“Well that’s an interestin’ tale there young’uns, and I’m sure we all agree that y’all are welcome to stay in the barn ‘till y’all either get back to your home, or ya find a place of yer own here in Ponyville, in exchange fer a little work on tha farm, right Apples?” The oldest mare in the room, Granny Smith, asked her fellow kin. They all nodded in agreement, having all listened to their story. Jaune was the only one who was actually somewhat content with the arrangement, his grandparents might not have had an apple orchard, but he figured some semblance of normalcy would be good for him at the moment.

The others however, accepted purely for having no other choice, (And Nora because of Ren.). Ruby did thank them profusely, but even she wasn’t too thrilled about staying in a barn. She took it with decent grace though, leading her team in following Applejack to their temporary accommodations.

“Now I know it ain’t much to y’all, but it’s warm in here at night, and that’s better than sleeping outside, right?” Applejack said optimistically as she led them into the barn. Ruby looked around with a small, possibly fake, smile as she took in the bales of hay, apple barrels, and wooden floors.

“It’s great, Applejack” Ruby said with a forced smile, she wasn’t happy with it, but she could make it work, if her team- old team, had made their beds at Beacon into bunk beds, she could manage something comfy with hay, tarps, and barrels! Applejack simply smiled back at her as these thoughts ran through her head, and said she would be willing to show them around Ponyville when she got done with her chores, and to get settled in while she did them.

“You’ll be starting out tomorrow!” She said cheerily as she headed out the door, shutting it behind her.

“Well, let’s get started!” Ruby said as she began pulling out tarps. Nora cocked her head sideways.

“What are we doing?” She asked curiously.

Applejack came back a few hours later, not really expecting them to still be in the barn, after all, it was just a barn. Still, when she pulled open the door, she saw something she didn’t expect.

The barn was still mostly the same, except for the loft in the back, it had been transformed completely, and looked almost nothing like it did when Applejack had gone to finish her chores.

The tarps they folded in the corner were now hanging from ropes in the rafters, and stuffed with hay covered by tightly tucked blankets, the barrels and boxes had been pushed to one corner of the loft, and the four of them were standing there in front of Applejack, a sheepish look on Ruby and Jaune’s faces, contrasted by the toothy grin from Nora, which was once again contrasted by the stoic look on Ren’s. Surprisingly, it was Ren who spoke.

“I told them not to do this much.” He said shortly, and that was as much as she’d heard from him since he’d gotten here. Honestly, she thought the poor boy was mute ‘till just now.

Applejack let Ruby and Jaune suffer her critical look for a couple more seconds before it turned into a wide smile. “Well shoot, sugarcubes, I think it’s perfectly fine the way it is!” She shook her head and looked at them all in turn. “Can’t expect a pon...person, to sleep on the cold hard ground after all, even if it is in a barn!” She looked up at the hammocks, “Careful though, Rainbow might come by and steal one of y’all’s bed for an afternoon nap!” Team RNJR took a collective breath of relief and smiled at Applejack, well, Nora smiled wider. The mare turned towards the door and beckoned them after her.

“Come on y’all, since you’re gonna be stuck here for the next few days at least, let’s introduce ya to Ponyville so the folk down there ain’t too scared of ya.” The humans looked at each other, and with a shrug, followed her out of the barn and yanked out their weapons at the sound of an inhumane (‘Inequine?’ Ruby thought to herself) growl. This action caused Applejack to chuckle sheepishly.

“Right after we grab some lunch.” She said, causing the team to follow her to the farmhouse for a late lunch.

After a small lunch of far too many apple themed things in Ruby’s opinion, and they had found out that Qrow had abandoned them to making the barn livable under the guise of “intel gathering”, they were well on their way to Ponyville when they were delayed once again as Rainbow Dash landed proudly in front of them.

“Hey you guys, what’s up?” She asked, trying to look bored, although the twitch in her tail belied her excitement. Applejack smiled at her friend as she answered.

“I’m just takin’ these four down to Ponyville, introducin’ ‘em to the townsponies. Y’all wanna come along, Rainbow?” She asked, causing the pegasus to nod excitedly as she hovered in the air, level with Ruby’s head.

“Sure, I’ve already got the weather set for today, so c’mon, let’s go!” Rainbow replied, flying next to her human friends as they resumed their walk towards Ponyville. Ren raised an eyebrow (inwardly of course) at the phrasing of her sentence and and looked at her questioningly.

“You set the weather?” He asked, curiosity edging into his voice. Rainbow and Applejack both looked at the four humans with curious expressions.

“Yeah, of course! The weather doesn’t just do itself, y’know?” Rainbow said sarcastically, causing the four of them to look even more confused. “What? Are you telling me that the weather does do itself where you’re from?” The four of them nodded. Rainbow shook her head, “You people are so weird.” She said with a shake of head, Applejack nodding sagely along with her.

They had been walking towards Ponyville the entire time this conversation was taking place, and by the time team RNJR had accepted the fact that Pegasi basically controlled all the weather in Equestria, they’d finally entered the town,

As they walked, the humans couldn’t help but notice that the ponies seemed rather timid around them, the way would stop and stare at them, and seemed to be deciding whether or not they should run and hide in their houses. Although, they did notice that the presence of Rainbow Dash and Applejack caused them to warily watch them, and a few braver ponies to wave at them, which team RNJR returned, some with more gusto than others. Even though some of the ponies would wave as they passed, none of them seemed to muster up enough courage to introduce themselves, prompting the two ponies escorting them to name them as they passed.

“That pegasus is Blossomforth, she’s a member of the weather team, and right next to her is Thunderlane, WHO’S SUPPOSED TO BE MOVING CLOUDS OVER SWEET APPLE ACRES RIGHT NOW!” Rainbow Dash said as they passed a light pink mare with a watermelon colored mane, and a black pegasus stallion with a blue-silver mane. Clearly Rainbow’s irritation with the stallion must have been long standing as she glared at him until he disappeared in the direction of the apple farm. Applejack snickered behind her hoof along with Blossomforth at this, and continued to lead them through town.

“That over there with the blue and pink mane is Bon Bon, she runs a sweet shop, and that mint green mare right next to her is Lyra Heartstrings..” she was cut off by Lyra fainting in surprise as she pointed at the four humans. “Well, uh, I guess we’ll have to introduce y’all later..” Applejack said sheepishly as they shuffled off past the cafe the two mares had been eating at. “Now comin’ up here on the right is Sugarcube Cor-” Applejack was interrupted at this point however by a very pink pony who had just popped her head through the open top half of the bakery’s door, who proceeded to do an extremely loud gasp.

“New friends!” She said excitedly, somehow managing to go from the door of the bakery to hopping around the four humans in less time than it took any of them to blink. “I’m Pinkie Pie! What’re your names!?” Pinkie Pie seemed more interested in befriending the four people it seemed, rather than noticing they weren’t ponies.

Nora grinned wider than Ren had seen since Pyrrha’s death, he inwardly groaned, he could feel the migraine from these two combined settling in already.

“Hi there! I’m Nora! We’re humans from a place called Remnant, it’s a place full of nasty mean monsters that wanna kill all the humans, called Grimm! But we’re Huntsmen and Huntresses, so it’s our job to defeat them and keep everyone safe!” She explained excitedly, and very, very fast.

Pinkie however, seemed to think this was a perfectly acceptable speed of conversation of picked up the line of conversation immediately. “Ooh! Ooh! That sounds so cool, but scary! I mean, there’s monsters here and all, but they normally stay in the Everfree Forest! That’s the big scary forest on the outskirts of town, it’s full of unnatural and scary stuff! I’m Ponyville’s resident party pony! I work at Sugarcube Corner with Mister and Mrs. Cake! They’re the best bakers in Ponyville, you have to come over sometime!” The mare said, matching speed with Nora flawlessly, she took a deep breath, and then began to bombard them with questions.

“So what are your names? What’s your favorite food? Mine’s cupcakes!” Pinkie stopped for a moment to drool slightly ”What’re your favorite colors? Mine’s pink, it’s the best color ever! Where are you staying? Are you all planning to stay in Ponyville for long? It’s been a reaaaaaaaaaalllllyyyyyyyyyy long time since someone new came to Ponyville! Matilda, she’s a donkey, moved here six months ago!” Pinkie seemed to be vibrating with excitement, and Applejack and Rainbow had long suffering looks on their faces that seemed to indicate that this was a rather common occurrence. The humans on the other hand, looked slightly dumbstruck at someone who seemed to give Nora a run for her money. This was followed by Nora picking right up where Pinkie left off, answering her questions at the same speed.

“That’s Ruby, and that’s Jaune, they’re like team RNJR’s Co-leaders! This one is Ren!” Nora seemingly teleported onto her best friend’s back. “My favorite food is pancakes! They’re the best thing ever! Especially when Ren makes them! He adds this stuff to the batter, but will never tell me what it is for some reason, and they taste heavenly!” She seemed to be fantasizing about her friend’s pancakes at the moment, as it took Ren calmly waving his hand in front of her face causing Nora to continue. “Anyways! We’re staying with Applejack’s family until next week when your Princess horsey comes here, so we can get back home!” Nora jumped in the air, smiling manically at Pinkie, whose grin was stretched further than anyone had thought possible. Pinkie walked over to Nora and put one of her forelegs around her shoulders, patting her arm with a free hoof.

“Nora, you and me, we’re gonna be best friends.” She said calmly and soberly, though the feeling was ruined when Pinkie’s expression went back to her natural bubbliness. “I’ve gotta go new friends! I’ll see you guys later, I’ve got a party to set up!” With that, the pink pony hopped off, humming happily as she bounced down the street. Jaune put his head in his hands and groaned theatrically.

“What’s wrong sugarcube?” Applejack asked, a tinge of concern in her voice. Jaune looked up at them despairingly.

“There are two of them!” He groaned, Ren nodding his head sympathetically, his hand on Jaune’s shoulder in a silent show of support.

Nora however, didn’t seem to notice, and let out an excited squeal. “I know, right?! Isn’t it great?”

Jaune shuddered in response.

After their...interesting…meeting with Pinkie Pie, Applejack led them through town, pointing out different ponies she knew as they passed them. Ruby found herself in awe of how normal the town seemed for a world full of ponies. She did however find the ponies’ names amusing from how accurate they were in relation to their jobs, like Roseluck ,Daisy Chain, and Lily Valley who ran one of the town’s flower stores, to how well they related to the respective pony’s personality, like with Ditzy “Derpy” Doo.

Overall, it seemed just like being home in Patch before she went to Beacon, but with ponies, which to Ruby, made it even better! She wished that Yang was here to see this, she’d have so much fun, not to mention the puns she’d make. Ruby cringed, maybe it was good Yang wasn’t here…

She quickly crushed the depressing sadness that welled up inside her once more and waved at a pony with three carrots as her cutie mark that Applejack had introduced as Golden Harvest, or Carrot Top to her friends. They walked all through the little, town meeting all sorts of ponies before they came up on a building that looked like a Carousel, Applejack led them inside, a little bell above the door announcing their presence.

“Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where everything is chique, unique, and magnifique, how may I help you?” Came a cultured, posh sounding voice from behind a mannequin (Ponnequin? Ruby thought to herself). The pony stepped around from behind the obstruction to reveal a white unicorn with an indigo mane and tail, three diamonds upon her flank. “Why hello there, Apple-” her greeting was cut off by her slightly shocked, yet still cultured sounding gasp as her eyes fell on the four teenagers in her shop. She composed herself admirably though, eyeing their clothing with open curiosity. “And who might your…” she seemed to be looking for the polite word to describe them, before she settled for “friends be?”.

Applejack smiled at her friend, but she introduced them all the same. “These here are Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, and Lie Ren, Rainbow an’ I found ‘em in the Everfree Forest fightin’ off some Timber Wolves. My family is lettin’ ‘em stay on the farm ‘til the Summer Sun Celebration, since they’ll probably be needin’ Princess Celestia’s help to get home.” However, it seemed that Applejack had lost Rarity the moment after she’d named them as she was currently inspecting their clothing with something akin to excitement sparkling in her blue eyes.

“These clothes, oh what fabric is this made of?” She asked as she held Ruby’s cape in her hooves, marveling at it somewhat, while clearly lamenting the multiple small rips and tears in their clothing.

Ruby scratched her head, mystified by the pony’s obsession with clothing, and answered with a shrug. “It’s polyester, but I don’t see..” she was shocked however, when she saw a blue glow around the unicorn’s horn reach out and surround her as Rarity pushed her towards a stand, a measuring tape simultaneously measuring her in almost every way possible, the unicorn muttering all the while.

“Well this won’t do at all! I don’t know how it is where you come from, Ruby, but in Ponyville, we don’t walk around with our clothes in tatters! I’d be glad to fix it, in fact, I insist, your cape is in impeccable condition though, considering the state of the rest of your ensemble.” Ruby blushed slightly at the attention Rarity was giving her as she admired her outfit.

“Thank you ma’am, but we don’t have the money, it’s no big deal.” Ruby said quietly, but was rather surprised when Rarity gave her a piercing look.

“Nonsense, I would never accept payment for this anyways, it’s just a simple patch job, besides” her eyes lit up with glee and anticipation, “I’ll get to study the fashion of an entire culture, why, who knows what sort of trends I could inspire by simply examining your clothing?” She sounded immensely pleased with herself as she ordered the four of them to disrobe. This was met with much nervous coughing and sputtering from everyone, Ren included.

“Uh...yeah, about that…” Jaune said, coughing into his fist as his face reached heat levels rivaling that of the sun. “Y-you see, humans like us, we uh...sorta don’t have fur to cover our..uh stuff. So we...kind of..have to wear clothes everywhere, for um decency and warmth and stuff.” The teen looked mortified at what he was saying, but mercifully the ponies got the idea, and waved him off with red cheeks.

“Yes well, I suppose I’ll just have to pick up your clothes later then” Rarity said, regaining her dignity with a graceful air. “However, if you’re going to be staying in Ponyville for at least a week, or if Celestia doesn’t know how to send you home, who knows how many moons, then you’ll need clothes, so no arguing you four, stand still so I can measure you!” She said this with an uncharacteristic authority to her voice that team RNJR didn’t really think they had a choice in the first place, so they accepted this with a dutiful nod, though Nora did fidget far too much. No matter how much they insisted on paying her back somehow, Rarity wouldn’t hear of it, “I’d do the same for any of my friends, so stop complaining, and Nora STOP FIDGETING!” Nora squeaked rather nervously and stayed still for the rest of Rarity’s measurements.

Finally after what seemed like hours, Rarity let them step away from her as she started levitating swatches of fabric, clearly ready to begin designing. “I’ll be seeing you four tonight, I suspect, tata for now Ruby, Nora, Jaune, Ren.” The four waved at her as Applejack led them out of the store, walking over to a nearby tree and bucking it, causing Rainbow to slide out of the tree and hit the ground, rousing her from her nap.

“Get up Rainbow, we still gotta show these four the rest of Ponyville!” Applejack said cheerily, causing Rainbow to shake her head free of the cobwebs of sleep. Rainbow glared at her friend for a moment before she began flying slowly, keeping pace with Ruby as she challenged her to a race back to Sweet Apple Acres when they were done being given the tour of Ponyville.

“You’re on Rainbow, I’m the fastest thing on two legs!” She boasted, puffing her chest out in pride, doing a rather fair imitation of a peacock. Rainbow smirked and flew a lazy corkscrew and loop around her new friend.

“You may be the fastest on two legs, but I’m the fastest thing in the air!” The mare boasted, a self satisfied smile on her face as she crossed her front hooves arrogantly. Ruby smirked at her, already anticipating beating her.

“Now calm down y’all, I’d beat ya both anyways, now over there is Mayor Mare, she’s in charge ‘round here, and the pony she’s talkin’ to is one of my distant, distant cousins, Hayseed Turnip Truck.” She pointed to a brown mare with a gray mane, who seemed to be giving a stern lecture to a cream colored pony with buckteeth, a brown mane and a baseball cap. Everyone looked at Applejack with confused looks on their faces. The mare simply blew a stray bit of mane out of her eyes and looked back at them. “I said distant, distant, cousin didn’t I?” They simply went back to following her after that.

After a half hour of walking through Ponyville, and going a short ways out of town, they reached the edge of the Everfree forest once again, but rather than arriving at Sweet Apple Acres, they found themselves at a homely looking cottage, surrounded by animal feeders, a chicken coop, and a large amount of bird houses, nests, and baths.

Applejack led them up the footpath ( ‘hoofpath perhaps?’ Ren thought to himself.), and gave them a quiet rundown on the final pony they were going to meet before heading back to Sweet Apple Acres. “Now this here is Fluttershy’s house. She’s mighty shy, so don’t be too loud, and be as nice as possible to her, her feelins' are easily hurt” she explained as she knocked on the door. They heard a quiet squeak, and a few seconds later the door was opened by a timid looking yellow pegasus with yellow fur, a pink, flowing mane, and blue eyes. She looked very withdrawn until she saw Applejack and Rainbow Dash were the ones at her door, and a small smile crossed her face.

“Oh, hello Rainbow Dash, Applejack, how are you?” She asked politely, before noticing the four people with them. She squeaked cutely, and her eyes widened as she saw the four critters with them that were looking at her. She let out a small squeal and began flying around them, marveling at everything about them. “Oh who are your four new friends? I’ve never seen such critters before, they’re so amazing!” She asked excitedly as she continued to study the four of them, wondering who had put them in clothing. This statement caused the blond maned one to cough awkwardly and lock eyes with the mare who’d been examining them.

“Oh uh, we’re not critters, we’re humans, I’m Jaune Arc, this is Ren, the redhead is Nora, and the shortest one is Ruby.” This statement caused Fluttershy’s excitement to cough, sputter, and die a horrifyingly painful death as mortification settled into it’s place. She quickly lowered to the ground and curled up into a ball hiding behind most of her body with her mane and tail, making her look rather like a pink lump rather than a pony.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack glared at the boy for this development, and he sheepishly rubbed his neck before leaning over to place a hand on Fluttershy’s head. “It’s alright Fluttershy, you didn’t know, you don’t have to be afraid of us, we just want to be friends, promise.” He said this in the kindest voice he could muster, years of experience with his younger sister making him sound as nonthreatening as possible. One eye opened, then two, looking at him with fear plainly written in her eyes before she shakily stood up and gave Jaune a small, tenuous smile. Jaune returned it and ran a hand through her mane before standing back up to his full height. Rainbow Dash was looking at him with wide eyes and a dropped jaw, Applejack looked just as surprised as Rainbow.

“H-how!?” Rainbow Dash asked as Fluttershy introduced the humans to Angel Bunny, Harry the Bear, and Hummingway the Hummingbird. She was still talking quietly, and she flinched almost every time they asked her a question, but there was no mistaking the small smile on her face as she lead them to the chicken coop to introduce them to Elizabeak and the other chickens. Applejack shrugged, just as confused as Rainbow.

“Maybe ‘cause they’re not ponies, it’s easier for her to talk with ‘em? I dunno Rainbow, but I do know that it’s darn nice to see Fluttershy talkin’ to someone new, rather than hiding under her mane and lockin’ up like she normally does.” Applejack said with a smile, she’d had a good feeling about the four of them, and she was glad she’d been right so far, even if the thought of Nora and Pinkie together made her shiver in fear.

After Fluttershy had led them around, introducing her to all of her animal friends, the six of them, led by Applejack, took them to a road that led straight to Sweet Apple Acres, then drew a line in the dirt before standing behind and making Rainbow and Ruby do the same.

“Alright you two, we’re racing to Sweet Apple Acres, got it?” Rainbow asked the two of them, getting nods in return, she smirked at the two of them. “Don’t be too upset when I beat you two, alright?” She asked arrogantly, getting an eye roll from Applejack and a competitive smirk from Ruby.

“Start us off, sugarcube?” Applejack asked Jaune, who nodded and stood to the side of the line.

“Alright, I want a good clean race you three, got it?” Jaune got three nods in return, he nodded and began counting down. “Three...two...one... “ Jaune took a breath, “GO!” He shouted, causing the three to rocket of the starting line, Rainbow taking to the air, Applejack going full tilt right off the bat, and Ruby...leisurely walking forward twenty feet before disappearing in a swirl of rose petals. “Wow, they’re faster than I thought.” Jaune said to his teammates before they started walking towards Sweet Apple Acres, Nora humming a cheerful tune as they went.

Applejack was galloping as hard as she could, a competitive smile on her face as she raced her friends, it had been a while since she’d last been in a race like this, and she was enjoying every second of it, the wind in her mane, the sight of her gaining on Rainbow’s tail, the rose petals in her face…

Wait what?

Applejack looked around in shock as she looked ahead of her, rose petals littering the dirt road as far she could see. “What in tarnation?” Applejack asked aloud, picking up the pace to try to catch whatever had gone past her that quickly.

Rainbow Dash was having a great time, she was in the lead, flying as quick as she could without starting off in a dive, and she was winning! Honestly, how much more awesome could this race be going? Her thoughts on winning however, were cut off when she saw a streak of red, trailing rose petals, rush past her. The mare felt a competitive smirk cross her face.

“Bring it on!” She shouted as she put even more effort into her flying, rainbow contrail in her wake.

Ruby was laughing maniacally as she streaked towards Sweet Apple Acres, her two new friends had apparently thought she would lose easily, seeing as they hadn’t actually seen her run yet. She would have paid all her lien to see their expressions when she’d streaked past them, it must have been hilarious.

Quickly disengaging her semblance long enough to take the turn into Sweet Apple Acres’ gates, Ruby launched herself onto the sign, sitting atop it with her legs swinging in the breeze as she waited for her two competitors to finishing eating her rose petals, and finish the race.

She didn’t have to wait long for Rainbow, she seemed to be following the rose petals, and didn’t notice the source of them was right in front of her, as one second she’d been flying full tilt towards the finish line, and the next, she’d hit something and fell with it into an ungraceful heap on the ground.

“Did someone get the number of that truck?” Ruby asked as she held her head, shaking it slightly to clear it of the cloudiness that had settled onto it. She looked up into the bewildered eyes of her pegasus friend. “Oh hey Rainbow, how’s second place?” She asked smugly, causing the mare to huff and roll off her, crossing her forelegs petulantly as she hovered above her.

They were joined just then by a heavily panting Applejack. “R-Ruby” she puffed a bit, taking a deep breath before she looked at the human. “When you said you were fast, you weren’t kiddin’” She said through her breaths, causing Ruby to smile in self satisfaction. “So I take it, you won then?” Ruby nodded excitedly.

“Yup! By a minute, at least!” Ruby exclaimed with a huge smile on her face.

Rainbow replied by huffing and waving one of her front hooves in the air. “Pssht, yeah right. More like a second! I was on your tail the whole time!” However, her tone sounded more like she was trying to convince herself, rather than them. Ruby smirked at the Pegasus.

“Sure ya were, Rainbow, you just keep telling yourself that.” Ruby got a raspberry in response. Applejack rolled her eyes at this, amused at the mare’s maturity.

“So, how long do you think it’ll take the others to get here?” Rainbow asked, causing Applejack to shrug.

“I don’t know, few minutes maybe? They are only walkin’ after all, we should probably wait for ‘em.” Ruby and Rainbow nodded at this, the two of them beginning to brag about how fast they were to one another.

Ten minutes after their race concluded, Jaune, Ren, and Nora walked through the gate of Sweet Apple Acres, Qrow right behind them, hands in his pockets, whistling a jaunty tune. Rainbow flew over to them. “What took you three so long? We’ve been waiting forever!” She said impatiently, Ruby rolled her eyes, but she gave a little nod in agreement with her pegasus friend, her speed gave her the rather childish habit of impatience.

“Not all of us are super fast like you Rainbow.” Jaune said, a deadpan look on his face, Rainbow shrugged unconcernedly at this, before flying upside down with her forelegs behind her head. Ruby looked at her Uncle Qrow with a raised eyebrow.

“Where were you Uncle Qrow?” Ruby asked curiously before she rushed forward to hug him. “Get lots of ‘intel’ on the small village of timid friendly pony people?” She asked sarcastically, causing Qrow to give her a noogie with a smile on his face.

“Oh yeah squirt, learned quite a bit” he paused a second, clearly winding her up before leant down and whispered in her ear. “It’s full of ponies that can talk, and they’re very easily frightened” he said in a very serious voice. Ruby looked at him, blinked, and then laughed uproariously at him.

“Well it sounds like you were productive today, Uncle Qrow” she choked out through her snorts and giggles. “Whatever would we have done without your help?” Ruby shook her head slightly before she took her Uncle’s hand and started to lead him to the barn with the rest of her friends. “We’ll show you where we’re staying while we’re waiting for their leader to get here, in exchange for light work around the farm.” The seven of them walked over to the barn, and opened the doors, before getting startled and nearly blown off their feet by an explosion of confetti and loud shouts of “Surprise!”

Team RNJR and Qrow looked around confusedly at the party decorations, streamers hung from the rafters, a banner proclaiming “Welcome to Ponyville, Qrow, Ruby, Jaune, Ren, and Nora!” hanging form the edge of the loft. Pinkie, along with Rarity stood in the front of the crowd of ponies that were standing around, smiles on their faces, welcoming the new arrivals to their town. The humans looked at each other, confused by the party, while behind them, Rainbow fished two bits out of her coin bag and handed them to a very smug looking Applejack.

“Wh-Wha-What?” Jaune asked, Ruby’s head tilted to the side conveyed the same question. Pinkie Pie smiled widely at them as she hopped over to them.

“Aren’t you going to party?” Pinkie asked excitedly, before she realized they were probably wondering why she was throwing a party. “I always throw parties for newcomers to Ponyville! So, when I heard you were staying for a while, I decided to throw you five one as well!” She said happily, causing Nora to beam wider than normal and grab Pinkie in a hug.

“You are awesome, Pinkie! Let’s party!” Pinkie grinned manically and shouted an affirmative before the two of them disappeared into the crowd. They could faintly hear her shout “Pancake cake! Pinkie Pie is the best pony ever!” over the din of the crowd. The other four humans looked at each other, shrugged and joined the frivolites, though Qrow shortly ended up leaning against a wall next to a big red stallion.

“You Big Mac?” Qrow asked casually as he took a swig of his flask, which he noted with some dismay, was feeling rather light.

“Eeyup” the pony next to him answered. Qrow nodded in acceptance, they stood there for a few minutes, neither really saying anything before Qrow asked his next question.
“There any alcohol in this town?” He asked as though he was asking about the weather.

“Eeyup” the stallion replied. Qrow nodded once again, though his next question came slightly faster this time.

“Wanna go get some?”

“Eeyup.”

“Alright, let’s blow this joint.”

With that, the two navigated around the ponies mingling about, left the barn, and walked side by side as they headed towards Ponyville and sweet drunken oblivion.

Author's Note

Sorry this chapter took so long, I first started in on it immediately after I wrote chapter 3, but then I got distracted, and then I went to Bronycon, where I wrote a little more, and it was only over the last few days I really dug in and finished it. I hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you next time. We unfortunately still have at least one chapter before we reach Season 1, Episode 1, but we'll get there soon!