//------------------------------// // Part 2: A Tea Party // Story: Lost in a Terrifying World // by Erisn //------------------------------// Twilight sat at Fluttershy’s table along with her five friends. It was quite a nice table. The smooth oaken surface had been rendered smooth by the passage of time, and the grain of the wood was quite pleasing against her hooves. Indeed, the whorls engrained in the tabletop and singular knot in the top-right corner only served to add to the overall presentation of the table in Fluttershy’s home. This table would never be seen in a stuffy Canterlot mansion, but it fit right in among Fluttershy’s quiet, tidy cottage. Twilight was even motivated to declare it Table of the Year for its sterling qualities as a source of entertainment, introspection, and a place to rest your teacup. A pony could stare for hours at its lovely surface. It certainly beat looking up and joining the rest of the tea party. Spike had been wrong in his appraisal of Fluttershy’s tea party as ‘fun’. The young dragon had in fact been sleeping for the last half hour, a worth pursuit which Twilight would have gladly adopted as her modus operandi for the day were it not for the fact that this would break Fluttershy’s heart. At least she was having fun. The delicate yellow and pink pony sat on her stool, wings folded nearly as she sat and beamed at the rest of her friends. It had been 18 minutes and 35 seconds since she had last spoke, but that didn’t matter. Fluttershy’s favorite activities were being quiet, and being with her friends. Talking was optional. Indeed, Fluttershy even apparently held the world record for not making any sound for the longest period of time, and was proving this now. She was simply happy to here in the presence of her best friends. The same could not be said of the other five ponies clustered around Fluttershy’s dining table, sadly. Fluttershy had miscalculated in inviting them all to a tea party. A picnic would have been fine; a party fantastic. But the individual and sometimes conflicting personalities among the six ponies led to a very uncomfortable tea party indeed. Case in point: Rarity. Twilight held considerable affection for the fashionista pony she had come to call one of her best friends. Rarity’s snowy white complexion and vivid purple mane curled to perfection marked her for what she was: a designer pony of the highest caliber, able to produce designs of such quality as would make a lesser couturier tear his or her eyes out in despair. Rarity, the emblem of generosity was always free to give a helping hand whenever the situation demanded, regardless of the cost. But by Celestia, she could talk. “…And so I said ‘darling, you simply must let me style your mane sometime. It’s simply a crime against fashion to let it stay in that closeted old bun.’ And of course, she wouldn’t hear of it. But fortunately, I had packed along some of my Plum & Pear Withers cream and I managed to convince her to let me have a look at it. And the result my dear was simply fabulous…” “Ah don’t see how it makes a lick a difference whether her mane was in a bun or hangin’ off the top ah her head.” That was Applejack, straightforward and to the point. She was looking rather haggard, her head in her hoofs. Twilight could hardly blame her. The orange pony was the no-nonsense element of Honesty, and could handle social gossip about as well as Rarity could handle dirt on her hooves. She had born up well over the last hour, but Twilight had seen her friend, who had stood tall against manticores, an army of changelings, and even a dragon slowly break down under Rarity’s endless onslaught of words. “Can ya just get ta the point where ya fixed her mane?” Rarity frowned at Applejack over her teacup, held magically aloft before her. “Honestly Applejack, how can you expect me to simply rush to the completion of my tale like some barbarous ruffian with no notion of the storytelling convention? It’s important to set the scene first, and gradually build one’s way up to the thrilling conclusion.” “I wish you wouldn’t,” groaned Dash, lying sprawled against her chair. She was rocking back, two legs of her stool facing the air as she stared up at the ceiling. That she didn’t fall over was due to her two wings, which flapped lazily, keeping her perfectly balanced. For the greatest flier in Equestria (self-appointed), such a trick was child’s play. Rainbow Dash had spent the forty-five minutes (she had been late to the tea party) either staring at the ceiling, the floor, or vacantly into the distance. It was clear that she did not want to be here, but Rainbow Dash was the element of Loyalty. Not Punctuality or Politeness or even Patience, all of which Twilight privately believed Rainbow Dash could use in more abundance, but the most steadfast of all the elements. Dash might be living through one of her personal hells, but she would remain at the tea party until it was concluded. It didn’t mean she had to like it. Twilight glanced over at the final and oddly enough, quietest member of the six. Pinkie Pie was sitting, staring into her tea cup as Rarity began to lecture both Dash and Applejack about the virtues of proper narration. Pink as cotton candy and as full of live and energy as someone on a permanent sugar-high (which Twilight suspected Pinkie Pie was in any case), she represented the element of Laughter, and normally lived up this title in the form of constant chatter, parties, and consumption of far too many sugary goods. Right now she was staring into her cup, as if contemplating the mysteries of tea. Twilight knew it was a warning sign. If Pinkie Pie was ever quiet for more than a minute at a time, it meant she was about to explode. In this case, Pinkie Pie had been quiet for almost eight minutes since her last explosion of chatter. She was trying not to interrupt the tea party, but calm and collected was not in Pinkie’s nature. The duration of the tea party had been interspersed with miniature explosions from Pinkie Pie in the form of chatter, flying pies, and an impromptu dance and song number. After the last outburst, Pinkie had been lectured at length by Rarity on the virtues of keeping inflatable balloons out of a tea-party environment. She had been quiet ever since, drinking her tea. Twilight could see sweat beads forming on the pink pony’s brow from the effort. If you looked closely enough, you could see that Pinkie wasn’t just sitting still, but slightly vibrating in her seat. Twilight sighed and at back. If Pinkie didn’t explode in the next two minutes, she, Twilight would eat the table. Besides which, Pinkie Pie was drinking her 43rd cup, and if she didn’t explode from pent-up energy soon, something else was sure to burst. “Girls,” Twilight interrupted as Rarity was about to launch into the dramatic finale to her restoration of somepony’s mane, “I’m sure we’d all love to know how Rarity’s hair makeover went, but maybe we should let somepony else tell us about their day. We have several more hours to go, after all.” Rarity tossed her mane, but subsided gently into her chair. “Oh, very well darling. I suppose I have rather been hogging the limelight.” “For the past hour,” Rainbow Dash muttered under her breath. “It would be rather nice to hear about somepony else’s day,” Rarity concluded, pointedly ignoring Dash’s last comment. “Has anything interesting happened you any of you recently?” Fluttershy beamed. “Oh I know. I could tell you all about the little sparrow I found yesterday. I found him lying on the ground after he fell from his nest. His name is Brownie and he’s very, very cute.” Rarity and Applejack winced, and Rainbow Dash covered her eyes with one hoof. The only thing worse than a Rarity fashion-monologue was another story about a cute animal Fluttershy had found. Across the table, Twilight saw Pinkie Pie’s left eye twitch. Twilight was considering dropping her teacup, or using a quick magic spell to set her own mane on fire when she was rescued by the dramatic entry of Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo as they practically tumbled into the cottage. At last. Twilight knew that if there were any three ponies in all of Ponyville that could be relied upon to find some kind of terrible disaster (or manufacture one themselves), it would be the three Cutie Mark Crusaders. “Ya have ta come quickly!” That was Apple Bloom almost incoherent in her panic. “There’s somethin’ in the Everfree Forest! We were on our way to Zecora when we found it followin’ us around!” “Sweet Celestia, thank you!” Twilight exclaimed, and caught herself quickly, “…that nopony was hurt! That sounds exactly like the kind of thing we should investigate. No time to waste. Let’s go everypony!” Possibly Rainbow Dash was the fastest pony in all of Equestria, but even she couldn’t match the pink lightning that zipped out the door. Dash was hot on her hooves though, with Applejack not far behind. Rarity and Twilight made their exit nearly as quickly, and it was only Fluttershy who was reluctant in leaving the house. “I suppose we have to go,” she sighed. “But the tea party was going so well. Oh dear.” Then she brightened. “Maybe we can have another tea party afterwards. That will be so much fun. Yay.” The yellow and pink pony left, as Spike sat up yawning from his impromptu floor bed. “Is it over? Thank goodness.” And he turned over and went back to sleep. ---- “So what was this thing that was following you around?” Twilight asked Apple Bloom once the mad dash to exit the cottage had halted, and everypony was more or less together. “Was it a timber wolf, or a manticore or something?” “No, it was worse.” Apple Bloom shuddered, unusually shaken. “It was like…” “Like a tall…thin thing!” Sweetie Belle interjected, “it was really tall and…” her vocabulary failed her at this point, and she was silent for a moment before inspiration struck. “It was like one of those things Rarity uses to hang all of her coats on. You know, a…” “A coat stand?” “Yeah! Like that! A really tall one!” Twilight tried to imagine a tall, menacing coat stand in the Everfree Forest and failed. “Were there any other distinguishing features?” She asked hopelessly. “Did it have any arms or legs or something?” “Yeah, it was really weird!” Scootaloo’s turn. Twilight wondered whether giving the Cutie Mark Crusaders a lesson in basic descriptors would be profitable in the near future. “It had only two legs and instead of hooves,” Scootaloo paused for effect, “it had these weird fleshy things!” “Fleshy things?” Now Twilight was intrigued. Two legs…fleshy things instead of hooves…her memory was tickling her. She struck out on a hunch. “Were there five of them? One on each hoof?” The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked at Twilight as if she had started sprouting fleshy things as well. “That’s it!” They chorused in unison. Twilight nodded. It always felt good to confirm a hypothesis. “Then I know what that thing is. It’s…a human!” “A what?” This came from the Cutie Mark Crusaders and her friends. “What’s a human?” Asked Rainbow Dash suspiciously. “Is that some kind of evil coat stand?” “Don’t be silly Dash. A human is one of the creatures that live on the other side of the mirror in Princess Celestia’s castle. Remember the one I went through a few months ago?” Twilight vividly recalled her short adventures among those odd creatures. “They have two legs instead of four, and instead of hooves, they have two things they call hands.” “Ugh. They sound positively barbarous,” exclaimed Rarity just as Pinkie Pie exclaimed, “No hooves!? How do they pick things up?” “They’re not so bad,” Twilight reassured her friends. “They’re just like ponies in fact. I was one of them for a time, and they might be strange, but they’re not scary at all. This one might have gotten lost through some kind of…magical dimension-portal, and probably followed you girls to get out of the forest. I’ll bet my books on it.” The Crusaders exchanged an uncertain glance. “I don’t know,” Scootaloo said uncertainly. “It didn’t look harmless, and it was sort of…scary.” Scootaloo shot a quick glance at Rainbow Dash, and her voice firmed. “I mean, I wasn’t scared, but Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle got nervous, so we decided to come find somepony else.” Twilight frowned slightly. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were infamous for their daredevil antics and almost suicidal lack of caution. They had been captured by Chrysalis once and had nearly driven the changling queen insane with their pestering, not to mention having gone skydiving to find their cutie marks. Anything that made them feel frightened certainly merited some degree of wariness. “I think we should be cautious,” Twilight decided. “We’ll go as a group to find this human in the forest. Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, could you show us where you last saw the human-thing in the forest?” Twilight waited, but instead of three excited voices, she got only silence. She looked at the Cutie Mark Crusaders and found all three staring over her shoulder, towards the Everfree Forest. All three were quivering, and Scootaloo and Apple Bloom’s coats had faded from their vibrant orange and creamy yellow into a white nearly matching Sweetie Belle’s. They made not a sound as they stared at something behind Twilight. Slowly Twilight turned to stare into the Everfree Forest. It was only just past noon, but the sky looked far darker than it should for around midday. The shadows cast by the trees of the Everfree Forest seemed to be pitch black, and the birdsong and animal noise usually present at this time of day was missing. Twilight scanned the forest, but couldn’t see anything untoward. She was just about to turn back to the Cutie Mark Crusaders when a patch of shadows caught her eye. Something stood among the dark greens and browns of the forest. It was tall, taller than any human Twilight had seen in the alternate mirror Equestria. Its face was obscured by a few branches, but what skin Twilight could see was as pale as the moon. It was wearing some kind of suit – a dark black, business suit with a red tie. But the darkness and strangeness of the day seemed to radiate from this figure, standing absolutely still in the forest. It was at this moment that Twilight understood just how much trouble she and her friends had suddenly gotten into. And you know what? That trouble was just beginning.