One day, the sun was out, the birds were singing, and every pony was enjoying the calmness of the afternoon. Twilight Sparkle had decided to have picnic with her friends.

As they all sat and enjoyed the food, they were approached by a strange looking pony. His eyes were red - blood red. His mane was sharp, the colour of fresh winter snow. His body however, was pure black. With the exception of his hooves, which were a darker red. He looked scary to the group. In fact, Rarity was just about ready to run away, for she was completely frightened, but she decided to stay, shaking violently.

The strange pony began to speak. "Well. I see I won't be getting a warm welcome. Anyhow, could someone direct me to Sugarcube Corner? I had a long walk and, I'm simply dying of hunger."

There was just a long silence. Starting to get annoyed, the pony growled. "Are you going to tell me or not?!"

Finally, Pinkie Pie pointed her hoof in the direction of where Sugarcube Corner is, looking scared.

The pony slightly grinned, and with a ticked off voice, he said, "At least some pony has the decency to show me the way. Whatever. Nice to meet you all, I suppose."

As he left, the group finally got back to eating. "He certainly does not have manners if he growls like that!" Rarity said in an annoyed manner.

"You got that right, sugarcube, he has some nerve to yell at us!" Applejack agreed.

While mostly everyone agreed, Rainbow Dash was looking in the direction he had walked, and sighed.

"What's wrong, Rainbow Dash? Don't tell me he didn't seem mean. He yelled at us!" Pinkie asked.

"Well Pinkie, don't you think that we shouldn't be you know, so judgmental of him, I mean we didn't even say anything to him. I don't know about you guys, but I'm gonna go see if I can find him," Rainbow Dash retorted.

She began to walk to Sugarcube Corner, when she heard Applejack making a comment, "Hey, y'all think Rainbow Dash has a crush on this new pony?"

Rainbow Dash turned around, picked up a rock, and flung it at Applejack, knocking her hat off.

When Rainbow Dash finally got to Sugarcube Corner, she looked around to see him sitting at a table in a cafe eating some cupcakes. She walked over to him and poked him with her hoof.

He looked over, groaned, and scowled, "Oh great, here to ignore me some more?"

Rainbow Dash laughed. "If I was ignoring you, I wouldn't have come here."

"At least you have some common sense," the pony said.

Rainbow Dash asked, "So what's your name?"

"Uh… well… it's Darkened Hallow. But you can call me um… call me Hal or something, I don't know," he replied.

"Do you not like your name?" asked Rainbow Dash. "No, no, I'm fine with it, it just sounds a bit too strange, you know?" Darkened Hallow answered.

"Strange? It sounds perfect the way it is," Rainbow Dash replied.

"Uh, thanks, I guess," Darkened Hallow responded nervously.

"So, I was thinking that maybe you and I could go hang out in the forest together, you know, just you and me?" Asked Rainbow Dash.

Darkened Hallow stared at her blankly. Did she just say what he thought she did? This was awkward to hear, especially as they had only known eachother for not even a day! "Oh well" he thought. "It couldn't hurt."

So as Rainbow Dash sat there waiting for a response, Darkened Hallow finally answered;

"Erm, sure. Spending some time with you ought to be nice."

"That's great! We can hang out today if you want." Said Rainbow Dash

"Sure. I don't have much to do anyway." Agreed Darkened Hallow.

While Rainbow Dash ate her cookies, Darkened Hallow couldn't help but stare into her magenta eyes. Did he feel attracted to her? Was he in love with her? As he thought to himself, she caught him staring and blushed, in fact, so did Darkened Hallow. They both stared into each other's eyes for a few minutes. Rainbow Dash kind of felt as if she just wanted to lean over and kiss him for some reason, but she stopped herself. She didn't want Darkened Hallow to think she was weird. So they both just sat there, looking at each other in silence for even longer. Finally, Mr. Cake told them that if they were just going to sit there, they had to leave.

"Alright then. I'll see you later, um, Rainbow Dash, right? Yeah, see you," Darkened Hallow said in a rushed manner.

"How did you know my name?" Rainbow Dash asked, suspicious of this fact.

"Well. Let's just say a little birdie told me." Darkened Hallow smiled before getting up and heading for the door. "Oh and by the way, thanks for not being a complete jerk like your friends."

Rainbow Dash smiled warmly. "No problem."

After Darkened Hallow left, Rainbow Dash herself enjoyed some more sweets. Then she heard giggling coming from the open window beside her. She looked out to see Applejack and Pinkie Pie, rolling on the roads from laughter. Rainbow Dash, growing annoyed, grabbed the left over pieces of cake on the table and threw it at them.

Meanwhile, Darkened Hallow walked to the Everfree Forest, where Rainbow Dash and he were to meet. He couldn't stop thinking about his new friend.

"No, stop it. Stop thinking. I'm not going to do this again. This isn't why I came here anyway," he said scornfully. "I came here to find them. And if I don't, then I don't have reason to be here," But, as he finished talking to himself, he turned around. "But I- I can't help it. Before I start looking, I'll stay there for a while." As he arrived back in Ponyville, he remembered seeing Applejack and Pinkie Pie look through a window at Sugarcube Corner to see them as he left.

"I think I'll pay Applejack a nice little visit first."

Author's Note

I am aware that some of the ratings (by ratings I mean 'M' and 'Gore', etc.) do not fit in this certain chapter. However, during chapter three to five is when the really juicy start will finally start rolling in.