. She had all the trade marks. Even her signature sunglasses. And she had a hoof extended to me.
I took the opportunity, and save her a bro-hoof. It was truly an awe inspiring moment.
“Connor Jason Hents, friends call me Change.”
She nodded,”So, Change, what brings you to Ponyville?”
I shrugged. “Oh, you know. Discord decided to retire, so he had me be his replacement. I showed up in Canterlot Castle’s Garden, and Celestia decided that the Elements of Harmony should watch me. Now I’m stuck here, and none of the Elements decided that they would like me in their houses. Kinda stuck on the streets now.”
She looked at me for a moment. Then she said, “So, wait, you’re the new Embodiment of Chaos and Disharmony?”
I nodded. “Yup.”
She thought about it, then said, voice full of excitement, “Huh. Sounds cool. You and me got to hang out some time.”
I smiled. “Sure. We can hang later. Right now, I got to find a place to live.”
She nodded. “Yeah, and I’m gonna help. You got any ideas about a place you wanna live in?”
I thought about it for a moment. Finally, said, “No, but I have a different idea.”
She tilted her head at me. “What?”
I told her.
She grinned at me. “That is an awesome idea. I like Ponyville and all, but the fact It doesn’t have a club is real bad for my business. Makes me travel away from home all the time, y’know?”
I nodded. “You help me out with this, and you get a job at the club. Fuck, help me out enough, I might give you a share of the profits.”
Her grin widened. “Alright, I’m in! But we need a place to set up shop. Got any ideas?”
I shook my head. “You’re the local. You would know better than I would.”
She put a hoof to her chin, and hummed in thought. Then, she smiled. “I think I know just the place…”
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I looked around the space where my club would soon be.
I nodded in approval. “Yeah, this’ll do just fine. Enough space to a lot of people, and close enough to the center of town that it’ll attract attention.”
The lot I was looking at was just on the border of the towns large park. It was on the edge of the park, so it had plenty of room, while still being close enough to the town so it wouldn’t be a huge hassle to get there.
Vinyl showed me her teeth. “Yeah, it’s perfect! All we need to do now i hire some contractors to get the place started, then it should be built in no time.”
I frowned at that. “Damn, your right. It’ll take a while for this place to get built. Shi-”
An idea struck me. I gave it a second to formulate, then said,” Maybe we won’t have to wait…”
Vinyl looked up at me. “Whatcha mean?”
I started to slowly nod, my eyes narrowed. “Yeah, that could work..”
I turned to my pony partner, “Vinyl, I want you to stand back.”
She tilted her head at me. “What? Why?”
“I’m going to do something I’ve never done before.” I responded. “I just want to make sure I don’t accidentally hurt you. Safety and all that.”
She looked uncertain. “Uh, ok?”
“Great!” I said, smiling. “Now stand over there.” I pointed at a spot opposite of the lot. She went over to where I pointed.
She looked at me. “Here?”
I gave her a thumbs up.
I turned back to the lot, and closed my eyes. What I was about to do was probably really dangerous. That being said, it was probably going to be really cool, too.
I took deep breaths, focusing on a point in the middle of my chest. The point where my power was held. I found it, and wrapped the power around the image in my head. With the image and power in place, I opened my eyes, reinforced my will, and snapped my fingers.
What followed could only be described as an EMP. Only an EMP works with electricity, not magic. The wave of power I had released pushed everything it touched backwards, like the blast of an explosion. There was a flash of light so bright, the sun probably had to cover it’s eyes. While my eyes were indisposed, my ears weren’t.
Off in Vinyl’s direction, I could hear a grunt of pain, and someone falling to the ground. I could also hear similar sounds coming from every direction a random pony could be found in. The blast had probably knocked them onto their asses.
The overbearing light finally dissipated, and I blinked my eyes open. Right where an empty lot had been was a building. The exact same building I had imagined in my head.
I started to chuckle weakly. Then it turned into a full throated laugh. “I did it! I actually did it! And I didn’t end up blowing up the continent! Awesome!”
I looked over in Vinyl’s direction, to see her staring at the building in utter shock. Clearly she hadn’t expected that.
I pointed at the building. “You see that!? That is awesome!”
Vinyl’s look of shock was slowly replaced with a wide grin. Then she said, “Dude! That was wicked! How the Hay did you do that!?”
I grinned proudly. “Magic! I ain’t gotta explain shit!”
“True!” she said. Then she hurried in front of the building. “Well, come on! Let’s check the place out!”
I followed, grinning the whole while.
The inside was just as I had imagined it would be.
“Dude!” Vinyl exclaimed. “This place is awesome! How did you come up with this?!”
I shrugged, my grin still plastered on my face. “I just made it up. I thought about it, and used my magic to make it happen.”
“Well, however you did it, it’s awesome in here!”
I agreed.
Vinyl was seated on a couch when she asked, “so What kind of club are you gonna make this?”
I quirked an eyebrow at her. “What do you mean?”
She looked at me, “Well, you got the awesome club, now you just need to know what kind of entertainment you’re going to show here.”
I frowned at that. I would need to decide before I could open the place. After a thoughtful second, I said, “Why does it have to be one type of club?”
Vinyl gave me a questioning look. “What do you mean?”
I waved my hand, to indicate the club itself. “Well, it’s the only club in Ponyville, right? Why only limit club entry to those who like a specific genre? Why not make each night a random genre? One night it could be electronica, the next country, than rock. Know what I mean?”
She thought about it for a second, then said, “Dude, you are a genious.”
I shrugged. “I know.”
“Alright, now that that’s taken care of, we need a staff.”
Yet another thing I hadn’t thought of. Then I had yet another idea. “Well, we can hire some ponies, but until then, we can use a little substitute.”
“Yeah?” Vinyl asked. “And what’s that?”
I smiled and snapped my fingers.
The awesomest fucking hologram ever appeared. Seriously, I love this little guy.
“They won’t be good for things like social interaction, but they would be great for the tech stuff, like the lighting and audio.”
Vinyl shook her head. “Dude, where have you been all my life? Do you have any idea how hard it would have been to find a pony qualified enough to do all that stuff? Not many ponies are into the whole tech thing.”
I grinned at her. “Good, all we need now are bartenders, servers, and cooks.”
She nodded. “Yup. That, and a song collection for when we want to open.”
DAMN IT! I keep forgetting about all this important shit! If Vinyl weren’t here…
I thought about it for a moment, rubbing my hands on my thighs. It never helped me think before, but there’s always a first time for everything.
Because I was rubbing my hands on my pants, I felt the bump of something in my pocket. Curious, I pull out the object, and find that I had my phone with me. Apparently I had brought it with me.
“Hey,” I said, breaking the silence. “We could use this.”
Vinyl looked at my phone skeptically. “We can use that for music?”
I nodded. “Sure can. And lots of it, too.”
She didn’t look entirely convinced. “Alright, I’ll take your word for it.” She shook her head. “Man, you got the answers for everything, don’t you?”
I shrugged. “I’m normally not this lucky.”
She shrugged too. “Well, it doesn’t matter. Now that we got a place to set up, we can start the party tonight, if we want to.”
I arched a brow. “And do we want to?”
She looked insulted. “What kind of question is that? Of course we want to! I got to make some preparations, get my stuff moved in here, but we can be ready by tonight.”
I grinned at her, and stood up. “Alright, you work on that, I’ll spread word around town.”
She grinned back at me. “Sounds like a plan.”
A bro-hoof made it official.
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I stepped out of the club into the late afternoon sunlight. Ponyville wasn’t an overly large place, so word had spread pretty quickly about the building that appeared out of thin air.
That also meant that a certain group of six heard about it.
I walked out of the building to find myself greeted by a disapproving scowl from Twilight.
“And just what,” the banshee screeched, “do you think you are doing?!”
I looked at her, then back to the club. Then I shrugged and said, “Home renovations?”
She didn’t look entirely pleased with that answer. “And just where did you find this…” she paused, inspecting the building. “Thing you call a home?”
I raised an eyebrow at her. “You live in a tree that was converted into a library, and yet I’M the weird one?” Seriously, the place wasn’t so bad that it deserved to be called a ‘thing’. That’s just rude.
She thought about it for a second. Then she shook her head, and said, “That’s not the point! Do you know what you did when you spawned this building?”
I looked back at the club again. “Uh, no.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Of course you didn’t! When you created that building, you had to make the matter out of something.”
I thought about that for a moment. True, you can’t just make something out of nothing. But if that’s the case, then what was my tormentor getting on about?
“Yeah, thee whole law of the conservation of mass. So?”
Twilight looked at me as though she thought me a child. “SO, you can’t just randomly spawn a building out of thin air! It needs to be made of something! The matter you created wasn’t initially matter! It was magic! You drew in the magic around you in the environment, and from all unicorns in the area, and converted that energy into matter! If you had used much more, half of Ponyville would be unconscious from a lack of magic!”
I looked around me. All the unicorns I could see where holding themselves funny, as though they had a constant feeling of lightheadedness. Even Twilight was holding herself wierdly. Shit, I guess I need to be more careful with my magic. I could really hurt someone with it…
The more I looked at the damage to the others I caused, the more I felt like a peice of shit.
I had used that power to create a place of fun times, of good memories. Now, all I ended up doing was make sure people remember this place a the building that nearly knocked everyone out. Christ, I can be a real prick, and not even realise it.
I looked down, embarrassed and more than a little ashamed. “Shit, you guys.” I said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for that to happen. I was just making the building so that Ponyville could have a club to hangout at. I didn’t want this to be a bad thing…”
Some of Twilight’s ire faded. “It’s okay, Connor. You just need to be a bit more careful, that’s all.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be sure to.”
She smiled. “Now, what was this you said about a club?”
That made me perk up. “Oh, I just noticed that Ponyville didn’t have a club for people to go and party at. When I asked you about it earlier, you said most parties were held at SugarCube Corner, and almost exclusively during the day.”
Pinkie popped out of the crowed a few feet away from us. “Yup!” She said, chipper as always. “SugarCube Corner is a great place to go a have a fun time, but I can’t throw parties at ALL hours! Even I have to sleep some time!”
I nodded. “So, when it gets dark out, and ponies still want to party, I made this club here. Can save Pinkie a lot of trouble, and give her, and some others, to have fun at night.”
Pinkie beamed at me. “Thanks Connie! I always feel bad about having to stop the parties, only because it gets dark! The Summer Sun Celebration is one of the only times I get to throw an all night party!” She gasped. “What kind of club is it!? Is it a techno club?! A country club?! A masquerade, fancy pants kind of club?!”
I just nodded and said simply, “Yes.”
Pinkie gasped again, and all but screamed, “IT’S EVERY KIND OF CLUB!?!”
She just had to scream right next to my ear…
I nodded again and said, a little louder so I could hear myself, “Yeah, or as many kinds of music and entertainment as I can think of.”
Twilight decided to add her two cents. “I think that’s a great idea! When is the first party?”
“Tonight, if I can find some people willing to help out.”
Pinkie raised her hoof. And Twilight’s.
Twilight laughed at Pinkie. “Sure, we’d love to help. What would you need us to do?”
I smiled at them. “I mostly need bartenders and servers.Maybe someone to man the coat closet. Oh, and a bouncer.”
Pinkie flailed her hoof around. “I CAN BE THE BOUNCER!”
I shook my head. “Wrong kind of bouncer Pinkie. I need someone to guard the door. Make sure everyone gets in in an orderly fashion, and that no ,uh, undesirables show up.”
Twilight nodded. “Yeah, I think we can find a few people to help you.”
And so we walked off, talking about the party that was sure to go underway before the day ended.
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A heavy thumping sound could be heard at rhythmic intervals throughout the night air. I was walking toward the club, bags full of some drinks in either hand.
I entered the view of the building, and it was blatantly obvious that a party was underway. The music was loud and heavy, the lights flashing through the windows. A line of ponies stood outside the club, awaiting entry.
I skipped the line, seeing as I own the place. I walked up to the bouncer and said, “Hey, man. Just got back from that errands run.”
Big McIntosh nodded and said, “Eeyup.”
Man of few words, is Mac.
He opened up a velvet rope that Rarity had given us, and i walked by him and into the front entrance.
The front of the club was nothing to gawk at. It was mostly just a narrow hallway to your left when you enter, and a booth to your right.
I nodded at the mare working the booth. “Hey S’mores. How are things?”
Rarity smiled at me. “Why, things are going marvelously so far! I do appreciate the fact that you had ME work the coat rack, instead of someone else. No offence to any of our other friends, of course, but they don’t know how to properly handle a jacket.”
I smiled back at her. “No problem. I figured that you would prefer this, over working the floor. That is definitely more Pinkie’s thing.”
She nodded. “Indeed. This isn’t my prefered type of party. But anyway! Would you like me to take your jacket, dear?”
I looked down at my hoodie, which started to give off a neon glow in the dark lighting.
“No thanks, S’mores. I prefer to keep it on.”
She shook her head at me. “You still must let me design you a new jacket. That one looks good on you, but I’m sure I could do better.”
I smiled at her. “No thanks, again. I like this hoodie. It’s been there for me through some tough times, y’know?”
She sighed. “Oh, I suppose.”
With that, I left to go to the club proper, where the music was loudest.
And loudest it was.
From the outside, you could feel the beat in your eardrums, vibrating. Here, at the center of it all, you could feel the beat in your chest. It was so heavy, I could feel it in the bottoms of my feet, where it unconsciously made me wary of tripping over. It was heavy, and it was loud.
It was perfect.
I look in the main room to see it packed with ponies.
Of every shape, size, and color, ponies were strewn about the place, lounging on seats, talking to each other, or dancing to the music.
Among them, two ponies imparticular stood out. Pinkie and Rainbow Dash were zooming left and right, taking ponies orders, and delivering them to them.
When Pinkie noticed me, she skated over to me on the roller skates she insisted on wearing.
“Hey, Connie! You got the stuff?” She half said, half shouted over the music.
I narrowed my eyes, and took a mobster's accent. “Depends. You got da money?”
She giggled at that. “Silly, I can see it right there! I can deliver those to the cooking staff for you.”
I smiled at her. “Thanks, Pinks. Before you go, though, how are things looking on the floor?”
She beamed at me. “It’s going great! Ponies are loving the music Vinyl is playing, they’re eating the food like no tomorrow, and everypony I look at has a smile on their face!”
I grinned back at her. “That’s great! Any problems?”
Pinkie rolled her eyes. “Oh, just Dashie being para-whatsit. She thinks that this is some way for you to get on everyponies good side, then she thinks you’re gonna betray us or something.”
I huffed out a breath. Of course she is…
“She isn’t causing problems is she?”
Pinkie shook her head. “Nope! She just keeps muttering to herself! the worst she did was be a bit snippy with a pony she was taking an order from, but I set her straight!”
I nodded at her. “Thanks, Pinkie. Tell Fluttershy and Twilight that they’re doing a great job with the food.”
Pinkie smiled at me. “Will do!” Then she zoomed off.
I continued my walk to my seat, passing AJ at the bar on the way. I didn’t stop to talk, seeing as she was busy, but we exchanged nods and smiles.
The way to my seat was blocked by the dance floor, and through a door in the room passed it.
I made my way through the dance floor, and into the quieter seating room.
The door was on the left side of the room, and I went through, walking up the flight of stairs that followed.
After a walk down a short hall, I found myself in my personal booth.
My booth overlooked the entire club, as well as housing the door to my personal living area. In my booth was a small throne that I decided that I needed. It was your classic throne. Red velvet cushions, with a gold trim to hold it.
The view from my seat cover the entire club, it being above the DJ’s booth. I got to see all that happened inside my little domain. Conquest might be one of the rules I wasn’t allowed to break, but this was my house.
I felt an odd sensation run through me, and to my left I heard a deep mans voice say, “A very nice place.”
I looked over to see Isaac leaning on the balcony railing.
I smiled at him. “So, decided to show up to my house warming party? I’m honored.”
He chuckled. “I could hardly resist. I thought I would just come and congratulate you on your new home. That, and I have a message for you.”
I tilted my head at him. “What kind of message?”
His smile disappeared. “The business kind.”
I frowned at him. “Must be serious, if you come to deliver it directly.”
He nodded. “A threat is coming to Equestria.”
I gulped. So, this was a message about my first job as Guardian.
He continued. “I don’t know when it will come, and I don’t know in what form. I can only tell it is coming through millennia of experience. I have come to give you a warning. Something is coming, and you need to be ready.”
I nodded, a frightened to say much of anything.
Isaac’s smile returned. “But, come now. This is a time of celebration. I take it you have decided on a name for your new club?”
His sudden change from serious to happy did me a little good. My mood changed with his. “Not yet. Haven’t decided. I’m sure I’ll come up with something eventually.”
He nodded. After a moment of silence (filled with absurdly loud music) he said, “May I ask you a question?”
I smiled at him. “Sure thing.”
He quirked a pure white eyebrow. “Why do this? Why make a club? surely you could have done something else.”
I looked at him, confused. “Well, yeah. But it isn’t enough to just want ponies to be able to party to their hearts content.”
“Of course it is, but it seems to me that you have other motives.”
I smiled as I looked back out at the floor. “Sure. I got more than one reason.”
“What’s that?” he asked.
I showed my teeth. “I wanna go big. I want to leave my mark on Equestria, something other than it’s defender.”
I smiled proudly at the club. “I plan that everything I do, I’m gonna do it grand.”
We stood on the balcony together, watching ponies party as the night continues on.
