I sat on the cool wet grass, staring in awe at the blazing inferno raging before me. Flames reached for air from every window, and parts of the roof began to cave in as the fire tore through the wooden supports. Firefighters rushed around with water buckets and hoses, desperately trying to tame the beast. The fire seemed to laugh at their attempts to weaken it. It felt like it was laughing at me.
I stood up from the safety of the grass and began to stumble towards the hell that was consuming my home. I walked past the tree I had climbed when I was little, holding on to its friendly old trunk to stabilize myself. My old swing dangled from a branch above me, softly swinging back and forth with a small squeak each time. I can remember countless afternoons of my parents pushing me on that swing.
After a moment of hesitation, I resumed my short walk to the house. A crowd had gathered around it, their jaws agape and murmurs echoing through the crowd. Mothers clutched their children as they looked on in horror. Policemares and stallions kept them from getting close to the fire. I drowned out the sirens and chatter of the crowd, hearing only the crackle and soft hum of the fire. A policemare stepped in front of me and ordered something, what she said I do not know. I kept walking, pushing her gently aside and continuing on towards the house. She made no further attempt to stop me.
I finally stopped when I was a few feet away from the house. The heat from the fire stinged on my skin and burned my eyes. I heard a scream come from inside, making me pause in fear and stop breathing for a moment. I took off towards the front door, arriving there just in time to see it fly open and a wall of flame shoot out. I covered my eyes as the flame engulfed me, singing my coat and setting a bit of my mane on fire. I quickly put it out and looked back to the doorway. Screams continued to come from inside, growing louder and louder as the source drew closer.
Suddenly, a flaming shape burst from the doorway, panicking to put out the flames and stumbling around wildly. I stood in agony at my helplessness as I watched her flail around, desperate to rid her of the fire. She finally fell to the ground, still screaming as firefighters doused the flame with water buckets. A tear formed in my eye and I fell to my knees as I realized whom the figure was.
“Mother…” I whispered to myself, losing my breath after uttering the word. She lied there, a burnt husk of charred flesh and singed hair. Her once beautiful mane was almost completely gone, save for a few patches of mangled, burnt hairs. Her pure white coat was now black, her ears completely burnt off. She was no longer screaming, only moaning in pain from the burns that covered her body. She saw me kneeling close by, and held out a hoof to me. I crawled over to her and held her hoof in mine, staring into her loving eyes.
“Hello my son,” she said, sweetly but painfully.
“Hello,” I managed to stammer, my eyes beginning to water. I let out a small cough as I prepared to cry.
“Do not cry for me, my little colt…” she said, coughing as I did and managing a weak smile. “Everything will be alright… We all must die sometime…”
“Not now. You can’t die. You won’t die!” I pleaded as my eyes filled with tears, about to burst as I held them back. “You’re going to be ok!”
“It is my time now… son…” She said slowly, laughing a bit before letting her tears stream down her face. “Do not be sad… It is not your fault…” She told me as I broke down and began to weep, unable to utter even the smallest word. “Make… me…. proud. I… I love you.” She said lovingly, her head falling to rest on the ground and her body going limp. I still held her lifeless leg in my hoof, weeping over her once beautiful body. I sniffed as I reached out my free hoof and closed her eyes. I finally could not take it any more.
“Mother!” I screamed, shaking her leg even though I knew it was useless. “Mother! Wake up! Please, please wake up!” I shook her body, watching her head move back and forth with every shake. “You have to wake up!” I continued shaking her until a few moments later I felt a hoof on my shoulder. I looked up to its owner and saw a firefighter smiling down at me. I shook her hoof off of me and ran, galloping through the crowd and down the street, looking back only to see my mother’s body being put in a bag and zipped up.
“Darius! Darius wake up!”
I woke up screaming, sweat and tears streaming down my face. Where am I?! Where’s my mom?! I felt someone holding me, trying to get me to stay still. I have to get free! I have to find my parents!
“I can still save them!” I cried, trying to break free from the hold of my adopted mother. “They’re still alive, I know it!” I kept struggling as I heard Valla humming softly in my ear.
“They aren’t here anymore, Darius.” She cooed, making me stop struggling and calm down a bit. “They haven’t been here for seven years now.” She slowly let go of me and let me fall back on the bed, my breathing beginning to slow as I drifted back into reality. “Your first day is today. Are you excited?”
I turned to her and glared. “Hardly,” I said, checking the clock to see it read 6:30. “The first day of school in a new town where I don’t know anypony. So exciting.” I said sarcastically before turning away from her and closing my eyes, trying to get back to sleep. She let out a small laugh and patted me on the shoulder.
“Be ready by 7. I want you to get there early so you can meet some of your new classmates.” She said as she stood up. I groaned as I heard her leave the room and close the door. I threw my back legs over the side of the bed, and fell down onto my forehooves with a groan. It is way too early to be up. I wonder if I can just sneak back into bed and go back to sle-
“If I have to come back up there and drag you out of bed you aren’t getting breakfast.” Valla called from downstairs.
Crap. I groaned again and dragged myself out of my room. I started towards the bathroom, but tripped on the loose bit of carpet just outside my door and fell flat on my face. Great start. After picking myself back up and taking a quick shower, I stood in the doorway of my room and sighed. The thick red letters on the clock read 6:45. The sun had just risen over the horizon, and filled the room with Celestia’s sunlight, burning my eyes before they adjusted. I had always preferred nighttime; it was just easier on the eyes. It was more relaxing and peaceful, much quieter than the noisy and bustling daytime.
I trudged down the stairs, making sure to land on every step with a loud, obnoxious thump. At the bottom of the stairs I stopped, looking to my right down the hallway at the front door and then left towards the kitchen. In front of me was the door to the living room, which lay dark and deserted even as the sun tried to pierce the curtains that were drawn over the windows.
I hadn’t spent much time anywhere but my room since we moved here last week. We used to live in Valla’s apartment in my hometown of Hoofington. I thought I was plenty happy, but she thought differently. She thought that my screaming in my sleep was due to our close proximity to my old home. So she decided to move us here to Ponyville, completely uprooting my life in Hoofington and forcing me to meet all new ponies. I don’t mind though. I always hated that place.
I stood in the doorway to the kitchen and watched Valla washing the dishes from the previous night’s dinner. Her coat is a soft yellow, contrasting against her shiny dark red mane and tail. I can’t believe how young she looks, even though she is much older than me. She looks more like she is my older sister than my adopted mother. Ponies had mistaken the two before.
“About time you got down here,” Valla said, not looking away from her dishes but pointing over her shoulder at a plate with a daisy sandwich on it. “Eat up.”
“Thanks,” I said, pulling out the stool and sitting down to begin eating. I picked up the sandwich and was about to take my first bite when I noticed Valla glaring at me.
“What?”
“Elbows off the table.”
“Oh, you have got to be kidding me.”
“Hey, good manners go a long way! Mares don’t like stallions with bad manners, you know!” she said, raising her eyebrows and giving me a knowing look. I groaned once again and slid my elbows off the edge of the table, letting my hooves fall to the tabletop with a solid thud. I glared at Valla as she put a smile on her face. “Thank you, most gentlecolty.”
“Whatever.” I mumbled before taking a huge bite out of my sandwich. I then took another and another, and found a only had a bit of sandwich left. I took one last bite, but made it took big and sunk my teeth into my hoof. I jumped up from the stool, shaking my hoof in the air to try and rid it of pain. How could I be such an idiot? I finally got the pain to subside after a couple seconds that felt like eternity, then looked up to see Valla shaking her head at me. “What?”
“Why did you do that?” she asked. Oh yea, Valla. I just bit my hoof for no reason because I felt like it.
“Maybe I did it on purpose?”
“Did you do it on purpose?”
“No…”
“Then why did you?”
“Cuz I felt like it.” I said, sitting back on the stool.
“You just said you didn’t do it on purpose.”
I froze up. Damn it, she’s got me there. I tried to quickly come up with a rebuttal, but only stuttering half-words came from my mouth. Valla laughed and shook her head again.
“I suggest you don’t become a lawyer.”
“Boring anyway.”
“Speaking of boring, school starts in an hour. You might want to get going soon.”
Ugh, school. And it started on a Monday, of course. An entire building filled with ponies who don’t know me and don’t care to know me. In fact, they would probably beat me up and take my money rather than be friends with me. That’s how it was last time, and I’m sure it’ll happen again.
“Awesome.” I said in the most sarcastic and angry tone I could muster. Valla chuckled a bit and shook her head again.
“Oh, buck up. You’ll be fine.”
“Sure I will.” I groaned as I picked up my saddlebags from the hallway and slung them onto my back. I walked towards the front door with Valla leaning against the kitchen doorway behind me.
“Want me to walk with you?” she asked. I turned around slowly, making a face somewhere between confused and angry.
“You do know I’m not a colt anymore, right?
“Oh right. You’re a macho young stallion who’s too good to be walked to school by his moth-“
“Adopted, mother.” I corrected her quickly, making sure to put extra emphasis on the “adopted” part. She sighed and gave me a sad, yet understanding look. If she thinks she’ll incite some guilt or something from me, she thought wrong. I opened the door and stepped out into the warm sun of morning.
“Have a good day at school. I love you.” Valla said as I stepped through the doorway.
“Love you too.” I answered as I began heading towards the school. I walked until I reached a corner and turned back to see Valla wave and close the door behind her. She could get annoying at times. Always making the mistake of calling herself my mother, teaching me to have good manners, generally being a pain in the flank. I turned back from the door and continued on my way. Wait a minute. I don’t know where the school is.
I slammed my hoof into my face. Of course I don’t know where the school is. I really should have at least gone outside in the past 2 weeks, I only just left the house and I’m already lost. I looked around for anypony who I could ask for directions, but there was nopony around except a white unicorn walking down the street with buds in her ears.
She was a pale white, almost as if she hadn’t been outside in months. In contrast to her pale coat, her mane was an electric blue, sweeping across her face and ending in several spikes. Her tail was a medium length, the same color as her mane and ending in spikes as her mane did. The mark that decorated her flank was a simple one; a pure black eighth note. The most interesting part of her was the large, purple sunglasses that shielded her eyes from the world’s view. Damn it, now I’m curious. What color are her eyes? Her constantly bobbing head made no impact on the position of the glasses, so there was little or no chance of them falling off. Hmm…
She turned her head to face me and stopped walking and head bobbing. Shit, she noticed me. I’m not here. Nope. Not standing right here. Just whistling and looking around at the architecture. Yea that’s it. I’m just admiring the architecture of identical, 2 story houses that are no different than any other house in any other city. Truly remarkable. Oh crap she’s walking towards me. Maybe I should whistle louder?
“Sup, bro!” the mare said loudly, probably trying to hear herself over her music. I can hear it, sounds kind of familiar.
“Sup?” I said just as loudly. I don’t think I got through to her. “Sup?!” I say even louder. Still no response other than a smile and head banging.
“SUP!!” I yell, making the mare take a step back and bring her foreleg up in defense. Her smile had turned to a frown, and a soft white glow came from her horn as her music stopped playing. I am a bucking idiot.
“Chill, bro. No need to yell at me.” the mare said, straightening her glasses that were already straight. “Just wanted to know why you were staring at me.”
“I’m really sorry, I was just trying to talk over your music.” I said. First mare I meet and I scream at her. Just perfect.
“It’s cool bro, I gotcha.” she said. Her smile had returned and she had taken the ear buds out of her ears and put them into her saddlebags.
“Out of curiosity, what were you listening to?” I asked, remembering the familiar tune from before.
“Don’t know. Fazed gave me this mix tape to listen to. Said there were some beats I’d like, but he forgot to name the artists so I don’t know who mixed ‘em.” she said with a shrug.
“Fazed?”
“Boyfriend.”
“Ah. That reminds me, I never asked for your name?”
“Damn, I forgot too. Name’s V-Scratch, but you can call me Vinyl.” she said, holding out her hoof.
“Darius.” I said simply, connecting my hoof to hers and completing the unwritten ritual. “Nice to meet you. By the way, do you know the way to the high school? I just moved here and I don’t know where it is.”
“Damn, dude, how ironic. I was just heading there!”
“That’s not ironic, that’s a coincidence.” I corrected. Damn it, Valla’s teachings have gotten to me.
“Whatever. Point is we’re headin to the same place. You can tag with me if you want.” she said, turning around and continuing in the direction she was heading. I quickly caught up with her and walked beside her. She removed the ear bud from the ear closest to me after resuming he music at a lower volume, and blew some of her spiky hair out of her face. “So where ya from?”
“Hoofington,”
“Really? You don’t have a accent.”
“I get that a lot.” Actually, no, I don’t.
“I bet. So what class are you?”
“Sophomore.”
“No way bro! Me too! How iro-coincidence!” Her attempt to correct herself made me chuckle a bit. At least she’s trying.
“Close enough.” I said with a shrug. She laughed a bit as we turned a corner, and resumed her questioning.
“Maybe we’ll be in a couple classes together!” she said, sounding both excited and bored at the word ‘classes’.
“Maybe.” I said simply. We walked for a few more minutes in silence, presumably because Vinyl had exhausted herself of questions. I was rather enjoying the quiet. It gave me a chance to look at what all was around town, like what seemed to be the local bakery. There was also a giant tree labeled ‘Library’, and what looked like a fashion store or something. A little coffee shop sat on a corner, with a bar just across the street. Ponies entered and exited the coffee shop in droves, desperately trying to get their morning boost of energy.
“The Coffee Hut,” Vinyl said, pointing to the coffee shop. “Lots of ponies hang out there after school.” She turned her head to face the bar and pointed at it. “And that’s Punch’s. Some of the cooler kids hang out there with Berry. She’s chill.”
“Students are allowed in the bar?” I asked confusedly.
“Yep.”
“Isn’t there a law against that?” I asked. She suddenly stopped and looked around, then leaned in real close to secure privacy from any eavesdroppers.
“Not if nopony knows.” she whispered, before leaning away and continuing on her way down the road. “And as long as Berry doesn’t sober up long enough to notice we’re underage.”
“Ah, I gotcha.” I said, glancing back at the bar before continuing with Vinyl. So I now know where I can get booze. That could be useful, actually. “So is it just open to anypony who wants to party?”
“Nah, you gotta get in on another pony’s cred.” she explained, her head bobbing to the beat of her music again. “You gotta earn it.”
“Got it.” I said, rounding a corner with Vinyl and coming upon a street leading into a building. The building was rather large, occupying nearly all of the space between the roads that encircled it. The entrance consisted of a wide sidewalk with multiple benches that led to a small set of stairs, which granted access to a small plateau of concrete. Past the plateau was a line of four pairs of doors made of glass. Protecting the plateau from the sun was a large, semi-circular overhang. On the side of the overhang, for all to see, were the words Ponyville Highschool.
“Well, you’re on your own from here on out, bro.” Vinyl said suddenly as we approached the school.
“Wait, what? Why?”
“Fazed doesn’t like me being around other stallions. If he saw you walking up with me he’d beat the shit out of you.” Vinyl said with a sigh. “He’s really a sweetie, he just gets jealous.”
“Right. Well, it was nice meeting you.” I said as she took off towards a group of ponies.
“You too, bro. See ya around!” She yelled behind her before disappearing into the crowd.
Ponies were scattered everywhere, sitting together on the stairs and occupying every bench. Groups stood around in tight circles, their members ignoring the outside world. Interestingly, there seemed to be a theme to every group. To my right was the crowd Vinyl had entered, a group of dubstep junkies with hoodies and headphones. I could see Vinyl, leaning affectionately against an absolute brute of an earth stallion. He was a midnight blue and had the meanest glare I had ever seen on a pony. And oh shit, he’s staring right at me.
I quickly shifted my gaze away from his hate filled eyes and examined some of the other groups. Sitting on a bench to my left was a group of unicorns sitting on computers, typing away as fast as they could. The nerds, obviously. There was a group of ponies that looked simply out of it, hiding their eyes with long manes that stuck out from under beanie caps. Most likely druggies. A group of pegasi hung around above me in the clouds, either racing each other or taking naps. Probably the jocks. Damn, I could use a good cloud nap right now. A tight circle of fashonistas stood apart from the other groups, making disgusted faces in their direction and making sure not to dirty up their expensive dresses. There was even a small orchestra playing around a bench. How did I not notice that before?
After distinguishing most of the groups, I started to make selection of which to interact with first. Normally, I’d go to Vinyl’s crowd, but if I do Fazed might use my skull as a cup and drink cider out of it, so that’s out of the question. Druggies? Hell no, they’re way too low for me. Jocks? Maybe, but breaking into them might be difficult. The fashionistas can go be snobs somewhere far away from me, and I can’t even tell the difference between a violin and a viola (Is there even a difference?), let alone play one with the orchestra. So that leaves the unicorns typing away on their laptops. The Nerds.
The unicorns were all staring into their laptops as if they held the secrets of the universe. They seemed very engrossed in what they were doing. I began to walk over to them to say hi, when I found an all pink pony suddenly standing in front of me, grinning far too happily. Wait a minute, where did she come from?
“Hi there!” she squeaked. She stared into my eyes with unwavering precision. I think she’s trying to stare into my soul…
“Uh… Hi?” I said slowly while trying to take a step to pass her. She was instantly in front of me, as if she hadn’t moved. What is up with this mare? “Can I help you?”
“You’re new!” she squealed while jumping in the air repeatedly.
I sighed. “Yes, I’m new. How could you tell?”
She kept jumping over and over. “Because I know everypony, and I mean EVERYPONY, here! And I’ve never seen you before so that means you’re new! And if you’re new then that means you don’t have any friends! And if you don’t have any friends then you must be lonely, and if you’re lonely then that means you must be sad, and if you’re sad then you won’t smile, and I LOVE smiles!”
Oh sweet Celestia, make it stop…
“So, to get you to smile and be happy and not sad and lonely, then you need friends! And I LOVE making new friends, so I’ll be your best friend EVER!!” she exclaimed.
“Right.”
“Oh, I almost forgot! Well, I guess I did forget, but then I remembered, so I guess I didn’t almost forget, but instead forgot but then remembered! What was it again that I was almost forgetting to forget to remember? Oh yea! What’s your name?” I think my head is about to explode.
“Darius.” I said simply, making another attempt to pass her. She was in front of me again in an instant.
“Darius? That’s a cool name!”
Her compliment took me by surprise. “Really? Ponies usually think it’s boring.” She stopped jumping and turned her expression from a wide grin to a very serious frown. She puffed out her chest, looking as if she were about to give a speech.
“There are no boring names! Only boring ponies!” she said authoritatively before quickly resuming her jumping and grinning.
Filly, you are crazy.
“Right. I don’t think I caught your name.”
Crazy-filly gasped dramatically, bringing her hoof to her mouth with a look of astonished horror. “How silly of me! I’m Pinkie Pie!”
“Nice to meet you, Pinkie Pie. Now if you’ll excuse m-“
She gasped once more in the same manner, this time jumping into the air and somehow floating there for a second before sprinting into the school.
What a strange filly.
After enduring what is probably the biggest headache inducing conversation I have ever had, I finally made it to the group of ponies engrossed in their laptops, each one moving their hooves with unbelievable speed and precision. The amount of clicks coming from their keyboards created a new constant beating in my ears. Their hooves must hurt from so much typing. There was a purple unicorn with a purple and pink mane sitting next to me, at the edge of the group. Her eyes were locked to the screen of her laptop, her only movement being her hooves flowing freely over the keyboard. Beads of sweat formed on her face and slowly rolled down her cheeks, soliciting no response from the mare.
“H-“ I began, but she quickly cut me off.
“Quiet.” she snapped, not even looking up from her screen.
What a bitch. I try to say hi and she just snaps at me? Screw her. I began to walk away when she spoke again.
“I apologize, I simply must concentrate.”
Never mind, I’m the asshole here. I leaned over to see if she was writing something, or maybe playing a game, but all I saw was seemingly random numbers and letters constantly appearing and changing. They made up some sort of odd computer language, or they were just complete gibberish. I looked over to another pony’s laptop only to see the same screen with the same numbers and letters.
Ah, they must all be hacking. But hacking what? I never could understand computer language Probably because I never really tried to. I was about to leave for the school when the purple unicorn stood and threw her hooves in the air in triumph. I almost had to dive to catch her laptop before it hit the ground, before placing it on the ground next to where she was sitting. There was a collective groan with a few curses mixed in from the rest of the nerds.
“I did it!” she squealed, repeatedly jumping in the air. “I did it I did it I did it!”
“And only a sophomore too, nice!” one of the other nerds complimented.
“Did what?” I asked. The unicorn stopped jumping and regained her composure.
“Every school year, we compete to see who can hack into the school’s computer network the fastest. Apparently, it used to be really easy, but ever since the school figured out it was being hacked they’ve been locking it up tighter and tighter each year. Usually a junior or senior is the one to crack it, but I did it!!” she squealed again, grinning from ear to ear and throwing her hooves into the air a second time. This time, she lost her balance and nearly fell over, but just barely caught herself before blushing with embarrassment.
“Well, congratulations, I guess. My nam-“ I began, but she quickly interrupted me.
“I’m Twilight Sparkle. What’s your name?” she asked, holding out her hoof.
Why the hell does everypony keep interrupting me?!
“Nice to meet you, Twilight. Name’s Darius.” I said, making sure to sound slightly annoyed before shaking her outstretched hoof. She didn’t even notice my annoyed tone.
“Oh, you’re the new stallion aren’t you?”
How does everypony know about me already?
“Yea, how’d you know?” I questioned.
“I’m your SASB.” she said nonchalantly, expecting me to know what that means. I tilted my head slightly in confusion and raised an eyebrow.
“My what?”
“Well, it stands for Super Awesome Startup Buddy, but it just means I’ll be showing you around.” she explained.
“Oh, cool.” I said, not really caring.
“Not really. I’m glad you found me though, I was afraid I’d have to go looking for you.” she picked up her laptop with her magic and placed it in her saddlebags. “Thanks, by the way.”
“No problem.” I answered modestly, assuming she was referring to the laptop. She placed the saddlebags on her back and released her magical grip on them. They were a slightly darker shade of purple than Twilight’s coat, and there was a symbol on each bag identical to her cutie mark. Her cutie mark was rather peculiar. It was a large, six pointed pink star surrounded by several white sparkles. I stared at it, trying to figure out what it meant. Astronomy? Astrology? Cosmology? Theology even? Damn, she’s got a nice ass. Wait, what? No, dude, cutie mark. You’re looking at her cutie mark. Don’t look at her a- damn it, there you go again. You looked at her ass. A cough from Twilight brought me away from my stupor and my argument with myself.
“Now, if you’re done staring at my ass, we can go inside.” Twilight said with a smile.
Now you’ve done it, dumbass.
“Wait, what? No, no, I wasn’t staring at your ass, just your cutie mark!” I said quickly, feeling the blood in cheeks turn them a rosy red.
Twilight giggled. “Calm down, I’m just messing with you. What’s so interesting about my cutie mark?”
“I was trying to figure out what it meant.” I admitted.
“Oh, why didn’t you just ask? It means I have a talent for magic.”
“Don’t all unicorns have a talent for magic?” I asked.
“All unicorns can use magic, but I am much better at it than the average unicorn.”
“Interesting.” I muttered, sneaking a glance at her a- cutie mark.
“Well, welcome to Ponyville, I guess.” Twilight said, rubbing the back of her neck.
“Thanks.”
“Well, we better start heading inside. The bell will be ringing any-“ Suddenly, an obnoxiously loud bell rang through the courtyard, signaling everypony to simultaneously start pouring through the doors. A crowd quickly formed around the doors as everyone tried to get in at once.
“Minute.” Twilight finished with a sigh. She started towards the doors, her mane and tail blowing to the side in the light breeze. She moved gracefully but efficiently, each step taken landing with some unknown measure of perfection. She was transfixing in some way, my eyes following her tail as it bounced with every step. They quickly shifted from her tail to what lay just beneath its base, that wonderful, wonderful a-
“Oh for Celestia’s sake, quit staring at my ass and come on!”
Damn you, Twilight Sparkle.
