Chapters Nope Chronicles #1 - The Pegasus Epidemic
Chapter 1: Berry Punch
"*inaudible whisper*"
"What?"
"*inaudible whisper*"
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"You know exactly what that means"
"Wait... No..."
"Hehehe..."
"No!"
"Wake up"
"What do you want from me??"
"Remember me?"
"You aren't real!"
"Then why am I here right now?"
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"
"Guess who's back. Back again."
"Oh Celesia!"
"Up, now!"
"NAH, I DON'T WANNA"
"Let's get down to business!"
"Out of my mind... now."
The afternoon sky was a light greyish blue, the air was chilly, and the grass was full of dew. A large solid oak tree grew to the left of a hoofpath running loosely through the centre of the PonyVille Park, on the opposite side the path was a small lake. The lake was glassy and reflected the dullness of the sky, it was littered with lily pads, dirt and small blades of grass. Just behind it stood another thick, bulky oak tree, covered in moss and creepers. The ground surrounding the lake had small patches of clay and dirt. Ponies trotted carefree around the park, as the wind lightly blew through their manes and tails.
THUMP. The ground vibrated as a light purple, almost white stallion pegasus with cream coloured hooves and black hair with a dark purple fringe fell out of the oak tree and landed face first on the hoofpath, "ooohh you biscuit," he moaned in muffled voice. His fore and hind legs ached, his stomach felt empty and rumbled. One wing was folded in neatly against his fur while the other was sprawled out onto the pathway, some feathers, twigs, leaves and snapped branches were scattered around him. His cutie mark showed a green USB flash drive with the word 'NOPE' written in impact on it. His tail (which was about two times longer than him) sprawled out behind him and was full of split ends and leaves.
He lifted his face from the harsh cobblestone walkway and opened his eyes, which were a deep glossy brown. The ponies of the park carelessly trotted past him, only about three of them looked in shock at the pegasus that had just seemingly fallen out of nowhere. In reality he had spent the whole night sleeping up in the tree, a tui pecking his face had awoken him and he had fallen out of the tree. He looked in front of his, his vision locked onto the lake in front of him. Only one thing was on his mind now. Having a drink. His mind didn't bother to wonder, where he was, or what his name was, all he cared about was the water.
He forced himself to his shaky legs, before they gave out underneath him. He instead decided to crawl over to the lake, dragging himself over to the waterside, digging his hooves into the clay to get his muzzle as close to the lake as possible. His tongue darted into the lake, and he began to lap in small amounts of water, however once he had swallowed a little more than a milliliter, he plunged his muzzle into the lake and began to drink as much water as he could.
"What are you doing?" Came an unfamiliar voice from behind the Pegasus. He lifted his dripping muzzle from the lake to see a cerise earth pony with slightly messy hair standing behind him with a quizzical expression. She looked a few years older than him and spoke in a light Eastern Irish accent and her cutie mark showed some grapes and a single strawberry. In her right hoof she held a bottle of vodka.
"I'm having a drink," the pegasus replied, "I haven't had a drink in... who knows how long it's been." With that, he returned to the lake, gulping in large amounts of water. To his surprise, he saw the mare's reflection in the lake, staring awkwardly at him. "What?" He asked, his mouth still full of water.
"It's just, why are you drinking out of a lake?" She asked, taking a final sip of her alcohol.
"I'm a pony..." The pegasus said, rather confused, "we drink out of lakes don't we?"
"Ponies haven't drank outta lakes in donkey years," she replied, carelessly throwing her empty bottle behind her. She looked again at the pegasus, his strangely long tail, his cutie mark, "you new around here?" She asked. "I'm Berry Punch, what's your name?"
The pegasus lifted his head from the lake again, finishing his drink. He turned his back to the lake and looked at the tree he'd just fallen out of, it had a strange signature written on it with what looked like a sharpie pen. Then the questions came to him. What is my name? What is this place? Why am I a pony? "My name is..." he looked at Berry Punch, who was still staring at him. "I forgot my name..."
"Seriously?" Berry Punch asked concerned, before pulling a second bottle of vodka from her mane and flicking off the top. "How did you forget your own name? Where are you from?"
"I'm from..." He started, before staring blankly at the ground. "I don't know that either... Wait, where did you get that other bottle from?" he asked, realizing Berry's seemingly impossible action.
"From my mane..." She replied, her look of concern strengthening. "All ponies can carry stuff in their manes or tail, it's one of the few ounces of magic that are shared across all three pony species, another one being the ability to hold items in our hooves... You already knew that, right?"
"No... I didn't," the Pegasus replied, feeling around in his mane and tail.
"Wait, so you don't know your name, you don't know where you came from and you drank out of a lake?" Berry Punch said, finishing her second pint of vodka and throwing the empty glass bottle away. "Did you hit your head on something?" The pegasus shrugged. "Well, do you at least know the meaning of your cutie mark?" She asked, wondering if that would help him remember.
He looked at his hind leg and saw it. The dark green USB flash drive with the word 'NOPE' written on it in a yellow/pink gradient. "I have absolutely no idea what that means," he told Berry.
"Um... is your name Nope?" Berry asked. The pegasus shrugged. "Oh, well, is it okay if I call you Nope?" He thought for a few seconds, before nodding. "Well... what do you remember or know?" Berry asked him, leaning slightly closer to him.
"I know that I'm a pony... and I'm a pegasus... and that cutie marks represent your talent or destiny... and I apparently know how to speak English..." He said, listing off as many things as he could.
Berry nodded when he was finished, she stared into the lake, then back at the tree. "So you've basically got complete amnesia..." she realized, "hang on, stay here, I think I know a friend who might be able to help you," and with that, she gallopped along the hoofpath, through the park, over a hill and out of sight.
Nope looked at his cutie mark. He stared at it for a good two minutes, before averting his gaze to his tail. He lifted it up and observed it, did he have an extension or was it just natural? It felt natural, but to be honest he couldn't really tell. His observations were interrupted by a rustling in a nearby bush. He cocked his head to the side, like a curious lizard, and then trotted up to the bush.
Moving the leaves aside, he saw a light greyish brown pegasus hiding in the bush. He had spiked orange and red hair and a muzzle that seemed to fade to a grey colour. His cutie mark showed an electric guitar surrounded by flames. One of the other pegasus' eyes was green and the other was blue. Nope looked out to where the other pegasus was looking and saw six ponies all talking in a group.
"What are you doing?" Nope asked.
"AAHH," the other pegasus leaped out of the bush in shock, "um... stuff," he said in a rather fast british accent. "I'm not stalking them, you are!" With that, he bailed from the bush and retreated deep into the everfree forest.
Nope blinked in confusion, "what's that guy's problem?" he wondered aloud, before returning to the lake to wait for Berry Punch. But he couldn't get his mind off that other pegasus. Deciding to let it go, Nope lay on the lakeside, slowly sliding in until half off him was in the lake and his tail had fallen in fully as well.
Nope Chronicles #1 - The Pegasus Epidemic
Chapter 2: I need The Doctor
Chapter 2: I need The Doctor
Berry Punch gallopped along the hoofpath, through the park, over a hill and out of Nope's sight. Once she cleared the hill, she slowed her pace down a bit, and reached into her mane. She felt around for a moment before a shocked expression came over her face. "Where's my bleedin' booze?!" she shouted, causing a nearby filly to jump back in surprise.
Realizing that she was out of vodka, she altered her initial path slightly and raced down another route, leading to another part of town. She darted around a corner, vaulted over a fence, leapt onto a hay cart, pushed it slightly and rode it down a hill. Once she got down the bottom, she galloped over to a large stack of barrels, guarded by Big McIntosh.
Berry leapt in over him and swiftly climbed to the top of the stack. Once she grabbed the highest barrel, she threw it up in the air, front-flipped onto the ground and caught the barrel on her back and retreated before Big Mac realized that she had stolen an entire barrel of cider.
She dashed through the streets of PonyVille, still carrying the barrel on her back. Ponies walking by ignored her, as they had seen crazy stuff happen in PonyVille multiple times before to the point where it didn't spark confusion any more. She passed Lyra and Bon Bon who were drinking some juice at a table, then she passed Colgate who was examining a strange signature on a wall made by a sharpie pen.
At last Berry reached her destination; a tiny cottage nestled between two houses. She placed 'her' barrel next to the doorstep before tapping on the wooden door.
"Who is it?" A Estuary English voice replied, muffled by the door.
"It's Berry Punch," she replied, glancing behind her.
The door was pulled open from the inside, and Berry Punch was greeted by a light brown stallion with spiked dark hair. His cutie mark showed a golden hourglass with some sand in it. In his hooves he held a short silver and blue rod in the shape of a screwdriver.
Berry walked inside, bringing the barrel in with her. She had been inside this cottage countless times before, so she didn't pay attention to the fact that the interior was vastly greater in size than the exterior. The centre of the room had a beacon of orange light that reached the ceiling, surrounding the beacon were several dials, levers and buttons. But as far as Berry was concerned, the controls served no purpose.
She rolled the barrel to a water tap and connected it to the barrel using a hose. A cupboard rested underneath the controls and Berry grabbed a few wooden mugs from inside it, the cupboard itself was also bigger on the inside.
"So Doctor," she smirked, pouring herself a drink, "how's that whole time travel theory of yours going?"
The Doctor facehooved, "alright, one, it's going nowhere. I have no idea how to get it to work," he threw his screwdriver at the controls,causing them to spark slightly. The room shook violently, before calming down completely. The Doctor glanced at a screen showing the current time and location. It hadn't changed. The Doctor sighed and returned his attention to Berry Punch.
"Two, what did I tell you about calling me 'Doctor?'" He said sternly, "it's pronounced 'The Doctor'."
"Whatever Doctor, Dr Hooves, Dr Whooves, The Doctor," Berry shrugged, gulping her mug of cider. "How come Derpy gets to call you 'Doctor?'"
The Doctor frowned, "she's allowed," he replied. "Don't tell me you came all this way just to patronize me."
"Actually no, I didn't," Berry said, throwing the empty mug behind her (much to The Doctor's disapproval). "I came to you because I found a pony in the park."
"You found a pony in the park?" The Doctor replied, "you're gonna have to be more specific," he added, grabbing his screwdriver and hiding it in his tail.
"Well," Berry said, pouring herself another drink, "he's got some kind of amnes- *hiccup* -ia going on. He like, spent the night in a tree or something and fell out of it this morning. He can't remember his name or *hiccup* how to drink out of a bottle or cup. I don't even think he knows where he is," Berry said, feeling the hiccups coming on. "Must have gotten drunk and had a whale of time last night," she added sarcastically.
The Doctor rubbed his forehead, "have you seen this pony before?"
Berry shrugged, throwing her empty mug on top of her other one. "Haven't seen anypony like him," she said, pouring herself yet another drink.
"Well, what about his name, did he have say, any hints on his cutie mark suggesting a possible name?" The Doctor asked, glancing at his own cutie mark.
"Well, he had one of those things that you use to put things on that *hiccup* thing on his cutie mark and it had the word 'NOPE' on it, so I just called him Nope."
The Doctor stared into space for a while, "do you think maybe somepony put some kind of spell over him, causing him to forget everything? Is there even a spell for that? Can unicorns make somepony forget their memories? Ha! Brilliant, if there actually is a spell for memory, I can study it and try and incorporate it into my screwdriver!"
For the past 420 years, The Doctor had been studying unicorn magic and had managed to get some of it into his screwdriver so that he could manipulate it as if he was a unicorn. However the spells collected on his screwdriver were limited, and he didn't have complete control over them.
About 17 years ago, he tried using a spell from his screwdriver to improve an orphaned slightly blind grey filly's vision. The result was giving her a permanent lazy eye. Although the filly was slightly annoyed by this sudden occurrence, she was intrigued by The Doctor's magic screwdriver and followed him around for a few years, watching him study and trying to understand what he was doing.
Eventually the pony stumbled into The Doctor's cottage, where she was instantly amazed about it being bigger on the inside. The Doctor allowed her to stay and be his research assistant for a few months. However in the past four years she grew from an assistant to a close friend of The Doctor. He even gave her the nickname, Derpy. She loved the name, and started using it more than her birth name, Muffins.
"Whether he's been hexed or not doesn't exactly matter," Berry Punch said, tossing her mug aside once again, causing The Doctor to stare slightly annoyed at her. "I came here to see if you could help him."
"How am I supposed to help a pony with amnesia?" The Doctor asked.
"You'll find a way," came a soft voice from behind him.
The Doctor turned around. "Derpy! You're back!"
"Hey Doc," she said, running up to him and giving him a hug. "Managed to sell all of my muffins so I came home early just in time to hear you two talking." She smiled at Berry, who smiled back at her. "You're The Doctor, you're the greatest pony in all of time and space. You've done countless amazing things in your life, you should be able to help a braindead pony."
The Doctor thought about this for a second. "I guess you're right. Shouldn't be too much of a hazzle." He turned to Berry Punch, "well, lead the way to this pony!" He grabbed a multicoloured scarf of the side of a chair, "allons-y!"
Berry finished the last of her cider, threw the mug away and trotted out the door.
"You could just you the same mug..." Derpy whispered to herself, staring at the pile of empty cider mugs.
"Oi! Doctor, ya' comin'?" Berry shouted from outside.
"IT'S PRONOUNCED 'THE DOCTOR!'" The Doctor shouted back at her, trotting out the door with Derpy following close behind.
Nope Chronicles #1 - The Pegasus Epidemic
Chapter 3: The Doctor is in
Chapter 3: The Doctor is in
The sun began to fall in the night sky, casting a bright and warm glow onto the few ponies that remained in the park below. Several ponies had returned to the comfort of their homes as Princess Luna began to raise the moon. Nope had remained near and in the lake pretty much all afternoon.
He was worried that the lake might be some kind of private property, but nopony seemed to stop him, they just wandered past minding their own business. They seem to do that a lot... Nope realized as about seven groups cantered past completely ignoring him. He had also been extremely hungry since Berry Punch left, not knowing what else to do, he simply ate the grass surrounding the lake. It tasted wet and had a tang of onion in it.
"Hey! Nope!" Came the familiar Irish voice of Berry Punch. Nope looked over the hill to see Berry, The Doctor and Derpy trotting over. Nope dragged himself out of the lake and galloped over to the group.
"I've been waiting here for about six hours now," Nope complained, "what took so long?"
"Yeah, sorry about that..." Berry mumbled, "got into a little chase with the guards..."
"Guards?" Nope shockingly exclaimed.
"She means the police," The Doctor explained.
"What, the po po?" Nope asked curiously.
"That's one way to put it," The Doctor shrugged.
"Yeah... Something to do with stolen cider," Derpy explained to Nope, "my name's Derpy by the way."
"Hey," Nope replied, "I forgot my name, but she called me Nope so my new name is Nope."
"Alright, let's get down to business," The Doctor interrupted, grabbing his screwdriver and leaning in to Nope.
Nope flinched as The Doctor began to scan him with the screwdriver, creating a strange buzzing noise, although flinching, he was curious about the flashing lights and constant colour changing. While not in use, the screwdriver glowed a slight blue, and when The Doctor used it on his head, it glowed a slight purple.
Halfway through his scan, he pulled back for a few seconds and looked puzzled at Nope, who shrugged in response.
Next, The Doctor used his screwdriver on Nope's cutie mark, looking even more puzzled when he looked at the results. He moved to his abnormally long tail, to his wings and then back to his head. The screwdriver flickered to different colours as The Doctor continued to investigate Nope.
After a good half an hour, in which Berry and Derpy were falling asleep, The Doctor backed away from Nope and checked his screwdriver one last time. The sun was fully set now, with the moon taking its place in the starry deep purple sky. The ponies in the park were long gone now. The Doctor placed his screwdriver behind his ear and stared at Nope for a few seconds.
"Sorry I didn't introduce myself, but I'm The Doctor," he told Nope, realizing that he had just barged in and started scanning him.
"Doctor who?" Nope asked, rubbing his eyes.
"Just The Doctor," The Doctor said, glancing back at the two sleeping mares. "Well, you have the strangest case of memory loss I've ever encountered," he explained. "It's almost as if you literally have no memories prior to this day, like you were literally born last night only to have the knowledge required to survive."
Nope took all this in, and lay down on the grass, trying to make sense of all this information.
The Doctor stared at the moon, then at Derpy and Berry Punch snuggled into each other snoring away, then at Nope lying down on the grass staring at the moon, his eyelids growing heavy.
He pulled Nope up onto his legs, "we'd better get in somewhere for the night, you can stay at my place." He used his screwdriver to levitate Berry and Derpy up into the air, being careful not to wake them. "Maybeh weh chan find ouht mohre tohmorrow," he suggested to Nope with his screwdriver in his mouth.
Nope shrugged and followed The Doctor back to The Doctor's cottage.
The cobblestone pathways were lit by the moon, allowing for an easy method of navigation through the town. A few houses still had lights on, but many of them were beginning to flick off. Through the light of a nearby house, he noticed a strange signature on the wall of an opposite house, he couldn't make out what it said completely, but he did spot the word 'yay' before the light flicked off, leaving the wall in darkness.
"Here we are," The Doctor announced, pointing at the tiny cottage nestled between two houses. He used his screwdriver, while still levitating the unphased mares to open the wooden door.
Nope stared blankly at the cottage, "it's tiny..." he said.
"Yeah, but Derpy and I manage to live with it," The Doctor replied, strolling inside, bringing Berry and Derpy.
Nope followed closely behind, once he entered, his face went from blank to shock. He glanced outside the door, orbited around the cottage and then raced back in. "It's..." He stuttered, seeing The Doctors approving look. "It's bigger on the inside."
"Yes," The Doctor replied, placing Derpy and Nope onto a mattress in the corner of the room and covering them in a warm blanket. "That's because this place is dimensionally transcendental."
"It's what now?" Nope asked, "what's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that the interior dimensions are far more superior than the external, or to put it simply, it's bigger on the inside."
Nope blinked sleepily a few times, before collapsing onto the ground.
"I've been trying to transform it into something a little more inconspicuous over the past few years, like a phone box or something, but to be honest, I can't seem to get the cham-" The Doctor was interrupted by Nope's loud snores. "Well, excuse me," The Doctor said disapprovingly, "it's not my fault if you don't appreciate scie- oh, he actually is asleep."
The Doctor used his screwdriver to lie Nope onto another mattress in the corner of the room. He looked at the two mares, then at Nope before he felt a light draft come over him. He turned around to see that Nope hadn't closed the door. "Were you raised in a barn?" The Doctor complained, about to shut the door with the screwdriver.
But as the blue aurora swallowed up the door, he noticed something in the distance. A pair of glowing golden eyes. They were similar to dragon eyes but seemed smaller. "Hello, what do we have here?" He wondered, aborting his screwdriver's hold on the door and trotting outside towards the eyes.
They blinked back at him, he heard a faint inaudible whisper and then a flap of wings before the eyes had disappeared, along with whatever creature they belonged to. The Doctor observed the sky, trying to figure out where it had gone, before shrugging, and closing the door.
