After that *Ahem* slight delay, I had one final proper goodbye with my mom as I waited for the train to start.
Through the window, I saw my mom waving me goodbye. I waved back with a small smile.
The train began shaking slightly, smoke came out of its chimney as its engine powered up.
I could feel the train bobbing up and down slightly as the scenery outside became blurry.
I relaxed against the wall of the train as I took out a blue file from my saddlebags.
If you are reading this, then you have volunteered for the MMR, Mysteries and Myths Research, program. You will be given a place of residence in one of the towns nearest to the Everfree, Oceanus and Aether.
Coincidently, all of these places are pretty damn close to each other. The Oceanus was around fifty kilometers east from the Everfree, and the Aether was rumored to be between both of them.
You'll have a month to get used to your surroundings and prepare yourself. After the month, some of Princess Celestia's royal guards will be sent to help you in your research.
The royal guards are gonna help me? That's a strange development. I thought with an amused grin.
Wonder how did they convince her to do that.
I giggled when my mind conjured up a scene of a certain grey stallion trying to converse with the princess.
I returned the file back into its rightful place, my eyes lingering on the small village in the distance.
The train slowed down to a halt as a stallion announced our stop through the speakers.
The ponies on board left the train. I followed behind, my head swishing around as I excitedly explored the place.
I turned to the left and immediately, I could feel the atmosphere changing from a slow and peaceful setting into a place full of bustle.
Stalls lined up the streets with dozen of ponies queuing to buy whatever was sold there.
Curiously, I trotted over to a nearby stall. A yellow pale earth pony with a mane colored like raspberries, sat behind the stall, a bright smile on her face. An image of a rose as her cutie mark.
"Good afternoon, sir. See something you like?" she said, her smile gleaming in the sunlight.
"Sorry, um, I was just checking what you were selling," I said, chuckling nervously.
"Well, sir. We got the best flowers in all of Equestria, we have lilacs, lavenders, roses and so much more. All of them freshly picked from our gardens."
Now if I have to be honest, I had never ever seen a flower before, or at least up close, as you probably know, Saddle Arabia was a desert and a flower could never possibly survive out in the harsh heat.
And while Canterlot may have tons of ponies buying flowers everyday, my mother, however, had some issues with flowers.
Once I had asked her about her distaste of flowers and she replied with, "Flowers are nasty little plants, growing with help from bees of all creatures, some covered in poisonous fluids or sharp and dangerous thorns, and some enchanted with magic to do all sorts of nasty things."
Now with that said, the colours, beauty and scent of the flowers were pretty overwhelming.
"Um, sir. Are you alright?"
"Hm?" Oops, I must have spaced out a bit. Crap, she's looking at me weirdly. "S-sorry, I've just never seen this amount of diversity before."
"Well, I'm glad you think that." She smiled. "It's a good thing to know that our flowers can still 'wow' newcomers."
I gave her a nervous smile.
"Name's Rose, nice to meet you."
"Um... I'm Chromostar Corona, nice to meet you too," I said, unconsciously shrinking at her smile.
"So where are you from?"
"Canterlot."
"Canterlot? Strange, you don't look like one of those fancy ponies." She giggled. "What do you think, Chromostar. Mind taking a batch home?" She winked. "Free of charge."
"Huh?" I was caught off guard by that offer.
"Just think of it as a welcome present from me and my friends," she said, smiling.
"T-thanks," I said, scouring through the variety of flowers carefully.
A particular one caught my eye, or well two actually. A white flower with small yellow ball-like things in the middle and a yellow flower with petals that swirled into the middle.
They look pretty interesting, I thought.
"I'll take these two, please."
"A edelweiss and a begonia?" she said with a smile. "Wonderful choice." She took a bouquet of those flowers a moment later, wrapping it with a yellow paper.
"Thanks," I said, coating the bouquet in a yellow aura.
"Your welcome," she said. "Hope you enjoy your stay in Ponyville."
"I'm sure I will," I said, placing the bouquet of flowers into my saddlebags carefully as I trotted away from the stand.
After exploring the little village for thirty minutes, I've realized I had almost forgotten something.
"Crap, I've almost forgot to meet the mayor," I said, looking around to see if I could find where she/he may live.
I trotted to a nearby pony to ask for directions.
"Hey, um, can I take a moment of your time?" I said to the pink mare.
The mare let out an aura of excitement and cheerfulness as she turned around to face me. "Sure!"
"Do you happen to know where the mayor is?" I asked.
"Oh, she works in the town hall in the middle of Ponyville, you can't miss it. It's HUGE!" I winced at her sudden screech.
"R-right, thanks."
"No problem, new pony."
Not one second later, the pink mare let out a long and deep gasp.
The mare definitely didn't know what personal space was as she pressed her nose up against mine. "HI!"
"Uhh... Hi?"
"My name's Pinkie Pie! What's yours?"
"Well-erm I'm Chromostar Corona." I have a feeling that I'll be saying my name a lot today.
"Chromostar? That's a silly name," she said, giggling as I rolled my eyes. "So Chrommy, what kinds of cake do you like? Chocolate? Strawberry? Blueberry? Or maybe you like cheesecake instead…"
"Um, what the heck are you talking about?" I said, cutting off her rambling.
"Why the cake for your surprise party, duh!"
Surprise party? What is this crazy mare talking about?
"O~kay then?" I said, not really wanting to get involved with this pony any longer. "I'd better get going, got lots to do today. After all, I've just got here and still need to check in with the mayor."
"Okay! Just tell me when you're free and I'll throw you the bestest party you'll ever see!"
"R-right..." I rolled my eyes at her childishness.
She's even more childish than Sakura. I thought. If I'd ever meet up with her again, it would be way too soon.
"Right, so this is probably the town hall," I said, looking at the enormous building.
Its exterior was pretty plain if I had to be honest, white boring walls with pink tinted windows. Flags of varying colors stood around the roof, which by the way, looked like an ant mound.
I trotted into the building, a tan earth pony stood at the opposite side of the exit, talking to a cyan pegasus with the most colorful mane I had ever seen.
The cyan pegasus looked pretty ticked off at what the tan mare had said, she let out an angry huff and zoomed past me, a rainbow trail flanked her as she left through the opened door.
"Why the nerve of that mare!" The grey-maned mare said, pawing at the floor in irritation.
"H-hey there, are you the mayor?" I said, drawing her attention.
"Yes, I am," she said. "Mind I ask who you are?"
"Chromostar Corona, the student who's - um - here for the MMR, I was told to check in with the mayor to get things started."
"The MMR? Hmm..." She scrunched up her face in thought. "Oh, you're here for that," she said in realisation.
She made a 'Follow me' motion with her hoof. "Come along now, let's get you signed up."
"Sorry that you have to see that, Rainbow Dash and I were having a slight disagreement about her last 'stunt'," she said, unlocking the door to her office and heading in.
She trotted over to a nearby shelf, taking several sheets of paper with her mouth and placing them onto the table.
The light shining from the window behind her chair, illuminated the room. I stood in front of the table as she hoofed me a quill.
"Sign these papers please," she said.
"What's it for?"
"The usual legal documents, like place of residency, citizenship and to make sure you follow the rules of Ponyville," she said, sliding another roll of paper onto the table. "And this is a contract of the MMR, it needs your signature to make sure that you really really want to join, you can back out of this at any time, no consequences or penalties will be given if you choose to back out."
"Okay," I said, signing the paper before giving her a questioning look. "How the heck do you know what to say if this program has just been recently reactivated?" Normally, I'd be nervous to talk to somepony but when my curiosity is peaked, I couldn't be bothered with my nerves.
"I was given a week to memorise this script," she said, showing me a piece of paper with the smallest words I've ever seen, scribbled on it.
"Oh," I said, quickly reading through the stack of papers.
"Alright and done." Signing off the last sheet of paper.
The mayor looked at me in surprise.
"That was quick," she said.
"I'm a fast reader." I shrugged.
"Hmm, well everything checks out." She smiled. "Welcome to Ponyville, Chromostar."
"Thanks, uh- mayor?"
"Oh, that's right. I haven't told you my name," she said. "I'm Mayor Mare, and I hope you enjoy your stay in Ponyville."
"I'm sure I will," I said, genuinely feeling like I really would enjoy my stay here.
"Would you care for a tour of Ponyville?"
"Uh, sure."
Hopefully this place will be easier to memorise than Canterlot.
The rays of the setting sun smashed against the buildings, generating shadows as long as two meters in length.
Mayor Mare and I have trotted to nearly every single place around the small village. The streets were empty, nopony in sight, so unlike how it was earlier.
We passed a gigantic tree and trotted to a nearby large building. The building looked, surprisingly, well-maintained and brand new even though the MMR program had only been reactivated a few months ago.
Whoever did the paint job had done a great job as the walls were a glorious salmon pink, the roof was made of oakwood. The front door was painted green with a golden-yellow door knob, the house looked to be about thirty meters in length and forty in width. It seems like it also has three floors as there were windows on the top and middle of the building.
"Welcome to your new home, Chromostar."
"Um, you can call me Star," I said, slightly annoyed as I didn't like how they'd pronounced it.
To be honest, I don't really like how anypony pronounces it, it always feels like they're speaking in another language when they've said it.
"Are my things here?" I asked.
"Yes, Star. The moving ponies had arrived earlier and I've told them to unload your things into the house," Mayor Mare said.
"Awesome. Thanks, Mayor."
"Your welcome, Star." She smiled at me. "Mind if I come in to help check if everything's there?"
"Hmm, I don't know..." I trailed off, looking at the slowly darkening sky. "Don't you have stuff to do? I wouldn't want to-"
"It's fine, Star. I've already finished the latest stack and helping newcomers feel welcomed in Ponyville is one of a mayor's jobs."
"Hmm..." I went into my thinking pose, hoof under chin as I stared at her intensely.
"Alright, I guess you could help," I said, shrugging.
"Glad to be of service," she said, fetching a key from her saddlebags. "Here." She hoofed me the key.
I levitated it from her grasp and unlocked the door. "Ladies first," I said, deciding to humor her, even bowing down for the full effect.
She giggled. "My, my, what a gentlecolt," she said in an amused tone.
I followed her, making sure to lock the door and- Dear lord, is it dark in here.
Now where the heck is the light switch-
"SURPRISE!"