//------------------------------// // Reunited, more or less // Story: My Little Friends: Wish Your Happy Ending // by SyforceWinterLight //------------------------------// “Ha ha ha! Seriously!? Oh, this is too much to take!” “Umm… Hunter, would you please tone it down? This is still a hospital.” Twilight, who had just recently finished the last of the hospital forms, was trying to get Hunter to quiet down his laughing. It wasn’t working, as he found the sight of Indigo, who Faith had brought back, slouching with the head facing the floor on Faith’s back. Faith had recently returned with an asleep unicorn on her back, finding Twilight and Hunter right away. She had to explain the half-adventure she had trying to find their friend, which Hunter found the ending to be hilarious. Faith was somewhat glad that Twilight had decided to send Spike home early. “Yeah, sure, sorry,” Hunter tried to apologize in between fits of laughter, “But when I see something funny, the air’s gotta come out, ya know!” Twilight simply rolled her eyes, returning her attention to Indigo, who had begun to snore for no apparent reason. “Are you sure he’s alright, Faith? You don’t want me to get another doctor here?” she asked her friend. “No, I’m sure it isn’t necessary,” Faith replied, “He tends to do things like this. It’s… difficult to explain him.” “Who’s difficult to explain?” a female voice asked. Faith looked in the direction of the voice to see Raine, who was now identifiable as a blue pegasus, walking towards them. She seemed to be having slight difficulty walking, as it was slightly noticeable that she would have an odd skip or small slip up with her hooves that she tried her best to hide. That was like her, to try to keep up her grace despite difficulty in doing things she wasn’t used to. “Hello again, Faith,” she greeted her friend, “and Hunter,” she turned her head and simply nodded once to him, who shut his eyes and stuck his tongue out in retaliation, “I was recently informed that it was okay for me go, so I decided to see if I could find you two first,” she explained, before her attention turned toward Twilight, “Oh, and who might your friend be, Faith?” “Oh, right,” Faith said, “Twilight, meet Raine Skydance. Up and coming artist. Raine, this is Twilight. She was one of the first ponies I met in the world.” “It’s nice to meet you,” Twilight greeted, holding out a hoof to shake. Raine shook it with a smile, “Salutations to you as well, Twilight. Any friend of Faith is a friend of mine. I should probably thank you for helping our friend in her hour of need.” “It was nothing,” the lavender unicorn replied, “Anypony would’ve done the same in my position.” “’Anypony’, huh… I guess pronouns here will be a little different,” Raine said thoughtfully. She then turned her attention to Hunter, who seemed to staring out of a window. “Hunter?” He turned his head to Raine, who looked at him with the same smile she always wore. “What?” he asked immediately. “Did you thank Twilight yet?” she asked him. Hunter turned toward her, before turning his attention back to Raine looking confused, “What for?” “For helping Faith, obviously!” Raine looked like she was ready to brain him with a vase, if she could find one, “What, you never realized she helped Faith this whole time??” “Umm… well, I thought she just happened to be the girl that Faith just met,” he replied defensively. “Actually, I was with her since yesterday,” Faith interjected. Hunter gave a look that mixed mild annoyance and slight frustration, “Not helping.” “Hunter, goodness gracious! How can you be so callous?” the blue pegasus exclaimed, “We should consider ourselves lucky Faith is as safe as she is right now! Why, if I remembered correctly, you were extremely desperate to find her!” Hunter immediately recoiled, not liking the direction the conversation was going, “Hey, we don’t need to bring that up!” “I will stop the conversation there, but only if you thank Twilight for what she has done,” Raine ordered seriously. Hunter looked awkwardly at Twilight, who wore neutral look on her face. He inched closer to her side, and wrapped his right foreleg around her shoulder. He looked away as he moved Twilight closer to him, in what could only be described as his version of a thank you gesture. “Uhh, thanks, T-Twilight,” he let out, still trying to avoid eye contact. Twilight smiled softly as she looked at him, “It’s fine. Trust me, I’ve had worse thank you’s before.” Hunter immediately looked at Raine, who smiled with amusement. “Better?” he asked, irritated. “Much,” she simply replied. Faith couldn’t help but smile widely at the scenario unfolding before him. A part of her found it amusing, while another found it to be heartening. Hunter was known for his pride by most people who only meet him a few times, but Faith and her friends knew he also had a humble side. It’s just that he had a difficult time admitting his thanks to total strangers that he knew nothing about. Hunter immediately let go, looking very awkward, “That’s all it is, ya know I mean?” Faith chuckled at the sight of her friend behavior, before her eye caught something at the end of hallway Raine came from. Coming down the hall was Willow, who looked like he was carrying someone. A closer observation made it clear to Faith that it was Maple who was on his back. From the looks of it, he had difficulty walking, let alone carrying his sister on his back. It didn’t take long for Hunter to also notice the green pony down the hallway. “Hey, Willow! What took ya, and what the heck do you think you’re trying to do??” “Hello to you too, Hunter,” Willow greeted rather dryly as he stopped when he reached the group, before looking at Raine and Twilight, “who are these two?” “Well, it is good to see you are well, Willow,” Raine greeted him politely, “It’s me, Raine. I see you are also well, Maple.” “Raine? Is that really you?” Maple asked, surprised, “Oh wow, I almost didn’t recognize you! You look really pretty.” “Yeah, it’s good to see you as well,” the brother responded, “Nice to see more people I know.” Faith walked up to Twilight’s side, “Hey Willow, this is Twilight. She helped me during my time here. Twilight, these are the Evergreen Twins. Willow is the brother and Maple is the sister.” Maple waved a shy hello, while Willow continued to give the same serious expression he had been wearing the whole time. He eyed Twilight cynically from head to toe. “Well, I guess I should thank you for helping Faith,” Willow finally said, “I was worried she would end up with someone less… accommodating, if anything. So … thanks, I suppose.” Twilight laughed nervously, “You’re… welcome, I guess? Anyway, I’m curious about why you’re carrying your sister like that.” “She can’t walk,” he bluntly state, “or rather, she doesn’t know how to. I’m just carrying her so she wouldn’t hurt herself trying to do so.” Faith eyed his shaky legs. “You sure you’re okay?” she asked skeptically, “You seemed to be having trouble just standing up.” “Its fine,” he insisted with a straight face, while taking a few steps forward, “This is nothing. She isn’t that heavy anywaAAAYYY!?” While he was talking, the green pony hadn’t noticed that Hunter had slipped his tail in his path. When Willow stepped on it, the pegasus pulled it out, making the former slip and lose his footing. He landed on his upper chest and lower jaw first, before landing flat on the ground. Faith winced as he did hit the ground. “Oh my gosh! Are you okay?” Twilight asked with worry in her voice. Willow merely muttered in disgust as a hysterical Hunter laughed next to him, holding his head. “Ha ha ha! Oh god! I can’t believe that worked!” Hunter laughed to himself, “Oh yeah! I can definitely see advantages to this body!” “You said it,” a voiced suddenly quipped from Faith’s back. Surprised, Faith whirled around to see who it was, but was confused when she found no one. “Over here,” the male voice said, again behind her. Faith twirled again, and saw that everyone had begun to give both confused, amused, and ‘Are you kidding me?’ looks. She immediately caught on, as she remembered who she was carrying. She turned her head to her back, as she now eyed Indigo, who gave an amused grin. “Hi again, Faith,” he simply greeted. “Really?” she responded, “You didn’t think to give me heads up when you woke up?” “Indigo!? Is that you?” Before he gave an answer, Maple suddenly got up from Willow’s back and hurryingly trotted to Faith’s side. She seemed to have little to no trouble with walking on all fours. “Oh my goodness, it’s really you, isn’t it! Oh, are you okay? Why are you slumped on Faith’s back? Oh gosh, are you hurt??” As she continued to roll out questions to Indigo, Willow, who was still on the floor, gave a rather dumbfounded look. Hunter and Raine looked down at him with smug looks of amusement. “So, what was that about her not knowing how to walk?” Hunter remarked. “You know that she likes to play horsey with the kids, so she probably figured out a bit quicker,” Raine playfully added, “You’re taking her for granted again~~.” Her singsong voice had cropped up when she finished that sentence. Willow gave such an un-amused look that seemed to trump plenty of ones that he gave before in response to whatever incidents that the others get themselves into. Meanwhile, Maple continued to have a conversation with Indigo, who was still slumped on Faith’s back. The latter was beginning to get a little annoyed by the fact he was still on her. “If you’re awake now, mind if you can get off now, Indigo?” she asked with patience. “Huh? Why?” he asked, “it’s fun to go pony riding.” “Yeah, but the pony you’re riding is me,” she retorted, “So you mind getting off?” Indigo immediately hopped off, still wearing the silly grin he had. He then walked up to Twilight and held out a hoof without saying anything. The lavender unicorn was bewildered, and looked to Faith for an answer. “I think he’s waiting for you to introduce himself,” the latter shrugged. Twilight let out a quiet ‘oh’ before hoofshaking with the odd unicorn, “Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle, for the third time in this conversation.” “Name’s Indigo,” he introduced himself, “Indigo Fontaine. Nice meeting you, too.” “Indigo, haven’t we told you to wait to introduce yourself first before offering a handshake, not the other way around,” Raine chuckled. “Still a greeting, right?” Indigo answered with a silly grin. Faith merely smiled in amusement to his response. No matter how many times they told him, he would sometimes purposely act otherwise to his enjoyment. “So now what?” Willow spoke up. Faith was slightly confused by the statement, but felt like she knew what he was getting at. “What do you mean?” she asked anyway. “Well, now that we found you, normally we would go home,” Willow explained, “But since this isn’t our world and we have no idea what this is like, it’s obvious we don’t have a direction we can go. So again, what do we do now?” Faith immediately understood what he was saying. While she herself had already found help right off the bat, she was just mostly following whatever directions Twilight had given her. However, now that all her friends are in the same predicament as she is, the situation has changed completely. Now, they have to find a way for all of them to get back home. After a bit of thinking, Twilight immediately spoke up, “Well, you all can come to my place first and decide from there what you should do.” Raine and Indigo smiled to the idea, while Hunter and Willow gave some skeptical looks. “I don’t know,” Hunter said, “Sounds a little too good to be true, honestly…” “Hunter, come on,” Raine urged him, “It’s not like she intends to question us. Besides, she helped Faith, so we might as well give her a chance.” Unsure, Hunter rubbed the back of his head. “Ugh, fine,” he said, “I’ll give it a swing.” Willow still looked suspiciously at Twilight, “Are you sure we’ll be fine?” “Of course,” she said, trying to assure him, “Why? Are you worried about your sister?” Willow immediately placed himself in front of Maple. “Yes,” he answered bluntly, “I don’t want anything happening to her.” Faith rolled her eyes this. Willow was always protective of Maple when they got into a new or potentially dangerous activity, ever since they were kids. “Uh… Willow,” Maple spoke softly, “I think we can trust her…” Willow turned around and gave her an unsure look, “You sure?” Maple shyly nodded her head, and Willow expression softened a bit as he faced Twilight again. “Fine, I guess we’ll follow you for now,” he said begrudgingly. Twilight smiled brightly, “Okay, then. Let’s go,” she said, “The sooner we go, the more we’ll get to know each other.” As Twilight led the group out of the hospital, Raine looked to Faith with a smile. “Nice girl, isn’t she?” the blue pegasus remarked, “You certainly attract come interesting characters to yourself, you know that?” Faith chuckled at her friend’s comment, “Maybe I do, but it still works out. Hopefully, if we start meeting the locals, they’ll be equally friendly.” “Well, only one way to find out,” Raine said as the two walked with the others. The sun shining brightly as the group traveled into town. Faith looked up, just noticing now how bright the place was to begin with. Twilight had told her last night a bit about her world. She somewhat found that a princess was capable of raising the sun rather than it going on its own. Though at this point, she’s willing to believe a lot of things, due to her situation. She looked to her friends, who all seemed to have their preoccupied with the same thing: walking. Hunter continued to be doing it like he was born with the instinct, although it looked like he had a bit of a stumble between steps. Raine, just like before, was trying to keep up a graceful step, but also still subtly tripped occasionally. Willow was clearly having much more trouble, as he was tripping up a lot as he tried to watch his steps. He seemed to pay more attention to Maple, whose previous burst of instinct seems to have faded and she herself was moving slower to avoid tripping. Indigo, on the other hand, appeared to be doing it with no trouble whatsoever, had even adopted a small hop between steps. Faith trotted up to Twilight, who was at the front of the group leading. “Thanks again, Twilight,” Faith said to her, “For helping us.” “It’s not a problem,” Twilight responded humbly, “It’s the least I can do to help. At least you aren’t alone anymore, now that your friends are here.” “Yeah, it’s certainly a relief to see them now,” the purple-white unicorn said, “Although, this is probably not how I imagined our reunion. Now we really got a mystery on our hands… err… hooves, oh you know what I mean.” “Yeah, we sure do,” Twilight noted, “Hey listen, I think I have angle….” “Oh, Twilight, there you are!” Before Twilight finished her sentence, a white unicorn with a purple walked up to her and Faith. The latter observed how styled and curled the mane was, something that she thought was only possible with a lot of hairspray. “Oh, hi Rarity,” Twilight greeted her, “Were you looking for me?” “As a matter of fact, yes I was, darling,” the unicorn named Rarity responded, “I just heard the ponies I helped rescue were recently released by you. I was just here to see how they holding up. After all, being in a near drowning incident certainly has an effect on anypony.” “They’re fine, Rarity,” Twilight said, “In fact, I actually want to introduce somepony that I met yesterday.” She directed Rarity’s attention to Faith, “Faith, this is my good friend Rarity. She runs the Carousel Boutique. Rarity, this is Faith. I found her the other night, and she’s friends with those ponies you helped out.” “Is that so?” Rarity said as she looked at Faith, “Well it is a pleasure to meet yoowhaaa hA!?” Faith was both worried and confused by this offset greeting, “What, what’s wrong?!” “Goodness gracious, what did you put your coiffeur through to get it in that condition!?” she asked with extreme worry. Faith was definitely confused by this question, “You mean my hair? Is it really that bad? I thought it was just the occasional loose hair or two.” “Actually, Faith, it’s pretty bad,” Raine noted, “the ones on the top look like someone used it like a mop, while the back is pretty abysmal of case of asymmetry as well.” “I actually was thinking the same thing,” Rarity said as she approached Raine, “You must an eye for style as well, if I’m not mistaken.” “I’d like to think I have more of eye for art,” Raine chuckled, “My name is Raine Skydance. I must say, your mane is simply elegant.” “Thank you, darling,” Rarity said as she lightly adjusted the twisted part of her mane, “It is certainly a bit of an ordeal to keep up, but it is worth it. You wouldn’t realize how many stares I get from stallions.” “Yeah, nice hair, douchebag,” Hunter looked to the side, muttering to himself, “How much hairspray ya stole before the fashion police arrested ya?” Raine’s ear twitched distinctly, and without warning, one of her hind legs lifted up and bucked Hunter in the foreleg. Hunter let out a yelp of pain, and then glared at the blue pegasus angrily as he rubbed his injury. The some of the others winced, while Willow and Faith looked as if this they expected this to happen. “Sorry, thought I heard something behind me I didn’t like,” Raine nonchalantly replied, “must have been a fly. Pesky things.” “You callin’ me a fly?!” Hunter yelled indignantly. “Anyway, thank you for rescuing us,” Raine said, “It certainly nice to know that there was somepony there to help us.” “Well, it’s good to see that you seem to be adjusting well,” Rarity noted, “Although to be honest, I didn’t think you’d be walking this soon, being used to using two legs before.” Faith was immediately overcome by shock and nervousness when she heard that last sentence. How did she know!? Wait, does she know?! Everyone was equally shocked, but it seemed that Twilight was actually more shocked, “Rarity, wh-what are you talking??” she tried to asked in a calm tone, emphasis on trying. “Oh don’t worry, Spike told me everything,” Rarity said with assurance. “How… much?” Faith asked worried. “Oh, just the whole thing about Faith being something called a ‘human’ and being from another world,” Rarity responded, “Wait, I guess that was supposed to be a secret, wasn’t it?” “Yes, I think something like that you should keep mum about,” Raine replied, awkwardly, “Starting from now, right, lads and lasses?” “Yeah… I really probably told Spike to keep it between us all,” Twilight said with equally awkward tone, “With this whole thing happening between us, keeping this to ourselves should’ve been a priority.” “Ya think?” Hunter deadpanned with unamused eyes, “No one else knows about us, right?” Rarity raised a hoof, “Well…” “Hey, Rarity! Ya find them?!” Suddenly, from the sky, came a cyan colored pegasus with a rainbow colored mane. She left a rainbow colored trail behind her tail as she flew in. She stopped just short above the ground in front of Twilight. “Hey Twilight, I heard you bailed out those ponies I helped rescue,” the pegasus exclaimed, “Trying to get credit for my good deed, huh?!” “Wha…?! No, I was just releasing them for my friend here!” Twilight retorted, pointing to Faith. The cyan pony turned to Faith, who immediately was taken aback first, then tried to look as innocent as possible. “Uhh, hi?” she greeted, smiling as widely as possible. The pegasus mare hovered to Faith, and looked at her with squinting eyes. If anything, Faith could tell that she was probably assessing her. “So, you’re not from around here, are you,” she asked. “No, not really?” Faith replied, unsure how to answer. “You ever heard of anypony with rainbow mane? Did a Sonic Rainboom? Biggest candidate for the Wonderbolts?” the pegasus fired off more questions. Faith wasn’t sure how to answer, until she noticed something. She acted like Hunter when he was bragging his prowess. “Are you referring to yourself?” Faith guessed. “You got it!” the pegasus now flew higher while showing a few flips, “The one and only! You gotta have heard of me, right?” “No, she hasn’t, Rainbow!” Twilight interjected, “Sorry, Faith. This is another of my friends…” “The one and only Rainbow Dash!” Indigo suddenly interjected, sliding out to Faith’s side. Rainbow held up her head in pride. “See, he certainly knows who I am,” she said with a triumphant look. Twilight looked confused first, then very skeptical at Inidgo. “Wait a second, how did you know her name??” she questioned the blue unicorn. Indigo simply shrugged, “I dunno, I heard the name a lot while out wandering and connected the dots.” “See, this guy clearly knows who the awesome one here is,” Rainbow bragged loudly. “Were you one of the ponies that rescued us?” Indigo asked jovially. “You betcha!” Rainbow enthusiastically responded, “Although, I guess I got a bit of help from Rarity here.” “In that case, thank you too, Rarity,” Indigo thanked the white unicorn, “I’m sure you three did an amazing job.” “Well, your certainly welcome, darling,” Rarity said with rather humble look. Twilight immediately raised a brow, “Wait a second, what did you just say?” “That they did an amazing job,” Inidgo replied confused. “No, no before that,” Twilight specified. “Thank you, Rarity?” Indigo tilted his head to the side. “No, no, no,” Twilight shook her head with slight frustration, “How many ponies did you say did an amazing job?” “Oh, three!” the stallion beamed happily. Faith started to catch on what Twilight was getting suspicious about. “Uhh… Indigo,” Faith started to say, “How did you know who rescued you and the others?” Indigo flinched slightly to this phrase, but didn’t change his expression. “Oh, I sorta heard it back at the hospital,” Indigo said without thought, “Staff were talking about. Loudly.” “Indigo, the rest of us never heard anything about our rescuers,” Willow rebutted, “And from what I know, the number of rescuers tend to change between the actual place to the hospital.” “Oh really?!” Indigo displayed a little panic, “I sorta… found out who the three ponies by asking someone directly.” “Oh really,” Rainbow got up in his face, “Then you have no problem telling us who your third rescuer was.” While he didn’t appear to be fazed, his voice did seem to have a bit of nervousness in it, “Um… he had a purple body and … a green mane?” It was Faith’s turn to cock an eyebrow, as she definitely didn’t know any pony matching that description. However, it did match similarly to someone that wasn’t a pony. “Uh huh… suuuure,” Rainbow remarked before turning to Rarity, “anypony you know matches that description?” Rarity looked skeptical, but played along anyway, “Well, now lemme think… Someone does come to mind…” “Yeah, he must be a decent stallion,” Indigo commented, “could do without the claw grip, from what I heard.” Yup, he’s lying, was all that pinged into Faith’s mind. “Right, a stallion…,” Rarity chimed nonchalantly. “Well, I didn’t say our third guy was a pony,” Rainbow grinned smugly, “so ya didn’t like getting carried around by claws, huh?” Rainbow got into his face, and Indigo immediately backed up awkwardly, “I said too much. didn’t I?” “Ya think, dude?” Hunter deadpanned, “Ya might as well fess up.” “Alright, I confess,” Inidgo admitted, “I knew it was you two and the little dragon who helped us out of that lake.” “I think we caught that on early, but how did you know?” Rarity asked. “Oh, I was awake,” Indigo answered. Rainbow Dash blinked, “Wait, what?” “You’re saying… that you were conscious the whole time,” Raine said in detail. “Yup,” Indigo verified with a smile. “How!?” Rainbow shouted incredulously, “Your eyes were shut the whole time!” “Uh, hey. Color palette for brains,” Hunter waved at her, “take a second look at him.” Rainbow stared straight into Indigo, who continued to wear the same smiling expression. One that still kept the perpetual squint that prevented anyone seeing his irises. It took a second or so for this to register into Rainbow’s head. “Wait, is something wrong with your eyes?” Rainbow bluntly asked. “Nah, this is just the way I look,” Indigo replied, “I was awake all the way to the hospital.” “Pfff, you couldn’t tell?” Hunter remarked mockingly, “Most people often realized it within a minute or so.” The spectrum haired pegasus immediately flew up and got her face straight into his. “Are you implying something??” Rainbow immediately asked with hostility. “Am I? Or are you just full of hot air?” Hunter stared back, still wearing his cocky smile. “Alright, enough of that,” Twilight’s horn glowed as magical aura covered the end of Rainbow’s tail, pulling back the pegasus mare from the stallion one. “Hunter, please do not antagonize the ponies that just rescued you,” Faith requested as she walked up to him. “I don’t like her,” Hunter merely responded, “She irritates me.” Faith merely shook her head as she looked to Twilight, who walked up to her. “Anyway, now that that’s been cleared up, we should get to the library,” Twilight said, “We should really get to the library, we’ll discuss want to do there. Do you mind if Rarity comes along to talk?” “Yeah, I guess so,” Faith nodded, “after all, I guess since she knows a bit, it’s only fair we tell her what’s going, since she’s you friend and all.” “I take it there’s more to this than just being in a lake,” Rarity commented. “That reminds me,” Twilight turned to the cyan pegasus, who was still fuming while looking at Hunter, “Rainbow Dash, can you get the other girls? Oh yeah, do you remember where the cave lake was?” “Pff, of course I do,” she replied, “Why, you want me to swing by there?” “Can you? It’ll be nice to keep track of where it was rather than try to wander around looking for it.” As Rainbow flew off (which Faith was unable to fully catch where she blasted off to as she left in a literal blur), the Willow walked up to the lavender unicorn. “Twilight, why are you telling her to gather more ponies?” he asked skeptically, “Do you have something in mind?” “Well…,” Twilight hesitated to answer, “Is it alright… if I bring my friends in to help?” Hunter and Willow reacted with surprise to this statement. “Wait, wait, wait. I thought we were keeping this under a blanket!” Hunter said. “Yeah, but… let’s discuss this back at the library. We’ve wasted a lot of time already,” Twilight bluntly stated before walking forward and leading the group again. “W-wait a second! Aw come on!” Hunter blurted out, but got no response as the others proceeded to follow her. Faith walked to his side with an amused look on her face, “Guess we’re getting more than we bargained for, huh?” “This is gonna suck,” Hunter bluntly stated, “I just know, this is gonna suck for some reason.” “That’s a tree?” Willow asked, incredulously. “Yup,” Twilight replied. “That is not a tree,” Hunter said skeptically, “at least not a live one.” When they did get to library, everyone’s attention had shifted straight to Twilight’s home. Some of them were in awe of the appearance, others were denying the fact that one could live in a tree. “I think it’s cool,” Maple mumbled politely. “I dunno…,” Indigo noted, “Hey Twilight, do the leaves change colors between seasons?” “Uh, yeah,” Twilight responded, “Every fall the leaves would fall off, and they wouldn’t grow back until the spring.” “What’s the matter? Never tried building a tree house?” Raine playfully ribbed. “Shutup, I’ve always wanted one, but the stupid trees at the home never held up easy,” Hunter countered. “Let’s just get inside and we can debate on what factors as a tree house inside,” Faith said impatiently as she walked in first. The group came inside, and Faith saw that some of them looked impressed by the room in general. Hunter whistled a bit as he looked around, “You actually live here, girl?” “Of course,” Twilight replied as she walked the group in, “Welcome to Golden Oaks Library. Ponyville’s primary source of books and information in one place.” “Heh, sounds tempting,” Willow looked up wistfully, “Isn’t that so, Indigo?” Indigo didn’t give an answer, as he was already at a shelf skimming through the titles of books. “Hey Twilight, you’re back?” Spike shouted out from upstairs. “Yeah, Spike, you mind coming down here? Some guests are here,” Twilight responded. Spike came out and started to walk down the stairs as he saw the others, “Oh hey, it’s you ponies, from that lake. It’s good to see…” “STAY BACK!” Suddenly, a book came flying from out of nowhere and nearly hit Spike. The baby dragon yelped and lost his footing, sending him tumbling down the stairs. Faith spun around to find that Raine in a position where she looked like she just threw something, and very surprised looking Indigo who seemed like he was holding air. “Uh oh,” Faith muttered, as she remembered something very crucial. “Oh goodness, are you alright, Spike?!” Rarity gasped. “What on earth is that… thing?!” Raine said as she reached for another wayward book on the ground. “Whoa, easy on the sugar and coffee, Raine!” Indigo quickly stopped her from trying anything. “Hey, Spike is not a thing,” Twilight exclaimed with a hint of anger, “He’s a baby dragon!” “Same thing!” she said in a scared tone before ducking behind Indigo. Hunter couldn’t help but laughed at the scene, while Willow elbowed him and decided to actually do something. “Allow me to explain,” he said, “Raine has a sizable fear of lizards, so she tends to overreact around them. This was due to a traumatizing incident in our childhood.” Hunter paused his laughter to give him annoyed look, “Really, are you really gonna bring that up like that? Is that what we’re calling it now?” “It wasn’t that funny,” the green pony responded with annoyance, “I still remember how her scream blew out my eardrums…” When the two started to bickering again, it was Rarity’s turn to ask questions as she walked up to the pleasanter looking sister, Maple. “Umm, excuse me, darling,” Rarity tried to get her attention, “Maple, right? Could you explain what they are talking about?” The shy earth rubbed the tips of her hooves shyly, “Umm, well… When we were younger, we got this pet lizard, and Hunter decided it was funny to use it as a prank. He sorta dropped it onto a piece of paper she drew on and she… screamed. A lot.” “Well, I don’t see how that could turn into a mental fear of lizards,” Rarity noted skeptically. “Well… no… not alone…” she added softly, “but that night, somehow, the lizard got out of its cage. And it sorta… crawled. Onto her back…” “The bloody thing was all over my back,” Raine lamented loudly, “all over my poor, soddy back.” “Oh, I see,” Twilight understood, “Well, Spike isn’t that kind of dragon, I can assure you. Isn’t that right Spike?” “Oh yeah, sure…” Spike trailed off a bit before looking a little sad, “I guess…” Hunter was able to temporarily settle his argument and turned his head to see Spike, and saw the dragon looking rather depressed. He immediately called out to man, “Hey dude. Don’t let it get to ya, alright?” Spike immediately looked surprised at the pegasus, “Oh, it’s fine. I’ve gotten looks before. It’s all good.” He smiled awkwardly and sheepishly. “Yeah well, as long as you don’t get too close, I’m sure she won’t freak out worse,” Hunter said as he smiled amusingly at the still fidgeting Raine, “ten feet or so. Fifteen just to be safe.” “Gotcha, dude.” Spike gave a thumbs up. “Ah, well, I guess that’s resolved, Now we should probably wait for the others,” Twilight said optimistically. Coincidentally, some knocking came from the door. Twilight immediately walked up to the door, while the others quickly gathered. Indigo and Rarity managed to goad Raine out of her panicked state, while Hunter did some small talk with Spike. Willow immediately went up to Faith with a somewhat doubtful look on his face. “Faith, are you sure you’re with her decision,” he asked his friend. “What, you mean in bringing others to help us?” she asked back. “Yes, do you honestly think it’s a good idea?” he asked with a worried but serious tone. Faith looked up, thinking for a moment. While he was being his usual worried self, Willow did raise a rather valid. Faith may have gotten to know Twilight, but the rest of her friends were another story. “Well, might as well give them a shot, right,” she simply replied, shrugging. Willow huffed a bit as Twilight opened the door and greeted her friends. Faith looked to see that it was the apple seller that she met earlier in the morning. Following her was Fluttershy, who seemed to be trying to hide her presence as much as possible when she saw the number of residents in the room. “Everypony, I’d like you to meet two of my friends,” Twilight said as she presented her friends. “Name’s Applejack,” the orange earth pony introduced herself, “Ah’ think I met a couple of you already.” “Oh yeah, you’re the apple seller,” Indigo pointed out, “Thanks again for the freebie.” “Not a problem, sugarcube,” Applejack responded cheerfully, “But do ya’ mind introducing yer’self, and Twilight, mind tellin’ us why you called us here?” “I’ll start explaining once the other girls get here,” Twilight responded. Willow rubbed his chin in an observant matter as he eyed the orange earth pony. “Like something you see, brother,” Maple asked. “Straight forward and to the point,” Willow noted to himself, “I think this might work out after all.” “Lookin’ for a chance to score,” Hunter remarked with a wide and mischievous grin. “Shut up,” Willow bluntly replied. “So, who’s the yellow pony behind you, my friend?” Raine asked politely. Faith looked behind the others to see Fluttershy trying to minimize her presence in the room. “Hey, Fluttershy,” Faith waved to her. “Oh, hello Faith,” she shyly greeted, “So... are they all your friends?” “Yes, they are,” Faith replied with a smile, “You know, there’s actually someone I’d like you to meet.” She turned to and motioned to Maple, who hesitantly walked up to her. “Fluttershy, this is Maple Evergreen,” Faith introduced her, “You see, when we first met, you sorta remind me of my friend here.” Fluttershy looked hesitantly at Maple, who in turn nervously swept the ground. The silence between them was so apparent that one could even hear the dust settle onto the ground. “Umm… I’m Fluttershy…” the yellow pegasus softly whispered. “Oh, hi… I’m Maple,” the green earth pony replied in an equally inaudible voice. Even more silence followed, before Fluttershy spoke up again. “It’s… really nice to meet you,” she said. “Likewise...,” the other party replied, performing another nervous leg sweep. Another moment of awkward quietness ensued. At this point, it started to get to the others. “This is like watching the world’s longest quiet game,” Hunter quietly whispered to Faith, “or the most awkward.” “Willow, your sheltering is backfiring again,” she quipped to Willow. He simply facehoofed himself at that fact that his own sister was unable to strike up a simple conversation. “I’m sorry,” Maple suddenly apologized, “my brother is usually the one to talk to new people first.” “Oh, that’s nice,” Fluttershy noted, “He must be really dependable.” “Uh huh,” the sister nodded. “Well, your sister enacting small talk is a small victory, isn’t it,” Rarity remarked to Willow. “I suppose,” Willow reluctantly admitted. Faith watched as the two shy ponies talked, as they both slowly came out of their shells. She knew that the two would get along, even under the current circumstances. “Hey guys and girls,” Indigo randomly shouted, “Not to be rude or anything, can anypony explain this?” Everyone turned around to Indigo, and were surprised to see what he was referring to. In the corner of the library was Indigo, and sitting behind him was a large present that was bigger than him. How in the world did we miss that, Faith thought to herself as she wore surprised expression. “Ho, boy, Twilight,” Hunter teased playfully, “Ya got a secret admirer you tell no one about?” “Wh-what? No!” Twilight responded embarrassed. “No, it’s not,” Indigo said, as held up a tag tied to the present, “It says ‘For the new pony in Town.’” Faith raised an eyebrow, “What…? That’s rather... I didn’t…” “Wow, not even a whole week and you already have a stalker,” Hunter snarked while clapping slowly. “Hey!” “Hey, I’m a new pony, too,” Indigo pointed out, “so does that mean I get to open it?” “Well…” Twilight dragged out, unsure how to answer. “You see…,” Applejack adjested her hat awkwardly. “Umm, how do we…” Rarity rubbed the back of her head. The others, besides Faith, were making gestures and mouthing the word “No” multiples times. “Umm, yes?” Fluttershy uttered, unsure. “Good enough for me!” Indigo decisively said as he gave the ribbon on the top a tug. Once the ribbon on top was undone, the top of the lid suddenly burst open as confetti and ribbons flew out. “SUUURPISE!” Suddenly, a pink pony popped out of box, to the complete surprise of everyone in the room. She also happened to be apparently wearing some kind of party costume. Faith and her friends were the most surprised out of everyone in the room. “Holy!?” Hunter exclaimed, taken aback completely. “Oh mother…” Raine uttered before fainting dead away. The pony landed on the floor and disappeared in a blur, showing up in front of Faith and getting uncomfortably close. Faith backed up a bit, “Uhhhh, hi?” “Thiiiiiiiiis is singng telegram, I hope it finds you well You’re invited to a party ‘Cause we think you’re really swell…” Before Faith could react, the pony suddenly zipped behind, somehow leaving behind her costume. She whirled around to see her now in front of Hunter, in completely different costume. This one was what could only be described as a completely oversized version of Rainbow Dash, which she found to be ironically amusing and completely incredulous at the fact that it was under the previous costume. “I saw that you were new in town So come and celebrate The cake will be delicious The festivities first raaaaate…” “Huh, wait, what,” Hunter could do nothing but stutter before she sprinted off again. Once again, she left behind her costume, which Hunter was completely taken aback by it. This time she appeared in front of the twins; Maple was already hiding behind Willow, who was tried to act as a wall while trying to keep a straight face. Emphasis on “trying,” as when it was their turn, the pink pony had chosen to approach them from the side, completely catching the two off guard. It could be that she wearing confetti poppers for a hat this time, as they popped and made the two jump. “There will be games and dancing Bob for apples, cut a rug And when the party’s over We’ll gather around for a hug…” She zipped off again, leaving no response time for the twins. She appeared again over Raine, who was on the ground and on her back. She had just opened her eyes, only to meet with the sight a hyperactive face over here. The party pony once again ditched her previous outfit in favor of an outfit that had balloons, which somehow allowed to hover over the poor girl. “No need to bring a gift ‘Cause you will be the host Welcome parties are fun for all For the new pony the most…” Raine did not move from her spot as the pink pony dashed away again, leaving the balloons to float the ceiling. She then appeared in front of Indigo, who had not moved from his spot at all. She was wearing cake for a costume this time, as Faith was once again thinking how she could possibly be wearing all these costumes at once. “It won’t be same without you So we hope that you say yes So, please, oh please R. S. V. P. And come and be our guest.” Indigo, at first, had literally no reaction whatsoever to this. The others quickly composed themselves, with Maple and Willow helping Raine up in the background. Faith looked at the pink pony, who was smiling widely, and then Indigo, who still wore his neutral expression. “Sure!” he suddenly said with a smile. “NO!” Hunter and Raine suddenly appeared out of nowhere and tackled the unicorn to the ground. “Pinkie Pie, what are you doing here?” Twilight asked. “Just giving my welcome party invitation,” Pinkie said with a smile. “How did you even know I wasn’t from around here if we haven’t even met,” Faith asked. “That’s just Pinkie Pie,” Applejack answered for her, “If ya’ ain’t from around here, expect a welcome party comin’ yer way.” “Oh, Spike told me,” Pinkie cheerfully replied. Willow, Hunter, and Twilight very quickly shot looks at Spike, who just shrugged and smiled sheepishly. “I didn’t mean, it sorta… slipped out,” Spike tried to explain, “I just said how we were housing a guest, and she sprinted off.” Twilight simply sighed as she put a hoof on her head, “I probably should have seen this coming a lot sooner than I had anticipated.” “So, can we go to the party?” Indigo asked, sitting up and still held in place by Hunter and Raine. “No,” Willow bluntly replied, “I really don’t think this is the time for one.” “Aww, really,” Pinkie remarked, “But I got everything set up, and who doesn’t want a party?” “It’s not that we don’t want to, dear,” Rarity explained, “But we just have a very manner to discuss at hoof.” “Aww, no Pinkie Pie party,” the party pony whined sadly as she dropped onto a sitting position. “We can have another time, if you want,” Indigo said with a smile, “I really want to know what a Pinkie Pie welcome party is like.” Pinkie looked up and bounced up to her feet, “Okay – dokey, then. Party later, then!” She flung all of the stuff she had used in the surprise back into the box. Faith walked over to Twilight. “Is this something we should expect every day,” Faith asked her friend. “I guess,” Twilight replied, smiling sheepishly, “But then again, she is quite random.” “I see. Guess we’re going with what we usually apply with Indigo.” “Which is…?” “Expect everything, expect nothing, and prepared to be surprised regardless.” Twilight chuckled at the notion as the others gathered in the middle of the room. “So, should we start discussing our problem right now,” Willow asked. “Is this why you called us here, Twilight? Somethin’ on yer mind,” Applejack asked. “Yeah, well, let’s wait for Rainbow Dash,” Twilight explained, “I had her go check out a cave me, Rarity, Rainbow, and Spike found on separate occasions. It kinda has to do with why these ponies are here…" Suddenly, the door burst open as a rainbow hue blur flew in. “Twilight, we got a problem!!” Rainbow showed up above the others, with a very serious look on her face, “It’s gone!” “Wait, what is??” Twilight asked, “Don’t tell me…?!” Faith clearly did not like where this was going. At the bottom of her stomach, for a split second, it hurt, because she knew what was the answer. “That underground lake! It’s totally gone!”