Cameron was enjoying his time with Fluttershy much more than he had first thought. He had expected her to become uncomfortable with his presence within a few minutes after meeting him. Thankfully, this wasn't the case. He had spent hours at Fluttershy's cottage.

In truth, Fluttershy loved his company. He had helped her with feeding the animals. He had taken an interest in all the types of animals she cared for. The animals appeared to like Facade quite a bit, too.

Except Angel. Angel didn't seem to like Facade in the slightest. Fluttershy couldn't figure out what was causing her fuzzy friend to act this way. Facade was kind, gentle, and understanding. She didn't feel shy at all when he was around. Maybe Angel was jealous.

"So, you're going to be in charge of the music at the Summer Sun Celebration, right?" Facade asked.

"Oh, dear! I forgot to have the birds practice today!" she exclaimed as she zipped away. A moment later, she came back in and added, "I'm sorry, but I have to go. Please come back tomorrow."

"Of course. Goodbye, Fluttershy." Facade said as he departed.

As he walked back towards town, he thought only about Fluttershy. He then scolded himself.

Shit. I'm no better than Mike or Jake. I actually like a pony.

Meanwhile…

Rarity's job had become much easier ever since she had hired Keen. She no longer had to continuously search for the gems she needed to use in the clothing she made. This, however, left Keen with little or nothing to do. To occupy himself, he had started experimenting with his magic on the gems.

So far, he was now able to change the shape, color, and size of the gems to whatever he wanted. He was now working on doing all three simultaneously.

Rarity glanced back towards Keen. He muttered something as he focused his magic on a blue sapphire in the shape of a rectangle. His horn glowed, and the sapphire morphed into a red crystal sphere.

Like a boss. He thought. Pleased with himself, Mike proceeded to lay back and fall asleep.

Rarity smiled. Keen was both charming and ridiculous, a combination she didn't think was really possible. She returned to her latest dress and sighed. It needed something, but. . . what?

Mike heard Rarity sigh and opened one of his eyes slightly. He didn't have an eye for fashion, but he could tell that Rarity wasn't pleased with her dress. It was a bright white and purple, which meant that it was probably meant for her. He stood up and walked over to her.

"It looks great, Miss Rarity." He said.

"Don't lie to me. It's dreadful! I might as well throw it into the trash!" she exclaimed dramatically.

"I have an idea." Mike said as he walked towards the model that sported the dress.

He took three random gems from a large pile and concentrated. He opened his eyes to make sure they were the right shape and color. He then placed the three on the front of the dress. Truthfully, he wasn't sure that his idea was very fashionable, but he thought it at least looked nice.

Rarity stared at her dress. The gems Keen had taken were now in the same shape and color of her cutie mark. They were even placed in the same formation.

"Is it better?" Keen asked.

"Better? Keen, it's perfect! "She exclaimed with joy. "How did you know that the dress was for me?"

"Call it intuition." Keen said with a smile.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds before they felt themselves turning red. Rarity managed to stop staring and changed the subject.

"It's almost five o' clock, Keen. Weren't you going to make dinner for us?"

"Oh! Right! Darn it. I'll get something set up, don't worry." He said as he rushed into her kitchen.

Rarity giggled as he left the room.

Charming and ridiculous. What an interesting combination.

Just outside Ponyville…

"Can you please tell me where we are going?" Rainbow Dash asked as Agile led away from Ponyville. She had been blindfolded and therefore had no idea where they were.

"I told you that you'll find out soon enough." Agile replied. "Don't be so impatient."

After another minute or so of walking, Agile stopped.

"We're here." He said.

Rainbow took off the blindfold and found that they were both in the field that they had first met each other.

"So, what's the big surprise?" She asked.

"Look up." He replied.

She did so and saw large group of pegasi flying across the sky. She squinted and was shocked to see that they were the Wonderbolts. The large group formed into a circle and flew straight up. As soon as they reached a decent height, each member flew outward.

The whole stunt made the Wonderbolts look like water from a fountain. The ponies broke off into two groups on the left and right and flew to the opposite side in a criss-cross fashion.

Spitfire was the first to land and the rest of the Wonderbolts did the same in pairs of two.

Rainbow Dash merely stared in awe. She was beyond words.

"Spitfire, this is Rainbow Dash. The mare I was talking about earlier." Agile said.

"Right. Nice to meet you, Rainbow Dash."Spitfire said.

Rainbow managed a weak "Hi." Then she turned to Agile. "How did you-?"

"I have my ways. All that matters is that you get to hang out with the Wonderbolts for an hour. I'll be back later." Agile answered.

"It's not much of a date if you leave the mare." Spitfire said with a smile.

Jake thought for a second. The Summer Sun Celebration was now 5 days away, and he needed to plan the tests he was responsible for. He sighed.

"Sure I'll stay." He said. "Rainbow, you have the Wonderbolts to yourself. Enjoy."

Jake was surprised to feel Rainbow Dash hug him. It took him a second to really realize what was going on and he returned the hug.

Meanwhile…

As Cameron walked back into Ponyville, he realized that he had forgotten to go to work. He had been too preoccupied with talking to Fluttershy to remember earlier.

I guess I could call in a sick day or whatever.

To his surprise, Sugarcube Corner was closed. Cameron sighed in relief.

However, he now had nothing to do. Both of his friends were busy and there wasn't exactly anypony (except Fluttershy) that he necessarily wanted to talk to. He thought about going to his apartment and going to sleep. However, he wasn't necessarily tired. He also wasn't comfortable sleeping in the same room with the pony who tried to kill them only the night before.

After going over all his options, he decided to take a walk through the Everfree Forest. Jake had warned him that it was full of "dangerous" crap, but Cameron was sure he could handle himself. After all, he broke through metal as if it was tissue paper.

He walked to the edge of the forest and stopped for a moment. It was visibly darker in there then it was outside. It made it look all the more ominous.

Cameron smiled. He wasn't about to wimp out because of some trees. He strode into the forest casually. As he walked around, he was unimpressed with what he saw. Just boring trees and random woodland animals. He kept track of every turn he made so that he wouldn't get lost in the immense forest.

The only thing that interested him were the bright blue colored plants he had found scattered around. He knew from some science book that bright colors usually meant poison, or something of that nature. Cameron never did pay attention to anything that didn't catch his interest.

He took care to dodge the patches and kept a look out for anything else suspicious looking. After another expanse of trees, he stumbled upon a clearing with a small hut. This interested him greatly. He walked up to the hut and knocked on its door.

"Hello?" he asked.

The door opened to reveal a zebra with many gold rings on her neck and one leg. Cameron had thought there were only ponies in this world. Now there were zebras?

"Who is this pony that knocks on my door? A curious one to be sure." Said the zebra.

"Uh, hi. My name's Facade. What's your name?" Cameron said.

"I am Zecora, greens keeper of these woods. Tell me how you got here, I'd be pleased if you would."

"Well, I just… walked here. Why?"

"You are pony folk, yet you did not step in the Poison Joke." Zecora said.

"Poison what?" Cameron asked.

"Poison Joke is a blue plant that lives on the ground. There surely must have been some that you found."

Poison? Knew it. I'm so smart. Cameron thought.

"Yeah, I saw a lot of it. I was pretty sure that you're not supposed to trust brightly colored plants and animals, so I just walked around it."

"I'm surprised that you are talking to me. Most ponies run and flee." She said.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Do you know why?" Cameron said sympathetically.

"Many think that I am strange, but won't try to get to know me. Therefore, I only go into town monthly." Zecora said.

A long silence followed. Cameron tried to change the subject.

"What does Poison Joke do, exactly?"

"It is a lot like poison oak. Though instead of poison, the plant makes only jokes." Zecora answered.

"Wait, if a pony touches this, something funny will happen to them?"

Zecora nodded.

Awesome. Forget Poison Joke. I'm gonna call it the Troll Plant.

"How would one get it out of the ground without touching it?" Cameron asked deviously.

Zecora smiled and led him inside.

Next Chapter: Unexpected Outcomes Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 44 Minutes