“So why are we in Canterlot again Twilight?” Spike asked
“Because Spike, Princess Celestia told us she wanted us to do a favor for Princess Luna” Twilight responded
Twilight and Spike continued their way to the royal palace in Canterlot, some of the guards greeted her, and they made their way to Princess Celestia,
“Ah Twilight Sparkle you have arrived.” Princess Celestia said
“Yes Princess Celestia, you said you wanted a favor from us?” Twilight asked cheerfully
“Yes my sister has asked if you could deliver these books to her top researcher in Ponyville” Celestia said as the guards brought a whole mountain of books
Twilight stared in awe, “Those are a lot of books…”
“I hope it won’t be too much trouble Twilight?” Celestia asked
Twilight shook her head, “Not at all Princess, you can count on me”
“Twilight…how are we going to bring all those books back to Ponyville with us?” Spike asked her in a shushed tone
“Don’t worry, we’ll just ask the girls for help” Twilight said cheerfully
After two hours Twilight managed to get her friends; Rarity, Rainbow Dash, AppleJack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy, to help her bring the mountain of books to Ponyville. They stopped in the middle of Ponyville to take a quick rest,
“So tell us Twilight, where is this pony who reads as much as you?” asked Rarity
“Well, according to Princess Luna, we are supposed to ask his friend Blissful Melody.”Twilight said
“Well whoever he is, this pony sure has a lot of time on his hooves” AppleJack said
“Well where in Equestria are we supposed to find his friend?” asked Rarity
“Easy, I’ll fly up and find her!” Rainbow Dash said as she flew up
“Oh but Rainbow Dash…we don’t know how Blissful Melody looks like” Fluttershy told her
“Silly Fluttershy,” Pinkie Pie said as she patted Fluttershy’s head “I know everypony in Ponyville, so I most definitely know how she looks like.”
“Well…where is she Pinkie?” asked Rainbow Dash
“Oh! Right, follow me!” Pinkie said as she pulled her wagon full of books
They all followed Pinkie to the park, where she stopped and started looking around,
“Oh! There she is!” Pinkie said as she pointed to a pony comparing two records; she was unicorn with a magenta color coat, she had a white mane and her tail was the same color as her mane, she had small round sunglasses that were edging her nose, her mouth was a light white color and her cutie mark was a CD with a musical note on top of it.
Twilight and the others made their way to her,
“Excuse me, Blissful Melody?” Twilight asked
“Just a second darling,” Blissful said as she put her records down “Yes, how can I help you?”
“Oh well I’m Twilight Sparkle and these are my friends: Rarity, AppleJack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie.”Twilight told her
“Oh! The very same ponies who saved all of Equestria twice correct?” Blissful asked
“Yes, well we wondering if you could take us to the house of your friend Lock Hoof, as you can see we have a big delivery for him.” Twilight said as she pointed at the wagons full of books
“Oh yes follow me darling” Blissful said as she put away her records
They began making their way to the center of Ponyville when suddenly,
“Whoa! Get out of the way Blissful Melody!”
Blissful jumped back and saw her friend crash into a house,
“Now just what do you think you’re doing Wind Howl? You could hurt somepony like that!” Blissful yelled at Wind Howl
Wind popped out of the house apologizing to the angry owners, “Sorry Blissful, but me and the others are playing good old capture the flag.” Wind told her
Twilight and her friends looked at Wind Howl; he was a tall pegasus with a spiked-back green mane and a spiked down green tail, his coat was a very light brown and his cutie mark was a tornado,
“Well, where are the others, we could use their help with something” Blissful asked
Wind pulled out a flag, “Well since I have the flag they should-“
Before he could finish his sentence Wind Howl was tackled by two other ponies, suddenly all three of them were wrestling on the ground for the flag, Twilight and her friends looked at them wrestling. Blissful shook her head and used her magic to immediately separate them.
“Hey! Act like well behaved ponies and present yourselves, you three can be rude sometimes!” Blissful said scornfully
Wind looked at Twilight and the others and smiled, “I’m Wind Howl; if you got a good sense of humor you’re good in my book.”
“I’m Stone Burst, a pleasure to meet you.” Stone Burst said in a calm voice
“I’m Jack Strike.” Jack said in a very serious tone
Twilight looked at the two new ponies; the one named Stone Burst was also a pegasus like Wind Howl but he was a little bit shorter than him, his coat was grey and he had a slick light brown mane and tail. The one named Jack Strike was an earth pony and taller than Wind Howl, his coat was black and his mane and tail were both black and white, and his cutie mark was two swords crossing, Twilight shivered a little at Jack Strike: he looked menacing, she shook her head and got back into focus,
“Well I’m Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight said “And these are my friends, Rainbow Dash, AppleJack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy.”
“Hey!”
“Howdy”
“Oh…uh…hello”
“Pleasure to meet you”
“Oh! Oh! Hooray, new friends to make yay!”
“Well now that we’ve introduced ourselves, be gentleponies and take over for them, they must be awfully tired” Blissful told Wind Howl and the others
Wind Howl nodded and took the wagon from Rainbow Dash, Stone Burst took the wagon from Fluttershy, and Jack took the wagon from Rarity because she kept on asking him to.
“So where are we headed to Blissful?” Stone Burst asked as they continued their way
“ We are headed to Lock Hoof’s house” Blissful said
“Right…only he would read this much…” Wind Howl said as he pulled his wagon
“Actually Twilight probably reads this much!” Pinkie Pie said cheerfully
“Impossible, I only know one pony who reads that much and it’s Lock, and that isn’t saying much.” Jack said coldly
“Ya know hun; you gotta smile from time to time.” AppleJack told Jack, Jack looked at her then looked forward again
“Well, Twilight probably reads more than this in a week.” Rainbow Dash said
Wind Howl looked at her, “Are you being serious?”
“She is just exaggerating Wind Howl; I’ve read many books but certainly not finish them in a week.” Twilight said
They continued walking for a couple of minutes when Blissful Melody stopped,
“There it is; Lock Hoof’s house” Blissful said pointing at a strange grey house with mechanical components sticking out from different sides, and huge gears rotating in the back.
“Wow! This is his house?!” Rainbow Dash asked in amazement
“Yes, I swear his research makes him do the strangest things.” Blissful said
They made their way to the front door and knocked, an earth pony came out; he was a stallion with a light purple coat, his mane and tail were both a silver and light blue color and his mane was a bit slick yet combed to the right, he wore some rectangular black glasses and his cutie mark was book with a key hole right in the middle, he was covered in ashes
“Yes?” He asked as he coughed for a bit
“Lock Hoof, what in the name of Celestia happened to you?” Blissful asked as she looked at him
“Oh, just a little explosion, I’ll explain the details inside please all of you come in.” Lock said
“What about the books?” Stone Burst asked Lock
“Oh yes that’s right!” Lock said as he hurried over to the wagons and got as many books possible.
After forty minutes, everypony managed to place all the books inside Lock’s house, he started going through some of them to see what new books Princess Luna had sent him. Twilight went up to him,
“Do you really read all of these books?” Twilight asked in awe
“Yeah, when I’m not hurting myself with research I read through these books.” He said smiling
“Lock, you never did tell us why you’re covered in ashes.” Blissful told him
“Oh, just some experiment I was working on, trying to perform magic without a horn.”Lock Hoof explained as he got a very big book
“You can do that?” Rarity asked him
Lock wiped the ashes off, “No, all it does is create small explosions, as you can see I lack the most important thing to perform magic.”
“A horn, right Lock?” Twilight told him
“Yep it seems that is the only way to perform magic, that’s why I got all of these” Lock said as he pointed at the books
“If you want, I can help you with some of these books” Twilight offered cheerfully
Lock nodded and they both grabbed some books and began reading, meanwhile, AppleJack began talking to Jack,
“Alright, I’m going to help you out here Jack” AppleJack told him
“What are talking about?” Jack asked her
AppleJack poked him, “You gotta smile you’re sourer than a sour apple.”
“I don’t need to-“Jack began to say when AppleJack gave him a judging look
Jack sighed and put on his best smile, AppleJack blinked and began laughing,
“Oh shucks, come on you can do better than that!” AppleJack said, “Like this!”
AppleJack put on a big smile and Jack was taken aback, he cleared his throat and smiled again. AppleJack shook her head and began helping him. Stone Burst walked over to Fluttershy,
“Excuse me Miss Fluttershy; I’ve heard you’re very good when it comes to animals.” Stone Burst told her
“Oh, oh yes I love every kind of animal” Fluttershy said in a nervous yet happy tone
“Could…could you maybe tell me all about them and how you take care of them?” Stone Burst asked nervously
“Oh yes I’d be so glad to tell you about all the different kinds of woodland creatures!” Fluttershy said excitedly
Wind Howl went up to Rainbow Dash as Blissful talked with Rarity and Pinkie Pie,
“So…I heard you’re the fastest flier In Ponyville” Wind Howl told her
“Ha ha you heard right! No one is faster than me, except for maybe the Wonderbolts” Rainbow Dash said happily
“Ha ha! I challenge you to prove that” Wind Howl said as he flew up
“Oh you’re on Wind Howl!” Rainbow Dash said as she flew up
“First one around the room wins!” Wind said
Rainbow Dash and Wind Howl began racing around the room at top speed, Lock looked up and got nervous,
“I don’t think you two should do that in-“He began to say
Suddenly Wind steered of course and hit Lock’s machine, Rainbow Dash and Wind Howl looked at the machine as it began shaking violently, Lock ran up the machine as everypony took cover behind his books. The machine released another explosion and Lock got covered in ashes again. The machine shut off as soon as the explosion was over,
“Well that was going to happen eventually…” Lock said as he shook off the ashes
“Oops ha ha…”Wind Howl said nervously
“Nice going Wind ha! Ha!” Rainbow Dash said as she laughed
“Here, let me help you clean up” Twilight said
“Oh you don’t have to, I can do it…” Lock said surprised
“Don’t worry its fine.”
Everypony pitched in putting things back in their original place. Pinkie Pie was picking up some books when she came across a picture,
“Ooh! What’s this Lock?” Pinkie asked as she held up the picture
Lock and the others went up to Pinkie; he looked at the picture, it was a picture of him smiling widely in front of a desk with assorted papers and books,
“Oh that’s when I completed my first research for Princess Luna, as a commemoration she gave me my prized research notebook.”Lock told them as he pointed at his notebook, which had a strange keyhole in the middle; just like his cutie mark,
“Now that I look around, Lock you don’t have pictures of your parents.” Blissful pointed out
Lock Hoof sighed, “I don’t know who my parents are.”
Everypony in the whole room gasped and stared at Lock Hoof, Blissful looked at him,
“Why did you never tell us?” Blissful asked
“Like we care…” Jack said
Stone Burst smacked Jack and told him to shush; Lock took a deep breath and looked at all of them,
“Princess Celestia told me she found me all by myself when I was barely a small colt, since then I lived in Canterlot in the royal castle for some time.” Lock explained
Pinkie Pie was looking at the picture, Twilight looked at her,
“Pinkie, what are you doing?” Twilight asked
“There’s writing in the back of the picture!” Pinkie finally said
Lock rushed over and took the picture, he flipped it and sure enough there was writing, Lock Hoof read it out loud,
“Dear Lock, if you are reading this then it means either you found this writing by analyzing the picture or because you simply dropped it,” Lock looked at Wind Howl and Rainbow Dash, they chuckled nervously, “Well, I just wanted to inform you that we found a picture where we believe it’s you and your brother, I hope this helps you in locating your family, signed Princess Celestia.”
Lock quickly inspected the picture as everypony watched; he immediately saw a piece where it looked like it could be taken apart, he cautiously took the pictures apart and looked at the second picture.
“Well? Show us!” Rainbow Dash said
Lock placed the picture in the middle and everypony gathered around it; it was a picture of Lock as a small colt next to a white pony with a blue mane that looked like Lock Hoof’s mane, the pony looked elegant. Lock was shocked at what he just came across, Blissful cleared her throat,
“Well we have to find this pony; after all you might find your family.”
Rarity took a closer look at the picture, “This pony looks awfully familiar.”
Everypony looked at her, “What do you mean Rarity?” Spike asked
“I mean he looks familiar, but I can’t quite put my hoof on it…” Rarity said
Lock stared at her, waiting for her to remember. Suddenly Rarity gasped and ran out of the house, Lock and the others looked at each other. After a few minutes Rarity came back through the door with a scrapbook floating in front of her, Lock looked at her as she placed it down on his table and started flipping the pages. Twilight and Rainbow Dash got behind her and everypony followed them, Rarity quickly took Lock Hoof’s picture and placed it next to her.
“I knew it!” Rarity finally said
“You knew what?” AppleJack asked
“That’s Fancy Pants!” Rarity exclaimed
“Fancy…Pants?” Lock asked
“Are you sure Rarity?” Twilight asked
“Of course I’m sure; this is most definitely Fancy Pants!” Rarity said
“So that means… Lock is related to Fancy Pants?” Fluttershy asked nervously
Before anypony could say anything, Lock was up and about getting his bag pack and putting in some books including his notebook. He went up to Rarity,
“I need to borrow that picture to look for him.” Lock told her
Rarity blinked and gave him the picture, Lock took the picture and took his picture and ran out the door.
“Hey! Wait for us Lock!” Wind Howl yelled as he flew after him
Stone Burst flew after Wind Howl; Jack sighed and ran after them. Blissful looked at Twilight and the others,
“I’m dreadfully sorry, but I have to go after them.” Blissful said as she ran after them
“Should we go with them?” asked Rainbow Dash
“No it’s alright; I think Lock wants to do this with his friends.” Twilight said
Lock and his friends quickly made their way to Canterlot; as soon as they arrived they huddled up to discuss the way they would look for his family,
“Okay so first things first, we have to locate Fancy Pants.” Lock said
“So we all separate and look for him right?” Wind Howl asked
“I don’t think so, judging by his picture, Fancy Pants looks pretty well known.” Stone Burst said
“So basically all we have to do is ask somepony where he is.” Jack said
Jack went up to a passerby and held him up,” You! Tell me the location of Fancy Pants!” Jack demanded in an angry tone
The passerby looked around nervously and ran away scared, Jack shook his head and was about to confront another pony when Blissful stopped him in his tracks with her magic.
“Jack that is no way to address any of these formal ponies, you’ll scare them all off.” Blissful told him scornfully
Blissful went up to a group of fancy ponies conversing, “Excuse me, might you nice ponies know the location of a Mr. Fancy Pants? “
“Why yes, I believe he is to be over there.” One of the responded in a gruff voice
“Thank you my good sir, good day to you.” Blissful said cheerfully
Lock, Jack, Wind Howl and Stone Burst stared at Blissful with their mouths open,
“Oh come now, I can’t believe that surprised you, now come let’s go meet Lock’s brother.” Blissful laughing
Lock followed her, Stone Burst and Wind Howl shook back into focus and followed, then Jack let out a deep sigh and followed shortly after. They made their way to a fancy tea shop, Blissful held out the picture with her magic and they all started looking around the tea shop, suddenly Jack spotted him and pointed,
“There he is.” Jack said
Lock looked at where Jack was pointing and saw Fancy Pants, he was white a stallion, he wore a very fancy tuxedo, a golden monocle, he had an amazing blue mane, he was a unicorn, and he had a fancy mustache to boot. Lock was staring at him; Blissful rolled her eyes and shoved him a little he shook his head and went up to him,
“Um, excuse me, Fancy Pants?” Lock asked
Fancy Pants turned to look at him smiling, “Why yes that is me, can I help you?”
“Well I just wanted to ask you, if you recognize this picture.” Lock said as he pulled out the picture of him and Fancy Pants
Fancy Pants fixed his monocle and took a closer look at the picture, Lock and the others stared as he kept staring at the picture, Fancy looked up,
“Why yes this is me when I was a young colt.” Fancy told Lock
“Well, the smaller colt next to you is me; I’m your brother apparently.” Lock said
Fancy fixed his monocle, “Brother you say, well my dear fellow, let us go show this picture to my dear Father and Mother and see if this is true.” Fancy Pants said happily
Lock smiled, he pulled out the greatest smiled he had ever used, Fancy Pants got up and beckoned his companion to follow him, she quickly introduced herself as Fleur De Lis. Blissful and the others followed Lock,
“You’re excited aren’t you Lock?” Blissful asked
“Yes… where did the others go?”Lock asked
Blissful and Lock looked back; Jack, Stone Burst and Wind Howl were walking in a daydream stance. Lock looked at them,
“What’s up with you three?” Lock asked
“Man, Rainbow Dash is so daring and adventurous, her rainbow mane is awesome!” Wind Howl said
Blissful and Lock looked at each other,
“No no, Fluttershy, she is beautiful and graceful…”Stone Burst said as he drifted off
Lock looked surprised at Jack because he was in a trance too,
“You are both fools, AppleJack is the right one, she’s strong and honest…” Jack said
“Are you three okay?” Lock asked
“Yes, but come on Lock Hoof we know you like Twilight Sparkle, she basically loves to do what you like to do, from reading to being a know-it-all.” Jack said now in a serious tone
“I don’t know what you’re-“Lock began saying nervously
“Lock, we know you like Twilight” Wind Howl said
“Look I-“
“Yeah…it was pretty obvious.” Stone Burst said drifting off
“You know darling they are right, you did show some big affection for her, not through words, but body language.” Blissful said
“I seriously-“
“Ah here we are” Fancy Pants finally said
They all looked up at a large manor like house, Fancy Pants knocked at the gate and the doors opened,
“Yes?” asked an old looking butler
“I’m here to see my Father and Mother, I have also brought guests.” Fancy Pants said
“Yes sir, right this way.” The butler said
Lock looked around the house was big and beautiful; Blissful was dragging the others with her magic, since they were still in their trances. They reached what looked like a big living room; Fancy went up and greeted his parents,
“Ah Mother, Father I’d like you to meet this fellow named Lock Hoof he says he may be my brother, care to help us see if this is true?” Fancy Pants asked
Fancy Pant’s father was a unicorn with a light grey coat and an emerald mane and tail, he was wearing a monocle just like Fancy Pants, a dashing black tuxedo and he had the same mustache as Fancy Pants. His mother was a beautiful mare who was also a unicorn, her coat a beautiful sky blue and her mane and tail were an amazing ruby red color, she was wearing a beautiful lime green dress.
Fancy’s parents looked at each other as Lock Hoof went up with the picture, “Here, please tell me if you recognize this picture.”
“My…this is…” Fancy’s mother said
Suddenly she began crying and hugged Lock, everypony gasped and stared,
“I thought we would never see you again my dear Lock!” she said through tears
Lock was taken aback; he did not expect such a quick response. He hugged her tightly; he had found the family he did not think he had,
“Well I believe that settles it, let me properly introduce myself; I am Fancy Pants your older brother.” Fancy Pants said in his fancy tone
“Well we must catch up over a cup of tea my dear!” Lock’s mom said
“Yes of course!” Lock said happily
“Well come, we shall also celebrate your arrival Lock,” Lock’s father said “I trust your friends will join us?”
Blissful shook her head, “Oh no thank you, Lock just found you so we wouldn’t like to intrude.”
“Oh but I must insist.” Lock’s dad said
“No it’s quite alright, besides, I have to bring those three back to their- HEY! GET BACK HERE!” Blissful yelled as Jack, Wind Howl and Stone Burst left through the front door.
Blissful chased after them, Lock and his new-found family sat down and began drinking tea as Lock explained how he was doing from living in Ponyville to being Princess Luna’s top researcher.
“This is great…I finally meet my parents and my brother.” Lock finally said
“Yes my dear brother, I say when we are done here I must simply take you around Canterlot and bring you to some of our fanciest parties.” Fancy said
“I do have question; if I am indeed your brother as we now just clarified…why didn’t you recognize me?” Lock asked Fancy Pants
“Well I believe it has to do with the time when I was small and I hit myself quite hard on the head, it caused my memory of some things to become a bit of a blur!”
“Oh ouch…that’s gotta suck.” Lock told him
“Yes it does but at least we found you my dear brother; I say a party is actually going to occur later on today, you must join us!” Fancy Pants told him with a smile
Lock was about to answer when Blissful burst in,
“Sorry for interrupting Lock, but I need your help.” Blissful said huffing
“What’s wrong Blissful?” Lock Hoof asked
“It’s Stone Burst and the others, they’re so love struck they are going to go basically invade Fluttershy, AppleJack and Rainbow Dash’s houses.”
Lock looked at his family and they smiled and told him to go, Fancy Pants patted his shoulder,
“Alright, I will see all of you tomorrow!” he yelled as he ran after Blissful
“They better not get me in bad terms with Twilight Sparkle.” Lock said as they made their way to Ponyville
“So you DO like her.” Blissful said laughing
“No…I mean... ” Lock said nervously
Blissful laughed as they continued chasing Wind Howl, Jack and Stone Burst.
FIN
