The so-called Slender Pony exists in the minds of most as a murderous beast, rarely talked about outside of urban legend or scary stories. His freakishly long legs, sinister black tentacles and blank expression serve to terrify ponies . . . well, most ponies, anyway.

A certain shy Pegasus who's “afraid of her own shadow,” in the words of friends and strangers alike, appears to be unfazed by his ghastly, silent demeanor. She might even say she's bedazzled by a pony who doesn't feel the need to chatter and socialize incessantly.

You'd be surprised by how much can happen in nine days. Breaking your back on a regular basis to save your family's livelihood, falling in love only to have your heart trampled, and fighting an evil robot that threatens to destroy Equestria are just a few of those things. Never mind the fact that Ponyville is facing racial disharmony due to a Pegasus-led workers' strike at the weather factory in Cloudsdale, and Celestia can't be bothered to interfere when she's dealing with another crisis altogether. Meanwhile, Applejack wants nothing more than to stay relatively removed from the madness, but everypony knows that's never how it actually plays out.