A Hardened Warrior

Chapter 4 - Questions and a Party

Twilight hadn’t stopped thinking about Roderick ever since she met him. ‘What if he was dangerous? What if he hurt somepony?’ Those thoughts rang through her head non-stop. She had a nagging fear that no matter what she did, she couldn’t get rid of. ’I suppose I’ll just get Pinkie to throw him a welcoming party...’ She plopped onto her bed, curling up in the sheets.

“Good night Spike.”

“G’night Twilight.”

Twilight hesitantly went to Sugar Cube Corner, but went nonetheless to speak to Pinkie about getting the party arranged.

“Hiya Twilight! Whatcha need?” Pinkie called from behind the counter.

“Well, I was wondering if you’ll be throwing a party for Roderick.”

“I would but... he didn’t seem like the partying type, that and I have no clue what kind of parties he likes.” Pinkie’s hair was becoming flat somewhat slowly.

“Well... why not just ask him? I’m sure he could tell us his style of partying.”

“Great idea!” Pinkie became her normal party self once again, and they set off to meet with Roderick to question him.

Pinkie was rambling on and on about what she could do for the party, wondering if he liked drinking, or dancing, or something else. Twilight was starting to regret going to her in the first place, instead of asking Pinkie to go by herself. But she couldn’t leave Pinkie alone with that thing, not until her fears subside.

Roderick was busy running into the trees, an equivalent force of AJ’s bucks, to knock down the apples from their limbs. He was starting to feel a lot of pain in his shoulder. But he was happy to help and repay his debt to the Apple family. He finally stopped when he noticed the unicorn and pony standing behind him with confused and shocked faces. He turned around to address them.

“Is there something wrong?” He was unsure if this was a serious matter or not.

“Actually, we were wondering what you would describe as a party.” Twilight spoke up first.

“Ah, normally I would go with many of my brothers down to the barracks to drink and eat, a banquet of sorts.” He looked like he was having nostalgic memories, before remembering he would never return, and in turn received a look of sorrow.

“Right... well, Pinkie and I were going to introduce you to the rest of the town, so they won’t run away like every OTHER time something new comes to town.” Rolling her eyes as she put emphasis on her words. “Er... Pinkie, you’re being awfully quiet...” Pinkie had a distant look in her eyes. “Are you alright? Pinkie?” She began waving her hoof in front of her face, until Roderick came up and poked her lightly in the middle of her forehead.

“Wha- huh? Sorry, I guess I dozed off for a minute there.” She replied, giving a sheepish grin and a small chuckle.

“Well, why not start giving out invitations? I’m sure Roderick here would like to at least know some other ponies besides us. He doesn’t have many friends left anymore.”

“You’re right! bye Mr. Knight! Bye Twilight!” Was all they understood before she started rambling and firing off words while dashing back to Sugar Cube Corner.

“So... Roderick, would you mind if I asked you a few questions about your life?”

“Of course not... but how does your friend do that? It’s... not natural.” He lifted up the buckets of apples to pile in the cart and began pushing said cart to the apple cellar.

“It’s Pinkie, nothing she does is normal, for the most part.” Walking along side Roderick.

“Well, you may begin asking me questions, or will you be recording them as well?”

“Oh right, would you mind stopping by later then? At the library?”

“I don’t know where that is, would you mind giving me a description? Brick, stone, wood?”

“I completely forgot, it’s a tree, in the middle of town. I’ll be getting my stuff ready.”

’A tree... odd... I’m beginning to question my own sanity.’ After he dropped off the apples, he stopped inside to tell Applejack he would be back later.

“Where is this damnable tree? I’ve been looking for an hour.” He was starting to lose his patience, as was Twilight waiting for him. She had seen him pass by twice, and was starting to wonder if he even knew it. “I swear-” he cut himself off when he turned around and spotted the lavender unicorn standing right by the tree he had just passed with an annoyed look. “Hello, I can’t seem to find this tree you spoke of.” She only face-hoofed before walking in, leaving a bewildered knight standing in the middle of the road, empty since he arrived in town.

She came back out one more time before asking “Are you coming or not?”

“Oh, sorry, right away.” He replied with a self-conscious chuckle before following the mare in, and ducking under the short entrance. After sitting down and getting comfortable, he started with a few questions of his own. “So, what is it you wish to know? Origin? Country? Politics?”

“First, your country, what was it called?”

“Ecclesia, E-C-C-L-E-S-I-A.” She scribbled it onto a paper.

“Who rules over it?”

“Dimitri the third, he’s the patriarch.” More scribbling.

This carried on for about 3 hours, she was asking about geography, history, myths, and other things, even to the point of everyday life. They were both getting tired, her from magical exhaustion, and him from a day of working on the farm. The sun was starting to set, and he returned to the barn by the time the moon had come out. He passed out on a bale of hay, laying on top of a pitchfork too.

He woke up shortly after the sun rose, finding three long, thick lines in his abdomen from sleeping on top of the pitchfork. He set about doing his new daily routine; knock down apples, stack them up, deposit, repeat. It was when AJ asked him to come to town that he became suspicious of the party. He follow warily, expecting others to jump out yelling surprise along the way, but it never happened. Until they reached their destination, Sugar Cube Corner. He saw the subtle movements of the ponies hiding in the darkness, and let a small grin come to his face. They walked in, Roderick not flinching when they yelled out “surprise!” while a smile crept onto his face.

After the party had finished, he remembered a few names; Lyra, who was strangely obsessed with his hands, Bonbon, Lyra’s roommate, Carrot Top, Ditzy Doo was a very interesting one, Vinyl Scratch, and Octavia were the ones who stood out amongst them. Each one of them asked about the same questions; “what was your home like? How’d you get here? What kind of music do you listen to?” One of them stuck out in particular... “Do you like muffins?” That made Roderick burst out laughing. They had all gone home to sleep, save one. One, who hadn’t been at the party, followed him from afar.

A stalker! *GASP*