Where It Ends is Where It Began
It is strange, what one sees, going through one’s life. It is even more so what one can recall, looking back on it. When one has lived a long life, and experienced many things on one’s travels, one can’t help but reminisce when thought is provoked.
My name is Professor Argon Sky, but feel free to call me by whatever you please. I have been away for a while, traveling, but I have returned to my home in Equestria; more specifically, to Ponyville, although, there weren’t many ponies I recognized. So, I figured I should say hello to somepony.
The first person I came across was a bright and bubbly pink pony with frazzled hair bouncing through town with a box of what appeared to be hats on her back. She was smiling as she did so. When she saw me, I said hello, and she gasped with a look of absolute shock on her face as she jumped into the air. She then promptly rushed away quick as a whip. Was it something I said?
So, after reviewing my social skills, I continued through the town. I eventually traveled my way to Sweet Apple Acres. Perhaps Lady Smith might recognize me. I walked up to the door, and just as I was going to knock, the door swung open and knocked me out but good. When I came to, there were three fillies looking over me: one a white unicorn with a pink-and-purple mane, one an orange pegasus with a pink mane, and one yellow earth-pony with a red mane.
The earth-pony said, “Are you alright, mister?” I turned over onto my hooves and stood up. I looked at them, “Where are you little fillies off to in such a hurry?” I asked. The earth-pony stepped forward. “We’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” She said. The pegasus stepped up as well and said “We’re on a quest to find our cutie marks!” The unicorn asked “Who are you anyways?” “Who, me?” I said, “Oh I’m nopony, just looking for an old friend.” “Well,” the earth-pony slowly replied, “The only old person ‘round these parts is Granny Smith.”
Taken aback, I stated “Granny Smith?” “Yup,” she said, “She’s the old gal in the rocker over there. Over there in the field is my big sis’ Apple Jack, and my bigger brother Big Macintosh. I’m Applebloom!” The pegasus shouted “And I’m Scootaloo!” “I’m Sweetie Belle!” squeaked the unicorn. “Glad to meet your acquaintances,” I said.
Scootaloo happened to notice my cutie mark. She asked me what it was. I sad it was a few gears, like the gears turning when you think. Then Sweetie Belle asked, “How did you get your cutie mark?” That made me think back a ways. “Ah, now there is a tale and a long one at that...” Then, Scootaloo said, “It sounds interesting, but, we should really get going, right, guys?”
So they left, and I caught up with Lady-… Granny Smith. As I stepped on to the porch, the old gal said “Well, bless my saddle and call me a timber-wolf, if it isn’t Archie! Where you been all these years and how can I get there? You look great, in fact, you look the same as the day you left, you flutter boy, you! Brown and sandy hair, all messy-like, green eyes; always such a stubborn, silly boy, weren’t ‘ya?” I smiled, and asked, “Ah, Lady Smith, how long has it been, twenty years, thirty? I’ve lost count, but like I promised, I’m back.”
“Well, darn tootin’ it took ya long enough to get back here!”
“I’m sorry, I let you get old.”
“Oh, you couldn’t’ve stopped that.”
“Yes, I know that, but believe me, the years haven’t been kind to me, either.”
“Kinder than they were to me!”
Afterwards, I walked up to a place called Cupcake Corner. Curious, I wandered in. It appeared to be closed, for there was no light. Then it was suddenly lit up and a massive “SURPRISE!” rang out. It appeared that I was in the middle of a party! “Ah, it must be a welcome home party!” I said to nopony in particular. Then, the jumpy pink pony from before jumped out and started talking.
“Hiya! I’m Pinkie Pie! I’m sorry about earlier, it was just that I’d never seen you before, and I know everypony in town, so I knew you must be new here, and then I thought ‘GASP! He must not have any friends yet!’ and I thought that was so sad, so I got EVERYPONY I know in town together for a surprise party for you, so you can meet everypony now and we can all be the bestest of friends!” When she was finished, she sported one of the most outrageously wide-eyed grins I had ever seen.
I just laughed. “You sure talk a lot, don’t you? That’s good, always having something to say; sometimes, I find there aren’t enough words in the world. It seems you’ve solved that problem, and I thank you for that, Pinkie Pie!”
“Yay, this means we’re friends!”
“I suppose it does!”
“Ooh, ooh, ooh, let me introduce you to everypony!”
“Thank you, Ms. Pie.”
So, after meeting everyone, even a baby dragon named Spike, I enjoyed some meandering, idle conversation, and confections. Then the purple unicorn came up, Sparkle something or other.
“So, Ms. Sparkle, I hear you are the local book keeper.”
“Oh, yes,” she said, “I live at the library here in Ponyville. It’s a long story.”
“Oh, I don’t know, I myself enjoy a story from time to time.”
“Speaking of stories, what brings you to Ponyville?”
“Well, I live here, you see, I’ve just been gone a while.”
“Oh, really? Where do you live?”
“Actually, Ponyville itself is my home. I never had an actual house to call my own.”
“Oh, well, that’s interesting. I don’t mean to pry, but what made you leave Ponyville?”
“It’s a long story. Actually, a rather boring one at that, It isn’t really one worth hearing. Well, perhaps one or two things might be interesting, but otherwise-”
Pinkie Pie jumped up. “Ooh! A story? I love stories! I have this one story about Oatmeal and I going down to the lake where we-”
“Pinkie Pie!” interrupted Ms. Sparkle
“Yes, Twilight?” Ah, Twilight Sparkle! That was it!
“Oh, she’s fine,” I said, then looking at Ms. Pie, “I was just about to tell Ms. Sparkle here about my travels. You’re free to listen as well.”
“Yay! Story time!”
“Now, let’s see.” I paused to think back on it. It seemed like an eternity now. A quiet came over the room as eyes focused on me. I then cleared my throat “It all started a long, long time ago…”
I was a colt from Ponyville. At least, I think I was. You see, I was found on the doorstep of an orphanage on the edge of town. Growing up, I always felt like I was meant to do something great, but exactly what, I was never sure. I had so many questions and so few answers. So, I might as well have gone out to find them. From a very young age, I had a natural tendency to wander about
When I was about seven, I began school. I didn’t make many friends; in fact, I don’t believe I ever bothered to, either. I was far to focused on my studies to bother with any of that. I suppose the only person I considered a friend was the teacher, Misses Chalk. I was a very dutiful student; it didn’t exactly make me the most popular colt in class. I was picked on by a group fillies and colts. They called me egghead, four-eyes, dirty-colt, the list goes on.
After a few years, some students gained their cutie-marks. There were many different talents that showed themselves in the following months: teaching, donuts, time-keeping, leadership, finance, and so on. So many ponies that had discovered their purpose in life; all, but one: me.
I was distraught. I started doing everything I could think of to find what my special talent could be. I tried everything from skydiving to mining and back again, but nothing I did worked. I spent the rest of my childhood searching for my purpose. After ten whole years, I gave up. I took to sitting there and thinking about what could have been had I found my cutie mark. I could have been a doctor. I could have been an artist. I could have been an athlete. I could have been anything.
Having the unpleasant life I had, I also took to making other peoples lives unpleasant as well. Oh the nasty things I did out of jealousy, anger, grief and the like.
Only one person stood up for me, though, I never understood why. She told me to never give up, for she certainly didn't give up on me. Her name was Lady Smith. She was the kindest mare I had ever met. She was only a few years older than I, but still so much wiser. Then, I did something truly horrible, horrible enough to call council.
There was a council in Canterlot Court. The council was held by Princess Celestia of Northern Equestria, and Prince Amante Tornado of Southern Equestria. I had recently caused a real mess of the apple harvest. It ended up with the entire harvest in the lake. It was a long day of apple-bobbing. Anyways, The Council decided that I was to leave Canterlot and Ponyville, and not return until such a day when I was prepared to atone for my actions, but not before cleaning up the mess that I had made.
So, my deeds done, I was subsequently banished from Ponyville, and as I wandered down the path, solemnly on my way, I crossed paths with my Lady Smith, who could do nothing but shake her head. It hurt me more than having my wings broken to see her so disappointed with me, “I’m so sorry. I promise, I will return when I can make it up to you.” But she did not respond. She only turned away from me. And with nothing left to say, I continued on my way, leaving behind the only world I knew. Little did I realize, there was so much more to the world than I would have ever known.
I went south through the Everfree Forest. It was dark, and getting darker as the sun set below the trees. In the twilit moments just before the sunset, the amber light radiated through the leaves and dew in such a way that it bathed the whole forest in an ethereal layer of energy where everything from the trees to my glasses glowed with it, and just as quickly as it had appeared, all that beauty disappeared. It was now night time in the Everfree Forest, a thing which ponies dread for good reason.
I admit I am not a brave pony. I was in a state of terror through the night. Not only was it dark, but it was getting colder, and I could hear the sounds of the creatures of the night, howling and screaming. All around me the trees became horrifying monsters, with the intent of eating anything that was so foolish as to wander into the woods as I had. I wandered in the darkness, careful to tread slowly and softly so as not to disturb anything. I could not tell you how many times I had stumbled over vines and branches and animals amongst other things!
I fumbled blindly in the darkness for what I thought to be days, praying to Celestia to bring the sun, but it was a foalish to think that she would do any favor to somepony she had just banished both her home and mine. I had all but given up on making it through this nightmare and was about to lie down and let the cold consume me. Then, behind me, I heard a loud snap! I turned quickly to see what made the noise! I saw rustling in the bushes! It was coming closer! I flinched back in fear! This is the end I thought! And then… IT JUMPED OUT AT ME!
At this moment, I had made a few ponies shout.
Believe me, I screamed, too, but I felt foalish once I saw the beast. It was a mere rabbit. I let my guard down for the moment, but nothing could have prepared me for what happened next. A pack of Timberwolves jumped out after the rabbit. One had caught the rabbit. It grabbed the poor thing and shook it ragged, making an unfortunate mess of it; this caught the attention of the others, who then proceeded to attack their victorious comrade, completely ignoring me. I took the opportunity to flee the scene, all the while hearing there snarling and howling.
I just kept running, even when the pain in my chest surged through the rest of my body, almost swallowing me whole. I kept running through the bitter cold that stung my skin. I kept running through the hunger that tore through my whole being. I kept running through the trauma of the ceaseless night and the monsters that are its usurpers.
Behind me I heard the panting and snarling of the Timberwolves. They were closing in. I should not have looked back. I hit a wall head on and tumbled back onto my rump. I couldn’t quite see straight, but I could hear them coming closer. I tried to get my bearings again, then my vision came back into focus to see a tall cliff impeding my path, and the wolves in close proximity, I wished I had some way of scaling that cliff, but then I remembered, I have wings! I had completely forgotten about them! So, just as the wolves came, I spread my wings and began to fly up the side of the cliff, and not a moment to soon; one of the wolves had latched onto my tail and was pulling me down. I kicked it several times before it released me, and I flew up to the top of the cliff and kept running.
Once again, I neglected to watch where I was going. I suddenly began to tumble down, getting covered with dust. I kept rolling until I came to a dramatic skidding stop with a mouthful of dirt.
When I came to, I was still barely conscious; Things were blurring in and out of my vision. It came together and I saw a vast desert of sand and cacti as far as I could see. There were a few black, skeletal trees sparsely scattered to and fro. Roosted in one directly in front of me was a buzzing Buzzard, glaring at me in that cold way that told me what it was waiting for. I stood up in spite of it, and started trotting my way slowly.
I lifted my head in defiance of the inevitable. Looking skyward, I saw a violent burst of color reach across the horizon like a smudged painting; it was beautiful. I felt as though such beauty would never be seen again, but still, I pushed on. I had a promise to keep, and I had the full intent of keeping it.
A Tale of Traveling Across the Sands of Time
I continued my traveling across the desert, Celestia's sun slowly climbing over the horizon. I had never seen it like this before; the sky was dark with purples and blues, the stars no longer shone. As the sun climbed, reds and yellows began to mix just beyond the sun as it wavered and flickered to my left, as if it were a slowly growing ember. The pale, cool sand beneath my hooves sank and shifted ever so slightly as I sauntered my way to nowhere. There was a sensation of sinking inside me, of the despair that I had brought upon myself at my own expense, of the sorrow that the beauty all around brought upon me with such ferocity that it tore my heart asunder, and of the loneliness of the vast alien emptiness that lie before me, with nopony there; nopony there... nopony... but myself.
I kept going. I didn't know when I would stop. Perhaps when I'm dead. Her sun climbed ever higher, till it was at its highest. It was then that Her malcontent towards me became blatantly clear. Her sun sat in its place, throwing its rays onto everything, and all that the light touched set ablaze with fire. All things in sight began to shiver and blur, and the cool sand beneath me became hot coals that I am forced to traverse. I dragged myself on for what seemed like hours. Sweat trickled down my forehead and legs and matted my mane and tail. It would be fine with a cool breeze, but even the wind was on Her side. The air was thin, dry, and hard to breath, as if it were also on fire. It flared past me in an unforgiving fashion, tossing me to the west, to the east, to the north and south. And the only escape from Her wrath was the eventual sandstorms that lasted for hours, getting caught in my mouth, my eyes, my mane and tail. I couldn't go any further. I collapsed.
"Hey." I heard a stallion's voice. It sounded condescending. "Hey, you!" I struggled to open my eyes, and after much effort, was rewarded with Her blinding light. I flinched. After my eyes adjusted, I looked around, and saw nothing but a vast, empty desert. "Over here!" I looked in the direction of the voice, and saw a rock just smaller than my head. The strangest part was that this rock... donned a magnificent handlebar-moustache. I was still in daze, incapable of processing the information as I lay there baking alive, eyelids heavy, mouth gaping. "Hey, boy," I heard as the rock wobbled, "You shouldn't be sleeping here." I tried to speak, but my tongue would not obey. "You must stand. Your journey is far from over." The rock spoke the truth. I had a long way to go, regardless of where that may be. So I stood. And so I walked.
*******
"Alright, this old stallion is worn out," I sighed, "And I'm sure all of you are as well, listening to a tired old tale like mine." The crowd nodded and yawned in response. It was quite late now.
Everypony dispersed from the little bakery and went to their homes. I myself thought it wise to find a place to rest for the evening. Though, I was certain that little rest would come to me that night. Certain memories from the desert would be sure to haunt me; memories that I would not want to inflict upon anypony else, to damage them with the horrid nightmares of the sands of time.
"Excuse me," I heard. I turned to see the mare that spoke to me: it was Twilight Sparkle. "Ah, Ms. Sparkle, Can I help you?" "Actually, yes," she stated, "It sounds like you've been through a lot on your journey, I would like to record some of it, if that's not a problem with you?" I pondered this for a moment, sighed and said, "Are you certain that you want to hear my tale? It is not for the faint of heart, nor is it as light as I have made it out to be. Do you still wish to continue this course of action?" She nodded, certain of her decision. "Very well, I shall proceed." She raised her hoof to pause and said "Actually, I was thinking we could start in the morning. I have to get some sleep and digest what you've given me already." I smiled and yawned "Very well Ms. Sparkle, We shall meet in the morning. Good evening." I trotted away.
I looked around for a place to rest, spotted a quaint little tree, and decided to roost upon it. I looked up at the sky to the many stars in the blackness of the night, it was a calm I had not seen in a long time. My hard days were behind me, and I could sleep easy, but I didn't. My dreams were filled with darkness, and the black cloud of wings and the great wall of sand. And the screams of the helpless, and... the buzzing; buzzing, buzzing, BUZZING! And the sanguine rainfall which poured from above staining all it touched as the wing-beats became thundering drums. and all of it closing in; closer, closer, louder, louder, LOUDER! IT DOES NOT CEASE! NOTHING CAN STOP IT! IT SURROUNDS ME!
I woke suddenly! Birds chirped, the sky was blue, the clouds were white, and the gentle breeze rustled the green leaves in the tree around me. All was well, save for the world in my mind. I looked around and all the ponies of Ponyville were going about their morning routines. Speaking of which, Ms. Sparkle said something last night of wanting to meet this morning. What was it for again? Ah, well, I would find out when I reached the library.
On the way to the library, I discovered that I did not know where it was! Thus, I stopped for directions. I saw the rainbow-haired pegasus mare swiftly darting to and fro above the town. If only I could remember her name. "Excuse me," I yelled, "Can you direct me to the Library?" She halted instantly in the air, and said "Yeah, I can, but, I'm pretty busy with this routine I'm working on. It's some pretty complex stuff, you probably wouldn't understand."
"Oh, I don't know, I was a member of the Legion Aerial Guard of the Democratic Equalist Republic of Pegasopolis." She looked at me with her head cocked to the side, "The what now?"
"Nevermind that, ah, right, which way is the Library?"
She pointed. "That way"
"Thank you."
When I reached the library, I heard voices inside. I knocked. Spike answered the door. "Can I help you?" he asked.
"Why yes, I am looking for Twilight Sparkle. Is this where I can find her?"
"yeah, it is. Hey, you're the guy with the life story from the party last night! What do you want with Twilight?"
"Actually it is what she wants that brings me here. Ms. Sparkle asked me to come over this morning, though I can't remember why."
"Well, come on in, she's upstairs preparing. I'll go get her."
"Thank you, Spike."
While I was waiting, I took note of the many books around and took to reading some of them; mostly of what I had missed on my journeys: apparently, not much. Then, I heard a great thud. It startled me, and I jumped a bit. It was a large stack of papers with a purple glow of magic dissipating from it landing on the table next to me. Ms. Sparkle came out from behind them, levitating a quill and ink to a place just adjacent to the papers. "Good morning, Mr. uh..." She trailed off.
"Ah, Professor, actually. My name is Argon Sky, but feel free to call me whatever you like."
"Well, then, Professor, if you don't mind my asking, what are you a professor of?"
"Philosophy."
"Oh, well that's nice. Shall we get started?"
"Do you think we could get a spot of tea first?"
"Uh, sure. Spike, could you get some tea?"
"'Kay!" he shouted from a distance.
"Do you think that this is enough paper?" She asked with an expression of scrutiny.
"It will do for now."
Spike entered with a kettle and two cups on a platter, and set them down between Ms. Sparkle and I.
"Thank you for your hospitality," I added.
"Oh, it's fine," continued Ms. Sparkle, "You're a guest, and I find your story intriguing."
She used her magic to lift the kettle and poured the tea into one cup and then the other. I closed my eyes for a second, and the cup closest to me slid closer. Ms. Sparkle appeared shocked. "How did you do that?" she pondered. I took a sip of my tea and replied "It is an old zebra trick. Moving of Something-or-other. I can't remember. It's not as powerful as true magic, but it helps when you need to move something small." She looked at me, puzzled, and asked "What else did you learn in your travels?" "Many things," I said, "Many things. Shall I begin where I left off?" She nodded in reply. "Very well." I sipped my tea. "Let's see..."
Author's Note
I felt like I rushed the first chapter, so I'm slowing it down a bit in the second and onward.
