Book 1: A New Element of Friendship

A New Element of Friendship

Did I Have To Grow Up?

        Well, today was an interesting day. I can’t believe half the crap that’s happened to me. I think I should start from the beginning, otherwise I’d confuse half of you and the other half would track me down for more information and I just want to be left in relative peace and quiet. So, let’s back up to when I was a young colt, around the time I got my Cutie Mark to help explain my current situation.

        I am a Pegasus, for those who cannot see me currently. As such, I was born in Cloudsdale, home to all flying races, but mainly Pegasi. I have a loving mother, caring father, an interesting older sister and an annoying but kind-hearted brother. I had a normal childhood, as far as normal goes, and I never did too much outstanding. I had good grades, but I wasn’t a genius like some in the class. At least I could pay attention to the teacher, unlike Rainbow Dash, who just wanted to fly faster than her previous time she set yesterday. At the rate she’s going, it’ll be a quick job for her to clear up the weather in about 10 seconds, but right now, she can only manage 17 seconds as the quickest. I was never picked on by bullies for a while, as the same Rainbow Dash from earlier took some kind of liking to me and helped me fend them off until they got the message. This is actually how I ended up friends with Fluttershy, as painfully shy as she is, which I suppose I should’ve seen coming (shy is in her name after all). If it wasn’t for the wings, she would be mistaken as an Earth Pony rather than a Pegasus. But for all her faults, she was very kind to me and I would always ask for her help when it came to animals, as she seems more interested in that than anything else. Though it was interesting on the last day of flight camp.

        You see, bullies are sometimes too problematic. I got rid of mine through help and luck, but Fluttershy was just a good target for them. It got so bad that Rainbow Dash had to beat them in a race in order for them to stay off of her. But, wow. What a race. It was going to be a normal race that always happens with her. That one, however, was special in more ways than one. From the word go, things went haywire. Rainbow Dash and the bullies sped right past Fluttershy and she took a sharp glide down into a plains area. Rainbow Dash, too preoccupied, started to beat the bullies one ring at a time. It got to the point where she was almost a blur. She went through the final hurdle so fast, I could swear she left a rainbow trail behind her. It soon became true, as she got to the point of extreme speed that she broke the sound barrier and a rainbow sonic blast came from that, having her leave behind a trail of a physical rainbow. She got her Cutie Mark then, but for me, I was inspired to do something as mind blowing as that as well.

        A few month roll around and a talent show was up in the works at school. I had thought about not entering when I remembered the Sonic Rainboom and how I wanted to try and find something I was awesome at to show off to the other kids. So I signed up for the talent show and tried to find something I was good at. It took me a few attempts, but I began to notice a pattern after a while. If I picked up any instrument, I wouldn’t know the first thing about how to play them, yet I always seemed to play a song from start to finish without missing a note or beat. Each time, I would play the same song, just on a different instrument and would adjust the song accordingly to be able to play. I even played instruments I’ve only heard of until i got them  for the first time and still be able to play the same song through. I then realized what the song was after the fifth instrument: the Cloudsdale national anthem. It took a few more instruments, but I was right. I then had an interesting idea: to try and play a different song on the instrument that I heard once when I was a younger foal. I tried it, and to my surprise, it had worked. I even sang the song from memory and got it 100% right, no mistakes whatsoever. I then asked my parents for some of their classical music and for a violin so that I could perform for the talent show that night. I listened to a couple of songs before the show had started and hoped that my guess was not wrong.

When it came to be my turn on the stage, I came out and told the audience that I would be performing a piece made by Octavia adapted to a violin. I then tuned the violin and started to play. For those in the audience (as I found out later), it had sounded exactly like Octavia was there on stage herself, just playing a violin instead of a cello. I timed the notes perfectly, the dynamics were never off and the melody playing was outstanding. At this point, I should clarify something. While I may have a good memory, no pony can just play a song and sing it without some practice, not even those skilled in the craft. This was something outstanding, even to fellow musicians when they hear this tale. It was at that moment I had realized my talent for playing music like I was the song itself made into physical form. My Cutie Mark appeared once the song had ended (which was one of the best finales I’ve had, even to this date). It was a heart made of a bass and treble note. I had never felt so happy before that moment. I now had a talent to call my own and it was an awesome one, to me at least, to have.

I then made it my mission to work on my talent, more specifically my memory. After all, it would be very bad to forget something you worked on, even if it came with ease. So I joined the local theater and started to memorize better, even outside of the script. It turned out I was a decent actor as well, but was best suited for comedy and musicals (No duh on the last one, I know). I have been working in theater to this day and I still enjoy making the audience laugh and be moved by my singing.

This has led us back to where I would explain my current situation. Sorry about that, but these are important moments in my life that help explain my current predicament. A few days ago I turned 18, when I finally became a stallion and not some colt that got too big for his britches. It was that night, after a huge binge of alcohol, that things started to take a turn for the weird. I remember at the very least drunkenly going towards my bed when suddenly everything turned white. It was only when I woke up afterwards that I realized 2 things: I had memories that looked like something from a sci-fi comic book, when an intrepid pony discovers a new race of aliens and I had a huge headache. It was only after taking some coffee and pills for the headache that my head could actually concentrate on those memories. What it led me to was something I never expected: It was from my viewpoint and these memories felt… familiar in a way. I spent all that day reviewing each memory, starting to connect everything together. Songs flooded back to me, filling in holes I never knew were there, making me feel more complete as a pony. Vacations started to be more visualised, showing me the wonders of the planet and my happy times began to liven me up a bit. It was the final memory that sealed the deal to me. It was the memory of me, chilling out at my old home before getting sucked into some kind of limbo dimension to make a deal with the goddess in this world. i remember making the conscious decision to leave my old world and to live on this one and to get all my memories back at the age of 18. I think it was at that point I started to cry tears of loss for the old world I was a part of once before I decided to leave it. Heck, I had a family there that I left without a single word to and a marefriend I was about to ask to be married to me. But then I realized something else that made me cry harder: They had forgotten about me as well, this time with no chance of recovery, as I no longer existed in that world.

*sigh* I’ll be back to talk later. These old memories do make me still tear up from time to time and I just need a moment to recover. I’ll try to focus on something a bit happier next time. Right now though, I need to drink some of my favorite cocktail: tequila and root beer. It helps calm the nerves.

End of Chapter 1