The Life and Times of Twig

by Maileo

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Original Character, Spike, Comedy, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Main 6
Length: 1916

Secrets secrets are no fun.

Staccato is a pegasus who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or so he thinks. Who is this mysterious pegasus and what can he learn from the strange ponies of this small town?

Published 2015-10-24 15:00:02 UTC
Last updated 2016-04-10 08:41:49 UTC

Chapter 1

CRACK!

Lightning arced through the sky creating a brilliant flash of light. The veins of the plasmatic display reaching out towards the ground as if trying to cling onto the earth and pull itself down.

BOOM!

Thunder followed in suit, the powerful vibrations causing the air to ripple and the animals on the ground to scurry for shelter.

“AAAHHH!”

Storms don’t scream, but out of control pegasi traveling near the speed of sound do.

If anypony could see through the thick cluster of storm clouds, they would witness a visual performance that rivaled that of a sonic rainboom.

Blinding flashes of light fire off in rapid succession as the pegasus hurtles towards the ground, picking up momentum with every passing cloud.

It isn’t long before he feels a pit form in his stomach and a pressure in his head as darkness covers his field of vision and unconsciousness takes him away.

Zephyr

His mind snaps itself back to reality as his wings snap open and quickly reorient his body. Lightning arcs off his body as he dives through the storm clouds in search of a white needle among the haystack.

There she is!

She was too far, she was falling too fast, but he had to try. He could feel the heat radiating off his body as he uses his wings to propel himself towards her. The ground gets larger and larger in front of him as he continues his dive.

I'm too slow

He flaps his wings harder as he nears her, his muscles burn and his lungs scream but he refuses to slow down. Mere seconds from hitting the ground he opens his bag, a familiar material reaching his hooves.

Gotcha!

With no time to celebrate his silent victory, he grabs her and pulls up as hard as he can before they met the earth.

Welcome to Ponyville

The giant sign did a pretty good job of stating its purpose. A lone pony walked along the winding dirt path that lead to the small village.

The weight of his saddle bags slowed him down as he ran a hoof along his white coat, itching where the leather met his back.

Leather may not be a common material to come by in Ponyville, but in Cloudsdale, the stuff was everywhere. No other material could handle the lifestyle of a pegasus so effortlessly. The pegasus adjusted his bags until a slightly less uncomfortable position was found, then continued forwards, his blue eyes pressing ahead.

It wasn't long before he began to see some of the buildings come into view beyond the tree line. A huge farm presented itself, trees adorned with bright red fruit as well as ploughed fields made themselves known among the green fields that seemed to range on for miles. The smell of apples found his nose as his mouth began to water and his stomach reminded him of how hungry he was.

The skies were completely clear except for one huge bundle of clouds looming well above the rest of the city. Whether being used as small point of shade or as a napping zone for some lazy pegasus, he didn't know.

It wasn't long before the sound of music reached his ears, there must have been a festival going on in town because the music continued to get louder as he walked forwards.

What is that?

A large selection of instruments on wheels appeared down the road and a realisation dawned on him. He gave the one man band a dumbfounded look as it made it's way towards him. How could one pony play all those instruments? It's impossible, yet there he stood in awe as a pink pony stretched and contorted to reach each one. The sound of the polka got louder still as it reached its pinnacle, the pink pony a blur as the music came to an end.

Once the contraption was several feet from him, it came to a screeching halt and the pony stepped off in front of him.

She had bright blue eyes and a pink mane that threatened to swallow her whole, her tail swished back and forth in excitement as she smiled so brightly that it put Celestia sun to shame. They both stood there for a moment, just looking at one another before she took a deep breath and said,

"I haven't seen you around here so that means you must be new and when I got an itchy mane and a wavy tail I knew someone was coming and I just got so excited I told the Cakes I had to go for the day - now that I think about it I probably should have turned the oven off first - but I just couldn't wait!"

The pony seemed to vibrate as she talked, she inhaled again before continuing.

"Oh but where are my manners, Granny Pie always said you should get a pony's name before talking to them, my name is Pinkie Pie but you can just call me Pinkie! That's what everyone around here calls me, at least everyone but Gummy but don't you pay him any mind, what's your name?"

"Clo-"

The pony paused for a second, after clearing his throat he says,

"My name is Staccato, Staccato Strings, nice to meet you Pinkie."

Staccato extends a hoof to Pinkie, but she ignores it, seemingly lost in her own thoughts.

“Hmm...Staccato...It's a great name but I think I’ll call you Stick instead ok?”

“Uh” was about all the input he got on his new nickname before Pinkie gasps loudly, cutting him off once again.

“We have to go!” She says with sudden panic, “We’re gonna be late for the party!”

“What party?”

“Well duh, your welcome to Ponyville party silly! Let's go!”

And with that Stick found himself being dragged along by the pink pony with strength that only an earth pony could muster.

Author's Note

This is my second story, so any feedback or opinions would be much appreciated. I'm in school right now so writing chapter will be difficult to do in a timely manner but if you stick with me I wont leave you hanging.

Chapter 2

Being dragged against their will is usually something that ponies wouldn't take kindly to, but after 5 or so minutes of struggling and another 3 or so minutes of pleading, one may find it easier to simply accept their fate.

Staccato however, was no such pony.

Clutching his bag with his hooves and flapping his wings furiously, this enigma of an earth pony effortlessly managed to keep a firm grip on his tail. As the pink terror continued to drag Staccato down the winding dirt road leading to Ponyville, a large dust cloud announced their arrival much before his protests could.

As they approached the town, Staccato began to wonder why nobody came to his aid. Where were the officials? The Mayor? The Weather Patrol? In fact where was anyone at all? The streets seemed eerily quiet, the town itself feeling empty considering the amount of buildings surrounding them there didn't seem to be anyone in sight.

She mentioned a party but nobody's here...not going to be much of a party with just two of us will it?

Wait

It couldn't be

The entire town is gone. Shes way too excited to see me. the strength of this pony tells me she isn't just some random civilian.

Panic welled up in Staccato's chest as the implications of the unknown got the better of him.

What if this is a trap? What if she knows? How could she know I was coming unless she knew? What is she going to do to me?

WHY IS SHE SO STRONG

Staccato's thoughts were cut short when an excited voice sang out behind him.

"We're here!"

After a moment to gather himself, Staccato brought himself to turn around. What greeted him only brought up more questions.

What kind of sick person would create a house out of sweets. I knew this pony was up to something, this is definitely a trap but me knowing it's a trap already gives me the upper hand here. All I have to do is play along and wait for my chance to tu-

"Come on! Let's go inside, Stick!"

"Buh" was the most intelligent thing he could think to say as Pinkie began to open the door.

Staccato braced himself, his hooves tingling with the instinct to run at any moment, his pupils dilated as he struggled to see into the dark interior of this saccharine laced doorway. Sweat beaded down the roots of his jet black mane as saliva filled his mouth.

He noticed his lungs suddenly felt heavy and the leather pouch strung across his back seemed to double in weight. He moved forwards, slowly following Pinkie to his certain doom. Once he was inside the building, he flinched as the door shut behind him and the world around him exploded into a flurry of noise and light.

SUPRISE!

The lights turned on in tandem as a room full of color and faces greeted him. The distinct smell of frosted cupcakes and burning greeted his nostrils, causing his nose to wrinkle in confusion.

It was just a party after all.

or was it...

"Welcome to Ponyville Stick!" A familiar pink voice rang out. "I guess it wasn't much of a surprise since I told you about the surprise party before we even got here but you looked surprised anyways. You're such a good surprisee!"

A raspy voice found it's way to the forefront and said, "Uh, Pinkie, I don't think that's a word."

A round of laughter bounced throughout the interior of the building, the reverberations seemingly threatening to bring down the gingerbread roof above their heads.

Ponies seemingly materialized from every crevice in the building. A lanky orange stallion stood next to a heavyset blue mare, sheepish grins on their faces and...ashes?...on their aprons.

At least a dozen foals hopped out from behind the counter, their bright curious eyes finding his own before darting off to look towards a table full of confections.

The familiar sound of flapping wings reached his ears and as he looked up, Staccato noticed some pegasi flying up by the bleachers.

A purple unicorn with a small dragon on her back stood near the front of the crowd, her horn a glow as confetti and streamers fall from nowhere.

Staccato continued to scan the room in shock as he noticed some ponies cleaning what looked like cake batter out of their manes.

The whole town must be here, what do I even say? I don't know anyone here...

"Uh, Hi everyone my name's Staccato, Staccato Strings. It's nice to meet all of you but I really should be on my way."

As Staccato turned to leave, Pinkie blocked the way. Her mane had visibly deflated as if weighed down by something. "Aww come on Stick, I planned this party just for you, surely you could at least play a couple games before you go?"

I don't trust you

Stepping past his living obstacle, Staccato says, "Sorry Pinkie, I really need to get on." and headed out the door.

Author's Note

I was going to a swim today when I suddenly remembered I had a story I was working on. This story will not take place in the current timeline of the show, now will it follow the canon.