Jack stood just outside the Everfree forest, starting at the city in the distance. He never really got a chance to stand around and admire things before, usually something was happening or something had just occurred that would catch his attention. This time was different, the two ponies behind him remained silent, and he felt their eyes following his every movement. Jack shuffled on the spot a little, then rubbed his forehead with one of his front hooves. There was a pounding in the back of his head, although he was forgetting something of great importance. He shrugged it off, more than likely it was a memory from the past, one that had faded from existence. The air was no longer silent, there were birds happily chirping as the sun remained high in the sky. A few rabbits could be seen running across the field, and there were one or two ponies in the far distance. Pressing forward, the sound of the added hooves made all the sounds seem like a symphony of music.
>---<
Ponyville was no more than a minute away, and the three changelings saw the occasional mare out for a walk. Strangely enough, Jack had not seen many stallions. It appeared as if the male to female population was extremely low, but he didn't argue. Before entering the city, he made sure to clarify what the other two changelings were to do.
"Alright," Jack started, "So you be sure not to talk unless you have to. You're foreign to this part of Equestria, and you speak very little of their language."
Wings was the first to blink. His light purple coat actually looked pretty nice.
"I am Cienna, of Itrot." Wings stated quite blandly.
'Woah he spoke! But umm... He really needs to work on his speech skills. Even if he was foreign it's a little awkward...' Jack thought.
"And I am Domina, of Itrot." Biggs responded, his answer lacking emotions as well.
"Well, in that case what did you do back in Itrot?" Jack said, trying to keep them talking.
No response, just a light purple pony and a dark red pony staring back at them.
"You were grape farmers, I mean, comon you need to at least have SOME back story. You came here to escape the poor living qualities and to start anew."
Jack was a little nervous seeing how little they talked, but so long as the other ponies believed they were foreign he would be fine. They continued towards the city, the occasional wandering pony giving them a little wave. No more than a second after reaching the first wood and straw building, a familiar pink pony jumped out to greet the newcomers.
"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! You must be new, since I know everybody around here, and since I don't know you, you have to be new! Otherwise that would mean I didn't know you, but I know everybody in Ponyville, so I knew that I couldn't know you so that's why I wanted to meet you!" Pinkie said, sounding extremely excited to meet some new ponies.
"Umm... Yeah well, we're new around here, that's for-"
"I knew I didn't know you! You know what that means? It means I need to throw a new friend party for my new friends! Oooh there will be cake, and cupcakes, and punch, and dancing, and all kinds of fun games! It'll be at 8 o'clock tonight at Sugarcube Corner, so make sure you and your friends are there!" Pinkie interrupted.
Before Jack even got another word out of his mouth, Pinkie was already hopping away. She talked so fast he barely even caught anything, other than to be at Sugarcube Corner at 8:00 that night.
"She didn't even ask for our names..." He said under his breath.
>---<
Wandering around Ponyville was quite interesting. Almost every building had the same style, other than Rarity's Boutique, the Tree-brary and Sucarcube Corner. Many of the ponies waved at the newcomers, some of them continued on like it was nothing, and a few of them seemed to be avoiding them. When they finally reached the market, they heard multiple ponies trying to yell over each other in order to advertise their products.
"Aaaaapples! Get your Sweet Apple Acres apples here!" One pony yelled.
"Cherries! Fresh Cherries from Dodge Junction right here!" Another yelled.
The competition between the ponies was quite intense, although Jack could hear both the apple salespony and cherry salespony over every other pony, everypony else was too quiet to hear what they were selling.
'The apple salespony... Wouldn't that be Applejack?' Jack thought.
Wandering over to the large apple banner, posted directly on a plank of wood supported by two small wooden beams, Jack stopped in front of the apple stall.
"Well howdy there, partner! What can ah do for ya'll today?" The tan pony said.
'Well I don't really have any bits or anything...' Jack thought. 'What should I do? Maybe I can get a job on the farm...'
"Well, actually I was looking for work. I'm new to these parts, and I don't have much money with me." Jack replied.
"Ah reckoned you were new around here, ah saw Pinkie run right up to ya'll and then run off shortly after. So where are ya'll from, anyhow?" Applejack asked.
"Well, we're from Itrot, a distant land. We came here to seek refuge and to start anew." Jack responded.
"Ah see, well, ah may have a job or two on the farm, but ya'll gotta be able to do some buckin'. Before we get any workin' done, ya'll gotta at least give me some names!"
"Well, I'm Jack."
'Crap. I forgot to think of a good name for myself. I got the other two names...'
Jack then pointed to the purple pony behind him.
"That's Cienna." Jack said, then changing his hooves direction towards Biggs. "The other one is Domina."
"Well, ah'd like to have some good buckers helpin' out. I reckon I can pay ya'll too, since ya'll are new. By the way, I'm Applejack. If ya'll need a job, come find ma farm just outside Ponyville. It's been a nice talkin' with ya'll, but ah really need to get back to mah apple sales, good luck you three!"
Applejack began yelling out her sales pitch once more, leaving the three changelings with nothing to do. Wandering around the city had been a good time waster, or so the clock tower near city hall told, seeing as the time was 2:24.
'We still need to find a place for the night, though.' Jack thought.
Staying at Zecora's hut was nice, but there was no way he would be able to get a place to stay for 3 different ponies for free. Not really knowing what to do, the three newcomers wandered around the town once more.
>---<
There wasn't a single cloud in the sky, and whenever one wandered into sight a pegasus would sweep in and move it away. Ponyville was booming with life, it was almost impossible to wander anywhere in town without seeing another pony. Somehow, Jack and his observers made it back to the market. Applejack wasn't at the stall, and a little filly with a pink bow tie was watching over. She was mumbling something about not getting her cutie mark if she had to sit around all day.
'Applebloom really should perk up, who doesn't want to buy things from a cute little filly?' Jack thought.
"Oh hey there you three!" Came a cheerful voice from behind.
Turning around, Jack saw Pinkie approaching once more, bouncing towards them.
"I still hope you three are ready for the party, I have everything set up, I even managed to get THREE cakes! One for each of you! Isn't that great?" Pinkie squealed. "Oh by the way, I never got your names. I should have gotten your names earlier, but I was so excited to meet new ponies I just HAD to get the party ready! Parties are so much fun, you just can't have new ponies show up in town and not give them a Pinkie Pie party! Ooooh yeah don't forget your names! So what are your names, can you tell me please please pleeeaaase?"
"Ok so I'm Jack." Jack replied.
He knew he already told Applejack his name, so he couldn't tell Pinkie otherwise, especially if everypony did show up at the party.
"Oooh that's a fun name! It's like that one game where you have to pick up that jacks but not you, Jack, because picking up ponies as quickly as possible would be kinda weird, but hey maybe it would be fun we should try that sometime!" The energetic pony said.
"And the two behind me are Cienna, the one with the red mane, and Domina, the one with the light purple mane"
"I've never heard names like that before! You should totally tell me where you're from, it'll be great and so much fun and I can tell you everything about Ponyville and what it's like and I can introduce you to all my friends! Other than yourselves of course, you already know who you are, but I mean all of my other friends!"
Jack let out a sigh, and tried to make sure Pinkie didn't notice.
"That would be great, but..."
"Great! It's settled! I'll make sure that everypony is there and I can introduce you to all of them there! Then you can have lots of new friends and have lots of fun! Oooh I can't wait! I gotta go, I still have some party stuff left to do, bye!"
Before Jack could even remember what he was going to say before the interruption, the pink mare was gone once more. He could find some place to stay during the party, since they were new. For now, he had nothing much to do until the party, but when the time would finally come he would have no idea what was really going to happen.