//------------------------------//
// Stand off 
// Story: The first reader pony 
// by Booker Longlegs 
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	Twilight was walking on one of the tracks around Ponyville. They crisscrossed the countryside, taking walkers through the woods around the town. Most of them were well traveled, but some of them, like the one Twilight was on, were relatively secret. Twilight looked around, feeling a sense of contentment settle on her. It was quiet there, and peaceful. The silence around her was broken by a small whimper, and the sound of excited voices. Twilight frowned, it had seemed to come from further up the path. She made her way forward.
Twilight rounded a bend in the trail and froze. There were three ponies, a unicorn, a pegasus, and an earth pony, standing in a circle around something, a small animal judging by the sounds it was making. They were laughing, and poking whatever it was with sticks. Twilight stood there, dumbstruck by what she was seeing. It wasn’t until one of the ponies shifted their position and revealed what they were poking at that Twilight snapped out of it. It wasn’t an animal, it was Fluttershy. Twilight felt a surge of anger, and she charged their position while screaming, “HEY!”
The ponies backed up, startled, and Twilight stood protectively in front of Fluttershy. Fluttershy was confused, and she mumbled, “Twilight…Where…?” Twilight didn’t respond, her attention was solely focused on the group who had been tormenting Fluttershy. They’d recovered from their shock, and were staring at the scene in front of them.
“Look, guys, there’s another one,” said the unicorn.
“And she seems to be friends with the wimp,” noted the pegasus.
“Why are you doing this?” Twilight demanded, “Why are you hurting a defenseless pony.” The group across from her laughed.
“Oh look, she’s all concerned,” said the pegasus.
“Aww, she’s trying to protect her,” said the earth pony, “That’s cute.”
Twilight felt another surge of anger. “You still haven’t answered my question; why are you doing this?!” This just made them laugh even harder.
“She thinks she’s in control of the situation!” the earth pony laughed.
“Alright,” said the unicorn, “We’ll humor you. We were bored.”
“Yep,” said the pegasus, “I was flying around and I saw that little filly over there walking alone. We decided we’d have some fun with her.”
“You have a very sick sense of ‘fun’,” Twilight said through her teeth.
The unicorn smirked. “Maybe, but what are you going to do about it?” That was the crux of the matter, Twilight realized. The odds were three to two, and something told her that Fluttershy wouldn’t be too helpful. She also knew that these ponies wouldn’t be swayed by words. If a fight came, she’d be at a heavy disadvantage. If only I still had super alicorn magic, Twilight thought, Then this’d be a breeze. 
She heard movement behind her, and then soft whispering. She assumed someone else had showed up, but she didn’t dare take her eyes off the group of bullies. She heard the sound of wings, and saw the bullies focus on something over her head. She spared a quick glance up and saw Fluttershy shoot off into the sky. Twilight felt relief that Fluttershy was getting away, but her heart sank as the odds dropped even further. Looking back at the bullies, she saw the pegasus preparing to take off after Fluttershy. Before she could move, a voice from behind her yelled, “Hold it!” A pony wearing a cloak with the hood pulled up stepped forward to stand beside Twilight. He threw the hood back to reveal that it was Booker. He grinned, and said, “Why don’t you stay a while?”



The three bullies stared for a moment, and then they started laughing the hardest that they had yet. Booker just stood there, calmly letting the laughter go on. After a time, they subsided, still snorting and giggling. “You know,” the pegasus said, “I might just take you up on that offer.”
Booker gave a confident smile. “Good. I’d hate to have one of you miss the party.” Everypony, including Twilight, looked at him in confusion. If anypony’s going to get beaten up, it’s him. Twilight thought. Yet here he is, talking like he’s going to win single-hoofedly. The bullies seemed to be following a similar train of thought.
“It sounds like you think you have a chance,” said the earth pony. Twilight noted something with interest. The earth pony wasn’t laughing, or smiling. He looked like he was being serious. Looking closely, Twilight could see a bit of fear in his eyes.
Booker’s smile shifted into more of a smirk. “I could say the same thing to you.” The fear in the bullies’ eyes deepened. Twilight was confused; why were they so afraid. She tried looking at the situation from their perspective. Here we have a pony. We outnumber him and all we know about him is that his talent is reading. He should be cowering in fear, but he’s acting like he’s already won. What kind of secrets does he have? What has he learned that would make him so confident? Twilight then realized what it was. The bullies were uncertain, and uncertainty always lead to fear. Twilight wondered if Booker actually had a secret, or if he was just playing off that fear. She met his eyes, asking a silent question. He shook his head imperceptibly. Twilight bit her lip; it was the latter.
The unicorn, who seemed to be the leader, spoke up. “Before we beat the tar out of you, I have to ask. Where does a nerd like you come off acting like this?”
Booker paused for a second, and then he burst out laughing. The uncertainty grew as he kept on laughing, holding his sides and wiping tears from his eyes. “What’s so funny?” asked the pegasus.
“Oh,” Booker said, still chuckling, “It’s just, I thought you were semi-competent bullies, what with the sticks and the big talk. Then you call me something as basic as nerd, and it’s just hilarious.” He chuckled again. Twilight was impressed; he’d implied that he’d fought bullies before, that they were worse than the current group, and that he’d beaten them, all with that one statement. 
The bullies hesitated, and for a glorious instant Twilight thought they’d slink away. Then the unicorn took charge, saying, “We can take whatever you throw at us.” He stepped forward and the other two went with him, albeit more reluctantly.
Booker’s horn began to glow, and he said. “One more step, and you’ll see exactly what I can do.” His smile was gone, now he was all business. Twilight bit the inside of her mouth, Booker had made a mistake. Dropping the confidence and looking serious might have worked, if they’d been in complete fear of him. As it was, it would look like the confidence was all an act (which it was). The earth pony was first to react. Smirking, he raised his hoof in the air, and slowly took one step forward.
All light in the forest dimmed. The area was transformed into night, and in the shadows of the trees, things moved. The bullies blanched and huddled together in a group. Twilight looked over, and her heart sank. Booker wasn’t showing any sign of exhaustion. He probably thought it would raise their fear level, but this was serious magic he was pretending to pull off. Even Star-Swirl the Bearded himself would have gotten tired after filling a forest with monsters, so a random pony effortlessly doing it destroyed the illusion. And if she’d seen through it so soon, it was only a matter of time before the bullies did too.
Predictably, the unicorn saw through the act first. Eyes narrowed in suspicion, he marched up to one of the shadows and stuck his hoof right through it. “It’s a trick!” he called to his companions. The bullies turned to face Booker, their bluster returning. “It’s been fun,” said the unicorn, “but the game is up.”
Booker stared at the bullies with a blank expression. “It’s true,” he said, “I can’t take all of you on by myself.” The bullies smirked, and made their way forward. Booker held his ground, saying, “That’s why I’m not going to.” The bullies paused, confused. Nothing happened for a second, then Booker sighed and said, “Girls, if you were waiting to make a dramatic entrance, that was your cue.” Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity burst into the scene. Twilight was shocked; how had they gotten here? She saw Fluttershy slip in behind the others, and in a flash she understood. Booker had sent Fluttershy to get reinforcements while he stalled for time. 
And it had worked to perfection. The bullies watched as Rainbow Dash punched one hoof into her other, and Applejack warmed up her kicking legs. Booker stepped forward, smiling once again, and said, “Well now, it looks like we’ve got you outnumbered a little over two to one. I’ll give you this one chance to surrender.” The bullies glanced at each other, then turned tail and ran away.
“This isn’t over!” the unicorn yelled, “I’ll get you for this!”
Booker rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I’m sure you will.” The bullies disappeared around the path, and Booker ended the illusion. The forest returned to normal, as if none of it had ever happened.



Rainbow Dash clapped Booker on the shoulder. “That was awesome! Worthless my hoof!” Twilight wondered what she was talking about.
Booker grinned in response. “I was wondering, how long were you all watching? I know you were there before I cast my illusion spell.”
“How’d ya know that?” Applejack asked.
“I sensed you all when my spell affected you. I ask again, how long were you there?”
‘We got there a bit before you cast the spell,” Rarity said, “Around the time you lit your horn.”
Booker nodded, and Pinkie burst out, “That was incredible! They were like ‘We’re gonna beat you up’ and you were like ‘Nu-uh, take this’ and then the forest went dark and they got super scared and-“
“Pinkie!” Booker said, “It’s great that you found it so cool, but it happened literally five minutes ago. I don’t think anypony needs a reminder.” They all laughed at that.
“Booker, you have been one giant surprise,” Twilight said, “It took a lot of bravery to stand up like that.”
Booker grew serious. “Not really. You girls are the first to give me a chance to be something more than just a reader pony, the first I can say without a shadow of doubt are my friends. I’m not about to let something happen to you.”
“Still,” Fluttershy said, “I’m sorry to have caused you all so much trouble.”
“Are you kidding?!” Rainbow said, “That was the most exciting thing to happen all day.”
“As usual, Rainbow, you show no sense of grace,” Rarity said dryly, “Did you forget that you’re talking to the pony who was ambushed and poked with sticks?”
“Oh, right,” Rainbow laughed awkwardly, “Sorry Fluttershy.”
“Oh, it’s alright, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy said, “You didn’t mean anything by it.”
Rainbow rubbed her head. “Yeah, well, I was recently reminded that not meaning anything by something doesn’t mean it won’t hurt you.” She glanced at Booker.
“What happened between you two?” Twilight asked.
“It’s a long story,” Rainbow said.
“But,” Booker interjected with a grin, “it's also a way to pass time, and I think the story should last just long enough to get us back to town. Don’t you agree, Rainbow?”
Rainbow returned the grin. “Definitely.” So the group made their way back to Ponyville; trading stories, telling jokes, and just enjoying each others company. Twilight looked at Booker, laughing at one of Fluttershy’s jokes, and saw how much being included meant to him. She smiled, happy that she and her friends could brighten up his life.