The Science of Friendship
The Arrival - Meeting Pinkie Pie
It was midday, about, when he came. In past Sweet Apple Acres, straight past Fluttershy's Cottage, and into the middle of Ponyville Town Square.
He was an unusual looking pegasus, especially his Cutie Mark. To the ponies of Ponyville, that was the most peculiar part of his appearance, and it was the talk of rumour for weeks afterwards. His mane and tail were short and electric yellow, matching his eyes and his personality. He was one solid color, grey. If it weren't for his hair color, his eyes, his endless personality, and his Cutie Mark, he would not have stuck out all that much. Standing in the middle of Ponyville, it was surprising no pony approached him immediatly.
Of course, when he was approached by somepony it was none other than the self-made town greeter, Pinkamena Diane Pie, better known as Pinkie Pie.
"Well hello! You must be new here!" She exclaimed as she bounced up to him. This was greeted by a small glare. Pinkie, without seeming to notice the glare, continued, "I know you're new because I've never seen you around here before! My name is Pinkie Pie and I'm here to be your first friend."
"Listen...Listen, kid! I'm not here to make friends, you know! That has no scientific value and is irrevelant to my research here in this town of multicolorful hyperactive Equestrians like you!" The grey pegasus replied.
"Oh you like science, that's cool! So does Twilight, but I don't know if you like it as much as her! I know science stuff too, but not as much as her! You said 'Equestrians'! So you aren't from around here! You must be from another country all together!" Pinkie exclaimed, not missing a beat. She gasped at the end of her last sentence and continued before the pegasus could object again. "That means you're an alien! Well, not an alien, alien, but a foreigner! Oh! Did you go through Customs? Because you have to go through Customs to get passed the borders! At least the Griffins do!"
"Oh for the love of all that is explainable, will you just shut-up!?" The pegasus interupted. Pinkie's mouth slammed closed at this and she didn't speak. The pegasus waited a moment to make sure she wouldn't start up again. "Thank you! My name is Electric Bolt which, where I lived, translated into something like Cave Johnson. I don't want to make friends with you at the moment, I just want to set up my lab. Now if you would kindly just point me to the nearest place I can get somewhere to live, I will be on my way." The pegasus finished and smiled at the pink greeter.
"Oh... well... So you need a place to live..." Pinkie said, just a bit crestfallen, a small frown making it's way onto her face. "I guess... you could ask Applejack about that."
"Thank you kindly. Where do I find this... Applejack?" Electric asked, raising an eyebrow at the pink pony's sudden change in attitude.
"It's just outside town, called Sweet Apple Acres. Can't miss it. I guess it was nice to meet you, Electric Bolt." Pinkie said and turned around, then trotted off, downfallen.
"Alright..." Electric muttered and went off the way he came. He remembered passing the same place Pinkie had told him and he was going to get there and get a place to set up.
Soon he would change this town. For Better, or For Worse.
The Science of Friendship
The Line Up - Meeting Rainbow Dash
Applejack and Electric Bolt finally made it back to Ponyville. On the way, applejack had asked Electric a few questions about where he would like to live. He had told her he wanted to stay on the ground, just outside of town, prefferably in a place with a basement.
Based on the results of this little "Quiz", Applejack had narrowed the search down to five houses. Three of which were two stories, while the other two were one story. She decided to show them in an alternating order. Two-One-Two-One-Two.
They finally arrived at the first house. It was nice, two stories, a gated large-ish gated yard complete with plants already growing and vines going up the right side. Right smack dab in the middle of the yard was a For Sale/Rent sign impaled into the ground.
"How about this one?" Applejack asked, motioning to the house and yard with a hoof.
"Too scenic. I don't like the yard, for one thing, and I don't really need it. Is this it, or is there more?" Electric asked, after looking the house over.
"Don't you want to see inside?"
"Unless it's a portal to a whole new house, no."
And at that, he turned and left. Applejack watched him for a moment before trotting to catch up to him.
After half an hour of silence the pair made it to the second house. It was a one storied house with a smaller yard and no plants at all. It was in a fine shape, but it was a bit old. Instead of grass, there was gravel. It had a tin roof and only three windows and a skylight. Like the other, it had a For Sale/Rent sign impaled into the ground.
"Well? What do ya' think?" Applejack asked.
"...What can I possibly say about this place that isn't degrading? Nothing. In fact, it looks like the kind of house where someone was killed and made into cupcakes in the basement. Next." Electric replied after looking at Applejack increduously. What did she mistake him for? A hobo?
Applejack took a look at the house, and actually agreed with him. It really wasn't that good... at all. Better buck that one off the list completely.
The third house was another two story house, about two hoofball field away from the last two, making for a twenty minute walk. It was tall, dark looking, and had a gothic design to it, almost like a church. There was almost no yard, just a path leading up to it. It looked like nopony had lived there for many years. In fact, nopony had.
Electric considered this for a while, but decided it wasn't his style. "Nope, not this one." He said.
"Well we have two left! You gotta decide sometime, Electric!" Applejack exclaimed, desperate to be done with this.
"Just show me the other houses!" Electric replied.
"You know, we have a few houses in the sky. You ARE a pegasus after all. Why don't you take one of those? They are way nicer than the ones down here! Watch, I'll introduce you to one of my friends who lives up there. Just follow me." Applejack told Electric and started walking towards Ponyville.
Electric was just a bit taken aback by Applejack's reaction. He thought to himself, 'Once I get my bussness up I'll make sure she doesn't get picked for anything.' But he followed her to meet this 'Friend' of hers.
After another half hour the two made it into Ponyville. This time, no pink party pony came out to welcome them, which relieved Electric greatly.
Applejack was looking around the sky for any clouds on which Rainbow Dash would be sleeping, or if she was flyinf around anywhere. It didn't take long for her to recognize the slightly twitching rainbow colored tail falling over the edge of a fluffy white cloud. She looked around for a second and found an apple on the ground. She aimed carefully then lobbed it into the air. It soared across the sky and landed on top of Rainbow Dash, waking her up, flustered.
She raised her head and looked around. She looked down and saw Applejack and Electric below. Applejack was looking away and whistling, while Electric was looking straight at her.
"Applejack!" Rainbow yelled.
Applejack jumped and turned to look at the cyan pegasus. "Oh hey, Rainbow, I didn't see you there." She said.
"Oh yeah? Then who's the one who threw this apple at me?" Rainbow asked. Applejack smiled slightly. "Yeah, thought so. So who's your friend there, with the yellow hair?"
"Oh this? This is Electric Bolt. He's new here in town. I was showing him some houses, but he didn't seem to want any." Applejack explained, putting emphasis on the 'want' and quickly glaring at Electric, who continued to look at Rainbow in disbelief. "So I decided to bring him to you, so you can show him some of the cloud-houses up there. He insists on living on the ground, even though he is a pegasus."
"Well, I think I can handle him... He doesn't look that bad." Rainbow said, looking over Electric.
"Yeah, well looks can be decieving..." Applejack muttered, then added louder, "So yeah, he's in your hands now, Rainbow. See ya' around, Electric."
Once Applejack was gone, Rainbow Dash flew down to the ground in front of Electric. "So... You're Electric Bolt. My name is Rainbow Dash."
"Nice to... meet you, Rainbow Dash. Is there a reason you are a frikin' living rainbow?" Electric asked directly.
"What? All ponies where you from look like you?" Rainbow shot back.
"Actually no." Electric replied simply. "So, you're going to show me the Real Estate of the sky. I'll follow you."
Rainbow hesitated for a moment, before turning around and blasting off into the air, flapping her wings quickly.
"Ah, a speedster. Just the type for testing." Electric said and strethced his wings for a moment before blasting off after her. He was still young and he had done a lot of training when he was just a colt, so he could fly with the best of them if he had too. But even then, Rainbow Dash was still far ahead of him, partly due to the headstart, and partly due to her being faster.
Four minutes after they were at the only other house in the clouds other than Rainbow Dash's. It was in the same style, but without the liquid rainbows. It looked just a little like a castle, but otherwise it was sterling silver, with barely any markings.
"Just right. I'll take it. How much?" Electric asked. It was just his style.
"To buy it, 20,000 bits. To rent, it's 500 bits a month." Rainbow Dash replied. She knew this because it used to belong to someone she knew who was trying to sell it for a while before he died. He was old. "There's a bank down in the town if you need it."
"Alright. Thank you." Electric said.
After a quick trip to the bank and a withdrawal of 30,000 bits, the sky-house was his.
Soon his plans would come into action and Equestria would change for the better!
The Science of Friendship
A Place To Stay - Meeting Applejack
After a short walk, Electric Bolt was out of the town and on his way to Sweet Apple Acres. He could smell the fresh air and sent of apples and apple cider. How different from his old home, in the country behind The Griffin Lands where smog and smoke filled the air and people relied on scientists like himself to handle things. He had left there for that reason and for a few others.
He had finally made it to the entrance to the facilities used by the ponies who lived there. The gate was wide open, almost as if anypony were welcome and nopony thought anypony would think about taking something. And so, without much more thought on the subject, Electric went through the gate and up to the farmhouse.
Before he could get there a voice came up from behind him.
"Hold your horses there, pony! Where do you think you're going?" It said. It seemed to be a mares voice.
Electric turned around and came face to face with, he guessed it, a mare. She was brown with straw yellow hair and her Cutie Mark was three red apples. Her light green eyes were narowed into his, almost as if she knew he was up to something.
"Woah, there. I'm not doing anything." Electric said. "I was just over at that town over there, what do you call it? Oh yeah, Ponyville. I was there when an annoying pink mare aproached me. I asked her, after some extent of waiting, where I could get a place to live. She told me to come here, and so, I did."
"Well then! Why didn't you just say so!" The mare said, turning from suspiscious to welcoming. "The name's Applejack, and if you're looking for a place to stay, you came to the right place!"
Electric sighed inwardly. Great. Another bi-polar Equestrian. No wonder he never took vacations here as a colt. "Yes. Nice to meet you, Applejack. So, As I'm here to get a place to stay... what kind of places you got around here?" He asked her, trying to be more charming than sarcastic. He hadn't really handled it that well with the pink one, so he thought he should try a different approach with this one.
"Well, it depends. Do you want a place near or in the town or somewhere out around here?" Applejack asked.
"Anywhere is fine, but I'm thinking close to town. It would be easier to get any supplies I may need if I lived near the town." Electric replied after thinking about it for a few seconds.
"Well, alright then! Let's go back to the town and I'll show you the places we have open." Applejack said, turned, and walked away.
Electric followed after her immediatly, and together they set off to town.
Again.
