The World Ends With Ponyby WhiteeyesChaptersPrologue: ExpositionFirst ContactFearPrologue: ExpositionSanae Hanekoma was busy tending to the WildKat Cafe', the little bistro that helped him keep an eye on Shibuya. Looking like a beatnik in his thirties, few would imagine he was one of the most powerful people on the planet...well maybe people was the wrong word. Regardless, he was well aware of them before they appeared. The lights went out and three shadowy figures came out of the backroom...the room that nobody had been in before. Sanae smiled at their flair for theatrics, saying "Welcome, what do I owe the prescience of three Angels in my little store to? Can I interest you in a free cup of coffee, only two twenty a cup." He smiled even broader. He'd never get tired of that joke. "You think this is funny? This is no laughing matter. We need the aid of your mortal agents. Now." one of the shadowy figures demanded. This is interesting. What would they want with those four... "So, what do you need the mortal friends of a 'Fallen Angel' for?" he asked, smiling in a friendly manner. A hush falls over the room, until one of the shadowy figures clears his throat and reveals what had everyone so nervous. "There are Noise appearing in a Real Ground." Sanae's face drops all pretense of humor. "Excuse me?" ********* Neku walked into the cafe', uncertain of what was going on. Mr. Hanekoma rarely called any of them in. As winners of the game, they were supposed to be free to do what they want, but the Fallen Angel apparently had other plans. Being mortal, Neku and the others could get away with stuff that the rules prevented the Angels or Reapers from doing; black ops if you will. Naturally, the fact that Neku was almost as powerful as the Composer meant that nobody could force them into a fight they didn't agree to. Sighing, he took a look around. There was Shiki, checking out the stitches on Mr. Mew, her stuffed animal and weapon. At least when he was being animated by Groove Pawn. As Neku turned away, he almost thought he saw the cat's eyes follow him for just a second. The fact that the thing had a 'mind of it's own' in Shiki's own words was a bit creepy. Looking around a bit more, Neku noticed that some people were missing. Turning to Mr. Hanekoma, he asked "So, CAT, where's Beat and Rhyme?" Mr. Hanekoma didn't smile, even though he liked his tag name as one of Shibuya's top artists. "They should be here soon." As if on cue, the brother and sister duo come rushing in, Beat carrying his signature skateboard and Rhyme clutching her pendant. Speak of the Reapers..."Good, you're all here, and I see that you three have your focuses. Neku, you got your case?" He almost smiled as Neku grudgingly took out a box filled with pins. Almost. "Good. Listen up people, I've just learned of a very serious problem, one that if we don't act on could result in untold destruction." ********* Sanae's face drops all pretense of humor. "Excuse me?" "You heard me, RG Noise." the figure repeated. "That's impossible, Joshua would never allow that, and I would have noticed." Sanae noted. The second figure spoke up then. "It's occurring in an Alternate Ground." Sanae frowned. "Then, why does that matter? Shouldn't their Higher Plane representatives sort out their own problems?" "The problem is," the third explained "that their own Producer can't intervene due to the secrecy of the position, their Composer is inept, and they have no mortal agents that can use their powers in the RG." "Still, as bad as that is, why use mine? You've got to have better sources of mortal agents than a 'Fallen Angel', so talk." "The reason is simple; the Noise conform to this Ground, and what's more this isn't some freak coincidence. Rather it appears to be a deliberate act from a Reaper that escaped from your Under Ground. Joshua filed a report two days ago I believe?" "...I see. So Shade left the UG for an AG to release Noise on the RG there? I assume this means he's doing an indiscriminate Erasure." "That's the thing, he's not. So far only two Noise have been spotted, and neither have Erased anything yet. In addition, both were incredibly weak. We think Shade is having trouble making some Noise. However he himself is still Harrier class, and was a candidate for Game Master. He's tough, and we have extremely few agents that are that powerful." Sanae nodded. " That's true, our Ground does produce higher end Reapers and Players. Most GMs are C Class, where as on this Ground C is the minimum to be a Support Reaper, let alone a Harrier. So you need my friends to go to the AG because Shade is B Class, and therefore is stronger than anything there except the Producer and the Composer. Is that about right?" "Indeed, you must send them at once!" Sanae shook his head. "Sorry, no can do. It's their world, they chose what to do with it." ********* "And that about sums it up." Mr. Hanekoma finished. "...so you want us to go to an AG to fight some Noise? I don't know, sounds like a lot of hassle." Shiki was a bit outraged. "Neku! Innocent people are in serious danger here! Noise are nothing to laugh at. Even weaker ones are invincible if you don't have any psych." Neku sighed. "Yeah I get that, but doesn't this Ground have any Reapers or the like that can just deal with it?" "No, they don't." Mr. Hanekoma explained. "They don't have any Reapers, or Players. This Ground has no Games." Beat nodded in understanding. "I see, so therefor there's nothing to prevent this Shade guy from gaining the ability to make some Noise and go on an Erasing spree. That's just cruel." "It's worse than that actually." Rhyme noted. "He's doing it to gain power. Reapers feed off of those they or their noise erase. I think he's looking for a major power boost, maybe even enough to unseat Joshua." This caused an awkward silence to fill the room as everyone digests this info. Finally, Neku spoke up. "They said only two weak noises right? So why did they want all four of us?" Sanae smiled. "A Dixiefrog and a Garagewolf, strictly E class. The problem is he shouldn't be able to summon Noise at all. As you know, Reapers normally have no powers in the RG, let alone an AG's RG. There's no telling what's up with his powers. That's reason number one they want all four of you. Reason number two is that they only have a vague idea of where Shade is hiding, so splitting up to find him faster is a good idea, as we have no idea how his powers could grow. So, you guys interested? Beat, Rhyme, Shiki, Phones?" Beat smiles. "You have to ask? You know I love sticking it to the Reapers." Rhyme nods as well. "I'm with my brother all the way. It's the least I can do." Shiki nods her own consent before looking over at Neku in concern, though she breaks out into a smile once he gives a shrug of 'fine whatever', which for him is a major comment. "Alright then, I'm going to be sending you over to the AG then. Oh, and as a heads up, your appearance will change a bit so that you don't stick out while trying to blend in with the locals. Language translation is included free of charge as well." Neku nodded, it sounded reasonable. Anything that wouldn't make them stick out couldn't be all that bad. ********* The group trotted up to 'Ponyville' a name Neku was half convinced was made up just to spite them. Trotted. They were ponies. Ponies! When I get back, Neku thought, I'm making it a point to see if I can Erase an Angel. Author's Note i]Author's Notes: OK, a few things to get out of the way before this story starts. First, this story will contain spoilers about The World Ends With You game/manga/OVA and as such if you don't want spoilers don't read. Second, this contains a lot of post-series fan theory and some of my own ideas. If you don't like fannon, why are you reading a fanfic? Thirdly, the series is neither as light as MLP:FiM nor as dark as tWEwY. The end result is somewhere around the level of the Power Rangers, which is basically the midpoint. Finally, for those unfamiliar with tWEwY's narrative style, it relies heavily on flashbacks. With that out of the way, on to the story! First ContactWarning: Perception jumps galore in this chapter. Also CMC and Pinkie Sense. You have been warned. "My hooves are itchy my hooves are itchy!" Pinkie Pie announced to the friends gathered in the Library for the 'Owlowicious is Employee of the Month for the Third Month in a Row Party' after-party. The other party guests look over at the pink pony in worry. You simply did NOT mess with the Pinkie Sense. Spike, forgetting his bitterness at being outdone once again by an owl, asked the necessary question and, to his credit, managed to keep it from sounding hysterical. "What does THAT mean?" Everypony was curious, they hadn't seen this particular sense before. "I don't kn-kn-kn-ooo-wwwww ooooh w-w-w-wo-ow-ww-w th-eee-rre go-oo-os m-m-m-my doo-ooo-zz-zzy s-sss-en-seee!" she announced, vibrating rapidly. She suddenly stopped. "And now they're itchy again. D-ooz-y! Itchy. Doo-oo-ooz-zz-zzy! Itchy!" she said, going back and forth between the two. Twilight Sparkle looked on in a mix of profound confusion and a good deal of analytical interest. "It's almost like the Universe is arguing with itself. What the hay could be causing that?" the unicorn wondered out loud. Spike, her young dragon assistant that she had taught the ways of science, considered the situation and, utilizing all the training he's ever had, gave the very scientific answer of an 'I dunno' shrug. ********* Meanwhile, on a hill on the outskirts of town... "And I say we all go in together!" Shiki insisted again, stamping her hoof down. Shiki looked rather different as a pony. For one thing, she was clover green with a dark brown mane and tail. Other than her glasses, her bag, and Mr. Mew, she'd kept no clothing. The most interesting part was that she had a symbol on her flanks showing a needle and thread. They had been told they were called 'Cutie Marks', but not even Shiki was girly enough to really believe a society would evolve where they would be called such a cute name if everyone had them. The most shocking part however was that she had a unicorn horn. She was an honest to goodness unicorn. "And I say I go in alone, scout the place out for any danger." Neku argued once more, his uncharacteristic worry for the well being of his friends triggering a 'doozy' unbeknownst to him. Neku was dark orange and light orange, his body now much darker than his hair...mane, tail, whatever. He however had kept his jacket, incredibly, and that included the case of pins in the inside pocket. He'd also kept his purple headphones, but nothing to plug them into. His Mark was a purple spray can and two 'sprayed on' purple musical notes. Unlike Shiki, he didn't have a horn, but looked like a normal pony. "What danger? They're ponies!" "Yes, and so are we! Except they're better at it!" "Do you really think they'll attack us?" "Ponies are territorial! They sure aren't going to bake us a cake!" "That's in our world. Maybe being intelligent made them friendlier?" "Like it did with humans?" Neku pointed out, stopping the conversation dead in its tracks with a very awkward pause. "I know I know, I need to stop being so judgmental, but it's hard. Especially since it's not our world so we don't know anything about how cautious we have to be." "I believe I have the solution." Beat announced. "Just send in the top team of my and my sister and we'll take care of it. We scout out with a smaller group, and we've got people hanging back in case it gets dangerous and we need a rescue. Plus, if anything does happen, you'll have my top grade power to sort it out. Also, I don't think people would bug me too much, I don't exactly look friendly." he noted at the end. Beat did look a bit intimidating. He was large for one thing, with a bit of a barrel chest. His body was midnight black. His mane and tail where straw blond. Not that you could seem much of his mane under the black wool cap he worse, decorated with a (now horse) skull no less. He also still had his iron (horse) skull pendant and his metal stud bracer on his left 'arm', as well as his board which had a decal of a (horse) skull wreathed in blue and purple flame. His mark was a pair of bone white Reaper wings jammed together, the effect looking somewhat like a bat. The wings design may have had to do with the fact that he was a pegasus, or with the fact that he used to be a Reaper. Probably both. All in all, Neku had to agree that he looked pretty daunting. "OK, I can see you getting in no problem, but are you sure about Rhyme? I get you don't want to leave her out of your sight after all that's happened, but she doesn't look as...tough." It was a bit of an understatement. Rhyme may have had a cap similar to her brothers (though the skull was much smaller) and the same straw blond mane, the rest didn't inspire fear. Her body was peach colored. Her bell-pendant was gleaming brightly in its simple yet elegant design. While she was also a pegasus like her brother, her wings where much smaller and more downy in appearance. Then there was the fact that she was outright small, being notably shorter than even Shiki; the effect was only exaggerated when she stood next to her brother. Quite frankly she looked like a little kid. What was also interesting was that unlike the others, she had no marking on her flanks. "I thought of that. I think the problem is it's own solution." she noted. "Beat's too scary to just walk up so someone and try and ask a lot of questions, but if it's a 'cute little kid' they might be more tolerant. And if not and it does cause trouble, he can bail me out cause I doubt anyone would want to mess with him." "That...is actually well thought out. Nice to see that your planning skills are as sharp as ever Rhyme. I think this could work." Neku noted, feeling a lot better. "Yeah! Operation: Mr. Ed is a go!" Shiki shouted. "...Operation Mr. Ed?" Neku asked after the awkward silence that followed. "Well we have to call it something." Shiki noted. "Unless you can think of something better. I mean, we are expected to file a report on this one, and I think we really need to sound professional." After a few more minutes debate, it was decided that operation Mr. Ed would begin immediately...tomorrow morning cause boy where they tired. ********* Meanwhile back at the party, Pinkie had stopped doozying and had stayed itching. This did however lead to some new problems. "Itchy itchy itch-an-itch!" she noted, rubbing her hooves back and forth across the ground repeatedly in an attempt to stop the itching. In fact, she rubbed them so fast it was less that she had four legs under her and more like she had an area of pink blur. Once she had started to wear an actual groove in the floor, Twilight had called the party to an end as she needed to escort the pink party pony to the infirmary despite Pinkie's insistence that the party can still go on without her. ********* The next day, Pinkie walked through town, somewhat miserable. Her hooves had stopped itching after being slathered in ointment and stuck inside ice water for a while. She felt better afterwards and had insisted that she was fine, but Nurse Redheart had insisted on putting her hooves in casts so that they could heal from rubbing raw. And unlike Pinkie's request, these were boring regular casts, not neon-colored jet-casts that would let her fly around and shoot tractor beams to bring her cupcakes. Despite the nurse saying such a thing didn't exist, Pinkie felt that it was just being kept secret from her because Nurse Redheart didn't want to share the cupcakes. Still, casts or no casts she was still Pinkie Pie, and so she walked on with a quite literal spring in her step, or hops as it were; the large metal springs stuck into the bottoms of the casts literally letting her bounce around. Well, bounce more than usual. ********* Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom watched as their pink sometimes-mentor bounced on by with a confused look on their faces. Shrugging it off as it being just a case of Pinkie being Pinkie, Scootaloo flapped her wings and sent the Cutie Mark Crusader Scooter Wagon (they needed a cooler name) off at top speed to find….something! Really, at the moment, the Crusaders didn't have any idea what to try next, so they were going around town to see if anything gave them any ideas. That's when they noticed the class snobs, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, walking toward the edge of town with a mean smirk on their faces. Scootaloo, deciding that anything that made those two happy was worth wrecking, made a rather sharp and unannounced change in course to follow them. She didn't notice that the sharp turn almost threw her friends out of the wagon in the back, she was too busy trying to see what her two arch-enemies were up to. She was however paying enough attention to notice that there was a new pegasus pony, a filly really, walking into town, and that she…uh-oh. ********* Rhyme stopped at the edge of town. Oh good, curious kids, just a hair smaller than herself. She could probably get a lot out of these two without arousing suspicion. She didn't know how, or if, ponies waved, so she opted to stand there openly, smile, and say "Hi there." Oh, and make the voice 'happy' in tone. Rhyme still had some trouble when it came to emotions. Erasure can do that to you. Or so she assumed. As far as she knew, she was the only human being to ever come back from total oblivion. The two ponies stopped, smirked, and whispered to each other as they pointed at her. That…wasn't a good sign. They grey one with a silver mane and tail walked over. She was wearing a pair of turquoise glasses and a similar necklace. Both looked…somewhat designer for lack of a better phrase. The mark on her rear was a spoon with a heart in it. Any hope that the heart represented any sort of kindness left as she glared down at Rhyme…well not physically but socially. "Well hi yourself. What's the matter, run away from home blank flank?" she said in a mocking tone, her friend snickering. She was pink in color, her purple mane having a white stripe through it, and her mark was a crown of some sort. Encouraged by her support, the grey one continued "What's a loser like you doing out here anyway? Did your family throw you away? Rhyme was starting to think this might have been a mistake. If being a 'blank flank', a moniker she was sure applied to her own lack of a mark, was some sort of social stigmata, she might actually be the one to draw the most attention. Just as she was beginning to believe that they might need to rethink the plan, three ponies came up. One of them, an orange pegasus with a purple mane and no mark, was ridding a scooter. She was apparently serving as a sort of 'motor' for the other two who were riding in the wagon that was attached to the scooter. One of them was a unicron, white with a purple mane, and the other was a yellow regular pony with a red mane. She couldn't be sure because of the wagon sides, but it seemed the other two didn't have marks either. Maybe it wasn't that big of a problem… "Hey Silver Spoon! Leave her alone." the pegasus demanded (wait her name was seriously Silver Spoon?) in an angry tone. "Can't you two be nice for once?" "Whatever losers." the one with the crown mark said dismisivly. "Come on Silver Spoon, lets go get a pedicure." (It…it really is Silver Spoon….) "Good idea Tiara." the other piped in happily as she trotted off. Rhyme was left standing there, several questions going through her mind. What was a blank flank really? How common or major was it? And seriously, their names were Silver Spoon and Tiara? "Hey are you OK?" the unicorn asked, climbing out of the wagon, and she indeed didn't have a mark. "Sorry about Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara, they're very rude." (Diamond Tiara?…I'm not sure if that's better or worse.) "Anyway, my names Sweetie Belle." Her friend, the regular pony, came bounding out as well. "An 'ahm Apple Bloom. Pleased ta meet'cha." she drawled in a rather thick accent. Like her two companions, she was indeed without a mark. "Yeah yeah, I'm Scootaloo, introductions all around. So what's your name." the pegasus practically demanded, a look of slight (boredom? annoyance?) whatever passing over her face as she leaned on her scooter and awaited an answer. Rhyme had been about to answer with a name she thought would work. There was a pattern of 'descriptor object' in all the ponies' names…until the last one. Well every society had oddballs and her nickname didn't sound too off so…"My name is Rhyme." she said, and remembered to sound nice. It was easier to use her nickname so slipups would be less likely "Anyway, I'm new in town, and I was wondering if somebody could show me around town." she finished off her request with a rather large smile. The three of them stood together for a second, looking at each other in silence for a few seconds. Rhyme was afraid that she'd blown it one the name when they all shouted at once "CUTIE MARK CRUSADER TOUR GUIDES! YEAY!" at the top of their lungs. At first Rhyme was stunned, then wondered if they were calling for someone, a tour guide service? Then she was thrown into the back of the wagon as a helmet was put on her head and they departed at high speed for the center of town. Oh, apparently these ARE the guides…yeay. ********* Twilight was a bit concerned about her friend bouncing around in casts, literally, but after a while she stopped worrying as it didn't seem to be hurting anything or anypony. Satisfied, she had decided to return to her library in order to read up on a new theoretical work Ancient Time Travelers by a unicorn with the penname of The Question, which featured pieces of ancient art that all seem to contain a brown earth pony that all bear a striking resemblance to each other, right down to the hourglass cutie mark. It was another conspiracy book; one of Twilights guilty pleasures was seeing how some ponies needed to have an explanation for everything, and that there couldn't be coincidences. Heck, there was a pony in town that matched that description, and as far as she knew Doctor was just a bit of an eccentric clock maker. He'd probably even write a book about it himself with something about reincarnation if he found out, or wonder if he invents time travel later because she showed him the book so he'd invent time travel so she would show him the book so he'd invent time travel so she'd show him the book so he'd….maybe she should just show him the book. If her brain kept on going like that, she was nervous it would reach Pinkie levels of chaos. Twilight briefly wondered if that's how her friend thought of things all the time when she heard a familiar sound. Turning, she saw the Crusaders puling up in their wagon, but this time they had a new filly with them. "Oh, hey girls. Who's your new friend?" she asked, smiling. "Her names Rhyme, she's new in town." Scootaloo responded. "We're showing her around as" Sweetie Belle began. Twilight, knowing what was going to happen, covered her ears before they shouted in unison "CUTIE MARK CRUSADER TOUR GUIDES!" She would figure out some day how they managed to do that so perfectly on the spot. "And we figured since we couldn't decide where to go first, we should go to the last place on all our lists first." "The library was the last place on your list?" Twilight said, disappointed. "Ah no, that was school. But we all figurd' she woun' wanna see that yet so we decided here was almos as borrin." Apple Bloom explained, beaming. She didn't seem to notice her new friend getting out of the wagon. "Anyway we gotta go bye!" she shouted as Scootaloo took off at high speed, not noticing the missing pony. "Hey wait your forgot your mmmph." Twilights cry to the others were cut short by the new pony stuffing a hoof in her mouth. Twilight took a good look at her. She was a pegasus, and her downy wings meant she wasn't old enough to fly yet, though she was a bit bigger than the Crusaders. Maybe she just grew fast? Her coat was a pale pink, and she had a bright yellow mane and tail. Like her friends, she also didn't have a cutie mark yet. What was interesting though was the pendant she wore. Where had she seen it before? The pegasus took her hoof out, looking slightly demure. Before she had looked…blank. "Sorry, but they were a little too excited for me to handle. They're nice, they made Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara stop teasing me, but the ride was a bit too much." she said. Twilight could understand that easily enough. "OK, no problem. So, Rhyme right? Want to come in for some tea while we wait for them to calm down and notice they forgot you?" she asked, opening the door for the kid. The pegasus trotted in happily. "OK sure. Say, since this is a library, that means you got a lot of books right?" Rhyme asked in the manner of just about every kid that thought they were so clever when they asked the obvious. She then looked around the room. "Oh. Yeah, that's a lot of books. Can I read some? I like reading." The older mare smiled in response. "Of course you can. That's what a library is for. The kids section is over here." she noted as she cantered over. Hmmm, her name is Rhyme. Well, seven times out of ten… "How about a book of poetry?" she asked, turning around. She was actually a bit surprised to find the filly with a book entitled The Basics of Pony Society, a book meant for high-school and older ponies that analyzed , well, the basics of pony society. "Um, are you sure you want to read that book?" "I found it myself. I'm big enough to read stuff without pictures." she noted, sounding dull. She was already flipping through the book to another section. Looking over her shoulder, Twilight noted it was the section on cutie marks and nodded. Made sense to her; at her age all ponies wondered a lot about them. There was a loud knock on the door. Wondering if it was the crusaders, Twilight opened the door only to be greeted by the largest, meanest looking pegasus she had ever seen. Fear"Oh hey Snowflake. You here for that new exercise manual series that came in by Big McHugeflank?" Twilight asked. "YEAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" the easily excitable stallion shouted while flexing, his neck muscles bulging out like ropes on his neck. "Sure, it's right this way." Twilight said smiling, leading him over to the physical fitness section which, once Rainbow Dash had finally taken to reading, she was quite familiar with. Twilight noticed her guest was staring with an open gape. "Don't stare Rhyme, that's rude." The filly seemed to remember her manners as she closed her mouth and blinked. "Wow. You are big. Really really really big!" she recited in the manner of all children who felt they needed to state the obvious. Snowflake, responding with his usual enthusiasm was enough to send the filly behind the table for cover. "He's going to eat me!" "What no! That's ridiculous and utterly absurd you lady. Such volatile and aggressive behavior is abhorrent to all of pony kind, let alone our herbivorous nature. And despite the prodigious bulk on display, I assure you that I am quite harmless." Snowflake assured the little filly, getting another round of staring. "Oh what, because I'm large and interested in physical proves I have to be some sort of simplistic ludite of a brute?" "Yeah, I guess supposing you had a predilection towards violent behavior and an antitheses against scholastic pursuits was presumptuous." Rhyme noted apologetically. Her extensive vocabulary took Twilight back a bit. "So, who's the Dad?" Snowflake asked with a significant look at Twilight. "What? No, she's not my ugh why would you even think that?" Twilight asked, annoyed and, admittedly, a little panicked. In a small town like this, rumors spread like wildfire. It had taken weeks to get rid of that stupid 'Twilight is Secretly Celestia's Daughter' rumor, and the 'Rainbow Dash is in secret love with Applejack and that's why the pretend to fight in public' had taken months to crush. The impending 'Twilight has a secret daughter' rumor was NOT going to start on her watch. "Sorry. But an unknown filly in your library with a giant vocabulary? You have to admit it is a little suspicious." Snowflake noted. "Look do you want those training manuals or not?" Twilight asked, exasperated. Dealing with the ponies of Ponyville was really trying at times. The theory that the whole town was crazy continued to gain credence all the time. "Training YEAAAAAAAH!" was all the answer she needed. After giving the overeager giant of a pegasus the manual he'd been asked for, she found that Rhyme had gone back to reading. "You know, that was really rude. You shouldn't judge somepony by how they look. Thinking something is scary just because it looks different isn't very nice. You're really smart, you should know better than that." the mare scolded. Then there was a knock on the door. "Hold on, we'll finish this after I see who's there." Opening the door, Twilight gave a small yelp and backed away. Standing in the door was the scariest pegasi she had ever seen. Oh sure, she'd thought that about Snowflake, but his stallion blew him out of the water. This new pony, jet black in color, was built like Big Mac. While Snowflake was more muscular, this new guy looked stronger somehow. Like his muscles hadn't been honed for sports or to create an impressive physique but from constant hard use. His eyes were tight, focused, and sharp like a predator's unfeeling gaze. It was almost like he was figuring out how to take her apart in his head. And that was before you threw in the pony skull motif he had going. It was on his cap, his amulet, even his skateboard. His Cutie Mark was a pair of skeletal wings jammed together. Everything about this stallion just screamed dangerous. The most logical part of Twilight's mind briefly wondered if this is what it was like for Fluttershy anytime she met somepony new, and if it was it fully understood why she was so scared. The rest of Twilight's mind would normally be making theory and counter theory and engaging in intelligent debate on her new thought, but not right now. At that moment, the other seventy some percent of her brain was screaming at her to close the door. So she did, fast. Twilight was just beginning to calm her racing heart when Rhyme walked over and clumsily opened the door. Before Twilight could do anything, the little filly chimed out "Hi bro! What are you doing at a library?" Twilight could only blink. Bro? That huge….thing was her brother? Certainly a lot less friendly looking than my own brother. "Library huh? Anyway why did you go off on your own like that, I was worried. What if something had happened to you huh?" he asked. His voice was a little deep, but nowhere near the bass rumble she expected of a pony that size. He sounded almost, youngish? "Anyway, we need to head back, everybody is waiting." "OK. Oh yeah, miss Library Lady, can I borrow this book please?" Rhyme asked, adding some stability back into Twilight's life. Books were no problem. Not scary at all. Nope. (Why was he wearing pony skull clothing?) "Right. OK Rhyme, I'll get you checked out. Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you. My name is Twilight Sparkle." the mare said beaming. That elicited a slight chuckle from the stallion for some reason, but he stopped when Rhyme glared at him for being rude. Definitely family. You cannot stare somepony down like that unless you can hit them right in the guilt. "Anyway, since you're new in town you'll just need to write down your name so that I can put it on the card." She began floating papers, pen, ink, and card over. She heard a small gasp, but it hadn't been from Rhyme, the easy to impress filly. It had been from the stallion. Huh, maybe he only lived in cloud cities and never saw a unicorn before? "Oh yeah, while I'm at it, would your brother like one too?" "Oh, Beat's not that into reading." Rhyme bemoaned (So Beat…and Rhyme…music maybe?) "So ummmmmmmmmmmm, where do I write?" she asked. "Oh, right here on this line at the bottom of the page." Twilight said happily, nudging over the ink filled pen. Rhyme seemed quite clumsy as she mouth wrote (it still impressed Twilight how other ponies could even write without a horn at times) but in the end the paperwork was signed for "Bline?" Twilight asked amused. "Stupid pen." Rhyme said, clearly annoyed. With a little laugh Twilight finished checking out the book and told her it was due back in three weeks, a bit a day was the late fee. With a final wave, Twilight sent them on their way. Sure Beat had seemed scary, but she had just told Rhyme that you shouldn't judge somepony by their appearance. That would be wrong. So it was for totally different reasons that Twilight started pulling out various reference manuals to try and figure out what Beat's Cutie Mark might mean. It had been a symbol unlike any she had seen before. That was totally the only reason she was looking for what it could mean. Really. Pinkie Prom….well OK maybe not Pinkie Promise, but still. And that pendant that was bugging her. When Spike came back from shopping, they were going to have a lot of research to do. "So we're using our nicknames because it fits their actual names huh? Wait, what about the other two?" Beat asked, walking along. Normally he'd have been skating along side his sister, but at the moment they weren't sure they were skilled enough with their bodies to do so. So instead they walked, having to endure the occasional…OK that most ponies apparently didn't just find him intimidating, they found him downright terrifying. Heck, as they walked past a flower cart all three of its attendants fainted in fright after shouting "The horror! The horror!" Beat was really starting to lose his patience and get angry, which only made other ponies more nervous around him, which made him madder, which made them more nervous… Rhyme diffused the situation with the logical solution, namely keep things focused on the job at hand. "Neku has that nickname Phones that Kat's always calling him, that would work. As for Shiki….I don't know. We'll probably have to make a name. You know, I think it's a good thing you're scary. If you weren't, we wouldn't even be able to whisper this conversation. We've got plenty of clear space which is good for security." It was of course at that moment that one of the ponies shouted "Hold it right there you!" Suddenly, their field of vision was filled by a…rainbow? No, it wasn't a rainbow. It was a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail. "Where do you get off scaring everypony in town huh? Think you're a tough colt huh ugly? Well put them up Mr. and I'll show you who's tough!" she shouted, and was suddenly shadowboxing with her front legs as if prepping for a fight. Before Beat had a chance to show her just how outmatched she was (unfamiliar body or not, he would have wrecked her hard) Rhyme stepped in. "You're very rude! My brother is just walking me home from the library and we're new in town and you come yelling at us and calling my brother names! You're very very mean! Twilight just said only not smart people are scared of somepony because of how they look! You've got to be very dumb then!" Rhyme punctuated the last statement with a stamp of her hooves. Beat tried his best not to laugh. He looked between his sister who was doing a great imitation of being mad and the rainbow pony who was staring at her slack jawed. All the humor in this situation left immediately however when the flying rainbow came down and jabbed his sister lightly in the face. "Why you I oughta…" What she ought to do was never noted however as Beat took this opportunity to end the fight before it began in one quick motion. Lifting up one leg, he brought it down quickly on her back, smacking her to the ground and pinning her wings. "Excuse me, but I couldn't help noticing that you were threatening my sister. That was a very bad move."
Prologue: ExpositionSanae Hanekoma was busy tending to the WildKat Cafe', the little bistro that helped him keep an eye on Shibuya. Looking like a beatnik in his thirties, few would imagine he was one of the most powerful people on the planet...well maybe people was the wrong word. Regardless, he was well aware of them before they appeared. The lights went out and three shadowy figures came out of the backroom...the room that nobody had been in before. Sanae smiled at their flair for theatrics, saying "Welcome, what do I owe the prescience of three Angels in my little store to? Can I interest you in a free cup of coffee, only two twenty a cup." He smiled even broader. He'd never get tired of that joke. "You think this is funny? This is no laughing matter. We need the aid of your mortal agents. Now." one of the shadowy figures demanded. This is interesting. What would they want with those four... "So, what do you need the mortal friends of a 'Fallen Angel' for?" he asked, smiling in a friendly manner. A hush falls over the room, until one of the shadowy figures clears his throat and reveals what had everyone so nervous. "There are Noise appearing in a Real Ground." Sanae's face drops all pretense of humor. "Excuse me?" ********* Neku walked into the cafe', uncertain of what was going on. Mr. Hanekoma rarely called any of them in. As winners of the game, they were supposed to be free to do what they want, but the Fallen Angel apparently had other plans. Being mortal, Neku and the others could get away with stuff that the rules prevented the Angels or Reapers from doing; black ops if you will. Naturally, the fact that Neku was almost as powerful as the Composer meant that nobody could force them into a fight they didn't agree to. Sighing, he took a look around. There was Shiki, checking out the stitches on Mr. Mew, her stuffed animal and weapon. At least when he was being animated by Groove Pawn. As Neku turned away, he almost thought he saw the cat's eyes follow him for just a second. The fact that the thing had a 'mind of it's own' in Shiki's own words was a bit creepy. Looking around a bit more, Neku noticed that some people were missing. Turning to Mr. Hanekoma, he asked "So, CAT, where's Beat and Rhyme?" Mr. Hanekoma didn't smile, even though he liked his tag name as one of Shibuya's top artists. "They should be here soon." As if on cue, the brother and sister duo come rushing in, Beat carrying his signature skateboard and Rhyme clutching her pendant. Speak of the Reapers..."Good, you're all here, and I see that you three have your focuses. Neku, you got your case?" He almost smiled as Neku grudgingly took out a box filled with pins. Almost. "Good. Listen up people, I've just learned of a very serious problem, one that if we don't act on could result in untold destruction." ********* Sanae's face drops all pretense of humor. "Excuse me?" "You heard me, RG Noise." the figure repeated. "That's impossible, Joshua would never allow that, and I would have noticed." Sanae noted. The second figure spoke up then. "It's occurring in an Alternate Ground." Sanae frowned. "Then, why does that matter? Shouldn't their Higher Plane representatives sort out their own problems?" "The problem is," the third explained "that their own Producer can't intervene due to the secrecy of the position, their Composer is inept, and they have no mortal agents that can use their powers in the RG." "Still, as bad as that is, why use mine? You've got to have better sources of mortal agents than a 'Fallen Angel', so talk." "The reason is simple; the Noise conform to this Ground, and what's more this isn't some freak coincidence. Rather it appears to be a deliberate act from a Reaper that escaped from your Under Ground. Joshua filed a report two days ago I believe?" "...I see. So Shade left the UG for an AG to release Noise on the RG there? I assume this means he's doing an indiscriminate Erasure." "That's the thing, he's not. So far only two Noise have been spotted, and neither have Erased anything yet. In addition, both were incredibly weak. We think Shade is having trouble making some Noise. However he himself is still Harrier class, and was a candidate for Game Master. He's tough, and we have extremely few agents that are that powerful." Sanae nodded. " That's true, our Ground does produce higher end Reapers and Players. Most GMs are C Class, where as on this Ground C is the minimum to be a Support Reaper, let alone a Harrier. So you need my friends to go to the AG because Shade is B Class, and therefore is stronger than anything there except the Producer and the Composer. Is that about right?" "Indeed, you must send them at once!" Sanae shook his head. "Sorry, no can do. It's their world, they chose what to do with it." ********* "And that about sums it up." Mr. Hanekoma finished. "...so you want us to go to an AG to fight some Noise? I don't know, sounds like a lot of hassle." Shiki was a bit outraged. "Neku! Innocent people are in serious danger here! Noise are nothing to laugh at. Even weaker ones are invincible if you don't have any psych." Neku sighed. "Yeah I get that, but doesn't this Ground have any Reapers or the like that can just deal with it?" "No, they don't." Mr. Hanekoma explained. "They don't have any Reapers, or Players. This Ground has no Games." Beat nodded in understanding. "I see, so therefor there's nothing to prevent this Shade guy from gaining the ability to make some Noise and go on an Erasing spree. That's just cruel." "It's worse than that actually." Rhyme noted. "He's doing it to gain power. Reapers feed off of those they or their noise erase. I think he's looking for a major power boost, maybe even enough to unseat Joshua." This caused an awkward silence to fill the room as everyone digests this info. Finally, Neku spoke up. "They said only two weak noises right? So why did they want all four of us?" Sanae smiled. "A Dixiefrog and a Garagewolf, strictly E class. The problem is he shouldn't be able to summon Noise at all. As you know, Reapers normally have no powers in the RG, let alone an AG's RG. There's no telling what's up with his powers. That's reason number one they want all four of you. Reason number two is that they only have a vague idea of where Shade is hiding, so splitting up to find him faster is a good idea, as we have no idea how his powers could grow. So, you guys interested? Beat, Rhyme, Shiki, Phones?" Beat smiles. "You have to ask? You know I love sticking it to the Reapers." Rhyme nods as well. "I'm with my brother all the way. It's the least I can do." Shiki nods her own consent before looking over at Neku in concern, though she breaks out into a smile once he gives a shrug of 'fine whatever', which for him is a major comment. "Alright then, I'm going to be sending you over to the AG then. Oh, and as a heads up, your appearance will change a bit so that you don't stick out while trying to blend in with the locals. Language translation is included free of charge as well." Neku nodded, it sounded reasonable. Anything that wouldn't make them stick out couldn't be all that bad. ********* The group trotted up to 'Ponyville' a name Neku was half convinced was made up just to spite them. Trotted. They were ponies. Ponies! When I get back, Neku thought, I'm making it a point to see if I can Erase an Angel. Author's Note i]Author's Notes: OK, a few things to get out of the way before this story starts. First, this story will contain spoilers about The World Ends With You game/manga/OVA and as such if you don't want spoilers don't read. Second, this contains a lot of post-series fan theory and some of my own ideas. If you don't like fannon, why are you reading a fanfic? Thirdly, the series is neither as light as MLP:FiM nor as dark as tWEwY. The end result is somewhere around the level of the Power Rangers, which is basically the midpoint. Finally, for those unfamiliar with tWEwY's narrative style, it relies heavily on flashbacks. With that out of the way, on to the story!
First ContactWarning: Perception jumps galore in this chapter. Also CMC and Pinkie Sense. You have been warned. "My hooves are itchy my hooves are itchy!" Pinkie Pie announced to the friends gathered in the Library for the 'Owlowicious is Employee of the Month for the Third Month in a Row Party' after-party. The other party guests look over at the pink pony in worry. You simply did NOT mess with the Pinkie Sense. Spike, forgetting his bitterness at being outdone once again by an owl, asked the necessary question and, to his credit, managed to keep it from sounding hysterical. "What does THAT mean?" Everypony was curious, they hadn't seen this particular sense before. "I don't kn-kn-kn-ooo-wwwww ooooh w-w-w-wo-ow-ww-w th-eee-rre go-oo-os m-m-m-my doo-ooo-zz-zzy s-sss-en-seee!" she announced, vibrating rapidly. She suddenly stopped. "And now they're itchy again. D-ooz-y! Itchy. Doo-oo-ooz-zz-zzy! Itchy!" she said, going back and forth between the two. Twilight Sparkle looked on in a mix of profound confusion and a good deal of analytical interest. "It's almost like the Universe is arguing with itself. What the hay could be causing that?" the unicorn wondered out loud. Spike, her young dragon assistant that she had taught the ways of science, considered the situation and, utilizing all the training he's ever had, gave the very scientific answer of an 'I dunno' shrug. ********* Meanwhile, on a hill on the outskirts of town... "And I say we all go in together!" Shiki insisted again, stamping her hoof down. Shiki looked rather different as a pony. For one thing, she was clover green with a dark brown mane and tail. Other than her glasses, her bag, and Mr. Mew, she'd kept no clothing. The most interesting part was that she had a symbol on her flanks showing a needle and thread. They had been told they were called 'Cutie Marks', but not even Shiki was girly enough to really believe a society would evolve where they would be called such a cute name if everyone had them. The most shocking part however was that she had a unicorn horn. She was an honest to goodness unicorn. "And I say I go in alone, scout the place out for any danger." Neku argued once more, his uncharacteristic worry for the well being of his friends triggering a 'doozy' unbeknownst to him. Neku was dark orange and light orange, his body now much darker than his hair...mane, tail, whatever. He however had kept his jacket, incredibly, and that included the case of pins in the inside pocket. He'd also kept his purple headphones, but nothing to plug them into. His Mark was a purple spray can and two 'sprayed on' purple musical notes. Unlike Shiki, he didn't have a horn, but looked like a normal pony. "What danger? They're ponies!" "Yes, and so are we! Except they're better at it!" "Do you really think they'll attack us?" "Ponies are territorial! They sure aren't going to bake us a cake!" "That's in our world. Maybe being intelligent made them friendlier?" "Like it did with humans?" Neku pointed out, stopping the conversation dead in its tracks with a very awkward pause. "I know I know, I need to stop being so judgmental, but it's hard. Especially since it's not our world so we don't know anything about how cautious we have to be." "I believe I have the solution." Beat announced. "Just send in the top team of my and my sister and we'll take care of it. We scout out with a smaller group, and we've got people hanging back in case it gets dangerous and we need a rescue. Plus, if anything does happen, you'll have my top grade power to sort it out. Also, I don't think people would bug me too much, I don't exactly look friendly." he noted at the end. Beat did look a bit intimidating. He was large for one thing, with a bit of a barrel chest. His body was midnight black. His mane and tail where straw blond. Not that you could seem much of his mane under the black wool cap he worse, decorated with a (now horse) skull no less. He also still had his iron (horse) skull pendant and his metal stud bracer on his left 'arm', as well as his board which had a decal of a (horse) skull wreathed in blue and purple flame. His mark was a pair of bone white Reaper wings jammed together, the effect looking somewhat like a bat. The wings design may have had to do with the fact that he was a pegasus, or with the fact that he used to be a Reaper. Probably both. All in all, Neku had to agree that he looked pretty daunting. "OK, I can see you getting in no problem, but are you sure about Rhyme? I get you don't want to leave her out of your sight after all that's happened, but she doesn't look as...tough." It was a bit of an understatement. Rhyme may have had a cap similar to her brothers (though the skull was much smaller) and the same straw blond mane, the rest didn't inspire fear. Her body was peach colored. Her bell-pendant was gleaming brightly in its simple yet elegant design. While she was also a pegasus like her brother, her wings where much smaller and more downy in appearance. Then there was the fact that she was outright small, being notably shorter than even Shiki; the effect was only exaggerated when she stood next to her brother. Quite frankly she looked like a little kid. What was also interesting was that unlike the others, she had no marking on her flanks. "I thought of that. I think the problem is it's own solution." she noted. "Beat's too scary to just walk up so someone and try and ask a lot of questions, but if it's a 'cute little kid' they might be more tolerant. And if not and it does cause trouble, he can bail me out cause I doubt anyone would want to mess with him." "That...is actually well thought out. Nice to see that your planning skills are as sharp as ever Rhyme. I think this could work." Neku noted, feeling a lot better. "Yeah! Operation: Mr. Ed is a go!" Shiki shouted. "...Operation Mr. Ed?" Neku asked after the awkward silence that followed. "Well we have to call it something." Shiki noted. "Unless you can think of something better. I mean, we are expected to file a report on this one, and I think we really need to sound professional." After a few more minutes debate, it was decided that operation Mr. Ed would begin immediately...tomorrow morning cause boy where they tired. ********* Meanwhile back at the party, Pinkie had stopped doozying and had stayed itching. This did however lead to some new problems. "Itchy itchy itch-an-itch!" she noted, rubbing her hooves back and forth across the ground repeatedly in an attempt to stop the itching. In fact, she rubbed them so fast it was less that she had four legs under her and more like she had an area of pink blur. Once she had started to wear an actual groove in the floor, Twilight had called the party to an end as she needed to escort the pink party pony to the infirmary despite Pinkie's insistence that the party can still go on without her. ********* The next day, Pinkie walked through town, somewhat miserable. Her hooves had stopped itching after being slathered in ointment and stuck inside ice water for a while. She felt better afterwards and had insisted that she was fine, but Nurse Redheart had insisted on putting her hooves in casts so that they could heal from rubbing raw. And unlike Pinkie's request, these were boring regular casts, not neon-colored jet-casts that would let her fly around and shoot tractor beams to bring her cupcakes. Despite the nurse saying such a thing didn't exist, Pinkie felt that it was just being kept secret from her because Nurse Redheart didn't want to share the cupcakes. Still, casts or no casts she was still Pinkie Pie, and so she walked on with a quite literal spring in her step, or hops as it were; the large metal springs stuck into the bottoms of the casts literally letting her bounce around. Well, bounce more than usual. ********* Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom watched as their pink sometimes-mentor bounced on by with a confused look on their faces. Shrugging it off as it being just a case of Pinkie being Pinkie, Scootaloo flapped her wings and sent the Cutie Mark Crusader Scooter Wagon (they needed a cooler name) off at top speed to find….something! Really, at the moment, the Crusaders didn't have any idea what to try next, so they were going around town to see if anything gave them any ideas. That's when they noticed the class snobs, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, walking toward the edge of town with a mean smirk on their faces. Scootaloo, deciding that anything that made those two happy was worth wrecking, made a rather sharp and unannounced change in course to follow them. She didn't notice that the sharp turn almost threw her friends out of the wagon in the back, she was too busy trying to see what her two arch-enemies were up to. She was however paying enough attention to notice that there was a new pegasus pony, a filly really, walking into town, and that she…uh-oh. ********* Rhyme stopped at the edge of town. Oh good, curious kids, just a hair smaller than herself. She could probably get a lot out of these two without arousing suspicion. She didn't know how, or if, ponies waved, so she opted to stand there openly, smile, and say "Hi there." Oh, and make the voice 'happy' in tone. Rhyme still had some trouble when it came to emotions. Erasure can do that to you. Or so she assumed. As far as she knew, she was the only human being to ever come back from total oblivion. The two ponies stopped, smirked, and whispered to each other as they pointed at her. That…wasn't a good sign. They grey one with a silver mane and tail walked over. She was wearing a pair of turquoise glasses and a similar necklace. Both looked…somewhat designer for lack of a better phrase. The mark on her rear was a spoon with a heart in it. Any hope that the heart represented any sort of kindness left as she glared down at Rhyme…well not physically but socially. "Well hi yourself. What's the matter, run away from home blank flank?" she said in a mocking tone, her friend snickering. She was pink in color, her purple mane having a white stripe through it, and her mark was a crown of some sort. Encouraged by her support, the grey one continued "What's a loser like you doing out here anyway? Did your family throw you away? Rhyme was starting to think this might have been a mistake. If being a 'blank flank', a moniker she was sure applied to her own lack of a mark, was some sort of social stigmata, she might actually be the one to draw the most attention. Just as she was beginning to believe that they might need to rethink the plan, three ponies came up. One of them, an orange pegasus with a purple mane and no mark, was ridding a scooter. She was apparently serving as a sort of 'motor' for the other two who were riding in the wagon that was attached to the scooter. One of them was a unicron, white with a purple mane, and the other was a yellow regular pony with a red mane. She couldn't be sure because of the wagon sides, but it seemed the other two didn't have marks either. Maybe it wasn't that big of a problem… "Hey Silver Spoon! Leave her alone." the pegasus demanded (wait her name was seriously Silver Spoon?) in an angry tone. "Can't you two be nice for once?" "Whatever losers." the one with the crown mark said dismisivly. "Come on Silver Spoon, lets go get a pedicure." (It…it really is Silver Spoon….) "Good idea Tiara." the other piped in happily as she trotted off. Rhyme was left standing there, several questions going through her mind. What was a blank flank really? How common or major was it? And seriously, their names were Silver Spoon and Tiara? "Hey are you OK?" the unicorn asked, climbing out of the wagon, and she indeed didn't have a mark. "Sorry about Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara, they're very rude." (Diamond Tiara?…I'm not sure if that's better or worse.) "Anyway, my names Sweetie Belle." Her friend, the regular pony, came bounding out as well. "An 'ahm Apple Bloom. Pleased ta meet'cha." she drawled in a rather thick accent. Like her two companions, she was indeed without a mark. "Yeah yeah, I'm Scootaloo, introductions all around. So what's your name." the pegasus practically demanded, a look of slight (boredom? annoyance?) whatever passing over her face as she leaned on her scooter and awaited an answer. Rhyme had been about to answer with a name she thought would work. There was a pattern of 'descriptor object' in all the ponies' names…until the last one. Well every society had oddballs and her nickname didn't sound too off so…"My name is Rhyme." she said, and remembered to sound nice. It was easier to use her nickname so slipups would be less likely "Anyway, I'm new in town, and I was wondering if somebody could show me around town." she finished off her request with a rather large smile. The three of them stood together for a second, looking at each other in silence for a few seconds. Rhyme was afraid that she'd blown it one the name when they all shouted at once "CUTIE MARK CRUSADER TOUR GUIDES! YEAY!" at the top of their lungs. At first Rhyme was stunned, then wondered if they were calling for someone, a tour guide service? Then she was thrown into the back of the wagon as a helmet was put on her head and they departed at high speed for the center of town. Oh, apparently these ARE the guides…yeay. ********* Twilight was a bit concerned about her friend bouncing around in casts, literally, but after a while she stopped worrying as it didn't seem to be hurting anything or anypony. Satisfied, she had decided to return to her library in order to read up on a new theoretical work Ancient Time Travelers by a unicorn with the penname of The Question, which featured pieces of ancient art that all seem to contain a brown earth pony that all bear a striking resemblance to each other, right down to the hourglass cutie mark. It was another conspiracy book; one of Twilights guilty pleasures was seeing how some ponies needed to have an explanation for everything, and that there couldn't be coincidences. Heck, there was a pony in town that matched that description, and as far as she knew Doctor was just a bit of an eccentric clock maker. He'd probably even write a book about it himself with something about reincarnation if he found out, or wonder if he invents time travel later because she showed him the book so he'd invent time travel so she would show him the book so he'd invent time travel so she'd show him the book so he'd….maybe she should just show him the book. If her brain kept on going like that, she was nervous it would reach Pinkie levels of chaos. Twilight briefly wondered if that's how her friend thought of things all the time when she heard a familiar sound. Turning, she saw the Crusaders puling up in their wagon, but this time they had a new filly with them. "Oh, hey girls. Who's your new friend?" she asked, smiling. "Her names Rhyme, she's new in town." Scootaloo responded. "We're showing her around as" Sweetie Belle began. Twilight, knowing what was going to happen, covered her ears before they shouted in unison "CUTIE MARK CRUSADER TOUR GUIDES!" She would figure out some day how they managed to do that so perfectly on the spot. "And we figured since we couldn't decide where to go first, we should go to the last place on all our lists first." "The library was the last place on your list?" Twilight said, disappointed. "Ah no, that was school. But we all figurd' she woun' wanna see that yet so we decided here was almos as borrin." Apple Bloom explained, beaming. She didn't seem to notice her new friend getting out of the wagon. "Anyway we gotta go bye!" she shouted as Scootaloo took off at high speed, not noticing the missing pony. "Hey wait your forgot your mmmph." Twilights cry to the others were cut short by the new pony stuffing a hoof in her mouth. Twilight took a good look at her. She was a pegasus, and her downy wings meant she wasn't old enough to fly yet, though she was a bit bigger than the Crusaders. Maybe she just grew fast? Her coat was a pale pink, and she had a bright yellow mane and tail. Like her friends, she also didn't have a cutie mark yet. What was interesting though was the pendant she wore. Where had she seen it before? The pegasus took her hoof out, looking slightly demure. Before she had looked…blank. "Sorry, but they were a little too excited for me to handle. They're nice, they made Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara stop teasing me, but the ride was a bit too much." she said. Twilight could understand that easily enough. "OK, no problem. So, Rhyme right? Want to come in for some tea while we wait for them to calm down and notice they forgot you?" she asked, opening the door for the kid. The pegasus trotted in happily. "OK sure. Say, since this is a library, that means you got a lot of books right?" Rhyme asked in the manner of just about every kid that thought they were so clever when they asked the obvious. She then looked around the room. "Oh. Yeah, that's a lot of books. Can I read some? I like reading." The older mare smiled in response. "Of course you can. That's what a library is for. The kids section is over here." she noted as she cantered over. Hmmm, her name is Rhyme. Well, seven times out of ten… "How about a book of poetry?" she asked, turning around. She was actually a bit surprised to find the filly with a book entitled The Basics of Pony Society, a book meant for high-school and older ponies that analyzed , well, the basics of pony society. "Um, are you sure you want to read that book?" "I found it myself. I'm big enough to read stuff without pictures." she noted, sounding dull. She was already flipping through the book to another section. Looking over her shoulder, Twilight noted it was the section on cutie marks and nodded. Made sense to her; at her age all ponies wondered a lot about them. There was a loud knock on the door. Wondering if it was the crusaders, Twilight opened the door only to be greeted by the largest, meanest looking pegasus she had ever seen.
Fear"Oh hey Snowflake. You here for that new exercise manual series that came in by Big McHugeflank?" Twilight asked. "YEAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" the easily excitable stallion shouted while flexing, his neck muscles bulging out like ropes on his neck. "Sure, it's right this way." Twilight said smiling, leading him over to the physical fitness section which, once Rainbow Dash had finally taken to reading, she was quite familiar with. Twilight noticed her guest was staring with an open gape. "Don't stare Rhyme, that's rude." The filly seemed to remember her manners as she closed her mouth and blinked. "Wow. You are big. Really really really big!" she recited in the manner of all children who felt they needed to state the obvious. Snowflake, responding with his usual enthusiasm was enough to send the filly behind the table for cover. "He's going to eat me!" "What no! That's ridiculous and utterly absurd you lady. Such volatile and aggressive behavior is abhorrent to all of pony kind, let alone our herbivorous nature. And despite the prodigious bulk on display, I assure you that I am quite harmless." Snowflake assured the little filly, getting another round of staring. "Oh what, because I'm large and interested in physical proves I have to be some sort of simplistic ludite of a brute?" "Yeah, I guess supposing you had a predilection towards violent behavior and an antitheses against scholastic pursuits was presumptuous." Rhyme noted apologetically. Her extensive vocabulary took Twilight back a bit. "So, who's the Dad?" Snowflake asked with a significant look at Twilight. "What? No, she's not my ugh why would you even think that?" Twilight asked, annoyed and, admittedly, a little panicked. In a small town like this, rumors spread like wildfire. It had taken weeks to get rid of that stupid 'Twilight is Secretly Celestia's Daughter' rumor, and the 'Rainbow Dash is in secret love with Applejack and that's why the pretend to fight in public' had taken months to crush. The impending 'Twilight has a secret daughter' rumor was NOT going to start on her watch. "Sorry. But an unknown filly in your library with a giant vocabulary? You have to admit it is a little suspicious." Snowflake noted. "Look do you want those training manuals or not?" Twilight asked, exasperated. Dealing with the ponies of Ponyville was really trying at times. The theory that the whole town was crazy continued to gain credence all the time. "Training YEAAAAAAAH!" was all the answer she needed. After giving the overeager giant of a pegasus the manual he'd been asked for, she found that Rhyme had gone back to reading. "You know, that was really rude. You shouldn't judge somepony by how they look. Thinking something is scary just because it looks different isn't very nice. You're really smart, you should know better than that." the mare scolded. Then there was a knock on the door. "Hold on, we'll finish this after I see who's there." Opening the door, Twilight gave a small yelp and backed away. Standing in the door was the scariest pegasi she had ever seen. Oh sure, she'd thought that about Snowflake, but his stallion blew him out of the water. This new pony, jet black in color, was built like Big Mac. While Snowflake was more muscular, this new guy looked stronger somehow. Like his muscles hadn't been honed for sports or to create an impressive physique but from constant hard use. His eyes were tight, focused, and sharp like a predator's unfeeling gaze. It was almost like he was figuring out how to take her apart in his head. And that was before you threw in the pony skull motif he had going. It was on his cap, his amulet, even his skateboard. His Cutie Mark was a pair of skeletal wings jammed together. Everything about this stallion just screamed dangerous. The most logical part of Twilight's mind briefly wondered if this is what it was like for Fluttershy anytime she met somepony new, and if it was it fully understood why she was so scared. The rest of Twilight's mind would normally be making theory and counter theory and engaging in intelligent debate on her new thought, but not right now. At that moment, the other seventy some percent of her brain was screaming at her to close the door. So she did, fast. Twilight was just beginning to calm her racing heart when Rhyme walked over and clumsily opened the door. Before Twilight could do anything, the little filly chimed out "Hi bro! What are you doing at a library?" Twilight could only blink. Bro? That huge….thing was her brother? Certainly a lot less friendly looking than my own brother. "Library huh? Anyway why did you go off on your own like that, I was worried. What if something had happened to you huh?" he asked. His voice was a little deep, but nowhere near the bass rumble she expected of a pony that size. He sounded almost, youngish? "Anyway, we need to head back, everybody is waiting." "OK. Oh yeah, miss Library Lady, can I borrow this book please?" Rhyme asked, adding some stability back into Twilight's life. Books were no problem. Not scary at all. Nope. (Why was he wearing pony skull clothing?) "Right. OK Rhyme, I'll get you checked out. Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you. My name is Twilight Sparkle." the mare said beaming. That elicited a slight chuckle from the stallion for some reason, but he stopped when Rhyme glared at him for being rude. Definitely family. You cannot stare somepony down like that unless you can hit them right in the guilt. "Anyway, since you're new in town you'll just need to write down your name so that I can put it on the card." She began floating papers, pen, ink, and card over. She heard a small gasp, but it hadn't been from Rhyme, the easy to impress filly. It had been from the stallion. Huh, maybe he only lived in cloud cities and never saw a unicorn before? "Oh yeah, while I'm at it, would your brother like one too?" "Oh, Beat's not that into reading." Rhyme bemoaned (So Beat…and Rhyme…music maybe?) "So ummmmmmmmmmmm, where do I write?" she asked. "Oh, right here on this line at the bottom of the page." Twilight said happily, nudging over the ink filled pen. Rhyme seemed quite clumsy as she mouth wrote (it still impressed Twilight how other ponies could even write without a horn at times) but in the end the paperwork was signed for "Bline?" Twilight asked amused. "Stupid pen." Rhyme said, clearly annoyed. With a little laugh Twilight finished checking out the book and told her it was due back in three weeks, a bit a day was the late fee. With a final wave, Twilight sent them on their way. Sure Beat had seemed scary, but she had just told Rhyme that you shouldn't judge somepony by their appearance. That would be wrong. So it was for totally different reasons that Twilight started pulling out various reference manuals to try and figure out what Beat's Cutie Mark might mean. It had been a symbol unlike any she had seen before. That was totally the only reason she was looking for what it could mean. Really. Pinkie Prom….well OK maybe not Pinkie Promise, but still. And that pendant that was bugging her. When Spike came back from shopping, they were going to have a lot of research to do. "So we're using our nicknames because it fits their actual names huh? Wait, what about the other two?" Beat asked, walking along. Normally he'd have been skating along side his sister, but at the moment they weren't sure they were skilled enough with their bodies to do so. So instead they walked, having to endure the occasional…OK that most ponies apparently didn't just find him intimidating, they found him downright terrifying. Heck, as they walked past a flower cart all three of its attendants fainted in fright after shouting "The horror! The horror!" Beat was really starting to lose his patience and get angry, which only made other ponies more nervous around him, which made him madder, which made them more nervous… Rhyme diffused the situation with the logical solution, namely keep things focused on the job at hand. "Neku has that nickname Phones that Kat's always calling him, that would work. As for Shiki….I don't know. We'll probably have to make a name. You know, I think it's a good thing you're scary. If you weren't, we wouldn't even be able to whisper this conversation. We've got plenty of clear space which is good for security." It was of course at that moment that one of the ponies shouted "Hold it right there you!" Suddenly, their field of vision was filled by a…rainbow? No, it wasn't a rainbow. It was a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail. "Where do you get off scaring everypony in town huh? Think you're a tough colt huh ugly? Well put them up Mr. and I'll show you who's tough!" she shouted, and was suddenly shadowboxing with her front legs as if prepping for a fight. Before Beat had a chance to show her just how outmatched she was (unfamiliar body or not, he would have wrecked her hard) Rhyme stepped in. "You're very rude! My brother is just walking me home from the library and we're new in town and you come yelling at us and calling my brother names! You're very very mean! Twilight just said only not smart people are scared of somepony because of how they look! You've got to be very dumb then!" Rhyme punctuated the last statement with a stamp of her hooves. Beat tried his best not to laugh. He looked between his sister who was doing a great imitation of being mad and the rainbow pony who was staring at her slack jawed. All the humor in this situation left immediately however when the flying rainbow came down and jabbed his sister lightly in the face. "Why you I oughta…" What she ought to do was never noted however as Beat took this opportunity to end the fight before it began in one quick motion. Lifting up one leg, he brought it down quickly on her back, smacking her to the ground and pinning her wings. "Excuse me, but I couldn't help noticing that you were threatening my sister. That was a very bad move."
