*PHEEEEEEEEEEEE*
The sound of the kettle whistling almost startled Shadow. Almost, he thought to himself. He trotted over to the stove and raised the kettle off of the element with his magic. Walking over to the cupboards to grab one of the two mugs that had been left there, he came to a sudden realization.
“Oh what the HAY!” he bursted. “I don’t have any teabags! Of all the things under Celestia’s Sun I could run out of, I had to run out of teabags today!” Shadow merely stood staring at the kettle for a solid two minutes, trying to formulate a plan. He wanted to go into town today, but he just couldn’t face all the new ponies without a cup of his herbal brew to calm the nerves. After another minute or two had passed he had finally formulated a decent plan of action, he would wander around the outskirts of Ponyville looking for the herbs he needed for his tea, and then he would go into Ponyville. With a deft magical movement he threw on his cloak and wandered out the door.
After about an hour of uneventful and fruitless searching, he began to hear a faint hum. Not being sure what the origin of this high pitched buzzing was, he decided to investigate. I am a student after all... sort of, and students investigate things! He reasoned to himself. As the sound grew louder he began to make it out as something humming. Still unable to discern kind of animal was humming, he moved closer. Based on the pitch of the sound, he was guessing it was a squirrel, or hummingbird, or some similar small animal.
Do they even have hummingbirds in Ponyville? It wouldn’t surprise me, hummingbirds are relatively adaptable creatures. They would easily flock here if there was someone who was taking care of them. Wait... what does this have to do with the humming? Oh, hummingbird... right. Wait a second.. IT’S STOPPED! You dumb pony, you got so lost thinking about hummingbirds that you missed where the actual humming was coming from! Good move Sherclop Pones! Now we’ll never know what was making the hum.
As Shadow was having a rather self deprecating internal dialogue, his eyes wandered around the surrounding area.
Rock. Rock. Tree. Rock. Rock with a pink tail. Roc-
At that moment he came to a sudden realization that something about one of those rocks was different. Specifically, one had a tale.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fluttershy had been having what she would describe as an excellent morning. She awoke well rested, and after she trotted over to her mirror, she noticed that her mane had hardly been mussed up at all over night. With a few strokes of a brush her pink mane was nicely tailored to her personal liking. She turned around to get a better look at her haunches in the mirror. I suppose I’m not TOO plain looking, she thought to herself with a little grin. Perhaps I should give my tail a trim. It has been getting rather hard to control lately.
Before she was able to complete the thought she was disturbed by a small bunny who entered her room rather abruptly.
“Good morning Angel Bunny” She said with a refreshed sweetness in her voice. The bunny just looked at her expectedly, but lovingly, and requested breakfast with his gaze.
“Oh, of course Angel. I’ll get your carrots in a minute”. Fluttershy went about making her bed and ensuring that her room was pristine. The bunny just stood still staring at the pocket watch he held. In his little bunny mind he waited for the second hand to make a full rotation.
A loud “AHEM!” escaped the bunny’s throat just as the yellow mare began to walk over to him.
“I’m coming Angel Bunny” she said. “I’ll have your breakfast ready in two shakes of a filly’s tale”.
After a relaxing breakfast with all the animals, Fluttershy decided to take a quick walk to pay a visit to her birdy friends. Angel decided to tag along, although he decided to do so at a safe distance, and without the knowledge of sweet-natured mare.
On the way back to her cottage, Fluttershy couldn’t have been in better spirits. She trotted with a spring in her step, and every few minutes she lifted a few feet off the ground to flutter about. During one of these quick flights she began to hum a little tune. It was a familiar one, and the bunny following in the distance rolled his bunny eyes as if to say “Oh not this song again”.
However, as she floated across a small opening something caught her eye in the distance. A grey pony, wearing a black cloak, with a black and red mane. He was just standing there, it looked as if he was talking with someone, although no one else could be seen. Fluttershy quickly let her timid side take over as she bolted behind the nearest rock and stopped her humming immediately.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shadow began to trot over to this oddly accessorized rock, wondering what the hay he was going to find.
“Hm, I’ve never seen a rock with a pink tail before” He said aloud. Fluttershy closed her eyes tightly, she knew that she’d been spotted. Although she was trembling with fear and anxiety, something deep inside of her chuckled.
That was sort of funny I guess, in a bland way. Maybe he isn’t a bad pony. I should really stop judging books by their covers. NO! He’s coming closer. I can’t run, he would outrun me. With that thought she tried to spread her wings to make an aerial getaway. But to her despair, they remained glued to her flank. Oh no! This is it. This is the end of Fluttershy the pegasus. Maybe he isn’t too bad, he did make a joke. Maybe he’ll make another while he.. he.. BEATS ME AND HAS HIS WAY WITH ME AND LEAVES ME TO DIE IN THE EVERFREE FOREST!!! The yellow mare, who really still had the heart of a filly, let out a small squeak.
“Hello? Um, is someone there?” Shadow said, more confused than before. All his gut instincts were telling him that somepony was hiding from him behind a rock, but he just couldn’t fathom somepony that timid.
After no response he finally thought, buck it, I’m just gonna take a look. After a second or two of a slow canter he arrived at the rock. Looking around the large stone he saw a mare curled into a ball. He couldn’t make out any distinguishing features, all he saw was a ball of yellow and pink. Normally he would have just walked away, leaving the pony to whatever she was doing. But that was the old Shadow, he was starting a new life in Ponyville. I suppose now is as good a time as any to start being more social, he thought to himself.
“Um, excuse me... miss? Are you hiding from something?”
“Oh yes” the ball replied, not moving an inch. “There was a mean looking pony at the other end of the field. He had a dark coat and darker main and a dark cloak and he wasn’t looking to happy and he was about to come over and approach me but I guess you came alo-” as she began to open her eyes she saw the dark pony standing over her. Her rather speedy explanation of the events leading up to the current situation left her short of breath, so when she tried to give a little squeak in terror, nothing came out. She resumed her ball formation.
Feeling a bit guilty, but mostly perplexed, Shadow stood for a good half minute, waiting for something to happen. When it became clear that the yellow pony wasn’t going to move, he gently put his hoof on her side to make sure she was still breathing.
“eeeeeeeeeeee” Fluttershy whimpered. What the hay kind of sound is that? The standing pony thought.
“Hm, well that does sound like a rather sticky situation. Who knows what that pony might be up to” Shadow said half jokingly, attempting to break the rather thick ice.
“eeeeeehm” Fluttershy responded.
“But why didn’t you fly away? You are a pegasus after all.”
“...”
“Sorry I didn’t get that?”
Mustering up all the courage that she had, which by her own admittance was a very small amount, the mare responded “When I get scared, I don’t ...”
“Pardon?”
“When I get scared, I don’t.. fly well...”
“Oh, well I suppose that’s... reasonable.” Replied shadow. “My name’s Shadow Storm” he said, forcing an awkward grin.
“That’s a nice name” replied the timid mare as she began to unravel herself from her defences.
“Thanks”An awkward silence ensued, nopony talking, and both attempting to get a better look at the other without making it obvious they were staring.
Finally the dark pony broke the silence “Do you.. y’know, have one?”
“Have what?”
“A name”
“Oh... yes..”
“Aaaaand?”
“Um, it’s not really the coolest name.”
“Well I suppose I can be the judge of that”
“It’s Fluttershy” said the mare almost inaudibly, trying to avoid staring into the ponie's cherry red eyes.
“Oh, well I think that’s a... g-good name” said Shadow with a stutter. “Do you live around here Fluttersty?”
“Yes” said the yellow pony. Now feeling a bit more comfortable and gaining enough nerve to stand on four hooves. She ignored the obvious mispronunciation of her name and decided to reveal a bit more about herself. “I live in a cottage near the Everfree forest”.
“No kidding!” Shadow replied with a sincere grin. “I’m renting a cottage that’s only about a half-hour canter from there. It looks like we are going to be ne-e-eighbors” He said with a neigh. Fluttershy gave a little chuckle at his pronunciation of neighbour. She noticed he had the slightest Canterlot accent. She thought that she should introduce this new stallion to her friend Rarity.
“What made you move here? From what I’ve seen Canterlot is quite nice this time of year” the quite pony queried, half trying to make conversation, half trying to inch back to her cottage. Shadow noticed her slight movements, and began to walk in the direction the decidedly cute mare inched.
“I’m kind of a student, and Canterlot just wasn’t the place to study dar- uhh... To be studious” Shadow replied, not wanting to reveal the nature of his studies.
“Well that’s nice. What is it that you study?” Fluttershy inquired
“Er, um, well. I-I stuuuudy..” Shadow couldn’t help from letting his speech stumble. It was a bad habit he had since he was a young colt. Although, in this particular situation he didn’t exactly want to be forward, at least on this topic. He knew that if he let out that he studied Luna’s dark magics he would be judged. He knew that if he told the especially timid Flutterdry he would be labelled an “Apocalypse Pony” and “troublemaker” and would then be ostracized by his new town.
“Well I study history mostly. Yup, mostly history. History history history. A little magic here and there on the side sometimes as well on.. yknow.. occasion.” He managed to stutter out.
“Isn’t that a suprise. I actually have a bit of a friend who studies magic as well. She really is quite good at it. In fact, she moved here from Canterlot as well. I’m sure you would get along splendidly.” Fluttershy was thinking about a certain purple pony whom she admired. Shadow on the other hand, was distressed to find that another magic student lived in Ponyville. He knew that his charade would be nearly impossible to keep up around her. “I could introduce you to her if you would like” continued Fluttershy.
Not wanting to seem rude or antisocial he replied with a jilted “Yes. I. Would. Like... to meet her”. Fluttershy only smiled in response.
What the hay are you doing shadow!? If you get found out and labelled everything that you hoped Ponyville would bring is just going to melt away. There is a time for everything to be revealed, but that time isn’t now. Now you just have to make friends!! His train of thought was briefly interrupted when he noticed that he stood before a cottage that wasn’t his own. However, without missing a beat, his train of thought continued on. Now his brain prepared a retort to the previous negativity. Well you did make friends! You met Flutterguy! Isn’t that what you set out to do? Make some friends?! Wait.. I didn’t come out to make friends.. I just wanted some tea.....
At this point he noticed that the yellow mare’s muzzle had been moving in conversation ever since they reached the cottage.
“I mean... If you would like to..” It was obvious that Fluttershy had said something previous to this, but Shadow had been too deep in thought to catch it.
“Sorry, I missed that, would you mind repeating it? I don’t have the uh.. the best ears.” He said with mildly convincing grin.
“Oh it’s really ok if you don’t want to. I understand” said Fluttershy with a reserved smile and understanding nod.
“No really, I just missed the first bit.”
“Oh... I said that I was just going to head over into Ponyville to meet my friends. We’re going to have some tea and cupcakes. I’m sure they would have no objection to me bringing you along.” Shadow felt a massive amount of conflict welling up inside him. His shy side began to take over, what if they don’t like me, what if that magical pony is there. WHAT IF EVERYTHING FALLS APART!? Regardless of the doubts he had, Shadow realized that he had already agreed to the invitation the second tea was mentioned.
With a deep breath he prepared to jump smack into the middle of the social lives of six very unique Ponyvillians.