2 - An Unanticipated Gathering

Mayor Mare sighed in relief, having finally finished the day's paperwork, savouring her office's pleasant scent of mahogany, high-caffeine coffee, and 'papyrus'(Cheap) scroll paper. She neatly stacked sheets of finished paperwork, formal request forms, informal request letters, tax forms and scroll-letters addressed to her all together in a neat pile, she placed the pile in the 'Done' tray on her desk, and she smiled genuinely for the first time that morning. She had done her morning paperwork, and now she was ready to face the day... Even if it would probably be the same as every other day: doing what she could to keep the town afloat, put serious effort into thinking happy thoughts like the belief that she still mattered when an Alicorn Princess with a direct line to Princess Celestia herself had set up a gigantic castle in town - WITHOUT APPLYING FOR A PERMIT BEFOREHAND! I mean, sure, she retroactively applied for a permit later and it was accepted, but that just wasn't the same thing! - while keeping up appearances and making sure she'd be re-elected this Fall, and every Fall after that... but she had to at least try to maintain a positive attitude. Nobody would want a hopeless little Mopey Mayor, after all! She was The Mayor of Ponyville, after all, and she had to seem like the best choice for the job. She was the Mare wearing the Mayorly Mask, and-

The doors burst open suddenly with a loud crash, interrupting her thoughts and making forget the possible titles for the upcoming autobiography she was most definitely going to write and publish one day. A pink blur whizzed into the room, coming to a physics-defying complete halt just inches away from her desk, the turbulence and air pressure sending the neatly stacked papers flying all over the room.

"MayorMareMayorMareMayorMareMayorMareMayorMaaaare!!!" Pinkie Pie shouted, far more overexcited and overjoyed than usual. Her breath came in quick, shallow gasps through her nose, her mouth a permanent wide grin. Pinkie Pie stared at Mayor Mare expectantly, waiting for her reply.

They'd 'Done this song and dance' many times, as the cool Colts and Fillies would say, and Mayor Mare decided that she'd draw things out and have some fun with things this time.

"Mayor Mare, Pinkie Pie is here to see you." Mayor Mare's secretary called out from her position in the hallway rather unnecessarily.

"I noticed." Mayor Mare said in a fake-cheerful tone.

Mayor Mare paused and watched Pinkie Pie for eight whole seconds, The Mayor's practiced slightly-cheerful blank gaze looking directly at the real and overly-cheerful grinning face of Pinkie Pie. To her credit, Pinkie's smile didn't falter in the slightest, patiently waiting like a... like a... like a dam about to break would patiently wait for its chance to break completely instead of merely forming cracks.

"Yes, Miss Pie?" Mayor Mare finally asked the pink baker.

Pinkie let out a rapid stream of high pitched words spaced so closely together, even The Mayor of Ponyville couldn't understand them. And as a politican, it was her job to understand the un-understandable! ...The standable?

"Pinkie! Could you please slow down?" The Mayor asked.

Pinkie Pie happily closed her eyes and gave a closed-mouthed smile as she nodded a few times, faster and more enthusiastically than anypony else Mayor Mare had ever seen. Then she stopped suddenly, breathed in, and all in one breath she said, "I was out playing with Rainbow Dash but this new silver Unicorn showed up and he was flying a rowboat and I've never seen him before and I've never seen anypony fly a rowboat either and he told Dash he'd be living in Ponyville and from what Dashie told me he seems really serious and formal and fancy but I bet he's just really sad and lonely and he's never been in town before so I want to throw him a party because he probably doesn't have any friends in Ponyville yet!"

Mayor Mare stared for a moment, stunned by Pinkie's spectacular display of breath-holding. That was long, even for her. Mayor Mare pretended to not understand at all.

"Sorry, Miss Pie, could you repeat that?" Mayor Mare asked innocently.

To her credit, Pinkie Pie didn't appear annoyed or tired in the slightest. She took a deep breath and repeated, "I was out playing with Rainbow Dash but this new silver Unicorn showed up and he was flying a rowboat and I've never seen him before and I've never seen anypony fly a rowboat either and he told Dash he'd be living in Ponyville and from what Dashie told me he seems really serious and formal and fancy but I bet he's just really sad and lonely and he's never been in town before so I want to throw him a party because he probably doesn't have any friends in Ponyville yet!"

Mayor Mare blinked, surprised. Okay, she'd officially earned it. ...Mostly. "Well, I'd love to help..." Mayor Mare said in her best and most suggestive tone, "But my office is such a mess-"

In the space of under a second, Pinkie Pie had become a pink blur again, whizzed around her office and gathered up all of the papers that were in The Mayor's 'Done' tray before the pink baker arrived, and finally came to an impossibly sudden stop in the exact same spot and stance she had been in almost a second ago.

Mayor Mare looked around the office, and noticed that not only had her papers been put away, but the office was suddenly much cleaner and tidier, everything was aligned with exact right angles, and everything had been dusted and polished. If Pinkie Pie ever showed any interest in becoming her janitor or maid, she'd get the job in a heartbeat. "Thank you, Pinkie Pie. I think my Secretary has the town's Roster, in the bookshelf hidden in behind her desk-"

Pinkie Pie speed-blurred away, and appeared in the doorway a moment later, holding a large thick tome in her grinning mouth, between her teeth. She bounced over to Mayor Mare's desk and placed it down, looking at the Mayor with excited anticipation.

Mayor Mare opened her book and looked inside, rapidly flicking through page after page, looking for a page that wasn't completely filled with names or crossed-out names. "Let's see... New arrivals... Hmm... No, there's no record of any silver Unicorns buying any houses today, or even looking at potential properties to buy."

"What about a grey Unicorn?" Pinkie asked hopefully.

"No, no grey Unicorns, either." Mayor Mare said, looking down at her book. "...In fact... This town hasn't had any new arrivals for a few weeks. Are you sure he plans on staying for longer than a month?"

"I think so!" Pinkie said optimistically.

"Well, there's no record of him living here..." She said, looking down at her book. Then, she looked at Pinkie Pie and narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Wait... Is he staying in my town illegally?"

"NO!" Pinkie Pie shouted suddenly in panic. Then, she giggled nervously whike putting on a smile. "I mean, he probably just hasn't gotten around to that yet. I'm sure he'll do that tomorrow, after the party. Where will that party be?"

Mayor Mare sighed wearily, and then forced herself to keep up her Mayorly mask of subtle optimism. "Pinkie Pie, I've already told you: We have no record of your mysterious new rowboat-flying silver Unicorn."

She doubted if there even WAS a rowboat-flying silver Unicorn, but she didn't let that show. "If he is here, we don't know who he is or where he'll be. Sorry, but there are some things even the Mayor doesn't know. After all, I'm only an elected official. Vote for me again, and I'll do my best to fix that."

"Oh. Well... Thanks anyway, Mayor Mare!" Pinkie Pie said as she skipped off, noticably less-cheerful than usual.

Mayor Mare shrugged, and went back to thinking of titles for the autobiography she'd get time to write some day. The Mayor of... Mayor... Mayor... Mayords? Maids? Mayor Mare 2: Mare Harder? The Autobiography of Unparallelled Mayorosity? No, those were terrible. 'The Mare Wearing the Mayorly Mask' was way better.

0-0-0

Although you wouldn't be able to tell from looking at her bounce back to Sugarcube Corner at a marginally slower pace than usual, Pinkie Pie was completely lost.

Normally, when a new pony arrived, she'd ask Mayor Mare for that new pony's new home address. She'd spend the day rushing around town and telling certain popular, chatty or well-connected ponies(Applejack, Roseluck, Rarity, and Spike, for example. Applejack would bring some of the Apple Family, a ton of ponies visited Roseluck's flower stand, Rarity had her contacts and clients in town, and Spike seemed to know some ponies no matter where they went.) about her Pinkie Pie Welcome Party and how everyone was invited. At night, when that new pony got home, he or she(Or 'it'. Ponyville seemed to attract all types.) would be greeted with a beautiful surprise party, just for them. The look of surprise and dawning happiness on that pony's face, that always, always made her smile.

But now, she couldn't do that. She couldn't set up a surprise party, because she had no idea where that pony would be.

Perhaps... perhaps she could set it up in Sugarcube Corner, and have him go there? But that'd be too obvious and suspicious, and he was from Canterlot like Twilight, and he really did have a similar accent, which meant he was probably super smart like her, so he'd probably see right through it. And it wasn't a real surprise party if it wasn't a surprise!

If he didn't have a house... where could she put his party? She couldn't NOT give that new pony a party. Especially one that looked so lonely and totally-serious, as if he was constantly trying to hold back tears of loneliness and sadness.

She decided: She'd have to risk it, and have the party at Sugarcube Corner. Wait, no, they were open late that night. Okay, Applejack's barn. A not-much-of-a-surprise surprise party was still better than no party at all.

But first, she really needed to get back to work. Her break was almost over!

Pinkie became a pink blur as she sped towards Sugarcube Corner, with only seconds left before her break officially ended. Besides, the sooner she got there, the sooner she could finish her shift, and then go and decorate Applejack's barn and get it ready for the party! (After asking Applejack first, of course.)

000

With his main plan tossed out the window like a mediocre employee thrown through a beautiful and high stained-glass window onto the streets below and a rare glaring lack of a backup plan staring him in the face, Silver Star decided to improvise.

He'd find Applejack, reveal himself, and she'd tell him everything he missed.

And along the way, he'd plan out the conversation, and consider doing something about the blue blur dashing from hiding place to hiding place at speeds he didn't think possible for even a Pegasus, watching him carefully. Did she actually have a job? Or was Weather Duty pretty much it?

Twilight Sparkle... Just from the

stories and rumours he'd heard of her so far, she certainly sounded interesting. And he liked to be interested. From what he'd heard, she was smart, funny, capable, and the most magically powerful Unicorn to exist in over four thousand years, capable of easily defeating even Celestia in a Horn-Off if she wanted to. Epic. And so were the stories about her, where she was rumoured to have battled titanic beasts, invading armies from other worlds and planes, and even an alternate universe version of herself. Also, Chaos God Discord, a Changeling queen, and King Sombra, one of the most powerful Dark Magicians in millenia.

Applejack, on the other hand... there weren't that many stories about her. Apart from the ones that said she was just as fast as Rainbow Dash, she was so cool that she could eat entire apple trees, bark and all, and that if she wanted to, she could run around the planet twice and deliver a patented Apple Family buck right into her own flanks.

He hadn't seen Applejack in a long time. Not since the last Apple Family Reunion he could go to, which was a while ago. He did want to go to those, but something always got in the way, like being too busy with business meetings, or being too busy obsessively micromanaging money to gain marginally more, or being too busy not liking Apple Family Reunions. They never focused on the business and the money as much as he liked, and the whole event focused far too much on family, and togetherness, and "Oh, how have you been? I haven't seen you since the last Reunion! Even though if I really cared, I would visit of my own free will, instead of being forced to drop everything and trek halfway across the continent just to spend one day talking to simple and usually-boring farm ponies I already know everything about!".

But Applejack wasn't like that. Well, she kinda was, but Applejack was interesting, and definitely his favourite of the Apple Family ponies. Not only could she count to numbers higher than ten, she was actually a very competent businesspony. Yet for some reason, she preferred her family's simple, basic, older-than-the-moon and boring-as-bucking-trees food-stand routine, rather than attempting to secure business deals and contracts like him, while also making investments to gain even more money... money which, naturally, the Apple Family would get a cut of.

He liked interesting things. Those mares were interesting. Money itself may not have been that interesting, as far as golden bit coins went, but it was certainly interesting to try and come up with new and ingenious ways to make money, while staying within the confines of the law when under his own guise. It was also interesting to see how far other businessponies were prepared to go - or had to go - to make money.

He hated to be bored. He hated sleeping even more. Sleeping was boring. Spending any hours with his mind and body completely immobile, even only a few, was not something he was willing to waste his time on. Besides, he rarely dreamed. He could only sleep, and then wake up later, guilty over the knowledge that he'd wasted something as precious as his own time.

Though a large portion of his dreams involved money, going on adventures, or having fun with a mare made of money. Not a rich mare, but an actual Elemental/Golem in the shape of a mare, made out of bit coins. He often wondered if Princess Luna ever saw the latter. That would probably be rather awkward. Then again, she'd probably seen weird dreams like that before. ...But probably not ones with mares made of money.

Where was he? Ah, yes, the plan.

No matter what happened in that barn, he would be prepared.

000

Rainbow zipped to a large building, hiding behind it and keeping her eyes focused on the grey Unicorn.

"Hi!" Pinkie chirped cheerfully, suddenly popping into her field of vision.

Rainbow let out a yelp of surprise, wings fluttering as she reflexively leapt away.

"Dashie told me the new pony was here." Pinkie Pie stage-whispered loudly. "Make him go to the barn at Sweet Apple Acres, we're having a Surprise Party for him there!"

"But he's already going there." Rainbow pointed out.

"But that means I have to go even faster! STALL HIM!" Pinkie shouted, and blurred away.

Rainbow was surprised for a moment, but decided to do it. "Got it." She said, getting her game face on.

000

Silver left the main area of Ponyville, trotting along the dirt path that led towards town, his Connection-Sight (Which he was starting to consider calling Silver Sight, because that was far cooler) informing him that he was on the right track: Not only was this path well-used, but faint wheel-tracks from a wooden cart carrying a considerable quantity of apples and apple products had been down this path many times, the cart pulled by either a medium-sized fit pony a little older than him and a far larger and considerably older Earth Pony depending on the day.

"You know," Silver said aloud with a smirk just before Rainbow Dash swooped down and easily hovered beside him. "If you keep showing up suddenly to talk to me, ponies are going to get the wrong idea about us."

Rainbow burst into laughter, still flying. Huh. That reaction was only 17% expected. His mental table of who she was and how she was likely to react to assorted things altered to reflect this new data.

"So, what's up?" Silver asked.

"Not much." Rainbow admitted. "So... Why do you want to talk to Applejack?"

He considered his list of possible excuses, but then he remembered that this was the Element of Loyalty, and they had saved the world several times. Furthermore, she embodied Loyalty, and the abilities this was said to give her ranged from minor things like sensing disloyalty and seeing the bonds of loyalty between others to the more 'Out there' stuff, such as breaking the laws of physics when necessary to help a friend or fulfil a promise, changing the loyalties of others with but a glance, and becoming a giant glowy rainbow thingy wreathed in rainbow flames. In any case, the possibility that she may be able to sense lies, seeing lies as a betrayal of trust, remained.

"Because I know her, but I haven't seen her in a long time." Silver admitted, deciding not to take any chances.

"YOU knew APPLEJACK?" Rainbow asked, clearly surprised.

"A long time ago." Silver admitted. "I doubt she'll even recognize me, the way I am now."

"Why?" Rainbow asked.

Silver suddenly stopped, horn aglow, placing a soundproof blue ten-foot-radius Silent Spellshield around them both, and then an Illusion of Ignorance spell, a minor glamour illusion that made them both far harder to notice as long as they stayed within its immobile eight-foot radius.

"...Can you keep a secret?" Silver asked Rainbow as she looked around in surprise, though this caught her attention.

"Uh... sure, about what?" Rainbow asked.

"Promise me you won't tell anypony or anyone?" Silver asked.

"Sure." Rainbow said, not Pinkie Promising.

"I... I wasn't always fancy like this." Silver admitted.

"What, were you a homeless orphan foal that found out they had an epic destiny?" Rainbow asked.

"Something like that." Silver admitted. "Except for the destiny part. I make my own destiny. Anyway, enough about me. You're Rainbow Dash, best flier in Equestria. You wanted to get into the Wonderbolts, right? Why are you not already the Wonderbolt Champion, or whatever they call it?"

"Well, uh... Speed Flying is really different from Stunt Flying, and Wonderbolt routines are really complex, they need lots of teamwork and precision, and besides, I'm too busy with Twilight and the Element of Harmony stuff to spend days practicing flight routines." Rainbow admitted.

"That makes sense. On a lighter note, popular opinion is divided by two common beliefs: A, you're so awesome that Spitfire and the others will look less cool just for being near you. B, you outrank the Wonderbolts by so much, you'd be able to order Spitfire around. And since she doesn't want that, the whole Lightning Dust thing was semi-staged from the start to make you want to quit. By the way, did you know that as soon as Dust went home, she found Soarin waiting for her, letting her know that she performed admirably, what happened was not entirely her fault, a hot air balloon simply should not have been in a tornado zone, and so she was invited back next season to try again? She was notably less reckless, because the whole thing was also a secret test of character for her, too. If she'd gone crazy or tried to hurt you, she'd have failed."

"Wait, really?" Rainbow asked, surprised.

Silver grinned. "Yep. I'm not sure if I'm not supposed to have told you or not, but I don't care that much. I'm also not sure if it's that big a deal, but eh, you should probably know that things are going well for her. She's grown a lot, as a person, too. And grown out of the whole reckless thing, but only when others are involved."

"Well, uh... good for her, I guess. Why are you telling me this?" Rainbow asked.

"Because I'm awesome." Silver stated. "I'm not sure if you ever thought about her or not, but it's not that big a deal. But in case it is, then... there you go, I suppose. Also... Here." Star said, horn glowing as he grew a sunflower out of the ground beside him, the head rapidly withering and transforming into a blue peach. "An exceedingly rare fruit, and only I know the spell to create it. Normally around fifty bits for just one, but you're awesome, and you helped save the world a few times, so twenty bits for you."

"Uh... What's it called?" Rainbow asked. Silver then fired a magic bolt into the air, shattering his own Silent Spellshield.

"Starfruit, One-one-one-five Blue Variety." Silver said, pulling the fruit off and floating it towards her as the stem it was once connected to disintegrated back into the dirt. "I'll come up with a better name some other time. Want one?"

Rainbow thought for a moment. She had to stall him, and this was probably some kind of gesture of friendliness... or there was something weird about the fruit.

"I don't have any money on me right now, could I eat it later?" She asked.

"Sure." Silver shrugged, horn flashing once as he teleported the fruit away. He resumed walking towards Sweet Apple Acres, and asked, "So, what's living here like?"

"It's pretty awesome." Rainbow admitted. "Want a guided tour of the town?"

"That does sound nice... Buuut... I do have to see Applejack." Silver admitted. "Could I take that tour later?"

"Come on!" Rainbow said, encouraging him. "How many times are you going to get a chance to get a guided tour of Ponyville with THE Rainbow Dash?"

Silver smirked, a blue gleam flashing in his eyes. "Heh." He said, horn flashing as he teleported away.

Rainbow looked around quickly, spotting Silver in the distance, galloping away from Sweet Apple Acres for some reason, probably to take a different loop around. Or maybe he wasn't actually here for Applejack. But then what was he actually in town for?! She chased after him, and he looked back just in time to see her, and speed up.

000

Rainbow's chase of Silver through Ponyville was fast and epic, and not helped by the fact that Silver was far faster and more agile than you'd expect somepony like that to be.

She chased him as he charged through Ponyville town, practically dancing around the stalls and ponies before suddenly hopping into the air, flipping over and over to show off as he landed on a cottage roof, rolling forwards the second he landed, charging ahead. Rainbow pursued him as he dashed across buildings, leaping from one to another, and just as she was about to catch him, he rolled off the side of a building, his hooves catching the wall as he continued to run down before turning, running along the wall, pursued by a rainbow bolt.

He suddenly leapt off the building's wall, heading straight towards another building's wall, twisting his body around in the air, landing on his hooves and charging straight up, a silver, orange and blue blur closely followed by Rainbow's prismatic contrail.

He ran straight up the building, leaping off once he got to the top, backflipping rapidly as cubes of dirt encased in blue rapidly rose up to supply him with platforms to run across and leap from. Rainbow was fast, but unless she used the Sonic Rainboom, which he assumed she wouldn't want to use in such a densely-populated area, his agility and unpredictability kept the playing field level...

From a certain point of view.

He reached the last cube and teleported away, the cubes neatly falling back into the ground like keys into a lock.

Rainbow flew straight up, hoping to see where he'd gone, head turning around as she searched the floor for that blur.

"Hi." Silver's voice said, coming from above her.

She looked up, and saw Silver casually reclining on a floating garden chair made from a steel-coated wooden frame, its bed made of leaves. Her jaw dropped, and Silver's chair sped off at speeds no mere garden chair had any business reaching.

She took off in pursuit, rapidly gaining on him, only for him to start pulling away. She pushed herself harder, and he did the same, mach cones forming around them both.

"No way..." Rainbow said, speeding up, only for him to do the same. His deck chair started to erode away, metal holding strong as leaves started to burn away, a bed of steel string replacing them.

The mach cones sharpened, and the two got faster and faster, and then a wide steel column emerged from the chair as he got onto his hooves and backflipped off, launching him away as he sailed back over Rainbow's head.

Time seemed to slow down as Rainbow looked up to see the grinning Silver backflip over her again and again, their eyes meeting for just one brief moment. "Ha." Silver said, horn flashing.

Time resumed and he continued to flip back until he landed on a platform he'd just created, the platform spinning with him as several more appeared, and he leapt off to spin and land on each one in order, hopping off once he'd reached the end to spread his hooves and laugh, feeling the wind whipping around him.

Rainbow pursued, slowly turning towards the right, as if the place where she thought he was and where he actually was were rapidly becoming two different things.

Seeing her dash past him and then suddenly turn to rush directly away from him with a look of determination on her face, he laughed, arced his back, and then rapidly front-flipped over and over through the air, free as a bird.

Who said only Pegasi could fly?

Rainbow then figured out that she was under an illusion when the view of Ponyville out of the corner of her eye was ever-so-slightly wrong, and the illusionary Silver stopped doing stuff. She remembered something she'd overheard from Twilight involving Illusion magic, and bit her tongue.

"Ow." She said as the illusion left her mind and her tongue hurt a little.

She looked around quickly, saw Silver flipping through the air, and dashed straight at him, grabbing him out of the air and getting onto his back, wrapping her hooves around him to keep hold of him and begin a high-altitude interrogation.

Or rather, she thought that happened. He'd heard the air displace itself, and temporarily teleported his mass away once she came into contact with him, just as planned. And though the illusion affecting her stayed strong and the illusionary Silver acted completely in-character, the fact that a part of her mind told her that the race wasn't over yet and she hadn't yet won made it clear that she was still under an illusion. She bit her tongue again, starting to realize that she really hated illusion magic, and needed to ask Twilight if there was another way to beat illusions.

The illusionary Silver in her hooves flickered out of existance, and looking around, she saw the real Silver falling down to Ponyville with his limbs outstretched, like a champion skydiver. Which was accurate, since he'd copied this technique from a champion skydiver.

Rainbow pushed herself harder as she caught him, wrapping her hooves around him and flapping her wings harder to stabilize them both and stop them from falling. "Got you!" She shouted.

His horn began to glow, and she did something only 13% expected by biting it, the glow around his horn dissipating. "Uh..." He said, surprised.

"Ha! Now tai and usthe ma'ic!" Rainbow declared.

"Now, why would I need that?" Silver asked, arcing his head back, and then slamming it forwards, bodily throwing her overhead and sliding his horn to the side, out of her mouth, and he teleported a few feet away while she fell down in an uncontrollable spin.

"See you when you hit the ground!" Silver laughed, and then she suddenly regained control and lunged straight for him, an outstretched hoof catching him in the throat as she angrily flew towards the ground, knocking the wind out of him.

"Ah. Best flyer on the planet. Forgot about that part." Silver wheezed, an embarassed look on his face.

And then a second Silver head and neck grew out of his back, two more Silver heads growing out of that one's neck. "Or did we? Dun dun DUUUNNN!" The four Silvers sang.

The four-headed Silver exploded in a blast of fire and metal Shrapnel, and Rainbow yelped in surprise, only for the shrapnel to fly right through her and the fire to do nothing, because it was an illusion. Yeah, she was definitely starting to get tired of that.

Looking around, she saw Silver on his back, falling down towards Ponyville, laughing. Charging right at him, she caught him and started bringing him further up into the wind.

"That's getting old!" She shouted over the roar of the wind.

"You know what else is getting old? Silver shouted, spontaneously growing eight pairs of wings and sticking out his tongue so it could burst into flame. "Your mother!"

He exploded, but Rainbow was prepared for that, closing her eyes and ignoring the lightshow. She opened her eyes, only for him to explode again, magical force blasting her back even as the illusionary fire and shrapnel did nothing. She recovered, and saw a large quantity of Silvers wearing light-blue scarves on the ground, seated in wooden stands that hadn't been there a second ago, the stands set up around a large wooden arena upon which a Silver larger than Ponyville's buildings stood, watching her and waiting.

As she swooped down, she heard one of them speak.

"Place your bets, everypony, place your bets!" A Silver with a top hat and a second top hat atop his top hat declared.

She landed in the arena and bit her tongue, but nothing happened. The giant Silver was still there, and so were the others.

"She has done well, but can she defeat... Giant Silver Star?" The announcer asked them all, his voice amplified by a spell.

"Of course she can!" One Silver yelled, much to her surprise.

"Go, Rainbow Dash!" Another shouted.

"Rainbow is almost as awesome as Twilight!" A third declared, holding up a large blue cardboard sign with that written upon it in large purple letters.

"Go, go, go, go!!!" A fourth yelled, holding up a sign that said 'The pony behind me can't see a thing!', followed by a crude facsimile of a grinning Silver Star head.

"Round one, begin!" The announcer yelled, and then everything exploded.

Standing just outside Twilight's house, one Silver Star casually remarked to another Silver, "So, how long before she wakes up?" As they watched the sleeping Dash lie there.

And then her eyes snapped open.

"Well, I'm outta here." One Silver said, turning into liquid steel and seeping through the ground as the other fled.

"Oh, no you don't!" Rainbow declared, pouncing and flapping her wings furiously as she overtook and tackled the fleeing Silver, pinning him to the ground and looming over him.

"Okay, okay, I'll talk!" Silver declared. "Just, first... Tell me how to get to Simian Street!"

"You realize she won't get that reference, right?" A second Silver made from liquid metal asked him, rising up from the ground.

"Manlions forever!" The first Silver declared, and teleported away, causing Rainbow Dash to fall.

"Huh." The second Silver noted. "How about that."

She spun around and bucked him, and he burst apart into a cloud of illusionary flames and steel. She caught a fleeing Silver out of the corner of his eye, and chased after him.

He ran into a building, ran up its side, and ran onto its ceiling, closely pursued by Dash as he hopped into the open window of another building, and she stopped in the room upon realizing that he wasn't in the building and he'd teleported away upon leaving her line of sight.

She flew back out, flying into the air, seeing Silver on the ground, horn aglow, waiting for her. Suddenly encased in his ironclad magical glow, she was floated down to him.

"You were awesome! We should do this again some time. But you should probably know something first..." Silver said, smiling. "These aren't the only spells I know."

He vanished in a flash of blue, and once the magical glow around her dissipated a few seconds later, dropping her to the ground. She angrily flew up, searching for Silver and not finding a trace of him.

And then a large purple sign with pink neon letters appeared in the air above Sweet Apple Acres, simply saying 'Here'. Dash flew towards it, hoping she'd done okay.

000

As Silver Star walked up towards Sweet Apple Acres's main gate, he saw Applejack standing at the gate, waiting for him. "Howdy, welcome to Sweet Apple Acres!" Applejack greeted warmly and energetically. Thankfully, she didn't do that odd rearing-thing Braeburn did when welcoming new ponies to his town. And the way he said the town's name... What even was that, anyway?

"Good morning." Silver Star said to her in his Twilight-esque Correct-Pronounciation Canterlot accent. "My name, is Silver Star."

"A fancy Canterlot pony, huh?" Applejack said, surprised.

"Don't worry, I actually like apples." I said, remembering how most Canterlot ponies felt about 'Commoner food'. "Particularly, a fine apple strudel, baked to perfection and served with a side of fresh apples." I smiled fondly. "Around ten of those."

"Well, it's about time those Canterlot ponies learned how to eat!" Applejack said, amused.

"Actually, it's just me. I'm the only pony I know over there who appreciates real food!" Silver laughed, and Applejack laughed with him. 'Great, now we're friends. That was easy.' He thought. 'Now where's the next one?'

'No, I came here to talk to Applejack, and that's what I'm going to do.'

"So, Applejack... Do you recognize me?" Silver asked.

"Huh? Can't say I've seen you before, why?"

Silver sighed. "It's understandable. I have changed a lot since you last saw me. Basically, I'm... Actually, could we go into your barn? It's a lot easier to set up the best privacy spells when you're inside a building."

"M-maybe later." She said, looking around. "Hey, what's it like in Canterlot?"

"Pretty good. There's always something going on, so it's never boring. The shows and theatres are amazing, and the nightclubs are spectacular. I'm not actually native to Canterlot, I moved there in search of money and excitement. I'm a businesspony, and so I have to manage and micromanage a lot of things. Restaurants, stores, travelling merchants, farmers and food-sellers, bars and taverns and pubs, and so on. But I enjoy that, even if it does get irritating sometimes, and since it doesn't take long, I have a lot of free time to spend practicing magic or adventuring. I started from the bottom with nothing at all, and now, here I am."

"Well, that's nice. Ah spend most of mah time helping out at the farm, but I still try 'n' make tahm fer mah friends. If ya don't mahnd mah askin'... What d'ye mean by irritatin'?"

"Well... While most of the places I get are okay, some of the places I bought needed A LOT of work done before they were even remotely acceptable. Like this one farm that didn't seem to understand the concept of supply and demand or even basic crop rotation, or a restaurant whose prices and standards for food were just... sad. Not to mention, the fact that countless ponies are relying on me for a paycheck, and one slipup could ruin us all. But still, it's a rewarding job, and an interesting one. Plus... I don't just try to squeeze as much money as possible out of everything I see, I try to make things as great as they can be. I want things to be better, I want food to be tastier, I want gardens to be bigger, I want delivery services to be faster and more reliable. I make sure everything I own is the best it can be. It may not be optimal, profit-wise, but I have enough money. Still, the world could always be more beautiful."

"Well, that's mighty decent of ya." Applejack said as she smiled, starting to like him.

"I know, I'm awesome." Silver said, and her smile shrunk slightly. "Anyway, what's it like to be an Element of Harmony?"

"Well, I've got some great friends I know've always got mah back. And getting to go to places like Canterlot and the Crystal Empire has beem fun. But mah day to day life ain't changed much, 'part from the occasional friendship problem or giant monster attack. Ah'm still buckin' apples, and Ah'm still an Apple Pony, through and through."

"Oh. Well, I know a pony that can get you one of the best automatons on the market. She offers good deals on vehicles, too, but she'll only make them if they're awesome enough for her. Anyway,

"Woah there, Ah'm not sure Ah want some fancy arcane science thing running around mah farm."

"Don"t worry, it won't go on a rampage like in 45% of all the bad automaton stories ever. It will follow you around, help buck apples, help around on the farm, and smile like a cute puppy when you tell him or her that it's a good and very helpful automaton. In fact, I can even ask her to make it look like a dog."

"Thanks, but I already have a dog."

"Cool. How about an apple? Something with a head, legs, and a giant apple-shaped body."

"That actually sounds kinda weird." Applejack admitted, imagining a dog's head and legs on a big red apple.

"Don't worry, I'll ask her not to give it spider legs. So, how about a bird? Or a pony that could look like a family member? Making it look exactly like somepony while putting it to work for them is just asking trouble, so how about I make it green? Green is the worst colour. In fact, since you run a farm, how about I work out a payment plan, so you can easily afford it?"

"Well, thanks for the offer, but ah'm not really interested in-"

"What if I pointed out that automatons don't need to sleep or eat, and so one could easily work from dusk till dawn, with no breaks, not slowing down for a second, expecting no reward save your smile? If you're worried about the magical energies messing with your farm - Which you shouldn't be, since she's not an amateur and she'll shield its magical core properly - then I'll ask her to make it steam-powered, so it'll only take water as fuel. More efficiency than a farmhoof at the same cost. Come on, steam-powered iron- Actually? I'm feeling generous, let's make it stainless steel. Steam-powered stainless steel automaton, level one intelligence, on a payment plan that'll make it no more expensive than hiring a farmhoof. Going once!"

"Maybe some other time?" Applejack offered. "Closer to harvest season."

"With all these apple trees, surely they were planted at different intervals. Apples all year round, right?"

"Well, yeah, but they're better during certain times of the year. It's an Earth Pony magic thing."

"The interaction of natural energy with the energies of the changing seasons?" Silver asked, understanding.

"Uh... Eeeyup." Applejack said, surprised. "Most Unicorns don't know much about Earth Pony magic."

"That's dumb. If you don't know how something works, you don't know what it's capable of. And I like knowing as much as possible. I hunger for knowledge the way some hunger for food. Of course, I like that, too."

A sound similar to a piano's C note was heard, and an illusionary purple sign appeared over her barn. "Finally." Applejack said, relieved. "Okay, come into my barn, there's something I wanna show ya." Applejack said, and Silver's eye twitched in response.

'Ten bits says it's a trap.' Silver thought.

"A-are you sure?" Silver said, appearing stunned and surprised. "I-I mean, this is so sudden, and unexpected, and surprising, and... unexpected! Also, what was with that second-level illusion spell cast by a twenty-fifth-level Unicorn? Is Twilight Sparkle in that barn?"

"Uh... maybe." She said, eyes darting to the side. "Actually, eeeyup. Come on! I'll introduce you to her."

"Thanks." Silver said happily, following her.

000

Just as Applejack got ready to dramatically throw the barn doors open, Silver Star had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen. He had noticed faint outlines of several hoofprints in the dirt... Many ground-bound ponies, one young Alicorn that was likely Twilight, plus any number of fliers. Judging from the way one set of footprints bounced straight up and down on all fours rather than trotting normally, it was likely that Pinkie Pie was there, too. He had heard rumours about the Elements of Harmony, but nothing concrete, nothing that could truly be relied upon, save the basics: Pinkie hopped and pronked instead of walking, the yellow one was shy, the blue one was the fastest, Twilight was so powerful that she broke records by glancing in their general direction, and so on. He made a mental note to request full files on all of them at the first opportunity. In any case, he had reason to believe that The Elements of Harmony were in that barn, along with a significant number of other ponies.

It was an ambush, and there was some kind of trap. He was absolutely certain. It had to be! They would likely try to use The Elements of Harmony on him for some reason. ...Or they would, if they still had them. His contacts in the Intelligence Division had reluctantly(And only mostly of their own free will) told him the truth about what had happened to the actual Elements. Still, he didn't like taking chances when he hadn't weighted the roulette wheel in his favour. Did they have other magical items and weapons to use on him? Was the 'The elements were lost' story a lie, to bait potential enemies into attacking and getting their sad attempts over with?

Silver then turned his head to the side just as a second Silver flew towards the ground like a skydiver or Pegasus with their hooves folded back, teleporting just before he hit the ground, negating momentum and reappearing safely on the ground. Rainbow Dash landed just in time to see the two Silvers hoof-bump, the second one vanishing into wisps of blue magic.

Silver closed his eyes for a moment, a smile slowly forming on his face. "You did what?" He laughed. "Wow. Who was stalling who?"

"Wait!" Rainbow shouted, confused. "You were... already here?"

"Allow me to explain." Silver began.

000

"It's pretty awesome." Rainbow admitted. "Want a guided tour of the town?"

"That does sound nice... Buuut... I do have to see Applejack." Silver admitted. "Could I take that tour later?"

"Come on!" Rainbow said, encouraging him. "How many times are you going to get a chance to get a guided tour of Ponyville with THE Rainbow Dash?"

Silver smirked, a blue gleam flashing in his eyes. "Heh." He said, horn flashing as he teleported away.

Rainbow looked around quickly, spotting Silver in the distance, galloping away from Sweet Apple Acres for some reason, probably to take a different loop around. Or maybe he wasn't actually here for Applejack. But then what was he actually here for?! She chased after him, and he looked back just in time to see her, and speed up.

Once she was a few miles away, the real Silver reappeared, the chameleon part of the spell fading. The illusionary copy his spell spawned had only a fraction of his speed, agility, and other abilities, but it should be enough for a distraction. "Ha." He said, trotting towards Sweet Apple Acres once again.

000

"HUH?!" Rainbow wondered. "But you... we chased all over Ponyville! You ran up walls, and, and..." She paused, and then relaxed, realizing what had happened. "It was an illusion. You can't actually do that stuff, right?"

"Actually, I can." Silver admitted. "You should see an Earth Pony stunt show some time, there are some truly epic displays. Also, everything in that chase was planned from the start. Including the parts where you broke out of illusions. You used the Precision method, I take it?"

"Uh... Is that the one where you bite your tongue?" Rainbow asked.

"No." Silver said, surprised. "I'll have to get you some books on Illusions later."

"Wait... how can you do stuff from an Earth Pony show?" Rainbow wondered. "I mean, you're not a... you know."

"I don't have to be, as long as Earth Pony magic isn't involved. And when it is, Unicorn magic can do the same thing after some study and analysis. Plus... I pick things up quickly." Silver admitted, horn glowing as he cast an illusion spell on his suit, revealing his Cutie Mark as he turned to show his flanks to them. "It's part of my Talent: Connections. The connections within a mind, the connections between events and objects, the connections within a body, how moves and actions link and connect... the body moves like clockwork, and I can see how every gear and piston moves to achieve perfection. All I have to do is see a trick or spell, and as long as I get a good view of it, I can figure out how it works and replicate it. I won't have any natural affinity in using said trick or technique, I'll just know how to do it. Which isn't always the same as being able to do it. Which is why I trained my body so much. I don't want something as dumb as raw strength getting in the way of my awesomeness. Speaking of awesome, your Cutie Mark looks cool, what does it mean?"

"Racing." Rainbow said, looking at her flanks. "I can fly really fast, and do The Sonic Rainboom."

"Oh." Silver said, surprised. "That's cool. A lot cooler than my AMAZING ABILITY to see really well. What about you, AJ?"

"Apple Farming." Applejack admitted. Sure, it may not look as seem as good on paper, compared to rainbow explosions or perfect technique/spell analysis, but farming was useful, too.

"Cool." Silver said, mentally ranking her Cutie Mark in Tier Three. Tier Threes were useful for a number of important things. Tier Twos were useful for a very important thing and assorted day-to-day things, while also allowing you to excell at particular things with effort, and his mark was Tier One: Useful for a wide number of things, while allowing him to excell at multiple things with thought and effort. Tier Zeroes were said to not actually exist, and were only added to the tier list as a joke, those were Marks that made you naturally great at everything or an even wider range of things with little to no effort required, and do even better than those with Tier 1-5s focusing on their main ability and talent.

"So... The barn?" Applejack offered.

"Sure, lead the way." Silver shrugged, following AJ.

000

Applejack threw the barn doors open, light illuminating the darkest corners of the surprisingly-well-built wooden red barn coated in party decoratio-

"SURPRISE!!!" Six ponies and one Dragon and a bunch of other ponies suddenly called out.

In the center of the room, there was a long table upon which a pink tablecloth with curly cloudlike lining rested, and there was a large white-frosted cake lined with strawberries, pink frosting, and with an apple-shaped and apple-sized sculpture made of pink frosting in the center, complete with a stalk and single green leaf all made of sugar. Around the cake, they had a few large plates piled high with square chocolate brownies, smaller pieces of vanilla and chocolate cake, two large flasks containing apple cider and several smaller glass cups, and four large clear bowls of sweet and salted popcorn. A few blue and yellow balloons were tied to the table's edges, and on the ceiling, a large banner was displayed, displaying 'WELCOME TO PONYVILLE'.

In front of the party table, there was a pink pony, looking absolutely overjoyed. To her left, there was What's-Her-Name, the shy yellow Pegasus who was a model for a while(Not that he payed much attention to fashion. And now, he wished he'd at least bothered to try and remember her name) and a white Unicorn he recognized as Rarity(He certainly payed attention to the business world, and he'd heard of the self-taught fashionista from Ponyville who had managed to get several influential ponies on her side. She was cool.). On Pinkie's right, there was Twilight Sparkle, who had a pleasant smile on her face, and next to her, there was a small baby dragon, the one who saved the Crystal Empire that one time... Spike? Behind them, there was a bunch of unimportant ponies in the background, including one exceedingly unimportant reddish mare with a redder Pinkie-ish mane. Also, a grey Pegasus with a yellow mane was talking to an orange Earth Pony with a darker orange mane.

He thought he was prepared for everything, but this... He wasn't prepared for this. He hadn't even remotely considered the possibility that this might actually happen. And in retrospect, he realized that this was quite-

"Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie, and I threw this party just for you!" Pinkie Pie said, suddenly popping up in front of him and interrupting his surprised thoughts. "Isn't this exciting? Are you excited? Cause I'm excited. I've never been so excited! Well, except for the time when I went-"

She suddenly gasped so hard she floated up for a moment, due to the intake of air.

"-but I mean really, what could top that?" She asked happily, landing on her hooves.

Silver stared, unblinking.

"By Celestia's beard..." Silver whispered in surprise.

"Huh?" Pinkie wondered, tilting her head to the side.

"You are ADORABLE!" Silver declared happily. "You're like a big pink puppy!"

"Huh?" Rainbow Dash, Spike and Applejack wondered aloud. He did not seem like the type to say... that.

Silver raised a hoof, but then pulled it back and awkwardly asked, "Um, may I?"

"Sure!" She said happily.

He stroked her mane and neck, and she giggled, because it tickled.

'Oh, um... do you like animals?" Fluttershy asked timidly.

"I love animals!" Silver declared happily, still stroking Pinkie. "And you're so CUUUTE!" Silver squealed. "You're the cutest pink pony in the whole world!"

"Okay," Rainbow said, coming to break it up, "That's enough."

Silver put up a blue square forcefield in Rainbow's way as she stroked Pinkie harder and tickled her chin. "There is never enough adorable! Never enough!"

Several ponies laughed, but Twilight and a few laughed harder because they got the reference.

"Also, a party, for... me?" Silver asked, surprised. "But... Nopony's ever thrown a party for me before! I've never even been to a party like this!"

Pinkie Pie gasped in absolute horror, pulling away with a look of clear shock upon her face. "Nopony's ever thrown a party for you?!" She asked, as if he'd said he'd never had friends before or he'd never eaten baked goods before.

"Have you lived your whole life under a rock?" Rainbow Dash asked, not as shocked as Pinkie.

"No... I lived in my office. I had books, so I was okay." Silver shrugged. "So... what should I do? ...Is there a book I should read, or...?" He trailed off questioningly.

In the background, Rarity rolled her eyes amusedly, as if she was amusedly thinking, 'Wonderful, another one'. Rainbow Dash's face swiftly met her hoof and Spike's face met his claw, as if they were both sarcastically thinking, 'Great, another one'. Applejack chuckled ruefully, thinking the same thing, entering the barn and closing it behind her.

"No, silly!" Pinkie Pie giggled. "At a party, you're supposed to PARTY!"

Silver paused, trying to decipher what the pink pony had meant. "...Should I dance?" Silver asked uncertainly. "The characters danced in the party in that book I once read. It was a big party, a 'Ball', and the characters were actually all superspies trying to out-spy the other."

"Yes!" Rainbow Dash yelled.

"Ok." Silver said, and raised his right hoof forwards as if holding the shoulders of an invisible partner and began dancing around the room, performing a typical two-person ballroom dance even though he had no dancing partner. His movements were precise and fluid, but with no partner he just looked incredibly lonely. Not that he seemed to notice.

"No, like this!" Pinkie declared, dancing in a far more cheerful manner. He watched and copied, dancing in exactly the same manner as she was dancing, smiling at how fun this was feeling.

When the song was over, he went over to the table, horn aglow as he took one of everything, floated them closer to his mouth, and ate each one in order, surprised at just how great the food tasted. However, he didn't touch the cake just yet. "This food is delicious!" He declared.

He then trotted over to Twilight. "Hello." He said. "My name, is Silver Star.

"Hello." She responded. "My name, is Twilight Sparkle."

"So... Are you a real Alicorn?" Silver asked.

"Yes, I am." Twilight said, not expecting that to be the first thing he'd say.

"Cool." Silver said.

And then he suddenly dropped the cool mask. "You. Are. AWESOME!" He cheered. "I haven't heard much about you, so we'll have to share stories of AWESOMENESS later. Hey, you went to Celestia's School, right?"

"Yes." Twilight said, not expecting that question.

"I went to Duel Academy." Silver admitted.

"Oh." Twilight said, suspecting that she knew where she was going. With rueful resignation, she asked, "Are you going to challenge me to a Magic Duel now?"

"No, this is a party. It might be considered rude to start an epic magical duel here. I think." Silver said. "Besides, I've never been that into the whole 'CS VS DA' rivalry."

"Oh." Twilight said, pleasantly surprised.

"Besides, if the stories about your power are true, a fight between us would probably end up tearing a hole in space and time unless we negotiated ahead of time which spells we can and cannot use." Silver admitted. "Anyhoof, I'm new in town, and I was thinking of staying for a few months. Maybe more, I'm not sure yet. Um... don't tell anypony this, but- Actually, could you set up a Silencing Shell? Preferably opaque?"

"We don't really need one, but okay." Twilight said, casting the spell and creating a large purple semicircular shell around them both.

Silver stared at her long, powerful horn admiringly, able to sense her magical strength from here. "Such... Power..." Silver whispered in awe, eyes wide as he unconsciously licked his lips.

"My eyes are down here." Twilight said flatly.

"Right, right. Sorry." Silver said, embarassed. "Well, the thing is... I heard making friends made you grow into a better pony. Literally and metaphorically, and I'd like that to happen to me. Not for Alicornification reasons - I don't need wings, even if yours are beautiful - but I... I, uh... You... You seem happy. Really happy. Happier than I've ever seen you. And I know it sounds stupid when I say it out loud, but... I want to be happy. And I want to be a better pony, too."

"Well, it's great that you're willing to take the first step." Twilight said. "But... I'm sorry, I can't say I remember you."

"I'd be surprised if you did. Remember that time Duel Academy pulled that spectacularly complex heistlike plan, with TPing Celestia's School as the end result?" Silver asked.

"You did that?" Twilight asked, shocked.

"No, my study group and I watched the fail-fest with a viewing crystal far, far away from the place, in Passionfruit's room." Silver admitted, smiling at the memory. "I set up a betting pool on which parts of the needlessly circuitous but still pretty cool plan would work, which would fail, and whether they'd actually succeed in the end or not. You could also bet on the specific reactions of individual ponies upon seeing said TP, even though I doubt anypony in my group had sufficient data to make such a prediction. To their credit, only vague and sweeping group bets were made: Less than two ponies will drop their jaws in shock, at least one Unicorn will incinerate the paper, rather than disintegrating it, at least one will say something amusing, one will swear revenge and another will quickly disagree and insist that revenge is bad, one will swear revenge and the majority will agree to let the papers fly in retaliation, and so on. I made a lot of money that day. And laughed a lot. Blue's squad is not made for heists."

"Well, that's... nice." Twilight said uncertainly. She then remembered her old friends from Canterlot, and asked, "Do you still keep in touch with your study group?"

Silver hesitated. "Uh... No. Sorry. We don't really... get along... too well- they hate me. I... made an error." Silver admitted, his head lowering in shame. "It was... quite stupid of me, really. I made an error, and they all hate me for it. And so they should."

"Hey..." Twilight said, putting a hoof on his shoulder. He first reflexively looked at it in confusion, and then looked into her eyes, surprised at what he saw in them. "It's alright to make mistakes." She said soothingly, understandingly, compassionately. "We all make mistakes sometimes. Nopony's perfect, not even an Alicorn. What matters is that you apologize to anypony the mistake hurt, and make sure you learn from it."

He suddenly hugged her, to her clear surprise. "Thank you." He whispered.

He then pulled away, blushing a little as he realized what he'd just done. "I mean, um... Thank you for the sage advice, and, uh... I wish you success in the future! Yep."

She lowered her spellshield, and noticed that the music player had been stopped and several ponies around the room were staring at the two. Twilight began to think of something to say, but Silver already had the perfect story thought up.

"Secret Princess stuff." Silver said offhoovedly, wandering towards the snacks table as his magic caused the music player to continue, exuding a 'It is a secret. You will never know about it, and so it is not worth thinking about. My body language makds it clear that it wasn't anything threatening or particularly important.' with every step. It worked, and the ponies shrugged and resumed talking amongst themselves.

He ate four pieces of vanilla cake, seven of chocolate, four pink bubblegum-flavouring-flavoured cakes, four yellow melon-flavoured ones, four blue blueberry-flavoured ones, and five purple ones that tasted like mixed berries.

When it came time to cut the cake, Twilight cast a spell to make the cake grow in size, and then Pinkie cut out a large quarter for the guest of honour, and then she cut smaller pieces for everypony else, the slices perfectly-divided.

The party went on until midnight, though many ponies started to leave in the evening and more left just before midnight. When the clock reached midnight, AJ whispered something to Pinkie, and she rushed over to the music player to stop it and announce, "Party's over, everypony! I had a wonderful time, and I'd love to see you all again soon!"

As the others started to leave, Silver teleported a few feet to the side of Pinkie and smiled. "This was a wonderful party, Pinkie. I really enjoyed it, and the food was great. Did you make it?"

"Yep!" Pinkie said happily. "Mr and Mrs Cake made some of the stuff, too, but I made most of it myself, since I usually make the party stuff myself. Did you like it?"

"I loved it!" Silver said happily. "You are the greatest pastry chef I have ever met!"

"Really?" Pinkie asked in surprise.

"Yep!" Silver said happily. "I had a great time, and I'd love to party with you again."

Pinkie suddenly grabbed him for a tight hug, and Silver hugged back, a genuine smile on his face.

"I've gotta go. Goodnight, Silvie!" Pinkie said, bouncing away.

"'Silvie'?" Silver asked, amused, as he left the barn and started walking to Town Hall, his mind analyzing the town and determining where Town Hall was likely to be.

And as Silver walked on, he started to realize that he was going to really like this town.