New Beginnings
One day, after hours of apple bucking, a tired but satisfied Applejack began walking her way across the fields of Sweet Apple Acres. Quietly and happily she congratulated herself on her work "I told Big Mac I could finish bucking the southwest fields before day's end." she took a moment to look at her surroundings, the equestrian autumn had just started and the leaves were just beginning to turn, the annual Running of the Leaves would happen any day now. Applejack was too tired to concern herself over such things; she tipped her hat and moved to a shady tree, she had earned herself a rest.
After a few moments there was a rustling in the tree. Applejack looked up drowsily just in time to see a small rainbow tail poke out from one of the branches above her.
"Rainbow, What have I told ya about sleeping in the apple trees?"
"Oh sorry AJ, I just finished practicing my amazing new stunt. It seriously has got to be my best one ever, anyway this tree was really comfortable and I just fell asleep."
"Well try not ta', it's harvest time and the apples er sensitive to disturbances"
At that her rainbow friend playfully stuck her tongue out at her knowing full well that she would continue to sleep in the trees, albeit more secretly.
Almost magically, with a speed that defied space-time, Pinkie Pie was bouncing in front of her two friends. She was full of excitement and it was near uncontainable.
"Hey guys, what are you doing? Are you busy? I just found out some great news and I just had to tell you," at this she began bouncing even more excitedly.
"Well howdy Pinkie Pie, what's got you so dern excited?" She had been waiting for the question and the answer exploded out of her. "There are two new ponies in town! So you know what that means!"
A.J. and Dash looked at each other and then back at their pink friend, with mutual excitement and a bit of hesitation they replied "A party!?"
Outside of Sugar cube Corner two Pegasus brothers were walking through Ponyville, having just moved from Las Pegasus they were taking in their new surroundings. They were both fairly tall for pegasi, yet still smaller than other stallions. The younger brother was a grey pony with a simple black mane and a tail to match. The older Pegasus was black, his mane and tail were both black with a single red stripe running through them, and the tips of his feathers were also colored the same red. He wore goggles on his head, being a race pony it was a common habit of his, and he walked ahead of his brother making small talk with the ponies around him.
"What do you think of the new town Shadow Blade?"
"I don't know Storm Gate; I was happy where we were. Why did we move again?"
At this the black pony turned to face his brother, sighing he stopped to explain the situation again.
"Well first of all, the race circuit in Las Pegasus has been overrun with scandals and I don't want to be an affiliated with any of that. Secondly, it’s the only place that we could find any work to support ourselves, plus I heard there's somepony here that could help me find a new performing or race group."
They both continued walking until a group of ponies trotted up to them, it was Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle. Rainbow was the first to speak; she was looking over the two pegasi and recognized a familiar symbol on the elder pony's goggles.
"Wow are those the official Wonderbolts goggles? They only made like 25 of those, that is so awesome, where did you get them?"
He smiled, noticing she was very cute when she was excited "I'm gonna guess that you're Rainbow Dash, right?"
"Nah! Really? She’s obviously the only rainbow colored pony in town." Shadow Blade said sarcastically.
She laughed at the comment and smirked, her proud attitude replacing her fan girl outburst; she zoomed into the air with a quick flip and struck a pose "The one and only, the best and fastest Pegasus in all Equestria, how'd you know?"
"Yet, she's still not in the Wonderbolts." Shadow Blade mumbled smugly, his brother chuckling softly.
Before she knew it the black pegasus had flown up behind her, surprising her when he spoke.
"Every Pegasus knows about you Rainbow Dash, so far you're the only one able to perform the Sonic Rainboom, which is really impressive." he smiled, knowing he was feeding her ego with the compliment, but cockily added "As for the best and fastest, well that has yet to be seen."
She looked at him fiercely and with determination in her eyes, but her concentration was broken by her friend.
"Will y'all two lovebirds get down here; we're busier than a bee in a flower shop right now."
"Yeah Storm Gate, we still have a lot to do today" Shadow Blade added. Storm Gate quickly returned back to his brother's side, Rainbow remained in the sky, perched on a cloud watching them both.
"Well howdy, I'm Applejack, it's a pleasure ta meet ya, If ya ever need anything just come ta Sweet Apple Acres, we're always happy ta help the new pony folk in town."
They both smiled and nodded at her, and the purple unicorn standing in front of them walked closer. She spoke with practiced precision and a hint of authority "Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle. We heard you two had just arrived and we wanted to be the first to invite you to Ponyville. As Princess Celestia's star pupil I thought I was more than qualified-"
As she was talking she was cut off by a flash of pink, a gust of wind following it as it arrived in front of the two pegasi. A very happy pony stood in front of them, smiling the biggest and sincerest smile anypony could ever imagine. She took in one gasping breath and began to speak quickly.
"Hi there I'm Pinkie Pie, I saw you two fly into town and I just knew you'd be lonely because you didn't know anypony, so I thought to myself, Pinkie it is your responsibility to make sure these ponies have a great first time in Ponyville, so I started cooking and planning, because I work at the Cake's shop and..."
As she continued to talk about her plan and the many different ways to frost a cupcake the pegasi shot a curious look at the purple pony smiling behind her pink friend. She nodded and looked back at them "Just go with it" her face seemed to say.
With that they looked back at Pinkie Pie, who was just wrapping up her story.
".... I think the blue frosting went best with the purple cupcakes, oh but anyways you two are new in town and the best way to meet everypony is with a party!"
As soon as the words were spoken she raised her hooves into the air and balloons fell down from who knows where, streamers and confetti erupted from prepositioned locations and everypony in town gathered to the square for another great Pinkie Pie party.
"Well there goes our afternoon huh Shadow Blade?" Storm Gate whispered before they were both led into Sugarcube Corner.
Sugarcube Corner, 10:00 P.M.
After much partying, the last of the ponies had left and the two pegasi were both very tired, their bellies stuffed with cake and their legs sore from dancing. Although Shadow Blade, not completely content with the party, wished it had lasted a little longer, but his brother said it was time to go. They looked at each other, knowing they had to find a cloud to sleep on for the night, expanding their wings, ready to fly, but just before takeoff, Pinkie Pie stopped them with a question.
“Hey! Do you guys have a place to stay tonight?” said Pinkie Pie.
Shadow Blade then replied “Well, since we’re pegasi, we can pretty much st…OWW!”
Shadow Blade was interrupted by his brother punching him on the wing.
“No, we don't,” Storm Gate quickly replied.
“Oh! You can stay with me!” Pinkie Pie said kindly.
“Thanks Pinkie, we really appreciate it. We promise not to bother you much” His brother looked at him strangely when he said that.
As they were trotting back inside of Sugarcube Corner, Shadow Blade leaned towards his brother and asked “Why exactly are we staying here, with her?”
“Because, today had the clearest skies I’ve ever seen. I don’t want to be flying around in the dark all night looking for some clouds to sleep on, plus she seems harmless enough. What’s the problem?”
“I don’t know, I mean it’s okay to hang out with a complete stranger at a party, but staying in their house, all night, that’s just weird.”
Pinkie stopped herself in front of them and opened a door; the brothers hadn’t noticed that they had already made it upstairs; the pink pony was humming as she led them into a room.
“I don’t necessarily have a guest room but, you guys can sleep on the couch in my room,” Pinkie said in a very happy tone.
"I call dibs on the couch," Storm Gate said quickly, "looks like you're sleeping on the floor."
Shadow Blade sighed, "Fine."
"Well thank you again Pinkie, we really appreciate it.”
Storm Gate settled himself on to the couch, it wasn't as comfortable and soft as a cloud but it would do for one night. Plus he was satisfied with that fact that he was better off than his brother, who was at the moment trying to find a comfortable spot on the hard wooden floor, the pink pony watching him settle down and giggling.
"Do you want a pillow you silly pony? No need to sleep on the bare floor Shadow Blade." she smiled and threw a pillow towards him, the tired grey pony turning just in time for it to hit him in the face. He looked up a bit irritated, his brother laughing softly, and the pink pony smiling down innocently "Oopsie, sorry about that. Sleep tight you two."
"Thanks," grumbled Shadow Blade as he curled up on top of the pillow.
The next day, the two pegasi were up early and beginning to leave, their pink host still snoring softly in her bed, tired from her amazing party the night before.
"Come on Shadow Blade, we should go before she wakes up, leave a thank you note or something though." Storm Gate quickly straightened up the couch and grabbed his goggles from the table, struggling to carefully put them on with his hooves
"Unicorns have it easy with their fancy magic," he grumbled.
Shadow Blade then proceeded to make a note for the pink pony.
"Dear umm... Well it's some sort of food /color combination isn't it? Um Pinkie Pastry? Yeah, something like that. Anyway, thanks for your hospitality last night, me and Storm Gate appreciate it and if you see me again, remind me that I owe you one. Sincerely,
Shadow Blade"
The pegasi soon left Sugarcube Corner, content with their welcome the day before. Storm Gate thought it would be best to finish what they started yesterday and build their new home in Ponyville.
"Shadow, I'm going to go talk to the mayor and the head of the weather division in order to get the building permits for our new house. You go find a good spot to build it, I'll meet you back here in an hour or so." the black pony then proceeded to walk outside and spread his wings, the thermals quickly running through his feathers and aiding in his swift takeoff. "I love being a pegasus," he thought as he zoomed toward town hall.
Shadow Blade was not a very responsible pony; whether this was due to laziness or just the fact that nopony really asked him to handle assignments by himself. He was with his big brother most of the time and as such was not very independent. That being said, his plan B was to blow off the entire assignment and the responsibility in general, and get something to eat. By that time Pinkie Pie was barely waking up from last night, rubbing her eyes with her hooves and letting out a small yawn. As she slowly opened her eyes, she was surprised to see Shadow Blade still in her bedroom.
"Shadow Blade? You're still here?" Pinkie Pie yawned
Shadow Blade got startled by the sleepy voice behind him and responded quickly
"Oh! Hey, umm... Pinkie Parlor, right?"
"Actually, it's Pinkie Pie."
"Right, Pinkie Pastry. Anyway, do you know where I can get some food around here?" Shadow Blade questioned.
Pinkie proceeded to giggle out loud, although he wasn’t quite sure why.
"What's so funny?" Shadow Blade questioned.
Pinkie stopped and smiled at the confused Pegasus
" Silly Shadow. You know for a blade, you're not very sharp."
"Why's that?" the still confused pony asked.
"Because, you were sleeping in one the entire time!" giggled Pinkie Pie who had already thought of a fun day ahead of her if one or both of the pegasi stayed over.
"We can have cupcakes and, muffins and, ooh! Cookies and..."
Pinkie Pie continued on as she dragged Shadow Blade into the kitchen. Shadow Blade was barely listening to Pinkie Pie because he was thinking about the fact that he was going to have sweets for breakfast. His brother wouldn't normally allow him to do that, so he knew that a day with Pinkie would be a bit different than usual.
By that time, Storm Gate had already made it to the town hall, landing softly right outside the door; he pushed his goggles down around his neck and walked in. He was immediately greeted by the ponies inside and stood looking up at the large open building before him. It was much bigger than it looked on the outside and there were ponies everywhere, they all looked rather busy but he supposed they were there for similar reasons to his. With that thought in his head he went about his business.
The meeting with the mayor was uneventful, boring really. He really hated business and formal meetings but he knew it was necessary and that he couldn't trust his brother to get it done. He waited in line for what seemed like hours and spent the time making stories in his head. The Ponyville building code, while extensive, was quite lenient and he was approved by the mayor quickly. With his papers in hoof he just had to get the building site approved by the leader of the local weather division. If he could find her.
Rainbow Dash spread her wings, the warm air quickly became trapped under them, she closed her eyes and let the air carry her quickly up into the sky. When she opened her eyes she was high above Ponyville, Canterlot was clearly visible in the distance but she had no business there today, or anywhere really, she was free to do as she pleased.
She landed on a cloud, sitting down and looking at the clear skies in front of her. She was planning, visualizing each of her stunts, performing each one in her head before making them reality. She crouched down her flank held high as she prepared to fly. "And now introducing the newest member of the Wonderbolts, Rainbow Dash!" the announcement was made in her mind and she flipped off her cloud, zooming into a backwards loop before pulling her wings in tight against her body. She fell, and continued to fall and smiled. She counted the seconds in her head and flared her wings open at the last moment. Mere inches from the ground she pulled into her super speed strut, weaving through the scattered trees in front of her. She rolled to one side in order to dodge the low hanging branch and then zoomed back straight into the sky the rainbow trail still slowly dissipated from the trees behind her. The cyan pony quickly back flipped back on to the cloud she started on, feeling happy with her performance.
Her ears flicked back, she heard something, just a faint sound but it was there. Her ears moved to locate the sound and her eyes followed suit. Was that... Clapping?
The black pony stared up her; he was clapping and smiling up at her. "I know I'm not a Wonderbolt, so my opinion isn't important, but I have to say that your performance sure was impressive," he shouted.
"Oh, well thanks. I didn't think anypony was out her, it's usually where I'm come to practice." Rainbow slowly glided down to him, she was not quite smiling but was obviously content with herself.
"What brings you out here...?”
"Storm Gate," he interrupted, "we didn't really have much time to talk before."
"Yeah yeah, I remember, you're the new pegasus in town. Anyway, as I was saying what brings you out here?"
"Well, actually, you do Rainbow Dash." He smiled at her and sat down, pushing his goggles back up to the top of his head, it was a nervous habit of his. “You’re head of the weather team right?"
"Yeah so?" she seemed to yawn out, her wings twitching with unused energy.
"I just need you to approve some paperwork so my brother and I can get our house built."
"Paperwork? Nopony gets me to do paperwork," she replied, already bored with the idea. "Unless," an idea quickly came to her mind "you race me."
Storm Gate smiled, he was never one to shy away from a challenge. He reached up ad lowered his goggles down over his eyes. “Alright Rainbow, You’re on.”