Chapter One: Journey's Beginning
There in Ponyville lived many mares and stallions. They're all usually an excitable bunch because, well, everypony seems to gather up quite quickly and neatly whenever there's a new conundrum. But there's always one pony that doesn't come out when everypony else is. Some shuttered indoor pony who doesn't want to be a part of the crowd. Somepony with a sense of apathy so strong, that mountains cannot even measure up to it. Indifference so uncanny that even if a hurricane were to take away all the fillies and colts that it would not touch his or her heart in the slightest. Well, this, my friends, is the story of the one pony not known and not shown at all.
One breezy morning, Skyridge, a unicorn stallion with a book cutie mark, popped out for a nice trot around the village. His coat is a light blue and his mane is black. He always wears a sack over his back to carry his quill and papers. His face was smiles but inside him was nothing spectacular. No emotion. The smile was a mask and the mask was forever worn. He worked at a concession stand in the market so he knew. "Always smile to the customers", the boss would say. And Skyridge would comply and shine his smile.
As he trotted down the dirt paths of Ponyville, he saw some fancy pegasi-drawn chariot land from the sky behind him. He turned and saw a purple pony who seemed like she had just arrived with her companion. Is that a baby dragon? She seemed like she came from Canterlot judging from the direction the chariot flew in. Coming towards them was a pink pony seemingly with infinite contained excitement that the confines of her body could barely keep her together. Now this pink pony had a lengthy reputation. Her antics have spread rumors before. She can be described as, based on said rumors: crazy, frivolous, energetic, mad, klutzy, extreme, unpredictable, spontaneous, and ditzy. The pink pony. Ahhhh, thought Skyridge, Her name is on the tip if my tongue but I forget. Pink something? Ahh, whatever.
He turns back around but once again turns around again at the sound of a loud sharp high-pitched breath intake. Just as he turns, a pink bolt zooms past him. Whoa, he thinks, that pony's got problems. He rests for a while to eat lunch and orders a grass wrap. He sits there and thinks back. At home, he's alone. There's nothing to do but stare at the clock and out the window. At work, all he does is sit around and hand out snacks and fruits. He munches on a hardened part of the wrap suddenly. He abruptly snaps out of thought and spits the excess hardened dirt out. Must've messed up my order. Skyridge finishes off his chow and finds a bench to sit on and rest.
He whips out his quill,
ink, and parchment. Argh. He can't think up of an interesting premise for his book. Ironically, his cutie mark has books on it and yet he only reads but can't write. However, he is adamant on writing SOMETHING no matter how much the finished work would spite him. The quill's ink etches across the parchment slowly. A word emerges! T-H-E........ "ARRRGH!!" Skyridge dismays audibly. Several heads turn in his direction but he shows no shame even when he notices. He crumbles the paper up and eats it.
Skyridge unlocks the door to his cottage with gloom draped over him. The darkness greets him and the loneliness reassured him of its presence. He levitates his pouch onto the cottage kitchen. He sighs with gloom as he lay on the couch. "SLUOSHHH!!!" "Gahhh",Skylight gasps. Ehh, what's up with that? The pegasi haven't scheduled rain today. He peeks out the window to see the purple pony seemingly being harassed by one of the local weather ponies. The light-blue one with a rainbow mane? She was infamous for her recklessness and boundless energy. He looks on them half-amused as the rainbow one made a tornado around the purple one. The result was that the victimized purple pony got an unwanted makeover. An extremely faint half-smile appeared on Skyridge's face. Maybe they were friends? No, the purple one JUST arrived today and doesn't seem very happy about her current situation. Bah. It's not like Skyridge ever cared about trivial things like friendship. He closes the window again while the two mares were in the middle of conversation. It's not like it was any of his business. Skyridge prepares to close every window and nap. It's an off day and sleeping is always a great way to pass the time. A personal preference of his, actually.
He wakes up to the sound of music emitting from somewhere during the late, late afternoon. He cranes his neck to find a light switch and flicks it on. The light blinds his unaccustomed eyes. He staggers and recovers. He checks every window and finally finds out where the sound is coming from. Why, it's coming from the Ponyville library! What an odd place have such loud merriment about! He grunts. Skyridge trots back down his stairs and lays on the couch again with two cushions on either side of his head.
He wakes up again to see Princess Celestia raise the sun. Skyridge gallops slowly into city hall and stay amongst the crowd. The celebration seems to be going underway perfectly. All the ponies seem happy and the curtains are perfectly drawn on the balcony to raise mystery. He goes to get a drink when he suddenly gets a bump from behind. The drink spills back into the bowl. He turns around not even slightly annoyed and comes face to apologetic face with another stallion. This one had a magenta coat of fur along with a red mane with a streak of yellow. His cutie mark, barely visible at the angle he was turning, seemed to be oranges. He also seemed to be an earth pony.
"Oh, hay! I'm so sorry, man...", the other stallion began.
"Oh, no, it's all right" Skyridge responded. "Heh, yeah well I'm sorry anyway", the stallion responded awkwardly raising one hoof to scratch the back of his head. "Huh? Ok then I guess I accept your apology?" replied Skyridge. "Ha, nice one, dude. I'll see you around" was the response. The magenta stallion galloped back into a crowd and disappeared in the wave of ponies.
Skyridge also retreated to his part of the party crowd. For some reason there was a beanie there so he laid down there belly in the air and head arched back so much that part of his mane touched the ground. He closed his eyes and sighed when suddenly he heard a shout.
"HEY! GUY! Are you okay!?"
Skyridge propped himself up quickly up and saw an earth mare standing on her hind legs pointing at him. He gestured as if to confirm she was talking to him.
"What's with that? Who, you? Hay yeah you! Something wrong? Every other pony's having a good time and you're all slouched, guy! Somebody ought to snap you back into shape!"
Skyridge smiles obligatorily but the mare doesn't seem satisfied.
"Oi, man! C'mon, you can better than that!"
He stood back up still smiling and made a motion with his hoof swinging it in front of him as if to say, "It's grrrrreat!" The turquoise mare marched over with ahead of steam, her light yellow mane scratching Skyridge's as she got up in his face.
"Hey, pal, are you trying to be sarcastic?"
Skyridge shakes his head no.
"Well, good cuz I didn't think so. Just making sure." She flashes a smile. Boy, what a sporadic pony. "Anyway cheer up. Your face is going to get tired of always looking so tired!" She trots off back to the crowd.
Tweet-tweet-tweeeeet!!! The birds sang a tune as everybody else prepared to meet their princess. Slyridge took a position in the back of the crowd and eyed the curtain with anticipation.
The curtain slowly split in his mind. Swoosh! One part was to his left. Swish! The other to his right. But what is this!? What the curtain revealed was nothing! Their princess? Gone!? What dastardly forces could be behind this!? A dark blue mist formed around the area the princess was supposed to be at and an alicorn with dark coat and a flowing black and dark blue mane appeared. Huh!? I think that's...oh my hay she seems familiar!! Like from a fairy tale from when I was just a colt. But...it was just a myth, a tale to scare young ponies....,wasn't it!?
The purple pony identified her. "Nightmare Moon!" came her audible response to the alicorn's taunting. Everypony was shocked but Skyridge. His theory had been validated and he was happy. He slipped out of the ruckus and went home to...well, sleep again. It was one of his most adamant hobbies second only to his determination to write something. He trotted back home and went upstairs to his bed and slept.
End of Chapter One.
Author's Note
Like I said, I wrote this spur-of-the-moment in the range of 45 minutes to an hour. I start the clock when I started thinking, "I should write something." I stopped it when I finished writing chapter two. Whether or not I continue with this idea that each chapter is an episode is up to the general public's feedback. Drop by with some advice. This is my first work, so I'll need it. So, uhm, thanks, guys. I'll publish Chapter Two sometime tomorrow.
