Hole in the Heart

After having a quick rinse and using some local plants to mask any foul scent, Green got his deed to the lot for a monthly fee of 50 bits.

"Why so cheap?" he remembered asking.

"Well, it's because of the Everfree forest right next to it." Mayor Mare sighed. "That place has too many myths surrounding it, so nopony wants to buy it! I'm surprised that you wanted to."

"I have to say it's because it is so close to nature. And I can handle myself against any animals that would come from the outskirts of a forest."

"I can think of mare you would get along well with... Anyways, happy to see you in Ponyville!"

"Who would that mare be?" he asked nopony in particular. Green had always had friends and a few girlfriends when he was an older colt, but never anything too serious. Yearning for a mare to hold and protect, he is self-described as a hopeless romantic.

His stomach began to growl and he shook his head, dislodging any traitorous thoughts.

Time for breakfast I suppose. I hope somepony has a stall open this early... Maybe I can find a place to buy some hardware for my house too... Green thought as he walked towards the market

                                                                                           *

Fluttershy gasped. A pony was moving in next door! He seemed normal enough, but she was still nervous. She never had a neighbor before, mainly because nopony bothered going near the Everfree forest, let alone settling down near it.

He was going to be furious when he was woken up early in the morning. The birds and animals always woke up early and announced their presence.

Maybe I should go apologize in advance...

Or maybe I should give him a nice house warming gift. She smiled. Kindness was always the way out of any problems she had.

Now what to get him? she pondered.

Let's see... what can I remember about him? He had a budding plant for a cutie mark, so maybe an herb of some sort...

As she set about thinking of a gift for a new neighbor, across town, a certain mare was beginning to open up a stand for market day.

                                                                                           *

"Hyah!" yelled Applejack as she gave her signature kick to the apple cart, causing it unfold in a series of intricate movements.

"That was pretty cool," exclaimed a green stallion that was walking towards her.

"Thanks! Ah built it myself! It took a lot of hard work, but it was worth it! Being able to move everywhere is a big help. Ah'm Applejack," she said as she shook the strangers hoof. Firm grip... Hooves are a bit coarser than most.

"I'm Green Herb, call me Green," he replied while smiling. He seems so happy, Aj thought.

"So what are ya hankering for? Ah got Red Delicious, Macintosh, and Granny Smith apples. Some apple fritter or apple pie in case you want more, and some apple cider to wash it all down with too."

"Hmmm... I think I'll take a Granny Smith and some apple cider. Thanks." Green bit into the sour apple, liking the kick it gave his taste buds. The apple cider felt cool and refreshing on his parched throat. Stupid dust...

"So what brings you here? Ah haven't seen you around before," Applejack started up conversationally after she gave him some time to eat a bit of the apple and quench his thirst.

"Well, I felt like I wanted to find a nice small town to settle in. I did move from a smaller village anyways, plus I don't like large cities. This being a few months since I moved out, I wanted a place that would be MUCH less like Las Pegasus. Too busy. Oh, speaking of which; do you know anypony that can sell some house hardware? I'm looking for simple foundation and the works."

"Actually, ah sell all that down at Sweet Apple Acres. Are you going to build your house with your own two hooves?" Applejack joked.

"Well mostly. I will hire a few ponies to do the foundation, then I'll look it over, and if it's all good, then I am doing the rest."

Applejack looked on in shock. She was honestly making a light joke, but apparently this stallion was completely serious, judging by his expression. In addition, whenever anypony had a large construction project to complete, they would always ask her family.

Maybe his hooves are coarse for a reason...

"We would be happy to help with the foundation! My family ah mean." Aj smiled at Green's evident shock.

"Wow. So I guess I'll come by later today to talk about plans and materials?" Aj nodded.

"I won't be back until about 5, so come by then," the mare hurriedly interjected.

"Will do. Now, I'm off to explore the town and run some more errands. Thanks again, Applejack!" Before the stallion turned around, Aj noticed a slightly darker patch of fur on his chest.

Something seems off about him, Aj thought. Like there was something he wasn't telling me... Applejack's thoughts were interrupted by another customer.

"Howdy! What can I get for..."

                                                                                           *

" ... the last time, no! I do NOT have any upholstery, at the moment! The Cutie Mark Crusaders tried being stage hooves in a play, and now, all my heavy fabrics are gone!" A white unicorn huffed at a tan earth pony. The stallion began to walk away, back towards a shop showing a quill and a sofa above the door.

What a weird, or ambitious, combination of goods to sell together... Green thought. He walked up to the now closed door of a large boutique that read, unsurprisingly, "Carousel Boutique". He knocked on the door, certain that she was within distance of the door... only to be surprised by the reaction he got.

"And I don't want any quills!" the mare practically screamed before she flung open the door. "Oh my. I am so very sorry. I thought Davenport was still here."

"No, just a scared stallion," Green shook his head and gingerly offered to shake her hoof. She shook it and offered him entrance.

"I must apologize again. That was very unladylike of me. I am Rarity," the mare hurriedly apologized.

"Oh, nothing by it," I think that's the expression... Man I really need to learn more about these before I blurt them out. "I am Green Herb, Green is fine."

"Now, what do you need, dear? I hope no coarse fabrics?" Rarity silently chuckled at herself.

"Well... truth is that I may need some..." he cringed at Rarity's look. "But not right now!" he amended. "I am GOING to, much later, like in a few months."

"Why, darling?"

"That's when I am guessing that my small cottage will be complete," Green stated. He beamed a bit at her shock regarding the time to build a full house, however small. I wonder how many others will be startled throughout my run in town...

Recovering from her shock, Rarity extended a hoof again. "Well, let me be the first to welcome you to Ponyville!"

"Oooo, some ponies already beat you to it. But I'm flattered. Oh, by the way, do you know anypony that could sell some housing insulation?" he inquired.

"Maybe. I will contact you regarding that information tomorrow," Rarity supplied.

"Thanks. I will see you then, Rarity," Green thanked as he began to leave the building. However, before he was too far, he began to hear exasperated motions coming from the boutique. He poked his head in to find Rarity opening drawers and searching shelves frantically.

"Is everything alright?" he tentatively asked.

"I seem to have misplaced a light blue gem. The client wants it soon, tomorrow in fact, and now it's missing!" Rarity hysterically answered.

"Oh aquamarine! Wait here. I will be right back," with that, Green left the mare to pull a couch out of hyperspace and throw herself down on it after declaring "This is. The. Worst. Possible. Thing!"

                                                                                           *

"I wonder if I really should do this... After all, it is my birthstone."

"No. You know what to do. After all, she could get it back to you or get another."

"We both know that I don't care about that... Yeah, even if I don't know this mare that much, I think I will do this. She seemed nice enough. And I'm settling down here anyways, might as well establish good relations." Green debated with himself and won as he approached the locker that held his valuables. Plus, I may have to do more business with her and good relations with business partners is always good.

Pulling out his loaned shed key, Green opened up the storage locker. He sifted through the valuables and finally came out of the sea of items with his goal; a small, wooden box.

Finding the light blue gemstone was easy as it was the only item in the box that had his cutie mark on the cover. The box itself was too heavily stained, yet it still had a darker beauty, like the night. As he lifted the blooming bud lid away, he still marveled at the inherit beauty of the stone. It's cut edges seemed to be lines that could cut reality, yet were smoothed to a point of almost being rounded. The slight transparency always played with Green Herb's coat in ways that he could watch for hours and daydream.

Wrapping the gem in a soft, felt bag, he turned to head back to Rarity.

                                                                                           *

By now, Rarity was getting frantic. What could that stallion be doing now? He has been gone for thirty minutes and he failed to inform me of what he was doing. How uncouth.

"I'm *pant* back *pant*," Green unceremoniously declared. He held a gem that was poking through a bag up to Rarity.

"Darling, what are you doing?"

"Solving your problem and saving the world," he chuckled.

"You can't mean to give this to me. We just met, and that gem is beautiful!" Rarity denied.

"Please take it. If you might lose a client, you need this more than I do. I don't even have anyplace to put it," he put it in her hooves. "Plus, I can always get another, right?"

"Wow, that is... thank you so much. I swear, darling, I will pay you back for this, this I promise!" Rarity pledged.

"Ah, it was nothing. Now I'm off to go see about other errands and weather. Take care, and I'll see you tomorrow about my housing stuff!" Green said as he trotted away.

                                                                                           *

"Now, if I was a town with this size, where would I put my weather bureau?"

"Well if I was a town, I guess I would have to rethink my life, but enough of that," Green replied to himself. Walking along the cobblestone streets of Ponyville, he aimed for the tallest building and was rewarded with - rather disappointed - by the town hall... again.

Facehoofing, he thought Duh! I saw this same building in the morning and headed for it. Okay, I've got to get a handle on where I am. Well, I could always ask the Mayor where the bureau is.

"... ood moooooorning, Ponyville!" Bass started thumping along to a familiar song.

"What the?" Green thought as he walked into the town hall.

"Ugh, SHE'S up again, isn't she?" Mayor Mare sighed. She explained through a frazzled mane and tired eyes. "Vinyl Scratch, or DJ-PON3, is living in Ponyville, and she loves to show everyone what kind of music she wakes up to. The noise complaints stopped a few months into it, but now all our earmuffs are gone. And in Spring too! Anyways, what can I do for you? I hope no complaints about your new lot or... noise."

"No no, nothing like that. I was just wondering where the weather bureau is," Green chuckles to himself at the previous "problem".

"Oh, we don't have a dedicated weather bureau. Instead, we just have a separate office room and the main mare to talk to is Rainbow Dash. If it isn't too hard to remember, ponies just put it through her and she gets it done, although usually barely in time."

"Great, if it's not too imposing, I'll leave a note and go find this Rainbow Dash," he took out a notepad and scribbled some instructions on it.

He walked towards where the sign said 'Weather Duties' and put it on the desk inside the room. Before he left, however, he noticed about 20% more Wonderbolts merchandise than he had seen before. Jackets that appeared to not have areas for wings, a weird uniform that appeared to have glass-like wings, headbands, posters, and so much more. Littered on the desk, along the walls, on figures to hang up, and even on the ceiling. It began to seem almost as if this was somepony's room. Somepony's a little obsessed...

"Oh and you will probably find Rainbow Dash sleeping on a cloud somewhere," Mayor Mare informed Green as he trotted out to find the mare with her head in the sky.

                                                                                           *

"... for the last time, ah don't sell pears! That was just a prank pulled by Rainbow Dash!" Applejack asserted. Green was curious as he thought that in the quick encounter he had with her, that she would be slow to piss off... Okay, maybe I have to spend more time around ponies before I think I know - wait, Rainbow Dash? That's the mare I need to look for right now...

"Okay well, just make sure you don't sell anymore! I. HATE. Pears."

"Yes, we all know, Whooves." As Green came into view of the heated conversation, he saw a flustered tan stallion walking away with an hourglass cutie mark. If the prank by Rainbow Dash caused that, I'm kind of worried about what I have to ask her now. I just hope she stays loyal to what I ask... Green worried. Turning the other way, he continued trotting along Ponyville, which was now slightly awake, if not from the argument, from the time of day.

After what seemed like ten hourglasses had filled and unfilled, (ha, because of that stallion's cutie mark. Wait, what?), Green found a prismatic tail hanging off of a fluffy ball of bedding in the sky.

"Excuse me! I'm looking for Rainbow Dash! Maybe you've see..." Green started to yell until he was down on the ground in under ten seconds flat.

"Oh sorry. I just heard my name and thought someone wanted to see the coolest mare in Equestria! Not to mention the fastest. Unless you're mad about me crashing into you, then I am 20% more sued and outta here!" the mare in question began to flap her wings.

"Ah. Ow. No, it's alright, just please be more careful, especially with my chest. I am Green Herb, you can call me Green. I take it you're Rainbow Dash?" Green stumbled up from the ground, eyes rolling.

"Oh yeah! I am the fastest, coolest, awesomest, and radicalest pegasus in all Equestria!" Rainbow Dash puffed out her chest as she praised herself like a songbird. Seems a little too afraid of getting hurt or something... And what about his chest? RD thought in the back of her mind.

Not the most modest I can see... Green mentally chuckled.

"I came to talk about possible weather exemptions, not how two of your words don't exist," the stallion replied.

"What do you need? And what?"

"Just a joke. And, well, I was looking to see if somepony could not rain on lot 363," instantly feeling like he had a poor choice of words, Green cursed himself.

"What do you mean, 'somepony'? Are you saying that you don't think I could do it?" the mare narrowed her eyes at Green. She started to fly a bit higher in the air, subconsciously gaining height on the stallion.

Son of a mare, I knew it. Gotta think about what I say before I do... "No, I did not mean to call attention to anypony. It's just that I am building a new house on that lot and would hate for the walls, foundation, or insides to get ruined by stray rain. Now I know that it is going to get wet, I was just wondering if I could possibly reduce it."

"So... you want me or somepony else to keep the clouds away from being above your soon-to-be house? Yeah, I could do that," Rainbow Dash cooled down and responded.

Whew. "Great! Thank you very much for doing this extra work. Now I'm off to do an errand or two more and I'll see you around?"

"Probably not! Won't be able to! Haha!" With that, Rainbow took off, blowing away clouds and the stallion that was talking to her.

"Wow, she's fast. I just hope she can stick to her word and not pull a prank like she did with Aj."

                                                                                           *

"Okay, now the last stop; books," Green told himself and checked off another item on his checklist. "I hope whoever is running the library isn't some mare who has an insane side... Ah who am I kidding that's me! ... Only ... stallion-wise. Me and words, when will we work wonders?"

"SPIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKE! Where did my checklist for today's activities go?!" a mare's voice shrilly yelled from the library-tree.

"Ow. I'm right next to you, you don't need to yell... It's over here!" shakily replied a younger colt's voice.

Well, at least she found it. Might as well enter now. Walking in the library, Green saw a large stack of books barely held up by a small dragon walking over to the mare. She was obviously a unicorn, using her magic to float a large multitude of object around her. Her wings flapped in seeming anxiety - wait, wings? Chicka-chicka wha? The only winged unicorns I know of are alicorns, all princesses. Luna, Celestia, and Cadence. She does not seem to be a princess... And how come I never heard of her?

"Um, hello. I am sorry if I am interrupting anything, but I need some books. I am Green Herb, but you may call me Green," he rehearsed.

"What?! Oh, sorry. I am a little flustered right now, as I have an engagement to get to, and I can't seem to find my "Flying for Foals" reference guide anywhere! At least it's the last thing on my checklist. Well, that is except to double check it. I mean if we didn't do that, we might miss something, and if we miss something, then I will have to come back, and if I have to come back here -" the mare was cut off by the small dragon nudging her in the side.

"Uh, Twilight? You're rambling again," the colt voice from earlier responded, incidentally belonging to the small dragon. Wow, a pony that actually realizes that the library is public and not someone's home. Well, the upper part is, the dragon thought.

And once again, I'm wrong. About a voice and who it belongs to also... Man, fate is just kicking my butt... Green mentally tallied up points.

"Oh, thanks Spike," Twilight exasperated. After breathing deeply and moving her right hoof horizontally in an arc, she seemed to calm down and approached the stallion. "I am Twilight Sparkle. And as you may have heard, I am a princess, and no I can't do anything for you with Celestia."

"Oh, I guess my town is smaller than I thought. I never heard of you before," I wonder if my superpower is not thinking through what I say? I could be ... the Stumbling Stallion!

"Oh okay. Well it's a long story with a lot of technical talk, so I won't bore you with the details. But you said you needed a book?" Twilight seemed unfazed by the accidental word mess-up.

"Actually a few books. Any on gardening, herbs and plants, construction, mechanical movement, general physics, geometry, differential calculus, and.... oh! Any new articles on medicine and the medical application of herbs would be great too! I love learning how I can heal others!" Green listed with a slight squee at the end.

Twilight slowly turned around, her mouth agape. Green noticed Spike startled, though to a lesser extent.

"What?" Did Stumbling Stallion stumble a sentence again and not even notice? Maybe I need to get more kicks to the head to stay on my game...

"It's just... I have never met anypony else who has such a... diverse spectrum of books to read. Usually the few who come in here just want a fun read for bed. What are you needing these for?" Twilight revealed as she scanned around the room and occasionally glanced towards the ledger for the needed articles and books. "And if you're wondering why I'm not ruling any place as a princess right now, Princess Celestia gave me some time to adjust to my new... appendages and responsibilities."

"Thanks that does answer my question. And to answer yours, I am moving in and am going to start construction on my house and thought it would be safe to have relevant books I would need. And the other books, gardening, herbs and plants, and medicine, are my hobbies and personal favorites to read."

"Wow. Sounds... ambitious?"

"Haha, thanks... I think. Anyways, if you need any help with anything, just ask. I'm at lot 363."

"Thank you. I may need help with cleaning and organization later. Why do you offer?" Twilight wonders.

"Well, I bet being a princess, even one on leave, is a tiresome... profession? I thought that it would be... nice," Green smiled as he replied. She smiled back at him, walking towards him with the stack of books. I know someone else who is that nice. I wonder if she has met him yet.

"Alright, here are your books that I thought would be suitable for you. Gardenia in Your Backyard for gardening, surprise," Twilight began listing, chuckling at her own small joke. Green even smiled at that. "Beginner Botanists, Construction Manual for Shut-Ins, Mechanics and Mares, Physical Motion, two old math books on Geometry and Differential Calculus, and finally Medicinal Herb Magic. And don't worry that last book is NOT a bunch of crazy superstitions bound in leather. I checked," Twilight said while stuffing the books into Green's saddlebags.

As she began to turn away, Twilight thought she saw a length of reflective metal. But the bags closed, reminding her that it was obtrusive to do peek into another's bags.

"Okay, thanks again Twilight! I hope you have a good time at your... appointment? I have to go. Rather, I need to go get started on settling in to my inn room a bit," Green smiled as he trotted out the door.

"I will!"

"Oh and see you later, Spike! I'll meet you next time!" Green shouted out the door.

"Bye Green! Now, that book is over here Twilight. While you were chatting with that stallion, I found it for..." Spike replied and slowly quieted as Green walked away.

I wonder if she saw the bar? thought the stallion as he headed back to his humble abode-to-be.