Stormfeather and the Sleepover

The sun was just drying the dew from the grass when Stormfeather stepped out of her cottage, empty saddlebags in tow. The storm that had enveloped Everfree Forest two nights before and which had introduced her to her first Ponyvillians had come near enough to the town to have brought down some branches and debris around her cottage. She gazed around the clearing. This was the first time she had a chance to get a good look at her new home; she and the other ponies had stayed at the Castle of the Two Sisters for quite a while when they'd awoken the morning after the storm (which was yesterday), and then she had walked back to town with them to learn the route in case she ever decided to walk rather than fly–and she was still self-conscious about showing other ponies her larger-than-average wings, even though she had flown in front of them during the storm. She hadn't got back to her cottage until late yesterday evening, when the sun had already begun setting. The clearing was small, and contained only five cottages including her own. Hers was the only one this side of the path, with the Clock Tower a little way down on the same side. The other four cottages were in a line slightly separated in pairs, with Stormfeather's cottage approximately equidistant between them. She assumed they were occupied, but she had no way of knowing for sure. Certainly nopony was stirring at the moment, if anyone was there at all. Feeling safe she was out of prying eyesight, Stormfeather unfurled her wings and took off. She wanted to follow the path into town, but flying was still faster than walking, so she flew just off the ground so she could land quickly if anypony was coming along the trail. But the forest path was deserted, and she glided lazily past first a distinctive but homey cottage, then a small cattle barn, the inhabitants of which must still be asleep inside. Then she landed and began to walk as the forest thinned, finally opening up to reveal Ponyville. Town Hall was the first building she could see, just on the other side of the river. She wasn't certain where the marketplace was, but she took her best guess based on what she'd seen during her brief flyover the day she'd arrived. Fortunately she didn't have to walk far before she heard somepony call her name. Stormfeather turned to see Star Stream trotting after, and waited for the white Unicorn to catch up. "How are you?" Star Stream asked once she was within speaking distance. "Fine," said Stormfeather. "I'm looking for the marketplace." "Come with me, then," Star Stream said. "I'm going there too." Stormfeather was happy to let her lead, and fell in beside her as Star Stream went on, "How's your house?" "It should be suitable," Stormfeather answered. "I should come and visit sometime," Star Stream suggested, but before Stormfeather could reply she continued, "not tonight, though. I'm glad I ran into you. Whistling Wind and I are having a sleepover at my house tonight. Want to come? It's okay if you want to settle in first. I know it's short notice." Stormfeather was genuinely surprised. She'd only just met Star Stream and Whistling Wind a couple days ago, and now she was being invited to a slumber party? She wondered if this quick progression was normal for Ponyville ponies. The idea of engaging in a real social event (she didn't count running for their lives from a freak Everfree lightning storm) with near perfect strangers made her uncomfortable, but she did want to make friends here, and Star Stream and Whistling Wind seemed nice enough. She wondered, though, if she would find anything in common with them once they started getting to know each other. "Okay," she said. "Great!" Star Stream said, and she sounded sincere. "You can help me pick out food then. I don't know what you like." Her comment sounded like an inquiry, so Stormfeather said, "Um…apples?" Star Stream laughed. "All right then. Apples first. Then I'll give you directions to my house." — When Stormfeather arrived at Star Stream’s house early that evening, it was hard to tell whether Whistling Wind had already arrived; she didn't expect two ponies would make enough noise to be noticeable, and the house was quiet as far as she could tell. But since she was early, she assumed Whistling Wind wasn't there yet—which had been her hope. Star Stream seemed like a very friendly pony, and Stormfeather had enjoyed going to the market with her, but the thought of going up to the house and knocking on the door unattended made her shiver. What if she disturbed Star Stream because she had arrived early? What if she'd misheard the directions and this wasn't the Unicorn's house after all? No, it was a far better option to wait until she saw Whistling Wind coming, and then pretend she'd arrived at the same time. Then they could approach the house and go in together. Then Whistling Wind and Star Stream could share the expected greetings, and Stormfeather could just tag along. This having been decided, Stormfeather glanced around to make sure nopony was watching, and flew up and perched on the roof of a nearby house. She had seen other Pegasi on the roofs earlier, so she guessed Ponyville residents didn't mind them coming and going. Besides, she had every intention of leaving it as she found it. For the moment, she would pretend to be merely watching the sunset. It was some time before Whistling Wind finally came into view. Stormfeather dropped down off the roof so it would look like she was just rounding the corner on her own journey. She put herself in clear view of Whistling Wind and walked slowly, giving the Earth pony every chance to see her. Finally she did. "Hello," Whistling Wind called out. "Are you going to Star Stream’s party too?" Relieved to fall into step beside her, Stormfeather answered, "Yes. We met in the market this morning and she invited me." "Good," Whistling Wind said. "How have you been?" "Fine," said Stormfeather. She hoped this awkwardness would fade once they got inside. As she'd hoped, Whistling Wind went right up to the door and knocked. Star Stream opened it, greeted them, ushered them inside, and after sharing a few pleasantries that Stormfeather didn't find at all pleasant, said without preamble, "So the plan for tonight has changed slightly." Dread threatened to seep into Stormfeather's shoulders, but Whistling Wind leaned forward in anticipation and asked, "Oh? How so?" "I ran into Gift and Arrow on my way back from the market, and they asked what all the food was for." Stormfeather could now see that Star Stream’s eyes were glowing, and relaxed slightly. "So I told them, and they have challenged us to a scavenger hunt." "What kind of scavenger hunt?" "We came up with a list of things to mark off." Star Stream pulled out a piece of paper and placed it before them. "First ones finished and back here win! We start promptly at sundown." Stormfeather was about to ask what kind of night life Ponyville had, but before she could Whistling Wind said, "What do we win?" "Hopefully a little respect!" Star Stream waved a hoof dramatically. "So are you in?" Stormfeather felt awkward again. Not knowing the town, she felt there was little she could contribute to the game. But Whistling Wind was already enthusiastically agreeing, so she nodded. "All right. Sundown isn't far off, so we'd better make a plan." Star Stream and Whistling Wind leaned close together over the list. Swallowing uncomfortably, Stormfeather looked over their shoulders. She loved scavenger hunts. She just wished she'd had more time to learn about the town before she'd been roped into one. — The mares set out promptly at sundown, not intending for the stallions to get so much as a step ahead of them. Star Stream was in the lead with Whistling Wind half a step behind, and Stormfeather trailing along after them, feeling more and more like a meddlesome parasite one can't exactly get rid of, but does one's best to ignore. She didn't even know what most of the items on the list were, let alone where to find them. It seemed Ponyville had a rich and interesting history as well as residency, something Stormfeather certainly hadn't anticipated when she took the job from the Equestria Historical Society and moved here. Oh, she knew about some things, like the fact that Princess Twilight Sparkle had lived here and the adventures she'd undertaken with her motley group of friends, but never did Stormfeather imagine she might find herself on similar misadventures. Not that she considered a nighttime slumber party scavenger hunt anywhere near the scale of taming the unruly Spirit of Disharmony, fighting bugbears and Ursa Minors, becoming an Alicorn, or redefining friendship for creatures across and beyond Equestria. Frankly, Stormfeather had hoped to meet just one pony with which to occasionally share tea or a good book. Though she wouldn't say she considered them friends yet, now she had four potential future companions. As she followed along, it seemed that Star Stream and Whistling Wind didn't particularly need her, for which she was glad. They traveled at a brisk pace up and down streets until Stormfeather was beginning to doubt her navigational skills, but then finally broke out into a fairly large square, and Stormfeather realized they'd made it to the Town Hall by some backwater means. "'Leave your hoof prints at Town Hall,'" Whistling Wind said, reading out the item from the list. "Come on, Stormfeather. It only counts if all of us do it." Stormfeather followed as they tramped through a bit of mud below the deck, then hopped up to leave the residue on the wood. Other partially-dried prints were already there. "They're ahead of us already!" observed Star Stream. "We'll have to shuffle our hooves to catch up," Whistling Wind said. "If we split up, I can get the bucket of water from the river and meet you in the Grassy Pentagon for five dandelions." "Great! Come on, Stormfeather. Follow me!" Without waiting for her consent, Star Stream leaped off the deck and took off at a gallop. Stormfeather scrambled after her, stumbling from the mud caked unevenly to her hooves. Fortunately the white Unicorn was easy to follow in the dark. Putting on a burst of speed, she managed to catch up with her… only to realize that Star Stream was slowing down as they approached a row of houses. The Unicorn gave Stormfeather a gesture to stay quiet, and Stormfeather nodded in understanding. They continued as quietly as hoofsteps would allow, but Stormfeather knew they were lucky the ground was still springtime damp. Star Stream slipped behind the houses, and Stormfeather followed, only hoping that if she was caught, she wouldn’t be caught alone. The area behind the houses opened up into a grassy square; Stormfeather could feel the richness of the soil as soon as her hooves sank into the lush greenery. “Five dandelions,” Star Stream whispered. She’d lit a tiny ball of purple light at the tip of her horn, and was poking through the grass with her muzzle to the ground like a dog tracking a scent. Stormfeather began looking around, though without a light of her own, she had a harder time of it, essentially stuck to the patches of light cast by the windows of the nearby houses. She was just leaning out of the darkness toward a dandelion when the sound of an opening door halted her in her tracks. Hardly daring to breathe, and moving at a pace a snail would consider casual, she turned her head just enough to see. A Zebra emerged from a nearby house, a leafy potted plant on his back. He set the plant down, then peered around the Grassy Pentagon. Out of the corner of her eye, Stormfeather could see that Star Stream had extinguished her horn-light, but her white coat was still practically glowing. The Zebra stood there for a moment, as if wondering if he ought to say something, but if he had seen them, he didn’t seem too bothered. Then the sound of laughter peeled out of the open doorway, and the Zebra turned and went back inside. As the door closed, Stormfeather let out a heave of breath, snatched up the dandelion, and joined Star Stream. Now that she had almost been found out, her belly was clenched with the desire to get out of there as quickly as possible. “One more,” Star Stream whispered, her voice muffled by the dandelions in her mouth. “There!” she pointed with her hoof, and Stormfeather swiftly plucked the flower she had indicated. Then Star Stream jerked her head, and the two mares tiptoed out of the Pentagon as silently as they could. “That was close!” Star Stream said as soon as they were clear and trotting briskly toward their next location. “Isn’t this fun!” Stormfeather didn’t respond, her teeth clenched on her two dandelions and her skin shivering. She didn’t like the way her feathers trembled. Maybe the thrill of it was getting to her, and she was only feeling the anticipation of the competition. Maybe the cool spring air had chilled her more than she’d realized. But she couldn’t help suspecting that the source of her quivering was the deep gut feeling that she was doing something wrong. Whistling Wind galloped up to them, her hooves clattering on the street. A bucket was clutched in her teeth, sloshing water all over her chest as she ran. She slowed as she joined them. "Great, Whistles!" Star Stream said, and levitated the five daisies and two apples—Where did those come from? Stormfeather wondered—into the half-empty bucket. "The fountain is the only thing left, and then all we have to do is beat the stallions back to your house," Whistling Wind narrated. "They probably still have a lead on us," Star Stream said, breaking into a gallop, "so let's shift our tails!" They ran until they broke out into a large courtyard ringed with what appeared to be shops, with an outdoor stage at one end. In the middle was a large fountain lit by starlight, merrily spurting water into the night. If they weren't in such a hurry, Stormfeather would have enjoyed the serenity of it. "We've beat them!" Star Stream crowed triumphantly. "Let's win this!" The three mares gathered around the fountain. "All we have to do is hang the bucket up there," said Whistling Wind, setting down the bucket next to Star Stream. "Use your magic, Star." "Hold on. There's no sign of the colts yet," Star Stream said. "This isn't just a sleepover; it's Stormfeather's Welcome to Ponyville party." She levitated the bucket over to Stormfeather. "You should do the honors." Stormfeather still didn't feel entirely comfortable with what they were doing, but she was touched by Star Stream's gesture, so she took the bucket in her teeth. She hesitated, reminded herself that her companions had already seen her large wings and didn't seem to mind, and then hesitated again. If she hung the bucket on the fountain, it would be left there until morning. It wasn't permanent or necessarily destructive, but could it be considered vandalism? What if they got in trouble? Star Stream and Whistling Wind were looking at her expectantly, and she could see the competition glowing in their eyes. They wanted to win, but they'd also chosen to include her. All in all, she had enjoyed the hunt, and having ponies to hang out with. Besides, they wouldn't vandalize anything for a silly game, would they? Surely hanging a bucket on a fountain was no more a crime than leaving muddy hoof prints at Town Hall? Stormfeather flew up toward one of the fountain's spindly "arms," bucket in tow. She was just about to hang it when a shout caught her by surprise. As she turned, the shadowy shape of a Pegasus loomed up in front of her, and she nearly dropped the bucket. Then she recognized Broken Arrow. The clattering of hooves told her that Royal Gift was also approaching the fountain. He must have been the one who shouted, because Broken Arrow held a bucket in his mouth as well. "The bucket!" shrieked Star Stream as Whistling Wind went to block Royal Gift. "The bucket, Stormfeather!" Broken Arrow took advantage of Stormfeather's distraction and lunged in an effort to reach the fountain first. Quick as lightning, Stormfeather swung in front of him, taking up a defensive position with her wings spread wide. She clutched the bucket in her teeth. She knew she had little hope of landing her bucket first, but maybe she could prevent him from hanging his. Broken Arrow tried feinting to the side, but Stormfeather stuck with him, matching every dodge and lunge, the two of them engaging in a dance of offense and defense. He was quick, but her large wings formed a barrier he couldn't evade. Stormfeather faintly heard Star Stream and Whistling Wind shouting at her to just hang her own bucket, and since she was closer, Stormfeather could understand their logic. But they weren't Pegasi. What did they know about flight acrobatics? She tuned them out and focused on the bucket in Broken Arrow's mouth. If she could make him drop it, he'd have to retrieve it, and she would have enough time to hang her bucket and get a head start back to Star Stream’s house. She dipped and kicked with a forehoof, trying to hit his bucket from the side. She nicked it but he held on, and lashed out with his own counterattack. Now they were exchanging strikes as well as blocking and dodging. Stormfeather felt herself quickly losing control of the situation, and started to panic. It was only a matter of time before he got the better of her, and she will have let her new friends down. Just how seriously were they taking this scavenger hunt? Would she be able to regain their respect if they lost because of her? She did not want that to happen. "Arrow!" shouted Royal Gift, and suddenly a bolt of purple shot toward them, narrowly avoiding hitting Broken Arrow. As he dodged to the side, the magic shot hit the pinnacle of the fountain, which popped off to reveal a white orb. As the ponies watched, the orb glowed swiftly brighter until it was a blinding white. Then it radiated light outward. Stormfeather threw her hooves over her eyes, screwing them shut. She assumed the others were doing the same. Suddenly she felt the bucket being pulled from her mouth. She let go, and a moment later the impression of the blinding light stopped pressing against her eyelids. Tentatively she opened her eyes a slit. The darkness had returned, but it took a moment before her eyes readjusted. Then she saw her bucket overturned over the orb, blocking it from view. No light seemed to be coming from it anymore. Stormfeather flew down and landed beside the other ponies. Broken Arrow hung his bucket and joined them. Royal Gift and Whistling Wind put their hooves down, having covered their eyes the same way Stormfeather had. "What happened?" Whistling Wind asked. "I don't know," said Royal Gift. "Star Stream?" Star Stream hadn't moved since the light. She stood motionless at the edge of the fountain, seemingly staring at the bucket capping the top. She didn't seem to have heard. Royal Gift approached her, reaching out a hoof toward her. "Star, are you okay?" Star Stream jolted as if his touch was electric, then turned to face them. "What?" She looked confused for a moment, then leaped past them in a dead gallop. "Let's go, girls, we can still win this! Last one to my house is a rotten apple!" The ponies looked at each other, confused, then took off after her. At first they weren't trying very hard to catch her, still more concerned about her wellbeing than the competition, but as they ran the thrill of the race started to get to each of them. Before long, it was a race. When they got to Star Stream’s house, it was Royal Gift who was in front. He had overtaken Star Stream to win comfortably. Stormfeather had managed to keep pace, but hadn't managed to draw even with Star Stream. And somewhere along the way, Whistling Wind had tripped and hurt her hoof, so she limped in a few moments later. Broken Arrow was with her, but it was unclear what had hindered him. "We win!" Royal Gift was announcing as they all gathered by the door. "You cut me off," Star Stream accused him. "I would have won easily if you hadn't jumped in front of me." "I didn't cut you off!" Royal Gift argued. "Royal made it to the house first, so we win," Broken Arrow said. "We agreed." "We agreed that the first team to reach the house wins," Star Stream argued. "The last of both of our teams got here at the same time, so it's a tie." "That was never the rule," Broken Arrow protested, but Royal Gift just shook his head, already giving up on the argument. "Well, whoever won, Whistling Wind's hoof needs to be seen to," Star Stream finally declared, moving over to Whistling Wind's side to help her into the house. "What about you? Are you okay?" Royal Gift asked her. "Of course," Star Stream answered, not looking at him. She seemed to be making a point of cold-shouldering the stallions as she assisted Whistling Wind. "Why wouldn't I be?" "What happened at the fountain," said Royal Gift. "Stormfeather clearly hung our bucket first, and with style. You can't argue about that," Star Stream said, shooting him a silencing look. "We definitely won that task." As she tended to Whistling Wind, the other ponies exchanged glances. But then Royal Gift and Broken Arrow shrugged. They didn't seem to think whatever had happened to Star Stream was that serious. Stormfeather relaxed, trusting that they knew the Unicorn better than she did, and if they weren't concerned, she wouldn't be either. Maybe Star had a habit of forgetting things. Maybe she'd been so focused on the competition that she'd jumbled or missed some details. Stormfeather took her friends' lead and shrugged it off. This was her first sleepover in Ponyville, and it wasn't over yet.