Of Night and Stone
By Kirb
Chapter Five
Introductions and Revelations
“…and that’s the whole story of how we got here,” Elisa finished. “Any questions?”
Elisa was sitting in the center of the library, talking to a group of six ponies and a dragon. Twilight was smiling, glad that her roommate was finally telling her friends about this, even though she herself had only found out the previous night. Pinkie was listening with a surprised expression. Applejack was clearly content that she was finding out the full story about these gargoyles. Spike had a similar expression to Pinkie Pie.
One of the three other ponies there was a second unicorn with purple mane, light gray to white coat--similar to that of Sweetie Belle--azure eyes with many eyelashes, and a cutie mark of three diamond-shaped blue gems. Her expression was one of shock and fascination.
Another pony, a pegasus, was hovering in the air. This light cyan mare had magenta eyes and a cutie mark of a red, gold and blue lightning bolt emerging from a white cloud, but probably her most distinguishing features were her rainbow-striped mane and tail.
The other mare was also a pegasus with pale gold coat and pink mane. Her cutie mark was three pink butterflies, in the same shade as her mane. An expression of fear consumed her face, her teal eyes incredibly wide.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” the cyan pegasus finally said, flying up closer to Elisa. “Let me get this straight: You’re friends with monsters?” She spoke in an overly confident tone.
“Yes,” Elisa stated bluntly.
“They can fly?” Spike asked.
“Mhm,” was Elisa’s response.
“And they turn to stone in the daytime?” the white unicorn asked.
“Pretty much.”
“Oh my…” muttered the gold pegasus in a high, timid-sounding voice.
The cyan pegasus glared into Elisa’s eyes.
“That…” she began, “is… SO AWESOME!”
“Isn’t it, Rainbow Dash!” Twilight followed up.
Elisa smiled. Should’ve seen it coming, she thought.
“Oh my gosh, WHY DIDN’T ANYPONY TELL ME?!” Pinkie asked immediately. She started bouncing around the room. “I could’ve thrown parties for all of them!”
“Are they friendly?” the white unicorn asked.
“Mostly,” began Elisa, “unless they’re feeling that their city is threatened. Applejack caught Broadway at her farm last night.”
“Really?” The unicorn looked to Applejack, who was smiling smugly.
“Sure did!” the earth pony mare stepped in. “We caught him tryin’ to take our apples, but I left him with Apple Bloom. Didn’t move an inch!”
“Also, I brought Lexington, another gargoyle, down here last night,” Twilight said. “He didn’t object when I studied him!”
“So that’s what all that noise was…” Spike remarked. “You’re not exactly quiet when you do this type of stuff in the lab, Twilight. And it doesn’t help when Applejack comes in yelling at you.”
“Hey!” Twilight and Applejack interjected simultaneously.
“Fabulous, do these dear creatures wear clothing?” Rarity asked. “I could take their measurements down, open up a new line of clothing for gargoyles!”
Elisa laughed. “Rarity, they all wear loincloths.”
“Hmmph!” Rarity mumbled. “Surely, they need something with a little more class.”
“Yeah, yeah,” said the cyan mare, flying around. “I can’t wait to meet ’em! First thing I’ll do is challenge them to a race, see who flies the fastest!”
“They don’t really fly so much as glide,” interrupted Twilight. “I found out when I did a study on Lexington. So you’ll beat them easily, Dash.”
Dash sighed, then looked down to see a hint of pink tail sticking out from underneath the couch.
“Um, Fluttershy?” she asked.
“Fluttershy’s not here,” the voice from under the couch responded, near silently. Elisa rolled her eyes and walked over to the couch.
“Come on out, Fluttershy,” Elisa requested. “They won’t bite, and besides, they won’t even awaken until sundown.”
Silence, then: “Are you sure?”
“Fluttershy, I’ve known them for almost two years. Of course I’m sure!”
Fluttershy slowly stuck her yellow face out and looked at Elisa with her teal eyes adorably, though her mane was hanging in her face. A barely audible “Eep!” came from the pony.
Elisa chuckled. “Fluttershy, you’re adorable, you know that?”
Fluttershy frowned and hid back under the couch. The others in the room laughed.
“Alright everypony,” Twilight said with a smile, “meet me at Town Hall at sundown!”
The ponies all left, including Fluttershy. Pinkie followed them, bouncing out.
“I’ll have to talk to my sister!” Pinkie said as she bounced.
“And I’ll have to get some sleep,” Elisa yawned as she walked up the stairs to her bed.
…
Maud sat in the same place in the park she had first met her sister’s friends. She passed a pebble back and forth between her front hooves.
“Maud!”
Retaining her blank expression, she looked up in the direction of the voice calling to see Pinkie bouncing towards her, smiling. The gray mare looked back down to her pebble.
“Hi, Maud!” Pinkie said. Then she looked down at the pebble. “Hi, Boulder!”
“Hi, Pinkie,” Maud said, still remaining sitting down. Pinkie sat down next to her.
“You’ll never believe what Twilight told us!” Pinkie took a deep breath, then she began. “That stone statue you saw the other day wasn’t really a stone statue! It was actually a gargoyle and at night it comes to life and flies around with the other gargoyles! And get this, Elisa is friends with them! And she never told any of us but the gargoyles are all made of stone! Can you believe that?”
“Yes, I know,” Maud simply said, passing ‘Boulder’ back to her one hoof.
Pinkie grinned and was about to respond when suddenly she stopped. Her face changed to a confused expression and she cocked her head to the side. “You know?”
“Yes.”
Pinkie waited for a full response. Maud finally sighed and gave one. “When I was waiting around watching that one gargoyle from yesterday, I saw him come to life. Then I followed him around the rest of the night and found out some things.”
Pinkie gasped. “Maud! Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t talk to you until now…” Maud passed Boulder to her other hoof.
“Well, I know something that I betcha didn’t know about them!”
Maud looked up. “What’s that?”
Pinkie leaned in and whispered. “These gargoyles… have names!”
Maud pulled away, retaining her blank composure, but mentally facehoofing.
“And their names are really cool!” Pinkie rambled on. “Like, there’s one called G… something beginning with a G, I don’t know, but it sounds awesome! And another one with something that starts with A. The rest are named after places in the town where Elisa’s from, New York, which I guess is sorta like Manehattan and it’s funny because her part of New York is called Manhattan, which sounds similar! But these gargoyles have names like B… something beginning with B… I know! Brooklyn!”
Upon hearing his name, Maud looked up, and Boulder slid away from her hoof. She looked at Pinkie. “Brooklyn. That’s the name of the gargoyle from yesterday.”
“Ooh! You must have a good memory!” Pinkie started bouncing around once more. “I can’t wait! I’ll finally get to meet him tonight! Can you come? You’ve already met Brooklyn; it would be so cool to meet the others!”
“I would, but I’m already meeting somepony tonight.”
Pinkie stopped, then a smirk came to her face. “Ooh! Who’s the special somepony? Is it somepony I know?”
Maud kept her blank gaze but turned to face Pinkie. “No, Pinkie. It’s not someone you know, yet.”
Pinkie raised an eyebrow. “Okie-dokie-lokie! I hope you and that somepony have a good time!”
Maud waved as Pinkie bounced away, then looked back down. “C’mere Boulder,” she said to her pet rock as she picked it up and put it back in her pocket.
…
“How long until it happens?” Rarity asked. “I need to get my beauty sleep, you know!”
Twilight and her friends were now standing on top of Town Hall along with Elisa and Spike. They watched over the gargoyles as the sun slowly set.
“Rarity, we’re about to see some of the coolest looking things ever wake up!” Rainbow Dash reminded her as she flew around Town Hall. “I’m sure you can sleep in tomorrow for that!”
“That’s easy for you to say,” Rarity commented. “You usually sleep all day!”
“Hey!” Dash shot a glare at her. “Why, I oughta…”
“Uh, sugarcubes!” Applejack interrupted. “Would ya mind not bickerin’ so much? It’s a might scary to Fluttershy.”
The pony in question stuck her head out from behind Applejack, then looked at the gargoyles, gave an “Eep!” of terror and hid behind Applejack again, trembling in fear.
“…an’ Celestia knows she’s already scared enough by th’ gargoyles! She don’t need your help!”
Pinkie hopped up behind Fluttershy. “What’s wrong?”
Fluttershy’s teeth chattered as she said the next sentence. “They’re… s-s-so… scary…”
“Aw, don’t worry!” Pinkie reassured her friend. “They’re just statues currently. Now when night falls and they wake up, they’ll be really scary! They’ll jump out like ‘RAAAAGH!’ baring their fangs and everything!”
This only managed to scare Fluttershy even more, and she cowered back behind Applejack, with another “Eep!”
Dash rolled her eyes. “Pinkie, you’re not helping.”
Pinkie stopped talking. “Oh. Um, sorry Fluttershy…”
“Hush, you guys,” Elisa told them. “It’s time. You might want to watch this.”
The sun fully descended below the horizon, and the sky began to darken. At that instant, the stone casings of the gargoyles began cracking, until one by one, all of them awakened with their usual growls of “RRRAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHH!!!” Each of the ponies (and dragon) had different expressions on their faces as they betook this sight.
Even though Twilight had witnessed this event before, she still flinched when it happened again.
Applejack’s eyes widened and she muttered, “What in tarnation..?”
Spike watched in awe, backing away towards the wall.
Pinkie held a huge grin on her face; what she saw didn’t seem to scare her much.
Dash was no longer flying; she had landed next to Pinkie and muttered “Whoa…”
Rarity let out a huge long gasp as she watched all of them awaken.
And Fluttershy’s reaction was not visible due to her cowering behind Applejack in terror.
After the gargoyles finished waking up, Goliath approached Twilight. “Hello again, Twilight. I assume these are your friends?”
Each pony had a different reaction to Goliath’s voice.
Twilight was fairly used to it from the previous night, and showed no sign of surprise from his introduction.
Applejack raised an eyebrow. He must’ve drunk too much cider or somethin’. That can’t be his natural voice, Big Mac would be put to shame!
Spike’s jaw dropped to the ground. Holy guacamole! I hope I can get a voice like that, Rarity would LOVE me then!
Dash’s eyes widened and her wings popped open spontaneously.
Rarity fainted.
And Fluttershy was still hiding behind Applejack.
Twilight stepped forward with a smile. “Why yes. This is…”
“Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie!” the pink earth pony interrupted Twilight, and began wildly jumping around. “Wowie, your voice is really low! How many testosterone pills did you have to take for that? Can I have some? You almost sound like Fluttershy when we had that problem with the poison joke awhile ago…”
“Pinkie…” Twilight commented as she facehoofed.
“Oh!” The pink mare stopped. “Right.”
“Right. Now as I was saying…” Twilight resumed. “These are my friends: Applejack, Spike, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and I’m sure Fluttershy is around here somewhere…”
Now it was Elisa’s turn. “And these are the Manhattan Clan: Hudson, Bronx, Angela, Goliath, Brooklyn, Broadway and Lexington.”
Twilight continued. “I’m sure you will all have time to get acquainted, but I definitely want you all to get used to seeing each other, as the six of them…” She pointed to her pony friends and dragon friend. “…are kind of important in my life.”
Elisa. “And the seven of them…” and pointed to the gargoyles. “…are important in mine. So I hope you all get along, and… yeah. Any questions?”
“Uh…” Brooklyn spoke up. “Pinkie Pie?”
The pink pony turned her head. “That’s my name!” She zoomed up to Brooklyn. “What is it, Brooklyn… do you mind if I call you Brookie?”
“Um, sure…” Brooklyn remembered how Maud called him that before the sun rose. “I just wanted to ask, are you related to Maud Pie?”
“Of course! She’s my sister!” Pinkie suddenly gasped. “Wait! How did you know that? Are you a spy?”
“No, I just guessed because your last names are the same,” Brooklyn replied matter-of-factly.
“Oh.”
Lex snickered, as well as some of Twilight’s friends.
“If that’s all,” Twilight said, “then good luck!”
…
It was around 10 in the evening, and many of the ponies had gone to sleep. Twilight walked through Town Hall, looking for somepony to talk to, until she found Elisa. The woman was leaning on a wall outside, listening to something. “Hi, Elisa,” said Twilight. Elisa looked over to the unicorn and smiled.
“Hey, Twilight. Come on over.”
Twilight walked over to her. “Sorry, it’s just a little boring now. I was hoping to talk to Lex some more since it was so fun last night, but since he’s taking patrol tonight…”
“Yeah, I know what you mean. I feel that way when Goliath does that.”
Twilight looked around. “So, what are you doing?”
“Really, I’m just listening to those two.” Elisa pointed to Pinkie and Brooklyn, who were in conversation.
“Hm.” Twilight was intrigued. “I think I’ll do that for a while.” She tuned in just in time to hear Pinkie finishing a sentence.
“…yeah, Maud usually acts like that. Of my three sisters, she’s always been the quietest, but for some reason she’s been acting a little strange lately.”
“Strange? How?” asked Brooklyn.
“Well, I’ve just been noticing that she’s not her usual cryptic self. Instead she’s a more unusual cryptic self!”
Brooklyn raised an eyebrow. “Hm. What’s she been doing?”
“I don’t know. I noticed she was playing with Boulder today…”
“Boulder?”
“Her pet rock.”
“Oh. I don’t know what I was expecting.”
“It’s crazy, right? Anyway, she was playing with Boulder and I noticed that she lost concentration when I mentioned you!”
“Really?”
“Yeah! I don’t know what it is but she seems to really like you! I know she’s met you before and all, I just can’t understand it…”
“Hm. Well, I’ll have to ask her about it. I’m going to meet her tonight.”
Pinkie gasped. “So you’re her special somepony she’s meeting tonight! Or somegargoyle, or something…”
“We use ‘somebody’ where I come from, Pinkie. But yeah, she told you about me?”
“You bet she did!”
“Hm. Anyway, back to Maud’s behavior. You say she’s acted kind of weird lately. How long has this been happening?”
Pinkie thought. “Hmm… I think since yesterday, when she arrived. I noticed it when she was standing by that statue… I mean, uh, you!”
Twilight thought about this. Hmm… strange behavior, she was standing by Brooklyn… aha! Her mind put two and two together and she giggled.
Elisa looked down at her. “What’s so funny?”
“Oh! Nothing.” Twilight looked back up at Pinkie and Brooklyn.
“…but don’t worry, I’m sure she’s just feeling homesick,” Pinkie reassured the gargoyle. “Missing the rock farm and all.”
“Hey, that reminds me. What do you do on a rock farm, anyway?”
“We make rock candy!” Pinkie replied cheerily. “Duh!”
“Oh…” Brooklyn shook his head. I’m pretty sure that’s not how you make rock candy… but if it is, remind me to never try any.
“Well, I’ll be sure to ask Maud more about that when I meet her tonight… hey, wait a minute!” He suddenly turned to Elisa. “Elisa, what time is it?”
Elisa looked at her watch. “Oh! It’s 8 after 10.”
“Hmm…” Brooklyn turned around. “Pinkie, this conversation has been eye-opening, but I’ll have to go now. Don’t want to keep Maud waiting.”
“Okie-dokie-lokie!” Pinkie responded. “See ya later, Brookie!”
Elisa could swear she saw Brooklyn flinch when Pinkie called him that name. She chuckled lightly as Brooklyn left.
“Hi, Twilight!” Pinkie said as she turned around. “Whatcha doing?”
“Oh, nothing, Pinkie Pie.” Twilight had a thought. “Hey, Pinkie. I heard that Maud has been acting strangely, and it’s been happening since yesterday.”
Pinkie paused. “Oh yeah, I said that, but I forgave her since that was the day she arrived.”
“Right… but that’s also the day she met Brooklyn. And you say she acts differently when she hears his name mentioned.”
“Yeah?”
Twilight looked into Pinkie’s eyes. “Pinkie, are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
Pinkie nodded. “Yes… but how am I going to make a roller coaster entirely out of chocolate?”
“I… was talking about Maud,” Twilight responded.
“Oh, right… how is Maud going to make a roller coaster entirely out of chocolate?”
Twilight groaned, and her hoof went to her face. “Never mind…” She walked back over to Elisa.
“Okie-dokie-lokie!” Pinkie bounced back inside.
Twilight shook her head and rolled her eyes. “I don’t know what I was expecting…”
“If it makes you feel any better,” Elisa began, “I think I know what you’re talking about.”
“You do?” Twilight looked up at Elisa hopefully.
“Well yeah!” Elisa rubbed the back of her head with her right hand. “I, um, kinda figured it out this morning.”
“Oh. Guess I’m kind of slow at this, huh Elisa?”
“Well, yeah.”
“Except, I’m not sure if that theory is right. Maud just met Brooklyn. She can’t have fallen in love with him.”
“She could have! Haven’t you heard of love at first sight?”
“Yes, but she knows nothing about him! She only loves him because he turns into stone during the daytime! That makes about as much sense as if I randomly fell in love with a human without knowing anything about him except that he was a high school student who played guitar! That type of thing just doesn’t happen!”
“True, true. But let’s face it, Twilight: wouldn’t Brooklyn and Maud just be perfect for each other?”
“Well… okay, you got me there. So what do you suggest?”
“There’s only one way to figure out if Maud really is in love with Brooklyn.”
All of a sudden, a third voice entered the conversation. “Maud’s in love with Brooklyn?!”
Surprised, Twilight and Elisa turned their heads to see Pinkie standing by the door. The pink mare let out a long, drawn-out gasp.
“Why didn’t anypony tell me?” Pinkie asked in a hysterical manner. “That would make so much sense if it were true!”
Elisa rolled her eyes. “Guess there goes my plan.”
“What was your plan?” Twilight asked with eyes widening.
“Just to follow the two of them around tonight and see if we can find any hints to prove our point.”
“That’s a great idea!” Pinkie responded happily. “I’d love to come see that!”
“But isn’t that a little, er, weird?” asked Twilight, cocking her head to the side. “Just following ponies around, spying on them?”
“Well, it never stopped you spying on me!” Pinkie said. “Or you, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash from spying on Spike!”
“Touché,” said Twilight with a sheepish smile on her face. “So when do we start?”
“Once we figure out where they are,” Elisa smiled. “Hey, speaking of figuring out where people are, where’s Fluttershy?”
Twilight looked around. “That’s a good point. I haven’t seen her since the introduction earlier tonight!”
“Um, I think I know where she is…” Pinkie said, galloping inside. Curious, Twilight and Elisa followed her to see Fluttershy petting Bronx on the head.
“Aw, what a cute puppy!” Fluttershy purred. Bronx seemed to be enjoying the attention.
“Uhm, Fluttershy?” Twilight was quite shocked by Fluttershy’s sudden change in behavior. “That’s not a dog.”
“Who’s a cute boy?” Fluttershy continued petting, and Bronx barked in response. “You are! Yes, you are!”
With a groan, Twilight’s hoof instinctively went to her face once more.
…
A gust of wind blew from Ponyville through a patch of trees as Brooklyn flew in the direction of the park. As he flew, he wondered to himself. That Pinkie Pie sure is one interesting character… though she certainly is different from Maud. I mean, like polar opposites. I’m even surprised they’re sisters. Maybe they’re adopted? Maud barely says a word to me, doesn’t seem to have any emotions, and isn’t very enthusiastic. Pinkie seems to have a habit of saying TOO MANY words in one sentence, to the point where she runs out of room in her breaths to finish each sentence… Okay, so they’re equally weird, but just in different ways. I’ll have to ask her when I talk to her tonight. Speaking of which, where is she?
However, he was so deep in thought that he failed to notice a net fall on him. “Huh?”
The net pulled him to the ground as he landed with a THUMP. Groaning, he looked up to see what happened.
“Hey, we caught one!” He heard this voice, but couldn’t tell who it was due to the dark of the night.
“Great! Now we just gotta restrain him…”
Brooklyn growled as he stood up. His eyes glowed brightly, and he managed to break out of the rope bindings. A series of gasps and screams were heard, presumably coming from the captors.
What the hell… okay, better get Maud to safety before whoever that was comes back to strike again!
Since the wind was still, he took off running towards the park; however, he didn’t get far before he found himself caught in another net.
“Oh great, another one… wait, this doesn’t feel like rope. Uh-oh..”
A loud, electric zapping noise was heard. Brooklyn screamed as the electric jolt ran through his body. He tried to pull back, but it was just too much. Finally subdued, the young gargoyle collapsed to the ground, unconscious. Three fillies galloped towards him.
“That electric fence sure was a good idea, Apple Bloom!” said Scootaloo.
“Seriously, how did you know this would bring him down?” Sweetie Belle asked curiously.
“Oh, just guessin’,” Apple Bloom replied proudly. “Now let’s get this thing over to the clubhouse!”