//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7 
// Story: My Little Pony: The Visitor 
// by Hopeful Soul 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 7


Declan screamed in surprise and fell over. He looked around and saw that the whole foyer had been decorated with party decorations, complete with a large pink cake. He also saw Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity and of course, Pinkie Pie herself, along with almost the whole town of Ponyville gathered inside the Friendship Rainbow kingdom.
“Happy Birthday!” Pinkie cheered.
“Whoa… what is this?” Declan asked.
Pinkie Pie bounced over to him with a large grin. “It’s your welcome party/birthday silly! I knew you were new to Ponyville so I decided threw this welcome party for you to welcome you to Ponyville!” she explained. “Then Spike told me it was also your birthday party too! So I mashed both parties together to create one big super party!”
Declan turned to the dragon behind him. “It’s true.” Spike confirmed.
“Wow! This is so cool!” Declan exclaimed, as he got back up. “Thanks Pinkie. You know this might be the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me.”
“Aw, you’re welcome Decky-wecky.” Pinkie Pie said rubbing his head affectionately.
Declan then turned to the Princess in the room. “Did you know about this?” he asked, curiously.
“Well, not at first.” Twilight admitted. “But after I saw Pinkie Pie whiz by a couple of times and noticed everypony leaving so quickly, I thought she was up to something.”
“I knew it! I knew I wasn’t imagining that pink blur all over the place!” Declan declared.
“Yeah, when she wants to be, Pinkie’s almost as fast as me! Almost.” Rainbow added.
“Sorry if we hurt your feelings by leaving the way we did…” Fluttershy told Declan, a bit guilty.
“Yes, it was only because we wanted to surprise you as best as we could.” Rarity added.
“Aw, it’s ok.” Declan shrugged. “Couldn’t be helped if you were planning a surprise party right?”
Pinkie got close to him again. “Right! That would have spoiled the surprise!” she confirmed.
Declan turned towards Spike. “You know she really needs to dial it down,” he told him.
It was Spike’s turn to shrug. “Good luck trying, we’ve already given up trying to figure her out.”
“I can see why…” Declan muttered.
“Well why are you just standing there partner? Have some cake!” Applejack insisted.
Declan nodded and zoomed over to the cake, taking piece. “Nice!” he commented, he prepared to take a bite, then stopped and turned to Twilight. “Say… this isn’t made of hay now is it?”
“Nope.” Twilight shook her head. “Just frosting, sugar…”
“And a little bit of love!” Pinkie piped up.
“Cool!” Declan smiled as he took a bite and happily ate the cake.
Dash leaned towards Twilight. “No hay?”
“It’s a long story.” Twilight told her.
After he had finished eating a big slice of the cake, Pinkie Pie soon zipped over to him just before a few of the many ponies in the room began to observe him and ask him various questions.
“So now that you’ve had your cake, how about a game?” Pinkie offered.
“Ok, what are we playing?” Declan inquired.
“Glad you asked! We have… Poker.” Pinkie said, gesturing to Spike actually playing a game of poker against a unicorn colt named Snips, while his buddy Snail watched. Spike smiled proudly as he slapped his cards down, indicating that he won causes Snips and Snails to lower their heads.
“Go Fish.”
Declan then noticed Rarity and Fluttershy playing it close by.
“Darling, do you happen to have any… sevens?” Rarity asked.
Fluttershy shook her head. “No. Go fish,” she politely said before a little white bunny bounced by her, much to her surprise. “Angel?”
The aforementioned Angel then went over to Snails, who was magically lifting a carrot and preparing to eat it before Angel appeared in front of him and swiped it before taking a bite.
“Aw…” Snails complained.
“And… I think Angel’s hungry.” Pinkie added.
“Ok… anything else?” Declan questioned.
“Well, there’s also… ‘Pin the Tail on the Pony’!” Pinkie declared as she pointed her hoof to a poster of a pony on a wall and little purple tails pinned all over it.
“Pin the Tail on the Pony? Isn’t it ‘Pin the Tail on the Donkey’?” Declan asked, surprised as he quickly adjusted his glasses. He then noticed a donkey named Cranky Doodle standing near him. “No offence.”
“Ah, none taken, kid.” Cranky assured him.
“Please don’t call me that.” Declan requested, sounding a bit annoyed.
“But why would you want to pin a tail on a donkey like Cranky Doodle here? He’s my friend!” Pinkie exclaimed.
“Whoa, hey, I’m sorry, that’s just what it’s called in my world; ‘Pin the tail on the donkey’, I didn’t just make it up to insult him, honest.” Declan defended.
Applejack gave him a close look as she approached from the side. “He’s telling the truth,” she told Pinkie.
“Oh. Ok! Well, it sounds like it’s the same to me! Wanna play?” Pinkie asked the human.
“Would I?” Declan asked, excited.
“Great! Then let’s really get this party started!” The pink pony cheered.
“Alright!” Declan said, pumped.
Pinkie then got close to him and held the blindfold in front of his face, standing on her hind legs while doing so. “First, we tie this around your face…”
“Ok…” The human said as the pony did so.
“Then we spin you around…” she continued
The party pony quickly gave Declan a nice strong push to the side, which caused him to spin around and around like a top.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!” he exclaimed, as he continued to spin until finally Pinkie put a hoof on his head, making him stop. Even though his eyes were covered, one could still tell that his eyes were spinning around in his head.
“And now you just gotta walk forward… and pin the tail on the pony!” Pinkie Pie finished, smiling as she gave him a purple tail.
“I’ve played this game before you know, different name but still…” Declan pointed out as he clumsily walked forward, nearly tripping over his own feet, leaning from side to side and falling over every second, which made the mares giggle. “Never been spun this hard though…”
At first it looked like Declan was going to make it to the poster and pin the tail, but at the last second he ended up veering away from it and going in another direction.
“Uh… Declan? That’s the wrong way!” Pinkie told him.
“You gotta go left, Declan! Left!” Spike added.
“No, just turn and move forward!” Twilight said.
“Listen to Spike! Go left!” Applejack exclaimed.
“No, no, no Darling your other left!” Rarity piped up.
“Ugh, would you please make up your minds!?” Declan said, annoyed. He growled in frustration then moved his head around, even though he still couldn’t see, and then finally decided on a path. “Ah, this way.”
Everypony watched as Declan continued to walk further away from the poster and extended his arm, which held the purple tail, preparing to pin it even though he was off course.
“Oh dear…” Fluttershy commented, as she and others looked and saw that he was heading straight for Rainbow Dash, who had her back turned as she was drinking some punch.
Applejack chuckled, amused. “Oh boy, this oughta be good.”
Everypony watched with wide eyes as Declan got closer and closer to the unsuspecting Rainbow with the purple tail ready to be pinned. “I… got… you… now…” he said, slowly.
“Uh… Declan, that’s not the poster…” Twilight nervously warned him.
“Huh?” The kid said, confused before chuckling. “Yeah, right! I’m not falling for that!”
“No, she’s quite serious…” Rarity muttered, equally nervous which increased when Declan stopped and pulled his hand back.
“No! Stop, Declan!” Spike protested. “No!”
Rainbow Dash finally heard all the yelling going on behind her and began to turn her head. “Huh? What are…”
Before Rainbow could finish she felt a sharp prick on her flank; it was Declan ‘pinning the tail’ on her, which made everypony wince. Yelping in pain, Rainbow leapt into the air holding her rump, then she bounced off the ceiling, landed a hoof on a rubber ball which made her unbalanced and caused her to fall on a jack in the box that suddenly popped open sent her flying out an open window. Everypony heard her crash outside.
After that Declan finally raised his blindfold. “Did I get it?” he asked, curiously and obviously not aware of what just happened.
Just then, in a flash, Rainbow zoomed in and screeched to a halt in front of Declan clearly looking aggravated and making some very angry horsey snorts, complete with little clouds from her nostrils.
“She looks mad. Doesn’t she look mad? That’s funny! I think…” Pinkie said.
“Rainbow, calm down, he didn’t mean…” Twilight began to say.
“What’s the big idea, kid!? Jabbing somepony with a fake pony tail!? My rump’s gonna be sore for a week because of you! What do you have to say for yourself!!?” Rainbow Dash scolded him, angrily.
Declan blinked and then answered. “Quick question, uh… you are a girl right?” he asked, innocently and curiously. “Because when you yell like that you kinda sound like a dude.”
The others gasp. Rainbow Dash growled at Declan looking even more furious. Then before long a small explosion was heard and seen from outside the castle and Declan was sent flying super fast into the blue horizon above them all.
“It was just a question!” Declan screamed before vanishing into the distant sky.
A moment after he disappeared, a four-pointed “twinkle” appeared in the spot where he was last seen, followed by a sharp ‘ping’.



Later, after Declan finally began to drop down to the ground and was saved by a group of Pegasi, both he and Rainbow apologized to each other for their actions and continued partying. After which, Luna soon raised the moon and everypony started heading home, course Declan stayed behind as he was staying with Twilight and Spike for the time being.
Twilight managed to find a room and make a bed for him to sleep in, which was easy since there were many rooms inside the castle.
Declan climbed into bed as he continued to talk to Twilight.
“Are you sure that Rainbow isn’t still mad at me?” Declan asked, curiously as Twilight magically pulled the covers over him.
“Of course, after I gave a very stern talking too, she realized how wrong she was, course it was hard…” Twilight admitted.
“Heh, I’ll bet.” Declan smirked.
“But don’t worry, she’ll get over it.” Twilight assured him.
“Oh, ok, good…” Declan nodded, he sound pleased though his face looked thoughtful and distant, as well as a bit sad, which Twilight picked up on.
“Is something wrong?” Twilight asked, a bit concerned.
“Nah, it’s just… this is the first time I’ve ever slept away from home…” Declan admitted, sounding somewhat glum.
“Really?” The alicorn inquired, surprised.
“Yeah, I mean I’ve had lots of sleepovers before with my school friends… but they’ve always been at my house… I’ve rarely been away from home this long…” Declan said, a bit sadly as he played with the gems dangling from the edge of the lamp next to the bed.
“I’m sorry, Declan.” Twilight told him, sympathetically.
“It’s ok…” Declan muttered before sighing. “I just miss my parents…”
Twilight put a hoof on his shoulder. “I know you do, and I promise; we’ll find a way to get you back to them.”
“Thanks, Twi.” Declan smiled, which Twilight returned.
“So… what are your parents like?” The Alicorn princess asked, curiously.
“They’re really nice! My Mom is a doctor, and my Dad is an engineer.” Declan revealed.
“Those are really good jobs.” Twilight complimented.
“Yeah, they can be busy a lot, but they like to hang out with me during their free time.” Declan added.
“Really?”
“Yeah, Dad said he would play soccer with me this weekend and Mom sometimes takes me to the movies and then ice cream!” Declan beamed.
Twilight giggled. “You and your sweets,” she remarked.
“You know… you actually remind me of my Mom.” Declan confessed to Twilight.
“Really?” Twilight asked, happily surprised.
“Yeah, you're smart and kind, just like her.” Declan smiled.
Twilight’s ears became pulled back as she looked away and blushed with a bashful smile. “Thanks… and you know something? I think you get your smartness and kindness from her,”
Declan shrugged. “That’s what I’ve been told, meanwhile I get my looks and hard-headedness from my Dad, go figure, right?” he remarked, with a smile which made Twilight giggle, amused.
“Well, I know they’d be awful proud of you for standing up to that Rock Troll today.” Twilight told him. “As am I.”
Declan smiled and suddenly hugged Twilight, stunning her at first but she quickly wrapped her foreleg around him and returned the hug.  They soon pulled away, but Declan then began to pet the top of her head, surprising her.
“Uh… what are you doing?” she asked.
“Boy… your coat is really soft…” Declan marveled as he continued to stroke her coat and mane like anyone else would stroke a real horse, or pony in this case. “It’s like rubbing a warm blanket…”
Twilight giggled. “Hey, that tickles!”
Declan smiled, a bit mischievously. “Oh yeah?” he inquired before he began to tickle Twilight all over, making her laugh. 
“Hey! Stop that now!” she said, while laughing.
“No way, this is way too fun!” Declan smirked as he continued to tickle her.
“Alright! You asked for it!” Twilight smirked back as she levitated a quill over and began to tickle Declan back, causing him to laugh out loud as well. The two of them continued this for a full minute before they soon began to tire out. They panted for a bit with big permanent smiles on their faces.
“Ok, my little human, time for bed now, and I’ll see you bright and early.” Twilight promised as Declan laid down while Twilight magically put the covers over him before singing the same ‘Hush Now Lullaby’ Fluttershy said to the CMC when they slept over which seemed to work like a charm for Declan as he was out like a light in ten seconds flat.
Twilight smiled at him with a sweet and motherly look on her face before she turned off and the light then made her way to the door and quietly closed it. The room became very quiet just then as the little boy slept in his temporary bed. As he did so something dark and snake-like slithered out the shadows in the far side of the room and made it’s way over to Declan. It went up his bed and down the sheets that covered him. 
It looked like it was going to touch or go right over him but instead the black, snake-like shadow went around his head and up the wall behind his head where it became a black dot in the middle of it before something big began to stretch out of it, something… humanoid, with long hair and super long nails, nails that came closer and closer to the gem around his neck, which glows briefly. The shadow got close to his ear… and then it spoke.
“Boo.”
Declan yelped as he sat up as he wakes from apparent his bad dream, flinching and gasping for breath constantly. The effects of the dream still echoing and bouncing numbly in his cranium. After looking around the empty room and telling himself over and over that it was just a dream he laid back down, and quickly fell asleep, exhausted from the day’s events.