Ponyville's new neighbour

by Tecuro

Chapter 5

When the group arrived at the barn Applejack told the others to wait outside and then entered and made sure she closed the doors firmly behind her.

“I don’t quite know what to feel at the moment,” Steed said aloud to no one in particular.

“I suggest Nervou-cited,” Pinkie said to him.

“Thanks,” he replied looking very confused.

Suddenly a loud screech pierced the sky and everypony looked up to see a falcon soar out of Applejack’s bedroom window and dive straight at Steed who, instead of expressing any indication of fear, shock or surprise as Twilight would have expected, stood up on his hind legs, opened his fore-legs wide and, with a look of absolute delight on his face yelled, “Come here, you!” before being struck by the falcon with such force he was knocked clean off his hooves and land on his back some distance away.

Twilight and the others quickly ran over to Steed and found him ruffling the falcon’s feathers while the bird playfully nipped at Steed’s muzzle. “I take it you two know each other?” Twilight asked him, rhetorically.

“You bet I do!” Steed replied, getting to his hooves with a wide smile on his face “Girls; this is my pet falcon, Arrow.”

Arrow took that as his queue to appear majestic and so after a quick flight around the barn landed squarely on Steed’s back and stretch his wings to full length whilst letting out a loud screech.

“How regal…” Rarity said in a tone of awe admiring Steed’s companion as if he were made of diamonds.

“Hi, Arrow!” Pinkie said, waving to the bird. Arrow then flew over to Pinkie, landed on her head and excitedly nibbled at her ear. “Hey!” Pinkie blurted, between fits of laughter “That tickles!”

“He’s been mighty worried ‘bout ya’ll,” Applejack told Steed, while Arrow flew back to Steed and landed smartly on his back. “He showed up here ah few days ago, along with yah saddlebags and ah note from Braeburn tellin’ me what happened over at Appleoosa and that Ah should expect yah.”

“You carried my saddlebags here all the way from Appleoosa?” Steed asked to Arrow, to which Arrow puffed out his chest.

“That’s my boy!” Steed said, giving Arrow an appreciative pat on the back “So you’ve got all the rest of my stuff too?” He then asked Applejack.

“Yep, it’s all up in mah room; but Ah’m afraid we don’t have enough room for ya’ll to stay with us for at least a week, what with Uncle Strudel visitin’.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll sort something out,” Steed assured her “We’ve had more than our fair share of rough nights, haven’t we, boy?” He asked to Arrow who let out another screech in agreement.

Suddenly a new voice joined in, “Hey, who’s doing all the screeching?”

The group looked up, towards the source of the voice, to see a cyan blue pegasus, with an eye-catching rainbow coloured mane, fly towards them at an ever increasing speed, then eventually lose momentum and lend deftly in front of Steed. “And who’s the new guy?” she asked, sizing Steed up.

“Hi, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said to her “This is Steed, he just arrived today.”

“Steed, huh?” Rainbow questioned, still keeping her eyes on him, “Who’s the bird?” she asked.

“He’s name is Arrow,” Steed told her, then added “and he’s much more than just a bird” Arrow gave Steed’s shoulder a small squeeze with his talons to thank him for sticking up for him.

“Oh, I know what he is,” Rainbow assured him, now focusing on the falcon “You know… most pegasi see falcons as proud and noble creatures that have a good judge of character, meaning anypony they stick around with should be treated with respect” Rainbow said as if leading up to something, a factor Twilight and Steed both picked up on.

“Rainbow Dash, I-” Twilight began before a somewhat irate Steed interrupted her.

“Hold on, Twilight, I think Rainbow Dash has something she wants to say,” He said in an accusatory tone “Well, Rainbow Dash? What is it?”

Instead of answering to Steed, Rainbow Dash looked directly at Arrow and, with an obvious smirk said, “Show me what you got.”

“What?” Steed asked her, a little surprised, while Arrow just stared in confusion at Rainbow Dash.

“A race,” Rainbow said to Steed, her smirk growing to a full blown smile “Arrow and me. A lap of the orchard, first one back here wins.” Twilight knew she was going to say that.

“Why should I agree to that?” Steed inquired.

“Well, if your bird isn’t up to it…” Rainbow replied, whilst nonchalantly checking her hoof for dirt. That comment pushed both Steed and Arrow over the edge.

“You’re on!” Steed yelled, while Arrow let out another long and loud screech.

“Awesome!” Rainbow yelled whilst flapping her wings enough to get airborne “I’ll give you a moment to get ready, then met me over by the barn” she then flew off, and shouted over her shoulder “Don’t keep me waiting!”