Chapter 1: The New Arrival
Celestia’s sun hung high over Equestria. A train from Dodge City slowly came to a stop in Ponyville. Steam swirled up from under the coaches as the brakes hissed on. Many ponies, earth, pegasus, and unicorns alike disembarked from the train; but in one seat, a blue alicorn slept silently. His cutie mark was that of a single sharpened pencil, with six golden stars coming from the tip and going up one side of the pencil.
His worn saddlebags were stuffed with papers, a drawing pad sitting next to him with a half-finished landscape on its otherwise pristine surface. He had been drawing the landscape outside his window, and soon the rhythmic sway and bounce of the ride had made him drift off.
The conductor gave him a tap on the shoulder to rouse him from his sleep. The passenger muttered sleepily as he woke up.
“Your stop, sir,” the unicorn said. The alicorn gave a yawn and rubbed his brown eyes.
“Thank you,” he said. He grabbed his saddle bags with a glow of magic from his horn; they were enveloped in an aqua green glow as he hefted them onto his back. He adjusted them to make sure they were stable, stood up from his seat and walked out of the coach. He looked around at what was going to be his new start. The wind gently blew his brown mane around as he looked at the town. It was the most beautiful town he had seen aside from Dodge. He just knew he would have a lovely life here.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” said a voice.
The alicorn looked around to see the engineer of the train coming over toward him. The light orange pegasus mare was covered in some coal dust and oil stains. She smiled softly at him. He knew her; they were friends since foal-hood. As a matter of fact, she was his only friend since foal-hood.
“Yes, I’m sure... I just need a change of scenery. Somewhere, nopony will judge me...,” he said, tossing his mane with his hoof.
“But, what if they find out about... you know…,” she said, swinging her hoof back and forth slowly above the platform. The alicorn became pale as he knew what she meant.
“I’ll just make sure they never find out. Besides, I doubt many ponies here are as well informed of who I am as Dodge City is. If they find out...”, he paused before stamping his hoof on the floor,” I guess I’ll just continue to find someplace where nopony knows about me.”
“That plan doesn’t sound like it’ll work in the long run,” she replied with some concern in her voice, stepping a little closer to him.
“I know, but, it’s the only plan I have,” he said. The engineer gave a smile and nuzzled the alicorn gently.
“If you think this is the best plan, then I won't argue with you about it. You and I... we've been friends for too many years. I am going to miss you though. You’re a wonderful sight to see after a long day of riding the rails,” said the mare, as she wiped some sweat from her brow.
“I’ll miss you too. I’d stay in Dodge, but you know how I am not really liked there. I feel like I need some more friends than just you,” the alicorn sighed.
“Oh? So I am not good enough,” the mare sighed, faking sadness. The blue alicorn chuckled and smiled at her.
“No, it’s not like that. You’re a wonderful friend. I’m truly lucky to have had one like you for so long,” he said. The orange mare smiled back.
“I wish you the best of luck... Sketch,” she said.
“Thank you, Jessie Belle. Stay safe in your travels,” Sketch said, smiling.
"All aboard who are going aboard!” shouted the conductor from the other end of the train. Jessie Belle gave a gentle smile, before turning to her engine. With a hoot from the whistle, the train slowly pulled out of the station, hissing steam and sending mighty billows of black smoke into the air.
“Send me a letter some time!” she shouted as the train pulled away, leaving Sketch standing on the platform. He watched until the train disappeared around the bend before he turned on his hooves and walked toward town.
As he bounded down the stairs, he nearly ran into a mare at the bottom. He turned to avoid a collision and wound up face down in the bushes on the side of the station platform. As Sketch climbed out of the bushes, he saw a mare who was a light yellow pegasus with a long pink mane. He gave his head a shake to knock the leaves out of his mane as he walked out of the bushes. The mare immediately bowed to him, and trembled in fright when she noticed his wings.
“Oh, sir. I… I’m so very sorry about that. I-I-I shouldn’t have been in your way. P-please don’t hate me,” the mare whimpered, more frightened than concerned.
“Why would you say that?” Sketch asked, raising an eyebrow.
“You- you’re an alicorn. Y-y-you are royal after all,” she whimpered softly.
Sketch sighed as he slammed his hoof against his face in exasperation; he knew this would come up sooner or later. ”I’m not royalty. I’m just a half bred alicorn. I’m not of any royal family, I’m just a normal pony,” he said quickly, not wanting to talk about his past any longer than he wanted to. The pegasus looked up at him with a confused expression, but still bowed to him.
“I’ll explain if you want,” he added. The mare gave a gentle nod, and Sketch started. He never liked bringing up his past, but if it would make this mare stop bowing to him then he would talk about it.
“Well, in short, my father is an alicorn, and my mom is an earth pony. Because of that, my powers as an alicorn are really weak.”
“Weak?” the mare asked timidly, trying not to sound too demanding for answers.
“Well, by weak I mean, my magic only works sometimes. It refuses to work at the worst moments. And I can fly, but not so well,” he paused before adding in a sad chuckle,” I probably couldn’t fly if my life depended on it.”
“I was never a strong flyer myself, so…..”the pegasus started to say then she paused. She seemed to ponder if she was interrupting what Sketch was talking about.
When he said nothing, and gave an expression that conveyed for her to continue, she decided to finish her say,” …so I know what that is like.” Sketch gave a small smile back. At least somepony had understood his own problems.
“So, you- you don’t hate me for… for being in your way?” she asked, still cowering a small ways off.
"No, it was my fault really. I shouldn’t be bounding down the stairs in the first place,” he said. He then proceeded to pick up some of the papers that had spilled out of his saddle bags.
“Oh, do you want some help?” the pegasus asked, standing up.
“Sure. I would love that,” Sketch said absentmindedly as he picked up some scattered pencils. Suddenly, a little white bunny bounced out of the bushes with one of his drawings.
“Hey, come back with that!” Sketch lunged for the bunny, but it hopped over him. It bounced off his back and ran to hide behind the yellow pegasus’ legs.
“Now, Angel dear, you know that doesn’t belong to you. Please return it to the nice gentlecolt,” she said softly to the white bunny. It seemed to think about it before crumpling it into a ball and tossing it at Sketch’s nose.
“Ouch!” he exclaimed in surprise, as he began to un-ball the drawing with his magic.
“Angel! That was very mean!” the pegasus shouted, though it was more of a silent scolding than an actual shout. The bunny just turned his head and pouted.
“If he is your pet, then why haven’t you taught him to behave?” Sketch said angrily.
The pegasus gave a scared whimper and her ears laid flat. She was clearly hurt by his outburst. He sighed and apologized for raising his voice to the clearly timid pegasus. Her ears perked right up, and she gave a weak smile.
“Rude little rabbit, isn’t he?” Sketch muttered.
“I-I am sorry, sir. He’s just a little cranky today,” the mare said, turning to the bunny and giving it a menacing stare.
“A little would be an understatement,” Sketch said to himself.
The pegasus gave an embarrassed frown and handed Sketch the drawings she had picked up off the ground. She looked at a couple of them with great interest.
“Are these your drawings?” she asked timidly.
“Yes, they are,” Sketch said, placing them back inside his saddle bags and closing the flap.
“They are very nice. Uh, that is, if you don’t mind me saying so.”
Sketch smiled, he liked it when other ponies liked what he drew. “I don’t mind at all. Thank you, Ms.….”
The pegasus gave a nervous smile and whimpered,” Fluttershy, sir.”
“Huh? Could you say that once more? I didn’t catch that,” Sketch said, raising his ear to try and hear better.
“F… F… Fl… Flutter…Fluttershy, sir,” the pegasus whimpered again. Sketch gave a kind smile, and Fluttershy perked up slightly.
“Well, it is nice to meet you, Fluttershy. And you don’t have to call me ‘sir’.”
“Oh, sorry about that,” Fluttershy whimpered, backing down a little.
“You don’t have to apologize for anything. I’m Sketch, and I just arrived here,” Sketch said, smiling kindly. Fluttershy returned a small smile.
“It was nice to meet you, Sketch. Maybe we could talk again sometime. I have to be going now. I have a family of ducks to take care of, and one of the poor darlings is sick today,” the yellow mare said softly before trotting off, probably toward a pond or lake.
“See you later,” Sketch called to Fluttershy before she was out of earshot. He then turned and continued down into town.
Some mares looked over at him as he walked past and smiled sweetly at him. Sketch allowed himself a small smile since he felt he might jinx his chances in this new town if he let down his guard. Usually, no mares in Dodge looked at him with such affection, let alone interest. A small group of stallions with some carts stopped what they were talking about and looked up at him as walked past. Sketch looked over at them, gave a wave, and was surprised that they returned the wave, and even gave a friendly smile. Though he knew it was probably because they thought he was of a royal family, he enjoyed not being shunned for once.
“This town has so many friendly ponies. Maybe later I could get to know them. Maybe I can be accepted as a villager. Maybe-”he thought, looking up at the sky and the buildings.
Sketch’s thoughts were rudely interrupted as he ran into something, or somepony. Surprised, he lost his footing and brought down whoever he had run into. The flap on his saddlebag flew open again, and a few drawings flew out.
“Ow! Could you please watch where you’re going?” said the angry voice of a mare.
“Oh, I am so sorry. I should watch where I’m going,” he said, picking himself off the ground. The mare he had run into was a unicorn with a lavender coat of fur and a purple mane with a pink stripe going through it. She looked like a librarian-type pony, nerdy yet interesting in a way. She shook her head to clear it, slightly stunned. She stared at him for a moment then began to nervously bow and pick up her books.
“Oh, sweet Celestia! No, no, it’s my fault. I should have been looking at the road and not my book,” she said nervously, as she picked up one of her books. Sketch knew she was overreacting to the fact he was an alicorn.
“I’m not royalty.”
The unicorn looked up with confusion,” But, you...”
“I’m just not, okay?” Sketch muttered quickly, he didn’t wish to explain his life again, at length. The unicorn relaxed; relieved she hadn’t accidentally made a fool of herself in front of a distinguished member of the royal family.
“Still, I should be paying attention with where I am walking,” she said, a friendly tone in her voice.
“Let’s split the difference and say we are both at fault.”
The unicorn chuckled softly,” Okay,” as she put her last book back in her saddle bag. Sketch put his last drawing away and held his hoof out toward the unicorn. She took it and pulled herself up off the ground.
“Anyway, sorry about that. I’m new here. Name’s Sketch,” he said, smiling.
“Twilight Sparkle, but you can call me Twilight. It is a pleasure to meet you,” the lavender unicorn said. She extended her hoof to him, and they shook hooves.
“It’s nice to meet you too, Twilight. Say, you wouldn’t happen to know a place where I can get a bite to eat, would you?”
“Why, yes I do. I was heading there myself. Why don’t you join me?” Twilight said cheerfully.
“Uh, what?” Sketch asked, dumbfounded and confused by the sudden offer.
“Well, you did say you were new here. So I can only assume you don’t have many bits to spend on small things like lunch,” the lavender unicorn said.
“Also,” she added,” Since you are new, I’d like to introduce you to a few ponies I know, and maybe show you some of the town along the way.”
Sketch thought about it. He felt odd being invited to lunch with a mare. That certainly wouldn’t happen in Dodge. For a while he forgot what to say, he just stared at the purple unicorn. He knew he had to say something; Twilight wasn’t going to wait for him if he didn’t say anything.
“Uh…..well….sure,” he said.
“Well, come on then. We won’t get there by standing still,” Twilight called, a short distance off. Sketch totted up to meet her and they walked off.
“Based on all the books in your saddlebags, I see you read a lot,” Sketch said, looking back at Twilight’s saddlebags.
“Why yes, I do. I’m studying a new spell. It’s supposed to help with turning apples to oranges,” she said.
“Since when do you need to know how to do that?” Sketch asked, quizically.
“Never know when you’ll need it,” Twilight simply responded,” I’m also studying the subject of friendship for Princess Celestia,” she added, cheerfully. Now it was Sketch’s turn to be surprised. He stopped and stared at the lavender unicorn in surprise, his mouth hanging open.
“You’re studying for the Princess Celestia? You’re not trying to pull my hoof, are you?”
Twilight giggled at his reaction. ”No, I’m telling the truth. I am her star pupil. She sent me here to study the magic of friendship. And I can tell you, I have never learned more about it than right here."
“Huh, if anything, I should be the one apologizing to you for me running into you. Celestia’s own student too,” Sketch said, still reeling from surprise.
Twilight chuckled sweetly,” You already did apologize for running into me, remember? And why do you seem so surprised? Did you expect the princess’s star pupil to be draped in jewels and fancy clothes?”
Sketch mentally winced, and gave an embarrassed smile,” Well…..yeah. Narrow minded of me, I know.”
“Well, that high society dress just isn’t me. I’m a simple mare. Nothing too fancy for me. Now come on, we can talk this more more during lunch. If we don’t hurry, they’ll stop serving,” the unicorn said giving him a nudge to the shoulder before trotting off, with Sketch following behind.