New Ponyville Days

by Drunken Hoof Style

Rating: teen
Tags: Alternate Universe, Sad, Comedy, Adventure
Length: 5999

45 years later, and everything has changed, except for one pony...

Tellis leaves the doctor when the Jerusaddle Event happens(still writing that) and decided to stay in 1048 CR. in this story, he bonds with the children and grandchildren of the Mane 6, especially Comet, his goddaughter. old friends return, hilarity ensues. but all is not well in the city of New Ponyville, evil things lurk just beyond the streetlights, plotting, preparing…

I am bad with ages and need to get my timelines straight

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-04-30 16:04:08 UTC

Just like any other night

New Ponyville Days

The Evening sun lies on the horizon as Celetia teases it across the sky as the last of Winter's snow settles down. It is the year 1048 of Celestia’s Rule; technology has advanced astonishingly fast over the last 31 years, making Equestria much more industrialized, yet devoid of plants and animals. But one pony has stayed the same…

“Craaap… forgot my keys, be right back” Tellis, the time traveling wanderer, went back inside his house to fetch his autobuggy keys. “So, where we goin, arcade? Movie theater?”

“Any where’s fine, just as long as I get out of that boring house,” said the autobuggy’s passenger.

Tellis drove down the roads of the city like he knew the back of his hoof, turning left and right as he passed freezing street vendors and young fillies playing in snowy lots. He eventually made his way over to the Everfree district, which had become a prime place for shows and other forms of entertainment. There were flashing lights all around, but Tellis drove past all that and parked at an old diner near a Boots & Shoes.

“We’re stopping here? I thought we were going somewhere exiting,” said Tellis’s passenger, looking up at the diner’s neon sign from the window which read “Daisy’s Diner” with a purple flower next to it.

“We are, Comet, but first we’re gonna eat here,” Tellis said as he closed the door of his vehicle.

“(Sigh), Fine, you’re the one with the keys, lead the way…” Comet said with as much sarcasm as she could muster.

The two entered the diner, sat at a booth, and looked at their menus, which consisted of mainly processed and artificial foods, such as Yum-Yum Carrots,Daisy Cakes, which had neither daisies nor cake in it, and Protein Launchers. Nopony ever asked what were in those.

A unicorn waitress approached them and introduced herself, then she asked,“Whadlya have tah drink?”

Tellis answered,” I’ll have a Flutter cola.”

“And for the young filly?” the waiter asked as she magically manipulated a pen towards Comet’s direction.

“Coffee, Black, no sugar,” Comet ordered. When the waitress left, she complained,” Ah! Celestia, I hate it when everypony treats me like a kid!”

“Well, I don’t, I guess that counts.” Tellis said while he looked out the window of the diner and then turned to Comet, “So, how have things been since-”

The waitress returned with their drinks,” Cola for the filly, and the coffee… for you, sir. Are you two ready to order?”

“Yeah, she’ll have the veggie burger, and I’ll have the… honey-fried tofu?” said to the waitress as he hooved the menus over to her, which she took magically and put them in her waiter’s satchel.

“Will that be all?” she asked, with her little notepad suspended in the air in front of her.

“Yes, that’s it,” Comet said, half glaring at the waitress.

The waitress left and the two switched their drinks as Comet said,” See what I mean?”

“Yeah, kiddo, it must be pretty annoying,” answered Tellis as his prosthetic Omni-claw replacing his left hoof unfolded to reveal fingers, picked up the glass, and took a big drink.

Comet tried to take a sip of her hot coffee,” Ah! Are they tryin to kill me or somethin?” she cooled the coffee by blowing air at it with her mouth.

Tellis chuckled slightly and Comet said,” Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, it’s just you reminded me of your grandmother there for a second,” Tellis answered Comet as he took another swig of cola.

Comet brushed her rainbow mane away from her face, “I’m nothing like her, Tellis, I can barely even fly…”

“Comet Dash! I thought I’d never see the day when one of Rainbow’s own blood would doubt their abilities!” Tellis said with a stink-eye and an empty glass.

A police buggy’s siren wailed as it passed by the dark diner, showing with a flash of light the large scar on the left side of Tellis’s face briefly.

“Well, things have changed since you left, Tellis, times got hard and I had to drop out of flight school… Then my parents divorced…” Comet said sadly.

“Comet, I’m so sorry,” Tellis apologized.

“Don’t be, dad was garbage, anyways,” Comet said as she stared into her coffee.

“Well, you’ve got friends to keep you company, don’t you? Ah… what were their names, again? Oh, yes! Shining Sparkle, Twilight’s daughter, and uhh…” Tellis said to a moping Comet.

“There’s Cinnamon Jack (Applebloom’s daughter), Hank (Hankie Pie, Pinkie’s grandson), Molly (Melinda Shy, Fluttershy’s tough-as-nails granddaughter), and I’m not really friends with her, but there’s Rarity’s snooty granddaughter, Ruby. Besides, Shine’s too much of a grown-up.” Comet listed to Tellis.

“Well, she can’t be that old, how old is she? Like 19?” Tellis asked Comet.

“She’s 23, and just like her mother, way too busy to spend any time with us. But more importantly, where have you been? Nana always said that you would be back, and here you are, 10 years later, and you don’t look like you’ve changed at all! Except for that hoof of yours…” Comet said after she took a sip of her coffee.

Tellis looked at his brass and steel hoof, “Well you see, that’s a long story, Comet, and I- oh look, our food is here,” Tellis pointed a robotic finger in the direction of the approaching waitress.

The waitress finally arrives with their food and Comet says with great enthusiasm, “Great! I’m starving!

The two begin eating their meals, and Tellis thought to himself, well, it’s a good thing that she’s easily distracted, I’d have been here all night if I had to tell her that story!

Tellis asked more questions about Comet’s friends. It seems that Comet was good friends with them all, well except for Ruby, who lived in the upper-class Goldenlight District and only saw Comet during first grade, before she was accepted for flight training at Cloudsdale. But, as you know, she had to drop out due to the Recession of 49’ when her father was laid off from work at Robotico. This is the company that made intelligent prosthetics for disabled or injured ponies, the same place that Tellis got his new hoof, and then modified it himself with black market attachments.

When they were done eating, they paid for their meal and left the diner to get back to the autobuggy.  “So, Tellis, where ARE we going?” Comet asked Tellis.

“You know, I think we’re just gonna go back to my house and watch TV or something,” He answered as he started the buggy.

“Figures, you never do anything exiting, Tellis,” grumped Comet as she crossed her forelegs.

Tellis reached his home, a little dwelling in the middle of Plate Town, the name given to one of the poorer sections of the city, the Rain District. It was called Plate Town because when the city was being rebuilt, the construction workers used a lot of corrugated metal plates from the ruins of Ponyville when building the roads and platforms of the district.

“Well, CD, here we are, the grand PT. Hey, Comet… Comet… Wake up, Comet!” Tellis tried to rouse Comet from her nap,” just like ol’ Rainbow…”

“Huh? Wha- we’re here? Oh, yea…” Comet said as she woke up.

“C’mon, kiddo, let’s get out of this cold,” Tellis said as he let a sleepy Comet out of the autobuggy.

As they went inside the house, it was dark, Tellis flipped a switch and…

“SURPRISE!!!!! Happy Birthday, Comet!!!” All of comet’s friends, including Shining and Ruby jumped out from behind the furniture and curtains and other things, as Hank fell from the ceiling with a crash and groaned,” Yeah, what they said.”

“By Celestia!! I totally forgot! Thanks you guys!” Comet shouted as she went over to her friends for a big group hug.

The party was all done up a la Pinkie, with cake, streamers, balloons, and confetti galore. Hank didn’t get just his good looks from the family tree, you know, he also got his grandma’s party cannon!

“How ya been, Dashy?” Molly asked as she punched her friend in the shoulder.

“Yeah, you haven’t been at the Usual Spot lately, what’s with that?” Hank questioned Comet with a concerned look.

“Come now, this is a party, not a funeral!” Ruby shouted as she activated the Stereo deck to play loud dance music. Over at the other end of the room, near the snack table Shining and Tellis were talking, “Shining Sparkle, my, how you’ve grown! You were just a little filly last time I seen you!”

Shining replied,” Well, you haven’t changed at all, and I see that being with the Doctor hasn’t been the healthiest thing in the world for you.”

Tellis raised a robotic hoof to the light, “No, it hasn’t, unfortunately, that event in Jerusaddle (year 256 CR) almost did us both in. What happened to me was nothing compared to what happened to the Doctor,” repressed memories of the Doctor’s anguished screams as he regenerated echo quietly in the back of Tellis’s mind.

Shining took a drink of punch, “It must have been terrible!”

“I was able to get over it, over time. The Doctor, however, I don’t think he’ll ever be able to…” Tellis said to Shining, “He needed to be alone for a while, I could tell, and I told him to drop me off here. “

“Why not go back to your own time, to 963? Why here?” Shining asked Tellis.

“I’ll tell you the same thing I told him, I got a good feeling about this,” Tellis said with a serious expression as he looked out the window.

“So,” Shining said, changing the subject,” have you and Comet been getting along?”

“Oh yeah, we’re getting along fine; I’m just the boring old godfather to her, but I think she’s warming up to me,” Tellis said as he unfolded his hoof into fingers and grabbed a glass of punch.

“Godfather? Like the movie?!” Hank said as he jumped up from behind the table, his short yet somehow poofy pink hair bobbing slightly.

“Hank, have you been eavesdropping?  You know your mother has told you to stop doing that,” Shine scolded Hank.

“Say, uhh, Hank? How much of that did you hear?” Tellis asked.

“Just something about a doctor and Jerusaddl- ooh look, a red dot!” Hank shouted when he saw the laser pointer beam that Tellis was aiming at the wall, and leapt at it like a cat, crashing headfirst into the wall, “I’ll get that dot someday… wherever it is!” Hank shook one hoof in the air as he made his vow, and rubbed his head with the other.

“Hank, you ain’t the brightest light bulb in the knife drawer, that’s for sure,” Cinnamon Jack said as she helped her friend up from the floor. The city life has all but destroyed the Apple family accent in CJ’s voice, but its distinct twang was still there.

“C’mon you guys, it’s my birthday, dance like you mean it!” shouted Comet as she turned the music to a fast-paced dance beat, and the others all started to dance wildly with her, even Tellis, the old rust bucket.

Hours later, the group was partied out, lying around the place watching action movies until most of them fell asleep, Ruby and Shining went home. Tellis, who was at the cleared dining room table with a set of tools, was modifying/maintaining his prosthetic, “Alright, that one is tightened, oh, yes, that’ll come in handy… fresh oil… what else needs to be done?” Tellis extended his metal fingers out, rolled them, and decided that the inner electronics needed inspecting. As he finished his diagnostic with a small device hooked to his fake hoof, Hank walked up and asked, “Hey, whatcha doin?”

“Well, Hank, I’m fixing myself, if you want to he-- actually, I have a less dangerous idea,” Tellis said as he closed the small hatch on his brassy hoof,” c’mon, follow me.”

Tellis led Hank through his house and up to a hatch on the second floor that led to the roof. The city smog wouldn’t let them see a clear sky, but there was another view, the city itself. “Now, would you look at that, my dear boy?” Tellis asked Hank as he spread his forelegs out for dramatic effect, his breath clouding in front of him,” Thirty-something years ago, all this was just a little, out of the way town, now look at it!”

“Yeah, Mr. A, my mom already told me this. Why are we up here?” Hank asked, regretting that he left his jacket inside.

“ I needed atmosphere to show you… this!” Tellis used his handy robot fingers that popped out as he reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out a photo of his introductory party to Ponyville and showed it to Hank.

“Hey, that’s my grandma! And all her friends! They all look so young… hey… is that you? Wait a second…” Hank pondered as an imaginary thought bubble popped up, and in it was (in crayon, no less), Banana+73=( A light bulb enters, lights up, and then explodes, popping the thought bubble.)

“By Celestia, That is you in that picture! Mr. A, how old are you? How did you know my grandma? Is that really what Ponyville looked like? The normal Pie Family barrage of questions fell on Tellis like music to his ears, and he did his best to answer the questions.

A/N What’s this? He’s is putting in Author’s Notes finally? Why, yes I am. They seem to be a crucial part of any story, and you guys read them. I know I do. So, about the chapter… Most of the cast are OC’s, yes. I don’t know why I had Applebloom’s daughter in the story instead of Applejack’s. I guess it was-- Hell, I don’t know. I can’t think of a good reason why I did that. This chapter was mainly introducing most of the main characters and their personalities. Tellis was born in 963, and Shining did the math

The main protagonist’s name, Tellis Argonis, just popped into my head while I was picking a nickname on a Minecraft server. The thought process that led to the creation of the name was: Tellie= horse’s name, Tellis sounded cooler. MC username, argonianclaw, agonian- an+ s= Argonis. Tellis Argonis, it was original, bizarre, and fun to say.  He’s technically me, well, everything I want to be.  He has boundless confidence, awesome white hair, because the Kid from Bastion is awesome.  Uhh… being lavender colored, I guess. He’s got the kind of luck that throws you into a crazy adventure like every week, a tendency to not threaten to stab people whenever spoken to, and the freedom to go wherever he pleases, the world his oyster.

I thought up Shining Sparkle’s name before the Season Finale, and afterwards, I said,” Well, I’m not changing her name, harrumph!”

Please give feedback about the story, there isn’t that many views and I kind of want this to take off. I know writing a sequel to a story I haven’t even finished yet is a stupid idea, but I’m doing it!

Miss Heartstrings?

The scene shifts to New Dawn Hospital, where strange things were happening.

“Doctor, ready to open stasis chamber 4!” shouted an earth pony nurse, as he pointed at a large machine with mist pouring from the bottom of it.

“Well, get to it, then! We don’t want to be late for this one, now do we?” said the unicorn doctor as he pushed a large cart of medical tools and supplies over near the machine. Ponies were rushing to and fro, in all directions, preparing gurneys, IVs and other things to care for their patient. The camera moves in front of the chamber’s blue glass and white metal front.

Inside is a vague unicorn-type shape, wearing an oxygen mask, and floating in liquefying stasis gel. The figure slightly opens its left eye and the camera dramatically zooms up to the figure.

“It’s opening! Get ready!” another Doctor shouted as the machine drained itself of the liquid, and made a loud hissing sound.  The machine opened, and a familiar blue-green unicorn was lowered down onto the gurney. The nurses get to work, removing needles and hoses that were in the patient and rushing towards the operation room.

“Patient’s name?” said a doctor as he attempted to check for a heartbeat with a stethoscope manipulated by magic.

“Lyra Heartstrings, she was stabbed seven times 31 years ago and was put in stasis until now,” answered a nurse as she rushed along the gurney.

A group of surgeons were the operation room and started right away; applying strange materials and using even stranger tools that glowed brightly and made bizarre noises. The surgery goes on for over 3 hours.

Medical science was the first to advance rapidly as you just saw; cryogenics were perfected around 1026 CR.  Wound-sealing gels and infection blasting medicines were recently created just last year. These miracles of science were costly though, and only the wealthy could enjoy the luxury of having their lives having almost guaranteed safety. Lucky for Lyra Heartstrings, her insurance barely covered most of the costs of her Celestia-sent procedure.

Lyra wakes up, her whole body is sore, especially her right side. It was a dulled type of soreness, like she knew it was there, but didn’t quite feel it. She tries to lift her head but is too woozy to do that.

Last thing she remembered was… she was living in Fillydelphia after Ponyville was destroyed, with her cousin, Chartreuse. She was walking home when...when… Lyra strained to remember what happened after that, but she was too exhausted, and all she could see was white. White walls and white ceiling tiles and white curtains. The only thing that was dark is that it was night outside…night! It was all coming back to Lyra!

She was walking home one night when she was attacked by a knife-wielding psychopath! Her mind had repressed the rest of the brutal details… Lyra couldn’t sleep with the pain in her side like she was… well, stabbed seven times! I can’t think of any more accurate simile to describe it!

“How are you feeling, Miss Heartstrings?” a doctor said in a soothing voice, who was accompanied by a pegasus nurse.

“Great…” Lyra feebly said, still looking at the ceiling

“That’s good to hear, Miss Heartstrings, most ponies that got attacked by James the Slasher(the copycat killer of Rick Stabbington, who copied from Mitch the Mutilator, and he copied from Jackie the Marekiller) didn’t survive, in fact, you were the only one that ever survived!” the doctor happily pointed out with a progressively energetic voice.

“Luck…Lucky me, huh?” Lyra groaned out quietly. Her strength was slowly returning.

“Yes, lucky you, welcome to New Ponyville, Ms. Heartstrings, and welcome… to the future!” the doctor sounded like he was announcing the prize winner of a radio contest as loud game show music started playing.

“Wai-wha—WH—what, the future? What are you talking about?” Lyra asked, confused as could be.

“Youuu were in stasis for 31 years, Miss Heartstrings, and it is now the yyyear 1048 of Celestia’s Rrruuuuuulllleeee!!!” the hospital scene has melted away now, and the doctor is wearing a purple suit. He is standing behind a podium and shouts,” Congratulations, Ms. Heartstrings! Now, head on over to claim your prize, a brrrand spanking new, pair. Of. Haaaaaaannnndsss!!!!” The crown behind Lyra was cheering wildly as she smiled as big as she possibly could.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, the doctor asked,” Um, nurse? How much pain medicine did you give her?”

The nurse examined the IV and said,” ooh, just enough to send her to Happy Town, by the looks of it! Sorry, doc…” the nurse adjusted the valve on the IV with her teeth. Lyra was mumbling quietly to herself about fingers while slowly waving her hooves around while a bit of drool escaped her mouth as she stared listlessly ahead. The doctor scolded the nurse as the two left the room and Lyra to her own fantasies.

Later, when Lyra wasn’t higher than a pegasus shot out of a cannon, she was properly explained her situation. There was the standard future shock and she tried escaping, and then there was this cool, action-movie chase scene where there were white birds flying around and they were doing parkour over tables and other things in slow motion. I mean, everypony was! Lyra, all the doctors, even this guy in a full body cast… She almost succeeded, too, until she was sedated by one of the doctors. Then Lyra woke up from her dream and groaned in frustration.

“Ah, you’re finally awake,” said the sun with a smile. Lyra looked out her window with a face of mixed seriousness and anger and just stared at the sun, which had a big, happy smile on it. Somewhere in the distance, Lyra heard sompony calling her name,” ~Miss Heartstrings… Miss Heartstrings… MISS HEARTSTRINGS!!!”

Lyra bolted up in her hospital bed, in the real world, “Ms. Heartstrings, you’ve been asleep for three days! That’s longer than anypony here in a long time, that wasn’t in a coma. We even tried using smelling salts on you! That must have been one HELL of a painkiller we had you on.  There was a story in the paper about you and everything. I guess they didn’t have any real news to report on… oh yeah, some guy named Trellis or something is here to see you, said he knew you.”  A young doctor told Lyra as Tellis walked in the room.

“Lyra, long time, no see! How ya been?” Tellis, to be a huge jerk, waved with his robotic hand,” looks like you haven’t aged a day! Those stasis chambers really do wonders, don’t they?”

“Tellis! How are you…hey! How did you get fingers? Tell me!” Lyra demanded as she magically pulled Tellis over to her.

“Well, it wasn’t exactly my choice to have my left hoof blown off, Lyra! And the eleven surgeries weren’t exactly a party! Now put me down!” Tellis answered.

Lyra dropped Tellis to the floor and he said,” I’m just glad you’re alive! When we heard the news…”

“We?” Lyra asked with a puzzled look on her face.

“Oh, yeah… you know how it’s like 30 years in the future and stuff? Kids! Get in here; I want you to meet who we came here for!” Tellis called out.

Comet and friends came into the room, except for Ruby; she had some “important” business to attend to. “Dang, lady, you look like you been to Tartarus and back! “ Molly called out with her Manehatten accent.

”Molly! I don’t want to hear that kind of language from you, young lady.” Shining scolded Molly

.

“Sorry Shine, won’t do it again… psyche!” Molly said, her chin length pink-and-black mane moving around slightly as she laughed.

“It’s a pleasure to meetcha, Miss Heartstrings,” said CJ politely as she tipped her hat towards Lyra.

“Please, call me Lyra, and you are?” Lyra answered.

”Cinnamon Jack, but most folks just call me CJ,” she told Lyra.

“And my name’s Hank!” Hankie Pie shouted as he came out from under the hospital bed.

“Who’s that over there, in the back? She looks familiar…” Lyra was moving to and fro, trying to get a better view of Comet, who was just trying to get this whole ordeal over with.

“(Sigh), my names Comet,” she said, feigning interest.

“Well, that’s the gang,” Tellis said, “ after 30 years, hospital food would seem like food fit for royalty, but what do you say we hit up Wacarnolds?!“

The group all cheered loudly, including the doctor that was in the room.

“Whatcu you cheering about, we aint takin you!” Molly told the doctor.

“Aww…” he said dejectedly.

They all went to Wacarnolds, in Shine’s and Tellis’s autobuggies, where Lyra had 11 double veggie cheeseburgers, 8 Dr. Hoppers, a spicy chickpea sandwich, 2 Cold’ns (Chocolate shakes), a salad, and an egg club sandwich.

Tellis heard the price when Lyra ordered, 126 bits! “Hey, uh Shine, you wanna split the bill?”

They all laughed except for Tellis. He ordered his food and all the others’ food, bringing the total price to 168 bits.  They all went to eat, and Lyra voraciously devoured all of her food and drink, actually scared the young ones a bit, even Tellis had a concerned look on his face.  After Wacarnolds, Hank decided to honor the age-old tradition of welcoming a new friend into New Ponyville with a party, even if Lyra did live there before it was new. Tellis was tasked with keeping Lyra busy until they could finish preparing the party at his house

“Lyra, it’s time to show you around town,” Tellis said as he drove his buggy down the highway towards downtown NPC. It was late in the evening, so the sun bathed the city in a beautiful golden glow. New Ponyville has grown to about 75% of what Fillydelphia was 30 years ago after it was rebuilt. Lyra was astonished at how different everything was, yet saddened at the same time. This wasn’t her home; her home was taken a long time ago by those mercenaries that tried to kill her and everypony she knew. She was really hung over at the time, but she does remember Tellis carrying her to the train station and getting as many ponies as he could out of Ponyville. She shed a tear at the unknown fate of her friend, Bon Bon and all the others she lost that day.

“Woah, you okay? Need a tissue?” his prosthetic dispensed a tissue and he offered it to Lyra, trying to focus on the busy city streets.

Lyra took the tissue with magic,” I’m fine, Tellis, it’s just so much to take in at once, I mean, almost getting killed, again, and now where I used to live is probably some kind of flower shop or a lightning-house!”

You hear a record scratch, time freezes, and the screen darkens slightly as Shining Sparkle, who is wearing a lab coat and glasses, walks onscreen, activates a projector and says, “Lightning is an illegal narcotic derived from rainbow juice mixed with concentrated sunlight powder, and altered with other chemicals until it becomes a powerful hallucinogenic in the form of yellow, lightning bolt-shaped crystals, which are smoked, ingested, inhaled, or injected into the bloodstream, lightning-houses, or Bolt huts are usually signified by yellow lightning bolt graffiti with a circle around it or other, more localized tags. Lightning has several street names, such as Zap, Yellow, Crazy Juice, Lemo-“

Tellis walks in and grabs Shining’s coat with his metal hand and starts pulling her off screen,” C’mon, Shine, let’s get the show rolling again”

“But, but I haven’t finished yet and I think everypony is learning a lot a…” Shining’s voice fades as she’s’ pulled away. The movie resumes.

“Actually, if I remember correctly, I think I saw that there was a Music Mania where your house used to be,” Tellis said as he made a right turn down Moontrane Street, “You wanna see it?”

“Yeah, I think it would be nice,” Lyra answered, looking out her window with a deep looking expression on her face.

“Alllrighty, then!” Tellis shouted and put on the flight goggles that were hanging around his neck as he gunned the engine, and then sped off towards Music Mania. When they got there, they saw that the sign said Music Mashrs .There was a curtain over the word ‘Mania’ and painted rather well, actually.

They went inside and when Tellis saw who was behind the counter, he said, “Well, I’ll be damned, if it isn’t the one and only Vinyl Scratch!”

Vinyl, who was half asleep from boredom, jumped up, causing her glasses to become askew on her horn, which she then corrected, “Lyra? Is that you? It is! And other guy! It’s you too! What’s it been, 20-30 years?”

“Yeah, Vinyl, what happened to you? I thought you were one of the most successful DJs in Equestria!” Lyra asked her old acquaintance.

“Well, I’ll tell ya, things change. After Ponyville got destroyed, I fell into a deep depression, turned to drinking, and my music got stale. Nopony would buy it, or even listen to it after a while. They called me a… a washout! After all that, my music career was reduced to fillies’ parties and other small gigs. So I decided to get out, but not completely. Now, I run this music store, but not for long if I can’t pay my bills! In short, DJs don’t die, they just fade away,” Vinyl told her friend from the past.

Tellis whispered to Lyra, and they both nodded in agreement, they went around the store, grabbing as much interesting- looking music as they could. The two returned to the desk and met a wide-eyed Vinyl Scratch, “Th-thanks you guys! This’ll pay my bills for…at least three months! How can I ever repay you?”

“Well…” Tellis leaned up to Vinyl and whispered something in her ear, she smiled and said, “Will do, cap-i-tan!” Vinyl saluted Tellis as he made his purchase which came up to 768 bits! Lyra and Tellis left the store with their bags of bulging sound, and Lyra said as they loaded their loot into the back of Tellis’s buggy,” Okay, I have two questions, what did you say to Vinyl? And where did you get all this money?”

“1: You’ll see, Lyra, and 2: When I got to NPC, I almost immediately won the lottery for one hundred thousand bits, lucky me, huh?” Tellis answered Lyra as he put his bags into the buggy.

“Yeah, lucky you, the colt with 3 hooves, winning the lottery!” Lyra said as she opened a buggy door with magic. It was 8:30 now as they drove towards Tellis’s home in Plate Town. Tellis put in a disk from the music store into the CD player. It was an energetic chip-tune soundtrack that was pretty good, actually.

Tellis got home around 8:50. Tellis carried all the bags of music out of the buggy and over to his house, and Lyra went in first. The lights suddenly go on and Lyra hears,” WELCOME TO NEW PONYVILLE!!! Hit it VS!” Vinyl Scratch starts up her turntable and plays a funky dance beat and they all get down. All the furniture has been moved out of the way to make a dance floor in Tellis’s living room, and for good reason, the gang seems to be really going wild tonight. Tellis went over to his dining room and set down his mountain of music. And he saw Comet in the kitchen, looking miserable. He grabbed a handful of music cases with his prosthetic and went over to her,” Hey, kid, got you a present, happy birthday, again,” Tellis set the tunes on the counter and asked, “Hey, what’s wrong, Comet? You can tell me.”

“I’m fine Tellis, just leave me alone!” Comet shouted as she ran up to her room. (Did I forget to mention that she lives with Tellis cause her mom died in a shooting a few weeks ago?)

Tellis went over to Shining and asked, “Hey, what’s wrong with Comet? I tried talking to her and she just ran off to her room.”

Shining answered Tellis, “When we tried to go get Ruby for the party, she said some pretty hateful things about Comet’s mother…”

“Oh Celestia… Tell me everything!” Tellis demanded.

“Okay, we were driving to Hanks house…” Shine said, trailing off. (It’s Flashback Time!)

Shining Sparkle drove her autobuggy down towards Hank’s house, where he kept massive quantities of party supplies he inherited from his grandma

“So hank, what do we need?” Molly asked Hank.

“Oh, the usual, streamers, balloons, confetti, more balloons, some glow sticks…” Hank listed out.

“I think this is gonna be a great party!” Comet said from the backseat.

After picking up the party supplies from Hank’s mom at the costume store she owns/lives in, they head over to the Goldenlight District to see if Ruby would want to go to the party.

“Yes? How can I help you?” answered a butler at the door to Diamondgem Estate.

“We’re here to speak with Ruby,” Shining said to the butler.

“Yeah, we wanna talk to her!” Molly called out from the air, hovering above the group.

“Right this way,” the butler led them through the estate towards Ruby’s room.

“Shoot…Ruby’s got some nice digs,” CJ said, admiring the extravagance of the hallway they walked along, marble pillars, silk curtains, huge paintings, and chandeliers everywhere.

“I’ll say, can’t wait to see what Miss More-Important-Than-You-Are’s room is like!” Molly said mockingly.

“Molly, that’s not nice! What would your grandmother say if she heard you saying such mean things?” Shining asked Molly.

“She would probably say somethin like ‘~Hey, M-Molly, you shouldn’t say things like that…’” Molly said with a perfect Fluttershy voice.

“Wow! That was really good! How long is this hallway, anyways? Are we there yet? Haven’t I seen that painting before?” Hank asked as he bounced up and down.

“We have arrived,” the butler said in an extremely dry tone.

As the gang approached the giant, eldritch door they could hear Ruby inside shouting, “Hideous! Just awful! Dreadful! Absolutely appalling! Oh, never in a million years!” She was grabbing clothes and tossing them behind her with every exclamation. Where an assistant was catching them, and she pleaded, “Miss Ruby, Please! I don’t think I can carry anymore!”

“Ahem, Madame Ruby, you have guests,” said the butler as he opened the humongous doors to her room.

“Not now, Javier! Can’t you see im- Oh, it’s you five, what could you possibly want?” the white unicorn said as she started to brush her long crimson hair in front of a mirror made out of glass from Atlantis, advanced reinforced chrome backing from Stalliongrad, and eldritch framing. In fact, there was eldritch wood all over her room, giving off a slight blue aura from it all; there was even a large eldritch chandelier with magic flames producing extra light.

For once, Molly was speechless as she looked around the room, mouth agape, Comet tried to look unimpressed, Hank was shouting about all the blue wood everywhere and CJ was commenting on how it looked like a villain’s evil lair.

Shining said to Ruby, “Tellis found an old friend, and we are throwing her a party to celebrate, and we were wondering-“

“Oh, please! Not another of your agonizing commoner ‘parties’, I’d sooner wear cotton! The other day, you guilted moi into showing up using Comet’s mother as ammunition, and now here you are, begging me to grace your poorhouse again with my presence!” Ruby said with a look of pure malice in her eye.

A teary-eyed Comet roared and launched herself at Ruby, only to be grabbed mid-air by her comrades, “YOU TAKE THAT BACK!! YOU TAKE IT BACK!! I’LL KILL YOU!! YOU’RE DEAD, YOU HEAR ME?!?! DEAD!! GRAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”

“Ruby! What has gotten into you? This, this isn’t like you at all!” a shocked Shining Sparkle said to Ruby as she signaled for security to"‘escort" them from the building.

Outside, Hank, CJ, and Molly were consoling a sobbing Comet as she sat on the steps of the estate, while Shining stood nearby, trying to piece together what just happened, “I just don’t… I mean, she just… and then…”

“Save it, Shine, let’s just get Comet home,” Molly said,”Shoulda just never came here…” she whispered to herself angrily while rubbing a hoof on Comets back in an attempt to comfort her.

They boarded Shine’s Troterim 6SX Autobuggy and drove off towards Tellis’s house. They didn’t say anything the whole way there.