-Chapter XXXVI- Pinkie Party

-Ponyville, Equestria

-March 30th, 2012

-6:57 P.M.

-Nicholas

"Oh my God..." my quiet words were lost in the ear-splitting "dubstep" music that was being played by a single white-bodied pony with a short, blue mane and dark-tinted sunglasses at some sort of machine with records on it at the front of the room, as I trotted through the massive crowd of ponies dancing to the music that caused my head to pound relentlessly.

Lights were blaring all about, spotlights frantically lighting up the room with a single beam of light as they quickly covered the room in various directions and angles. I looked up to the ceiling to where the lights came and saw them hanging up on the wall, poking out of a small compartment that I was unable to see into from the distance and due to the lack of light within them. Ponies were strewn about everywhere, as they conversed, danced, and enjoyed themselves. I quickly tried to turn around to quit the scene, but I found the door blocked by a group of the Equestrian ponies. I quickly turned around, nearly throwing Stealth off of my back in the process, and tried to gallop quickly through the throng of brightly-coloured horses and out of the madness.

Not a moment after I began to move swiftly towards the crowd I was abruptly stopped as I was met by the very same pony who had threatened the party in the first place: Pinkie Pie. "Hi!" she exclaimed, though I could hardly hear her over the music.

"WHY?" I asked, half-desperately.

"I know isn't it GREAT?" she asked happily, throwing herself up into the air.

"How'd you even know I was coming here in the first place?" I asked, just loud enough to hear myself over the music. However she apparently still heard me because a wide grin flew across her face.

"I didn't! I waited to see which way you were going!" she responded without a second thought.

"How?!"

"Remember those two ponies you asked for directions?"

"First off: how'd you get them to tell you what I asked, and second: I came here in like a few minutes after asking. How'd you pull this off so quickly?"

She laughed with a snort, "I told you, I know EVERYPONY in Ponyville! And I didn't!"

"What do you mean you didn't?!" I yelled, still trying to talk over the heavy music pounding into my mind.

"Well, while the Doctor and Derpy kept you preoccupied, I had to figure out where you'd go, so I began to plan, and-"

"But how'd you set it all up?"

"I set up a party in every building in Ponyville!" she exclaimed triumphantly.

"How the-" I began, realizing my questioning would only lead into more conversation with the deranged pony that stood before me. "You know what, never mind. Where's the librarian, then?"

"Oh! You mean Twilight? Yeah, she said she really didn't want to come to the party, but it looks like the party came to her!"

"Where is she?" I asked, becoming steadily more annoyed.

She shrugged, tilting her head to the side so that it sank between her shoulders, rather than her hooves coming up. "I dunno, somewhere around here!" she said quickly before bouncing back into the crowd.

I let out a heavy, exhausted sigh. A little peace and quiet, a place to think...you think the library would be the first choice... I looked around the room, examining the walls lined with books of various sizes and coloured-spines. My eye caught a set of stairs, leading up to another room, it appeared, and next to it was a purple pony, a unicorn, it seemed, using its magic to hold up a book in front of its face. I couldn't exactly get a good look at it, seeing as how its face was buried within the pages of the book it was so obviously involved with, and the dimmed lights save for the still-furiously-moving spotlights, and the crowd of ponies between us.

I, though at first reluctantly, began to trot over to the crowd that was in my way that appeared to be shaking about, dancing, perhaps, and I tried desperately to avoid contact with them, but of course that didn't seem possible, so I only dealt with it. After I was about halfway through, I became increasingly uncomfortable, and decided to charge through the rest just to get it over with. I sighed irritably, and rammed through, most getting out of my way, but I accidentally run straight into a mare. I was knocked to the ground on my side, Stealth got up from where he landed in a daze, and I quickly stood back up on my four hooves, though uneasily, as I was not yet acquainted with the bizarre forme I had taken on, and looked down to the pegasus I had bashed into, and tried to figure out how to help her up.

After a quick decision of how I could, I held out a hoof for her to take, which she did, albeit reluctantly. It took all of my strength not to fall over with the awkward position I was in, but I managed and she stood on her four hooves again. "I'm sorry about that." I said quickly. "I was just trying to get through." I explained.

"Uh..." she stammered, wordlessly standing before me.

"Are...you okay?" I asked. She awkwardly nodded, said something that was far too quiet for me to hear over the still-blaring music, and flew off. "all righty then...?" I said confusedly. I looked around for where Stealth was, and found him within a minute as he socialized with another dragon on the other side of the room. The other dragon's lips moved, and Stealth only looked at him curiously. I sighed, and continued to the pony with the book. "Hello?" I asked, somewhat quietly at first. I quickly realized that they couldn't hear me over the other voices in the room along with the music, so I repeated myself louder, still not getting an answer. "Excuse me!" I said, becoming flustered. I grunted, and held out my hoof, and pulled the book away from it. "Helloooo?" I asked again. I must've scared her, because the mare seemed to have a panic attack when I did, jumped back with her wings quickly unfolding. My gaze went from the unfolded wings to the horn, and back to the wings. Pegacorn?

"Oh, I'm sorry about that." she said regrettably, loud enough to hear somewhat clearly.

"Sorry I scared you like that." I returned.

She smiled, "So you must be the new pony! It's nice to meet you, I'm Twilight Sparkle!" she said.

"A pleasure!" I said, trying to speak over the music. "Is it just me, or is it getting..."

"Louder? I think it always does. Come on, we can talk through here." she yelled, leading me through the opening in the wall and up the set of stairs to a second room, filled with a single bright light. Upon entering the room, I couldn't help but wince at the bright, solid light, but my eyes quickly adjusted. The music was somehow muffled, despite being just down the stairs with no door between us and the party. "Ah...that's better." she said with a sigh of relief.

"I take it you hate parties as much as I do." I said, recalling what Pinkie had said just minutes before.

She nodded, "Yeah, but Pinkie means well. I have no problem with all of my friends being here, but..." she trailed off.

"The immense group of others?" I asked.

"And the loud music." she added.

"And the messes."

"Exactly!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Yeah I've never been one for people, especially in heavy doses." I said with a laugh.

She nodded in agreement, "Neither am I. I'm not really used to that sort of thing." she shrugged in the same manner that Pinkie did. "I was always with my teacher as I grew up, so I never really got out much."

I was caught off-guard at the familiarity of this. "Rather build onto your teachings than go out with others?" I asked, curious.

"Much rather."

"I can relate." We stood in awkward silence for a moment or two until I broke the silence again, noticing the bed and telescope in a small alcove overlooking the rest of the room, accessible through a short set of wooden stairs. "You live in here?"

She looked back at her bed, "Oh, yeah, this is my little home, comfy and cozy." she said happily.

"So what about all of these books, then?" I asked, gesturing to the second collection of books lining the walls.

"This is my collection." she said, obviously proud of her accumulation of knowledge. "If it were all to be destroyed, that'd just break me." she said in a surprisingly serious tone, which I found strange, but I ignored it. "So anyway, what can I do for you?"

"I was going to ask you if you had any books on..." I trailed off, trying to remember what Drennen and the princess referred to the gemstones as. "On these...there like gems, in these circlets, almost, cut in unique shapes.

She gave a curious look. "What kind of shapes? Like a lightning bolt and...an apple?"

As she asked, my mind flashed to two of them, though I had never seen them before. I blinked really hard, and the images were gone. "I...think so." I said uneasily.

"Ohh, you're looking for something on the Elements of Harmony."

"Yes, that's them!" I exclaimed. "The Elements of Harmony."

"Well, I have a book on them just downstairs, under 'E'. It's a brand-new copy, too." she said with a smile.

"That's perfect." I assured her, "Thank you." I bowed my head down before turning back around.

"Wait." I heard her say.

"What's wrong?" I asked, looking back at her over my pony shoulder.

"What's your name?"

"Oh, yes, sorry. I'm Nicholas, Nicholas Swiftsword."

"It's nice to meet you Nicholas."

I gave a quick chuckle and a smile before saying, "You can just call me Nick. And thanks again, Twilight!" I called back as I went back down the stairs, not looking forward to the crowd that I'd have to meet.

It didn't take long to find what it was I was looking for, as I came across a book with the title "The Elements of Harmony, A Reference Guide Vol. 2" printed onto the spine of a fine crimson leather that matched the covers of the book. It took me a second or two to decide how to pull it out of the other books before I realized I could use my teeth, which were now a bit more prominent in my pony forme. I reached out for the book with my teeth, trying to keep away my cheeks and lips to avoid getting saliva on the fine leather of the 'new print', and slowly pulled my head back when I had it firmly grasped with my jaw. When it fell off of the shelf, my neck buckled a bit to the weight of the book, but I quickly caught myself, keeping the book off of the ground with only my bite, which I feared to have too tightly and put teeth marks into the spine. It was strange, caring about a book so much, seeing as how usually I despise them.

I found myself a cozy, though not so quiet spot in the corner of the room where I set down the book on the floor in front of me as I sat down too. I pushed aside the cover with my hoof, catching the lip of it and pulling it up and then setting it back down. I lowered my head, straining my eyes to catch as much light from the room in order to read the eloquently written words printed upon the thick pages.