A violet coated unicorn walked through the desolate roads of Ponyville, she swiveled her head back and forth looking for signs of movement, "Huh, where is everypony?" her voice all but echoing in the empty streets.
"Dunno, maybe it's a holiday?" the small purple dragon riding her back question as he scratched his head with a claw.
Squinting her eyes, she saw a shadowy figure move in the distance, "Excuse me?" she shouted to the pony, that looked a little large at this distance, but either they did not hear or chose to ignore her as they stepped out of the town limits and into the wild Everfree Forest. Before she could question it further building next to her opened its door.
"Is he gone?" a white unicorn with curled purple hair stuck her head out of the shop.
Twilight startled at the sudden presence of another pony, after the short walk through town had been so quiet, let out a little shriek. "Rarity!" she shouted, "What is going on? Why were you hiding and who was that?" she fired off her questions to her fashionable female friend.
"Ugh, right," a voice from above her said. "You spend so much time in those books that you don't see a lot of the comings and goings on in town," a blue pegasus with a rainbow main and tail spoke from her place on a cloud.
"Rainbow Dash?" the purple unicorn tilted her head in confusion, "You're afraid if this pony too?"
Scoffing at the notion of fear, "Pssh, nah." Rainbow Dash said as she nervously looked around, "It's just, he's like really creepy and everypony else is staying away so, you know?" she said rotating her hooves around in a circle, before fluttering her wings so she would land on the ground below.
"Howdy, is The Stranger gone now?" an orange pony with blonde hair tailed in a ponytail asked as she poked her head out of a barrel.
"Applejack?" the purple unicorn sensing a trend loudly shouted, "Ok, who else is hiding?" her eyes widening at how practically every pony in Ponyville started to come out of houses, barrels and even a few bushes. "What is going on here?"
The loud clearing of a throat behind her garnered her attention, "Ms. Sparkle. I am Mayor Mare and I believe I am able to answer your questions," a gray maned yet still youthful looking pony walked over to her. "The Stranger, as Miss Apple so eloquently named, is well, strange and scary."
Raising an eyebrow at this non-informative information, "Okayyy… and?" Twilight inquired further.
Pawing her hoof on the ground, "Well he just showed up a few days after the Summer Sun Celebration and bought a house."
Twilight starting to become annoyed at how little she was learning, "Again what is going on though?"
"Well he bought one of the reclaimed houses." The mayor sheepishly said.
"And those are?" Twilight kept pushing through one question at a time.
"Well sug, back when Ponyville was being settled," Applejack came over, knowing much of the town's history. She began to regale her friend with some of it, "Plenty o' pony came over like the Apple family done. But some of them were just looking for a large plot of land to build on, far away from the rules and laws of the bigger cities. As a result, we ended up with some pretty dang huge manors on the outskirts of town." She pointed to the edge of Ponyville. "But the Everfree Forest, grew larger and took over the area, driving away the residents, on a count of it being scary and dangerous, no pony could live there."
"So, this new pony moves in and buys a house in the middle of the woods and now everypony is terrified of him?" Twilight looked at her friend, "Wait, how come this new pony didn't get a Pinkie Party when he moved into town like I did?"
"Oh, that's because I don't throw parties for Slenderponies," Pinkie Pie calmly said as she crawled down the wall of a nearby building from its awning.
"Uh, Slenderpony?" Twilight looked at the pink party pony with more questions on her tongue.
Hopping over to her friends she loudly cheered, "Yup, tall, can't see the face, lives in the forest, abducts fillies and eats them, has a cult following on the internet, even a theatrical release."
Scared at the notion of a cannibal living so close by, "Wait he's been fillynapping and eating them?! Why hasn't the royal guard been informed of this?" Twilight all but screamed in fright.
"Well, no one's gone missing, silly that's why." Pinkie said as she ate a cupcake.
"But you just said."
Shaking her head back and forth, "No I said that's what they do, not what he did."
"So he might not be a slender… I'm not dignifying that with a response," turning back to the other townsfolk. "Has this pony done anything harmful or otherwise insidious since showing up in town?" Twilight waited to hear any pony confirm any evil activity of this new resident, hearing none, she turned back to the mayor. "So he's just really tall, isn't Applejack's brother really tall?"
"Well yeah pardner', but this pony don't talk neither," Applejack stated.
"Oh come on, I don't think I've heard more than a E'yup or a Nope from your brother and I spent some time with him." Twilight countered.
"When did you do that?" Applejack eyed her unicorn friend.
Blushing slightly, "That's not important, but so what, The Stranger is just oddly quiet."
Rainbow Dash flew into the purple unicorn's face, "How about that cloak he's always wearing, awful strange to wear clothing all the time."
Twilight's face fell, "Rainbow Dash," she grabbed the pegasus' cheeks in her hooves, turning her to look at Rarity, "Your friend wears clothing all the time."
"Well darling not all the time, just for breakfast, lunch, parties, oh and brunch, when I sleep, or if I go to… hehe," the white unicorn chuckled, "So I may wear clothes more often than other ponies."
"So he's a little odd and a bit big, nothing about that screams evil nightmare monster," Twilight confidently told the crowd.
"Except we don't know his name," the mayor added.
Twilight nodded, "Right, except that we don't know his name. Wait, how, if he bought a house, wouldn't he have to sign something?"
The mayor motioned for the librarian to follow her, "Normally yes, if you are buying property or a plot of land, then there are numerous forms, signatures, inspections and so on. It's a long process and takes a while." The group which consisted of Twilight, Mayor Mare, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Applejack walked down the main road to the center of town, which housed the town hall.
As the group entered the building and walked into the records office, Mayor Mare continued, "Now while the reclaimed houses are large and, in some cases, fully furnished, they are incredibly cheap compared to living here in Ponyville. On account of them being in the Everfree Forest and thus outside most of the protections the town offers. As a result not many ponies consider purchasing them."
"And this new pony purchases one of these homes without somehow signing his name?" Twilight asked.
The mayor looked at the ground guiltily. "Technically, he just pulled the financial paperwork for the manor out of a drawer, set it on the desk and dropped a giant sack of bits on my desk and walked away," As the mayor reached into a drawer and pulled out the paperwork. "Didn't even say a word, and I am ashamed to admit, I accepted the offer." Hanging her head down, "The town needed the money and he was paying what the house would be valued at if it wasn't a reclaimed property. So I may have just put the deed in a drawer and left it be."
Twilight looked annoyed, "So we have no idea who this pony is, just that they are reclusive, tall, mysterious and wealthy." Shaking her head at the notion, "Why does this pony sound like he's straight out of a cheesy romance novel."
"Oh I love those darling, especially the ones where the stallion takes the mare and just…" Rarity started before suddenly remembering the crowd, she blushed and whispered, "I'll tell you about them later."
"Well ignoring how crazy you all sound, I say the simplest solution to all of this is to go and greet this new pony," Twilight said confidently.
"Are you nuts," Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "This is a pony who lives in an abandoned manor in the Everfree Forest, he's a total psycho, you can't go meet somepony like that."
"Aww, Rainbow Dash, you really do care," Twilight cooed. "If you're that scared for my safety you girls are welcome to come with me." She teased.
"I already told you, I'm. Not. Scared," the Pegasus snarled, punctuating her words with hard stops.
"Great then you won't have a problem going with me to make a new friend," Twilight cheered as she skipped out of the office.
"Grrr," Rainbow Dash growled, "I can't. She's so. Ugh, fine. Somepony has to keep the egghead from losing her head." Before she flew out of the town hall after her friend, followed by everypony except the mayor.
After a few minutes Twilight had reached the edge of the Everfree Forest, seeing a familiar pink mane she called out happily, "Fluttershy, over here." Waving her arm to get her friends attention.
The delicate yellow pony gently flew over to Twilight, her soft voice barely above a whisper, "Oh hello Twilight, what brings you so close to the forest?"
"Well, if you must know, I'm going to go and meet the newest resident of Ponyville," Twilight smiled.
Letting out a startled gasp Fluttershy flew in front of Twilight before she could take a step forward. "No, you can't do that."
"And why not?"
Fluttershy looked over her shoulder into the dark woods, "Because he's scary."
"Not you too, come on, have you even met him yet?" Twilight questioned her cowardly friend as she began walking again.
Making herself smaller, Fluttershy meekly responded, "No, but all the forest animals stay away from him, even the Ursa Major."
Pausing as she stepped passed her friend, "What was that?"
"The Ursa Major doesn't go near The Stranger," Fluttershy repeated.
"Okay, wow that's definitely strange and foreboding." Twilight admitted, "But still just because the animals of the forest don't act natural around this pony doesn't mean we can't." She cautiously took another step forward before more voices behind her stopped her progress.
"Wait, we're coming with you," Applejack said as she and the others ran up to Twilight.
"Yes, despite how drab the forest can be, I wouldn't mind looking at the old styles of housing from generations ago," Rarity stated, flipping her mane.
"And somepony is going to need to come up with a joke as we all get maimed," Pinkie Pie joked.
"A tad morbid there sweetie," Applejack said.
As Twilight nodded to her friends, she turned and proceeded into the forest. Fluttershy seeing an opening tried to silently creep away but Rainbow Dash reached out her hoove and hooked her back into the main party. "We fly together, we die together," was all the blue Pegasus said as she dragged the scared and whimpering Pegasus along the ground.