A Tribute To Boredom And Stuff

Finally, after an uneventful night moving through the forest in his peculiar fashion, Strike finally reached Ponyville. Walking through the town, he realised none of it looked familiar.

Of course not. You barely ever came here, it’s been 300 years and even if you did have your memory’s you’d probably still not recognise anything, Shadows finally spoke, breaking his night long silence.

"At LAST! I’ve been trying to get you to speak for the whole night! Where were you?"

Well, even voices in your head need to sleep every once in a while. You’ve slept long enough, so I decided it was my turn.

"Goody. Any suggestions on what I should do now?"

You can’t figure this out yourself? You don’t have a house, any food or money. Good luck. You have someone following you.

Strike looked behind him, down the street he had been slowly walking down. All he could see were houses, pony’s going about their day to day lives, and some stalls selling things like apples, bread and flowers.

Third stall down on the right, blue top, behind the pile of apple tarts. How are you missing this? It’s not like bright pink is camouflaged with apples!

The unicorn took a closer look, and there was indeed a pony following him. A pink earth pony to be closer, with a frizzy, fuchsia, mane and 3 balloons as a cutie mark, was hiding behind the stall described, staring at him intently. As soon as he realised her cutie mark though, he realised he had never looked at his.

Turning to stare at his flank, he caught a look at a colourful flame, turning yellow to orange to red, a greyscale scarf, separating the flame and… a faded out lightning bolt. He could guess the relevance of the flames and scarf, but what in Equestria was the lightning bolt for?

Oh, that’s me! The voice in his head bubbled up. See how you, the flame, and me, the lightning, are separated by the scarves, but both still in the mark? It’s because we’re the same person, just completely different.

“That made no sense. At all.”

During the time Strike and Shadows had been talking, the unidentified pink mare had crept up on them. Now, he came back to reality only to find himself, halfway through a tirade of unintelligible babble, consisting of something about pie, sugar cubes, and 3 hours. Before he could open his mouth, the pink pony had bounced off, and disappeared round a corner before the first syllable could be uttered.

“W-What?”

Time is ticking, and you still need a home, food and a job. If you’re going to make it to Pinkie’s party, you need these things in less than 3 hours.

“How did you catch these things?”

I have good hearing, and I can decipher that stuff with ease. Now, I believe you were looking for a job?

“Suggestions as to where?”

Well, play to your strengths. You essentially have over 8000 limbs at your beck and call, are a unicorn, and your main power lies in fire, creation and enchanting. If you remember metal working, then do that. But you probably don’t, and Sweet Apple Acre’s is probably the only place that’s likely still around after all this time.

By now, Strike was getting several odd looks from the townsponies. It’s not everyday a unicorn walks into town, talking to himself and with only four scarves to him.

You ought to start talking to me with your thoughts now. You’re weirding people out.

Strike glanced around him, and almost every pony wore a look of mistrust, or annoyance. Apart from 3 fillies, who appeared to be attempting to juggle while standing on each others backs.

Strike watched the fillies, one orange, one silver and one lime green, as they attempted to entertain passers-by. However, the orange pegasi at the bottom got distracted, and forgetting the weight on her back, attempted to walk away. This led to the other filly’s losing their balance, and falling off the top, onto the floor, while their juggling balls bounced all around them.

Strike chuckled slightly, before looking around the town once more. He saw an old sign, pointing to his left with the words “Sweet Apple Acres” emblazoned on it. The unicorn started to slowly meander towards this place, then realised he had a deadline to keep and started moving slightly faster.