//------------------------------// // Penelope Poppentop's Preposterously Popular Party // Story: Even In Other Worlds // by Rytex //------------------------------// Even In Other Worlds Chapter 10 - Penelope Poppentop’s Preposterously Popular Party Awakening was an unwelcome event, so Nova Shine lay in his bed for some time, content to continue trying to sleep. He had been having such a good dream… why did he have to wake up?  Maybe he could find a way to dream of it again?  Well, if only he could remember what “it” was.  It must have been special to him, or painful, since he could feel dried tear tracks on his face. “SOMBRA!” Nova suddenly exclaimed, remembering exactly what had knocked him unconscious and bolting upward… Only for his face to collide with something almost as soft as his pillow, and for a feminine “oof!” to issue from somewhere just above him.  Almost as soon as he comprehended the sound, Nova felt dread fill every bit of his being as he leaned back and… Bright blue eyes, pink poofy hair, a perpetual smile, a curvy body with a set of human teats that would make that Trottingham milkmare he’d heard about green with envy, and the sweet smell of chocolate that seemed to follow the girl wherever she went… Yep, Nova had just taken a dive right into Penelope Poppentop’s boobs. “Kill me now,” he groaned, falling backwards onto the bed, vaguely registering that it wasn’t his. Penelope, however, giggled.  She seemed not even slightly concerned that Nova had just done something out of line. “Silly Nathan,” she enthusiastically said, and Nova could already see where this was going, “here I was, coming to wake you up, only for you to wake right up yourself before I could get Gummy to nibble on your nosie!” Nova blinked as she booped him on the nose to punctuate her sentence.  Her usual hundred-words-per-minute spiel ended quite a bit quicker than he had been anticipating, but he still sighed from his spot on the bed. “Where am I?” he asked. “Duuuuh!  You’re in my room, silly,” Penelope replied, jumping off of her bed and presenting her room with a flourish.  Nova sat up, now he could do so without accidentally motorboating Penny, and looked around. Pink.  Pink everywhere.  Pink carpet, pink walls, a pink dresser... How in the hell does she not get tired of this color!? Nova noticed his clothes were neatly folded on her dresser and that he appeared to be wearing pyjamas of some kind.  He lifted the pink covers up off of the pink bed, and to his surprise, he was wearing a set of baby-blue footie pyjamas with little yellow balloons right where the left breast logo would be. “These yours?” he asked, gesturing at himself. “Yep!” chirped Penny, leaping onto a pink swivel chair and spinning herself around.  “Mr. Sire brought you by last night.  Said it was too far to get you to your apartment, and asked me to take care of you for the evening.  But everyone knows you can’t sleep in your clothes, and I wasn’t going to make you sleep in your underwear!  Rachel and Tracy would kill me if I did that!  So I just dressed you up in my set of jammies and let you sleep in my bed last night!  By the way, you made a really good teddy-bear.” For once in his life, Nova was quite glad he slept alone at the moment.  Penelope must have squeezed him so hard he cried in his sleep. “Wait, hang on, Mr. Sire brought me by?” Nova asked. “Yep,” Penelope said as she continued to spin at Rainbow Dash speeds.  “Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham weren’t happy about it, but since they knew you and I are good buddies, they decided to go ahead and let me take care of you for the night.  Just as long as I didn’t make too much noise.  What do you think they meant by that?” she stopped suddenly, and cast Nova an inquisitive look. “Uh…” Nova really didn’t like where this was headed.  “Nothing, Penelope.  Don’t worry about it.” Penelope shrugged, then leapt off of the chair onto the bed again and pushed her face right up into Nova’s. Oh Faust, they’re pressed into my chest… “So, are you coming to my party tonight?” she asked. “You’re having a party tonight?” Nova asked, instinctively backing right up to the headboard as much as he could.  Why hadn’t he heard about this?  Penelope’s parties were all very well-advertised. “Yep!  Decided to put one on, just for fun,” she pranced away from the bed, “I’ll be spending the whole day sending out invitations, but you know me, setting up a party is easy!” “Yeah, well,” Nova thought back to her party cannon, “it helps that you have an explosive way of doing it.” “You know, I was thinking of expanding that into other things, too.  Maybe a Party Bazooka-- no, wait!  A party tank!” “Or an FBI Party Van,” Nova felt compelled to add.  He immediately regretted this decision.  Penelope jumped on him and grabbed his shoulders so hard, Nova could feel Penelope’s nails just barely not pierce his skin. “The FBI have a party van!?  WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME!?  THIS IS IMPORTANT, PARTY-PLANNING INFORMATION!” “I was joking, Penny,” Nova hastily replied, trying to get her vices-for-hands off of his shoulders before they shredded his flesh.  “It’s not a literal van for parties.” “Partying.  Is.  Serious.  Business,” she growled, poking him in the chest with every word.  “Whoever told you otherwise needs me to turn his frown upside-down.” Something tells me that would involve a meat cleaver… “But anyway, my party tonight.” “Your party tonight,” Nova parrotted. “I mean, it’s not the ‘Bring-Someone-You-Like” party, but that doesn’t mean you can’t bring both Rachel and Tracy if you want.  I mean, here might be a few slow songs or something, but--” “Slow down, Pinkie,” Nova said, clapping a hand over her mouth.  “First thing’s first, where’s this party even at?” “Well, zeroth thing zeroth, is Pinkie my new nickname?  I had a weird, tingly feeling in my right hamstring, which is usually the feeling I get with my Penny-Sense whenever someone I know gives someone else I know a new nickname, and I’ve been hearing you’ve been calling Rachel ‘Rainbow’ and ‘Dash,’ Tracy ‘Twilight,’ and Ashleigh ‘Applejack.’  So, is Pinkie my nickname?  Can it be Pinkie Pie?  Because I love pink and I’m as sweet as pie!” “Uh, sure,” Nova said, just smiling and nodding.  At least I could call her by her name without suspicion. “But what about your name, mister?”  She poked him again.  “You’ve been giving us names with our initials, but you haven’t got a nickname yourself yet, do you?” “Penny, please, I don’t need a nickname.” “No, no, wait… I have the perfect one!” Oh, here we go… “No-Shirt, No-Shoes, No-Service!” The hell? “Uh, isn’t that a bit longer than my name, though?” he asked. “But they all start with N and S, so it’d be perfect!  Waaaaaaiiiiit…” She suddenly rolled him over and yanked his shirt collar down, exposing his cutie mark-thingy to her.  He cried out in surprise, but otherwise let her do her thing. “I’m guessing you saw that last night?” he asked. “While I had you undressed.  Weird tattoo you have there, Nathan.” “I’ve seen weirder.” “Hmm… you seem to like stars a lot.  Maybe… Nova Sparkle?” Nova snorted unintentionally.  Was this just Penny’s craziness or… “Wait!  Nova Shimmer!” Now that one was getting a little too creepy.  Both on account of Shimmer being the name of his mother, and being the name of Lord Silverblood’s daughter back in the past. “Nova… Sunset?” Penny continued, pulling out a Sherlock Holmes-esque deer-hunter and a bubble pipe from somewhere behind her and putting them on.  “I will get to the bottom of the perfect nickname for you if it’s the last thing I do.” “Hang on, I’m getting a shaky feeling in my elbow.  That means I’ve picked names that are somehow related to you romantically.  And for whatever reason, I started thinking of clovers and the sunset.” Okay, that one hit a little too close to home. Penny, however, didn’t seem to notice Nova’s sudden distraughtness and instead was continuing to ramble on about her Penny Sense. “Oh, wait!  You don’t even know where the party’s at!  How can you bring a not-date when you don’t even know where you’re bringing them?” Nova shrugged.  Suddenly he wasn’t in the mood to continue this discussion with Penny.  He knew he couldn’t blame her, that she had no idea in this current state just how touchy he was about the mere mention of the word “clover,” but it still soured him quite a bit. A pair of thumbs suddenly hooked themselves inside of Nova’s mouth and stretched its corners out and up. “Someone’s not smiling!” Penny sang, completely oblivious to Nova’s sputtering.  “It’s a great new day, Penelope Poppentop’s throwing a party at Veronica’s club, and someone gets free cupcakes, just for being my friend!” “Hnnng nnn” Nova said, suddenly stopping.  He pulled Penny’s fingers out of his mouth, wiped the spittle off his chin, and shooed her away.  “Need to shower, Penny.  Can you give me a moment?” “Sure thing!  But don’t blame me if your hair smells like bubblegum when you’re done.” Nova had been doing it for just a precious moment of silence, but Penny apparently either didn’t know or care.  She just sat patiently behind the shower curtain, back turned away in case Nova opened up for whatever reason, and jabbered away. “--and so I was thinking I could maybe borrow some of the soccer players--” Nova scrubbed at the roots of his hair quite forcefully, at this rate hoping the scratching/rubbing noise of his fingers on his scalp, when mixed with the water, would mostly drown her out. “--but I was reading the chapter before this one, how the guy met this princess he had saved a loooooooooong time ago and she didn’t know if it was him or not--” He tried a different tactic as he tried putting his clothes on.  Instead of trying to drown her out, which seemed to be impossible, he decided to just grunt or reply with “Uh-huh” or “Yeah” whenever she paused. “--so anyway, I was thinking, since you don’t seem to have a not-date, do you think you could come to my party tonight as my date?” “Uh-huh.” Needless to say it didn’t work out quite as well as intended. “Wait-- what?” he asked, catching himself as he realized what she had asked. “I mean, not as, you know, dates dates,” she seemed to be trying to make it not sound like what it had actually sounded like, “but you know, just as friends dates!  Just a casual event where two friends can hang out in a completely platonic manner, you know!” Nova blinked.  Was his and Twilight’s in-joke rubbing off on everypony else, all of a sudden? “Wait, so you’re asking me to your own party, as a friend as a date?” Nova asked, thoroughly bemused by Penelope’s haste to make sure he didn’t get the wrong idea.  “You are aware I’ve already promised dates to Rachel times two and Ashleigh, right?” “Wait, you’ve promised dates to Rachel and Ashleigh?” Penny asked, answering that question for Nova quite quickly. “Yeah,” Nova said, scrubbing at the back of his head.  “Promised a date for Rachel if she came out and helped me and Ashleigh on the Appleby farm, and ended up being booked for a double date since they got into a contest and tied.” “Aren’t you leaving someone out, though?” Penny asked, sounding confused.  “What about Tracy?” “What about her?” Nova asked, as he started rinsing the suds out. “Haven’t you asked her on a date yet?”  She made it sound like it was something Nova should have done a long time ago.  “I mean, come on,  Everyone can see it, nowadays.  You won’t stop glancing at her, you never seem to mind her teasing you when it used to be you wanted nothing to do with her, and that’s not even getting into saving her from those meanie-pants Hellsings, or breaking up with Natalie because she wanted to throw her out.  So when are you asking her out?” “I kinda have more important things to do right now,” Nova answered, which was completely true.  And he also remembered how Princess Celestia had told him that under no circumstances was he to try to bring Twilight back before anyone else, simply due to her Spirit of Harmony relying so heavily on the other five.  As such, while he would love nothing more than to pursue Tracy/Twilight, even in this form, he had a job to do that was more important. That, and because he wouldn’t truly be happy until he and Twilight finally exchanged their vows, like they had tried to those months ago. “What’s more important than true love!?” Penny asked, sounding quite accusatory about it. “What makes you so sure that it’s true love?” Nova asked, choosing to banter back.  “For all you know, I could have less-than-honorable intentions.” “Because I know you, Nova Sunset,” she said, matter-of-factly.  “From the way you stood up to those Hellsings, I know for a fact that you would never do something like that.  My Penny Sense would never lead me astray.” “Yes, well, Penny Sense aside, I still don’t really feel like asking her on a date just yet,” he said.  “And if you don’t mind, could you hand me a towel?  I’m getting out.” He shut off Penny’s shower, took the fluffy pink towel she stuck through the curtains, and wrapped it around his waist.  Upon getting out and seeing his reflection in the mirror, he couldn’t help but feel terribly emasculated.  Penny, for whatever reason, thought it was immensely funny. “Oh, Nova Sunset, you look so silly with a pink towel and pink hair.  Regina would have a fit, don’t you think?” “Naturally.  In no small part because she… ah, highly disapproves of me.” Penny, it seemed, didn’t hear.  She just hummed to herself and turned around in a sort of pirouette, giving Nova the only privacy he knew she was going to give while he slid on his boxers, followed very quickly by his jeans. And as soon as his jeans were on, Nova’s vision went black as several things hit his face at once, including something that felt suspiciously like a pair of supportive cups.  All of them felt like cloth and all of them smelled like chocolate. Aaaaaand Penny just stripped for her shower. Unfortunately for Nova, he removed his blindfolds a little too quickly, mistaking the sound of Penny’s feet touching the bathroom floor for her feet touching the floor of her shower.. “GAH!” he yelped, clapping his hands over his eyes as he beheld Penelope, shamelessly naked, admiring her curvy body in the mirror. “Oopsie!” she giggled.  “Sorry!  Forgot to warn you.  Getting in the shower now!” Fortunately for Nova, the rest of the morning at the Cunningham Cake Confectionary went without further incident.  Unfortunately for Nova, he was still stuck with an image that wouldn’t soon be leaving his head.  And he had also inadvertently agreed to a friendly date with Penny at her evening party.  And Nova was going to go to great lengths to make sure this didn’t evolve into more. The remainder of the day was spent with Penny, helping her run her various errands as she went about preparing for this party.  Through this, Nova managed to get his first look at the damage done to Veronica’s club when they checked in that morning.  To his surprise, nothing looked amiss.  Sure, he hadn’t really gone out of his way to break things, but he had the feeling he might have broken a few barstools or something. But all they did was check in to see whether or not their venue was still open.  Luckily, it was.  That being said, Penny dragged him off to her favorite party store, located in Uptown, not all that far from Nova’s favorite pub.  The outside didn’t look remarkable, but the windows were all covered with some kind of black curtain, with some of the wares placed between the window and the curtain on a showing stand.. “First thing’s first, we need supplies.  Streamers, balloons, loudspeakers, gunpowder…” “Wait, gunpowder?” “For my party cannon,” Penny said, giving him a strange look.  “You didn’t think it fired with no explosive, did you?  I mean, duh!” In hindsight, it was rather obvious.  The smoke had to come from somewhere. All of her supplies, it transpired, were able to be gotten freshly from a magic-slash-party emporium.  And of all the shops in the city… “The GRRRRREAT AND POWERFUL TRRRRRISHA WELCOMES--  Well, well, if it isn’t Nathan Samuel.” ...it just had to be the one Alex’s egotistical girlfriend Trisha worked at. Just like her pony self, Trisha enjoyed her purple cape with gold and silver stars, and she really liked magus robes and pointed hats.  In fact, it was as if she had been pulled out of Equestria and given a different name, but had almost exactly the same persona.  Which, in a way, was what had happened. “Trisha,” Nova inclined his head at the girl working the registry just inside the emporium. “Oh, wait, you’re with Penny?” she asked, her purple eyes narrowing as she looked between the two of them.  Penny seemed not to hear as she skipped right by Trisha’s stand and off into the aisles of the modest store to look for her quarry, leaving Nova to stand there awkwardly with the mare whose life he had saved almost a year before, yet who didn’t remember a shred of it. Or of the rather embarrassing moments after, such as the kiss of gratitude.  Nova had a feeling if he mentioned it to her, she would probably tap into magic by accident with how angry she could get. “So.” “So,” repeated Nova. “First time we get to talk since you ditched that bimbo Natalie,” Trisha said, leaning onto her elbows on the counter.  “Gotta say, didn’t think you had the balls to do it.” “I could be wrong, but I don’t think ‘bimbo’ is the right term here,” Nova said.  “She’s anything but stupid.  But she’s still a bitch.” “Take it from me, Nathan, it takes one to know one.  And even I say she’s a bitch’s bitch.” “So you’re saying you’re a bitch?” Nova couldn’t resist smirking. “Exactly.  Someone’s gotta wear the pants in mine and Alex’s relationship.  Hell, if he was any more British, I could spill all of his wine and cheese on his Tricolor and all he would do is whine about it without making me pay for it.” “Are you sure you haven’t confused British with French, there?” “Stop correcting me on my history!” “Geography.” “Whatever!” “But anyway, yeah, I kicked her out of my apartment,” Nova said, returning to the original topic.  “She tried to make me throw Tracy out.” “We all know what she tried to do,” Trisha said, rolling her eyes, “and we all know you played the gallant gentleman and threw your own girlfriend out instead.  Really, the story is so full of chivalry, I’m surprised you didn’t stick your coat in the puddles so she could walk over them, or that you didn’t speak with the ‘thees,’ ‘thous,’ ‘thys,’ and ‘thines.’” “Funny story about that,” Nova said, thinking back to Princess Luna and her habit of falling into Old Equestrian and Royal We.  “For another time, but considering my mentor used that sort of language…” “Whatever,” Trisha said, rolling her eyes and turning back around to see a large, swaying tower of various different goods. “Your usual, Penny?“ she asked. “Yep!” chirped Penny’s voice from behind the swaying tower. “Two hundred sixty-eight dollars and eleven cents,” recited Trisha as she hit one button on the register that immediately run up every one of her orders. “You have a special button, just for when she comes around?” Nova asked, amused. “After the second time you have to ring everything up individually, it really gets old.” Nova could see her point.  In short order, Penelope was checked out of the store with all of her goods, which she promptly stored… somewhere.  Nova saw her drop them behind her back.  The toppling tower was at least twice her height, and she had just made it vanish into thin air behind her. “Well, now that shopping’s done, I’ll be heading back to the club now.  You coming tonight, Trish?” Penny asked, smiling as though she had not just defied the laws of physics. “As soon as I’m off,” Trisha said, before yawning.  “Though I might just hit the hay after I’m done.  Didn’t have the best night sleeping.” “Oh, I hate those nights.  Is this one of those nights where you’re just lying in bed awake, trying to fall asleep?  Or was it one of those nights where you keep going to sleep but you keep waking up every couple of minutes later?  Oh!  Oh!  Maybe it’s--” “Hush, Penny,” Nova said, clamping a hand over her mouth.  “Let’s head on back to the club.” “Alright,” Trisha said, waving them out of her store.  “But to answer your question, it’s a nightmare night.  Or at least, I think it is.  I keep having this weird dream about me being a horse or something.” “On second thought,” Nova said, deciding to go ahead and shove Penny right out the door, “I’ll be right behind you, Penny.” Trisha just stared at him in confusion, but Nova managed to get Penny out the door, before Penny just skipped off happily, no tower of packages to be seen. “Okay, first question,” Nova said, struck by that observation, “where did her parcels go?” “Don’t ask,” Trisha said.  “You’ll sleep better.” “And second, you say you’ve been having dreams of you as a pony?” “Well, a horse of some kind, at least,” Trisha said, rolling her eyes, an edge of irritation becoming more and more pronounced in her voice.  “It doesn’t matter what kind it is, I was a horse, and I was chained to a wall in a weird cave, and a horse that looked like you and a horse that looked like Tracy were there.” Nova frowned.  Trisha was already remembering her past?  Was the curse starting to unravel already?  If it was, he needed to speed things up with the Elements.  If not… well, that did that matter?  He couldn’t take that chance.  The last thing he needed was Envy running around trying to stop the Bearers from activating their Elements.. Before Trisha could say anything else, Nova reached out and grabbed her face over her eyes. :”OW!  What the fuck are.. you… oh...” Trisha trailed off as Nova channelled a sleeping spell through his hand, and with a soft thump, she fell onto the register.  With Trisha asleep, Nova channelled a second spell, allowing him to Dreamwalk to tap into her memories.  He needed to find out what she had dreamt of.  But first, no observers. With a snap of his fingers, the curtains were drawn, the door locked, and the windows tinted themselves black where not covered by curtan.  There would be no peekers.  And with the room secure, Nova cast the spell. The inky black dreamscape of Trisha’s mind surrounded him.  Bubbles of light surrounded him, each a different memory.  Naturally, the recent ones would appear closest, and he floated towards one of them.  It was only the memory of Nova clapping his hand over her eyes, but Nova removed it regardless.  All he had to do was explain that she had fallen asleep. The bubble vanished and he floated towards another.  When it wasn’t the one, he continued.  A few bubbles in, he found it.  It was the memory of the incident in the Vaults, when he had been there to rescue her and Twilight. He couldn’t just remove this one; it was a memory recalled.  The best thing to do would be to lock it away, with her other memories.  With that thought in mind, Nova floated past several bubbles toward a strange, magical wall-construct in the distance.  There were cracks in the wall, which if this was the manifestation of the curse, confirmed that the curse was unravelling.  Nova took the bubble with the memories of the Vaults and stuck it back inside the cracked wall of the curse, before resealing it with his own magic.  He needed to keep this curse intact as long as he could. With his job done, he backed out, reappearing in the midst of Trisha’s shop.  Trisha was still sleeping, and Nova still had his hand over her eyes.  Deciding it was best to play it off, he channelled a waking spell through his hand, before pulling it back.  With a groan, Trisha stirred.  It took a few tries, but she managed to get herself propped up on her elbows to try to fully wake up. “You okay?” he asked, adding a concerned edge to his voice.  He knew, of course, she was perfectly okay.  In the long run, if nothing else.  But for right now, mild disorientation and slight nausea might be something to worry about. “Y-yeah…” Trisha said, shaking her head vigorously, tossing her long pale-blue hair around and only adding to the confused look she had about her.  “Wha… what happened?” “You swooned,” Nova said, reaching over and touching the back of his hand to her forehead.  “Are you feeling alright?  Your forehead feels very warm.” “I… think so,” Trisha replied, bringing a hand up to feel it herself. “Look,” said Nova, adding an extra bit of concern, “maybe you should call your boss and tell him.  I’m sure he’ll understand.” “M-m-maybe.” The door opened behind him.  Nova turned and saw none other than Alex standing there, surveying the scene “Oh good, you’re here,” Nova said, motioning him over.  “I was about to call you.  Look, Trisha swooned just a moment ago and--” But the moment he had said the word “swooned,” he was shoved right out of the way as Alex dashed to Trisha’s side. “Are you alright?” he asked sharply, feeling her head with the back of his hand the same way Nova did, before recoiling slightly. “Mm fine…” Trisha mumbled blearily. “No you’re not,” Alex said.  “Fever if ever I felt one.  I’ll let your dad know what’s going on; I don’t think he’ll mind you closing up early.  Hey Nathan?” While Alex had been talking to Trisha, Nova had attempted to sneak out of the building and get caught up with Penelope.  So when Alex called him over, he froze as if he’d been caught stealing something. “Yes, Alex?” “Thanks for looking after Trisha,” he said, giving him a sincerely grateful look. “No problem.  Your timing was impeccable.  Well, got to go.  Need to catch back up to Penny.” “If she gets better by tonight,” he nodded back at nauseous Trisha, currently leaning on the counter again, “I suppose I’ll see you at the club.” “Guess I’ll be seeing you there too, if that’s the case,” Nova replied, before pushing open the door and continuing on outside. With one whiff of the crisp air, Nova decided he was going to be intentionally taking his sweet time.  The winter air was pleasantly chilly, and it just seemed the perfect day for him to take a rather long walk with his thoughts. “NATHAN SAMUEL YOU GET YOUR BOOTIE BACK HERE AND HELP ME WITH MY PARTY OR SO HELP ME PARTY GODS I WILL NEVER LET YOU HEAR THE END OF IT!” Nova grinned sheepishly as he started running back to the club.  Or not. People.  People everywhere. The party was in full swing that evening.  As with most Penelope Poppentop parties, the house was packed, the balloons were everywhere, the streamers were being thrown around, and the various desserts were off to the side on a table and nearly all had been munched on by Penny at some point over the last fifteen minutes.  As with most Veronica parties, the smoke machines were going, the lights were down, the LED strobes were flickering brightly and seizure-inducingly, and the bass was blaring. All in all, it was your typical “Veronope” party.  With the unexpected addition of Felicity Sanders. Despite, or perhaps because of, the atmosphere, Felicity was just sitting off at the bar, keeping to herself while everyone danced around the dark club.  Amusingly enough, the smoke and darkness seemed to have no effect on her as she read a novella in her seat. The club's bartender seemed not to mind the company as he worked tirelessly on the many drink orders. "So why come to this party if you have no intention of joining the festivities?" he asked her, to which she just shrugged. "It's hard to say no to Penny. She's just so..." she searched for the right term, but the bartender just chuckled. "I know what you mean." He took off his glasses, cleaned them up a little, brushed back his silver-dyed hair with black tips, and then slid them back on and continued mixing. "I... I think your hair looks nice," Felicity said, going a little pink. The bartender laughed. "Veronica makes me dye it. No normal-looking employees in her club. Aside from the uniform, that is," he added, indicating his navy blue jacket, which looked almost black in the darkness. As Felicity continued sitting off to the side, who should come dancing up to the bar but Penny herself? "Hiya Sabre!" she called over to the bar. The bartender, Sabre, just inclined his head and continued mixing. "And hiya too, Fel-Fel!" "I don't like being called that, umm, if that's okay with you." Penny didn't seem to notice or care that Felicity didn't want to be called that. Instead, she plopped down next to her in a barstool. "So why aren't you enjoying the party?" "I don't like crowds. Or bright lights. Or the mortal fear of me doing something embarrassing in front of so many people." Penelope continued to practically beg Felicity to join in the festivities, but Felicity just kept denying that she wanted to participate.  She had deigned to show up, which was in itself a surprise, but no dancing for her. “But Fel-Fel, you’re making me so sad,” protested Penny, putting on a mock-sad face. “I, umm, didn’t mean to make you sad, Penny,” Felicity said quietly, tilting her head down so that her pink hair hid her face.  “I just want to stay over here, away from all the noise… and people… if that’s okay with you.” “Well, your loss,” Penny said, springing back up and bouncing right back into the party.  Felicity just went back to her book. With all the commotion, Nova was just sliding his way through people, trying to find other people.  Almost everyone he knew came to Penelope’s parties.  Even Penny’s sister Marge (creepy though she was). His primary target:  Ashleigh Appleby.  He had seen someone with a Stetson running around in here somewhere, and he was looking to confirm his suspicions with her about the marks on their backs by seeing if she had one like it.  Nova had already gotten a glance at Felicity’s back when her loose clothes left a gap between them and her back at the right angle, but there was nothing there.  Just smooth skin, not even marred by a bra strap, which made Nova feel a little dirty. It took a little bit of effort, but he finally managed to get within sight of the hat-wearer, who had a blonde ponytail trailing behind her.  Another look at her attire confirmed it to be Ashleigh, as she was wearing a leather vest over a white T-shirt, boots, and scuffed jeans.  It seemed she had been worming her way through the crowd to get to places best known to her. “So whah’re ya followin’ me, Nathan?” she asked icily as she finally got to a corner of the dark club, promptly turned around and crossed her arms in front of her with an expectant look. Or maybe she was just trying to see if he was stalking her. “Uhh… kinda hard to explain.” “Well, spit it out, then.” “Has a strange mark appeared on your back recently?” he asked, deciding to get straight to the point. Her eyes narrowed dangerously. “How the hayll would yeh know summat lahke that?” she asked, grabbing him by his shirt.  “Y’all haven’t been peepin’ on me, have yeh?” “No, nothing like that,” Nova said, inwardly smiling that her response was basically a confirmation, but outwardly turning around and pulling up the back of his white shirt to reveal the mark on his own back.  “It’s on my back and it’s on Rachel’s.  Was wondering if something like that had appeared on your’s.” “Hang on, that one’s different from mahne.” “Oh?” Nova asked, feigning surprise. “Yeah, mahne’s an orange apple-lookin’ shape.  Can’t say Ah don’t lahke it, but still, Granny wasn’t happy when she saw Ah had a little tattoo.” She turned around, pulled her ponytail away.  “Go on, give it a look.” Nova pulled the back of her shirt and vest collars down and sure enough, even in the darkness of the club, an orange apple was visible on her skin, just under her neck.  Nova let go of the collars, and Ashleigh adjusted them back into position, before tossing her hair back over her shoulder and turning back around. “You ‘n’ Rachel have these little marks, too?” “Yeah,” Nova said, nodding.  “Felicity doesn’t, already checked.  Thought it might have something to do with the farm work we all did together.” “Hmm,” Ashleigh said, staring for a moment, before dropping that thread of conversation.  “So, how’s things between you and Natalie?  Y’all haven’t patched things up yet, have you?” Nova suddenly caught sight of bright, light-blue eyes staring at him from over Ashleigh’s shoulder.  He directed his gaze in that direction and saw that Natalie was glaring at him, and slight snarl on her face.  Her vivid red hair almost looked like fire with the smoke and the light playing off of it.  She coldly turned around and stalked off back into the crowd. “Ah’ll take that as a no, then,” Ashleigh said, having turned to see what was happening. “Guess not,” Nova said, shrugging.  “I’m not talking her until she apologizes for what she demanded I do to Tracy.” “Ah don’t blame ya,” Ashleigh said, scowling after Natalie.  “Always thought she wa’n’t nothin’ but a little shit.” “Hey guys, the party’s over here,” came a confident, slightly scratchy voice from behind Nova, but he didn’t need to turn to know that Rachel was standing there.  Sure, he couldn’t sense her energy with everyone’s energy around, but the voice was unmistakable, and this isn’t mentioning the sudden increase in ego. “Howdy, Rachel,” Ashleigh said, waving.  Nova waved too, the casually-careless wave one did to the person behind them. “Soooo,” Rachel said, looping an arm around Nova’s neck, “how’s my favorite pair of apple-sledgers?” “The word ‘concerned’ comes to mahnd,” Ashleigh said, glancing at her shoulder. “Concerned about what?” Rachel asked, unperturbed as Nova removed her arm from his neck. “Rachel, Nathan told me about that mark on yer back.  The one he’s got and the on Ah’ve got too.” “Oh, that thing?” Rachel said, turning her head as best she could to glance at the spot on her back where the faint red bolt was emblazoned on her skin beneath her sky-blue shirt.  “I think it’s cool.  Nathan says it ain’t nothing to be worried about.” “Ah’m a mahte skeptical ‘bout it, but it don’t seem ta be affectin’ me rahght now, so Ah guess Ah’ll let it rest.” “Good, ‘cause we got an awesome party to enjoy!  Oh, and Nathan,” added Rachel, looping her arm around his shoulder again and dragging him toward the crowd, “I kinda need your help for something.” Nova groaned good-naturedly as Rachel led him back into the crowd.  To his surprise, he noticed a strange, pleasant smell coming from her, despite the overpowering odor of sweat pervading the room.  This also turned his attention to what she was wearing.  Namely, a very snug-looking pair of very short shorts, and now that he had a proper look, her shirt looked pretty tight as well.  Inwardly, he let out a disappointed sigh upon noticing the perfume and attire she had chosen to wear. Rainbow, stop.  No matter what your other self wants, surely you must know deep down that we can’t be. “Okay, so here’s the rundown,” and suddenly, Rachel’s demeanor became very businesslike.  She turned and gave Nova the kind of glare he had expected to see on a CEO at a meeting, or some such.  Or perhaps a drill sergeant.  “Me and Penny have an ongoing prank war.  It’s my move.  I have something special planned involving a water balloon full of rainbow hair dye.” “You want to throw it into her hair,” Nova stated. “Exactly,” Rachel smirked, and she withdrew a balloon just large enough to fit into Nova’s hand.  “You’ve been helping her run the show all night, so I need your help distracting her.” “Why rainbow hair dye?” Nova asked, arching an eyebrow.  “Seems a mite tame, knowing your pranks.” “I, uhh, managed to snag a prank chemical from the chemistry labs that makes people’s scalps itch.” Nova gave her a stern look. “Stealing things from the chemistry labs?  Do you have any idea how badly that could backfire?” “Nathan, I have a chem lab this semester.  I watched the professor make it myself.  She even tossed it on on of her more annoying students.  I got her permission for this.” “I’m having a hard time believing this,” Nova said, having felt a slight flare of energy from Rachel.  She was lying, or at least, only slightly fibbing.  “So you just need me keeping her looking one way so you can splatter her from another.  Sounds easy enough.” “I knew you’d be up for it,” the relief on her face said otherwise.  “Just go keep her busy, and I’ll strike.” Before he really had time to talk back, she had vanished into the dancing crowd on the lighted floor, leaving Nova to just shake his head. Why do I put up with these ridiculous shenanigans? he asked himself.  Before the snarky other side of his mind could offer an answer, he snapped Rhetorical, to it. So, with that thought in mind, he squeezed his way between everyone in the crowd toward the DJ stand, where Veronica was rocking out, with Penny standing underneath, jabbering away and keeping tabs on the proceedings. “Hey!  Penny!” he called, before jogging over to her, weaving through the dancing crowd to get to her little clearing. “Oh, hi Nova Sunset!” she said brightly as she caught sight of him.  “Me and Nicky here were just talking about the party.” Talking might have been a bit of an overstatement.  It looked more like she was talking and Veronica was just deejaying as though Penny wasn’t there. “So anyway, I was thinking, do you think this party’s going to last for a while longer?  I mean, all the guests are having fun.  Even Fel-Fel is!  I was kind of disappointed to see her reading a book, since that’s what Tracy does, you know?  But--” Nova saw a brief bit of rainbow-colored hair run through the crowd behind Penelope.  Very quick of Rachel to already have found Penny.  Or maybe she was just following him.  Either way, he had a very distinct feeling that Rachel was going to throw it rather quickly after getting into position. “--and I was even surprised that Natalie was here too!  I thought she would still be Meanie McMeanPants about it, but she’s here!  I couldn’t believe it when I saw her, but then I remembered that while you were gone, I had a reeeeeally big shake, which meant that there was going to be a doozy, and I thought that might have been--” She stopped suddenly, staring directly at a point past Nova and scrunching her nose. “Uh, you alright there, Penny?” Nova asked, waving a hand in front of her. “Duck!” she shouted, grabbing Nova’s shoulder and pulling him down.  Nova saw a blur shoot over him and heard it splatter against some unfortunate party guest. “My bum itched.  That usually means someone threw something at me,” Penny explained as she stood back up and shook her poofy hair.  “I bet it was Rachel, wasn’t… Fel-Fel?” She was looking past Nova again.  Nova turned around to see a familiar curtain of pink hair behind him.  It was Felicity, and she had gotten splattered with itchy rainbow hair dye. “Damn it, Nathan, you were supposed to keep her distracted!” he heard Rachel shout behind him, but he ignored her.  Felicity was visibly tense, with head hung low so no one could see her.  Nova knew this was going to turn out very badly. And sure enough, he noticed a tear drop fall from behind her bangs, followed by another, and then another, climaxing in Felicity turning and bolting through the crowd toward the door of the club. “Oh no,” he moaned under his breath.  This was certainly not going to help things. Without thinking, he left Rachel and Penelope where they stood and followed Felicity through the crowd as quickly as he could. Not long after he left, Ashleigh found her way up to the DJ stand.  Penelope and Rachel were already sheepishly apologizing to each other about the incident, and were deciding that maybe their prank wars should take place in a less-public place. “Y’all seen Felicity?  Ah saw her runnin’ pell-mell out the door.” “Yeah, we saw her,” Rachel said, sighing. “Whah do Ah get the stinkin’ suspicion y’all had somethin’ ta do with this?” Ashleigh asked, eyes narrowing. “Well, I was only planning on hitting Penelope,” protested Rachel defensively.  “‘Snot my fault she ducked. “My bum itched.  That’s my Penny Sense cue to duck.  It means someone threw something at me.  Doesn’t always say if it’s good or bad.” “Ya shouldn’t be havin’ yer little prank wars in public!” said Ashleigh, groaning and pinching the bridge of her nose.  “Ah swear, sometahmes Ah think ‘Drea mahght be a li’l more mature than the both o’ya.” “It’s not like I meant to hit her with it!” Rachel countered angrily. “Ah know, ah know,” Ashleigh said.  “Even so, y’all mahght want ta go apolagahze anyway.” “Apologize!?  What for?” “Fer yer little prank!” “I didn’t mean to hit her!” Rachel repeated once more. “But does she know that?” Ashleigh asked. Rachel opened her mouth, but stopped. “Rahght, lahke Ah said, ya need to go apolagahze.  Even if ya didn’t mean it.  Just go do it.  Cain’t hurt, rahght?” “I guess not,” Rachel admitted.  “Penny, I think you ought to come too.” “Okie-dokie-lokie!” said Penny, cheerful as ever.  “Just let me let Nicky here know that I’ll be back in a few!” As Ashleigh and Rachel walked off, following Nathan and Felicity’s trail, Ashleigh smiled at Rachel. “Fer what it’s worth, Rachel, Ah think yer doin’ the rahght thing.” “I… I know,” Rachel hung her head.  “I didn’t mean to hit Felicity.  God, she’s so sensitive.  Nathan’s probably gonna hate me for it.” “Now you know that ain’t rahght,” Ashleigh said, elbowing Rachel.  “Look Rachel, we all know you lahke him.  Problem is, all of us, including you, can probably see he’s got a thang for Tracy.” Rachel grit her teeth in anger at Ashleigh’s blunt statement of that fact. “But Nathan’s not gonna treat ya any different fer just one simple mistake.  Just gotta show him yeh didn’t mean it.  And considerin’ Ah owe Felicity fer the tahme she helped Winona, Ah’m off to see if she’s alright.  This’d be the best tahme to apologize..” At this, Rachel sighed in resignation and followed Ashleigh as she exited the club. Nova had followed Felicity up on top of a nearby building.  The music of the club was still going strong, and it could easily be heard over the gale outside.  Where the morning had been crisp and pleasant, the evening had gotten nasty.  The wind had kicked up, and it was starting to snow.  Nova’s cloak kept him warm, as it had the night it had stormed and he had welcomed Tracy into his apartment.  And he had a feeling he was going to have to surrender it in a moment. The small, petty things he gave up for Equestria… Once he had exited the club, it was a simple matter of following the lone aura that was sprinting away as fast as her legs could carry her.  She had gone straight across the street, up a ladder onto one of the random buildings on the opposite block, and she was now just sitting out in the cold, no doubt crying to herself about how she had accidentally been embarrassed in public. But this was Fluttershy, after all.  She was afraid of being seen in a spotlight.  Even a dark room seemed like a brightly-lit stage to her.  The rainbow dye only made it worse. He grabbed the metal ladder and instantly winced.  The metal was cold as ice.  How could she have standed it?  Well, a friend was in need.  No time to be whining about a cold ladder. Nova was atop the building as quickly as he could.  As expected, facing away from the club, feet dangling over the edge of the building, was Felicity.  Her head was bent, hair hanging low over her face, with splotches of different colors spattered across it.  She had her face in one hand, her other clawing at her scalp, and she was sobbing uncontrollably. “Felicity?” Nova asked quietly, after surveying the pitiable sight. “G-go away!” she snapped, before continuing to cry. “Felicity, it’s me, Nathan.” “I d-don’t care!” she screamed.  “Are you here t-to laugh some m-more?” “Felicity, I didn’t laugh,” he tried to reassure her as he stepped toward the crying girl, who he noticed was shivering too.  That, or she was crying that hard.  Perhaps both, even. Making up his mind in a split second, he unhooked the brooch on his cloak, took it off of himself to his immediate dislike, and swung it around her shoulders.  She turned her eyes to him, confused.  They looked like Twilight’s had, those times she had shielded herself inside her room just to cry.  Red, puffy, watery, and definitely heartwrenching. “Wh-what…” she started to ask, but Nova just put a finger right to her lips. “It’s cold out here.  Wouldn’t want you to freeze.” She blinked, confused, before grabbing the cloak and pulling it around her with the hand she had been crying into.  “Wh-why are you doing th-this?” “Because you’re my friend, Felicity, simple as that.” “Y-you see me as a friend?” she asked.  “B-but, all that time with N-n-natalie, making f-fun of me--” “--is in the past,” he finished for her, sticking his hands in his armpits for warmth.  “I’m not the same Nathan Samuel that I was a few months ago.” She clawed extra vigorously at her scalp for a moment, and that gave Nova an idea. “Do you want me to take that out?” “Take wh-what out?” “The prank dye,” Nova said, reaching down and scooping up a bit of snow off of the rooftop.  “I learned this little trick.  I mean, my hair’s natural, but Natalie’s isn’t.  She made me fix her hair whenever she botched it.  Just need some cold water, and there’s snow a-plenty up here.” “Um… okay.  Sure,” She said, taking down her hand to clutch at his cloak all the tighter, leaving her pink hair there for him to clean of the dye. Naturally, Nova had been lying.  He knew he was pushing his luck a bit, but he felt a bit of risk had a big reward if taken at the right time.  So with that thought in mind, he moved around Felicity and splashed the snow into her hair.  She yelped in surprise, and she jumped at the sensation, but otherwise, she remained still. Nova placed his hand on the sopping spot in her hair, and tapped into his Source, ever so slightly.  At once, his hands began to glow a faint blue, and he could feel the magic siphoning away the water.  It was a drying spell, but being him, he had modified it to suit his needs.  With this in mind, he had wetted the dye, and he was now siphoning it right out of her hair, bit by bit. Little by little, he worked his way down.  The cold did little to him, as channeling the magic kept him warm enough, as long as he remained focused on the task at hand.  The minutes passed, two entire songs changed down in the club, and the freezing gale had picked up a bit by the time Nova had finished.  But when he had, Felicity’s hair was back to its usual pink hue, not a speck of dye in sight.  And perhaps even more welcoming, Felicity hadn’t given so much as a sniffle in the last couple of minutes. “All done,” Nova said as he removed his now-normal hand from her hair.  “No itch?” “N-no,” she said, “it feels fine.” “Good,” Nova said, stepping around her to sit next to her.  “Seems I did my job right, then.” “What was that?” she asked, curiously.  “How did you do that?” “Oh, a trick I learned from a very close friend of mine.” You could say that close friend was practically me. She took a deep breath, for just a moment to watch her breath become mist, but then leaned over and hugged him.  Nova could feel quite the difference in this hug compared to the many he had received from Twilight.  It was very clear this was a hug of thanks.  And Nova himself was quite thankful for that.  The last thing he needed was to shoot down the affections of two people. “Thank-you, Nathan,” she said softly, letting go and getting to her feet.  “You’re a really good friend.” “Felicity!” Nova turned.  Rachel had climbed up the ladder, Ashleigh was on her way up, and Nova could sense the aura of energy that was unmistakably Penny bouncing around near the bottom of the fire ladder.  All three of them had come? “Look Felicity, I’m sorry about the prank hair dye.  It was a mistake, I meant it for Penny, I didn’t know you were there, I--” Felicity just stepped forward and stuck a finger on Rachel’s mouth, silencing her. “I’m not mad, Rachel,” Felicity said, smiling wanly.  “I know you didn’t mean it.  Nathan fixed my hair, and no one got hurt.  Everything’s fine.” Rachel just stared at her for a moment.  Penny seemed completely unconcerned, almost as if she knew how the conversation was going to come out.  Ashleigh, however, looked a mite skeptical. “Jus’ lahke that, she’s forgiven?  No catch?” “Well,” said Felicity, tilting her head tentatively, “there is one…” And before Rachel could react, she had bent over, grabbed a handful of snow, and shoved it right into Rachel’s face, leaving Rachel to sputter and stumble backwards.  Ashleigh and Penny kept her from falling off the roof, but they still let her fall on her ass. Nova laughed.  And to his surprise, he wasn’t the only one.  Penelope was doubled over, snorting every couple of breaths, Ashleigh was chortling, and even Rachel was chuckling. “Yeah yeah,” she said, wiping it off her face.  “You got me.” Felicity held down a hand, which Rachel took, and helped her up. “No catch, Rachel.  I’m sorry for worrying you.” “Hey, what are friends for?” Rachel asked. And just like last time, Nova noticed a strange light in Penelope’s eyes.  Making a hasty move, he jogged around the group to get a view of Felicity’s eyes, and sure enough, there was a gleam in them too.  As if to seal it without any doubt, he could feel the energy of the Elements of Harmony converge onto the same spot on their backs, where he was sure a pink butterfly and a blue balloon had to be appearing. “But let’s get back into the club,” Rachel said.  “It’s cold out here, and Nathan looks like he’s going to get hypothermia soon.” The group all made their way back into Veronica’s club, chatting amicably the entire way.  Nova participated in it very little.  He was too busy being all smiles.  Four down, only two to go!  Of course, one of them was his simultaneous least-and-most favorite not-Twilight Bearer of Harmony, but that was immediately followed by his definite favorite. Speak of Discord… Tracy was waiting for them at the club’s entrance, decked out in a thick winter coat.  Nova didn’t miss the slight falter in Rachel’s smile as she strode straight up to Nova when she saw them, but he put it at the back of his mind. “You,” she said, grabbing his wrist and pulling him away from the club.  “Come with me.” “Wait, let me get my cloak,” Nova said, breaking free and managing to get his cape back from Felicity, who didn’t need it anymore inside the club.  As he put it on, he noticed Rachel give him one last sad look before the doors shut, leaving him to go back to Tracy and let her continue to drag him wherever it was she was dragging him. Which turned out to be her house. Not too far from the club, only a few blocks away, Twilight led him into a small flat in one of the buildings, quite similar to popular depictions of Sherclop Holmes’ home at Baker Street.  Tracy led him inside, indicated that he sit on a couch, and went back into the adjacent kitchen. Nova took a look around.  Just a sofa, a coffee table in front of it, a throw rug, some vague pictures hung up on the fake-wood walls, and a few books strewn about.  He noticed a hall with several doors and ending in a flight of stairs back behind the kitchen counter and assumed that back there was where Sam/Spike slept. Tracy came back in, bringing with her two mugs of hot chocolate, one of which she set down in front of Nova on the coffee table, and positioned herself sitting opposite him on the sofa. “Now,” she said, seeming very stern, “why were your hands glowing while you did whatever it was you were doing to Felicity’s hair?” Nova felt his heart drop right into his feet.  The game was up.  For all his attempts to keep it a secret, it had finally happened the one time he tried to gamble with it in public. Tracy had discovered his magic.