It was a quiet, peaceful morning in Ponyville, like so many others the little town had seen. The sun was bright and the sky was cloudless, for once so soon. Probably because that day Rainbow Dash had to go to the Wonderbolts Academy, for her monthly flying training, and so she decided to make all the cloud-busting before to go. Anyway, that day showed promise to be a fantastic one.
As usual, Lily Valley was watering the flowers in front of the town hall, but then she suddenly stopped to greet Sprinkle Medley, who was passing over her head, carrying a basket full of strawberries.
At the same time, Lucy Packard was passing in the street, while writing a note with her magic, when all of a sudden an orange bolt crossed her way, distracting her and making her drop the note and the quill.
"Why don't you watch where you're going, little pest!" Lucy outcried, addressed to the pony who had almost ran down her.
The pony in question was Scootaloo, riding as usual her scooter, with a red cart attached to it, where Sweetie Belle was comfortably seated.
“Hurry up, Scootaloo!” Sweetie Belle said to the pilot “We have to go get Apple Bloom before seven forty-five, or we will be late for the math test!”
“Don't worry, friend! I had just finished the warming up!” Scootaloo answered, and then she started flapping her tiny wings at a crazy speed, that made the scooter accelerate beyond belief.
“HERE WE COME, APPLE BLOOM! DOUBLE TIME!” shouted the filly, while Sweetie Belle was trying to hold on.
The two fillies passed Sugarcube Corner, just when Cranky Doodle was about to enter the bakery. But before he manage to push the door, Pinkie Pie appeared on the threshold out of nowhere.
“Hello there! How are you doing, Cranky?” she said, with her usual enthusiasm.
Scared to death from the unexpected apparition of Pinkie, the donkey screamed and fell backwards, with a terrified expression and shortness of breath.
“Woah, kid!” he said just then he managed to catch his breath “You know that I am a little too old for that kind of surprises? I almost had a heart failure!”
“Oh, I'm sorry for have startled you,” she answered, with a sorry look, “But don't worry! I have the perfect remedy for almost-hearth-failure right there for you!”
Then she disappeared into the shop, and a second later she came back with a dish full of freshly baked cookies.
“Here we go! A giant dish of delicious Snickerdoodles for my friend Cranky Doodle! And don't worry: we faithfully followed the recipe you and Matilda gave to us. I am one hundred and ten percent sure that you will love them. You and her both........oops, you are right! Nopony except Matilda call you Doodle!”
“Oh, Pinkie,”he said, “you know that I am no more that finicky about that! Anyway, please call me just Cranky, alright?”
“Okey-dokey-lokey, Cranky!” she replied, while jumping over him, landing at the bottom of the last step and start trotting on the street, “The cookies are a gift! Now go inside and fell free to take whatever you want. It's all Pinkie's gift for today! You know, as excuse gift for the almost-hearth-failure!”
“Thanks, Pinkie!” called after her Cranky.
“No problem, because you, and everyone in Ponyville know that, if there is a thing I love to do, is making my friends smil-Ouch!”
She couldn't finish the sentence, because she bumped into something, lost her balance and fell to the ground. Still a little shaken she looked up, and saw that she didn't hit something, but somepony. Somepony that she had never seen before.
The newcomer was a unicorn stallion, with golden eyes, tangerine coat and spiked, black mane and tail. Also his hooves were hairy and black, and his horn was thin but rather long. He had also pretty broad shoulders and fairly sturdy front legs. Anyway, he didn't seemed intimidating at all. On the contrary, he looked pretty sorry for the incident, and also very worried for the mare that he had knocked down.
“Oh, my gosh! Look, I'm so sorry!” he said, with a fairly deep but gentle voice, as he handed his hoof for help her get up, “I wasn't paying attention to where I was going because I was looking around and....”
"CODE NEW MUZZLE!" Pinkie shouted in front of the stranger, and then she dashed off, in the opposite direction, leaving him speechless in the middle of the street.
There were some other ponies in the street, at that time of the day, and everyone of them was looking at the new stallion, with a look halfway between the confused and intrigued. For his part, he seemed very embarrassed, and completely clueless about what just happened.
“Oh no! I knew it! I scared her! I did something wrong!” he said panicking, as he turned and began to trot away “Now what I- Woah!”
“Hey, there!”
Pinkie has returned, and she also had a big, red wagon with a picture of her cutie mark attached behind her. And, of course, one of her best smile on her face.
“Oh, it - it's you! I - I repeat I'm sorry for before!” started to say him, after he calmed down himself by her sudden reappearance, “I didn't mean to scare you....”
“But you didn't!”she exclaimed, "It's just that, since I have my 'Welcome Wagon', I never left anypony new in town unwelcomed by it! And, guess what, you are new in town! Because I've never saw you before and if I've never saw you before that means you're new in town, because I know everypony, and I mean everypony in Ponyville! So, you're new in town, and if you're new in town, you absolutely need to welcomed by me and my 'Welcome Wagon'!”
She finished her sentence with a smile even bigger than the previous one, then she detached the wagon from her back and placed it in front of him.
“By the way, I'm Pinkie Pie, just Pinkie for friends. And you are?” asked then the pink mare.
The unicorn looked at the overly smiling face of Pinkie, with a confused but at the same time reassured expression.
“My pleasure to meet you, Pinkie. I am Swit......Swift Swap! Yes! My name is Swift Swap! Sorry, even I can't pronounce it well!” he said, with a note of embarrassment in his voice.
“Swift Swap? Swift Swap? Hihihihi, what a funny name! Sound like a tongue twister! Swift Swap! Swift Swap! Swift Swap! Swift Swap! Swift Swap! Swift Swap! Swift Swap!.......”
And she continued to repeat his name over and over again, while jumping all around him, until him started to move away, while saying “Ok, it was a pleasure to meet you, but here things are getting a little awkward. Maybe it's time for me to go....”
“Wait!” Pinkie shouted, while grabbing him and dragging him (not without effort) in front of the 'Welcome Wagon', “You haven't received the welcome from my 'Welcome Wagon' yet! Don't tell me that you don't want it! Because since I have my '“Welcome Wagon', I never left anypony new in town....”
“OK! OK! I get it!” said Swift Swap, with bit of impatience in his voice, “Look, I was just passing by this town, looking for a place to rest, because I am traveling for one days and two nights uninterrupted, and I'm exhausted, so I absolutely need some rest, because I intended to leave tomorrow.....”
“WHAT!?!” she screamed, alarmed, “You leave TOMORROW? But then we must hurry! We shouldn't lose even one more second! There is SO much to do! And, for first, the welcome!”
Then she pushed a big, red button on the right side of her wagon, and instantly it opened, revealing lost of trumpets, organ pipes and flags, plus a pink oven in the center. An istant later, the strange contraption started to play a merry jingle, and as it started, Pinkie started to sing a merry welcome song, while dancing all around Swift Swap, who was looking at her, extremely confused, but at the same time quite amused.
At the end of the song, she power-slided in front of him, and then she said “Wait for it....”
The oven opened.......revealing a freshly baked cake, and from the organ pipes an explosion of confetti blasted off, covering the entire street.
“Oh, it worked!” Pinkie exclaimed, super excited, “You see, I usually put the confetti in the oven and the cake in the confetti cannon, but this time, I said to myself 'Why don't you try to put the confetti in the oven and the cake in the confetti cannon on purpose, so if you go wrong again, you will do it right, by doing it wrong on purpose!' And it worked. I did it right by doing it wrong! Isn't that funny?”
Swift Swap was completely covered by the confetti, and he seemed a little dazed by the explosion, but before he managed to say anything, Pinkie put into his mouth a big slice of the cake she pulled out from the oven. Then she ate the rest of the cake in one single bite.
“Mmmm, it's even better by cooked! What do you think, Swift Swap? You like it?”
He looked like he was about to protest, but suddenly his face went from a confused expression to a delighted one, and into his face a big smile appeared.
“Like it?” he said, “This is probably the most delicious thing I ever tasted! And to be honest I was starving. But now I feel much better! Thanks, Pinkie!”
Istantly, the mare turned, made a gesture of triumph and whispered “Nailed it!”
“What?”
“Uh, ehm, nothing. Anyway, did you say you are hungry?” Pinkie said , then she dashed off again, and returned an instant later with another cake on her back.
“Here we are! Another gift for my new friend Swift Swap!” she exclaimed, while putting the cake on the ground and motioning at him to take some, what he didn't hesitate to do.
While he was eating, Pinkie asked “So, you said that tomorrow you will leave, right? How sad! Where you're headed, if I can ask?”
He swallowed the mouthful, and then said, “To Canterlot. I have an important message to deliver to Princess Celestia from a foreign nation. You see, I am an ambassador and.....”
“Ooh, maybe you will tell me the rest later!” interrupted her,“It's already eight o'clock, and we haven't already started to check my 'Make Your New Friend Meet All Of Your Old Friends' checklist!”
“The 'Make Your New.....' what now?” he asked.
She tucked her hoof inside her mane, and pulled out a huge parchment roll and a quill. Then she unrolled it, making an end of it to end down the road.
With the other extremity in one hoof and the quill in the other, she started to explain “The 'Make Your New Friend Meet All Of Your Old Friends' checklist! I use it for make my new friends meet my old friends and for be sure to not forget anyone! My friend Spike helped me write it down! He has plenty of experience into 'Writing down checklists'!”
Swift Swap looked at the long scroll and gulped, while Pinkie was saying “Ok! 'Meet Pinkie Pie', check. One down! Now for the rest! Ready, Swift Swap?”
He, with an anxious expression and rather sweaty, started to walk backwards while saying “Oh, ok, look, it was a pleasure to meet you and everything, but as I say before, tomorrow I will leave and I need a good sleep, so if you excuse me........”
“But wait, this is just the beginning. Now we have 'Meet Applejack', 'Meet Fluttershy', 'Meet Rain'-Hey, where are you going?”
The reason why she had shouted that last statement was because Swift Swap, at that time, had turned around and was quickly running away.
He ran like crazy, from street to street, continually looking over his shoulder for be sure not being followed. In the end, he leaned against a crate on the side of road to catch breath......until Pinkie popped out from the crate saying “ 'Meet Flitter', 'Meet Junebug', 'Meet Sea Swirl', 'Meet' ”
“I don't have time for all that!” Swift Swap replied, recovering to run.
This time, he stopped in front of a garbage can, and although disgusted with the idea, he opened it to slip inside......but inside there was already Pinkie, saying “ 'Meet Lemon Hearts', 'Meet Raindrops', 'Meet Shoeshine', 'Meet' ”
“LEAVE ME ALONE!” he shouted, before slamming the lid of the bin on her face and recovering to run once again.
“Come on, think!” he then said to himself, “There must be a way for leave her behind!”
“ 'Meet Minuette',” Pinkie said, leaning over the roof of a house, “ 'Meet Dizzy Twister', 'Meet'-What?”
Swift Swap wasn't under her, as she expected. Instead of him, there were two ponies: a light purple stallion with gray mane and a tangerine old mare with black mane.
“Hey, you two down there!” Pinkie called from the roof, “By chance did you see a unicorn that look physically like you,” pointing the stallion, “but have the same colors that you have?” pointing then to the mare.
“Uh......” the mare started, “I.........actually.........”
“NO!” intervened the stallion, while plugging the mouth of the elderly mare with one hoof, “We haven't seen anyone like that! Anyone!”
Pinkie looked up, scratching his chin and saying “Uhm, that's odd. Nopony until now outmarched me. However, I was sure that he had come this way. Well, nothing to worry about. I will find him, and then we will complete my 'Make Your New Friend Meet All Of Yo'-Wait on a sec. I've never seen you two before! But....but......but this means you two are new in town! And this.......this means DOUBLE CODE NEW MUZZLE!"
She looked down again, but, with her surprise, the two new ponies were disappeared. There was only Chelsea Porcelain, an elderly mare that Pinkie had know since a long time.
“Oh, hello there, miss Chelsea!” Pinkie said, forgetting momentarily about the two new ponies she thought to have seen.
“Uff! Thank goodness it worked!” Swift Swap whispered, looking from a nearby corner, for be sure that Pinkie had forgotten him, or at least, that she no longer wanted to look for him.
“Now, maybe I can finally search for a place where I can take a nap!” he said, as he headed for the city limits.