Us and Them

Chapter 4

Party Hardy

After being paraded around the party by Pinkie, She happily brought the five of us to a table that already had cake around it. She bounced off to go enjoy the rest of the party, probably play pin-the-tail-on-the-pony. The party was great. It was well attended, but not crowded. I could see why parties were Pinkie’s special talent.

“Well, I’d love to hang with you guys some more, but I’m gonna say hi to my friends. See ya later!” Rainbow said. As she left, I thought I saw her brush her tail on her new colt-friend (jeez, I made that joke but apparently she’s set on it). I saw the pegasus follow her with his eyes as she walked away.

“Over here, Casanova.” I called to his attention. He snapped his head back our way, a little embarrassed. “Right. I’ve got a few things I want to say.”

“OHMYGOSH SO DO I.”  The little mare butted in.

“I had a pretty cool day too, I guess.” The pegasus added. The last one yet to speak, the colt, looked like he was considering saying something, but decided against it. I was wondering why when we were suddenly interrupted. I realized that he was keeping quiet while he waited his turn, and was letting the lovely mare that had walked up talk first.

“I heard one of you ponies was looking for me?” Just the voice I wanted to hear. A certain purple pony. A certain master of magic. A certain student of a royal princess.

“Twilight Sparkle! I’ve heard wonders about you! My name’s Historia, and I would love to ask you a favor.” I had everything in my head ready to go.

“Oh, well... okay. What do you need?”

“I... ummm...” I started to get second thoughts. Not because I was unsure of what I was doing, but I suddenly became very aware of where I was. “Ah, this is neither the time nor the place for this discussion. I’d love to discuss the matter with you at the library tomorrow, however.

“Oh. Okay, sure. Now you four should really get up and meet everypony. It is a party for you after all.” That’s what I figured. I didn’t want to break news of my thoughts until after the party was over. I didn’t know how they would react, but I didn’t want three sad ponies walking around at their own welcome party.

We stepped away from the table, and Twilight walked us to meet with her friends- the Mane 6. We began introductions with her friends.

“Hi I’m Pinkie Pie, and I threw this party for all of you!” almost exactly the same as her first (coherent) words to Twilight. I think she had a script she memorized. If I asked, knowing her tendency to ignore the fourth wall, she’d probably pull it out and show it off.

“Mah name’s Applejack.” Said the orange pony with a respectful tip of her hat.

“Oh, my name is Rarity, although I do prefer Miss Rarity if it’s not too much trouble.” I was keeping it Rarity. The pegasus wouldn’t care, the mare probably wasn’t listening, but I expected the colt to play along.

“You know, me. I’m Rainbow Dash!” She apparently couldn’t say her name without sounding excited.

“Oh, you’ve already met?” Twilight asked, apparently surprised at the fact.

“Oh, you could definitely say they’ve met.” I responded, shooting a quick glance at the pegasus to look for a reaction. He glared at me for half a second before averting his eyes. Score. This will be fun.

“I-I’m Fluttershy.” She was still timid around new ponies I could see, but at least she could be heard now.

“And I’m Twilight Sparkle. So who are you? Why don’t you tell us your names and cutie marks?”

I started. I knew for a solid fact that none of them would. They couldn’t even answer the questions. “My name’s Historia, and my cutie mark’s an hourglass. My talent is the ability to remember history really well.” I felt bad answering the questions knowing none of the other three could, so I added changed the question for them, hoping I could get a bite.

“Also, I wanted to say that none of the other three can remember a name, or really much of  anything for that matter. So if there’s any special talents you have that you found today, why don’t you just say that?”

“Ooh! Ooh! Why don’t we make names for them!?!?” Pinkie asked.

“That was my point in this whole ordeal, Pinkie. Let’s start with you, Mr. Pegasus.”

“Skills, huh? Well, when I was getting a flying lesson from Dash here, she kinda flew at me. We were, uh... sorta fighting. But whenever she got close, I would dodge or hit back. She never actually touched me. So yeah, apparently I’m a pretty good fighter.”

It all started to fit together. That black ribbon on his flank wasn’t a ribbon, it was a piece of black cloth. Specifically a black belt. His skill was fighting. I decided to name him after my favorite martial art- Tae Kwon Do. Now how could I make that into a name... Ah- I knew it! “Tycho. Your name is Tycho.”

“What? I like it- sounds cool. But, what? Where did that come from?”

“Well, you said you’re good at fighting, and the black belt on your flank symbolizes mastery of a martial art, like Tae Kwon Do. Shorten it up, and you get-”

“Ty-K-O. Tycho. Hmph. I like it.”

“Alright. So your name is Tycho, and your talent is fighting.” Twilight said matter-of-factly. I was  almost surprised she wasn’t taking notes. “What story do you have, big guy?”

“Well, I was walking around, letting my mind wander. Apparently I walked for a really long time, because I ended up halfway to Canterlot.”

“Really? It’s a six hour trip from Ponyville, so that means you were walking for three hours.” Twilight stated. “How could you have not noticed?”

“I guess I, uh, don’t have a good internal clock. But yeah, I turned around at about six.”

“An hour ago?”

“Just about, yeah. The weird part is, when I started galloping back to town, I was moving way faster than I ever thought I could move. I mean, I was moving like, three or four times as fast as my normal gallop, and I wasn’t even getting tired.”

“So just before the party, that giant cloud of dust you suddenly appeared in was actually dust you kicked up while running?” I asked, the gears in my head turning as I simultaneously tried to process this information and connect the dots to get him a name.

“Yeah. Apparently the dirt in the roads gets kicked up really easy when I’m moving that fast, so I had a big cloud of dust behind me as I went.”

Well, I about had nothing. He sure didn’t give me much to work with. Speedy? Nah, that name was too boring. What else could I do?

“H-How about Dusty? I mean, if-if you don’t think it’s that bad of a name of course.” Fluttershy ask-pologized (a talent only she could do. She says something, but immediately turns it into an apology).

“Dusty... Hmm, Dusty sounds pretty good,” replied the newly christened colt.

“Yay! Myturn-myturn-myturn!” The red mare eagerly spat out. “Okay, so I was running around the town, and I ran into this tree, and a paper fell on my face, and –GAAAAAAAAASSSSSSPPPP- I read it, and It was showing this singing competition, but I wasn’t really reading it, so I entered this competition, and –GAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSPPPP- I realized I didn’t know any songs, so I was scared that I’d look stupid, but when I came up, I suddenly started singing some song I never heard before, but –GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSPPPPP-  I sang it really well, and I got a perfect score, and I won, and now we get to go to Canterlot.” She seemed more excited about the day’s events than Pinkie was when she first met Twilight, but I mean really, who can top that?

“Okay. Your special talent is singing, for those who couldn’t follow the story. Specifically, she sang a song without knowing the lyrics to it. Hmm… Lyrics… How about Lyrica?” Somehow I felt like I could’ve named her “Poopy McStupidhead,” and she’d still be thrilled.

“Lyrica? AWESOME!” Man, I should really go for the low-hanging fruit next time.

“Okay, so our new ponies here are Historia, Tycho, Dusty, and Lyrica. Great to meet you all!” Twilight said with a smile.

“And it’s great to meet you all as well. I hope we can become good friends,” I said as I turned my gaze towards a pair of pegasi who had moved together during the introductions. They quickly took a step away from each other. Jeez, it was like being with sixth graders again.

“Yay! Now that everypony knows everypony, LET’S PAAAAAARRTAY!” Pinkie shouted.

DJ-PON3 (Vinyl Scratch when she’s not at her tables), who was in town for a certain competition of a musical variety, kicked the tunes up a notch so we could “shake our flanks,” as Pinkie put it. I still had no idea how long it would take me to get used to “ponyisms,” namely, everypony, flanks, hooves, and the like. It seemed like I wouldn’t be headed home anytime soon, so I should have plenty of time to learn them, at least.

Lyrica, unable to contain herself for more than ten seconds (I counted, she made it about seven and a half seconds), dragged me out onto the dance floor. If I were a human, I might’ve taken over and torn up the floor like I were a tornado. Sadly, as a pony, I had a tough enough time walking, let alone dancing. So I just did a little bit of easy dancing. It was fun though. Lyrica, on the other hand, danced like no tomorrow, despite the fact that she actually had two... four... (what would the saying translate to?) left hooves

Rainbow and Tycho, as expected, started dancing together, but they eventually started to show each other up, which started a small quarrel. Twilight and I dragged the two apart from each other until they had a chance to simmer down. Then they went right back to being inseparable. It was a funny cycle to watch.

Dusty tried to hang back, but a mysterious pink shadow pushed him into Fluttershy. Apparently the mind behind that hoof thought they would be adorable together. This action just ended with the two of them endlessly apologizing to the other for bumping into the other one. Adorable, indeed! Thank you Mysterious Pink Hoof of Fate, you bring me laughs and warm fuzzies a-plenty.

As Lyrica danced until her lungs started to come out, I looked around at the party around me. Rainbow and Tycho were… whatever they were (Friends? Lovers? Rivals? Who knows.). Fluttershy and Dusty were… well, I think they were becoming friends. Lyrica seemed to know Sweetie and Scootaloo, as they said hi to her when they saw each other at the party. I had made friends with Twilight, and received a brohoof from Lyra.

In a matter of a day, each one of us had made a friend in Ponyville. We were already seen as friendly neighbors, not strange amnesiac outsiders. I smiled gently as I dragged a collapsed, gasping Lyrica off the dance floor.

“Everypony here is a friend now.” I thought to myself as I got a pair of cups of punch for Lyrica and myself. “It’s like we’ve been here forever. This must be what Twilight felt like when she made her friends here.”

I stayed with Lyrica for the rest of the night. I felt like I needed to keep an eye on her, in case she danced her way into a heart attack next (would CPR work on a pony? Things to wonder). My fears seemed unfounded, as she spent the rest of the evening recovering from her one dance session.

More than once, ponies walked up to us to welcome us to the town, and recommend themselves and their skills. Berry Punch offered us some of her famous juice as a welcome gift. Carrot Top insisted that we stop by and pick up some of her carrots, free of charge. They all made me feel welcome, and I thanked them for their offers.

As the party began to wind down, I decided it was time to head home. “Aw jeez, you’ve gotta be kidding me.” I muttered to myself. “I don’t have anywhere to sleep. Come to think of it- none of us do.”

I walked up to Twilight, who seemed to be making her way for the door herself. “Say, Twilight, you think you could help my friends and I with a little problem?”

“Uh, sure, what do you need?”

“Well, we don’t actually have anywhere to sleep, so I think we’re gonna need to stay at somepony else’s house for a while.”

“Oh, well, I could probably have you and Lyrica over, but Dusty might be a bit too big, and Tycho already left with Rainbow Dash.”

“Oh, you’ve got to be- That’s great, thanks. Is Fluttershy still here?”

“Yes, besides Rainbow, all of us are going home now. Well, Pinkie’s not going anywhere, but you get the picture.”

“Right, let’s go then.” I picked up Lyrica, who had long ago fallen asleep, and placed her across my back. She was surprisingly light. We then made our way out the door. Waiting outside were four ponies- Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Dusty.

“So Dusty, do you have anywhere to sleep tonight?” Twilight inquired.

“Oh man. Come to think of it, I don’t.”

“My boutique is simply too messy for any guests- I’m in the middle of a large order of dresses for Hoity Toity you see.” Rarity responded. I wondered how “dirty” she could mean. With her, it could be one thing out of place, or something even I could consider messy.

“Well, the harvest a apples’r takin’ up most a the space in the barn, so ah don’t think y’all can stay at mah place.” Applejack said. I’d seen the size of the buckets they filled with apples. I believed her. Her being the Element of Honesty helped too.

“Oh, I think I have space if you need somewhere to sleep.” Fluttershy replied. I noticed that she wasn’t nearly as timid around us anymore. I guess that was as good an indicator as any that we were friends now.

“Okay, so Dusty will stay with you, Fluttershy. Lyrica and I will stay at the Library with Twilight. Is Tycho with Rainbow then? I want to make sure they’re doing alright. Can we stop by her place before we head home?”

“Sure, it’s on the way to the library and Fluttershy’s cottage, so we can go,” Twilight answered.

“Great! Let’s go then, I could really use some sleep, and it looks like I’m not the only one,” I said with a laugh as Lyrica stirred in her sleep. This pony was either bouncing off the walls or out like a light.

With that, the group left to head home. Rarity and Applejack went in the opposite direction as Twilight, Fluttershy, Dusty, and I (still carrying Lyrica, mind you. I’m not exactly a big strong colt, nudge nudge, Dusty) went towards our first destination, Rainbow’s cloud-house. It wasn’t as far as I thought. I guess I never noticed it because it was, well, clouds.

“Could you fly up there and make sure Tycho’s up there? And that he’s not sleeping too close to Rainbow? He, um, tosses around in his sleep really badly. I wouldn’t want him to hurt Rainbow.” I asked Fluttershy. The bit about the tossing in his sleep was completely made up, but I didn’t want to tell them what I was afraid they might be doing (illogical? Yes, but a guy mare has irrational thoughts sometimes).

After she flew up to check on them, Fluttershy reported back in. “Yes, Tycho is up there. I don’t think you need to be worried though. It seems like Rainbow Dash got a separate cloud for Tycho to sleep on.”

“Oh, they probably got into another one of their fights just before they went to sleep. Well, it’s good that Tycho made a friend. Let’s head home.” With that, we went to our destinations for the night. Fluttershy’s cottage was past the Library, so she and Dusty went on after we went inside.

Spike was asleep upstairs, but Owlowiscious was cleaning up some papers that Spike had neglected to clean while he was awake. “Hi Owlowiscious, could you help me set up a place for our two guests to sleep?” Twilight asked.

“Hoo?” Owlowiscious replied.

I knew better. I really did. But in this case, I couldn’t help myself. “Us. Me and my friend here. We’re the ones staying tonight.”

“Hoo,” Owlowiscious (re?) stated.

Twilight went into the basement, and emerged levitating blankets and pillows a-plenty. This just reminded me that I still hadn’t learned to use magic yet. I considered trying some out, but I was too tired. “I’ve got tomorrow,” I thought to myself as Twilight quickly laid some bedding out on the floor. She had some pony-sized pillows which she used as mattresses, and she added a pair of blankets and pillows to each makeshift bed.

“Alright, I hope you don’t mind, but this is the best we can do. Owlowiscious, if these ponies ask for anything tonight, make sure they get it.”

“Hoo.”

“Goodnight everypony,” Twilight said as she sleepily stumbled into her bedroom

I set Lyrica on one of the beds and tucked her in. She was sleeping so deep, I probably could’ve dropped her on the floor and not gotten a peep out of her. Then I went to bed myself. It had been a long day, and a good night’s sleep was just what the doctor ordered. I thought back upon everything that had happened, from waking up on somepony’s lawn, to meeting the other three, hearing Lyrica’s song, and the party. I would sleep well tonight. It had been a great day.