Prologue
It was a summer night like any other. The sky was clear, the temperature was warm. It was the perfect night for stargazing, and Twilight Sparkle intended to take full advantage of it.
"It's finally clear, Spike," the purple unicorn said to her assistant, a purple and green baby dragon, as she began adjusting her telescope. "I've been asking Rainbow Dash for clear skies the last three nights. Now I can finally update my star charts. Did you remember to bring them?"
"Right here," Spike told her, walking up to the balcony where the telescope stood. He placed several rolls of parchment with layouts of the night sky divided by the months of the year on a small table set up next to the telescope. "And your special ink well," he added, placing the ink well alongside the parchments.
"Excellent," Twilight said as she checked over the parchments. "Now I can finally update my cha-." She stopped mid-sentence. Something was missing. Spike brought the charts she needed and the special ink that she used for her charts, but there was no means to write down her findings? "Spike, did you remember to bring a quill?"
"Huh?" Spike muttered before looking up to his ears. He had placed the quill behind his right ear so that he could hold the charts and ink well in his hands. "Oh, right here." He grabbed the quill and placed it next to the ink well.
"Thank you, Spike," Twilight said. She looked into her telescope and began to observe the night sky. With no clouds to obscure her view, she thought that she could see forever into the vastness of space. After establishing where Ursa Major and Minor were, Twilight began identifying the more seasonal constellations. It didn’t take her long to find Scorpius, Sagittarius and Cygnus. “Everything looks to be in order,” Twilight said to herself. “Now to just check on how Mars is progressing, and my charts should be-”
Twilight froze. She found where Mars was supposed to be, but that whole area of the sky was caught in some sort of wavy distortion. The stars seemed to twirl around in circles. Twilight stood back from the telescope, rubbed her eyes and shook her head. Did I just see the stars dancing, she wondered to herself.
“What happened?” Spike asked. “What did you see?” Twilight wasn’t sure what it was she saw. It’s nothing, she told herself. Just a trick of the eyes. You really ought to get more sleep. She looked into the telescope expecting to see the stars staying in place, as they're supposed to. What she saw instead made her jump back and yelp.
She sat frozen on the balcony with her mouth agape.
“What?” Spike shouted, grabbing Twilight by the shoulders to get her attention. “What did you see?” Twilight raised her hoof and pointed to the sky. Spike turned around to see what looked like a whirlpool forming in the sky, just outside of Ponyville. The vortex began to spin faster, and faster, and faster, and within that vortex a white light began shine. As the vortex spun faster, the light grew brighter, until it broke into a beam and shot into the Earth.
The strange phenomenon ended as quickly as it had started. The night sky was once again peaceful and all the stars were in their right place. Meanwhile, Twilight and Spike were still stunned by whatever it was that they had just witnessed. Twilight was the first to snap out of her stupor, running quickly down the stairs to find out what exactly the vortex shot to the ground.
Spike finally snapped to attention as Twilight made it to the ground floor of the library. “Hey, wait up,” he shouted, worrying that Twilight was going to run into trouble with whatever they just saw left behind. He ran as quickly as he could, but Twilight was faster and had a head start.
Twilight threw open her front door and ran as fast as her legs could carry her. She had to see what it was that just happened outside of town. She had never read of such an occurrence in her studies and had never witnessed one in all the time she watched the night sky. Whatever she and Spike witnessed, she knew that it had to have left something behind, and she was determined to find out exactly what that something was.
As she made it to the edge of Ponyville, Spike was half way between her and the library, still yelling to try and get her attention. While Twilight didn’t hear him, several other ponies in town did. One pony went up her window and shouted out to him “Keep it down! Some ponies are trying to sleep!” By the time Spike reached the edge of town, he was already beginning to slow down and tire out. He took a moment to catch his breath as he saw Twilight run over the next hill.
Twilight finally reached where the vortex broke. Whatever it was that she and Spike witnessed left a small crater with scorched earth surrounding it. She slowed down to a trot, needing to catch her breath and prepare herself for whatever it was that she was about to find.
When she reached the crater, she stopped and closed her eyes. After a few seconds of pumping herself up, she opened her eyes and looked into the crater. She couldn’t believe her eyes. Her body froze in place. Her jaw dropped in awe.
It didn’t take much longer for Spike to finally catch up to Twilight at the crater site. “You know,” he told Twilight, gasping for air, “you could...have just...waited for me...to catch up.” When he reached the crater’s edge, he laid his arm against Twilight for balance himself, still trying to catch his breath.
“So...what was it...that we were...in such a hurry to see?” he asked, looking into the crater for himself. He gasped and took a few steps back before falling backwards. He was just as shocked as Twilight to find a brown Earth pony lying on the bottom of the crater.
Chapter 1
After she dropped the mysterious stallion at the hospital, the doctors instructed Twilight to head home and to come back in the morning. Twilight couldn’t sleep that whole night. Try as she might, her mind continued to think about the stallion she and Spike found. There were so many questions she wanted to ask him when he woke up. Then she began to worry about whether or not he would wake up, and if he didn’t, what happens the next time one of those holes in the sky opens? The less she tried to think about this whole situation, the more questions came to mind until she looked out the window and the sun was rising.
The next morning, all of Ponyville was buzzing about what had happened the night before and the newest inpatient at Ponyville General Hospital. All over town, ponies were saying “Did you hear what happened last night?,” “Did you see that thing in the sky?,” “Have you seen that stallion they brought into the hospital this morning?” There was even rumor that Princess Celestia herself might be coming. But the main question on everyone’s mind was “Who is this pony and where did he come from?”
That was the question Twilight was determined to have answered. As soon as she could, she headed into the hospital to see if the stallion was awake. Unfortunately, he wasn’t. He was in stable condition, but showed no signs of consciousness yet. For now, Twilight would have to wait. So, she hopped into a seat in the waiting room, laid her head down and finally got some rest.
She was given an abrupt awakening when a pink Earth pony with a mane and tail like cotton candy came up to her and screamed “Good morning, sleepy-head!” This made Twilight jump out of her seat and land upside down. Shaking her head, she pulled herself upright to see her friend Pinkie Pie with a big smiler on her face. “Pinkie Pie? What are you doing here?” she asked her friend.
“We came to see about you,” said a twangy voice off to the side. Twilight turned her head to see Applejack, an orange Earth pony with a blonde mane and tail wearing a stetson hat, standing with a group of three other ponies: Rarity, a white unicorn with a curly purple mane and tail; Fluttershy, a yellow pegasus with a long pink mane and tail; and Rainbow Dash, a blue pegasus with a rainbow colored mane and tail. Standing beside Applejack was her faithful assistant, Spike.
“Girls,” Twilight blurted out. She couldn’t believe it. Her closest friends all came to see how she was. “I don’t know what what to say. But, how did you know I was here?”
“Spike told us,” Pinkie said. “He came and told us this morning about how you two saw that weird thing in the sky. And how you went running out in the middle of the night to find a pony in a crater outside of town. And then you brought him here before you went to sleep. Only, you didn’t go to sleep. You were tossing a turning and tossing and turning all night and you went running out at sunrise.”
“And we were all so worried about you,” Rarity added. “We just wanted to make sure that everything was all right.”
Twilight smiled and began to tear up. She was overcome with happiness that she had friends that cared so much for her. “Thank you all so much,” she said. She looked down at Spike and added “I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Spike smiled back and looked as though he was tearing up as well. The seven of them then came together for a group hug.
As the ponies and dragon were hugging, a lilac Earth pony with a purple and white striped mane and tail in a nurse’s hat came into the waiting room. “Miss Sparkle,” she said, “you may come in. He’s beginning to wake up.”
The nurse led them to one of the hospital rooms where the light brown Earth pony was laid. His dark brown mane was frizzy and unkempt, he had a pencil thin mustache and was slightly overweight. He was hooked up to a heart monitor showing a steady heartbeat. On the table next to the bed lay a pair of black, rectangular eyeglasses. By the time everyone was in the room, he was fully awake.
Doctor Stable, a light brown unicorn in a white lab coat, stood beside the stallion’s bed and asked “How are feeling?” The stallion squinted and grunted, rubbing his head. The doctor continued “It’s all right, take all the time you need.”
The stallion turned to Doctor Stable and asked “Where am I?”
“You’re in Ponyville General Hospital,” Doctor Stable replied. The stallion looked confused. “Ponyville?” he asked, as though he had never heard of such a place.
“Yes,” Doctor Stable replied, picking up the stallion’s glasses with his magic placing them over the stallion’s eyes. The stallion blinked a few times and took a look at his surroundings. He couldn’t believe his eyes. He was surrounded by multicolored horses, and what appeared to be a dragon. He then looked down at his limbs and saw two hooves at the end of his arms. He started to freak out and the heart rate monitor started beeping faster.
Doctor Stable placed a hoof on the stallion’s shoulder to try and calm him down. “It’s all right,” Doctor Stable said in a soothing voice. “Take deep breaths. You seem to be dealing with a mild concussion. Relax. You are in good hooves.” As he dealt with the stallion, Applejack leaned over to Twilight and whispered “Maybe we should come back later.”
The stallion began to calm down. “All right,” Doctor Stable said. “Now, can you tell us your name?” The stallion stopped to think. He thought as hard as he could, but nothing was coming to mind. In sheer disbelief, he replied “No.”
Everyone in the room was stunned. They began to look at one another for confirmation of what they had just heard. This mystery stallion had no idea what his own name was. “Do you remember anything?” Doctor Stable asked. The stallion thought, but just like before, nothing was coming up. The furthest back he could remember was waking up in the hospital. He hung his head in defeat and shook it back and forth.
Doctor Stable turned to the nurse for some idea on what to do. They weren’t sure what to do. From what Twilight and Spike had told them, this stallion fell out of the sky and now he has no memories or idea who he is. Twilight began thinking of ways to try and jog the stallion’s memory, but the only thing she knew about him was that he came out of the sky. Hopefully, that would be enough.
“So you don’t remember coming through a bright light in the sky?” Twilight blurted out. Everyone in the room stared at her in shock. Several of them dropped their jaws. The stallion just stared at Twilight, his eyes nearly taking up his whole face. Twilight became nervous. She didn’t realize bringing it up would be an issue. She tried to think of something to say to backtrack and ease the tension in the room. Nothing was coming to her.
The stallion couldn’t believe what he had just heard. First he wakes up to find he’s a horse with no memory, then he’s told that he came out of a light in the sky. The only thing he could think was that this was all some sort of weird dream, but if that was the case wouldn’t he remember something? Now he was extra confused.
It took another nurse, a white mare with a pink mane and tail, to come in and ask for Doctor Stable to break the silence. Doctor Stable excused himself and walked out with the nurses. The room returned to silence. No one was sure what to say since Twilight told the stallion he came from the sky. If not for Pinkie Pie’s obligation to welcome every new pony to Ponyville, the room might have stayed in silence.
“Ooh, almost forgot,” blurted the pink mare. She walked up and started shaking the stallion’s hoof with both of her front hooves. “Welcome to Ponyville. My name’s Pinkie Pie, and these are my friends, Rarity, Applejack, Spike, Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Twilight and Spike are the ones that found you last night and brought you here.” Upon finishing the introductions, Pinkie simply beamed back at the stallion and waited for a response.
The stallion smiled back, a tad spooked by Pinkie’s hyperactivity. “It’s nice to meet you all,” he said. He would have introduced himself, but he couldn’t think of a name to save his life. One thing did come to mind. He turned to Twilight and asked “Did I really come out of the sky?”
Twilight was a bit nervous. She was starting to regret ever blurting that out in the first place. Still, she smiled back and replied “Yes. Spike and I noticed a strange light shoot down from the sky and went to see what had happened. That’s where we found you.”
“You two weren’t the only ones who saw it,” Rainbow Dash added. “All of Ponyville has been talking about it. And about him.”
The stallion wasn’t sure what to make of all this. He was a talking horse with glasses in a world populated by multicolored talking horses (and who knows what else), he had fallen to this world from the sky and the whole town was talking about him when he didn’t even have the slightest idea who he even was.
It was then that Doctor Stable reentered the room with a little grin on his face. “Well, my friend, it appears you’re all set to go,” he told the stallion.
Twilight was confused. Surely the doctors would want to keep the stallion for observation. After all, he had fallen from the sky and had no memories or form of identification. “Are you sure about that, doctor?” she asked Stable.
Doctor Stable nodded. “He shows a clean bill of health, so there’s no reason to keep him here any longer.”
“But, what about his memory? Shouldn’t you keep him under some sort of observation until it returns?” Twilight rebutted.
“I’m sorry, but we can’t use a hospital room for a pony that is physically healthy when we need it for ponies who really need it,” Doctor Stable replied. “Besides, maybe going out and being around other ponies might help him remember things.”
Twilight couldn’t argue with that logic. If nothing else, getting out of the hospital would be good for the stallion. “Okay. You know what’s best,” she told Stable.
Pinkie Pie was absolutely giddy at the thought of showing the stallion around Ponyville. She always loves making new friends and helping them fit into their new home. She grabbed the stallion by the arms and said “Come on. What are we waiting for?” She pulled the stallion out of the bed and off the heart monitor and sped out of the hospital so fast that she looked like a pink blur. The other ponies followed her out, chuckling at Pinkie Pie “being Pinkie Pie.” Before she left, Twilight made sure to thank Doctor Stable for taking such good care of the stallion.
Outside the hospital, Pinkie Pie stopped suddenly to show the stallion the town of Ponyville. After steadying himself from the roller coaster-like trip out of the hospital, the stallion looked to see a vibrant town, full of more multicolored horses. It was like nothing he had seen before. He just stared in amazement.
“This is Ponyville,” Pinkie commented. “It’s the greatest town in all of Equestria. Ooh, where should we visit first? Sugarcube Corner? Sweet Apple Acres? Sugarcube Corner? The Joke Shop? Sugarcube Corner?” Pinkie stopped and took a look at the design on the stallion’s hind legs. She giggled and said “I have a whole bunch of those.”
The stallion snapped to attention, but wasn’t sure what she meant. “Of what?” he asked Pinkie. She pointed at his hindquarters and said “Of your cutie mark.” This just confused the stallion further. What in the world was a “cutie mark?” He looked at where she was pointing and couldn’t believe his eyes. There was some sort of design on his back legs. He turned to his other side and the same design was there as well. Unfortunately, he couldn’t make out what the design was depicting?
The other ponies came out of the hospital to find the stallion turning in circles to look at his cutie mark. This made them all break out in giggles and chuckles. “Trying take a look at your cutie mark there?” Applejack asked the stallion.
The stallion stopped and straightened himself up, his face turning a little red in embarrassment. “Sorry,” he said, “but what is this thing you keep referring to on my back legs?”
The ponies giggled again. They couldn’t help it. It was almost like dealing with a foal. Twilight stepped forward and told him “Those are your cutie marks. They show up when you know what your special talent is.” She turned to show him her own cutie mark, a six pointed pink star surrounded by five white six pointed stars. “This symbolizes my ability in magic.” The stallion had no idea what kind of magic she was talking about or how a bunch of stars meant anything, so he simply smiled and nodded.
Pinkie Pie jumped in to show her cutie mark next. “I got mine for throwing the best parties ever.” The stallion noticed hers were three balloons, one, one and one . The stallion turned to notice each of the ponies had one of these cutie marks. Applejack had three apples, Rarity had thee gemstones, Fluttershy had three butterflies and Rainbow Dash had a cloud with a rainbow colored lightning bolt. “So, what’s mine?” he asked, turning back towards his hindquarters to catch a glimpse.
The ponies all giggled again before Pinkie turned around behind her back and pulled a pair of novelty glasses with a big nose and mustache. The stallion couldn’t help but chuckle himself at the fact that his “cutie mark” is a pair of silly glasses.
“So what sort of talent do I have with funny looking glasses?” the stallion asked, still laughing to himself over his cutie mark.
“I guess you’re supposed to be good at telling jokes,” Rainbow Dash said, wiping a little tear from her eye. Pinkie Pie took off her novelty glasses and said “Wait, we never figured out your name.” Everyone fell silent. They had completely forgotten that the stallion had no name and no idea who he was.
“We have to call him something?” Pinkie continued. “He can’t go around without a name.”
“It’s not like naming a pet, Pinkie,” Twilight replied. “I’m sure he has a name, even though he doesn’t remember i-” Before she could finish, Pinkie jumped in and said “Ooh, how about Funny Bone?”
“No, that’s not any good,” Rainbow Dash said. “Oh, how about Joker?”
“No,” Pinkie said. “Oh, I know: Punch Line.”
“Nah,” Rainbow Dash dismissed.
“Girls,” Twilight interrupted, “giving him a new name isn’t going to do anything. I’m sure that he’ll start remember what his real name in no time a-”
“I’ve got one,” Rarity cut in. “Valiant.”
“What does that have to do with his cutie mark?” Applejack asked rather condescendingly.
“Nothing, really,” Rarity replied. “I just thought it was a good name.”
“I kind of like Richard,” Fluttershy chimed in.
“This name game isn’t getting us anywhere,” Twilight insisted. “We’ll be here all day if we keep trying to come up with names for this-”
“Ooh, ooh, I’ve got it,” Pinkie Pie jumped in. “Vaudeville.” For some reason, that was the one that stuck with the stallion. He wasn’t sure why, but he really liked the name Vaudeville.
“I think we can go with that one,” he told the ponies, much to Pinkie’s delight.
“Good,” Twilight said. “Now that we’ve finally settled on a name, we can move on to more important things.”
“Sorry, sugarcube,” Applejack cut in, “but I’ve got to head back to the farm. Can’t waste any more daylight.” Vaudeville was intrigued. A horse working on a farm? How does that work? What would horses grow on a farm?
“Excuse me, but did you say you work on a farm?” he asked Applejack.
“Sure did,” Applejack replied. “Lived and worked there near all my life, and there’s plenty of work needin’ to be done today.”
“Do you need any help?” Vaudeville asked. The others felt uneasy. They knew that Applejack wasn’t keen on accepting help unless absolutely necessary, especially from ponies outside her good friends and family.
“You sure about that, partner?” Applejack ed. “Farm work ain’t easy, and it ain’t fer everypony.”
“Come on,” Vaudeville rebutted. “How hard can it be?”
