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Warning : the following fanfiction contains an incredibly girly slumber party with pony-rules truth or dare. Enjoy. Or don't. See if this anypony cares.

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My Little Pony

The Aeons of Equestria

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Episode 3: Warm Welcome, Cold Reception

The usual night-time routine always had some hitch to it. Mister and Missus Cake had taken in Pinkie Pie as an apprentice since when she was a little filly, and while they loved the pink pony like they would their own daughter, since taking her in their routines were always bound to be upset. Even when she wasn't around, her spirit lingered on in Sugarcube Corner.

The elderly Cakes were sitting up in bed, reading through the spectacles balanced on their noses when an almighty thud shook the walls and caused the portrait of a set of lilies in a pink vase on the wall above their bed to nearly shake loose. Instinctively Missus Cake reached up and caught the painting, straightening it. Without batting an eye, the couple shrugged off the subsequent 'oomph-tsss' beats of the music blaring from the library not far away and shaking the walls of every home in Ponyville.

"Pinkie Pie Party." The two stated as they heard their neighbour open the window and shout something unintelligible across the street.

"People are trying to sleep."

But the music blared on, complaints unheard within the library. It wasn't a scene uncommon to Reno. He did after all live in the middle of a student estate... well, lived. Back in normal-world where he had his friends, family and job. He'd made sleeping through thumping music and drunken laughter an art form. When Reno fell asleep he would sleep through an earthquake.

But he wasn't sleeping. He was watching the party develop. Despite everything that had happened, the train, Preacher's attack, he wasn't tired. He was sitting on a pillow on the floor, back leaned against a book shelf, the barrel of his rifle laying over one leg and his backpack tucked against his other side. He was going through the contents of the backpack for the first time since he arrived in Equestria. Going through the contents of the pack he had no remaining doubt in his mind that he was brought to the land of the ponies by someone for a reason. Like the attire he'd woken in, the location he'd woken up, everything had been prepared for him.

Packed neatly in the bag were several changes of socks and shorts, which he figured he'd need plenty of if he was going to have any more close calls. With the clothes was a leather pouch containing a tube of tooth-paste, a bar of soap and a toothbrush. Piled on top of the clothes and toiletries were several other handy tid-bits. A small LED torch, which he slipped into one of the thigh pockets on his KSKs; a Leatherman multi-tool, this particular model having the word 'Skeletool' laser printed along the side and housing a screw-driver, pliers, wire cutters, carbine clip that also worked as a bottle opener and a finely sharpened locking blade that ended in a pretty vicious looking point. He hooked the Leatherman onto one of his belt-loops and rummaged further finding a set of rations tucked away; a few packets of mint-cake and a canteen of water. There were other bits in the ration packs, packets of ketchup, salt and pepper, lumps of sugar and a few granola bars as well as waterproof matches and spare boot-laces which was only a short list of the other things he found. Whoever had prepared him had really prepared him. Half this stuff he wouldn't even bring with him to go camping. Half the stuff he couldn't even find a use for. This was a hard-core survivalist gear.

"C'mon, Reno! Don't be a party pooper!" the dancing hot-pink pony squealed happily.

Reno looked up and grinned at the sight of all the ponies on their hooves, dancing to Pinkie Pie's choice of music. It was like something he'd always see when his friends dragged him along to night clubs, the pretty and slim girls all dressed to kill, arms in the air and swaying their hips to the beat... well, they were all dancing in that gyrating style, except for Pinkie Pie. As much as he was uncomfortable around all these girly ponies, Pinkie Pie's free 'fuck 'em, I'ma just have fun' spirit was starting to grow on him. She had the energy of a four year old hyped up on cola (without the crashing period) and was unleashing all sorts of old-school moves.

One moment she was rockin' the cazba, the next she made homage to Saturday Night Fever, a minute later she was moonwalking, showing that hooves were just as good as feet. She shuffled over and reached out to grab Reno, who recoiled. Her grasp missed, and to regain her balance the pink mare had to disappointedly shuffle on.

"Every party needs a pooper, that's why they invited me!" Reno replied with a grin.

"Ah, c'mon, pardner!" Applejack cried as she reached out with both hands to pull Reno to his feet. "Don' be so down! Tihm' 'ta shake loose!"

Reno shook his head again. "Trust me, pardner, I'm plenty loose... and shaken!"

Fluttering off the dance floor, Fluttershy hovered beside the cow-pony. "Well, he has had a long day. Maybe we should do something less... physical." The soft spoken Pegasus smiled and settled to the floor close to Reno.

With a thud, Pinkie Pie landed cross legged next to the human. "Truth or dare!" she cried happily. "We should play truth or dare!"

"Uh, oh." Reno mumbled, glancing around for an escape.

Nothing good would come of this, but there was no escape route. He was boxed in as the other ponies excitedly gathered around. Rarity and Rainbow Dash sat opposite Reno and Applejack settled between the unicorn and Fluttershy. Twilight turned down the music and sat on the floor beside Pinkie Pie and Dash, laying an empty glass bottle on the floor within the circle they formed.

"What's the bottle for?" Reno asked clueless.

"Duh, this is how you play truth or dare." Rainbow Dash smirked as she reached out and gave the bottle a spin. It span and span on the spot, finally settling with the end pointing at where Rarity was sitting. "Pony rules."

"Pony rules?" Reno frowned with some concern for his well-being.

The beautiful unicorn gave an excited squeal as the bottle pointed at her. "And now we begin. The one the bottle points to is allowed to pick anypony for a truth or dare of their choice." She explained before fixing her eyes on the human's. "And I choose you, Reno, for a truth."

Reno grumbled. Pony rules sucked. "Fine. Hit me."

"Uuuh." Rarity blinked a little unsure, then looked down at her hand.

"He means 'go for it' ah think, Rarity." Applejack said.

"Ah, very well..." Rarity gave a quick smile before continuing. "Darling, tell the truth," she said to Reno. "Which of us ponies whom you have met since you arrived in Equestria is the most beautiful?"

Reno's eyes narrowed as he slouched forward and grumbled to himself. "You, Miss Rarity."

Rarity giggled with a hand in front of her mouth, other hand touching up her hair. "Oh, you're just saying that, dear."

"I dunno, Rarity." Rainbow Dash chuckled, nudging the unicorn. "He looks like he's got a crush." As Reno considered shooting down the remark, Dash continued; "He wouldn't be the first."

All heads turned and Reno followed their gazes to Spike who sat in a huff, brooding in the corner. Realising he was the centre of attention, the baby dragon sat bolt upright and realised why they were grinning sheepishly at him.

"Oh, hell to this noise." The dragon whined before disappearing into the next room and slamming the door in his wake.

"Huh, that was a little anti-social." Twilight said a little surprised.

"Uh, it's pronounced, asshole." Reno corrected as Pinkie Pie turned the bottle again.

This time it pointed to the one who had spun it, Pinkie Pie. "Oooh, oooh!" the pony bounced. "Where do you live, Reno? I bet it's the best, happy and fun-e-riffic place in all of Equestria!"

"I..." Reno blinked. He wondered if Pinkie Pie even realised the human wasn't from Equestria. He even had to wonder what kind of truth or dare that was supposed to be. He decided not to question or hesitate on it, in case she realised, and got off easy. "Yeah, sure. It's great." He lied.

"That's great!" Pinkie Pie squeaked, spinning the bottle again.

It rolled to a halt pointing at Rainbow Dash. "Okay, a truth for you, Reno. What is the coolest thing you've ever done?"

Reno sighed, then thought about it for a moment. He then said; "There was that time I ran across the top of a high speed train with bad guys trying to kill me. That was pretty cool."

"Awesome." Dash whispered with a broad grin that cutely puffed up her cheeks as she imagined the scenario in her head.

The bottle spun again and landed on Twilight Sparkle. "Reno, I'm kind of curious to know. Have you ever had a filly-friend?" the lavender unicorn asked curiously.

Another exhausted sigh as Reno got another truth. "I'm assuming you're asking about a _girl-_friend. And yes, I've had two. Never again. Next!"

Another spin, another pony.

Fluttershy smiled broadly when she realised it was her turn. "Oh," she whispered almost inaudibly. "I've been itching to know... if that is... of course, if you don't mind, Reno... I have a truth for you... well... maybe just a curious question..."

"C'mon, spit it out." A more irritable and impatient Reno urged. All the truths and dares seemed to be aimed at him tonight.

"Well, what exactly do humans normally eat?" Fluttershy finally finished shyly.

"Ugh... pretty much anything and everything it takes to survive." Reno said remembering a particular friend of his. It was a true fact thought. Humans were omnivores with a strong survival instinct. He'd seen World War Two documentaries where soldiers were forced to boil and eat their leather boots just to stave off the pain of hunger. "I seem to be the centre of attention here, is this going somewhere?"

Even as he asked it Twilight had spun the bottle again, the narrow end landing at Applejack's hooves this time. "Your turn, Ay-Jay." Twilight Sparkle announced happily.

"Yee-haw, we're 'bout to get somewhere ah'lright! No more sissy truths!" the cow-pony whooped, flipping back her hat with an evil smirk. "Reno, ah dare 'ya 'ta kiss Twilight Sparkle on the lips with tongue!"

"What?" Reno exclaimed.

At this stage, even though the human was on the receiving end of a pretty embarrassing dare, Fluttershy blushed brightly and her face disappeared under her hands, her mouth still revealed with a broad sheepish grin. Rainbow Dash rolled onto her wings in a fit of giggles. Pinkie Pie squealed with a refreshed burst of energy. Twilight at least held some form of composure and looked away a little embarrassed, her lavender cheeks going rosy. Rarity was the only one who took it with extreme elegance, waving her hand over her head in a dramatic fashion and letting out: "Oh, fillies, really!"

"For no shorter than ten 'brambleberry pies'." Applejack added.

Reno didn't know what ten brambleberry pies were, but he could only assume it was something bad. "C'mon! That's cruel." He complained.

"A dare's a dare!" Dash jeered, kicking out and playfully bumping a hoof against the human's shoulder. "Go get 'er, lover-boy."

Reno grumbled and looked to Pinkie Pie for some support. But what the hell was he thinking, thinking the hot-pink pony would do anything but egg them on to have at a game of tongue-wrestling? She was on her hooves, excitedly hopping around Twilight, causing the unicorn to giggle and climb to her knees, shuffling past where Pinkie Pie was sitting and scooting closer to the human.

"You are kidding!" Reno exclaimed. "This is a big sick joke. These aren't pony rules, you lot are having me on!"

"A dare's a dare." Twilight sighed with a defeated shrug, agreeing with Rainbow Dash. They had to go through with it. Why did she have that dreamy, submissive look in her eye though? She hadn't even attempted to contend the dare. She merely continued with: "And I've never kissed a colt before, it's something I've always wanted to document."

Seriously?

"Back out and you'll forever be known as Reno the Chicken, the one who cannot take a..." Dash started, but Reno squared up to her with a defiant glare.

"Call me Reno the Chicken if you like, but for other reasons!" the human announced with pride. "But Reno the Chicken never backs out of a dare!"

Slowly he turned to the lavender unicorn, who had already swallowed hard and was leaning closer to him. Reno imitated the 'gulping' gesture and angled his head slightly, moving closer at a much slower rate. Twilight's purple eyes narrowed, her eye-lashes fluttering for a moment before her eyelids elegantly slid shut. Her lips parted as they approached for docking, and within a second a wide-eyed Reno felt the warmth of her lips press against his.

His own mouth opened a little as his tongue bravely moved out to meet Twilight Sparkle's that already hung ready. Meeting her halfway, he slid his comparatively narrow tongue over her broader one. She tasted like... well, how a girl should taste. Minty aftertaste of her toothpaste, the rough texture of her tongue grinding over his. She was soft and wet, and the scent of the lavender shampoo used to lather her fur and mane earlier that day filled the human's sensitive sinuses. He almost gasped in surprise with his worried frown as Twilight pressed her lips harder all of a sudden, as if she was into it and leaning closer.

"Ah ain' countin' 'till ah see some tongue!" Applejack laughed through the giggles of the other ponies.

With a dead-pan expression on his face, Reno slowly opened the corner of his mouth and pulled back a little to reveal their tongues were in fact entangled. Even Applejack was amazed and the ponies watching collapsed in a heap of girlish cheering.

Collecting herself and wiping away tears, Applejack sat up and started. "One brambleberry pie!"

The other mares joined in as Twilight pressed to close the miniscule gap between them.

"Two brambleberry pie!"

By the time they reached four, Reno realised Twilight was practically hanging over him. One hand propped against the floor beside him, the unicorn reached up and rested her other delicate hand on the human's shoulder. Reno quickly reached back and stiffly planted his hand against the wooden floor behind him.

Twilight seemed really into it.

"Eight brambleberry pie, nine brambleberry pie, ten brambleberry pie!" ten came and it went after what felt like an eternity.

Reno quickly pulled back and broke the kiss, a string of saliva still connecting his bottom lip with hers. Half-opening her eyes, Twilight seemed to bob forward for a moment as if trying to close the space between them again, before catching herself and slowly straightening up. The string connecting them as the kiss had broke away and disappeared as Reno quickly wiped his lips with the back of his sleeve. Twilight just gave a shy grin and bit her bottom lip, sitting back again.

The other ponies' cheers died down and poor Pinkie Pie collapsed again with a happiness overdose. "This is the best slumber party ever." She managed to squeal.

"Okay, who's next?" Rainbow Dash reaching over to spin the bottle again.

"Oh, no you don't!" Reno cried, beating her to the punch and grabbing the bottle, spinning the narrow end so it pointed directly at himself. "My turn." He didn't even pause to register the disgruntled 'you're a cheater' look on Dash's face. "I dare every pony here to go to sleep! We got a long day tomorrow figuring out how to get me the hell home." Impatiently Reno jumped to his feet and tripped over the barrel of his rifle, nearly falling flat on his face. He quickly waved his arms and caught himself, clumsily stumbling across the room. "Absolutely nothing about this is funny. I'm caught in a world of damn ponies with slumber parties! Ponies with slumber parties!"

Twilight and her friends glanced among themselves before Rarity leaned closer to the lavender unicorn. "You'll have to forgive me for prying, darling. But how does he kiss?"

Twilight giggled at the question. "Like a stubborn mule."

"You mean like a huffy-ass." Fluttershy corrected watching Reno stomp off in a huff and the ponies exploded into fresh laughter.

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As the rouse of girlish laughter rose for a moment within the library, the back door cracked slightly to allow a shadow to escape silently.

The figure heading into the centre of town was short, squat and seemed to have trouble sprinting, his short little legs only carrying him so fast. Under his breath the baby dragon complained and muttered curses as a chill wind blew past him, dust and leaves swirling by.

At the town square, by the large monument of a rearing pony decorated with plants and flowers, Spike paused to catch his breath. One hand pressed against the stone slab that formed the statue's base as he panted hard, mist rising from his muzzle.

"You're late, little one." Came a strong, dark voice.

Stepping around the base of the monument, Preacher pulled back his hood before giving a suspicious glance left and right.

"And you're a liar." Spike scolded right back. "You said you were more than capable of taking the human away! What are you, a pony or a mouse?"

"That demon has reach you cannot even begin to comprehend." Preacher spat venomously down at the dragon. "Already it has infiltrated your friends' hearts and minds. They are already fighting to protect him. Soon there will be no going back!"

"You don't think I know that?" Spike took a long shuddering sigh. "Look, all I care about is protecting the ponies from that thing. He's put some kind of spell over them all! They're looking at him like he's just another pony when quite clearly he's not!" Reaching back to a small pouch he had slung over one shoulder, Spike produced a large wad of papers, neatly stacked and bound with rough string. "That's why I took these. While the human was out cold being tended to by Twilight and the others, I did a little digging of my own. I managed to tear these pages on the throne of the moon out of The Aeons of Equestria before she found it." Spike finished explaining before he carefully held out the pages.

Neglecting the care Spike showed, the conscript stud snatched up the papers and held them out under the moon's pale light to get a better look. Before he even knew it, Preacher was laughing.

"This is good. This is better than good, little one. Do you know what you have done?" Preacher laughed with excitement.

"Uh... handed you all the information you wanted on the throne of the moon?" Spike shrugged a little unsure. "Isn't that what you were after?"

"Yes. Yes it was." Preacher knelt before the baby dragon, bowing his head in thanks.

"So you'll be able to take that human away now?" Spike asked eagerly. "Twilight and the others... Rarity, she'll be safe?"

"Even better, little dragon. I can make it so you can assure their safety yourself." Preacher said with relish. "Join me. Join the ranks of the Shadow Legion. Serve the lord and master, under the warm wing of the goddess, and you shall receive power. Power to protect your friends. The power to fight the human and the demonic legions it will summon. Power to win the heart of anypony you desire. And with service to the lord and master, come of course generous rewards."

Spike's eyes expanded until they nearly popped out of their sockets. "Really?" he whispered. "You could give me that power?" how in Equestria was Spike supposed to say no? The chance to protect his friends. The chance to win Rarity? There was only one answer. "Where do I sign?" he asked enthusiastically.

Preacher grinned. "No signature necessary."

The stud reached out and placed one hand over the baby dragon's forehead. A black aura slipped over his fingers, consuming his palm and spread across Spike's face. The shadows seemed to close in and congregate, swirling around the baby dragon. They crept over his scales, spreading their pitch blackness all over his body.

For a moment the dragon's expression was filled with fear. For a fleeting moment he wanted to pull out. He wanted to go back, take back the pages he'd stolen and just deal with his jealousy in another way... and then a crimson glow erupted from his suddenly assertive eyes. Power flowed through his veins. Glorious strength and the energy to do... anything.

His powerful, triumphant laugh echoed into the night...