So... What Happens Next?

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4

Chapter 1

This is the second story in The Journey of Graves.

The series begins with the first story: When the Man Comes Around.

IMPORTANT: If you haven't read the series, please head back to the beginning and check it out. While each story stands on its own, the character and relationship developments will build on each other as the series progresses.

And so, the saga continues...

So... What Happens Next?

By: GentlemanJ

Chapter 1

“Twilight! Hey Twilight!”

“Oh, hey Pinkie Pie. What’s up?”

The studious young lady looked up from her copy of Obscure Magicians from Equestria’s Pre-Classic Era: Volume 1. It was another bright spring day, and Twilight was enjoying some light reading with a plate of blueberry scones down at Sugar Cube Corner when the curly haired baker bounced over and took a seat at the table with her.

“So I was wondering, Big G at?" Pinkie asked as she snagged up a scone. "I haven’t seen much of him in the last couple of days."

“Big G?" Twilight blinked. "Who’s Big G?”

“Um, Graves the marshal? Duh,” Pinkie replied with a roll of her eyes. “Honestly, who else would it be?”

“Oh, right.” Pinkie Pie’s penchant for giving out odd nicknames could be a tad difficult to follow at times.

“Anywho, I just realized that we haven’t thrown him a welcome party yet," the cheery girl continued as another scone disappeared. “I mean, we did have a party when he got here, but that wasn’t really for him. I mean it was, but we didn't know it, so I thought that we should have a super-extra-special party just for Big G so he knows how happy we are to have him in Ponyville. I mean- no, wait, that is what I meant. So anyways, what do you say?”

“I think that’s a great idea, Pinkie,” Twilight agreed with a bright smile. “I’m sure that one of your parties will make him feel right at home.”

“Great! I just need to take care of a few more things, but first, I need to send out the invitations, starting with Big G. Do you know where he is?”

“Not at the moment, no,” Twilight admitted. “Knowing him, he’s probably got his hands full doing some important marshal work.”

“Right,” Pinkie nodded sagely as the last scone went the way of the dodo. “Then I better hurry up and find him. Who knows how much stuff he still has left to do today?”

*****

Graves lay in bed, hands folded behind his head as he stared at the ceiling.

He was restless, because for the first time in a long while, he wasn’t sure he had anything do.

Picking up Princess Celestia’s letter for the twentieth time, he reread it to make sure he hadn’t missed anything. He hadn't, and the instructions within remained infuriatingly vague: after dealing with the rogue marshals, who were now safely on their way to the capitol for trial, he was to remain in Ponyville and defend it from dangerous wildlife moving into the area.

The only question was, how was he supposed to do that?

In the two days since he’d arrived, he’d already surveyed the town perimeter, set up sensor wards at key locations, made initial scouting trips into the Everfree Forest, and even drawn up evacuation plans for several worst-case scenarios. But nothing had happened. No wild beasts, no rampaging monster, not even a cranky wolf to dent Ponyville's idyllic peace.

It bothered him. He was a marshal for crying out loud, and that meant his job was to serve Equestria and all its citizens. For years, he’d done that by traveling from one hot spot to the next, dealing with problems and troubles often hazardous and occasionally mortally perilous. That suited him just fine because as long as he was busy, he knew he was at least being useful. But now, with no troubles to take care of and nothing to do, he honestly felt rather worthless.

What made it worse, though, was that for once, he actually wanted to be useful.

In every town he’d ever visited, he'd always been treated the same: either he blended into the crowd with hardly a sideways glance, or was met with with reverent awe and fear that came from being a royal agent. Both of these made it easy to go about and do his duty, but that’s all the people would ever be to him: a duty.

Ponyville was different. In a matter of days, the entire town had embraced him as if they’d known him all their lives. Everywhere he went, people would call out a cheery hello, others would inquire about his adjustment to a new town, and almost everyone would congratulate him on a job well done with the rogue marshals which, considering the sparse number of eye witnesses, could only be attributed to a very active girl’s gossip network.

It was nice. Definitely odd how quickly they’d accepted him, but nice nonetheless. That’s why the fact he was sitting around doing nothing bothered him so much. He did a good bit for any town, regardless of who they were, so he wanted to do extra for the people that had so warmly welcomed him.

“Well, lying around won’t help,” Graves murmured. Setting the letter aside and getting up, the marshal donned his broad, flat-brimmed hat and long leather coat, shouldered up his spell gun, and strode towards the door: if there was no trouble to take care of, he’d find some other way of being useful.

After all, how else could he show he cared?

**********

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Hands on hips, Apple Bloom watched as her friend Scootaloo tried to untangle a hopelessly knotted mass of kite string.

“I told you it wath a bad idea,” the overall-clad farm girl sighed, her missing tooth still causing her to lisp as she talked. Her message was clearly conveyed, however, as the look on her face easily expressed her disapproval.

“No it wasn’t,” Scootaloo insisted as she yanked at the snarled mass. “I was just unlucky, that’s all.”

“You call it luck,” the bow-bedecked child said dryly, “I call it crathing into a tree.”

“The sun was in my eyes,” Scootaloo replied, the string now even more hopelessly tangled than ever. She looked to her friend and gestured back to the string. “So are you gonna help me out or not?” Apple Bloom replied with an apathetic shrug.

“Can’t reach.”

“Ugh, I give up,” the little yahoo groaned, tossing the string away in frustration. “I just hope someone comes by soon. I’m starting to get dizzy.”

“Well, conthidering you’ve be–” Apple Bloom began, but stopped as she saw movement a ways off through the trees. “Hold on, I think thomebody ith coming.” Shading her eyes, she was delighted to see that it was in fact Marshal Graves walking along the path towards Sweet Apple Acres.

“Hey Mithter Graveth!” she called out as she jumped around and waved her hands about like a cheerleader missing her pom poms. Catching sight of the bouncing little girl, the marshal detoured over.

“Morning, Miss Apple Bloom,” he said, tipping his hat to her before turning to the purple-haired girl. “Who’s this?"

“Mornin’, Mithter Graves,” she smiled. “Thith here’th my friend Thcootaloo,”

“Yo, sup?” the spunky girl grinned with a two-finger salute thrown in for good measure. Graves replied with another nod of his head.

“Pleased to meet you, Miss Scootaloo. Need some help there?” he asked, to which the little girl gave a grateful sigh.

“Yes, please.”

Now how did Graves know she needed help before he asked? Well, it’s kind of easy to tell when you have a small child who’s on eye level with you, especially when they manage it while they’re upside down. Fact was, Scootaloo was dangling like an inverted puppet from the limbs of a tree, caught up in the mass of tangled kite string she’d been working on.

“How’d you get up there?” Graves asked as he worked to untangle her.

“So, I’ve been trying to build my own pair of spell wings, but I’m still a long ways off from finishing, so I figured I’d get a little practice in some other way.

“By tying yourself to a kite?” he suggested, eyeing the mangled mass of paper and wood in the limbs higher up.

“I told her it wath a bad idea,” Apple Bloom insisted, “but she just doethn’t listhen.”

“Like I said, it was bad luck,” Scootaloo repeated.

“If Thweetie Belle were here, thee’d agree with me,” Apple Bloom said as she stuck her tongue out towards her friend.

“Yeah, well she’s on vacation, so there,” Scootaloo retorted with a loud raspberry blown in the freckled farm girl’s general direction. General was all she could really do as act of untangling rope had her twirling about in gyroscopic confusion. But after a few deft tugs here and some clever finagling there, the task was done and the young rapscallion freed.

“There you go,” Graves nodded as he set Scootaloo on the ground. Picking a few twigs and leaves from her hair and orange shirt, she beamed up at the marshal with a cheery thumbs up.

“Hey, thanks for the assist, Graves. You’re a pretty cool guy.”

“So I’ve been told,” the marshal replied. He couldn’t help but think this was what Rainbow Dash must have been like as a kid.

“Tho anyway, what bringth you out here, Mithter Graveth?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Making my rounds,” he answered as he headed back to the path, now with the two girls following on either side. “Thought I’d check to see how things are out here.”

“Oh, everything’th jutht dandy,” Apple Bloom smiled. “Courthe, there’th a bunch of appleth that thtill need pickin’, tho maybe you thould athk Applejack.”

“I’ll do that, thanks.”

“Come on Thcootaloo,” the gap-toothed girl called out, turning to her friend. “I thaid a kite wouldn’t work becauthe what you really need ith a catapult!” For better or worse, Scootaloo's eyes lit up like the afterburners of a G-12 Imperium fighter.

“Best. Idea. Ever!” she grinned. “Come on, I think there’s some wood by your shed out back!”

“Then let'th get going! Bye, Mithter Graveth! Thee you you later!”

“Yeah, bye Graves!” And with a pair of cheery waves, the bow-bedecked girl and the mini-tomboy added quickly scampered off and out of sight. With half a smile for the two girls and half a frown for their safety, Graves waved farewell and continued walking on.

*****

Arriving at the center of the orchard, Graves was startled to hear what sounded like the war cry of a raging barbarian quickly followed by a thunderous crash.

“HEE-YA!” It came again, and Graves trotted forward just in time to find Applejack drop-kicking an apple tree. Colliding with trunk in a titanic crash, Applejack fell to the ground, but not before the tree shivered and let loose a veritable torrent of apples that fell into awaiting baskets below.

“Oh, hey there, marshal,” the freckled blonde called out from where she lay on the ground. “Fancy meetin’ you here.”

“Interesting way of harvesting,” Graves commented as he extended a hand to help her back to her feet. She took it and straightened her hat with a proud smile.

“Innit? Signature harvestin' techniques of Sweet Apple Acres. Kickin’ don’t do nuthin’ to the tree and this way, only the already ripe apples come off.”

“Very creative,” Graves nodded. He didn’t know a thing about apple picking, but at least it sounded pretty impressive.

“So anyway, what brings you all the way out here?” Applejack asked. “Don’t reckon those marshal varmints are comin’ back, are they?”

“Nothing like that,” the marshal assured her. “Just checking to make sure everything’s all right.”

“Well shucks, that’s mighty neighborly of you,” she grinned as she gave him a hearty slap to the back. “But aside from gettin’ these apples in, there’s not much goin’ on around here.”

“Need help with the apples?” Graves asked with a surreptitious roll his shoulders. Applejack’s slaps really hurt: he’d be black and blue before long if she kept it up.

“Would you really?” the cowgirl smiled. “That’d be great! I’ll be able to get all these apples in, and still have time to fix up the old barn before supper!”

So the two got to work. Though not quite as adept at physically assaulting plant matter, Graves found that stomping the trees as he would when kicking down a door worked quite well. Thus, with Applejack sailing through the air and Graves rampaging like an angry debt collector, the ripe apples were knocked down and collected.

*****

“Hey Applejack, ith lunch ready?” Apple Bloom called out as she ran up with Scootaloo. Considering the number of bumps and bruises covering the two, not to mention the sheer amount of foliage dispersed on their persons, it was pretty clear how their catapulting session had gone.

“Probably,” her older sister replied after giving her hands a good dust off. “Granny Smith said she was fryin’ up some corn fritters today: I expect they’ll be done before long.”

“Oh boy!” the younger Apple girl squealed. “You’re gonna love ‘em Thcootaloo; Granny’th corn fritterth are the betht!”

Smiling at her little sister’s excitement, Applejack turned to the purple haired flyer.

“You wanna join us fer lunch?” she asked.

“Don’t mind if I do,” the chipper child replied. “All that flying practice has got me hungry.” Applejack just chuckled.

“I’ll bet it has.”

“All done,” Graves said as he came out of the barn and shut the creaky wooden door behind him. “Stored like you showed me, Miss Applejack.

“Much appreciated, marshal,” she answered with a cordial tip of her Stetson. “Now that that’s all settled, let’s head on in. Granny’s got lunch on, and she’ll be pleased as punch to have you joinin’ us.” Graves looked at them, then looked up at the sky where the sun stood high overhead.

“That late already?” he breathed as he squinted up in disbelief.

“Well, duh, we have been workin’ all mornin’,” Applejack replied. “Come on, let’s head inside and get some grub.”

“I can’t,” Graves said, already shouldering up his rifle, “Got to get going.”

“Wha? But you just got here,” the blonde cowgirl frowned in disbelief.

“Need to finish my rounds.”

“But… but lunch… and corn fritterth,” Apple Bloom said, looking like his departure meant the end of all things happy as she knew it. Graves shrugged apologetically.

“Duty calls.”

“Oh, well alright then,” Applejack said with a kindly smile. “See you around, Graves.”

As he walked off, he could hear Applejack consoling her sister as they headed inside. He didn’t get it, but something about Applejack’s smile bothered him. It was as if she was somehow disappointed, but that didn’t make sense. They’d finished picking all the apples, hadn't they?

Was it was because he couldn’t stick around and help with the barn repairs? Maybe that was it, but he’d already spent too much time here already. A marshal’s job was to help out as many people as possible, and regardless of how refreshing it had been to curb stomp defenseless shrubbery or how delicious the smell of the Apple home cooking was, that meant he had to move on and see to the rest of the town.

Although he was a little peeved at not being able to completely finish helping the Apple family, Graves left with new determination. The next place he stopped off at, he was going to do better, finish quicker, and be more useful. That way, he could actually be of service and everybody would be happy.

**********

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The patrol around the rest of Ponyville’s borders went quickly enough, so it wasn’t long before Graves arrived at Fluttershy’s cottage. However, the usually quiet and tranquil atmosphere was disturbed by a combination of frantic cries and loud squawking.

“Elizabeak! Come back!” a visibly flustered Fluttershy cried out just as a mass of white feathers rocketed between Graves’s legs.

“Problems?” he asked, turning around to watch as the small chicken – the aforementioned Elizabeak, he presumed – scampered around the meadow to join several other freely roaming birds.

“Oh, good afternoon, Mr. Graves,” Fluttershy said with a little bow, “I’m so sorry but I really don’t have time to talk now.”

“What happened?” Graves asked, though he could probably guess the situation.

“It’s the chickens,” she answered with a frustrated little sigh. “I didn’t notice that there was a hole in the fencing, and when I woke up this morning, they were all loose.”

“So, you’ve been chasing chickens all morning,” the marshal asked, though it was more of a statement than a question, really.

“It just never seems to stop. When I do manage to catch one, it seems like it just get right back out.”

“You did patch the hole, right?”

The timid girl was about to answer, but paused and turned to look back at the chicken coop where her eyes widened in alarm: the hole was still there.

“Oh, pony feathers, no wonder they keep getting out,” Fluttershy huffed, even going as far as stamping a foot in irritation. The tiny puff of dust was clear indication that she didn’t stamp very hard.

“Need some help?” Graves asked in a low, gravelly rumble to make doubly sure that the chuckle threatening to break out never saw the light of day. Fluttershy was probably upset enough as it was without someone laughing at her silly, and quite endearing, mistake.

“Would you?” she replied with a smile of relief. “I would really appreciate that.”

“No problem,” the marshal nodded as he set his spell gun down. “Now let’s get to work.”

The hole actually wasn’t a very big issue. A corner of the wire mesh had simply peeled away, creating just enough space for the birds to get through: a little folding plus some fresh ties on the post, and the fence was as good as new. But once that little task was done, then came the hard part: actually getting the birds back in the coop.

Graves had seen some strange things in his day, but never had he come across anything quite devilishly tricksome as that flock of chickens: it was as if they were making a concerted effort to antagonize their captors. Just when Fluttershy and Graves were about to corner one chicken, another would run around their feet, pecking at their shoes and tripping them up just enough for its feathery brethren to run away. After twenty such instances of what could only be described as avian terrorist tactics, Graves seriously started thinking about bringing out his spell gun and blasting the little nuisances to kingdom come.

Fortunately, he didn’t have to resort to the big guns as Fluttershy soon caught one. Well, it was technically more like Graves was chasing one and the chicken happened to run into Fluttershy’s long skirt where it was quickly snagged up, but hey, a catch is a catch. Now with the discovery of this nifty little trick, the fowl liberation alliance soon crumbled. Graves would chase the chickens right into his quiet companion who would then use her long skirt to trap the offending escapee. In this way, they managed to round up the remaining birds and return them safely to their coop.

Finally finished, Graves and Fluttershy flopped down on the grass, heaving sighs of relief as they took a moment to catch their breaths.

“Didn’t know chickens were such hard work,” Graves said, taking his hat off and fanning himself with it. “How do you manage it?”

“It’s usually not this bad,” Fluttershy said with a smile that soon turned into a giggle. “Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever had this much fun with the chickens before.”

“Fun?” the grey-eyed soldier asked incredulously, “With ornery poultry?”

“Oh no, they’re not like that,” Fluttershy remarked as eyes grew wide in alarm, probably from taking the marshal’s words a little too seriously. “I think they were just so excited to be able to run around like that that they turned it into a game of tag." Graves blinked.

“So, I was just playing tag with a bunch of chickens?” he asked in disbelief. When Fluttershy simply smiled at him, the marshal didn't know what to do except sigh and fall back to the ground with his hat now pulled low over his eyes.

“Well thank you very much for the help, Mr. Graves,” Fluttershy beamed as she stood and brushed a strand of cherry blossom hair from her face. “It was very nice of you.”

“Don’t mention it,” he replied, casually waving his hand from where he lay. It was pretty nice, just lying there in an open field and soaking up the afternoon sun. So nice, in fact, that he didn't notice that a certain demure young lady was working up the nerve for something truly daring.

“So, um, I was thinking…” Fluttershy began, her usual shy uncertainty returning as she absently scuffed at the ground where she stood. “Since the weather is so nice out, I thought i'd be nice to take Angel Bunny to visit some of the forest animals after we have afternoon tea, and… I was wondering if–”

Fluttershy's words abruptly cut off with a startled squeak as Graves shot up and peered at the sun. It was considerably farther down on the horizon than when he’d left Sweet Apple Acres, and the shadows were already beginning to lengthen as evening approached. If Fluttershy was already planning for an afternoon tea session, then once again, he had delayed far too long.

“Sorry Miss Fluttershy,” Graves called as he leaped to his feet and strode over to where his rifle lay. “Can’t help with any more animals today.”

“Oh? Are you sure?” she asked, her tone clearly surprised.

“Have to finish my rounds: got all of Ponyville to cover,” he grimaced. “I’ll, ah... stop by another time.”

“Oh. Well, alright then, have fun on your rounds.” Fluttershy smiled along with her words, but the expression faltered a tad even as she made her reply. With a tip of his hat, Graves turned and quickly trotting off.

As he left though, he mentally kicked himself for being so stupid. He’d spent too long picking apples, so he couldn’t help with the barn, and here, he’d spent too much time on the chickens so he couldn’t help with the animals. No wonder Fluttershy had the same look of disappointment that Applejack had on earlier.

This wasn’t how a marshal was supposed to behave. He was supposed to help the people, not offer a hand only to withdraw it at the last second. Frustration at his own ineptitude mounting, Graves picked up the pace as he practically ran towards the center of town. He was going to be helpful to these people, and properly. In the name of Celestia, he promised he would.

**********

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

“Geez, Twilight, you think you’ve got enough parchment there?” Spike asked from behind a pile of packages stacked higher than his head. How he knew where to step remained a mystery.

“Probably,” she replied with remarkable obliviousness to the sarcasm. “I mean, they were having that special sale at the stationery store, so I figured I might as well stock up. Besides I – oof!” Forgetting to watch where she was going, Twilight accidentally collided with someone, an event which broke her concentration and sent the numerous levitating packages around her crashing to the ground.

“Oh, sorry Miss Twilight,” Graves called out as he reached down to help her up. “Didn’t see you there.”

“It’s no problem,” she said as she dusted herself off. “I should probably watch where I’m going.”

“Hey there, Marshal,” Spike called out from behind his stack of parcels. “How’s it going?” Graves shrugged.

“Alright. Need help carrying those?”

“That’d be perfect, thank you!” Twilight beamed. Gathering up the fallen items and relieving Spike of his potentially hazardous load, the three headed back towards the library tree.

Once inside, Spike dropped off his things and immediately dashed into the kitchen, yelling something about ‘famous vanilla almond cookies’ and leaving Twilight and Graves to straighten up after him. As the two put away the various things in their meticulously designated zones, Twilight glanced over at the taciturn man and struck up idle conversation.

“So, how’re you adjusting to life in Ponyville?” she asked as she unbundled a roll of fresh quills.

“Can’t complain,” Graves shrugged, stacking the new parchment in a desk drawer. “Nice town. Nice people too.”

“That’s good,” Twilight smiled. “I’ll bet it’s a pleasant change of pace, huh? Probably a lot more relaxing than running around Equestria all day, am I right?”

“You’d think.”

“Huh?”

Unable to quite catch the marshal's muttered comment, Twilight just chalked up the statement to something she’d probably misheard.

As they finished putting away the last of the purchases, Spike returned with a steaming platter of fresh cookies before dashing back into the kitchen with stray comments about some ‘double chocolate fudge cake’. The mouth-watering aroma made Graves’s stomach growl as he recalled that he hadn’t had lunch yet. In fact, he hadn’t eaten all day.

“Would you care to join us?” the young scholar asked, doing a rather poor job of hiding a giggle when she heard his stomach rumble. “Spike makes one mean vanilla almond cookie. And after that, we can go and reshelf all the books! Won't that be great?” The marshal couldn't believe it, but the purple-haired girl before him was literally jumping with excitement at the thought of a date with Dewey Decimal. What an egghead.

“I’d love to,” Graves frowned wit grey eyes casting hungry glances towards the tray, “but I can’t.”

“Oh?" Twilight blinked. "Why not?”

“Have to finish my rounds. Got to see to the rest of Ponyville before nightfall.”

“Are you sure? They’re really good cookies.” As she said this, Twilight waved the plate under the marshal’s nose and drew forth another rumbling growl as the famished man swallowed hard.

“No, I really can’t,” he said, drawing away regretfully. “Got to go.”

“Oh. Well, all right then. Good luck.”

Now maybe it was the restlessness of the last couple of days coming to boil. Maybe it was because he was rather hungry and starting to get quite cranky about it. Or maybe it was because the day just hadn’t been going like he wanted. Whatever the reason, when he saw Twilight with the same, somewhat disappointed smile he’d seen twice already, Graves snapped.

“Look, I can’t do everything, alright? I’m sorry.” His voice hardly got louder at all, and barely a trace of heat entered his voice, but for a normally composed man like himself, he might as well have been pulling his hair in abject frustration. Needless to say, Twilight was rather taken aback.

“Graves, are you alright?” she asked as amethyst eyes narrowed with curious scrutiny. “You seem… upset.”

He was about to brush it off as nothing like he usually did, but something about Twilight’s innocently inquiring expression made it seem like she’d be more upset if he didn’t talk about it. And considering how much trouble he'd caused already...

With a sigh, Graves took a seat and told her about that day. It probably took less than fifty words in total, but his frustration at not being able to meet everyone’s expectations, which lead to their disappointment, came across loud and clear like a foghorn across the Shetland Sound. Once finished, Graves sank back into his chair as Twilight sat there for a moment, finger tapping her chin as she pondered what everything she’d just heard. And then she did the last thing that Graves expected.

She laughed.

And not just a little laugh either, but a big, gut-busting, tears-down-the-face, rolling-on-the-floor laughing. Not that she actually fell to the floor of course, but the way she rocked in her seat, Twilight came pretty close, and more than once to boot.

“You find this… amusing,” Graves said, the deadpan of his face a sharp contrast to the girl’s exuberant mirth.

“I’m sorry,” Twilight gasped as she wiped a tear from her eye. “I’m not laughing at you, really. It’s just that I never expected to meet someone who knew even less about making friends than I do.” This piqued the marshal’s interest, since novelty was intriguing and he had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. His blank stare prompted Twilight to continue her mirthful explanations.

“Don’t you get it?” the purple haired librarian asked with a sympathetic smile. “None of us were upset that you couldn’t stick around to help us out more; we were upset that we wouldn’t get to spend some time just having fun with you.”

“But I–” he was cut off as Twilight steamrolled on.

“Applejack and Apple Bloom wanted you to try out their granny’s delicious cooking, Fluttershy wanted you to see some of the adorable animals she works with, and I would hate for you to miss out on a super exciting session of book reshelfing.” Graves stared at her, particularly confused at the last one, but she continued on with her lecture mode now running full tilt.

“The point is, none of us really cared about what you could do for us; we just wanted you to do things with us. Do you get it?”

He really hadn’t. Or at least, not yet. Graves crossed his arms and sat there, brow furrowed in concentration as he thumbed his chin and mulled over the things Twilight had told him. Finally, he spoke.

“… That... actually sort of makes sense.” This just prompted Twilight to laugh even more.

“You really aren’t very good at making friends, are you?”

“Not much chance,” he shrugged. “Never stay too long in one place.”

“Just out of curiosity, how long is too long anyway?" Twilight asked. "I mean, what’s the longest you’ve ever stayed in one place as a marshal?” Looking up at the ceiling, it took a moment for Graves to form his answer.

“Cleared out a zombie infestation once. Stayed in the same town a whole three weeks.”

For the second time, Twilight reacted in the last way Graves expected by spewing cookie crumbs all over the table as her eyes went saucer-wide in shock.

“Three weeks?! Are you crazy? And that’s the longest you’ve stayed in one town ever?”

“Since I joined the marshals… yeah," Graves shrugged.

“Wow, no wonder you’re so bad at making friends.” The marshal flat stare transformed her amused smile into a sheepishly apologetic grin. “Heh, sorry. But, you’re going to stay in Ponyville longer right? I mean, it’s not like you’re just going to up and leave next week, are you?”

“Honestly can’t say,” Graves admitted. “I go where I’m told.” For the third time, Twilight Sparkle surprised the marshal by reacting in the last way he'd expect.

“Well this is unacceptable,” Twilight snorted as she stood up with the fires of indignation burning in her eyes. “SPIKE! Time to take a letter!”

“What are you–”

“Dear Princess Celestia,” Twilight dictated, oblivious to all but her intended words as Spike began furiously scribbling away beneath his chef’s hat and matching apron. “It has come to my attention that Marshal Graves here in Ponyville has been on the move for quite some time and has never actually had a chance to settle down. It is my hope that he’ll be able to do so in Ponyville, but of course, we would like to check with you first to see if that is okay. Please write back as soon as possible. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.”

Once Spike had finished writing, he rolled up the parchment and tied it with a piece of pink ribbon. With a nod from Twilight, the little Salamander boy exhaled a cloud of emerald flame, vaporizing the rolled up scroll entirely. Graves just watched in dumbfounded bewilderment.

“Why would you–”

“Give it time,” Twilight smiled as her hand hand motioned for silence. And so the three waited, Graves absentmindedly picking up a cookie while Twilight hummed and Spike tapped his feet. Or, started to anyway, because in mere moments, the young boy’s cheeks bulged as he let out a massive burp.

“Wow. That’s… kind of gross,” Graves quietly murmured. However, disgust quickly transitioned to surprise as the gout of bright green fire that accompanied the belch quickly quickly coalescing into a roll of parchment adorned with a blob of golden wax imprinted with Princess Celestia’s personal seal. That? That was literally three kinds of unexpected.

“Neat, huh?” Twilight Sparkle beamed as she unrolled the parchment. “Spike's dragon fire can be used to teleport objects. He's still little, so it’s kind of limited, but it makes it really easy to send the Princess a quick letter.”

“No need to thank me. Just doing my job.” Spike beamed as he preened his spiky green hair. Graves simply stared at them in disbelief.

“You have a personal line to the Princess?” the steely-eyed soldier asked with open surprise. He’d seen some of the richest people in Equestria wait hours just for an audience with her, and the little bookworm here could just call her up out of the blue?

“Well, duh. I am her number one student, after all,” Twilight replied, to which the marshal could only let out a low whistle in awe. Twilight, little miss book worm, was a direct protege of Equestrian royalty? And she was in Ponyville? You never knew who you'd run into but this? This was just downright startling.

“So, what does it say?” Spike asked. Coughing to clear her throat, Twilight began to read.

Dear Twilight, my most faithful student,

Did I not mention it in my last letter? Oh, silly me, must have slipped my mind. It is as you say: Marshal Graves has been working so hard for so long, that I’m afraid he might be burning himself out. That is why I want him to remain in Ponyville till at least this time next year. All his personal effects have been shipped and should be arriving very soon.

Also, I hope you’ll explain to him that this isn’t a demotion or anything like that. Everyone needs to rest now and then, and Marshal Graves is long overdue for his. We will keep him posted of any troubles coming his way, and since Ponyville is such a peaceful place, let him know that there’s really no need for him to always be on patrol (from what I hear, he’s not happy unless he’s busy with eight disasters at once). I hope that in the time he’s there, you’ll be able to help him learn to loosen up a bit, have fun, and of course, make some good friends.

Sincerely,

Princess Celestia of Equestria

“Isn’t this great?” Twilight laughed, clapping her hands in excitement. “You’ll be with us for a whole year! At least!”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Graves replied, somewhat blown away by the situation. It was odd enough that he’d been posted to such a quiet part of the country, but for the Princess herself to issue the order? Stranger things may have happened, but not often and hardly by much.

“So, now that you know you’re going to be here for a while, what do you plan to do?” Twilight asked.

“Not sure,” Graves shrugged. “Never thought about it before.”

“Well, how about starting off by getting to know the townspeople better? You know, hang out a bit and have fun?” The young mage suggested. Graves leaned back in his chair and let out a long, slow breath as he considered the idea.

However, any serious thought would have to wait as the door slammed open and Rainbow Dash came zooming in.

“Twilight! Have you seen – oh, there you are. Come on, Big G, we gotta go!”

“What’s wrong?” the marshal asked, gunmetal grey eyes flashing to alert as he leaped up with spell gun in hand.

“It’s Pinkie Pie! She’s in trouble down at Sugar Cube Corner. Hurry!” Rainbow Dash flew right back out the door, giving Graves just enough time to turn back to Twilight with an apologetic grimace.

“Sorry. Making friends will have to wait.”

Trailed by both Twilight and Spike, the raven-haired soldier rushed out and followed Rainbow Dash on the way to the bakery where the athletic flyer pulled to a floating halt as she fluttered just by the door.

“Hurry! In here!” she called.

Without a moment’s pause, Graves kicked open the door, spell gun leveled and already humming with charged energy, and–

“SURPRISE!!!!”

–was instantly hit by a face full of confetti. Streamers flew and party crackers popped amidst dozens of balloon as Graves, spitting out a mouthful of paper bits, looked around to see that the entire bakery was full. All the people he’d met on the first day – the Apple sisters, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity – stood there smiling at him, albeit somewhat more crookedly that usual. Made sense, considering his rather... unique entrance.

“Surprise!” Pinkie Pie called out as she bounced up with party blower flapping away. “Where you surprise? Were you? Huh? Huh? Were you?”

“Quite,” he blinked, head swiveling about as he tried to figure out the exact nature of the trouble and where it was. “What’s going on?”

Pinkie Pie simply looked at him for a moment, then looked up. Stretched across the whole width of the dining room was a massive banner with ‘Welcome Graves’ written across it.

“...Oh.”

The sound of raucous laughter from behind prompted Graves to turn around just in time to see Rainbow Dash fly in with hands clutching her belly and laughing fit to burst. Twilight and Spike quickly followed suit, laughing almost as much as their friend and looking fit to fall over a stray gust from Rainbow's translucent wings.

“Oh man, you should’ve seen the look on your face!” the prismatic-haired girl wheezed. “I was like, ‘Pinkie Pie’s in trouble!’ and you were all like, ‘Let’s do this! Hoorah!’ Priceless, I tell ya, priceless!”

“…What is this?” Graves asked again, reshouldering the spell gun now that he clearly no longer needed it. “I mean, why do this?”

“Why? To welcome you to Ponyville, duh!” Pinkie Pie said in her typically enthusiastic manner. “Yeesh, for a guy who’s been around, it sure seems like you’ve missed a few things.”

“When someone new comes into town, we always throw them a party like this,” Twilight explained with a smile. “It’s our way of helping them get to know everyone and fit it.”

“You do have time for a little party, don’t you?” Applejack asked a bit uncertainly. “I mean, we don’t wanna get in the way of yer official marshal duties and all.”

“Oh my goodness, did we do that?” Fluttershy squeaked as her typical panic began to rise. “’I’m so sorry, we didn’t think that you would–”

“No, it’s all right,” Graves assured her. “It’s just… unexpected. That’s all.”

“So, marshal, what's your call?” Twilight began, a knowing grin playing across her clearly amused face. “You going to go back out and make your rounds? Or are you gonna follow the princess’s direct order and have some fun?” As the crowd watched on in anticipation - some not really sure why, just caught up in the atmosphere - Graves reached up and tugged his hat a little lower over his eyes.

“Fine party like this, be a shame not to enjoy it.”

Such a whooping and hollering from the crowd, you’d have thought that Graves had just given everyone there a free diamond-covered pony. But that’s just how Ponyville folk are. So as the music kicked up, conversations got struck, and people cleared tables for a dance floor, it took all of two shakes of a lamb's tale to get the festivities into full, roaring swing.

“So, what was that about following orders?” Rarity asked as she walked over and handed Graves a cup full of punch.

“Oh, nothing,” Twilight smiled while shooting Graves a conspiratorial wink. “Just figuring this big old marshal needs to learn how to take things easy."

“Something like that,” he agreed.

Graves was glad for the punch, because drinking it helped hide the smile that was quickly growing on his usually stolid face. It wouldn’t do for him to go around grinning like a Cheshire cat, but right now, he couldn’t really help it. Sure, these people were crazy, and it’d be a good while till he was really used to ‘hanging out’ as Twilight had said, if ever at that. But even if he didn’t, he had a feeling that he’d enjoy the process, however it turned out.

And with that in mind, Graves smiled and went out to follow orders.

**********

To Be Continued

The Journey of Graves will continue with the third story: Trouble Meets Disaster