//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 // Story: Ponyville's new neighbour // by Tecuro //------------------------------// Eventually, after a short but awkward silence, the kitchen door opened. “Places, everypony!” Rarity whispered with urgency and then slumped over in her chair, while the other girls wondered what Rarity meant by ‘places’. Steed then entered the room with a freshly-brewed cup of tea on a small saucer with Fluttershy following close behind. The stallion marched straight over to Rarity (without spilling a single drop) and slowly wafted the cup under her nose, which caused Rarity’s eyes to flutter and nostrils to inhale sharply. “My word…” she mumbled softly “… that smells divine.” “I’m glad you think so,” Steed replied, speaking softly, “now how about you have a taste?” he asked tilting the cup to her mouth. Rarity then blew gently on the still steaming brew and took a tentative sip when her eyes suddenly widened. “Sweet Celestia!” she cried, staring with awe at the tea and then Steed, “this is… I’ve never… You can’t… I don’t even know what to say…” “I take it you like it?” Steed asked, almost rhetorically. “Like it? Like it? I love it!” Rarity almost shouted, now sitting bolt upright “Where did you learn to make tea this wonderful?” She asked, before taking a few more greedy gulps. “Any Trottingham pony worth his weight in chips knows how to make a decent cuppa’, it’s in the blood,” he explained, looking proud. “I cannot believe that you made the most incredible tea I have ever tasted simply because ‘you can’,” Rarity countered. “You need to visit Trottingham.” Steed remarked as Rarity took one more swig before setting aside the now empty cup. “So, any problems back there?” Rainbow Dash asked to Steed, “Any issues?” “Nothing Fluttershy couldn’t manage,” He replied, embracing Fluttershy in an act of camaraderie before realising what he was doing, upon which he quickly released her and blushed furiously while looking at the floor. “Is that true, Fluttershy?” Twilight quickly asked before Steed returned to his original method of interacting with Fluttershy. “Um… well… there might have been a small problem… but… we coped…” Fluttershy mumbled in response, but then in a rush of confidence added “but Steed was brilliant in there! You girls should have seen him; it was like watching a painter create a masterpiece.” “I just did what I had to, it wasn’t all that special,” said Steed, still embarrassed but at least looking at Fluttershy. “Oh but it was! I can’t believe you’d do that for a pony you hardly know.” “I’d be willing to call Rarity a friend, provided she doesn’t try to sterilise me any time soon.” “So you’re getting along with everypony then?” “I’m an easy pony to get along with.” Twilight didn’t hear the rest of the conversation mostly because Twilight didn’t want to eavesdrop on their private conversation now that they finally could say more than two words to each other but also because a smug Rarity whispered into her ear, “Swimmingly.” The rest of the night went very well; with the whole group chatting to Steed about his travels, though to Twilight’s surprise Fluttershy appeared to be leading most of the conversations. She assumed whatever happened during the ‘tea crisis’ must have broken the ice between them very effectively. “Well this has been lovely,” Rarity said to the group, “but I feel that we should start to head home.” “Awww but it’s only…” Rainbow whined before looking at the clock and then said, “Holey horseshoes! Is that the time!? I’ve got double cloud-busting in the morning! I’ll see you guys later! See ya, Steed!” and then was gone in the blink of an eye out a window. “Ah should be makin’ ah move as well, got ah tone of chores that need doin’ in the mornin’. Goodnight ya’ll!” Applejack yawned and was about to get up when she stopped and a look of confusion appeared on her face, as if she had forgotten something important, before she suddenly yelled, “Steed! Where are yah gonna sleep tonight?!” Everypony then looked to him but all he said was, “Uhhhh…. Outside?” Arrow was quick to express his displeasure at the idea with a few sharp pecks to Steed’s head, “Ow! Ow! It was only an idea!” Steed shouted with his hooves over his head. “Well I would offer you a place to sleep but Spike’s had a cold the past few days and… well… the spare bed is a little… charred…” Twilight muttered sheepishly while Arrow halted his assault on Steed’s skull. “Well I won’t pry too much into that,” Steed responded, rubbing his head and giving Arrow a wary look, “So, any other offers?” He asked to the other girls. “Well yah already know Ah can’t take yah in,” Applejack stated, to which Steed gave a nod of understanding. “I’m afraid my abode is in no fit state for company; I’ve been working very hard this past week and I haven’t had a chance to tidy up,” Rarity said, rather solemnly. Steed gave a little laugh, “Don’t worry about it, my Mum’s the same.” “Mr Cake says I’m not allowed to bring any more ponies home unless he has at least two days warning,” Pinkie Pie said, as if reciting orders. Steed now gave Pinkie a wary look “… okay … So I guess I’ll just have to-” “Oh! I have an idea!” Pinkie suddenly blurted, jumping in the air with her hoof raised, “Pick me! Pick me!” “Yes, Pinkie?” “You can sleep with Fluttershy!” she almost shouted, jumping even higher. Twilight couldn’t tell who, out of Steed or Fluttershy, looked more uncomfortable with that suggestion. “Ummm…. I uh… I don’t… Uhhhh…” was all Steed managed to say but it was more than Fluttershy’s small mummer. “You could sleep on her couch with your head up this end so if you wanted to you could open the window and have a breeze through your mane! It would be just like sleeping outside!” Pinkie explained as she acted the part of Steed on the couch, “And there are plenty of spare bird houses for Arrow! It’s perfect!” “Well that is a good idea,” Steed figured, looking more relaxed, “How about it, Fluttershy?” For a moment Fluttershy said nothing and Twilight thought that these two ponies would never be able to spend more than a minute whit just each other for company but eventually the timid, shy and unbelievably nervous Pegasus looked Steed straight in the eye and said with a smile, “That would be fine.” “Well if you’re all set up, we’d best start heading home” Twilight said, feeling very proud of Fluttershy, “Come on girls.” Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rarity all said their goodbyes and then left Fluttershy’s cottage. On her way back to the library Twilight looked back over the day and tried to think if she had learnt something new about friendship she could write about to Princess Celestia, “I suppose the main thing I learned is that a new friendship can start at any time and you just have to keep your eyes open, even if the pony in question may at first seem… odd,” she said to herself, before pausing for a moment then concluded with, “I’ll need to figure out a better way to word that.” Upon entering the library, Twilight was pleased to see that Spike did indeed clean up Pinkie’s mess and headed up to her room where she found the dragon in his bed paying bongos on his belly. “Hey, Twilight, I didn’t hear you come in.” “That’s probably because of the bongo belly,” she explained with a smirk. Spike blushed, “Well after my chores I didn’t have much else to do, so what did Pinkie Pie want?” “I’ll tell you in the morning, for now, take a letter.”