Prota's Journey

After a few days traveling through the woods, I came to a village. When I walked up to the village, I saw that all the ponies that were going about their day ran away screaming when I arrived. This didn’t stop me, I had no idea yet why they had run. I walked over to a pony who was cowering behind a bench. “Hello!” I said with a friendly smile. But to the pony, my smile must not have been enough.

“Monster!” she screamed before running off. I glanced around looking for this monster she had spoken of. I couldn’t see any sort of beast around. But she couldn’t have been frightened by nothing, what could have scared her? I kept walking through the town, ponies kept running and screaming about a monster when I came near them. I began to think that I was the monster. Surely, I wasn’t that different from them. Yeah, I had wooden claws but I couldn’t help that.

I was now walking through an area of the town where there were many stores and shops. Ponies kept running at the sight of me. I glanced around again, certain I wasn’t the monster and saw what they’d been running from. It was a strange pony that looked more like a beast. She had two small protrusions on her head and a snout that resembled a wolf. Her coat was a light green, much like mine. She was standing in front of a shop window.

“I’ll protect you!” I said to some nearby ponies that were hiding. I then charged straight at the monster not sure of what else to do. I leaped to tackle her, but instead the pony disappeared and I crashed through the shop’s glass window and into the store. “I’ll get her next time” I said to myself as I dusted the shards of glass off of me. Luckily, I hadn’t been cut.

I turned to a family of ponies that was cowering in a corner of the shop. “Don’t worry,” I said gently. “I’ll make sure that monster doesn’t hurt you,” for a moment the fear on the faces of the parents was replaced by confusion.

“What are you talking about?” the father said. “You’re the monster, see for yourself. There’s a mirror over there” he pointed to a small rectangle that showed the area of the store behind me. In front of me, I saw the same creature that had been in the shop window. I slowly walked forward and the creature copied me. I raised a hoof, it did the same. The thing copied every single move I made. What game was it playing?

After several moments of staring at the creature and watching it copy me, the truth dawned on me. This wasn’t some hideous creature, this was me. I was the monster. I glanced back at the family, they were still cowering in the corner of the shop. A mixture of rage and sadness began to come over me. Rage at everyone for running away when I came near and sadness that this was my appearance.

I glanced around slowly, I was in a clothing shop. Perhaps there was something I could use to hide myself. I looked around until I found a black cloak. I grabbed the cloak and threw it over myself before storming out of the town. Perhaps I could find better luck in the next town.
I’d be more careful next time. The journey to the next town lasted five days. This time, I stood at the edge of town watching ponies making sure no one saw me underneath my cloak. Everyone seemed to be acting normal so I started to walk in. I made sure to keep my head down so no one would see my face.

Things were going smoothly so far. I visited a few shops just to look around. I didn’t have any money, but it was nice to imagine one day being able to afford the things I wanted. When the sun had set, I walked over to the local inn. I walked up to the innkeeper who was currently tending the bar. “Can a weary traveler get a room for the night?” I asked.

“That depends, don’t it? Got any bits?” he asked in a somewhat rude tone. I shook my head no. “Then if ya don’t have bits, I can’t give ya a room. Got a family to feed, no one stays for free” he began to walk over to another customer, but I stopped him.

“Wait,” I said. “Perhaps I can earn my stay,” I looked around the room. Everyone seemed to be drinking and chatting, some were laughing but not many. “Let me be entertainment for tonight, I’ll give you a show if you give me a room.”

“Aight,” the innkeeper said. “It’s a deal, but you better put on a good show. It’s been a while since this place has had any entertainment. Our last bard got old and retired.” What was I doing? I had no experience with an instrument or anything funny to say. Guess I’ll just make it up as I go. I stood up on an empty table to address the room.

“Greetings one and all, I am the Hooded Dancer and I have traveled far and wide to provide you with tonight's entertainment” I had no idea what I was saying, words just kept coming out of my mouth. I began to sing some silly song I made up in the spur of the moment as I danced on the table. Eventually, I stumbled and fell off the table. I was too giddy to feel any pain, so I just stood right back up and kept singing. Everyone laughed, they thought it was part of my routine.

When I had finished, everyone cheered and clapped. I got back on the table and said “thank you all, I hope you enjoyed the performance. Treasure this moment forever. The Hooded Dancer will be off tomorrow for her next gig” remarkably my hood hadn’t come off. I reached up and touched my horns, they’d grown a bit and were probably what had kept the hood on during the performance.

“Excellent work,” the innkeeper said, clapping. “You’ve certainly earned a room at the inn. Is it true you’re leaving tomorrow? I’d love it if you could stay, as I said before it’s been a while since this place has had a good laugh,”

“I’m afraid it is true,” I said as the innkeeper led me to my room. “I have places to be” In truth, I had nowhere to go and would have loved to stay. But I was too afraid of what would happen if I was discovered. I stepped inside my room, said goodnight to the innkeeper and closed the door. I then took off my cloak and laid it on a dresser in the corner by the door. I ate some of the fruit from my basket. It was running low, I didn’t know if I’d be able to make it to the next town with what I had.

I brushed that thought away, I’d worry about it in the morning. I could probably ask the innkeeper for something I could pack with me. I laid down on the bed and went to sleep. It felt nice not having to sleep on the hard ground for once. I awoke to a creaking sound, I looked up and saw that my door was open. A young pony, about a year older than me was standing in the doorway gaping in surprise.

“Don’t scream!” I pleaded, hoping she would listen. I must have forgotten to lock the door and this pony opened it, thinking no one was inside. The pony didn’t listen, she screamed loudly and in a few moments the innkeeper arrived.

“What’s this? The so-called ‘Hooded Dancer’ is nothing but a monster,” he said. “Your performance wasn’t even that good,” he then left the room. Probably to call the city guard. I cursed and threw my cloak on. I opened the window and glanced out. I wasn’t too high up, I could probably survive the fall.

I glanced back at the doorway, the pony from before had gone. This was a small town, the guards probably weren’t too far and would be here soon. I took a running leap and jumped out the window. I fell for a couple of seconds before landing in a pile of wood. It hurt a little, but I didn't have time for pain. I ran into the street and stopped to glance behind me. The guards were right on my tail.

I took off running, doing my best to evade them. But they knew these streets better than I and were always around the corner. I ran over to a house on the edge of the town but the guards were waiting for me. I leaped to climb the building. The guards swung their swords, cutting off my tail, but I landed on the side of the building and climbed to the top.

One of the unicorn guards teleported up to meet me, but by then I had already leaped off the roof and into a nearby tree. This was my life now, I was on the run. They would hunt me all across Equestria until I was dead or captured. Now I couldn’t linger in any town I stayed in. Nor could I hope to settle down and make a home.