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// The Invitation 
// Story: The Tea Party 
// by MeowthRocket 
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Authors Note:
This is mainly a story to bring the timelines up to speed. Not much action, just a refresher in a way. But it DOES bring forth a pretty popular character.
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A little nonsense now and then is treasured by the wisest men
-Anonymous

A month had passed since the end of the E.W.R.E.C. and Joshua was getting himself settled back into his cloud castle on the outskirts of Cloudsdale. He'd taken some time off in order to finalize some personal matters back in his world, as well as give a final notice to those he used to call his relatives to tell them to all go fuck themselves. He knew he wasn't responsible for the loss of his breeders and he was done dealing with the hatred and bullshit his extended family was giving him.

Now a fair-haired teenager, turning 16 in only a week, Josh had been brought to Equestria at the request of Princess Celestia as the first human ever to grace the kingdom. At first, he'd been told his reasons were to "try and impart some new life lessons", but in the course of a quarter-year, things had grown complicated. Attacks on his life, constant stays in the hospital... and the necklace he now called "The Key Of Resonance"... given to him by a friend, Zecora, unaware likely of the secrets it held, including that of a spirit he'd come to call Kira.

All the events had made it so the motive for Josh's being brought to Equestria was shrouded and almost conflicted. In time he wanted to get straight answers from Princess Celestia and Luna. But for now, he was happy to let the others rest and deal with matters.

In the span of time that he and Meowth, his feline confidante, had been away in his realm, a number of changes had undertaken Ponyville. The Library was no more, destroyed by a tryant's magical blast into a smoldering heap of rubble. Twilight Sparkle, the most studious of his group of new friends now bore a new set of wings, a majestic transformation having taken place not just 2 days after his departure thanks to her completing a long-forgotten spell, and the title of "Princess Twilight." A new glass castle on the outskirts of Ponyville was her home, as well as a meeting place for her and her group of fellow Elements, although they didn't really call themselves that much anymore.

But the one thing that hadn't changed was the love given by his partner, Rainbow Dash, a cyan-colored pegasus with rainbow hair, a wild spark tail, and the cutie mark of a rainbow-colored lightning bolt on her flank like a makeshift tattoo.

"Been meaning to get myself one of those cutie marks...", he murmured as he readjusted the patch along his bruised and battered face. His left eye had been removed due to complications from an attack by Champagne during the events of the E.W.R.E.C. and, while he was scheduled to get a replacement in a matter of days, he still was left having to cover his empty socket with the plain black patch, giving him the look of, as Apple Bloom had jokingly put it, "The World's Youngest Pirate.".

It had also led to numerous rumors about what the disfigurement looked like, a good number of ponies having asked him what the wound was like. But Josh refused adamantly to show, not wanting to sensationalize his cycloptic stature. Not even Rainbow Dash, his sweetheart, nor Meowth, his best friend, had ever seen what was left of the left side of his face and when Dr. Whooves had given him the patch and unwrapped the bandages, all he would say was that Josh needed to count his blessings that he was still alive.

His hair had grown back, allowing him to obscure the patch and the slight dent in his face with raven-colored bangs and admittedly getting a few wolf-whistles on occasion from some of the ponies in town, but he was still looking forward to not having to wear that irritating and slighty itchy fabric over his socket anymore, more than once having troubles showering or washing his face due to the patch becoming loose and the feeling of his empty orbital socket filling up with water not at all being pleasant, more akin to feeling like worms had taken up residence in his skull. The other stitches and scars had, for the most part, faded out with the help of Rarity's concealer and makeup magic, returning his skin to its former boyish charm, albeit still a little cragged in a few spots.

Laying back on the bed in the bedroom he shared with his sweetie and his best friend, Josh placed his hands behind his head and looked up at the ceiling, the wallpaper and designs of the Wonderbolts Aerial Team staring back at him. A short whistle left his lips as he reflected on his plans now that he was done with all the flip-flop bullshit. He'd even agreed to take some Anger Management classes with Fluttershy's help in order to control some of his more violent urges so he didn't end up picking into a battle that could end in his demise.

It wasn't until he heard a knock on the wall that his mind was brought back into the waking world. Sitting up and rubbing his eye, he found himself looking at the face of one of his new allies... a yellow pegasus with a smooth cotton-candy mane hanging over one of her emerald-colored irises. A trio of pink butterflies served on her flank as her cutie mark and the voice that soon filled the room was soft and barely above the squeak of a rodent.

"H-hi, Josh.... You got a second?"

With a soft smile, Josh nodded. "Of course, here take a seat.", he added as he scooted over and patted the dark blue bedsheet he was sitting on, Fluttershy trotting over and sitting on the edge, letting her hindlegs dangle over the side.

"First off... how are you feeling?"

"Well I'm a one-eyed human in a land of equines and I'm renting space in my head to a spirit given to me by our mystical and all-knowing friend, Zecora, so yeah I'd say I'm feeling pretty flipping fantastic."

He'd also been making a concerned effort to tone down on the amount of profanities that he spoke as a favor to Princess Celestia, as well as a good many of the parent ponies in town not wanting to have to explain what words like "fuck" and "asshole" really meant. To be honest, he was surprised that Dash knew some of the choicier words herself and even more shocked about Twilight letting loose that f-strike in the boutique.

"Um.... uh...", Fluttershy stammered for a moment before Josh sighed.

"I'm doing ok, Shy. Just relaxing and thinking about things...."

"Oh? Like what?"

"At the risk of using an idiom I'm not sure you're familiar with "Life, the Universe, and Everything" I'm basically just letting my train of thought run from track to track with no real direction in sight."

Fluttershy nodded in reply. "Little daydreaming never really hurt anypony, right?"

"Yeah. So... what did you want to talk about?"

She cleared her throat and took a deep breath and for a moment, Josh almost thought she was gonna show another rare mark of her hidden depths.

"I was wondering if you wanted to come by my cottage in an hour or so... I'm having some tea and snacks with a friend and I'd love to introduce you two."

"Uh....", it was Josh's turn to stammer a small bit as he rubbed his crotch, "Angel Bunny gonna be there?"

She knew he was referring to the scrotum shot from her pet bunny and a momentary wince went over her face. "Yeah... but I promise he's not gonna try a stunt like that ever again. Hoof to heart, he was just protecting me... or at least he thought he was."

"Yeah, well I'm still nursing after his nutcracker." Josh grimaced, "Still get an ocassional drop of blood when I go to the bathroom, hoping that passes."

"I'll have him stay in his hutch or something... Please don't be mad."

"Naw, it's cool.... Anypony else gonna be there?"

"I asked our friends, but I don't know if any of them are gonna show. I know Meowth and Applejack are busy with some farm repairs and Twilight's cleaning up her castle a bit. I think she's not used to having actual maids or something."

"Huh... Kinda took Twilight Sparkle to be in the upper bracket....", he mused to himself before turning back to Fluttershy, "Yeah sure, I'll come. Just give me a chance to shower and I'll be over. Should I bring anything?"

Fluttershy gave a soft cheer of delight. "No, I've got it taken care of. I can't wait for you to meet him!"

Before he could say anything, Fluttershy got up and trotted over to the open doorway. But she stopped and turned towards her human friend.

"And Josh..... great to have you back."

With that, she vanished into the dark of the hallway and soon Josh could hear the sounds of her flying out the nearby window. With a sigh of resignation, he got up and cricked his neck before heading out of the bedroom and into the bathroom. Slipping off his clothes and looking at the yellow waterproof stero on the sink, he just smirked a bit before going to the case of cds next next to it, the Wonderbolts Insignia on the leather top, and rifling through the selection he and Dash had picked out together.

"Nine Inch Nails... Sudden Fields of Green... The Colt Crooners... Five Ways to Remember.... Breaking Benjamin... This one looks good."

Taking a blue-coated CD and popping it into the slot, he listened as the coarse guitar began to play and he turned on the water. But before he swtepped inside, he gave a small sigh and went over to the medicine cabinet on the side of the large mirror adorning the bathroom wall.

Slowly, he took out a thin plastic case, little bigger than a matchbox, and fastened it around his patch. It was a measure to make sure the water didn't break through into his skull... again. He didn't know how such a small piece of plastic protected an equally small strip of cloth, but by now he had learned not to question Twilight's inventions. It felt heavy, like wearing a pair of goggles, but he knew it was needed for the time being.

Finally, he allowed the faucet to create a nice steamy froth before stepping in and letting the warm water caress his nude body, dripping along his abdomen and coating his body like a hot towel on a cold day as the singer began in his wavery voice.

The water felt refreshing and cleansing, like a rain on a hot day. It was just him, alone with his thoughts and the music. The images of the Wonderbolts routines plastered on the tile stared back at him like a mirror

Giving a slight laugh, Josh picked up a large red loofah and gently began to scrub down his body. He'd been meaning to play this song sometime over the Weather Patrol P.A. as a sort of goof, all the talks of weather and jokes seeming to fit the tone of their job. As he spread the bar of Aloe's Cleansing Body Mist over his forearms, he mused to himself at how subconsciously, he'd grown attached to having music playing when he cleaned... Ever since he'd put on Linkin Park when he'd been reading into Dash's Journal, it just felt right to have a sort of cacophony in the background to accompany the sounds of rushing water.

Josh couldn't resist singing along to the final chorus as he washed up his mat of black hair. He knew his voice was nowhere on Fluttershy or Pinkie Pie's level of good in singing, but it was still a hobby he liked to enjoy from time to time.

Finally, he turned off the faucet as the long guitar solo closed out the song and climbed out of the shower, removing the guard carefully from his patch and replacing it into the cabinet's depths. Inwardly he already planning to burn the patch in a hot fire and make smores with Pinkie above its ashes as soon as he had the new organ implanted, it wasn't even a question at this point he hated the thing so much.... even if it did make him more convincing when he played Pirates with the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Exhaling a long shallow breath, he turned off the stereo and looked long and hard before turning to the necklace he'd wrapped onto the doorknob.

"For the love of Celestia's grace, stay benign.", he whispered as he placed the necklace around him before slipping into a pair of sweats the color of lavendar and a lime green T with the words "I'm with Stupid" printed in white above a large red arrow pointing directly to his right. He knew by the time he left, the words would be covered by his jacket, so he wasn't too worried about the message on the shirt upsetting anyone....

Although he'd bring some heavy duty tape... just in case.
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