At the Sugar Cube Corner...
It was nice and calm in the shop, not many ponies were in, and the few that were in were all talking while eating sweets. That all changed when a familiar looking light blue stallion rushed through the door, he looked very nervous and scared at the same time. "I'm sorry I'm late Mr. Cake, please don't be mad at me" Aichi said quickly to a stallion behind the counter.
"Why would I be mad at you, your not even late" Mr.Cake replied to the nervous stallion, "If anything your early."
"No usually I'm here five minutes early, but today I'm only 2" said Aichi catching his breath.
"Don't worry about it, it's fine if your not as early as you usually are, your still here aren't you" Mr.Cake replied, continuing to whip his counter.
"Thank you Mr.Cake" Aichi responded bowing his head to his boss.
'This kid he's something else' Mr.Cake thought as he looked at his worker, "think nothing of it."
"So what do you what me to do today Mr.Cake?" Aichi asked.
"Well, today I need you to make a couple cake delivery, your regular" Mr.Cake explained as he got out multiple white boxes holding the cakes in them.
The boxes were all white cubes with a brown string tied around it so the top would not come undone. Attached to each box was a piece of paper which had all the information on it. The address, name of the pony, everything, all so the delivery pony would know were to take it, and in that case it was for Aichi.
Aichi, was still having a hard time trying to understand Equestria language, especially how things were written. He did spend some of his free time reading a language book that he and his friends checked out, and he was kind of getting it. The weird thing was Aichi spoke the language fine, just could not read it well. He usually had to ask surrounding ponies for where he had to go, since he had hard time reading the directions.
"Okay, that all?" Aichi asked to make sure he could do all he can to help.
"No, that's about it" Mr.Cake answered.
"Okay then" Aichi said picking up one of the boxes by its string with his mouth and then leaving the shop in a dash.
"That kid" Mr.Cake said smiling.
Ride 010:The Young Fighters, Enter The Cutie Mark Crusaders
The streets of Ponyville...
Aichi had just finished his first delivery and was heading back to the Sugar Cube Corner to pick up the rest of his deliveries. It was nice run for the stallion, he has sort of gotten used to all the running he had to for his job. He actually liked it, the speed he ran at was much faster then when he was on Earth as a human. It blew up the bang of his mane that usually covers his right eye up a bit, he enjoyed it.
"WATCH OUT!" Aichi heard while he was running back.
"What?" Aichi asked as he stopped to turn his head to look where the sound was coming from. Only to be surprised to see three small ponies flying at him at high speeds covering their faces as they were about to ram into him. "Aaahhhh!" Aichi screamed as he saw what was approaching him.
"AAAHHHH!" the three small screamed as the last bit of distance between them and Aichi closed.
"CRASH!"
Aichi was pushed back a good couple of feet, it took him a while for his vision to become un-blurred. He then saw the same three small ponies that crashed into him were lying dizzy as Aichi was on their stomachs. He then realized that they were all fillies, and looked to be all the same age.
One was orange peasgus with had hot pink mane and tail, that seem very raggedy and un-cared for. Next to her was a normal earth pony that was a light yellow and had red mane and tail. Her hair was well combed and she had a giant pink bow in her mane that was very distasteful. The last one was a white unicorn with a curly lavender mane and tail with a pink stripe going doing left side of both. That strangest thing that Aichi noticed was that now of them had a image on their rears like every other pony he saw in this world.
"Ouch" all three fillies said as the got up on their hooves.
"Did we get um" each on said in-sync in very excited voices as they instantly look at each of their rears.
Aichi could only stared and wonder what these three fillies could be doing, it puzzled him as he got back up on his hooves. He then saw all their faces turn from excitement to depressed as each one of them started to frown and lower their heads. That was when the orange peasgus raised her head and then spoke, "well I guess we'll have to cross extreme acrobatics off the list."
"Yeah, let's never do that again" the red mane filly added on.
"So, who's up next for cutie mark ideas again?" the peasgus filly asked.
"I think it's Applebloom" the unicorn filly answered gesturing towards the earth pony.
"Nah huh, I came up with the last one" the earth filly replied.
"No I came up with the last one" the peasgus commented.
"No, I mean the one before this one" Applebloom corrected herself, "so it's your turn Sweetie Bell."
The three continued to argue for a another few minutes, trying to figure out who was up next to come up with an idea. Aichi was still boggled at how much energy these three had, but what bothered him more was the one phrase they used. 'Cutie mark, I wonder what that means?'
"Well, it was your idea to try extreme acrobatics which caused use to crash into a pony" the unicorn retorted.
"Wait!" all three of the fillies said in-sync as the came to the realization that they crashed into Aichi, the pony.
'Oh boy' Aichi thought as he became concerned.
"Are you okay mister" Applebloom asked in a concerned voice, "we're so sorry."
"Yeah, I'm alright" Aichi replied.
"That's a relief" said the orange peasgus whipping her forehead with her hoof.
"So what's your name mister?" the white unicorn asked.
"Um, Aichi, Aichi Sendou" Aichi answered.
"That's a really cool name, it sounds foreign" the white unicorn commented.
"Thanks" Aichi replied.
"So what does it mean?" Applebloom asked.
"Um, I'm not really sure, I think it has something to do with a military formation" Aichi answered with a fake smile, only to get a confused look from the three. "Like I said I'm not really sure myself."
"Okay?" the peasgus answered for the group of three.
"So what your guy's names?" Aichi asked.
"I'm Scootaloo" the orange peasgus answered.
"I'm Sweetie Bell" the white unicorn answered.
"And I'm Applebloom" Applebloom added.
"And together were the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" all of them shouted together and jumped into the air with huge smiles on their faces.
"Um, neat" Aichi commented, "nice to meet you all, but I have get back to work now."
"Wait before you go, can we ask you something mister?" Scootaloo asked.
"You can me Aichi, sure what is it?" Aichi answered.
"Well, Aichi, how did you get your cutie mark?" Applebloom asked.
"Um, forgive me for asking, but what's a cutie mark?" Aichi asked with a confused face, only to get the same reaction out of the others.
"How do you not know what a cutie mark is?" Sweetie Bell asked shocked.
"Um, let's just say I'm not fully aware of the lingo around here" Aichi answered with a fake smile, try not to blow his cover.
"Good grief" Scootaloo responded.
"Well, to put it in simple terms it's the mark on all ponies rears that symbolizes a special talent of that pony" Sweetie Bell explained.
"Oh, so that's what this is" Aichi said looking at his cutie mark.
"Yeah, it's what makes all ponies unique" Applebloom added on.
"So why don't you guys have ones?" Aichi asked staring at the three fillies rears again, only for them to cover that spot up with each of their respective tails.
"Well truth be told, we have found are special talent yet" Applebloom answered sadly.
"But that's not going to stop us, we're going to everything until we get are cutie marks" Scootaloo said loud and clear with a lot of confidences, "because we're the Cutie Mark Crusaders!"
"Yay!" Sweetie Bell and Applebloom cheered together.
"Well that's good" Aichi said with a smile, "as long as keep trying I'm pretty sure all of you can get yours one day."
"You think so?" all three asked.
"I know sure" Aichi answered.
"So back to are original question, how did you get your cutie mark Aichi?" Applebloom asked.
"Well I guess my special talent is Vanguard" Aichi answered, for the fillies to have another confused look.
"What's Vanguard?" all three asked.
"Oh yeah, it's kind of new here, well it's this really cool card game were you get to fight your friends in cool epic battles" Aichi answered.
"How do you play?" Scootaloo asked.
"If guys had some cards I could teach it to you if you want" Aichi answered.
"That's nice and all but how do we get cards?" Sweetie Bell asked.
"Well right now you can only really buy them from one of my friends who sells them at the Suger Cube Corner" Aichi answered.
"How much to they cost?" Scootaloo asked.
"They cost about 3 bits for pack, and each pack comes with five cards" Aichi explained.
"That's cool" Sweetie Bell commented.
"Yeah, it sure is" Aichi said as he remembered all of his good and bad times opening Vanguard packs, sometimes getting stuff he need or like, or disappointed in what he got.
"Thanks for all the information and advice" Applebloom said cutely.
"Think nothing of it" Aichi said smiling back, "besides you guys did teach me something two."
"I guess your right" Applebloom said in agreement.
"We're still really sorry for crashing into you" Sweetie Bell said as she and the cutie mark crusaders lowering their heads to Aichi.
"Like I said, it's okay" Aichi said overwhelmed, as he saw his three new friends bowing to him.
"So?" Scootaloo asked as she and the other raised their heads.
"So what?" Aichi asked back.
"So how about we go get some cards right now, you don't seem busy at the moment?" Scootaloo finished her question.
"Sorry I can't, you see before you crashed into me I was doing some delivery for Mr.Cake" Aichi answered rubbing the back of his head with his hoof, then he realized something very important, "MY JOB, I STILL I HAVE DELIVERIES TO DO, MR.CAKE I'M COMING!"
And just like that, the blue stallion was gone, screaming all the way. The cutie mark crusaders only stared at each other for a few minutes to process what just happened. "So that just happened" Scootaloo commented.
"That pony was kind of weird" Sweetie Bell added on.
"I thought he was kind of cool" Applebloom responded.
Back at Sugar Cube Corner...
Aichi bursted through the door to the Sugar Cube Corner at full speed. Everypony didn't seem to notices, and just continued to do what they were doing. Aichi came to a sudden stop at the counter in which Mr.Cake was at.
"Oh, there you are Aichi, what took you so long?" Mr.Cake asked in his usually positive voice.
"I ran into some trouble, I'm sorry I took so long" Aichi said catching his breath.
"That's okay" Mr.Cake replied.
"Thank you Mr.Cake" Aichi said, "I will finish the other deliveries right away."
"Okay, thanks for the help Aichi" said Mr.Cake.
"Don't mention it" Aichi said still breathing heavily, then grabbing another white cake box by the string with his mouth.
Aichi was on his way, making delivery after delivery to each pony in Ponyville for the rest of his day. After that he was on his way back to the Sugar Cube Corner to see what else he had to do before he could rest. That's when he saw three familiar looking fillies sitting down sleeping on one of the walls of the Sugar Cube Corner. Aichi stopped to look at them, he was surprised to them here, 'I guess they were interested in Vanguard.'
"Hey Aichi" said a voice from behind Aichi.
"Ah!" Aichi screamed and feel over out shock, causing the fillies he was watching to wake up screaming up as well.
"Jeez, I'm I really that scary" said the voice as it is revealed to be only Ren.
"Sorry Ren, I just zoned out for a bit" Aichi replied catching his breath and getting back on his hoofs.
"Hey guys it's that weird pony from earlier" came Scootaloo voice from behind Aichi.
"Oh, hey guys, I'm surprised to see you guys here" Aichi said turning around to the group of three fillies.
"Why wouldn't we be here, you did say you going to so use that card game you were talking about?" Applebloom asked kind of confused.
"Yeah, um, no reason" Aichi answered, still surprised at their tenacity to be wait for him when it's already night time.
"So it seems Aichi has made some new friends here, small ones, but that's besides the point" Ren Commented.
"Hey, who you calling small?" Scootaloo asked with attitude.
"Yeah" Applebloom added.
"Oh, a feisty ones as well" Ren replied with a smile on his face.
"Hey" Sweetie Bell said.
"Hey, can we not fight" Aichi said getting between Ren and the cutie mark crusaders to stop them.
"Fine" the three fillies said in a very pouting tone.
"I couldn't see the problem" Ren commented in a very clam voice.
"So anyway you guys are still interested in Vanguard, just give me a few minutes to finish what I'm doing and I can show you how to play" Aichi explained as he began to walk into the shop to clock out.
"Okay" the fillies said in agreement.
'So Aichi has also found me some new customers, good work my friend' Ren thought, with a smirk on his face.
Inside the Sugar Cube Corner...
Aichi went inside the store, only to see it almost abandoned, with only Mr.Cake was some of the tables with a wash cloth. Aichi walked up to him, Mr. Cake noticed him, and only gave a smile back towards Aichi. "I'm back Mr.Cake from the deliveries, is their anything else you need me to do?" Aichi asked.
"Not really, that all for today" Mr. Cake yawned, "maybe you could help me clean up some of these tables, but other that, nothing else comes to mind."
"Okay" Aichi said grabbing a wash cloth and being to whip some tables.
"I appreciate all the help Aichi" Mr.Cake said.
"It's nothing" Aichi replied.
After a few minutes all of the tables were washed and cleaned. Mr.Cake and Aichi were standing next to each other admiring the work they did today. "Goodnight Mr.Cake, I have to go, see ya tomorrow" Aichi as he began to leave the shop.
"You two Aichi" Mr.Cake said as Aichi left the shop.
Back outside...
"I'm done working, I can show you guys Vanguard" Aichi said to the cutie mark crusaders that were waiting outside for him.
"Finally" Scootaloo said.
"But we're are you going to show us, I thought we were going to show us in the Sugar Cube Corner?" Sweetie Bell asked.
"Well it's closed, so we can't go in" Aichi explained.
"So we're are we going to play?" Applebloom asked.
"Well, um, I guess you come over to are place and I could show you there" Aichi answered.
"Aichi I don't think that's a good idea, Leon and Kai would not like use doing this" Ren explained.
"Don't worry Ren, like you always say, what's the worse that could happen" Aichi said with a smile on his face, with Ren looking down in defeat.
"What do you mean by "are" place?" Scootaloo asked.
"Well you see I live with my friend Ren here and two other friends of mine in Ponyville" Aichi explained.
"I don't think my sister would like me staying with somepony I just meet" Sweetie Bell commented.
"Mine two" Applebloom added.
"Well who are your sisters, I'm sure if we meet them and told them ahead of time and explained to them what we would do they would do they would understand" Aichi said with confidences.
"Well my sister name is Rarity" Sweetie Bell explained.
"And mines AppleJack" Applebloom added.
"Oh, your Rarity's and Applejack's sisters" Aichi said in surprise.
"You know are sisters?" Applebloom and Sweetie Bell asked in shock.
"Yeah, me and my group of friends meet them not to long ago" Aichi explained.
"Quite the interesting bunch if I do say myself" Ren added.
"Yeah, they sure are" Applebloom said laughing.
"I'm sure they won't have a problem with you guys coming to are house" Aichi said, 'I really hope they don't atleast.'
"Yay, sleepover" the crusaders said jumping into the air together.
"Sleepover? I never said anything about a sleepover" Aichi said panicking.
"You asked for this Aichi, Leon and Kai are not going to be happy" Ren replied.
'This was unexpected' Aichi thought.
To Be Continued...
Next Time...
"This is going to be so awesome" Scootaloo said.
"Hey guys look at this" Applebloom said.
"Hey don't touch that" Aichi said worried.
"This is so much" Sweetie Bell said overjoyed.
"Aichi" Leon said angrily.
"Just great, what have you done this time Aichi?" Kai asked.
Ride 011:An Eventful Night, Welcome To Vanguard
Featured Card Of The Chapter
Natural Talent Seeker, Valrod
Grade 2, 9000 Power, 5000 Shield, Intercept
United Sanctuary, Royal Paladin, Human