Despite how distracting the sights of Ponyville were, as Marshall was led through a dense portion of it by Twilight Sparkle, he thought that he'd done a good job of paying attention to his guide as she told him about Rarity. The only time that he had failed to do so was when he had stopped to marvel at the first pegasus that he had seen while in flight, but he hadn't missed anything because Twilight Sparkle had been patient enough to allow a brief change of topic, to answer questions pertaining to pegasi, before picking up where she had left off with Rarity.
Some of the town's denizens had greeted them along the way, although most of the time he couldn't be certain whether it was out of familiarity with his body's appearance or a disposition toward friendliness that he was greeted. Others, either without, before, right in the middle of, or after greeting him, would look at him oddly or with uncertainty. It was all understandable behavior, and he didn't see anything that looked like hostility or fear, so he didn't bother worrying about it.
Twilight Sparkle had finished telling him what she could about Rarity before reaching their destination, and while the silence that had ensued hadn't been awkward, he felt like it would be a good idea to fill the void with something. So, after a moment of thought, he said, "So, are there many, uh," he caught himself before he said "horses," because he had finally noticed the actual term being bandied about, "ponies with both wings and a horn? I don't recall Rarity mentioning them together, and you're the only one I've seen with more than one attribute, so far..."
He couldn't see it, but Twilight Sparkle looked a mite uncomfortable as she gave her response, since she didn't care for the special attention that her status tended to engender — although her expression could easily be confused with embarrassment or humility. "Ponies like myself are called alicorns." She turned her head so she could regard him while she continued to walk, and raised the wing that was below her gaze, which she spared a glance for the duration of the following sentence. "I wasn't born with these, though. As far as I know, alicorns aren't born naturally, so there have only been four — including myself — in recorded history."
When she had mentioned "alicorn," Marshall recalled that Rarity had mentioned the term before, but hadn't offered him a description of what it was. He hadn't asked about it because another detail about Twilight Sparkle had come up, which hadn't helped Rarity's case in regard to making some of her other claims any less unbelievable. It was that detail that made him stop in his tracks, as he finally realized what it was about his memory that had been teasing him, especially once he saw the connection between Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark and the star atop the nearby castle.
Seeing this, in addition to his uncertainty and nervousness, Twilight Sparkle stopped and turned around to face him with obvious concern. "What's wrong?"
"Well," Marshall began, his ears drooping slightly of their own accord when he ducked his head a bit, "I just remembered that you're a princess and, uh..."
Guessing what the issue was, Twilight Sparkle offered him a reassuring smile and said, "You don't have to worry about that, outside of formal occasions. I especially prefer my friends to be themselves around me."
Catching the hint, Marshall stared at her with a somewhat incredulous expression on his face. "You already consider me a friend?"
Twilight Sparkle nodded her head once and simply said, "Of course."
Marshall didn't really understand how that could be, but he allowed himself to relax and accept it. Just because he had never made a friend so quickly and easily in the past didn't mean that it wasn't possible. It was still fairly unbelievable, though, which wasn't helped by the fact that the only examples that he could draw from, about this kind of occurrence, were from fictional sources.
"Well, alright," he eventually said, with some of his doubt tingeing his voice.
After considering that response for a moment, Twilight Sparkle opted to ask questions about his relationships — and those of humans in general — later, once the time was more appropriate for it. There was a place that awaited their arrival, after all, and she was keen on bringing Marshall there before too long. So, she about-faced and prompted him to continue onward.
It wasn't long before they arrived at their destination, which Marshall immediately recognized from his surveyance on the hill: it was the building that had looked edible. It was much easier to see why, because the roof tiles looked like a collection of cookies, the eaves and ridge of the roof, as well as the overhang over the front door, were decorated with white frosting, and the entire top floor looked like a cupcake, one with three lit candles sticking out of its pink frosting.
Beyond that, he noted that it had at least four stories, with the second being noticeable from the front, thanks to a dormer, and the third and fourth being exclusive to a relatively-short tower. Other notable features, that were worth mentioning, were the pink-tinted windows, protruding ridge beams, the sign that hung from a bracket on the side of the building, which displayed an image of a cupcake, and the Dutch — or stable — door that just about every house in Ponyville seemed to have. There was one more thing that had caught his attention, on the second floor roof, but he had no idea what it was. His best guess was that it was a chimney, even though a much smaller version of it would have looked right at home in a fish tank — well, sans the frosting.
"Here we are," Twilight Sparkle lightheartedly stated, before pausing at the doorstep and turning her head enough to spare Marshall a glance. "This is Sugarcube Corner."
She returned her attention to the aforementioned establishment and opened its door with her magic before proceeding forward. Marshall followed, and — at first — thought that it looked dark inside because the lighting within was dim, perhaps from relying on the very light that made his pupils constrict. However, as he was crossing over the threshold, he realized that it was pitch-dark inside, not dim; he couldn't even see Twilight Sparkle, and she had only been a few feet ahead of him.
Confused by this, he spoke up and asked, "Why is it—"
Suddenly, the room was bathed in light, and the host of ponies that had been revealed simultaneously set off some party poppers and shouted, "Surprise!"
As some upbeat music began to play, his shock kept him rooted in place while he took in the sights around him. To his left was an alcove with a slightly-raised floor, which was accessed by a set of steps — ones with a finial-topped balustrade — that led one through a pair of candy cane-colored pillars. Straight ahead was what he guessed to be a service desk because of the dome-shaped call bell that was there, which doubled as a display case for the shop's goods, and beyond that was a staircase. To his right were larger display cases, and the wall behind the biggest one was full of shelves that held even more of the shop's produce, to the extent that rolling ladders were required to access some of it.
Aside from the more permanent features of the shop, there were a number of tables arranged about the room, of various sizes and shapes, with a selection of goodies and refreshments on them. There was also a small, square-shaped table that was just big enough for the phonograph that was providing the room with music. Then, of course, there was the most prevalent items in the room, because the balloons, paper streamers and whatnot were literally everywhere. They were also joined by the smaller streamers and confetti, from the party poppers, although most of it had fallen to the floor by the end of his examination.
Above the service desk hung a banner, which read, "Welcome to Ponyville, alien-from-another-universe!" Below that, in a much smaller script, was an additional message, which he had to squint his eyes to read. "Don't worry, everypony! I have it on good authority that your jobs will be safe!"
He would have thought more about that odd addition to the banner if he hadn't noticed Rarity's approach, along with the ponies that appeared to be tagging along with her. He had a feeling that Rarity had told him the names of the other ponies once, perhaps with an identifying feature or two, but no names were coming to mind, or details to match them with. With any luck, he wouldn't be put on the spot and have his memory tested during the introduction phase, which really wouldn't make for a good impression.
He had noticed Twilight Sparkle out of the corner of his eye when he had been looking around the place, who had been standing right beside him, so he wasn't caught off guard when he heard her question. "Surprised?"
Marshall nodded his head dumbly. He couldn't remember ever having a surprise party before, let alone one of this nature; it was one of those things that one didn't think about because it got filed away in the "it'll never happen to you" section of the brain. He might have been surprised by a birthday party back when he was too young to remember it, but they were easy to anticipate once one had the capacity to remember the date and understand its significance.
He didn't consider himself to be too introverted, nor particularly shy, but parties really weren't his cup of tea. It wasn't that he hated them, but the few that he had been invited to as an adult had invariably involved far more strangers and acquaintances than friends, and he just didn't feel comfortable putting his heart anywhere remotely near to his sleeve when he couldn't be sure that whatever he put out there would be safe.
Now, here he was, among another species, amid ponies that he knew next to nothing about, never mind anything regarding their culture. It was intimidating, to say the very least — as well as a mite overwhelming. Still, it wasn't something that he could just put off or leave to someone else, and he didn't want to make a bad impression, so he tried to steel himself for the trial that lay ahead of him.
Rarity had taken notice of his apprehension, so she regarded him with some concern and asked, "This wasn't too much, was it? I wanted to do something to show you my gratitude, as well as apologize, and," her concern gave way to tempered disapproval and criticism, "if you don't mind my saying so, I thought that your everyday milieu was rather... dreary."
It took Marshall a second to remember what "milieu" meant, with the aid of the context, and couldn't disagree with the assessment. He didn't care much for his lifestyle in general, where he only saw friends and family — in person — very occasionally, and didn't do much for fun outside of his home, but he was accustomed to weathering things out. The problem was that he had become desensitized to his situation, so it had become something akin to the new norm. Intellectually, he knew that he shouldn't allow things to remain the same, but he had resigned himself to token efforts in light of there being no apparent solutions that would improve matters without taking too many steps back as a consequence.
In the end, it was the thought that counted, so he smiled somewhat weakly and said, "I'll be fine. It was just... unexpected."
"Well, duh!" Voiced the all-pink pony beside Rarity, who — up until that point — had been bouncing up and down in place. "That's why it's called a surprise party, silly!"
Marshall turned his full attention to the pony who had just spoken, whose prior activity had been difficult to ignore. As he had noticed already, both her coat and hair were pink, the latter being a much darker shade than the former, while the aforementioned hair was rather disheveled in appearance. Her eyes were a light blue, and he could easily tell that her smile reached them, even as they conveyed the excitement that was broiling underneath the surface. Due to his current vantage point, and not knowing if it would be a faux pas to request a look-see or not, he didn't know what her cutie mark looked like, though he was pretty sure that she had no wings in addition to being hornless.
Rarity frowned at the interruption, since she hadn't finished her conversation with Marshall, but she decided to take advantage of it, by using it as a segue to the introductions. After clearing her throat, she said, "Marshall, this is Pinkie Pie; she's the one who put this party together."
That seemed to open up the floodgates, because Pinkie Pie exclaimed, "Hi," before continuing at a breakneck pace, instead of allowing the rest of the introductions to be made first. "I hope you enjoy the party! I was gonna do something extra-special, since I've never thrown a party for anypony from another universe before," she suddenly zipped over to Marshall's side, leaned in close and whispered behind her hoof, "that I'm aware of," then proceeded to look about herself shiftily before returning from whence she had come, "but I was advised to not go overboard, even though I run such a tight ship. Of course, if you're not having a blast," she proceeded to reach for something outside of Marshall's peripheral vision, which revealed the three balloons on her flank, and came back with a light cerulean-colored cannon, "just say the word and I'll take this party beyond the canon's limits!"
When she was met with a collection of confused or half-lidded stares, she asked, "What?" Then, the reason for their expressions seemed to occur to her, which prompted her to lightly cuff the side of her head. "Oh, sorry! The word is 'bird.'"
To Rarity's credit, she made no comment and moved things along, by gesturing toward the pony on her other side. "This is Applejack."
"Howdy!" Applejack greeted, with a tip of her Stetson hat.
Aside from noting Applejack's Southern accent and choice of headgear, Marshall saw that her coat was orange and her hair a pale yellow, with both her mane and tail tied off near their ends. She had green eyes and white freckles on the sides of her face, and — like Pinkie Pie — didn't have wings or a horn. Since she wasn't facing him dead-on, he was able to see enough of her flank to view her cutie mark, which consisted of three red apples.
Next, Rarity indicated the pony that had been standing behind the rest of the group, between Pinkie Pie and herself. "This is Fluttershy."
Said pony ducked her head a bit, enough for the forelock of her mane to cover one of her eyes, and softly said, "It's nice to meet you."
Marshall had barely been able to hear Fluttershy over the developing din of the party, but the first impression that he got of her character was rather loud and clear: she was the shy and reserved type. Appearance-wise, she had cyan-colored eyes, a light yellow coat and pink hair, and he could see a closed wing on the side that her mane covered the least. While he could see her cutie mark, the angle was such that he could glimpse the colors but not discern the image.
"Now," Rarity said, as she began to look around, "where is Rainbo—"
Right when her eyes started to rise toward something that was above Marshall's head, and Pinkie Pie seemed to lock up in a conspicuous fashion, a balloon popped right behind his ear. His human reflexes kicked in upon being startled, both figuratively and literally, and that resulted in the back half of his non-human body being launched into the air, which threatened to flip him over onto his back. While he made a valiant effort to stop his backside's momentum as he scrambled to maintain his balance on his forelegs, all that he succeeded in doing was moving forward a few steps and changing the angle of his fall...
...Which just happened to be where the head of the immobilized Pinkie Pie was located.
Between the unexpectedness of the event, and how quickly the end result was reached, no one had time to save Pinkie Pie from getting her head squashed between the floor and Marshall's posterior. At that moment, the pony who had scared Marshall began to laugh uproariously, to the extent that she was having trouble staying airborne. If not for the fact that he was the guest of honor, the other partygoers might have indulged themselves and joined the prankster; as things stood, however, some could only do so much to hold in their own mirth.
Marshall looked "up" at the pony who was responsible for his current predicament while he was too embarrassed and mortified to roll off of his back, in order to assume a more dignified posture. The pony in question was a pegasus with a sky blue coat, whose hair boasted six different bands of color, representing those found in a rainbow. Her eyes were cerise, although he had only seen them for a split second since she was laughing so hard that they were squeezed tight and lined with unshed tears more often than not. As for her cutie mark, he saw that it featured a cloud with a three-colored lightning bolt coming out of it.
While Rarity and Fluttershy extricated Pinkie Pie from underneath Marshall, who was getting to his hooves with Applejack's aid, Twilight Sparkle frowned at the laughing pegasus and — in a chiding tone — said, "Rainbow Dash. Was that really necessary?"
It took a moment for the aforementioned pony to get a hold of herself, who wiped the tears from her eyes before she casually said, "Aw, come on, Twilight. You said that humans walked on two legs, and that this guy would only be here for a day. How could I not pass that up?"
"Really, Rainbow Dash," Rarity said, sounding a bit exasperated. "I know that you didn't mean any harm by it, but you could have given Marshall the chance to know you better before pulling such a stunt, so he would know that as well."
Rainbow Dash deflated a bit upon hearing that, and had the good grace to look embarrassed. "Yeah, I guess you're right." Landing before Marshall, she rubbed the back of her neck and contritely said, "Sorry about that. No hard feelings?"
"It's fine," Marshall lied, avoiding eye contact.
Whether or not Rainbow Dash was being sincere, he just didn't want to make any more of a scene than there already was. In addition to that, he wanted to put the incident out of his mind and move things along, so he could mitigate the amount of attention that he was getting, despite the fact that he was the reason for the party.
Rarity and Applejack didn't appear to buy his response, although the latter — at the very least — might have understood his intentions, because she turned her attention to Pinkie Pie in order to address another subject. "So, Pinkie Pie, why'd ya freeze up like you did?"
"Oh, my Pinkie Sense was just confuzzled, is all," came Pinkie Pie's blithe response.
Out of curiosity, partly because it might be something of a magical nature, Marshall asked, "Pinkie Sense? What's that?"
Twilight Sparkle was the one who got to field the question, and she gave Marshall the impression that there was a story behind her answer. "Somehow, Pinkie Pie gets these feelings, which manifest themselves as particular, involuntary actions, and they can predict future events." At Marshall's incredulous stare, she added, "I don't understand it either, but I've come to accept it."
"I've never heard of it being confused, though," Applejack stated, before once again addressing Pinkie Pie. "Any idea as to why?"
"Hmmmm," Pinkie Pie hummed thoughtfully, her brow furrowed as she stroked her chin. "It could be that something was lost in translation, because it was a human reaction in a pony body. On the other hoof, perhaps there isn't an official name for the move, so it couldn't tell me. Or, mayyyybe, the applicable terms were insufficient to describe it. I mean, in a way, it's a reverse of a headbutt, but calling it a butthead would be mean, and referring to it as a buttbutt would just be silly, like you're trying to argue about something. Of course, a butt is performed with the head, so 'headbutt' already seems redundant anyway. Also—"
"Hey!" Rainbow Dash interrupted, who had taken to the air once more. She had her forelegs crossed, and looked impatient. "Are we gonna party, or what?"
Pinkie Pie gasped in shock and exclaimed, "Oh my gosh! You're totally right!"
Before Marshall knew it, he was picked up by Pinkie Pie, who declared, "I know how we can get this party started," and — in a rush — deposited him just off to the side of the shop's entrance, where a lot of ponies were already gathered. Then, before he could get his bearings on the situation, Pinkie Pie stuffed something between his lips and asked, "Do you know how to play 'pin the tail on the pony?'"
Figuring that it was their version of "pin the tail on the donkey," and that the thing in his mouth was the tail, Marshall gave a verbal response despite his lips being occupied. "Ah gesh?"
"Great!" Pinkie Pie said, before pulling out a blindfold from somewhere and tying it about Marshall's head. Then, without any warning, she proceeded to grasp Marshall and send him into an unbelievably-fast spin, which made him cry out in surprise.
Unfortunately, while Marshall had proved apt enough to walk, he was by no means a master of his new body, and that was only compounded by the unexpectedness and speed of the spin. So, not only did he lose his footing and fall upon his belly, which made him eject the pin — and attached tail — from his mouth at a notable velocity, requiring a few ponies to scramble out of the way, but the centrifugal force made him splay his limbs and extend his neck while he spun around. Due to Pinkie Pie's proximity, she got tripped up and tumbled end over end, squealing gleefully the entire time, until he slowed down enough for her to gain enough traction to roll away, which led to her bowling a few ponies over before crashing into the base of a display case.
While Rainbow Dash was incapacitated by laughter, who collapsed to the ground and began to pound it with a foreleg, Applejack went to attend to Pinkie Pie as Twilight Sparkle, Rarity and Fluttershy saw to Marshall. Between having a familiar appearance, being — technically speaking — a different species, and gaining her sympathy with this latest indignity, Fluttershy was the one to head the group as they approached him.
After Rarity used her magic to remove the blindfold from Marshall's dazed eyes, Fluttershy approached him and quietly said, "Oh, you poor thing. Are you alright?"
"...Not really," Marshall replied with a groan.
Aside from feeling a bit nauseous and sore, his pride — modest as it was — had taken quite a blow after enduring two highly-embarrassing incidents so closely together, and it didn't help that he could hear a fair amount of laughing. Unfortunately, he wasn't the type to find release through crying or getting angry, or by running away from the scene of the crime, so he was torn on how to handle the situation: because he preferred to find someplace private, where he could recover on his own. The problem with that was getting there without making it obvious that something was wrong, but that wasn't going to happen if he left the party right at that moment.
Before Fluttershy could decide on how to help Marshall, they heard Pinkie Pie yell, "Woo! That was fun!"
A few seconds later, said pony was bounding over to them without a care in the world, with Applejack trailing behind her. Upon noticing Marshall's prone state, she regarded him with worry and asked, "Awwww; you're not too tired to continue, are you?"
"I don't think that's the problem, Pinkie Pie," Twilight Sparkle dryly commented.
While Pinkie Pie was being told to be more careful, since Marshall's appearance belied his inexperience with being a pony, the subject of that conversation took things in for a moment before deciding to give the party another chance. If Pinkie Pie could laugh off her own experience, then why couldn't he? Of course, it helped to know that it wasn't out of meanness that he was being laughed at; at least, as far as his immediate company was concerned, who seemed to show enough consideration for him. It was especially apparent of Fluttershy, despite her awkwardness.
Besides which, if he was going to be making more visits in the future, then he didn't want to sour things with anyone, if it could be helped. So, he carefully got to his hooves and stood up, even though his vision still swam a little, and waited for Pinkie Pie to notice him before he said, "I think I'm up for another try."
"Are you sure, darling?" Rarity asked, as much out of worry as it was from an appraisal of his current condition.
"Yeah," Applejack seconded, with a slight frown. "You don't have to do it, if'n you don't wanna."
Marshall nodded his head to them and said, "It's fine," before he returned his attention to Pinkie Pie, who already looked ready to resume the activity. "Just don't spin me so fast, okay?"
"Okie-dokie!" Pinkie Pie readily agreed. "I'll be super-duper-extra-special-with-a-grape-on-top careful!"
Despite some of their reservations, including Marshall's own, Rarity affixed the blindfold to his head once more, while Twilight Sparkle retrieved the tail, which had embedded itself in a banister. Once the pin was secured between his lips once more, Pinkie Pie eyed him critically before she helped him to stand on his hind legs, as she did the same, and proceeded to spin him around that way. While Marshall had rarely ever danced, if one could call what he had done "dancing," he could easily picture himself being twirled by a dancing partner, like he'd seen more adept dancers do.
He was mildly dizzy by the time he was set down on all four hooves again and told that his target was straight ahead. Of course, as soon as he tried to move forward, he stumbled way off course, but was otherwise relieved that he hadn't fallen over as well. Thinking that he had a good idea of where he had tried to go initially, he moved slowly and carefully, and adjusted his course as needed.
Before long, he had a good feeling that he was close, and could even imagine the wall being right in front of him. So, he extended a hoof in front of himself to try and find it, since he didn't want to discover the wall with his face and risk sticking the tail somewhere when he wasn't ready. As luck would have it, the wall was within reach, so he eased himself closer as he pictured where the image of the pony was, which seemed unusually vivid in his mind's eye. After lowering his head and leaning it a bit more to the right, he advanced with the intention to stick the pin where it was supposed to go on the image, and he felt resistance as he pushed the pin into something, until his lips got in the way and prevented him from pushing it in any farther.
"Whoa," Rainbow Dash voiced her surprise, which made Marshall realize how quiet it had been up until that point, before conversations began to spark up around him again, "I can't believe he got it right where it needed to go."
"It was almost like he could see it," Applejack opined, whose tone conveyed her confusion instead of an accusation because she'd had a good view of Marshall's face from her vantage point.
While Marshall was trying and failing to lift the blindfold from his face with a hoof, having forgotten — for the time being — that he could have done it with magic, Pinkie Pie did it for him so she could look him straight in the eye, as she narrowed her own, before saying, "Saaaaay... You wouldn't happened to have committed foul play, in Sugarcube Corner, with a roll of duct tape, have you?"
"Huh?" Marshall voiced his confusion, as well as showing his discomfort to Pinkie Pie's invasion of his personal space.
For whatever reason, Pinkie Pie seemed to be satisfied with his response, since she drew away from him, taking the blindfold away in the process, and enthusiastically began to ask around for the next player. Since "pin the tail on the pony" was Rarity's favorite game, she began to vie for a turn, to which Pinkie Pie jokingly said, "Didn't you already have a turn?"
Since it looked like he was going to be in the way soon, Marshall rejoined Twilight Sparkle and her friends, feeling nonplussed about what had just happened. Noticing his mood, Fluttershy tried to raise his spirits with a sincere yet really low-key, "I think you did great. Woo-hoo."
Marshall couldn't help smiling a bit in response. Now that Fluttershy appeared to have warmed up to him a bit, it seemed like she might be interesting to hang out with. The others were interesting, as well; even Rainbow Dash, since he'd had some experience with her type before. Pinkie Pie, however, might require being taken in much smaller dosages.
He had just managed to thank Fluttershy when Twilight Sparkle said, "Yeah; you must have a pretty good memory if you did that unaided."
Managing something of a shrug, with a slight raise of a shoulder and tilt of the head, Marshall said, "I dunno... I'm kind of surprised that I managed to do it, honestly."
"Oh?" Twilight Sparkle inquired, her interest clearly piqued.
As he turned to watch Rarity play "pin the tail on the pony," who had just begun to search blindly for her target, he absently said, "Yeah. I just had this feeling. And when I imagined where I thought I needed to go, it was almost like I was actually seeing it."
"Well, you are a unicorn, you know," Rainbow Dash helpfully pointed out. "Maybe you used your magic without meaning to, or something."
"It's possible," Twilight Sparkle allowed, as she recalled how Marshall had more or less homed in on the location where the tail was supposed to be pinned.
She didn't permit the possibility simply because she had grown to accept that there were some things — whether they involved magic or not — that she didn't understand, but because she was familiar with how Rarity had gotten her cutie mark. If Rarity's magic could lead her to what she needed to find without any conscious input on her part, then why couldn't Marshall's help him find where he needed to pin the tail? While she didn't think that having a clone of Rarity's body would necessarily have anything to do with it, it would certainly be interesting enough to study if something of that nature happened to occur between them.
Her thoughts were interrupted when Rainbow Dash's distinct voice, along with the confusion being conveyed with it, caught her attention. She hadn't caught what had been said, but she didn't need to: because she noticed where everypony's attention was being focused, where she found Rarity removing her blindfold, who stood right next to an appropriately-placed tail. Rarity showed surprise when she noticed her accomplishment, which made Twilight Sparkle wonder if what had happened wasn't just a coincidence.
After Rarity gave her an account that was similar to Marshall's, when she hadn't been present to hear his, it was with a good helping of excitement, as well as a bit of concern, that Twilight Sparkle arranged for them to get some testing done later, before Marshall had to leave.