Prologue: How a hero could be created.
A simple Adventure
Prologue: How a hero could be created
Theme of this chapter
Not much had changed through the entire day. The same old, plain smell washed through the clamped room Pip was sitting in. Nearly all the windows were closed, because of the cold weather outside. Snow was flowing down from the cold clouds, turning his town into a snowman. Or that's what his imagination came up with. With a sigh he returned to his doodles on his noteblock. Weird creatures populated the once blank page, with a certain caricature standing in the middle, full of courage and confidence. After all, he had to look awesome.
His imagination continued playing tricks with his drawings, making them jump around in the weirdest ways possible. The colt in the middle stood bravely in front of each one, holding his trusty blade beside him. Manticores were pummeled to the ground, hydras were being beaten and a hoof was getting the smackdown on him-
Wait, what was a hoof doing on his paper? Looking up, he saw the teacher staring straight into his soul, with quite an annoyed expression.
"If little sir Pip doesn't want any detention for the rest of the week, I expect him to pay more attention!" the teacher said loud enough for the whole class to hear.
"Y-yes, miss!" Pip replied quickly.
His teacher gave him a snort before returning to her table with the piece of paper. Many faces of fillies, colts and stallions turned to him. Some snickered, while others talked about him. Embarrassed, Pip hid his face on the table. Quickly glancing over his classmates, it seemed many had turned their attention back to the teacher.
'Good, now I can show my face again...' he thought to himself.
As he rose his now red face, a sudden breeze flew into his nose. The coldness was quite nice, hadn't it been for traveling in his warm noseholes. Quite painfully, he sneezed loudly in the classroom. Another glare from his teacher made him regret not holding it in.
"First doodling during lecture, now interrupting my lessons with loud noises? You certainly are a troubling colt, aren't you?". Her words were soft spoken, but still hold that familiar snap that made you know you did something wrong.
"Sorry miss, it won't happen again-" he tried to say, but was quickly cut off.
"I heard enough apologies already, sir Pip. Don't let me catch you do such things again, or I'll be forced to sent you out of class." his teacher said.
It felt like everything was against him today. Late for school, dicovering he forgot his lunch, being the vocal point of his teacher. Yep, truly the entire day was just perfect, in a sarcastic way.
The lesson continued about how plantlife worked and how Celestia was responsable for said things. Pip's interest quickly left his head as the teacher rambled on and on.
'Why learn about something we already heard plenty of times..?' he asked to himself.
But he wasn't gonna get his boredness get the better of him, so he continued focusing as much as he could on the teaching at hand.
The room was still the same way it used to be, boring and plain. The smell was slightly different however, probably because a window had opened up. Magic, perhaps? Their were some unicorns in his class after all. The cold weather turned everything into a slightly more endurable situation. Even the teacher seemed more relaxed.
With a sigh, he returned to the lecture. Not before scanning a certain area of the classroom. His eyes locked to a filly, not much younger than him. A true sight to behold, with her long light-yellow mane, to her golden-like eyes. Hay, even her grey coat seemed to scream perfection.
Even so, she didn't pay much attention to him. Sometimes their eyes found eachother, but both quickly lost sight because of Pip's shyness and her busyness. After all, now that she hung out with Applebloom, Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo, he didn't get the chance to talk to her.
Suddenly, the bell rang loudly.
"Ooh, lesson's over? Fine, class dismissed." the teacher spoke quickly.
All ponies quickly ran out the door, with a few still hanging around talking to one another. Pip sat up and grabbed his back, ready to go home. He was stopped by two familiar voices.
"Hey, Pipsqueak. Hold on a second there, buddy!" a young voice said.
As he turned around, he looked at his two best friends: Snips and Snails.
"Ooh, hey guys. What's up?" he replied.
Before Snips could say anything, Snails stepped in.
"The sky...". He stupidly laughed at his own joke. That's Snails for you, full of silly jokes and plenty of crazy.
"Haha, funny, Snails" Pip sighed.
"Mm? Something wrong with you?" asked Snips, showing his undeniable loyalty to his friends.
"Umm, nothing. I'm just tired and extremely hungry".
Both of his friends gave eachother a glance before nodding understandingly. The group of friends walked out the classroom door towards the exit of the school. As they all walked, Pip's mind once again began to race. Everything around him became a black spot as he now returned to his fantasy.
As I stood there, the wind howling and the trees cracking, my body got a shock of energy. Little by little, the world around me turned into an open field, with a forest behind me, a village in the distance and a river in front of me. The water was crystal clear, the forest bright green and the village looked peaceful.
I stepped forward, ready to head towards the village. But when I reached the river, a weird shape appeared out of the water. It didn't look like a hydra, so what was it? The longer I waited, the more my confidence turned into doubt. Finally, the creature could be seen, although it was still only a shadow.
A loud growl erupted from it. I quickly looked beside me for anything to defend myself with. All I got was a wooden sword. I recognized it. It was my first sword I ever made. Quickly drawing it, the creature became more obvious. It seemed to combine a manticore with a hydra. Even with hints of a Ursa Major. I stumbled back in horror, such weird creation couldn't be true.
Without warning, the monster lunged itself at me. Luckily I was quicker, as I dodges its attack barely. A swing later my sword hit its mark, but didn't seem to do anything. Now the imagination became a little too creepy for me. The creature lunged itself at me again, this time making sure I was gonna get hit. I froze, seeing it coming ever so closer. And right then it hit me...
"Look out!".
*SMACK!*
Pip fell back on his rump, feeling a heavy pain on his forehead. As he looked up, he discovered what happened. The lockets were right in front of him, one with a slight bump in it. Many ponies began laughing, snickering and giggling at him. Two sets of hooves helped him up quickly.
"Told you to look out. You alright?" asked Snails.
Pip nodded, rubbing his quite painful forehead. A little trickle of blood streamed down from the quite large wound. Now walking through the exit, the three of them moved towards the shack where the janitor would be for most of the time.
"Hello, youngsters! What seems to be the problem?" he asked with his rough voice.
Pip removed his hoof, showing the now quite bloody wound on his head.
"My, my. That's quite a wound you've got there.".
As quick as the wind, the drawer opened up, revealing a medical kit. But a suprise rose up between the janitor and Pip's friends, as the wound was quickly being cleaned with some water.
"Huh? I-it's not that bad is it?" Pip remarked, worrying if he really did a number on himself.
"No dude, it's just so-" Snips began.
"Weird..." Snails finished.
As he quickly looked in the mirror, he saw why. It almost looked like their was a pattern on his forehead. Kind of like a bunch of words mashed together. Pip raised an eyebrow at the sight, but quickly turned his attention back to the janitor.
"Let's just get this over with... I don't wanna go home with a giant hole in my head."
Luckily the small operation didn't take to long, so with a now stitched/bandaged forehead, Pip finally got the chance to eat at Sugarcube Corner. The smell inside was fresh and pleasant, like always. The baked goods always knew how to attract its costumers. Pip nimbled away at his muffin with glutony like behaviour.
"Wow, when you were talking about being hungry, you weren't kidding~" Snips teased him.
"You Phow Ith" Pip tried to reply.
The group laughed together as they contuned eating their food. More and more ponies arrived at the shop, ordering and talking to one another. But a particular group of fillies got the attention of the boys. It was the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Dinky, giggling and talking about a subject probably not to interesting to them.
"Wow, speaking of lucky. Maybe this our chance to get their attention for once.". Snails googled over at the group of fillies, getting a sly smile on his face.
"As long as you remember Scootaloo is mine, and Dinky is Pip's." Snips said bluntly.
Pip nearly choked on his half swallowed muffin. As he coughed, he gave both his friends a defensive gaze. Well, as defensive as one can be with a slight blush.
"I-I never said that about her! Sure I like her, but that doesn't mean anything, right!?"
Both of them gave him a mocking smile. His head turned red now, now knowing what they meant.
"And don't even think that means I would-".
"Sleep with her? Rock her world? Take her whole night?" Snips and Snails asked in order.
Both his friends laughed loudly at him as his face was a crimson now. He shuffled uncomfortably on his chair, feeling his body turning in a hot baked good itself. Now truly his day was complete. But it got worse as the fillies now turned towards his group.
There she was, right in front of him, sitting and eating her cupcake. All ponies at the table were talking to one another, Snails once again cracking silly jokes, while Snips tried his best to impress Scootaloo. Only Pip and Dinky weren't joining the conversations between the group. The moment turned cold to Pip now, especially as he saw that Dinky was paying more attention to her cupcake than him. He figured he might as well break the ice.
"So, umm, Dinky. How have you been doing at school..?" he began. Wow, I'm doing suprisingly good for just talking a little.
She looked up to meet his eyes. And as soon as he looked into her eyes, he didn't want anything more than just to talk to her.
"Ooh, I've been doing pretty good. Once in a while still got that bully problem about my mother, but luckily it doesn't happen as much anymore."
It was true, after all, her mom was pretty well known for her clumsyness and weird eyes. It suprised him why though, she was a pretty nice mare to talk to.
The store became mildly warm, pleasantly to be honest. Not just because of the weather, but it made talking to Dinky that much more comfortable for him.
"It's good to hear you're doing so well,". He tried to ask her about a certain subject, but hesitated. What if she would find out about his little crush on her? Would it work? Would it fail?
"Pip? Are you listening?" Dinky asked him.
He quickly snapped back and looked her, seeing her worry about something.
"Y-yes?".
"What happened to you? Your head is all bandaged up.". Her were focused at his forehead.
Those eyes, those goddesslike eyes...
"Ooh, that..," he began. "I bumped into something."
"Ouch, that must have been painful..." she sighed.
He nodded at her. Their staring went on for a little while, until Pip felt a hoof touch his shoulder. As he looked up, he saw Snips giving him a look. A little suprised first to see his friend look at him like that, but soon knew what he meant.
"Dude, no..." he whispered.
"Just say it!".
The volume of Snips was loud enough for everypony on the table to hear it. All eyes flashed to Pip, now feeling his head getting swollen and hot. Why did his one of his best friends have to ruin a quiet moment?
"Mmm? Is there something you want to tell me, Pip?" Dinky asked with naïvete.
Pip violently shook his head. "N-Nothing! There is nothing to worry about! So how is your mother doing!?".
"Don't change the subject all the sudden, that's not nice you know.." she replied.
His eyes quickly trailed of to Snips, who gave him a sly smile and nodded towards Dinky. A snarl later, Pip met his crush's eyes once again. But no words were spoken. Everything became quiet, to the point it became almost unbearable to him. But alas, his mouth opened.
"Have you ever thought about your magic? Because, after all, you are a unicorn." he began.
Everypony around the table looked up in suprise and confusion. Why would he start saying something like that? Dinky gave him a little nod.
"Yes. In fact, I think my magic is telling me to leave you with your weird rambling.". She stood up.
"I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow, girls." she said with a smile.
The fillies nodded back and accompanied Dinky. As the group walked out into the snow, talking and giggling together, both Pip's friends focusing on them.
"You think she bought it?" Snails asked.
Snips facehooved. "Come on, dude. Pay more attention next time. Of course she didn't."
Now that the girls were completely swallowed up by the snow, they laid there eyes on a Pip, whose mouth was half open.
"Too bad.. But hey, I'm sure you'll get plenty of other chances with her. So don't worry." Snips said with a confident voice.
But Pip wasn't listening anymore. He was gone, gone into his own imagination.
"B-but my queen! How could you betray your land like this, especially in a time like this!?" I exclaimed to her.
She sat there on her throne, having a nearly bleak face. She stood up and walked towards me. The closer she got to me, the colder and colder the air around me became. I could feel her hoofsteps on the ground, the sound of it echoing through the grand hall. Little by little my mind became blacker and blacker. And her face, her face...
It was dark, unreadable and emotionless.
Then she stood in front of me, her face looking directly at the floor. At last, she moved her face up to face mine. Suddenly her face rised up, showing a display of anger and hatred. It felt like I was lloking into a block of ice. And when her face touched mine, all I could feel was ice.
A violent shake later, Pip woke up, discovering his face was placed on a small mountain of snow. The snow was quickly spitted out of his mouth.
"Finally, you woke up! Thougth we nearly lost you there!" Snips said, reaching his hoof down to Pip.
Pip quickly coughed before accepting the hoof. "Puh. Next time don't drown me in snow, okay...?" he replied.
After he stood up, he could feel how cold everything was. The snow was heavier now, the wind flew by in quick motions. Little by little, everything became wilder and wilder. The group of friends huried towards the store.
"Phew, that was pretty bad..." Snails remarked. Quickly recovering, he went straight to the counter for another hot muffin.
"Yeah, that was terrible, wasn't it, Pip? ... Pip?".
Through the now howling snow, Pip galloped towards his house. Every step he took made him weaker and weaker. How could he do something as stupid as constantly talking to her? She knew he hided something from her. If only he had the courage to say it, just like when he went on his adventures as a foal. But now he knew such things as 'adventures' didn't exist.
"S-stupid world... why are you so boring and difficult!?" he exclaimed under his panting.
"Just let me go on a freaking adventure!".
"Then I shall grant you that..." a voice spoke under the howling of nature.
Pip's eyes widened at the sound. Somepony was with him? In this type of weather. He scanned the area for the voice, but the snow opstructed his view. But a sudden flash made the figure appear.
"W-who, or what are you!?" Pip yelled, shielding his eyes from the intense light.
"Who or what I am, that's not important right now..." the voice called back to him.
The snow suddenly increased tenfolds, causing Pip to lose his balance and tumble backwards to the ground.
"IT IS IMPORTANT!," he yelled at the top of his lungs. "JUST TELL ME!".
"Time is too short for that, but I want to give you,". A package flew towards him. "This."
After that, the light slowly disappeared. But not before saying:
"This adventure means much to you, but even more to others...".
