Sanity not included

-Ponyville-

* 7:30, Edge of Everfree Forest*

I jolted awake. Being unfamiliar with my surroundings and not seeing Crimson, I grew worried and called out to her, "Crimson! Where are you?!"

"Calm down, Quill. I'm right here," a voice said behind me.

"Holy bit!" I yelled, startled, as I turned around. "Don't do that!"

She chuckled, "Oh get over it, you cryfilly." She stuck her tongue out at me.

"Whatever, where were you?" I asked.

"Oh, I was looking for food while you slept in."

"Hey! You should have woken me. That manticore could have come back looking for us!"

"Ok. Sure. Anyways, I found a few apple trees and brought back some apples. Want some?" she said while opening her saddlebags.

"Nah, I'm fi-", a loud growling sound was heard. She looked at me with a 'Sure, okay' face.

"Actually, on second thought, I'll take one."

She smiled and hoofed me an apple. "You know, you really should start eating more."

I waved a dismissing hoof at her, eating was the priority at the moment.

She sat down, pulling another apple out, and began eating as well.

* 30 minutes later *

"Okay, which way now?" I said.

"Well, the map says that we're on the Ponyville side of the Everfree Forest. We're almost out." she explained, showing me the map for proof.

"Finally! I thought we would never find our way out of that Celestia-damned place!"

She looked at me, suprised. "What? I don't like forests." I defended.

"Whatever, if we keep going straight, we should be out in a few minutes."

"Lets go!" I said as I galloped forward.

* 5 minutes later *

"Explain to me exactly HOW you managed to get yourself 10 feet up a tree, tangled in a thorn bush," Crimson asked.

"I don't wanna talk about it." I had vowed to tell nopony about how I had managed it. "Hey!" I said, "Who owns that house?" I pointed to a small shack close to the forest.

"I don't know, lets go say hi!" She said as she galloped to the door and knocked three times.

"One moment!" A voice said from the back of the shack.

I caught up to Crimson and looked at her like she was crazy. "Are you insane?! You don't even know them!"

"It's going to be fine, stop worrying so much!" She said as the door opened.

"Hello! How are you? My name is Calm Inferno." said a rusty red stallion about my height with a spiky red and yellow mane.

"Hi!" said Crimson. "I'm Crimson Venture and this is my friend Brilliant Quill. We're new in town and was wondering where we could get a house."

"Oh, thats easy. Just go to the town hall in the middle of Ponyville and talk to Mayor Mare. She can get you set up quickly. You do need about 275 bits though."

"Aargh! We only brought 75. I told you we should have brought more Crimson!" I said.

"Well sorry! I only had so much time before you would have gotten impatient and left without me."

"Hey, don't fight. You can stay with me for a while until you can get your own house and move out."

"Really?!" me and Crimson shouted. "Whats with the sudden offer?"

"Well, I was the same way once, new in town and no where to go. Until Twilight let me stay with her until I was back on my hooves and had a home. Guess now I can do it for somepony else."

"Well thanks!" I said. "Where will we be sleeping?"

"Oh! I forgot! Here, come in, come in," Inferno said, stepping aside.

We walked in, looking around. There was a couch and an end table in front of the fire place to the left of the door. To the right, there was a table and some chairs situated around it. Beyond that, was the kitchen. A stove and oven, counter tops on both sides, a fridge across from the oven and various appliances and cooking utensils on the counter accompanied by a sink. Straight across from the door was a staircase, the rooms were presumably on the second floor.

"C'mon, come see your room."

"What?! Only one?" Crimson said.

"Well, yeah. I mean, I don't live in a mansion, you know."

"Are there at least two beds?" she asked.

"Well, yeah, but one is-"

"Doesn't matter, it'll work"

"Ok, I'm gonna look around town, see if I can get a job," I said

"That's fine, just look out for a pink mare with a poofy mane. She tends to like parties a bit too much," Inferno informed me.

"Will do!" I said as I walked out the door.

'Okay, so Ponyville should be....that way,' I thought as I turned to the very obvious path to my right. As I walked along, I contemplated how I should tell Crimson that I like her. That is, until a speeding blue blur decided to crash headlong into me. "Ow! Buck! What was that for?"

"Sorry, sorry, I didn't see you there," the mare said as she stood up.

"Its fine," I said as I picked myself off of the ground to see a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail with a cloud and lightning bolt cutie mark. "Who're you?"

"You haven't heard of me? I'm Rainbow Dash! Fastest pegasus in Equestria and winner of the Junior Speedsters competition!" she said.

"Really? Awesome I heard that you pulled off a sonic rainboom! I thought that they were just an old ponies tale."

"Yes! It's all true."

"Awesome, but I need to get to town to look for a job."

"Oh...Ok then, maybe I'll see you around." Rainbow said, looking slightly sad.

"Yeah, maybe," I said, already walking away.

'Ok. Distractions aside, I finally made it to Ponyville!' I continued my inner dialogue when I suddenly saw a hint of neon pink bouncing along the path from Ponyville to the Everfree Forest.

'Wait....Didn't Inferno say to avoid a pink mare with a curly mane? Something about a suprise party?' As I was trying to remember I looked up and saw that she was right in front of me.

"AHHHHH!" I yelled in terror.

"AHHH!" she yelled back, seemingly not phased. "WHY ARE WE SCREAMING?" she asked me.

"Don't sneak up on me like that!" I said, not happy at nearly having a heart attack.

"Silly, I didn't sneak up on you, I walked!

"Thats not what I meant!"

"Then what did you mean?" she said looking at me intensely.

"Well, I-" I started to say before I was oh so rudely interrupted by a loud gasp.

"OOH! Are you new to Ponyville?" She asked, suddenly becoming very hyper.

"Uhm...yes? I answered.

"Yay! A new pony! I know everypony in Ponyville! And Since I don't know you, that must mean that you're new! Which means that I need to throw you a 'Welcome to Ponyvill party'!" she said, mysteriously never taking a breath.

"Uhh...No thanks, I dont really need..." I trailed off as I realised that I was alone."Great, just great, I do the one thing that Inferno tells me NOT to do." 'Oh well, guess I'll just head into town.' I thought as I continued my journey.