Lesson 10: A Day In Ponyville

   When Grand Prix and Shadowstorm entered Sugar Cube Corner, the party was already in full swing. “Not much of a surprise party,” Grand Prix muttered, “It looks like they already had the surprise… and half the party as well.”


   “Aww come on, Grand Prix. Don’t be so negative.” Shadowstorm jabbed his friend in the side, “There’s still enough party left for us!” Without another thought, Shadowstorm lost himself in the crowd and the party.


   “Wait! Idiot…” Grand Prix wasn’t fast enough. They weren’t there for a dumb party. She decided to let him goof off while she did the job herself. At least she could take all the credit for this assignment. She surveyed the room, but there wasn’t anything in particular that stood out to her. There were guests playing pin the tail on the pony, drinking punch, talking, and whatever else ponies did at parties. Grand Prix pushed her way through the crowd, keeping an eye out for anypony that was on her list. She found Pinkie Pie again, who was playing with what looked like an alligator, but Grand Prix had had enough of… energetic ponies for today. In one corner of the room however, she spotted somepony else. In the corner of the room, was another pony on the list named Rainbow Dash. Perfect! Grand Prix thought to herself. She was actually excited about talking with Rainbow Dash after reading her profile. It said that she was interested in joining the Wonderbolts which Grand Prix mistook for some sort of racing team. A pony with similar interests around here! Grand Prix subtly approached Rainbow Dash, who was speaking to some other pony.


   “And that’s how I beat a dragon in a race through a volcano while blindfolded!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she finished her story.


   “Wow, Rainbow Dash!” The young filly leapt in the air while fluttering her tiny wings, “You’re amazing! Tell me another story!” The filly hopped around her hero with the largest smile on her face.


   “Well, I guess I could. Have I ever told you the one about how I saved Ponyville from the parasprites?”


   “Mind if I listen in?” Grand Prix added in.


   Rainbow Dash whipped around, not thinking that anypony other than Scootaloo would be interested in that story. “Oh, hey. I don’t think I’ve met you before, have I? I have quite a large fan club so its hard keeping up with everypony.”


   “No, I don’t believe we’ve met before; but your story really interests me,” She lied, “My name is Grand Prix. What’s yours?”


   “My name’s Rainbow Dash! The fastest pony in all of Equestria!”


   “Oh, that’s one impressive title!” Grand Prix looked down and noticed the small orange pegasus that was now standing at Rainbow Dash’s side. “And what’s your friend’s name?”


   “I’m Scootaloo!” the little filly blurted out, “I’m Rainbow Dash’s number one fan!”


   “Oh, that’s so cute!” Grand Prix cringed a little on the inside. “So, are you a racer Rainbow Dash?” She said changing the subject.


   “Well, not really.” Rainbow Dash admitted, “My dream is to become one of the Wonderbolts! The best flyers in Equestria! I’m sure you’ve heard of them.”


   “Of course, I’ve heard of them. Hey, let’s move somewhere else. I can’t quite hear very well over the noise.” Rainbow Dash agreed and followed Grand Prix outside while Scootaloo went to go find Applebloom and Sweetie Belle.

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   Shadowstorm became engrossed in the party and forgot his original assignments. He had never been to this kind of party before. Since he is the son of a military guard captain, the only kind of party he had been to were formal dinners and dances. Never once did he have a normal birthday party growing up. This party was the funnest thing he’s ever been to. At the party’s he’d been to, the funnest thing that could happen was somepony spilling wine on their favorite dress and freaking out. He didn’t enjoy the crowd however. They kept rubbing up against him and stepping on his hooves. A normal Cloudwalker would be more cautious that his hoof-wing disguise would come off, but Shadowstorm’s mind doesn’t think that far ahead. He was separating himself from the crowd when a voice from behind him ringed out, “Hey! I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself!” It was Pinkie Pie, “I’d like to introduce you to some of my friends!" Shadowstorm, who couldn't refuse pink ponies, readily agreed to her proposition. Shadowstorm was introduced to so many ponies that he pretty much met everypony at the party, in fact, he probably did meet everypony at the party. But even though Pinkie Pie introduced Shadowstorm to the party guests, she hopped up and down looking this way and that. She was obviously looking for somepony else, somepony that wasn’t at the party. “Oh no, oh no, oh no!” She whispered to herself as she bounced nervously. “She hasn’t shown up yet!”


   “Who are you looking for, Pinkie?” Shadowstorm was beginning to get curious as to who she was trying to find.


   “Twilight!” She blurted out as she bolted towards the door.


   Caught off guard, Shadowstorm had trouble catching up to the pink pony who had left the party in such a hurry. He burst onto the nearly empty streets, scaring some ponies who were just passing by. He barely caught a glimpse of a pink tail rounding a corner. He followed it and eventually caught up to Pinkie Pie. She was heading towards the outskirts of town, towards a large tree. She stopped in front of the door, suddenly calm and quiet. “Why… did you… stop?” He said while trying to catch his breath.


   “Oh, I was waiting for you to catch up silly!” She said without the slightest shortness of breath. “I can’t introduce you to Twilight if you aren’t here can I?” She grinned and knocked on the door. There was a loud commotion on the side. Somepony yelled, “I’m coming!” There was a different voice now, though Shadowstorm couldn’t make out the words. A purple pony finally came to the door… and Shadowstorm was smitten. He didn’t know what it was about this purple unicorn that made his heart flutter, but flutter it did.


   “Oh, hello Pinkie! What brings you here?” She said after she opened the door. “And who’s your friend here?” Shadowstorm blushed nervously when she mentioned him. Pinkie Pie didn’t reply. She instead crossed her arms and scrunched up her face. She was obviously upset that Twilight forgot her party. “C’mon Pinkie. What is it?”


   “Humph!” Pinkie Pie turned her head and looked at Twilight out of the corner of her eye, “You forgot that my party was today!”


   “I’m sorry Pinkie!” Twilight said sincerely, “But I already explained that I might not make it. Today is the only day that I can accurately measure the luminescence of solar flares! You can’t imagine how perfect the conditions must be for this type of astronomical phenomenon.”


   “But you can’t image how perfect the conditions of the party are!” Pinkie said almost mockingly, “Literally everypony is there today! Everypony, but you!”


   “Ummm.” Twilight was at a loss for words, so she tried to change the subject, “Who’s your friend here?”


   Pinkie Pie fell for the not-so-cunning ploy and instantly became jovial, “Oh! This is Shadowstorm! I just met him today and he REALLY likes to party!”


   “I’m glad that you’ve met a new friend, Pinkie Pie!” Twilight extended her hoof towards Shadowstorm. “My name is Twilight Sparkle, it’s good to meet you Shadowstorm.”


   Shadowstorm stared dumbstruck. He awkwardly extended his hoof for a hoof shake, and stared at it afterward, making a mental note to never wash that hoof again.


   “So what brings you to Ponyville?”


   “Oh… uh…” The question caught him by surprise. He had prepared for these kinds of questions, but his mind was filled with only images of the purple mare. “Um, me and my friend we are… sightseeing? Traveling… Yeah, traveling.”


   “Oh, where are you going?”


   Shadowstorm racked his brain. He wasn’t from around here. He had no clue what else was in Equestria… well he would if he had paid attention when K9 taught him… “Oh, you know. Just wherever the wind takes us I guess.”


   “That sounds fun! Why don’t you come inside, Shadowstorm? I’m sure Pinkie Pie won’t mind, especially since she just ran off.”


   Shadowstorm glanced beside him. Pinkie Pie really had abandoned him. Not that he minded. “S-sure, why not?” Shadowstorm stepped inside the enormous tree. As he looked around, he felt as if he was inside the worst kind of prison known to pony kind. Walls upon walls of books faced him no matter which way he faced. The sheer mass of learning caused him to shiver. He had heard about these kinds of places before, they were called libraries. He trembled as he followed Twilight upstairs to a table. The table was bare except for a vase with a flower in the middle. They both sat down, but neither of them started talking. An awkward silence followed.


   “So… what can you tell me about your… um…”


   “What are you talking about?”


   “The um… leg wings?”


   Shadowstorm could feel his heart skip a beat. He turned slowly to look at his back legs. Oh great… The special shoes that were supposed to cover his wings were gone, they probably came off when that one pony stepped on them. And to top it all off, he had a wing boner. Most. Embarassing. Thing. Ever. He quickly tried to come up with something. “Oh, those old things? Yeah, they’re not important. You can hardly even notice them. You probably aren’t really that interested.”


   “Oh, but I am! In case you haven’t noticed, I live in a library. I love learning about anything and everything.” She got up and walked slowly to Shadowstorm. Her horn glowed and a magnifying glass appeared from its resting place. “Hmmm.” She examined his wings through her magnifying glass. She moved one of the wings around with her hoof, while talking to herself. “They look like normal wings, but just in the wrong place. Can you fly with them?”


   The cloudwalker shakily nodded, “I uh… yeah, they do.” He was quickly trying to form a plan. “Let’s go outside and I’ll show you.”


   “Great! Let me just grab some things first.” Twilight was gone in a flash of purple light, leaving Shadowstorm enough time to plot his escape.

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   “And then, after I did a sonic rainboom, I saved Rarity just in the knick of time and won the competition.” Rainbow Dash finished her story by flying in a loop and landing next to Grand Prix. They had walked outside to a field where Rainbow Dash could show Grand Prix her moves. “Of course, that’s not even the most impressive thing I’ve done.”


   Grand Prix shuddered internally while outside she faked a smile, “Wow! You’re one amazing pegasus!” She trotted around the now beaming Rainbow Dash. “You know… I heard a rumor that Discord was here in Ponyville some time ago. Was it you that turned him back to stone?”


   “You heard about that huh?” Rainbow Dash said matter-of-factly, “It was actually me and my friends who beat him, but even then, we couldn’t have done it without the Elements of Harmony!”


   “Elements of Harmony? What are those?” This time Grand Prix’s voice was filled with genuine interest.


   “You don’t know of the Elements of Harmony?” Rainbow Dash appeared shocked, “They’re magical weapons that can defeat any evil! They’re totally awesome!”


   “Do you have them with you? Would you mind showing me?” This must be what K9 sent us here for. To find out about these “Elements”.


   Rainbow Dash refused, “No can do! Twilight locked them up so that they wouldn’t fall into the wrong hooves.”


   “Twilight, huh. One of your friends?”


   “She sure is. She’s a real egghead, but she’s not all bad. Hey, here she comes now.”


   Grand Prix looked in the direction that the pegasus was walking. She saw Twilight and Shadowstorm and instantly became infuriated. His wings were exposed and he had a stupid look on his face. Grand Prix used all of her strength not to yell at him right then and smack him upside his head. Instead she weakly smiled, “Hey there Shadowstorm. What brings you here?” What she meant was, You bucking idiot! I can’t believe how stupid you are!


   “Are you Shadowstorm’s friend?” Twilight inquired, “Do you have the same mutation as he does?”


   “What mutation? I have no clue what you’re talking about.” Grand Prix lied.


   “It’s very clear that he… urk…” Twilight could feel herself get a little woozy. Her vision turned monochrome. She could hear Shadowstorm’s friend bark something at him. Shadowstorm fell to the ground as if afflicted with some illness. Twilight couldn’t tell, but she had already fallen over from weakness. Grand Prix picked up Shadowstorm and started to run in the direction of the road out of town. Twilight tried to ask them for help, but she was too sick to even talk. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Rainbow Dash take flight, but she swiftly crashed into a tree. That was the last thing Twilight saw before the effects of Grand Prix’s magic caused her to pass out.


   Meanwhile, Grand Prix dropped Shadowstorm’s limp body in a small clump of shrubbery. “What were you thinking! She saw your wings! That’s rule number one! Ugh!” Grand Prix fumed and paced a few steps away before returning to him, “I might as well just leave you here now!” Shadowstorm tried to stand up, but he fell from dizziness. “What in the world could have possessed you to jeopardize our mission, or even worse, let Equestrians know about Cloudwalkers? Huh? Talk!” She delivered a swift kick to his side.


   He coughed from the blow and managed to mutter, “Go to the treehouse” before passing out.


   “The treehouse? What?” She surveyed the town and sighted what Shadowstorm must have been talking about. She left him in the foliage and made her way to the building. As she approached, a small purple dragon darted out as if in a hurry. He left the door slightly ajar. She slipped in as stealthily as possible. Once inside, she was met with a wall of books. “This must be that Twilight’s house. That prideful pegasus told me she locked up the Elements, maybe it’s inside here somewhere.” She plundered the house, but was unable to find what she was after. She did however find some notes that she wrote about Shadowstorm which she quickly disposed of. After destroying the evidence, she noticed something in a corner by the window. It was a newspaper clipping. The title read “Resident Kidnapped: Authorities Searching” it was dated over a year ago and had a picture of a familiar pony on the front: Copper Head. Intrigued, Grand Prix continued reading the article.


   Yesterday at around 9:48 P.M., local resident Copperhead, son to Iron Mane and Cobalt the blacksmiths, was kidnapped. The Princess’ student, Twilight Sparkle, witnessed the act yesterday and claims that a talking wolf captured him. Authorities are on the look out for anything suspicious. Large paw prints were found at the supposed site of the crime, leading credibility to the witness’s claims. If you have any information, please contact the Ponyville Police.

   “This… This is about Copper Head. And he was kidnapped? King Krafty said he was recruited.” She paused and reread the article. “I wonder what other lies the King has told to his subjects.” Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden opening of the door. Grand Prix slid out of one of the windows and raced back to where she stashed Shadowstorm. She determined to find some answers when she got back to Cloudwalker Kingdom.