Lemonade, bedheadded unicorn.

"You..."

The voice was everywhere around me. I could see nothing, feel nothing, sense nothing other than the voice.

"You."

It sounded old, old and lost. It was definitely the voice of something female, but there was no way to see exactly what it was. It seemed a bit angry, too. Like... like it was looking for something...

"You!"

The voice. It called, but I had no mouth to answer. I was nothing.

"YOU!"

I would have hidden myself, but there was nothing left to hide, nor any place to hide. I was certain if I was found, I would cease to exist.

"Y O U !"

And with that, I woke up, flailing about in bed for a few seconds before calming myself and looking at my unfamiliar surroundings. Where was I again? It took me a few moments to remember that this was my new home, a moderately-sized apartment at 42 Main Street, Ponyville.

Currently, my apartment was practically bare, with just standard household items like my bed, a nightstand, a sink, a stove and oven, and a bathroom. Off in a corner were my saddlebags, which I had decided not to unpack last night in favor of crawling into bed and sleeping until... Some time after sunrise. I used my magic to raise the windowshade and tried not to hiss as sunlight poured in through the window. Blinking away some leftover sleep from my eyes, I noted that it was just before eleven in the morning, based on the position of the sun.

I looked out the window at the street below me (I was on the second floor of the three-floor building) and I could see ponies going about their daily business, walking to and fro. It was the last day of the weekend, so it was no surprise for me to see a few fillies and colts running around playing what looked like tag. I opened the window to let in some fresh air and was rewarded when the scent of cinnamon-sugar wafted into my apartment. I turned from my window and headed for the bathroom, pulling a brush from my saddlebags as I passed them. Feeling a little perky, I began to hum a little tune that I had heard in the Crystal Empire. I think it was played by a band called the "Foof Fighters" or something like that. I brushed my mane until it was not as messy, and then exited the bathroom to go get some food for breakfast. Since it wouldn't have been a good idea to try and stuff my bags with food as well as the rest of the stuff I had brought, I would have to go out to eat today. I grabbed my saddlebags in my magic and put it over my flank, making the paper taped there crinkle a little bit. I walked to the front door and opened it, only to be blocked by a light brown pegasus with a blue wool hat that shadowed her eyes.

"Heyyy..." she said with a slightly grating yet recognizably feminine voice. "Was just about to knock, and here you are! Long time no see, Lemonade."

I gave her a hug. "Where have you been, Perspicacious?"

"I've been around." she replied, hugging me back. "After you left for magic school, I futzed around for a bit and then applied to Cloudsdale's weather academy, and..."

"...and what?"

"I made it in and graduated four years later..." Perspicacious trailed off, giving me her trademark there's more to this story smile.

"C'monnnn..." I whined. "Spit it out, Perci."

"I graduated top of my class. I think everypony there was surprised when it happened. Especially with my condition." She smirked.

"Ohh... I am so happy for you! First in your class? How big was the class?" I was practically squealing with delight.

"One-hundred something."

"Oh, that's just wonderful! Now, about your condition... has it gotten any better?"

"Nope. Still covering your mark?"

I showed her my right flank, lifting my saddlebags to show the sheet of paper with "Eyes up there" with an arrow pointing in the general direction of my head. "Yeppers. So far nopony's asked about it, but I've only been here for less than a day. What are you doing in Ponyville, Perspicacious?"

Perspicacious flicked her chin up, causing the tassels on her hat to swing. "Since I was the best in my class, I got to pick where I go, and what place would be better than Ponyville?"

I raised an eyebrow, and she chuckled.

"Okay, okay. I went to Baltimare first but everypony there was so damn rude. Get this: on my very first day, some pegasus dude rammed into me and sent me to the ground, and then I almost got run over by not one, not two, but three wagons. They didn't even try to not hit me."

"Yeah, I can believe that." I replied, smiling a little. "I was in the crystal empire for the last three days and all of the crystal ponies really have a "better-than-thou" attitude that got more noticeable every day I was there."

"Yeah, I heard you were in town and I just had to stop by to say hi. You all moved in yet?" asked Perspicacious, ruffling her wings a little.

"Not yet, but it won't take too long. I was going to grab a bite to eat before I started." I replied. "Do you know a place?"

"Have you met Pinkie yet?"

"Pinkie Pie? Element of laughter? Nope. I read the book, though. Twice."

Perspicacious smiled at me like she had a secret. "Best meet Pinkie on your own terms. Sugarcube Corner is just down the street that way." She pointed. "It has the best food in town, in my opinion."

"Sounds good to me." I replied, taking a second to lock my door before following my friend down the stairs and to the street. "When are you free next? I would love to hang out and catch up on what you've been doing, Persi."

"Yeah," she started, glancing back to look at me, "that'd be nice. I have a few stories to tell you. For a small town, a lot of crap happens here."

We were both standing on the street now, and I noticed that Persi was looking at me funny. Or I thought she was but couldn't see her eyes to be sure. So, I asked. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, I was just realizing how much different you are. You're... better. Almost as good as me!"

I gave her a look.

"I'm kidding! I'm a total waste o' space. Yep. That's me. Humble, too." We both laughed. "So to get to Sugarcube Corner, you're gonna want to just cross the street and go north a bit, and you can't miss it! You've seen pictures, of course."

Of course I had seen pictures! My thesis was on the magic of long-distance friendship, and I had to of course reference some of Princess Twilight Sparkle's adventures abroad. I probably wouldn't have moved my arse to Ponyville if it wasn't the home of the Elements of Harmony. I would have vocalized all of this if I didn't already know that it would bore Perspicacious to death and back a few times over. Instead, I gave her a side-hug and a hoof bump. We exchanged goodbyes, and I walked off towards Sugarcube Corner. A few ponies said hello as I passed them, and I kindly returned the favor.

It wasn't even a minute's walk away, and it looked even better in real life than it did in pictures. The pictures made it look nice, but when I looked up at the cupcake and candle roof, the candy-cane-toting-pony-weathervane, and the "frosted" windows, it had a certain lifelike quality, like the shop was not just a shop, it was a living being. I could smell the goods from outside, plus a strong odor of... cotton candy? I turned around and was snoot to snoot with the pinkest pink party pony to have ever pronked: Pinkie Pie. Pinkie stepped back, and then took the biggest, deepest breath I had ever witnessed a pony take. And then...

"You look new! That's because you are! I'm Pinkie Pie! Welcome to Ponyville! What’s your name? What's your favorite flavor? What's your favorite color? Why is there a paper covering your cutie mark? Can I see your cutie mark? If you have cutie mark problems I know three little fillies that have cutie marks in helping ponies understand their cutie marks! There's Scootaloo and Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle and a whole bunch more but not all of them live here like Gabby and Babs Seed! Are you free this afternoon? I’m gonna have some friends over and we’re gonna party like there’s no tomorrow even though there is a tomorrow! Tell me quick because I have to go raid a anti-freedom-of-thought facility and if I’m late then it won’t go well at all!”

It took me a few seconds to realize that Pinkie Pie was done talking for a moment, and it took a few more seconds for me to answer. “I’m Lemonade, there is no such thing as too much chocolate, green like my mane, I know exactly what my cutie mark means and I really don’t want to show anypony else, and I forgot the rest of your questions.” I smiled sheepishly.

“That’s ok!” said Pinkie Pie, pronking. I noted that she kept her legs stiff and instead relied on the springyness of her hooves. “I just wanted to know if you were free this afternoon so I can throw your very own “Welcome to Ponyville” party!”

“I’ll be free.” I replied, trying to figure out how Pinkie pronked. I just had to ask, because I couldn’t tell how it was done. “How do you do that?”

“Do what?” asked Pinkie Pie, pronking into a backflip.

“The pronking! I want to know!”

“Oh, I just straighten my legs and let my happiness into my hooves!” she smiled with glee, pronking in a circle around me. I straightened my legs and thought of all of my friends, and all the fun we had back when we were fillies. I pictured my happy memories flowing into my hooves, and I felt it. There was a springyness in my hooves, in my legs. I pushed a little and felt myself bounce. I kicked a little and I bounced higher. I looked at Pinkie and she looked at me as we both pronked in place. Her eyes were practically sparkling when she said “We are going to have so much fun together, Lemonade! But not right now ‘cuz I gotta go!” When her legs hit the ground, they seemed to compress like springs until Pinkie was belly to the ground. And then she went flying, her legs extending so suddenly I almost didn’t see it.

“Pronk ROckEt!!!”

She went sailing over Sugarcube Corner and out of sight. By then I had lost my bounce, and just stared for a few moments before heading into Sugarcube corner to get a late breakfast.

Author's Notes:

My original plan was to have Lemonade go to Sugarcube Corner and find out that Pinkie had just left, and then Lemon eats breakfast. Obviously this was not the case.