My Most Faithful Mortifer

by hamishwarfare

Chapter. 7 – Ponyville

Chapter. 7 – Ponyville

‘So, this is Ponyville? At least it’ll be quiet. Huh?’

“LOOK OUT BELOW!”

An out of control blue pegasus with a rainbow mane, tail and magic stream was heading right towards Sunset Shimmer after she had taken her first few steps into this, town? Village? Ponyville.

It was getting firmly into the evening stage of the day; the sun was still out, if closer to the horizon than most would like, and what she saw of Ponyville was quite promising honestly.

Nice white walled, thatched roofed houses with wooden highlights gave the place a wonderfully rustic look; that each house was built uniquely from the others just added to the character. The streets were mostly all wide enough to have multiple carts pass without issue and there was even a small gentle river meandering about, adding to the ambiance nicely.

There were fields of crops beyond the train station, while in the opposite direction she could make out an orchard. What fruit it grew was unknown to her right now, but Sunset was sure she would find out before long. And next to the orchard was the infamous wild forest; Everfree Forest.

Signs of its wild magic could be seen even from where she was standing; a mist was rising from the canopy, sparking and changing both its shape and colour as it rose higher into the air. It’ll turn into a cloud if any more of it congeals together.

But right now her mind was focused on her current problem; she had to figure out what to do with this thing flying right towards her. ‘Opps, no longer sufficient time to slow her down with telekinesis.’ A slight step to the left, and the blue pegasus crashed right where she was just standing, making a surprisingly deep crater.

“Umm, are you alright?” Normal ponies are supposed to ask that after collisions like this, right?

The mare in question did appear to be in one piece; with wobbly legs and a few miss steps she was back up on her hooves. A final shake of her head brought her back to the here and now. “Ooh, man don’t do a quadruple loop de loop when the suns that low in the sky. Oh, sorry about that; got blinded by the sun as I was practicing. But hey, you must be pretty quick on your hooves to be able to dodge like that. The names Rainbow Dash. So what brings you to Ponyville?”

The mare in question was of a sky blue in colour and the cutie mark on her flanks was of a fluffy white cloud with a rainbow coloured lightning bolt. Interestingly her mane and tail were indeed the colour of a rainbow, with her mane styled in a spiky short front with long sweeping back that traveled down her neck. She was a bit shorter than Sunset and her whole body said she was an athlete built for speed and agility.

‘It sounds like she’s ok. I know pegasi magic helps with impacts and force mitigation, but that is a noticeable hole; she must be quite the powerful pegasi.’ “Hello Rainbow Dash. My name is Sunset Shimmer and I’m the new librarian for Ponyville. Could you show me the way to the Town Hall please? I need to see a Miss Mayor Mare.”

Rainbow Dash blinked at her a few times before burst out laughing.

“Ahahahaha! You, an egghead. Oh that’s a good one! No seriously, why are you in Ponyville? Here to visit a friend or family member? Or maybe you’re here for an outfit from Rarity?”

Sunset blinked back, slightly confused. She had just explained why she was here. Maybe the other way round? “I’m here to see a Miss Mayor Mare, I believe her name is. If you could show me the way to Town Hall, that would be most helpful. I am to be the town’s new librarian.”

“Wait your serious about the librarian thing? Oh, come on what’s a mare like you doing with books all day? Like, every mare in towns going to be jealous of you.”

“Why would every mare in town be jealous of me?”

“Why wo-. You know what; I think that crash might have done more damage than I thought. You said you wanted to go to the Town Hall and see the Mayor? I’ll take you there, but it’ll likely be close by now, unless they were expecting you? Were they? Anyway, I’ll take you there, but then I think I better get some rest. Well come on, Town Halls this way.” And with that Rainbow Dash started to head towards the centre of the town.

The walk into town was peaceful; Rainbow Dash, Sunset’s self proclaimed guide, pointed out a few buildings as they travelled further into town. Most of the stores you would expect to find in any town centre were there to see; a few café’s, a hey burger restaurant that smelled particularly good. There was even a tea store and a china store as well, places Sunset was sure to visit when she had time. The tallest and most obvious building that was pointed out was the Town Hall; it could be seen over most of the other buildings.

Once the building was pointed out, she offered Rainbow a chance to leave then and there; but surprisingly she stuck around. “I said I’d take you to Town Hall and that’s what I’m gonna do. Besides might as well give you a small tour on the way.”

There walked past a few ponies on their travels, and while the majority of them were polite enough to say hi to Sunset while they talked to her guide, many of them seemed to be a little aloof. Understandable really, it would be unlikely that somepony runs up to the strange new mare in town and proclaim them to be your best friend forever. Ponies were friendly, but not that friendly.

The next thing she pointed out was the top of a large tree a little in the distance; apparently the library was built into a giant tree. Wait.

“Is that a giant ginger bread house?” Sunset Shimmer couldn’t fathom the possibility of living in such a sweet smelling house. She was reassured however by her guide.

“Naa, that’s Sugarcube Corner. It just looks like a gingerbread house. It’s the town’s bakery, specialising in sweet pastries. Oh hey! Give me a second; I’ve got somepony you just gotta meet.” And with that she flew off towards the gingerbread house in question.

Sunset was left along in the street for a minute and was beginning to debate between just leaving the hyperactive pegasus, and continuing on to Town Hall. ‘She could have run off by now, especially since I can get to Town Hall from here. But she seems determined to take me all the way. Perhaps, I should wait. After all, if I am to become a part of this community, then should I not have acquaintances? Besides a little loyalty won’t do me any har–’

“WHAT TIME DO YOU CALL THIS?!” suddenly a pair of light blue eyes connected to pink were right in her face. If there was enough space to slip a piece of paper between the amber unicorn and this pink earth pony, it would be surprising. In a startled jump Sunset hopped back and landed on her rump; that was the most emotion she had ever known. It was a dizzying, confusing and gave Sunset the first few thumps of a headache.

The mare’s coat was indeed pink in colour as well as her curly, puffy mane and tail; they were only a few shades darker. On her flank was her cutie mark, three balloons all different colours.

It appeared the pink mare was actually waiting for her to respond, so a quick check of where the sun was in the sky and comparing it to a twenty four hour day, Sunset was ready to respond.

“Umm, a little after half seven in the evening?” Sunset was still experiencing shock; not just from the initial surprise, but also because she was actually struggling to track this pink mare. She was once again right in front of her, though thankfully not so close this time.

Just off to the side, Sunset could see Rainbow Dash trying her very best not to burst out laughing.

“Exactly! There is no way I can get your welcome to Ponyville party set up and then invite people over to it so you can introduce yourself to us and we can do the same in return with games, and cake and balloons and decorations, all before ponies turn in for the night. This is mostly a farming community; we get up early, not party late! Especially on a weeknight,” by this point the mare was huffing for breath so much, Sunset wondered if she was going to start hyperventilating. Or that the pink mare was trying to breathe fire. At this point Sunset could believe either option.

Another quick glance over towards Rainbow Dash confirmed there was no help was coming from that direction. Bringing her eyes back over to the enraged mare once again, she tried to gamble with the emotion card rather than straight out attacking this enigma.

“Umm, Sorry?”

The pink mare was back once again, millimetres away from Sunset’s face; staring so very intensely into her own violet eyes. “Sugarcube Corner. One o clock. In the afternoon. Tomorrow.” Then, just like that, she was back standing at only a little too close of a distance; latching both of her forehooves onto Sunset’s right hoof before shaking it as if her hoof was a spray can or something.

“Hi I’m Pinkamena Diane Pie, but everyone call’s me Pinkiy Pie. It’s nice to meet you. What’s your name? Your favourite cupcake flavour? Where are you from? What brings you to Ponyville? Are you staying long? What about your favourite colour? I’m guessing purple. Maybe lavender. Oh, no don’t answer those, then tomorrows party will be pointless. Ok, so see you tomorrow, right? Yep! Ok Bye!” and now she was skipping away like nothing had happened.

Sunset just sat there confused out of her mind at what had just happened. Nothing about that encounter made any sense at all. Nothing. She looked down at her hoof the pink mare had latched onto which was still shaking up and down in greeting. She had to give it an actual physical shake to finally stop the phantom shaking of her hoof. After gingerly placing it onto the ground and confirmed it was indeed safe to put weight on, Sunset returned to her hooves.

She must have been sitting there for a bit of time, because Rainbow Dash appeared in front of her. She hadn't even notice the pegasus approach.

“Yeah, sorry about that. That’s Pinkie Pie for you though; a good friend but she tends to get more than a little excited at, well pretty much anything. Oh, for the sake of your sanity, do not try and figure her out. Trust me, there’s a psych ward up at the hospital full of ponies who have tried and lost their minds in the process. It doesn't help that Pinkie visits them once a month to give them some 'laughter therapy' as she puts it.”

Sunset just nodded her head in agreement. The less she thought about that mare the better.

“Anyway Come on, we’re almost at Town Hall. Let’s go.” And just like that Rainbow Dash was trotting off in the direction of, presumably, the Town Hall. Sunset Shimmer could no nothing else but follow the blue mare; her mind still trying to process the encounter she had just had.

---

There were no other detours and not much more of a tour either, as the two mare’s finally arrived at Town Hall. Though Rainbow did point out one other strange looking building a little further down the road from the Town Hall; a building that very much looked like a blue, white and pink carousel with gold highlights. The Carousel Boutique; where this Rarity, who was mentioned earlier, lives and makes her dresses. It was yet another very distinctive building within the town.

However, as Rainbow Dash had predicted, the Town Hall’s windows were dark and the door was locked.

“Geeze, you’d think they’d leave a note or something. Are you going to be ok tonight?” Rainbow looked worriedly at Sunset, and feeling a little guilty about the delay, ‘I wonder if Rainbow plays poker? I could bankrupt her so easily.’

“You said no one was living at the library, correct?”

“Umm, yeah. We’ve not had an official librarian in, like, years.”

“Then I shall be fine Rainbow Dash. Thank you for your assistance.” And with that Sunset headed off towards where she saw the library tree earlier in her walk through the town.

The sun had finally started its descent beyond the horizon; the sky now filling up with colours that matched the yellow and red held within the mane of the amber unicorn.

Apparently Rainbow really felt bad for her. “Hey wait. You don’t have a place to stay tonight, right? I’d offer you my couch, but I live in a cloud, in the sky and you’re not a pegasus. I’ve got friends, though, who’d be happy to let you stay with them tonight. What do you think?”

By now the giant library tree was in sight. It really was a building inside a tree; leaves were used as thatch for the front door, and the lower level windows that appeared to be small seating areas separate from the main tree trunk.

Higher up the tree and it looked like the big branches were walls and windows to different rooms within the leaves; there was an obvious master bedroom with its own balcony and even a stargazing platform at the very tip of the tree. There was even a large beehive hanging from the support branch of the bedroom balcony.

With twilight approaching and the colour change in the sky, it did look like a rather comfortable place to stay.

“Rainbow Dash, I thank you for the offer, but there is no need. I can gain access to the library without a problem.” They had both walked right up to the front door of the tree building; Rainbow looking on in confusion as Sunset started to focus.

“What, did they give you a spare key or something?”

“No.” ‘Wait, maybe I should have said yes? Oh well too late now. Let’s see no wards, alarms, barriers. Wait? Is it even locked? Ok, at least they locked the door.’

Her horn gave an ever so faint glow of raspberry light, before there was the slightest of clicks.

Evidently it was still loud enough to draw Rainbow’s attention.

“Wait, are you breaking in?”

“This is both my work place and residence. I cannot break into a location that I have been given permission to be. It is not my fault that they failed to give me the keys.” And with that the red door decaled with a yellow candlestick and candle opened; it emitted a slight creek before a small tinkle from an old bell that rested above the door.

“So, cool.”

The inside was a spacious circular room with lots of bookshelves embedded into the walls. They had a modest collection of books; but from the gaps that could be seen, clearly there were a good few missing.

Further up in the room, above the book shelves, were a mixture of additional storage spaces or nooks suitable for pegasi to read in; or ponies with ladders. The raised nooks were situated in front of large windows, and you could just make out large green cushions for patrons to relax into.

Opposite the main door was a stairway that led further up the tree and beside the staircase was a door that was currently closed. Over to the right there was an area of the tree almost sectioned off that looked like a small study area; since a few desks could be seen by a large window.

Another set of doors nearby this area advertised their use in the form of two small pictures. One was a blue stick figure of a pony, while the other one was a pink stick figure pony wearing a skirt over their tail; clearly these were the public toilets.

Above the main area of the library, however, painted on the ceiling was a large detailed image of the sun; a circular central body with many separate wavy arms. All of it was painted orange and highlighted with yellow to bring out a comforting warmth to the image.

Situated in front of the stairs leading up into the tree was the librarian’s desk; and in the centre of the room there was a circular table with a wooden bust of a stallion. There was something else sitting innocently upon the circular table; a package resting on it, addressed to her.

Overall the library looked like a nice organised place to work; provided you did not mind all the wood that everything was made out of.

Sunset used her horn to scan the traces of magic within the room; working out how to get the light spells to turn on. It was with very little effort that allowed Sunset to activate said spells, causing the sun in the ceiling to glow brightly, illuminating the room.

“Wow, looks like they really were expecting you; they got you a care package and everything. Well I’m glad you managed to get inside, even if it was by other means; I just wanted to make sure you’d be ok.

“Cool, so I’ll leave you too it and I’ll see you tomorrow at Pinkie’s party, ok? Bye!” Rainbow Dash gave Sunset a one winged salute before launching into the air and out of the open library door; her rainbow coloured trail quickly disappearing into the red and gold rays of the setting sun.

Sunset just sighed before using her magic to close and lock the door behind the rainbow maned mare.

She did not stop there however; she added additional security in the form of an alarm ward. Later, once she had officially taken ownership of the property, she will most likely add additional protections; but for now that will do.

With one last temporary ward to go along with the more permanent one and she was done for now. The second one she placed was designed to block ponies from being able to see inside the building it covered by way of blocking light leaving. She could see out, but ponies could not see in. Add to that a minor still image illusion of how the place looks, and suddenly nothing’s amiss. Honest.

That was it, she was now certain that she was going to be left alone for the rest of the night. A flash of light reflected the relief washing over her body as her polymorph was finally disabled.

Gone were the bright ambers, yellows and reds, and in their place were the softer tones of her natural purple coat, with matching blue mane and tail that was highlighted with a single streak of pink. She looked like herself once again.

There was nothing wrong with the polymorph spell; enough of the upper end boutiques used it instead of hair dye; but after travelling all day and then meeting that pink pie pony. Shudder. Sunset just wanted to be in her natural birthday suit for a bit.

And weren’t you supposed to run around your new place with nothing but your birthday suit on? Sunset was sure she had read that somewhere. Maybe got told it by some of the older students?

A shake of her head brought her back from her musings; still sitting on the central circular table was her welcome care package prepared no doubt by miss Mare herself. Opening it up with an aura of raspberry coloured might revealed a letter and what appeared to be a selection of wares from the town itself; some apples, a selection of other locally grown fruits and vegetables, a pie of some kind, and an assortment of different candies. It was a surprisingly full box.

Sunset ignored the contents of the box to give the letter a quick once through and found that it was indeed a “…small sample of the fine produce this town offers for you to sample and discover your own personal favourite; my favourite is the pie, though the blue candies are fun too.” Overall the letter was meant to be an extension to an introductory meeting and tour of the town, and indeed it was signed by Mayor Mare.

Putting the letter to the side and leaving everything else still inside the box, Sunset started to explore her very first abode.

Opening the door besides the stairs leading up, she found more stairs leading down. The door was shut and interest was quickly lost, the basement was something she could explore at another time; right now she wanted to get out of confined spaces for a while, so instead she started to head up the stairs. She did remember seeing a balcony as well as a stargazing platform further up the tree.

The next floor of the tree she came too was clearly some of the libraries living quarters. The stairway opened directly to the living and kitchen area. The design was in keeping with the wood motif, with the floors and walls made out of wood. The ceiling itself was actually the thatched tree branches and leaves.

The room itself was a long slightly oval shape with two big windows, one of them at the far end of the room where the kitchen area and a dining table were also located.

The kitchen had some modern amenities with a fridge/freezer combination, a white porcelain sink, and even a range for her to cook on. They were all following the curve of the far right hand wall as you entered this room from the main staircase. There was a modest dining table resting comfortably in front of the largest window; it had four chairs surrounding it, two on opposite sides, and there was a good amount of cupboard space to store things spread throughout that half of the room. Overall it was a workable kitchen.

The living side of the room was comfortable with a desk and chair by the wall separating the room from the main stairwell. On the left wall as you walked in was the second window on this floor. More spherical than the first one and not as large, but still serving its job nicely. It allowed plenty of light into the living room. Underneath it rested a small set of shelves built into the wooden walls that were currently bare and a little dusty.

Across the room from the window was something that was quite the contrast to all the wood it was surrounded by; there, sitting comfortably by the wall, was a black cast iron log burner with its chimney angled up to intersect with the wall just a little higher up.

There was a large glass door to the log burner, giving a clear view of the inside of the modest round cast iron furnace. Right now it looked cold and a little uninviting, but come winter, this will be a wonderful sight for cold eyes.

Sitting in front of the log burner, and encroaching a little into the centre of the room was a two seater couch made out of a yellow fabric. Separating the couch from the log burner was a small dark stained wooden table; useful for placing coffee cups on no doubt.

Sunset eyed the log burner with a little trepidation; she would need to have that fire place fully serviced and its chimney swept clean before she risks lighting it. Still it was a welcome addition to her living room.

The highest room of the tree was the master bedroom. It was a spacious circular room with wardrobes built into the wooden walls, a large double bed and mattress pushed up to the wall opposite another large window with what looked to be a window box on the outside. If it wasn’t so overgrown.

The bed itself was framed on either side by a pair of bedside tables and finally, over on the far wall from the stairs was a set of Prench doors leading to a balcony. That would be something she would look at another time, when it was daylight.

It was nice to see that basic furniture was supplied and ready to be used; as well as it matching with the warm wood motif of the place. The library was built in a tree after all. The kitchen was without supplies but both hot and cold water were running freely, there were basic utensils, plates, mugs, pans as well as a stove kettle; and thanks to the care package waiting downstairs, she would be well looked after tonight.

By now the sun had dipped beyond the horizon, being replaced by its counterpart the moon; casting the world outside into the softer hues of the night. Taking the final flight of stairs up to the star gazing platform Sunset was surprised to find a working telescope up there as well; it was a very old model, but it had been lovingly looked after and all the pieces were accounted for.

It was looking less and less likely that she would need to purchase any large items for the place; her own personal utensils perhaps, some bedding definitely, and other things of that nature really.

Stepping out into the warm night air she looked over the town; she may have turned on the lights as she walked through the house tree, but thanks to her ward blocking light from escaping, the tree was still dark and she would remain unnoticed.

There she was, standing on the last platform, the highest point of the tree –and taller than all but one of the buildings in the town– in the dark of night, and her natural coat colours were the shades of lavender or darker; she was not going to be seen tonight.

Doubly so, considering she was not planning to remain at such a low altitude for too much longer.

With another more complex, though even more second nature to her than the coat changing polymorph, a raspberry hued spell enveloped her body. It took all of a fraction of a second before the magic faded, leaving Sunset standing there proudly with a pair of pegasus wings.

They were perfectly sized for her and matched the colour of her coat, all connecting to her strong back muscles. A few simple flaps for testing purposes reassured her that they were working just as they should.

With one final thought a spell started to channel before Sunset launched herself into the air, soaring deep into the night’s embrace. She was the only unicorn in the entire planet who could fly like a pagasus.

Comments

[Helloiexist]

This is great btw, just wanted you to know.