Written by Sky Stripe, published by "The Ponyville Critic"
Prologue: False Starts
Bruchellia: the name given by zebras to their homeland. A treacherous land filled with danger and ferocious wildlife. Well, at least, that's how most ponies view it. While this is true, there is another side to Bruchellia, one that if you look hard enough, you will see the true beauty and majesty of the land. You will see that it is a land filled with diversity and wonder in both its inhabitants and the land itself.
This is where I was born.
My name is Sky Stripe and I am a zebrasus - zebra equivalent of a pegasus - and this is the story of my journey to Equestria.
It was time for me to leave home to start my journey, after waiting for so long. I grew up on my parents’ banana and sugar cane farm but I had always wanted to explore the world and see as much of it as I possibly could. In fact, my Symbol Stripe - that's what a zebra Cutie Mark is called - is a wing which shows my desire to explore. Unfortunately, I was too young to leave home at the time that I got it but now that I am seven-teen, I can start my adventures across the globe.
"Goodbye, Son!" my mother called out as I walked away from the house and along the road out of the farm.
"Bye, Mum," I called back.
"Be careful out there!" my father shouted while waving, "And don't forget to write!"
"Don't worry about a thing, I'll be fine," I responded, "And I'll write whenever I can!"
I faced forward with my parents waving behind me. I must admit, I did feel bad about leaving them, especially at a time like this. I had planned to start my journey at the start of the rainy season, but the rains never came and it was getting difficult to keep our crops healthy and well watered. After about two weeks, my parents told me to start my adventure and that they would be fine as we had employees and my brother and sister to help around the farm. I still felt a little guilty about leaving them though.
I had decided that the first place I would go to would be Equestria. My parents weren't too thrilled by this though as it is ruled by the alicorn sisters. It's not that zebras have anything against them, it's just that, there are some old stories which have alicorns portayed as tyrants so, naturally, many zebras are wary of them. The Nightmare Moon incident didn't help either and for many, it only confirmed their suspicions about alicorns. Personally, I'm not too sure what to think, which is why I want to go to Equestria first so I can meet Celestia and Luna and see if they are as bad as everyzebra says they are.
I could have gotten a train to Equestria, but I wanted to explore the world, which includes my own homeland, which was why I was going to walk the way there. It was going to be a long journey but I had most of the things I needed in my saddle bags so I just needed to buy some things from some shops in Coast Town - the nearest city to my family farm. Fortunately, my parents were generous enough to give me 80 shards, which may sound like a lot, but it's really not. 80 shards is only worth about 20 bits in Equestrian currency.
I stopped dead in my tracks as I suddenly realised I had done something very foalish. I had left the money in a drawer beside my bed. I let out a sigh as I mentally facehooved at my own stupidity.
"You're off to a great start, Sky Stripe..." I mumbled to myself.
