Ramblings of a Gloomy Ponyby VilliersChaptersI'm not short.....Sparkle-sensei?Wut?Out of left fieldI'm not short.....I never once thought that I would be keeping a journal but here I am writing in a damn journal. Anyway I suppose I should explain my….unique situation. It started two months ago I had just finished up my shift at the bookstore and was on my way home when it happened. A thunderstorm had just blown in and there was lightning and scary booming noises all over the place, needless to say I HATE thunder with a bloody passion. If I could stab a storm cloud I would….I should probably ask Dash if she could arrange something like that actually. I’m getting off topic, I was making my way to my car when a bolt of lightning hit a tree nearby. The flames danced on the shrinking branches until they were put out by the cool quiet rain. It was a neat sight but I decided that maybe I should run to my car, wouldn't wanna get soaked after all. That’s when things got weird; lightning had struck again only this time it hit behind me. Needless to say I got the fuck out of there and as I ran the lightning somehow chased me like a shark who had just smelled blood in the water. How something like that was even possible I don’t know but I do know that fucking Mother Nature must have been on her period or something and I was the poor soul who had to face her angry death inducing hormonal wrath. Alas all good things come to an end and eventually due to a combination of being underweight and out of shape I got hit and after a quick blinding amount of pain everything went white. When I came to I found myself in a forest. It was dark but in a cartoony kind of way, it looked familiar somehow. I got up and I immediately knew something was wrong. I was shorter and for some reason I felt like I was crawling only I wasn’t . Against my better judgement at the time I looked down at the ground and saw that I had hooves. I freaked out for what seemed like an eternity, it was 5 minutes according to Pinkie though, and after I was done flailing around on the ground, foaming at the mouth, babbling, and cursing everything around me to a slow painful chlamydia induced death I saw them. Big blue eyes and a smile as wide as the sky itself, Pinkie Pie. That’s when it hit me, I was in Equestria. I was in the world of my favorite tv show. I was a little pony. *** Alright it’s just Pinkie Pie, she’s probably here to intr…. “OMYGOSHHIAREYOUNEWI’VENEVERSEENYOUBEFOREAREYOUNEWTOPONYVILLEIMPINKIEPIEWHATSYOURNAME?” ..oduce herself. Oh good god she talks just as fast as she does in the stories! Alright names names come on think of something “Umm my name is Gloomy.” I could see some confusion wash over her face. Gloomy was probably an uncommon name here or something. I knew I should have gone with Dynames….forgive me Lockon….. “Gloomy? That sounds like Gummy my pet alligator!! I bet you guys’ll be bestfriends!!” She pulled me into a hug afterwards and I gotta say despite her seeming a little pudgy she was strong. She let me down after a few seconds and eyed me over with those big blue eyes of her until she tilted her head in an adorable way and pointed her hoof at my flank. “What’s your cutie mark mean?” My cutie mark? I looked back and saw that I had a white cloud with a keyhole in the middle of it. While I was at it I managed to get a good look of myself too. I was an Earth Pony, I had white fur, a black mane that was styled like a small pompadour, a large black layered feminine looking wavy tail and black hooves. I would have a chicks tail……but damned if I don’t look good “My uhh cutie mark means I’m good at lucid dreaming.” I am good at lucid dreaming and cutie marks are supposed to reflect what your talent is so maybe I’m right “Luci wha?” That confused look of hers made a return and she tilted her head again in that same friggin cute way. These damn adorable ponies “Oh I know!! I’ll ask Twilight she knows everything!!!” She grabbed me and took off so fast even Rainbow Dash would be jealous. Before I knew it we were in Ponyville knocking on the library door that houses everyones favorite obsessive compulsive brown nosing princess. Stop and wait a sec, Oh when you look at me like that my darling, what did you expect “Gloomy” I’d probably still adore you with your hands around my neck “Gloomy!” Or I did last time I checked “GLOOMY!” I was suddenly snapped back to reality, “Wha?” “Gloomy this is one of my best friends and Equestria’s newest princess, Princess Twilight Sparkle.” Pinkie wore an illuminating smile and Twilight’s face was a light tint of red, most likely from Pinkie’s description. “Oh uh hi there my names Gloomy its a pleasure to meet you Twilight.” “Princess Twilight” “Yea that” Twilight giggled from the little exchange me and Pinkie just shared and then motioned for us to come in. The treebrary was bigger than I thought but other than that it looked pretty much like the library we saw on the show, well except for a few things here and there. All the books were in order, everything was clean, a small desk with a stack of papers was off to one side and up stairs I could see her bed and Spike’s basket. After we sat down I noticed something, something that shook me to my core. Twilight’s taller than me…..friggin Alicorns and their stupid bigger bodies. Well at least I’m taller than Pinkie. I am right?..........I’m the same height as Pinkie…..great I’m a stallion who’s as tall as a mare, fan friggin tastic. While I was off brooding in my head about how lame it is that pony world made me short Pinkie and Twilight we’re discussing Lucid dreaming. “So Pinkie what brings you to the library?” Pinkie inhaled a deep breath and began, “Weeeelllllll I was at Sugarcube Corner when suddenly my tail started to twitch and I knew that something was gonna fall so I went outside to look for whatever was gonna fall because you never know what it could be. It could be another cotton candy cloud with chocolate rain or it could horde of cupcake men come to liberate their people at Sugarcube Corner and they could falling from the sky from gingerbread birds while using gum parachutes in an attempt to catch us off guard buuuuut no it was Gloomy. I found him in the forest rolling around babbling until he calmed down and we talked and he told me that his cutie mark means that he can lucid dream and I didn’t know what lucid dreaming is so I said that we should come here and ask you and we did and I asked and you listened.” Pinkie exhaled as she finished and Twilight had this “wow” on her face. “W well lucid dreaming is when somepony basically becomes aware of the fact that their dreaming, usually by using certain signs to do so, and begin to manipulate their dreams to whatever they want it to be.” Pinkie’s eyes went wide with excitement, “OH MY GOSH THAT SOUNDS AMAZING!! I COULD PLAN OUT SO MANY PARTIES IF I COULD DO THAT. I COULD THINK ABOUT WHAT I WANNA DO WITH MY FRIENDS AND THEN DO IT WHEN I WAKE UP EEEEEEH.” Twilight giggle at her friends pure hearted excitement, “Yes you could but lucid dreaming isn’t all that easy to do, in fact it’s quite difficult.” She put a hoof to her chin and began to think, “In fact I don’t think I’ve ever heard of somepony being good enough at it to get a cutie mark about it.” “Gloomy” Not my fault I’m short “Gloomy” It’s just poor genetics “Gloomy” Err I guess in this case it would be unfair fucking horse magic “GLOOMY!!” “IT”S CHEATING” “What?!” “Oh uhh n nothing.” I said with a sheepish smile hoping that Twilight doesn't question the matter “W well I was wondering if you could tell how you became so good at lucid dreaming and perhaps about where you’re from.” Where I’m from? “Y yea I can do that” I hope….. Sparkle-sensei?Needless to say I didn’t know what to tell Twi, since Applejack wasn’t there I could probably lie to her and get away with it but that would probably come back to bite me in the ass later. I could tell her the truth and she’ll probably think I’m crazy afterwards and, since shes top bitch now, have me sent to an insane asylum. I don’t do well in enclosed spaces, to say the least, so I definitely wanna avoid that. Well jail dodging and cheating ass alicorn magic aside I did notice a few things that seemed different. She did seem noticeably taller than she did in show, she looked like she was as tall as Cadence or Luna. I’d figure out the details behind that later but at the moment I was more concerned with trying to figure out what to tell Twi, its not exactly easy to tell someone that you learned how to lucid dream because you thought life was boring and would rather fight imaginary monsters and dragons, and she’s not exactly the type of pony to back off when it comes to learning something new. So I resorted to every mans ace in the hole. I called her pretty. *** “Wow you’re pretty.” Twilight was taken back by this. A slow blush started to spread across her face as she registered what I had just said. Huzzah!! It worked. My nuggets are out of the fire now “T t thank you no ones ever told me that before but I’d still like to know about you” ` aaaand my nuggets got tossed back on the grill FUCK. DAMN YOU MCDONALDS AND YOUR DOLLAR MENU NUGGETS…..they have dollar menu nuggets right?.....did I really just value my balls at one dollar? Damn my self esteem sucks…. “W well if uhh you really must know I’m from Mustangia and I uh learned to Lucid dream because I always kinda wanted to fly” “Oh, was it difficult? I know that some people use signs to help them become lucid, what did you use? How long did it take you to go lucid the first time? Can you do it naturally now? Do you ever have trouble waking up? Have you ever experienced sleep paralysis while trying?” She doesn’t beat around the bush “Oh no!!” Me and Twi both turned to face Pinkie who had a sad look on her face “What’s wrong Pinkie?” Twilight didn’t sound too worried. She probably figured out what was bothering her anyway. “I wanna ask questions and get called pretty too but I gotta go work.” Her mane deflated and her ears fell to reflect her mood Pinkamena………....shit shit shit shit shit shit. I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die, I’m gonna fucking die. Wait….ace in the hole “PINKIE YOU’RE PRETTY” Pinkie’s mane sprung up and her ears bounced up as she attacked me with a surprise hug “Awww THANK YOU” Fuck yea ace in the hole saves the day again Pinkie let me go and start hopping around happily, “Hey I got a great idea!! Why don’t you two come down to sugarcube corner for some cupcakes!!” NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE “I LIKE MILKSHAKES BETTER!!” “okie dokie lokie we got those too!!” death avoided…… Twilight finally decided to chime in on our conversation, “I’d love to Pinkie but I need to finish my manuscript for Akamare Jump 3, the deadline is tomorrow and by my calculations I won’t be done for another 4 hours 23 minutes and 40 seconds.” That’s just scary….. “Oooh thats right you’re entering to try and get a spot in Coltsha again huh? HEY! If you get published this time we can have another CONGRATULATIONS ON GETTING PUBLISHED PARTY!!!” Pinkie was bursting with excitement at this point Akamare? Coltsha? I suppose that these are supposed to be the equivalent of Akamaru and Shueisha. Wait since when was Twilight a mangaka? Is….this a different Equestria? “T thanks Pinkie but this time lets keep it small I don’t want ponies dis organizing my supplies again…..” This isn’t the same Equestria….What else is different? “Hey uuh Pinkie how about we head on down to Sugarcube Corner? You could introduce me to more of your friends too if you want” She clapped her hooves happily, probably excited to show off her other friends “I know who to introduce too!! DASH...well if she’s done with her game already..” Game? Twilight made her way back to her desk and pulled out the last thing I would have ever expected to see in Equestria. An Iphone. “Well my I-Hoof…” Of course…. “..says that it’s past noon so her game should be over by now.” “umm what exactly does this Dash play?” Pinkie just laughed, “Soccer silly” Mangaka Sparkle and Soccer pegasus Dash. What’s next a flying Scootaloo? “Well umm lets go meet her then if you don’t mind” I could hear Twilight giggling in the background, “Just like Fluttershy” Pinkie laughed too and before I knew it she grabbed me and raced on down to the soccer field While I was hanging on for dear life I could hear Twilight yelling something out, “I’LL MEET YOU TWO AT SUGARCUBE CORNER WHEN I’M DONE” “AYE AYE SPARKLE-SENSEI!!” I could see her blush slightly from a distance Fuck yea I made a princess blush ten points for Gryffindor!!! “ALSO I STILL WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT YOUR LUCID DREAMING SKILLS TOO!!” I guess I can tell her more about it….later though after I figure out this crazy ass world “Almost there!!” I could see the soccer field coming up and I mentally prepared myself for whatever this weird Equestria’s version of Dash could be. Can’t be that bad right?......right? Wut?So by this point it was pretty obvious that I wasn’t in the same Equestria as the one depicted on the show. At first it was kinda weird but after a while once I got to know them it wasn’t that bad. I’ll talk more about that later though, now at this point we were reaching the soccer field where Dash was playing. I wasn’t to worried about meeting her cause well Dash will always be Dash, even if this one is a bit…...different, but I’d be lying If I said that I wasn’t nervous. Dash is a soccer player, Twilight is a mangaka, I wondered what everyone else would be like. Well I was about to find out. *** “We’re here!!!!” Pinkie was as enthusiastic as ever as she came to a screeching hault that caused me to shoot forward in the process. “Ow…..” I could hear Pinkie giggling behind me “What in tarnation was that?” “It sounded like a crash, darling” Those voices “Hi Applejack, Hi Rarity!!!!” The sound of hoofsteps filled the air as Applejack and Rarity made their way over to greet Pinkie. I was still on the ground seeing stars “Hello Darl….Pinkie dear, who is that?” Pinkie stopped bouncing around for a quick second and turned to face me, “Oh, thats Gloomy” Applejack had rushed over to me and had helped me up, “On your hooves partner” “T thanks” “Not a problem sugarcube” Applejack playfully hit my back with her hoof which caused me to buckle a little She’s strong alright. I’d hate to see her hitting at full force……. “So uhh Gloomy was it? Ma names Applejack it’s a pleasure to meet ya.” “Oh um likewise” I could hear someone clearing their throat in the background and well I more or less had an idea as to who it was “My name is Rarity it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance” “Yea nice to meet you too.” Just like with Twilight something was different about these two. I couldn’t tell what yet but at the moment I figured I would find out eventually. One thing that stood out though was that their manestyles were different. To be more specific they were styled the same way they were when they were crystal ponies. Applejacks ponytail and well tail were both braided and tied up by green ribbons and in the middle of her hair were three leaves while her bangs were combed to one side in a cute manner. Rarity’s hair had streaks of a lighter shade of purple alongside her regular shade and her hair seemed to be done up in a bun while the back was curled. She also wore these long earrings that were the same color as her cutie mark. Daaaaaaaaaamn they look good…..did I just say a pony looks good? Eh screw it I’m a pony now its all good. Kinda weird to see Applejack without her hat though….guess this Applejack cares about her appearance “So uh Gloomy was it? What brings ya to Ponyvillle? Visitin a friend or somethin?” Hmm I could say I’m settling down here and looking for a job. All the stories I’ve read usually have them starting off at Sweet Apple Acres anyway. Worst comes to worst I can always tell Twilight that I used to be a human and live at her place in exchange for information. Well that is if she believes me. Eh there’s probably some cheating ass truth magic that she could use on me. That would prove my point. She might even be able to help get back home…... “Na I don’t have any friends in Ponyville. I heard a lot about this place and decided to well drop by and check it out” “Hmmm” I could tell by the look on her face that Applejack was analyzing my words trying to determine if they were the truth or not. I wasn’t lying to her, I just wasn’t telling her everything. “Well uh whaddya think so far?” “It’s nice and quiet, I really like out here. Kinda wanna settle down here. Need a job first though” Rarity finally decided to pipe in at this point, “Perhaps I could be of some assistance then” Well that came out of left field “How so?” “After I finish making clothes for whatever client I have at the time I usually deliver them myself. I must say though spending all day on a musty boring train can become quite tiresome and the time wasted on those deliveries could be spent on other endeavors.. So as of late I have been looking into hiring a delivery mare to for my business. I don’t suppose you’re interested? So basically she needs me to be a delivery boy? Well it beats whoring myself out to Twilight. I am probably gonna have to tell her at some point though. “Well if you’re looking to hire I won’t turn you down. I do doubt that you’ll need things delivered everyday though. Not to mention that I need a place to stay in the meantime.” “I have a spare bedroom in the back of my boutique next to the laundry room that you could use. Sweetie and her friends used to use it for sleepovers but as of late they’ve been holding them at my parents so I doubt they have anymore use for it. And you are correct as well, I won’t have work for you everyday and I cannot pay you for those days but I do suppose you could find a second job to attend to.” It ain’t much but fuck, don’t wanna look a gift horse in the mouth. Oh great now I’m doing the stupid ass horse puns too. I quickly shook that thought away and returned to the conversation at hoof, “Yea thanks I really appreciate it.” Rarity just gave me a warm smile and nodded. Now it was Applejacks turn to get her two cents in. “Well partner if you need a second job we could alwa…” “APPLEJACK, RARITY, PINKIE!!” Or so I thought. I’d recognize that raspy voice anywhere Lo and behold I could see Rainbow Dash off in the distance charging her way over here with a smile on her face “Dashie!!!” Pinkie bolted and collided with dash midway embracing her in hug Holy shit I forgot she was here……. “Come along then dear, I’m sure you’ll want to meet Rainbow Dash after all she is a delivery mare as well.” As well? Does she think I’m a girl or something, must be the tai…..wait RD is a delivery mare? Isn’t she supposed to weather patrol or something? If she’s a delivery mare then what the fuck does Derpy do? “Uhh Rarity you do know that I’m a stallion right?” “Hm? Oh yes I’m aware of that. Although I did find your height and rather stylish tail misleading I was more than able to discern your gender upon hearing your voice.” I could hear Applejack laughing behind me, she probably saw my pretty tail. She’s probably mad jelly at that shit “That’s a mighty cute tail ya got there Gloomy.” Mad jelly…….. “Ehh hey look they're coming over here!!!” Pinkie and Rainbow had long since ended their hug and started making their way over Well at least Rainbow looks the same As soon as that thought was finished I saw Rainbow Dash take out scrunchie and tie her mane up into a ponytail Fucking horse god must love proving me wrong “Hey did you guys see me make the final score!! It was aweeeeesome!!” “We sure did Rainbow, you done made a fool out of the goalie with that last one” “Yes darling I must say it was quite a flashy ending, very befitting of you.” Dash beamed, “I know right!!” Well she’s as confident as the Rainbow Dash I know “Oh Dashie this is Gloomy!! He’s new to Ponyville and he’s gonna be Rarity’s deliverymare!!” A sly smile crept across Dash’s face, “Oh he is huh? Well let me tell you now that I’m the best deliverymare in all of Equestria!! I can deliver every letter in Ponyville in ten seconds flat!!” She takes pride in her work at least “That fast huh? Then why not try out for the Wonderbolts?” Something weird happened at this point. She was confused, they were all confused. Did the Wonderbolts not exist here or something? “I uh am a Wonderbolt. I work for Wonderbolt Mail and Delivery Service after all” …...wut “Oh uh yea thats right I was thinking of that one aerial acrobatics team” “Oh you mean Luna’s Angels?” Luna’s Angels? Is this supposed to be a horse pun for the Blue Angels? Cause if it is its a shitty one at best. “Y yea them. Uh sorry it’s been kind of a long day for me.” “Well alright anyway I’ll see you around me and the girls are gonna go celebrate.” She gestured at the team standing on the fielding cheering. Is that...Spitfire? and Fleetfoot, Misty, Surprise? All the female wonderbolts are here...What the fuck is up with this world?.....Spitfire looks pretty sexy out ther... NO stay focused. “Celestia’s sun is setting perhaps it’s time we turn in as well, come along Gloomy I’ll show you the way back.” Rarity started trotting off and I was about to join her until I felt a hoof on my shoulder “WAIT HE CAN’T!” Needless to say Pinkie’s voice caught everyone off guard “W why not dear?” “Me, him and Twilight have to go meet up at Sugarcube corner for a cupcake” “Milkshake” I corrected “That” Rarity put her hoof to her chin, “Well when you’re done bring him to Carousel Boutique” “Okie dokie lokie” And just like before Pinkie grabbed me and took off in a flash as she made her way to Sugarcube corner Out of left fieldWhile I was traveling at the speed of Pinkie I had time to think. While this world is different it is interesting too and as time passed this version of Equestria started to grow on me. Over time I would become proud to call it my home. Anyway another thought that occurred was that perhaps I was in a coma from the lightning strike and that this was all just some dream. It was a lot more realistic than any of my lucid dreams had ever been but the possibility was still there. However at the moment I wasn’t really all that concerned with waking up rather I wanted to enjoy this for as long as I possibly could. Anyway back to the situation at hoof. Pinkie was taking me to see Twi and she was definitely gonna try and learn more about my lucid dreaming skills. As I would later find out lucid dreaming was somewhat of a rare skill. Not many ponies outside of the dream school knew how to do it. Even less could actually pull it of consistently. Twilight had a field day when we actually sat down to talk about it. I thought she would have grilled me about at Sugarcube Corner that day but she wanted to talk about something else. *** Here in my car, I feel safest of all, I can lock all my doors~ “Gloomy” Its the only way to live~ “Gloomy” In cars~ “GLOOMY!” “Yes Gary Numan?” “Wha? Who’s Gary Numan?” “Oh uuuhhh nopony Twilight, oh hi Twilight” How the hell did we get here so fast? And how the hell did Pinkie sit me down without me noticing. I suppose I can chalk this up to unfair fucking horse magic too. Well unfair Pinkie magic. “Hello Gloomy.” Twilight had a tired look in her eye and her appearance reflected it as well. Her mane was messy, her coat was covered in dark black splochs and she wore a worrisome expression that didn’t help “Okay I’m back.” I turned to see Pinkie had come back from wherever she went and had three milkshakes with her what looked like little red round reading glasses “I didn’t know what flavor you like so I just got you vanilla” “Oh um thanks Pinkie” Somethings changed about her, she looks a lot more serious than before “Pinkie are you okay? You don’t seem as energetic as before” “Oh I just mellowed out is all. Can’t be fun and games all the time Gloomy. That would just burn me out. Don’t get me wrong I do get really excited to meet new ponies and plan parties but it doesn’t hurt to just slow down and relax or be a little serious either besides Twilight needs my help.” …...wow…..just…..that was way the fuck out of left field...like sudden OOC left field… “Sorry Gloomy we’ll have our discussion about lucid dreaming later. In the meantime do you think you could look over my manuscript Pinkie?” I cut Pinkie off before she could speak, “Wait didn’t you say that it would take you like four hours to finish your manuscript?” Twilight coughed into her hoof. She seemed a little embarrassed. “Yes well I was doing calculations based off my old unicorn powers. I….forgot to factor in my new alicorn powers…” New alicorn powers? So she hasn’t been a princess for that long then. How the hell is she so tall then? Do alicorn powers give growth spurts or something? Thats just fucking cheating….. “That’s alright Twilight. With these new powers you can make manuscripts a lot faster and get feedback a lot faster. Now let me see what you have so far.” Twilight levitated her manuscript over to Pinkie and almost instantly she began to look it over with intense look. So aside from baker and party planner I take it that she’s an editor too. Damn talk about doing a one eighty this new Pinkie came out of nowhere Pinkie set down her glasses and moved the manuscript over to my side. Needless to say I started to read it. “Twilight I’m sorry to say this but you won’t even make honorable mention with this.” Twilight sighed and started rubbing the base of her horn with one of her hoofs. “Yea I kinda had a feeling like that too. It didn’t feel all that different from my last manuscript but I was just kind of hoping that my art would help make up for it this time.” “Your drawing is way better than before yes but you can’t get by on just improved art alone. You need to have a good plot as well. I always make sure that my story is solid before I worry about the art.” So Pinkie’s a mangaka too eh? She probably writes gag manga or something “After all what’s shoujo without a good steamy plot?” Universe - 2 , Gloomy - 0 “ I know I know. It’s just that writing out a story is a lot harder than I thought it would be.” Her manuscript wasn’t that bad actually. It wasn’t terribly good either though. It’s supposed to be a one shot yet she’s cramming too much information into it. She’s writing this as if it were a novel and her character development is almost non existent. Most of the characters in it are just your stereotypical shonen archetypes and the main antagonist himself is pretty much your generic run of the mill bad guy, he even came with his own villianish panel that shows his eyes and outlines the rest of his body.Just like every other main antagonist. Well okay her story telling sucks but damn if the art don’t make up for it. Every page is vibrant, the character designs are incredibly well done and the backgrounds are colorful and detailed without being too cluttery. “I would put off submitting this and perhaps try again for the next Akamare in three months. I’m sorry Twilight.” Twilight looked as if she had just been told her puppy died. Suddenly all her tired feature made themselves more known. Her bags were deep and her coat looked as if it lost some of its luster. She was heartbroken “I..I” “Your art is amazing and I get that you’re trying to do a battle manga and all but with this kind of art perhaps you’d have better luck with a different type of manga.” Pinkie looked over and eyed me with curiosity while Twilight just looked at me. “Like?” “Well you’re backgrounds are really detailed and I noticed that you like to use dark colors a lot in both characters and settings, that draws a lot of attention to both of them. In a battle manga you’re more focused on the battle and the story behind it not so much the characters since everything usually gets revealed in a battle anyway. However in an adventure manga you can use those detailed backgrounds and dark characters to your advantage since the story in them usually revolves around where they travel to and what they want to do there. Along the way you can slowly develop your characters as they travel as opposed to the usual shonen way of cramming a whole bunch of character development with some massive power up. An adventure manga will use your detailed backgrounds and excellent character design to its fullest.” Pinkie and Twilight just sat there with their jaws dropped Years of reading manga finally pays off “T that is actually a good idea, an adventure manga would make full use of all of Twilights skills” “B but I’ve never written adventure manga before, I wouldn’t know where to begin” “Well you could write about a modern samurai in a steampunk world who was cursed by the gods with immortal life and is now traveling in order find a way to die who at the same time is running from the government who wants to experiment on him and figure out if they could replicate his immortality somehow and rid hu...ponyanity of the fear of death.” Twilight’s jaw dropped again while Pinkie was just laughing quietly to herself “That was a really creative idea Gloomy, steampunk settings aren’t really done that much anymore but they usually always make for the best stories.” “T that...h how?” “Years of reading manga I guess” A grin was slowly forming on twilights face and twinkle in her eye was becoming more and more noticeable “You’ll do it” “Do what?” “You’ll write the story and I’ll draw.” Is she really going Bakuman on me? Pinkie was just nodding her head, “That might actually be a good idea, partners aren’t exactly unheard of in this business either.” I wouldn’t mind but I am working for Rarity now and I don’t know if I’ll have enough time to write in between deliveries. Not to mention that I have to work another job to make up for the days that I’m not working. Then again I’m pretty sure I could make something pretty epic. With Twilights drawings and Pinkies experience we’d get published for sure. I need to think about this. “I need time to think about this Twilight. Give me a week and I’ll get back to you.” Her ears drooped and she gave me the most diabeetus inducing sad face ever, “Well okay I do suppose you need time to settle in. I am holding you to that one week deadline though.” Me and Pinkie laughed at Twilight being Twilight “Anyway I should probably head to Rarity’s I wanna get settled in.” Pinkie nodded and gathered our empty milkshake cups, “I need to clean up here, Twilight do you think you can show him over?” Twilight nodded and magic’d her things together and motioned me to head over After we said our goodbyes to Pinkie me and Twilight started to make our way over to Rarity’s “So crazy first day huh?” “Yea no kidding. Didn’t think I’d find a job this quick or meet two mangaka.” Twilight giggled, “Or that maybe you’d find a job as a writer.” I nodded, “that too” Twilight looked at me for a second while walking, “Where are your things?” Oh fuck me sideways I forgot you need to stuff to settle in “I uh lost them in the Everfree, some monster was chasing me and I had to make a choice” “Oh I’m so sorry to hear that.” I waved that thought off, “No worries I didn’t have much anyway, sucks that I lost my bits too though.” “Well I’m sure you’ll make them all back by working for Rarity, she’s a really popular designer and ponies are always buying clothes from her. Well here we are.” “woah” Her boutique is a lot bigger in person, well bigger by pony standards anyway “Thanks Twilight, it’s not very gentlecoltish for a mare to walk a stallion back. Next time I’ll return the favor.” She smiled a bid me farewell while I proceeded to knock on the door and wait for Rarity to open up. A few seconds later I could hear the sound of hooves approaching A door opened and out popped Rarity, “Oh Gloomy you’ve come. I trust you found your way here without any difficulty?” “Yea Twilight showed me the way.” Rarity giggled, “A mare walking a stallion home how adorable.” Yea yea I look like a girl and got walked home like a girl BLEH “Come along darling then I’ll show you to your room.” I nodded and closed the door on my way in. As I followed her I couldn’t help but notice that the boutique looked more or less the same. I did notice that she didn’t have too many dresses out though. In fact I saw a lot of regular clothes on her models. Shirts, sweaters, hoodies? What the hell Rarity makes regular clothes too? “Here we are, its a bit dusty but we can clean in the morning. Speaking of which Applejack has asked if you could stop by tomorrow morning. She wishes to speak to you regarding a second job” “You don’t need anything delivered tomorrow?” “I haven’t finished up the orders yet so at the moment no.” “Ahh alright, thanks again for the room Rarity.” She smiled, “Think nothing of it dear. I am the element of Generosity after all. Well good night Gloomy I hope you enjoyed your first day in Ponyville.” “Yea I did, Night Rarity” She closed the door and left me to myself Well I got a job and a place to stay not bad for a first day. Still how did I get here? Why did I get sent here? Is this even real? Ehh I’m tired no point thinking about it now. Tomorrow.
I'm not short.....I never once thought that I would be keeping a journal but here I am writing in a damn journal. Anyway I suppose I should explain my….unique situation. It started two months ago I had just finished up my shift at the bookstore and was on my way home when it happened. A thunderstorm had just blown in and there was lightning and scary booming noises all over the place, needless to say I HATE thunder with a bloody passion. If I could stab a storm cloud I would….I should probably ask Dash if she could arrange something like that actually. I’m getting off topic, I was making my way to my car when a bolt of lightning hit a tree nearby. The flames danced on the shrinking branches until they were put out by the cool quiet rain. It was a neat sight but I decided that maybe I should run to my car, wouldn't wanna get soaked after all. That’s when things got weird; lightning had struck again only this time it hit behind me. Needless to say I got the fuck out of there and as I ran the lightning somehow chased me like a shark who had just smelled blood in the water. How something like that was even possible I don’t know but I do know that fucking Mother Nature must have been on her period or something and I was the poor soul who had to face her angry death inducing hormonal wrath. Alas all good things come to an end and eventually due to a combination of being underweight and out of shape I got hit and after a quick blinding amount of pain everything went white. When I came to I found myself in a forest. It was dark but in a cartoony kind of way, it looked familiar somehow. I got up and I immediately knew something was wrong. I was shorter and for some reason I felt like I was crawling only I wasn’t . Against my better judgement at the time I looked down at the ground and saw that I had hooves. I freaked out for what seemed like an eternity, it was 5 minutes according to Pinkie though, and after I was done flailing around on the ground, foaming at the mouth, babbling, and cursing everything around me to a slow painful chlamydia induced death I saw them. Big blue eyes and a smile as wide as the sky itself, Pinkie Pie. That’s when it hit me, I was in Equestria. I was in the world of my favorite tv show. I was a little pony. *** Alright it’s just Pinkie Pie, she’s probably here to intr…. “OMYGOSHHIAREYOUNEWI’VENEVERSEENYOUBEFOREAREYOUNEWTOPONYVILLEIMPINKIEPIEWHATSYOURNAME?” ..oduce herself. Oh good god she talks just as fast as she does in the stories! Alright names names come on think of something “Umm my name is Gloomy.” I could see some confusion wash over her face. Gloomy was probably an uncommon name here or something. I knew I should have gone with Dynames….forgive me Lockon….. “Gloomy? That sounds like Gummy my pet alligator!! I bet you guys’ll be bestfriends!!” She pulled me into a hug afterwards and I gotta say despite her seeming a little pudgy she was strong. She let me down after a few seconds and eyed me over with those big blue eyes of her until she tilted her head in an adorable way and pointed her hoof at my flank. “What’s your cutie mark mean?” My cutie mark? I looked back and saw that I had a white cloud with a keyhole in the middle of it. While I was at it I managed to get a good look of myself too. I was an Earth Pony, I had white fur, a black mane that was styled like a small pompadour, a large black layered feminine looking wavy tail and black hooves. I would have a chicks tail……but damned if I don’t look good “My uhh cutie mark means I’m good at lucid dreaming.” I am good at lucid dreaming and cutie marks are supposed to reflect what your talent is so maybe I’m right “Luci wha?” That confused look of hers made a return and she tilted her head again in that same friggin cute way. These damn adorable ponies “Oh I know!! I’ll ask Twilight she knows everything!!!” She grabbed me and took off so fast even Rainbow Dash would be jealous. Before I knew it we were in Ponyville knocking on the library door that houses everyones favorite obsessive compulsive brown nosing princess. Stop and wait a sec, Oh when you look at me like that my darling, what did you expect “Gloomy” I’d probably still adore you with your hands around my neck “Gloomy!” Or I did last time I checked “GLOOMY!” I was suddenly snapped back to reality, “Wha?” “Gloomy this is one of my best friends and Equestria’s newest princess, Princess Twilight Sparkle.” Pinkie wore an illuminating smile and Twilight’s face was a light tint of red, most likely from Pinkie’s description. “Oh uh hi there my names Gloomy its a pleasure to meet you Twilight.” “Princess Twilight” “Yea that” Twilight giggled from the little exchange me and Pinkie just shared and then motioned for us to come in. The treebrary was bigger than I thought but other than that it looked pretty much like the library we saw on the show, well except for a few things here and there. All the books were in order, everything was clean, a small desk with a stack of papers was off to one side and up stairs I could see her bed and Spike’s basket. After we sat down I noticed something, something that shook me to my core. Twilight’s taller than me…..friggin Alicorns and their stupid bigger bodies. Well at least I’m taller than Pinkie. I am right?..........I’m the same height as Pinkie…..great I’m a stallion who’s as tall as a mare, fan friggin tastic. While I was off brooding in my head about how lame it is that pony world made me short Pinkie and Twilight we’re discussing Lucid dreaming. “So Pinkie what brings you to the library?” Pinkie inhaled a deep breath and began, “Weeeelllllll I was at Sugarcube Corner when suddenly my tail started to twitch and I knew that something was gonna fall so I went outside to look for whatever was gonna fall because you never know what it could be. It could be another cotton candy cloud with chocolate rain or it could horde of cupcake men come to liberate their people at Sugarcube Corner and they could falling from the sky from gingerbread birds while using gum parachutes in an attempt to catch us off guard buuuuut no it was Gloomy. I found him in the forest rolling around babbling until he calmed down and we talked and he told me that his cutie mark means that he can lucid dream and I didn’t know what lucid dreaming is so I said that we should come here and ask you and we did and I asked and you listened.” Pinkie exhaled as she finished and Twilight had this “wow” on her face. “W well lucid dreaming is when somepony basically becomes aware of the fact that their dreaming, usually by using certain signs to do so, and begin to manipulate their dreams to whatever they want it to be.” Pinkie’s eyes went wide with excitement, “OH MY GOSH THAT SOUNDS AMAZING!! I COULD PLAN OUT SO MANY PARTIES IF I COULD DO THAT. I COULD THINK ABOUT WHAT I WANNA DO WITH MY FRIENDS AND THEN DO IT WHEN I WAKE UP EEEEEEH.” Twilight giggle at her friends pure hearted excitement, “Yes you could but lucid dreaming isn’t all that easy to do, in fact it’s quite difficult.” She put a hoof to her chin and began to think, “In fact I don’t think I’ve ever heard of somepony being good enough at it to get a cutie mark about it.” “Gloomy” Not my fault I’m short “Gloomy” It’s just poor genetics “Gloomy” Err I guess in this case it would be unfair fucking horse magic “GLOOMY!!” “IT”S CHEATING” “What?!” “Oh uhh n nothing.” I said with a sheepish smile hoping that Twilight doesn't question the matter “W well I was wondering if you could tell how you became so good at lucid dreaming and perhaps about where you’re from.” Where I’m from? “Y yea I can do that” I hope…..
Sparkle-sensei?Needless to say I didn’t know what to tell Twi, since Applejack wasn’t there I could probably lie to her and get away with it but that would probably come back to bite me in the ass later. I could tell her the truth and she’ll probably think I’m crazy afterwards and, since shes top bitch now, have me sent to an insane asylum. I don’t do well in enclosed spaces, to say the least, so I definitely wanna avoid that. Well jail dodging and cheating ass alicorn magic aside I did notice a few things that seemed different. She did seem noticeably taller than she did in show, she looked like she was as tall as Cadence or Luna. I’d figure out the details behind that later but at the moment I was more concerned with trying to figure out what to tell Twi, its not exactly easy to tell someone that you learned how to lucid dream because you thought life was boring and would rather fight imaginary monsters and dragons, and she’s not exactly the type of pony to back off when it comes to learning something new. So I resorted to every mans ace in the hole. I called her pretty. *** “Wow you’re pretty.” Twilight was taken back by this. A slow blush started to spread across her face as she registered what I had just said. Huzzah!! It worked. My nuggets are out of the fire now “T t thank you no ones ever told me that before but I’d still like to know about you” ` aaaand my nuggets got tossed back on the grill FUCK. DAMN YOU MCDONALDS AND YOUR DOLLAR MENU NUGGETS…..they have dollar menu nuggets right?.....did I really just value my balls at one dollar? Damn my self esteem sucks…. “W well if uhh you really must know I’m from Mustangia and I uh learned to Lucid dream because I always kinda wanted to fly” “Oh, was it difficult? I know that some people use signs to help them become lucid, what did you use? How long did it take you to go lucid the first time? Can you do it naturally now? Do you ever have trouble waking up? Have you ever experienced sleep paralysis while trying?” She doesn’t beat around the bush “Oh no!!” Me and Twi both turned to face Pinkie who had a sad look on her face “What’s wrong Pinkie?” Twilight didn’t sound too worried. She probably figured out what was bothering her anyway. “I wanna ask questions and get called pretty too but I gotta go work.” Her mane deflated and her ears fell to reflect her mood Pinkamena………....shit shit shit shit shit shit. I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die, I’m gonna fucking die. Wait….ace in the hole “PINKIE YOU’RE PRETTY” Pinkie’s mane sprung up and her ears bounced up as she attacked me with a surprise hug “Awww THANK YOU” Fuck yea ace in the hole saves the day again Pinkie let me go and start hopping around happily, “Hey I got a great idea!! Why don’t you two come down to sugarcube corner for some cupcakes!!” NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE “I LIKE MILKSHAKES BETTER!!” “okie dokie lokie we got those too!!” death avoided…… Twilight finally decided to chime in on our conversation, “I’d love to Pinkie but I need to finish my manuscript for Akamare Jump 3, the deadline is tomorrow and by my calculations I won’t be done for another 4 hours 23 minutes and 40 seconds.” That’s just scary….. “Oooh thats right you’re entering to try and get a spot in Coltsha again huh? HEY! If you get published this time we can have another CONGRATULATIONS ON GETTING PUBLISHED PARTY!!!” Pinkie was bursting with excitement at this point Akamare? Coltsha? I suppose that these are supposed to be the equivalent of Akamaru and Shueisha. Wait since when was Twilight a mangaka? Is….this a different Equestria? “T thanks Pinkie but this time lets keep it small I don’t want ponies dis organizing my supplies again…..” This isn’t the same Equestria….What else is different? “Hey uuh Pinkie how about we head on down to Sugarcube Corner? You could introduce me to more of your friends too if you want” She clapped her hooves happily, probably excited to show off her other friends “I know who to introduce too!! DASH...well if she’s done with her game already..” Game? Twilight made her way back to her desk and pulled out the last thing I would have ever expected to see in Equestria. An Iphone. “Well my I-Hoof…” Of course…. “..says that it’s past noon so her game should be over by now.” “umm what exactly does this Dash play?” Pinkie just laughed, “Soccer silly” Mangaka Sparkle and Soccer pegasus Dash. What’s next a flying Scootaloo? “Well umm lets go meet her then if you don’t mind” I could hear Twilight giggling in the background, “Just like Fluttershy” Pinkie laughed too and before I knew it she grabbed me and raced on down to the soccer field While I was hanging on for dear life I could hear Twilight yelling something out, “I’LL MEET YOU TWO AT SUGARCUBE CORNER WHEN I’M DONE” “AYE AYE SPARKLE-SENSEI!!” I could see her blush slightly from a distance Fuck yea I made a princess blush ten points for Gryffindor!!! “ALSO I STILL WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT YOUR LUCID DREAMING SKILLS TOO!!” I guess I can tell her more about it….later though after I figure out this crazy ass world “Almost there!!” I could see the soccer field coming up and I mentally prepared myself for whatever this weird Equestria’s version of Dash could be. Can’t be that bad right?......right?
Wut?So by this point it was pretty obvious that I wasn’t in the same Equestria as the one depicted on the show. At first it was kinda weird but after a while once I got to know them it wasn’t that bad. I’ll talk more about that later though, now at this point we were reaching the soccer field where Dash was playing. I wasn’t to worried about meeting her cause well Dash will always be Dash, even if this one is a bit…...different, but I’d be lying If I said that I wasn’t nervous. Dash is a soccer player, Twilight is a mangaka, I wondered what everyone else would be like. Well I was about to find out. *** “We’re here!!!!” Pinkie was as enthusiastic as ever as she came to a screeching hault that caused me to shoot forward in the process. “Ow…..” I could hear Pinkie giggling behind me “What in tarnation was that?” “It sounded like a crash, darling” Those voices “Hi Applejack, Hi Rarity!!!!” The sound of hoofsteps filled the air as Applejack and Rarity made their way over to greet Pinkie. I was still on the ground seeing stars “Hello Darl….Pinkie dear, who is that?” Pinkie stopped bouncing around for a quick second and turned to face me, “Oh, thats Gloomy” Applejack had rushed over to me and had helped me up, “On your hooves partner” “T thanks” “Not a problem sugarcube” Applejack playfully hit my back with her hoof which caused me to buckle a little She’s strong alright. I’d hate to see her hitting at full force……. “So uhh Gloomy was it? Ma names Applejack it’s a pleasure to meet ya.” “Oh um likewise” I could hear someone clearing their throat in the background and well I more or less had an idea as to who it was “My name is Rarity it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance” “Yea nice to meet you too.” Just like with Twilight something was different about these two. I couldn’t tell what yet but at the moment I figured I would find out eventually. One thing that stood out though was that their manestyles were different. To be more specific they were styled the same way they were when they were crystal ponies. Applejacks ponytail and well tail were both braided and tied up by green ribbons and in the middle of her hair were three leaves while her bangs were combed to one side in a cute manner. Rarity’s hair had streaks of a lighter shade of purple alongside her regular shade and her hair seemed to be done up in a bun while the back was curled. She also wore these long earrings that were the same color as her cutie mark. Daaaaaaaaaamn they look good…..did I just say a pony looks good? Eh screw it I’m a pony now its all good. Kinda weird to see Applejack without her hat though….guess this Applejack cares about her appearance “So uh Gloomy was it? What brings ya to Ponyvillle? Visitin a friend or somethin?” Hmm I could say I’m settling down here and looking for a job. All the stories I’ve read usually have them starting off at Sweet Apple Acres anyway. Worst comes to worst I can always tell Twilight that I used to be a human and live at her place in exchange for information. Well that is if she believes me. Eh there’s probably some cheating ass truth magic that she could use on me. That would prove my point. She might even be able to help get back home…... “Na I don’t have any friends in Ponyville. I heard a lot about this place and decided to well drop by and check it out” “Hmmm” I could tell by the look on her face that Applejack was analyzing my words trying to determine if they were the truth or not. I wasn’t lying to her, I just wasn’t telling her everything. “Well uh whaddya think so far?” “It’s nice and quiet, I really like out here. Kinda wanna settle down here. Need a job first though” Rarity finally decided to pipe in at this point, “Perhaps I could be of some assistance then” Well that came out of left field “How so?” “After I finish making clothes for whatever client I have at the time I usually deliver them myself. I must say though spending all day on a musty boring train can become quite tiresome and the time wasted on those deliveries could be spent on other endeavors.. So as of late I have been looking into hiring a delivery mare to for my business. I don’t suppose you’re interested? So basically she needs me to be a delivery boy? Well it beats whoring myself out to Twilight. I am probably gonna have to tell her at some point though. “Well if you’re looking to hire I won’t turn you down. I do doubt that you’ll need things delivered everyday though. Not to mention that I need a place to stay in the meantime.” “I have a spare bedroom in the back of my boutique next to the laundry room that you could use. Sweetie and her friends used to use it for sleepovers but as of late they’ve been holding them at my parents so I doubt they have anymore use for it. And you are correct as well, I won’t have work for you everyday and I cannot pay you for those days but I do suppose you could find a second job to attend to.” It ain’t much but fuck, don’t wanna look a gift horse in the mouth. Oh great now I’m doing the stupid ass horse puns too. I quickly shook that thought away and returned to the conversation at hoof, “Yea thanks I really appreciate it.” Rarity just gave me a warm smile and nodded. Now it was Applejacks turn to get her two cents in. “Well partner if you need a second job we could alwa…” “APPLEJACK, RARITY, PINKIE!!” Or so I thought. I’d recognize that raspy voice anywhere Lo and behold I could see Rainbow Dash off in the distance charging her way over here with a smile on her face “Dashie!!!” Pinkie bolted and collided with dash midway embracing her in hug Holy shit I forgot she was here……. “Come along then dear, I’m sure you’ll want to meet Rainbow Dash after all she is a delivery mare as well.” As well? Does she think I’m a girl or something, must be the tai…..wait RD is a delivery mare? Isn’t she supposed to weather patrol or something? If she’s a delivery mare then what the fuck does Derpy do? “Uhh Rarity you do know that I’m a stallion right?” “Hm? Oh yes I’m aware of that. Although I did find your height and rather stylish tail misleading I was more than able to discern your gender upon hearing your voice.” I could hear Applejack laughing behind me, she probably saw my pretty tail. She’s probably mad jelly at that shit “That’s a mighty cute tail ya got there Gloomy.” Mad jelly…….. “Ehh hey look they're coming over here!!!” Pinkie and Rainbow had long since ended their hug and started making their way over Well at least Rainbow looks the same As soon as that thought was finished I saw Rainbow Dash take out scrunchie and tie her mane up into a ponytail Fucking horse god must love proving me wrong “Hey did you guys see me make the final score!! It was aweeeeesome!!” “We sure did Rainbow, you done made a fool out of the goalie with that last one” “Yes darling I must say it was quite a flashy ending, very befitting of you.” Dash beamed, “I know right!!” Well she’s as confident as the Rainbow Dash I know “Oh Dashie this is Gloomy!! He’s new to Ponyville and he’s gonna be Rarity’s deliverymare!!” A sly smile crept across Dash’s face, “Oh he is huh? Well let me tell you now that I’m the best deliverymare in all of Equestria!! I can deliver every letter in Ponyville in ten seconds flat!!” She takes pride in her work at least “That fast huh? Then why not try out for the Wonderbolts?” Something weird happened at this point. She was confused, they were all confused. Did the Wonderbolts not exist here or something? “I uh am a Wonderbolt. I work for Wonderbolt Mail and Delivery Service after all” …...wut “Oh uh yea thats right I was thinking of that one aerial acrobatics team” “Oh you mean Luna’s Angels?” Luna’s Angels? Is this supposed to be a horse pun for the Blue Angels? Cause if it is its a shitty one at best. “Y yea them. Uh sorry it’s been kind of a long day for me.” “Well alright anyway I’ll see you around me and the girls are gonna go celebrate.” She gestured at the team standing on the fielding cheering. Is that...Spitfire? and Fleetfoot, Misty, Surprise? All the female wonderbolts are here...What the fuck is up with this world?.....Spitfire looks pretty sexy out ther... NO stay focused. “Celestia’s sun is setting perhaps it’s time we turn in as well, come along Gloomy I’ll show you the way back.” Rarity started trotting off and I was about to join her until I felt a hoof on my shoulder “WAIT HE CAN’T!” Needless to say Pinkie’s voice caught everyone off guard “W why not dear?” “Me, him and Twilight have to go meet up at Sugarcube corner for a cupcake” “Milkshake” I corrected “That” Rarity put her hoof to her chin, “Well when you’re done bring him to Carousel Boutique” “Okie dokie lokie” And just like before Pinkie grabbed me and took off in a flash as she made her way to Sugarcube corner
Out of left fieldWhile I was traveling at the speed of Pinkie I had time to think. While this world is different it is interesting too and as time passed this version of Equestria started to grow on me. Over time I would become proud to call it my home. Anyway another thought that occurred was that perhaps I was in a coma from the lightning strike and that this was all just some dream. It was a lot more realistic than any of my lucid dreams had ever been but the possibility was still there. However at the moment I wasn’t really all that concerned with waking up rather I wanted to enjoy this for as long as I possibly could. Anyway back to the situation at hoof. Pinkie was taking me to see Twi and she was definitely gonna try and learn more about my lucid dreaming skills. As I would later find out lucid dreaming was somewhat of a rare skill. Not many ponies outside of the dream school knew how to do it. Even less could actually pull it of consistently. Twilight had a field day when we actually sat down to talk about it. I thought she would have grilled me about at Sugarcube Corner that day but she wanted to talk about something else. *** Here in my car, I feel safest of all, I can lock all my doors~ “Gloomy” Its the only way to live~ “Gloomy” In cars~ “GLOOMY!” “Yes Gary Numan?” “Wha? Who’s Gary Numan?” “Oh uuuhhh nopony Twilight, oh hi Twilight” How the hell did we get here so fast? And how the hell did Pinkie sit me down without me noticing. I suppose I can chalk this up to unfair fucking horse magic too. Well unfair Pinkie magic. “Hello Gloomy.” Twilight had a tired look in her eye and her appearance reflected it as well. Her mane was messy, her coat was covered in dark black splochs and she wore a worrisome expression that didn’t help “Okay I’m back.” I turned to see Pinkie had come back from wherever she went and had three milkshakes with her what looked like little red round reading glasses “I didn’t know what flavor you like so I just got you vanilla” “Oh um thanks Pinkie” Somethings changed about her, she looks a lot more serious than before “Pinkie are you okay? You don’t seem as energetic as before” “Oh I just mellowed out is all. Can’t be fun and games all the time Gloomy. That would just burn me out. Don’t get me wrong I do get really excited to meet new ponies and plan parties but it doesn’t hurt to just slow down and relax or be a little serious either besides Twilight needs my help.” …...wow…..just…..that was way the fuck out of left field...like sudden OOC left field… “Sorry Gloomy we’ll have our discussion about lucid dreaming later. In the meantime do you think you could look over my manuscript Pinkie?” I cut Pinkie off before she could speak, “Wait didn’t you say that it would take you like four hours to finish your manuscript?” Twilight coughed into her hoof. She seemed a little embarrassed. “Yes well I was doing calculations based off my old unicorn powers. I….forgot to factor in my new alicorn powers…” New alicorn powers? So she hasn’t been a princess for that long then. How the hell is she so tall then? Do alicorn powers give growth spurts or something? Thats just fucking cheating….. “That’s alright Twilight. With these new powers you can make manuscripts a lot faster and get feedback a lot faster. Now let me see what you have so far.” Twilight levitated her manuscript over to Pinkie and almost instantly she began to look it over with intense look. So aside from baker and party planner I take it that she’s an editor too. Damn talk about doing a one eighty this new Pinkie came out of nowhere Pinkie set down her glasses and moved the manuscript over to my side. Needless to say I started to read it. “Twilight I’m sorry to say this but you won’t even make honorable mention with this.” Twilight sighed and started rubbing the base of her horn with one of her hoofs. “Yea I kinda had a feeling like that too. It didn’t feel all that different from my last manuscript but I was just kind of hoping that my art would help make up for it this time.” “Your drawing is way better than before yes but you can’t get by on just improved art alone. You need to have a good plot as well. I always make sure that my story is solid before I worry about the art.” So Pinkie’s a mangaka too eh? She probably writes gag manga or something “After all what’s shoujo without a good steamy plot?” Universe - 2 , Gloomy - 0 “ I know I know. It’s just that writing out a story is a lot harder than I thought it would be.” Her manuscript wasn’t that bad actually. It wasn’t terribly good either though. It’s supposed to be a one shot yet she’s cramming too much information into it. She’s writing this as if it were a novel and her character development is almost non existent. Most of the characters in it are just your stereotypical shonen archetypes and the main antagonist himself is pretty much your generic run of the mill bad guy, he even came with his own villianish panel that shows his eyes and outlines the rest of his body.Just like every other main antagonist. Well okay her story telling sucks but damn if the art don’t make up for it. Every page is vibrant, the character designs are incredibly well done and the backgrounds are colorful and detailed without being too cluttery. “I would put off submitting this and perhaps try again for the next Akamare in three months. I’m sorry Twilight.” Twilight looked as if she had just been told her puppy died. Suddenly all her tired feature made themselves more known. Her bags were deep and her coat looked as if it lost some of its luster. She was heartbroken “I..I” “Your art is amazing and I get that you’re trying to do a battle manga and all but with this kind of art perhaps you’d have better luck with a different type of manga.” Pinkie looked over and eyed me with curiosity while Twilight just looked at me. “Like?” “Well you’re backgrounds are really detailed and I noticed that you like to use dark colors a lot in both characters and settings, that draws a lot of attention to both of them. In a battle manga you’re more focused on the battle and the story behind it not so much the characters since everything usually gets revealed in a battle anyway. However in an adventure manga you can use those detailed backgrounds and dark characters to your advantage since the story in them usually revolves around where they travel to and what they want to do there. Along the way you can slowly develop your characters as they travel as opposed to the usual shonen way of cramming a whole bunch of character development with some massive power up. An adventure manga will use your detailed backgrounds and excellent character design to its fullest.” Pinkie and Twilight just sat there with their jaws dropped Years of reading manga finally pays off “T that is actually a good idea, an adventure manga would make full use of all of Twilights skills” “B but I’ve never written adventure manga before, I wouldn’t know where to begin” “Well you could write about a modern samurai in a steampunk world who was cursed by the gods with immortal life and is now traveling in order find a way to die who at the same time is running from the government who wants to experiment on him and figure out if they could replicate his immortality somehow and rid hu...ponyanity of the fear of death.” Twilight’s jaw dropped again while Pinkie was just laughing quietly to herself “That was a really creative idea Gloomy, steampunk settings aren’t really done that much anymore but they usually always make for the best stories.” “T that...h how?” “Years of reading manga I guess” A grin was slowly forming on twilights face and twinkle in her eye was becoming more and more noticeable “You’ll do it” “Do what?” “You’ll write the story and I’ll draw.” Is she really going Bakuman on me? Pinkie was just nodding her head, “That might actually be a good idea, partners aren’t exactly unheard of in this business either.” I wouldn’t mind but I am working for Rarity now and I don’t know if I’ll have enough time to write in between deliveries. Not to mention that I have to work another job to make up for the days that I’m not working. Then again I’m pretty sure I could make something pretty epic. With Twilights drawings and Pinkies experience we’d get published for sure. I need to think about this. “I need time to think about this Twilight. Give me a week and I’ll get back to you.” Her ears drooped and she gave me the most diabeetus inducing sad face ever, “Well okay I do suppose you need time to settle in. I am holding you to that one week deadline though.” Me and Pinkie laughed at Twilight being Twilight “Anyway I should probably head to Rarity’s I wanna get settled in.” Pinkie nodded and gathered our empty milkshake cups, “I need to clean up here, Twilight do you think you can show him over?” Twilight nodded and magic’d her things together and motioned me to head over After we said our goodbyes to Pinkie me and Twilight started to make our way over to Rarity’s “So crazy first day huh?” “Yea no kidding. Didn’t think I’d find a job this quick or meet two mangaka.” Twilight giggled, “Or that maybe you’d find a job as a writer.” I nodded, “that too” Twilight looked at me for a second while walking, “Where are your things?” Oh fuck me sideways I forgot you need to stuff to settle in “I uh lost them in the Everfree, some monster was chasing me and I had to make a choice” “Oh I’m so sorry to hear that.” I waved that thought off, “No worries I didn’t have much anyway, sucks that I lost my bits too though.” “Well I’m sure you’ll make them all back by working for Rarity, she’s a really popular designer and ponies are always buying clothes from her. Well here we are.” “woah” Her boutique is a lot bigger in person, well bigger by pony standards anyway “Thanks Twilight, it’s not very gentlecoltish for a mare to walk a stallion back. Next time I’ll return the favor.” She smiled a bid me farewell while I proceeded to knock on the door and wait for Rarity to open up. A few seconds later I could hear the sound of hooves approaching A door opened and out popped Rarity, “Oh Gloomy you’ve come. I trust you found your way here without any difficulty?” “Yea Twilight showed me the way.” Rarity giggled, “A mare walking a stallion home how adorable.” Yea yea I look like a girl and got walked home like a girl BLEH “Come along darling then I’ll show you to your room.” I nodded and closed the door on my way in. As I followed her I couldn’t help but notice that the boutique looked more or less the same. I did notice that she didn’t have too many dresses out though. In fact I saw a lot of regular clothes on her models. Shirts, sweaters, hoodies? What the hell Rarity makes regular clothes too? “Here we are, its a bit dusty but we can clean in the morning. Speaking of which Applejack has asked if you could stop by tomorrow morning. She wishes to speak to you regarding a second job” “You don’t need anything delivered tomorrow?” “I haven’t finished up the orders yet so at the moment no.” “Ahh alright, thanks again for the room Rarity.” She smiled, “Think nothing of it dear. I am the element of Generosity after all. Well good night Gloomy I hope you enjoyed your first day in Ponyville.” “Yea I did, Night Rarity” She closed the door and left me to myself Well I got a job and a place to stay not bad for a first day. Still how did I get here? Why did I get sent here? Is this even real? Ehh I’m tired no point thinking about it now. Tomorrow.
