Soarin mindlessly strolled the streets of ponyville, gently kicking up some of the dust of the street below him. "Wow, i'm legitimately surprised no pony noticed me!" he said under his breath, trying not to draw to much attention to himself.

He quickly spun his head around, hearing a quiet voice uttering something. He turned to notice a pale yellow mare standing behind him, looking up at him in fright. "Oh my goodness!" she squeaked, springing into the air and hiding behind a nearby bush. It was at this moment noticed that his face was stressed and full of anger.

"Are you alright?" he said softly, helping the mare out of the bush and onto her hooves. Being as careful this mare had been with him, he kept talking. "sorry, I'm just really stressed right now" he said, the mare seeming to realise what was going on.

"Oh, ok..." she said, her voice trailing off as she slowly began to turn away. "Well I should leave you to yourself, I guess" she whispered, breaking the silence. she sighed and her head gently fell as she trotted away along the dirt pathway.

"Wait!" Soarin softly called to the mare, her head perking upwards in surprise. "I wouldn't mind having some company, if you aren't busy?" he asked, gently blushing. She turned to look at him and began speaking, gently as always.

"Sure!, but I have to be back by 9:15 to feed my animals" she said trotting to his side "but we have plenty of time, considering it's almost 8:45 now, I'll show you around"

"Cool, before we start though, what's your name?"

"Oh, my name's Fluttershy" she said quietly "yours?"

"Soarin" he told her raising his head.

"What a nice name!" Fluttershy complimented, her face lighting up. "It sounds awfully familiar though" suddenly puzzled.

"Hopefully not in a bad way!" Soarin' said chuckling, Fluttershy just looked at him confused. "Never mind!" he said, groaning and breaking the awkward moment.

"Anyway come with me and I'll show you around ponyville" she said smiling joyfully.

"This should be interesting" he said quietly under his breath

Fluttershy delicately lead Soarin up the dusty paths of Ponyville. Attempting to break the awkward silence, Soarin' decided to try conversing with the shy pegasus.

"So, were you born in Ponyville?" he ask, trying to make the walk at least slightly interesting

"I was born and raised in Cloudsdale, but one day my friend Rainbow Da-"

"Wait, hold it! You're friends with Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy suddenly began quivering.

"Um... Yes?" she replied, ever gently. She suddenly sprung back as Soarin let out his exciting

"That's awesome!" he suddenly exclaimed. His eyes lit up at his thoughts, trying to force back a blush at the thought. "How long have you known each other?

"Since we were at flight school together, she was so brave for me" she said, thinking back. Suddenly her face went blank "Hold on! That's why you look familiar! You were that nice stallion from the Gala, the Wedding and the Rainbow Falls training grounds!"

"Spot on!" Soarin said lifting an eyebrow. A loud rumbling noise suddenly echoed from Soarin's stomach. "Sorry Fluttershy, but I think we may have to cut the tour short because I'm starving!

"Oh, ok" Fluttershy said, obviously unfazed by his situation. "Feel free to drop by my cottage anytime!" she told him before flying off to her house. He suddenly started feeling warmer inside. Even in a situation where he would usually be deathly afraid, he had found a way to be happy and it touched him that she gave him visiting privileges.

"Sugar Cube Corner eh?" he asked himself "better see if it lives up to it's name!" He carefully walked into the cafe, noticing the hustle and bustle of other ponies chatting and eating various cakes and sweets.

He quickly trotted to the counter, thinking he would be spotted. If that happened, all hell would break loose and he would never get another moment to himself ever again, and that was the last thing he wanted on a calm spring morning.

He reached the counter and was greeted by a very energetic pink mare with a crazy, cotton candy mane.
"Hi! Welcome to sugar cube corner!" she said bouncing on the spot "what would you like? Carrot cake? Brownie? Chocolate fudg-

"Uh, could i please get a slice of apple pie?" He said. the mare stopped bouncing for a few seconds to grab a small bag and a slice of pie, before sliding it across the counter to him

"That'll be 4 bits, thanks" she said giving him a huge, slightly edgy, smile.

Soarin' quickly reached around for some bits. Then he realized. He'd forgotten them. He began sweating and his expression became one of urgency. The mare quickly realized the situation however. "Hey!"she said, trying to lighten the situation. Soarin looked up at the mare, "Turn that frowny upside downy!". she finished, stupidly.

Soarin's face forcefully contorted into an anger-fueled death stare. He slowly let out a sigh and dispersed some of his rage. "Could we please discuss this somewhere else?" he said hitting his head on the counter.

"sure!" she said hyper actively as she had been for the past 5 minutes he had been there.

The pair walked quickly up the stairs opposite the counter and into what looked like the mare's bedroom. "I know about sweet dreams but this is ridiculous!" Soarin said, letting out a small chuckle, The pink mare responded in a similar way, laughing at the joke.

"So, what do you wanna talk about?" she asked, happily bouncing around and acting as though she had no idea why she brought him up here.

"Look, I need you to help me" he had suddenly changed from goofy joker to serious "In short,I don't have any bits because I was feeling depressed and I was really tired so I flew down to Ponyville to get some fresh air but I fell asleep in an apple orchard on the outskirts of to-"

"Was it Sweet Apple Acres? Was it!? Was it!?" she asked curiously, bouncing around in anticipation.

"I think it was but I wasn't paying a lot of attention." He thought back, thinking if he had seen the name of it. "So I woke up and met a farmer named Applejack who-"

"You know Applejack!?" She interrupted again.

"Ok 1. Yes, I do know Applejack and 2. Can you please stop interrupting me?"

"That's so amazing! I have another friend who is friends with one of my other friends and that makes me all tingly inside!" She prattled on, seeming to never stop.

"Ok, you know what? To make a long story short, I have no bits because I left them at my house and my house is locked for a month!" he frowned and looked at the mare, who at the moment was just staring blankly at him.

"Silly! Why would you lock yourself out of your house for a month?" she just laughed and paid no attention to his problem

"Can I please just have this one small thing on the house?" he pleaded, getting on his knees and literally praying

"That's all you wanted to ask? Of course! Anything for a good friend! She accepted, quickly made her way to the door

"Whoa! Don't you think you're jumping the gun a bit there? I mean we've only just met!" he asked her, trying to talk sense into her.

"No way silly! Everypony is my friend and the same goes for you!" she replied confidently as she walked down the stairs.

Soarin quickly walked to the counter, awaiting his slice of apple pie from the crazy mare. She gleefully handed it too him and offered a hoof bump.

"Thank you so much!" Soarin said, returning her hoof bump

"Call me pinkie! Feel free to drop by anytime! I could obviously use some company when I'm not working!"

Once again, Soarin was touched that the mare had invited him into her life so suddenly. That new found happiness was then shattered as he noticed about half a dozen ponies started pointing at him and whispering various things.

"Oh celestia, please no..."

Author's Note

AAAAAAAAAnd another cliffhanger! the break between chapters 2 and 3 hopefully won't be as long as chapters 1 and 2, but we'll see. Lava Blaze, Out