//------------------------------//
// Chaper 2: A Day in Ponyville Part 1 
// Story: The Black Arrow 
// by serobo22 
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 The next day, Shadow barely opened his eyes. He felt too tired to get up, but knew he had to eventually. The sun shined through the window and he knew where he was again. He was at Rainbow's house, in her guest room.  He rubbed his eyes with his foreleg and he looked out a window. He saw the field that Rainbow and him had raced on. Then, the same thoughts from last night came back. He remembered the tour, how much he stared at her, and that one little peek he took at her flank... He quickly shook his head, trying his best to take his mind off of Rainbow's flank... He shook his head even more and tried to find something to take his mind off of those thoughts. He looked around, and saw one thing in particular that caught his eye. It was a poster labeled "The Wonderbolts, Equestria's Best Fliers" with a picture background of some ponies he'd never seen before in what seemed to be their uniform. Shadow smirked after seeing this.

"Heh, maybe I should join the Wonderbolts. It's a known fact i'm Equestria's fastest flyer..... Oh wait, Rainbow and I tied in that race yesterday.... So that means we're both Equestria's fastest flyers..... I think..." He said to himself, or so he thought.

Shadow didn't notice, but Rainbow had walked in to ask if he wanted to meet her friends. She started laughing.... a lot. Shadow turned to see his new-friend had heard him talking to himself. He didn't move. He showed no sign of acknowledgement. His mind just shut down. He felt embarassed, because as soon as he heard her, his thoughts came back to him, and his face truned red and refused to turn towards Rainbow. He took a moment to regain his composure and turned to face her.

"You er, you heard that, huh?" He said as he rubbed the back of his head with a hoof.

Rainbow was still laughing. She took a minute to calm herself. "Oh man, That's gold! You and me, Equestria's fastest, eh? Hahaha!" She let out a sigh as she finished laughing. "Anyway, I came to ask if you woul wanted to meet my friends back at Ponyville. So do you wanna meet my friends or talk to yourself some more?" She snickered after finishing her sentence.

Shadow gave her a cold look and then thought. He had never heard of Ponyville before. He planned on leaving today, but who knows? It's always good to try new things and meet new ponies. After all, he didn't really have friends until he met Rainbow Dash. If she was cool, maybe her friends were too. Shadow nodded in aggreement and walked towards the door. He looked back at Rainbow, who was following behing him. A few minutes later, they were both flying, Shadow behind Rainbow, of course, because she was the one showing the way, obviously. Shadow decided he wanted to know more about Rainbow's friends.

"So, about your friends. How many are we talking here? And what are they like?" Shadow asked. Rainbow stopped flying and Shadow did too. She turned to face him and answer his question, while having a hoof on her chin to think.

"Well, there's Twilight Sparkle, the bookworm. She's a unicorn from Canterlot who lives in the library at Ponyville and is the personal student of Princess Celestia herself, though she does take her books little seriously. Then there's Rarity, a unicorn who runs the boutique in Ponyville, though she's kinda snobby, you get used to her eventually. There's also Applejack, she's a farmer who runs Sweet Apple Acres with her family. She's very tough and has some sort of farmers accent or whatever, I dunno. There's Pinkie Pie, the party pony who lives in Sugarcube Corner. She will always try to find a way to make you smile, but sometimes she gets a little.... Annoying... Don't tell her i told you. Anyway, the last pony is Fluttershy. She's a very shy pony, but around animals, she's a social butterfly(No pun intended). So yeah, those are my best friends in Ponyville. Of course, I know a lot of other ponies there too, but we'll just meet my best friends and I'll let you meet any other pony you feel like talking to or whatever." Said Rainbow, finally finishing.

"Alright, I'm ready to meet everypony. Let's get going." And with that, they began flying again. Shadow, still behind Rainbow Dash, wacthed the cyan mare as they flew to their destination. He watched as she occasionally flew a loop and they kept moving towards "Ponyville."

An hour had passed and he found his flight becoming boring, so he decided to get to know Rainbow Dash better. He asked her a few questions about herself as they flew and she answered them. He began knowing this mare better with every question; Her dream of becoming a Wonderbolt, her being an Element of Harmony, the adventures she and her friends shared, and so on. (Of course i'm not gonna bore you people with a dialouge you already know, so I shortened it to this. Honestly, I know giving details you fine people already know is just stupid to put in a fanfiction. Saved you the time of reading something you already know.) After finally knowing Rainbow Dash, they arrived at Ponyville. Rainbow turned to face Shadow.

"Alright, so who do you wanna meet first?" Asked the speedster.

Shadow put a hoof to his chin to think which of these five mares he would want to meet first. He thought for a moment, trying to decide which one he wanted to meet. His choices were the bookworm, the fashionista, the farmer, the party animal, and the animal lover. He took a minute to take in consideration of evveryponies traits. Then he decided what to say.

"Doesn't matter to me, I'll go where you go..." He thought about what he just said. He looked at Rainbow and notice her face had turned redish. He had to act quickly. "Er... That came out wrong.... What I meant was--"

"I get what you meant...." Rainbow said, her face slowly turning back to it's original cyan color. "I guess we can go to Twilight's place first."

"I'm good with that. Let's go." Shadow replied. The two pegasi flew a short ways and came up to a rather large tree with several decorations, a few windows, and of course a door. There was a sign in front of the tree that said "Ponyville Library." Shadow realized that this "Twilight Sparkle" was more of a bookworm than he thought. They both landed and walked up to the library door. Rainbow was the one to knock on the door....

"Just a second!" Said a voice from inside. Hoofsteps could be heard coming from the inside the large tree.

The library door opened and a purple unicorn soon came into view. Said unicorn gave a warming smile as she saw Rainbow at the door, but then she noticed Shadow was at the door and gave a look of confusion. He looked back at the violet unicorn, guessing to himself that this would be an intersting visit. The bookworm looked back at her friend, her expression was one full of questions, but Rainbow Dash kept a smile on her face.

"Hello, Rainbow Dash. Uh, Who's your friend here? And why is he staring at me?" Said the librarian.

"Oh, Twilight, I'd like you to meet Shadow Strife." Rainbow turned to look at Shadow. "Shadow, this is Twilight Sparkle."

"Nice to meet you..." Said Twilight. She was still looking at Shadow with confusion.

Shadow snapped back to reality after he realized she said something directed to him. "Oh, uh, likewise." Said Shadow, trying to change the way he talked a bit.

"So can we come in, Twi?" Asked the cyan mare.

"Oh, yeah, sure you can. Come on in." Twilight moved out of the way to let us in. We both walk in the library as i look around and see what I expected; books, lots and lots of books.

After about 2 hours of getting to know each other and Rainbow Dash seeing a side of Shadow she never expected to see, Twilight and Shadow became good friends as Shadow used the knowledgeable part of his travel to get along with this bookworm. He used words that he never thought would get a mare's attention ever in his life, but sure enough, Twilight was "fascinated to hear his astounding perception of various places she had never seen before." After sharing 2 hours worth of each others information about their lives and sharing some thoughts on certain books and several other conversations. Shadow and Rainbow were ready to head out and meet the next pony, but Twilight pulled Rainbow aside to discuss certain matters about Shadow.

"Okay, so I have to tell you something." Said Twilight quietly, hoping Shadow wasn't eavesdropping on their conversation.

"What is it Twi? Something important?" Asked a curious speedster.

"Well... Things is... I kinda sorta like him..." Said the bookworm as her cheeks grew redish. Rainbow laughed at what she just heard.

"You seriously like him?" Said a suprised Rainbow Dash. She never thought she's see the day when Twilight would come to like a colt. The thought of this made Rainbow's first mechanism activate: Laugh at that shit. So Rainbow laughed... and laughed... and choked. Twilight had used her magic to make Rainbow's laughing fit stop... By using it mainly around her throat.

When Twilight finally stopped trying to make her friend go into a coma, and both mares walked back to Shadow and soon after, Shadow and a struggling Rainbow Dash left Twilight's library and were walking their way through Ponyville. Shadow had become a bit thirsty, so they both stopped at a small resteraunt for a quick bite. After their meal, Rainbow asked Shadow what happened in the library. She had wondered how he knew all those things, and he told her a few years back, he traveled to learn more about the lands of Equestria, but he doesn't anymore. Now he does it just see new places, but until now, he never really talked to anypony. It was then that they decided to visit a certain pony who new everypony..... Take a guess.... I already know what you said but, yes, you guessed right!.... It's Fluttershy..... No i'm just kidding, It's Pinkie Pie. Shadow and Rainbow were en route to Sugarcube Corner when they were stopped by a mare we all know and love.... Fluttershy... Again, I was kidding. They were stopped by Applejack, who was in the market selling apples she and Big Macintosh had recently bucked. Shadow and Rainbow both walked towards the farm pony to introduce Shadow to another one of Rainbow's friends.

"Well howdy there, Rainbow Dash. Who's yer friend here?

"Hey AJ, this is Shadow Strife. He's gonna be in town for a day or two, so I decided to let him meet you ponies."

The farm pony looked at Shadow with a smile on her face. She looked him up and down and came from behind her small cart of apples and took his hoof and shook it.

"Nice ta meet'cha, Shadow! Name's Applejack! Ah reckon Rainbow told ya somethin' about me."

"Uh, yeah just a little bit. It's nice to meet you too."

And after a couple of hours of two ponies sharing more dialogue you probably don't want to hear. A few customers came and bought a few apples and went on their merry way. Rainbow found her way into their conversation at one point, feeling left out as they talked. Rainbow, Applejack, and Shadow shared stories about their lives and whatnot, sharing a few laughs and all as Applejack and Shadow got fully acquainted with each other. Afterwards, Shadow and Rainbow Dash started heading for Sugarcube Corner once again. They said goodbye to Applejack and left to go meet Pinkie Pie...