A/N: Comments from previous chapter received. Criticism taken into account. Keep 'em coming, fillies and gentlecolts.

Chapter 2

Not A Social Pony

It was morning in Ponyville and while the sun hang high in the sky and made the whole town cheery and bright, it was dark and dusty inside the Hobby Horse. Above the shop was an apartment that was home to the shop's owner. Streams of light came in through an unwashed window and lit up a plain bed, bothering the gray pony that was resting on it.

The stallion's eyes shut tighter before blinking open. He yawned and looked out his dusty little window, directly at the sun outside. "Dear Princess Celestia," he mumbled, "Next time, just let Nightmare Moon win. I am starting to loathe that accursed burning thing in the sky."

He turned away from the window and clumsily stumbled out the bedroom door, still trying to shake himself awake. A few steps outside the door though, he heard a loud thud downstairs. "Hm?" he was fully awake now, "Who's there?"

Down the stairs and through a short hallway, the young stallion walked. He soon came to his shop, but it wasn't as he left it the night before; bright streamers and balloons hung from the ceiling and most of his furniture, tables full of all kinds of candies and pastries as well as a bowl of pink liquid were in the middle of the room and the smell of baked goods met him head-on as if he were running a bakery instead of a hobby shop. Before he could fully grasp what was happening a number of other ponies jumped out from hiding and shouted, "SUPRISE!"

"Wha-wha-what's..." the stallion struggled to find the right question to ask first. Before he could complete a thought though, a familiar pink pony dashed right up to him and blocked his view of nearly everything else. "Hi!" Pinkie Pie greeted him, "Remember me? We met earlier this week when I got that game for my friend's party. Remember? Do ya? Doya-doya-doya?"

Applejack pulled Pinkie back by her tail and shook her head. Turning to the still-shocked owner of the store she told him, "What Pinkie means to say is that y'all looked like ya needed some cheerin' up, so we decided to put together a little hootenanny for ya."

The gray stallion went somewhat pale. He looked around the room, recognizing Pinkie Pie as the only customer he had all week, but having no idea who the orange pony next to her was... or the white, blue, purple or yellow ponies behind them... Or any other of the several ponies that seemed to wait on baited breath for a reaction.

"Hey, are you alright?" Twilight asked as the world around the stallion become a blurred mess of color and noise. The room seemed to spin and before he knew it, everything was covered in a thick blackness. The other ponies in the room watched, some surprised and others worried, as the young stallion fainted.

"Well," Pinkie Pie stated, "that's not supposed to happen."

The stallion's eyes fluttered open. He could see only a few points of light at first, but soon enough he could make out colors, then shapes, then the concerned face of a pale, yellow pegasus. "Um, are you alright?" Fluttershy asked, her voice echoing for a brief moment in his head. She was a quiet pony, that's for sure, but somehow her words were followed by a high, ringing noise in the stallion's ears.

"I'm fine," he answered, though he was lying. Slowly but steadily he rose up from the floor and took in his surroundings. Most of the other ponies had left and only Pinkie and her five friends remained. Shaking that last bits of dizziness from his head, the owner of the Hobby Horse asked a question of his own, "Who in Equestria are you ponies and how did you get into my shop?"

Rainbow Dash stepped forward, "You left your door open. Well, kinda... Pinkie kind of snuck up and put her hoof in the door last night so we could set up your surprise. We all thought you'd be happy to have a party."

The gray stallion looked very irritated and scolded the six ponies before him, "You entered my home without my knowledge or permission and ambushed me! You call THAT a party?" He then shook his head again and wiped his forehead with one hoof, brushing a bit of his mane from his eyes in the process. "Which one of you thought for even one second that was a good idea?"

Everypony looked directly at Pinkie Pie who shrank away from their accusing gaze. "Well," She nervously chuckled, "It was supposed to be a surprise party. You were surprised, weren't you?"

Rarity's horn glowed and a napkin floated through the air, perching itself on the stallion's brow and wiping away some of the dust and sweat that had collected there. She smiled nervously, "I do apologize, Pinkie was not very clear about the specifics of this plan. We all should have known much better, this was truly a foalish thing to do. Would you like some help cleaning this place up Mr..." She stopped talking for a brief moment before resuming, "I'm sorry, what was your name again?"

The gray stallion pulled away from the floating napkin. "It's Roller," he told them in a bitter tone, "Critical Roller and no, I think you six have done enough for now. I should be able to get all this stuff picked up by... how long was I out?"

Twilight's eyes widened. She walked a circle around Roller, looking him over and finding a red, many-sided, roughly circular shape above his hind legs that was marked with a large, white number twenty. Seeing this, she exclaimed, "Wait, you're Critical Roller? THE Critical Roller? Half of Canterlot's magic academy knows your name! That's where I've heard of you before!"

"Uh, Twi," Applejack spoke up, "Mind fillin' the rest of us in? Not everypony here went to your fancy magic school. Who is this guy?"

Roller took a deep breath as if to speak, but Twilight started talking first, "He's an author, well, not just an author. He's one of the best-known fantasy writers in all of Equestria. He's written lots of books and most of them are in the library. Some of them are really fun too! There's Game of Horns, The Pony the Witch and the Wardrobe..."

"Beopony, The Equstarillion and many others," Roller interrupted, still very crossed, "Yes, I think that they get the picture. I've been writing for a very long time. Now, would you all very kindly GET OUT OF MY SHOP!"

The six friends stared at Roller with uneasy expressions. He was understandably angry, but everything about the way he stood was possibly a bit too aggressive; His head was lowered as if to ram, his hooves were spread wide as if to charge and his back was straight like it was ready for impact. The six mares backed out of the shop slowly and once the last one was out the door, he jumped forward and kicked it closed. As the door hit its frame, it made a tremendous "BANG".

The other five mares all looked at Pinkie once again, their eyes full of accusation, irritation and blame. The pink pony's stance stiffened and she squeaked out, "Hey, a surprise party seemed like a good idea at the time!"

"Pinkie Pie," Rainbow Dash sighed, "You are so random."

Twilight's home was deathly quiet that night as the purple unicorn lay in her bedroom, staring at the ceiling. Something about the day didn't sit right in her stomach. She thought back to all the stories she had read back in Canterlot; stories of high adventure, great heroes, a brilliant light that made all the vile creatures of darkness run back to their homes...

"How could a pony that writes such wonderful stories be so..." Twilight was thinking aloud, but couldn't find the right words. She didn't even know that Critical Roller was living in Ponyville, let alone that he seemed to be so miserable and be capable of such anger. It worried and disappointed her. She couldn't sleep because of it. Suddenly, it occurred to her, "...so much like me?"

All the memories she had of the magic academy came rushing back. She could remember spending hours in the library when most ponies her age were out having the times of their lives at parties and spending time with their friends. She recalled how it wasn't until she got to Ponyville that she gained any kind of patience for other ponies. Twilight Sparkle remembered all too well what it was like not to have any friends.

She got out of her bed and walked down the stairs to the library's main chamber. All around her were books of science, magic, history, geography and all sorts of studies, but none of them mattered right now. After a quick search, she found what she was looking for.

Her horn shone violet and from one of the shelves slid an thick, brown book with faded golden lettering that read, "Beopony" She opened it to a random page and started reading...

...and the pages turned.

…The Creature was huge and had a scaly hide, covered in a foul-smelling black ooze. It walked on only two legs, both as thick as a stallion and twice as strong. Rather than front legs, this upright-walking monster had a pair of massive claws that looked as though they could shred anything they touched. It's head was like a equine's, but somehow warped as its deformed face smiled and revealed row upon row of sharp, pointed teeth and an unholy stench that this monster dared to call breath.

As Beopony, Horsecules and Robin Hoof stood before the creature, they could feel their blood run cold. Even Horsecules, with all his strength, could barely find the courage to face The Creature. The icy hand of fear gripped the hearts of these heroes like a vice and refused to loosen its hold. There was an ugliness about this... this THING that is beyond the description of mere words. It was as though nature itself had rejected the evil of this creature, as if something so corrupt could not exist, and yet they stood in its presence. The presence of pure evil.

All at once, The Creature was upon them, lashing out with its claws and spilling its vile poison everywhere! Horsecules stood his ground, rising up to clobber the beast with his powerful front hooves, but instead being snatched up and thrown aside like a foal's plaything. Robin Hoof rolled to the side and used his Unicorn magic to draw his bow only for the arrows he fired to sink harmlessly into the inky, dark muck that surrounded the beast. The last pony, Beopony, called upon all his might and gave their foe a sharp buck to the ribs, but his hooves became stuck like his friend's arrows and he could feel himself being pulled into the ooze.

All at once, just as The Creature had charged, all hope seemed lost. All at once, as these heroes could only watch as their attempt to fight back the monster sank harmlessly into the muck, all their journey seemed to be for naught. All at once, the light that had shone upon their quest could not be seen.

Then, Horsecules remembered the amulet around his neck.

Taking up the gem given to him by Queen Solaria in his teeth, the strongest stallion in all of Equestraland bit down as hard as he could. As the pendant cracked, a brilliant light pierced the air around them and the black goo around their foe evaporated. A great wind blew through the caves and it seemed as though either a great fire or the sun itself had suddenly been brought into this dark, underground place of wickedness.

All at once, The Creature shrank back in terror. All at once, Robin Hoof, Beopony and Horsecules were filled with new strength. All at once, hope returned...

...and the book closed.

As Twilight closed the tome, she thought about the story and the pony that wrote it. There was no way that a pony that spent all of his time alone could have written a story about such close friends fighting against such a great evil. At least, not as far as Twilight could imagine.

Turning the book over in the air with her magic, she pondered how long it had been since Roller had even published anything new. If he had, she hadn't heard of it. Something just didn't seem right about the whole situation. "Pinkie Pie and the rest of us may have made a mistake," She was thinking aloud again, "but could such a lonely pony really write something like this? I mean, the heroes are always..."

Her voice trailed off, "...now that I think about it, all of his stories are about groups of heroes. He's never published a story about a hero that works alone, has he?" The rest of the young mare's thoughts were of the quiet sort, kept in her head. How could a pony that's such a shut-in seem to value teamwork... even FRIENDSHIP so much? A voice came from behind the pony, "You think he used to have friends?"

Twilight nearly jumped out of her pelt! Turning quickly, she saw that it was only her baby dragon assistant. "Oh, it's just you, Spike," she was relieved, "I'm sorry if I woke you up, but this whole thing has just been bothering me all day."

Spike yawned, "It's okay, Twilight," he said sleepily, "I was heading down to the Hobby Horse as soon as it opened anyway. That'll only be another hour."

"You woke up early to get to a game store?" Twilight asked, "Spike, you won't even get up early for Winter Wrap-Up. What's so special about this store? I mean, besides that one of Canterlot's favorite authors runs the place."

Spike yawned again and scratched the top of his head, "The new source book for Horses and Heroes is coming out today. That place is gonna be swamped by noon, so I have to get there early to buy my copy. They're finally releasing stuff for Dragon characters."

The purple unicorn tilted her head in confusion. "Horses and Heroes?" She questioned, "You mean that role-playing game? Spike, I didn't know you were into that."

The dragon nodded, now somewhat more awake, "Oh, sure! There were these two ponies that I played with all the time back in Canterlot. It's a fun game, but you couldn't really play as a dragon before," His eyes suddenly lit up, "Ooh! This new source book is supposed to be really cool too! It's based on stuff by that nerdy author you like so much. What's his name again?"

"You mean Critical Roller?" she guessed, "Wait a second, that doesn't make any sense. Why would a pony that spends all his time alone do anything involving a cooperative role-playing game that you're supposed to play with friends?"

Taking another look at her book, she made a decision, "Spike, there's something here that I don't understand, but I get the feeling that we have to help Roller. I mean, he's so lonely that it's making him bitter and he used to write such wonderful novels..." She trailed off again before getting a clever smirk across her face, "Let's investigate."

A/N: That's it for Chapter 2. Make sure to leave a review, okay? It'll keep me on task, help me improve my writing style and you'll get more pony next week. Everyone wins.