The Newcomer

"So, the party's in a giant gingerbread house?" Scourge asked. They were about 50 feet from the party.

"It's called Sugar Cube Corner, it's a bakery" Rarity answered.

"Oh I get it!" Scourge said stupidly.

Rarity groaned. "Well, we're here." she said.

"You first." Scourge said.

Pinkie was stoked. Everything was ready, balloons, streamers, punch, and music. There was even a giant WELCOME banner and a cake that said the same thing. She stood right at the door with her three friends, waiting for their guest of honour.

The door opened, Rarity was the first one through. Sporting a beautiful purple a sun hat. She was greeted by happy hellos and friendly nuzzles. The second pony looked nothing like Rarity. He had a dark purple coat and a short mane as black as night. His eyes were the same purple as his coat, and he wore a silver, black diamond-studded crest around his neck and a white cast on his left fore-hoof.

"Hi!" Pinkie said.

"Hello!" He said enthusiastically.

"What's your name?" Asked Twilight Sparkle.

"It's Scourge" He answered quickly.

"Oh, I'm Pinkie Pie!" She said.

"Hi Pinkie." Scourge said.

"Did you break your leg?! Did it hurt? OH, I bet it hurt! I-"

Dash cut her off, "Name's Rainbow Dash, don't wear it out." Dash said, while she did a loopy-loop in the air.

"Hello?" Scourge said, he wasn't fond of show-offs.

"Hi Scourge, I'm Twilight Sparkle." Twilight said as she stood a little taller.

"Princess Celestia's personal student, impressive." Scourge replied as Twilight smiled even wider.

"And what's your name?" Scourge asked the yellow-coated pink-haired mare standing a little farther back then everyone else.

"Um..." She bit her lip.

"It's Flutt-" The rest was whispered too quietly for Scourge to make out.

"Excuse me?" Scourge had heard of shy, but this was ridiculous.

"It's Fluttersh-" Again Scourge couldn't make out the ending. His brow furrowed.

"Fluttershy." She completed.

"Oh, Fluttershy!" Scourge said, that made sense. He almost snickered, but stopped himself.

"So, how do you two know each other?" Twilight asked politely.

"Yeah! Are you two boyfriend and girlfriend?" Pinkie laughed.

This comment caused Rarity to turn her head as her cheeks turned red. Scourge just frowned.

Rarity managed to squeak out "Ex".

Everypony that had thrown the party's eyes widened.

"OH, oops" Pinkie said.

"No problem. You didn't know" Scourge consoled.

There was an awkward silence between the ponies.

"Well I was informed that this was a party." Scourge said to break the silence.

"Yes... YES this is a party, c'mon everypony, let's party!" Pinkie said, seeming to be back to her old self.

Rarity, who had once more found her voice said "Scourge, go with Fluttershy and get some punch."

"Uh, shure, C'mon Fluttershy" Scourge said, he began walking towards the punch table and Fluttershy fell into step behind him.

"I'll start the music!" Pinkie said as she rushed off to the stereo.

Scourge and Fluttershy sat down at a table, Fluttershy had taken a small cup of punch, while Scourge had basically taken half the bowl. While the rest of the group went do the dance floor, Scourge decided to make it his mission to have a successful conversation with the yellow pony, but after several tries he almost admitted defeat. Then he realized the same way he had first made conversation with Rarity was with jokes! He was great at telling jokes, he had almost become a comedian, but Rarity had talked him out of it.

"Hey Shy-" Fluttershy interrupted him.

"Me?" She asked quietly.

"Yes you." Scourge answered. Then he proceeded to tell Rarity's favourite joke. By the end of it Fluttershy was gasping for air she was laughing so hard.

Scourge was laughing almost as hard as Fluttershy. "Wait, wait!"

Fluttershy stopped laughing. "What?"

Scourge smiled, "I've got another one!" Then they both burst out laughing before the joke was even told.

Everypony had stop dancing and was just staring dumbfounded, at the two ponies sitting at the table.

"I haven't seen her laugh in a long time." Dash said.

"Scourge almost became a comedian." Rarity said.

"If he made Fluttershy laugh, he must be better at telling jokes than me!" Pinkie said.

"Well it's great to know he made friends with the shyest pony in Ponyville in ten minutes." Twilight replied.

They all watched in awe as he told another joke and Fluttershy fell out of her chair laughing hysterically. Scourge then proceeded to drink all of his punch in one long gulp.

"That's one heck of an appetite!" Dash exclaimed.

"Don't worry, I told him to stay far away from the cake. He may be charming yes, but on a full stomach, he's a completely different pony." Rarity whispered.

"Really?" Twilight asked.

"Hey, I have an idea! Does Scourge dance?" Pinkie asked.

"Never." Rarity replied.

"Hey Fluttershy, come here for a second!" Pinkie yelled.

Fluttershy appeared to say goodbye to Scourge and then she trotted over quickly.

"What is it, he was just about to tell the joke about Princess Luna and her first day at the palace!" The yellow pony asked, still giggling.

"We're going to see if Scourge will dance!" Dash said.

"Oh, um, okay." Fluttershy said quickly.

"I'll ask him first." Said the cyan pony.

When she arrived, Scourge greeted her, "Oh hello Rainbow Dash, what can I do for you?" He wasn't stupid, he had noticed the mares grouping up and figured they were up to something.

"Wanna dance?" Dash asked, holding out a hoof.

"Uhh, no thank you, I really don't dance." Scourge replied.

"OH, okay then." She slowly trotted off her head hung low.

"Your turn Twilight." She said.

Twilight trotted over while the rest of the ponies consoled Rainbow Dash.

"Hello Scourge, would you like to dance?" She asked, her voice dripping with politeness.

"Ah, no thanks. I'm not a big fan of dancing." Scourge said. Then the strangest thing happened, he began to have a change of heart. "Why didn't he want to dance?" What was wrong with Twilight? Why- wait, he was getting dizzy.

He looked at Twilight's horn. It was glowing ever so slightly.

"A persuasion spell. Really Twilight?" He managed to ask, even though his words came out a little slurred. At once the effects stopped.

"Hehe, sorry." Said a very sheepish Twilight.

"Please, don't do it again."

"Sure."

She walked away and Pinkie Pie appeared.

Scourge had pretty much figured out the mare's plan by now. They were going to do everything in their power to get him to dance. He hated dancing. More than that, he was an awful dancer. The only time he could remember dancing voluntarily was when he was intoxicated.

"Wanna dance?" Pinkie asked loudly.

Scourge was done being polite. "No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes"

"Please"

"No."

"Pretty Please?"

"No."

"Please Please Please Please Please Pl-"

"No!" With that Scourge used his magic to levitate Pinkie back to the dance floor. She tried to run back, but her friends held her down. Twilight nodded to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy didn't run over like the others, she walked over without even making eye contact. Scourge was guessing she wasn't doing this on purpose.

"Oh, um, hello Scourge I was just wondering if I was- Wait, that isn't right." She stuttered.

Normally Scourge would have burst out laughing. Something stopped him though. He felt sorry for this pony and her ridiculous level of shyness, he decided to help her out. He hated dancing, but he hated watching Fluttershy struggle even more.

"Do you want to dance?" He asked her.

Her jaw dropped. "Yes, sure I'd Love to!" She answered after a few seconds.

As they walked to the dance floor everypony just stared.

Twilight whispered to Fluttershy "What did you do?"

To which Fluttershy replied, "Nothing, he asked me!"

"None of you realize that Scourge has a sympathetic side." Rarity thought.

Pinkie turned the music louder and everypony resumed dancing.

Scourge's dancing was alright, Rainbow Dash thought. But it was nothing to be embarrassed about. She made a mental note to find out why he didn't like dancing.

Pony Rock Anthem was one of Scourge's favourite song and luckily, the shuffle was his beast dance. Just as it began playing he and everypony else stopped dancing.

"So, the rest of you know this dance?" Scourge asked, already knowing the answer.

"YES!" The rest of them answered simultaneously.

"Alright then!" He said enthusiastically.

By the time the song had ended everybody was out of breath. After several more songs Pinkie thankfully stopped the music, everypony was too tired to dance for another second.

All the ponies migrated to the punch table for refreshments, then sat down.

"So Scourge, what's your story?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah, how did you meet R-" The rest of Pinkie's sentence was never heard, do to Dash covering her mouth.

"This is a long story." Scourge warned.

"We've got time" Twilight replied.

"Yeah, I bet it's exciting!" Said Fluttershy.

"Sounds cool!" Dash exclaimed.

"It is long and complicated.." Rarity said longingly.

Rarity was his EX-girlfriend! Scourge thought, He didn't have to abide by her needs and wants anymore. He decided to tell the story anyway, AND be EXTRA detailed on their relationship.

None of the ponies but Rarity understood the evil grin spreading across Scourge's face. She suddenly felt the need to leave the room. But being the extremely self-conscious pony she was, she didn't want to leave the room without good reason. Unfortunately, she couldn't come up with any good ideas.

Scourge began his story: "I grew up in Ponyville just like the rest of you. But I was home schooled, therefore I never saw much of anypony besides my parents, who, mind you, weren't great role models. When I was halfway done my schooling they divorced. Dad was a drunk and mom was afraid of her own shadow, Luckily I didn't end up like either of them. I looked down on them and willed myself to be better than they were. Mom got custody, but fell into a depression and couldn't continue home schooling me. So I went to school like all the other ponies, I was old enough to know better but still too young to care."

He chuckled, took another long sip of punch and continued.

"I met Rarity a year later, and I couldn't take my eyes off her. But being the antisocial pony I was, I couldn't say a word to her until six months later, at my first party. One of my friends who was a complete idiot, brought more alcohol than I had ever even seen in my life to the party. After way to many drinks some stupid part of me kept shouting "go look for Rarity" so I did. I found her sitting on a couch, surrounded by jocks. But things were getting out of hand, or a least it looked like it to me. So i walked over and said, "Hey, leave 'er alone." Now, this may have not been the smartest thing to do, but the only thing my parents let me do was take martial arts, so I thought I'd be fine."

"So you just confronted them?" Fluttershy asked.

"Pretty much." Scourge replied.

"Wow" She said

"Yes, wow." He answered.

He continued. "As you can guess that didn't make them too happy. but luckily, they were drunker than I was and didn't put up much of a fight. After I was finished with them I asked Rarity out to dinner. She said yes, and I was as surprised as anypony! The dinner was good and so was the next couple months of dating. We dated a little over a year, the dates were great, the kisses were awesome. We did everything together, parties, home-work, sports, I couldn't name all of the things if I tried. A week before I was going to meet her parents, well-"

He motioned for the mares to lean in.

"The war started." He whispered.

"There was a war?!" Pinkie asked, aghast.

"Well I see you're a nice bunch of mares who could- Wait, all of you look familiar." He said.

"How so?" Twilight asked.

"I can't quite put my hoof on i-" Then his jaw dropped.

"Um, hello?" Dash said, a little weirded out.

Scourge backed away before asking them solemnly "Are you five, plus one more, the holders of the Elements of Harmony?"

"Well um, yes but we don't usually-"

Scourge stood as straight as he could and saluted. "Warrant officer Scourge at your service!" He said importantly.

Everypony's eyes widened at this.

"At ease soldier." Rainbow dash said, before she was thumped on the back of the head, courtesy of Rarity.

"Sorry, force of habit." Scourge said before he sat back down.

"The war was a secret, nopony but the military knew about it." Everypony but Rarity gasped.

"I caught wind of the war during a rumour that went throughout the school. Me and 3 other stallions were the only ones who believed it. So the next day we got on the first train to canter lot and arranged to see the princess. We actually got to see her, much to our surprise. We told her we wanted to fight in the war. She was surprised, but told us we could. The next day we were shipped off too boot camp, but first I sent a letter to Rarity telling her I was leaving for a couple months but would be coming back. I told her her not to worry and she didn't, but she should have. The war was awful, the and two of stallions I originally went to see the princess with never came back. Our enemies were ruthless but, I was worse, as you may have guessed my real name isn't Scourge."

"Really?!" Pinkie asked.

"I was given that name by my enemies because of the way I ruthlessly fought. As I was promoted time after time and earned medal after medal, the other soldiers started to look up to me. I helped Equestria win that war. I can't tell you who or where we fought because that information is classified above to secret. Equestrians need to feel safe. Thats why it's a secret."

"Wow, the princess didn't even tell me about the war." Twilight said to herself.

"Thats not surprising. Anyways, after the war ended I went back to Rarity, words can not express how much she missed me. The worst part was when I couldn't tell her where I had been. After the whole Nightmare Moon ordeal I saw an opening for a career, as Princess Luna's personal bodyguard. I got the job after she was told about my reputation, but I had to leave Rarity because I would have to live at the castle and would have to be single. It was the restrictions for the job. So, soon after I got back I broke up with Rarity because, well, duty calls I guess." He said sadly.

A single tear slipped from Rarity's eye.

"I was her bodyguard for five years before the Princess got wind of creatures named Elementals wreaking havoc on desert towns. She sent me, and only me, to take care of the Elementals. I got halfay through the desert when I was ambushed. I was frozen, burned, trown, pummeled, shown the darkest darkness, and witnessed the brightest light before I passed out. After that I stumbled into ponyville, Rarity's shop was the only thing I recognized. I showed up on her doorstep, lost consciousness, and here I am."

"Wow" Twilight said.

"Oh my goodness." Fluttershy gasped.

"Cool!" Pinkie Pie said.

"You're almost as awesome as me." Dash said.

Rarity just sighed, wiping her eyes. The rest of the mares looked at her, pity in their eyes.

The rest of the party was fun, a little awkward, but fun. There was more dancing, party games, even karaoke.  Scourge politely refused the cake, but ate an entire tray of snacks. Scourge thought the punch tasted like it had just a little bit of alcohol in it. So he drank just enough, which was 2 bowls, to give him a nice, happy feeling.

It was eleven by the time the ponies were leaving. Scourge knew he was sleeping on the couch tonight. Just as he was leaving Pinkie called,

"Are you sure you don't want to stay a little longer? There's still some cake left!"

'I didn't get any cake!" Scourge thought. "I love cake!"

"Sure pinkie! I love cake!" Scourge called back.

"I'll be back when it's gone!" He called to Rarity.

"Okay" Rarity said quietly.

Scourge ignored Rarity and walked back into Sugar Cube Corner.

"Maybe I can get to know Pinkie a little better" He thought happily, his story forgotten.

TO BE CONTINUED...