In the Time Before

Chapters

Chapter 1 In the Beginning there was Something
Chapter 2 The Forest
Chapter 3 The Town
Chapter 4 The First Trial
The Galloping Gala
Epilogue

Chapter 1 In the Beginning there was Something

The sun and the moon rested perfectly on the opposite ends of the horizon, creating a constant state of twilight. The tree’s green leaves littered the 5 branches that extended from its center. The tree’s bark was as brown as any other tree. However, what was unusual about the tree was the gemstones that were in the tree’s branches. On the branch closest to the ground on the left, there was a large crystal that took up most of the bark circle that surrounded it. The shape of the crystal was that of a butterfly and its color was pink. On the next branch, there was a balloon with a light blue color. The top branch had a crystal in the shape of a large lightning bolt that was colored red. The other branch that sat next to it, had a diamond shaped gemstone that shined dark purple in the twilight. The last branch, which was on the far right side of the tree, had a gem the shape of a large orange apple. As beautiful as all the crystals were, none shined as brightly as the one in the center of the tree. It was a stunning light purple star that had its 6 points stretched across most of the center of the tree. On the trunk of the tree right below the star, there was a sun and a moon that had been ingrained into the bark. This tree was the proud ruler that controlled all of the natural world.

One day, this tree created a little foal. He had a pure green body that was the same color as bright new leaves on a tree. His mane was a deep navy blue. The tree had placed these features on him intentionally. The green was to blend in with the forest and the mane was meant to hide the pony in the shadows of the forest. The foal also had wings and a horn just as the tree intended. He also had golden eyes and his muzzle was shorter than most colts. These features weren’t ones the tree had made. They simply came into being on their own.

The little pony, was puzzled by his new and sudden existence. He looked around in awe at his surroundings. The tree was standing in the middle of a clearing in a forest. There was only a small gap between the tree and the forest itself.

After looking at his surroundings, he started examining himself. He noticed that his body’s color was unbroken except for a spot on his rump. His rump had the identical image of the upper part of the tree that stood in front of him.

The tree spoke, but only the foal could hear him. “Young foal,” The tree spoke in a mystical voice. “I must teach you all that you need to know to fulfill your duty.”

The young pony was puzzled but he didn’t know how to speak back to the great tree.

The tree raised the little pony for 200 years. During this time, the tree taught him how to use magic like a Unicorn, how to fly like a Pegasus and how to use his strength like an Earth pony. However, over time the foal grew to resent the tree. The tree commanded him to do tasks like it owned him.

One day, out of rage and curiosity, the pony left the tree and went out to see the world. Despite the fact that he had lived for 200 years, he was still a young colt. He was like a pony who just finished filly school going off on his own. He went through the forest where he often worked in the past.

A while after the pony left the tree, he found another clearing. This clearing was filled with green grass a mile wide and was surrounded by the forest. Inside the clearing, there was a small pony town. The town had only a few buildings scattered around. The houses were made of wood from the nearby forest. There were only two buildings with standout features. There was a building at the edge of town that had a second story with no walls on it and a large torch inside the second story. The other building was in the center of town and it was only slightly bigger than the rest. All the buildings were placed on dirt foundations with dirt paths.

He started trotting through the clearing to the town. On his way, he saw a stream but paid it no mind. While going through the clearing he thought he saw something, but it ran off before he could get a good look at it. When he got into the town, he saw a small crowd of ponies around one pony. The crowd consisted of Unicorns, Pegasi and Earth ponies. However, there were no ponies like him with wings and a horn.

As he approached, the pony in front quickly darted into the crowd and he couldn’t identify him from the rest. He received looks of confusion and awe from the ponies. No pony dared talk to the outsider because he was so different from them. However, there was one unicorn who tried her luck.

“Hello” The pony said as she came to greet him from the crowd. She was slightly taller than him but she didn’t have wings like he did. She had a purple colored coat and an orange mane. Her eyes were a deep silver in a sea of white. She had a picture on her rump just like he did but the picture was of several silver dust-like particles in a crescent shape. Ponies often made fun of her in filly school because her special talent was useless. Even now, many ponies of the town still ignored her because she couldn’t do anything to help the town. “Where are you from?” she asked

The young pony didn’t speak at first. He was a little uncomfortable around other ponies. “From the forest I guess.”

The ponies were curious about the newcomer but they still kept their distance from this green and blue pony with a horn and wings.

“Well…what’s your name?” she said realizing the mistake she made by not asking this first. She couldn’t practice talking much since the town didn’t allow her to socialize with any pony.

“My name?” He said.

“Yes, your name.”

He had never even heard the word “name” before in all of his 200 year life. “What’s a…name?” he said searching his memory for the meaning.

Being the intelligent pony that she was, she knew at that moment that this pony had never seen another pony in his life. “Well uhm…” She said trying to think of how to describe a name. “A name is what we use to describe ourselves…individually? My name, for example, is Twinkle Sparkles. I assume you don’t have a name?”

“No…” said the unnamed pony “How do I get one?” He said, unsure of what the other ponies thought of his lack of a name.

Twinkle chuckled “You silly.” She said “You can’t get one, you are given one. Usually by your parents.” She paused. “I guess you don’t have parents either.”

“What are…parents?” The crowd started to whisper.

The crowd that surrounded them grew until almost all of the town’s residents were part of it. When he looked over, he could see there were 23 ponies in the crowd. The town was small but it was one of the largest pony towns in the world at that time.

“Figured you didn’t know.” She sighed “Parents are ponies who create you. Usually a mare and a colt make up your parents.”

He thought about the tree and realized that being created by a tree wasn’t normal around here. To avoid further murmurs from the crowd, he spoke. “I…don’t have parents.”

“Thought so” she said startling him a bit with her response. “Come on, I’ll show you around town.”

As the two started trotting, the crowd didn’t want to follow and it dissipated soon after they left.

“This is where we all live.” She said pointing to the houses around her. “We don’t have enough homes for everyone, but we are trying to build more.”

As they trotted, the green pony marveled at the fact that ponies lived in houses made of wood. He had always lived in the woods under the tree where it was open all the time. Confining himself to a small wooden house seemed…tight to him.

They continued moving. They came to the center of town where there was a wooden building that was slightly bigger than the rest.

“This is the town hall.” Twinkle said “we conduct meetings here once a week. In these meetings, we talk about the current state of the town and what we will do with the town in the future.”

He looked at it in awe. They continued moving. They came to a small market place where only 3 ponies were present. One was working a cart filled with a small assortment of food. The other two ponies looked over the food deciding what to get.

“This is the market. This is where we take all our items that we gather to sell them to our fellow pon…wait…” she examined the two ponies at the stand.

“Let’s get out of here. There is a lot more of the town I have yet to show you.” She was pushing the pony along to get him to move but it was too late. The two ponies who were looking at the food turned their heads toward Twinkle.

They moved faster toward her than she could push the green pony.

A colt's voice called out to them. “Tink did you use your magic to force some pony to be with you?”

The pair was right in front of them now. One was a tall light blue earth pony, with aqua green mane and an axe mark. The other was a mare that was a little shorter than the stallion but still tall for a pony. She had a crimson purple coat, yellow mane and had a pen and paper mark. She was an earth pony just like the colt next to her. The mare spoke. “Honestly, is that anyway to greet a new pony? Although I wouldn’t put it past her.”

The green pony tried to stay out of the conversation.

Twinkle sighed and introduced the two ponies to her visitor. While pointing to the colt she said “This is Chop Block and this” she pointed to the mare “is Quillpaps Sparkles. They’re my parents.”

“Right you are Tink.” Chop said using the nick name that all the bully’s at Twinkles school used. “So that funny little pony there is yours? You made it?”

Quillpaps punched Chop in the side. “Oww!” He said. She whispered in Chop’s ear “I know she’s odd but there is no need to be rude.” Although the two earth ponies did love their daughter, they would have quickly traded her for another earth pony like them.

Twinkle became flustered. “I didn’t make him! He came to town today and I was just showing him around!”

“Ha-ha. Yeah sure Tink.” Said Chop in a sarcastic voice. “No one has ever come from outside the village.”

The pony thought to say something but when he looked at Twinkle in something close to a rage, he thought that it was best to say nothing.

“I am not making this up!” Twinkle said quite angrily. “He just came into town today. You can ask any pony. They were there when we met.” She had calmed down her voice a bit.

“We have to get back to the house to drop off our groceries.” Said Twinkle's mother practically pushing the colt. “See you at the house Twinkle.”

They trotted off. However, the two ponies could hear the pair arguing once they were out of sight. Twinkle spoke before the other pony could.

“Let’s get moving.”

“But…” He decided that it was best not to bring up the awkward conversation that just happened.

The two ponies arrived at the edge of town. They stood in front of the only open two story building in the town. The second floor had no walls and there was a giant torch in the middle.

“This is the school house” Twinkle said

“Why is there a…torch in the middle of the second floor?” The green pony asked questioningly.

“That torch tells all the kids to come to school. Class has started. Now let’s go. This place has bad memories.” She recalled all the teasing from the students and her parents didn’t do anything about it, nor did the teacher for that matter.

They continued trotting without a word spoken between them. As they walked, he found they had left the village and were at the stream he saw earlier on his trot into town. The stream looked like it had no beginning or end.

“The last stop on our tour of the town is our stream. It’s where we get our water from.”

He bent down to examine the water. The current was moving pretty fast. He felt like if he fell in he would be swept away by the current.

“Well don’t be shy. Take a drink.”

The pony looked at her in question. “Drink?”

He hadn’t drunken anything except for the one time that the tree told him to drink some of it’s sap after he had used all of his magic trying to do a spell. It tasted terrible but it immediately replenished all the magic he had lost doing the spell.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t drunk anything before?” Twinkle asked.

“Uhm…ok.” The green pony said puzzled at the phrase.

“I was being sarcastic.” She said.

“Uh…” he was about to say something when Twinkle cut him off.

“Just drink the water.” She said with irritation.

Despite her irritation, she found that her curiosity was getting the better of her.

He ducked his head into the water and sucked up the water as he had done with the tree’s sap. He found the water felt fresh and tasted rejuvenating, unlike the sap. His small feeling of bliss was interrupted by Twinkles question.

“What’s your Cutie Mark?”

He looked up in confusion. “My what?”

She sighed again at the thought of another explanation today. “A Cutie Mark is the special talent that all ponies have and it’s shown on your flank. Like mine.” She pointed to the particles on her flank. “See? This is my Cutie Mark. It represents my special talent. Magic. However, yours looks like uh…” She glared intently at the image on his flank. “Tree with gemstones in it. What does it mean?”

He looked at his cutie mark. “Uh… I don’t know. It has always been there…”

“Wait!” She cut him off. “You had your Cutie Mark your entire life?!”

“Yeah…” He spoke uneasily “Isn’t that normal?”

“No!” she said in astonishment. “Cutie Marks are something you have to find on your own. They aren’t just given to you.”

“It…was that way for me. Ever since I woke up…I have had this mark.”

She became even more confused with this pony. She thought to herself: He doesn’t have a name, he doesn’t have parents, he has never drunk water before, he has had his Cutie Mark for as long as he can remember and he woke up in… she stopped her thoughts. That’s it! He doesn’t remember anything because he has lost his memory. Now I just need to know where he woke up and for how long he has been wandering around.

Twinkle spoke “This is the end of the tour. Why don’t we take a little trot around?”

“Sure” he said uncertainly.

They started moving. She continued talking “I have told you a lot about me why don’t you tell me a little about you? Where are you from?”

“From the forest.” He said in a calm voice.

“I know that, but where exactly? What was the last place you remember?”

He realized that she was trying to figure him out but decided that there was no harm in telling her. “It’s hard to describe. I can show you if you like.”

“Yes” She took the opportunity while it lasted.

“Well then,” the green pony said “let’s go to the forest.”

Chapter 2 The Forest

They had just entered the forest. The canopy of green leaves covered the twilight sky and shielded them from its light. However, the forest was still bright enough to see. It was rather overgrown with roots and rocks littering the ground. Vines hung from the branches like clothes on a drying rack. The temperature wasn’t too hot nor too cold while the two ponies trotted through the thicket.

“How long have you been in the forest?” Twinkle asked with mild fear in her voice. No pony went into the forest unless you needed to chop wood or gather food. Generally, the forest was dangerous.

“As long as I can remember.” He spoke while he trotted effortlessly through the forest’s thick undergrowth and uneven paths. He had lived in the forest all his life so it was only natural for him to know how to travel through it.

Twinkle, however, was struggling through the thicket and stones when she said, “Exactly how long is that?”

Seeing her struggle, he turned around and came to her side. She tripped but he was able to arrive in time to put his hoof under her and save her face from falling flat in the dirt.

“I don’t know…years maybe.” He said while still holding her up.

For the first time in Twinkles life, her mind grinded to a halt. Her face blushed a deep crimson red. She couldn’t decide if it was from the embarrassment of almost falling or the fact that he was holding her. She was looking up at him trying to find words. “I uhm uh…” She got her hooves under her.

“Why don’t you follow me? I know how to travel the forest. I guess you could say I’m repaying the favor.”

“Uhhh sure.” Twinkle said through her blush.

The green pony’s movements were slow but deliberate. She found it hard to follow his exact movements but it was still easier to follow him than go her own way. While Twinkle was following him, it dawned on her that he said he lived in the forest for years and he never drank water? Shouldn’t he be dead? She decided not to ask him why he wasn’t dead because she figured he wouldn’t know that either.

It became hard to follow the pony in front of her as they went deeper into the forest. His green coat blended with the leaves and his navy blue mane melted into the shadows. It almost looked like he was the forest itself.

“Can you use magic?” She asked

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be able to?” he responded curiously.

“Well you have wings and I have never seen a pony who can fly and use magic.”

“You want to see me try?” he asked her.

“Uh sure” she responded with a little hesitation.

The pony started flapping his wings and rose from the ground. At the same time, his horn cast a green light that illuminated the dark forest.

“Now you can say that you have seen a pony use magic and fly.” He said with confidence.

Suddenly a Manticore sprang out from the bushes and gave a huge roar. Twinkle shouted in fear and ran. She quickly hid behind a tree. She looked over to see the Manticore roaring at the green pony. Twinkle thought about going to his side, but she found herself too afraid to move.

The pony trotted over to the tree Twinkle was hiding behind and said “Why are you hiding and why did you run away?”

“I ran from that pony-eating Manticore.” She said in a fearful voice.

“He was just protecting the area. We talked it over and he won’t hurt you.”

“TALKED?!” She almost yelled in a disbelief.

“Well yeah.” He said calmly “How else are you supposed to communicate with a Manticore.”

“You don’t.” she didn’t move from her original position. “It’s a beast! You can’t communicate with it.”

“Well how did I get it to calm down over there?” He pointed to the Manticore. She looked around the tree and saw it. It was waving one of its hands and had an apologetic look on its face.

“Welllll…” she said feeling embarrassed. She came out from behind the tree and trotted slowly toward the beast with the green pony at her side. He spoke softly to her.

“It’s alright. He won’t hurt you.” His voice was almost a whisper in her ear. It was calm and soothing to her. He continued reassuring her. She soon forgot all about the Manticore and just paid attention to the pony’s soothing voice. She didn’t realize she had closed her eyes. When she opened them, she was in the arms of the Manticore several feet off the ground. It was licking her with its big tongue and soaking her mane with saliva.

The green pony had flown up to meet her. “It’s apologizing for yelling at you.”

She looked at the beast and said, “Apology accepted.”

The two embraced each other in a close hug and then the Manticore put her down. The three of them waved good bye as the two ponies continued their trot through the forest. They didn’t look at each other.

The green pony started talking. “So…why did you run away from him?”

“Well because I thought he was trying to eat me.” She said calmly.

“No, No. What I mean is, why didn’t you fight it? Why didn’t you help?”

“Well I…” she paused for a little bit trying to figure out that question for herself. “I couldn’t help. There was nothing I could do. Everyone says that I’m useless. Perhaps I am.”

“Well I…I…” the words were like lead in his mouth “…I think you’re useful.” They both blushed.

“You’re…you’re just saying that.” Twinkle said.

“N…No. I mean it. Your smart, kind and…”

“Stop it.” She said as her cheeks grew an even deeper shade of crimson. “You’re making me blush.” She punched him in the side. His blush deepened to match hers.

They continued down their path with their cheeks glowing. After that, neither of them wanted to break the silence that fell upon them. A few minutes past, but it felt like hours for them. They could see an opening in the forest.

The green pony broke the silence “We’re almost there.”

She looked up and saw the clearing ahead. “Let race.” Before he could do anything, she started galloping. He quickly followed behind her and was able to catch up.

“Hey, no fair.” He said while panting.

She started to gallop faster. In response, he did the same.

The two were neck and neck in full gallop. They both jumped and flew through the air out into the clearing at the same time. It was a tie. When they landed, they were all jumbled together and laughing. Twinkle was the first to unwrap herself from the tangled mess they had formed. He got up a little later than her. By the time he looked up, Twinkle was gazing at the spectacle in the center of the small clearing.

“Wow” she said staring with wonder at the tree in the middle of the clearing. “It’s so pretty. What is it?”

“It’s the Tree of Harmony. You wanted to know the last thing I remember? Well, it was right here…” He went over to the spot he last remembered at the base of the tree. “I woke up and all I saw was what you see now.”

Twinkle was still mesmerized by the Tree’s beauty. Then she looked at his Cutie Mark and back at the tree, and at his mark, and the Tree. “Your, your…” she was speechless in astonishment. “Your Cutie Mark and that tree are identical!”

“Well the top part of the Tree anyway.”

“You mean you knew all this time!”

“Well yes. What’s the problem?”

Twinkle was extremely confused. How could this pony’s special talent be the tree before her? It didn’t make any sense.

He said “I don’t know if this helps, but I said I didn’t have parents in the town. I kind of…lied because I didn’t want the other ponies to think I was weird because my parent is a, uhhh…tree.”

It did help her. She was no longer confused at this pony’s past. Now she was confused about his very existence! “Well…uhm…Why are you here then.”

Before the pony could respond, a large deep power penetrated both their minds. The green pony seemed relatively unfazed by the intrusion but Twinkle had a rough time.

A deep voice spoke in Twinkle’s mind “I created him to be my protector.” Twinkle looked around frantically to figure out who was speaking to her.

The green pony stepped in her view and said “It’s telepathy. The Tree is talking to us.”

“T…T…Tree!” she looked up at the mystical tree that stood before her.

“This doesn’t mean I am not still mad at you.” The green pony looked up at the Tree angrily.

“What happened?” Twinkle asked.

“He bosses me around like he owns me. I got sick of it and left.” The pony said still in an angered state.

The Tree spoke, “I created you…”

He cut the tree off. “Yeah so what? It doesn’t mean you own me and I am not coming back until you realize that.”

He grabbed Twinkle’s hoof and spoke in her ear very calmly in a voice almost filled with sadness. Almost. “Let’s go.”

They trotted out into the forest leaving the tree behind. The Tree didn’t respond. It fell dormant. It had the power to force the two ponies back to it, but just like the first time he left, it decided to let them go. The Tree had made a choice when it added sentient creatures to the world, it wouldn’t force any sentient creature to do anything it didn’t want to do. It could only guide them. That is why he created the pony in the first place. To protect him from other creatures.

The two ponies trotted in the forest not saying a word to each other. Neither of them could bear the silence that had fallen between them.

Twinkle gave way first “So y…you had a fight?”

“Yeah.” The pony said in a weary voice “We have those often.” He seemed to slump down further into his own depression.

Twinkle tried to cheer him up “Well…it’s not like you’re the only one with parent issues.”

The green pony looked up in confusion.

“You saw my parents. It’s not exactly like I am…happy with them.” Twinkle took a long breath and let it out at once “It’s been a long day. Why don’t we sleep?”

Sleeping wasn’t something that had a set time since there was no day or night. Ponies would sleep whenever they felt like it. Most of the time that was whenever the ponies had just finished a big task and felt tired.

The green pony never needed to sleep. His body would constantly regenerate but he still slept when he could for the refreshed feeling he had when he woke up.

“Let’s sleep here in the forest.” The green pony said.

“Well…I’m not going home for a while and you certainly aren’t going back to that tree so…why not?”

“Ok.” He said with some enthusiasm.

The two ponies started making their beds. Twinkle’s bed had a perfect assortment of leaves covered with an equally prefect leaf blanket brought together with her silver magic.

On the other hand, the green pony pushed up a mound of dirt and made a little plateau. He then proceeded to grab branches from the local trees and place them down with great care onto the plateau. Then he piled leaves on top of the two.

After he made his bed, he took other branches from trees and with his magic plunged them into the ground facing the forest. He did this on all 4 sides and added one to the middle going straight up and extending farther up than the rest. Then he used his magic to quilt a cover out of leaves. Then he gently placed the quilt over the two ponies’ beds and all the sticks that stuck out from the ground. He had made a house of leaves.

Twinkle asked him with a little worry in her voice “What is all this for?”

“I have slept in this forest before and I know that the winds can be brutal. Not to mention the storms that magically appear.”

“And the bed?” she said with more question than worry.

“Living in the dirt for years isn’t…comfortable. I experimented a little and found that this is the best way to make a bed in the forest.” He pointed to his bed that now looked like a pile of leaves.

Twinkle said in hesitation “Um…okay.”

They both climbed into their beds they had made and, under the canopy of leaves that protected them, they fell into a deep slumber.

A drop of water accumulated on a leaf. The drop that accumulated became too heavy for the leaf to support it. The leaf bent, the water flowed to the tip and fell. The drop of water descended through the canopy and struck the snout of a green pony who slept under the leaves. His snout twitched and scrunched up at the water drop’s invasive contact on his snout. The pony groaned. He sat up and opened his eyes. He noticed it was raining. The canopy worked because there was barely any water on the ground and he could tell it had been raining for a while. However, it was only made of leaves so some water got through its’ protective barrier. He looked over at the orange and purple pony that lay beside him. She was still sleeping. Made sense to him. He was always a light sleeper. He thought that it was because he never needed sleep in the first place that he could wake so easily when he was disturbed.

He got out of his bed without making a sound so as not to wake her. He grabbed a section of the canopy, removed it and looked out at the forest. The rain was pounding the ground with an intense amount of force. Other than that, everything was unchanged.

He closed the canopy and went back inside the insulated tent-like structure. He sat on his bed looking at Twinkle’s calmly sleeping body. He was ashamed to be looking at her when she didn’t know that he was. He looked down at the ground and cleared a couple leaves revealing dirt. He focused on the dirt and his horn started glowing. He put a tremendous amount of effort into his spell and when he was finished he was really tired. He laid down and fell back asleep.

The purple and orange pony rose from her deep slumber. She opened her eyes and got up. She went to look outside the canopy. The sky was gray and the ground was wet. However, it wasn’t raining. She could tell that a rain storm had come and gone in her sleep. She closed the opening that she made in the leaf canopy and looked over to see the pony that had built it. Then she saw something odd.

Right in front of the pony, perfectly in-between their two beds, there were four white daises and a plate with two eggs on it. The plate had a green aura around it to keep the heat in and anything else out. Coincidentally, it also kept in the smell so the scent of eggs didn’t wake her.

She was extraordinarily confused about how these things got here. She looked up and was going to wake the green pony to ask, where this stuff came from. However, when her eyes met his body she froze and couldn’t do anything but stare at him. His body made a perfect oval with his head tucked in and his black tail covering most of his legs. His face, however, was what Twinkle focused on most. His navy blue mane was covering the half of his face that was closest to the ground. She watched his nostrils enlarge and shrink with every breath he took. She stared at the single closed eye that she could see. She went and laid in her bed facing him. Her eyes were still fixed on his one closed eye.

She thought to herself: “I don’t know what to call him. I know a lot about him but I don’t even know what to call him. Perhaps I should come up with a name for him. Hmm…he is the first pony to have wings and a horn so…uni…peg? No that’s terrible. Peg…acorn? That’s just as bad but…I like that ending. Hmm…he probably has the power of an earth pony as well so…ear…corn? That just sounds gross. E…a…ar…ali…HEY that’s it! Alicorn. That sounds perfect. Alicorn.” She purposely didn’t think about a last name because the last name defines the family you’re from. In the unconscious part of Twinkle’s brain, she didn’t want to give him a last name so he could have hers.

She quickly snapped out of the trance she found herself in. She looked down at her hooves and she uttered the name. “Alicorn.” It was a word that had never been uttered before. The sound woke the green pony from sleep. He opened his one eye and looked at Twinkle who was still staring at her hooves.

He didn’t move or make a sound. He just laid there looking at her in silence.

The moment Twinkle looked up she saw his piercing gaze and froze. She felt like he was intruding into her very thoughts with that one, unmoving eye.

“Stop staring at me like that.” She blushed at the same time she said it.

“Oh I…I’m sorry.” He quickly looked down and blushed.

She blushed more at the regret in his voice.

He spoke, still looking down as if waiting for approval to look up. “I just…I made us breakfast.” He looked up a little to meet her eyes.

She had almost forgotten about the flowers and eggs that sat in the middle of the two ponies. “That reminds me…” Twinkle said “where did this stuff come from?”

“Well…I made it with my magic.” He said

“But…magic can’t do that. Magic is useless.” Twinkle said in disbelief.

“No, magic can do this. It’s just really hard. I will show you the extent of magic after breakfast. Only if you want to, that is.” He said the last part hastily.

Twinkle responded “Uhm…sure let’s do that.”

The green pony removed the magic aura that covered the eggs. When the appetizing aroma reached their nostrils, they both realized how hungry they were. The pony held out his hoof and focused his magic on it. A plate appeared out of nowhere. Twinkle was stunned and confused at this sudden appearance of a plate but she said nothing. He lifted one egg with his magic and placed it on one plate. He uprooted the daises and placed two on each plate. He then handed her one of the plates. She took it and they both started eating.

*****

BAM. A magical spell hit a tree with such force it left burn marks.

“Uhhhhgggg.” Twinkle said in a long frustrated sigh. “I will never get the hang of this stupid magic.”

The green pony trotted over and sat next to her “It’s not like you’re going to get it in three tries.” He said with some humor in his voice.

“You make it look so easy.” She sat down next to him.

“Yeah but I have been training nonstop for years.”

“Maybe I am not cut out for this magic thing. After all, it serves no use in the town. I mean, my father collects wood for fires and buildings. My mom records all the town hall meetings and the inventory of the town. What do I do?” sigh “Use useless magic.” She looked down.

“Magic isn’t useless.” The pony said trying to cheer her up.

“Then maybe I am the useless one. That’s what every pony says.” She fell deeper into her own sadness.

“I…never said you were useless.”

“Yeah but every pony else thinks otherwise.”

“What do they matter?” His words made Twinkle look up in confusion.

“What do you mean?” she said almost accusingly

“Well…” He searched carefully for his answer. “I think you’re wonderful and very useful. Do you really need them to tell you that you’re useful?”

“Well…I…” Twinkle was caught off guard with this answer.

“Do you need them?” he pressed his question.

“Uhm…well…no.”

“Then why is it that when they say you are useless, you believe them?”

“Well…uh…” Tears started to form in Twinkle’s eyes.

“You are not useless. You are as useful as any pony else in that village and don’t let any pony tell you otherwise. Even me.”

Twinkle couldn’t control herself. She fell into his hooves, crying. He embraced her and neither of them let go. It took some time after Twinkle stopped crying for her to form legible sentences. “Let’s continue practicing.” They released each other and their horns started to glow.

Several hours passed before either of the two ponies talked about anything that wasn’t related to practicing magic. They took a break under the shade of a tree and sat down.

Twinkle, with her newly formed self-confidence, spoke. “You know, I have been thinking about a name for you.”

“Oh really?” He said with some uneasiness.

“Yeah. I’m not too sure about it. I think it’s kind of cheesy.”

“Well…let’s hear it.”

“Well…” Twinkle said with color coming up in her cheeks. “Since you are a Unicorn, a Pegasus and an Earth pony all in one, I thought maybe…” Her voice trailed off. She spoke softly “Maybe…Alicorn?”

“What was that?” he felt a little ashamed of asking but she talked so softly he could barely hear her.

“Alicorn. I…I…I…thought you might like it.” She was extremely timid right now and he didn’t know exactly how to respond.

“I really like that name.”

“YOU DO!” she sprang up in a mix of excitement and glee.

“Yeah…” He was caught off guard with the sudden and rapid mood swing. “Alicorn. I…really do like that name.” He said trying to hide his checks that had started to glow a deep crimson.

“I thought you might.”

“Yeah like you were totally confident that I would like it.” He said with sarcasm.

They both giggled.

Alicorn spoke “Now I have a name, but what do I do with it?”

“You use it to identify yourself silly.” Twinkle chuckled into her hoof.

“No that’s not what I mean. What I mean is, what am I supposed to do in this world?"

“You are here to teach me magic.” Alicorn looked at Twinkle with frustration. Twinkle giggled.

“I’m serious.” He said in a firm voice.

“So am I.” Alicorn was startled again at her response. “Just take life as it comes to you. Don’t try to question your existence. It will just give you a headache. At least it did with me. You don’t need to know the answer to those questions because you will probably fulfill those things without even realizing it. Just have fun in the moment.” Twinkle’s words had hit him hard.

For several minutes he was lost in deep thought.

Twinkle got up from the ground she was sitting on and said, “Let’s get back to practicing. Like you said, you have been training for years so I need all the practice I can get…Teacher.” She said the last word in a teasing tone. Alicorn smiled, got up and they both started casting magic.

Chapter 3 The Town

Seventy two hours had passed from the time that Twinkle and Alicorn entered the forest to the time they exited. In that short period of time, Twinkle had become adept at casting magic.

The two ponies looked over the large plain in which the town lay. The luscious green fields ran all the way up to the first building. Twinkle started down the path.

“Are you coming?” she said playfully.

“Of course.” He started trotting toward her and the two ponies continued side by side through the fields.

They were half way to the town when they came across a stream. The stream’s curve almost touched the road they walked on. Twinkle, seeing the opportunity, playfully pushed Alicorn down into the stream. He stumbled to the middle with a shocked expression, knee-deep in cold water. Twinkle looked down at him and laughed. She started to fall backwards in her laughter and, with a little twitch of green magic, Twinkle was turned around and fell into the stream. They both laughed until their sides hurt. When they regained their senses, they climbed out of the stream. They were soaking wet and giggling as they continued down the path.

By the time they got to the town, they were only partially dry. The ponies were looking at Alicorn with the same looks that he received on the first day he came to the town. The only difference was, they continued doing their daily tasks and didn’t form a crowd. However, the two didn’t care. They both were glancing at each other with half wet fur and periodically giggling over their river adventure.

Twinkle looked up at a house and stopped, “Well this is it. My house…and my parents.” She said the last in a lower, more annoyed voice.

They both looked up and started toward the house’s entrance. Twinkle opened the door. “Mom, Dad I’m back.” She called.

“Welcome back sweetie.” A mare’s voice could be heard from another room.

“Good to be back.” Twinkle said under her breath in a highly irritated voice. Alicorn heard this but chose to say nothing.

The house’s walls were made entirely of wood. From the front door there was a large open room with an entrance to another room on the opposite side. A large circular shaped wool carpet was spread across the floor. On the right, there was a wooden ladder that lead to a hole in the ceiling.

Quillpaps came into view in the far doorway. “Your father is still out chopping…” Her voice trailed off when she saw the blue and green pony standing next to Twinkle. “Um hello. You’re the new pony from out of town that everyone is talking about aren’t you?”

“Yeah.” He said cheerfully.

Twinkle walked into the house. “Hey mom, is it ok for him to sleep here for a while? You know, since he doesn’t have any other house to stay at.”

“Why sure. I don’t see why not.”

Alicorn stepped into the large room.

“What’s your name?” Quilpaps asked.

“My name is Alicorn.” He said, shooting a glance at Twinkle.

“Well, Alicorn, dinner will be ready soon. Twinkle why don’t you get his bed ready…and dry off. Your both so…wet.”

“Will do.” She said.

Quilpaps trotted back into the room. Twinkle went to the wooden ladder. “Come on.” She said.

When he reached the top of the ladder, he could see the roof above him was slanted. The hallway ran the entire length of the house. There were four doors that opened off the hall.

Twinkle extended a hoof to help him the rest of the way up the ladder. When they were both up the ladder, she pointed to the first door on the left and said, “This is mom and dad’s room.” She turned to face the door on the right. “This is my room.” She then continued to the second door on the right. “This will be your room.” She opened the door. “Well, come on in.”

Alicorn trotted into the room. From the door, the roof sloped down until it touched the floor at the other end. Next to the door, he saw a bed of wool laying on the ground.

“The sheep are always happy to give us their wool when they come to town once a week in exchange for some food. If you were wondering about the bed.” The last was said quickly. “You can use the wool over there to dry off.” She pointed to a towel that lay on the ground next to the bed. “If you need anything…” She stammered, “…j…just come and get me ok?”

Alicorn looked at her, “O…Okay.” Twinkle left the room and closed the door.

When she left, he realized this was the first time in 72 hours he had been alone. He looked over at the towel, trotted to it and picked it up with his magic. He dried off while he thought to himself. He could hear Twinkle in the room next to him. Wood wasn’t exactly the most sound proof material. He could hear the soft sound of Twinkles’ horn while, he assumed, she easily lifted the towel to dry herself. She was such a fast learner. Twinkle had said unicorns in the town just barely used magic when they needed to and even then they were pretty abysmal efforts. In the last 72 hours, however, Twinkle went from barely lifting a rock to doing highly advanced spells that even he was finding difficult to master.

He finished drying off his fur and placed the towel neatly back where he found it. He stepped on top of his bed, sat down and looked around. The room was brown. It was much different from living in the forest with the open air, luscious green leaves and canopies that protected him. This felt more like he was living inside a large tree with a perfect 45 degree angled roof. He missed the high green canopies and fresh air of his forest. He decided to try to master a spell he had been working on while he had some free time. He cleared his mind and focused on time. A green light enveloped his mind and the room disappeared around him.

“Something is coming.” He heard the voice of the Tree in his mind.

White light filled his vision. The black silhouette of a griffon materialized before him. Then the blinding white light was sucked away. Suddenly he was looking at himself standing between the Tree and a horde of heavily armored griffons. In the next instant, everything went black as his mind became overwhelmed and he lost concentration. He woke up in his room and tried to shake off the lingering dizziness and understand the meaning of the vision.

Meanwhile, Chop had just left the forest carrying part of a tree trunk on his back. The other half was being carried by one of his co-workers. He carried the tree up to the construction site of a new house. They had not started building the house yet. He and his partner carefully placed the log down beside several others that looked just like it.

“Phew…I am beat.” Said Chop running a hoof across his brow. “I’m going home. See you around.”

“Alright but next time make sure you aren’t late.” His co-worker said.

“Ha, Ha. Yeah. Will do.” He said guiltily. Chop walked towards home. When he came to the entrance of his house, Quilpaps opened the door and came to greet him. She closed the door behind her.

“What’s going on?” Chop asked her. “You almost never come to greet me like this.”

Quilpaps responded, “We have a visitor that is going to be staying with us for a couple nights. I just didn’t want him to hear me explaining everything to you. It would be awkward and you know how sound proof this house is.” She said sarcastically.

Chop knew just how much sound can carry in his house. He had to spend numerous sleepless nights listening to Twinkle cry and carry on about being shunned. “Yeah…” He sighed, “Yeah I know how it is.”

Quilpaps continued, “You know that new pony? The one who came several hours ago?”

“Yeah. Is he staying with us?” He asked hopefully.

“Yes. Twinkle brought him over and asked if he could stay with us. Of course I said yes. Can’t leave a pony on the street you know.”

“And we get to be the first ponies to know the new pony.” He said with some glee.

“Yeah we do.” Quilpaps said with satisfaction. They both went into the house. Quilpaps snuck back into the kitchen and Chop said, “Hey, I’m home.” In a rather loud voice.

Twinkle sighed in her room. Quilpaps came to meet him like she hadn’t seen him in hours. She told him that dinner would be ready soon. Quilpaps went back into the kitchen and Chop went to his room pretending he didn’t know about Alicorn.

Dinner rolled around and Alicorn got to see what was past the main entrance room. The dining room and kitchen was all one room. It was the same width as the first room but not as long. To his left, cabinets lined the wall filled with food and household items while the adjacent wall held a stone fireplace. A fire danced in the hearth and the scent of wood smoke hung in the air. Next to the fireplace sat a barrel filled with water. To the right of him there was a small wooden table with four chairs, each facing one side of the table.

They went to sit at the table. Twinkle purposely sat on the right side of Alicorn. Chop sat to his left. In front of every chair, there was a bowl with a spoon next to it. Quilpaps came over and placed a big bowl at the center of the table. She grabbed a large wooden spoon and dished out daisy stew to the four bowls on the table. Then she sat down.

Alicorn was completely lost on what to do at the table. Twinkle put her head down but kept her eyes on Alicorn as if to say “do what I do.” Twinkle lifted her spoon and picked up some of the stew in her spoon. Alicorn was watching Twinkle intently out of the corner of his eyes. She then lifted her spoon to her mouth and drank the contents. Alicorn looked down and drank the stew as he had seen Twinkle do. The other two ponies were digging in to their meal a little faster than Twinkle and Alicorn had.

Chop placed his spoon down in his bowl and asked the first question. “What’s your name?”

Alicorn looked up and responded. “My name is Alicorn.” Twinkle felt a surge of pride at having created his name.

“Well, Alicorn…” Chop continued, “What do you plan on doing in our fine town?”

Alicorn thought for a moment. He noticed that Twinkle was also waiting for his answer. “I plan on staying but I don’t know yet what I will do. I am sure I will figure it out in due time.”

Twinkle focused back on her stew.

“Well…” Chop said, “There are plenty of jobs here in our town. We could always use more ponies for all kinds of things.”

Quilpaps came into the conversation. “We are having a meeting at town hall in 18 hours. If you attend, you may find a job you might like. Would you like to come?”

“Ok…” Alicorn responded. He glanced at Twinkle and she gave no objections. “Sure I’ll come.”

“That’s great.” Quilpaps said.

“Can anypony go to the meetings?” Alicorn asked quickly looking over at Twinkle and back at Quilpaps.

“Why, yes anypony can join.” Quilpaps said happily as if proud of this fact.

Chop asked Alicorn, “So how are you liking the town so far?”

Alicorn changed glances from Quilpaps to Chop. “It’s very nice. I like it a lot.” He said with enthusiasm. “However, I have one question.”

“Yes?” Quilpaps asked.

“Why do you have four rooms and chairs when you don’t use them?”

Quilpaps answered, “Well you see, each house is made the same way. Every single house looks the same as every other. We don’t have the materials to build to order. So some families have too many rooms and some have too few. It is just how we live in this town.”

“Oh, I see.” Alicorn said satisfied with the answer.

After that, not much was said to Alicorn. The rest of dinner was mostly small talk between Chop and Quilpaps. Twinkle said nothing. When every pony was finished, they placed their dishes on one of the counters and left the room. Chop and Quilpaps sat in the large entrance room and continued their conversation. Alicorn, not really knowing what to do, was going to sit with them. However, Twinkle guided him to the door.

Twinkle said, “Hey mom, we’re going out for a little bit.”

Quilpaps responded, “Alright. See you later. If you come in when we are asleep, try not to wake us.”

“Ok mom.” The two ponies left the house and went onto the road.

They trotted down the road not saying anything. Suddenly, there was a large bolt of lightning that crashed in the forest. At the same time the bolt struck the ground, Twinkle felt something resonate deep within her. When the thunder hit them, they jumped. Twinkle looked for the cloud the bolt originated from but she couldn’t find one. The sky was, in fact, completely clear.

Twinkle asked, “What was that?”

“Well uh…” Alicorn didn’t want to lie to Twinkle so he felt like he had no other choice. He sighed, “That was a magical discharge.”

“A what?” she was confused at the answer.

Alicorn explained, “We live in a constant state of twilight. All magical creatures exude excess magic into the air and the twilight absorbs this magic. When enough of this excess magic builds up, it’s discharged in a bolt of pure magic. You felt the magical disturbance, didn’t you?”

“Yes…that must have been what I felt. Where did you learn all this?” Twinkle asked him, astonished at what he knew.

“I learned it all from the Tree.”

Twinkle rolled her eyes. “Of course it was the Tree. Let’s get moving.”

“Where are we going?”

“I don’t know. Just anywhere I guess.” Twinkle looked down the road.

Alicorn asked, “Are you mad at your parents?”

Twinkle looked at him, shocked at his question. “Of course I am mad at them. You saw the way they treated you, and me for that matter, back at the market.”

“Yeah right.” He said like he had done something wrong. He put his head down.

Twinkle, seeing the pony next to her lower his head, proceeded to comfort him. “I didn’t mean you did anything wrong. You were just fine. I like you, I don’t like my pare…” Her voice trailed off when she realized what she said.

Alicorn’s head lifted up and met her embarrassed gaze.

“No, no, I, I…I…” She stammered.

Alicorn quickly cut in. “I…like you to.” Both of them were blushing but they were smiling at each other. They continued walking down the road leaning on each other, their hooves barely touching the ground.

Alicorn woke up in his room. He and Twinkle had returned to Twinkle’s house and separated to their own rooms. He got out of his bed and opened his door. He noticed that the door to Twinkle’s parents room was closed and Twinkle’s door was open. He trotted over and peered into her room. It was empty. However, her room looked just like his. There were no distinguishing features that made the room hers. He went down the ladder and was drawn toward the kitchen by mouthwatering aromas and the sound of whistling. He peered through the doorway and saw Twinkle making something in the kitchen.

Hearing the creaking of wood, Twinkle quickly spun around in surprise and saw him standing there. “I…I just thought…I wanted to make you breakfast.”

Alicorn was touched by her thoughtfulness. “Here, let me help you.”

“Uh…sure.”

He came and stood next to Twinkle. Neither looked at the other as they started preparing the food.

“What…are you making?” He asked.

“Oh…uh…Just some eggs…and uh some oats. Nothing special.” She said the last part with a bit of a chuckle.

Alicorn thought for a moment and said shyly, “A…Anything is special with you.”

Twinkle ducked her head and smiled. Coming from any other pony that would have sounded ridiculously corny. However, because Alicorn had been alone his whole life, he had no idea what corny was. He was simply honest with his feelings.

After breakfast, they left the house as fast as possible so they didn’t wake the other two ponies in the house. They ended up at the construction site where Chop delivered wood the other day.

“Don’t you think I should practice my magic?” Twinkle asked

“Sure, why not.” Alicorn said in response.

Twinkle stepped forward and her horn started to glow silver. All the logs in the area that had been set out for construction started to glow silver as well. With great effort, Twinkle lifted the logs into the air and started building the house. She mounded up dirt to form a foundation. Then she stacked the wood on the ground. Some ponies from the nearby homes noticed the giant logs levitating in the air and came out to see what was going on. Soon a crowd formed around Twinkle and Alicorn. They watched Twinkle as she placed each log perfectly onto the ground where the other logs stood waiting for it. Pretty soon the entire first floor was completed. “Just a little more.” Said Alicorn to Twinkle who was reaching exhaustion. In one final push, she took the remaining logs and placed them down to form the roof of the house she had just built. When she finally finished, she was panting and sweating. She looked up at Alicorn who was by her side.

“That was excellent” He said, beaming at her.

They were so wrapped up in each other, they didn’t even notice the crowd that had gathered. A loud cheer erupted, startling the two ponies

One of the ponies in the crowd asked, in wonder and amazement. “How did you do that?”

Twinkle said, “I just used my magic to lift the logs and place them down.”

“Wow…” The Earth pony said, “I wish I could have magic like that. That’s amazing!”

The crowd cheered again for Twinkle and she ducked her head in embarrassed pleasure.

One of the ponies came forward and said, “Alright. Alright. Every pony settle down.” He tried to calm the crowd. “Alright, now we don’t want to be late for our weekly meetings. Every pony, let’s go gather at the town hall.”

The crowd started moving toward the center of town but there were two ponies who stayed behind. Chop and Quilpaps stood watching Twinkle in shock. Chop had his mouth wide open like he was trying to catch flies in it. Quilpaps had more control over her emotions and just stood staring.

Quilpaps spoke first with astonishment, “I…I had no idea…you…magic could do such a thing like this.”

Chop just continued to stand there with his mouth open. He himself had seen it take weeks to build one house and that was in ideal conditions. Most of the time, it took months. To see a house be built in a matter of minutes baffled him.

Quilpaps, seeing Chop’s expression, decided to leave before things got awkward. “Well…” Quilpaps said, “We best be off. I need to get to my job before I am late.” She pushed the unmoving stone beside her that she called her husband.

Only when they were out of sight did either Twinkle or Alicorn speak. “You did a fantastic job back there Twinkle!” Alicorn said to her.

She blushed. “Oh…come on now, not you too.” She said, secretly pleased at his praise. “Let’s get going. The town is probably waiting for us.” The two ponies trotted towards the center of town.

Alicorn moved through the double doors of the town hall. The hall was one big room with a small raised platform against the far wall. It was packed full with ponies but Alicorn managed to stay right by Twinkle’s side. Alicorn could see Quilpaps taking a position to the right of the center of the platform. She had a small podium to write on and chair to sit in. She had a quill, some paper and was ready to record the meeting. A pony from the crowd came and stood in the center of the platform. She was a white pony with a yellow mane. Alicorn couldn’t quite see her Cutie Mark from this distance.

She spoke with a firm voice to the audience. “We all know the rules, so let’s get this done quickly.” She quickly ran through the rules of the meeting and Quilpaps started writing. “Now, let us begin.” Quilpaps finished writing and handed a piece of paper to the white mare. “This week we have produced enough food to feed the town twice over.” Everyone cheered at this fact. “However, the water level in the stream has dropped by 3 inches. I urge every pony to start taking more care with their water usage.” The room fell silent. “This last week we have finished making a house.”

She was cut off by some pony in the crowd, “Make that two. I saw Twinkle make a house right before this meeting.”

The pony on the platform scoffed, “There is no way any pony could have made a house right before this meeting. That’s impossible.”

The same pony from the crowd responded, “All who saw Twinkle make a house, raise their hoof.” Almost everyone in the room raised their hooves.

“Very well.” The pony on the platform said, accepting defeat. “We made two houses this week. We have had a visitor from out of town. And, finally, our trade Pegasi have gained us a number of much needed fabrics and exotic goods. Now, on to matters of what we are going to do for next week? I will leave that for anypony who is willing.” The white pony left the platform and went into the crowd.

Chop came to the stage with a number of other Earth ponies. These ponies were the building and wood collecting ponies of the town.

One of the Earth ponies that went up with Chop spoke, “Now we are planning to build another house. We don’t know where yet but we will inform you next week. Next, which ponies should get the houses that just went up?”

Chop spoke up. “Perhaps Twinkle should get one of the houses.” Twinkle couldn’t tell if her father was trying to better her life by suggesting giving her a home or if he was just trying to get her out of his mane.

A voice spoke from the audience, “Why does she get to have a house and not my child.” Chop stuttered for a second.

Another voice spoke from the audience. “Twinkle made one of the houses so she should get the one that she built.” All the ponies on the stage nodded in agreement, mostly because they didn’t know if she built it correctly and didn’t want to be responsible if the house collapsed.

The white mare from before moved onto the platform and spoke. “All in favor of giving Twinkle the house she built, raise your hooves.” More than half the crowd raised their hooves.

“Very well. Twinkle will get the house she built.”

Alicorn saw Twinkle’s face beam at the town’s decision. The white mare left the stage. “Now.” The pony on the center stage spoke. “Who will get the other house?”

The meeting went on for three hours. When the meeting ended, the crowd of ponies left the hall. Chop waited until Quilpaps finished her job before the two trotted out together. Twinkle happily trotted toward her new house to inspect it for herself. Even though she’d made it, she couldn’t wait to see it again. Alicorn, of course, was by her side. He shared in her excitement as they trotted into Twinkle’s new house. She stared at the empty rooms that looked just like her old home but it was hers and no pony else’s.

She turned around, stepped outside and spoke to him. “I am going to get my things from my parents’ house.” She started trotting then stopped. “You…will you change houses? I mean, I am happy to house you now that I have my own home. What I mean is, you don’t have to stay with my parents if you don’t want to.” Twinkle said, her face flushing.

Alicorn spoke, “Yes…yes I would be happy to take you up on that offer.”

Twinkle’s face erupted in a smile. She thrust herself forward in a hug and almost knocked him over in her enthusiasm. “Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!” Twinkle then went to her parents’ house at a full gallop, leaving a stunned Alicorn behind.

Chapter 4 The First Trial

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The Galloping Gala

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Epilogue

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