Novel Inkwell sat at the train station. He turned to Corncake, who sat next to him. Corncake looked back at him. “Are… you okay?”
Novel sighed. “Well... Kind of. Not really. Why do you ask?”
“Your ears are perked like you just can’t wait, but your eyes are clouded like you’re preoccupied. What’s going on?”
“I am really excited for the visit. Also nervous. Is it that obvious?”
“You act like this visit is a personal one. They’re just coming to town. Nothing will happen. I promise. But there’s more to it, isn’t there? If you were just nervous you wouldn’t be that upset.”
“Well, I guess I’m just worried. Cloudy jumped out the window of my house last night. I have no idea where he got to.”
Corncake moved a bit closer and gave Novel a small hug. “That’s rough. Hasn’t Cloudy been out before?”
“Not really. I try to keep him inside. It’s dangerous outside. When he does manage to get out he usually comes in within five minutes. He’s been gone for hours now.”
“Well I’m sure he’s fine. Where are our visitors though? They were supposed to arrive this morning. It’s already noon.”
“That’s a good question. I guess we’ll just wait.”
As Novel turned back towards the tracks, a train chugged into them. The train gently applied its brakes well before it reached the station, slowly stopping it.
When the train had finally come to a stop, six silhouettes stepped out. The smoke cleared to reveal the six ponies Novel had read so much about. Seeing them first hoof, they weren’t really as majestic as he’d imagined. Really, they just looked… tired.
Corncake leaned over and whispered into Novel’s ear. “Sorry. I’ve got to go to work. I’ve already taken my break and my boss will be mad if I’m gone much longer.” She then slipped behind the crowd and headed towards The Feed Bag Cafe, where she worked.
As Corncake snuck off behind the crowd, Novel watched the six ponies walk past him and down the stairs. He stood up and took a step towards them, then backed up behind the crowd. He followed after Corncake, slipping into the cafe. He sat down at a table near the door. Corncake walked over to his table. “Hey, I thought you were gonna watch the guests arrive.”
Novel looked up. “I would have, but..............." Novel sighed, "I don’t know.”
“Got cold hooves?”
“Yeah, I just couldn’t stand there. They weren’t at all what I’d imagined.”
“I don’t know, I thought they were pretty cool.”
“I guess.”
“Anyway, what did you want to order?”
“Umm… I guess I’ll have the cinnamon oatmeal.”
As Corncake left to get his order, Novel noticed a high-pitched voice outside.”Hey, can we get breakfast? I’m hungry… We didn’t get anything on the train!”
Another voice replied, “Oh faihn Pinkie Pie. How ‘bout here?”
Then, in walked Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity. They sat down at a large table at the edge of the room that was next to where Novel sat. Pinkie Pie was holding a magazine.
Pinkie Pie held up the magazine she had earlier. “Hey look at this! They had them by the entrance.”
“So what Pinkie?” said Twilight. “You can probably get that magazine anywhere.”
“Well, it says here that all the stories the magazine prints are written here!”
Novel Inkwell leaned into his oatmeal, trying to be inconspicuous. Many of his stories had been printed in that very magazine, and they had recently created a special issue just for him.
Corncake walked over to the larger table. “Oh hey, is that ‘Rowan Oak Stories”? You know, my friend writes for that magazine.”
Novel muttered, “Not helping, Corncake.” Corncake didn’t hear him. She was busy taking orders. That was fine. He didn’t really mean for her to hear him anyway.
As Corncake walked off towards the kitchen with their orders, the six ponies looked at Pinkie Pie. Novel then quickly turned back when she picked up the magazine, trying to be invisible. He could not tell which issue the magazine was, they never changed the cover, but he had his fears. He heard rustling and the sound of magic as it’s alicorn owner levitated the magazine over, saying, “I’m always interested in new literature. Let me see that.”
Rarity’s cultured voice replied, “I’d like to see it too. Maybe this town has some new fashion ideas.”
“Hey, why don’t we pass it around and read out loud? That way we can all read it and eat and talk."
An excited Pinkie Pie voice replied. “Hey that’s not a bad idea! I love reading funny stories! Wait… who should go first?”
“Hmm… who doesn’t want to read first?”
Applejack looked up. “Well, ah wanna start eatin’ as soon as we get food. I’ll go later.”
“Ok. AJ, think of a number between 1 and 100.”
“Seriously? Yall are doing this? What are ya, twelve?”
“Well, why not? It’s an effective way and it’s better than arguing.”
“Ok faihn, ah’ve gotta number.”
“Ok… We’ll go clockwise around the table, so Rarity, you can guess first.”
Rarity immediately said, “Well, this does feel kind of childish, but how about the number 50? It’s exactly in the middle.”
Rainbow, who was next to her, paused before saying “Ok… I choose 60.”
Novel, who was still listening in, paused while the other ponies chose numbers, muttering to himself, “Huh, that’s 20% greater.”
He then overheard Corncake returning with their food as the six ponies finally decided that Fluttershy would read first.
He heard the magazine pages rustle as Fluttershy opened the magazine. "It says this issue is a special issue in honor of one of their writers. The title says 'The Complete Works of Novel Inkwell.'"
Novel, who went to hide further into his oatmeal, noticed that his bowl was empty. He must have finished it without noticing. He began to stand up to leave when he was interrupted by Fluttershy's next statement. "There's a black and white picture of the author here." Novel froze. If he moved they would notice him and recognize him from the picture. He slowly lowered himself back into his seat from his quarter raised position.
Fluttershy started to read one of his tamer tales, which was one of the few that didn't directly involve any of the particular present ponies. It was a story about Babs' friends in the Manehattan branch of the Cutie Mark Crusaders attempting to get their cutie marks when Babs was away for the Apple Family Reunion.
As the magazine got passed around and the stories got more and more inappropriate, Novel began to realize that the longer he waited to leave the more likely he was to be noticed, but if he left he was certain to be. He was stuck.
As the stories got more and more related to them and more and more violent, the six ponies listened in shock to the stories, their mouths full with food. Novel was just glad that they hadn't grabbed his romance compilation.
When they finally finished with the most graphic description in his entire library, which is of violence and/or raunch this story is far from rated for, the six ponies sat there staring at each other, their long since cleaned plates in front of them. Suddenly, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie started laughing.
Novel looked up, confused but still trying to hide his face and be inconspicuous. Why were they laughing? What had happened that was so funny? Pinkie answered his internal questions. "Can you believe this pony? It's so ridiculous!"
Applejack replied, "Ah'm more curious about how he knew about us."
Rainbow responded, "Of course he knew about us! We've only saved the world like fifteen times this year, as well as one of us becoming a princess! How do so many ponies not know about us?"
“I don’t know, it’s very inconsistent.” mused Twilight, “But back on topic, this writer is really-”
Suddenly a large crash was heard outside of the cafe, jolting the ponies out of their semi-relaxed state. They all ran outside, and Rainbow swiped the magazine on her way out, destroying Novel’s plan to steal it while everyone was outside. Instead he joined the crowd of other ponies rushing outside. When outside he saw the second shelf of newspapers and magazines give way.