Truth, Justice and the Equestrian Way

The sun was rising over the farm from the east. It’s rays of light coming down on the wheat fields making its way to homestead of the Kent’s. Like a sea of gold, the wheat field was so vibrant in the mornings as it welcomed the new day with a gorgeous shimmer.

On the stretch of road that passed through the fields was the Kent farm. Standing past the entrance was the home of the Kent family, It was an older style building with a porch that welcomed any who entered the two story frame. Past the house was great red barn that kept the Kent’s various animals and tools. While Jonathan would tend the fields, his wife Martha would tend to the chickens and pigs that lived inside the barn.

Up in his room, Clark was getting out of his bed, with his jet black mane in a complete mess as he walked towards the dresser mirror. He looked at himself and decided to walk towards the shower to get ready for school.

The dark tan colt picked up his towel and walked down the hallway and made a left at the creaky door. After a couple minutes, the sound of water running could be heard inside the bathroom. When Clark finally emerged, his black mane was now tidy and his whole body felt refreshed.

Following the smell coming from the kitchen downstairs, Clark grabbed his saddlebag and passed the mirror again. He stopped to look at his cutie mark, an ink quill with a piece of paper behind it. He remembered when he had gotten it two years ago, while writing a paper during class. It was considered very rare for a colt to get their mark at that age, let alone one that covered something as writing. From that point on, he was given the nickname Pen. Many of his own friends were still earning their cutie marks everyday.

In the kitchen, Clark found his mother setting the table for breakfast and his father sitting down drinking his coffee. He sat down next to his ‘Pa’ and looked down into the bowl his mother placed down. It was oatmeal with bits of apple in it.

Without hesitation, Clark started eating his breakfast and said, “This is delicious Ma!”.

Martha looked at her son and said, “Thank you Clark, you can stop by and thank Granny Smith for the fresh apples on your way to school”.

“I will!”, he responded after swallowing down some more oatmeal. He kept eating until his bowl was completely empty, “Ok, I’ll be going. Bye Ma! Bye Pa!”. Clark headed out the door and started walking down the road to Ponyville.

After Clark left, Jonathan looked at his wife with a smile. “He’s growing up so fast”

“Just think, It’s only been seven years since the day we found him in the fields. Everyday has been a new adventure for us”, Martha reminisced.

“But Martha, I’ve been thinking lately and I’m beginning to wonder if he’s a normal pony like us”. Jonathan took another sip of his coffee.

“Jonathan, he’s just like any other colt. He just happened to get his cutie-mark early that’s all”

“Martha. He fell from the sky. No one knows who his real parents are”.

They both looked at each with remorse as silence filled the room

As the sun started to come out, Clark could feel himself more energized with each step he took. He walked along the path and saw that the  grain fields were ending and the apple fields starting.

Clark continued walking until he saw his friend Applejack carrying a stick with what looked like a blanket tied at the end.

“Hey AJ! What do you have there?”, the Clark asked his friend.

“Ah’m gonna to travel to Manehatten and be a city pony!”, the orange filly said.

Clark was confused, “Manehatten? You’re leaving now? Applejack why are you leaving now all of a sudden?”. He knew Applejack more than anyone, this was completely out of her personality.

“Ah wanna go to the city and live with my aunt and uncle Orange. I want to go where everythings new. Why do ya ask, Clark?”

“AJ, I don’t think it’s such a good idea to leave all of a sudden. Granny Smith and Big Mac are really going to miss you and well”, Clark had to blatantly state it, “today is a school day”.

Applejack seem to be caught off guard by this completely. She nervously said, “Ah forgot bout that detail I guess. Would ya mind tellin’ the other ponies that I moved to Manehatten then?”

“It’s not a problem AJ. I guess I better get going now! Good luck in Manehatten, I hope everything works out”

“Thank ya Clark!”

The two young ponies parted ways through the road as Clark made his way into town. He could see ponies of all sizes making their way to Ponyville’s various shops and restaurants. Having to pass through the streets of his hometown, he made it to the schoolhouse where he could see others making it to class.

Clark walked into the classroom and sat next to a white unicorn filly named Rarity. She was another one of Clark’s friends. Unlike Applejack, Rarity was much more into fashion and other things fillies like. At times when she was having a tough time, Clark would go to comfort her, since thats the least he could do.

As every desk in the classroom was seated, their teacher called roll.

“Bon-Bon”

“Here!”

“Cheerilee?”

“Here!”

“Pen?”

“I’m here ma'am”, Clark said.

“Rarity?”

“Present”

After calling down the roll, the teacher asked, “Do any of you know where Applejack is?”

Clark raised his hand and said, “She went to live in Manehatten with her Aunt and Uncle”. The classmates behind him were already talking amongst themselves at the news.

“So Applejack has moved away”, the class could hear the teacher mark out a line on her attendance sheet, “So remember students, tomorrow night is the school play. I’m very excited to see how this turns out”

Clark looked over to Rarity, “Are you all set for tomorrow?”

In a distressed voice, she said, “No. The costumes aren’t ready”

Clark looked over to the side of the classroom and pointed, “Those look ready to me”. On the wall were several hoofstitched costumes of food.

“Oh Pen you wouldn’t understand! Those costumes I made were just ‘nice’. I NEEEED them to be dazzling and spectacular”, Rarity said.

“I guess I wouldn’t understand, then”, Clark guessed he’d never understand Rarity’s need to make everything so overdramatic. He look forward and said “I think we better get out our notes, the teachers writing stuff down on the board”.

Class had begun.

“I don’t think it’s time we tell him”, Jonathan said. This conversation had lasted longer than both of them had expected in their kitchen.

“But It’s not right to keep it from him”, Martha’s persistence was starting to wear on Jonathan. They rarely ever have discussions about this subject, believing that if they avoided it nothing would come from it.

Jonathan gulped before his next words, “Martha, I’ve noticed something about him. He hadn’t gotten sick in the seven years we’ve had him. You can say he has a good immune system, but he’s never shown symptoms of having anything. Somethins tellin’ he isn’t a normal colt like how we thought”

Martha said, “And this is the kind of reason that we should tell him. We can’t just keep putting him in the dark until something bad happens to him”. Martha was almost tearing up at the thought of her little colt being in some kind of trouble he couldn’t handle.

Jonathan finally gave in, “Alright, I’ll tell him tomorrow after I’ve finished with the fields. Nothing too important is happening”. He got closer to his wife and embraced with a hug and told her, “Let’s just hope he can handle the truth”. He let go of his wife and walked over to the back door. He placed his old tan hat on his scraggly brown mane and headed out.

After finishing the math problems the teacher put on the board, Clark looked at the clock hanging on the wall. It was around 3:00 Pm, he only had 30 more minutes until class let out. He heard a noise from behind him.

Clark heard a whisper say to him, “Hey Pen”. He turned back slightly to see it was another pony he knew, a fuschia filly named Cheerilee. Trying to be as discreet as possible, Cheerilee asked, “What did you get for ‘#4’?”.

“Um, Cheerilee. I don’t think you should cheat?”, He tried to make that come out smoothly.

“Geez Pen, It’s not like I’m gonna be a teacher or something. Just tell me what ‘#4’?” Cheerilee said with a small smirk.

Clark reluctantly looked at his paper and whispered, “It’s 27”. He faced forward, hoping the teacher in the front wasn’t looking. The sound of a pencil making 3 marks behind him assured him that Cheerilee heard him.

“Thanks Pen”, He heard from behind him.

Feeling somewhat drowsy, Clark placed his head over the desk and just tried to think about absolutely nothing. He could feel himself go into black for only an instance.

“Pen!”, Clark raised his head up to see his teacher standing to the side of his desk. “Pen, is everything alright? You never fall asleep in class.”

Clark rubbed his eyes a bit and said, “Oh I’m fine Miss. I don’t know what happened. I just sort of laid my head down and blacked out”.

“Well, take care Pen. Class let out 5 minutes ago”, As the teacher pointed to the clock that read 3:35 Pm.

“Oh, I guess I’ll get ready”, Clark put his saddlebag back on and headed out the door. “Goodbye miss!”. He waved as he passed through the door.

Still a little groggy from his nap, the outdoor sunlight was overwhelming for Clark at first. In a couple seconds, his eyes adjusted and could see a lot better. He walked past down the front steps and saw Rarity at the play practice. She was in the back watching the other ponies were rehearsing their routine. Clark waved and yelled, “Good Luck Rarity!”.

From behind the red curtains, Clark could barely hear Rarity, “Thank you Pen!”.

After hearing that, Clark started walking on his pathway towards home. Past the main street of Ponyville, he found the stretch of road that led to the farm. The black-haired colt made sure he fastened his saddlebag and began the walk he walked every day. After a couple minutes, Clark could see the gates of ‘Sweet Apple Acres’ and saw Granny Smith sitting on her front porch looking a little down. “Thanks for the Apples, Granny Smith!” Clark waved as he passed by.

Granny Smith saw him and smiled as she waved back to him. Clark then remembered that Applejack had just left this morning to live with her aunt and uncle. He’d probably go and talk to Granny Smith about it tomorrow.

Clark went along the path and looked up at the sky. He noticed something weird. Even though it was in the middle of the day with the sun directly above him, he couldn’t feel himself getting any hotter. First it was sleeping in class and now not feeling hot, this sure has been a weird day.

The colt finally made it to the farm he called home. He looked over to the east to see his ‘Pa’ moving something in the shed. Clark made his way to the front door and saw his mother finishing some chores around the house. She asked, “How was school today, Clark?”

“It was normal except for a couple things. Before I met up with Applejack, she said she’s going to live with her aunt and uncle in Manehatten. I told the teacher about it when I got there.”

Martha said, “Clark, are you fine about that? She’s one of your oldest friends”

Clark said back to his mother, “I don’t think she’ll be gone for too long”

“Why do you say that?”, Martha questioned further.

Clark said, “Well, It’s Applejack. All she’s ever known is Apples, not the big city”

“Did anything else happen?”, Martha asked.

“Well, I happened to fall asleep at the end of class today and when I was walking home, I didn’t feel hot at all. It was weird”, Clark said.

Martha looked a little worried. “Well, I’ll make sure you get a good night’s sleep after dinner, Ok?”

“Ok, Ma”, Clark said to his mother as he ran upstairs to his room.

With the back door opening, Jonathan came in through the kitchen and said, “Did Clark just get here?”

“Yes” Martha said to her husband, “Do you think you’re ready to tell him tomorrow?”

Jonathan took off his hat and took a deep breath, “I hope that I am, I’ve been trying to think of the words to say to him all day”.

Martha gave Jonathan a kiss on the cheek and told him, “I’m sure whatever you say will get the job done”. She moved past him and went off to finish her chores.

To Jonathan, tomorrow was a big day. But what he didn’t know, is that it would be bigger than he would’ve ever imagined.