Chapter XII: Party Time
Surprises tend to trigger all sorts of responses from people. Some jump back or freeze up in fear, others won’t even be fazed by the surprise, and for a few, the surprise will trigger their fight-or-flight response. I was part of the third group, and my instincts had me go with the first option instead of the second. To make matters worse, the pony that ended up on the other end of my response was none other than Pinkie Pie.
"Owie owie owie..." Pinkie said as she nursed the bump on her head that I’d given her. Turned out that even if I was in a young child's body, I still knew how to hit hard. Unfortunately, Twilight and all the ponies that were for some strange reason hiding in the bakery, were glaring at me, while a few were at Pinkie's side, fussing over her.
"What the hay was that for?" cried Rainbow Dash, who was one of the ponies that was at Pinkie's side. Looking at Pinkie, I watched as she finally looked at me, her mane starting to fall and straighten as tears started to appear in her eyes. I heard a small whimper from her.
"Errr... I'm not good with surprises... was mistake... did not mean to hurt anypony. Sorry Pinkie," I said as a rubbed my right forehoof against my other foreleg. As crazy as these ponies were, I didn't really want to hurt any of them. Even my book throwing at Twilight's face wasn't strong enough to seriously hurt her. It was barely enough to stop her ranting.
Thankfully, my apology was enough to calm Pinkie down, her mane returning to its usual style as she instantly tackled me, hugging me tightly as she lifted me into the air as she said, "It's alright, Aether, it was just an accident." Still feeling shame for hurting her, I returned Pinkie's hug, only to hear a chorus of 'aw's from all the ponies around us, causing me to blush in embarrassment. I think I'm actually going native...
Before long, I broke my end of the hug. Fortunately, Pinkie placed me back on the floor instead of continuing the hug. Twilight, however still had an issue with my punch when she came over and said, "Even if it was an accident, Aether, you shouldn't hit other ponies when you get surprised."
"I did not mean to... it just happened..."
Releasing a sigh, Twilight was about to say something when Pinkie interrupted her, "Oh don't be a party pooper Twilight, it was an accident! Don't be a downer at Aether's party."
Looking at Pinkie with a raised eyebrow, I asked, "Party? This is my party?"
"It is silly! I wanted it to be a surprise ‘cause it's your 'Welcome to Ponyville' party, your 'Welcome to my family' party, your 'Congratulations on learning a new language' party, and-" Pinkie said before I stuffed my hoof into her mouth, though that didn't stop her from trying to talk.
"Okay Pinkie, I get it, it is my party, thank you." Pulling my hoof out of her mouth, I ended up receiving another bone-crushing hug from Pinkie before I was released again. As I was released from the hug, I saw that the party had officially started, with ponies talking to one another as they took part in the various activities Pinkie had set up. Before I could do anything though, I saw a familiar trio of fillies heading towards me.
"Hi there Aether! It's nice to see you can talk now!" said the unicorn filly. "Since you can understand us, let’s introduce ourselves, I'm Sweetie Belle."
"I'm Apple Bloom," the earth pony filly said with an odd accent.
The pegasus filly joined in as she said, "And I'm Scootaloo, and together we're-"
"THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!" the trio said in tandem as they clapped their right forehooves together, their voices so loud that I had to cover my ears with my hooves, only to check after the exclamation to see if they were bleeding.
"Do you three have to be so loud? I could always talk, just could not talk in your words till few days ago," I complained. I was not in favor of being deaf at an early age. I took a quick look around, noting that Pinkie Pie and the others had left, probably so I could play with the fillies since we're around the same age, though I did see some other ponies flaying their ears back. Guess I wasn't the only one that found this trio's announcement to be too loud.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't know that... but anyway, a few weeks ago we saw that you didn't have a cutie mark, and..." Sweetie Belle said before stopping to check my flank. Seeing that it was still blank, she continued, "Since you can talk... in our language now, we were wondering if you want to join our club?"
Join their club? I don't think so, I like being able to hear still, I thought to myself as I opened my mouth to answer. Before I could get a single word out, another voice rang out, interrupting me.
"Why, what do we have here. The blank flanks have found another blank flank to join their stupid club." Turning my head towards the origin of the voice, I saw a pink coated earth pony filly that was wearing some kind of crown on her head approaching us, followed by a silver coated earth pony filly, both baring tattoos on their flanks, which I learned a week ago were called cutie marks. I remembered how absurd it was to me to learn that these flank tattoos denote a pony's 'special talents'. I recalled the thoughts I had that day. I wonder if there is a cutie mark for not being eaten by monsters on a daily basis.
As I muttered out the words 'blank flank' in confusion, Apple Bloom stepped forward as she said, "What are you doin' here, Diamond Tiara? This is Aether's party."
"Why, we were invited, of course, though if I knew it was a party for a blank flank, I wouldn't have come in the first place," the pony that I assumed was named Diamond Tiara said with a sneer. Huh, guess not everypony here is all nice. She must be the local bully by the sounds of things.
"You better not hurt Aether's feelings. This is her party, and she should be enjoying it, not dealing with you two," Sweetie said.
"Like I care about the feelings of some blank flank. Right, Silver Spoon?" Diamond said. The filly beside her gave a nod and joined in with her sneering. As the trio gave the two bullies fury filled glares, the duo just laughed as they did some kind of odd dance.
"Bump! Bump! Sugar Lump Rump!" they said before laughing at us again. Even though I knew they were mocking us, I found their little dance so hilarious that I just burst out laughing, drawing the duo’s attention.
“What are you laughing at blank flank?” Diamond asked as she glared at me.
They think they're better than us ‘cause they have those silly marks on their flanks? Even after they did that stupid dance? Guess someone has to one-up these brats, but I'm certainly can't do a thing about it yet. As long as I'm not fluent in their language, it would be easy for her to counter whatever I said. Oh well, guess it's time to for the usual stare down. Getting into the proper stance, I gave the duo my best Death Glare I had. Thankfully, despite being in a child's body, I seem to still be able to stare down other lifeforms, as the two blinked at my stare before shivering in surprise. My Death Glare has always been a valuable skill of mine. It helps avoid confrontations with various wildlife, which normally end with me running and screaming for my life.
"What... what are you doing?" Diamond responded, averting her eyes from my fury filled glare, as the other filly turned her head away to not have to look into my glare of death. I on the other hoof, kept up the glare, not saying a single thing as the trio beside me look at amazement at what I was doing. Eventually, the lead bully had enough when she said, "Come on, Silver Spoon. Let's stop wasting our time with these blank flanks," as she and her companion left us.
"Wow, I never saw a filly do that to Diamond Tiara before," Sweetie said.
"Yeah, I reckon I never saw Diamond get as flustered right then. How did you do it?" asked Apple Bloom.
Giving the trio a shrug, I simply said, "Eh, it was just a bad look I gave them. It will not work again though. Only works one time. They will not fall for it next time. So those two are always mean to you three?"
"Yeah, those two are always teasing us cause we don't have our cutie marks, always thinking they're better than us," Scootaloo said in an annoyed tone.
Hmmm... so those two are the local bullies, and it seems that they tease those that don't have cutie marks. Well, since there is always strength in numbers, might not be a bad idea to join this club of theirs, though I do need to find some earplugs. Looking at the trio, I asked, "So... this club of yours... what do you do in it?"
"Oh, we just do as many things as we can so we can find out special talents," Sweetie answered.
Rubbing a hoof against my chin, I found no issue with that reasoning, since I didn't know much about cutie marks anyway. "Eh, sure, why not, I will join your club."
Smiling in join, the trio bumped their forehooves together before Scootaloo said, "Alright then, tomorrow we'll take you to the club house for your initiation."
Oh, great, they even have an initiation... well, it can't be as bad as some I’ve heard of before. I remember hearing about one where they have to literally give up a limb to join. No idea why anyone would want to join that organization, though. Giving the trio a nervous smile, I suddenly spotted a pair of adults heading towards us, an earth pony with an orange coat and a yellow mane with some hat on her head, the other unicorn with a white coat and a shiny purple mane.
"I see that you met our sisters, Aether. Let me introduce myself, my name is Rarity," the white coated unicorn said.
"And my name is Applejack, nice to meet you," the orange earth pony said, sticking a hoof out for a shake. Sticking my own hoof in her grip, I instantly regretted my action when she shook it violently.
Is that suppose to be a shake‽ That felt like she was trying to yank my foreleg off ! After Applejack released my hoof, I gingerly rolled my shoulder, grimacing in pain as I said, "Nice to meet you two."
"Quite," Rarity said, pausing as she peeked at my flank. "I suppose that my sister and her friends had invited you to their club of theirs, am I correct?" Giving her a nod, she sighed as she said, "Well, it's nice of you to make some new friends, but please don't let that poor... demonstration of what you do when you’re surprised happen around them. They tend to do some very surprising things, after all."
Cocking an eyebrow, I looked at the trio, only to see them giving me sheepish smiles. After looking at them for a moment, I returned my gaze to the older sisters as I said, "Thank you for the warning, but I think I will be okay. I done... some crazy things too."
"Heh, I reckon that those three will give ya a run for your money," Applejack said.
"Huh? 'Run for your money'? You can get bits for just running?" I asked, utterly befuddled by the statement.
Facehooving, Applejack replied, "I plum forgot, you used to speak a different language, so there was no way ya ta know our expressions. It means that they will surprise ya by how crazy their ideas can be."
"Ohhh... no problem. I think I still done crazier things than they do." From behind me, I heard the trio muttering among each other after hearing my statement, causing me to wonder what they were up to.
"My word, I think you're underestimating them. They even tried for their fire fighting cutie marks," Rarity said, amused by my instance that I have done weirder stuff then them.
"Err.. what's 'fire fighting'?"
"Oh dear, well, it's where one puts out a fire, understand?" Rarity answered.
Blinking in surprise, I gave the crusaders another look before mindlessly I said "Well, that sounds crazy, but I think I done crazier things still."
"What ya talking about? What crazy things have ya done?" Applejack said with a bemused expression.
"Well, I... er..." I said before stopping, as I remembered that no one here knew that I came from another dimension, or world (I'm wasn’t quite sure if this was in my own dimension or not), and that it would be best that no pony knew about that yet. "Errr.. tough to explain, I need to know more words before I can say," I continued, hoping that satisfied Applejack.
However, instead of accepting my excuse, Applejack narrowed her eyes, but before she could say anything, Rarity spoke first. "Well, that is a problem, you having to still learn more Equestrian. But I'm sure that a young lady like yourself will be able to adapt to it soon enough. Come, dear Applejack, let's leave these four to their fun and games." As Rarity leaves us, Applejack gave me one long hard look before following her friend.
What was up with her? It was like... she knew I was hiding something... hopefully she'll forget it the next time we meet, cause I certainly don't want to deal with that issue again, I thought to myself before I return my attention to the crusaders as we spend the rest of the time having fun at the party.
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The "AJ Lie Detector" just got a ping.
I don't think she really is a lie detector in the series, is she?
5923297 fannon cannon meh as long as the common references are something we can all understand and well-written I like it
5923297 well i think she as a bs warning like with glimmer
5923297 Depends on the story
Because, Aether, if you DO give up your ring finger, you get to kill people! And you'll earn respect in the Assassin's Brotherhood!
This doesn't really line up with him/her being surprised in the past. I would have expected Pinkie getting punched in the face when she popped out of a box.
Seriously, screaming helps... not at all.
6063176 There's also Eragon
I feel like i'm the only one who reads Aether's lines in a Russian male's voice.
It's much more amusing this way.
6156885 I do too.
... Beware of the ultimate lie detector...
6156885 I read it as heavy.....
i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/496/457/b89.gif
6301918 this is sasha, sasha is pet ball in pink horses room. pink horse has sister who has pet rock. pet rock and sasha get along well. HEY, PUT SASHA DOWN, NOBODY BUT I CAN TOUCH SASHA
6156885 trust me, your not alone.
6689486 Just something about this dude says "Russian accent". And he's not even Russian, so I don't know why.
5923297 Well maybe not full on lie but she does have something. In exchange she can't lie well to save her life.
I made a pic for this exact chapter:
i.imgur.com/psmaVuJ.png
That sounds like the Shattered Hand Orcs from World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor. Could it be that Aether is talking about those jacked-up fellows?
5923297 Not really, but there's a reason she's the element of honesty. She can almost tell when someone's lying.
6762530 I read his(her...?) lines in a russian accent because of the Author's name. I don't know why. Something about "Silvak" just screams Slavik at me.
Looks like AJ got suspicious of Aether...
So she is a lie detector now? I guess. Not to much of a stretch.
7841696
Element of honesty versus "I need to learn more words"
That excuse is gonna become as flimsy as cardboard pretty soom. Hope Aether comes up with a better plan next time.
Edit 4/24/2018:
I bet a lion or another animal tamer would be the ones to get that.
Don't taunt Murphy!
Well, there might be some running competitions you could take part in
wished aether responded with
5877279
Pretty sure Applejack just becomes a Lie Detector whenever the Writer doesn't know how to expose someone's secret or something like that