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.”
A meek yellow pegasus trotted nervously along the road into Ponyville. She wasn't looking forward to facing the crowds, but she did need to go and get something important, something she couldn't really ask Rainbow to -
“Oh, hi! What's your name? My name's Pinkie Pie! Are you new in town? You gotta be new! Cause I know everypony and I mean everypony in Ponyville and I don't know you? Do you live in that cloud house? I saw it arriving earlier today! Who was that blue pegasus who was helping you push it? Friend of yours?”
“Eep!” squeaked Fluttershy, backing away.
“You don't talk much, do you?” asked Pinkie, stepping forward right into Fluttershy's personal space*.
*To be fair, Fluttershy's personal space extended several times as far as most pony's personal space did
“That's okay, I talk too much anyway, so it evens out, right? What sort of cake do you want at your welcome party? I do welcome parties for everypony new! Chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, red velvet, yellow velvet, pink velvet, orange, apple, carrot? Or would you prefer a different sort of cake? I can even do an ice-cream cake, if you want?”
“Squeak!” eeped Fluttershy, backing away more rapidly. Fortunately, her discomfort was finally noticed, and an angel with blue wings descended to save her.
“Hey!” said Rainbow, dropping to hover between Pinkie and Fluttershy. “Back off!”
“Ooooh, you're the other new pony! My name's Pinkie Pie! What sort of cake do you want at your welcome party? I've got all sorts of cake! Cupcakes, layer cakes, wedding cakes – that's not really suitable for a welcome party, though – pink cakes, purple cakes, orange cakes, even rainbow cakes...”
With a grateful glance at Rainbow, Fluttershy trotted rapidly away from the overly welcoming pink mare. She found herself hoping that none of the other ponies in town would be quite so... overbearingly welcoming.
* * *
Fluttershy had gone right around Ponyville three times. She had observed – from a safe distance – every single stall in the market, and has ascertained that none of them had what she needed.
There was, however, one building which most manifestly did sell cupcakes. A building that looked almost cakelike itself – ponies would walk in, and some of them would walk out holding cupcakes, so Fluttershy was quite sure that cupcakes could be obtained inside.
The problem was, behind the counter stood the aggressively friendly pink mare from earlier. She saw Fluttershy cautiously peering in through the doorway from across the street, and waved* again.
*This was a process involving both forelegs and a lot of jumping up and down. Fluttershy wasn't quite sure how the pink pony could do all that and keep her balance without wings.
Fluttershy squeaked nervously and ducked back out of sight... again.
“Darling, are you quite alright?”
“Eeep!” squeaked Fluttershy, looking around for the source of the voice.
A white unicorn mare smiled at her. The mare's purple mane was meticulously styled, not a hair out of place, and her smile was friendly, welcoming, and just a little concerned.
“Oh, my,” said the mare. “I do apologise, darling, I didn't intend to startle you. But you've been just standing there for the last twenty minutes, and I thought perhaps you could use a helping hoof...”
“mumble” mumbled Fluttershy into her mane, digging nervously at the road with one hoof.
The unicorn looked at her for a long moment, as if waiting for her to say anything else, but when it became clear that there wasn't going to be anything else, she continued speaking. “Well, say no more, darling, I know precisely what you need. Come along, my treat.” Accepting no argument, she marched off towards the spa, Fluttershy in tow.
* * *
Over the following forty minutes, Fluttershy heard about more-or-less a dozen stallions who were currently “without a special somepony, darling”. She learned her companion's name (Rarity) and profession (dressmaker). She learned that a spa treatment was really very pleasant and that, as long as you nod and smile, there are some ponies who really don't mind in the least if you don't say a single word for a full forty minutes.
“...and there we go, darling, you look absolutely gorgeous. Now, if I might be so bold, might I ask just who it was that you were so nervous about confronting in Sugarcube Corner?”
“Oh. I don't know her name,” Fluttershy whispered into her newly-combed mane.
“Her?” asked Rarity, raising an eyebrow.
“The pink mare. Behind the counter.”
“Ah, Pinkie Pie?”
“I wanted to get a cupcake.” said Fluttershy. “But she talked to me earlier and she's just so, so...”
“Oh, yes, quite. Pinkie Pie can be somewhat... overwhelming at first. But I promise you, she never means any harm.”
“I'm sure she doesn't. She's just, well, um... loud.”
“Quite, that she most certainly is. Well, then, darling, in that case... I'll tell you what. I shall go in and get you a cupcake.”
“Thank you.”
“My pleasure darling. But if I may ask one last thing – what is your name?”
“Oh, um, I'm... Fluttershy.”
“Well, I am very pleased to meet you, Fluttershy. If you'll just wait here a moment...”
“Um, okay.”
With one final understanding smile, Rarity trotted into Sugarcube Corner. “Pinkie, darling, what did you do to that poor pegasus? You seem to have quite traumatised her.”
“Oh! The yellow one? She's nice! She's new but she's kinda quiet. I said hello earlier, and then she was standing outside Sugarcube Corner for a while, but I don't think she really wanted to come in 'cos every time I waved at her she hid away again, and what does 'traumatised' mean?”
“Scared, darling.”
Pinkie gasped. “But – but I'm not scary!”
“I think you still owe her an apology, Pinkie. But not just yet. Later. Right now, I'd like a cupcake, please.”
“Okie-dokie-lokie!”
* * *
It was evening when Fluttershy finally knocked on the door of Rainbow's cloud house. “Hey, Flutters! What's up?”
Fluttershy held out the cupcake between her forelegs, a single lit candle placed neatly in the centre.
“Happy birthday, Rainbow.” she said.