A certain pony tale

The insistent knocking made Twilight get up and answer. Her drowsy face and messy mane gave her the look of a walking dead, not to mention, her eyes were still closed.

“Hi Twi!”, the pink mare yelled, “is Arny around? I want to take him to his surprise party!”

“Pinkie Pie...?”, the unicorn murmured, “don’t you think it’s a little early for that...?”

“I know! I planned Arny’s surprise welcome party early so we can make up for not doing it yesterday!”

The purple pony, with her eyes barely open, answered: “how is supposed to be a surprise if you are yelling it...”

“Well duh!”, Pinkie giggled, “because the surprise is AT the party.”

The pink pony just noticed Twilight’s red eyes and asked her: “where you up all night?”

“Yes,” she replied, recovering some sense, “I was looking for a book, but I couldn’t find it…”

Twilight let go a wide yawn, and fell asleep, standing, right there at the door, then Pinkie went in, playfully hopping, directly to where Arnold was sleeping. She stared at him with a cheerful smile for a couple of minutes, without blinking or moving.
The human was saying something in his sleep, so, out of curiosity, she put her ear closer to the man’s mouth. Most of his words weren’t clear enough, but one in particular was unmistakable:

“Betty...”

The pink mare cocked her head in surprise, then, Arnold’s eyes began to open.

“WOW!”

The human gasped while falling from the bed and on his arm, taking the bedsheets with him.

“Ha!”, shouted triumphantly the pink pony, “and Twilight said you wouldn’t be surprised!”

Arnold sat fumbly, covered by the white bedsheets, and gave her a clueless look.

“What’s up with that face Arny?”, Pinkie chuckled, “now come on, we’re going to be late!”

“Late?” the man cluelessly inquired “late for what?”

“Obviously for you SURPRISE WELCOME PARTY! Oh, but you came yesterday so today should be your post-welcome surprise party, uh! but that means that you didn’t have a welcome party, but you´re going to have one right now, but…”

The curly haired mare blabbered a little more, while Arnold was noding half sleep.

“...And everypony is waiting for you! it’s very important for every new folk in town!”

“...Important you say?”

“YES!”, yelped the pony. Then she darted towards him and looked him straight in the eye, “IT’S SUPER-DUPER-UPPER IMPORTANT!”

Arnold’s eyes opened wide and his lips trembled, the remaining doziness left his body instantly.

“Uhh... fine” he muttered.

“Goodie-woolie!”

Pinkie put herself behind him and pushed him towards the door. Arnold didn’t want to get on the bad side of the creature who pointed a canon at his face, so he played along for the time being.

Ten minutes later, they were at the door of “Sugar-cube corner”. In the way, several ponies were turning to see the weird alien. He was expecting that of course, but it didn’t made it any less uncomfortable.

“Here we are, everypony!” Pinkie yelled after kicking open the doors of the store.

Dozens of colorful equines roared in excitment, welcoming him into the party, while lots of balloons fell from the roof as he entered the place. In order to move him to the center, Pinkie gave him a push, making him bump into some of the other ponies, who were surprisingly not as freaked out as he was. Feeling pressure, and tallness, he made his way through the noisy crowd, with pinkie at his side.
Arnold thought that this ritual could be as important as the pink pony said, mostly because of the attendance, so, he had to be very cautious about his behavior. He couldn’t be sure of what were this ponies capable of if he did something out of place.

“Hey Ponyville! This is my friend Arny! And he is a human!” Announced cheerfully the pink pony.

A big “Ohh!” echoed in the room, followed by the sound of hundreds of hoofs hitting the wooden floor.

“Speach!”, she exclaimed enthusiastically.

The man stood there for a while, looking at the petite multitude, wondering what was the best thing to say to them.
He slowly raised his right hand and said: “Hello everyone.”
Many whispers ran through the place, most of them containing the words: “humans can talk.”

Arnold cleared his throat and continued: “I’m honored by this ceremony, and glad that we can interact in peace. I most certainly don’t intend to harm you in any way, so, I expect you to do the same”

The ponies looked to each other in confusion, wondering what he could possibly mean by that. The idea of violence never crossed their minds.
As he watched the reaction of his public, he felt the need to correct himself.

“I know that I must look strange and maybe dangerous to you, but I promise you that I will be available for any questions or requests that you may--.”

“Uh! Uh! Here! I have a request!”, Pinkie interrupted him while rising her hoof.

“Uh... yes?”

“Party!”

Suddenly, loud music came out of nowhere, and everyone in the room began to dance along with it, except for the human, who rose his sight, looking for the source of the sound.
The crowd scattered over the place, chit chatting, dancing and tasting the local snacks.

“Let’s dance Arny, this is my jam!”

Pinkie shook her flank in front of him and turned around, inviting him to do the same. Of course, Arnold was too weirded out to loosen up. But then again, maybe it was an important part of their ritual.
The curly maned mare stood on her two back hooves and took the man by his hands, making him move at the rhythm of the music.
Giving in, the man decided that the best course of action was to go with the flow, so he moved exactly how she wanted to. Arnold was trying his best to mimic her steps, but after one minute, she stopped him.

“That’s not good Arny!”

“Really?”, he said with concern, “what am I doing wrong?”

“You are not having fun.”

The man frowned and asked: “...Is that really important?”

“Of course it is!”, she yelled, “fun is the most important thing in the world! your party will be a fiasco if you don’t have fun!”

Arnold could see that the concern on her eyes was sincere.

“Emotions are really that important to these beings?” He thought.

"Aha", she exclaimed, “hey DJ! Smooth the tunes!”

At the other side of the place, a blue maned pony had its hooves on some sort of deck, filled with consoles and disc players. He wondered how he didn’t noticed it before.
The DJ pony threw the disc that was on into the air, and stylishly with a swift flip, put another.
It was a melody a lot more relaxed, almost romantic. All the guests sought out for a partner and, giving each other little nod as a sign of greeting, they stood on two hooves and grabbed each other by the shoulders

Pinkie climbed on Arnold’s shoes and showed him a joyful smile.

“Come on you, I want to see that smile.”

As she laid her head on his chest and put her front legs around his waist, Arnold slowly started to take some steps, from side to side, according to the music rhythm. A nostalgic feeling ran through his chest. A lot of memories came out to the surface of his mind.
Unconsciously, his expression went a lot more calmer, and his eyes had the deepness that only melancholy can cause.

“Shoot...” Pinkie pouted.

Arnold woke up from his trance and asked her: “What’s wrong?”

“You just went from serious to mopey...” she said as her ears dropped.

“I’m not mopey Pinkie.”

Her grin gradually got bigger as she saw the smile on Arnold’s face. He didn’t realized that he was smiling, until her smile got so big that it made him a little uncomfortable.

The sun was setting as the last guests left the store, waving at Pinke and Arnold who were at the door.

“I can’t believe it’s noon already” He said as looking at the horizon.

The happy pony next to him put herself in front of his face, even though there wasn’t anything to stand on, and asked: “Soooooo? Did you have a good time?”

“Yeah, I guess...” He said while arching his eyebrows.

“Yes! Mission complete private Pinkie!” The pink pony made a salute pose.

“Right...” Arnold muttered, “I should probably go back to the library, I’ve got some questions for Twilight.”

The man waved goodbye to her and set off for Twilight’s place. Pinkie smiled to him, satisfied, and went back into the shop.
He wandered aimlessly through the town for about thirty minutes, until he finally arrived to the library. Upon opening the door, a green flame burst through the room. It made Arnold fell on his butt.

“Oh, hi you!” Twilight welcomed him. Some kind of purple lizard was standing next to her.

“Have you two met? This is my assistant Spike”

“Nice to meet you Arnold.” Spike approached him to shake his hand. “Twilight told me everything about you.”

Arnold reached Spike’s tiny hand and shook it, his scales were rough.

“You are the dragon that Twilight was talking about?”

“That’s me.” the petite dragon sticked his chest out. “The fiercest dragon in all of Ponyville.”

“You mean the only dragon in all of Ponyville, right?” Twilight giggled.

“Exactly.” He answered, still feeling very proud.

“Anyway,” Twilight changed the subject while Arnold was standing up, “I just sent a letter to the princess. I told her about you and asked her if she’s got a copy of “the year zero”.”

“It’s so strange,” she said while turning around, “I could swear that it was right here.”

Then, she glared at Spike and added: ”You don’t have anything to do with it, do you Spike?”

“M-Me?”, he nervously answered, “why don’t you ask owloicious?”

“What’s the matter Spike? Why are you so nervous?”

“I’m not nervous! I’m just... Uh... hungry! That’s it!”

“Now Spike, tell me what happ—”

Twilight got interrupted by a blinding light that filled the entire room. From it, a white hybrid between a pegasus and a unicorn came out.

“So it is true” the being seriously uttered.

The fear that left his body earlier, came back twice as strong.