There and Back Again: A Pony's Journey

3.

The Valley Camp

The three ponies pushed hard down the green valley, large mountain ranges on either side loomed menacingly. They had been galloping fast all afternoon. The sun was now beginning to creep lower to their right, signaling that the day was to end soon.

“Alright guys, let’s stop here. We don’t want to take on the Forsaken Forest at night.” Neon said over his shoulder, slowing to a trot. WallCloud raced past him a wheeled back around before slowing to a trot. MonoChrome, however, flumped over as soon as he heard the word ‘stop’.  WallCloud strolled over to the panting unicorn.

“You don’t run much, do you?” WallCloud chuckled, holding out a hoof.

“Only my mouth, and that’s got me in quite a few ordeals!” MonoChrome said as he took the outstretched hoof.

“And what, pray tell, kind of ordeals could a comedian possibly get into?” WallCloud asked with an arched eyebrow.

“Hey, those bar-tabs can get pretty high!”  Chrome said with a snarky grin.

Wallcloud and MonoChrome shared in a laugh as they both unstrapped their bags.

“Alright, you are comical, I’ll give you that one.” Wallcloud said as he rummaged for a quick snack. “But, I am having trouble understanding how you came to be in Ashdale?” He began, speaking through mouthfuls of apple. “I mean, for someone not used to physical exertion.”

“Rode with the trade caravans most of the way!” Chrome called over his shoulder as he too retrieved an apple. “The only railway that comes this far is to the crystal empire, but it runs along the other side of the mountain.”

“Plus” Neon began” The airships aren’t in service during the migrations.”

“Also true” Chrome said as he flopped onto his haunches. “We should probably make a fire. I imagine it’ll get quite nippy.”

Neon nodded in confirmation. “Know any fire spells?”

Chrome shook his head. “Sorry, fire is not my specialty.”

“What was that you used to help us escape the cellar then?” WallCloud asked taking another bite from his apple.

“That was a little spell I came up with myself” Chrome said proudly. “It’s a basic light spell, but supercharged into actual kinetic energy.”

The other two looked at him with blank stares. Noticing their stares, he explained further. “You see, light is made of molecules called ‘photons’ and photons are what are prodeuced from my horn during the spell. These photons absorb the atoms from whatever I’m around, in this case air, the photons charge the collected atoms, and since the atoms in air are less stable, I am able to take the energy they are emitting and amplify it in to the destructive force in which you two witnessed!”

Monochrome finished, waiting for some hint that they understood. The two ponies said nothing. They sit astonished, simply staring at the unicorn.

“Annnd…. you’re a comedian?” Neon said astonished.

“Part-time” MonoChrome smiled.

“You could’ve saved a lot of time by just saying it was ‘magic’” WallCloud said, giving his head a scratch.

“Magic is only science we don’t understand yet.” MonoChrome said giving a wink.

“At any rate, magic or not, we need a fire.” WallCloud said as he looked up to the now orange sky.

“I’ll go find some fire wood, you two rest.” Neon said as he darted skyward.

“Loves to fly doesn’t he?” WallCloud said as he watched Neon depart.

“As most pegasi do I suppose.” MonoChrome said.  “Speaking of which, ‘WallCloud’ doesn’t really sound like an earth pony name. Something more accustomed to pegasi.”

“Aye.” WallCloud said giving a slight nod. “That is because I was named by my mother.”

“Your mother was a pegasus?” MonoChrome asked quizzically. “Funny how genetics work.”

“Indeed it is. My father spoke highly of her.” WallCloud said solemnly. “She died when I was just a foal.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.” MonoChrome said, quickly backing off the subject.

“Worry not” WallCloud said as he flattened out a place for the fire. “It feels nice to think of her.”

“I never knew my parents.” MonoChrome said as he watched WallCloud. “I was taken in by an earth pony family in Manehatten.”

“How is it you came to learn magic?” Wallcloud asked, finally satisfied with his fire place clearing.

“I studied at Celestia’s college.” MonoChrome said as he smiled, remembering his home.  “My family saved every bit they could so I could go one day.”

“And where does the comedy play in?” WallCloud asked. MonoChrome chuckled. He hadn’t thought about any of this for a long while.

“Manehatten’s majority population is earth ponies, right?” MonoChrome said. WallCloud nodded in confirmation. “Well, unicorn foals are much smaller than earth pony foals, and since I had to go to a school where the majority is mostly earth ponies, you can imagine I made for an easy target.” MonoChrome said as he dug up long suppressed memories. “Most times I could out-run them. Other times, however they cornered me. ‘Look at the egg-head’ they’d say. ‘Let’s see if it scrambles!’”

“That’s terrible!” WallCloud said. “What did you do?”

MonoChrome grinned. “The only the thing that I could think of, I was out of options, it was almost reflex: I told a joke.”

__________________________________________

        A gang of chubby little earth ponies gathered around in a back alley. They cheered and stamped their hooves as they surrounded their prey.

“C’mon guys, cut it out!” Squeaked a little white unicorn that was pinned under their hooves.

“You think you’re bettah den us?” One said in a think Manehatten accent.

“I never said anything like that- OW!” Chrome said as they applied more pressure on top of him.

“Got anything you wanna say before we clobbah you??” Another said on the other side from Chrome.

“ummm, Yeah!” Chrome said as he tried to prolong the inevitable as much as he could. He searched his mind for something to buy him some time. He was grasping at straws. e said the first thing that came to mind. “Uhhhhhh, did you guys know that my dog doesn’t have a nose??” The cheers stopped as the group pondered.

“Well, then how does he smell??” The colt who had Chrome pinned asked with squinted eyes.

“Terrible!” Chrome said with a huge grin. He shut his eyes and waited forr impact.

Everypony stopped. They looked at him with confused expressions. Suddenly a colt in the back burst out in uncontrolled laughter, then one after another everypony began to laugh.

I couldn’t believe it! They were actually laughing, So I told another one…

“You guys like that one?” MonoChrome asked, still on the ground. He knew he had to keep the momentum going if he were ever to make any progress. “I’d tell you one about amnesia, but I forgot how it goes!” The group roared in laughter again, this time allowing him off the ground.

How did you come up with those?

I dunno, but it tends to happen when I get nervous, my joke bottle becomes uncorked…

“I’m glad you guys like these! They’re usually like our hoofball team!” The group grew quiet in eager anticipation. “.....Swing and miss.” The group howled in laughter again.

“We’s wrong about you, unicorn.” One colt said.

“Yeah, you’re alright!” said another between chuckles.

“C’mon guys! My mom’s makin’ some brownies! We’ll seeya later MonoChrome!”

MonoChrome wore a nervous grin until the group ran out of sight. MonoChrome let out a sigh of relief.

“Sure weaseled out of that one!”  Came a voice from above. A light pink pegasus filly buzzed awkwardly down to the ground.

“Oh, heya, Rosie.” Chrome smiled as she descended.

“I guess this means we can’t hang out anymore, huh?” She asked with her big purple eyes quivering.

“What do you mean?” Chrome said dumbfounded. “We’re like best friends!” Rosie gave a nod to Chrome’s flank. He looked for himself and was positively beaming at what he saw. His cutie mark appeared! A golden comedy mask. He looked back to rosie who had a sad expression while looking at her own flanks.

“This doesn’t change anything! We’re still best friends!” Chrome said as he gave her a nuzzle. “Forever!” Rosie smiled and returned the nuzzle. “Wanna go see if CoCo wants to go to the park?” Rosie gave an excited nod and the duo ran down the street.

__________________________________________

        “Ahhhhh, had a little filly friend, eh?” WallCloud said as he casually nipped at the tall green grass around him.

“No no, nothing like that.” Chrome said, smiling at the memory of Rosie. “She moved away not long after that.”

“Annnnnnnd the fire express returns!” Neon said as he landed, releasing a bundle of wood onto the stomped down portion of grass. A few stars began to appear throughout the ever darkening sky. WallCloud rose to his hooves and sifted through the pile of sticks and produced a split piece of wood and a long, straight stick.

“Though I do not have proper tinder, this will have to do.” he said. He nipped up a bundle of gras and spat it down near the fire wood. “MonoChrome, can you help me a second?”

“Sure, what do you need?” Chrome said as he approached.

“I need you to rotate this stick as quickly as you can with your magic.” WallCloud said. “Once you have some friction going, Neon I need you to fan the embers until a flame starts.”

“Right.” Neon nodded. WallCloud stood the long stick upright and allowed MonoChrome to grasp it in his blue aura. WallCloud took a nice flat stone he found and pressed down on top of the stick with it to hold it in place. He nodded to MonoChrome who began to spin it with his magic. The stick began to squeak against the flat plat of wood. Slowly red ember began to fall into the grass bundle. Neon began to slowly fan his wings. Gentle breezes of air circulated around the bundle until..

“Aha!” WallCloud said as the bundle was quickly engulfed by flames. “Quickly MonoChrome!” WallCloud said “Take this and put it under the wood!” MonoChrome obliged and took the flames within his aura. He sat the bundle under the pile of wood, which quickly began to crackle and pop as the flames grew bigger.

The ponies stepped back from the ever growing heat.

“That is what I call a quality fire!” WallCloud said, clearly impressed. Neon let out a yawn.

“Well, guys” Neon began, I think we should get some shut eye. Long road ahead in the morning.” He said.

“Aye, the Forsaken Forest will be a cruel mistress indeed.” WallCloud added.

“Good night everypony.” MonoChrome said as he rolled over onto his back and looked up to the stars. He slowly closed his eyes and dreamt. Visions of his colthood and a certain pink pegasus…

___________________________

A dark silhouette glided menacingly over the streets. The ferocious sounds it made overheard could frighten even the most battle-hardened stallions. A dragon. The Largest dragon ponykind had ever seen. Where this town was, no one could say, but the ponies that were there wished with all they had that they were somewhere else. The beast erupted a jet of flames from its mouth and arced it into the sky, asserting its superiority.

“Where is it!?” It bellowed in a booming ear shattering voice. “WHERE IS THE WHITE UNICORN.?!” It then lanced out another flame jet, but this time aimed at an actual building. A familiar building, in fact. One shaped like a carousel.

_________________________

        Rarity kicked straight from her slumber and sat panting, sweat beading from her forehead. Gracious!  she thought. These visions are getting more and more vivid. She removed her sleeping mask and looked at the clock. 3 a.m.?!  She rubbed her eyes.Who was the white unicorn that voice spoke of? She couldn’t shake the suspicion that she was seeing her own grim future.