Times in Ponyville

Chapter 1: New Pony in Town

It had been a long week. Everypony in Ponyville had been busying themselves preparing for the Summer Sun Celebration to be held the next morning, but for right now, it was time for a break. At least that’s what a dark teal and gold coated pegasus had decided for himself as he lounged on a cloud. Cloud Surfer was never really that hard of a worker, and this week’s hectic activities had taken its toll.
He spent several of the last days helping his good friend Big Macintosh pick apples to prepare for the feast to be had, delivering Bon-Bon’s candies, helping Rarity hang ribbons and streamers up high in the Town Hall where Princess Celestia was to appear, and lastly he agreed to help Pinkie Pie fill a bunch of balloons with pudding. This was the one activity that he enjoyed doing, for he knew Pinkie’s pranks were always a laugh, though he felt bad for whoever was going to get it.

“At least no pony can find me up here,” He muttered to himself. Sliding a pair of sunglasses that he kept on his head down over his blue eyes and getting ready to drift off for a relaxing nap, he couldn’t help but hear the flapping of wings coming towards him. “So much for that idea,” Cloud Surfer muttered as he saw a cyan pegasus with a bright rainbow colored mane and matching tail flying over to him.

“Hey Cloud Surfer, you doing anything this afternoon?” Rainbow Dash yelled over to him.

“Unless you count trying to nap, nothing planned. Why, what’s up?” Cloud Surfer replied.

“Would you be willing to help with clearing the clouds later? I know I can do it in a jiffy, but I wanna practice some more for the Wonderbolts, and I figured with your help I could have some extra time,” Rainbow Dash explained as she landed on a cloud next to him.

Remembering there time together on the Junior Speedsters Flight team Cloud Surfer simply rolled his eyes. “You mean you want to procrastinate more than you normally do when it comes to clearing the skies,” Cloud Surfer retorted. Chuckling he continued “Sure, why not. I’ll help out Dash, but let me nap for a bit before we do anything. I’m exhausted from helping everypony else out.”

“You know me too well Surf, I’ll come get you when we need to start clearing it,” the cyan filly replied laughing. “You know, maybe you should’ve had a cutie mark with helping hands instead of that surfboard longboard X on your flank.” Before he could say anything in response, she was already diving off her cloud into a corkscrew speeding down towards the ground.

“Never a moment’s rest in this town eh?” Cloud Surfer grumbled to himself. It was true though, he thought to himself as he stretched out on his cloud to nap. His cutie mark, being what it was, made everypony assume he was chilled, relaxed, and particularly lazy most of the time but when push came to shove, he was always willing to help out his friends. People just seemed to forget that part of skating. This was just enough of a distraction to get this stallion to pass out.

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It hadn’t even been an hour since Cloud Surfer drifted off to sleep when a distant flapping of a pair of wings woke him up. This is too soon for Rainbow Dash to be coming to get me; he thought to himself, I wonder who it is. Peeking out from over his cloud, he saw two royal guards pulling a chariot with a purple unicorn in it, and what appeared to be a baby dragon. He could over hear her about how she had to do research and visiting Ponyville was a waste of her time as the dragon berated her about the need to make friends. None of this concerned Cloud Surfer though, what did catch his attention were the pegasi that were pulling the chariot.

To think out of all the guards the Princess could have to pull a chariot out here, it was these two, Cloud Surfer thought happily to himself. It had been a while since he saw these two stallions, but he was sure their friendship was still firmly in place. I’ll just have to wait for them to swing back up to chat. With that thought in his mind, Cloud Surfer raised his sunglasses back to their proper resting place in his dirty blonde and blue mane, and stretched out his wings. After no longer than a ten minute wait, he flew over to meet the two guards and their empty carriage and say hi.

“Globe Trotter, Copper Hoof, how’s it going?” shouted out the lazy pegasus as he flew down to meet his friends.

“Well I’ll be darned, if it isn’t Cloud Surfer, what in blazes are you doing here?” Replied Globe Trotter, as he and his twin brother came to a halt. “Last I heard about you, you were over in Fillydelphia trying to get a shop opened up to sell your boards at.”

“Yeah, that’s what I heard too,” Copper Hoof stated. “I guess the city wasn’t your type of party then huh?”

“The shop sorta went to Tartarus real quickly. Amazing how few ponies actually want to skate and have fun now-a-days,” Cloud Surfer said while rolling his eyes. He almost completely forgot about his attempts to sell all types of leisure boards. The only real sale he had was to a pegasus who bought a scooter for her daughter as a gift two years ago. “Anyway, how’s the service treating you two lugs? I saw you guys escorting Ponyville’s newest resident into our humble town.”

“We’ve been doing pretty well bro. Just a little nervous since this is the first time the two of us will be part of the Princess’s personal guard for a trip.” Copper Hoof responded. “Besides that, nothing worries the two of us.”

“Yup, just like my brother here says, and we had a great teacher in the art of relaxation didn’t we,” Globe Trotter stated nudging the multi-colored pegasus. “As for the unicorn, her name is Twilight Sparkle, and is Princess Celestia’s favorite student. She could probably use some of your lessons in relaxation. She’s an all work and no play type of pony. Course you could take lessons from her on being productive, you big underachiever you,” Globe Trotter joked.

“Hey, I’m not an underachiever, everyone else is just overachieving. I can be productive, sometimes. I just need a reason to be, like this Celebration,” Cloud Surfer defended himself. “And as for teaching somepony to relax, you can lead a pony to water, but can’t make her drink,” Cloud Surfer said as shrugging. “Glad to hear you two are doing well though.”

“Thanks Surf, we got to get going though. We have to talk to our captain about the Princess’s security for tomorrow,” Globe Trotter said somewhat glumly.

“Yea, that makes sense. Well don’t be strangers guys. You’re both always welcome to stay at my place if you ever want a vacation,” Cloud Surfer stated with a wide grin, extending his hooves to his friends.

“Brohoof,” was proclaimed by all three as they smacked hooves together. With that, Cloud Surfer watched his two friends depart, wondering what a Princess that could raise the Sun needed guards for anyway as he slumbered back to sleep on his cloud.
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“Hey, I could clear this sky in ten seconds flat,” were the words of a certain cyan pegasus that woke up Cloud Surfer. Too bad he didn’t have time in those ten seconds to fly off his cloud as Rainbow Dash cleared it out of the sky. Falling and hitting the ground, Cloud Surfer muttered a few choice words under his breath about what he was going to do to Rainbow Dash next time he got ahold of her. Just as he began to dust himself off, he saw a pair of glowing blue eyes are staring at him.

“Hey there Cloud Surfer, what are you doing on the ground? Did you roll off your cloud again after a nap? But there aren’t any clouds in the sky, how could you roll off a cloud that wasn’t there?” Pinkie Pie began asking questions like a train going a million miles an hour. “Anyway, there is a new pony in town, her name is Twilight Sparkle, and I need your help to plan her surprise party!! You ready, cause I know I’m ready. Well I will be ready after I launch all those pudding balloons at Lyra once she stands on that X. Oh wait, there she is now!” Pinkie jumped over Cloud Surfer and pulled on a lever sticking out of a barrel and all of a sudden a dozen pudding filled balloons flew over the street and pelted the unicorn. Pinkie then ran up to her, handed her a card, giggled and ran back to Cloud Surfer.

“What did you give Lyra after that one?” asked a laughing Cloud Surfer.

“A gift card signed from you to the spa!” Pinkie exclaimed. After seeing his dumbfounded look, she continued. “You think I wouldn’t let her know how much you helped me fill those balloons? I swear though, next time we should use eggs, that pudding was such a pain to fill those balloons with wasn’t it? I mean, I thought it would b…” Pinkie couldn’t continue her sentence as Cloud Surfer had shoved his hoof in her mouth.

“You were mentioning a party for the new pony right?” Cloud Surfer reminded her, slightly annoyed. He often forgot how off track she could get if you didn’t cut her off fast enough. “What do you need me to do?”
“I want you to deliver all these invitations. The party will be at the library at sundown, and I want to invite everypony. So here are the envelopes, start delivering,” Pinkie yelled with a quick shove. Before Cloud Surfer could ask anything else, she was already hopping her way towards Sugar Cube Corner.

“I’ve really have just got to say no sometimes, not that she ever gives me a chance to talk,” muttered Cloud Surfer, as he grabbed a longboard he left on the ground while he napped. He then proceeded to ride off to deliver the envelopes. Even though he was a little grumpy by having his nap disturbed multiple times, Cloud Surfer pushed off with his hooves and a smile returned to his face.

Now Cloud Surfer was in his element. Using his wings, he managed to propel himself effortlessly around Ponyville, tossing Pinkie’s invites to everypony he saw. Nothing quite compares to skating around, he thought to himself as he tossed Colgate her invite, Sure flying is great, but cruising around is where it’s at.This had always been his philosophy in life. There was never a reason to rush things, or work harder than you had to. What point could that have besides causing strees, Cloud Surfer mused some more, other ponies find it lazy, but it’s not like I don’t do anything, it’s just I get them done when it happens, except for requests like this. With that final thought Cloud Surfer continued to propel himself forward.
It only took him about an hour to finish inviting most the ponies in town to the party, just four remaining. So Cloud Surfer decided to head over to the spa to deliver them, and properly apologize to Lyra for the pudding balloon incident.

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“Remind me to smack that stallion upside the head next time I see him,” muttered Lyra to her best friend. “Then make sure I give him a hug, cause this spa treatment is amazing.”

Bon Bon just rolled her eyes as Aloe rubbed her back. “You know it was Pinkie Pie who did it right? Cloud Surfer probably just got roped into helping her. She has a way with other ponies, and Cloud Surfer has always been one to lend a helping hoof out.” Bon Bon knew that from experience, remembering how just earlier that week he helped deliver some of her candies to the Cakes and the Apple family for the feast. “Just cut him a little slack, it was a pretty funny sight, seeing you covered in chocolate pudding.” Bon Bon started giggling to herself at the recent memory of her friend under a blanket of pudding.

“Oh laugh it up Bon Bon, next time I’m going to help Pinkie prank you,” her unicorn friend retorted. “Though the perk of being pranked by Pinkie, she always makes you feel better afterwards.” Lyra just lowered herself even more into the hot tub as she heard the door open and a familiar voice echoing from the lobby.

“Hey Lotus, I got an invite to a party from Pinkie Pie for you and Aloe. Also, I’m guessing Lyra and Bon Bon are here?” He asked the latter as a question, even if he knew they were. It’d take quite a bit of time to get all that pudding out of Lyra’s mane, and Cloud Surfer really doubted that Bon Bon would miss a chance at the spa.

“We’re back here Surf,” Bon Bon shouted to the front. “How has your day been going?” Bon Bon really enjoyed Cloud Surfer’s company. He was always friendly and always seemed to express an air of relaxation, as if there were no cares in the world for anypony nearby.

“Besides being woken up from my nap a few times and dropped out of the sky by Rainbow Dash, not too shabby,” the multi coated stallion said with a grin. “I was just helping Pin… OWWW” Turning around, Bon Bon winced as she saw that Lyra made good on her promise of smacking Cloud Surfer upside his head. “What in the hay was that for?”

“That was for making me a chocolate pudding covered monster this afternoon,” Lyra snapped. Just as quickly as she hit him though, she grabbed him in a big hug and happily said “And this if for the spa gift card. You know how much I love a soak in a hot tub.”

“Yea, I know I know. Think you could loosen on the hug though, I *gasp* need *wheeze* air!” sputtered the Pegasus. Lyra giggled and complied with once last quick squeeze before letting go. “Anyway, as I was saying,” Surfer continued, “I got some invitations for you and Bon Bon for a surprise party for the new unicorn, Twilight Sparkle.”

“Twilight moved to Ponyville?!” Lyra gasped, not noticing the confused look on Bon Bon and Cloud Surfer’s faces. “I thought she went and locked herself away in that library she stayed at in Canterlot.”

“Who the hay is Twilight Sparkle?” Bon Bon asked her good friend.

“Oh when I went to my cousin’s party in Canterlot; I saw her running by and waved. She didn’t even notice and then my cousin told me that she doesn’t do anything fun at all really.” Lyra responded as a matter of fact. “I didn’t know she was moving to Ponyville.”

“Yea, apparently the Princess sent her here for some reason, so Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie needs to throw a party,” Cloud Surfer responded. “It’s going to be at the library later tonight, and lead to the Summer Sun Celebration. You mares in?”

“Of course we are! We’d never miss a party, specially one on this night!” exclaimed Bon Bon.

“As long as there are no more pranks involved,” Lyra stated, eyeing Cloud Surfer suspiciously. “Should I bring my lyre?”

“Nah, Pinkie is supplying music and everything,” Cloud Surfer replied. “I’m going to get going and skate around town while the sun is still up. I’ll see you two at the party!” With that, Cloud Surfer grabbed his longboard, went outside and skated off.

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“SURPRISE!!!” everypony yelled as Twilight walked in the library that night. She seemed to be muttering on and on about something but Cloud Surfer wasn’t paying too much attention to that. He was busy trying to keep Lyra from bouncing up and down excitedly like she normally did in these situations.

“Can you just hold still for one measly second Lyra?” Cloud Surfer grunted as he struggled to hold her down. “Bon Bon, a little help here.” Looking over, he noticed that Bon Bon was talking to Carmel, too distracted to help contain her friend. “For the love of Celestia,” Cloud Surfer muttered. Eventually he gave up holding Lyra down, just in time to see Twilight Sparkle run up the stairs, breathing fire. Then glancing over, he saw Pinkie Pie put the hot sauce on a cupcake. “Of course she would,” sighed Cloud Surfer.

The rest of the party was a blur of merriment. Twilight’s dragon, who introduced himself as Spike, was a born party animal. After much encouraging, he went up to try and talk Twilight to come down and join the party, with failed results. Cloud Surfer didn’t mind too much, he knew better than to force a pony out of their comfort zone, so he just continued enjoying the party, talking to Rose, Lily, and Daisy. Soon it was time for everypony to start heading over to the town hall for the Summer Sun Celebration.

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“She’s gone!!” yelled Rarity. All Tartarus had broken loose now. Just moments before, when Princess Celestia was supposed to come out, she hadn’t appeared. Rarity went to check for her and her proclamation was very foreboding. Cloud Surfer saw the Mayor attempt to keep everypony calm, but he couldn’t pay her any attention, for he saw a dark mist swirling right next to where Rarity stood. Cloud Surfer couldn’t hear much over the screams, but his mind was racing.

Oh sweet Celestia no, it couldn’t be, but just as Cloud Surfer finished that thought Twilight Sparkle announced the name of the newest guest to this previously happy party: “Nightmare Moon” . He looked over his shoulder to see everypony either shaking, cowering, or attempting to still their fears. Hiding behind him were Rose, Lily, and Daisy, and he could see Lyra and Bon Bon attempting to comfort each other. Of course there was always the exception, such as Rainbow Dash trying to go attack Nightmare Moon, only to be restrained by Applejack as she also shoved her hoof in Pinkie’s mouth to keep her quiet as well.

Looking behind him, Cloud Surfer had his own hooves full as well standing protectively in front of the cowering Lily, Rose, and Daisy behind him. “This is definitely going down as the most eventful Summer Sun Celebration to date,” muttered Cloud Surfer as Nightmare Moon started her evil gloating laughter on the balcony.

To be Continued.