Ponyville 101

It was another lovely morning for Ponyville, like almost any other day. The sun had risen and was shining brightly, ponies were happily going about their business, and no giant monsters had attacked. Yet.

Aero sat at one of the marketplaces many cafes, sipping at a herbal tea. He'd been up early that day for some routine gallop and flight exercise. Now he was executing another pastime of his; pony watching.

His cool blue gaze switched from pony to pony, observing what they were doing as his mind considered what they might be doing and thinking. Any one here could have an interesting story behind them.

Sunrise sipped her minty tea, and kept her wings and eyes closed, her ears perking and moving at the smaller sounds. Ahh, if only life was always like this... she thought. She felt calm, for once. Serene. Nothing would bother her.

"Hey there, good looking." a voice said.

Not again... And not even under any influence... she thought.

As he searched the square for another pony to watch, Aero eye's locked onto a very familiar stallion. Even several days later in broad daylight, he could recognise him.

Aero watched him like a hawk, his face serious, as the stallion approached...Sunrise. Somehow he hadn't spotted the pegasus mare across the road. He couldn't believe this stallion trying his luck again.

Once again, he had to get this stallion to back off without causing a fight. He had a plan.
Balancing his tea cup in one wing, he purposefully trotted over to the table and sat confidently next to Sunrise. He reached over with a hoof to hold one of Sunrise's, putting on the display of being a couple.

"She's with me, buddy," Aero started flatly, giving the stallion a cold look.

Oh my Celestia, what is he doing?! she thought as Aero grabbed hold of her hoof. She felt her face getting hot, and heard a mumbled curse as the colt trotted away. When she couldn't hear him, she pulled her hoof away and shot a glare(though with blinded eyes, it really looked strange) at Aero. "What in the name of Celestia and Luna were you doing!" she snapped.

Aero kept his eyes on the stallion as he left them. A satisfied smile grow on Aero's face. As soon as the stranger was gone, Sunrise seemed to react, pulling away from him. She seemed pretty mad.

Aero had expected her to be surprised and embarrassed but not as angry as this.

"Oh, my apologies, would you like me to call him back over?" he replied dryly, chuckling a little to himself. He straightened himself before continuing more seriously, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it. I just thought you'd like to get rid of him. I'll leave now, if you like."

Sunrise felt her cheeks grow warm at the small dry laugh that Aero laughed. And he found herself placing a hoof on his arm as he started to leave. "Wait. I don't mind the company... Just, no randomly grabbing my hoof!" she said, looking back at the table, trying to hid her blush.

Just as he was leaving, Aero felt Sunrise's hoof on him. He came to an abrupt halt, already half standing from his seat. Aero was naturally paranoid and wary of others (he blamed a life of being burnt by others recklessness). However, this time he didn't feel the same level of hesitance as usual. Sunrise genuinely seemed interested in having him here. In fact, a spotted a faint redness in her cheeks that indicated exactly that.

Unsure of how to respond, Aero slowly made his way back into his seat. He took a sip of his tea before answering.
"Of course. 'No random hood-touching.' Check," he stated, as if going through a checklist.

Aero took another sip of his tea and spent the time studying Sunrise. He hadn't looked at her cutie mark that night but now he could see it depicted a lunar eclipse. Interesting.

"So how are you finding Ponyville so far? Is it quieter than your used to?"

"It really is different than Cloudsdale. More ponies know each other." she said, blushing a bit more. She didn't even try to meet his gaze. She didn't need him knowing her major flaw.

"Yes, it is. I find it more peaceful here," Aero commented, glancing out across the marketplace.

He went back to looking at the pony across the table. I was then he thought he noticed something about Sunrise. He recalled back when they met that he had thought there was something different about her eyes. He had considered it being the poor night light and darkness of the alley playing tricks on him, but now he could see that Sunrise's bright blue eyes had that familiar glazed over look. He'd met blind ponies before.

Realising he hadn't spoken for a while, Aero cleared his throat.

"Ahem, so why are you down from the clouds? Vacation? Moving here?"

"What for? I'm guessing it's work related," Aero inquired, curious as to her choice.

He glanced down at her cutie mark again. He new that the best way to stargaze was to avoid the light pollution of a big city. "Ponyville is pretty good if your here to see- urm, experience the stars," Aero said, catching his slip.

"You noticed, huh?" she said, noticing his sudden change in wording. "You can say see, it doesn't bother me."

Aero mentally cursed himself for his mistake. It was a stupid of him. He could only imagine how irritating it must be to be made conscious of a disability you have everyday by oblivious or ignorant ponies. Then again, he hated the idea of ponies dancing around the subject, avoiding it as if it was awful to speak of.

"Ah, yes, I did notice," he admitted a little sheepishly, "I've known a ponies who were blind."

Rather than dwell negatively on the matter, Aero was rather curious to know something. "Forgive my bluntness, but how do you study an eclipse that you can't see?"

"Simple actually, I study how the Eclipse effects ponies and the wildlife. The sounds of the Eclipse are very small, but there. I hear them to see how strong the Eclipse is, then judge if it is causing a disturbance to the natural fauna to the location. That includes ponies reactions. I've really witnesses two eclipses, but I did wonderful finding facts out. But I'll need somepony to write the things down next Eclipse. Also, I was asked to be a science teacher here in Ponyville, so there's that, I suppose." she explained. She looked upward and saw bits of light shining in. "What about you, Aero? What's your cutie mark stand for?"

Sitting quietly, Aero took in everything Sunrise was telling him. She had a pleasant voice to listen to, not dull and monotonous, nor high pitched and grating. Like one particular pink pony in this town.

Sunrise's explanation of her pastime seemed quite clear to him once she had explained it. A natural phenomenon like an eclipse would certainly cause changes in the local wildlife. Her job at the local school also explained to him why she was here.

As the questioning turned to him, Aero answered after he drank some more herbal tea. He always seemed to have trouble when describing his cutie mark. Ponies often reacted badly to his explanation since he found it difficult to describe without sounding egotistical.

"It's the silhouette of a dragon. It seems to represent my personality; strong, determined, focused. I've even been called dangerous before. I was dared by some school...peers to steal from a dragon. One evening I ventured into the dragon's lair and took a diamond from it's horde. He chased me through the forest but I escaped. And that's when I received my cutie mark."

(Unrelated note; 1000th post! :D )

"Never seen a dragon. Even before I was blinded. Was he scary?" she asked wanting details on the dragon's looks.

"He was certainly intimidating," replied Aero. He sat back in his seat, trying to recall the full details.

"He wasn't a fully grown dragon, but he wasn't a child either, about the size of a house. His scales were a dark green with huge teeth and razor sharp claws the size of your leg. The scariest part were his eyes though; burning golden irises, locked right onto me as I was halfway out of his cave."

Whoa... S-Scary... she thought. "I-Um... I'm still staying with you right? Till I can get a place of my own?" she asked as two ponies trotted up, one obviously being younger.

"Morning Mr. Aero." the younger one said.

"Mornin' Aero. Who's the new mare?" the older one asked.

"Of course, you can stay in my room as long as you need," Aero said, finishing his herbal tea.

It was then that two ponies approached them. Aero remembered having met Starflower and her daughter Star Spark once before. He had spotted them in the marketplace crowd but hadn't seen them come over.

"Good morning Star Spark," Aero greeted the young filly, smiling at her despite always feeling a little uncomfortable around foals. He turned to her mother. "Good morning Starflower. This is Sunrise. She's moving here from Cloudsdale, to teach science in the school."

"Sunrise, this is Starflower, and her daughter Star Spark," he introduced.

A large gasp escaped the small filly. "Hi! That means your gonna be my teacher!" a hug quickly following the statements.

"Nice to meet ya." Starflower shook her hoof.

"Pleasure is mine." she stated, flinching at the hug a small bit.

"We'll be heading off now. Bye!" the mares trotted off.

"Goodbye," Aero gave a small wave as the two ponies trotted away. He turned back to Sunrise.

"I'm sure you'll make of friends in this town. Ponies here are generally very nice, minus one stallion we seem to know," remarked Aero.

"That colt needs a good kick to the head." she said softly. "He needs to learn manners."

"I intend to make sure he does if he ever comes back again," Aero stated flatly, a coldness to his voice, "I can't stand ponies like that. It's disrespectful and wrong."

Realising he was entering dark territory, Aero went back to a more light topic before he started scaring Sunrise.

"If you've finished your tea, do you fancy wandering the market? They have some good wares for sale. The apples are particularly great."

"Um, I usually just traverse. Though I will want to try those apples. I hear they are very good. And, sure why not! I was getting bored." In truth, she was going to buy some apples. But wanted somepony with her, just in case that colt were to be crazy. But she'd never admit that. Her blush returned as she heard a small chuckle.

"Alright then, let's go."

Aero rose from his seat, taking a moment to recall the direction of the apple stand. He began trotting towards it, checking that Sunrise was keeping up. Again, he noticed the faintest of blushes. Perhaps she was embarrassed at having him accompany her, maybe needing his help? Or maybe just enjoying his company?

"So, any family left behind in Cloudsdale?" he inquired.