The 7th Element

by thunderhawk7865


More Locals

Chapter 8: More Locals

It was now the afternoon in Ponyville and a few hours had passed since Dan's conversation with Dash beneath her house. He was trotting through town after meeting with PON-3.

The pony DJ of Ponyville had welcomed him inside the Ponyville dance club with open arms, saying she was 'totally stoked' a new musician had come to town. After playing 'When We Stand Together' for her on the guitar, she had invited him to show her his re-mixing skills for one song at the club that night, and then they would talk about an internship. Dan didn't really have much experience with a sound-board or a DJ mix-board, but he did run music in tech theater at school. "Close enough..." Dan thought.

But his thoughts kept returning to the rainbow maned mare, Rainbow Dash. He sighed to himself as he trotted down the street. "One day here, and I've already made a good friend in Rainbow Dash." He said out loud, smiling to himself. "Celestia was right. Everypony here is way friendly." He caught himself instinctively saying 'everypony' and chuckled. "I'm even getting a hang of the language."

As he passed the various ponies of Ponyville, they all raised hooves and smiled at him and occasionally greeted him with "Hello"s and "Ace, how are you?"s. Dan smiled and nodded back at each of them. "Word spreads fast around here..."

"That's because of me!" A voice boomed from a fruit stand he was walking past.

"ARGH!" Dan yelped, jumping into the air from the shock. When he managed to look at where the voice came from, a bubbly pink pony jumped out of the fruit stand in an explosion of fruit, causing the shocked owner of the stand to roll her eyes and scowl in annoyance.

"Hi! You must be Blue Bass! Or Ace! Is it okay if I call you Ace?!" The crazy pony was jumping up and down in front of his face.

"Um...yeah?" Dan said awkwardly, backing away slowly.

"Oh that's great!" The crazy pink pony was suddenly behind him, and he bumped into her. "I'm Pinkie Pie, by the way!"

"Whoa! What in the freaking hay?!" Dan whirled around. "How did you-!?"

"Not important. So today I noticed you walking away from Rainbow Dash's cloud and I saw you earlier when you arrived at Ponyville last night and I want to throw you a party! Is that okay?"

"Wait..." Dan said, holding up a hoof. "You're name's Pinkie Pie?"

"Yep!" She said, bouncing up and down.

Dan heaved a heavy sigh of relief. "Whew...for a second I thought you were actually crazy..." "The book Twilight gave me said she was party crazy, but I didn't think she would be this hyperactive..."

"Oh oh! Twilight's talked about me!"

"Well-"

"Oh oh oh! The book!"

"Yes, but-"

"Ooooooh! A yes! So that means I can throw you a party!"

"As it turns out-"

"Surprise party? Well wait, darn it, now it can't be a surprise, can it? Should it be a surprise, Ace?"

Ace said nothing back. He just stared at Pinkie Pie indifferently before raising an eye and saying, "You done?"

"Yep!"

He leaned in. "Proooomise?"

"Yep! My lips are zipped!" She pretended to pull a zipper over her lips.

Dan eyed the silently sitting Pinkie Pie for a moment, then slowly opened his mouth and said, "Yes, you can throw me a party..."

"YEEEEEEEY!" The pink pony couldn't contain her excitement as she jumped up and bounced away before Dan could say anything else.

Dan blew some of his brown mane out of his eyes and smiled awkwardly at the ponies around him staring at what just happened. He continued walking and rolled his eyes. "Good Celestia above..." he muttered. "I have a pretty high crazy bar, but Pinkie just cleared it in leaps and bounds..."

He eventually came to the restaurant Twilight had referred him to earlier today, Sugar Cube Corner. As he stepped inside, the first thing he noticed was Rarity, the fashion designer unicorn from the night before, and a bright yellow Pegasus with a pink mane at a table, eating pieces of cake and discussing something that Dan couldn't hear.

"Oh, you must be Blue Bass!" A blue, pink haired Earth pony perked up from behind the counter. "Twilight told us to expect you today for lunch!"

"Indeed." A yellow stallion said, coming out from the backroom, nodding. "We are pleased to meet you.

"You two must be the Cake family." Dan smiled and nodded his head to greet them. "Call me Ace though. That's my nickname."

At the sound of Ace's voice, Rarity spun around and looked to see if it was really him she heard.

"Who's that stallion, Raity?" Fluttershy said, gazing at Ace as Mrs. Cake gave him a piece of cake for some bits Ace produced from Twilight for lunch.

"Oh, no one..." Rarity said, turning around. "I don't even know-"

"Rarity! Hey!" Ace said, coming over to the table and sitting down.

"Oh poo..." she muttered before looking up and smiling. "Oh hello, Mr. Bass!"

"Rarity-"

"Pardon me..." she chuckled. "Ace. How are you doing your first real day in Ponyville?"

"It's been great!" He said, setting his plate down and taking a bite of the cake. "I'm glad this diet still has a sweet tooth...this is awesome!"

"Anyway, Rarity...who's your friend?" Ace said, looking over at Fluttershy. "Oh wait..." He quickly face-hooved. "You're Fluttershy, right?"

Fluttershy was curled up in her chair, trying not to look at him directly. Eyeing him through her long pink mane, she nodded timidly and whispered, "Yes..."

Rarity giggled, "Oh pardon her, Ace. She is, as her name implies, shy."

"You don't say?" Ace chuckled, taking another bite. "It's okay Fluttershy. I don't bite. Honest."

Fluttershy still remained in the fetal position she was in, occasionally looking down at the ground, and the back at Ace.

"Don't take any offense, Ace. Fluttershy will get used to you." Rarity giggled again.

Ace eyed her curiously before going back to his cake. "I believe you...oh! By the way..." He wiped his mouth with a napkin before resuming. "I got a job at the Ponyville Dance Club tonight where PON-3 works!"

"Really now?" Rarity smiled warmly. "So you're getting paid to work for Ms. Vinyl Scratch?"

"No..." Ace half-frowned. "She's testing me tonight. She's going to give me a shot at mixing a song. I believe she said it was called 'Equestria Girls', or something like that."

"Oh...I like that song..." Fluttershy muttered just loud enough for Ace to hear.

Ace looked over at her, and she quickly looked at the ground again. "You should come then, Fluttershy. And you too, Rarity."

"Well, Fluttershy isn't normally one for loud parties, but I certainly love making a scene in some new designs of mine." Rarity nodded. "I'll be there, Ace."

"Great!" Dan said, finishing up his cake and standing up. "Nice talking with you, Rarity." He winked at Fluttershy. "Fluttershy, nice meeting you." With that, he took his plate up to Mrs. Cake, thanked them profusely, and then walked out the door.

"Whew..." Rarity wiped her forehead with her hoof. "Well, he's not so bad, right Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy emerged from her secluded position was smiled a little, "I think he'll be great for Rainbow Dash." She closed her eyes and smiled warmly.

Rarity giggled, "Told you."