//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: First Impressions // Story: A Book of Ponies // by Scripture //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle: That Night and Day 1 Twilight started to panic. Why wouldn’t she? One of her favorite authors of all time was coming to stay in her home for a couple weeks! She was so elated she could barely hold it in! But another emotion in her stomach also battled within, keeping her cruelly down to earth; fear. What if he doesn’t like me? What if Spike accidently burns one of his literature pieces? What if he hears me snoring in the middle of the night and decides to put it in the book?! Oh Celestia I wouldn’t be able to handle that kind of embarrassment! “UGH!” She finally cried out in disgust, her hair already starting to frizzle from the mental stress. A sudden smack to the face by her own hoof brought the mare out of this funk and she breathed deeply, finally getting a grasp on herself. “Alright, get it together Twilight… It’s just an author, nothing too big, and he is here to interview and observe you, nothing more… Just do what you always do in stressful situations!” With her magic she levitated a quill and a piece of parchment over to her and began making a simple checklist. “Alright… First thing! Get him a bed and room…” She looked over to the spare room they had in the library, which had been refurbished with her spare bed and desk for Scripture. A quick scratch with the quill checked off a box on her sheet. “Alright, next, we have his saddlebags unpacked and organized in his room…” She peered into the room a bit more and used her magic to make sure every pencil, quill, and piece of paper was thoroughly organized. A swift nod and another check. “Finally, set up romantic dinner to try and sway that stallion into-“ She froze as her vision finally caught the white form of Scripture on the far side of the library, his eyebrow arced in curiosity. “Uh…. Into knowing he ate incredibly well while with me, hehe!” Dang that was a close one… she silently thanked in her head. Scripture only chuckled and waved a hoof casually. “No no, please, treat me like… like I’m just another pony! No special dinners, no overdoing anything, just a casual friend, sleeping over for awhile is all!” “Mhm… sure…” was all Twilight muttered as she stared deeply at Scripture, whose words obviously took a trip right through her head. He sighed a bit but couldn’t help but smile at her half lidded eyes. How had she been chosen first? Obviously through cheating… he chuckled in his head at the memory. Earlier that day, at Sugarcube Corner, the mares all decided to draw lots from Applejack’s hat to see who would be the first to have Scripture over their houses. Scripture was chosen to be the one to draw the lot seeing as this all due to him. When he put his hoof in to mix and grab a lot out, he had a funny feeling one in particular kept following his hoof. When that same lot was drawn in the end, Twilight seemed much too excited about the choice, although Scripture chalked it up to both luck and her fanmareness at the time. Of course, he had totally forgotten about her magic. The stallion honestly didn’t care though. As long as he got the research he needed and the information totaled up, he didn’t care less about whom he went with first, so long as he was with them in the end period! He knew that even just being with each pony for about two weeks each would be about three months, not including Derpy and Octavia, whom he found both to be quite interesting mares as well. Well, he did have the money due to him selling a good number of books in his time… he could buy a small house in town… Scripture shook the thought from his head however and turned his senses back to reality, watching as Twilight began talking to Spike. He may be here for an extensive time but living here in Ponyville? No… not yet at least. “…and make sure that the sheets are green Spike! I read that Scripture loves the color green!” Spike’s audible groan snapped Scripture out of his mindful haze and he waved at hoof at the notion. “Its fine Spike, I should be fine with what I have right now…” He looked into his room and smiled mischievously. “I do rather like the color purple after all.” Twilight couldn’t help but elicit a small gleeful squeak at the comment, her face in a goofy smile. Scripture rolled his eyes, mostly because of how easy it was to tease this mare. I mean, seriously, am I THAT much to her? thought Scripture, the idea simply ludicrous. He didn’t think of himself that important at all! A good yawn from Spike though sent a chain reaction throughout the library as everypony yawned in return, soon realizing that it was rather late into the night now. Scripture, however, seemed to practically beam at the notion that he had yawned, making Twilight wonder why he seemed so… awake now! Shouldn’t it be the opposite?! “Alright! Second wind kicked in! Thanks for that Spike! Now… to work!” He chuckled merrily and sped off into his room, shutting the door swiftly behind him. Twilight, taken aback by his antics, only looked at Spike in wonderment. The young dragon was just as perplexed as the unicorn however and only shrugged. “Uhmm…. Ok? That was… weird…” Twilight said, although through a sleepy yawn. She looked positively exhausted from today’s events… Way too much excitement for her mind! Spike seemed equally tired, if not more, and made his way to bed. Eventually he slid into it and curled up, only muttering a soft “Night…” before drifting to sleep. Twilight chuckled and used her magic to wrap the blanket up nicely around him, all snug and soft. The purple unicorn, her thoughts full to the brim, eventually waddled over to the bed to slip into the cozy covers. Tonight, she just wanted to sleep… No more studying, at least for a little while… Her goofy grin emerged on her face once again. Well, while he is around anyways! ******************************************* Scripture listened by the door as the other two drifted off to sleep. He was about to turn around and write for a little bit when a rather loud burst of snoring reached his ears. Curiosity unfolding in his brain, he couldn’t help but peek at the sleeping Spike, who must have- The white stallion nearly couldn’t hold in his laughter as he watched Twilight’s blankets rise and fall in time with the comical snoring. Shaking his head, Scripture headed back into the room, gently closing the door. Maybe I should put that in the book… He smiled, getting ready with his quill and parchment. A good way into the night, his room was filled the scratching sounds of feather on paper, along with a chuckle or two. ******************************************* Scripture, yawning sleepily, rubbed his eyes a bit as he finally exited the room. He stretched out his legs a bit, yawning once more, and smacked his lips dryly. Bridle my mane, I hate mornings… he mumbled in his mind, his half lidded gaze settling upon a rather good looking breakfast muffin. Shifting his eyes sneakily, he looked left and right to see if anyone was looking. With a small grin on his face, the stallion immediately dropped to the floor and tiptoed over to the counter where thy scrumptious muffin lay innocently. If you could imagine for yourself… A full grown white pony with a black mane, sneaking all across the library from shelf to shelf, James Bond music playing in the background. His moves, graceful! His speed, outstanding! His appetite, hungry! Only a mere few feet until his prize is before him, ready to be munched upon! Five feet, four feet, three, two, one… “Scripture… What in the name of Celestia are you doing?” Spike asked, having observed the entire scene from upstairs by his bed. Scripture, in mid-pouncing mode, mouth wide open, smiled sheepishly from his paused state and coughed, returning his hooves back on the floor. “Uhm… Just smelling the muffiny scent of a good morning?” He sniffed the muffin deeply and was surprised to find a Mintylock Berry Muffin. Mmmm… I do love that minty taste… he thought dreamily to himself. Spike chuckled and crossed his arms. “Well… alright then… it IS your muffin after all.” He turned around but jumped a bit as a thought struck his brain. “Oh! By the way Scripture, it’s really about noon now, not the morning… That muffin was gonna be your breakfast earlier today-” When Spike turned around however, there was no longer a muffin on the white plate, just a couple of minute crumbs and a chewing pony before it. Scripture smiled a bit and swallowed quickly after, licking his lips. “Mmm… Delicious! Anyways, I kind of figured… I usually sleep longer on nights like last night.” He looked around a bit and cocked an eyebrow. “So where’s Twilight?” Spike, sliding down the railing, landed near Scripture and pulled out one of her famed checklists from under some books. “Let’s see here… 8:00, get up and prepare self. 8:30, breakfast. 9:30, watch Scripture while he sleeps…” Both of them shuddered a bit at that one. “Ok, she is starting to freak me out now…” Scripture said, biting his lower lip a bit. Spike gave him a look that screamed the words, “I told you so!” The young dragon only gave a shake of his head though, as if trying to get rid of the memory. “Alright, here we go… 12:00, meet with Applejack to see about apples in the market.” Spike gave a quizzical look and wondered out loud. “Apples? What’s wrong with the apples?” Scripture shrugged and started to walk out the door. “I have no clue myself, but like I said, I need to study her if I want the best results. Anyways, bye!” He opened the door with his magic and waved a hoof goodbye at Spike, who simply rolled his eyes. Something about that bub just makes me… gah! ********************************** Twilight was smiling brightly as she walked through the crowd, apples weighing down her bag slightly. Her mind absently flicked through her daydream’s as she thought about her plans for the next few weeks. “Well… Hopefully he turns out to be as smart as his looks… He is a sturdy stallion for a writer, but still, you never know with ponies these- OOF!” In her thought processes, she neglected to keep an eye on where she was going, clumsily bumping into somepony. Her bags unbuckled on themselves and their contents were strewn all over the place. Disoriented for a second, she didn’t see the white hoof that extended out to her initially until she heard a soft chuckle in her direction. “Careful there Twilight! Don’t want you breaking anything while I’m with you… I would feel mighty guilty if that happened!” Twilight flushed horribly as she took Scripture’s hoof. “Uhm… thank you…” She smiled sheepishly and looked around at her supplies. Sighing, she began to clean them up along with Scripture. Scripture however, had found a book amongst the spread pieces. It was worn, used, and pieces of paper could be seen sticking out from it. It wasn’t terribly big but there seemed to be some weight to the book. Curious, Scripture began to open it. With a shrill “EEP!” Twilight threw herself at the book, catching Scripture by total surprise. With a small shout, they went a-tumbling for a bit, supplies scattered anew. Finally, when the tumbling did stop, Twilight happened to be on top of Scripture, pinning his legs down with her own. Scripture’s back met the ground for the second time since being in Ponyville and he groaned in discomfort. Twilight however, looked very bothered, her eyes looking menacing but her expression showed she was more fearful than anything. The purple unicorn’s face was only a mere few inches from him but she didn’t seem fazed by that at that moment unlike normally. Her voice came out calmly and evenly though, being very serious. “Scripture. Please, don’t ever read that book. Do you understand?” “Yesssss!” replied Scripture, his voice a key higher than usual and choking near the end. His eyes were watering a little bit and he bit his bottom lip tightly Confused, Twilight cocked an eye at the stallion, leaning a bit backwards onto her haunches. “Uh… you okay?” he didn’t sound too good, and his eyes just seemed to get wider. “Noooooo!” he squeaked, his voice significantly higher than before, his forehooves trying to wiggle himself free from Twilight. With sudden realization, Twilight’s cheeks turned a deep red color and she took herself off the white stallion’s crotch area. Breathing regularly now, his forehooves raced over to the previously occupied area while he rolled along the ground in pain. Oh by Luna’s Moon, what have I done? Was all that she could think as she let the white unicorn handle his… private problems on the ground. No magic in the world could help him with THAT kind of pain, even if Twilight could help him. So she simply got all of her belongings, piling them back into her bag once again, and dismissed the gathering crowd around the writhing pony with a couple of short remarks. After Scripture had finally pulled himself together, he stood up and sighed, looking at Twilight, now both of them blushing a bit. Scripture rolled his eyes down low while Twilight rolled hers up high, both thinking the same thing. This is gonna be a looong week for us… ***************************** Day 3 A yawn gripped the white pony as he walked dutifully behind the purple unicorn, his head half lowered to the ground. “Ugh… I hate waking up…” He looked up a bit and went red however, suddenly getting wide awake. “Although, this isn’t too bad…” He wasn’t sure if Twilight meant to do it or not, but she had a little swagger into her step as she walked, her flank moving rhythmically. Scripture couldn’t help but stare at it for a little bit until finally he forced his eyes away, reminding himself he was on business, even though with friends. Twilight looked behind her and smiled at the white unicorn. “C’mon Scripture! I wanna get to the park soon! By this rate, we’ll never get there!” Scripture rolled his eyes but had a grin on his face. “Yeah yeah, you’ve said that for the past 10 minutes! I get it, I get it!” He felt more relaxed today, more than the last three at least. Twilight’s fanmare moments seemed to have dissipated more or less, becoming less and less frequent. The purple pony seemed to have finally gotten used to Scripture, much to his relief. She would occasionally go over and beyond a normal ponies needs for him, but he couldn’t complain. Twilight was a fan, would he deny her? Finally, they had reached the bountiful park, making Scripture sigh in wonder at its peacefulness. Fillies and colts played in the fields, pegasi flew to and fro in the air, and everypony just seemed so serene and relaxed… “Man, this is so much different than my home!” He burbled out loud, happy at the sight. However, in the back of his mind, an old foe spoke up a little bit at the sight of all the ponies. Twilight gave a wry little grin in response, simply laying herself under the shade of a great oak tree to read the book she had brought for herself. The white unicorn followed her and laid down nearby, but not too close to make people wonder about them. He didn’t need something like that for him only a few days into his research! Soon however, Scripture couldn’t help his drooping eyes from falling, or his neck to slowly drop down to his forehooves. His mind began getting fuzzy, his muscles taking actions on their own, and soundly, the white pony fell into a deep and restful, sle- “WAKEY WINKY, HERE IS PINKIE!” Scripture shouted out in surprise, shooting up into the tree like a frightened cat and shaking on the tree branch he clutched. Pinkie Pie giggled a little bit before bouncing around underneath the stallion. “Oh come on down Scripty-Cat! We have a special surprise for you!” Scripture, finally taking notice of some of the other Wielders around the baker, wondered what in all of Equestria’s name she could have in store for the author. Sighing, he brought himself down from the tree with a tight grip, plopping his hooves on the ground. “Alright Pinkie, what is it that you-“ “SURPRISE!” Scripture would have shot himself back into the tree if Pinkie and Twilight had not come over to wrap their hooves around his neck, extending their other hooves to all of the ponies in Ponyville who happened to be there also. Scripture’s jaw dropped as he watched every pony blow on streamers, wear party hats, and mostly importantly, wear a good smile on their face. “Who...? What…?” He started, but Pinkie immediately cut him off, although not rudely. “Well, you see, every pony that comes to Ponyville to stay, even for a short time, is welcomed by ME! If you stay for a longer time, you get a BONUS; a patented Pinkie Pie Party! In this case though, I decided to go ALL OUT, inviting all of Ponyville too! Oh boy did it take a lot of work but everyone was happy to have a big party so that’s why they are all here! So now… LETS PARTY!” The crowd of ponies shouted in joy, getting on with the rather large party at hand, and Pinkie Pie bounding away with spunk in her step, er, bounces. Scripture, however, could be seen in a cold sweat, looking across the expanse of grass, balloons, and tables at all the ponies and fillies. His eyes were distant and they shifted constantly before all he saw. A small group he could handle… but this many ponies?! There were probably around a hundred or so of them! What should I say? What should I do?! Panic rose slightly in his body, gripping his legs as he was frozen still. The normally calm pony was now scared out of his willies before the crowd, who didn’t seem to take much notice in the stallion himself, but on all the games and food around them. Even still, something about big crowds paralyzed his brain to only short thoughts, mostly of fleeing away. Before he could bolt away however, Twilight placed a hoof on Scripture’s shoulder. Her expression looked like she was going to say something cheerful to him but it changed immediately, going downcast, her eyebrow cocked up in worry. “Scripture… are you okay? You don’t look very well…” Scripture gulped once and gave a weak smile, still sweating bullets. “Uh, y-yeah, it’s fine… I’m just, ah, not the best with large crowds like this…” Twilight smiled sweetly, thinking of some other pony that didn’t get along with others at one point in her life. Applejack walked on next to Scripture, hearing him speak, and nudged him softly with her side. “Ah, don’t you worry nuthin’ bout this here crowd! This is Ponyville after all! This here is ya party, so enjoy it a bit!” The orange pony gave him a slight nudge forward. As if the crowd was a conglomerate being, the small step that Scripture took to keep his balance also swallowed him up into the sea of ponies before him. Yelling and shouting, he was threaded through the crowd, nopony apparently caring too much about him except that he was being passed around like somepony bodysurfing at a concert. Even a few hundred feet away, Twilight could still see the white stallion freaking out and shouting, “WHEAT GRASS! WHEAT GRASS!” over and over again. The music however cut off most of his shouting and nopony really cared anyways. The purple unicorn glared at Applejack who smiled sheepishly initially, then took a defensive stance. “Well… How was I suppose ta know they would do that?!” Rarity, who had seen the end of the affair, shook her head sullenly. “Honestly Applejack, that’s no way to get a stallion to like you, you know…” Applejack’s face blushed a bit and she stomped once with her forehoof. “H-hey! It was an accident! And I’m not hittin’ on the poor feller!” Twilight mentally exhaled at Applejack’s words, but some unease rested in her mind… Was that how she really felt, or something else? Before she could say anything though, Rarity spoke up, smiling slightly. “Honestly, I think he is a rather well-behaved stallion, that Scripture! I cannot wait for him to spend time with this regal flower of a pony!” Applejack softly dug a bit into the ground, thoroughly at conflict in her mind. “Well, ya, he did get me and Rainbow out of a jiffy with that apple bin…” She chuckled a bit. “I heard Rainbow a few times rantin’ ‘bout him ‘cause of him bein’ the co-author of Daring Do and all that stuff!” Twilight’s eyes blinked a bit in surprise. “R-really? So… You girls like him, huh?” Rarity drank a bit of the punch she had with her and nodded her head, although laughed a bit. “Honestly Twilight, everyone does! He’s such a sweet guy, holding doors open and helping out here and there… it’s simply gentlecoltly!” The white mare looked back into the crowd, where Scripture’s head and waving arms could be seen bobbing in and out of the seat of ponies. “WHEAT…” One bob into the crowd… Another bob and he is back up, arms a-flailing. “GRASS!” The mare’s all chuckled nervously, wondering truly now if the stallion was going to be okay. “Uhm… Well, he needs to work on his social piece a bit obviously, but that we can patch up! Also,” She leaned inwards more towards Twilight, cocking an eyebrow. “For the past three days when I have seen him around town, he seems dead tired, bags under his eyes and all that horror… What does he DO all night? It certainly doesn’t help his mane at all…” Twilight, shrugging her shoulders, couldn’t answer that truthfully. She had given the stallion the respect of privacy for his quarters, being a gracious host, and never bothered to ask him about it. “Honestly, I’m not sure what he does… The only thing I would think of him doing would be working on his Book of Ponies…” “…GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASS!” “…and maybe I should look into it a bit more now that I think about it…” Twilight added, wincing as about 15 ponies decided it would be fun to make a pony pile… right on top of Scripture. With some unnatural strength however, Scripture was able to lift the pile of ponies off of him just enough to let himself crawl from underneath them and escape the torrent of ponies around. Applejack stared admiringly at the receding pony, wondering whether he was desperate in his strength or if it was all natural. She honestly hoped for the second one. Twilight huffed a bit at Applejack’s gaze and she started to go after the white stallion. “Uhm, sorry girls but I got to make sure he is all right… I am taking care of him after all… I think…” Without waiting for an answer, Twilight teleported across the crowd and went after Scripture. Rarity and Applejack watched the two recede as the party went on, Rarity eventually turning back to the rest of the party. Both of them watched as a certain pink pony was mimicking Scripture’s earlier antics, shouting out each time she burst herself out of the crowed, “PINKIE… PIE… JUMPING… OVER... CUCUMBER… BEETLES… IS… AWESOME!” Applejack snickered a bit and Rarity facehoofed, smiling to herself. “I can see why our first impressions are horrible now…” -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- Author's Note: Hiya! I finally got around to editing this hunk of junk and made it better for you all~ I decided that I think a comedic twist would be great to have... and great for Scripture's usually nice nature! I listened to Crepuscularity by AcousticBrony 180 times so far while typing and editing this... THERE GOES 540 MINUTES OF MY LIFE, NYA-HA! XD Anyways, like always, please comment, critique, etc~ i will try to belt out the next chapter as soon as possible! :)