//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8 
// Story: Stories of a Shade 
// by ConfettiColored 
//------------------------------//

	"BEEP BEEP BEEP..."
"Ugh, it feels like I just got to sleep..." I groaned, not ready for a long day of work.
"BEEP BEEP BEEP..."
"Alright, I'm up..." I said to the imaginary man in the alarm clock, before getting up, stretching, and turning off the clock. I have to say though, it was nice to be woken up by the nonstop beeping as opposed to another nightmare. I had been having more of them every time I went to sleep normally instead of traversing the dreams of others. I was worried I might run into Princess Luna doing that one of these days, but I could cross that bridge when I came to it. But I'm not here to complain about bad dreams, so I'll move on. The morning went by as normal, eat breakfast, pack snack for later in the day, rebuild more of the castle if I had the spare time, head to Sweet Apple Acres. Why not take a shower, you ask? I haven't finished one yet. 
Any-who, when I got to the farm, it was empty. No Applejack and Big Mac working in the fields, no Granny Smith taking a nap, and no Applebloom in the CMC clubhouse. I went in the house to see where everyone was, and found a note in Applejack's handwriting saying to come to Sugarcube Corner. I shrugged my shoulders and teleported there so as to not keep her waiting. When I walked in it was pitch-black. I thought I knew what was happening, and my suspicions were confirmed when what looked like the whole town quickly flashed on the lights, jumped up, and yelled "SURPRISE!"
Which did surprise me a little bit, mainly because I had been in town for about a week, and most Pinkie Pie parties were thrown on the first day a pony moved in. So I guess you could say I didn't think I was getting one, which in hindsight, was stupid.
"Wait, there's only one. I thought there was three." Some pony I couldn't see remarked.
"You're right, why aren't the others here?" I heard what was clearly Pinkie Pie question.
"They probably didn't get the note yet," I said in response. "This party looks awesome, by the way, thanks," I said, looking at all the decorations,  games, and treats.
"You're welcome!" Said Pinkie Pie, with an unnaturally large smile.
"You should probably hide again before they get here," I said to the room full of ponies.
"To late, bro," I heard the voice of Artemis say from behind me. I turned around to see her and Roam standing in the doorway, smiling at the party that was being thrown because of us. 
"Enough chit-chat! LET'S PARTY!!!" Pinkie yelled.
And so we did. There were all the things you'd expect at a Pinkie-Pie-Particularly-Pleasant-Party-Palooza. Try saying that five times fast! Anyways, there was pin-the-tail-on-the-pony(no ponies were harmed in this game), bobbing for apples(straight from the farm), and a piñata, which I had to resist the urge to go overboard on beating it into the ground.  The three of us also got to meet a ton more ponies. Artemis took an instant liking to Rainbow Dash and Applejack, where as Roam was talking to Fluttershy and Rarity the whole time. I don't know if he's gonna make a move on one of them, but Rarity was  definitely trying to make a move on him, which he didn't even notice. I got to talk to everyone the other two did, as well as the mailmare, Derpy Hooves, Doctor Whooves, and Lyra Heartstrings. All was going well, the party lasted all day and into the night, but, of course, Artemis with her lack of social skills nearly ruined it all. How, you ask? Let me spell it out for ya.
So, near the end of the party, when most of the guests were gone, Pinkie asked if we enjoyed the party for first day in Ponyville. Now, I know we were well into our first week, but she was clearly oblivious to this fact. But Artemis, with her blunt honesty, let her know in the most cruel way possible, although she probably didn't mean it to come across like that. Note her below-average people skills.
"So, did you enjoy the first-day-in-town party?" Pinkie asked with a hopeful look on her face. I opened my mouth to say that we did, so as to keep her blissfuly ignorant of her lateness, but then Artemis said this:
"We enjoyed it, but we're actually right at the end of her first week in town,"
And when those words left her mouth, Pinkie's hair went flat, her eyes welled up with tears, and she had the most sad look a pony could have. In a desperate attempt to keep everyone happy, I quickly said something back to Pinkie.
"Well, it's not when the party was thrown that matters, it was how much fun it was. So what if you're a little late? You can just call it a 'Happy first week in Ponyville' party!" I said, and when Pinkie's usual joyous demeanor came back, I knew my mission had been accomplished. But then she did something I wasn't expecting. 
"Thanks for cheering me up, Vortex!" she exclaimed, hugging me. Right about now I was at a loss for words. I didn't have a crush on the pink pony or anything, but I had never been hugged by a girl before, not even by my sis, as she wasn't really a "hugging" kind of person. So I just said I was happy she was feeling better and waited for her to let me go. I was well aware of both my siblings snickering at my discomfort from behind me. When Pinkie let me go, we thanked her again for the party, and as soon as we were out of Sugarcube Corner, I punched Roam in the arm.
"Ow! What was that for!?" he yelped.
"That's what you get for laughing at me," I said cooly.
"Well, why not do it to Artemis, to? She got us into that situation," he said, rubbing his arm.
"Are you kidding me? If I punched her, she'd snap me like a twig," I said, which given her tendency to retaliate with weapons and not diplomacy, was probably true, if a little exaggerated.
We made our way back home, exhausted not from work, but form nonstop partying. It was still an hour before the time we normally went to sleep, so I finally finished making the shower, and played TF2. I found Rainbow Dash on the same server as me, and we connected over playing the same game. After a while of us owning the other team with our combined awesomeness, it was time for bed. I squeezed into my sleeping bag, laid my head on the pillow. I was about to enter the Dreamscape again, but before I did I reminisced a bit. Two weeks earlier, if you said I would be where I was now, I'd say you were crazy. And yet, here I was. I smiled before drifting into the dreams of more children.