Will of Fire

Chapter 4 - Slumber party

By: TheXIIILightning

"Girls! What is the meaning of this!?" Said a very startled Mayor Mare.

The Mayor and I had just finished discussing my future in this little town, when half a dozen of ponies crashed into my room. Well I wasn't really annoyed, I just wasn't expecting to meet anypony else today. Except for Pinkie that is. I was still on my bed, trying to figure out what in the hay was going on. Pinkie Pie and some blue Pegasus were laughing their heads off, some purple mare kept saying she's sorry, and the others looked pretty embarrassed.

"What a strange group..." I muttered to myself.

"Well, no harm done girls. Oh, and Twilight, Applejack, might I have a word with you?" Asked the Mayor.

"Sure, I guess." Said the purple mare, I think it's safe to assume she's either Applejack or Twilight. "Coming Applejack?" She added.

"Yeah, be right back y'all." Said the orange pony with the cowpony hat.

So that makes her Applejack, and the other one Twilight. That's two down, four to go.

"Oh it's so good to see you again, you look different, did you change your mane? Oh is it your mane? It HAS to be your mane!" Well Pinkie sure seems energetic today.

"Well Pinkie, try a bit lower." I said while patting my chest. Doc really made a good job, I'm not even sore there.

"Wow! Cool scars." The blue Pegasus sure seemed impressed. That's right, I forgot to introduce myself. But she was a lot faster.

"Oh yeah, I'm Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in all of Equestria AND soon to be Wonderbolt." She said while striking a pose.

"I'm Lightning, pleasure to meet you." I said whit a warm smile and extending my hoof. That filly has a strong hoofshake might I add.

"Well Lightning, my name is Rarity, I run the Carousel Boutique. If you need anything to wear I'm always open." Said the white Unicorn, while lowering her head a bit. She seems High-Class, so might as well greet her like I did back in Canterlot.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Rarity." I lowered my head the same way she did. She seemed to like it.

"Oh my, what a gentlecolt." She said while smiling to the butter yellow Pegasus next to her.

I almost didn't notice her, she was hiding behind Rarity, only peeking a bit. When she saw me look at her she looked away and cowered a bit, hiding behind her pink mane, poor thing must be shy.

"This is Fluttreshy, please excuse her, she's a bit shy." Said Rarity while moving a bit to the side. Fluttershy just looked at me and mumbled something.

"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that." I said while trying to get closer. She just cowered a bit more and mumbled something again. I guess she really is shy.

"Well Fluttershy, it's nice to meet you." I said trying to sound as friendly as I could. She looked slightly more comfortable, because she said.

"Yes... I'm glad that you're, umm, alright..." Squeaked the shy Pegasus.

"Yeah! What was that all about." Rainbow Dash looked a bit upset.

"Well darling, I must say I'm quite curious at what happened that night." Rarity added.

I was about to to tell them what I said to everypony else. That I don't remember what happened that night. But Pinkie...

"HA! I knew it!" Said the hopping pink pony. "You did something to your tail didn't you!? I knew something was different, nothing escapes Pinkie Pie!" Well she certainly is something...

Rainbow Dash facehoofed, Rarity and I snickered a bit. And I saw Fluttershy smiling too. It's good to know that Pinkie has such nice friends. Oh yeah, what about the other two? Applejack and Twilight entered the room shortly after Pinkie's outburst. They looked relieved to see us all laughing.

"It's good to see y'all getting along." Applejack was smiling and getting closer. "Mah name's Applejack, pleasure to meet ya partner." Said the smiling Earth pony while grabbing my hoof and shaking it with amazing strength. "Pleasure, I'm Lightning." I said still shaking a bit.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle, it's a pleasure to meet you Lightning." Twilight seems to be a really smart filly. Maybe it's her mane, or the way she talks...

Oh no, I started giving 'labels' to ponies again haven't I? Sunshine warned me about it once, but when you travel as long as I have, you kinda get used to it. There are plenty of shady merchants around to fill up a few dozen cider barrels.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too Twilight."

"This is so great! I'm so happy that my bestest friends like my new friends! *gasp* We should totally have a party! With cake, and muffins, and streamers, and balloons, an-" Pinkie was going hyper again, but Applejack shoved a hoof in her mouth.

"There will be plenty of time for that later Pinkie, but right Twilight and Ah' need ta have a lil' talk with Light here."

I guess that Mayor Mare asked them to share their home with me. I hate asking ponies for help, but I need a place to sleep and eat until Sunshine decides to show up.

"Please Applejack, there's no need to get so serious." Twilight looked a little embarrassed.

"There sure is Twi, I'm not letting ya share a house with anypony, unless ah know they're 100% honest." I guess Applejack is worried about that little memory problem.

"I'll tell you girls anything you need to know, but I also have some questions." I need to learn about one thing. I think they might know something.

"Ask away darling." Said Rarity, with a slight nod from the others.

"Well... Who found me that night?" They looked at each other, but Twilight decided to answer.

"It was Owlicious that found you."

"Who?" What kind of name is that for a pony?

"Owlicious, my pet Owl." Well that's an original name. "We were all having a slumber party, but Owlicious found you outside my doorstep. You were really bad, so we brought you here immediately."

So that's why they all seemed so weird a while ago. They had to carry my sorry hide, all the way out here. I guess I owe them... ALL of them...

"I'm sorry." Was all I could say.

"Don't be sorry darling, it wasn't your fault." Rarity said.

"Yeah! That was the coolest thing to happen all night!" Rainbow Dash rudely remarked.

"RAINBOW!" Yelled all the others.

"What!? Rarity was about to make mud masks, and other girly stuff. Don't say you aren't with me AJ!"

"Ya have a point Rainbow, but that was mighty rude."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry Light." She didn't look really sorry, but hey, I guess she had a point.

"No harm done." I threw the conversation off course with a simple wave. "Your turn girls, ask away."

"The Mayor already told us that ya lost yer memory, from that night at least." She looked at the others, I guess that's one way of telling them that I didn't remember a thing.

"But we want ta know... Who's Sunshine?"

I REALLY don't want to tell them that yet. But I guess I should.

"Oh, is it your filly-friend? I love romantic stories." Rarity was smiling at me. And the other laughed.

"What!? NO!" Sunshine, a filly-friend, as if that could happen.

"She's my partner, well, she's more like a sister to me. We've met when we were just little kids, and have been together ever since."

That's the blunt version, how we've met... I'm not comfortable telling them the rest yet.

"And how will Sunshine find ya? Didn't ya two get separated?" Applejack sure is nosy, but hay, I'd do the same for my friends.

"She'll find me with this." I said while reaching for my medallion, I had it hidden under my pillow.

"This medallion was a gift from an old friend. I have this part, and Sunshine has the key." I was holding it in front of them. They were admiring it with wide eyes.

"Oooooh, shinny." Said Pinkie.

"It sure is quite pretty, I just love the detail." Said Rarity.

"Is it enchanted with some kind of tracking spell?" Asked Twilight, she sure is a smart filly.

"Yes it is. I don't know much about Unicorn magic, but I know that." I am quite proud of it.

"The key Sunshine is carrying always points to this medallion, and the medallion shows Sunshine's health and mood. If anything happens to either of us, the magic wears off. Pretty cool right?" Basically, if either one of us bites the dust the medallion becomes just another piece of gold and cooper.

"What's inside it?" Asked Rainbow Dash.

"Well... I don't know. We never opened it."

"What's the point of carrying something around, if you're never gonna open it?" Rainbow didn't understand why, but we had a very simple reason.

"Last respects..."

Everypony stood silent, either scared of asking anything else, or just by respect.

"I'm sorry..." Rainbow Dash meant it this time. But I couldn't be mad at them, they saved me.

"It's okay Rainbow, you didn't know."

"Well, we're mighty sorry sugarcube. Ah didn't want to be disrespectful, we all just care fer Twilight and... Ya know.."

"I'd do the same, don't worry Applejack." I said with a warm smile.

"Well, now that we're all friends, how would you like to come home Light?" Said a cheery Twilight.

"'Home'?" I said teasing her a bit.

"Yes home, well not your 'home', MY home, eh house, well it'll be our 'home' but... AUGH!"

We all shared our first laugh as friends, even Fluttershy was laughing too. I feel splendid, I haven't had a friend in years.

Sunshine and I met lots of ponies of course, but very few we called friends. I miss her...

After I got ready to leave, I thanked Nurse Redheart and put the medallion in it's rightful place. My neck.

All of us left the Hospital towards Twilight's home, she said Spike, her baby dragon, would have dinner ready for us.

One thing is owning a baby dragon, but making him cook AND be your assistant? That's amazing.

The only dragon I've ever met tried to eat me! Well, I kinda went into his cave searching for some 'lost family heirloom', I swear that right after I got the ashes out of my mane, I bucked the colt that asked me to do it, right in the face!

Anyway, Ponyville sure looks like an amazing place to live in, well kept gardens, wide streets, big houses, and the wildlife is amazing. After a short walk, we arrived at Twilight's home, I instantly recognized it. The wooden door that didn't open that night.

Ha! Look at me now you stupid door! I was walking besides Twilight, with the small group of friends behind us. She knocked and a small dragon, who I assumed to be Spike, greeted us.

"Hey Twilight, I've got diner all-. Who's this?" Said Spike while lifting his eyebrow.

"Spike, this is Lightning. He's going to be living with us for a while." Said Twilight to the confused baby dragon.

"Well, if you say so..." Spike looked at me and extended his claw. "I'm Spike, Twilight's Number 1 Assistant. Nice to meet ya."

I Claw/Hoofshaked with him. "You can call me Light, it's nice to meet a friendly Dragon for a change."

"How many have you met?" Asked the little guy.

"One. He tried to eat me."

"Fair enough." Spike shrugged. "Come inside, dinner's getting warm."

Spike lead us to the main room of the house, and I think I noticed one thing. There were books EVERYWHERE!

Wait, that's not a big enough wait to describe it... If I was a bookworm, I'd be in heaven right now. Yeah, that seems accurate.

I guess Twilight forgot to tell me she lived in a library. Well might as well read something tomorrow, right now I'm hungry.

Spike had put some pillows and plates around a small fireplace, and was already filling them with some daffodil sandwiches.

And by the looks of it, the little guy can cook.

We were all sitting around the fireplace, drooling over our meals when Rarity got up.

"Oh my, I almost forgot about Spike's present!" As she finished her sentence, Spike shot up from his pillow.

"You brought me something Rarity!?"

"Why yes, this is for making us this wonderful meal." Rarity took a small bag of Sapphires from her saddlebags, I almost forgot that dragons weren't vegetarian.

"Thank you so much Rarity! I'll treasure them... Always." Spike was drooling over the gems. I looked over at Twilight and the others, we were all snickering a bit.

"Well Spike you need to eat something, there's no need to keep all of them." Rarity shooed the little guy away. "Bon appetit."

Spike went to his room to eat the gems in peace, and we just looked at her.

"What? Poor little Spikey-Wikey deserved those gems, and I couldn't possibly stand him wooing me all night."

Everypony just laughed a bit, I guess the little guy has some crush on her.

We returned to our meals, the daffodil sandwich was great, I finished eating three of them in only a few minutes. Needless to say I was getting bored.

We were all talking about our day, Applejack told us about her day on the fields, Rainbow about some new trick she learned, Pinkie Pie was talking about the foals she babysits. Rarity was silent, I guess talking while eating may seem rude to her, but she occasionally let out a small chuckle or remark. Fluttershy told us about a new squirrel friend she made, I guess she prefers to be around animals than other ponies.

Twilight was talking with me about today, she felt sorry for Rainbows remark, and for Applejack being so nosy. I kept telling her that it's fine, but she insisted that I should ask if I need anything. I hate asking ponies for help, especially if I can't repay them.

I didn't even notice that I started flexing my wounded wing, only when Fluttershy warned me. "Is your, umm, wing alright Lightning? If you don't mind me asking that is..."

"What? Oh no. Everything is fine. It's just that Dr. Cardio told me to exercise it. I didn't even notice I was moving it."

Rainbow Dash took another mouthful of her sandwich, and asked. "Wrath? Did your hurt yrour wring?" I could see crumbs coming out of her mouth.

"Dislocated wing, can't fly in the next four days." Four LONG days...

Rainbow swallowed the rest of her sandwich. "Well that sucks. I hurt my wing a while back too. It was terrible!"

Twilight shot a smug look at her. "But Rainbow, you did get something out of it, didn't you?"

"Well yeah, Daring Doo is awesome! But I wouldn't give up on flying, even for her stories." Rainbow defended, immediately taking air.

Applejack laughed a bit before saying "Yeah right, says the pony that spend tha whole week cooped up reading them books."

Rainbow just laughed along with Applejack's teasing "Yeah, yeah. It was worth it."

While the other were finishing their meal, I was thinking of a way to thank them. I was out of money, and without my wings I couldn't shape any clouds to say, "Thank you Ponyville!", that includes physical labor, Doc said I needed rest.

The only other thing that I could do was fighting and smelting, and I doubt any of these ponies need a bodyguard or a sword...

That reminds me, Nurse Redheart said I didn't have anything besides my medallion, no saddlebags or even my swordsheat. What in the hay happened to me...

I had stopped listening to the others for a while, my brain was going on full-auto. I got separated, lost my possessions, got two major wounds on my chest.

I doubt anypony could disarm me, besides, Sunshine wouldn't leave because of a simple robber, it had to be something more dangerous.

"Hey AJ, remember that time you rode that Manticore?" Rainbow Dash asked laughing.

"As if ah could, Rarity even bucked the poor critter." Applejack said while giving a approving glance towards Rarity.

"What would you have me do then? I had to defend my friends, and it would totally ruin my mane if it got any closer." Rarity huffed.

"Umm, but he only had a splinter in his paw. You didn't need to be so mean, the poor thing was just scared, that's all..." Fluttershy reasoned.

Wait a second, edge of the Everfree forest, Manticores, big sharp claws, dangerous enough to separate a caravan, BIG sharp claws... I can almost feel the gears in my head turning... *turn turn turn turn DING!*

"THAT'S IT!"

"Sweet Celestia!"

I heard various ponies around me complain, gasp and voice their annoyance in ways not proper for small foals to read, so I'll just skip a few seconds

"I already said I'm sorry! It's just that I remembered what happened that night." I said I'm sorry for the 20th time, but it still wasn't enough to dislodge the butter yellow Pegasus from the top of nearest bookshelf, it looks like she's afraid of heights too...

"Yeah, yeah, just be careful next time sugarcube. Fluttershy, it's safe to come down, see, we've got them' pillows right here bellow ya." It took her some self control not to slap me in the head, but since everypony calmed down everything is fine again.

"Aw AJ, don't be so hard on him, he even scared Pinkie! That's almost impossible to happen!" Defended Rainbow Dash.

"I wasn't scared Dashie, I thought he was starting a new screaming game, so I decided to play along." Cheerfully said the pink ball of energy.

"Riiiight. I'll go get some tea. Try and get Fluttershy down from there, then we can listen to your story Light." Twilight was leaving the room for some much needed tea, we all need to calm down a bit after my... Not so little outburst.

"I'll help you dearie, there's a recipe I've been dying to show you" Said the white unicorn while trotting towards Twilight.

I guess there's nothing else to do now, except...

"Fluttershy, it's OK, I promise to keep my voice down from now on. Just come down, please."

End of Chapter 4

Well, this chapter had a massive rewrite near the End, hopefully for the better.

Now for the Hype. *Ahem*

Will Fluttershy ever come down from that bookshelf?

...

Probably not, but tune in next time for the next chapter of...

Will of Fire!!