"I've gotta get out of here!" thought a young stallion to himself, frantically. All of but five minutes ago, he was still asleep. He awoke to a sound of rapping at his door, soon followed by the shouts of a city guard. He was wanted, what for he hadn't the foggiest idea. All he knew was that he didn't want to find out why.
"You have until the count of ten to open this door, lad! Comply, or we will come in by force!" barked the guard. The stallion, using his eye that wasn't behind a patch, peered out a window located on the other side of his little shack. There were no guards behind him, at least for now.
"Ten! Nine! Eight!" he heard from beyond his front door. The guard was not going to waste time, and neither should he. He quietly opened the door and peered out, confirming that none of the guards had thought to investigate around back. As oddly careless this seemed of them, he decided to accept it as a blessing, and he slunk out the back door.
"One! Time's up, we're coming in!" echoed through the block as the stallion shut the door as silently as he had opened it. From the other side of the hut, he heard the front door swing open.
"They'll catch on quickly, I need to get to the gate!" he thought to himself as he pressed himself against the back door. He knew that the gate leading out of town was but a mere five minutes away, but a sensation in his gut told him it would take much longer to escape. As he skulked his way through the long grass that made up his backyard, he saw something he dreaded to see out of the corner of his eye.
"He's in the back! Don't let him get away!" called out one of the city guard. Stealth wasn't an option anymore, he could plainly see. He took off as fast as his legs could carry him, not daring to look back.
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"Mayor Trotsky, sir?" called out one of the guards in the small office. They had been called in by the mayor in the early hours of the morning, which usually only happened when the task they were assigned was urgent. This newest job, however, seemed trivial in nature.
"Sweet Celestia, Captain! I know I asked if anypony had any questions, but I didn't think you, of all ponies, would actually have to be given additional information! What is it?!" barked the Mayor. The guard was caught off-guard by the mayor's reaction to him speaking up. Clearly he is stressed, but why?
"Pardon me for asking this, but why do you need him so badly? He's just a common lower-class citizen, why are you making a big deal over this?"
"I'm not stressing out over him, Valiance. I'm stressing out over you having to even question this assignment. What, in the name of Equestria, is so hard about going to the boy's house, capturing him, and bringing him to me? Well?!"
"As I already asked, why him? Has he done anything wrong?"
"If you really must know, a complaint was made earlier today. You're doing this because the complaint involved him. Need I use smaller words, Captain?" stated the Mayor. Clearly he was losing his patience, as he usually was more respectful towards the guards-ponies.
"No, sir. We'll deploy right away. Sorry for the confusion" he responded, stifling his desire to disrespect the Mayor back.
"Good. I expect results of some sort, Valiance. Please, don't let me down" said the Mayor, calming ever-so slightly.
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They were closing in, and fast. Working in the candy shop had not done much for his stamina, as he felt his legs beginning to ache from the abuse on his muscles. His lungs were burning, despite their intake of the cool morning's air. His heart, having already been beating rapidly before the chase began, felt ready to tear its way out of his chest. Feeling as though he could go on no longer, he slid to a halt and turned around to face his pursuers.
"I've done nothing wrong! Please, leave me be!" he cried out as the guards surrounded him. One guard, bearing the uniform of a captain, stepped out in front of his colleagues.
"You may have heard of me. I am Radiant Valiance, Captain of Colton's town guard. I'm under order to take you in. Please, just come along with us, and I can promise you that no harm will come of you" stated the Captain, calmly. Despite the soothing tone in the guard's voice, the stallion still felt ill at ease.
"But why? Please, tell me!" he pleaded.
"All will be explained in due time. Please, we don't want to make this any harder than it already is". Still, the captain was level-headed. It was almost reassuring, but he felt he couldn't take the chances. He knew how the upper class viewed all others. He was no safer in their part of town than he was now, backed into a wall and surrounded by guards.
"Please, just let me go. I'll leave and never trouble anypony again, I swear!"
"You can't leave, lad. The gates don't open for another hour, remember? And they can stay closed for however long is necessary. This is your final chance, lad. Come willingly, or you're being dragged". The calm in his voice was fading, which was a sign that things were about to get worse. He scoured the area around him for a means to escape, and was about to lose hope when he suddenly looked upwards.
"I forgot about my horn! Why now, of all times?" he thought to himself. Shaking the thought away, he began to focus as his horn began to glow with a gray aura. The guards saw this and prepared to tackle the stallion. However, a large puff of smoke erupted in the area, which caused them to halt. The smoke quickly cleared, and the guards could see that their target had run away.
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The gate was right there, but freedom was not attainable. As Captain Valiance had stated, the gate was closed. However, he could see a flight of stairs but a few feet away. Based on his colthood memory of coming here for a class trip, these stairs lead to a parapet that guards could use to look over the wall. It wouldn't be fun, but jumping the wall seemed like his only option at the time. He now just had to get past the guards watching over the gate.
"Wings would be nice for a situation like this, but I guess my horn will have to do" he thought to himself. He focused on a spot between the two guards, and within a moment another large plume of gray smoke shot up from the ground. The guards fled from the smoke in order to reclaim the full use of their eyes as he bolted towards the stairs.
"There he is! After him!" he heard coming from the direction he had come from prior. As he rushed up to the end of the staircase, he could already several hoofs beating against the lower steps. This didn't matter, though. All he had to do was hop over the edge and land in a bush along the wall.
Only, there were no bushes. It seems as though they had counted on this potentially happening. There was a tree a few yards away from the wall, but it looked like it would take a running start to make the jump, something he had no room for. He looked around for anything at all that he could use to brace his fall. A banner hung from said wall, but there was no guarantee he could get a hold of it in time.
"I know what you're thinkin', lad. It's not worth it. Just come with me, it's for the best!" demanded Captain Valiance. He was the first one up the stairs, his men waiting nearby for orders. Of the small handful, about half were waiting behind him on the staircase. He deduced that the others were probably at the bottom, standing guard to make sure he did not escape. He began to climb up onto the parapet.
"It was somebody from 'Old Colton', wasn't it? Somebody in the aristocracy wanted me captured, yes?" he said backing himself up along the wall. Maybe if luck was on his side, he could just barely make it into the tree, he figured.
"I'd love to tell ya who exactly, but the Mayor wouldn't say. He received word from the pony lookin' for ya, but there was no word of who it was. Just come with me, and we can sort this out!" he barked, holding his ground.
"That makes it worse! I've heard the stories, the fall sounds better than running the risk of being sent to a salt mine!" he retorted as he turned away from the town.
"I don't want ya to get hurt unnecessarily, lad! Please, come down. We can talk this over at the Mayor's office and debunk those salt mine rumors!" he pleaded, advancing towards the edge. As he came within reaching distance, the young stallion leaped off the wall and out of the town. The captain reached his neck out to try to grab him before he fell, but missed, and watched as he crashed into the branches of the tree below. Distressed at having lost his target, he pounded his hoof against the stone of the parapet before turning to his fellow guards. "Get the blasted gate open! We have to get him before this situation gets worse!" he bellowed, his composure slipping.
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"He jumped the gate?!" questioned the Mayor, angrily.
"I'm afraid so, sir. We couldn't find him when we searched the surrounding area, either. As far as I can see, he's long gone" stated Valiance, calmly. The Mayor, upon hearing this, began breathing deeply, as though to attempt to regain his composure.
"Very well. I have a new assignment for you and you alone, Captain" said the Mayor, calmed slightly.
"Of course, sir. What do you need of me?"
"Go to the Shire manor and inform them of their son's demise. I don't think you can mess that up, Valiance" said the Mayor, coldly.
The stallion admitted to himself that he should have thought this through a bit better. Here he was: stuck between a potentially deadly fall and something potentially worse. He didn't want to think he could do anything else unnecessarily impulsive.
And then he climbed up onto the ledge.
And then he bounded off the ledge with all of his might.
"You're a real tactician, y'know that?" he muttered to himself chidingly. Despite the rationality behind his actions, or more-so the lack thereof, he was glad to be out of the city. Now, he just had to look down and see if he was getting close enough to the tree branches. He peered down below to catch sight of a seemingly infinite abyss of nothingness.
When it finally clicked in his brain what was going on, a state of panic ensued. He closed his eyes as his descent continued. And upon opening them, he found himself lying under a tree, screaming from fright. Within a few minutes, he had calmed down.
"Why can't I ever have nice dreams anymore?" he asked himself out loud as he climbed back up onto his hooves. He was tired of these nightmares, of having to sleep in the woods most nights, and of traveling. Since jumping the wall, he had spent his time traveling from city to city in search of a new place to call home.
In the three years leading up to now, he had not found such a place. While he did admit that perhaps he was being a bit too picky, he did not want to repeat the event that made him leave Colton behind.
And he had already had some close calls, regretfully.
Having stood up and brushed out his fur, he withdrew a map from his saddlebags. The sunrise gave him just enough light to see that there was a town nearby. Putting the map away, he began trotting down the road towards what would likely be another rest stop.
"Ponyville... By name, it sounds like a 'One-horse Town'!" he exclaimed before chuckling to himself. He then made a mental note that he won't always have the luxury of having nopony around to hear his bad jokes.
"Wow! Ponyville is so close! I bet I'll be there in five minutes!" he thought to himself, an odd sense of optimism taking hold of him.
That was three hours ago.
Finally, he was here. The town bore a sort of look that while not nearly as sophisticated as, say, Manehattan, was certainly not a shanty town by any means. It looked... Comfortable. The residents, too, looked relaxed as they went about their business. Well, at least those not staring jaws agape at the one-eyed Unicorn standing at the town gate. As comfortable as his spot was, he felt as though it would be best to go and ask about an inn. Scanning the scenery, a sight caught his eye.
"That mare sure seems social. Maybe she might know where I can fi- Wait, are those balloons tattooed to her flank?" he thought to himself. Ignoring the sudden shift of his attention, he approached the mare. "Excuse me, Miss. Would you know where I can find an i-"
And like that, the mare took off screaming. Not wanting to take the risk of causing a greater commotion, he turned towards the town gate. Perhaps the next town would serve as a better place to settle down.
"Hey! Where are you going?" called out a voice. Turning towards the source of the noise, the Stallion found himself looking at a lavender Unicorn mare trotting up to him. Looking around, he saw nopony else around.
"Look, I didn't mean to do anything! I was just about to leave before I cause more problems" he said, unsure of whether he should have even stopped to talk. She didn't look angry, though, so maybe he made the right choice.
"That's just how Pinkie is, don't worry. Do you need help with something?" she said, reassuringly.
"I don't want to burden you. Really, I can just leave".
"Not at all! What do you need?"
"Well, if you're sure, then I was hoping to ask where I can find an Inn".
"Here, I'll show you the way, Mister...?"
"Thanks, Miss. Please, do lead on". The mare merely sighed, and the two walked along.
True to his first impression, the town appeared to be a very relaxing place. The populace definitely seemed to get along very well, to say the least. The buildings looked just furnished enough for comfortable living, too, which was a definite plus. Trees aren't very good shelters from the elements, after all.
As the pair continued towards the inn, the mare spoke up again.
"So, what made you decide to come here?" she asked.
"Traveling. I figured this place might make a good place to settle down, at least for a little while".
"Not quite ready to return home yet, huh?"
"You could say that, yes".
"So, where'd you come from?"
"A place. Rather far away too, I doubt you've heard of it".
"Try me".
"Colton".
"Colton? That place isn't far away..."
"Seriously? Hold on...". The stallion reached into his saddlebag and removed a map. He studied it quickly after unfolding it, resulting in a displeased look forming on what could be seen on his face. "You've gotta be kidding me!"
"Weren't you following the map?"
"Well, yes and no. I paid attention to the roads. It made it seem so much farther away..." he said, disappointedly.
"As opposed to on the other side of the Everfree Forest?" she asked. He merely nodded his head, and the two walked along. They soon arrived at an inn, and the stallion disappeared momentarily to purchase a room.
"Okay! New question for you, Miss" said the stallion, in an oddly cheerful manner.
"Yes?"
"Is there a place I can work around here to earn a few bits? I may need to resupply..." he asked, allowing the joy he seemed to feel a moment ago to disappear.
