The Completely Ordinary Life of Fractal Greyscale

Chapter 2: The History of Fractal Greyscale (Interlude 1)

You may be wondering why I'm putting this right after the first page, right? Well, it's so that the amount of exposition later on will be reduced, so the important bits come faster. Let's begin.

My history, you ask, well... alright.

My family has a long history of unicorns, earth ponies, and pegasi dating from way back to the beginning of the royal diarchy. I don't really know much, but my family's branch is the last.

It all started when a mare and her family decided to move from Carthay to the area now known as Hoofington. That was my many-times-great grandmother on my father's side. But that's not important. Long story short, my grandmother, Copper Volt, decided to move from Hoofington to Ponyville, taking my father, Golden Ratio, with her. Dad meets mom, Chrome Silver, and decides to move to Manehattan, where I was born.

I was born to a mathematician and an engineer, so my course in life was practically set. I was raised on anything scientific that my parents could get their hooves on, learning to read with old chemistry texts, learning the animals with biology. Of course, the fact that I had a magical disability worried my parents, but they were overjoyed when they learned that my magic was naturally based around geometry. I went to school on a math scholarship to Manehattan's own Institute of Science and Magitech, where I consistently gained, if not perfect, then at least good grades. Good enough to be in the top ten highest ranking students in the school and in the top one hundred in the nation. I used to be a near insatiable bookworm on everything relating to science and math; as a result, I realized the connection between name and cutie mark fairly early on.

I earned my cutie mark at age seven, fourth in my class, when I first managed to shift my magic from not 2D to 3D, but 3D to a fractal pattern. That day I learned that holding a fractal pattern in real life often tends to warp the fabric of reality. Fortunately, the fractal was tiny, barely half the size of a bit coin, so the backlash only ruined my ability to speak normally instead of, y'know, shredding me into pieces.

After graduating from the Institute at age twenty, eighth in the school by the way, I decided to pursue a life as an engineer. Unfortunately for me, my boss was an arrogant, racist waste-of-air, so I got fired after proving myself smarter than him. By that point, I decided to cut my losses and moved to Ponyville, the place where my grandmother lived. And died.

Yeah. My grandmother was dead by the time I got there; freak accident involving an unauthorized Tesla Coil and a stray flask of glycerin hitting a beaker of nitric acid. At least my she died doing the thing she loved, that crazy mare.

After hearing that, I decided to be a repair-stallion, given that twisting my magic into different shapes could reproduce just about any tool necessary. That was about seven years ago. Over the course of those seven years, I'd seen Pinkie Pie move in, which basically ended in her throwing her own 'Welcome to Ponyville' party.

Wait- you want to hear about the party?

...Fine. Okay, so it went like this:

First, Pinkie is seen all over town looking for a place to stay and/or work. After the town gossips hear that she's moved into Sugarcube Corner's loft/attic, the whole town suddenly becomes aware of it. A town of just hundreds means that news travels fast. Of course, a few hours later, everypony was confused by the party invitations in the mail. Nopony had seen anypony put them there; they just appeared out of nowhere. Like I said, that mare scares me sometimes.

Curious, we all went down to Sugarcube Corner, yes, even me, surprisingly enough. Once inside, everypony realized that Pinkie Pie wasn't normal. How so? She managed to fit every single pony inside a building whose ground floor was barely enough to hold thirty ponies on a normal day.

The rest of the time was filled with the usual activities of a Pinkie Party, namely games, sweets, and enough introductions to make your head spin.

I didn't get much sleep that night, suffice to say.

That night was well over four years ago, and was probably the most real social interaction I'd had in years. But, given Ponyville's rural nature and my lack of a sense of adventure, nothing of note really happened.

Okay, so Pinkie decided she was friends with me... and I made acquaintances with Fluttershy... and was on speaking terms with just about every single pony in town... but that's about it. I was the only repair-stallion in Ponyville, so it was only logical.

What else is vaguely important?

Ah! Well, if you care to know, I was born the most drab and boring looking pony you'd ever see, due to my entirely monochrome coloring, and lack of a sociable nature.

I'm a moderately accomplished pianist, a damn good parts designer, and a pretty damn decent omni-focus scientist, with an incredibly heavy bias towards the physical sciences.

You have no idea how hard it was to learn all that.

My magical defect, while keeping me from teleporting or anything even remotely resembling an actual spell, still allows me to use and shape it in a variety of ways, 2D, 3D, fractal patterns, weapons, tools, etc. It's always in the physical spectrum too, so it's fairly obvious when I use magic.

It also saves a lot of money when it comes to costumes for Nightmare Night, since it's nearly self-sustaining, and I usually choose grays and blacks as a color scheme anyways.

...It appears as though I'm rambling just to keep your attention, even with the short length of this chapter.

(As the author, I'd like to point out that Fractal isn't actually aware of the fourth wall outside these little interludes, but it's probably useless to point this out anyways, since this is an interlude)

As it is, that brings us to the approximate temporal location of now, being that it's about three days before the Summer Sun Celebration, and, according to sources outside the Fourth Wall, three days before Twilight Sparkle appears and totally bucks up the previously peaceful and idyllic life of Ponyville.

Don't get me wrong, but those girls are chaos magnets, and, unlike some of the other self-insert ponies, I'd prefer not to be like them. Or have any adventures at all, really.

Okay, maybe just one.

The Real Chapter 2: Another Day, Ano–wait, the Summer Sun Celebration is HERE!?

Mondays suck.

It's an absolute rule of the Universe, as some non-scientist ponies would put it. As for me, I just don't like the concept of having to go back to work after a nice, relaxing weekend... except the fact that I work over the course of an entire week, not just Monday to Friday. So really, it's just an irrational dislike of a completely random day that carried over probably from when I was still in the Institute.

But let's forget about that. Because that was yesterday.

I'm not recapping that.

So, it's Tuesday, and boy was I confused when I saw everypony in town running around like madmares, apparently decorating the town with various sun themed decorations. I was wondering just what it was that everypony was running around for, so I set off at a brisk trot towards Pinkie's place, knowing that she would have the answers I sorta-not really-kinda wanted.

"Good morning, Pinkie", I greeted, and she fixed me with a grin that I swear left me seeing stars, it was that bright.

Note to self: Wear sunglasses when visiting Pinkie Pie.

"Hey there, Fracty-Wacty-" "Pinkie" "-...Fractal. You're no fun, you know that? Why don't you smile?" "I never found a reason to." "Oh"

Seeing Pinkie on the verge of frowning, or worse, being sad, I quickly (yet still monotonously) blurted, "So, what's happening around town anyways?"

Success.

"Oh, that's right! This year Ponyville's hosting the Summer Sun Celebration, and somepony from Canterlot is coming to help oversee the preparations tomorrow!"

"...That's... wonderful... I'm assuming you're hosting a 'Welcome to Ponyville' Party for this pony, aren't you?" "Yep!" "...You want me to go, too, despite me being the most antisocial pony you know?" " You know it!"

I sighed and began to walk away, Pinkie calling after me, "Be at the Golden Oaks Library tomorrow at eight!" I left without a reply, Pinkie already knew all of my visual cues anyways, so the baffling mare already knew I agreed, however reluctantly it was.

As I made my way around town to actually do some work, I found my mind wandering some. Just why was the Summer Sun Celebration being held here, of all places. It's usually held in Canterlot, or somewhere big and fancy, with lots of ponies.

No matter, I had work to do.

As you may have guessed, being the only repairpony in all of Ponyville is a pretty tiring job. Even if it's a quiet little town right on the edge of the Everfree forest, somepony is always breaking something. Thankfully, today's workload was light.

First, a hole in the wall at the Time Turner and Derpy's house. A simple fix, but I couldn't help myself, "How in Tartarus did you manage this?" "Ehm..." "Derpy?" "...Yeah..."

Second, a trip to the senior center, just to repair the coffee machine, and replace some lightbulbs. Seriously, you'd think they'd be able to do it themselves, but apparently not.

Final stop: Fluttershy's cottage, where yet again, I needed to fix basically everything not nailed down.

"Miss Fluttershy, you need to keep a better control over your companions"

"O-oh, I know, I-I do try, but they're just playing, and I could never stop them from having fun"

"Regardless, I'm done. If you weren't in frequent need of repairs, the bill would be a lot higher." I turned to leave, then paused,

"By the way, Miss Fluttershy, do you know why the Summer Sun Celebration is being held here this year?"

"N-no... is it important?"

"I suppose not"

With that, I left without another word.

(Note: In this AU, Spike is still in Canterlot, but he'll make an entrance soon. Here he's less of an assistant and more of a little brother being raised by Celestia. So yeah, don't worry, he'll be appearing... later though)

The next day, I was treated to the sight of a purple unicorn entering town in a carriage pulled by a pair of Royal Guards. Being that I also knew pretty much everyone in town, I knew that his mare was the overseer provided by Canterlot to, well, oversee, our preparations.

After a few moments of watching the overseer, I was a bit nonplussed to find that the mare was probably younger than I was. Curiouser and curiouser.

I decided to stop staring, and moved to greet her when out of Celestia-damned NOWHERE enters Pinkie Pie, who proceeds to gasp like a lunatic, and dash off faster than my eyes could track her. again confused, I decided to finish what I started, and went to greet the overseer.

"Good morning, ma'am. I see you've just had a run-in with our local party master, Pinkie Pie. Are you the overseer that Canterlot sent to supervise the Celebration preparations?"

"Oh! Um, yes. Uh... Hi! My name is Twilight Sparkle, personal student to Princess Celestia, and I'm here to oversee Ponyville's preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration"

"Interesting. Well, I can tell you don't really know your way around, perhaps I may be of some assistance?"

"Thanks, um, what was your name again?"

"I apologize. My name is Fractal Greyscale, the town's only repairpony. If you need to fix anything, there's a building near Town Hall with a list attached to the door. Simply write your name, address, and item to be fixed, and I'll fix it."

"Well then, Fractal, do you know where I can find a pony by the name of Applejack? She's supposed to be doing the catering."

"...Follow me. Since it's about ten, she'll probably invite you to brunch. Be warned though, she's completely obsessed with apples, and if you're not careful, you'll probably eat too much."

"Well, I don't think that will be much problem...at least I hope not"

As we rounded the bend towards Sweet Apple Acres, I noticed something that nearly made my heart stop, though I didn't show it.

" Miss Twilight, I suppose I should warn you, the Apple family is rather large, and as such, is also very fond of family gatherings. Celestia rest your soul if you get stuck having a meal with the entire family."

"Wait, what?"

Oh dear. Applejack saw us.

I suppose at this point I should point out that Applejack scares me, though to an admittedly lesser extent that with Pinkie.

"Howdy ya'll! What's your name?", greeted Applejack, while simultaneously shaking Twilight's hoof hard enough that I could feel it from where I was standing.

"My name's Applejack, and this here is Sweet Apple Acres, home of the best apples in Equestria."

Twilight shook out her hoof, and with a slightly forced smile replied, "I'm Twilight Sparkle, and I'm here to check if the catering is ready for the Celebration tonight." As she looked around, Applejack finally noticed me trying to blend into the tree-line.

"Howdy there, Fractal! How've you been?"

"Fine, thank you."

"Alright, then"

She turned her attention back to Twilight and loudly invited the both of us to brunch.

May Celestia have mercy on our souls.

Two hours later, and Twilight was apparently ready to be sick, while I fared little better.

"I don't think I ever want to eat another apple ever again"

"I told you to be careful"

"Whatever, so where's this Rainbow Dash pony anyways? She's supposed to be keeping the sky clear, but it's still full of clouds!"

"Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"IIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNCOOOOOOOMMMMMIIIIIIIINNNNNGGGGGG!"

"That"

"Aah!"

*DONG*

"...ow"

End Chapter Two