The morning sun shone down on Ponyville, bathing the town in light and warmth. The bell over the door at Hay Treat's Animal Care shop jingled loudly and Fluttershy walked out of the store, balancing a couple of large bags of birdseed on her back. "Oh, these are heavy," she said to herself, struggling under their weight. "Perhaps I should—oh, no!" she gasped as one of the bags started to slip.

A hoof reached out and grabbed it before it fell off. "Need a hoof?" a familiar, flat voice asked. Fluttershy turned to see an older stallion in a gray trilby and a green vest lifting the bag onto his back.

"Oh, thank you, Phillip," she said. "That's very kind of you."

"No worries," Phillip Finder said, giving her a small but genuine smile as he began to trot alongside her. They walked in silence, passing other early morning pedestrians opening their shops and starting their shopping for the day.

The two reached Fluttershy's cottage on the outskirts of Ponyville, near the edge of Everfree Forest. Birdsong and the happy chittering of animals reached them as they made their way up the dirt pathway. Suddenly, a little white rabbit came hopping towards them.

"What's wrong, Angel?" Fluttershy asked, bending down to her rabbit friend. Angel made a series of rapid gestures. "Somepony's here? They want to speak to me? They're waiting inside? Oh, my!" Fluttershy gave a little squeak and quaked in fear. "I haven't invited anypony. Why do they want to talk to me?"

"Best way to find that out is to talk to 'em," Phillip said, already walking towards the door of the cottage, followed by Angel. Fluttershy trailed behind, terrified at the prospect of speaking to a stranger who had come into her home without invitation.

Sure enough, inside the living room of the cottage was another pony, sitting stiffly at one of the tables atop one of the wooden chairs. He had pale blue fur, a silver mane and tail that was cut short, and icy blue eyes. He was dressed in a dark blue business suit with a green tie. His cutie mark was of an open sack of bits.

"Ah, this must be Fluttershy," the pony said in an upper-class accent, standing up quickly. Fluttershy squeaked and hid her face underneath her mane. "And who are you, sir?" the pony asked Phillip, turning to him with a look of irritation.

"Name's Phillip Finder. Friend of hers," Phillip said, touching the brim of his trilby as he dropped the bag of seeds off his back. He extended his hoof to shake.

"All right," the pony said with a nod. He ignored Phillip's outstretched hoof, which he retreated. "I'm sure you know who I am," the stranger said, raising his chin proudly.

"No," Fluttershy squeaked out nervously. "Should I?"

"Aside from the facts that you came from Manehattan on the early morning train, slept late last night, are unmarried, have two cats, and are currently staying at the Starhoof Hotel, I know nothing about you," Phillip said.

The pony raised his eyebrows in surprise. "How did you—?"

"There's a train ticket stub in your pocket," Phillip explained, nodding to the clue. "You have a bit of shaving cream beneath your right ear that nopony has pointed out to you. There's cat fur on your suit from two differently colored cats. You did not brush your teeth. And there's dirt splatter on your left sleeve from the southern side of town from when you called a taxi."

"Um...excuse me?" Fluttershy said in a low voice.

"You'll have to speak up. I can't understand you," the other pony said, leaning in close.

"Um...could you just...tell me who you are and why you want to talk to me?" Fluttershy said, still unable to make eye contact.

"Right," the stranger nodded. "My name is Monopoly, and I am a dealer in property and business. I am here because you have something I want; specifically, this property."

"This property?" Fluttershy said in surprise. Monopoly took a blueprint out of his coat and unrolled it on the table. It was a map of Fluttershy's cottage and the land surrounding it.

"Yes," he explained. "I wish to acquire a section of the Everfree Forest, and you own part of the section that I wish to own." He circled a rather large part of the backyard with his hoof.

"Oh, but that's my butterfly garden, bird sanctuary and chicken coop," Fluttershy said. "I couldn't possibly—"

"I'm willing to pay any price you ask for," Monopoly said, taking out a checkbook and pen with his magic.

"But all those poor animals that I'd have to displace...I couldn't," Fluttershy shook her head. She cleared her throat and stood up a little. "I'm sorry, but I don't want to sell any of my property. It wouldn't be nice to the animals."

"I can pay to have them to sent to someplace else where they will be well taken care of," Monopoly replied, a rather forceful tone added to his voice. He tried to smile reassuringly, but the smile didn't quite make it to his eyes. "You needn't worry your pretty little head, Miss Fluttershy. I will see that your animals will be taken care of."

"No," Fluttershy answered, a bit more firmly. "I don't want to sell."

Monopoly opened his mouth to continue, but Phillip cut him off sharply. "She said she's not interested and she meant it. Now I suggest you go back to the Starhoof before I'm forced to escort you off this land."

Monopoly gave Phillip an icy stare. Phillip looked back at him, emotionless, but the veiled threat in his voice lingered. Finally, Monopoly gave a little grunt and folded the blueprint back up. "Very well," he said, turning to go. He opened the door to the cottage and stepped out, but paused on the threshold.

"You both should know, I'm a pony who's used to getting what he wants," he said over his shoulder.

"In that case, I'd say it's time you learned that the sun doesn't rise and set on you," Phillip replied coolly.

Monopoly sniffed. "In any case, I hope you change your mind soon, Miss Fluttershy. Goodbye." He stepped out the door and started walking away, his head held high.

"Do you think he'll stay away now? Was I firm enough?" Fluttershy asked.

"I hope so," Phillip said. "If you don't mind, I'll head off now so you can take care of your birds."

"Thank you for helping, Phil," Fluttershy said, floating off to feed the birds. Phillip headed out the door and headed down the path towards his home.

With every step, he turned over the strange encounter in his mind. The image of Monopoly glaring at Fluttershy when she refused his offer stuck in his mind. The sound of his voice made his stomach clench.

He glanced back at Fluttershy's cottage, a small house sitting in the midst of a pristine green pasture, surrounded by animal pens and keeps. It was pretty, but he doubted it would be worth anything in terms of real estate. So why would a rich pony like Monopoly want it? Whatever it was, it would definitely make him richer.

Phillip walked back into Ponyville. The more he thought about the circumstance, the less he liked it. Something about Monopoly struck him as fishy; an inner instinct warned him that the business pony was not to be trusted.

He looked up and saw that he was standing in front of the Golden Oaks Library. An idea struck him; he could enlist Twilight's help in checking the collection of periodicals for any references on Monopoly.

He walked up to the door and knocked. Twilight answered the door, blinking in surprise at the sight of the other stallion. "Hello, Phillip. What are you doing here?"

"Need your help on something," Phillip said, entering the library. "Need you to help me check up on a pony named Monopoly from Manehattan."

"You need help with some research?" Twilight said in delight. Immediately, she dashed over to the periodical section and started pulling out stacks of Manehattan newspapers. "Is this for a case?"

"No," Phillip said. "It's for Fluttershy." With that, he grabbed the first stack of newspapers and started flipping through them.

Author's Notes:

The beginning of a new story following a period of writer's block. I hope you enjoy!