Detour While Delivering Binks' Sake

Chapters

Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven

Chapter One

A yellow pegasus’s steps carried her deeply through the dark atmosphere of the everfree, each step careful and hesitant. Once again her mind danced over the constant urge of running out of the forest and back to the safety of her small cottage. Yet, much like the last time the idea had crossed her mind, she forced herself onward. The reason for her sudden trip to the dark woods was simple enough and it was tied closely to the set of signs she carried on her back. A few animals that had made their homes within the trees had told her about a new plant that had taken over a large part of the forest and then stopped at the edge of a lake. The plants were slightly magical and would draw the life force out of anything they grasped.

Worried for the animals within, the cream colored pegasus had immediately crafted her wooden warnings and had set out for the ravaged part of the forest where the deadly plants thrived, so that she could save as many animals from the monstrous plants as she could, she just hoped that she would be able to keep herself together if she saw a corpse or a skeleton.

These were the events that had led the pegasus to the shore of the lake where she could see the dark plants sitting on the other side of the body of water. She was tired from her walk and she was about to lay down to rest when shouts arose from the thicket of plants. Adrenaline flooded her body and her weariness was forgotten as Fluttershy took to the air, beating her wings furiously as she bee-lined over the lake toward the plants to help whatever was calling for help.

In her haste however the mare forgot to be wary of the lake. After travelling about three quarters of the length of the lake a beast emerged speedily from the water. Though it was too far to the right to hit the mare directly, it hit her wing, causing the pony’s flight path to alter and sending her careening toward the dirt at the other end of the lake. With her wing power gone on one side of her body Fluttershy crashed, milling up a fair amount of dirt as she hit the bank.

Weakly, the mare raised her gaze. The screaming had stopped, a soft tune filling the air in it’s place, and the plants had now started to encroach toward her. Her heart beat quickly as her fate approached, she was looking around for something to help her get up, but she found the pain from her crash to be unbearable. With a shuddering gasp the mare accepted her fate, tears rolling down her face.

In retrospect she should’ve asked one of her friends to come along with her, but she had been too shy to do so. Each had been busy with their own tasks, and she hadn’t wanted to bother them. It was a horrible thing for the young mare to face her likely demise so early in her life. Fear ran through her body as the noises of squirming plant life encroached closer, her tears increasing in frequency as they did so.

Her tears continued for a moment longer before she realized that the noises were getting softer and further away, having been replaced with an odd splashing noise. After a silent moment of self-encouragement the mare managed to convince herself to open her eyes. As soon as she had done so, a stray splash of water hit her in the eye. She gave off a squeak in response and closed her eyes on instinct.

She froze. Water? How had water splashed into her eyes? Opening her eyes to a sliver to get a better view the mare was shocked still. She was on the back of... something... and it was carrying her over the water in a blur of black, white, and orange, a song coming from it’s body as it moved over the blue liquid below, the tune accented by the repeating pattern of it's four appendages hitting the surface and darting over it. She tried to look toward the head of her savior but her vision was obscured by a large collection of black hair. It would have been slightly less shocking had it been a pegasus who was carrying her, their light bone structure would allow their wings to lift them and even treading water they could get some speed. But whatever was carrying her had no wings, and she saw no magic affecting either of them.

Looking back toward the water she suddenly realized that not only was this creature carrying her over the lake, but it was moving so fast that the creatures under the surface couldn’t attack them correctly. Silent in awe, Fluttershy watched the creatures beneath try and line up for a run at them only to pull off when they couldn’t get a good angle. After a while though, their speed began to slow and the combined weight of the duo began to lower into the water.

The song from the creature began to speed up but it was clear that even after it had carried them more than halfway across the lake it couldn’t cross the rest of the distance. With new determination to help her new friend the pegasus spread her wings wide, flinching slightly at the pain, and wrapped her hooves around her savior. Surprisingly that was no hard task, her hooves meeting with space to spare, it was like she was grabbing a stick.

With a flap of her wings the pegasus lifted them out of the water just enough that the odd thing could once again run at full speed. She maintained the altitude for as long as she could, holding the thing up just enough so that it could provide the momentum. After what seemed like an eternity to the weary pair they reached the end of the lake.

Fluttershy gratefully fell to the ground, her breath heaving as she recovered from her exertion. With a smile the mare looked toward the one who had saved her, but she froze when she saw it’s face. A horse skull stared back at her, a large top hat adorning it’s head as a black afro flared off behind it. It stood taller even than Celestia and was dressed in a suit coat with an odd blue neck adornment. The stillness held in the air until at last the creature broke the tension.

“A pegasus! I think my stomach just dropped. Oh... but I’m a skeleton so I don’t have a stomach. YOHOHOHO SKULL JOKE!”

And then... Fluttershy passed out.

((A/N: First off, brook has four legs now which means more power. Secondly, I'm going with sparrow bone pegasus idea, so fluttershy is pretty light herself.

Secondly, it's important to note that, when it comes to any critiques on this piece of work, I DON'T CARE! MWAHAHAHA.))

Chapter Two

Pages flurried hurriedly in the grasp of purple magic as Twilight’s inquisitive eyes danced over them. Each one was a field guide for the Everfree Forest, each one full of information on what to do avoid and what was safe to eat. Next to her hopped a snow white bunny rabbit, his height dwarfed by the unicorn who he moved along next to as a look of impatience covered his face.

He had arrived that morning with a series of heavy knocks on the librarian’s front door. Upon her answering he proceeded into a game of charades where he tried his best to explain the situation to the sleepy Twilight. It had taken her a while to fully decipher his actions, but when she had, she had quickly sprung into action.

Taking a statistic, yet speedy, approach to the situation she had first called on both Rainbow Dash and Applejack to help her. She had considered having Pinkie come along but had eventually decided against it. Despite how helpful her pinkie sense may be in the dangerous woods it would be heavily counterproductive should the energetic party pony pull the attention of any of the residents. With that decided Twilight had immediately taken to her books, writing down important notes as she scoured the tomes.

The time that Twilight had set forth had finally come and, as such, she had begun to approach their designated meeting spot just outside Fluttershy’s cottage.As she approached, however, she noticed that both Rainbow and Applejack were happily engaged in a conversation with the aforementioned pegasus, talking excitedly about the events that had transpired in the forest.

Upon seeing Twilight approaching Fluttershy smiled gently and approached, eager to meet with her friend. As the pair walked to meet each other, movement from the treeline of the Everfree caught the librarian’s attention. She couldn’t quite make out what it was, but some white thing appeared to be moving idly from within. Keeping her eye on the oddity, Twilight started the conversation with her friend.

“Oh Fluttershy, I’m so glad you’re back. We were just on our way to come check on you.” She said excitedly, wrapping the shy pegasus in a hug.

“Ah, I knew she was gonna be just fine.” Rainbow said nonchalantly. “She knows how to take care of herself.”

“Don’t pay her no attention. She was worried for ya too, sugarcube. We were all worried.” Applejack said, eyeing Rainbow disapprovingly for a moment before looking once again toward Fluttershy. “But now that you’re back, what say we all go have a mug of cider to celebrate?”

“Oh, I would love to. But, um, first I was wondering if you girls would like to meet the pony who saved me. If that’s alright that is.”

“Ah know I would love to.”

Ah, it must be the stallion who saved her. Twilight realized, glancing once more to the patch of white in the darkness of the trees. “Sounds like a good plan to me.”

“Yea, bring him out.”

Fluttershy smiled shyly once again and looked towards her friends appreciatively before turning towards the forest. “Come on out.” She called in a soft voice. It took a moment for the white patch to start moving, as if it wasn’t sure it had been invited yet, but before too long it exited from the trees, drawing a gasp from the trio of mares who stood behind their friend.

“Hello!” The skeleton skull called as it approached. Even from this distance it was obvious that it towered high over the ponies. “I am ‘Dead Bones’ Brook! It is wonderful to make your acquaintance.” Each of the mare’s was shocked silent, looking toward the mammoth of a pony. “I’m so glad to be out of that forest, it was so scary in there!” By now it stood directly in front of Fluttershy. With a slight degree of difficulty the skeleton stallion removed the top hat from his head and bowed forward, his eyes still higher than the tip of Twilight’s horn after he had done so.

Silence.

“Darlings, oh Darlings! Oh I hope they haven’t left yet, I so want to help them look for Fluttershy. The poor dear must be scared to death in that horrible forest.” A white unicorn rounded the a corner, which blocked her vision of the large skeletal horse. Upon seeing Twilight she approached them, a smile on her face. “Oh good, you are still here. I know you don’t think I would be of help Twilight, but I insist that I come along.” When she wasn’t immediately answered she raised an eyebrow and followed her gaze.

Upon seeing the towering creature that stood before her, she too fell victim to the overwhelming silence. “Hello.” Stated the being. “May I see your panties?”

“AAAAAHHHH! It’s a demon horse!” Came the shrill reply. At the words the horse creature started and turned around.

“Demon horse!? Where?!”

“YOU!” Shouted the four friends.

Somehow the skull managed to appearance of smiling as it turned back toward the ponies. “Ha, that’s exactly how my meeting with my crew went too.”

Chapter Three

Brook walked alongside Twilight as they headed back toward the library, where they would then send a message to Celestia about seeing if she could help him get back home. The mare was still on edge as the towering skeleton easily kept the pace she set. After the meeting back at Fluttershy’s house it was clear that he meant no harm, as hard as that was to believe, and when he expressed his desire to return to where he had come from the deal was set.

As busy as Twilight was with these thoughts she didn’t notice the trio of young fillies who were trying to set up a secret ambush up ahead. In fact it wasn’t until the shout of “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS, SKELETON SLAYERS!” Filled the air that she even suspected something was up. The young ponies jumped through the air, but met nothing as they fell through the air of where Brook had been standing.

After they crashed the small ponies hurriedly turned in an effort to find their prey, “Lullaby Parry” Came a soft voice. They moved once again, trying to find the source, but were met with a soothing yet simple song that floated through the air and caused them to yawn out in sudden fatigue. “Maybe... we’ll just catch him later...” Sweetie Belle said, her friends managing to mumble in agreement with her before all of them dropped their heads.

Twilight let loose a yawn of her own, but shook her head as she cleared her thoughts. Looking around a nearby corner the mare spotted the source of the song and raised an eyebrow in surprise. Brook was leaning against a building on his hind legs so as to allow his front limbs the ability to play a violin. With a sword. Somehow.

The song came to a graceful end and the large equine put his instrument away. Approaching the small ponies he lowered his head, as if inspecting the noises of the sleepy fillies. “Yohohoho.” He said softly, somehow grinning. “They are very energetic aren’t they?” Twilight looked between the quartet and smiled softly.

“Yes, they are.” She responded.

A silent moment filled the air, wrapping the younglings in an air of peace and tranquility as they slept. The librarian glanced toward Brook and noticed that he seemed to be in deep thought. “You okay Brook?” She asked kindly. Physcial appearances aside he was an odd stallion nonetheless, he could go from joyful to contemplative in moments and at the drop of a hat as well.

“Hmm? Oh yes, I’m fine. Thank you for asking Twilight. I was just reminded of an old friend.”

“Oh? What were they like?” The lavender mare had started walking again, the skeleton following shortly behind her.

“He was very energetic. He would sing and dance with me and my old crew, until we had to leave him behind.”

“Leave him behind? Why would you leave a friend behind?”

“Our journey was much too dangerous for a young whale.” Brook responded. “Of course, it turned out to be much too dangerous for us as well.”

“A whale? Your friend is a whale?” Twilight said incredulously. Brook nodded silently in response. “What happened?”

“I’d rather not talk about it, Twilight. I’ve already made you sad with my recount so far, I don’t intend to make you more so.” The mare nodded in understanding and Brook managed a smile. They had arrived at the library, but right before they entered Brook stopped short.

“I know exactly how to cheer you up.” He said, running towards the outside wall of the treehouse. “FORTY-FIVE DEGREES!” With the shout still echoing through the air the large stallion leaned forward until his head connected with the wooden wall. Despite herself Twilight smirked at the odd act.

“Very impressive.” She said with a clap of her hooves. “Now, let’s hurry! The sooner we get the message to princess Celestia the sooner we can get you back home, back to your friends!”

“Oh the very thought makes my heart soar! Oh, but, I’m a skeleton so I have no heart. YOHOHOHOHO! SKULL JOKE!” Twilight shook her head good naturedly and entered the building. After she had done so Brook looked at the door, which came up to his eye level, and lowered his head, bowing underneath the threshold that Celestia would only have to tilt her head to enter, and entered into the main room of the library.

The mare smiled at the massive pony and gestured toward a couch that he could sit upon while he waited. He took her up on her offer and Twilight started scrawling a quick note down on a piece of paper. After signing it she remembered something and began to speak. “I’m sorry, would you like a cup of -” She stopped herself when she noticed that he had already treated himself to some tea from a thermos that bore an odd jollyroger-like symbol. He took a sip of his tea and nodded toward her, respectfully declining her offer.

She grinned in return before she ran up the stairs to have Spike deliver the letter. After the sleepy dragon had sent the message through his magic flame she began heading back downstairs. On her way down a flash of white light issued from the main room and a familiar magic flowed through the building. Surprised by how quick the message had been answered Twilight hurried down the stairs but stopped herself when she saw the on-going staring contest.

Celetsia was looking up into the empty sockets of the skeletal pony, a look of shock frozen on her face. Brook, meanwhile, stared directly back. Not saying a word.

At last the interminable awkwardness was shattered by the relatively small purple unicorn who stood in the same room as the other two giants. “Celestia... I don’t suppose you’d like to talk to Brook over some tea?”

Chapter Four

“So you say that you’re from another world...” Celestia said. Stirring her tea for a moment before she glanced toward the skeletal horse that sat across from her. It nodded in response and Celestia took a sip of her tea as she mulled over the idea in her head. “And you said you wanted to get back home?” Another nod. “And you don’t want to harm any of my little ponies correct?” This time Celestia’s eyes glanced to Twilight after the undead being had confirmed her thought once again. The lavender unicorn also bobbed her head up and down.

Celestia took another drink of her tea, going over the final contemplations of what she was about to say. “Then I’ll see what I can do to help you. I’m sure that we’ll be able to find a spell to send you home somewhere in the Canterlot Archives.” The solar alicorn stood, Brook copying the movement out of respect. “In the meantime, I can return you to your old form if you so wish.”

“Though I thank you for your offer, Your Highness, I respectfully decline.”

“Oh?”

“It is probably a once in a lifetime chance for me to have this form, and as long as I don’t need to use a piano I think that I would like to enjoy this while it lasts.”

“Indeed. I’ll make sure to change you back before you go home. In the meantime...” Bright yellow magic started to spin around Celestia’s horn, forming a ball at the tip of her horn until she brought it down and hit against the ground, where it let loose a hollow echo. Retracting her magic the alicorn revealed a topaz rock that rested on the floor between the giants. “If you feel that you need to take your old form again, at any time, just shatter the stone.”

“Thank you. I'll make sure to keep it safe.” Carefully Brook reached down and balanced the stone on one hoof even as he pressed the other against the side of his skull. After a moment of fumbling he opened his skull along the crack and placed the stone inside, knocking against a seashell as it did so.

Celestia and Twilight both looked at Brook with wide eyes, then at each other to make sure they weren’t imagining this encounter, then back to the skeletal horse. “Yohohoho.” The laugh broke them from their moment of awe. “I, too, have had a moment where a cat has got my tongue. Oh! But I’m a skeleton, so I don’t have a tongue. YOHOHOHOHO! SKULL JOKE!”

Celestia smiled softly and took another sip from her tea, leaving the empty tea cup behind on the table before she looked to Twilight. “I must be going, I’ll see about getting Luna to help me research ways to send him back. In the meantime I want you to make sure he enjoys the time he has in Equestria while he has it.”

Twilight nodded confidently and the princess turned to Brook. “I must be going, it was nice sharing a tea time with you though, Brook.”

“The pleasure was all mine, Your Highness.”

With the quick farewell done, the white alicorn cast a teleportation spell and left.

Twilight had decided that it would be for the best to introduce Brook to her friends first, and then expand outward so that the town would know he was no threat. Given that over half of her friends had met him all that was left was Pinkie Pie, and in that same visit she could have the excitable sweet-maker set up a wonderful welcome party for the odd skeleton.

As they were on the way to sugarcube corner however, they saw something completely odd. Pinkie falling from the sky. Twilight was about to turn to tell Brook, but when she looked he was gone. She looked back to Pinkie Pie only to see she was no longer there either. Trying not to freak out about having gone crazy, Twilight started to run towards where she had seen the falling earth pony last.

When she arrived she was relieved to see the familiar gargantuan horse holding a dizzy-faced Pinkie Pie in his teeth, which he promptly released onto the ground. “Yohohoho. You taste like candy. Are you a candy devil fruit user?”

Pinkie had recovered just enough that she could answer the tall pony’s question. “Of course not silly, then I wouldn’t be able to swim. That would be horrible if I went ice skating wouldn’t it? What if the ice cracked early?”

“Oh yes, that would prove unfortunate.” Brook nodded.

Twilight, meanwhile, had no idea what either of them were talking about and decided to direct her attention toward the more appropriate question. “Are you alright Pinkie? What were you doing up in the air in the first place?”

“Oh, Rainbow has a new friend. Well I guess she’s an old new friend. Her name is Gilda and she’s a griffon and she’s a meany weany pants.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, she’s totally selfish and rude and-”

“Are you sure you aren’t just jealous?”

“Well. I don’t think so...”

“Just because Rainbow has a new friend doesn’t mean that that friend is mean Pinkie.”

“I guess you could be right Twilight. I’ll try and be more open minded.”

“Thank you. Now... what was I going to talk to you about...” her gaze wandered to the skeletal horse who hovered over Pinkie’s shoulder, a scary shadow striking across his face. Pinkie followed her gaze to Brook and jumped back.

“Oh! The revive-revive fruit?” Pinkie said as her tail started shaking out of it’s own will.

“Yes, but how did you... Yohohoho. You are one very strange pony.” Twilight eyed the skeleton who had just called someone else strange, but decided to move on.

“Pinkie, this is Brook. I was wondering if you could hold a party for him so that the town would know about him and be less scared should he show up in public.”

“Of course. Oh, an ‘everyone this a walking, talking skeleton with an afro party’! I’ve never thrown one of those before! I’ll need to think about this over a shake down by sugar cube corner. Why don’t you come too Brook? It will help me think.”

“Of course.”

“Great. You two go do that. I need to go finish some reading, I’m a bit behind right now.”

With a synchronized nod the trio split, Twilight going back toward the library while Pinkie Pie and Brooke walked next to each other toward the building. For a brief moment Twilight worried about the ‘plaza’ in front of Sugar Cube being to public but shook it off, trusting that if anyone could pull off having a giant of a horse skeleton invisible in a public place it would be Pinkie.

“Say, how did you catch me while I was so high up?”

“Oh, I jumped. Since I’m light.”

Chapter Five

Brook sat idly behind the umbrella. Pinkie had somehow managed to angle it so that it hid the entirety of his colossal body and he couldn’t help but smile... or... well... you know. Pinkie, meanwhile, was busy talking to herself. Well, she was talking to Brook to, but with how fast she was talking he never saw an opportunity to respond. Luckily, the ponies who observed her acting like she was merely passed it off as Pinkie being Pinkie. While still listening to the excited mare, Brook sipped some of the smoothie from his cup and let his gaze move across the open area.

An odd being caught his attention and he immediately pointed it out to Pinkie. “Oh.” She replied, losing some of her enthusiasm. “That’s Gilda.” Brook nodded and the duo observed her as she approached an apple cart. With dexterous use of her tail she reached over and tapped an elderly mare on the hindquarters, scaring her and causing her to try and slowly flee the area. Then she stole an apple using her tail to it’s maximum effectiveness once again.

“Quite rude of her.” Brook said, disappointed by the actions of the griffon.

“N-no. We’re probably being too judgemental.” Pinkie offered weakly, neither believed it though. From his position Brooke noticed an approaching problem before anyone else had and was preparing to deal with it even as the griffon blindly ran into Fluttershy, who had been leading a train of ducks through the middle of town. The two collided and Gilda instantly went on the offensive, yelling at Fluttershy for being in the way.

Fluttershy burst into tears and was running away. Pinkie, who had had enough, began to speak under her breath. “Oh, now I’m going to have to do something. And it’s gonna be Pinkie Pi- huh?” She stopped and looked to the side, only to realize that Brooke had disappeared. A haunting melody filled the air and everyone in the plaza froze. Fluttershy’s feet slowed down when she recognized the singing voice.

Simultaneously, everyone seemed to find the source of the voice and looked behind Gilda, including the griffon herself, and they were all met with the sight of a large skeletal horse standing behind her. Gilda was frozen in fear, as was everyone else, and Brook leaned forward. His signature laugh leading the way.

“That was incredibly rude.” His voice was haunting, whether it was the atmosphere of the sudden words or his actual tone was impossible to tell. “You really should apologize.” Gilda merely looked back in fear. In the distance Applejack had to come to a sudden halt with a load of apples because some of the ponies who had stopped moving had been in the middle of the road. Dozens of apples filled the air.

Brook noticed them first and closed his mouth around the handle of his sword. With movement unseen by even the likes of Pinkie Pie he dashed forward, the sword hanging loosely in his jaw after he had done so. “Three verse humming.” He said softly, yet perfectly despite the handle in his mouth, as the apples flew toward Gilda, about to collide with her face. He lowered his head, sliding the sword into it’s sheath. “Arrow notch strike!” He shouted, slamming the blade fully into the sheath. The apples immediately split, narrowly missing Gilda’s face.

Brook turned, about to ask Gilda once again to apologize, only to see her taking to the skies as she decided flight over fight to be the best choice. With a laugh of ‘yohoho’ Brook turned to Fluttershy. “I’m sorry Fluttershy. I must have gotten in your way, would you like to continue escorting the ducks?”

Fluttershy nodded happily and turned towards the ducks. It took some convincing but eventually she managed to walk past the skeletal horse. As she passed she offered a brief thanks and Brook nodded in return before he headed back towards Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie smiled as she looked around at the ponies who all stared slackjawed at the skeleton and jumped on top of the umbrella that sat on the table. “Hey Ponyville! This is me and Fluttershy’s and Twilight’s and Rainbow Dash’s and Applejack’s and Rarity’s friend. Go ahead and introduce yourself!” She pointed excitedly toward the towering being who promptly turned and doffed his hat.

“Hello everyone! I am ‘Dead Bones’ Brook! It’s a pleasure to meet you all!” Brook said, deciding to follow Pinkie’s lead. “I shouldn’t be here long, just until Celestia finds a way to get me back home. Until then I hope that I don’t inconvenience you all too much!”

“We’ll be throwing a party right here in the plaza in two hours! Bring your friends and we’ll all eat a bunch of cake and it will be so completely and totally fun!” Pinkie’s voice echoed in the area as it built up speed, the very idea of that much sugar making her move faster.

“And I’ll be playing the violin!” Brook added, trying to make the offer as tempting as possible. If this went wrong, well, he knew what it was like to be alone.

“So make sure you all come ready for an amazing time!” She shouted, breaking the ponies from their stupors. Though, as they all shuffled away, they kept their gaze on the weird stallion. In a quieter voice Pinkie started talking to Brook. “Help me set up! Oh this is gonna be so amazing!” As she walked past the perfectly sliced halves of apples that Brook had cut she turned around. “You can help me cut the carrot for the carrot cake!” And then she ran into the gingerbread house directly behind her.

Brook paused for a moment, hoof raised as if he were going to say something against the idea, but then he shrugged. “This is going to be quite the party! Too bad Luffy can’t be here, he would certainly liven things up.” Brook’s mind went back to his memories of his crew and the insane, wonderful times he had spent with them only a few days ago before coming to this odd world.

“Sanji had better protect Nami and Robin.” He said with finality before he followed Pinkie into the house, an almost imperceptible spring in his step.

Chapter Six

The residents of Ponyville had grown accustomed to Pinkie’s odd mannerisms. True, they didn’t completely understand her sometimes, but eventually they would just shrug it off, pass it off as a new strange thing that they filed directly into a drawer that was already near bursting with the other wacky experiences that they had had with the spastic, pink earth pony.

This was a bit too much though.

A singing skeleton horse that towered high above even big mac had just started to play a violin. And he was doing well. Albeit he was awkwardly leaned against the wall, and the beat seemed to stutter at points, but overall it was a rather pleasant experience. The citizens were dumbstruck, they didn’t quite know what to do, so they didn’t do anything. Whispers filled the air as they all witnessed this new oddity. Pinkie went around, dancing to the music, and the other elements went about enjoying themselves. Fluttershy in particular would often glance towards the skeleton and give him a big broad smile to cheer him on. The music would pick up, and a new wave of whispers would wash over the crowd.

Eventually the violin song came to an end and the hesitant echo of hooves hitting the ground in applause filled the air. Unsure about whether they were supposed to be cheering or not, a few ponies would glance at their neighbors before joining in. Brook bowed to his gracious audience, still managing to look massive despite the fact that he now stood only half as tall. Then he unfolded to his true height again and a few ponies hesitated, still shocked by the sheer size of the guest of honor.

The loudest and most consistent of this applause then, was extremely easy to pick out of the crowd. Pinkie Pie was hammering against the ground with frabjous excitement. A whistle pierced the air, Rainbow Dash having lent her own noise to the cacophony that shot off the walls. Twilight applauded slowly and hesitantly, while Rarity lent a noble air to the entire affair. Fluttershy blushed and her applause was inaudible compared to everything around her. Applejack applauded the ground like the others, though there was a certain strength to it that no one could match.

Brook bowed low and tilted his head like a true gentlecolt before walking out of the center of attention and towards the elements. Pinkie Pie passed him, patting him on the back, and took the miniature stage with a very spastic attitude. She quickly delved into what she had planned for the rest of the party, explaining all the different games to choose from and various other forms of entertainment.

Meanwhile, Brook was letting loose a very depressed laugh as he sat with the other elements. Twilight was the first to address the issue.

“What’s the matter?” She said as she eyed the skeletal being. Despite how friendly he had proven himself to be, she still felt uneasy around him. She couldn’t quite place why, something about him just felt... off.

“I played horribly.” Brook’s demeanor fell.

“Well ah wouldn’t say that now.” A.J. said as she walked over to him. “You did right fine, and I don’t think anypony else coulda played it any better.”

“I made it up as I went along myself, so you’re probably right when you say that.” He said. “I didn’t want to play any of the songs I know very well, because I can’t play my violin very well in the body, and I was worried they would sound bad, and I don’t want to risk associating them with my memories.” The mane six met this with curiosity but were interrupted as a new pony entered on the scene.

They turned towards the door just as it closed once again and they all looked at the dull grey cellist who had just entered, a purple treble clef marking her flank with her musical talent. She toted a large case on her back with her instrument, and made her way steadily forward. She glanced at the stage and frowned. “Who was the pony who was playing a second ago?” Her eyes darted through the crowd before stopping on Brook, at which point they went incredibly wide.

“Yohohoho! That would be me!” He stood from his chair and stepped toward her with a measured gait. “It is an honor to meet another player of a stringed instrument here, I was worried that such talent was non existent, given the use of hooves.” He tipped his head towards her in a bobbing fashion and continued. “But now I really do have to ask you an important question, you see, I’ve been trying to work out how to play it correctly, but haven’t had any luck, so my question to you is… Can I see your panties?”

Octavia recoiled in horror and almost immediately the door opened again, this time to allow the entrance of a white unicorn who was flying through the air with a hoof poised straight for Brook’s face. He barely had time to let out a panicked, “Don’t hurt my afro!” before it collided and he went flying over the entire floor and behind the curtains of the stage.

“Sorry skelly boy! That’s my privilege alone!” Her voice boomed over the area, drawing absolutely everyone’s attention to her and Octavia. Octavia blushed absolutely beet red and hit the DJ across the back of the head.

“That was uncalled for.” She said, preparing to give the wounded unicorn a tongue lashing.

It was at this point that Brook proved to have somehow survived his flight. He crawled onto the stage, very clearly still delirious from the blow he had taken only a moment before. “Yohohohoho, your kicks are getting weak Sanji, Nami could out kick you. You need to learn to kick harder, or else you’ll never be able to protect her.” At which point he collapsed into unconsciousness, leaving everyone completely and totally confused.

Author's Note

The reason for the strength behind Vinyl's kick is more to make it seem like an anime than for any cannonical reason, meaning her strength isn't gonna be explained, unless I do a half-assed wave it away answer.

Chapter Seven

Brook was sitting comfortably in Twilight’s house, it had taken a few minutes for the elements to teach him how to sit on his hindquarters. A process that was not sped up at all by his considerable mass. But eventually they had gotten it all worked out and he had managed to set himself down and wait. They had wanted to take him to the doctor to check on him, but they weren’t entirely certain if the doctor could do a check up on a skeleton. And so Brook had offered a plan B. Which sounded even less likely to work to the ponies, but lacking any other option they had given in to it.

So now Brook had in front of him a glass of milk, and he sipping it slowly through a swirly straw. Twilight tried to not pay attention to the fact that he was using the straw without being able to close his mouth due to lack of lips. She failed at this, but she tried. This had led her to forcibly moving her attention elsewhere, which in turn caused another study spree. All present gave her the space she needed as Brook and Octavia started a conversation about music. Or, more specifically, the art of standing on one’s hind legs.

“Well it’s simple really when you get the hang of it. The tricky matter is that because of the way equine legs are shaped they don’t support the altered center of mass very well, but with some practice I’m fairly certain you could pick up on it, especially since you said you were bipedal before.”

Brook stopped drinking his glass of milk for a moment so he could respond. “Oh, so that’s what it is. For the longest time I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Ah, but, since I’m my change I don’t have fingers anymore.” Twilight and Fluttershy, the only elements who had come to the library, knew that a joke was coming, but only a split second before it left his mouth. “PONY JOKE YOHOHOHOHO.”

The face hoof was audible from the assembled crowd, all except for Vinyl scratch anyway, who was laughing her head off at the terrible pun. “Good one Bones!”

Brook nodded to Vinyl in recognition of the compliment, but also put on a poker face to avoid responding, in an attempt to further the joke. This is a tactic that works surprisingly well when you don’t actually have a face, more or less. Instead he took a drink of his milk and gave everyone time to recover.

Fluttershy, seeing that Brook’s glass of milk was getting low, moved over. “Are you feeling better Brook? Do you need more milk?”

Brook responded immediately. “I’m feeling much better Fluttershy, thank you very much for all that you’ve done. Truth be told I shouldn’t have made any of you take care of me while I’m a guest here. It’s horribly rude. Especially when I can take care of myself… most of the time.”

“Oh it was no trouble.” Fluttershy assured him, her kind voice so soft even against the sound of pages turning.

Octavia smiled calmly before interrupting. “Well, then, I think it’s best that me and Vinyl get going. We both have several things to attend to in Canterlot. Isn’t that right Vinyl?”

“I dunno Octy, I mean we still have a day or two don’t we?” She replied lazily.

“We need to prepare for that visit from my parents Vinyl.”

“Well yea, but I mean we could just put it off for a few-” A loud thud echoed through the room and tears started to well in Vinyl’s eyes. Octavia continued to look completely passive. “I mean, yea, we should get going so we can set up for your parents.”

The two offered some final goodbyes and left, Brook was polite enough to wait until they were outside before he broke out into laughter. A form of restraint that had no benefit as his laughter was so loud it could be heard outside the library easily anyway. Fluttershy, despite her best attempts to tell Brook it wasn’t funny or polite to laugh, couldn’t help but smile at the situation either, the humor that Brook injected into the air proving to be contagious.

Twilight managed to contain her humor so that it didn’t go beyond a soft chuckle, though in light of the roaring laughter for Brook it had no effect how loudly she laughed. She glanced at brook who was now winding down in his laugh. He still continued to smile long after the laughter had ended, but now he was at least finished the milk in front of him.

“So Twilight, how’s the study going?” Fluttershy asked politely. Approaching her friend.

“It’s going okay. Things are being a little… frustrating as of late. I can’t seem to focus. I think I might just need to get a good night’s sleep though.” Twilight paused in contemplation. “Actually, what time is it?” She turned around to look at the window but couldn’t quite make it out with the limited view from her distance.

Brook leaned forward in his chair. “It looks to be night time, though how far into it, I couldn’t say,” he said.

“Oh dear, we should get going then so we can get a good night’s rest.” Fluttershy said. Already heading for the door.

“Indeed.” Brook said as he stood slowly from his spot, careful not to cause a bout of dizziness. “Thank you for the help and seat Twilight. It was very kind of you.”

“You’re welcome Brook.”

And it without a further word that Fluttershy and Brook left the house, heading towards her home on the outskirts of the town. She had insisted on giving him a place to sleep to repay him for saving her. She was going to take the couch and let Brook sleep in her bed. But then he pointed out just how tall he was and that it wouldn’t be very comfortable. So, together they had laid out a makeshift bed on the floor of the living room that he could use. Angel had mixed feelings about this. Namely, fear and anger.