Equestrian Idiot (Prologue)
ShadowBurn
Chapter 1: Equestrian Idiot (A Tale of a Cutie Mark)
By Gmtom
'Huh.' he sighed.
ShadowBurn was alone in his room, in the house he had bought in Boltamare. He had just finished cleaning it for the third time (Sorting his clothes by colour rather than design this time). He was lying on his bed looking at his painfully blank ceiling, the only sound being lyre music coming from gramophone in the corner. The song was just about to end and the music stop when a dark purple aura enveloped the needle and put it at the start of the record.
ShadowBurn was a unicorn, He had a dark grey coat with a jet black mane and tail and for almost a year now he put purple highlights in both, He liked the colour purple. He had dark red eyes the shone as bright as phoenix’s flame, his mane was the reason he was named Shadow and his eyes were why he was named Burn. His last name didn’t matter, he had no use for it now, he was his own pony now.
And then, there was his cutie mark. His cutie mark appeared to be and eagle sat upon a globe with the letters U.N.S.C on it. Writing alone is already an incredibly rare thing to find on a cutie mark but the way he got his cutie mark is questionable to say the least.
It was almost three years ago now, He had just finished school and in the autumn was about to start college. College and still no cutie mark? Shadow wasn’t bothered by this really he never saw the appeal of having a mark on your butt control what you were going to do for the rest of your life. He was heading to his friend’s house, when he opened the door the smell of weed was immediately present “Oh great, he’s stoned… Again” with a sigh he walked through the door and called up to his friend “Hey sparks, get your flank down here!” “Coming” spark replied.
A few moments later and spark had made it down the stairs and into the kitchen. Spark was a stallion with dirty white coat, two-toned green hair and dull blue eyes (which were bloodshot) he spoke in a low, slow gravelly voice “So why’d you come round homes?”
“Because you asked me to” deadpanned Shadow
“Oh yeah.. That’s right” there was a long silence while shadow waited for him to say something.
“Spark!” Shadow half shouted, not wanting to put up with his friend when he was like this.
“Oh. Right. Yeah follow me” Spark then walked out the kitchen towards the garden and with a sigh Shadow followed him.
Spark and Shadow went into Sparks garage, Spark quickly trotted through the disorganised clutter until he reached a small cleared out area containing two black boxes, one of which was considerably larger than the other, “what is this?” Shadow asked.
“I was digging some ‘plants’ up from my garden, when I found this. Buried.”
“That’s cool but, what is it!”
“It’s called… An Xbox” Spark announced with much drama.
“And what does it do” asked shadow, still not convinced.
“Well it took me a while to figure out but that box connects to the bigger box with that rope stuff, and then you have to power both of them with magic.”
“Yeah and then what” Shadow asked with a hint of curiosity in his voice.
“This” As he spoke Spark’s horn lit up in a dull grey light that was matched by the glow from around the boxes. After a few moments the larger box lit up and green X appeared seemingly from nowhere as did an equally mystically “swoosh” sound. At first shadow thought it was one of those “motion pictures” they use in schools to teach the fillies and colts about the weather and stuff, but no this was way too detailed and in colour!
“Mother of Celestia” Gasped Shadow.
“I know right” said Spark “but that’s not even the best part.
With another glow of his horn Spark picked up an oddly shaped devise from behind the “Xbox” the devise was all black accept for some rainbow coloured mounds on the right and some green flashing lights in the middle. “What does that thing do” said Shadow.
“It lets us play!” said Spark, Shadow was about to ask when Sparked shushed him.
Within minutes they were watching a still image of a cliffside over-looking a beautiful mountain range with the word R E A C H in the centre of the screen, there were also the words “RESUME SOLO CAMPAIGN” and “MAIN MENU” written in the bottom left corner. Spark did something on the device and the picture changed and changed again, now they were looking at what could only be described as angry looking squids using glowing crab claws to attack monsters made completely out of metal “Well that’s… Interesting” Shadow noted.
“Okay so this is a fictional story about a war but it’s between two sets of metal creatures, one side is red, the other is blue.”
“And what happens”
“That’s the thing, you can use this to control the characters and make them do whatever you want!”
“Whatever I want eh?” Said Shadow with a mischievous grin on his face.
“You disgust me” deadpanned Spark
“Sorry” Said Shadow “so how do you control them?”
“Well…” after ten minutes of discussing the controls Spark levitates out a second device or “controller” as he put it, and gave it to Shadow who enveloped it with his own magic. Spark then pressed the green button on the controller and the game began”
Sword base (The name Spark gave to their surroundings) was an entire building free for exploration an entirely new world fun of wonderful and fascinating… BOOM! The blue creature lay lifeless on the floor with the red one standing above it victorious. “Hey I wasn’t ready” shouted Shadow, Spark snickered in response.
BOOM! Once again the blue figure lay lifeless and defeated when a stallions voice said “Game over” then a box appeared showing red had 25 points and blue had -1, how was shadow supposed to know the little blue round things would explode. “I demand a
Re-match” Shadow said angrily.
“Okay, just try not to suck so much this time.” Shadow gave him a “buck you” look then put his focus back on the screen.
Shadow was losing 17-0 and had just re-spawned he was running through a room when a glowing thing in the corner caught his eye. As approached an announcement appeared saying “Hold X to pick up” then some kind of picture beneath it, Shadow followed the screens instructions and was soon holding the fluorescent stick in his hands “ Hey Spark what does this” he tried to say before Spark cut him off.
“Assassination!” Shadow quickly made his character turn around only to see the red figure punch him in the face Shadow instinctively pushed on the RT button causing his character to lunge forward and brutally slaughter the red figure. “Holy Celestia, You killed me!”
“wha- I did. Sorry” pleaded Shadow
“No it’s a good thing you’re getting better” said Spark with a smile.
That game ended 25-5 with red winning.
The rest of the night consisted of many different battles set in different locations and with ever changing scores.
25-0
25-5
25-8
23-13
20-15
25-16
20-19
“Whoa that last one was SO close” Spark said, panting a little from the intensity of their battle.”
“Yeah I think I’ll be able to beat you next game” exclaimed Shadow.
“Please I still have ten times the skill you do” retorted Spark.
“Oh yeah? Then how about we make it interesting.”
“How much you thinking” said Spark narrowing his eyes.
“10 bits?” asked Shadow.
“It’s on” said Spark before the two of them shook hooves.
The next game was intense, Slayer Pro on Pinnacle, Spark quickly took the lead with the sniper rifle but Shadow managed to take him out with the rockets, the lead went back and forth with spark being more accurate and winning most of the lost range duels, Shadow was a faster think and won almost every close up battle, the scores were close all the way through but it came down to one kill. The score was at 24-24 for over a minute both parties trying to get the other in a position where they could get the kill easier, Spark was using the sniper and Shadow was using the shotgun. Spark had control of the tower and was regularly checking the entrances, Shadow was hiding among the rocks to the left of the tower waiting for his moment. The moment Spark went off to check the right hand side Shadow set off, staying crouched as to not appear on radar (a trick he discovered and had the sense to not tell Spark about it) he made his way up the first ramp and into the main building before quickly making his way up the other ramp until he was stood directly behind the red metal monster with the sniper rifle. With a smile Shadow Shouted “Guten Tag” before pressing the RB button as hard as his horn would allow, His character’s arm made contact with the red characters back and when into an a sequence where the blue character stabs the red character in the head. “Game over” the voice announced.
He’d won. Shadow Won 24-25 he was so excited he dropped the controller and started jumping round in circles saying “yes yes yes yes yes.”
It wasn’t for another hour that he discovered he had gotten his cutie mark, his special talent was playing a game called Halo, a game that only two ponies knew about. “Smashing” thought Shadow.
And know he was sat here, on his bed. No job. No opportunities. No future. And probably the worst thing, no mare friend, all because of that mark on his flank.
All credit for this story goes to Gmtom (you can find links to his pages on my page). He gave me to publish this chapter and any other chapters to this site.
Authors note: I'm not planning on writing about Halo again for the foreseeable future.
ShadowBurn
Chapter 2: What’s My Mark Again?
By Gmtom
It was a lonely Saturday night for ShadowBurn, he had no plans except to lay in his own self-pity and listen to the same song over and over again. Just another typical Saturday night, just another typical weekend. Shadow lay on his bed wishing he could go do something new, something slightly more exiting… And his wish was answered.
A heavy knock came from Shadows door, he got up trying to hide his excitement about having visitors and made his way to the front door. He opened the door to find the one group of ponies that he felt comfortable calling his friends. “Hey, come on we’re off out” said StormDasher. Storm was a brick red Pegasus with a slick black mane that usually covered both of his eyes and a short tail of the same colour. For the past five years Storm had been working in Cloudsdale gathering lightning for storms all across Equestria, until he was transferred to Baltimare so he could oversee the weather in the city.
“Awesome, where we going? Cider Barn? Trot Shop?” Asked Shadow, it wasn’t often he got to go out like this.
“Even better, we’re heading down into Ponyville, see what they got there!” Explained Makko.
Makko was also a Pegasus, he had a jet black coat, dazzlingly white hair that was cut short and neat and had dull yellow irises. Makko was studying storm dynamics at Baltimare university and was on his way to getting his master’s degree
“And how exactly are we going to get down there, there’s no more trains until morning”
“We’ve got it covered” said Storm
“Yeah we rented out a Sky Chariot for the weekend. Makko and I are going to pull it, you and spark are going to be in the back powering it with your magic” Storm clarified.
“Yo,” Spark contributed.
“Okay let me get some bits and then we’ll go!”
The group were on their way to Ponyville, as planned the Pegasi were steering the chariot and the unicorns were providing power. Shadow and Spark had decided to look over their map and pick out the best places they could go.
“How about this place here?” Asked Shadow.
“What?” Said Spark “’The Hay Bale’ the way I’ve heard it no pony’s gone there in years, that place is going to be more dead then Makko’s hopes and dreams ”
“Hey, I heard that”
“Oh. Kay. How about the one across from the town hall?”
“You mean the trough,” Spark took a moment to think, he didn’t do it very often. “Yeah sounds good. Storm, Makko take us down as close to town square as you can!”
As it would seem “As close as you can!” isn’t very close at all, the closest spot they could find was on the very edge of town, a couple minutes trot from the club. On the way there they decided to talk to try and pass the time. “Tonight’s going to be awesome!” Storm almost shouted.
“Yeah, it’s going to be just like your hearths warming, only with more mares.” Makko replied calmly
“Yeah that night was awesome I still don’t think my liver has forgiven me,” Said Shadow with a nostalgic grin “we went through, like, five barrels of cider that day.”
“At least.” said Makko they all shared a warm laugh, remembering the good times they had.
“Hey look, we’re here.” Said Spark after minutes of silence. As a group they walked up to the front door which, to their surprise was unattended.
“I thought these places usually had bouncers.” Said Shadow more thinking out loud then talking to anypony in particular, before quickly following the other three inside. When he got inside he saw his friends stood in the doorway, there was no dance floor no loud music and no interesting night life. As it turns out ‘The Trough’ was a quaint little bar the played gentle classical music and served a wide selection of whiskeys and champagne.
“What the hell Spark, you said this place was good.” Makko whispered but the force behind his words made it obvious he wanted to shout.
“It is,” Spark said running over to one of the booths that lined the walls. “Have you seen the amount of whiskey they sell here?”
“Of course he would take us to somewhere like this” Makko grumbled but reluctantly walked over to the both, followed by the two unicorns. “Looks like we’re here for the night guys better get comfortable.”
“It’s not that bad I guess, at least it has booze.” Shadow said with a forced smile.
“Okay look, I’ll buy us the first couple of drinks to make it up to you guys.” Spark suggested on his way to the bar.
“Yeah that’d be for the best.” Hissed StormDasher.
After a minute or so of awkward silence Spark had returned with the drinks “I asked the bar colt what he had in stock, the only stuff they’ve got that isn’t whiskey or champagne was some Buckwiser” Spark then presented a bottle of ‘Buck’ to each of his friends a put a tumbler of whiskey down for himself.
“This night might be as bad as I thought” Said Storm before taking a swig from his drink.
After a few hours (and many drinks) the gang of stallions were finishing their last round of the night before heading to the inn in which they were staying, when a group of four young mares entered the bar. The first, a unicorn, appeared to be the oldest of the group, she had a light blue coat with a darker blue and white striped mane, her cutie mark was covered by a simple white dress with golden stitching.
The second mare was a beige earth pony with pink and midnight blue mane. She wasn’t wearing a dress, leaving her cutie mark, which was three wrapped sweets, completely visible, instead of a dress she had an overly large summer hat adorned with flowers that were the same colour as her mane and tail.
The third was mint green unicorn pony, her mane and tail were the same colour as her coat with a white stripe going through both, similar to the mane of the first unicorn. She wasn’t wearing any clothes, which brought more attention to her striking golden eyes, which appeared to glisten even in the dim light of the bar, her cutie mark was a three stringed lyre.
The final pony to enter was definitely the most noticeable, she was a Pegasus with a golden coat that almost out shone the lights in the bar, she had a pure white mane which flowed delicately behind her as she walked. She too wore no clothes so it was easy to see the sover flute on each of her flanks. When they were all together the four ponies walked up to the bar and began ordering drinks.
“Well this just got interesting.” Makko said looking at the mares with a devious smile.
“Why what’s happening,” Spark said turning round quickly and almost knocking his beer over, before spotting the young mares. “ooh, very nice… And the perfect number!.. You know, because there are four of them and four of us.”
“Yes, we know” Storm deadpanned, then turned to face the mares again. “I don’t know why, but I feel like I’ve seen the green one before.
“Yeah I have the same feeling” Makko replied. There was a short silence as they tried to figure out who the filly was.
“Oh yeah, that’s Lyra” Spark said in-between sips of his whiskey “Lyra Heartstrings, one of Ponyvilles most famous musicians. She’s won best young musician at the Royal Canterlot Classical Music Awards three years running” He paused to finish his drink in one quick gulp, “She is also happens to be Shadows favourite musician in all of Equestria.” Suddenly everypony’s attention was on Shadow, meanwhile Shadow was slumped in the corner of the booth watching with glee as he spun a cocktail umbrella between his hooves. After almost a minute of waiting Shadow finally looked up at his three friends, “what?” he asked.
“Look over there and tell me what you see.” Said Storm pointing a hoof towards the group of mares.
“uh, what. The bathrooms?” Shadow said through a groggy drunken haze.
“No, left a bit”
“Oh, you mean those mares?”
“Yes the mares, they look familiar at all?”
“Well, now that you mention it, that one there looks like…” Shadow trailed off staring slightly in awe at the mare across the room.
“Something wrong?” Said Makko with a smirk
“You have got to be kidding me,” said Shadow still looking on in awe. “That isn’t actually *italics* her * is it?”
“Looks like it. Why don’t you go say hi?”
“Do you really think I should?”
“Of course what could possibly go wrong?” Spark said, his tone dripping with sarcasm.
“Y-yeah, your right, what have I got to loose” With that, Shadow got out from the booth and headed towards his idol. Before he was half way across the room the mare at the edge of the booth noticed him and gave a very off-putting stare, but he kept going to the point where he was only a metre or two away and he had the attention of every mare at the table, that’s when he realised he had no idea what he was going to do. Shadow began to panic. What if they’re here to get away from fans and I’m ruining their night? What if I can’t think of anything to say? Losing all hope Shadow makes a sharp turn and runs to the bathroom, before running out of there and into the stallion’s bathroom.
“Well that’s embarrassing.” Makko said with a little chuckle.
“He looked like he was about to cry! “ Added Storm
“We should get out of here.” said Spark
“What?” Makko and storm said in unison.
“Well this place is quite dry, the barkeep is giving us weird looks now and Shadow is probably going to be emotional for the rest of the night, do you really want to hang around with him if he’s like that?”
“I guess not,” replied Makko. “Come on, let’s go.” And with that the three stallions finished their drinks, paid their tab and left.
Meanwhile Shadow, locked in a cubicle and nearly at tears, was trying to figure out a way he could get out of bar without anypony noticing ‘Why I am I always so stupid’ he thought to himself ‘I’m going to have to lock myself in here until they leave…. Unless’ he thought as he looked up to bathroom window which was about pony size. After splashing some water in his face Shadow decided to go for it, he opened the window as far as it would go the stepped up onto the sink so he could reach the windowsill ‘this is such a bad idea’ he thought as he made the small leap. To Shadows surprise his fore hooves caught the outer wall and the upper half of his body landed on the windowsill, however he managed to hit his head on the windowsill making a sizeable gash just to the left of his eye “fucking horse feathers!” He yelled before scrambling the rest of the way through the window.
Continuing his clumsy streak, Shadow managed to fall out of the window into the alley behind and graze his chest and brose a few limbs. Shadow let out a slightly pained sigh as he got up and inspected his injuries, “go to Ponyville they said, It’ll be fun they said!”
A few minutes after leaving the pub Spark Makko and Storm stumbled across what appeared to be the centre of the night life in Ponyville, a club called “Hoofbeats? But this wasn’t on the map!” Spark informed the others.
“That’s probably because it’s soooo underground” Makko replied his voice coming with tone that made it seem like he thought he was better than everyone else.
“Stop that. Now!” Deadpanned Storm as he glared at Makko.
“Yeah let’s just go in.” Replied Storm, before he trotted inside followed by his two friends.
Meanwhile Shadow had found a store that sold really cheap bottles of apple cider and had spent all his remaining bits on them. He was currently drinking himself to death on the bank of the river that runs through Ponyville. “Urrrh I don’t even like apple *hick* cider “he groaned as he took another swig from the bottle. “I just can’t catch a*hick* break.” He finished his last bottle with a few quick gulps, threw the bottle into the river and lied down
to take “a quick nap”.
Authors Notes: This took Waaaaaaaay to long to do, I started this about a week after I Finished the prologue. Most of this was written on the train, as that’s been the only free time I’ve had lately
Also the next part is already in the making.
