Would you believe I have a house now? I’d never owned one back on Earth. I’d just been a renter, and now I have a whole place to myself. It’s kind of amazing. I know the whole house thing should seem insignificant beside the new universe, new species, and new gender. Somehow, though, I could hardly get over having my own house. I guess I’m weird like that.

In the week or so after the naming party, I’d done a lot more work on my games. I had my map for my board game all the way done, and on a nice heavy card-stock, so it could really work as a game board, and I’d re-created the rules for a card game I’d had as an on and off project for quite a while back on Earth.

I’d been to the market a couple of times, which was a lot more pleasant with my new cloak. I hadn’t actually bought anything yet, just looked around a lot. I was always worried about standing out somehow. Somehow, in the back of my mind, I just knew people were going to detect something off about me or ask questions or… something. I wasn’t sure, but then again, that’s how anxiety works: generalized non-specific dread.

By the week’s end, I was bored. Twilight had been out a lot. I knew it probably had something to do with me, but I wasn’t sure what. I was bored with working on my games. Being bored with my games kind of surprised me, actually. Back on Earth, I spent hours and hours every weekend working on this stuff. Here in Equestria, I had the opportunity to work on my games all the time, and now I was bored with it.

That I was bored with my favorite hobby was actually kind of hard to admit to myself. It’s like if you’ve ever done something you were sure was going to be great, and then even after you realized it kinda sucked, you tried to convince yourself that it was still great. In my case, it took just about that whole week before I could finally admit to myself that full-time game making wasn’t for me.

I was all ready to ask Twilight if there was anything I could help with or just occupy myself with. It was around lunchtime when I’d decided to ask for something else to do, as amusing myself didn’t seem to be working. However, when Twilight came back that afternoon, she had a big ‘I know something you don’t know’ smile. She was so excited that her eyes practically flashed as she fidgeted just inside the door.

“Hey Rain!” she called. “I’ve got something to show you!”

“Uh, okay,” I said, looking around after seeing she wasn’t carrying anything. “Where is it?”

“You’ll have to follow me!” she said brightly. Then she turned and opened the door again.

“Okay,” I shrugged, following her.

She led me outside the library, and then started off down the street at a quick trot. I could tell she was excited because she was almost prancing instead of walking.

“Where’re we headed, Twilight?” I asked.

“Not too far,” she said, letting me catch up a little. “This is what I’ve been away working on for the past few days.” With that she pranced on ahead of me again.

We definitely weren’t headed for the market, or for the Carousel Boutique, because I knew the way to those places, and Twilight was taking me through a completely new set of streets. We finally rounded a corner onto a street that seemed to be right at the outskirts of town. The houses here all had little yards, unlike the ones right in the middle of Ponyville. It was sort of like Equestria’s version of suburbs, with all the annoying parts of suburbs on Earth removed. The houses were all unique. They shared the same sort of style, but none seemed to share the same floorplan. There were little one-story ranch styles. Some were two-story homes, more like the European style that was in evidence closer to the center of town. But they were all unique, each one had the little accents that I’d noticed on houses in town. Things like stylized flowers and vines, a few with sunbursts and other sorts of nature-inspired art. This was all done in paint, usually around the top of the first story. On two-story houses that had an A-frame roof, the space above the windows on the second story tended to be decorated with painted designs, but no two seemed exactly alike.

I could see fields stretching away behind the houses on one side of the street. We were definitely right on the edge of town. As Twilight led on, I caught sight of the rest of her friends standing in front of one of the houses. I figured that was our destination.

As we drew closer, maybe half a block away, Pinkie Pie suddenly jumped up from behind the group of ponies waiting for us and shouted, “Surprise!”

Twilight chuckled as I saw the others in the group look back at Pinkie with sharp glances. I could barely hear Pinkie as she held her front hooves up, “Sorry, I couldn’t wait any longer.”

“What’s the surprise?” I asked Twilight, still trotting after her.

Twilight just grinned back at me and held her silence until we stopped in front of one of the houses. “This is the surprise,” she said, gesturing towards the house. “I know you didn’t want to live in the library forever, so we found you a place of your own.”

“Oh wow,” I said, looking at the little house. “So this is like an apartment?”

“Oh no, sugar,” said Applejack. “Th’ whole place is yours.”

“Huh?” I said. “How do you mean that?”

“She means just what she said,” explained Twilight. “You are now the owner of this house.”

“How’s that possible?” I asked. “I mean, I don’t know what houses here in Equestria go for, but this had to be really expensive. I can’t ask all of you for something like this.”

“Well, Rain,” said Rarity. “As much as we’d love to be able to do something like this for you, it would be a bit… beyond our means. Princess Celestia is the one you should thank. Although we did have a bit to do with the decor. I do hope you like it.”

“Princess Celestia just gave me a house?” I asked, dumbfounded.

“There are some perks to being a head of state,” answered Rarity with a smile.

“There’s a letter from her inside,” said Rainbow Dash. “We already kind of read it, since she sent it as part of a letter to Twilight, but you should read it.”

“Wow,” I said, unable to think of anything else to say.

“C’mon,” said Applejack. “How’s about you take a look at yer new place?”

They led me inside, and it was amazing. It wasn’t just bare walls and a floor. It was fully furnished. It looked a bit rustic, with the heavy wooden beams running along the roof of the first floor, supporting the second story, but they’d avoided the ‘too quaint and rustic’ sort of look that you’d find in a lot of country homes back on Earth.

“It looks like you’ve all been busy,” I said. “I’ve only been here a week and a bit. How did you ever get all this done?”

“Well,” said Rainbow Dash with a grin, “we had a bit of help from the Royal Treasury.”

“Do you like it, Rain?” asked Rarity. “We all helped pick out the decor, but if you don’t like it, feel free to tell us. This is, after all, your house.”

“No, it’s… it’s just amazing,” I said. “I should probably be thanking all of you a lot more, but I don’t even know what to say. I mean, on Earth, I couldn’t afford a house. I just rented a place. Now you’re telling me that this whole house is mine. I… I just don’t know what to say.”

“We understand,” said Fluttershy. “It is kind of amazing. We just felt so bad that you got taken from your home with nothing, but we didn’t know what we could do. After Princess Celestia sent her letter to Twilight, we all wanted to help make this place as nice as it could be for you.”

“That’s absolutely amazing. You all are absolutely amazing,” I said.

“Here,” said Twilight, her magic unrolling a scroll onto an end table. “This is Princess Celestia’s letter.”

I walked over and started to read.

Peter,

Twilight has informed me that I should rightly be calling you Rain now. A very nice name, and one that I hope you’ll wear proudly here in Equestria. No one can ever make up what was taken from you when you were brought here from your home. All I can do is to help you make the best of your new situation. All ponies should have a place to call home, so I hereby grant you full title to the property in which you now stand. I have also included a modest budget for furnishings, of which I’m sure Rarity has tested the limits.

In addition, from discussions with Twilight, I’m informed that the profession you had taken on Earth has no analog here in Equestria. You will have to find a new calling here. To assist with that, I’m giving you a Royal order: explore your new world. I want you to find something here that gives you joy. To that end, a stipend has been approved so that you won’t have to worry about expenses until such time as you’ve found what you truly want to do.

Most ponies here have already found their true calling, as evidenced by the cutie marks that they bear. This magic is peculiar to Equestria, but because of it, ponies here are able to find their true calling. I’m sure you will be no different. Please, explore Equestria. Meet its inhabitants. It may seem like a distant prospect now, but rest assured that you will find your calling. You just have to go look for it.

Princess Celestia

“Holy wow,” I breathed. “So she just gave me this whole house, had it furnished, and covered my expenses until I find something I like to do?”

“That pretty much sums it up,” said Applejack.

“This place is unbelievable,” I said, shaking my head.

“Well,” said Twilight, “the Princess always tries to help those in need, but you’re a bit of a special case. I think she went a little out of her way.”

“A little?” I asked.

“Well, she is the Princess, she can pretty much do as she pleases,” said Twilight.

I spent the rest of the afternoon with the others, alternatively exploring and being shown my new home. It was a small two-story house, with the first floor being taken up by the kitchen and a fairly large living room. There were no walls on the first floor, just one large room. The kitchen was delineated by a tiled floor, and occupied the whole right rear corner of the first floor. There was a fireplace on the left-hand side, with a comfy couch and a couple of chairs arranged around it. The floor in the living room area was wood, and I know quite a few people back on Earth who would’ve killed to have a wooden floor like this. The planks were big, and looked a bit rough. Wood with some character, but it had been sanded and sealed with a matte finish, so that it wasn’t slippery at all. It occurred to me that a really polished hardwood floor would probably be a bad idea in Equestria. Hooves would probably mark up a really shiny polish in no time, plus it’d be easy to lose one’s footing.

The front right corner by the kitchen had been made into a dining area with a big oak table surrounded by low-sitting dished stools, also made out of oak. Well, at least it looked like oak. It definitely looked like solid wood, and I could only guess how much something like that would cost back home. Fortunately, I’ve always like the look of real wood furniture, so this was all fine by me.

The upstairs had a master bedroom, a smaller guest room, and a spare room. Pinkie enthusiastically informed me that she’d been responsible for that one. On entering, I could certainly see that. The whole room was bright. It was still a wood floor, but the walls had been painted a pale yellow. Rarity later told me that she’d had to talk Pinkie down from a neon yellow. I was glad about that. What really shone, though, was the collection of art and craft supplies that Pinkie had somehow assembled. She’d said she wanted me to have a place to make games, and the spare room was certainly that. It had multiple work surfaces, and a supply closet stocked with pencils, charcoals, paints, and all kinds of paper stock, all ready for game making. There was even a small basket full of dice in the center of one of the tables. They were all six-sided dice, but for most of my games, that would work out fine.

The master bedroom had been Rarity’s purview. The walls were a pale blue that somehow managed to contrast nicely with the yellow of the game room. The bed was a large four-poster, and the mattress was thick and comfy, covered with a down comforter in a floral pattern. There was a dresser made of a dark wood that matched the bedframe. Everything obviously matched and, to my formerly male eye, definitely had a female’s touch. Even with that, though, she’d managed not to make the room overtly girly, which probably would have made me uncomfortable. I made a note to thank her for that later.

In my week in Equestria, I’d made sure to practice going down stairs. I really didn’t want to fall down my own stairs after my tour of the upstairs. It took me a while, but I did manage to make it down stairs without falling. Rainbow, though, was unimpressed, and promptly informed me that I was in need of some training on how to use this new body. Before I could protest, I was set up to meet with her the next day for some ‘hoofwork’.

As the afternoon became evening, and after many thankyous and smiles, the girls drifted off to their various homes. Finally it was just me and Twilight.

“Are you sure you’re okay here by yourself?” asked Twilight.

“I’ll be fine,” I said. “After all, I am a bit older than I look.”

“Yeah, I know,” said Twilight. “There’re times when I want to treat you like a foal, because you’re so new. Sometimes I forget that you’re older than I am. If you need any help, though, don’t be afraid to ask. I had to learn that lesson the hard way.”

“You all have done so much already, but thanks, Twilight. I really do appreciate all of this. Please tell Princess Celestia, too,” I said.

“I will,” said Twilight. “Anyway, I’ll get going and leave you to your new house. If you get bored, check the bookshelf in the guest room. I left a couple of books for you.”

“Really? I didn’t even notice. Sorry about that,” I said.

“Don’t worry about it,” Twilight smiled. “That’s why I put them there. Have a nice night.” With that, she turned and left.

Then it was just me, alone in my own home for the first time ever. I’m sure I would’ve looked like an idiot to anyone watching, but I wandered the whole house again, looking at everything. It’s a really weird feeling, knowing that a house is yours after a lifetime of living with your parents and renting. A few times, I just stopped and touched the wall, trying to let it sink in that this was mine now. I didn’t actually wind up getting to Twilight’s books that night. I just kept making laps of the place, sitting in a chair here, looking in a drawer there, until I could feel my eyelids starting to get heavy. I remember thinking that I’d have to tell Rarity how comfortable the bed was, but before I knew it I was asleep.

The next day I got up and made myself some breakfast. I’d noticed the night before that the girls had helpfully stocked the pantries and the fridge. I managed to make a bowl of oatmeal. I don’t know whether it was the oats in Equestria or just my new equine tastes, but oatmeal on Earth had never tasted this good. I decided that I could probably be pretty happy with oatmeal for breakfast on a daily basis.

I hadn’t had much of a chance to see the little backyard the night before, and I took the opportunity. I was on the side of the street that bordered the edge of town. I saw a few cultivated fields out there, but mostly, it was just grassland and low, rolling hills. I could see some forest off in the distance. I wondered if that was the Everfree Forest that Twilight had mentioned before. I hoped not, because even though it was quite a way off, I wasn’t sure how comfortable I’d be with nothing between a place like that and my backdoor but some grass.

The back yard was fenced in, an unpainted flank-high picket fence. It looked almost out of place considering the European style that the houses seemed to evidence. There was a gate in the back, leading out to the area past town. There was a small raised bed for a garden, but nothing was planted there yet. I wondered if that was a hint. I remembered someone mentioning that earth ponies were supposed to be good with plants. I’d never gardened on Earth, but who knew? Maybe I’d try it out, especially if there was a better than normal chance that things would actually grow. The few attempts I’d made at house plants in my old apartment hadn’t fared well.

It wasn’t a huge back yard, and there was a small shed. It wasn’t locked, so I opened the door and stepped in. there were a few basic tools, like a hammer and saw, and a small chest with some nails and other carpentry supplies. The main thing in there was something I’d actually been curious about, though. Sitting in the middle of the shed was a push-mower. The old-style whirling blades type, but instead of just a handle, it had a harness that a pony could step into so that they could push it along. So that’s how all the grass around Ponyville stayed looking neat and mowed. I imagined that it would take some practice to make a decent corner with the thing, as you’d have to swing yourself around behind the mower to make a turn. If you tried to turn where you were standing, you’d just swing the front end of the mower in a semicircle, provided you were strong enough to slide it sideways on its wheels, probably digging a furrow in the lawn in the process.

I stepped out and closed the door. The last thing in the yard was, I’m sure, one of Rarity’s touches. A table with a rather frilly umbrella to shade it from the sun. I could imagine having dinner out here, just watching the sunset over the hills. I sat down at the table. The shade was nice, even though the sun wasn’t overbearing. I kind of lost track of time, sitting there, looking out at all that space and kind of wanting to go see it.

I was shocked out of my little reverie when I heard a female voice call, “Hey there! Are you the new owner?”

“Huh?” I said, looking around. I finally saw a steel blue pony with a light purple mane standing on the other side of my fence. She had magenta eyes and her cutie mark was two horseshoes intertwined.

“The house,” she continued, “Is it yours?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I guess so.”

“That’s a strange answer. Most ponies would know if a house was theirs or not,” said the new pony with a grin.

“It’s a long story, but yeah, it’s mine. I’m Rain, Rain McCloud,” I said as I got up and trotted over to the fence.

“Nice to meet you, Rain, I’m Shoeshine,” said the new pony, extending her front hoof over the fence.

I reached up and bumped hooves with her in the pony equivalent of a handshake. “Nice to meet you too,” I said. “I take it you’re my new neighbor?”

“Sure am,” she said, and gestured back at the house behind her. It was sort of like mine in construction, but like all the houses here, it was unique. It looked like she had a larger room at the back of the house on the first floor, taking up some of the backyard space. I could see a pretty stout chimney stack sprouting from the rear corner of it, in addition to the one in the main part of the house. There was also a huge set of wooden doors on the far end, like someone had mounted barn doors on a house.

Seeing where I was looking, Shoeshine said, “That’s my workshop. I’m your local smith.”

I blinked, “As in metalsmith?”

“Yeah, I do horseshoes and tools, mostly, but I also do repairs. That’s what the big doors are for. Sometimes I need to bring a cart inside to work on it. Well, I do the metal parts, my friend Electric Sky actually does the fittings, she’s a unicorn. She lives a couple houses down. You’ll have to meet her, too. She’s nice,” finished Shoeshine, with a grin.

“Sure, I’d love to meet my neighbors. I’ve never lived someplace where everyone knew each other. Everyone tended to keep to themselves where I used to live.”

“Where was that?” asked Shoeshine.

“Uh, Kentucky. You’ve probably never heard of it. It’s not in Equestria,” I said, remembering my explanation.

“Outside Equestria? Wow, I’ve never met somepony from outside Equestria before.” She paused. “Well, I’ve met Zecora, but I’ve never met a pony from anywhere outside Equestria.”

“Hey!” she said, her eyes widening a bit. “You’re a blank flank!”

“Um, yeah,” I started, but she cut me off.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. That was so rude of me. I just meant… I’ve never seen a grown pony without a cutie mark.”

“It’s okay, I’m getting used to it. They say it’s because I’m not from Equestria, but that now that I’m here I may get one,” I said.

“That’d be great!” she said. “Well, I mean, it’s great that you can get a cutie mark. Not that not having a cutie mark is bad or anything. Yeesh, I just keep sticking my hoof in my mouth here. I’m not usually this bad,” said Shoeshine with a grimace.

“It’s okay,” I said. “It’s pretty unusual. I mean, every pony I’ve seen here in Equestria has one, except for the youngsters.”

“Yeah, still. I imagine you’re tired of hearing about it. So anyway, you just moved in, right? I saw some ponies working on this place. Looks like they got it all fixed up for you.”

“Yeah,” I said, “that was Twilight and some of her friends. I stayed with Twilight for a little while after I got here.”

“Twilight Sparkle? As in the newest princess Twilight Sparkle? You know her?”

“Um, yeah. I stayed with her for a little while just after I got here. She and her friends were nice enough to fix the place up for me. Kind of like a ‘Welcome to town’ present.”

“Her friends? Those were the Element Bearers? I just saw there were some ponies around, I didn’t pay much attention. Maybe you could introduce me sometime,“ she said with a hopeful look.

“Sure, I guess. They’re all really nice, actually.”

“That’d be awesome. I’ll have to tell Sky about it. She’ll freak.”

It seemed my friends here were more important than I realized, and not just Twilight for being a princess. I’d have to ask them about that. Then I realized I had to meet Rainbow Dash soon for ‘hoofwork’, whatever that turned out to be.

“Um, sorry,” I started, “but I’ve got to meet somepony pretty soon. Maybe I’ll see you afterwards?”

“Oh, sure. I work from home here. If I don’t answer the front door, I might be in my shop in the back. Feel free to come around and say hi.”

“Thanks, I will,” I said as I turned to leave.

I trotted out the back gate and into the fields. Rainbow Dash had pointed out one of the hills for us to meet at. I headed for it at a comfortable trot. It seemed like I could keep up a steady pace for quite a while in this body. Probably the earth pony thing. I knew I couldn’t keep up a jog at this speed for any length of time as a human.

It took less time than I thought to get to the hill. I trotted up the side and once I reached the crest, I saw that there was a pond on the other side. There were some woods that were obscured from view by the hills, and they came right up to one side of the pond. There was a little cliff on that side, maybe twenty feet up above the water. The other side of the pond met the downslope of the hill and made a nice little area to sit and just look around. It wasn’t quite a beach, but I could see spending the day here swimming. I kind of wondered how that would work with this body. Something like a dog-paddle would be about it, I guessed.

I saw the Rainbow’s shadow before I saw her. I was dipping a hoof into the water at the edge of the pond when I saw a pegasus-shaped shadow out of the corner of my eye. I looked around and saw Rainbow lazily flapping down towards me.

“Hey, Rainbow!” I called out.

“Hey Rain,” she replied, coming in for a landing.

“So what’s this ‘hoofwork’ you wanted me to do?” I asked.

“You need to get some practice on those hooves,” she said. “I saw you trying to go down your stairs. You didn’t fall, but you’re thinking about it way too much. Once you get comfortable on your hooves, you shouldn’t have to think about getting around, you just do it. The best way to get comfortable on your hooves is to use them. So we’re going to work on two things. First, running. I bet you haven’t tried that yet, have you?”

I shook my head no.

“Figured. Besides, when would you have had the chance? The other thing is, we’re going to do some slower work in the woods there. The footing’s a little more uneven, so you have to adjust for it. It’s not too bad, and you’re an earth pony, so even if you take a tumble, you probably won’t hurt yourself, but it gets you in tune with your hooves. You shouldn’t have to think about how a hoof is going to land when you get around, it should just happen.”

“That makes sense,” I said. “Sounds kinda tiring, though.”

“No pain, no gain, Rain,” said Rainbow with a smile.

“Cute,” I pursed my lips at her.

Her smile grew even wider. “Okay now. Just follow me. We’re going to work on a run first, but I want to do that over more level ground. Just call out if you can’t keep up. Okay?”

“Sure,” I said.

Rainbow trotted off away from the pond and back up the hillside. I followed, and had no problem keeping up at first. Then she sped up. First to a canter, and then into a full-out run. It was kind of weird, I was pretty much fixated on Rainbow in front of me, and I could feel my stride changing up. It was kind of like as a pony I had some definite gears. As a human, it was one foot in front of the other, and faster or slower just meant speeding that up. Somehow as I followed Rainbow faster and faster, my whole stride changed without me having to think about it. The walk was sort of opposite cornered legs moving together, then for a trot they locked in a little tighter, as I moved up into a run, my front legs locked together and I was bounding across the grass after Rainbow. I knew it was a mistake, but I tried to figure out exactly what I was doing, and then I went head over teakettle with a squawk. Rainbow doubled back as I was picking myself up.

“You thought about it, huh?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I replied.

“Twilight told me you’d probably do that. You were doing pretty good up to that point, though. Ready to try again?”

“Sure,” I said.

“Okay, here we go,” and she was off again.

This time I did much better. I just thought about Rainbow, and kept my eye on that distinctive mane and tail. Eventually I hit a rhythm and settled in. It actually felt good. I was totally focussed on Rainbow, and had no idea how far we’d gone when she finally slowed up. I realized I was breathing hard, and kind of lathered. I looked around, and we were close to the outskirts of Ponyville, but not an area I recognized.

“Where are we?” I panted.

“Other side of Ponyville,” said Rainbow, a little out of breath. Not as much as me, but it made me feel good that she was at least a little winded. “We made pretty good time, too. I didn’t think you’d be able to keep up that pace. You should totally go out for the Running of the Leaves this fall. You’d probably outrun most of the field if you just ran the pace we did just now. I think we should wait a while before starting on the woods, though. I want you to get comfortable with running and not having to think about where your hooves are going to fall. Once you’re a little better with that, we’ll step it up a notch.”

“Okay,” I said.

“You should practice on your own, but let’s set up to meet a couple times a week. We can work on it. I seriously think you should enter that race, too.”

“I’ll think about it,” I said.

“Cool, let’s go get something to drink. I’m a little thirsty,” Rainbow Dash said, trotting off toward town.

“Sounds good,” I said, following along behind her.

Rainbow thankfully avoided the main market area. She took us to a little cafe where we got some apple juice. We sat outside and sipped our drinks. The apple juice was more like what we would’ve called cider on Earth. It was cloudy, and still had a lot of apple flavor.

“So that pond we met at. Is it okay to go out there to run?” I asked.

“Oh sure, that’s Applejack’s land, actually. She won’t mind,” replied Rainbow.

“Really? I thought Sweet Apple Acres was out the other way from town,” I said.

“It is, but the Apple family owns a lot of land out in the country. That pond is good for swimming, and the woods are safe to walk in, too. The Everfree is way out towards Fluttershy’s place, so nothing to worry about if you want to poke around. I like to nap out there from time to time,” Rainbow said with a grin.

“Cool,” I said. “Thanks for today. I should probably get going. As much as I sweated today, I’m going to start to stink pretty soon. I’d like to get cleaned up.”

“Eh? You’re right. I should do the same. I think I’ll take a dip in that pond to cool off, though.” Rainbow left her empty drink on the table, stepped out into the street and took off into the sky, trailing a rainbow streak behind her. I stared for a moment, still not used to that. I’d seen it a few times, but it was still pretty amazing.

Rainbow had told me how to get back to my house from the cafe, and fortunately, Ponyville wasn’t all that big. I probably could’ve figured it out in a few tries. Still, it was nice to get back home. I sluiced off in the shower, the warm water felt wonderful after the run. After I’d dried off, I decided to go say hello to my new neighbor. I stepped out the back door, and saw some smoke trailing out of the chimney on Shoeshine’s shop.

Heading out through my rear gate, I decided that she was probably working, otherwise why would there be smoke coming out of the shop, so I went straight for the big barn doors on the back of Shoeshine’s place. I found one of them already propped open, so I stuck my head in.

“Hello,” I called. “Anyone home?”

“Home?” said a voice to my left. As I looked I saw a pale yellow pony with a lavender mane looking back at me with blue eyes. “This isn’t home. I work here.”

“Uh, hi?” I said, suddenly unsure.

“Oh, heya Rain,” I heard Shoeshine say, as she stepped around a partition on the side of the room. I could see a glow coming from behind it, so I guessed that’s where her forge had to be.

“Rain,” said Shoeshine, “this is Electric Sky. She helps me around here. Does the fine detail stuff that I can’t get done. She’s also kind of a tinker, general fix-it pony. So if something goes wrong in that new house, you know who to call.”

“Oh, nice to meet you. Shoeshine mentioned you earlier,” I said.

“So you’re the new neighbor. Nice to meet you,” said Sky.

I stepped inside and said, “Uh, if you two are busy with work, I can come back. I just thought I’d drop. I don’t want to bother you while you’re working.”

“Yeah, we’re a little busy now,” said Sky. “We got a rush order for repairing this carriage.” She gestured towards a large, fairly elaborate cart sitting in the middle of the shop. One of its wheels was off and that side was propped up on what looked like a saw-horse.

“I’ve just got to get this collar back into one piece and we should be ready to put it back together. Maybe we could have dinner tonight? My treat, since I invited you over here and then had to be a bad hostess,” said Shoeshine.

“Yeah, dinner would be good, but don’t worry about treating me. I’d kind of like to have somebody over to my new house. Why don’t you two come by later? I have plenty of food, we can whip something together there,” I said.

“Oh,” said Sky. “That sounds great.”

“Good,” I said. “I’ll see you two tonight. I’ll get out of your hair now.”

“‘Bye, Rain,” called Shoeshine as I left.

I headed back home. I realized I didn’t have any cleaning up to do, since the place was basically immaculate. I did head upstairs and make my bed, which I hadn’t done that morning. Then I noticed Twilight’s books on the shelf by the wall. There was one on the history of games in Equestria. To my surprise, it covered all sorts of games, from sports to board games, and I settled in for an afternoon of learning about how ponies here played games before I had my first house guests.

Author's Notes:

I aten't dead.