//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2: Getting started 
// Story: In Equestria 
// by ARandomLonelyDude 
//------------------------------//

The clock ticked as the rain started to slow. I lay on the bed in the first room in the upstairs hall. I had turned my hoodie into a makeshift blanket/sleeping bag by curling up in it and had tried to go to sleep. I, however, could not go to sleep.

I was tired but not sleepy, which kinda sucked. I guess it was the lack of a blanket and pillow or maybe the fact that I had my life changed completely an hour ago. 

Sleep eluded me for too long and lying in bed till sunrise wasn't something I wanted to do. I got out of bed and decided that I'll trying cleaning the house.

I went around the house, trying to find something that I could clean but found that everything was fine except the basement but since I didn't have a broom or a mask, I couldn't clean it. I had nothing to do and I did not like that much.

Five minutes of thinking later, I decided that I would take a walk around town. I went downstairs and opened the front door, just to see how hard the rain was. The rain was a lot less harder than earlier but the wind had picked up and was very cold. My back end was not protected by some clothing like my front and I felt like the wind had nearly frozen it. I quickly shut the door and put on my raincoat on top of the jacket I was already wearing. I also decided to take the coin bag I had, just in case I found some 24/7 store. With that, I opened the front door once again.

This time, the wind was not as bad as the raincoat offered some protection. I locked the door behind me as I left my house and put the keys in one of the raincoat's pockets before heading off towards the town.

I came to a fork in the path that I hadn't seen earlier. The middle path lead to the town center. The others, I did not know. After much deliberation, I took the path that went right.

The path lead through a slightly forested area which seemed peaceful. There were only two houses, a brick one that resembled mine and had a 'For Sale' sign as well, and a cottage that seemed like it came out of a fairy tale. Like seriously, it even had a little bridge that went over a stream in front of the house.

The path continued for a bit before turning towards the town center. I followed it and found myself at the town center once again. The rain had become a drizzle by now. 

At the town center, I took a random path that lead to a bridge. On the other side, I could see a park, where I went next. There wasn't much in the park. A statue of an alicorn, some benches, and a set of swings were the only things there.

I took a seat at the bench and watched as the rain stopped and the clouds cleared, revealing the night sky. It was not like what I expected. Instead of just a dozen stars here and there, the entire sky was filled with them. I had lived in urban areas for most of my life so this was new to me. Another new thing was the moon. It was close to being a full moon and it had dark patches that resembled a unicorn's head.

As I sat there, the sky started to become lighter. The sun was rising. Had it really been four hours or was the clock in my home wrong?

I started on my way back and this time, the town center had signs of life. The cake shaped building had its light on and I guessed that it was opening soon.

By the time I reached home, the sun was over the horizon. I left my raincoat at the coat hanger and went upstairs to check if the clock was wrong. The clock was, indeed, wrong, as it was showing the current time to be 3 AM. I took it off the wall and adjusted it to be around six. Once that was done, I left the house and went back to the town. I had to get some cleaning supplies, food, bedsheets, and utensils.

I counted the bits in my coin bag as I walked down the path and found I had exactly 5000 bits(the currency of Equestria) made up of 100 bit coins. Unfortunately, I was too engrossed with the bits to notice a rainbow blur approaching me rapidly.

"Out of the way!", was all the warning I got as the blur zipped right in front of me and into a bush. I jumped back and dropped the coin bag, spilling all the bits on to the ground. I had to stop myself from immediately trying to pick up the coins and instead, I turned to the bush where the blur crashed.

A blue mare with rainbow hair stepped out of the bushes, leaves and sticks all over her mane and tail. She shook them off before addressing me.

"Hey, are you fine?", she asked immediately.

"Y-yeah," I replied, "What about you?"

"Oh, me? I'm fine, just went a little off course while practicing flying.", she answered, not particularly shaken after her crash as if it happens regularly to her.

"Hey, I haven't seen you around here before. Are you new here?" she asked after realising that I'm new to the town.

"Yeah, I came here a few hours back," I answered shyly.

"Well, I'm Rainbow Dash. Let me help you with those bits," she said, picking up the coins and putting them in the bag, which she then handed to me.

"You're welcome... uhh I don't think I got your name," she said with a slightly embarrassed smile.

"My name's Anya," I said, recalling what the ID had on it.

"Well, Ann-ya, I'll see ya later!", she said as she took off into the sky.

I watched her fly off for a moment before I started counting how many coins were in the bag. Thankfully, the mare hadn't stolen any and I had all fifty coins.

I continued to the town center and by the time I reached, it was busy. One street had stalls that sold produce, some stores were opening, and ponies were going around buying stuff or going to work.

I was a bit lost, but my stomach told me that I should get food first. The bakery was still closed so I wandered around for a bit before finding a restaurant.

I entered the restaurant and almost immediately, an orange pegasus with red hair who wore an apron greeted me.

"Welcome to the Sunny Hill restaurant! Please take a seat, someone will be there with you soon."

I took a seat at a table in the corner of the building. There was a menu already on the table, which I looked through. I decided that I'd have a vegetable sandwich and a coffee. 

A waiter came and took my order, leaving me alone at my table. I observed some of the other customers present for a minute, not finding anything particularly interesting.

Eventually, the orange pegasus from earlier came with my order. She placed my order on the table and I thanked her but she didn't leave immediately.

"I hope your visit you Ponyville is nice, especially the Summer Sun Celebration.", she said.

"The what?", I asked, not knowing what the celebration was. The mare was a bit confused but answered my question.

"The Summer Sun Celebration, I thought it was on the news that princess Celestia had chosen Ponyville as the place where the celebration would take place this year," she explained. It didn't really answer my question of what the celebration was about but it gave me some information. I didn't inquire about what exactly the celebration was about but I guessed that these guys worshipped the sun.

"I uhh haven't really kept up with the news in some time, so, uhh thanks for telling me," I replied, making up a decent excuse. The mare seemed to understand and left me to my sandwich.

I finished my sandwich quickly, and moved onto the coffee when a white unicorn mare with purple hair that was styled in a really curly manner. She had makeup on as well and so I guessed that she was going somewhere after getting food. She had a talent mark of three gems. 

From the way the staff greeted her, I guessed she was a regular. She took a seat at a table close to mine. She glanced at me but I was quick on my reaction and made it seem like I was just minding my own business. She, however, did a double take as she saw me. I knew that it wasn't because I was staring at her but something else. She stared at me for several long moments, making me a bit uncomfortable.

Some more moments of getting stared at later, I decided that I wanted to leave. I called a waiter over to get my bill, which was 15 bits. I, very unfortunately, only had 100 bit coins which made my stay longer as the waiter went to go get some change. 

In the corner of my eye, I could see the mare had got up from her seat and was approaching me. I didn't really want to talk to her for some reason but I currently had no choice.

"Hello there, miss," she greeted in a posh voice. "I have to say that you look marvelous in that jacket."

Oh... that was it?

"Thanks," I replied, trying to sound happy about the compliment even though I found it weird to go out of your way to compliment a stranger.

"Would it be appropriate if I asked you where you purchased it from?", she then asked. I thought about it and realised that I didn't have an answer other than 'an eldritch being gave it to me'.

"It's fine if you ask that question but the problem is that I uh don't remember where I got it," I replied.

"Well, that's fine I suppose," the mare replied, a bit disappointed, before continuing, "I assume you have come to Ponyville for the celebration."

"No, I have moved here," I replied bluntly.

"Oh! It's nice to know that someone new is living in Ponyville. My name is Rarity, what's yours?", she asked with a smile.

"My name is Anya," I replied, feeling a bit more comfortable than before.

"So, Ann-ya, did I pronounce that right?"

"It's Anya."

"Aanya."

"Yeah, that's good. So, what were you going to ask?"

"I was going to ask if you have met Pinkie yet?", she asked.

"No, I haven't met her. Is there anything that I should know about her?", I asked, waiting to know who this Pinkie was.

"Well, all I have you say is that she gets... excited about news ponies in town and she tends to throw parties about it. That's all you need to know," she answered.

"Thanks for the heads-up, Rarity," I thanked her despite her vagueness.

"You're welcome. I must leave now, can't let my breakfast get cold." With that, she was gone. She seemed nice, warning me about Pinkie, whoever that was.

The waiter came with my change in a minute, and I left the restaurant. Outside, it was still busy, just not as much as earlier. I searched for a general store and found one named "Barnyard Bargains". I entered the store and found that it wasn't particularly busy. I looked around for a broom, cleaning cloths, a mop, a bucket, a floor-cleaning solution, and a few other things. I found it all, but it all seemed to be on the expensive side. I didn't complain too much about it and bought it all. On my way out, I saw a sign saying the store was hiring. It reminded me that I'd need to get a job soon, unless Voth was gonna magic me some money, like a lovecraftian sugar daddy.

I made my way home with the supplies, and just as I entered, I remembered that I had forgotten to buy a mask. I didn't want to go out again, so I decided to risk cleaning the basement without a mask. I went downstairs with a broom and dust pan and set them aside.

First, I had to deal with the boxes. There were seven of them, and I started with the one closest to the stairs. It was medium-sized and had its flaps shut in a way where they all overlapped each other. I opened it and found a set of cups. They were white with blue patterns decorating them, and there were six of them in total. I set that box aside and moved on to the next. 

The next box was small and had two books in it. One was about runes, and the other was something about 'block magic'. I set it aside as well.

The third box just had magazines in it, none of which seemed important to me. I'd have to throw them away later.

The fourth box was small as well. I opened it and found a wooden box that resembled a treasure chest. I tried opening it but it was locked shut. I picked it up and it felt heavy, meaning it had something in it. I put it on the table in the basement.

There fifth box had a hammer, two screwdrivers, an adjustable wrench, and random screws and nails.

The sixth has a book about shadowmancy which sounded very edgy to me, and the seventh had four adventure books that starred a character named 'Daring Do', and I guessed that it'd be something similar to Indiana Jones.

I put all the valuable stuff on the table and folded up the boxes. Now for the hard part. I grabbed the broom and started sweeping all the dust being careful not to kick it up in the air. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough, and soon my eyes were starting to water as I started sneezing. After that, I finished the sweeping at a much faster pace because I couldn't do anything to reverse the effects dust had on me.

At last, the basement was clean, and I could rest. Or so I thought. I heard knocking at my door. I went upstairs to check who it was but found only a letter on my doorstep. It was a bright pink colour with a lot of glitter on it. I opened the letter and saw a note that simply said, "Be there at Sugarcube Corner by 2, we'll be waiting for you!" The letter was signed by a Pinkie Pie, who I guessed was throwing a party like Rarity had said. I went upstairs and checked the clock the showed that it was only 8 AM. 

I was tired and ready to go sleep at this point but knowing me, I'd probably miss the party due to oversleeping. However, I didn't have anything to occupy my time, other than taking a bath. There was shopping as well but I want really in the mood to go spend more money. I thought some more and remembered that I had to submit that one form at the town hall. 

I checked on the table in the living room and found it there as I had left it. I picked it up in my magic and left my house. I expected that submitting the form would be an easy task.

With the form, I left the house again. The walk back to the town center was uneventful and with some help from signs, I found the town hall nearby. It was a cylindrical building that reminded of that other building. There was a notice board outside which was empty at the moment. I entered the building and found that it was empty. A door with the label 'mayor' to the side caught my eye and I guessed that's where I had to go.

I knocked on the door and heard a "come in" from inside. I opened the door and saw a tan coloured mare with grey hair sitting at a table signing some papers. She wrote reading glasses and a tie thingie.

"Hello there, how can I help you?", she said as she looked up at me with a friendly smile.

"I was told to submit this form here," I replied as I levitated the form into her table. She took it and checked it before looking back up and speaking.

"Ah, you've just moved in. Welcome to Ponyville, miss... Anya Khan. Did I get that right?"

"Yeah, you got it," I answered. She smiled at that before continuing.

"Well, Anya, I hope you find Ponyville a nice place. I'm Mayor Mare, the mayor of this town. 

Now, you've filled out all the necessary details, so, I can add you to the town registry later. However, I've got to ask you a question," she said, looking at a paper that had a list on it and continuing, "I'm sure you know that Ponyville is hosting the Summer Sun Celebration this year, and I'd like to know if you want to volunteer with setting it up since we have a shortage of volunteers for a few things, that is if you aren't busy."

I thought about it and figured it'd be a good opportunity to blend in and get a positive reputation.

"Yeah, I'll volunteer," I answered. Mayor Mare was happy to hear that.

"Do you want to help with any particular task?" she asked she passed the paper with the list to me. 

"I don't really have a problem with anything," I said after skimming over the list.

"Great! I'll have you help with the ahh... decorations. You'll have to go to Rarity as she is in charge of that, she'll tell you what to do," she said, mentioning the mare I met earlier today.

"Okay, thanks mayor," I said as I left the office. A clock on the wall shows that the time was 8:30. There was still a lot of time till the party. I guessed that I could go find Rarity or maybe do some shopping. I could really have some chai about now.

Now that I think about it, I should probably go shopping for chai ingredients. I could talk to Rarity later.

With that, I left the town hall and looked around for some store other than Barnyard Bargains. I found one named 'Wind's convenience'. I entered and could tell it was completely different from Barnyard Bargains. This store was similar to a supermarket while the other seemed locally owned. The difference reflected in the prices as well, with things being cheaper here. 

I got milk, some ginger, sugar, a pack of noodles, a few carrots, peas, tea powder, and some utensils as well. With all that, I headed home and went to the kitchen where I put all the stuff where it should be. 

Now for chai, I filled up a kettle with water and set it to boil on the stove. As it was hearing up, I crushed up the ginger and put it in the kettle along with some tea powder and sugar. Once it was boiling, I put in the milk and let it simmer for a few minutes. After that I turned the stove off and looked around for a cup before remembering that I had six in the basement. I got them upstairs and cleaned one quickly and poured some chai in it.

It smelled nice but I had to wait for it to cool a little before I could taste it. I figured that I'd read one of the magic books I had found. I got all the upstairs and picked the one about runes. I opened it to the first page and started reading. I took a sip of the chai as I did and burnt my tongue.





It was 12 noon. 

I had read the first quarter of the book and found it quite interesting. A rune, in its simplest form, was basically a carving with magic and intent stored in it. It was also very inefficient in the simplest form, as magic didn't have proper pathways to flow through. After that, the book started explaining standard runes that are used almost universally. It was sort of like programming, something I was really into.

I had to stop reading though since it was noon and the party was in two hours and I had to get ready. I went upstairs and got a towel I had got earlier and went to the bathroom. 

The bathtub had a shower, and I intended to take a quick shower. Unfortunately, it took a while because I was having trouble with my mane and tail. Like seriously, my Mane was so long it dragged on the ground. After the shower, I had trouble drying them as the towel was too wet to do so properly. I applied some hair oil, brushed my mane, and then started braiding it into a basic three-stand braid.

Once that was done, I looked myself over and felt that I looked decent. Getting ready, however, had taken more than an hour and I had about fifteen minutes left to get to the bakery. I didn't wear my jacket as it was warm outside now.

I left the house and walked to the bakery. The town center was a lot less busy than before. The bakery was a different story though. I knew that there would be a party but I didn't expect so many ponies to show up, like it wasn't even my birthday, I had literally just moved in.

Inside the bakery, there were about fifty ponies, all waiting for me to arrive along with a sign that said "Welcome to Ponyville Anya!" and plenty of food. 

A pink pony with pink hair came up to me. Her hair was messy and she seemed very excited to see me.

"Hey there, Anya! It's so nice to see you. So nice that I threw a party! For you! Let the party begin!" she said very rapidly, giving me only a few moments to comprehend what she said. The party began when she said to start it and immediately she brought me to a table with some ponies. I would have tried to stop her, but she was simply too fast, and before I knew it, I was sitting down at some table. 

I looked at the ponies at the table and recognised two of them, Rarity and Rainbow Dash, who were sitting opposite of one another. I didn't recognise the two other ponies though.

"Hey Ann-ya, nice to see you here," Rainbow said, eating some chips. I was going to reply but Rarity cut me off.

"Now, Rainbow, I know you aren't one for hygiene but talking while eating is disgusting, besides that, you pronounced Aanya's name wrong." Rarity chided Rainbow.

"Now now, it ain't good tah start fightin' at a party, 'specially when the guest o' honour is here," the third point, am orange earth pony with a blond mane and stetson said, stopping the argument, before addressing me, "Pleasure to meet ya Anya, name's Applejack."

"Nice to meet you as well, Applejack," I replied. The other mare at the table, a dark pink earth pony with lighter pink hair, also greeted me, "Hello there Anya, I'm Cheerilee. It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you guys as well," I replied. All of us sat in silence for a few moments before Applejack spoke again.

"Say Anya, Ah'm curious to know why ya moved tah Ponyville when there's lot o' other bigger towns out there," Applejack said.

"The house was cheap, and I needed my own place," I responded quickly.

"Huh, I don't know any place that was being sold in Ponyville," Rainbow said, this time without having a mouthful of food.

"There's a house close to the forest. I live there," I said hoping they'd know the one.

"The brown brick house? You live there?!" Rainbow asked being clearly shocked.

"Yeah, why?" I asked, a bit confused before remembering how the pegasus who sold me the house wanted to leave it as quickly as possible. Was my house haunted?

"That house is cursed!", Rainbow stated dramatically, "Everypony that ever lived in that house has left within a few months because they kept getting into accidents, not getting sleep, or even shadowy figures haunting them!"

Well, at least it wasn't just haunted.

"Okay." I replied apathetically, giving my honest reaction to that information.

Before Rainbow could continue, I remembered that the mayor had told me to go talk to Rarity about helping with the decorations.

"Hey Rarity, I had went to the mayor some time back and volunteered to help with decoration for the celebration and she told me to come talk to you."

"Oh! You'll be helping with decoration? Well, I'll tell you that it'll be a great time doing that. Come to the town hall tomorrow around nine, we'll be staying from there," Rarity said. Now, I had a plan for tomorrow.

It was then that the pink pony returned. She carried a plate with a slice of chocolate cake on it. She put the parts in front of me at the table before asking loudly, "How have you been enjoying your party so far?"

If had only been like five minutes since I came here and as a result, I didn't really have an answer. Plus, I don't really like parties. However, making an answer up was always an option.

"It's been going good so far," I answered. I could see Applejack narrow her eyes a bit from the corner of my eye.

"That's good! I'm Pinkie Pie by the way, the premier pink party pony of Ponyville!!" She responded and then continued with a very large smile, "How's the cake?"

I hadn't taken a view of the cake yet but after the pink pony prompted, I took one. It was a lot better than I expected. It was sweet but not so much that it was bad, while the amount of frosting was perfect.

"It's pretty good," I responded, taking another bite.

"Of course it is, the Cakes made it! They make the best cakes and pastries and desserts and cookies and all other sweet things in all of Equestria. Look! They're over there, I'll go tell them that you liked the cake," she said pointing at two ponies across the room before leaving us again.

"Ya know Anya, ya don't have tah lie to her 'bout liking the party, she won't take any offence." Applejack started, calling me out on my made up answer.

"Well, it's not like I don't like the party, it's just that I'm not really used to someone throwing a party for just moving into town. Besides, it'd be kinda rude to say I didn't like it," I replied, justifying myself.

"She has a point, Applejack," Cheerilee said, "I didn't like it much either when I moved into town and Pinkie immediately the a party but I could at least appreciate the sentiment."

Applejack was a bit miffed but accepted the response. I guessed she was big about being honest. 

The five of us sat in silence for a minute, eating whatever we had on our plates before Rarity spoke up.

"Well, Anya, I've got to ask you, how do you manage to make yourself look so simple but so pretty?" She asked.

"Huh?" I responded, having no idea what she was talking about.

"You do not even need to use make-up to heads turn." Rarity continued as she gestured to a table where a group of stallions kept sneaking looks towards our table, and from how Rarity was talking, I guessed they were looking at me.

I, having no experience as an attractive woman, or as an attractive person in general, was greatly confused. Accordingly, I asked, "I look pretty?"

It was Rarity's turn to be confused.

"Of course, you do. Why would even question it?" Rarity responded. I didn't really say anything and just looked down at my food. Rarity didn't really take my silence as an answer.

"I might have only met you today but I can say that you need to be more confident with yourself." She advised.

I nodded, not wanting to continue this discussion any longer.

"Heh, you remind me of Fluttershy. You should probably meet her sometime." Rainbow said. 





Princess Celestia paced around in her room, clearly worried. The celebration was in a week but so was her sister's return. Her student had proven herself to be dependable but she was still worried for her, knowing that she was putting Twilight in danger because she was not a good sister.

Besides that, a massive amount of energy had hit their world. She did not know what had happened in the outer reality but assumed it had been a great disaster. There was no real effect on her world but she still has a feeling that something had changed, that something would come and change the course of the future. 

She only hoped it would be for the good of everyone.