Rum Raisin Brandy

Chapter 8

"ATTENTION! ATTENTION EVERYPONY!" Pinkie Pie banged two pans together loudly, much to the annoyance of her guests. She began to speak again once they were silent. "This is a very, very special party, because tonight, we're welcoming two new ponies to Ponyville at once!"

"We know! You told us in the invites!"

"Nevertheless!" Pinkie held up her hoof dramatically. "I would like to introduce everypony to Midi Waffle and Crescendo Wolfang!"

Crescendo smiled sheepishly and looked from pony to pony. Midi looked around too, not smiling, and not looking at ponies; he was trying to find a line of sight outside so he could teleport away.

The two were met with mixed greetings of varying tones and enthusiasm before the party resumed its normal cacophony of ponies enjoying themselves.

"Well, that wasn't so bad," said Crescendo, then noticed Midi was trembling, "Hey, you OK, hun?"

"Huh?" Midi looked at his pegasus friend. "Oh, uh, yeah. It's just..." He blushed brightly. "Derpy is standing. Right. There." He nodded in the direction of the gray mare.

"So, go introduce yourself to her!" Crescendo nudged the unicorn with an elbow.

Midi laughed dryly. "You're confusing me for somepony with guts."

Crescendo grinned. "Dude, you took on how many diamond dogs today?"

"You can't solve something like this with magic!" Midi retorted, "I can't just rush in blowing everything to bits! This takes subtlety, care, and a working knowledge of mares that I do not possess."

Crescendo chuckled. "Fine, be that way. Imma go schmooze. Nothing can stop the schmooze!"

Midi sighed and began to pace around aimlessly, looking for a relatively empty place near a wall to stand. Parties always left him so uncomfortable that he'd look for any way to avoid attention or escape. Knowing Pinkie would give him heck if he tried to run or warp out of there, he elected to try the latter tactic and make himself as inconspicuous as possible.

Crescendo, on the other hoof, had plans for his best friend. Midi brought me to Equestria all on his own. I'd be sick with myself if I didn't do something for him. He found Rainbow Dash and trotted up to her. "Hey, Dash!"

"Oh, Crescendo! How're you doing? I heard you're working for Applejack." The full-spectrum mare met her fellow pegasus with a smile.

"Yeah, and it's not as hard as you'd think." Crescendo giggled slightly. "Say, you wouldn't happen to know that gray mare with the blond mane and yellow eyes, would you?"

Dash looked at Derpy and raised an eyebrow. "You mean Derpy Hooves? Sure, why? Did she smash your mailbox trying to feed it a letter, or something?"

"Nah, I'm just curious." The stallion grinned. "Actually, I know somepony who happens to have just the tiniest crush on her."

Dash looked at Midi who was glancing nervously at the wall-eyed pegasus. Her lip quivered, and she sputtered before bursting into laughter. "S-seriously?! Oh, that is too rich!"

"What's going on you two?" Twilight asked as she and Rarity joined them.

Rainbow grinned. "That new guy, Midi, has a crush on Darjeeling Holmes!"

The other ponies blinked in surprise at Rainbow's sudden slur.

Pinkie popped up beside her. "Who's Darjeeling Holmes?! We have a third new pony?!"

Rainbow shook her head. "Sorry, no, I just got a little tongue-tied for some reason. I was saying, Mighty has... no, Midi has a squash. OK, what the hat is going on with my month?"

On the other side of the room, Midi was casting hidden spells to keep Rainbow Dash from revealing his crush. It didn't take magic for him to catch on to what Rainbow was about to say when she finished laughing.

"Rainbow, you shouldn't try to announce somepony's feelings to the world. You could end up hurting them." Twilight was speaking from experience; it was her fault Spike's secret affections were revealed at the wrong time.

"Twilight is right, darling," Rarity added, "Besides, one must never interfere with another's romance. The two should be allowed to meet each other on their own terms if love is to flourish!" The white unicorn leaned in closer to Crescendo. "Of course, I'd still love to hear all the details!"

Crescendo rolled his eyes. "Only if you four promise to keep it a secret."

Dash, Pinkie, Twilight and Rarity all agreed.

Cres motioned them to come closer so he could say it softly. "Midi's into De--" He was cut off by the sound of roaring outside.

"Hold that thought!" Twilight shouted over the noise as ponies began pouring out of the bakery, fleeing for their lives.

Outside, rampaging through the town, was an enraged wyvern. The beast threw kiosks and knocked over stalls as it barreled through the marketplace, shooting balls of fire on anything burnable.

Midi and Crescendo ran into the street to observe the monster. It locked its eyes on them and ran its dripping tongue over its lips.

The unicorn began charging his magic, and then stood up on his hind legs, conjuring an acorn bomb in his hoof. "You ready for this, Crescendo?"

"Can we even take that thing on?!" the pegasus shouted.

The orange wyvern flapped his wings and began his charge at this new bold prey before him.

"We're about to find out!" Midi lunged forward and threw his bomb. The acorn landed just in front of the beast and burst into an explosion of flame and smoke.

The wyvern stumbled a bit, but was unfazed, quickly resuming his charge.

"Shoot," said the dumbfounded unicorn, "That usually works better."

"Well then," Crescendo said as he stepped forward, "Time to see what I can do." He took in a deep breath, lowered his voice, and shouted. "FUS ROH DAH!"

The subsonic echo rent the ground as it blasted down the street, knocking the attacker off his claws and sending him rolling backwards on the dirt road. The wyvern kicked its legs in the air, struggling to upright itself.

Midi teleported onto a roof and threw another bomb, this one exploding into lightning. The result was better this time; the electricity coursed through the wyvern's body, forcing it to spaz out and thrash on the ground.

Crescendo charged forward and took flight, his own body crackling with static electricity. He tackled the beast, knocking the wind out of it.

The wyvern roared in anger, and was silenced by the pegasus bucking it in the face.

Both ponies were about to finish the beast and celebrate their victory when a second, more high-pitched roar heralded the arrival of a dark red, more slender wyvern.

"Oh crap," Midi spat, "Of course he just had to have a mate..."