Smokey Arrival
Chapter 6:
Prep and Go!
Written by: Slayerbrony

Twilight arrived at the Boutique with all of her friends while they threw ideas around on how they were going to get Chad to the train station without anypony seeing him. As they walked in, they saw a rather interesting sight. Chad was sitting in a chair, getting his hair groomed by Rarity. His face was a neutral mask, aside from the occasional wince in pain as Rarity pulled on a knot of hair. She had to stand on a step stool due to their height differences

“Sorry, darling, but you can’t be meeting the princesses looking this...” Rarity paused as she tried to think of the right word. “Messy.” Chad just grunted in response as she pulled on a another knot. Rainbow Dash attempted to suppress her laughter.

“I can’t believe we were afraid of this guy!” Rainbow whispered to Applejack who gave her a chuckle in return.

“Spike, would you be a dear and get me a mane tie?” Rarity asked as she was finishing up brushing the knots and tangles out of Chad’s hair. The lovestruck drake nodded quickly before running off. He soon returned with a small black band and held it out for Rarity. She gave him a quick thank you and began to braid Chad’s hair as tightly as she could without hurting him.

“Rarity? What are you doing?” Twilight asked with a small suppressed giggle. She and her friends walked into the middle of the room, spreading out slightly so they could get comfortable for the moment. “More importantly, where are Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo?”

“I had finished Chad’s suit so I thought I might as well help him look proper for meeting royalty, and the little ones are with Sapphire,” Rarity said as she finished up with Chad’s now braided hair. Twilight began to sputter slightly before Rarity held up a hoof. “I know what you are thinking and before you have a panic attack, just look over there.”

Rarity pointed to the couch she usually used for her ‘Dramatic’ moments. On the couch was all three of the crusaders, curled up and sleeping soundly, laying against Sapphire. The blue dragon was simply curled around them, giving off an almost protective vibe, and lightly snoring.

“They were tired after roughhousing with Chad and due to Sapphire being a dragon, her warm body accompanied by her rather soft scales... Well they were out like a candle in the wind,” Rarity said giving a small chuckle. The whole group eyed the dragon and foals before giving a small sigh of relief.

“Well, alright... At least they’re in the same room, so you could keep an eye on them,” Twilight said with a small disappointed tone.

“Darling, you really need to stop worrying about that dragon! I mean she may not be as nice and sweet as Spike-” As those words left her mouth, the whole group heard a loud thump. “-but she is still kind and considerate. Not every dragon is a big, awful brute you know.”

Twilight sighed before she took one more look at the fillies, seeing the content and happy smiles they held. Even Sapphire seemed to be happy with snuggling up to the little ones. Rarity let out a few clicks of her tongue as she finished up Chad’s hair before looking over him.

“Alright Darling, would you mind trying on the suit for me? I want to make sure it’s perfect before we travel to Canterlot,” Rarity said as she hopped off of the stool and let Chad stand. He gave a nod as she levitated the suit over to him and practically pushed him into the changing room.

“We are on a schedule, Rarity. We might have to get going soon, with or without his formal wear,” Twilight said as she pulled out a scroll and looked over it. “In fact, the next train is in-”

“I am not sure how you did it Miss Rarity, but this suit fits amazingly!” Chad exclaimed as all the ponies turned to look at the resident human. The sound of a pin dropping could be heard as they gawked at the man. He was wearing a simple black suit with a white undershirt and a deep red tie. Not only was the suit the perfect fit for him, but it complimented him rather well. From his muscled body to the ponytail that hung behind his head, the ponies couldn’t help but see him in a rather attractive and alluring light. “What? Do I have something on my face?”

“You look... Awesome...” Rainbow muttered out as she looked over him, admiring his form. Chad chuckled awkwardly before giving her his thanks.

“I am glad I look good. Meeting royalty and all that,” Chad said as he turned and walked back into the changing room. “I’ll change out of this so it doesn’t get wrinkled.”

Rarity only nodded dumbly as he disappeared behind the curtain. As soon as he was out of sight, all of the ponies simply looked at each other.

“Did anyone else just...?” Rarity began in a small whisper. A symphony of ‘Yes’, ‘Yup’, and ‘You betcha!’ was heard from the small group of ponies, allowing Rarity to breathe easier. “Oh thank Celestia it isn’t just me.”

“I have to say, that outfit certainly... Complimented his figure,” Twilight said blushing slightly. Chad walked out from the changing room, now dressed in his pants and t-shirt, with the suit delicately draped over his arm.

“Where would you like me to put this, Miss Rarity?” he asked with a smile. Rarity just giggled and levitated the suit over to her.

“I will place it in a bag and take it with us. And you don’t have to say ‘Miss Rarity’, darling,” Rarity said happily as she walked over to her creation room. As she entered the room, Twilight walked over and tapped Chad on his knee cap, making him look down at the purple mare.

“Chad, we are going to have to leave soon and I need to teach you a little bit about Equestria’s courtesies and proper mannerisms,” Twilight said with a small smile. “But we can save that for the train ride.”

“Speaking of train rides...” Rainbow began as she floated over to Chad and hovered next to his shoulder, putting her hoof at his head like she was measuring his height. “How are we going to sneak him onto a train? I mean, not only is he an alien, I don’t exactly think he is going to fit into the train cars easily.”

Twilight was about to say something when she realized her prismatic friend was correct. Chad was quite tall, she was practically dwarfed by his size. “That... Is a problem,” Twilight said.

“Well I am pretty quick on my feet... And I have no problem sitting down on the floor if that is what it comes down too,” Chad said shrugging. Twilight nodded at this and slowly began to come up with a plan.

“Oh! Chad, darling! I almost forgot to give you your new jacket!” Rarity said as she walked out of her room and floated a hooded jacket over to Chad’s hands. He smiled widely and immediately slipped the hoodie over his head and pulled it down. He smiled a tiny bit wider as he felt the soft fabric cling loosely to him, just how he liked his hoodies.

“This is amazing, Rarity!” he stated as he looked over the coat on his body. Even Rainbow Dash was checking out the new piece of fashion.

“That is a pretty cool coat...” Rainbow mumbled to herself as she looked over the hooded jacket. Rarity just smiled with pride, not to mention blushed a little bit from the praise, and trotted back to the creation room to pack up his suit. Twilight simply looked over him before her eyes lit up like someone flipping a light switch.

“Wait, we may be able to use this to our advantage,” Twilight said as she used her magic to tug at his collar, signalling for him to bend down. As he did so, Twilight pulled the hood over his head and let a dark shadow cover his face like the area in his hood was suddenly pitch black before letting him stand back up. “Yes, this may actually work!”

“What may work, Twi?” Applejack asked as she watched Twilight tuck Chad’s hands into the coat’s pockets.

“If his face is covered, and his hands are hidden, then we can sneak him on as a greatly height endowed diamond dog!” Twilight said happily.

“What if they ask to see his face?” Rainbow asked looking down at her purple alicorn friend. Twilight visibly deflated at this. She would have said a disguise spell like she did with Spike when she gave him a suit and mustache, but she didn’t know what the effect of magic would have on his body. Sure he was brought here by magic, but transportation and disguises are two different things.

“Could say I was in a accident?” Chad piped in as he pulled the hood down, revealing his face again. Twilight’s ears perked up and she smiled widely.

“That may work!” Twilight said cheerfully. “But we may need to add on to this plan a bit more if we want it to work properly.”

After a few minutes of tossing ideas around, they finally had a plan to get Chad on board to Canterlot. Before they could have left though, Applejack piped up with a serious question. “What about Sapphire? We can’t jus’ leave her ‘ere with no one watchin’ her.”

“That is a good point....” Twilight said as she furrowed her brow. After a good five minutes, she let out a frustrated groan before Spike woke up rubbing his head.

“Ugh, what did I miss?” He asked before everyone’s vision centered on him. He looked back and forth between all of the ponies and the human. “What?”

“Spike... How would you like to be part of an experiment?” Twilight asked with a coy smile. Spike gulped slightly and let out nervous chuckle.

~=~=~=~=~=~=~

After a quick message sent to Celestia saying they would be arriving in Canterlot soon, the group began to walk towards the train station. As they stepped out of the boutique, Chad quickly hid his facial features with the hood and stuffed his hands in his pockets, not to mention hunching over slightly. Due to their little escapade with the diamond dogs in the past, their experience gave Chad a decent chance of pulling this off.

They had left Spike to look after the fillies and Twilight used a little magic to change Sapphire’s scales from their brilliant blue to Spike’s colors of purple over green. This way, if anyone asked, Twilight could simply say that she messed up a spell and it would wear off later.

Sapphire wasn’t exactly pleased by this, but happy to at least be close to Chad and not have to wait in the town for him to return. if the princesses let him return. She didn’t know why she was so attached to Chad after merely two days. Maybe it was his friendly nature that she normally didn’t receive. Maybe it was because he was so accepting of her. Whatever the reason, she was happy to at least call him her one true friend.

Chad got several strange looks from plenty of ponies, were it not for the five ponies and the new Alicorn princess surrounding him, they may have run away in fright. Before they knew it, they were at the train station where Twilight walked up to the ticket booth to purchase the train tickets.

“Hey, I have been meaning to ask...” Chad began in a hushed voice. “Is there anything I should know before I meet the princesses?”

The group just exchanged glances, not worried ones. They looked more like those you would make when you are expecting someone else to speak. Rarity cleared her throat and looked up at Chad.

“Well, I would simply say be yourself, and respectful,” she said with a small smile. All of the others agreed as Twilight walked over with eight tickets.

“Alright, so I explained the situation to the train conductor, so he will let us all on, but we are going to have to go to the last train car. It’s the only one with enough room for all of us,” Twilight said as she passed out the tickets and led the group to the train. As they walked into the train, Chad had to hunch over even more so that he could walk properly. Once they got to the final car, they saw two sets of seats which looked more like lounge couches bolted down than actual train car seats.

Without a moment to lose, Chad walked over and plopped himself down into a seat and stretched his legs out with a sigh of relief. The ponies just rolled their eyes and giggled as they too took seats on the couch. Sapphire prefered to crawl up onto the couch and lay her upper body across Chad’s lap, giving a content sigh as she laid her head down.

That was when all of the ponies, aside from Rainbow Dash, gave a collective ‘D’aaaaaw’ at the two, making Chad blush so much he almost glowed under the shade of his hood. He let out a grumble before he subconsciously began to pet down Sapphire’s neck, making her pur happily. Soon the group felt the tug of the train and the final call from the conductor before they began to move. It didn’t take too long for Chad to begin to doze off. With the rhythmic ‘Click-clack’ of the train on the rails accompanied by the warmth of Sapphire’s internal fire, it was almost impossible for him to stay awake.

~=~=~=~=~=~=~

Twilight stared at the duo with a curious smile on her lips. She still was wary of the dragon that followed Chad everywhere, but in some strange way, it reminded her of Spike. How the two of them were inseparable when she was a foal. She found their strangely strong bond somewhat adorable in it’s own way. Slightly inconvenient at times, but adorable nonetheless.

“I wonder why they are so close,” Twilight quietly thought out loud.

“Don’t you remember silly?” Pinkie piped up as she was bouncing in her seat next to Twilight. The purple mare looked inquisitively at her pink friend who’s sanity was debatable. “She said that dragon friendships don’t last longer than a few days and she wanted this one to last. Maybe she is just trying to keep the only friend she has as long as she can!”

Twilight was about to speak up, but once again, she was rendered speechless by Pinkie Pie. The spastic pink earth pony was right. Twilight looked at the duo and then put on a smile that was somewhat sorrowful, but at the same time, understanding. She would still watch Sapphire with a close eye, but now she was less intimidated by the blue dragon.

She mulled over these thoughts as the sight of Canterlot Castle became apparent.

~=~=~=~=~=~=~

A loud whistle brought Chad from his slumber, and made him let out a equally loud yawn. He shook his head roughly in an attempt to wake himself faster. He stretched out his arms and scratched his chin before watching the ponies all get up, Rarity making sure to grab the somewhat large briefcase that held his suit.

“We there already?” he asked through another yawn, making all of the ponies giggle slightly. He just gave a chuckle himself before attempting to get up, only to find a dragon was still holding him down and snoring happily. He shook his head and lifted her head, and her arms, before he moved out from under her, inadvertently waking her. She lazily looked up and let out a loud yawn, unintentionally baring her teeth, and stretching out like a cat. “Good sleep?”

She just nodded sleepily as he stood up. The small group of ponies, dragon, and human got off of the train, only to be greeted by a small group of three ponies. To Chad, they each looked like a C.I.A. spook from a movie, by that he meant they had that conformity look going on. From what Chad could tell, there was one pony from each race. A unicorn, an earth pony, and a pegasus. Aside from the different races, they all looked exactly the same. They each had a solid white coat, solid white mane, a solid white suit, and a small little sun emblem pin clipped to their collars. The only color that was on their body other than the sun pin, was a nifty set of sunglasses that rested on their snouts.

The earth pony walked over to Twilight before glancing at Chad, making him shudder at the empty gaze the pony held. The pony’s gaze didn’t falter as he practically scanned Chad with his eyes, as if just waiting for him to simply breathe wrong so he could whip his ass. As his gaze left Chad and went to Twilight, taking a second to look at her before he took a small breath.

“I take it that’s the guest?” he asked emotionlessly, nodding his head at Chad. Receiving a nod from Twilight, he turned and walked back to the small group of ponies. “Alright then. Follow us, and don’t even think about straying away from this group.”

As the crew began to follow the strange, and increasingly unnerving, ponies to the Castle, Rainbow floated over to Twilight and began to whisper as quietly as she could.

“Hey, who are those ponies? Why didn’t Celestia just send some guards?” she asked, eyeing the group of three ponies in front of them. Twilight mimicked Rainbow’s actions, making sure the guards weren’t listening.

“They are Celestia’s elite. They act as Celestia’s personal bodyguards, as well as being her eyes and ears when needed. They are trained more extensively than any other branch of the guard, and I don’t just mean with spears and swords. Not only that, but they are quieter than a mouse in the Everfree,” Twilight said as Rainbow’s eyes widened as she soaked in Twilight’s words. “In short words, they are the best of the best.”

“Twilight, how can those ponies be sneaky at all? They are brighter than a marshmallow!” Applejack asked quietly.

“I don’t know, Celestia didn’t tell me much about them. All I know is that you don’t want to mess with them,” Twilight said in a serious manner, making sure Chad and Sapphire heard them. They only nodded as they walked through the streets.

~=~=~=~=~=~=~

Their walk was relatively short, seeing how they were already at the castle walking around inside, oddly enough letting Sapphire walk with them. Chad had been given the O.K. to pull his hood down, thankfully not making any poor maid pass out from shock. The three Solar Elites, as they called themselves, informed Chad of how to act and what to NOT say in their presence. Awkwardly enough they were kind enough to go through what would happen to him if he said anything remotely sexual towards the princesses, said punishments ranging from castration to flogging. ‘What are they virgins or something?’ he thought with a unspoken chuckle. ‘Heh heh... Medieval times, why are you so strange?’

“Do you have any questions?” the earth pony asked, his voice slightly deeper than his compatriots. Chad thought for a moment before nodding. “What is it?”

“May I change into more formal wear?” Chad asked in the most refined voice he could muster, which in his opinion wasn’t half bad. ‘Mimicry was one of my favorite hobbies.’ he thought with a smile. The guard looked him over for a moment before walking to a door and kicking it open.

“You have exactly ten minutes before I drag you out. The sisters are not to be kept waiting,” he said gruffly. He only nodded as Rarity floated Chad’s suit over to him, giving his thanks to her as he took it. He changed quickly as he could, with a couple minutes to spare. Chad quickly gave himself a look over in his suit, smiling again at how comfortable the suit was before one thing decided to make itself known.

‘Oh dear god this is one of those moments where literally whatever I say could possibly make my life harder, easier, or just simply die right there...’ His expression dropped to a nervous frown as he began to keep himself from wetting his trousers. ‘Okay okay, calm down. It’s not like you are going to get a boner in front of them. There is no way a pony can do that to you...’

After a roughly two minute, and insanely quick, pep talk to himself, he walked out of the restroom brushing the suit off and straightening out his tie. He always did have a nervous habit of making himself as clean as possible when he was meeting someone, important or no. As they walked down the halls to the throne room, Twilight walked up to Chad and began to whisper.

“Hey, are you okay?” she asked with genuine concern in her voice. He gave her a nod before speaking.

“Absolutely not,” Twilight just let out a sigh before tugging on his sleeve, making him bend down to her level.

“Just calm down, think of something calming, and take deep breaths,” she said before giving him a warm smile. He gave her a chuckle and smiled back at her. Sapphire walked up beside Chad and gave him a quick muzzle to his hand, making him look at her strangely before he gave her a quick pat on the head and a nervous smile.

“We are here. Try anything and I will personally feed you to the griffons in little cubes,” the Unicorn elite said to Chad, making him shiver slightly. ‘Not helping, bro!’ he thought with a panicked breath. he gave a quick nod to the guards before he walked up to the doors. “I’m sorry. No one but the Princesses are allowed inside. Princess Sparkle, you are allowed. Everypony else stays and no, there are no exceptions.”

Chad gulped quietly as Twilight walked up next to him, summoning up her regala onto her body. She gave him one last reassuring look before she pushed the doors open.

~=~=~=~=~=~=~

As the two disappeared inside of the throne room, the small group of ponies were all thinking the same thing. Rainbow Dash unsurely looked at Applejack, who in turn looked at Fluttershy nervously making her look to Rarity. This continued until all eyes were on Pinkie who.....

....was staring at the ceiling. Pinkie, stop. Kinda ruining the mood here.

“But I like watching you two woooooork!” The pink mare whined. Pinkie be sad about Chad or I will make you be sad. “You can’t control me!” I warned you....

The sound of a voice being cleared was heard through the halls, although no one actually heard it. Pinkie, if this doesn’t go well, you won’t be able to ever throw a party for your new human friend.

And like that the whole group watched as Pinkie’s mane deflated and she slumped to the floor. Her lips quivered slightly as she stared at the doors in front of her. Rainbow Dash floated over and landed next to her before putting a hoof around her shoulders.

“You okay Pinks?” she asked before Pinkie grabbed Rainbow Dash and began to sob into her fur. Rainbow could only hug the saddened pony as she let Pinkie drench her coat. The others walked over to their party loving friend, giving her words of hope and patting her back. Pinkie stopped only for a moment to glare at the ceiling.

“ARE YOU HAPPY NOW!?” she shouted before going back to sobbing, making all of the ponies look to the ceiling in confusion.

The only one who had yet to react was Sapphire. The dragon sat up straight like a meerkat on watch, and staring at the doors intently. The ponies could only look at their scaly companion with looks of curiosity.

“I wonder what she is thinking....” Applejack whispered to Rarity as Sapphire ignored everything that wasn’t the doors or what was behind the doors. Her expression was completely stoic, although on the inside she had a mixed of feeling of concern, nervousness, and slight fear.

‘Oh please let him be okay....’ was her only thought as she finally closed her eyes and hung her head, letting a tear slip from her eye and down her painted cheek.

Author's Note

Alright everyone! New chapter! Yeeeeah! For all of you who are waiting for the awkward scenes of affection, and Chad not realizing what is going on, they are going to be coming on quite soon!
And as always, please thank DarkPhoenix for being a great editor and helpful proof reader!
Hope you enjoyed it, if you did awesome, hope you are ready for more, if not.... Well still look forward to future chapters of embarrassing moments, d'aws, and just general funny comedy.