//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: A Change in Scenery 
// by Ninestempest 
//------------------------------//

Rainbow Dash emerged from the train station, trotting into the warm afternoon sun.  As she walked under the stone archway that was the entryway to the station, she glanced around.  Her hooves clopped over grey stones, but those gave way to grass that seemed to extend unendingly in every direction from where she stood.  Beside her was a wooden board, with all manners of paper tacked onto it.  With a glance, she saw that they were announcement about upcoming events in the town.
Not seeing anything else of interest around her, she shot up into the sky, wings lifting her effortlessly into the blue expanse that matched her coat.  She laughed to herself as she flew circles through the sky, grateful for the opportunity to stretch after being stuck on a train for so many hours.  She didn’t mind trains that much, though she could usually out-speed them, but after being sent here by Celestia through an cross-dimensional teleport, she found herself completely fatigued, on the verge of passing out.
Rainbow Dash sat down on a cloud, shaking off whatever shackles of stiffness were still holding on to her limbs.  She plucked a chunk of cloud out from beneath her, and started rubbing it over her face, hair, and wings.  Nothing like a  quick wash in the clouds.  Feels like forever since I last flew… She plopped down on her stomach, hanging her head over the edge of the cloud to look down at the town below.
She was surprised by how small it was.  It seemed segmented into two areas: a street with several shops and stores, north of the train tracks she rode in on, and then south of it was the village itself, where the actual houses were, which was about 10 acres or so in area.  The only notable landmarks were a river that cut through the village, as well as a cliff that separates the grass-and-tree filled living space above from a beach below along the south and east sides of the village. Ponyville had a bit over a thousand residents, and that was one of the smallest towns she had ever seen in Equestria.  She had seen some residents of this realm already, various types of bipedal animals, but no one had seemed concerned with her presence.  In fact, she found it odd that no one seemed to mind that she appeared out of nowhere, walked on four legs, and could fly.
Rainbow Dash sighed.  So, this is where you’ll be living… for a while.  Better make the best of it and find yourself a home and a job… She hopped off the cloud and hovered down to the ground, and found a curious onlooker, surprised by the pegasus’s arrival.
She was a human, with pale skin, blond hair, and a blue-and-pinked striped dress.  Dash had never seen a human before; sure, they existed in Equestria’s fiction, but she assumed they were just that.  But, given that this was a different world, and she had already seen animals that walked around on two feet, that somehow spoke the same language she did, she was finding things less and less surprising.
“Whoa,” the girl chimed, “that was unbelievable!  Can you fly whenever you want?”
Not missing a beat, Dash answered “Yup!”  She hopped up and hovered for a few moments, then flew in a quick loop just feet over the girl’s head, then landed just behind her.  “Never seen anypony fly before?”
“Any pony?” she echoed, “You’re kinda weird.  But no, not really.  But that’s amazing!”
Tch, wrong a-word… “So, who are you exactly?”
“Oh, sorry!  I figured you might know, since I was told ahead of time we had someone extra special coming.”  She extended her hand.  “My name’s Sarah.  I’m the mayor of Equebec.  And, I’m sorry, but I wasn’t given your name when they told me you were moving here.  You are?”
Hmmm… may as well use my real name.  I doubt anypony is gonna follow me, let alone find my name.  “Uh, Rainbow Dash, but just call me Dash.”
“Well then, Dash, let me set you up with a house.  I don’t think Tom Nook got news of you coming, so we’ll have to get you a house built tomorrow.  It probably won’t be too big, but it’ll be nicer than the tent you’d be stuck with otherwise.”
“You guys can build whole houses in a day?”
“Man, you really aren’t from around here, are you?”
 
 
Dash spent the rest of the day at Sarah’s home learning about the world she was in.  Dash’s naivety about nearly everything entertained the mayor greatly; she laughed at nearly every simple question that the pegasus threw at her, from questions about diet to how to make a living, she was constantly surprised by the most basic of questions.
At Sarah’s request, Dash spent the night in her guest room, the mayor not at all wanting her newest citizen to spend the first night outside; she quickly recited how she had to spend her first two days as mayor living in a tent, and refused to let Dash do the same.  While Dash wasn’t the biggest fan of regular beds, she doubted she’d be able to have a cloud house in this world, and agreed.  The room was fairly featureless, with only a bed, a desk, and a bookshelf, but the bed was extremely large and comfortable, especially for a pony her size.  As soon as she fell atop the bed, her exhaustion took over, and her body seemed at rest.
Of course, she wished her mind was as well.  After over an hour of lying still, she eventually sat up, frustrated with her inability to sleep, used to falling asleep nearly instantly.  She hit her forehead lightly with a hoof, attempting to quell any frustrated thoughts therein.  Who cares if you can’t see your friends again, Dash?  Who really cares?  She slammed her head back onto the mattress, then turned over and pulled the pillow over her head.  After what you did, would they stay your friends?
She attempted to turn over again, but got caught in the sheets.  After a few seconds of frustrated wrestling, she untangled herself, and hit the bed once with a hoof.  Just gotta get used to beds, I guess.  No big deal; beds are just fine.  Lots of ponies sleep on beds.  Fluttershy sleeps on a bed… so does Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack, and… P-Pinkie Pie… Even thinking the name made her choke on her breath.  She bopped her own forehead with her hoof.  What, can’t even think of her name without getting all worked up?  You’re Rainbow Dash, aren’t you?  Just suck it up.  You’ve kicked dragons in the face.  What does Pinkie Pie got on you?
A voice called out, “Rise and shine!”
Dash shot upright in bed.  She glanced to the window, seeing sunlight pouring in.  When the heck did I fall asleep?!  Without thinking, she yawned and stretched.  Eugh, I don’t even feel like I slept… she turned to the origin of the voice, and saw Sarah poking her head in, an ear-to-ear grin in her face.  Dash grumbled something that even she didn’t understand in her general direction.
“I’m just gonna assume you’re ready to see your house then,” Sarah continued.  “Just come downstairs whenever; I have a small breakfast made for you.”
Dash hopped off the side of the bed, shaking herself and then extending her wings for a stretch.  “What are you, my mom or something?”
“I didn’t see you eat anything yesterday.  You’ve gotta be hungry.”
“You said there’s plenty of fruit in this place, right?  I’ll just find something later.”
Sarah slipped into the room, resting up against the door as she closed it.  “Hey, I’m just trying to show you a little hospitality.  I don’t invite people over very often, especially not strangers.  When someone moves, their house is usually done before they even get here.”
“Right.  I’m not really much of a breakfast pony is all.”  Dash trotted over to the window, and looked into the sky, and found clouds all over the place.  “I like to do a little early morning exercise before I do anything else.  Uh, a quick question though.”
“Yeah?”
“You aren’t expecting any rain today, right?”
“Uh, I think the forecast was for partly cloudy, but no rain.”
“All right.  Come over to this window for a second,” Dash said as she tapped the windows sill with a hoof.  Sarah obliged, walking over.  She looked outside for a moment, then looked back to Dash with a curious look.  “Now, watch this.”  With that, Dash jumped out the window and flew straight up, and without a second thought, began to break all the clouds that hung about lazily in the air.  A drop kick, an uppercut, diving headfirst into the white puffs of water floating throughout the sky.  After half a minute, the cloudy sky was blue as the sea, cleared of all the obstructive white puffs of water.
Dash fluttered down to the window, and hovered at the same height as Sarah.  She gave a smug smile at the mayor’s dropped jaw.  “That was… awesome!”
“You got that right!”  Dash cheered.  “I do that kind of stuff all the time where I’m from.”
“Well, now I have to offer you breakfast to make up for you doing that, even though it looked pretty effortless.”  Sarah waved for Dash to come inside.  “Come one, a little fruit salad never hurt anyone, right?”
Dash sighed.  I guess I shouldn’t get on the mayor’s bad side….  “Fine, whatever.”  Her stomach growled as she finished her sentence, prompting Sarah to laugh.  With a blush, Dash descended to the ground and headed to the kitchen through the front door.
 
 
Sarah looked on in awe as Dash greedily ate her fruit salad, the pegasus not even bothering to use a fork as she dove headfirst into the bowl, filled to the brim with chopped apples, bananas, pears, and other fruits.  As she pulled her head up, Sarah couldn’t help but giggle.
It was a plain kitchen, made up of mostly azure tiles, with a white, fold-out table as the dining table on the far side.  Dash had initially found it odd that a mayor of a town had some furniture as cheap as that, but she simply explained that she didn’t spend much time at home, and didn’t mind having such furniture.  Heck, she even claimed that her own bedroom was as ornamented as the guest room.
Once Dash came up from the bowl a second time, Sarah pushed a map across the table.  “Here.  You don’t seem like you wanna talk much, so I figured an updated map with your house would suffice.”
Dash looked it over, picking it up with a hoof.  Her house was near northern-most point of the village, on a cliff just above the beach.  The mayor’s house was just west of town hall, also near the cliff that lead to the beach.  “Hmm,” was all Dash could say.  She also counted up the houses and other buildings quickly.
“It’s a nice place, the same size as the homes of other villagers,” Sarah said.  “I figured you would like it high up on the cliff, since you like flying so much.  Now, I had to take a loan out in your name, but there’s no interest on it and no monthly payments.  Just, like, pay it off whenever you can, then it could even expand a bit.”
“Mm-hmm,” Dash answered as she gulped down another mouthful of fruit, leaving her bowl empty.  “Wow, that was great!”
“You didn’t even pay attention to what I said, did you?”  Dash shook her head.  “Well, that’s fine, I’m sure you’ll figure it out.  You’re welcome to visit anytime though, Rainbow Dash.  Oh, actually, wait a second.” she reached down to her pocket and pulled out a green leaf.  “Here, have a real gift.  It’s a striped bed.  It’s the only bed I have stored, so it’ll have to do.  If you need anything else, I can see what I have—”
“Uhm,” Dash interrupted, “this is a leaf.”
“Hahaha, wow, you really aren’t from around here aren’t you?”
“Whatever,” Dash grunted as she hastily slid out of her chair, making for the door.  “I’m out.”
“Hey!”  Sarah dashed around the table to grab at the retreating pegasus.  Dash turned and shot a glare at her, making her flinch back.  “I didn’t mean to make fun of you, really.  You’re just… so new, and different, and it’s really great having you here.  I’m just really excited is all.”
“Yeah, well, chances are I’ll be sticking around a while,” Dash said as she turned towards the door again.  “I don’t have anywhere else to go, really.”
“Did something happen back home?
“What?”  Dash spun around.  “I… something like that.  But it’s nothing big.”
“Right.  Well, if you need someone to talk to, everyone in this village would love to have a chat, myself included.”
Dash nodded, retrieving her saddlebags from the coat hanger as she headed out the front door.
What struck her instantly as she stepped outside was the cool and crisp breeze of the morning air, a tinge of the salty ocean leaving it’s scent on the wind.  She hadn’t noticed it when she flew through the sky earlier, and realized that it would be her first time living in a coastal city… well, village.  She supposed a town this small would be a lot closer to a village than anything else.  She took a good long sniff as she treaded south through the village.  The breeze smelled of salt and cooled her skin as it blew through her fur.  She felt like if she ever worked herself to exhaustion out here, just one good sniff of this ocean air would recharge her entire being.
She took note of the fruit trees she passed.  Most were apple, but she noticed small batches of peach, cherry, and pear trees as well.  She must have brought those in; from what she told me, those get a bit more money than selling Apples here.  Not a bad thing to remember about this place.
She reached one of two important landmarks on the way to her home: the river.  The river emerged from the east-side of the village, cut awkwardly close to the west cliff-face that rose above the village, then straight through the middle of town, then straight south again near the east side.  It left two rather odd little passages that were barely wide enough for one home on the far sides of the village, but it made the general middle area of the village rather large.
There was a bridge nearby, but Dash didn’t bother crossing it, instead electing to leap over it with the help of her wings.  On the other side, she found the second important landmark on the way to her home: the home of one of the villagers.  It was labeled “Lucky,” though she had no idea what kind of resident to expect.
There was nothing notable about the house aside from a sign next to the front door, once again noting the owner.  As she examined it, the front door opened, and the villager emerged.
“Gah!”  Was all Dash got out before falling back.  It was a bipedal dog, perhaps a few inches taller than her, and he was totally wrapped up in bandages, as if he had been in some cartoonish accident.  The only features she could see were his black ears and fur, his shirt that had “23” in big, orange symbols, and his singular, left eye, which seemed to glow yellow.
He didn’t seem to mind her reaction.  “Hey there!  Don’t think I’ve seen you around before.  Are you new here?”
His voice was surprisingly… plain.  Dash wasn’t sure what she was expecting.  “Y-yeah, I’m new here?”  She said, not able to stop her voice from raising.
All Lucky did was giggle.  “Man, some of you animals are so funny.  This cast isn’t a big deal, I’ve been in this longer than you would think, rrr-owch.”  He extended a paw to her.  “My name’s Lucky.  What’s yours?”
“Rainbow Dash, but you can just call me Dash.”  She took his paw and he pulled her up.  “Yeah, I just moved in yesterday, but my house wasn’t built yet.  I’m just on my way there now actually—”
“Say, are you all right?”  Lucky asked.  Dash tilted her head, and he added, “Well, you’re just walking on all four legs, and—”
“Oh, yeah, haha, I’m a pony.  We don’t do too well on two legs.  But I can do this.”  With no effort, she started hovering, ascending ever so slowly.
Lucky’s only visible eye widened.  “Whoaaaaa.  That’s crazy, girl.”
His lax response made Dash laugh.  “You’re a laugh, Lucky.”
“Thanks.  You’re pretty awesome yourself.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go find myself some fossils.”  With that, he pulled a shovel out of his pockets, and walked off, eyes scanning the ground.  Dash stared on for a second as he walked off, realizing that he pulled a full sized shovel out of his pockets, not exactly sure how that was possible.  Well, I got a lot of time here, so I can figure this all out sometime later.  Sure, right, I can take my time.  No need to rush.  I’ll be here for a while, after all.
She found her house.  The outward appearance was similar to Lucky’s, including the sign, which said “Dash’s House.”
Man, I’ve never actually lived in a house before.  But it’s no problem, right?  Lots of ponies live in houses.  The few times I’ve spent the night at Pinkie’s were always great…
A sudden, sickening tightness clutched at her chest.  She hit her chest a few times with her hoof, attempting to knock it out.  Stop getting so upset.  You did what you did because you wanted to.  It wasn’t a mistake, it wasn’t anything it was just what you wanted.  She sat down and hit her chest again.  Stupid pain, stupid sadness.  Just go away.
Once her bout of emotions passed, she sighed.  Augh, whatever.  I need to get some more furniture in here.  Empty houses are the worst…