Chapter 2: Change in Plans
Fluttershy's head snapped up from the cookbook when she heard a rapid pounding on her door. Who in the world would need to see her so badly? Her temperamental pet rabbit tried to force the recipe at her again, but she gently pushed the book aside.
"Not now, Angel. Somepony's at the door. We can go out and get the ingredients for your salad in a moment, okay?"
She opened the door a crack to see a very nervous Applejack standing on her front door. What reason would Applejack have to be nervous? Either she was hiding something or something absolutely dreadful must've happened on her farm.
"What's the matter, Applejack?" she said in her feathery light voice. "You look a little shaken."
"I need ya ta come ta the farm, Fluttershy. There's this...uh...big thing that Apple Bloom found out in the orchard. She's keepin' him out in the barn right now."
"Is he a bear?" she asked.
"No, he's bigger than a bear. And he's blue."
Fluttershy felt a pang of fear in her gut. A bear was the biggest thing she could think of, unless...
"A d-d..." The pale yellow pegasus swallowed the word before trying again. "D-dragon?"
"Nah, he ain't no dragon, but I ain't got a clue what he is. I figured maybe ya could tell us, seein' as ya know about animals and all."
Her eyes moved away from Applejack's. "If he's not a dragon, I don't know...I've never seen anything bigger than a dragon."
"He ain't bigger than a dragon, either. He's about, oh, I'd guess twice my brother's height, at least. And he ain't gonna hurt ya. I think he ain't bright enough to hurt ya."
"I don't know..." Fluttershy said weakly. He wasn't a dragon and he wasn't a bear, but he was friendly. Maybe meeting this thing wouldn't be so bad after all?
"I'll go," she continued. "But I have to be back soon. Angel and I were going to make a trip to the market today. He wants me to make that really big salad for him again."
"It won't take long," Applejack replied. "I just need ya to tell me if ya know what he is, then I'll be outta yer hair, alright?"
Fluttershy swallowed the lump in her throat as she stepped outside, shutting the door softly behind her. "Okay, let's go."
Caboose sat in the middle of the barn, staring wordlessly back at the small winged filly in front of him. Scootaloo examined her reflection in his bright orange visor, unblinking as she circled him once.
"What is it?" she asked.
"My name is Caboose," he said when he realized the tiny orange pony was addressing him. "What's yours?"
"I'm Scootaloo," the filly said.
"Bless you." He turned to the curious white unicorn filly sitting beside Scootaloo.
"You have a horn. You must be one of those earofcorns."
"You mean a unicorn?" she replied.
"Um...I don't know what those are, so I'm just going to nod my head and say yes. Yes."
Caboose pointed at the pegasus filly. "Kangaroo, you have wings...can you fly? Can you take me to meet Batman? That would so be so cool if you could."
It was Apple Bloom's turn to enter the barn with a cart loaded with apple confections. Apple pies, apple fritters, almost any type of apple-pastry imaginable. She wasn't sure how much Caboose could eat, so she picked up two of everything from the kitchen. Whatever he didn't touch would be left for the three of them to eat. She towed the cart over to Caboose and stopped in front of him.
"You hungry?" she asked him. "I got ya a few things just in case."
Caboose surveyed the cart and picked up a pie. He stared at it for a few seconds before promptly slamming the dessert into his face. "It's not working."
"How do y'all eat?"
He pulled the remnants of the pie off of his face, brushing away the sweet filling. "Well, usually we take our helmets off but mine's stuck so I just rub things against my face and suck it in through my vent-thingies. It doesn't always work. Do you have any cake? I want cake."
"I don't have any cake, but if ya like donuts I got ya a fritter."
"No thanks, I'm okay. But I'd still like some cake."
As Apple Bloom pushed the cart away, it was the unicorn's turn to talk.
"I'm Sweetie Belle, Caboose. It's very nice to meet you."
Caboose's reply was to pick up both fillies and hug them, pressing their faces against his still pie-coated helmet. "I was wrong about the future. Everything is so cute here, not shiny!"
"Do you hug everyone new that you meet?" Scootaloo said.
"No," he said as he put them down. "Usually they push away from me, or scream and run. I don't think people like me that much. Especially Tucker, but I don't like him either."
"We like you!" Sweetie Belle immediately chirped. "I don't see how anypony couldn't like you."
"Aww, you like me! I like me too! You guys are the best!"
The three fillies sat for a while in the hay with their big blue friend in silence. Apple Bloom found it odd how he just seemed to stare off into space. Maybe he was bored? Applejack had said that keeping him here would be best, but she couldn't stand to see him looking so...well, she had no idea how he actually looked now, but he sure wasn't laughing.
"Hey, Caboose!" she piped up. "You wanna go into town? The three of us can give ya a tour if you'd like."
"Oh, no thanks. Applesarge said to wait here until she comes back with some butterflies. She seemed nice, and I don't want to make her mad so I'm just going to stay here. I don't like girls when they're mad. They yell at me, but mostly they yell at Tucker."
"Applesarge?" Sweetie Belle repeated with confusion. "You mean her sister Applejack?"
"Does Applejack have the cowboy hat? I want a cowboy hat too. And some cake. Oh, maybe I could have a cowboy hat made of cake!"
"Look, Caboose," Apple Bloom continued. "If we go into town we can stop by Sugarcube Corner. I'm sure Pinkie Pie will have some cake for ya!"
"But I don't want pie. I want cake."
Apple Bloom opened her mouth to say something, but stopped. Talking to Caboose was like trying to talk to a kindergartener, although she had yet to see him slip into some sort of tantrum.
"Okay, Caboose!" Scootaloo said with an eager flitting of her small wings. "If it's cake you want, it's cake you'll get!"
Fluttershy hovered over her earth pony friend, who since leaving her cottage had been moving at an anxious trot. She ran over the small list of details that Applejack had given her: he was blue, had an orange face, a funny voice, metal for skin and walked on two legs. The image painted in her mind certainly didn't match any creature or contraption that she'd ever come into contact with. And as much as Applejack said to her that this "Caboose" was a really nice whatever-he-was, her assertiveness to remain positive about meeting him was being dominated by her fear of how he really behaved. For all she knew, "nice" meant that he hadn't tried to break out of his cage yet.
Applejack vaulted over the fence and continued her brisk trot to the barn before sitting beside it, waiting for her gentle friend to catch up to her. All of Applejack's urgency did little to calm her quivering nerves.
"Where is he?" Fluttershy asked, the slight quaver in her voice betraying her worry.
"He's in here," Applejack said as she placed her hooves on the barn door. "It's awful quiet, though. Somethin' ain't right."
The earth pony knocked on the barn door a few times before calling out her sister's name. "Apple Bloom, y'all okay in there?"
No answer.
"Oh, no..." Fluttershy whispered. "What do you think happened?"
"I dunno what happened, but I ain't gonna just sit here!" Applejack threw open the barn door and the two ponies let out a synchronous shocked gasp.
The barn was completely empty. They could see no sign of Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, or their new cerulean friend.
"I told 'em to stay put," Applejack huffed. "I said stay right here and don't go nowhere! Those three are gonna get Caboose into a heap'a trouble, and I don't wanna be the one to clean it up! Where in the hay did Big Macintosh go? He was supposed to be keepin' an eye on all of 'em!"
"Oh my goodness! How are we supposed to find them?"
"He's a great big blue walks-on-two-legs thing. Trust me, he ain't gonna be hard to miss."
To answer Applejack's statement, a sharp scream like the wail of a banshee pierced the warm mid-morning air, emanating from the direction of Ponyville.
"Told ya so."
"I told you so," Caboose said as they approached the edge of town. "More screaming again. Nobody likes me."
Apple Bloom put a hoof on his foot, the only way she knew to show some sort of affection for him. Not to mention it was the only place she could easily reach.
"If anyone'll like you, it's Pinkie Pie!" the country filly said. "Pinkie Pie ain't never met a pony she didn't like, 'cept maybe Gilda. And you ain't lookin' like a griffon, so you'll be fine."
The once-filled streets of Ponyville had become vacant in a matter of minutes. Only heavy boots on soft dirt accompanied by three sets of tiny hooves could be heard. A few ponies gazed out of their abodes at the newcomer as they walked through town. As they rounded the corner, Caboose stopped.
"What's the matter?" Scootaloo asked. He simply stood there, staring at Sugarcube Corner.
"Wow. That's a really big gingerbread house. Can we go inside?"
Before anypony could answer him, Caboose started lumbering towards the bakery. Just as Apple Bloom caught up with him, a familiar voice called out from above.
"Hey, Big Blue And Ugly! That's far enough!" Caboose's head snapped upwards to see a cyan winged pony with a rainbow mane, emerging from the clouds and zipping towards him.
"Church?" Caboose asked. "Why do you sound like a girl? And when did you make your hair rainbow color?"
The pegasus stopped as though she'd hit a brick wall. "Wait, what?"
"Oh, of course! You're not Church, you're his sister! Why is Church's sister a pony?"
"Me? I'm Rainbow Dash!" the pegasus said. "Who's the Church guy you keep talking about? I'm not his sister!"
"You're not?" There was a slight screeching sound as Caboose scratched his fingers against his metal-coated head. "Church must have lied to me. Again. I hate when people do that."
Rainbow Dash blinked a few times and shook her head. "Anyway, take one more step and I'll buck you from here to Manehattan!"
"But Apple Flower and Kangaroo said there was cake in that gingerbread house."
Rainbow Dash looked at Caboose, then down to the three fillies at his feet, all beaming back at her with innocent smiles. She tapped her hoof against her forehead and let out a sigh.
"Fine, but if you try anything out of line, I'm giving you the kick, got it?"
"A kick? What do those taste like?"
Ten more minutes and you'll find out, the pegasus thought. She had no idea what qualified as his "face," but it wouldn't take more than a few well-aimed kicks to know.
Caboose happily walked over to the door to Sugarcube Corner and knelt beside it, trying to figure out how he could fit through such a small portal. Within seconds, a happy pink pony pushed the door open and looked up at him.
"Hi!" she said. "I'm Pinkie Pie!"
"You're not a pie, you're a pony!" Seeing as she hadn't screamed or run away, Caboose proceeded to greet her in the same manner as he'd been greeting every other pony, elliciting a slight squeak from the pony as he held her. To his surprise, she hugged him back as best she could.
"Whee!" she shouted. "I love hugs!"
"Me too! I want cake," he said for the hundredth time today. "Apple Flower said there'd be cake. Can I have your gingerbread base too?"
Pinkie Pie giggled ecstatically. "I don't think you can have the house, but I can get you all the cake you want! You know what? We should have a party!"
"A party?" Caboose asked. "Is anyone here a cleric?"