New Pony In Town

Applejack trotted happily along the path. It was a reasonable day – not too many clouds about*

* The weather pegasi continually insisted that, given the way the excess weather kept rolling out of the Everfree, Ponyville was lucky to get weather at all

and Celestia's sun shining brightly. The squirrel infestation in the east orchard seemed to be on the decline and, best of all, the old run-down cottage near the Everfree Forest had finally found a tenant. A pegasus, named Fluttershy.

Presumably, it was this tenant who suddenly thrust her face in Applejack's path; a sky-blue pegasus face that Applejack had never seen before.

“What're you doing here?” asked the stranger, belligerently. But Applejack's mood was too good to be brought down this morning.

“Ah'm jus' on mah way to visit the new neighbours,” she said. “Also to collect the first month's rent. Ah take it you're Fluttershy? My name's Applejack.”

The rainbow-maned pegasus held the glare for just a moment before letting out a snicker. “Me? You think I'm Fluttershy?”

“Well,” mused Applejack. “Ah'm rentin' out the cottage at the end of this road to a pegasus, named Fluttershy, that Ah ain't never seen before. An' on this road, Ah meet a pegasus Ah ain't never seen before, so either you're Fluttershy, or you're livin' in the Everfree, and there ain't nopony crazy enough to live in the Everfree.”

The pegasus considered that for a moment, and then asked “But what if I'm living someplace else?”

“There ain't noplace else along this road,” pointed out Applejack.

“And what's that, then?”

Applejack looked in the indicated direction. “That's a clou- is that a house on there?” It looked like a piece of Cloudsdale had been broken off, a huge mansion, complete with rainbow fountains and at least three storeys tall, and come to an improbable halt directly above the newly rented cottage.

“The name's Rainbow Dash,” said the pegasus, proudly, “and that's my place.”

“Well, that's all kinds o' convenient. You movin' into town?”

“Nah, I'm just staying for a week or two to help Flutters settle in. She's kinda shy, you know.”

“Really? Well, good on ya, then. So Ah take it Fluttershy's moved in okay?”

“Eh.” Rainbow held out one hoof and waggled it. “Kinda-sorta. Moving into a ground-house is weird, you know? You gotta box all your stuff up and then unbox it all on the other end. Cloud houses are way easier, you just shove the house where you wanna go and you're there. It's way better.”

“Yeah, Ah can see the advantages.” Applejack raised a hoof and rapped on the cottage door. “So you're keepin' an eye on the road?”

Rainbow shrugged. “Flutters is kinda shy,” she pointed out. “I didn't want her smothered under a massive pile of ponies all coming to visit on her first day on the ground.”

“I see,” said Applejack. “Is she in? She don't seem t' be answering...”

“She should be,” said Rainbow, uncertainly. “HOY, FLUTTERS! SOME MARE'S COME ABOUT THE RENT!”

Applejack frowned. “'Some mare'?” she asked.

“Hey, you want me to remember your name, you gotta be awesome enough.” shrugged Rainbow Dash.

The upper half of the door creaked open, and the tip of a butter-yellow hoof holding a small bag of bits hesitantly emerged. The bag of bits dropped, the hoof vanished back inside with startling speed, and the door slammed shut.

Applejack stared. “A little bit shy, you said.”

Rainbow shrugged. “Weeeeell...”

“Ah reckon it's gonna take a lot longer than a 'week or two' for a mare that skittish to settle in properly.”

“Yeah, I might be around for a month, even,” agreed Rainbow.

“Ah was gonna invite her to the Apple family reunion next week,” said Applejack, “but now Ah reckon maybe that ain't gonna work out all too well?”

Rainbow shook her head. “No way,” she said. “Ten new people at once? Flutters will find someplace to hide and you'll never see a sign of her. But if you wanna invite her to something... you got any animals?”

Applejack stared. “Errrr... there's Winona...”

“Great. Well, then, what you do is, you get a few ponies – say, three, maximum four – and you get this 'winona' – say, winonas aren't dangerous, aren't they?”

“She's a dog.”

“Right, well, if you really want her to visit, you take your winona or dog or whatever, and you tell her it'll be there, and she'll come by to see it.”

“Sure,” said Applejack. “Ah'll do that. Jus' as soon as Ah can talk to 'er long enough to deliver the message.” She gave the firmly shut door a Look.

“Ah. Right. How about I pass this one on for you? Tomorrow lunchtime good?”

“Yeah, that'll be okay. You're invited, too, if you like.”

“Ehhhh, I'm not all that interested in winonas. I'm prob'ly gonna be doing some awesome stunt flying, anyway.”