Pinkie Meets a New Friend

by Claw in Cursive

Chapter 1

Pinkie Meets a New Friend
By Claw in Cursive

Pinkie Pie awoke early in the morning and hopped out of bed with a smile. She could already smell the fresh apple pie baking downstairs at Sugarcube Corners, and she couldn’t wait to start the day. She was going to see her new friend today, a curious pony she’d met last week.

ONE WEEK AGO

Ponyville was cleaning up after a powerful thunderstorm had rolled through the night before. Thunder boomed, lightning crackled and winds howled most of the night, causing lots of downed branches, a few blown-over trees and some minor property damage. Derpy Hooves, the pegasus in charge of the Weather Patrol that evening, apologized profusely for the calamity.

“I just don’t know what went wrong,” she said.

Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Rainbow Dash cleaned up the town park. Twilight Sparkle coordinated the effort from town hall, Applejack was busy helping the Apples repair damages at Sweet Apple Acres, and Fluttershy was off finding new homes for displaced animals.

Pinkie busied herself in a corner of the park clearing away a deadfall. About halfway through, she thought she heard a groan come from beneath the brush. She tugged at a large, leafy branch with her teeth until it dislodged from the pile, then she tossed it aside. Lying underneath was a pony Pinkie had never met. She had a chestnut coat and a lemon-yellow mane and tail, all curly and poofy like Pinkie’s. Her cutie mark was a white carnation with a short green stem.

“Um, hello there,” said Pinkie, shaking the filly’s shoulder gently with a hoof. “Are you all right?”

The pony’s bright blue eyes fluttered open, and she tried to focus on who was speaking to her.

Pinkie waved a hoof and gave her a wide smile. “Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie! What’s your name?”

The stranger came full awake, and looked hard at Pinkie for a second. Her eyes went wide and she screamed. “WH-WHAT ARE YOU?!” she shrieked, skittering back from Pinkie.

“Well, duh. I’m an earth pony.”

The other pony tried to retreat further. “Y-you’re a horse! A talking horse! A pink, talking horse!”

“Yep, that’s me!” Pinkie beamed.

“B-but horses don’t talk, and they certainly aren’t pink!”

Pinkie laughed. “I like you! You’re a silly filly!”

“I’m not a filly, I’m –” the mare began, putting her hoof in front of her. She turned it over. “What happened to my hands?”

Pinkie cocked her head. “What are ‘hands’?” she asked.

“It’s what people have at the ends of their arms.”

Pinkie stuck out her tongue. “Eww! I don’t know what arms are, but if you have to tinkle on a pole, I don’t want to know about them.”

“But I’m a human being.”

Pinkie giggled again. “You’re a hoo-man being what? Right now, you’re a pony, just like me.”

“I’m not! I’m a —” she began, then she looked back at herself. She ran a hoof through her mane. She shook her head. “But I’m a – hah – ho —” The pony’s eyes rolled back and she fainted.

“Wow, you must be really tired,” Pinkie said. She tried to shake the stranger awake.

Rainbow Dash flew over and landed beside Pinkie, and Rarity trotted over to her other side.

“What’s the hold-up?” asked Dash.

“You should have been done here a long time ago, darling,” said Rarity.

“I was moving these branches, and I found this pony underneath,” Pinkie said. “She must be really tired, because she keeps falling asleep.”

“She doesn’t look asleep,” Dash said.

“Perhaps we should take her to the library where Twilight can examine her,” Rarity said.

The three friends built a litter out of sticks and branches, loaded the odd pony onto it, and carrier her to the large treehouse library Twilight Sparkle and her dragon, Spike, called home. Dash sped over to town hall to tell Twilight what had happened, and soon, Fluttershy and Applejack had come to the library as all six friends pondered the unfamiliar filly.

“I’ve never seen her before,” said Fluttershy.

“I wonder where she came from,” Applejack said.

“From what I can tell, she’s all right,” said Twilight. “She seems to have suffered a shock to the system.”

Everyone looked at Pinkie.

“What?” she said defensively. “I said ‘hi’ and introduced myself like I always do.”

“Did ya throw her a party on the spot?” asked Applejack.

Pinkie blew a raspberry. “As if! You know my party cannon’s in the shop.”

The mystery pony’s eyes fluttered, then opened. She looked back and forth between the six ponies before her, then she said, “Can – can all of you talk?”

“Of course,” Twilight said, giving her a wide smile. It didn’t work as intended, as the pony shrank away from the purple unicorn. Twilight cleared her throat and proceeded to introduce herself and her friends. After those introductions, Spike entered the room carrying a long parchment scroll.

“Hey, Twilight,” he said, “we’ve got most of the property damage taken care of and the branches gathered up. Where do you want to put them?”

The new pony stared at Spike wide-eyed. “Is that a d-d-dragon?”

Spike finally took notice of the new face. “Hi! My name’s Spike. Who are you?”

The pony shook her head. “I must be dreaming,” she said. “That’s the only explanation for all of this.”

“This is no dream,” said Dashie. “This is Ponyville.”

“It can’t be. There’s no such thing as unicorns and pegasuses and dragons and talking horses.”

“Beg yer pardon,” said Applejack, “but how do ya explain yerself?”

“I’m not a horse. I’m a human.”

Pinkie gave her a quizzical look. “That’s the second time you’ve called yourself a hoo-man. Is that what they call fillies where you come from?”

Twilight laid a hoof on Pinkie’s shoulder. “Maybe we should start at the beginning with your name.”

“Anita Baker.”

Pinkie gasped. “YOU DO?” she shouted. “I’m a baker! I can make pies, cakes, tortes, tarts – I have to make you one of my patented chimicherrychangas!”

“No, no,” said the pony, shaking her head. “That’s my name. Anita. Baker.”

Pinkie gave her another funny look. “I wouldn’t have guessed that was your name. I would have said White Petal or Carnation Cindy.”

Anita frowned and asked why Pinkie Pie would say such a thing.

“It’s because of your cutie mark.”

“What’s a cutie –” Anita began, looking back at her flank. “Oh, you mean my tattoo.”

“What’s a tat-ooooo?” Dashie said.

Anita put a hoof to her face in frustration. “No, it’s a shorter vowel sound at the end. It means a picture people put on their bodies.”

“Why would anypony want to paint pictures on themselves when their cutie marks come in naturally?” said Fluttershy.

“It’s – but—ugh,” Anita said. “I’m too tired to argue.”

Pinkie found a room for Anita to stay in across the street from Sugarcube Corners while Twilight tried to ascertain Anita’s origin. The unicorn said there had been an unusual amount of magic in the air during the storm, and it was entirely possible some sort of rift had opened between Anita’s world and Equestria. Anita still startled easily, but she was more accepting of the situation.

A week had passed, and Twilight hadn’t made any progress. She told Anita she should try to assimilate herself into Ponyville, and she found a job arranging flowers. She said she was a stockbroker on her world – Pinkie couldn’t imagine anypony paying somepony else to break things – but she’d always been interested in floral arrangement.

Pinkie carried a fresh, warm apple pie to Anita’s place on her back, bursting through the door with a loud greeting. Anita was stretched across a couch, sleeping, and awoke with a start.

“Oh, it’s you, Pinkie Pie,” she said. “I was dreaming I was back at home.”

“Well, now you’re here in Ponyville, and we’re going to watch the Pegasus races in Cloudsdale today.”

Anita hopped off the couch and brushed a hoof through her mane. “I still miss my hands,” she muttered.

“I don’t see what’s so great about these hand thingies,” Pinkie said. “You’ve got perfectly good hooves.”

Anita shrugged. “I guess you’re right.”

Pinkie smiled. “I brought you a fresh apple pie for later.”

Anita smiled back. “You’re a good friend.”

“That’s me!” beamed Pinkie. “A friend to everypony, and everypony’s my friend.”