//------------------------------//
// Settling In 
// Story: There Goes the Neighborhood 
// by The card holder 
//------------------------------//

While he was no stranger to odd things happening for no particular reason, Spike was still shocked when Twilight just completely vanished in the middle of dictating a letter to him. Equally shocking was when she reappeared just a minute later, wide-eyed and jaw-dropped.

For a second, there was nothing but silence in the room.

And then all hell broke loose.

"Spike! Get me a book on Equestrian legends, stat!"

"On it!"

Spike left the room just in time to avoid a whirlwind of papers and quills, all caused by Twilight's frantic search for something nearby that could tell her something, anything, about what had just happened.

"You're not going to find anything, you know."

Twilight yelped loudly, and everything fell to the floor. Turning, she saw the same bipedal figure that apparently roped her into this mess, sitting calmly at a nearby table, ignoring the storm of papers fluttering to the floor around him.

"Wha- But- Who-" Twilight shook her head wildly to interrupt her own blabbering. "Who are you?!"

"I already told you, I'm the god of your world." He held his hand out. "Name's Arthur."

Twilight just kept staring in disbelief.

"Oh, sorry, would it make you more comfortable if I did this?"

Twilight blinked, and suddenly Arthur was a nondescript suited stallion in front of her. This just made her freak out even more, before she seemed to realize something, and took a deep breath.

"Okay, haha, very funny, Discord."

"Did someone say my name?"

Twilight's blood ran cold when she heard his voice behind her, and it was all but frigid when Arthur's face brightened. 

"Discord! Nice to see you again!"

The being of chaos teleported next to the self-proclaimed god, and the two started shaking hands and chatting like they were old friends, making Twilight's eye twitch repeatedly.

Noticing this, Arthur excused himself from Discord's company. "Sorry about that, we play cards every once in a while. Anyway, Twilight."

The room suddenly felt like it had a more serious atmosphere, though whether or not that was just in Twilight's head is debatable.

"Those five beings are here in order to better learn about the wonders of friendship, niceness, and so on. You will assist in doing so by watching over them and making sure they behave."

A stack of papers appeared in his hoof, which he offered to Twilight. She was still dumbstruck, and numbly accepted the papers into her magic.

"The first one has the rules that have been set for them, and the rest of them are some information on the residents. Except for Chrysalis, but I figure you know enough about her already."

Twilight just absentmindedly flipped through the pages, not actually reading any of them. Eventually, she looked straight at him. "Why? Why me?"

Arthur shrugged. "Why not? Aren't you the princess of friendship now or something?"

"Well, yes, but-" 

"Then it's settled!" It looked like Arthur was about to leave, when suddenly he realized something, and turned to Discord. "Oh, and by the way, Disco, try to keep from messing with them too much, alright?"

Discord playfully faked a pout. 

"Don't worry, I'll let you know if I change my mind. Well, toodles, both of you!"

And just like that, Arthur was gone.

By now, Twilight's brain had caught up to her, and she frantically began studying the pages she had been given.

Discord chuckled. "Well, Twilight, looks like-"

"Don't care, get out now please thanks," Twilight rattled off, nonchalantly picking up Discord in her magic and tossing him out of the nearby window, ignoring the ensuing crash of glass. 

"Alright, Twilight, I found..."

Spike observed the room, seeing Twilight frantically reading through a stack of papers that weren't there before, and a shattered window behind her, which she seemed to be ignoring completely.

Looks like it was gonna be one of those days, again.

Silently, Spike set the book down on the ground and left. Rarity could probably use help with something or other, after all.



After Flowey ducked away to another part of the house to prevent Chrysalis from uprooting him, the new housemates took the time to take a look around their new home. All in all, it was fairly standard, with the exception of the rail running along the ceiling throughout most of the house. Thankfully, it was the exact kind of rail that Wheatley could attach himself to, which meant that he no longer had to be carried around by Jacket.

It didn't take them too long after that to look around the rest of the house. There were just enough rooms for all of them, save for Wheatley, who had a small compartment he could fit into, and Flowey, who, being a flower, could just sit in a window or something. Who got what room was quickly decided, and Eggman and Chrysalis immediately took to their own rooms, for different reasons. Jacket went elsewhere, and Flowey just sat in the front room, grumbling occasionally. After failing to get a conversation out of him, Wheatley simply went around the house, trying to memorize where exactly he could and could not go.

After about an hour of this, there was a knock at the door. This broke Flowey out of his grumbling, and he hopped over to the door to open it. Wheatley arrived shortly after, too.

"Oh, visitors already?" he commented.

Flowey pulled the door open with an elongated vine, and found a purple winged unicorn standing there, a set of papers visible in the bags she was wearing over her back. There was also a visibly strained smile on her face.

Recognition struck for Flowey. "Wait, aren't you that horse we saw in that one room?"

"Pony, but yes," Twilight replied, stepping inside. "In any case, I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, and, well, I guess I'm in charge of the five of you while you're here."

She looked around the room, including at Wheatley (who offered a "Hello!"), and her smile dropped. "Um... where are the others?"

"In their rooms," Wheatley said. "Not sure why. It's a beautiful day outside! I mean, the birds are singing, there are flowers blooming..."

Unseen to both of them, Flowey visibly winced.

"So, they are here, right?"

"Oh, yes, absolutely!"

After a moment, Twilight coughed awkwardly. "So, could you... get them, please?"

"Oh, of course!"

With that, Wheatley zoomed off, leaving the princess alone with the flower. She had read up on Flowey before coming here, as she did with the others, too, and out of all of them, he was the one that worried her the most. The summary Arthur had given her didn't go into too much detail, but it said enough: created accidentally from an experiment, only to find out they had practically infinite control over time, and abused it to enact every single possible action on those around him, eventually up to killing them for fun. Sure, it also said that, through a "complicated series of events", he could be considered redeemed, but Twilight wasn't sure if she bought that. Still, she wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, so she gave a smile at him.

He just looked back, his face a mask of boredom.

"So... Flowey, right?"

Twilight already memorized his name, but she didn't want to sound too creepy. Judging by the scowl on his face, it only just barely worked.

Another moment of awkward silence passed, Twilight glancing uneasily back and forth. "Well-"

"Stop talking to me," Flowey said simply.

Twilight pouted.

Shortly after, Wheatley returned, the other residents of the house following him. Twilight looked over each one in turn, mentally running back and forth over what she had read on them.

Wheatley, she knew, wasn't that bright, because he was designed by his world's best scientists for the purpose of being stupid. The context was unknown to her, but they certainly succeeded, though he occasionally managed to actually have good ideas, or at least ideas that look good at first.

Behind him was Chrysalis, who looked entirely fed up with the whole situation. Twilight already knew about her, so she moved onto the next person.

Dr. Robotnik, more commonly called "Eggman", who was capable of amazing robotic feats entirely on his own. Of course, he used these talents to constantly try and take over the world, though he was always thwarted by "a certain blue hedgehog". His face was unreadable, though he appeared to be assessing her carefully.

Finally, there was "Jacket", and he would be the most unpredictable, Twilight thought. After serving in the military, he-

Twilight stopped her inner recollection as she noticed something. "Wait, where's the last one?"

Chrysalis and Eggman looked behind them and waited, but no one else came from the hall. After a few seconds, they turned and shrugged.

Twilight could feel herself starting to panic, but she forced herself to stay calm. "There were five of you, so do any of you know where the fifth one is?"

The four of them looked between each other, before Flowey spoke up. "Jacket went outside about thirty minutes ago. Looked like he was going for a walk."

Twilight decided that now was the perfect time to panic.

"Stay right here I'll be right back OKAY BYE," she shouted, before teleporting herself into the air above Ponyville. She quickly scanned around the town, looking for signs of carnage. She knew what this "Jacket" was capable of, seeing as he had used nothing but his own natural strengths to single-handedly kill only a few hundred people.

As she frantically searched, her fear started to skyrocket. Just how hard was it to find a bipedal creature in the middle of-!

Moving as fast as she could, she plummeted to the ground and ran up to the first pony she saw. "Excuse me, miss, have you seen a creature walking on two legs pass by here recently? Other than Spike, I mean."

"Oh, I did, actually, a few minutes ago, I think it went towards the schoolhouse."

Twilight's blood ran cold. Surely he wouldn't...?

Ignoring the mare's questions, she flew towards the school as fast as she could. Hopefully, she wouldn't be too late...

She landed just outside the playground, and noticed that it was empty. Cautiously, she walked around to the front door, and peeked her head in. The halls were equally empty.

Twilight let out a breath she was holding. The fillies and colts must be in class right now. Unless...!

Moving quickly but quietly, Twilight slipped inside the building and crept down the halls. She went to the classroom door, and listened carefully.

She could hear Cherilee talking about something, but she couldn't make out what.

Twilight let out a sigh of relief. Looks like-

Suddenly, the bell rang, making her nearly jump out of her skin. She stood back as the door burst open, and a stream of fillies and colts came flooding out of the classroom. Almost all of them offered quick hellos to the princess, and she was quick to uneasily return them.

Once she was sure all the kids were past her, she went into the classroom, finding Cherilee packing up what she had been using for her lesson. When she looked up, she jumped slightly at Twilight's presence. "Oh, hello, Twilight! How are you today?"

"Good, good, fine, listen, have you seen a bipedal creature come here, about six feet tall, wearing a jacket?"

"Oh, you mean Jacket?"

Twilight's eyes shrunk to pinpricks. "You mean he was here?!"

Cherilee nodded. "He came by not too long ago. He left not too long before you arrived, though. Shame, the children loved him."

This made Twilight pause. "They... did?"

The teacher nodded. "Of course, we were all a bit scared, at first, and his method of speech didn't help, either, but he proved to be very friendly, even if he interrupted my lesson a little."

"So... did he say anything about where he went?"

"I'm not sure. Though he did say he would be right-"

Suddenly, they could hear screams coming from outside. Acting on instinct, Twilight flew to the door leading to the playground, horn ready to cast a powerful spell.

When she saw the scene in front of her, her magic died off, and her look of pure determination was replaced with one of confusion.

Ahead of her, standing in the middle of a crowd of fillies and colts, was the very human she was looking for. He had his arms stretched out, and a pair of children were hanging from them, screaming from excitement as they dangled from his limbs.

For a split second, Twilight thought she could see a ghost of a smile on his face. It passed quickly, though, as he made eye contact with her.

Hearing hoofsteps behind her, Twilight turned to see Cherilee trotting up. "He seems to have a way with children," she noted, gesturing to how the young ponies eagerly tried to also hang from the human, who was starting to sag slightly from the weight.

"Why were you looking for him, anyway?" Cherilee asked, tilting her head curiously.

"It's... a long story, I'll have to tell you later. I do need him to come with me, though."

Apparently, he heard their conversation, as he started gesturing for the children to get off. Once he was free of small ponies, he took his tape player out and clicked one of the buttons.

"That will be all for now."

The foals let out a chorus of "Aww"s, and as Jacket broke free from them, they began to engage in their usual playground activities. He walked up to Twilight, his face stoic. 

After the two stared at each other for a bit, Jacket was the first to 'speak'. "Hello."

This broke Twilight out of her confusion. "Uh... hi there. Listen, Mister... Jacket, could you come with me, please? Back to the house?"

"Understood."

Without another word, the two of them started walking back through the streets of Ponyville. Oddly, none of the ponies seemed to be scared of Jacket, and a few even waved happily at him. This was unexpected, to say the least, but Twilight decided to simply worry about it later, if there was even anything to worry about in the first place.

Soon, they arrived back at the house, and upon entering, Twilight was thankful to see that the rest of them were still there, evidently not even talking amongst themselves while waiting.

Curious, Twilight glanced over to a clock on the wall, and saw that she was gone for only five minutes. 

As Jacket took a position with the rest, Twilight cleared her throat. "Anyway, as you already know, I've been... assigned to help you all..." She fished out one of the pieces of paper and read from it. "'Become less unfriendly and all around stop being jerks.' Seeing as I'm the Princess of Friendship," she pushed on, ignoring a groan from Flowey, "that means I will come up with various... 'exercises' built specifically to make you all nicer... beings!"

Chrysalis lazily raised a hoof.

"Yes, Chrysalis?"

"Are we allowed to just curl up and die?"

"...I would assume no."

"Dammit."

Twilight uneasily glanced around the room, noting the stares directed at her (save for Chrysalis, who opted to just stare at the wall). All of them seemed to hold some amount of contempt, save for Wheatley, who oddly enough seemed genuinely excited.

"Oh man, I can't wait to get started!" he said. After a moment, looking around at the others staring at him oddly, he coughed (or, at least, imitated the sound of one). "That, uh, that was sarcasm. I'm not very good at it, sorry."

"Riiight, well..." Twilight looked through more of the papers. "I'll get started on making some good friendship exercises for you tomorrow! For the rest of today, you can go ahead and get settled in and everything." She looked at Jacket. "Just, please stay inside, okay?"

"Entiendo completamente," a series of clicks, "echo de menos a caballo púrpura."

"...I'll take that as a yes. Anyway... er, welcome to... Ponyville?"

After a moment of awkward silence, Twilight left. The moment she was gone, Wheatley turned to Jacket. "What exactly did you do outside, anyway?"

Jacket just shrugged and went back to his room. Eggman, seeing no reason to remain, went to his own shortly after.

After a while, Chrysalis suddenly brought her gaze to the front door. "Curses, I forgot to ask what exactly 'minimal disguises' meant."

"Well, I guess you'll find out, won't you?" Flowey said, grinning evilly.

"Flowey, I will not hesitate to find a dog who is willing to urinate all over you."

A moment of silence came up between the two, before Flowey spoke up again. "Huh, I gotta say, I'm impressed by the fact that you managed to come up with a useful threat even when we aren't allowed to hurt each other."

Chrysalis just groaned and went back to her room. This left just Wheatley and Flowey alone in the front room.

"Well, sarcasm aside, this probably won't be too bad, right?" Wheatley said.

Flowey rolled his eyes. "Oh, sure, and we'll all just become the best of friends!" He laughed darkly. "I don't think so."

"Why do you keep talking like that, mate? It's kinda creepy."

Flowey just stared ahead, unamused. "...That's the point."

"Ah, yes, I see," Wheatley nodded. "But why would you do that? It isn't very nice."

An uncomfortable few moments passed, with Flowey looking at Wheatley, dumbfounded and speechless. Eventually, he spoke up. "You really are an idiot, aren't you?"

"I AM NOT-" Wheatley cut off his sudden shouting with a few imitation deep breaths. "Sorry, sorry, just... some bad memories."

Flowey just shrugged and went over to the window, mentally filing that little tidbit about the sphere away. Sure, he couldn't hurt anyone, but no one said he had to be nice about it.



Back at the castle, Spike just watched as Twilight flew from shelf to shelf, gathering all of her past friendship letters she had archived, as well as any books that were even halfway relevant to the subject of friendship.

"Spike! See if you can find volume 3 of Starswirl's Friendship Theories!"

"You're holding it right now."

Twilight moved one of the books she was levitating in front of her face, and grinned sheepishly. "Oh, my bad."

As she went back to the chaos of her own book keeping, Spike questioned why he came back here, instead of finding Rarity. At least with her, freakouts like this were easily solved by inducing something to make her faint.

"Alright, I have everything I need to come up with any friendship lessons I could possibly need to teach!" Twilight suddenly said, moving a stack of books and a thick folder full of parchment onto a desk. "Now to start working on one!"

Sensing that his work was done, Spike left to take a nap.

When he came back, he found Twilight still at the desk, the same expression on her face. Curious, he glanced over her shoulder to see what progress she had made so far.



The






Smirking, he turned to the princess. "Making good progress, I see?"

"Spike, don't you have to go ogle Rarity some more?"

Glancing at the clock, Spike gasped. "You're right! Seeya, Twilight!"

As he ran out of the room, Twilight focused more intently on the paper in front of her. Surely, she could come up with a lesson to teach five less-than-nice people to be friends with each other and everyone else.

Right?