Cultural Differences

Pinkie Pie eyed the strange creature with suspicion. It looked like a pony, except in place of a head it had what looked like the top half of a creature she'd never seen before. Probably from the Everfree Forest. In any case, it wasn't dangerous; it just stood there letting Pinkie investigate. And it seemed amused.

"Is your curiosity sated, pink one?" the creature asked, in a feminine voice.

"Oh! You can talk! Oh boy oh boy I've got lots of questions for you! Where are you from? What are you? Do you like parties? Do you like cake? Huh huh huh?"

"Haha. One question at a time, curious one. I am what is called a centaur, from Attica. My name is Risata. Festive, eh?"

"My name's Pinkie Pie! What's Attica like? Are there any more strange critters like--"

"Slow down. Please." Risata had a bit of a headache from the interrogation. She usually liked enthusiastic others, but this was a bit much. "A lot of the residents of Attica have the same upper half as me, but with only two legs on their bottom half and no hair. I know them as 'humans'. Oftentimes they would throw a party for someone called Dionysus. This particular human was very fond of parties, and went to every one he was invited to. Things didn't always turn out well though; Dionysus often got unruly. But for some reason everyone loves him..."

"I know! I'll throw a party to celebrate your arrival! And you can tell me all sorts of stories about your parties in Attica and tell us allllll about this Dionysus critter!"

"Haha." Risata seemed genuinely amused by Pinkie Pie's energy - even if it was rather over the top. "Very well. I'll finish my story later, then. I have a few other friends that I would like in attendance, if you don't mind."

"The more the merrier! I'll invite everypony in Equestria to welcome you and your friends!"

Risata was overwhelmed. "You... you can do that?! We would be most honored! I shall inform them at once!" Risata left before Pinkie Pie could spit out that she does this sort of thing every day.

Rainbow Dash was training to join the Wonderbolts, as usual. She practiced her loop-de-loops and inverted barrel rolls for the upcoming Cloudsdale Stunt Flyer Competition in hopes of winning a meeting with Spitfire. Midway through her next corkscrew, however, she was knocked away by a freak something blazing past her.

"What the hell was that? Who's trying to sabotage me?" Rainbow Dash only became more annoyed when she saw the griffin coming back to make another pass. "Oh no. Not another one. Did Gilda put you up to this?"

"Who's Gilda?" The griffin was a bit confused. "I am not from these lands. My apologies. My name is Pietas. I'm from Attica, a land far away from here. I do not mean to offend you."

"Well you messed up my stunts." Rainbow Dash was not about to trust a griffin, not after Gilda, an old friend, turned out to be a big jerk. "So please go away and bother someone else."

"May I watch you? I promise I'll be out of the way." Pietas wasn't about to let her first encounter with an Equestrian go sour.

"Fiiiiiiiiine. But mess me up again and you're outta here. Got it?"

"Got it."

Rainbow Dash resumed her stunt practice. Pietas watched quietly, as promised, and was mezmerized by how quickly and seamlessly Dash moved from trick to trick. Perhaps she'd be up for a race...

After some time, Dash finally stopped. She flew up to Pietas. "Betcha can't do that, birdbrain!"

Ugh. This one was trouble. Pietas considered reprimanding Dash's insult, but thought better of it. There was a better way. "Indeed, you are as fast as Hermes! I would very much like to race you!"

"Heheh, sure thing! Wait, who's Hermes?" Rainbow Dash didn't know if she'd been complimented or insulted.

"Hermes is the fastest Attican ever to exist. He has run across mountains with such speed that the leaves on the trees cannot withstand the wind. He has delivered messages from generals to their troops in wartime so quickly you'd swear he teleported. Nobody could ever hope to match his speed. Truth be told, you aren't as fast as him. But it is high praise in Attica to be compared to Hermes. So, shall we race?"

"Whoa. Hermes is so... cool!" Rainbow Dash wasn't really paying attention to the race offer anymore. "Is he a pegasus? Is he cool-looking? Oh man, I wanna meet this Hermes!"

"Alas, he cannot fly. That is his one limitation. He is also human, a type of creature you... don't seem to be familiar with." Pietas noted Dash's confused look upon hearing the word 'human'.

"Oh, nevermind that. Sounds confusing. Sorry about calling you a 'birdbrain' earlier. You're alright." Rainbow Dash was finally warming up to this new griffin, who nodded to accept her apology. "You wanted to race, right? First one to that cloud wins!" With that, the two tested their speed against each other in what promised to be an interesting friendship.

A most unusual creature was standing in the middle of Rarity's design room. It stood on two legs and looked similar to one of the Diamond Dogs, except not nearly as mangy. It also had goat horns and hooves on its hind legs, and its front legs looked similar to Spike's, but bigger. More importantly, though, how did it get in, and what did it want?

The creature spoke in a feminine voice. "Oh hello there! My name's Caritas. What a lovely boutique you have here!" Ah. A fashionista. "I'm sorry. I let myself in, the door was unlocked. I just HAD to see your wonderful designs! I hope you'll forgive me."

Rarity was taken aback, but as Caritas hadn't broken anything (yet), she wasn't mad. Besides, Caritas was interested in her designs. "Well... um... my name is Rarity. Nice to meet you! But... what are you? I haven't seen anything like you!"

"I'm a satyr. From a land called Attica." Caritas noted the puzzled look on Rarity's face. "It's very far away."

"Oh! That explains why I've never heard of it." Rarity seemed to understand. "I... let's see what I have. I don't often get to make designs for non-ponies."

Rarity rummaged through her fabrics for anything she could use for a dress while Caritas waited. "Anything in particular you'd like?" Rarity needed a starting point before she made anything.

"Hmm. Are you at all familiar with the toga?" Caritas had worn one occasionally in Attica, as a jab at the humans who wore them almost exclusively.

"Not at all, actually. Sounds fashionable, though. Wanna help me?" Rarity could perhaps expand her designs if this 'toga' was different enough...

"Of course! Aphrodite won't like me very much, but it'll be worth it! I'll look fantastic!"

"Wait. Aphrodite?"

"You've never heard of her? She's only THE goddess of beauty and fashion! If there's anyone who's in style, it's her. Whevener she's around, everybody turns to look in awe."

Rarity was confused. "Wait, if this Aphrodite is The Fashionista... as it were, why would you want to make something she _doesn't_ approve of?!"

"Hipster style. I'm curious." Caritas was met with a stern look. "Wh-what, is hipster not your thing?"

"Not really. But I've never even heard of a toga before, so I'll at least make one..." Rarity fully expected to regret this decision. Hipsters, to her, were everything fashion is not.