//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6 
// Story: Ponymunity 
// by ShortHilt 
//------------------------------//

Patina landed on one of the homes in the residential district. She wasn't quite ready to go and meet a whole group of ponies, but she noticed that Short Hilt was leading two stallions into the area, beaming the whole time. Patina sighed out of relief and gathered up her courage to greet them. She landed in the clearing, trying her best not to look intimidated.

"Oh, Patina! You're just in time!" Short Hilt bolted over to her, "These are our new residents, Rolling Thunder and Pepper Blaze!" she motioned to each of them respectively.

"H-hello, welcome to your new home," Patina muttered.

Pepper Blaze raised his brow, "Ahhh hello there!" sidling up to her, he tried putting on his charm, "Come here often?"

Thunder rolled his eyes, "Don't mind him. It's nice to meet you, Patina. It's a pleasure meeting yet another princess."

"P-princess? I'm not a princess, just a...normal...alicorn..." she retreated away slowly, head down and ears pulled back. She knew they were going to call her a classless freak or worse. Without letting them continue she flew away back to her original cave.

"Did I say something wrong?" Rolling Thunder frowned, "I didn't mean to upset her..."

Short Hilt shook her head, "It's alright. She's just not used to ponies accepting her. She was told to leave her hometown once she was old enough to survive on her own. She was luckier than most. Where she's from, natural born alicorns are considered freaks of nature. They aren't royalty by any means."

"Oh..." Pepper frowned, "That's terrible...should we follow her?"

Short Hilt nodded, "It's better to let her know that she's totally welcome here sooner rather than later. I'll let you guys pick your homes out and then we'll go see her."

The two stallions nodded and quickly chose their houses. Pepper Blaze settled with a single-bedroom cottage that had a large basement. Rolling Thunder went with the home with the observatory so he could keep an eye on the weather. Once they set their things down they regrouped with Short Hilt in the clearing. All three of them headed for Patina's cave where they found her lying down on the cold, rocky floor.

Their hoofsteps echoed in the darkness. Patina lifted her head, her cheeks stained with tears, "I'm sorry..."

Short Hilt walked up to her friend and placed her hoof on her shoulder, "It's ok, we know you're wary around new ponies. But we all talked and they certainly don't think anything bad of you. We're all friends here," she smiled widely and flew out of the cave, "Now c'mon, you don't live here anymore. Let's get you back into town, ok? This place is cold and dark. Not suitable for such an awesome pony."

Patina gave her a nod and stood, wiping away her tears. She smiled at the stallions, following them out.

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Over lunch, the group sat and discussed upcoming plans for the town. Short Hilt explained her idea of having a leader for each of the main pony groups. She would be the voice for the pegasi, Rolling Thunder for earth ponies, and Rolling Thunder for the unicorns. The two of them agreed and they each discussed their duties.

"Oh! I almost forgot, what's your talent, Pepper? I know Rolling Thunder can use his magic to alter the weather, but what's that flame cutie mark for?" Short Hilt asked.

Pepper Blaze looked around, slightly nervous. After a brief pause he said, "Firefighting. I'm a fire fighter. I fight fires."

"Whoa, cool! That'll really come in handy in case of an emergency! Ok, so you'll be in charge of keeping ponies safe from harm," she smiled widely.

"Yeah..."

Patina chimed up, "So...um...what shall I do?"

Short Hilt pondered for a moment, "Well, since there aren't that many alicorns out there, you could be the leader of all the non-pony species like griffins and such," she squealed, "Oooh, I hope we get some griffins!" 

"That sounds agreeable to me," Patina nodded.

"So now, we just wait for more ponies to show up!" Short Hilt bolted for the train station again. The trio of ponies left in her wake all sighed with awkward smiles on their faces.