Ponies meet Boy Part 4
Blueben walked through the doors into the candy and sweets themed shop Sugarcube Corner. Now it was getting towards the evening so the business that earlier today had been hustling and bustling had died down considerably. Blueben walked up to the counter and rang the bell that was there.
"Coming!" he heard a female voice call. In a few minutes a blue pony with pink hair walked up to the counter. "How can I help you today sir?"
"Ummmmm......... Could you tell me where I can find uhhhhh......Pinkie Pie?" Blueben asked. "She said she was gonna give me a tour around town."
"Oh so you must be the new colt in town she has been so excited about." She replied smiling and extending one of her hooves over the counter, "Welcome to Ponyville Mr. Blueben. I'm Mrs. Cake."
"Thank you....... How did you know my name?"
"Oh Pinkie Pie was just so excited about there being a new pony in town she told us everything about when she helped move you in."
"I certainly hope not......." Blueben thought to himself with a slight frown on his face.
"Now I know she can seem a bit overwhelming but she is a good little pony I promise you." Mrs. Cake assured him.
"My opinion of her is that obvious huh?"
"Yes, she can be trying at times but she does mean well. She'll grow on you you'll see."
"Yeah, we'll see about that." Blueben thought to himself again. "Anyway ma'am where can I find her?"
"You can find her apartment just up those stairs." Mrs. Cake told him pointing to the stairs. "It was a pleasure to meet you Mr. Blueben. "
"It was nice to meet you aswell." Blueben then saw something rapidly move from out of the corner of his eye. He looked up and for a fraction of a second saw a pair of blue eyes backing away from a small hole in the ceiling before it was hastily covered.
"Crafty little bugger aren't you?" Blueben said to himself under his breath. He shook his head then began walking up the stairs. "I am gonna need a good drink after this......."
The stairs were just plain wooden stairs that went straight up at a perfect walking slope. He walked on them no problem. The hallway itself was kinda dim with only a few small lights on the walls here and there. Blueben just looked around as he walked wondering what he was going to find upstairs. He remembered how many bloody times she mentioned parties and he instantly came to the conclusion that she was organizing some surprise party for him. Blueben would normally be flattered by this but because of his first impression of the pink pony he wasn't very enthusiastic about it. He could see in his mind's eye all the balloons, banners, and ribbons that would be strewn all over the place. He could imagine all the cakes and things set up on a nice little table near a wall where ponies would be chatting near a punch bowl. Now as much as the idea of lots of sweets sounded good Blueben was normally a solitary colt. Even at events such as this he would sit at a table alone and quietly eat his food. He would rarely get into any real conversations and even when he did he would rarely speak. Then he imagined Pinkie Pie suddenly pulling him in front of EVERYPONY and nudging him to talk about himself. Alone Blueben could think about himself, who he was, and his life for hours on end though not in a narcissistic fashion. But in front of others and in the spotlight no less he was much more nervous. Embarrassing himself and making himself look weird or creepy was one of his worst fears. Just thinking about it made Blueben's frown bigger and more pronounced. Before he knew it he was standing right in front of a white door with balloons painted on the front. Blueben then took a deep breath and opened the door.
He found the apartment.........empty. There was nopony in sight besides himself and......
"Hey Blueben!!" Pinkie Pie waved her hoof at him rapidly.
"Hello again." Blueben briefly waved back looking around the room. He didn't see this coming. He could have bet money on his hunch that Pinkie was throw him a surprise party but apparently he was wrong.
"I guess......" Blueben said slowly still looking around the room. "……I'm ready to go whenever you are......."
"I'm ready to!" She exclaimed walking up to him with a big smile on her face and a bag slung on her. "But first I still gotta have you meet Gummy."
Blueben's face almost went pale. "The alligator......" Blueben thought to himself. "The freaking alligator........." He had forgotten completely about when she told him about her pet. He jumped himself into a readied stance and frantically looked around the room. He looked up, down, next to him, behind him, his head moved quickly in various different directions trying to find from where the creature could potentionally strike. Then.... He felt something tighten onto one of his forelegs........
"BLOODY HELL!!!!!" He shouted as loud as he could flailing his forelegs around as hard and fast as possible. He was already panicking trying to think of what to do to get the vile beast that had bitten him off of his leg. Sweat started streaming down his face and almost everywhere else on his coat. He jumped and jumped around the room trying his best to get whatever it was off of his leg. He was yelling and screaming gibberish all over the place in his frantic state.
"Calm down you silly stallion." Pinkie Pie said laughing and rolling on the floor. "That shouldn't hurt you at all. It just means he likes you." She then resumed laughing and rolling around.
Blueben then froze in his current position. He stopped and thought about what the pony just said. He then once again started feeling pressure around one of his forelegs. It……. really didn't hurt at all. It actually felt squishy and alittle slimy but no pain at all. He slowly turned his head towards his foreleg. His breathing still fast and his heart still racing he looked at the thing that planted itself onto him. It was an alligator alright, but a very small one. It was a natural reptilian green with pale purple eyes that were just staring at him. It briefly loosened its mouth before reaffirming its grip. In that brief instant he noticed that the gator had no teeth......... just gums. "So that's why you call him Gummy huh?" Blueben said very much embarrassed from his outburst.
"Yep, you don't need to worry your silly little head." She said patting his head with one hoof and pulling Gummy off of him with another. "He never had any teeth. I have to get him some special gator food. Isn't he cute?" She help up little gator right in front of Blueben's face.
"He is I guess......" Blueben said just inadvertently staring at Gummy. In fact Blueben actually meant what he said. "He kinda is cute........ in a weird reptilian sense." Blueben thought to himself.
"Now that you and Gummy have been acquainted let's go." Pinkie Pie was already through the door and walking down the stairs.
Blueben looked towards the door then turned around and looked back at Gummy who had been set on the floor. Gummy looked back at Blueben completely expressionless. Aside from blinking a few times the Gator sat completely still. Raising an eyebrow at it Blueben slowly turned towards the stairs and began following Pinkie Pie down the step.
"Oh I have soooooo many ponies for you to meet!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie when Blueben met her at the bottom of the stairs.
"I can only imagine......... How many ponies live in this town anyway?" Blueben asked.
"You know I've never counted, but I have a feeling we'll find out!" Pinkie told him while the walked to the door.
"Have fun dearie!" called Mrs. Cake from behind the counter. Then she said jokingly. "Don't bring her home too late Mr. Blueben!"
"Say what??" Blueben asked blushing alittle.
"Let's go." Pinkie Pie started pulling on Blueben's tail with her mouth. "We've got a lot of ground to cover."
Blueben just stared blankly into space still blushing as she pulled him out the door.
****************
About 2 hours later.........
"Hello! HELLLLLOOOOOO!!!! Anypony home?" Pinkie yelled as she knocked on the door. She continued trying her hardest knocking on the door and occasionally the windows in order to get a response from inside the house they were at.
Blueben just stood silently as she tried in vain. It had been like this at every house they visited. They visited A LOT of houses in 2 hours and every single one of them bore no response to their visitors. First they visited a Cabin outside of town near the edge of the Everfree Forest. Nopony answered when the two knocked on the door. She even went to a cabin that was in the Everfree Forest itself. Blueben wasn't at all surprised to see some old cabin in the middle of the woods that was abandoned. Pinkie Pie several times tried to tell him that someone lived there but because of the way the cabin looked when they got there he didn't believe a single word she said. After they got back into town they visited house after house after house after house and they were just as was said before. Lights out and no response.
"That is really weird. Where could everypony be?" Pinkie Pie said with a sigh walking back to Blueben.
"How should I know? But yeah I agree that this is pretty weird." Blueben told her. Blueben himself started wondering what was going on. Even though he hadn't been there long he could tell that the ponies here seemed very friendly and sociable. But....... This didn't seem right for the town. Maybe these ponies were tired of Pinkie Pie but even with that possibility in his mind he still thought this was strange. He wondered what possibly could be going on..........
"Um......... Pinkie Pie?"
"Yeah?"
"Could we head back to my place?" Blueben asked politely. "There is something I would like to get from there before we continues trying houses. I would have brought it with me earlier but I forgot to."
Pinkie Pie then pulled out a clock and looked at it. After a few minutes of looking her smile became bigger than usual. "Sure. We can do that." As they started towards Blueben's house she then bounced the way more than walked, but Blueben was not paying that any attention.
"What in the world is going on here?" He thought to himself. "Something does not feel right here......" Blueben looked around the neighborhoods they passed on their walk. All the houses looked the same. Empty, lights off, no signs of life what so ever. "I know I'm not supposed to do this but......... this is just too weird for this kind of place. I'm gonna need to get one of them out.......... so I can be armed and ready for whatever is going on here........"
"Hey Blueben...... is something wrong?"
Blueben shook his head around and looked towards Pinkie Pie.
"Is there something bothering you?" She asked him with a look of concern.
"Oh no...... it's nothing." Blueben reassured her. "I was just thinking about what could be going on is all......"
"Hey, don't let this get you down. There are lots of houses left to go yet. Somepony should be home." Pinkie Pie told him with a smile. "I can't wait to have you meet all of my friends.
"From what you've told me I think I may have met a few other than Applejack and Twilight already."
"Really? Who?"
"One that had like a purple curly mane with a white coat. I think her name was Rarity if I remember correctly."
"You met Rarity already?" Pinkie Pie asked slightly surprised.
"Yeah, and I met another crazy pony too. Freaking ditz crashed into me while I was standing on a bridge."
"That must have been Rainbow Dash." Pinkie Pie started laughing. "Yeah, that silly filly crashes into ponies all the time. She crashed in Rarity's boutique, a few bridges, through some windows, into the library. It's so funny. She's silly."
Blueben chuckled alittle as he imagined the pegasus crashing into things over and over again. Alittle slapstick humor was never a bad thing in Blueben's mind. Before long Blueben's home was within view. "Good We're almost there." He said with a breath of relief. When they reached the home Blueben unlocked the door. Inside the house it was completely dark other than the minute amount of light that would manage to come in from the curtained windows.
"Okay Pinkie." Blueben said turning to where he thought Pinkie Pie was standing. "We're not gonna be here very long so please don't go through anything. All I am gonna be doing is grabbing a thing or two from upstairs. So I want you to just wait RIGHT here. Ok?" Blueben then started looking around in vain in the dark. "Now where is that confounded light switch in this place?" Just as Blueben had finished saying that all the lights on the first floor of his house burst on with light.
"SURPRISE!!!!!!"
The lights revealed a whole CROWD of ponies inside Blueben's home. They all stood in whatever nook and cranny they could find in the house. They were of a whole bunch of different colors. All of them were looking at Blueben with smiles and friendly faces.
Blueben just stood in shock with his mouth slightly open trying to make sense of what all was going on. "What the......"
"I told you I'd throw you a party Blueben!" Pinkie Pie chuckled hoofing him slightly in the shoulder. "Now you REALLY get to meet all of my friends!"
"How in the HAY did all these ponies get in here!?" Blueben asked Pinkie Pie looking irritated. "I locked that door the minute I left my house!"
"You forgot about your back door." A little yellow filly with a red mane and a bow in her hair told him in a familiar country accent.
"Yeah, you TOTALLY forgot about that one! Ha ha!" said a small orange pegasus with a purple mane who was standing next to the first filly.
"We WERE going to pick the lock for everypony but before we did that we found the back........ door...... unlocked........ he he......" said a third little white unicorn with a pink and purple mane.
Blueben just glared at the three fillies without saying a single word. He was extremely annoyed now. Even one of his eyes was twitching alittle as he gave them his glare.
All of the fillies looked at eachother and smiled nervously backing away a few steps.
"I'm mighty sorry about that Blueben......." Said Applejack coming up next to the first filly. "We were tryin' to figure out where to hold the party and then we heard how our little crusaders here found yur back door open."
" Crusaders?" Blueben asked raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah we are the......" The first filly explained before motioning the other two to join in.
"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!!" they all yelled.
Blueben winced the moment he heard them shout who they were. Never had his eardrums felt so conflicted on what he was hearing. He didn't know whether to call it cute or to put it on his list of things to never want to hear again.
"Yeah. That's what they like to call themselves." Applejack told Blueben who was still recovering from their yell. "This here is my little sister Applebloom." She explained pointing to the yellow filly. "This one is Sweetie Belle." She pointed at the White colored unicorn. "And last but not least we have Scootaloo."
After Applejack introduced the Cuite Mark Crusaders to him Blueben looked at them sternly with a raised eyebrow.
As he looked at them they looked back at him once again with nervous smiles on their faces.
"Hmmmmmmmm....." Blueben uttered as his eyes began to wonder. He looked and looked and finally locked his eyes on the kitchen. He thought a few minutes more and looked again at the little crusaders. He smiled at them.
Their expressions changed from looks of nervousness to looks of confusion.
Blueben kneeled towards them and motioned towards them with his hoof. "Come here for a sec."
The three fillies took a few steps closer.
"Come closer."
The three walked closer to Blueben still. He then leaned closer and started whispering in their ears.
"I think I have a few doughnuts left in my refrigerator. There should be enough for each of you to have at least one. They should be in a plain white box. Why don't you guys go in there and knock yourselves out?"
"You really mean that?!" Jumped Scootaloo with a big smile on her face.
"Go right ahead and have them. I need to cut back on my eating anyway." Blueben responded patting his stomach.
"Wow, thanks mister!" shouted Applebloom jumping with a smile just as big.
"Anytime kiddos." Blueben said still smiling at them.
All three of them looked at eachother with glee before zooming straight to the kitchen.
"Generous type huh?" Applejack said poking Blueben in the shoulder.
"You could say that. I was serious about the cutting back though." Blueben said chuckling.
"Now that that's done let me introduce you to the rest of my friends!" Pinkie Pie said pushing her head against Blueben's flank.
"Watch where you're putting that head of yours will ya!"
Pinkie Pie paid Blueben's words no heed at all as she pushed him towards a familiar group of ponies. "I know you've already met most of them but eh what the hay?" Pinkie Pie then bounced next to the purple unicorn. "This is Twilight Sparkle. You know how much she loves books already."
"Hello again Blueben." Twilight said with a nod.
"Hello again to you to." Blueben responded with a bow.
"This is Rarity. She can make some AWESOME dresses. I would say that if you wanted one to ask but I think you'd look pretty silly in a dress Blueben." Pinkie said pointing at the fashionable unicorn.
"I must apologize on behalf of my little sister." Rarity said politely. "She often gets into such a mess poking around places. I could tell you horror such stories of all the accidents that happened with her in my boutique."
"Ah, it's alright. Don't worry too much about it. Just as long as she didn't try to mess with anything I won't hold anything against her." Blueben said shaking his head. "I'm sure I have much worse horror stories to tell you about from back at Waterbridge."
"You already know Applejack. Our honest hardworker form Sweet Apple Acres!" Pinkie Pie pointed at her as she was walking towards the group.
"Yep I do." Blueben said casually.
"Here is Dashie! Her and me pull some HILARIOUS pranks on ponies. You should come with us sometime! It is sooo much fun!"
"Yo." Rainbow Dash said with a wave of her hoof.
"Hello again Rainbow Dash." Blueben said with a stern on his face.
Rainbow Dash looked back at him confused.
Blueben then smiled alittle deviously. "I got my eye on you." He said joking with her. "I'm not an easy pony to prank."
Rainbow Dash got the hint and smiled deviously back. "Is that a challenge Mr. Big shot?"
"Hey you said it not me." Blueben responded chuckling getting up in her face. It was so on.
"You remember that dragon Spike I told you about? Well here he is!" Pinkie Pie held up in her mouth a small purple dragon with green spines down his back. He didn't look too enthusiastic about how he was being introduced. "He's with Twilight almost CONSTANTLY with Twilight. He helps her out around the library and does a whole bunch of other stuff."
With a sigh the Spike regained his composure and extended an arm towards Blueben. "Hey, I'm Spike." He said being as casual about it as he could.
"I'm Blueben." He put his hoof in Spike's hand and shook.
"It's nice to see a new DUDE around here. You have NO idea what all this girly nonsense does to ya."
"Boy, tell me about it. I know how you feel dude. I was in those shoes before myself. Yeah, it was about as fun as you would expect it to be."
"A lot of the time I'm just with Twilight."
"Only one huh? Try four."
"Ooooooo, I bet that was interesting."
"Yeah it definitely was......"
Pinkie Pie dropped Spike out of her mouth and he hit the ground with a thud and a snarky "Ow.."
"AAAAAAAAANNNNDDDD finally we have Fluttershy." She pulled Blueben aside and was pointing towards a bright yellow pegagsus who was standing alittle farther back than the others. Her long mane was a bright pink and the mark upon her flank was that of three pink winged blue butterflies.
"She cares for all of the little animals in and around Ponyville. And also," Pinkie Pie leans closer to Blueben's ear and whispers, "She's very shy."
"Well that explains her name pretty well." Blueben nonchalantly.
Fluttershy's face was mostly hidden behind her long mane. Her eyes often shifted between looking at Blueben and looking away. She then suddenly gasped at something that was pushing her forward.
"You'll never get to know him if you don't talk to him silly!" Pinkie Pie said as she was pushing Fluttershy towards Blueben. Pinkie Pie stopped when Fluttershy was sitting at only a few feet from him.
Her eyes started looking around and shifting again now faster than before. She hid herself as much as she could behind her mane. She after a few moments settled her eyes on Blueben.
Blueben smiled softly at her trying to be as friendly as possible. He slowly extended a hoof towards her.
She backed alittle from the hoof looking up from his hoof towards Blueben's face.
"Hello Fluttershy. I'm Blueben. It is very nice to meet you." Blueben said with a smile. "You take care of the animals around here huh?"
He looked around briefly before silently nodding with a small barely audible squeak.
"That's pretty cool." Blueben said nicely, "I really like animals. I used to have a bunch of them back where I used to live."
"Uhhhh ummm...... thank you......." Muttered Fluttershy in a soft barely audible voice.
"Uh, Sugarcube I think you may want to......" Applejack started saying to Fluttershy.
"You're very welcome." Blueben said with a bow interrupting a suprsied Applejack.
"Uh........ Um....... what all did you have?" Fluttershy asked with the same voice as before.
"Four cats, a hyperactive little dog, an iguana, and LOTS of birds." Blueben told her.
"That's...... very nice......" Fluttershy replied.
"Thank you." Blueben said smiling.
"Now that you two have gotten acquainted I wanna introduce you EVERYPONY in Ponyville!"
"Say what?" Pinkie Pie pulled him aside and faced Blueben towards everpony else who by now had begun hanging out at various spots inside Blueben's home.
"But wait a sec." Blueben looked back towards where Fluttershy was standing. She had already left the scene nowhere in Blueben's sight. "Uhhh....... Did you say EVERYPONY???"
"Yep the party has only just gotten started!" Pinkie Pie said with a wide smile.
"Ok then, let's this start........." Blueben suddenly dropped dead in his tracks. He started to remember something else very important..... and about how they all had entered his house........ Blueben suddenly face suddenly turned into a look of dread and his face went nearly completely pale.
"Blueben........ are you alright?" Twilight asked looking at Blueben's mortified face.
Blueben said nothing. He remained completely still, his face still frozen in fear and getting slightly more pale.
"You....... Don't look so good...... Is everything alright??" Spike asked.
Blueben then started a cold sweat. His mouth opened slowly as he took a very slow very deep breath.
Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Spike all leaned towards him wondering what he was going to say.
"CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!!!!!!!!" Blueben shouted as loud as he could before making a mad dash for the stares. "Excuse me! Pardon me! Sorry! I need to get through! Ooops my bad! Sorry I'll get you a new drink in a few seconds." Blueben said in rapid succession as he drove his way through a crowd of ponies. Within seconds he reached the stairs and they all heard his hooves loudly bang against them as he ran up. Blueben screeched to a halt in front of the door to the large room. The glowing green locks he had placed there before were exactly as he were when he left them. Wanting not to leave it and risk a mistake he quickly waved his hoof making the locks disappear and the door swung open with a loud thud against the wall. He quickly walked into the room sweat pouring down his coat and his breathing at rapid fire pace. He waved his hoof again making the white locks he had made disappear without a trace. He violently pushed open the long closet. The cases he had placed inside all sat exactly as they had when he placed them there. No hoofprints, no new marks, no trace of tampering. When Blueben saw this he took a big sigh of relief. He closed the closet, locked it, got out of the room, and locked that door exactly the same way as he did before with the same locks as before. Finally, Blueben banged his head against the door to the large room.
"Thank heavens..............." he muttered to himself. "Those fillies didn't make their way in there........." Blueben took another calming deep breath before stepping back and looking at the door. "Thank you God............"
"Blueben?" Pinkie Pie asked as she came up the stairs. "Where are you?"
Blueben gulped and did his best to catch his breath. "I'm up here Pinkie Pie."
Pinkie Pie came up the stairs and saw Blueben leaning backwards against the door with the glowing green locks.
"Come on silly." Pinkie Pie said to Blueben, "I still have to have you meet everypony."
Blueben took another deep breath and walked with Pinkie Pie down the stairs. "How many ponies ARE there here in Ponyville anyway?"
"Oh there are lots and lots and lots of ponies here and I'm gonna introduce you to everysingle one!"
"Great.........." Blueben said sarcastically.
****************
Awhile later.............
Blueben was now pretty wiped out. After a getting moved in, getting crashed into, walking around all over town, the ringing pain, and after dealing with the EVER so random and odd Pinkie Pie he was pooped. "Hmph......... and it's only been the first freaking day......" Blueben slouched against a nearby wall. Pinkie Pie had introduced him to literally EVERYPONY in Ponyville who was there at the party. He couldn't remember all the names that Pinkie Pie threw his way in rapid succession. He remembered though Big Macintosh and Granny Smith, Applejack's older brother and obviously her granny respectively. He remembered a teacher named Cheerile, and he even chatted briefly with a zebra named Zecora. When Pinkie Pie had finished introducing him to everypony he was ready to resume his usual routine at parties. Find a place with a relatively good amount of empty space and relax until it was done. As soon as Pinkie Pie found herself chatting with a different set of ponies after the long agonizing train of introductions Blueben took this as his chance to break away before she decided to force him to dance. He looked around trying to decide where he was going to hangout. He searched and searched and looked towards the kitchen. From where he was standing it looked like it was empty. It was a perfect place for him to get some time to himself.
Blueben walked into the kitchen and immediately started getting a glass from his cabinet. He went over to the refrigerator and opened it up looking for his drink.
"That's good. It's still here." He said as he pulled a brown milk jug towards him. "And it's not past the expiration date. Also good." He unscrewed the lid and poured himself a full glass. He reopened the refrigerator and his hoof nudged against something as he put the jug of chocolate milk away. It was the doughnut box. He took it out and opened it. All that was left inside were some crumbs and little hoofprints made of frosting. "Nice job kids." Blueben said to himself laughing. "You little buggers made short work of this poor doughnut box didn't ya?"
"We sure did!"
Blueben turned around and saw the Cutie Mark Crusaders all standing behind him. They all were smiling with smears of brown and white frosting all over their little faces. Blueben started laughing the minute he saw their faces. It was adorable to see and Blueben knew it.
"Ha ha ha ha....... Oh boy." Blueben said with his hoof over his chest trying to calm himself. "I think you little buggers might end up growing on me."
"Thanks again for the doughnuts! They were sooo good!" Scootaloo said excited.
"Yeah........ and we're also sorry about sneaking into your house......." Sweetie Belle told him.
"We all are." Applebloom added with a nod.
"Ah it's alright." Blueben responded. "I was more worried about someone getting hurt or scared more than anything else. But since you didn't seem to have messed with anything I'll let it slide this time."
"Thanks Blueben." Applebloom said.
"Anytime. Now would you three do me ONE tiny little favor before you go back out there?"
"Yeah? What is it?" asked Scootaloo.
"There are some wash clothes over there in the drawer to the right of the sink. I'd appreciate it if you wiped your faces. The last thing I want is to hear your sisters give me a hard time for getting you guys dirty from the frosting."
"Yes sir!" They all said with a salute. With a final shout of "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS AWAY!!" They dashed away doing what Blueben has asked them to do.
"Pfffffff, jeez. They really are growing on me." Blueben said with a smile and he picked up his drink. He turned towards the table when he had seen a pony he thought was long gone.
It was Fluttershy sitting on a stool at the table by herself looking around the unfamiliar kitchen. She seemed mildly interested in what she was seeing eventhough she didn't get up from her spot.
Blueben looked at her for a few moments and took a deep breath walking to the table.
Fluttershy looked around at the kitchen. The wallpaper, the cabinets, the cooking utensils, and everything else that was there. "Oh Fluttershy......" She said quietly to herself. "You have got to work on how you meet new ponies."
"Is this seat taken madam?" a very low and masculine voice asked politely.
"EEEEP!!" Flutteryshy sqeeked as she jumped from her stool and found herself on her back on the ground. Her legs had gone completely straight and stiff. She couldn't move and she could have SWORN she heard a goat's "baaaaaaa"ing somewhere faintly in the distance.
"I'm sorry. Are you ok?" The male voice asked.
Fluttershy had looked upward and saw the colt that Pinkie Pie tried to introduce her to before. He looked at her with a look of concern. "Y-y-y-y-yes I'm fine." She said asoftly.
"You don't look fine." Blueben said bluntly. "Here, let me help you up."
Fluttershy blushed a bit as she felt the colt carefully get his hooves in the right places to help her up. With alittle work he was able to get her to sand completely straight up.
"I hope that wasn't too awkward for you." Blueben said scratching the back of his head. "Those stiff legs of yours weren't making it easier for me to figure out how best to get you back up." He then suddenly started looking at her with narrow eyes.
Fluttershy continued blushing in embarrassment as she wondered what it was he was looking at.
Blueben then carefully and softly placed his hoof on her head. Then he began swiping his hoof slowly across the top of her head.
Fluttershy had no idea what Blueben was doing and it made her face all the more red and she herself all the more nervous.
"Ah, there we go." Blueben said after a few seconds taking his hoof off of her head. "I think your hair has gone as stiff as your legs. There was a little section of it that was a frizzed up from when you fell but I fixed that."
"Uh, thank you." Fluttershy squeaked from nervousness.
"Here, stay here for a few seconds ok?" Blueben got up from the table and went towards the cabinets.
As Fluttershy still paralyzed waited for the colt to return she could hear the rustling and moving of various glass dishes. That quickly stopped and was followed by a few thuds of cabinet doors closing. Next she heard a door open and close with a hint of suction to it. After a few more sounds she couldn't make out Blueben was back and sat down next to her.
He pushed into her view a tall glass of chocolate milk with a straw in it.
"Here, have some." Blueben told her calmly. "It'll help calm you down."
Fluttershy looked at Blueben then at the drink. Blushed alittle bit and tried to reach the straw with her lips, but the glass was too far away for them to reach it. She then tried to hop herself closer to the drink but just as she was about to attempt the first hop Blueben already reached over and slid the glass so the straw was right against her mouth. She blushed once again and looked over at Blueben. He was calmly sucking his drink through a straw of his own. When he had finished his gulp he smacked his lips a few times and let out a relaxed sigh. He looked over calmly at Fluttershy. She jumped a bit when he looked at her and she started slurping the straw for her drink.
Slowly but surely she could feel her muscles relaxing and releasing their tension as she took gulp after gulp of her drink. When she felt she had full control of her limps she sat herself down right on the stool she was sitting in before and let out a sigh.
"Feeling better?" asked Blueben.
"Um, yes. Thank you." Fluttershy replied with her voice more audible then before.
"Good." Blueben said taking another slurp of his drink. After he gulped it down he wiped his face on his foreleg and looked over at Fluttershy. She looked back at him. "Now let me properly introduce myself." Blueben said before reaching his hoof towards Flutterhy. "My name is Blueben. What is yours?"
"Um.........." She looked at the hoof Blueben had extended towards her. She then cautiously started shaking his hoof with her own. "My name is Fluttershy."
"A pleasure to meet you Fluttershy." Blueben politely told her bowing to her in his chair.
"It's nice to meet you to....." Fluttershy quietly said before she resumed slurping her drink. "Um, thanks again for the chocolate milk."
"Don't mention it." Blueben told her taking another slurp of his.
They both for a while just sat quietly next to each other peacefully enjoying their drinks. Every so often one would look at the other and when the other would look back the one who looked first would go back to slurping their straw.
"Alright Fluttershy, this is your chance!" She thought to herself. "You can do this! Just act natural." After finishing off the last of her glass of chocolate milk she turned to Blueben. "You mentioned that you had lots of animals where you lived before right?"
"Yes I did." Blueben told her casually still focused on his drink.
"What all happened to them when you had to leave?" Fluttershy asked.
"The rest of my family is taking care of them." Blueben told her. "They are in good uh....... hooves so I am not too worried about it."
"That's good." Fluttershy responded.
"What animals do you care for here?" Blueben asked.
"Why I take care of all the animals here." Fluttershy told him now with her normal speaking voice. "I take care of all the birds, the bunnies, the frogs, and I even have a chicken coop at my cabin."
"Pinkie Pie made me walk with her to a cabin before we came back here." Blueben responded. "It wasn't too far from the Everfree Forest. I remember seeing what looked like a chicken coop there. Would that be your cabin by any chance?"
"Yes, it's mine." Fluttershy nodded. "I keep the chickens there to keep them safe. They always try to wander around and get in all sorts of messes."
"I know how you feel. The cats and dog from back home did that way too often." Blueben said shaking his head.
"What is your talent?" she asked Blueben.
"I write." Said Blueben motioning towards the mark that was on his flank.
"What all have you written so far?"
"Short stories, some poetry here and there. I'm working on a novel right now too. I just haven't had the time to work on it. A lot has been going on for me lately."
"I see, must be difficult being in a new place all by yourself."
"It hasn't been that bad. I haven't even had that much time TO BE by myself since I set came into this town anyway."
"Pinkie Pie?"
"Yep........ Pinkie Pie.........." Blueben repeated before taking out the straw. He threw it into a nearby garbage can and just finished off the rest of his chocolate milk in one go. After he had finished it he wiped with mouth with his foreleg. "What's your daily routine like here?"
"Well, first I get up in the morning and….."
For the remainder of the party that is what Fluttershy and Blueben did. They just sat and chatted with eachother over glasses of chocolate milk while most of the other ponies were enjoying themselves in the party.
*************
Meanwhile........ FAR away from Ponyville, a fissure opened in the sky. It was large, dark and ominous. And through it several small objects came into Eqestria. They were seven rings, all different colors. Each ring bore a strange symbol on it showing its allegiance. For a few seconds the rings merely fell towards the ground, then they suddenly started to glow. Each ring glowed its color brightly and they dispersed in all directions.
A voice came from the rings saying, "Scanning............. scanning.............. scanning................"
When they dispersed what each of them uttered seemed to change.
"Scanning for Rage.........." uttered the red ring.
"Scanning for Fear............" Called the yellow ring.
"Scanning for Avarice.........." Said the orange ring.
"Scanning for Hope............." chimed the blue ring.
"Scanning for Compassion..............." chanted the indigo ring.
"Scanning for Love.............." sang the pinkish violet ring.
And the last ring, the green ring, that which bore a symbol resembling a lantern uttered,
"Scanning for Willpower..................."