Something in the darkness called out to me, barely a whisper, but it sounded like it needed me.
I hadn't meant to sleep in, but since I didn't have anything happening until the party it was fine. From the look of the sky, it was almost noon. I made my way to the shower, and woke up the rest of the way to the warm wetness soaking into my mane and coat. After toweling off the kitchen was my next destination. A begonia lettuce tomato sandwich for late lunch hit the spot nicely. I drank some nice ice water and thought of what else to do before the party. Not thinking of anything else I made my way to the semi-famous Ponyville library.
I reupped my disguise before going of course. It was a nice walk all in all. The weather pleasant, and the townsfolk were friendly enough. Some smiled, but most went about their own business. When I knocked on the door I was greeted by a small purple dragon.
He seemed happy to see a new face. "Welcome to the library. Can I help you?"
"I wouldn't doubt it." I joked. "Do you have any light reading just to last me a few hours? Some comic books maybe?"
The little dragon's face lit up. "Well if you like comic books, you came to the right dragon." He led me to a corner of the library where one small shelf was tucked away with lots of comic books. "Twi doesn't think that comics are real books, but I did convince her to let me keep a few in here. I couldn't even fit a quarter of the Batmare comics if I wanted to, but I have a few of the more famous volumes, and two bigger compilations. If you haven't read Shush, then I recommend it. Dark, but well made. About half are super hero comics because that's what I read the most, but Twilight said I had to have some variety, so there's a few girlier comics, like Culinary Queen, and Mariner Moon. Then there's some joke comics like the one about a colt and his tiger, and Walnuts, but you look like you'd be more interested in the real comics instead of the strips. I've been trying to get some Manga in here, but that'll take up at least another shelf to have any real variety, if not having its own section."
I probably could have let him keep going for another hour about comics, and I know that I could have as well, but instead I chimed in about one of the comics in particular. "Shush was so good! I did not expect him to be the bad guy at all!"
Spike was at least as excited as me. "I know! I thought it would be Pangolin or Splitface at first, but it couldn't be them. It would have been obvious, but he was supposed to be dead."
"I know, right? Why bring him into the comic if he didn't matter. I thought it was just to..." We talked about comics for half an hour. I don't really want to write out that whole conversation. Twilight walked by and made her way out the door as we talked, but payed us little heed as she overheard that it was comic books in the conversation, and was likely very busy. After all, she was walking, taking notes, and reading something at the same time. She managed to only bump into one table on the way out, though.
I settled on reading Planet Bulk. The Fantastical Bulk was always fun to read about. Spike went off to clean his and Twilight's room, as she had left it without cleaning up like she always did when she was focusing on too many things at once. He came back down in time to see me off as I read about Bulk's blood being what was needed to regrow the plants of the planet, and his strength what was needed to overthrow the tyrannical leader. "I've gotta go now, but thanks for the recommendation. I haven't read too much about Bulk that wasn't part of the Vengers series."
He raised an eyebrow. "Who has? In half the comics all it is is him smashing things, or being depressed about not controlling the beast within."
He made a good point I suppose. "Will I see you at the party, then?"
"No one in town would miss a Pinkie Pie welcome party. I'll be about an hour late, but I'll be there."
"Radical." I didn't often use the word, but it was fun. "See you then."
He waved his goodbye as I made my way back home to grab my suit, then continued on towards the party. The party wouldn't start for an hour at least, but I wanted to help with setup, so that was fine. They were almost done, but I helped arrange the food on the tables, and adjusted the sound levels for one of the bands setting up. Then greeted early arrivals until the party started.
Early on I asked Surprise about when the best time to surprise everypony at the party would be. She... was way too happy about it.
"A surprise in the middle of the party!!! Do it! It's just starting now and it's not even seven o'clock, but you can't do it now because not everyone is here and you want the surprise to be as big as it can be, so it has to be for as many ponies as it can be a surprise for!"
I did find places to get a word in edgewise. "Plus my new dragon friend Spike won't be here for at least another half an hour."
As she continued talking she probably didn't know she was doing it, but her wings flapped as she spoke and she lifted a little bit higher every second. "Dragons are so cool! Well, you have to wait for your dragon friend to be here, and you can't do it on the hour or the half hour because that's all predictable and boring, but if it's too big a surprise it'll be distracting from the rest of the party, and early leavers will start to go around 8:30 to nine, so it should be before then, so do it at eight twenty four!" When she finally stopped for breath her wings stopped, and she landed on all fours.
I couldn't help but laugh. She was a silly pegasus. "Sounds like a plan. My big surprise will happen then, Surprise. I knew you would know best about this sort of thing."
She stood tall and proud for just a few moments. "Of course, Surprise is the best at surprises." Then she couldn't help but stop being serious. "So, what's the surprise?" She leaned in close and lowered her voice to a whisper as she asked.
I looked left, looked right, and whispered back, "If I tell you... it's not a surprise." Then made my way to get some cider.
She followed close behind. "No seriously, tell me."
I just smiled as I filled a cup with some of the apple based beverage. "I can't ruin a surprise for Surprise."
"But you CAN!" She insisted. "I can even help with it!"
I considered it for a moment. Well... I pretended to consider it. "Nah." Her excited smile turned to a pouty face. "I'll take a few suggestions, though." That brought her smile back. "How flashy?"
"Blindingly."
She was taking this a bit literally, but that was okay. "How much build up?"
"No more than two minutes. Probably less. More than two minutes and all the ponies start to wonder why someone put a big rubber duck in the middle of the room."
That story would have to wait for later. "What song should I use?"
She had to ponder that one for a moment... "Something quick paced, and difficult sounding, but not super hard to play."
"Thank you! Now go have fun. You know when and where it'll be." I knew she was the proper expert to come to for surprises. It wasn't just her middle name. It was her FIRST name.
She was satisfied for the moment, and nonchalantly flew over to where Pinkie Pie was. After a moment of whispering they both giggled, smiled really big, and started whispering back and forth quickly, probably trading guesses on what the surprise would be. I just went back to bobbing around the party. I talked with a few of the local bands that were going to be playing. Pinkie had apparently gotten in with a lot of them as the pony to go to to get your first few gigs. She always knew just when to put on which bands. Especially when to put on the bands that best cleared out the room at the end of the party. Not in a mean way. Just in a 'you need to practice more before your next gig...' sort of way. After a while of talking to whatever ponies happened to be around Spike showed up, and I made my way to meet him.
"There's my favorite dragon. Glad you could make it." I smiled as I walked up.
He let out just one laugh before responding. "You kiddin'? I can't miss my new comic buddy's party, or a Pinkie Pie welcome party."
We made our way towards the refreshments. "I suppose not. Especially the second one. She's famous for them after all. Isn't she? Though I suppose you're always a part of the tales of the famous six, are you not?"
He laughed again. "Yeah, the part everypony forgets about. I'm not an element or anything, but I am always glad to help. Everypony needs an assistant sometimes. Oh, and I'm famous among the crystal ponies. "
I did remember hearing a few stories about that. "Their hero twice over. Though there was some rumors of you going crazy in the crystal kingdom as well..."
"Hehe..." His cheeks turned red, and one claw brushed the back of his neck. "Twilight lit the flames for me, and I thought I could make fire with my mind. Only for a few hours, though."
I rubbed his head in a way that would have been mussing his hair if he were a pony, or other hairy creature. "Don't worry. We've all done a few embarrassing things. Myself more than most." We switched the conversation back to comics for a while. Discussing heroes and villains, and upcoming movies that were sure to be disappointingly different from the comics, but still entertaining in their own right. Discussing how certain films that were actually closer to the comics than their predecessors for the same heroes did worse, and how the resurgence of comics was a beautiful thing. We also talked of novel literature, and stupid things that we had done when younger. After half an hour of conversation interrupted by snacks Twilight cam over to talk to Spike, and he brought me with them to meet up with the rest of the elements. I thanked Pinkie for arranging the party as soon as we got there. Her reaction was as over the top as expected.
She pulled me into a big hug. "Every new friend deserves a welcome party." She released me, but her hooves remained on my shoulders for a few moments as she continued speaking. "Usually we do them faster than this, but you didn't have a house when you got here, so I couldn't do a super surprise party like with Twilight, but it did mean I had more time to organize it and make it fun."
I then brought up a point that had been in my mind and the minds of a few others that I'd spoken to. "Do you ever make any money off of your parties? I know plenty of ponies that would give a large load of bits to have this kind of shindig thrown for them."
She placed a hoof on her chin. "I guess I never thought about it."
Twilight broke in. "Really? How did you afford all of the ridiculous things that you used at Rainbow's big birthaversary party?"
This was a story that I had not heard of, but it sounded personal, so I suppose it didn't entirely matter.
Pinkie just shrugged. "I make most of it, and materials are pretty cheap. Plus being friends with everypony in town I usually get a discount. Sometimes they even give it to me for free just to see what I can do with it. Especially if they know I'll return it. Like with all of the instruments I borrowed during the parasprite invasion. They knew I could play all of them, but not what I was going to do with them. Good thing I always return everything safe."
Twilight and I seemed to have the exact same thought process for the next few seconds, and we both stood aside and whispered back and forth our thoughts, starting with me. "Wait... she knows how to play ten instruments well by my count. Drums, accordion, piano, trombone... well, a lot."
The friendship princess nodded in agreement. "At least. She can also remember what everypony in town does, and their names instantly."
"She can bake at a ridiculous level."
"Sometimes she even has amazing insight on things that even I never would have thought of."
After a few seconds of silence it dawned on us, and we returned to the group without a word. It was confirmed. Pinkamena Dianne Pie was a hyperactive crazy genius. Even if she didn't focus her intense brain power on science, it was clearly there. ((I did only use show sources for the information sited in the above realization. She is. It is hilarious.))
I turned to Applejack after that. "Thank you for letting us use your barn for the party as well." Twilight and my conversation didn't need to be mentioned during the rest of the party.
"Aw shucks, it's no bother. Besides, I haven't been to a good hoedown in a while. Gotta cut loose every once in a while." She brushed her hoof through her mane absentmindedly as she spoke.
Rarity shared her sentiment. "Indeed. It might be fun to be a proper lady most of the time, but if you never eat something sugary and dance like no pony is watching... I just can't imagine. Everypony loves a Pinkie Pie party."
Pinkie pie cut in insistently. "No. This is a Dolce party. The next Pinkie Pie party isn't until my birthday."
We all shared a laugh at that. "I guess you're right." I smiled, and looked at the time. "Ooh, it's almost time for my surprise, too."
Amazingly it wasn't Pinkie who spoke up first. "What kind of surprise?" It was Fluttershy who said the words, though with a bit of a smirk since she already knew.
All eyes were on me. "If everypony knows, then it isn't much of a surprise!"
Rainbow Dash was about to speak when a white pegasus appeared seemingly from nowhere. "SURPRISE!!!" She smiled big, though Fluttershy was almost scared stiff, Rarity dropped her drink, and everyone other than Pinkie Pie had certainly been startled. "Did somebody say Surprise?"
Pinkie was laughing, and almost fell on the floor from it. "Not you, silly. We were talking about Dolce's surprise."
I couldn't tell if what she said next was joking or not. "He has his own me? Oh, wait, you mean the surprise he wants to surprise everypony with, but he won't even tell a pony like Surprise about ahead of time, even if I could TOTALLY help with the surprise."
Incidentally I did have a toy pony back at my parents house that did look a lot like Surprise, but she would have had no way of knowing that. "It's only twenty minutes away. Can't we all wait until then to find out? Or you can ask Fluttershy and Rarity because they already know."
That temporarily cut our group down to five speaking as Surprise, and Pinkie berated Fluttershy and Rarity with questions. Spike was laughing a little at the spectacle. "Wow, those two sure are full of energy."
Rainbow Dash finally found a spot to speak. "So, what do you plan to do in town now that you're here?"
"Find a beautiful mare to marry, settle down, make my parents happy, and adopt two or three children to raise into happy lives, but long term goals aside I'm opening a small workshop where ponies can make all sorts of things."
Stunned silence was the response until Spike found some words. "Workshop? So like robots and potions and stuff?"
I laughed. "No. More like watches, and paintings. Clay statues and wire frame figures. Cakes and canollis and computer games. Everything that I've learned how to make in my life and more."
Twilight looked intrigued. "You know how to make watches by hoof?"
"I was a watch maker's apprentice for a while. Never the best at it, and I can do it faster using only magic, but I can make a functional watch in a few hours with my hooves. Lots of little gears."
Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "If you know how to make so much stuff, then what's your cutie mark got to do with sewing?"
I returned an amused smile. "That's part of the surprise."
After a bit more conversation on this and that it was time for me to approach the stage. It was between two bands, and the DJ was playing something upbeat and danceable with a fun electronic sound. I asked him to turn the music down for a moment, and requested him to play something in 4:4 time at about 140bps when I gestured to him. I took the stage.
"Good evening party ponies, and donkeys, and dragon, and I think I saw a gryphon earlier, but I'm not sure. Anyway, I have an announcement." I gestured to the DJ and the music started quietly, but was building. "I am opening a workshop at the edge of town, and..." My horn glowed as a violin lifted up, and it started playing along with the music. I was glad that classical had not died out in these parts. "I" The second violin began playing a different part of the piece than the first. I had spaced my words so that there would be about ten seconds between them. "am" A large double bass lifted and played longer notes than the violins, but still at pace with the song. "Salieri" A cello lifted and played along completing the quartet as the background track accompanied the song nicely. My disguise began to fade starting from my horn and going down toward my tail. "Star." As I said the last word my disguise was completely gone, and the short piece finished moments later. "I will be having a question and answer session at my new home and place of work, The Workshop. Please hold most of your questions until then." I quickly set the instruments down, and with a flash blinked over to Surprise's side.
"Flashy enough?" I joked.
She just smiled one of the largest smiles I'd ever seen, and nodded. Pinkie showed up behind me about that time, and startled me, though. "THAT WAS TOTALLY AWESOME!" I jumped a little.
The inevitable obvious questions came quickly from multiple sources.
First from Dash. "Wait, so you're...?"
I cut her off. "Yes. I'm really Salieri Starr."
Twilight jumped in next. "Was that changeling magic, or...?"
She simply didn't finish her sentence. "No, just a simple illusion. Similar to what I used as a child to fake my cutie mark."
At that point the group all looked to the blank spot on my flank.
Applejack asked the best question of all. "You faked yer cutie mark?"
I laughed at the question that I knew was coming, and would come again and again. "As a child, yes, and many times since then in disguises. On the other hoof we have a party to get back to."
Spike agreed with that sentiment. "Alright! Let there be no leftovers!" I raced with him to the snack table. The next band played amazingly, but I was pretty much the definition of a tough act to follow, so not many ponies seemed to notice. I did note that they were unsigned, and gave them my uncle's card for later. He owned a music label that might be interested in them.
The rest of the party was a blur of fun conversation, constantly asking for ponies to please stop by the shop tomorrow so that I can answer their questions better, and for the last twenty minutes signing autographs. Spike, the six elements and the rest of the Apple Family were the last to leave, as they stayed for the cleanup. I helped as well, and they all promised to stop by at some point tomorrow. I waved goodbye to the apples, and as we all left only Twilight, Spike, and I were walking in the same direction.
Spike and I were once again talking about comics, but the party at the same time. The dragon started. "It was just like when Deathpuddle-"
I had to stop him right there. "Woah, no. I am nothing like that girl. She's a jerk half the time, and her story is way too depressing. More like when the Scarlet Warlock teleports right into the middle of the X-Mares for an introduction."
He rolled his eyes. "So you're on the anti Death Puddle side then. Huh?"
"No, no. Not at all. I think she gets over-hyped, but nothing more than that. Most of the time her stories are really fun. It just don't like being compared to her. That would be like me comparing you to my first girlfriend." I laughed at that.
Twilight cut in at that. "Don't you mean marefriend?"
I shook my head. "The first girl I dated was a gryphon. It was all fine and good for a while, but it ended when she sort of broke my trust in a big way."
Spike had to expand on that a bit. "Ever dated a dragon?"
This one was too easy. "No, but thanks for the offer. I did date a gazelle for a short time, but we had very little in common, and had a bit of a fling with a donkey girl. She worked with a circus, though, and was out of town two weeks after we met. I still keep in contact with the zebra my cousin introduced me to. She's a dancer who likes star gazing. We're okay friends, but we just didn't click."
He stopped walking entirely for a few seconds, but by the time I finished talking he had caught up. "You KNOW that's not what I meant."
I just smiled. "I don't care if a girl is a little big, but twenty times my size is a bit much. You're one of the only small dragons I've ever seen, and it's really awkward when folks keep saying that you're dating a baby dragon."
He rolled his eyes and frowned. "Ugh. I know, right? Just because we didn't go through a greed spurt and keep our horde they think we're all not even ten years old. Heck, I'm turning twenty three in a few months."
Twilight confirmed it. "It's true. I was five when I hatched his egg, but other than the birthday incident a few years back he hasn't grown a lot at all."
His claw dragged gently down his face. "Can we please not bring that up. I had to apologize for that so many times, and some of the Wonderbolts are STILL afraid of me."
My smile never fell. "Just be glad the news of that didn't spread too far. After all, this is my first time hearing of it. It was probably only in gossip pages anyway because it's so hard to prove anything if a dragon gives everything back."
Spike nodded his agreement. "Though it is good to be a little taller than I used to be. Found a way to grow about eight inches since Twilight got her castle." He was quick to get back to the more important topic. "Ideas on the Death Puddle movie coming out?"
I let out one sarcastic laugh. "Yeah, one. Why did they cast the same mare that played the Azure Torch as another super hero? It would be cool to combine their powers of being impossible to kill, and the ability to create whatever you can will with your mind into creation."
He smiled as Twilight distracted herself with anything that wasn't talking about comic books in the vicinity. "Heh, yeah. She's a good enough actress, and it fits her personality, but they could have at least waited a few more years. You think it's gonna be good or bad, though?"
"Nah. I don't make opinions like that before the movie comes 0ut. I really hope they take at least a good twenty minutes on his origin, though, before they dive into it." It was never good to prejudge a movie.
He shrugged. "Well, I'm excited for it. She always makes me laugh."
At that point we reached their house. "See you two tomorrow?"
Spike gave a thumbs up. "You bet!"
"Promise I won't have to talk about comic books?" Twilight joked.
I bowed my head smiling, and raised one hoof to my chest. "I promise. I would never make the princess do something she didn't want to do." She blushed just a little angrily, and I responded with laughter. "Though it is super fun making you do that."
She let out a huff, but relaxed and smiled. "Goodnight Salieri."
"See you, Sal." Spike waved his goodbye.
I waved back as I started turning to leave. "I'll probably stop by on Tuesdays to exchange books. See you guys tomorrow! If you come after dinner the shop will be closed, so we can have a normal conversation."
"Sounds cool. See you then!" It was Spike that finished the conversation.
My house was only a few minutes walk from the library/castle, so I was soon home. After a shower, and the rest of my goodnight routine
I made my way to my newly moved in bed, and slept well not knowing just how much the next day would bring. All the questions, all the smiles, and one very bad letter.