Chapter 1
 
Twilight Sparkle looked at the clock hanging near the platform. Hmmm... Wasn't the train supposed to be here by now? I hope nothing went wrong... That place is pretty far away from Ponyville after all, she thought to herself as she looked down the tracks for the umpteenth time in the past ten minutes. There was a special guest coming on the train today, and as the Princess of Friendship, she felt it was her duty to welcome them to town. Her friends were all waiting back at her castle; Pinkie Pie had insisted on throwing their guest a welcome party, after all. If the train didn't get here soon, all the pies and cakes she made would go to waste.
 
Suddenly, the sound of a whistle nearby interrupted her train of thought as the literal train of the Friendship Express pulled into the station. She scrambled to her position back on the platform and put on her best "Welcome to Ponyville" smile. It was important to her that this visit went well. Starlight had told her a lot about the place where this visitor hailed from, but she still didn't want to step on anypony's hooves. What would Princess Celestia think if this visit soured relations between there and the rest of Equestria? She tried to push those thoughts from her mind as she scanned the small crowd of ponies leaving the coaches.
 
From the description in the letters, they must be... Ah ha! There they are! She trots over to them, still smiling.
"Hi there! Welcome to Ponyville! I'm Twilight Sparkle." she says to the pony. He (she now recognized that they were indeed a stallion) turned to her and his expression changed to excitement.
 
"Princess Twilight! I didn't know you would come and greet me here! My name is Homily Sermon." he says politely, holding up his hoof for her to shake. Twilight looks him over as she shakes his hoof. He is an earth pony, well built, attractive looking even. His bluish grey mane neatly trimmed and resting on his head compliments his velvet red fur and light purple eyes. His tail is even trimmed as short as his mane! He wears an interesting looking black collar with a white strip at the front and a small gold necklace with a... strange looking symbol? Almost like a plus sign, but the vertical line is too long at the bottom...
 
"I was thinking about meeting you and everyone else on the way here, but I didn't know you would be waiting for me. Are you the only one here?" Homily asks, looking behind Twilight.
 
"Yeah, it's just little old me! Everypony else is at the castle. We better get going there pretty soon. Do you have all your bags with you?" Twilight wonders.
 
"I do, thanks. Just these." Homily indicates two saddlebags he's carrying, seemingly filled up and looking rather heavy.
 
"Great, then lets shake a hoof!" says Twilight as she leads Homily out of the station and into town.
 
Homily pulls up his saddlebags and follows after Twilight through the station doors. Here it is, he thinks. Ponyville. He silently prays that his mission here will go according to God's will as he walks after Twilight who is hailing a taxi to take them to her castle. She's humble for a princess... Humility is a very Christian trait. Maybe this will go well after all, Homily thinks to himself while putting his saddlebags in the back of the carriage. He gets in with Twilight and the taxi takes off for the Castle of Friendship. Both Twilight and Homily think to themselves: Well, here goes nothing...
 
 
Chapter 2:
 
The taxi carriage grinds to a halt in front of the Castle of Friendship. It looks even bigger than I thought, Homily thinks. Twilight steps out firsts and offers to help him carry his bags again, but still Homily declines politely. They trot up to the front gates casually, when suddenly, Spike bursts through the doors.
 
"Twilight, Twilight! We got a really big problem and...! Oh... hey, there, heh heh... You're the guest?" Spike says with a sheepish wave of his claw.
 
Homily waves back but before he can reply, Twilight moves over to Spike.
 
"What's wrong, Spike?" she asks. Spike pulls her down to his level and whispers something in her ear. Twilight's eyes widen. She motions for Spike to go back inside after whispering a reply, then turns back to Homily.
 
"Uh... I've just been informed by my assistant that your welcome party has... an issue. But not to worry, it'll be resolved momentarily! So uh, come on in!"
 
Twilight awkwardly smiles and opens the doors to her castle for them to walk inside. As they head in, Homily is again impressed by the sheer size of the place. It looks even bigger on the inside... He adjusts his saddlebags on his back and follows Twilight to the main hall.
 
As they approach the double doors to the main hall of the castle, Twilight canters to the door and peeks inside. Homily hears her and a few other muffled female voices chattering, but can't make anything out. Homily walks up behind Twilight and waits for her to open the doors. After a moment or so, she turns around again. She jumps seeing Homily standing behind her, but quickly regains her composure.
 
"Uh... So! Everything is in order in there now, hehe! And it's without further ado that I, Princess Twilight Sparkle, welcome you to Ponyville, and introduce you to my friends!"
 
Twilight smiles and swings open the doors with her magic. As soon as the doors open, loud bangs are heard and confetti rains down from the ceiling. Homily starts at the noise until he realizes it must just be part of the festivities. He looks amid the colorful paper scraps to see a huge table filled with cakes, cookies, pies, and all manner of sweet treats. There are streamers decorating the room and balloons adorning the tall ceiling. And in the center of it all... 6 ponies that he definitely recognizes.
 
All at once, the mares run over to greet Homily, flustering him greatly. The lavender unicorn holds them back a bit however.
 
"Guys, guys, hang on! Don't just mob the poor guy." she says, before turning to Homily. "Sorry about that. Hi there! I'm Starlight Glimmer... but given where you came from, I guess you know that, right?"
 
"Uh, yes, I do. That's right, you came to visit Hayven, didn't you? A shame we didn't get to meet." Homily says to Starlight before turning to the rest of the group.
"I'm Homily Sermon, and even though I know of all of you, it's a pleasure to meet you muzzle to muzzle." he says politely bowing to them.
 
After his greeting, the pink earth pony bounces forward.
"Hiya, Homily! I'm Pinkie Pi-... Oh, yeah, you know us already, hehe! But I don't know you! I hope we all can be the best of best friends!" she says, grabbing a hold of his hoof and shaking vigorously.
 
"Now don't tear his whole leg off, darling!" the white unicorn speaks up.
"Why of course you must know me then, Homily dear. Je suis Rarity, bien sûr, ah ha ha!" she says with a flourish of her mane.
 
"Not ev'rypony here speaks yer fancy pants Prench, Rarity." comments the orange freckled earth pony.
"Name's Applejack if ya didn't already know. Good ta meetcha, Mr. Sermon." she tells him, tipping her cowpony hat to him.
 
The light blue pegasus steps forward in front of the rest.
"Heya! Of course you know me, right? Equestria's famous Rainbow Dash? Only the most awesome Wonder Bolt there ever was?" she boasts, then looks back at Homily. "Aaaanyway... nice to meetcha, buddy!"
 
Lastly, the yellow pegasus trots up to meet him.
"Um... Hello, Mr. Sermon. I know you know all of us, but it'd be rude not to introduce myself. I'm Fluttershy; it's lovely to meet you." she says softly.
 
"Alright, everypony, Starlight's right, we should give Homily some space." Twilight addresses the mares. They all take a few steps back as Twilight stands next to Homily.
 
"Starlight explained how you and the rest of Outer Hayven knew who we were, and they all were really excited to know more about it. I hope that's OK." Twilight whispers to him.
 
"Ah ha... it should be fine. I think..." Homily replies.
 
With that, the stallion and mares enjoy the festivities. Homily has the chance to speak to everypony a bit more and they all get to know him a bit better. And Homily tries to the best of his ability to explain how he knows them all without blowing their minds. All in all, a fun night was had until the party ended, Homily went to his living quarters Twilight had so graciously provided for him, and crawled into bed. It was important for him to be well rested for tomorrow. After all, he was here to do The Lord's work in Ponyville.