Equestria - A Nomad Soul

by MattDrummy

A Lesson of Fear

The door to the library was shut tight. Kayl could not see beyond the windows. Curtains had been drawn, and there was only darkness inside. Around the town, other ponies were going about their business, taking notice of Kayl, but seeming to be much less shocked by the sight of him. Clearly, the town had been made aware of Kayl and assured that they would soon be rid of their new threat.

Rarity looked over Kayl once more, using her magic to straighten his cuffs and tie.

"Well now we have to make sure you don't go in looking like a ragamuffin don't we?"

Kayl sighed and nodded, "I guess this is it then?"

Rarity giggled, "Now don't ruin their surprise! We've all worked very hard to keep it a secret, and it won't do any good for you to mope about the future."

They all had worked hard to keep it a secret from him. Kayl believed that it must have been a sick joke. How else could he have taken it? What else could all of this secrecy be to Kayl but the set up to be imprisoned, or worse killed.

Suddenly a great weight lifted from Kayl He fully realized that everything was lost, and he no longer had to control the outcome of the following few minutes. Everything that was going to happen would simply happen, and Kayl could not, and would not need to fight against it. He was finally calm, at ease with whatever was going to be sent before him.

As the door opened and Rarity nudged Kayl in, giggling as she did, Kayl found a serene peace of mind fall upon him. But nothing could have prepared him for what came next. Kayl entered the dark abode, lit slightly by the light coming in from outside.

"Surprise!"

The flash of light forced Kayl's eyes to shut. The shrill voice's cry announced the attack from all sides. He was surrounded by sounds of whooping, hollering, and the blowing of party horns.

"Who brings party horns to an execution!?" Thought Kayl, when he at last started to put the pieces together.

He slowly opened his eyes, and there all around was the blasts of colorful streamers hung about the wall. Sparkling like diamond satin as balloons bounced around in the ceiling. Kayl's eyes followed the scene down to all of the others standing around, cheering at Kayl

Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash flying over head, and Fluttershy giving a quiet cheer. Rarity was giggling excitedly behind Kayl And there in the center of it all, standing right in front of Kayl, was a bright pink horse with a pink curly mane. Her cheers were loudest above all the others, and she was bouncing around as if the floor was made of a springy trampoline.

Kayl darted his eyes down, and yet there was no trap set to capture him. He looked back up, still unsure of what was happening. Most of the cheering died down as each pony was now looking straight at Kayl Each judging his expression with concern. All except the bring pink host of the party, whose excitement could not be quelled by the terror in Kayl's heart.

"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! Were you surprised!? I told them you would be! Twilight was like: He's going to find out! But No one has ever guessed a Pinkie Pie surprise party! Especially not Twilight! Because I surprised her good at her first surprise party! So were you surprised!? I bet you are, I'd be surprised. I AM SURPRISED! Wow! You're really an alicorn! That's so super neat! We should throw an alicorn party! Because now I have so many friends who are alicorns! Twilight's an alicorn! Princess Celestia is too! So are her sister and Princess Cadence, but Princess Cadence is out in the Crystal Kingdom.

But you're an alicorn! So that would mean I know five alicorns! Still, it would be a party, even if there were only two alicorns. OH! That means this IS an alicorn party! That's great! Because I wasn't sure what to call this party. Twilight wanted it to be called your welcome party, but I said: Twilight he's already been here for two days, if he hasn't been welcomed yet then what's wrong with us!?"

Twilight reached out and placed a hoof on Pinkie's mouth, and there was a great sigh of relief amongst the others. Kayl's mind was lost, and he wasn't sure if he was annoyed by this pink devil, or if this was yet another god of this world.

"Kayl, are you alright? You look like you got hit by a train."

Kayl's head began to hurt badly, and he tried to get out of the circle of ponies to see the rest of the room.

"Kayl darling, this isn't the kind of reaction one generally has at a surprise party! Oh I knew he knew what we were planning..."

Kayl shook his head. It was both to exclaim that Rarity was mistaken, and to exclaim his disbelief. Where was the traps? Where was his fate? Kayl saw one table had been set up with gifts wrapped in colorful paper and bows and upon it was a cake. Kayl peered atop it to see a simple sheet cake adorned with frosting.

"Welcome to Ponyville Kayl" Kayl read out loud, and Pinkie Pie gave another cheer.

"Oh he is surprised! He's so surprised he's practically speechless!"

Kayl turned around, "No, not speechless. But I'm confused. I thought you were planning to imprison me, or worse execute me!"

Pinkie Pie gasped, "No pony said this was an execution party! I don't even throw those! That's a terrible terrible joke! I know much better jokes anyway, you should have come to me for a joke! Like did you hear about the colt who walked into a bar? He tripped! Haha! Get it!?"

Kayl shook his head, "No, what? Oh I get it, because it's a bar. Um..."

Pinkie Pie jumped forward, "Not funny enough for you? Okay I have a lot more! What do you call a wood chuck that can't chuck wood?"

Kayl shook his head, "I'm not sure that's a joke. Woodchucks don't chuck wood. That's the whole point..."

Pinkie Pie laughed, "No! You call him Chuck Less Woodchuck!"

Kayl shook his head, "I don't think this is a time for jokes..."

Twilight laughed, "I don't know, that was a pretty good one. Pinkie Pie is a master of making ponies laugh."

Pinkie Pie nodded, "Sure am! I bet I can get you to laugh!"

Kayl smirked, "Well I think this entire situation is ridiculous, so I suppose you have a start."

Pinkie laughed again. She sure was the element of laughter alright. Here they all were. The elements of harmony gathered together. But, for a party? Kayl wasn't sure what kind of game this was, but he had already resided himself to his fate. Was he being expected to laugh himself to death?

"Okay, why did the chicken cross the road?"

Kayl sighed, "To get to the other side?"

Pinkie snickered, "Because he didn't want to become the main dish!"

Kayl snickered in return, "Okay, I hadn't heard that one before. That was pretty good. But what's the point of all of this?"

Pinkie struck a pose, standing up on both hind legs. Her forelimbs waved about magically in mid air, "You snickered! That's close, but I can't stop till I get a full blown laugh out of you!"

Kayl sighed and shook his head, "Listen, I'm not in a big laughing mood. After being deceived, and conspired against, I just want to get whatever is coming to me over with."

Twilight looked around, "But Kayl, this is it!"

Kayl looked around again. "A party? Why? I mean, I haven't done anything but make life a pain for each of you. Why are you throwing me a party?"

Pinkie Pie whimpered, "I don't get it, doesn't he know what a party is for!? He doesn't even know how to party! Wow Twilight, where did you get this one!?"

Kayl sat down on his flank, lifting a hoof to hold his head. He felt his brain throbbing, his heart had been racing moments before and now he was feeling light headed.

"Kayl, are you alright? You look like you're going to pass out..."

Fluttershy gasped at Twilight's question, "Oh no! Don't tell me he's allergic to me is he!"

Kayl shook his head, "No, wait a minute. I don't get it. Rarity told me that Applejack had been running around telling every one of you to meet me, so I could learn about friendship. Is that right?"

Applejack pulled her hat down with a blush, "I only thought you'd be happier after making some new friends here."

Rainbow Dash shook her head, "I hadn't talked to Applejack till today, but yeah. I had the same thought when I took you to meet Fluttershy."

Fluttershy continued to shake and quiver, "Oh please don't be mad at us. If you don't want to be our friend, we won't force you to be."

Kayl shook his head, "That's not important right now. What about this morning Twilight? You wouldn't let me in the kitchen..."

Twilight laughed, "It was to plan all of this! I couldn't let you know about the surprise party we were planning."

Pinkie Pie jumped up and down, bouncing around the room, "Yeah silly! It wouldn't be much of a surprise party if you knew it was going to happen!"

Kayl looked to Twilight, "So you were planning this since yesterday when Applejack told you what happened?"

Twilight cocked her head to one side, "She told me that you had gone to have flight lessons with Rainbow Dash, and if it would be alright if you were kept busy today. I said that was a good idea, because Pinkie Pie and I were busy getting your party ready."

Pinkie finally came to a stop next to Twilight, "Yeah! You see, I heard from Rainbow Dash that there was a new Alicorn in town! And I said that was awesome, but why didn't anyone tell me about the surprise welcome party! And Rainbow Dash said there hadn't been one that she knew of. And then I realized that was because I'm the master of parties in Ponyville! So I asked Rainbow Dash where you were staying, and she said that you were probably with Twilight Sparkle. So I went to Twilight's house to ask her if there had been a party or not, there hadn't, but I had to ask anyway.

So she told me that you had gone to help Applejack, and I was about to go and find Applejack when Twilight told me I should help her get a party ready. So I said of course! But of course, I knew that Rarity would want to make something for you to wear Kayl. She has a passion for fashion! So I ran off and told her everything I had heard from Rainbow Dash and Twilight. And she got to work on working on an outfit for you to wear! I came back here to help Twilight with making the cake and getting decorations ready!

But we were running out of time! And Twilight kept running out to the living room and asking Spike if he had seen Kayl, and Spike hadn't so Twilight ran back into the kitchen! Twilight! Did you know you didn't even tell Spike what we were doing! But I thought it was a surprise party, so I didn't say anything either!"

Kayl looked around to see a bewildered Spike munching on snacks, "Yeah, I know that now! But it would've been nice to know that yesterday. I must have looked like a dweeb when I asked Kayl why Twilight was acting so scared."

Kayl looked back to Twilight, "So you were scared of me because I might have come home and seen..."

Twilight laughed out loud, "Yeah, I was pretty paranoid yesterday. But I figured you'd be mad..."

Kayl shook his head, "I'm not...I mean. I'm just confused. Why would I be mad?"

Twilight opened up the door to the room where Kayl had been sleeping. It was filled with all the books that Princess Celestia had sent to Twilight.

"I got so busy with helping getting the party ready that I didn't have the chance to look through any books. I know you really want to go home, but if you might be here a while, I wanted to make you feel more welcome. I figured if you felt more welcome, you may want to be my friend."

Kayl finally stood up. He turned around and looked at the cake. A smiling Kayl was looking back at him and Kayl shook his head in disbelief. Had he truly become so cynical, that he couldn't realize a surprise party when it was being thrown right in front of him. And all Kayl had done was insulted each of these ponies. And after receiving nothing in return, they had thrown a party in his honor. Kayl had never received such selfless kindness, generosity, honesty, and loyalty before. And no one had ever tried so hard to make Kayl laugh.

Pinkie Pie chimed in on que, "Why wouldn't us ponies throw a party for our new friend! We're just trying to be neeeeigborly."

Before Kayl even had a chance to register what had been said, something ignited from within him. It came from the pit of his stomach and burst through out his body. He tried to hold it back, like a flood of emotions he didn't want to deal with. But he couldn't help it. Soon he was snickering uncontrollably as he looked at Pinkie Pie's smiling face. Soon he was laughing out hard. The others were looking on in confusion.

"I don't get it..." Twilight shrugged.

"Neighborly!" Kayl blurted out. He couldn't control himself. He was laughing too much to care about how he looked.

"Neighborly?" Twilight began, "But I don't get why, oh! Neighborly! Oh I get it!"

Twilight and the others began to join in the laughing. It became contagious. Pinkie cheered and laughed along with them, which caused her to get the hiccups. Kayl had to sit down from the laughter. It was a rippling sensation of nerves that flew through his body from head to toe. It was almost crippling, and as the others joined in the laughter, Kayl was almost struck with fear in spite of himself. How could laughter be so painful? He felt a stabbing sensation in his sides, doubling him over as he tried to suppress this joy. But it would not be quelled so easily. How could such laughter bring such pain? And how had he not noticed it before?

"Because," Kayl thought to himself, "You have never laughed this hard and real before."

In all of his adult life, he had only laughed to appease others who wanted to tell jokes. Even the funniest jokes he had heard from his own world had only forced a superficial laughter from within him. He had only laughed because it was socially acceptable to laugh, and here he was laughing without care for anything. This was real joy, in spite of the pain, and it was a joy he had not felt since he was a child. No, perhaps he had never felt such joy before in his life. He felt the tears stream down his face as the pain overtook him.

"Kayl, please don't cry..."

Kayl didn't understand what Twilight meant until he realized that no one was laughing anymore, not even Kayl. His laughter had turn to cries of pain and woe, crippling him to the ground in a heap of his own emotional baggage. Kayl fought to silence his cries but it was as painful to stop as the laughter he had experienced. Soon he regained control of himself and stood back up. He bore a smile on his face as he walked over to Pinkie Pie and threw a hoof around her neck.

"Thank you Pinkie Pie...." Pinkie returned the hug with a cheer.

"I know how to get a pony smiling!"

Kayl pulled back and turned to everyone else, "Thank you everyone. I know I've been pretty impossible to deal with. But I'm touched, I'm really moved. I've never met anyone so selfless before in my whole life. If this is what it means to be friends...and if you truly still wish. I'll gladly accept your friendship!"

There was a great amount of cheering and hugging. Soon every pony was dancing and eating cake. Kayl began to tell stories of his world, and the places he had visited. But he asked questions mostly, he wanted to know things he had never known about anyone. He wanted to know their dreams, what they were hoping for. He wanted to know what kind of foods they liked to eat, and he wanted to hear stories. Together Twilight and the others told as many stories of their times together as they could.

Kayl danced with Pinkie Pie and Twilight. He drank cider with Applejack and Rainbow Dash. He sang songs with Fluttershy and Rarity. He acted silly, and if anyone had seen him they would have thought him crazy. Despite being a winged unicorn, Kayl was delighted. But soon the party drew to a close. Kayl was not saddened, though. For the first time in eight years, Kayl remembered the joy of having friends.

After the party, they quickly cleaned up what was left. The last slices of cake were wrapped up and given to Pinkie to save for another time. And with everyone's help, soon the decorations were all wrapped up as well. Everyone helped, and no one had to be coaxed into helping. Kayl was amazed at once to finally realize what true friendship really looked like.

As everyone left, Twilight sighed and opened up the room where Kayl had been staying, "I'm sorry, but I'm so exhausted. I don't think I have the strength to move all these books back tonight."

Kayl chuckled, "That's alright. Do I at least have a place to sleep."

Twilight nodded, "Yes, I took some time to set up a bed for you. I'm going to hit the bed. Do you need anything else?"

Kayl shook his head, "I don't think so..."

Twilight turned and began to fly slowly up to her loft. Kayl felt something rush inside of him and he called out before she reached the top.

"Twilight!"

She turned and looked down from above, "What!? Is everything alright?"

Kayl took a deep breath, "I just wanted to say how thankful I am to have met you. Thank you..."

Twilight smiled, a tear came to her eye and she wiped it away, "I knew that deep inside was a good heart."

Kayl retired himself to his room. It had been an exceptionally long day, but he was still not tired. In fact, he was more than wide awake. He felt so alive and free. The feeling of friendship, it was a marvelous thing. He tried not to cry, but he felt his emotions bubbling around in the pit of his stomach. He maneuvered through stacks of books to find his bed of blankets set up for him.

But he still not sleepy. Looking around, he saw several books near by that had been organized. He peered through them, noticing that they had been organized by title and author.

"Well Twilight, you certainly put a lot of work in to this." Thought Kayl, "Perhaps if I read a bit of these text books I'll be able to sleep."

So, Kayl sat himself down upon the bed, and focusing the beads of magic that he had come more accustomed to, he brought a particularly old looking journal from the top of a stack down to him. The cover was worn, and it had a strange marking on it, stars swirling around in a circular motion.

"Hmm, The Journal of Star Swirl the Bearded." muttered Kayl, "A record of experiences with the traveler"

Kayl nearly set it back. He nearly believed that Star Swirl the Bearded might have simply been a sight seer. But the sparkling rune on the front of the journal encouraged Kayl to read on.

"I first met the traveler while roaming through strange unsettled lands. Sparkling mountains full of gems, and fertile ground. By chance, I happened upon a sight. An alicorn with no mark to his flank."

Kayl looked back at his own flank. He was also an alicorn with no cutie mark. But it couldn't have been the same as him, could it? Quietly he read to himself.

"He called himself Soul, or perhaps that is not how it was spelled, but I did not question it. He \described a world I had never heard of: ruled by bipedal creatures; Tall structures speckled the landscape; and impossible to comprehend technologies to be told of. I perhaps would have been better suited to speak of such things if I could see the world where he had come from. Sadly, he called such a land 'China'."

Kayl's heart nearly caught in his throat. Whoever Star Swirl the Bearded was, he had clearly met someone from his own world, from China no less. So if Star Swirl was able to understand this "Soul" then perhaps it was no mere coincidence that Kayl could understand it as well.

"I traveled with Soul through these new lands, and eventually he told me how he longed to return home. His family, he knew were waiting for him back home. I worked with Soul to develop some means to travel to his world. Sadly, such a way for I to travel to a world I have never been was beyond my scope. But, all hope was not lost."

The journal continued on. Star Swirl and Soul had faced many challenges together. They fought against monstrous creatures, and developed a bond of friendship. Part of the journal talked of someone named Clover the Clever. With instructions for Clover to not attempt such feats at her level of magic. An hour or so had passed since he first began reading, but time was still for Kayl.

Kayl continued to read carefully, "By chance, since Soul was a native of another world, there was a simple spell that I had known of to return an object to its original owner. It took some hard work, from which Soul was an indispensable help, but I developed a spell to return a traveler back to their home."

With breath held fast, Kayl dared not utter a word till he finished reading.

"The spell was a success, as far as I can gather. It has now been three months to the day since I sent Soul back to where he came. I will probably never know if the traveler had made it to his destination, but I do know that he returned home. I will not be publishing this spell, as it is surely dangerous to try on anyone who is not a traveler."

And there it was, a spell designed to send Kayl home. It was all written out, the once in a life time chance for Kayl to return home! Kayl could not understand the spell, but he was sure Twilight would. She would easily be able to pull it off. By chance, Kayl had found the one book in a stack of hundreds that would bring him back home.

He would return to his old life, and soon he would be with Beth again. And he would see Barbara. He would return to everyone he knew. And never again would he see the light of Equestria again. And soon, he would never see Twilight again. Or any friend he had made here. They would all be gone, forever.

Without thought, Kayl took the book and slid onto a shelf. He quietly tucked it away behind another book. And without a word or thought, he lied down to sleep. He shivered in the blankets, made cold not only by his fear, but also by his guilt. He forced the thoughts away, because today was too happy of a day. And he regretted ever looking through the books in the first place.