It's Not Easy Bein' Seen

by helmet of salvation

4. Busted

"Hey, Twilight. And you must be Elegy. I'm Spike. Come on in, the party's this way."

As the baby dragon waddled smartly back down the hallway, Elegy felt another layer of nervousness evaporate from herself. Her outfit had passed its second test. The first was when Twilight Sparkle arrived in the forest to escort her to the party. There was not a trace of revulsion in Twilight's eyes, voice nor body language at the sight of Elegy.

Yet Twilight had met, if not seen, Elegy already; the ice was broken. This Spike creature was a complete stranger to the squonk. So his genial, eager, unaffected reaction to her appearance strongly indicated that her ugliness was suitably concealed. Sighing inwardly, she stepped over the threshold of the castle's main entrance.

Twilight Sparkle was rather relieved as well. In order to bring Elegy from the forest without snagging their outfits on any jutting twigs, she had shielded them both in a forcefield that she levitated to Friendship Castle. She found it a highly draining spell, and was very glad to switch it off when they arrived.

As her trepidation lessened, Elegy was able to register the beauty and enormity of her surroundings. "A castle? We're having a party in a castle? How were you able to persuade the owner?"

"I am the owner," replied Twilight unguardedly.

Elegy stopped walking. "You-you own a castle? So, you're part of the royal bloodline of your realm? Or are you a member of nobility?"

Twilight suddenly felt abashed. She didn't want Elegy thinking she was especially important, just a pony trying to be a friend. "Oh no, nothing like that. I, acquired this facility when I, uh, I mean my friends and I, um..." The princess cleared her throat. Saving all of Equestria made her sound even more important. "I'll explain later. Plenty of time."

"I can't wait to hear it," Elegy enthused. "A castle. Complete with your own servant."

"Servant?!" exclaimed Twilight, appalled at the connotations such a word carried.

Before she could correct her visitor, Spike dashed up to the pair and bowed at the waist. "You summoned me, O Mistress?"

Twilight gnashed her teeth menacingly at the scaly smart-alec, who bowed even lower in response. "Have I done something to displease you? B-be merciful, I pray." Spike's voice quivered with what sounded like dread but was mostly due to his trying not to giggle.

"Spike, quit kidding around and lead us on."

"As you command, m'lady," Spike whimpered, backing obsequiously down the hallway.

Twilight blurted after him, "You're evil".

"A thousand apologies, Your Highness."

"Evil!" Her cheeks burning like lava, Twilight whinnied a forced, awkward laugh towards the bemused squonk as the pair resumed walking. "Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, 'servant'. Spike is my assistant. He helps me set up and test my spells, finds the books and scrolls I need, provides me with refreshments, cleans up the castle ohlookherewearelet'sgoin." Twilight was enormously relieved when she and Elegy reached the large double doorway.

Spike pushed against the door closest to him and held it wide open, then turned to the two females outside. Gesturing with his free forefoot for them to enter, he proudly announced, "Welcome to the Friendship Castle Masquerade Party".

Twilight waited beside Elegy, who was taking a moment to ready herself for the third and final test of her outfit. Finally deciding it was now or never, the squonk stepped tentatively into the ballroom.

She wore a sheer, opaque gown of midnight blue, trimmed with small, glittering stars of silver. The garment reached from her back to the floor and concealed her shoulders, flanks and hindquarters. A matching shawl and veil hid all but her eyes. Beneath her ensemble she wore a set of undergarments that Rarity had fashioned as an extra precaution.

To avoid making Elegy feel singled out, the ponies in attendance also wore full-body gowns and an assortment of flamboyant hats and decorative masks. Spike himself wore a tuxedo with tails (enclosing his real tail) and a fierce-looking yet strikingly handsome papier-mâché dragon head of gold, orange and black, hiding all but his lower jaw and eyes.

Eyes. Elegy could not fail to be struck by them. The ponies' enormous eyes were a world away from the blank, beady eyes of the squonk. Gleaming, dilated pupils ringed with brightly coloured irises. Wide, long-lashed and expressive. And what they expressed now was welcoming warmth. No flinches of horror nor winces of disgust. Not even a twitch. They truly did want her company.

"Elegy." A pair of aqua eyes surrounded by a butterfly-wing mask and feathered headdress approached her. The ornate headwear and flowing, veridian cloak did nothing to hide the unmistakable, delicate, cooing voice of Fluttershy. "I'm so glad you made it."

"Believe me, I'm glad that you're glad. I was so anxious."

"Let me introduce you to the others."

Of course, Elegy had already met some of the guests but did not recognise them in their costumes. When she finally came to Rarity, she thanked the unicorn profusely for all the trouble she went to in creating the squonk's outfit.

"Not at all, Elegy. Making your ensemble was a breeze."

"Who said anything about making it? I meant taking my measurements."

Rarity hesitated involuntarily. "Oh, think nothing of it."

"Nothing?" Elegy turned to the others. "I made Rarity do it all blindfolded. The poor thing had to guide her tape measure to all my different body parts using directions that I called out to her. 'Over to the left. No, my left. I mean forward. No, too far. Down more. Back up more.'" As she recounted the process, the absurdity of it all magnified in her mind until her words disintegrated into uproarious laughter.

It had been an age since her last honest laugh. She exploited the sensation for all it was worth, letting it consume her and drive out her last vestiges of hesitancy. She did not falter until she noticed that Rarity, unlike the other assembled party guests, was not joining in the hilarity, instead looking away in what seemed like embarrassment.

"Oh, I'm sorry Rarity, I shouldn't laugh. It must have been so frustrating for you."

"Nonsense, dear," the unicorn replied, looking back at the squonk. "It's fine to laugh about it now. Besides, what's a party without laughter?"

"A gathering," Pinkie Pie pronounced with proud authority. "Or possibly an assembly."

"Well, now that we've answered that burning question, how about some food?" Rainbow Dash, hovering above the ballroom floor, pointed her forehoof along an L-shaped arrangement of tables loaded with refreshments.

Elegy had to admit she was hungry, and the bewildering symphony of aromas teasing her sensitive snout made her mouth water. Pies, cakes, fruity pastries, biscotti, truffles and punchbowls testified to the array of sweet and tangy produce Ponyville and her surrounds had to offer. Of greater interest to Elegy, though, were the savoury offerings. Spinach and feta parcels, eggplant and pepper frittatas, olive and sun-dried tomato tapenades with crackers, nacho platters piled with beans, guacamole and sour cream, mini pizzas, a home-made salt lick. Salt replenishment was a constant need for ever-teary squonks, even more so than other mammals, and she feasted on the savouries with relish.

Her immediate cravings satiated, Elegy gazed at her surroundings. Strips of brightly-coloured material stretched like vines across the walls and from table to table. The squonk examined them. Thin, flat and dry, like tree bark. Adding even more colour to her surroundings was an assortment of glossy, egg-shaped globes, some fastened to the walls, some drifting around the floor and some reaching for the ceiling, their ascent halted by strings connecting them to weights on the tables.

Elegy took hold of one of the floor-borne balloons and examined it with the intent wonder of an infant clapping eyes on a new toy. She studied the light reflections on its contours, felt its smooth texture, pressed the curves together to gain a sense of the air pressure within ...

Squealing with alarm at the sudden explosion, the squonk darted her eyes around the ballroom to ensure the assembled party guests had come to no harm. They seemed fine. Elegy chuckled. It was a primal reaction of relief, like a baby startled by her first sneeze or by her parent suddenly re-appearing after a few seconds of hiding.

"Woo. Loud. Heh-heh." Her face fell when she noticed the limp shreds of rubber left behind, the balloon's formerly festive colour now dim and dull. "Oh no, I've ruined it."

Pinkie Pie was by her side. She had long ago accepted that one or two balloons bursting was the rule in parties, rather than the exception. "It's okay, Elegy. There are plenty to spare." She leaned in to whisper, "Just try not to do that around Fluttershy. She gets startled super easily." Pulling back, she reverted to her usual cheery demeanour. "So, how do you like the food?"

"Oh. Uh, delicious, just what I needed. Plenty more I'd like to try yet, too."

"How do you like the decorations?" added Rarity, who had strolled over to join the pair.

Elegy thought they were pale approximations of the panoply of colours she had seen in the forest the few times she had peeked from her burrow during daylight hours, but she was hardly going to let on about that. "They're very pretty."

"How do you know about castles and servants when you live all alone in the forest?" asked Twilight Sparkle with an eagerness no other creature in attendance felt in the slightest.

Elegy faltered. "From what I can gather from my mother's stories, there was a period, hundreds of years ago, when squonks tried to integrate into pony society. They managed to learn a few details before they were driven out—whether that was by the ponies or their own sense of shame depends on which squonk you ask."

Twilight had never encountered such stories in any of the histories she had pored over. Maybe pony historians had suppressed it through embarrassment, or perceived lack of interest. She drank in this new knowledge like cool spring water. "That's fascinating."

"Fascinating?" exclaimed Elegy. "It's horrible. Those squonks were my forebears. We've lived as outcasts to this day."

"I'm so sorry, Elegy," bleated Twilight, her eyes quivering with guilt. "I didn't mean to upset you. Sometimes my desire to learn gets the better of me." She soughed a joyless chuckle. "As you can probably tell, I find some things harder to learn than others."

"I didn't come all this way after hours of getting dressed up and bracing myself for the potentially lethal experience of having a dozen eyes trained on me, so I could spend the whole time dwelling on my kind's lot in life. That's all I ever do. I want to take my mind off of all that, to have some of this 'fun' Pinkie Pie promised. Can we do that please?"

"Absotutely-lutely," chirped Pinkie Pie, keen to restore the upbeat mood needed for successful party. "How about a dance?"

Elegy frowned in puzzlement. "What's a 'dance'?"

In a rush to atone for her clumsy attempt to connect with Elegy, Twilight jumped in, "It's the art of employing various gross motor functions in synchronisation with, or in interpretation of, a musical opus."

Rainbow Dash suppressed a groan. Who else but Twilight Sparkle would make something so fun and cool sound like something out of a biomechanics textbook? And did she really use the word 'gross'?

Not wanting to seem ignorant, Elegy stood dumbfoundedly, hoping some other pony would explain in less esoteric terms.

"Maybe it would be clearer if I just gave you a demonstration." Summoning power from her horn, Twilight cranked the handle of a gramophone player resting on a small table, the action sending the black, grooved disc into a clockwise rotation on the player's turntable. She adjusted her magic to lift the needle onto the disc, filling the room with jaunty music. Grinning eagerly, the alicorn took position facing Elegy and prepared to wow her with the new self-conceived step she had been practising lately.

A loud but dull cacophony of slithering and clattering noises, followed by a lengthy cry of melodramatic dismay, pre-empted the demonstration. Twilight and the other guests turned to see Rarity standing beside a disarrayed heap of books, several of which had fallen open. The tomes were strewn in front of the open glass door of one of the several decorative book cabinets Twilight had strategically dotted around the ballroom in case of book emergencies. Rarity had thrown her masked head back, her front coronet raised to her forelock.

"Ohh, you clumsy oaf, Rarity! Erm, Twilight darling, dreadfully sorry to drag you away from our guest but I would simply hate to put any of these books of yours back in the wrong place, so if——"

Twilight materialised there in an instant, courtesy of her teleportation spell. One by one, she lifted the fallen volumes, checked their pages for creases, then inserted them neatly back in their designated positions. As the alicorn busied herself, Rarity gave the nod to the other assembled ponies, who proceeded to give Elegy a somewhat less alarming illustration of dancing than Twilight would likely have managed.

Despite her uncertainty, Elegy absorbed the basic concept of dancing rather quickly. Dancing is not learned behaviour (although proficiency at the art obviously requires tuition and practice) but a spontaneous reaction to music. Yet squonks rarely if ever had the chance to experience such reactions. Generally, the only music in their lives was their own morose laments that hardly lent themselves to rhythmic interpretation, or the dawn chorus of birdsong that signalled the squonks to retire to their dens and cry themselves to sleep. Now, feeling the buoyant rhythm of the infectious music coursing through her, Elegy found herself jigging eagerly if not elegantly. Her stilted awkwardness at trying something new, and her upset triggered by the mention of squonk history, dissipated as if being pumped out through her stamping legs.

Not that she lost all her inhibitions; she continually checked her outfit to ensure it did not fly up to reveal any of her ghastly complexion. Thankfully, Pinkie Pie had ensured the music selection was fun but not too exuberant. She even forced herself to cut the can-can numbers.

Elegy never wanted the dancing sensation to end. Inevitably, though, she had to give in to the physical limitations of her squat, flaccid body. Thankfully, as she took her rest over punch and snacks, the entertainment continued. Wanting to get to know her hosts, these strange creatures who went out of their way to invite her into their lives, she asked them to tell her about themselves, their interests, accomplishments and what generally made them tick.

So they talked. They talked about their backgrounds. About their cutie marks—the symbols decorating the ponies' hindquarters, representing their unique destinies. About how they all met, their manifold acts of heroism (Rainbow Dash needed no encouragement on that subject), Twilight Sparkle's ascendancy to the title of princess, the magic of friendship, the wondrous castle map summoning them to different parts of Equestria to spread that magic, and many other subjects.

And Elegy blissfully took it all in. She felt no pressure to talk about herself. She just wanted to listen, and her hosts obliged.

Eventually, after hours of talking and eating and dancing and game-playing and pranking and more dancing, Elegy noticed that the energy level among the party guests—Pinkie Pie aside—began to dwindle. "Is something wrong?" she asked Fluttershy.

"It just means we'll probably be ready to go home soon. It's a little sad I guess, but parties can't last forever."

"Oh." Elegy thought for a second. "Um, do you think your friends would mind if I addressed them as a group before we left?"

"I think we'd all be delighted." Fluttershy clasped her teeth around the handle of a teaspoon and gently tinkled it against the rim of a nearby glass. All eyes turned towards her, triggering a sharp pang of nervousness. Suppressing her anxiety for the sake of her guest, she spoke up. "Everypony, if you would be so kind as to give Elegy your attention, she'd like to say a few words."

Elegy faced her audience undaunted. She had been loath to make conversation during the party, as she felt she had nothing worthwhile to say. That was no longer the case. "Mares and gentlestall—uh, dragons, I'd just like to let you all know that this is, without a doubt, the most joyous time I have ever had. I can't tell you how grateful I am to you. Going blindfolded into that forest, convincing me to give socialising a chance even when all I did was tell you to go away. Planning the party so that everything was just right. My outfit, well, we've already been through that.

"But most of all, you've accepted me without reservation. You didn't care about what horrible spectacle might be lurking underneath my costume. You just treated me as a welcome guest."

"Yeah we did," brayed Rainbow Dash, as if it were patently obvious that such gracious behaviour was a quintessential part of the ponies' collective nature and definitely not the result of a lesson they had to learn through a humbling life experience. "You're welcome to hang with us any time."

"It's your character that is truly important to us," added Rarity. "Although a fetching outfit certainly helps make a good impression."

Fluttershy's aqua eyes smiled at Elegy. "In fact, we wouldn't mind at all if we did see what was under your costume."

"WHAT?!"

"But only if you really want to," Fluttershy cut in hastily, desperate to avoid triggering another panic attack in her guest.

"No," Elegy growled sternly, breathing deeply through her snout, fighting to keep her emotions in check.

"Okay Elegy, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to put you under any pressure." Fluttershy's relief at seeing the squonk stay relatively calm alleviated her disappointment. "But do you mind if I ask why not?"

"Why n——?" Elegy choked down the explosive response her instinct was prompting her to unleash. Only a moment ago she was exalting the selfless kindness of her hosts. She needed to choose her words, and the way she said them, carefully.

Taking a few seconds to compose herself, Elegy faced the others and spoke in a measured tone. "I've heard a lot about the magic of friendship tonight. For me to reveal myself in all my repulsiveness to another creature, I would need to trust that creature whole-heartedly. To know that they were the staunchest of friends, sticking by me no matter what.

"Now, as I said, you've all gone to incredible lengths to bring joy into my life. And believe me, it's worked.

"But there's more to friendship than just doing things for one another, isn't there? From the stories you've told me, you've all done good deeds for strangers. Enemies, even. And they haven't always become your friends. Friendship needs a special bond, a connection.

"And I've seen it between all of you since I got here. The looks in your eyes. The way you are with each other, the way you talk to each other, even the way you tease each other. You may be wearing masks but I see it as clearly as a full moon on a cloudless night.

"And even though none of you have done anything wrong or said anything wrong I-I just don't feel that connection with you. Not yet. Maybe some night." She hung her head. "I'm sorry."

"You've nothing to be sorry about." Fluttershy extended her wing over Elegy's shoulders. "'Friend' isn't a word we use lightly either."

Her friends murmured pensive terms of agreement.

Acutely aware of the shift in mood of the party, Elegy glanced awkwardly around the floor, noting a small cluster of balloons gliding towards her feet.

"Well, this wasn't quite the reaction I was hoping my speech would get. Maybe this will help." Before Elegy had stopped speaking, she lifted her right foreleg and drove it down.

Her timing was impeccable. The suction of her leg lift had drawn the balloon directly beneath her foot, which descended as if to the beat of a rousing song. The explosion sounded thunderous in the quiet lull, and came the very instant Elegy finished her sentence. The exhilaration of the sudden noise, accompanied by Fluttershy rocketing into the air and squealing in terror, sent Elegy into a paroxysm of bellowing laughter. She staggered back as the hilarity of the moment gripped her. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were right. A well-timed prank could cut tension like lightning splitting a tree. It was just what she needed to lighten the mood.

It took her several seconds to notice she was the only one laughing.

* * *

Rainbow Dash had descended to the ballroom floor and was shifting her eyes around uncomfortably. The others glared at Elegy with an emotion the likes of which she hadn't seen yet in her hosts' eyes. Revulsion? Not quite. Distaste? Sort of.

Elegy glanced nervously at her outfit. "Is my hide showing?"

"You might say we're seeing the hide of you," Rarity replied stiffly.

Ah. Reproof. That was the emotion their eyes were——

Reproof?

"Elegy!" exclaimed a flabbergasted Pinkie Pie. "What did I tell you about that?"

"That you had plenty of balloons to go around?"

"Not about the balloons, you-you-you," the pink pony struggled for the word that would adequately convey the seriousness of Elegy's misdeed, "meanie-buttocks!"

Bewildered and afraid, Elegy took a step back and darted her eyes around the cluster of ponies for Fluttershy, hoping the kindly, understanding pegasus could explain what had gone wrong.

Wait, where was Fluttershy?

Elegy felt a sense of dread permeating her. Timidly, she looked up to the ballroom ceiling.

Fluttershy's legs gripped the chandelier like tentacles. Her body trembled. Her eyes were shut tight, and through her bared teeth emerged a series of plaintive squeaks and whimpers.

Comments

[BukkakeKing]

Please don't tell me they are gonna be super pissed off with her for popping a balloon . Other than that good story. I thought elegy accepted help too quickly for a creature that spends its whole existence crying but whatever. You write Pinkie very well in my opinion.

[helmet of salvation]

7709610 Thanks for the favourite and feedback. Pinkie is probably the main character I resemble the least so I'm glad you like how I capture her. Hope you enjoy what's to come.