Welcome One, Welcome...One
As the evening turned dark, the cold that only a winter night can bring settled over Ponyville, it's residents taking shelter in their homes against the cool night wind. Up above in the gray sky, a lone pegasus flew towards the Everfree. The forest came to life as she flew, owls hooting quietly as the awoke and spiders crawling out of their small burrows. The pegasus ignored all of this, as she had found what she was looking for- a mansion, which had not been taken over by the forest, despite it's age and the years of abandonment. Shivering, she landed on the frosted grass that laid before it, the mansion's shadow becoming darker as the moon rose up from behind. Trotting towards the wrought iron gate, she took a off note and read:
Dear Rainbow,
If you're reading this, I suspect you've landed in front of the mansion as we discussed. Since that implies you're serious about this, let me remind you that if you leave, I'll know. I placed a detecting ward on the property, so if you leave, the ward will alert the caster, namely, me.
Kindest Regards,
Caster
P.S. Silent Write still thinks you're insane.
Chuckling lightly, Rainbow crumpled up the paper and tossed it to the side. She and Caster had been arguing for years about whether or not the mansion was actually haunted by the souls of the deceased tenants, and the conversation generally fell to 'That's stupid.' and 'No, you're stupid.' Stretching her wings for the last time before she entered, Rainbow took off into the sky, performing a quick session of loop-de-loops and flips before letting herself glide down into the garden, landing next to a lush apple tree. The mansion was easily visible, illuminated by the moon as it took the sun's place.
Ever since the mansion had been put up for sale, nopony dared to touch it- mainly because the pony who had originally bought it ran out the day after, screaming about evil suits of armor, statues and ghosts all having a tea party. The town called him insane, and that's what he called the house. That was fifty years ago. Ever since then, ponies avoided it like the dark plague. Rainbow figured it was a shame, seeing as the mansion was actually in a very good condition, especially being in the Everfree of all places.
The garden that surrounded the tree was in excellent condition- every leaf and stem seemed to be right in place, and the dirt path was completely devoid of anything that may have come off the bushes.
"Oh, thank you for noticing. I really do like to keep everything nice and clean." said somepony.
Giving a small jump, Rainbow looked around the apple tree- nopony was there.
"What was that?" she wondered aloud.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Was I not supposed to respond? If you don't mind me asking, that is." they said again.
"Who's there?" she asked, getting into a defensive stance. "Show yourself!"
"Oh, I'm sorry! It's just that you were thinking out loud, and I wanted to say thank you, and-" At this point, Rainbow began to wonder if there was something in the mansion that made anypony who stayed in it insane- she could hear the other pony as if she was speaking from right next to her, but she saw nopony.
"Oh, I'm sorry! I forgot to make myself visible," said the voice. The air shimmered as a faint outline of a canary yellow pegasus faded into existence. Rainbow simply gaped, dumbfounded at the occurrence. "We don't get many visitors, so we forget to make ourselves seen." she said. "Oh, are you okay? You look troubled."
Of course, Rainbow hadn't really processed anything of what the pegasus had just said, so her response was as clear, calculated and balanced as a broken, rusty scale.
"What?"
"I think we need to get you-"
"HEY!" yelled another pony- presumably a young filly. The pony who entered the gardens wasn't a young filly, rather, she was a doll representation of one. She was orange with a purple mane, and was riding a miniature scooter. Riding up to Rainbow, she screeched her scooter to a halt and jumped off. She came up to Rainbow's stomach, and seemed to be woven out of yarn and an old winter sweater.
"You're that pony who was doing the tricks outside the gates!" she exclaimed. "That was the awesomest trick routine I've ever seen! And your mane is just...wow! Who are you?"
"...I'm R-Rainbow," she stuttered. "Who the hay are you!?"
"I'm Scootaloo!" she said, her woven wings fluttering as she gave an excited hop. "You should totally come inside and-"
"Maybe we can just sit down and talk this out?" suggested the pegasus, hoping to stop Scootaloo from overwhelming the new guest.
"Yeah, let's do that," muttered Rainbow, sitting down. "Can we just talk?"
"Oh, of course!" said Scootaloo. "What d'ya want to talk about?"
"Well, let's start out with basics. Why in the name of Celestia are you a doll?" she asked, having regained her bearings slightly.
"You can blame Rarity," she replied, "She insisted that our 'delicate souls' should be protected by a 'ethereal vessel' or something."
Looking between the pegasus and Scootaloo, Rainbow tried to connect the dots, although she was still as confused as before. Luckily, the yellow pegasus caught this and did her best to explain.
"Scootaloo has two friends she plays with," she explained, "They're the other ones she's talking about."
"But- I- you-" Rainbow stuttered, failing drastically to comprehend the situation.
"Oh, I know! Let's go inside- Twilight's in the library, and she's really good at explaining things!" said Scootaloo, getting on her scooter. "Let's go!"
Looking between the pegasus and the doll, Rainbow couldn't decide what to do- the Everfree, however, did. There was a sky-shattering BOOM in the sky, and it began to rain. Sighing in frustration, Rainbow began a quick trot towards the mansion's doors as the pegasus followed behind and Scootaloo in the lead. As she went, she could only think one thing of the situation.
What have I gotten myself into?