Chapter 1

A Smiling Sunset

The sun shone brightly in the skies above Ponyville, a scruffy orange unicorn was wandering out of town. The day was just going so slowly; even watching Pinkie Pie had got boring after a few hours and she didn't have any interesting new books to read. She'd briefly entertained the idea of withdrawing some from the Books and Branches library but decided against it; Twilight would have her filleted for being about two or three months late returning them.

She ransacked her mind, trying to come up with something to do. If only the sun would go down sooner, she liked comparing it with her flank; when it was half-below the horizon it was identical to her own image, aside from the red aura on her cutie mark.

'Everfree Forest! Of course, that has to be interesting.' thought the mare; Considering her safety suddenly irrelevant, she cantered off towards the looming woods.

Half-way there, she spotted a certain pale yellow mare heading into town and sensed an opportunity for a game. Could she start a conversation with Fluttershy, a pony who didn't know her, and make the timid pegasus feel completely at ease by the end. Flicking aside the fringe of her midnight-blue mane, she approached in a casual manner; she didn't want to bounce around like Pinkie Pie, how she normally met people, that would be too startling.

"Hello. Fluttershy isn't it? I'm Sunset Aura." She said, offering her hoof for shaking.

"Oh, um h-hello." Stammered Fluttershy, caught off guard by the unexpected greeting.

Allowing the element of kindness all the time she needed, Sunset just stood there smiling warmly.

"Uh, um ni-nice to meet you um, M-Miss Aura." She said softly, lightly shaking Sunset's hoof.

Sunset, quite pleased with herself so-far, began to inspect her hooves as Fluttershy was. This was partly to seem less imposing but mostly to see exactly how close in colour her yellow lower legs were to Fluttershy's pale coat.

"Rarity said you once saved her and your other friends by calming a raging manticore, is that true?"

"Oh, uh… well, um… y-you see er…"

"If you feel a bit uncomfortable talking about it that's fine."

They were cut off as something small fell between them to a shout of "BUCKING HAY!" from above. Fluttershy jumped back about five feet, while Sunset stooped slightly to study the object, seeing herself looking back at her from the two mirrored lenses. She picked up the aviator-style shades with her magic as Fluttershy cautiously stepped closer.

"Sorry about that! Don't pass ,em up, I'll come down!" called a figure looking over the side of a cloud.

Sunset and Fluttershy waited for the pegasus to land, not expecting a crash.

THUD! "oww. Sorry, forgot 'till half-way that I needed to use my wings." Explained the pegasus, a sheepish grin just about visible beneath a long shaggy mane of pinkish-purple hair.

"Um I can't quite tell," began Sunset "Ar-

"Am I a Mare or a Stallion?"

"Yes that's it."

"The million bit question, this one catches everyone out. You've used fifty-fifty, D'you want to phone a friend?"

"Huh?"

"Ask the audience?"

"What's going on here?"

'What audience?' Thought Fluttershy as the red pegasus continued to confuse Sunset.

This is a bit of a character trial, I plan to continue it but I'll gladly take in any advice you have, I'd especially like tips about canon characters because I haven't seen any of the show. Please tell me what you think of the OCs and My Fluttershy.