The Party

As I followed after Rainbow Dash, I gazed around at our surroundings, memorizing the way to this bakery. Now, I know I was a little wary about following this mare anywhere, but then I thought about it a little, and I'm fairly confident they won't do anything to me. Their Earth ponies could never catch me, Pegasi are easily breakable, and unicorns...

There isn't a lot a unicorn can do against a Grey-feather.

So with this in mind, I may as well see what this bakery sells, or why she was so adamant about leading me there. She looks back at me, an eyebrow raised.

"So, you're Gilda's cousin?" she asks.

"Yes. Her only cousin." she seems somewhat taken aback by this,

"Really? You guys must have a small family."

"Well, for the last century, our family has given the army it's best krigare, or warriors, in your language. I'm not sure if you Equestrians understand this, being a peaceful people, but warriors don't live long." She nods, then perks her head up.

"We're here!" she announces with a cocky grin. I take in the building before me, somewhat at a loss for words. The place looks like a gingerbread house! Well, I hope it's the bakery. It'd be awkward if I walked in and it was a bookstore or something like that.

"The bakery, right?" I ask. Rainbow gives me a flat expression.

"Yes, the bakery." she looks like she wants to say something else, but smartly chooses not to. Is she always like this? She pushes open the door and walks inside. I follow suit, entering the sweet smelling bakery. A banner was hung from the ceiling that read,

"Welcome to Ponyville!"

The many ponies inside stopped what they were doing say, "Welcome to Ponyville, Adrian!" and a warmth spreads through my chest. I see my grandfather towards the back, sitting at a table, giving me a similar smile. On his knee sat a small, orange Pegasus filly with a fuschia mane, looking at me with a mix of curiosity and excitement.

"Ah, sonson, fancy meeting you here." He gives a chuckle, and the little filly on his knee looks up at him, "I let the Rosa kvinna that a big surprise wasn't a good idea for a party, even if hospital visits are free."

"Is that Adrian, Ivan?" she asks. She sounded like a tomboy... actually pretty much like a young Rainbow Dash. He nods, and I speak up.

"You must be the lilla Farfar adopted." I sit down across from them, holding my paw out to the little Pegasus. "I'm Adrian."

She grabs my paw with one small hand. "I'm Scootaloo!" Ponies have such weird names. Of course, I don't voice this opinion, rather choosing to smile and nod. "Ivan told me you were a... krigare like him." she has a bit of trouble pronouncing the foreign word, which was honestly adorable.

"I was until a couple days ago. I'd rather not talk about it, though. I'm not a Blacktalon like farfa- err, grandfather." I say, hoping she would drop it there. She tilts her head at me.

"What were you then?" she asks. Some of the ponies around us try to seem casual, but were no doubt listening in.

"We'll discuss that when we get home, lilla." Grandfather tells her, ruffling her mane with one of his powerful claws. She huffs,

"Fine... Can I go play with my friends, Ivan?" she asks hopefully. He nods again with a smile she returns and hops down, running off with a laugh. I can see why Ivan adopted the little one.

"Excuse me?" A mare speaks up next to me. (There's so many mares here! Freaky!) I turn my head to face the speaker. A lavender mare with both a horn and wings stood before me, her mane divided by a hot pink stripe and an arrangement of sparkles on her flank. She seemed like the scholarly, intelligent type. Her violet eyes held mine as I answered.

"May I help you?"

"I wanted to talk to you, actually. My name's Twilight Sparkle." I reach out my paw, which she shakes, and scoot over to make room for her. Any woman brave enough to approach two battle scarred krigare without blinking deserves respect. She sits down next to me.

"I've heard a lot about you from your grandfather, Adrian, and I'm glad I can talk to you in person. First, I want to say that while you're here in Ponyville, you shouldn't have to worry about any fighting." she said, and Ivan nods again. I was actually worried about that.

"I would also like to ask you... what exactly does a Greyfeather do?" I should've known. Might as well get this over with.

"We're the best soldiers to fight against magical foes. We're capable of deflecting and even cancelling active magic and spells." I say quickly, then turn to grandfather. "Could you grab me a cupcake or something, Farfar?"

"Sure, fågelunge." He chuckles as he gets up. I finally turn and meet Twilight's gaze again, and her eyes were almost as wide as her smile.

"I've never heard of that! How is that possible? Can I see?" she asks, a spark in her eye. I just roll my eyes.

"Levitate something." her horn starts glowing purple, and the table starts to rise, enveloped in a purple aura. I reach out and touch the table, dissipating the field and causing the table to fall back to the ground. Her eyes widen in fascination before her smile returns.

*squee*

"By Hresvelgr, what was that?!" I exclaim, startled. The noise came from nowhere! Ponies start to stare at me in confusion, and Twilight's doing her best not to laugh.

"It's a sound we make when we're really excited, or happy." she explains. Ivan returns to the table, carrying two cupcakes and a glass of punch.

"Trust me fågelunge, it confused me too." Twilight looks to me, a very light blush tinting her cheeks.

"Sorry. But how did you do that?" she continues questioning me. A painful flashback to my induction as a Greyfeather caused me to shiver involuntarily.

"I'll answer all questions later. If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not talk about that right now." I say, taking a bite of my cupcake. My eyes widen at the sheer sugar content, and slowly put it back on the table. Ivan cackles loudly at this, and Twilight giggles.

"Twilight, where's the Pink One?" Grandfather asks, looking around with a raised eyebrow. Twilight sighs.

"Her name's Pinkie Pie, and she's taking care of the cake twins right now." she answers. Huh, twins must be a pain.

"Ah." is all he answers with.

"Jag är glad att jag inte behöver ta hand om barnen än." I comment, and Grandfather chuckles.

"Räkna inte dina kycklingar innan de kläcks, fågelunge." he replies, and I chuckle with him.

"Ni två inser jag kan förstå dig, eller hur?" Twilight suddenly speaks up.* Both my eyebrows shoot up at this.

"You speak Griffon?" I ask, astonished. Grandfather looks impressed as well, his eyes wide as he idly scratches one of his many scars.

"Yep! I've been able to for a while!" Well, color me impressed!

Thankfully, the rest of the party went by without incident.

Author's Note

*Translations
Adrian: "I'm glad I don't have to take care of children yet."
Ivan: "Don't count your chicks before they hatch, nestling."
Twilight: "You two do realize I can understand you, right?"