The Visitation

“Why are you so excited, Pinkie darling?” Rarity said as I bounced up and down, heading down the main road of Ponyville.

“I’ve told you, like, a gazillion times, haven’t I?” I asked, too excited to remember.

“Girls, she said a special friend was coming to visit Ponyville for a week or so, and she couldn’t wait to see them,” Twilight, the newest and youngest Princess of Equestria, replied.

“A special, friend, huh? Shucks, sugarcube, it’s a stallion, ain’t it, Pinkie?” Applejack said, smirking up at me.

“A stallion? The last time she was interested in a stallion was when that Cheese Sandwich showed up!” Rainbow said, flying backwards in front of the rest of the group.

“Yes, it is a stallion. And he can be shy at times!” I said joyfully.

“So he’s sh-shy too? M-maybe he’d make a g-good friend…” Fluttershy softly said.

“Oh, come on Fluttershy! You know if you confront another pony, your face lights up a bright pink and you couldn’t get a single word out! Especially to a stallion!!” Rainbow said, laughing.

“Th-that’s not always true, Dashie…” Fluttershy replied.

“Oh, it’s no big deal! But I’m sure you all will just love him!! He’s the best!” I said, as I continued bouncing up and down.

We traveled in silence for a few moments before I heard the girls behind me whispering. Rainbow Dash was too busy doing flips and being bored, as usual. That’s when I noticed the tingly sensation going through my mane and tail, and at the tip of my hooves. I froze mid-air and gasped.

“GET DOWN!!!” I dropped to the floor and covered my head with my hooves. As if on cue, a stallion’s voice, with a ring of familiarity, rang out around us.

“PRINCESS!!! GET DOWN!!! NO TIME TO EXPLAIN!!”

I then heard a few gasps as my friends dropped down, except Rainbow Dash, who was flying above us confidently. “Oh, come on… It shouldn’t be that big of a de-- WOAH!!”

There was a whoosh above us as Rainbow spun out of control and crashed to the ground nearby, letting out a groan. As I looked up, a pony dressed in almost all black jumped over us, followed shortly by what looked like a silver changeling. “What in Equestria…” I jumped up and turned around to watch the stallion and silver changeling chase after what appeared to be a small missile.

“Clara!! I need your mini jet right about now!!” The stallion called out.

“Right away sir!!” The voice from the silver changeling rang. To my amazement, I watched her morph into a jet, the flew straight at the stallion. Instinctively, I took off after the two, curiosity taking hold as the stallion jumped and landed on the jet.

“Clara, get me as close as you can to that missile!!” The jet the took off after the missile. I looked back to see the rest of my friends chasing after me.

As I watched, the missile suddenly shot upwards, and the stallion gripped the jet tight as it veered upwards and slowly gained on the missile. Out of the blue, the stallion jumped up and caught onto the missile, but the missile didn’t even falter to his weight as it continued it ascent. The stallion pulled something out of the green saddlebag he had on and jammed it into the missile. It sputtered and slowed down before it came to a stop mid-air, then gradually began to accelerate towards the ground.

As he fell, I came to a halt some distance away, my friends stopping behind me as we watched him land on the ground on all four hooves, then got up and dusted his shoulder off.

“That was a close one Clara… I can’t believe I was so stupid to connect those wires before making sure everything was intact…” He then stuffed the missile and the tool into his saddlebag, then looked past the robot to me, then to something behind me. He then turned and took off before I had a chance to say anything. The robot followed him, and before long, they were out of sight.

“Who… was that?” Twilight asked as she stepped up next to me.

“I don’t know… But that… Was… AWESOME!!” Rainbow exclaimed. “And I thought today was gonna be super boring!!”

“Rainbow Dash, calm y’rself down right now!” Applejack said. “Nopony got hurt, so that’s a good thing…”

“But he still put others in danger…” Rarity said.

“But at l-least he got c-control of the s-situation. And he s-seemed very c-calm…” Fluttershy sheepily said.

I just shook my head and giggled. “I don’t think I’m right, but I have a hunch that was my… special friend…”

“Well, he doesn’t seem very bright…” Twilight said. “If you’re right, we should see him at SugarCube Corner, right Pinkie?”

“Exactly!! C’mon! Last one there is a rotten filly!!” I then dashed off in a pink blur, heading straight home.

As we ran, I giggled as I watched all of the buildings go by in a blur. However, when SugarCube Corner corner came into view, I slammed on the brakes and came to a halt. My friends almost barreled into me.

“What is it, darling? Why’d you stop so suddenly?” Rarity asked as she came up next to me.

“Shh! Look!” I whispered, pointing towards my home. The stallion was standing there, and he had removed his hood. He seemed to be talking to somepony that seemed to be almost solid black, with green eyes and a green mane and tail.

“Is that a… Changeling!?” Fluttershy shrieked, cowering back behind the rest of my friends.

“ON IT!” Rainbow took off, and sped off directly towards the changeling.

However, what happened next caught everypony off guard. The changeling set her hoof down on something silver on the ground, and a suit morphed over her body into the silver changeling we had seen earlier. The stallion said something to her, and she glowed green and before our eyes, she changed into what appeared to be some kind of weapon, then the stallion grabbed it and pointed it up to the sky, in Rainbow’s direction.

“RAINBOW!! LOOK OUT!!!” Twilight screamed.

“What the--” Rainbow started, but was cut short by a loud blast, then a blinding green light goes just under Rainbow, then off into the sky into oblivion. “Gyah!!” Rainbow flew out of control and crashed into the ground nearby.

“Rainbow!!” Applejack yelled, and she took off after our friend. Meanwhile, Twilight stormed over to the stallion, followed by Rarity.

“Who do you think you are, shooting at Rainbow Dash!?” Twilight yelled as she trotted up to him. “She could’ve gotten hurt, or even worse!”

I bounced my way over to them as well, and I peered at the stallion’s face with a look of curiosity on my face. I felt like I knew who it was. “That isn’t him, is it? It couldn’t be! Could it?”

The stallion hesitated upon seeing me, then sighed and calmly said, “Look, Princess. I know what I’m doing. I’m fully capable of controlling myself. I purposely aimed below her to frighten her, not hurt her.” He set the gun down, and it morphed back into the changeling.

“Tell meh this, Sugarcube,” Applejack started as she and Rainbow walked over. “What in tarnations are doing with a changeling here in the middle o’ Ponyville?!”

He chuckled. “I raised this one. Found her in the forest a couple years ago.” The suit glowed, then folded off of the changeling’s body into the cube.

The changeling looked around at the group, and stepped back. “She must be a little nervous,” I said to myself as I looked back at the colt.

“I-I’m Clara…” The changeling said. “E-everything he’s said is tr-true… We w-weren’t trying to h-hurt you, R-rainbow…”

The colt shooked his head, then pulled out the missile as Fluttershy said, “Well, wait a m-minute… Sh-shouldn’t we at l-least give th-them a ch-chance to explain th-themselves?”

“How do we know he isn’t a changeling!? Hmm?!” Rarity said, thrusting her hoof in the colt’s direction.

The stallion calmly replied by saying, “Thunder.”

Rainbow looked confused. “Did he just say… thunder?” Something went off in my mind, and I started to smile.

He nodded. “Yes. I did. Thunder. That’s my name.”

I suddenly pounced and tackled the colt. “THUNDER!!! It’s been so long!!”

“PINKIE PIE!!!” The stallion shrieked out in surprise as I took him to the floor. “Calm down, would ya?”

I giggled and buried my muzzle in his neck for a few seconds. “I’m so happy to see you!!”

The stallion’s face began to light up a shade of pink. “Uh… P-pinkie… C-can you get off? Y-you know I’m not th-that into huge… Outbursts… Like that…”

“Oh, sorry!” I giggled as I hopped up off of Thunder and bounced back a few steps. “I’m so glad that you are staying with me!”

He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “Heh… Yeah, I guess so… But don’t get any ideas, you got it?”

I only giggled more. “Oh silly! I’m not like that!! What made you think that?”

He seemed to blush. “N-nothing! Just making sure you were, uh, ya know…”

He was cut off by Rarity. “Oh darling, we get it! You like Pinkie Pie, don’t you?” She smiled and giggled softly, and I looked back at Thunder with a slight longing look in my eyes.

“Well, I uh…” He looked around, and it appeared that he wasn’t sure how he felt. I giggled.

“It’s okay if you’re not sure! I’m sure deep down that you love me!” I then reached over and hugged him again. He just stood there, staring at my friends as I hugged him. “What are you doing here, anyways?”

“Well… I… Am staying at SugarCube Corner for a few days at least…” Thunder said, his face clearly red.

Rarity giggled. “Darling, are you alright? You seem to be sweating… Or embarrassed…” I smiled as I looked at him.

He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, looking at the ground. “I’m not too fond of physical contact with other ponies… Quite frankly, back in school, I was made fun of because I was always by myself… Messing with metal and wires and ‘junk,’ as the other foals called it…”

I just giggled, looking around.“He’s just happy that he gets to spend some time with me, that’s all! But…” I looked at him with a puzzled expression.“Why are your cheeks so red, Thunder?”

He seemed to be caught off guard, and he shuffled his hooves. “Well, I uh… I…” He turns his head, looking at Clara, soon up at the window that was broken. “I need to fix that window before the Cakes get mad that I broke it… It was an accident, but I’ll see you girls later, ok-kay?”

Twilight seemed to smile, and I looked over at her when she began talking. “How about we let him get comfortable here, then we can talk to him and get to know him, and maybe he’ll be warmed up to us!” Twilight smiled again, then chuckled, and I looked at her quizzingly before shrugging.

After a bit of silence, I turned to Rainbow. “Wanna race, Rainbow Dash?”

“What kind of a question is that?! Of course I do! But I’m gonna win! Where to?” Rainbow replied, flying up into the air.

“Hmm…” I looked around, then smiled. “To Applejack’s Farm!”

“Shucks, Pinkie, we’re kinda busy at the moment, but as long as you don’t bother Big Mac or nothin’...”

“Oh relax, AJ, it’s not like I’m gonna mess anything up!” Rainbow chuckled, then landed on the ground next to me. “Ready… Set…”

“GO!!!” I took off, catching her off guard, zipping through Ponyville, heading for Sweet Apple Acres.

“Hey, no fair!!” I heard Rainbow call from behind me. It wasn’t long before I saw her coming up behind me.

“Heehee!! This is fun!” We then took off, heading for the farm.