#4

After a very touching and emotional moment in Twilight's home, the princesses left to go run important royal business, Applejack stated something about bucking trees, Dash said she would go practice some "radical" moves, and Rarity saw to it that she would try to finish a large order of fashion designs.

"Well, I guess it's just us…wait, where did Pinkie go?!" I asked immediately noticing that Pinkie Pie was gone, the two ponies left were Flutter Shy and Twilight, but they just shrugged, weird.

"Ok…so what is there to do here in Ponyville?" I asked changing the conversation since I knew they weren't going to give me a straight answer. They both looked at each other for a moment and smiled.

"There's a lot to do here in Ponyville, but for starters, we would recommend you go visit and get to know the place better." Stated Twilight

"Yes, and we'll be here to guide you" finished Flutter Shy. I looked at Flitter Shy with a smile and thanked her for the support.

"Your w-welcome" she replied back.

After that we exited Twi's home and proceeded to explore the town some more, Twilight pointed to areas and labeled them, while Flutter Shy helped but kept rather hidden behind Twilight. I think we practically circled the whole of Ponyville because, by the time we came back to where we started, the sun was about ready to set.

"Whoa, that knocked the wind out of me," said Twilight, exhausted after all of our walking.

"Me too" agreed Flutter Shy.

"Not me!" I said laughing out loud a little, they looked at me and at the setting sun with a smile. Twilight quickly changed her expression to a confused one.

"Well this is strange" she stated

"What is?" I asked as I faced them, they were leaning against the side of the house, Flutter Shy was leaning against Twilight while she looked around.

"What are you looking for," I asked again.

Twilight turned to face me, "I'm was sure that Pinkie Pie would have sent…" She quickly widened her eyes and raised her hoof.

"LOOK OUT!" yelled a voice from behind me.

I quickly turned around to see a gray blur going over my head. I quickly jumped and flung my arms upwards to catch the gray object, the object landed in my hands but came at such a speed that it pushed me down to the ground on my back. I quickly put the object to my chest as to avoid it escaping my hands, or getting hurt.

"Oww…" I groaned I was on my back again. I sat back up and looked at the object I had just caught, to my surprise it wasn't at all an object, but a pony, a gray and blond pony. Twilight and Flutter Shy appeared beside me with worried looks but quickly turned them into facepalms/hooves. I just stared at my catch, and then noticed the pony with its hooves over its eyes.

"Hey there, now who might you be?" I asked as if nothing had happened, the pony dropped its hooves, and looked up at me. The pony was indeed a female, but something else caught my attention: her eyes. Her eyes seemed to stare at me but seemed to face in different directions, they were also blondish like her hair. I would have stared more if she hadn't embraced me in a hug.

"Thank you for saving me! I would have crashed into Twilights home again if you hadn't caught me" She stated in a casual tone, her voice was strange but fit her physical look somehow.

"Derpy, you need to be more careful, you could have hurt yourself or Ben" Twilight said with a stern look on her face. Derpy, hmmm I can see the connection.

"So…Derpy why were you charging at us like that?" I said placing her on the ground and picking myself up. She quickly rose up, and started digging around in the satchel she had, and pulled out a muffin.

"Here you go, that why" I looked at the muffin, and back at her.

"umm…I don't get what you're saying: you charged at me because of a muffin?" I asked confused and trying to hold in my laughter.

"wha…oh, oppsies, sorry that's my dinner," She said putting it away and taking out a small envelope and handing it to Twilight. "That's the real thing, ok got to go back, more letters to deliver"

She bid her farewell and flew off, but I don't think this is the last time I'll be seeing her. I waved goodbye as she left. I turned my attention back to Twilight who had already opened the envelope and was reading it. She and Flutter Shy both looked at me and told me to go over to Sugar Cube Corner. At first, I was hesitant but gave up when they looked me eye to eye.

I began my journey over to Sugar Cube Corner, one thing that was strange was that night had befallen Ponyville and that it was quiet all over. I began to feel uneasy, as everything was turned off and not a sound was heard. Once I finally reached the house, I noticed everything was turned off and that nothing seemed to be active.

What the hell? Why was I sent here, everypony seems to be asleep?

I wanted to leave but going against Flutter Shy and Twilight's word would not be too kind. I placed my hand on the handle and latched on to it, I inhaled I large breath of air and opened the door hoping I wasn't intruding. I let my breath free since there didn't seem to be anyone, I took one step forward and closed the door behind me. I looked around for a switch of some kind but found none. It was beginning to look like no one was here, so I decided to play my last card.

"Hello?"

"SURPRISE!" yelled many voices as I jumped at the sudden light and voices that filled the room. My body froze and I didn't react for a few seconds. I just looked around at all the ponies that surrounded me and began to give faint laughter.

"Umm…surprise indeed, but what are we celebrating exactly?" I asked very much surprised, and a little terrified. Then among the crowd emerged Pinkie pie with a party hat and managed to put it on me somehow. She then looked at me with a huge smile, I tried to muster up the most realistic smile I could.

"WELCOME TO PONYVILLE! I HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR PARTY, WE MADE CAKE, MUFFINS, SWEETS, OH MY GOSH! THERES MUCH MORE! She stated in a single breath. I stared at her with an actual smile now, I couldn't believe how fast she was at taking, but also, I was more surprised that I had a party for arriving at Ponyville: this truly was a surprise.

"Wow! Thanks, Pinkie Pie" I said to her causing her to smile with glee. I turned to face everyone else, I've seen some of them on my tour with Twilight and Flutter Shy, but never asked for their names. "and thank you all too! HOW ABOUT WE CELEBRATE!"

A large amount of cheering was heard, and we all settled in for a crazy party. My main goal was to get to know as many ponies as possible, but it seems that the first pony has found me instead.

I was eating a slice of cake when I was approached by strange looking pony she was another female, but she didn't look like the rest in terms of fashion. She had a punked-out mane and tail, and wore huge rounded shades, she also had a musical note on her flank, I'll ask Twilight about that later.

"Hey, dude, what's up!" She asked, she seemed to be nice enough for her look, I like that.

"This party right now!" I replied and put my cake down on a table.

"Yea, you got that right! Say I heard you're the one that handled about 9 Timber Wolves, am I right!" she asked causing me to focus my attention on her, she had a smirk on her face that meant "she knows it's me."

Yea, the name's Ben, and who might you be?" I asked back, she lifted her shades with her magic to reveal her crimson eyes, causing me flinch a little. I quickly made up for it by placing my hand behind my head and smiling. She gave me an awkward look and giggled a little.

"My name's Vinyl Scratch, I'm the local DJ, and it's cool to meet the one to took out those Timber Wolves." She said looking me straight in the eyes, I couldn't look her straight in the eyes without staring, so I decided to not in her direction. That wasn't a good idea, she immediately noticed my acts and questioned me.

"Hey, are you alright? I'm not scary, am I?" She questioned looking at me with a gloomy look on her face. I looked up at her with a rather surprised look, she seemed to notice since she looked back at me.

"No! Not at all, sorry if I made you feel that way… it's just…I've never seen anyone with such beautiful crimson eyes" I complimented, I looked back at Vinyl, who seemed to have looked away for a moment, before looking back. She had a small blush exposed over her face and a weird somewhat strange wavy smile.

"You really think my eyes are beautiful?" She questioned as scooted closer to me. I began to feel strange in some sort of way, I don't know how to describe the feeling, but I felt like I was lingering on a decision of life or death: Life

"Yea…I've never seen someone with eyes like yours before, that's kind of why I didn't look you straight in the eyes…I was afraid of staring" I stated as I began scratching the back of my head in all the awkwardness of the moment, she briefly did something similar with her hooves, but it just added to the atmosphere.

"Vinyl, come have some cake!" yelled Pinkie Pie from the other side of the room.

"Well I guess we will speak later dude, I gotta eat something or I won't hear the end of it," Vinyl said as she took her leave to get cake. I looked at my slice and decided to finish, before thinking about what just happened. A smile crept its way on my face, as I reminisced in my mind those eyes, and slowly dozed off.

"Ben…"

"Ben!"

"Hello!"

I quickly snapped awake and looked around to see who was calling me, after a few looks back and forth I didn't see anyone, at eye level at least, but upon looking down I noticed Dash hitting my knee with her hoof.

"Oh, hey Dash, how's it going?" I asked as I looked around the party was still going but it was dying down slowly: so much for getting to know everypony. Dash looked up at me then began to hover, she had a pretty tired look, and she seemed to be falling asleep in mid-air.

"I think I'm going, I'm pretty tired after all that practice, so I'll see you tomorrow" she stated yawning, I also shared the same feeling of sleepiness, but being the guest of honor, I couldn't leave just yet.

"Yea, see ya" I replied as she left. I turned my attention to the rest if the party, well it was more of a small group of ponies talking than a party now. Pinkie Pie was finishing a slice of cake, while Rarity, Applejack, Flutter Shy, and Twilight conversated. I looked at my slice of cake, and back at the ponies with a grin.

"This new life will be an incredible adventure" I stated as I looked at the group, with a smile that showed my satisfaction.

"You got that right"

I quickly turned to face the familiar voice, to see Luna there with a smile on her face. I looked at her surprised, I haven't seen her at all this whole party.

"Oh, Luna I didn't see you there, in fact, I haven't seen you this whole time, is everything all right?" I asked trying to conversate, or at least start something. She seemed to take my question with gratitude.

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you for asking, but the royal business got ahead of me so I was a little late to the party, sorry if I didn't make it in time." She apologized as she looked around noticing that the only remaining ponies were the obvious ones.

"Nah, it's ok, huge responsibilities require big sacrifices" I stated smiling, and feeling bad for her: Honestly, Twilight was wrong about them being fine. She smiled back, but then quickly changed it into a grin, causing me to flinch my torso away from her.

"Hey, Ben, what if I were to offer you a challenge, would you accept it?"

I quickly leaned back closer, this was starting to become interesting.

"Sure, I've never turned down a challenge in the past" I answered, and glad I did because Luna put on her "Game" face, causing me to grin.

"Great, now listen, I want you to meet me in Canterlot, Twilight should be able to take you there via the train. Once you get there I'll be waiting, there I'll tell you the challenge." Luna said looking at me as if I was already gonna lose this challenge.

"Ok deal, what are we wagering in this challenge?"

"Well decide once we see who wins the challenge."

"Alright it's settled, meet me in Canterlot in the morning, and inform your friends about the event too, Bye" She stated as she disappeared into a light show. I quickly threw myself off my chair, and onto my feet and ran to the group of ponies talking, and started to explain what Luna told me.

"WHAT!?" They all said in a crescendo, I felt like a huge wave hit me as they started throwing questions at me left and right.

"CHILL OUT! All that she said was that I could invite you all, also that there's a prize to be decided for the victor!" I stated over-excitedly causing them all to be quiet for a moment. The silence didn't last long as I heard two voices from behind me.

"Really? Can I go to?"

I quickly turned to face Vinyl and Dash both looking over-excited, my face morphed into a smile.

"Of course, you're my friends too!" I stated as my game face started to emerge from my smile. "But I thought you two left earlier."

"Nope!" Stated Vinyl, then we all focused our attention on Dash.

"I kinda feel asleep once I left through the door" giggled Dash, causing us all to laugh. I turned my attention to Pinkie Pie and thanked her for the epic party, she just smiled back with her trademark smile. Then I turned to face the group.

"Ok listen up, Luna said I should meet her at Canterlot early in the morning, so I need a place to rest, for the challenge," I said, immediately everyone raised their hooves, but quickly put them down blushing uncontrollably. I looked at them all and laughed, well it's cute for them all to want to house me.

"Ok, well I guess I'll choose since you all want me to come over, let's see?"

"Why not Flutter Shy's home, she takes care of many animals, I bet she can take care of you." Stated Dash, as she nudged Flutter Shy forward little. I could tell she was awfully embarrassed, but still willing to provide a roof over me.

"Thanks, Flutters" I started giving her my own nickname for her. She was nearly lost her mind when I gave her that name.

"I…My home it…it's over…"

Oh god, this isn't going to end well.

"It's ok I'll just follow you there" I stated hoping to stop her embarrassment. She quickly nodded and smiled in the same wavy way Vinyl did earlier.

"Ok, we'll meet at the train station an hour before the sun rises," Twilight said as we all dismissed each other and headed our own ways, except me and Flutters, who were heading to the same home.

"So, Flutters, you're supposed to take care of animals?" I asked, breaking the nerve-wracking silence. She jumped, and gave a small squeak, causing me to stare at her for a few seconds before I reassured her it was me who spoke.

"Umm…yea" she replied in a super quiet voice. I just smiled: Her shyness was beyond anything imaginable.

"So, is that why you have that symbol of three butterflies on your flank?" I asked again hoping to adjust her to conversation, and find out exactly what those things are.

"Oh…you mean the cutie marks? Yes… th…they represent your talent, and passion" She responded, with more words in her sentences.

"Oh, so their called cutie marks, and represent your passion…that's awesome!" I replied, causing her to smile.

We finally arrived at the home, which was filled with bird houses, and other homes for small creatures. I stared in amazement: she's dedicated to this.

"Wow…you really have a passion for this," I said as she opened her home.

"Well…its nothing really" she replied, causing me to flex an eyebrow.

"Nothing? I highly doubt that Flutters, you're being too modest" I countered as she indicating me to come into her home. "alright"

Upon entering I noticed how big it was, it was big enough for me to run around, and do much more than twilights home: not that I would though. I was amazed by the size of the home, but it was probably expected considering that she was a veterinarian/pony-animal-care-taker.

"Ok…listen Ben…you will sleep…um…in the room next to mine, it should have a bed big enough for you," She told me as she made her way to her room. I looked at her as she made her way to her room, and smiled.

"Thanks Flutter Shy, and sweet dreams," I said as I walked over to my room.

"You too Ben, goodnight" She replied without stuttering, causing to pause for a moment before entering the room.

The room appeared to be bigger than I expected, but that wouldn't be the first time I'd been surprised today. The bed was another surprise itself, it looked like a queen size, with perfectly clean sheets, and the room looked like it was suited for another pony.

"This room was recently cleaned and organized," I thought to myself as I laid down on the bed, I had no PJ's so I just took off my vest and shirt, along with my boots, and made myself comfortable. I laid there thinking about tomorrow, and what the challenge might be.

"Luna would have to have known something about me before just offering a challenge, so it could be a stare off…nope, oh well, I'll find out tomorrow" I mentally stated as I began to dose off.

"Oh man, tomorrow's gonna be one hell of a day"