I, Starscribe, have lived my entire (short) life in the small, quaint town of Westrock, where nothing ever really happens. Like, at all. The only type of excitement we ever get here is when a Canterlot pegasi flies by with the newspapers, which tell us about important events and occurrences. But as you can guess, reading about all these things is hardly equal to experiencing them.
Due to the abundance of boredom here, I have always been on the lookout for adventure and mystery. Whenever the slightest thing happened, I would think of some grand journey or quest that could be embarked on in order to answer the important questions these events posed. Questions like, "Where did those flowers come from?" "Who owns the new clothing store?" and of course, "Who ate my cupcakes?" (The answer to that last one was my sister, Cleartouch. Just want to point that out.)
And so it was while walking downtown one Saturday afternoon that I noticed the sign on the front of Bubbler's Bakery was gone. Instantly, my mind raced into action, thinking of everything I knew about this shop. I knew it was owned by Bubbler, an nice pony with an unfortunate name. I also knew that this was where I always stopped by when I forgot my breakfast on a school day, so I cringed a little when I saw the "Out of Business" sign when I got closer.
Determined to solve the case of the closed shop, I investigated the scene. Scouting around, I saw a sign that had seemingly been put up a few days ago, saying the bakery was going out of business. That's strange. I thought. How did I miss that?
Shrugging my shoulders, I wandered further down the street, contemplating why the store might have gone out of business. They seemed to have been doing really well, as there wasn't a pony in town who hadn't eaten (and thoroughly enjoyed) one of Bubbler's cakes or pastries. I found it hard to focus on this, however, because I couldn't stop thinking about the nest day.
The next day, the first Sunday of the summer season, was going to be my thirteenth Ceremony. My coming-of-age ceremony. The day I would get my cutie mark. The day I would get my job. The day I would decide my future.
The day I would learn my destiny.
That night, I couldn't sleep, I was so excited. Only a few hours later, I would find my true calling, and learn about my future life. Lying in bed, unable to sleep, I tried to imagine what my cutie mark would look like.
Maybe it would be a pen and pad, or a book being written. After all, I had a pretty creative mind, and as I said before the town was more or less devoid of good, exciting stories. We had a library, but most of the books were old, or about school things. That would be nice, being given time to write down my stories, instead of just thinking them.
But as excited as I was, I was also a little worried. What if I got something I really didn't want? That happened sometimes. I had a cousin once who really wanted to carve things, and spent his childhood in the town wood shop. But come the ceremony, he got appointed farmer, much to everyone's surprise. Then again, there was a drought the next year, and the extra framer we had in the form of my cousin saved us from starvation. In fact, we were pretty dang lucky that he got that tractor cutie mark.
Thinking about it, I realized just how many times something like that happened. When a tornado had come through, a pony had just randomly gotten a carpenter cutie mark, and so we could rebuild. When the big fire had engulfed half the town a few years ago, multiple ponies had recently gotten unexpected cutie marks.
As you might expect, this revelation spawned all sorts of theories in my inventive mind. Were the princesses saving us? Could the cutie marks tell the future? Or was it just a lucky coincidence? Knowing how wrong my predictions and explanations often were, I shrugged these thoughts off as wild conspiracy theories, and drifted of to sleep.
if only I had known just how much of a conspiracy there really was.
I woke up the next morning bright eyed and bushy tailed. I jumped out of bed, quickly put on my clothes, and raced downstairs. After a hurried but filling breakfast, I rushed out the door and down the street to the town square, to meet up with my friends and get a good seat for the Ceremony.
Spotting my friends Darkstone and Springstep, I hurried over to them, taking the front-row seat they had saved for me. Sitting down, I started chatting with them about what cutie marks we thought different ponies might get. Talking with them like this, the time went by quickly.
Soon, the Ceremony began. All of the of-age ponies went on the stage, one by one, and when they stood in the middle their mark appeared. Once this happened, an announcer would give them their job assignment. At first, their were no surprises. Darkstone and Springstep both got want they wanted, and so it was with hope in my heart that I walked to center stage.
I had the biggest grin on my face as I waited for my mark, a grin that only got wider when an image of a pen and paper appeared on my flank. Standing there, I waited for the announcer to give me my job, which I assumed would be story writer.
"Starscribe the colt shall be... town hall transcriber!"
The smile slowly drained from my face as I realized what that meant. The job of the transcriber was to copy down what the mayor said, word for word, no creativity involved. It was frustrating to be so close to my dream, and yet so far. But it was my destiny, so I supposed some good was to come out of it.
But soon something even more shocking happened. When Bonegear was called forward, he stood up and center, just like everyone else. But when his cutie mark appeared, it was something nopony saw coming.
For his mark was a picture of townhall, the sign of a future mayor... but above that was a bloody knife.
After the reveal of Bonegear's cutie mark, there was a collective gasp among the audience members. What could this mean, this violent mark? Did it indicate that he would take control by force, or did it mean that...
"Bonegear the colt shall be... mayor!" cried the announcer.
As you might imagine, this simple title for such a dark cutie mark through everyone into confusion. The town square was in chaos, and there was no hope of an official gaining everypony's attention. Fortunately, Bonegear was the last pony to receive his mark (probably not coincidentally), so there was no need to stop the sudden rush of voices.
My thoughts were interrupted by Springstep asking the same question we all were - "What might this possibly mean?"
"I have freaking no idea!" I responded, adding "But I do know I feel kinda bad for Bonegear." And I did feel bad, because he was just standing awkwardly on stage until finally stepping off when he spotted his parents. It had to be pretty nerve wracking to have an entire crowd talking about you, asking things you couldn't answer.
Shaking my head, I stood up and walked over to my parents. We knew that nopony knew anything about the Bonegear incident, so we didn't even bother talking about it. Instead, we just headed home.
The next day, I got a letter in the mail. Opening it up, I saw it was from the town hall. Thinking of the previous day's events, I was intrigued.
When I read it, I saw that it was a generic summons to a town meeting that afternoon. As this was my first day as the transcriber, I was surprised that I was already being called. Since the letter didn't give any details, I wondered what the meeting would be about.
A few hours later, I grabbed a pen and pad and headed down to the town hall. Once there, I found my seat and waited for the meeting to begin. Soon, it did.
Two ponies were brought forth - Bonegear, as well as the current mayor. "This is nonsense!" cried the mayor, with tears streaming down her face.
It shocked me to see the town's leader in such a bad state. Hurriedly, I got out my writing utensils, and recorded the following scene.
"It isn't fair!" the old mayor wailed, rushing for the door where she was grabbed by a body guard. "It just isn't right!"
"You know the rules." said an official looking pony. "The mayor before you did it, years ago, and so shall you."
I looked over at Bonegear, who was visibly shaken. He kept closing his eyes and gulping nervously. What was going on?
The official looking pony turned his head in my direction. "Starscribe, as transcriber, you have to promise not to share any information you hear in this room. Do you?"
"Yes, I do." I replied. Obviously, I didn't know that circumstances would eventually make me tell you this story.
"Good." said the official. "Then you can know the truth... Brightoak, the current mayor, must die."
"NOOOOO!" screamed the mayor.
I gasped as Bonegear spoke in a stuttering voice "I know I have to... to kill her, by... by traditon, but... but, I just CAN'T!"
"You must!" said the bodyguard holding the mayor, and pointed a staff at Bonegear. Bonegear instantly got a strange look upon him, and pulled out a knife. He walked over to the mayor, and brought down the knife...
Suddenly the mayor twisted out of the bodyguard's grasp and ran over to my. Pulling me out of my chair, she screamed at me to run. The guard pointed the staff at her, and she lunged at me.
I scrambled away, barging through the doors and taking a tight turn around the building. My heart racing, I looked around for escape, and jumped over a fence into someone's yard right as the bodyguard, Bonegear, and the mayor all raced after me. I dashed through the yard I was in, and skittered onto Mane Street.
I ran all the way to the town wall, and found myself cornered. Thinking fast, I climbed up a ladder and onto the high wall that protected us. regretting that I didn't have time to enjoy the view, I ran along the wall, away from my pursuers, ready for a showdown.
As the chasers drew nearer, I threw my pad and pen at them, causing them to almost lose balance on the fairly narrow path. Running along, I saw a cart full of hay just outside the wall. I jumped into it, landing on my back, and kicked the guard with full force when he followed, sending him flying. I instantly leapt up and dashed way.
Turning back after a minute, I saw the silhouettes of the mayor and Bonegear still on the wall, afraid to follow me into the dangers of the outside world. All of a sudden, Bonegear turned on the mayor, stabbing her, and I watched her fall off the wall.
Sobbing out of fear and sadness, I ran off into the twilight, preparing to face the dangers of the world outside the walls of Westrock.
