The Stallion and the Mare

"Ah, finally made it!" John Darkblaze says to himself as he passes by a sign marking the border of Ponyville. He had been traveling for months on end since he left his home in Vanhoover to make a name for himself, eventually settling for a small property in the outskirts of Ponyville to call home. It had been a struggle, but coming from a farming family, he was accustomed to the hard work required to cross Equestria.

"Can't wait to rest my legs for a little while; how about you, Shiloh?" John asks his small tabby cat, who is currently sleeping on top of his loaded cart. John found Shiloh in an alleyway in Las Pegasus, cold and lonely; being a cat-lover at heart, John couldn't leave him there, so he decided to adopt him and name him after one of his favorite foalhood stories. The pair has been inseparable ever since that fateful day.

John trots along the path until he spots the shack where he plans to set up shop. He barely makes it over the crest of the hill, however, when he is suddenly bombarded from behind by an unseen force. His cart and belongings fly everywhere, and John finds himself entangled with a blue mare with a rainbow mane.

"Oh my goodness, sorry!" The mare says, getting up quicker than he and gasping, "I didn't mean for this to happen, I didn't see you there!"

"Urgh, that's alright," John groans as he stands up, "No harm done." He suddenly hears shouting and sees five more ponies galloping towards them.

"Rainbow Dash! Look at what you've done!" an orange mare with a brown cowboy hat exclaims.

"Knocking this poor stallion over," a pure white unicorn chimes in, "He probably never even saw it coming!"

"I'm sorry about our friend," a lavender alicorn apologizes, "One of her flying tricks went a little awry."

"Ladies, it's alright. I'm fine, really," John says, "I'm sure your friend couldn't help it. My name's John, by the way. john Darkblaze," he adds, introducing himself.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you," the lavender alicorn says, "My name's Twilight Sparkle, and this is Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, as you already know, and - wait, where's Pinkie?"

"Wow Rainbow Dash!" a pink mare with frizzy hair jumps out from behind the others, "That was an incredible failure, but you almost had it!" She suddenly pulls a large cannon out of seemingly nowhere and fires it off, spraying confetti everywhere and scaring Shiloh straight up a tree.

"Pinkie!" Rarity scolds, "Can't you contain yourself for two seconds?"

"Sorry," Pinkie Pie says innocently.

"Oh dear! The poor thing," Fluttershy exclaims, looking up at Shiloh, "I'll get him for you."

"No, it's okay, I can get him," John says, reaching around to press a button on his backpack, which reveals a pair of homemade mechanical wings. The other ponies stare in awe as John gently flies up and grabs his pet out of the tree. When he returns his wings to the pack, he realizes everypony is staring at him.

"Where in Equestria did those come from?!" Rarity asks, bewildered.

"What? Oh, my wings?" John asks nonchalantly, "I made them."

"Why would an Earth pony like you want to fly like a pegasus?" Rainbow Dash asks.

"I don't know," John responds, "I've always liked flying, and I'm pretty good with mechanics, so one day I decided I wanted to be able to fly."

The other ponies continue to stare, unsure of what to say. Twilight, however, was eying John's backpack with earnest, "Well, I think it's a brilliant notion. I'm a rather habitual science aficionado, myself," she adds, blushing at herself.

"Ain't that the understatement of the century," Applejack whispers to Rarity, who reciprocates a few giggles.

"Well, we'd hate to leave you without helping to clean up Rainbow's mess," Twilight continues, oblivious to Applejacks' comment.

"No, you girls get on your way," john says politely, "I'll be fine, my house is right over there."

"Your. . .house?" Rarity asks, looking over at the shack.

"Well, it's going to be part house, part workshop," John says proudly, "Hey, would you ladies like to come by and check it out tomorrow? I should have everything set up by then."

"I don't see why not," Twilight says, as the others agree, "We'd love to stop by tomorrow!"

"Okay, see you then!" John says farewell to the mares as he gathers up his belongings and Shiloh and makes his way inside his home.

"They seem rather nice, don't you think, Shiloh?" John asks his cat, who meows in reply. "Although, that Rainbow Dash was giving me a rather strange look the whole time. . ." John ponders before getting to work arranging his things.

* * * *

The next day, John tidies his house/workshop up, anticipating a visit from the mares he met the other day. Sure enough, he soon hears a knock at his door, and standing on the other side are the six mares; he welcomes them inside, "Hello everypony. Welcome to Darkblaze Metal-Workings! I know, it's a working title."

The ponies return the greeting and begin looking around the shop, admiring the craft of John's machines and devices.

"What are all of these things?" Applejack asks curiously.

"They're my own inventions," John explains, "I made all of these to help ponies with seemingly mundane yet challenging tasks. For example," he picks up a device that gives the appearance of a high-tech saddle, "this is my patented design to support ponies with bad backs; the curve here conforms to the spine and gently eases the tension created by common back problems."

"Neat!" Applejack says, impressed, "Lord knows ol' Granny could use somethin' like that."

"Although I'm more of a fabric fashionista at heart," Rarity begins to say, "The craft and work put into these devices is truly magnificent in their own way. Wherever did you find your inspiration?" she adds.

"Well, I grew up on a farm in Vanhoover," John tells his backstory, "and my father's farming techniques were - outdated, to say the least. One day, he broke his plow, so rather than going all the way into town for a new one, I decided to make my own, automated plow for him that could harvest wheat in half the time!"

"Wow, that's incredible," Fluttershy squeaks.

"Thank you," John says, "Since then, I've been inventing on the side of my metal-working business for years."

"Let me ask you something," Rainbow Dash suddenly says, giving John a quizzical look, "If you're this great inventor, then why are you wasting your time taking care of a blacksmith shop?"

"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity exclaims, "There's no need for such rudeness."

"It's alright, it's a fair question," John says humbly, "Truth be told, my designs haven't been picked up by any major firm, mostly because there aren't a lot of ponies that will accept technology in their lives, which I think is wrong. My technology doesn't harm anypony, it helps improve their day-to-day lives. Also," he looks around his shop, "my designs aren't really corporate material."

"Oh, don't be so modest, I think they're amazing," Twilight says, and everypony crowds around John asking more questions about his inventions. No pony notices Rainbow Dash, who slinks out of the shop, her head down and feeling very forlorn.