Jaded Dawn was a young pegasus colt, on the verge of becoming a stallion. His 17th birthday was just a few months away. He looked forward to his birthday, and yet dreaded it at the same time. He was excited to be an adult and all that, but he was scared of drifting away from his parents. He was not the fittest of pegasi, nor the fastest, but he was a decent flyer. He lived in the city of Trotsdale, with his mother and father. He knew he was going to move, and he had already decided where he would be moving. There was only one question left. “When?”
Having just graduated from high school, Jaded needed a job. After asking around town, he found he could work at the local grocery store. There he met a young mare who was about his age. Morning Glory was her name. She was a yellow unicorn, with a bright orange mane, and a matching tail. She bagged the customer's purchases, and he was a cashier, so they worked together often. Each got used to the other being there, and they became good friends. Jaded knew he was going to move soon, and that he probably wouldn't be seeing her for some time, but they could still keep in touch through letters.
The time soon came when Jaded was leaving Trotsdale. His birthday had been two weeks ago, and only four ponies were at his party. He preferred it that way, as he didn't like large crowds. The four ponies were his mother, his father, his little brother Sunny Skies, and Morning Glory. Now he was leaving home for the train station, after saying bye to his parents and brother. He went to the large train station, purchased a ticket, and sat on a nearby bench. As the train approached, he heard a familiar voice over the hustle and bustle of the train station.
“Jaded!”
Looking around, the sky blue pegasus saw Morning Glory running towards him. She looked out of breath. Had she run all the way here?
“Jaded, were you going to leave without telling me goodbye?” asked Morning, after catching her breath.
“I may or may not have forgotten.”
“How do you forget something like that?”
“My mind was elsewhere.”
“What do you mean?”
“I have been thinking of a way to make some bits once I get where I am going.”
“Where are you going? We have talked about this for weeks, and I never even thought to ask,”
“See? You forget things too.” Feeling Morning's hoof smack the back of his head, he continued, “To answer your question, I am moving to a small town called Ponyville.”
“Ponyville? I have a cousin who lives there. Her name is Lyra.”
“Nice. I hope to meet her soon.”
“You say that now.”
“Well, I guess I'll see you later, Morning. I'm going to miss you. Please visit soon, and if you can't do that, at least write.”
“We'll miss you too, Jaded. And, besides, who says I can't do both?”
Having said their goodbyes, the two parted ways. Morning Glory went home, and Jaded set out on a train, eager to begin his new adventure.
For the duration of the train ride to Ponyville, Jaded was sitting in a train compartment by himself. 'Just my luck,' he thought. 'Here I am, ready to meet new ponies, and stuck by myself.' He was so lost in his thoughts, that he nearly missed his stop at the Ponyville train station.
Covering his ears with his wings so all the noise of the train station wouldn't hurt his ears, he was surprised to see it was nowhere nearly as loud as he had expected. With all the daily commotion in Trotsdale, he had gotten used to the noise, and the quiet atmosphere felt almost odd. He decided that before making his way to his new home, he would get acquainted with the layout of the city. While walking around, he saw a few things that were odd, to say the least.
There was a building that seemed to be made entirely out of candy, and the sign above the door read, “Sugarcube Corner.”
“What kind of building is this?” Jaded mumbled as he walked in. Upon entering, he smelled the most heavenly aroma he ever could have imagined. It was a bakery! “I should have guessed, considering the architecture.”
There was also this weird forest near the edge of the town, that seemed really dark, even though it was still early in the morning. Near the edge of the forest, was a cottage that seemed to be built in part of a hill. Grass and flowers adorned the roof, and small animals scampered about. There was a small stream nearby, in which many animals were swimming and frolicking about, while others chose just to drink the water. While admiring the animals, and the beauty of the place, that managed to be so wonderful and cheerful even though it was next to that weird forest, he failed to notice the yellow pegasus who was tending to some of the animals. She had a yellow coat, similar to that of Morning Glory, and a long hot pink mane and tail. Remembering he was here to see the town, and to meet new ponies, he decided to walk up to her and introduce himself.
“Hi, my na--”
“EEP!”
The mare seemed to be hiding behind her mane, and Jaded was worried that he had frightened her.
“Ma'am? Are you okay? Did I frighten you? I'm sorry. It really was an accident.” Jaded was sad, as he supposed he had angered the first pony he had met in his new town.
“I-i-it's okay. I know you didn't mean it. I forgive you.” Jaded could not have been more happy than he was upon hearing those words. He might still be able to become friends with her!
“My name is Jaded Dawn, and I am new in town. I was just looking around, when I saw this place. Do you know who lives in that cottage? I was wondering if they might know how to get to the place I will be staying.”
“Oh! That is my house. And where are you going? I might be able to help you find your way there. Where are my manners? I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Fluttershy.”
“Nice to meet you, Fluttershy. Anyways, I am going to be an assistant at the Golden Oaks Library. Thanks for offering to help, by the way.”
“No problem, I love helping animals, as well as ponies. And besides, I know exactly where the library is. My friend Twilight Sparkle is in charge of it, and she and her other assistant, Spike, live there.”
Off they went through the town, with her showing him landmarks and other such things as the two went along. There was an orchard that went on for as far as the eye could see. She said it was called Sweet Apple Acres, and her friend Applejack and the rest of the Apple family cared for the trees and harvested them by themselves every year. Jaded asked her about Sugarcube Corner, and she said it was run by the Cake family, with the help of her friend Pinkie Pie. Up on a hill near the edge of town, was a stylish building that Fluttershy kept calling “Carousel Boutique.” Apparently it was run by her friend, Rarity.
'Is she friends with everyone in town?' Jaded thought to himself.
“Here we are. The Golden Oaks Library.”
Jaded really wasn't sure whether to be happy at living in such a cool place, for he had loved to read for his entire childhood, or to facehoof at living in a literal tree-house. Jaded was about to knock on the door, when it swung open, hitting him directly in the muzzle.
“Spike! Did you hit someone with the door again?” Came a voice from inside the library.
“I don't think so Twilight.” He peered around the door. “There may or may not have been an accident involving the door and a stallion's muzzle!”
Author's Note
Hello, and welcome to the very first installment of “The Life and Times of Jaded Dawn.”
Please help me think of a better title. I beg of you. Also, any constructive criticism would be highly appreciated, please Review! OH! One more thing. Anyone who would be interested in helping with the cover art, please PM me.
~megaemailman
2. Welcome to Ponyville!
There was one thought going through Jaded Dawn's mind. 'Where am I?'
“Oh! You're finally awake!” came a voice from beside him. Looking at the source of the voice, he saw that same yellow pegasus he met the day before.
'What's her name? Fluttershy?' Jaded was so busy trying to remember what had happened, he didn't even notice his surroundings, or the yellow pegasus who was still talking to him.
“... So then we brought you here, and you woke up,” She said. Jaded was pretty sure he knew what had happened, so he didn't bother asking her to repeat herself. Looking around, he saw he was on a couch in the library, with a bag of ice on his muzzle. It was rather cold
in the library already, and the ice made it almost unbearably so. Taking the bag of ice off of his muzzle, he asked Fluttershy if she knew where he could dispose of it.
“There's a trash bin in the corner for the bag, and a sink in the kitchen for the ice.”
”Thanks, Fluttershy. Say, have you seen Twilight? I'd really like to talk to her.”
“She's probably in the main room. If she isn't there, she is probably upstairs studying or something.”
“Thank you.” Going into the main room, Jaded didn't see anypony. He did see Spike, but he wasn't scared. He had talked to Twilight, and she had told him about Spike beforehand. “Hey. You're Spike, right?”
“No. Spike's the other dragon in Ponyville.”
“Oh, A touch sarcastic, are we? Be prepared, young drake.” Jaded rubbed the tips of his wings together menacingly.
“You're kinda worrying me here.”
“Yeah, I have that effect on people. Anyways, it's nice to meet you. My name's Jaded Dawn, and I'm going to be helping you as Twilight's assistant.”
“Oh, I remember Twilight telling me about you. She was really excited to have a stallion like you helping.”
After hearing that. Jaded was blushing to the point that his face was as red as Spike's would be if Rarity ever learned about his crush.
“Whoa. No need to be so embarrassed. I was messing with you.”
“Well then. I have one thing to say to you, Spike. My vengeance is coming.” Jaded tried to keep a serious face, but in the end, he failed. Miserably. He laughed until his lungs started to burn. Then, after catching his breath, he laughed some more. “This has been fun and all, but I gotta go talk to Twilight. I'll talk to you in a few minutes.”
Walking upstairs, he saw three doors. Knocking on the first one, he got no answer. 'Meh. I guess that door is something else.' Knocking on the second door, he heard something hit the floor, and a mare's voice telling him to come in. Upon entering, Jaded noticed three things. Firstly, there was a lavender unicorn under a pile of books. Secondly, this was a bedroom. Lastly, there was a small bed near the end of a larger one. It looked like something a pet might sleep in. Had Jaded missed a pet scampering around somewhere in the library?
“Are you Twilight Sparkle?” asked Jaded.
“Yes. Yes I am.”
“Do you need help? You appear to be stuck.”
“No, thank you.” Levitating the books back to their rightful places on the bookshelf near her bed, Twilight spoke to the stallion. “You must be Jaded Dawn. Please, come sit down.”
One interview later
“You're hired!” stated Twilight enthusiastically.
“Thank you. I just realized something. I am staying here in the library, right?”
“Yes.”
“Where will I be sleeping?”
“Do you have any problems with sleeping on the couch?”
“No, but thanks for checking. I have one more question.”
“Shoot.”
“When will I be starting?”
“Your first day starts tomorrow. I need you to get up pretty early tomorrow, because I need to run some errands, so it will be just you and Spike.”
With that decided, Jaded was going to celebrate his new job. Walking outside he spread his blue wings and looked up. “I'm going to do it. I am finally going to try to do a flip.” Flying up as fast as he could, he started leaning backwards once he got higher. “I'm doing it! I'm really do-”
“...”
“...”
“Ow.”
Taking his muzzle out of the hole his “landing” had created, he made his way back inside. It was getting late, so Jaded volunteered to make dinner.
“Be careful not to burn the house down!” shouted Spike.
“No promises.”
“What?!”
“I was just joking with Spike. Sorry, Twilight.” Jaded knew exactly what he was going to make for dinner, and so he started getting all the ingredients ready. Thirty minutes later, there were three bowls of salad ready on the table, along with potato soup. “Dinner's ready, everypony!”
After eating, Twilight went back to studying, and Spike started reading a comic book in the front room of the library. After Jaded cleaned the dishes, the sun was still up, so he decided to go out into the town. Soon after walking out, he was in the middle of town. A few ponies waved, and some even introduced themselves. After meeting all of those ponies, he walked closer to his destination: Sugarcube Corner. Right before he got near the door, it opened and a pink blur came bowling straight into him.
“Hi! My name's Pinkie Pie! You must be new in town! I could tell because I don't know you, but I know everypony in town!” She proceeded to let out a gasp that should not have been possible, before racing back into Sugarcube Corner, and placing a closed sign on the door.
“Well, then. This has been a huge waste of time. At least I met some new ponies.” Jaded muttered as he began his trip back to the library. There were still a lot of ponies in the town square, even though it was going to be dark soon. When he got back to the library, he checked through the window, and was relieved to see that there was nopony or dragon near the door. Opening the door, he saw Twilight talking to a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane.
“Hey, Twilight? Am I interrupting something?”
“No, it's fine. I was just talking to Rainbow Dash. She's a good friend of mine, and head of the Ponyville weather team.”
“Silly Twilight. He already knows who I am.”
“How would he know who you are, Rainbow?”
“I'm myself. Duh. I'm a future Wonderbolt, and I am twenty percent cooler than the average pony.”
“What kind of math did you use to figure that out?” asked Jaded.
She blew a raspberry and said, “Math? Who needs math?”
“I can't begin to count the number of things wrong with that.”
“Just ignore her sometimes, Jaded. It will save you a lot of headaches.”
“That's ri- HEY!”
“I was just wondering if you needed any help.”
“No, thanks. Hey, I have an idea. Why don't we all go to Sugarcube Corner?”
“It's closed,” stated Jaded.”
“Just come on.”
“Okay, fine.”
As they were walking through town, Jaded noticed that even though the streets had just been full, there was almost nopony else in them now. After a quiet walk to the bakery, Jaded saw the open sign on the door again. Jaded opened the door, but the lights were off. As soon as he stepped in, the lights flicked on.
“SURPRISE!”
His wings popped open, and he jumped up in surprise, knocking his head on the frame of the door.
“Ever since coming to this town, my head keeps getting hurt.”
Pinkie Pie raced up to Jaded at what must have been at least Mach 4, but he didn't hear her. He was too busy rubbing his head. After saying hi to everypony there, which was the majority of the town, he walked up to Twilight.
“Hey, Twilight? I just remembered a question I had earlier. I saw you had a telescope back at the library, and I was wondering if you would let me use it.”
“I didn't know you liked stargazing.”
“I do. It is actually one of my favorite hobbies. I used to make maps of the stars, but I got rid of them. In fact, making those maps is what gave me my cutie mark. He turned to the side, showing her his cutie mark, which she had somehow failed to notice.
“Is that the Big Dipper?” Twilight asked.
“It sure is. It was the first constellation I was ever able to find.”
Author's Note
So, our friend Jaded Dawn has officially met most of the Mane 6. Sorry if this chapter is ~~worse than usual~~ bad, but I had to type it between 1:00 AM and 2:36 AM. I did my best, but I have to be inactive now for a couple of days.
