"...and that's why my name's Pinkie Pie~” Pinkie ended a story she had begun earlier on the walk which seemed to last an eternity.
"Did...anyone keep up with what she’s said?" asked Scootaloo.
"Nevermind that, look!" Apple Bloom raced ahead, into a clearing where a meadow of flowers that didn't seem native to the forest resided.
"Be careful little ones, you don't know this place. Mind your steps and watch your pace.." out came Zecora from the shadows of the path, being her usual mysterious self.
"Zecora! Look, these must be a sign of that pony...I...think? Right?" Apple Bloom asked, her eyes shimmering with delight of her discovery.
"Well.." Zecora tried to speak but as usual Pinkie Pie jumped at chance.
"Oh oh, I know, maybe we should bring some of these flowers back home with us! Oh better yet...maybe we lure this pony out if we pick a few of them!" Pinkie pie was about to launch herself into the pile of flowers before Fluttershy stopped her.
"N...no, please, that isn’t very nice to...do Pinkie." She once again mumbled.
"Aww...you're no fun, but you're right…maybe I should bake some pies! My wagon has a built in oven!" She dashed to her wagon, pressing a button as it jiggled around a bit before opening, an explosion of balloons and ribbons scattered in all directions.
"How are pies gonna help us lure out the pony?" Scootaloo asked with a serious look on her face. She never understood how Pinkie worked.
"What, are you kidding? Everypony loves pies!" She announced at the top of her lungs, holding the pie over her head as if it was a trophy.
"That's not a bad idea...but maybe we should just move ahead, keep the pies ready incase something else wants to enjoy them." Apple Bloom said as she started to walk through the flowers carefully.
"If you say so...let's just hurry up and call it a night...this place is giving me the creeps." Sweetie Belle nervously spoke as the group trotted carefully in the flower bed.
The group walked about for a while in the clearing, looking in all directions on possible hiding spots. Pinkie's sweet pies seem to be more potent than the flowers themselves, making the little ponies stomachs grumble.
"Looks like somepony’s hungry~!" Pinkie sung as she bounced around the trio. She stopped in mid hop, and dashed to her wagon, pressing the button on it activating its features from before. It shot out three pies from her oven as they smashed on top of the three fillies, in three different flavors. "Whoops…might've...set it to launch that time, sorry, eheh."
"It’s ok...least our stomachs will be full." Apple Bloom laughed.
Zecora was awfully quiet during there merriment and laughter. She was staring off into the deeper part of the woods, noticing an odd shadow lurking within the darker parts of the forest. The shadow seemed to be hovering from the ground, or that's what Zecora thought as she turned to the others.
"Everypony…" Zecora said, but suddenly was silent before she would finish, seeing a large shadow dashing across the meadow, something that had a massive wing span.
A loud screeching roar was heard, along with a booming sound of its heavy body landing nearby. A shadow casted amongst the ponies and zebra as they turned to see a massive dragon looming over them.
"It must've...smelled the pies...ehehe.." Pinkie said, "Want some?" She asked the massive dragon as it leaned its neck down to their level when she accidently pushed the button on her wagon, forgetting the launch setting was still on and a pie smashed into the dragon's eye.
It roared even louder, sending the group scurrying for the exit as they ran towards the path they were on earlier. The dragon stepped on Pinkie's wagon, as it gave chase.
"Which way did we come from?!" yelled Sweetie Belle as they followed Zecora.
"Who knows!? My wagon's been dragon stomped…how will I ever give that pony the best welcome gift now!" Pinkie Pie said, totally off subject.
The dragon seemed to think ahead, as it flew over the ponies blocking the only exit as they all crashed into Zecora, pony-piling on top of her as they were about to be burnt to a crisp, the dragon opening it's mouth to rain fire on our pony heroes.
Just as the fire was spewing down something slithered over them all, grabbing each pony in a tied knot rope and pulling them out of the way just in time as they flew in the opposite direction, landing on a rather soft spot, on top of a same flower bed that seem to have grown bigger than before. The rope they were tangled in let loose and at first Apple Bloom thought it was her big sister, Applejack, since she was handy with rope.
‘Thanks a lot sis....’ She was about to say, getting on her hooves when she saw that it wasn't her sister at all.
A cloaked pony stood behind them, the "ropes" before slithered into its cloak as it ran ahead towards the dragon.
"H...hey wait a second!" Apple Bloom cried out.
"Yeah, you'll get squished like my wagon!..." Pinkie Pie added before letting out a cry, she really missed her wagon.
The dragon noticed the little pony and started to get angry, blowing smoke from its nostrils as it, took in a breath and exhaled a large amount of fire towards the cloaked pony. Nimbly did it dodge the flame which scorched the grass instead, as in mid-air the same "ropes" from before came out and wrapped around the monsters mouth, shutting it tight. The pony landed on its nose, walking up to its eyes, turning around and giving a hard-hooved back kick to one of its eye's. The beast cried loudly holding its eye as the pony used its ropes as bungee cords, jumping off the dragon's nose, and landing on the ground with ease.
"Wow, this pony is awesome!" Sweetie Belle said in awe.
"Yeah... she's ok… not really Rainbow Dash, but eh..." Scootaloo said trying to act unimpressed.
Once the dragon had its sore eye taken care off, rubbing it with a closed fist, it turned its attention to the cloaked pony as it lowered its head. Though, instead of roaring and carrying on, it seem to suddenly calm down.
"And she can tame dragons? She's awesome!" Apple Bloom announced, "Fluttershy you gotta.." She turned to see that Fluttershy had passed out as Pinkie Pie was busy trying to wake her up, in her own special way: repeatedly poking her with her hoof.
Zecora giggled, as she tickled Fluttershys nose a bit with the tip of her tail, as she slowly came to, sneezing shortly after. "W…what...what happened?" She asked as she sat up.
"Well, we were minding our own business back in Ponyville, then these three were talking about some magic lonely pony out here in the forest, we ran into an open field, saw a dragon and then you passed out." Pinkie Pie informed her, missing some obvious detail's out of her explanation.
"Now go back to your cave, you’re far away from home." Said the cloaked pony, whose voice was a bit too deep to be a female; the three little ponies looked at each other, they assumed that the pony in question was a mare.
With that said, the dragon seem to nod in agreement with the stallion, spreading it's wings as it decided it was best to go back home to it's cave of greed, and call it a night since it was embarrassing enough to be taken down by something several sizes smaller than it was.
"Whoa" the trio of small ponies said at once as the cloaked stallion was turning to leave.
"W…wait!" Apple Bloom quickly galloped, standing right in front of him.
"Huh..?" The stallion stopped suddenly.
"Hello! My name’s Apple Bloom! Thanks for saving us back there...if it weren't for yall, we would've been toast back there!"
"Um...no problem. Just...be careful, this isn't exactly a playground, little one." He chuckled lightly.
"I'm Sweetie Belle!" her friend said, finally having the courage to follow Apple Bloom.
"And I'm Scootaloo! You were awesome...well not so much as..." Apple Bloom nudged her to be quiet before she mentioned Rainbow Dash again.
"Nice to meet you all...I normally...don't meet any others in this forest.."
Out of nowhere, it would seem, Pinkie Pie appeared behind him, giving him a big squeezing hug as she jumped back towards her, what was once destroyed, welcome wagon.
"Wait wasn't that thing des---" Zecora tried to say until....
"Hello new friend! My name's Pinkie Pie! I'm here to make you smile~ " She sung, as the cloaked stallion seem to chuckle more , amused by her little sing song.
"Enough singing!" Scootaloo demanded.
"Aww, you're no fun..." Pinkie huffed and shut off her welcome wagon.
"And where did you get that? It was destroyed, wasn't it?"
"I always have a back up welcome wagon, incase my first wagon was suddenly destroyed or burnt to a cinder!"
During there questioning of the second wagon, the stallion seemed to sneak away for a moment or two before Fluttershy blocked his path.
"U…um...please don’t go.." she asked in her usual quiet voice.
"Oh…hello…didn't notice you from earlier." He greeted her, trying to be as nice as he can be.
"I'm....Fluttershy.." She mumbled, very low, it was hard to catch on what she said.
"Um…one more time dear…I didn't catch that.."
"F…fluttershy..."
"Oh, well hello miss Fluttershy." He gently patted her head with his hoof. She noticed that his coat was a light green, mixed with white, an odd color combination.
"Hey! Cmon, don't go! We want yall to come over to our town sometime. Won't you please?" Apple Bloom asked.
"I…don't know...I'm not really good at meeting with others..." He said, as Pinkie Pie was right in front of him, startling him.
"Cmon, don't be a silly billy. You're talking to us, aren't you? Sides, there's loads more friends waiting for you back home. Oh oh oh oh oh, we can throw you a big welcome party! I throw a party for every new pony!" She insisted.
"Ehehe...well.." He seem timid on the offer, as Zecora finally approached them.
"Need not to worry about making new friends. I was like you, but it all worked fine in the end." Zecora said with a smile on her face.
"Huh, this zebra has a knack for rhyming it seems.." he thought, "I would love to...but I don't think it would work in my favor...I'd just cause a panic with my…talents."
"Shucks, that's a barrel of lies right there. You're amazing, and what is your talent anyway?" Apple Bloom asked eager to know.
"And for that matter, what do you look like too...that cloak must be getting awfully sweaty in this weather." Sweetie Belle pointed out.
"Yeah, take it off!" Pinkie nudged him.
He sighed, thinking it over in his head until he came to a conclusion.
"Well no harm in showing...but let's go somewhere safe...It’s near sunrise." He suggested as the sky seemed to be a shade of orange.
"I do have a house near, not far from this place. But he is right, girls, perhaps we should quicken our pace." Zecora suggested, taking the lead.
Excited, the ponies escorted their new mysterious friend through the forest. The three little ones scampered around him as they walked, Fluttershy flapping her wings, hovering above them, giggling as Pinkie hopped behind the group. Along the way, Apple Bloom and her friends spoke of Ponyville, the fun and wonders that it had in store for their new friend to look forward to. Eventually they arrived near Zecoras cottage as they all sat down outside of her house, the sky was now a light yellow color, night would soon end, and the stallion in the cloak seemed to be nervous for some reason.
Zecora started a small campfire as night slowly lifted. Apple Bloom and her friends were roasting marshmallows, as they waited for their new friend to reveal himself. He seemed hesitant for awhile, staring at the fire, not really saying much until Pinkie nudged him.
"Cmon already, don't keep us waiting!" She demanded, still keeping her sweet tone.
"Oh, of…course.." He finally lifted his front hooves, slowly removing the cloak, starting from the hoodie.