A New Friend

by Shadowflame

In Town

Sunlight poured through the window, waking Rowan with its bright rays. Groggily, he pushed himself up on his bed and looked out the window at Ponyville. Ponies were up and going about their morning business, considerably more cheerful than the ponies in Canterlot had been. Rowan shrugged, I guess that's what happens when you live in a large city instead of a small town.

Behind him, the door suddenly slammed open, "GOOD MORNING, SLEEPY HEAD!" Startled at the sudden outburst, Rowan hurriedly tried to leap out of bed. Unfortunately, his rear hoof got caught in the covers, making him smash face first onto the hard-wood floor next to the bed.

Rowan groaned, rubbing his aching face, "Ow." He turned towards the door to see Pinkie Pie bouncing up and down with a huge grin plastered onto her face. Behind her, standing in the doorway, were Twilight and Applejack.

Twilight walked to Rowan and helped him up off of the floor, "Sorry about that, Rowan. We just wanted to wake you up for breakfast."

"Yeah," Pinkie had stopped bouncing, but the wide grin stayed on her face, "Applejack made breakfast for all of us. I can't wait to try it, because everything that she makes is good. There's nothing better than an apple treat from Applejack. Well, maybe a cupcake, or a huge cake," She gasped, "or even a party!"

Applejack walked towards Rowan, and grabbed his hoof in a vigorous, one-sided shake, "Howdy-do, Rowan. Ah'm Applejack. It was Twilight's idea to make breakfast for ya, so I made ya sweets using the finest apples from Sweet Apple Acres."

Rowan didn't know how to respond, trying to take his hoof out of Applejack's grip, "Um... thanks, I guess. I do feel pretty hungry."

"Great. Pinkie, Twilight, an' Ah have already brought the grub here. Let's eat!" The three mares filed out of the room in a hurry. Rowan smiled widely as he grabbed the Liber Tenebrarum and hurried after them. He stopped on the middle of the staircase to see everyone gathering around the table in the kitchen. As he moved across the main room to join them, there was a knock at the door.

Rowan looked at the door curiously, "Who could that be?" He trotted over to the door and opened it, revealing a smiling cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane.

"Hi, I'm Rainbowdash. You must be Rowan. Applejack invited me to breakfast, but I had some weather things to take care of so I finished early this morning."

Rowan was about to respond, but then Twilight called out from the kitchen, "Rainbow? Is that you? Great! Come on, we're about eat. You, too, Rowan."

Rainbow dashed past Rowan, who just smiled and followed her to the kitchen. As he entered, he looked at the spread, which consisted of several types of apple concoctions. Everyone else had begun to eat, conversing to each other about different things. Thankfully, the table in his kitchen was just large enough to fit the five of them.

As Rowan sat down he eyed the food, I never really liked apples all that much, but then again I found hay to be pretty good. He shrugged and began to eat. He could taste the apple in everything, but it was the best thing that he'd ever eaten. Grinning at the taste, he opened the Liber Tenebrarum and read through it as he ate.

Twilight looked at Rowan as he ate, "So, Rowan. Where did you live before you became Luna's student? Princess Celestia didn't say in her message."

Rowan flinched a bit, but held his gaze on his book. His mind raced, Oh no. Think fast. I can't say where I'm really from. Just say any town or city. "Uh... yeah. I lived in Manehattan before Princess Luna brought me to Canterlot, after she saw my talent with shadow magic." he lied quickly.

AJ perked up, "Oh, do ya happen ta know ma aunt an' uncle Orange? They live in th' big city, too."

Rowan shook his head, "No, sorry. I've never met them. I didn't really like the fancy, up-tight ponies there." he continued to read his book as he took another bite of an apple strudel.

Apple jack looked curiously at Rowan, "Whatcha' readin' there, Rowan?"

Twilight answered, "That's Rowan's spell book, called the book of shadows. Princess Luna gave it to him."

Rainbowdash's head popped up, "Wait, does that mean that we've got another unicorn in town that can do fancy magic, like Twilight?"

Rowan lowered his book down a bit to look at the rainbow pegasus, "Well, actually, I can't do any magic that Twilight can, but no other unicorn can use my kind of magic. It's shadow magic and it's pretty powerful."

Rainbow looked unimpressed, "Well, what can you do with shadow magic?"

Rowan thought to himself, Hm... I only know three spells. None of them are that impressive, except for the flaming crescent spell, but I'd rather not set the house on fire. He looked at the dust covered front room, and an idea sprung into his mind. "Twilight, do you know any spells that can conjure a small gust of wind?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Could you write it out for me?"

Confused, Twilight nodded, "Yes, I guess so." She conjured up a piece of parchment and a quill, and began to scribble down the spell. She gave the spell to Rowan, which he read to himself. He opened up the book of shadows, and started to look for a spell that was similar, quickly leafing through the book's pages.

Rainbow gave him a questioning look, "What are you doing?"

Without looking up, Rowan replied, "I can't use the spell that Twilight gave me, so the idea is that I find a spell that is similar to it instead. Got it!" He had found the spell and read through it. It was a bit more complex than anything that he'd done before, but he could manage it. Once he'd committed it to memory, he stood up and faced the main room.

He breathed in, beginning to concentrate, "Time to clean up this place." His horn shimmered with black mist as the spell took effect. A subtle breeze blew past Rowan and into the dusty room. It quickly increased in speed, sending all of the dust in the room up in the air. With the breeze filled with dust, Rowan opened a window and directed the wind through it. Once all of the dust left the house, he ended the spell and closed the window. He looked back at the main room, which was now completely clean of dust.

Applejack clapped her hooves together, "That was a nifty trick, Rowan."

Twilight nodded slowly, "Wow, I can see the similarities between my spell and yours, but it's still a completely different spell. It's fascinating."

Rainbow held a grin on her face, "I admit, that was cool."

Rowan smiled, "Thanks. But now that I've got the house cleaned, let's finish eating."

Everyone agreed and they all sat down to finish breakfast.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Shining Armor stood in Twilight's well-kept library. There was nothing out of place, which was typical for his O.C.D sister. He was holding a quill and a piece of parchment, writing a message to Cadence. So far he had written,

Dear Cadence,

Everything's great here in Ponyville. Rowan and I were able to arrive safely, without any trouble. Rowan is becoming more relaxed now that Twilight and her friends helped him to settle in. Even though Rowan's from a very foreign place, he is becoming more adapted to life here than I thought he would.

Although, I don't know if it's bothered you, I did some thinking on the train on the way here. I realized that Rowan's magic was similar to changeling magic when we last saw them. I don't think that Rowan has any direct association to them, but I just wanted you to know what I'm thinking now.

Anyways, I'll be staying here in Ponyville for the next three days. After that I'll be coming back to Canterlot. See you soon.

Love, Shining Armor

He paused as he looked at the finished letter. Satisfied with his work, the captain rolled it up into a scroll. He called out, "Spike!"

The purple dragon poked his head out from the kitchen, "Yeah, Shining?"

"I have a letter that I want you to send to Cadence." He passed the scroll through the air towards Spike, "Do you think you could manage that?"

"Yeah, I can do it." The dragon picked up the letter with a claw and held it up, breathing green fire on it. The fire consumed the letter until it was just a silver mist, which snaked out of the room to its destination.

"Thanks, Spike. If Twilight asks, tell her that I'm going to be in town for a bit."

"Okay, sure." The dragon then went back to doing his regular morning chores.

Shining Armor smiled and headed out the door and onto the street.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

"Oh, I'm stuffed." Rowan mumbled as he realized that he'd eaten one apple treat too many.

Rainbowdash expressed her satisfaction with a large belch, "Man, anything AJ makes is good. But now I need to move around a bit to get the food through my system." Everyone else basically had the same idea.

Twilight stood up, "We should clean this up. Then we can show you around town, Rowan."

"Alright, let's go." He stood up as Applejack and Twilight quickly cleared the table, putting what was left in Rowan's fridge. Afterwards, they all filed out of the house and onto the busy road.

Twilight led the group through the town, explaining to Rowan where everything was. They passed by places like Sugarcube Corner, Town Hall, and the market place. Along the way, Rowan passed by a couple of ponies that he recognized, like Dr. Whooves and Octavia. But as they passed down a street, Rowan looked to his left to see Fluttershy's cottage in the distance.

Wanting to meet Fluttershy, he pointed a hoof towards her house, "What's that over there?"

Twilight followed his hoof to where he pointed, "Ah, that's Fluttershy's house. I invited her to have breakfast with us, but she's kind of shy around everybody, even ponies that have been here as long as she has. But she's great with animals, and I'm sure that she'd want to meet you. Let's go see her."

They all followed her down the path leading to the pegasus' house. When they reached their destination, Twilight quietly knocked on the door.

"Fluttershy, it's Twilight. Could you come out for a minute?"

The door slowly swung open, revealing the smiling, yellow pegasus with a flowing pink mane. She looked around at the group, and said in a quiet voice, "Oh, hi everypony. Good morning."

Twilight pointed a hoof towards Rowan, "Fluttershy, this Rowan. He's the new pony in town that I told you about."

Fluttershy looked at Rowan, but then she drew back slightly, "Oh... um, hi."

Rowan gave a small wave in reply, "Nice to meet you, too."

Silence followed as Fluttershy seemed to shrink away from him. Nobody spoke as Rowan smiled at Fluttershy uncomfortably, Okay... This isn't what I thought it would be. Oh, well. But in the corner of his eye he spotted the thick forest next to Fluttershy's cottage. Twilight noticed his gaze and explained,

"That's the Everfree Forest. I'd advise that you stay away from there."

"Why?" Rowan asked, playing dumb. He already knew what was in the forest, but he might as well have Twilight explain.

"The forest doesn't work like Equestria does. Inside there, animals care for themselves, clouds move on their own, and plants grow by themselves. Plus a lot of dangerous creatures live inside. If you go in there, you don't know what you might find."

Rowan nodded, and looked back towards Fluttershy, "Well, it's been nice to meet you, but I think that we should get going. I still need to see the rest of town. I hope we meet again."

Applejack jumped in, "Right, we should should show ya Sweet Apple Acres next."

Pinkie Pie agreed, "Yeah! Let's show you where the yummiest apples in Ponyville are grown."

They all left Fluttershy at her house and headed for Sweet Apple Acres, all the while Pinkie blabbered on about apples and something about cupcakes. The walk to Applejack's farm was short since, like Fluttershy's house, was just outside the Everfree forest.

As they walked back into town, there were three little fillies waiting for them. Rowan grinned to himself as, walking towards him, were Applebloom, Sweetiebelle, and Scootaloo. The group stopped, Applejack smiled as she greeted them.

"Howdy, ya'll. What're you fillies doin'? "

Applebloom replied in the same tone, "We wanted to meet the new pony that everyone's talking about."

Twilight raised an eyebrow, "Everyone? He's only met a few ponies in town."

Sweetiebelle explained, "Well, we were in town when we saw your brother, Shining Armor. We asked him why he was in town, and then he told us that there was a new unicorn that came with him."

Rowan stepped towards them, "Hi, my name is Rowan." Each of them replied in turn,

"My name's Applebloom. Ah'm Applejack's little sis."

"I'm Sweetiebelle. My sister is Rarity, but you probably haven't met her, yet."

"And I'm Scootaloo."

All three of them joined in together, "We're the Cutie Mark Crusaders."

Rowan smiled, "Nice to meet you guys."

Twilight gasped, "Oh, that reminds me, we should stop by Rarity's before we go to Applejack's farm. Let's go." With that, the group continued down the road, the Cutie Mark Crusaders following closely behind as they started to pester Rowan with questions.
They asked questions like, "Where ya from?" or "Are you really Princess Luna's student?", which Rowan tried to answer the best that he could.

But then Scootaloo asked, "What cool magic can you do?"

Rowan sighed as he rolled his eyes, Guess it wouldn't hurt to give a little demonstration. How about the flaming crescent spell, since there isn't anything that could catch on fire nearby. "Okay, give me a little space and I'll show you."

Everypony stepped away from Rowan as he prepared to do the spell. Concentrating on the spell, his horn glowed like it usually did, with black mist. Once the spell was ready, Rowan aimed his horn to the sky and let loose the flaming projectile. Everybody watching stared in awe as the silver crescent flew through the air. As the projectile started to arch back down towards the town, Rowan ended the spell, making the crescent dissolve high in the air above the buildings below.

Rainbowdash looked warily at Rowan, "Wow, why didn't you show me that spell before when I asked?"

He grinned back at her, "Well, I didn't want to set my house on fire. Plus, that was my first spell that I ever learned."

Satisfied with the spectacle, the Cutie Mark Crusaders said their goodbyes and trotted back down the road as Rowan and the group neared Rarity's house, Carousel Boutique. They reached the door of the large building, Twilight knocked on it loudly.

"Rarity! It's us."

The group of friends heard a crash as many things toppled over inside the house, "Oh dear. Just a minute, Twilight!" After a few moments, the door swung open, revealing a tired looking, white unicorn. "I'm sorry darling that I couldn't make it to breakfast this morning. I was too caught up in this design, which isn't looking at all like I expected it would."

"Oh, it's no problem Rarity. We just came here so you could meet Rowan." The purple unicorn pointed a hoof towards Rowan. Smiling, he gave a little wave as he thought, Man, I don't really want to be around her for a while. Whatever's driving her crazy can't be all that fun. Besides, I probably couldn't help anyway.

Rarity looked at the unfamiliar colt, but then her eyes seemed to light up as she saw him, "Oh my. That's it!"

Rowan raised an eyebrow, unsure if he wanted to know what she meant, "What?"

Her eyelids fluttered as she looked at him, "You just gave me a fabulous idea that might perfect my design! Come inside, please."

Rowan shrugged, I guess I spoke too soon. He walked into the boutique with everybody else.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

A stranger watched from afar as the new unicorn in town entered into the Boutique with Twilight Sparkle and her friends. The stranger didn't have a name. Since he was considered insignificant among his race, nobody had bothered to give him a name. Although, under his cover in Ponyville, everybody referred to him as the Mail Colt. The form that he was in was just a normal earth pony, and his "job" was to deliver the mail to all the ponies in town.

He hated every minute of his work, but it was necessary if he was to gather information for the queen. The job of delivering the mail let him keep his eye on the residents of Ponyville, but his real job was to keep track of the activity of the ponies here, mainly Twilight Sparkle and her friends.

They had chased them out of Canterlot when his race attempted to take over Equestria. Enraged, queen Chrysalis sent out spies among the towns, looking for a way to get revenge. It had only been a month or two since their defeat, but his race was already reorganized, ready to strike back at any time.

Any other new pony in town wouldn't have caught his interest, but when he saw the flaming object in the sky, he knew that this was an important colt. As he looked at the gray unicorn, the spy noticed that there was an odd awareness around him, making the unicorn stand out among the others that were in the room with him.

Careful to keep out of sight, the Mail Colt crept up to the window of the building. He peered through it to see the gray unicorn being pestered by the white mare, Rarity, as she put outlines of clothes on him. He glared as he wondered why these ponies even bothered with clothes anyway. He just found them uncomfortable and unnecessary, even though he wore clothes as part of his disguise.

He observed every detail in the room through the window, making a mental note of anything important. But then his eye spotted the book that the gray colt had been carrying before. He saw the design on the cover and noticed that it was identical to the flaming object that had appeared before. He squinted as he read the title, which appeared to be titled as the Liber Tenebrarum.

Careful not to be seen, the spy stepped away from the window and walked down the road to his next mail delivery. The queen would want to know of this, he decided. He planned to depart for the hive at the dead of night, as to not arouse suspicion. This information would please the queen. He grinned wickedly at the thought of revenge against those bloody ponies and their princess.

Comments

[Luckyfanisaac]

Applejack walked towards Rowan, and grabbed his hoof in a vigorous, one-sided shake, "Howdy-do, Rowan. Ah'm Applejack. It was Twilight's idea to make breakfast for ya, so I made ya sweets using the finest apples from Sweet Apple Acres."

OH GOD DON’T TELL ME YOU USED APPLE BLOOM SHE’S ONE OF THE BEST APPLES ON THE FARM!!!

"Hi, I'm Rainbow Dash. You must be Rowan. Applejack invited me to breakfast, but I had some weather things to take care of so I finished early this morning."

Twilight answered, "That's Rowan's spell book, called the book of shadows. Princess Luna gave it to him."

Rainbow Dash's head popped up, "Wait, does that mean that we've got another unicorn in town that can do fancy magic, like Twilight?"

Rainbow Dash expressed her satisfaction with a large belch, "Man, anything AJ makes is good. But now I need to move around a bit to get the food through my system." Everyone else basically had the same idea.