(A/n:This is my first fanfic, so I'm aware that there are and will be plenty of mistakes. I mainly chose to write this because I was bored and I actually got a few ideas for a story that I'd like to try. Since it's my first time writing a fanfic I apologize in advance for butchering personalities. Also, while I intend to keep working on this for awhile, I don't plan on updating often, since I only feel like writing occasionally. But anyways, read the story and let me know how good or bad I did.)
Chapter One
Twilight Sparkle groaned. Just a few short hours ago she had discovered that the mythological Mare in the Moon, Nightmare Moon, would be returning to Equestria after her thousand-year banishment in the moon. Even worse, she would be returning only two days from now! When Twilight tried to tell her teacher, Princess Celestia, about what she had discovered, the princess had just brushed aside her concerns; and sent her to Ponyville to make preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration and to 'make some friends'.
"Look on the bright side, Twilight" spoke Twilights baby dragon assistant; Spike; as they flew through the air in a sky chariot being pulled by two of the princesses' Pegasus royal guards. "The princess arranged for you to stay in a library! Doesn't that make you happy?"
"Yes, yes it does." Twilight said as she straightened from her slump. "You know why? Because I'm right! I'll check on the preparations as fast as I can, then get to the library to find proof of Nightmare moons return!"
"Then...when will you make friends like the princess said?" Spike asked.
"She SAID to check on preparations. I am her student and I will do my royal duty, but the fate of Equestria does not rest on me making friends." Twilight spoke.
The chariot landed and Spike and Twilight hopped out with Twilight using her Unicorn magic to levitate some books that she thought she might need."Thank you sirs." Twilight said to the Pegasi as she and Spike began heading to the library so she could put her things down.
"Maybe the ponies in Ponyville have interesting things to talk about." Spike said as a pink Earth Pony with a poofy pink mane trotted up to them. "Come on Twilight, just try!" Spike pleaded as the pink mare came to a stop in front of them.
Twilight looked up at the pink pony and hesitantly said "Uhhh, hello?"
*GAAAAAAAASP* the pink earth pony suddenly levitated in the air and then went zooming off who knows where.
"Well THAT was interesting all right." Twilight said as she and Spike stopped staring at where the pink mare used to be standing. After picking up the books that had scattered when the strange pony had... left; Twilight and Spike continued their way to the library.
Eventually, when they reached the library, which for some odd reason was a tree, Twilight sighed and said "Finally! Let's go find someplace to put these books so we can..."
*WHAM* Twilight never got to finish her sentence as the library door slammed open right into her face, knocking her off her hooves and nearly knocking her out. While Spike was rolling on the ground laughing, the culprit, a light brown colt with an hourglass on his flank walked out the door and looked at Spike strangely before walking off, never noticing the unicorn he had knocked over. As a sniggering Spike helped Twilight up, a second, and slightly annoyed looking, pony walked out the door.
"Excuse me but could you PLEASE keep it down...out...here..." the new voice trailed off as its owner walked into the sunlight and saw the source of the racket.
After sending a quick glare at Spike, Twilight looked at the pony that had just emerged from the library. He was a deep blue colored Unicorn, with a short brown mane and had a small pile of books on his flank.
He was also giving her a strange look.
"Um, can I help you?" Twilight asked, as the look he was giving her was beginning to make her uncomfortable. Her voice seemed to snap the Unicorn out of his daze.
"Sorry, it's just that I feel like I've seen you somewhere..."He tapped his hoof against his chin thoughtfully for a second before he remembered she was there. "Sorry, I should probably introduce myself. My name is Book Keeper. Though I prefer just to be called Keeper."
As he was introducing himself his voice became monotone, as though he was bored just by talking to her. "And may I ask your name?" He inquired.
"Um, my name is Twilight Sparkle..." Twilight replied, slightly disconcerted by how Keepers' voice had changed so quickly.
"So what brings you to the Ponyville Library Miss Sparkle? I have to admit you are the first pony to actually come here so I'm afraid you've caught me rather unprepared."
Twilight was surprised by this, as Princess Celestia had told her that nopony had been living in the library for years.
"I was sent here from Canter lot to check the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration and the Princess told me that she had made preparations for me to stay here at the library, since she had been told that noponys lived here in ages..." Twilight explained.
The pony who introduced himself as Keeper paled slightly at the mention of the Princess and chuckled nervously.
"Well...I-I may not have...um...announced to anypony that I was staying here...or that I had arrived to Ponyville really. I rather like my privacy you see...and I needed to stay here for awhile while I was studying..."
At the last part Spike groaned. "Not another study freak" he thought.
Keeper suddenly seemed to realize something about what Twilight had said."Wait, the Princess HERSELF arranged for you to stay here? Why would she do that for you?" He asked.
"Well, Princess Celestia is my mentor you see and…"
Keeper interrupted as Twilight was explaining. "You mean to tell me you're the personal student of Princess Celestia?!" He asked incredulously.
"Well….yes." Twilight said modestly. Spike chose this moment to speak up.
"Twilight we really need to start checking the preparations…"
Twilight looked at the books she had brought that were now lying forgotten on the ground.
"You're right Spike but I can't just-"Twilight started, before being interrupted by Keeper.
"Let me take care of those books while you're out. I was planning on leaving after the Celebration anyways. I'll just make myself a bed in the basement for tonight."
His horn started glowing a light brown color as he levitated the books. "I'll just put these in the upstairs bedroom and change the sheets while you take care of your duties."
Twilight was caught off guard by his generosity and just thanked him for the offer.
"Um, could you do me one little favor though?" Keeper asked hesitantly. "Could you not tell Princess Celestia that I was here? I was planning on leaving tomorrow anyways and to be honest I'm flat broke right now so I couldn't really pay a fine…"
Twilight thought for a moment before replying. "Well, you don't seem to be a bad pony so I guess I won't mention it. But if anything suspicious happens I'll have to inform the Princess about you."
Keeper nodded. "That's perfectly reasonable, thank you." With that settled the two unicorns separated. After Keeper entered the library he shut the door and watched Twilight and Spike leave until he could no longer see them. As he turned to take care of the things he promised he started scowling and muttering to himself.
"Doesn't that just figure. Right as I'm getting ready to leave town, somepony accidentally walks in on me for the first time in years. And even better now I can't leave till after the celebration otherwise she'll get suspicious and probably tell Celestia…"
He continued his grumbling as he levitated the books the purple mare had brought with her onto a desk near the bed on the top floor. As he placed them down he noticed one book, Predictions and Prophecies, which had a bookmark in it. Slightly curious as to what Twilight would find to be important enough to bring several books on mythology while performing royal duties, Keeper opened the book to the marked page.
A slightly troubled look appeared on his face as he saw the legend that Twilight had presumably been reading was the legend of the Mare in the Moon.
'Don't most ponies think that tale is nothing but a myth? Why would that mare be concerned with this legend?' He thought.
Before he could continue thinking about what this might mean; he realized he still needed to finish getting the library ready for its change of residents. 'Whatever it is it's probably not that important' he thought as he walked off.
A little over an hour later, Keeper finished with cleaning the library up and thought to himself, 'Ok, now that I've finished with those chores I need to finish getting ready to leave for tomorrow. Hopefully the ceremony part won't last too long so that I don't have to stay here longer than necessary…'
As he gathered some of his things into a bag upstairs, he suddenly heard the library door slam open and what sounded like a small stampede coming into the library. "Oh, for… what is it now?" He snarled as he started heading downstairs.
Once he got to a part of the stairway that he could see the main floor he froze. All around the room, looking at him was a large crowd of ponies all holding various things for a party. He noticed one pink mare in particular…. mostly because she gasped excitedly, disappeared, and then reappeared….on his back.
"ohmygoshanothernewponydidyou comewiththeotheroneorareyoub yyourself?I'msettingupasurprisepartyfors omeponyelsebutitcanbeforyout oo!waititcantbeasurprisepartyif youknowaboutitsocouldyougoaw ayforawhileandforgetaboutthi s?" The pink mare shot out excitedly… while still on his back.
"Would…you…please….get….OFF?!" Keeper strained to remain balanced on the stairs while the overly hyper pink Earth pony practically bounced on his spine. When the mare FINALLY got off, Keeper finished his nearly fatal trip down the stairs and focused on figuring out just who she was and WHAT was going on.
"Ok, who the hay are you and why are all these ponies in my….er….the library?!" Keeper demanded of the mare, as he thought she had said something about her being in charge of… whatever was going on.
"My names Pinkie Pie and this is a party you silly!" the mare now identified as Pinkie Pie said rather fast, but at least it was understandable.
"A party? In the library? What for?" Keeper asked, confused.
"Weeeeell…. You see I met this pony earlier and I didn't know her so I thought that she must be new, and if she was new then she didn't have any friends and she must be lonely and that made me sad but then I had an idea to throw a welcome party for her so she could make lots and lots of friends and now that I've met you we can make this one super large welcome to Ponyville party!" Pinkie said.
Keeper just stared at her. "How in Equestria did you say all that in one breath? Wait never mind!" He exclaimed seeing her about to start up again.
Looking around he saw that all the other ponies had finished setting everything up and were watching him with amused looks as he tried to make sense of what Pinkie had been talking about.
"Well, um… thanks for the offer but I don't really like parties all that much so I think…" He was interrupted when Pinkie gasped loudly in shock and started talking again.
"You don't like parties?!" She practically blew his head off with her yell. "How can anypony not like parties?!" She asked with a shocked expression as if not enjoying them was a crime.
Seeing that saying that he didn't like parties was probably not a smart thing to say, he interrupted her to try to head off a possible rant about how great parties were.
"Sorry, Pinkie I misspoke. I didn't mean that I don't like parties, in fact I'd be happy to stay up here and do…party things, but I'm only passing through Ponyville and I need to finish getting my things together. Most of my stuff is down in the basement of the library but I'll come right back up as soon as I'm done ok?" He said quickly in an attempt to appease her. He might have lied a little about needing to get his things together but there were still a few things he needed to take care of.
"YAY! Ok then I'll see you later after the party starts! Oh, I almost forgot what's your name?" She asked.
"My full name is Book Keeper but I just prefer being called Keeper. Sounds less odd."He replied.
"Okie doki loki!" The hyperactive pink mare said as she… hopped away on her hoofs? Keeper just shook his head. 'That mare is INSANE' he thought as he went back upstairs to get his bag and finish his preparations.
An hour after meeting the craziness that was Pinkie, Keeper lied down on a medium pile of hay that he was using as a makeshift bed for the night. He was just thinking about taking a nap while the peace and quiet lasted, but alas, he would never get the chance.
"SURPRISE!" Shouted all the ponies that had been lurking in the library for the past two hours.
"AHHHHH!" came the startled voice of Twilight Sparkle. Keeper groaned for a moment before snickering a bit.
That shouting might have ruined his chances at getting some rest but the reaction that it sounded to have gotten from Twilight almost made it worth it. He got up and sighed.
'Well, might as well mingle for a bit. Hopefully I'll find some excuse to leave after a while.'
When he reached the top he was slightly relieved when he saw Pinkie Pie harassing….I mean making conversation with Twilight. As he wandered around, trying to seem like he was interacting, he noticed that a small group had gathered around the drink table. He arrived just in time to see Twilight drink from a glass then running away. Wondering what caused that, he saw Spike picking up the bottle she had poured.
"Hot Sauce." Spike read.
While Keeper and most of the other ponies chuckled, Pinkie tipped the bottle Spike was holding over a cupcake in her hoof, and ate it.
"What? It's good!" Pinkie said when several ponies gave her a weird look.
After another hour so of pretending to socialize, Keeper decided that he needed some quiet for a little bit so he opened the front door and walked into the relaxing night.
Breathing a sigh of relief that he finally managed to get some time away from the overly friendly ponies he gazed at the night sky for a few minutes before he noticed something odd. As his gaze went over the moon he could have sworn that he saw a few of the stars moving, but when he looked back to check he was interrupted by the door opening.
"Now what are ya doing out here when there's a party going on?" asked a new voice.
Keeper blinked and turned around. It was an orange earth pony that he had seen around the table where Twilight mixed up the bottles. "I just needed a small break from all the festivities. I'm not exactly the most sociable pony, Miss…?"
The orange mare adjusted her hat with her hoof as she replied. "Mah names Applejack. And don't call me Miss. Ah'm not that old."
Keeper chuckled. "Alright then, Applejack. My names Book Keeper but just call me Keeper." He paused for a second after introducing himself.
"By the way Mi….Applejack how long does a party like this last? It's getting pretty late but no one seems to be leaving yet."
"Because on the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration it's tradition to not sleep the night before. Ah'm not exactly sure why mahself." Applejack replied with a shrug.
Keeper groaned. "That's just great. Well, it was nice meeting you Applejack. I'm going to go try and get what sleep I can before dawn then."
Applejack grinned. "Alright then, g'night!" Keeper nodded at her as he headed inside.
'Hopefully that mare Twilight will forget about me when she leaves for the Celebration' he thought as he climbed into his makeshift bed. Well, even if he did end up at the Celebration in the morning, what could possibly go wrong?