Early Bird
"Explain this to me again..."
"Hm?"
"Why was it absolutely necessary for us to arrive this early in the morning?"
Autumn Shade stepped out into the breezy morning air. His eyes showed clear sings of fatigue, though he made a valiant effort to hide them. Oceanflame had already been waiting outside, a few meters off, to admire their newly aquired estate from a distance.
It was but a small house and grand wasn't a word to describe it in any strech of the imagination, but nontheless, he couldn't be more excited.
"Oh, I just wanted to get all our stuff moved before you get assaulted by Pinkie Pie," the light-blue earth pony responded absently, still distracted by their new home.
Shade perked up. Usually he'd just ignore friend's rather nonsensical exclaims, but curiosity got the better of him this time.
"Uhm... would you mind repeating that last part? Something about being assaulted?" he carefully spoke in his Manehattian accent.
"Oh," Ocean turned to Shade for a second and gave him a puzzled look, "I haven't told you about her yet?"
A raised eyebrow was all he recieved in responce.
Ocean merely smiled. "You'll find out soon enough," he said, directing his attention back to the house.
Shade sighed, dismissing that statement as just another attempt by Ocean at making him nervous, as though that wasn't the case already, being in an unfamiliar place and whatnot.
Seeing how the sun was just now peeking over the horizon, he finally got a chance to take a better look at his surroundings, though there wasn't much to see. Grass surrounded the estate at all sides and a bumpy road, lined with other houses, varying in size, led to the small village, which goes by the name of Ponyville. A forest, called "The Everfree Forest" to his knowledge, was also in view distance.
It was a peaceful area, which Shade could appreciate. Seeing how it was still relatively cool outside at that hour, he decided it would be best to leave Ocean to his housegazing and head inside.
Their home looked no bigger from indoors, but it was more than enough room for the both of them. Such things as the living room and the kitchen could be found on the first floor, while both of their rooms as well as Shade's study were located upstairs, which was excactly where he was headed.
He entered his room. It was quite small, but that bothered Shade not one bit. Reluctantly he took a look in the mirror. The sight he was greeted with did not please him. He looked at a rather slender pegasus with a ruffled up brown coat, bloodshot eyes and a green mane, which may have been combed at some point of the day, though he couldn't tell at this point anymore.
Shade nearly cringed. "Is this what I've looked like all day?"
Needless to say he was not a morning pony, so the fact that their furniture, for some cryptic reason, needed to be moved before dawn had not done him any favours.
He did the best he could to get himself in order only using his hooves for the moment. Unlike a certain cohabitant of his he actually gave a damn about his appearance. Ocean was a great friend to him, but his complete and utter ignorance of some social standards mystified him.
The thought of simply calling it a day, or night for that matter, and going to bed crossed his mind, but knowing how drasticly such a thing would derail any kind of sleep schedule he had, he hesitated
Shade looked back at the mirror and at the barely consious stallion beyond it. Despite his efforts he still looked like a train-wreck. Seeing himself in such a state painted a look of concern on Shade's face. With a sigh he decided for sleep schedules to be damned.
Sweet dream would have to wait, though, as Shade heard the familiar voice of Ocean call out to him.
"Shade, get out here, quick!", he yelled with a mixture of urgency and glee in his voice.
The brown pegasus sighed heavily. He closed his eyes and silently counted to ten, while massaging his temple.
For goodness' sake...
"I'll be there in a second!" He then yelled in response.
Mouthing curses into the air, he made his way out of the room, back down the stairs and to the front door, his limbs seemingly becoming heavier with every step.
He stepped outside and was immediately forced to put a hoof up to shield his eyes from the sun.
"What in the world could be so important, Ocean?"
Autumn slowly lowered his hoof and squinted in his friend's direction. Much to his surprise, he wasn't alone.
Before he could further inspect the third pony, he was hit by, what felt like sledgehammer to the chest. Before fully realizing what was happening, he found himself laying on his back and face-to-face with a pair of bright blue eyes and a wide grin, all surrounded by pink.
Without a second's hesitation the pony, that had just tackled him with a force, that would be enough to take down most Royal Guards, started talking to him in a pace, way too fast to understand for most non-sleep-deprived ponies.
"Ohmygosh, are you the new pony in town? I'm Pinkie Pie! What's your name? Where are you from? Are you...?"
At some point all the words this strange pony spoke simply blurred together in Shade's mind, making it impossible for him to decipher a single thing, so he just laid there with a horrified expression on his face.
Finally she got off of him. She the proceeded to literally start bouncing all over the place, still speaking rapidly, as Shade attempted to get back on his hooves. He had no idea how a single pony could contain that much energy, but he guessed large amount of sugar were involved.
The pink pony stood there, grinning widely at him. She had stopped talking.
Unsure of what to respond or even what he had just been told, Shade gave her an awkward smile and looked to the left and to the right, where Ocean was currently standing, struggling to contain his laughter.
After a few moment of silence, he held out a hoof. "Shade... Autumn Shade, pleased to-"
"Welcome to Ponyville, Shade!" He flinched at this sudden outburst.
Pinkie Pie gasped, seemingly remembering something important. "Right! I forgot why I came here!" she immediately continues talking, "I came here to invite you to your super awesome Welcome to Ponyville party! It's at 6 o'clock at Sugar Cube Corner, okay?"
"Uh..."
"Awesome! See you there, Shady!" And with that, before Autumn even realized it, Pinkie had vanished. Shade stood there for for a few more moments, blinking into space. Eventually he looked at Ocean, who was visibly amused at the situation.
"...what?" That was all he could think at the moment.
"Well, I told you so..." Ocean replied, cocking his head to the side.
Shade once again massaged his temple and attempted to retroactively process the information his brain had just been given.
Pinkie Pie was the name, wasn't it? And something about loving parties?
It was all a blur, due to the pink pony's speech tempo and the fact Shade having been awake for far too long. Suddenly one tiny piece of information hit him like a cartload of bricks.
"Welcome party? Tonight!?" A feeling of annoyance and irritation came over Shade. "There is no way I can attend there! I haven't slept in more than-! I still need to-!" He put a hoof across his forehead and breathed deeply. Getting angry wouldn't help at all right now.
"Ugh, It's alright. The day is still young and you have more than sufficient time to get some rest and finish unpacking. Besides, I'm sure no one will mind if you arrive a tiny bit late." Shade told himself.
Ocean sighed. "Well, in that case you better get some sleep while you-“
"Wait a minute, did she call me Shady!?"