Tales of Valor: A New Pony in Ponyville

by NobleValor

Chapter 13

Author's Note:

I apologize in advanced for this chapter taking as long as it did. I recently entered into a contest and got caught up reading the other entires (some of which are better than mine is ) I assure you bronies and pegasisters that (To borrow and rephrase a fragment of a peom from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) this story is not dead, nor doth it sleep.

As an extra, I found a comment that struck me as curious. Mainly what kind of pony Noble was. For the record, he is an earth pony. Any interested in a basic idea of what he looks like here is a link to my deviant art page (made it out of boredom one day and recently submitted it.) It's not perfect, but it's as close as I can manage (And yes, although not mentioned yet, that is his cutie mark): http://noblevalor.deviantart.com/art/Noble-Valor-basically-476728021 (As far as height goes, Big Mac has a few inches on Noble, but Noble has to lower his eyesight to look everypony else in the eye. For anyone that is interested, that is. )

Also, how I Pinkie is portrayed here is how I like to think she is. (Has depth, but mostly it's just unexplored.)

Next chapter will have another flashback with Lightning Joust and Iron Clad. Enjoy!

As Noble reached the crest of the hill, he rested a moment to let his breath catch up to him. It wasn't as hard a climb as some he had been on, but it was taxing nonetheless. Any other time, he would've felt a small amount of pride in his accomplishment; this however wasn't those times. The only thing he felt was a rage so deep that it threatened to consume him.

He laid his back on the ground to stare up at the indigo sky above his head, the eastern edges tinged with the multiple hues of the approaching dawn. He stared deeply into the dark abyss, his vision blurring as his eyes became unfocused. Closing his eyes, he let his mind wander back to where his rage manifested, slowly releasing control of his anger a little at a time.

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Noble stood on the ridge staring down at the small clearing lit with the remnants of his used torch. He glanced down at the ground around the ridge again, looking about. After making note of everything, he left the ridge to go to the clearing, but not before he replanted his torch so it could be seen from below.

Entering the clearing, he picked up the torch and tended the flame so it didn't die right away. Allaying that worry, he walked to one of the bushes near the border of the clearing. Upon arriving, he found Everfree Berries on the limbs and on the surrounding ground of the bushes.

Seeing this, he still was not satisfied. Lifting the torch higher, he glanced about and found a trail of berry skins leading into the forest. He turned to follow it, hoping that he was sincerely wrong in this.

Reaching the end of it, he saw that he wasn't.

Noble found himself on the battlefield where he faced the timberwolves. Looking about, he spotted the faint signs of the scuffle that had taken place there: the misplaced bits of earth as the claws of the wolves had torn into it, the bent and broken branches in the directions he had kicked the wolves into, even a small pile of mulch containing the signs that it had once been berries near the ridge that rose from the earth.

Noble closed his eyes and tried to retain his calm, in spite of the circumstances that had led him here. He wanted to turn around and forget this had been here, but he had to be certain. He forced his eyes open and turned towards the bigger ridge in the distance, seeing the glow of light from the torch he had left there.

Noble felt his generally calm demeanor pass by like a stranger in a crowd. It was all laid out in front of him. The torch, the buckets, the ridge; all of it pointed to one inescapable conclusion: 'Somepony had watched this!' he thought, feeling an anger so deep it could probably qualify as righteous indignation.

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At the time, Noble couldn't help feeling anything but seething anger at the revelation of this. Somepony had watched as four children had been chased by one of, if not THE, most ruthless predators in all of Equestria and had not done one thing to prevent it. There were several things that confused the 'dichotomies of good and evil,' as Lightning had phrased it. Something like that though was just... wrong! There wasn't any other way to put it: It was wrong! Wrong at its basic and most primitive levels and it shouldn't be done ever!

Now though, Noble felt his serenity return. He was still angered, but he had control of it. Now he could function with it, draw upon it, or hide it at a whim. With this done, he forced on using his mind productively, mainly on puzzling who would watch something like that.

That question wouldn't be easy. He literally had at a town's worth of suspects to sort through and he still had no idea what....

On that note, his thoughts paused. He hadn't ever been the brightest pony in Equestria and he would never claim to be otherwise, but he did have moments of clarity if he thought about something enough. He got up and started pacing around, making certain that the pieces of this puzzle fit together like he thought they did.

'Five timberwolves attack four children. All viewable from a ridge looking down with no tracks leading down. The timberwolves split company when attacked and the other three never were seen again. The manticore, a species never known to be outwardly aggressive unless provoked, was seen trying to come into town.'

Milling these thoughts around inspiration hit him like a rock on the head. He could have bucked himself for being so dense. Now that he knew what the problem was, he could begin with implementing the solution! All he had to do now was make certain of his facts and he could begin at the library. It was practically perfect!

Then his ears and face drooped in recollection. Before he could start with any of that, he had to find Pinkie Pie first. "Hammer and anvils!" he swore, facehoofing himself at the actions of early this morning.

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After trekking through the Everfree Forest, Noble had to find some way to put aside his anger. He couldn't function with it like this, threatening to boil over. He needed to find somewhere to reign it in and it needed to be someplace with as few distractions as possible. After about an hour of searching, with the faint traces of dawn barely touching the horizon, he had found a hill.

It was a large hill outside the town limits. There was nothing nearby to cause the townsfolk to pass by it and it was steep enough to discourage anypony from climbing it. To put it succinctly, it was ideal for his purposes.

He soon lost that train of thought when high pitched voice pierced the silent air, greeting in a singsong "Hiiiiii!" He immediately lost all sensation of feeling as a pink blur rushed towards him, tackling him to the ground. Once his senses caught up to him, he felt an almost bone crunching hug wrapped around his barrel. All these facts gave the perpetrator away almost immediately. "Pinkie," he asked, lying on the ground, "what are you doing?"

"Giving you a hug," she answered, squeezing a little tighter.

"I can see that," he replied, barely managing to contain a growl, "but why?"

"Because hugs are funneriffic!" she answered letting him go, "Especially when you throw one around a friend!" As if to prove her point, she wrapped her hooves around herself, somehow going around her body a few times.

Shaking his head and sighing at her antics, Noble rose and brushed the dirt off himself. Noble wasn't surprised by her outburst. Not that he had expected her appearance, but the mere fact she did appear when he hadn't expected her just failed to surprise him anymore. Besides all that, he was too angry to feel any other emotions.

"So, whatcha doing out here?" she asked chirpily and apparently oblivious to his foul mood.

"Nothing," he answered as calmly as possible.

"Me neither! I was just gonna try a new recipe for cupcakes! Do ya wanna help?! Do ya?! Huh huh huh?!"

Noble suppressed the urge to answer with the first reply that came to his mind, deciding to answer more diplomatically. "I'm not much of a baker, Pinkie."

"Ooh! Maybe we could find Rainbow Dash and watch her as she performs some super-duper-allley-ooper stunts! Wanna come?!"

"No, thank you," he answered, trying hard to contain his annoyance for the pink mare. Hoping that would be the end of it, he began walking away. Much to his irritation, he heard her bouncing behind him. She bounced suggestions off him while he denied them, each answer more stern than the last.

"Ooh, ooh! Maybe we could visit..."

"No."

"Okay, maybe we could..."

"No."

"But I was..."

"No!"

"But..."

"NO!" he yelled, having finally reached his breaking point. After his outburst, he turned to face Pinkie, who stared at him with confusion written on her face and standing perfectly still for the first time since he has known her. He succeeded in keeping his anger under control, but failed to keep it out of his voice when he spoke.

"Now you listen to me, Pinkie Pie. We are not doing anything. I plan to go to the top of that hill, alone. Once up there, I will stay up there for as long as I will be up there.

"I don't care about what you do or where you go. I don't care if you want to bake cupcakes, or watch Rainbow Dash, or visit whomever to do whatever. The only thing I do care about is the fact that you do not go up that hill. And, just to make myself clear, I'll repeat myself: Do. Not. Go up. That hill. For. Any. Reason!" Finishing that statement, he turned around leaving the stunned and silent pink party pony sitting on her haunches.

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Noble felt like the bottom rock in an avalanche. He had lost his temper for the first time in possibly ever and, what was worse, it was directed at one of the liveliest and happiest mares he had ever met in his life. Even kicking a litter of puppies couldn't make him feel like this.

As far as he was concerned, there was only one course of action to take: find her and try to apologize. He doubted if he could make amends, or even if Pinkie wanted to at all. Although if she didn't, he supposed he couldn't really blame her for it, but he had to at least try to undo some of the damage he had done. The main problem at the moment was in the finding her.

"Noble," a familiar high pitched voice called from behind him. Looking back, Noble saw Pinkie standing about four feet away. She seemed different somehow. Her mane had lost some of its poofiness. It was also the first time he had seen her manage to sit perfectly still. However that wasn't entirely it.

If he had to put a label on it, he would have to say that it was her smile that was off. While she still wore one, it wasn't her normal, giddy, ear to ear, face splitting smile. It was subdued, withdrawn, almost as though it was put on just sake of appearances and nothing more. Seeing that only made him feel worse, which apparently was indeed possible.

"I know you told me to not to come up here," she started before he had a chance to speak, "but before you say anything, I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

Noble blinked at her, genuinely shocked that it was her saying it. "No, Pinkie. I'm the one that should be sorry. I had a long day yesterday and a hard night last night. I was grouchy and cranky and angry and I took it out on you when I shouldn't have. And for that, I'm sorry."

"It's fine, Noble. I know that I sometimes come off as annoying."

If Pinkies last statement shocked him, that one flabbergasted him entirely. Noble had always thought the pink party mare lived in her own world only stopping by reality to visit. "You do?"

Her smile seemed to fade somewhat, as her eyes lowered a bit. "Sure I know. I realize that I sometimes overdo it with my over-the-top, super, hyper antics. I don't mean to do it, especially not to my friends. Sometimes though, it's just out of my control."

Noble blinked a few times before he found any words to respond with. "Do you mind if I ask you a question, Pinkie?" he asked gently, afraid he would hurt her more than he already had. After seeing her shake her head in response, he asked his question: "If you know you come off as annoying, then why don't you make any effort to change?"

She lifted her eyes to meet his gaze. Inside her eyes, he saw a wearied determination that somehow seemed to fit her as much as her face splitting smile. "Because, this is who I am. I like laughing and being happy, and I want all of the world to be happy and laughing with me. I know there are others who don't like that about me and that's okay. And what's more, I know it's impossible to make the entire world happy, but it doesn't matter. I like who I am and if I can make just one life happier by my having participated in it, then as far as I'm concerned, my life isn't being wasted."

"Pinkie Pie, I apologize to you," Noble replied after several moments of silence, "Truly, I do."

"You already did though," Pinkie stated, her expression shifting to one of slight puzzlement.

"That was for snapping at you earlier," Noble replied somberly, with a slight shake of his head, "This one is because I misjudged you. Very badly. Every time I came into contact with you, I was under the impression that you were just a random, hyper active, out-of-control, crazy party mare."

"But I am a random, hyper active, out-of-control, crazy party mare," she replied, giggling a little.

Noble smiled sheepishly before his face returned to its forlorn position. "Yeah, you are. But you are also a lot more than that too. I failed to see it and, for that, I am truly sorry." He lowered his gaze to the patch of earth in front of his hooves. "Can you forgive me?"

A moment of silence stretched between them before Noble felt a hoof on his shoulder. "Of course I forgive you, Nobie," Pinkie replied, sounding a little more like her old self, "Can you forgive me?" Noble shifted his gaze a little to see her smile was a little wider and genuine than it had been.

Noble felt his own relieved smile stretch on his face. "As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing to forgive, Pinkie," Noble replied.

"Ohthankyouthankyouthankyou!" Pinkie shouted, her volume and speed reaching normal (for Pinkie) levels. Noble felt the crushing pressure of another hug wrap around him as soon as the words had left his lips. It was a good thing Noble was as sturdy as he was, otherwise he'd have been worried that Pinkie's hug might crack a few ribs. In spite of this, his smile hadn't diminish in the slightest.

Pinkie released her grip and threw her hooves to her cheeks, gasping audibly. "I nearly forgot about this!" With that she reached into her mane pulling out a single cupcake. The first question to pop into Noble's mind was how she managed to fit it in there at all, followed very closely by how she managed to pull it back out without getting any hair on it. However, the question he did ask was the one he feared the most: "We're not having another cupcake eating contest, are we?"

"No, silly!" she replied, giggling, "This is an apology cupcake."

Noble felt his eyebrows rise at that. The cupcake itself was chocolate containing darker chocolate chucks that peered out every so often. It was also slathered with a generous helping of chocolate frosting, which in turn was covered with chocolate sprinkles on top. Noble soon began adding things together. "You made it for me, didn't you?"

"Well duh! I remember you saying you liked chocolate cupcakes, so I thought you might like them even more with more chocolate!"

Noble felt himself smile in spite of himself. Even with him as angry as he was at her, she had thought enough of him to bake to him a special cupcake for him. He it from Pinkie and split it in half down the middle, offering Pinkie the bigger half of it.

He saw her tilt her head in confusion. "You did say it was an apology cupcake," he explained.

In that moment, her smile shrunk but grew sweeter at the same time. She took the half cupcake from Noble and both of them ate it in a single bite, the overall chocolaty goodness spreading through their bodies.

"So now that the apologies are all done and everypony is happy again, do you wanna do something now?" she asked, as though nothing from earlier had happened.

"Pinkie," Noble began patiently, "As flattered as I am that you wish to spend time with me, I have to decline. As I said earlier, I had a long day yesterday and a hard night last night. I'm a little surprised I'm still conscious. So after I rest here a while, I'm gonna head back to the library and go to sleep."

Finishing that statement, he fell unceremoniously to the ground, his back laying on the soft grass as he gazed up at the sky. Suddenly his vision was filled with pink that was broken by two orbs of white and blue.

"Can I stay up here then?" Pinkie asked.

"Why do you want to do that?"

"Because, the view up here is super spectacular. Besides we can watch the clouds and describe what they look like!"

Noble couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm. Had it been raining, Pinkie would have found some way of having fun with it. "Go ahead, Pinkie."

She plops down next to Noble and begins chatting about how she sees bunnies and chipmunks playing accordions. What was stranger than that was the fact that Noble saw it a bit too.