'Welcome To Harmony'[FINISHED]

Winter looked at both mares and thought for a moment before coming to a reasonable answer, "I'll talk to the band and see if they're ok with providing the backing to your songs. It should be ok though" she said with a smile. She would look to Starry and Twisted before saying, "I look forward to seeing and hearing both of you sing though, I'm sure it will be great" she said with a happy smile.

Kes looked down at the little doll that Sawdust had made for him. How...nice of her? Was nice the correct word? Meh, it would do. He noticed the damage to the other doll, and its strange appearance, but he, as always, said nothing.

Taking a sip from his tea cup, and finishing off the whiskey inside, the gryphon moved himself a bit and picked the small figure up. His talons carefully going over it, examining it for defects or anomalies. All in all it wasn't badly made, Kes had made something like this once, when he was just a child.

He had given it to his mother. She had smiled at him.

The bird nodded as he looked the little toy over, his talons flexing with surprising ease and gentleness as he moved the razor sharp appendages across the legs and wings.

"Not bad" he thought to himself, pulling open his jacket and setting the figure inside one of the pockets. He then turned and gave a nod of thanks to the mare who had presented it to him. He would put it in his collection of trinkets and trophies later, amongst the other things he had collected and scavenged over the years.

Twisted Vision looked up, tears falling down her face as Winter began to talk. At the mention of both of them singing Twists eyes shot wide open and a grin spread across her face "Oh thank you! Thank you thank you thank you!!" She said hugging Winter Bell tightly. "I Pinkie Pie Promise that I won't fail you! No siree Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" SHe said, following all the hoof motions before doing a small trot dance, and scurrying off, but not after giving Winter Bell another hug.


Twisted Visions Dress

Spoiler:

Cross watched silently as both, the new pony and Starry asked Winter if they could sing, and his heart lept. He stepped forward and with the stern voice he said:

"Winter, since this is your party, I believe the right to sing belongs to you... there isn't any voice sweeter that I'd want to listen to tonight other than yours..."



Then Cross's favorite piece came on...he hoped Winter remembered it, whenever he heard it....he always thought of the time when they were finally together, just such a fond memor. Cross stepped next to Winter and held out his hoof and smiled, eagerly staring into her large purples irises

"Winter will you give me this dance?"

Winter Bell was a little startled and caught off guard by the hugs and simply laughed as the taller unicorn left, presumably to practice her song. She looked up to Cross when he mentioned the idea of her singing and blushed. She had forgotten that he knew about her hobby to sing when she was doing tedious things like walking. She would think about it but was unsure weather she could muster the courage to sing in front of all these ponies. She was deep in thought on the idea before something amazing happened. The band played a new song, one that she instantly recognized as the song that played before Cross first confessed his love for her. It was more then a mere song to her as it represented so much more in their relationship. She beamed as Cross extended his hoof, asking for her to dance. It was as if she were caught in some blissful dream she never wanted to wake from, like some fairytale of romance you read only on old world books. She smiled as she gave him her hoof, "I would love nothing more" she said as she let him lead her to the dance floor.

The music was simply beatiful. It was nostalgic, sad, slow... it tapped the precise pains a aches one would have from living in the Wastes, and made them surfase and dance on one's soul. Arc hated it for it, and yet loved the emotions he felt from listening to it. Even if he was left alone as others mingled, he was still happy that he decided to come on this party.

As the band prepared for another song, that strange unicorn appeared once again and decided to talk about something with Winter, then proceeded to hug her. Arc had no idea what this was about, but the mare was certainly starting to be an interesting figure. Arc thought that if there will be appropriate occasion, he should introduce himself.

Arc looked around to see if there was a conversation he could join, or even start a one. He liked these social gatherings, even though he knew how hard was for him to not feel awkward during them. He noticed that Gentle Breeze was looking upset, same way she was on that weird night few days back.

He took a sip of tea, and then approached Gentle.

"Hello Gentle, how are you? I hope you're feeling batter that few days ago, you really looked terrible that night."

Before they could go and start talking to somepony else Scrap heard the music start to play.

Ask her to go dance...Couples dance...I can't dance though...I need to stop doubting myself...just do it...

Following the brief bout of mental debate he did decide to ask.

"Will you dance with me?"

Amity just nodded politely once more as he tried to remember the events from Harmony Lane...

-Yeah no.

But the mention of his birthname bugged him a bit. He had not heard of it since Harmony Lane and even then it was not the best thing to grace his ears at the moment. He had been of by himself recently and hearing his name that was the literal translation of 'friendship' never sat well with him. Even though he resented the ponies of his past, he would rather use the name bestowed upon him by them rather than using his birthname.

"Please, call me Amber, Amber Dusk. And as for the party, I am surprised to hear you say that." Amity said in his usual monotone. He was not dealing with customers or targets, why must he always speak like that when he spoke to anypony.

(Super rushed post before I have to leave. MAy edit, may not. Sorry..!)

Bakewell had been scanning the crowd of ponies thoughtfully after Scrap’s suggestion to start a conversation. There were several groups, some of which she remembered, like Starry. Yet others were relatively unfamiliar. Sawdust was over with Kestrel at a table, but she had no idea how to approach that conversation. ‘Hello, remember me? I’m the one that made you drink so much drugged punch that you threw up on me after I tackled you to the floor! And then we all got arrested!’ No, she would avoid that conversation. But not quite as long, she decided as her gaze fell to Cross (who had somehow convinced some poor mare to stomach being around him for more than three seconds), as that conversation. Most of the groups looked occupied, There was an unfamiliar pony sitting all by his lonesome…

Oh, Dance? Yes, dancing was probably something couples did. Unfortunately it was not something that Bakewell did.

“Scrap, I can’t dance. All I’d do is make a fool of us both in front of everypony.”

But hadn’t she just promised to try? Instant refusals weren’t the way to start trying.

“Sure. Let’s give it a try.”

Trails smirked at Zesty's sudden nervousness over dancing. "Neither can I." he gently brought his hoof to the small of her back as he got up on his hind legs. It took everything he had not to keep going, but there would be time for that later. He snuck one more kiss before continuing, they were addictive and always sent his head spinning "Just follow my lead, you be the picture, I'll be the frame."

With that Trails found that he actually had to concentrate for this. A task which would normally be as easy as breathing for him, but was near impossible with her pressed up against him. Every breath filled him with her scent, made him want to stop and just...do everything to her. When he changed head position to maintain balance like Kes had shown him he almost lost track entirely. Damn those eyes. Somehow he managed to keep it together and dance just like Kes had taught him, even he was impressed.

'Oh boy, sad music!' Dash thought in sarcastic enthusiasm. He preferred more ambient sounding tunes, something that that would take his soul out amongst the stars, rather than something that left him wanting what he was missing even more... His mare-friend and his brother. He took yet another sip of his tea, feeling once he finished that he would be needing some more if he wanted to continue drinking it.

Starry was locked deep in thought as Twisted scurried off, and Cross and Winter left for the dance floor, leaving Starry Shutter and Amber standing together. She hadn't captured what the others were saying, not even what Shutter had said to her.

'I made somepony cry, She thought, with a look of shock across her face. 'That's... that's... that's not who I wanted to be...' Starry hadn't thought of this deeply enough. She was trying to act formal, something she had learned from her mother, who she was trying to emulate. Except her mother was a bitch.

Starry looked down at her foreleg, which had a gaudy piece of jewelry wrapped around her pipbuck. She turned her head to look at her flank, which was wrapped in a wavy jewel-encrusted dress. She regretted ever wearing something so pompous. 'I hate dresses!' Starry thought, as she could feel the ends of her mane getting heavy.

Starry quickly shook her head, ridding herself of the thought. This was no time to dwell on her mistakes, there were a lot of ponies here who needed smiles, and Starry wasn't going to let them down! She fought back a tear, breaking herself out of her mental isolation to address her friends.

"Shutter, Amber, I apologize. I don't know what came over me. I guess high-culture just brings out the worst in me."

Atriark looked in the mirror. He had been standing there for a good ten minutes, staring at himself. It had been over a month since he had last seen his reflection. He kept fussing with mess of a mane, which he had long since quit putting in a Mohawk. Finally he gave a sigh and left his damp mane alone. That was another thing he was not use to; bathing. He knew he had to, he had been invited to Winter's tea party. Atriark didn't want to, he didn't have a suit nor the caps to buy one. For a second, the stable zebra contemplated wearing his armor, but laughed at the thought.

So there he was, still staring at himself and half debating on not going. Would anypony and nonponies care if he showed up? Come on Atri, you need to go he sighed. How many do I know? Six, seven? Could be eight. Now how many actually care if I show? Winter? Cross may be a tad cross if I don't go. Zestari might, but she might not care if I don't. Atriark pulled himself away from the mirror and laid down on the bed, next to his Armored Stable Barding.

I don't know. Why is this so hard? Atriark rolled to his right side and looked at the door. After a minute, the zebra rolled off the bed and onto his hooves.

"Fine," he said to no pony. "I'll go."

He took one last look at his reflection and rubbed his scar on his left shoulder. "I wish I had a suit..."

Twisted Vision skipped through the party, humming the song she was going to be singing before she bumped into something that was big and feathery. "Oh... I'm sorry! I didn't see you there!" She said when she noticed she was looking at a cute female Griffon "Oh my..." She said quietly before smiling "Whats your name? I'm Twisted Vision!" SHe said putting out her hoof

"I can't really dance either...it'll be fun to try though, who really cares if we make a fool of ourselves" Scrap replied back, still riding the wave of happiness, before heading out to where the other ponies were starting to dance. "Ready?"

Kira let out an small grunt when the dark unicorn bumped in to her the unicorn was was not big nor strong enough to make her stager when she did run in to her. The gryphon just looked at her as she straitened her dress a bit that have gotten ruffled from the collision, she was not sure how she could have missed her as there was not many people around her and even if she was not the biggest gryphon she was still not so small so one could just miss her.

"Don't worry about it." She finally said after a long time of just looking at the unicorn that was apparently named Twisted Vision. "Kira." She said reaching out for the hoof in greetings.

Bakewell obediently followed Scrap to the group. Maybe she would get lucky and all of the assorted ponies would be just as clueless about dancing as she was.

The dressed-up mare quickly decided that such a possibility was extremely unlikely; she didn’t even know how to start! She glanced around at the other ponies in hopes of catching a glimpse of what to do. She noted that there were still some ponies by themselves and made a mental note to try and talk to them later.

“As ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.” She finally told Scrap. Secretly she felt that by the time she could convince herself that she was by any definition ‘ready’ that the princesses would have returned to Equestria. At least the grey unicorn seemed quite pleased so far.

Twisted Vision shook her claw and smiled "You look lonely over here... Would you like someone to talk too?" SHe asked, her eyes wide.

No sooner had Lucky finished his threat had the door to the cabin slammed inward, causing him to jump back in response. On the floor was a black and brown diamond dog, wearing a worn stable uniform. The door then fell off it's hinges.

'I'll be damned, is that...?' Lucky thought, and just as he did the new arrival stood up and addressed him.

"Dae, it's been awhile! Where've you been mate?" Lucky laughed as he recognized his old friend from the stable. "Get yourself shot up yet?"

Cross pulled Winter over to the dance floor and calmly offered her his shoulder for the dance, Cross put his right hoof over her shoulder and calmly and gently as the cellos eased with the violins did he guide her into the dance. Calmly he moved his head against Winter and decided it would be nice to offer her some words to make this tea party memorable and so with a soft chuckle he said:

"Heh, you know Winter, nothing makes me happier than when I hear this piece and remember you"

Twisted Vision shook her claw and smiled "You look lonely over here... Would you like someone to talk too?" SHe asked, her eyes wide.

Winter moved closer to Cross pressing herself against him as she took his shoulder. She felt his hoof over her shoulder and smiled as they began to dance. It was beautiful as they moved and swayed with each note that was cast from the instruments the band wielded. She made a happy sound at Cross's words and held herself tighter to him, without saying a word as the moment was perfect enough. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to be taken in by the music as she danced with the stallion. When the song ended they parted and there was a soft rumbling of hoof claps as the song had finished. She looked up into Cross's red eyes before she would say, "As long as I'm with you, I feel invincible" she said softly before kissing him gently. The buzzing feeling of emotions filling her as their lips met. She broke away before smiling, "I'll be back in a second, there is something I have to do" she said before she trotted over towards the band.

When she approached them they regarded her with smiles and she smiled back before she would ask them if they could provide instrumentals for Starry and Twist. They agreed without as much as a single protest and Winter thanked them curtly. As she made her way back to Cross she stopped by Twist and told her she was up for her song.

Kes continued to sit silently at his table, watching the various others interact and dance about to the music that was playing. Looking down he saw that he was out of whiskey, and not wanting to take more from Rodeo, he moved over to where the various teas sat waiting.

He picked one at random and poured himself a cup, returning to his seat and taking a sip. He had chosen one of the lighter teas, it had a slight spice to it, and a hint of sweetness.

Hmm...not bad.

Scrap had glanced at the other dancing couples while he was walking, observing their motions; hoping he could get some sort of clue as to how to dance without looking like an idiot.

"Ok, I'll lead" Scrap said, taking Bakewell's hoof and starting to imitate how he had seen Winter and Cross dancing. "Huh...this isn't actually that hard once you start."

Twisted Visions waited for Kira to respond but Winter got to her first. "It's my turn to sing now!" She said excitedly before scurrying off towards the Stage.

She walked up to the stage and used her magic to pick up the microphone. She gave the crowd a big smile, her blank eyes scanning the crowed as she made made eye contact with Winter. "Well now everypony I would like to sing a song!" SHe said happily, bouncing slightly. "I figured that because I can see so many happy couples, I would sing a song I learned when I was a little kid. I would like to thank Winter Bell for letting me sing, and this one is for you and your colt friend! A little early, but not hard to imagine!" She said before she started singing.