//------------------------------// // Prologue: 1 // Story: Just Another John Doe // by Ponyess //------------------------------// “Game over, man. Game over!” I preached with a heavy tone of desperation on my voice. This had been how I expressed myself for as long as I could remember. I had spoken the line more times then you like to know of. It is part of me, just as it will always be. From time to time, I have the little Angle on my right shoulder, in the fashion the Pirate had his Parrot in olden days. The effect is just as stark here. I love to see the look in the eyes of the once who see her, the centaur with the wings of an Angel. Her skin is an exceptionally light complexion. The coat of her equine looking body a chocolate brown. As an Angle, she had glistering black hair and green eyes, while her hooves are a pinkish cerise. Apparently she had no problem to stay securely on my shoulder. Maybe it is part of being my personal Angle, or is it merely magic involved. I'm wearing a light T-shirt and regular pants, socks and leather shoes, since it is a warm day. All she wear is a tight green top, not so much because she had to, she just like to wear it. Maybe it is a habit, since she use to be in her girl form at her school, I never asked her. The equine body never require any clothes, thankfully. What I carry with me, I keep in either a small backpack, or a suit case. All depending on where I am, and what business I happened to be in. I don't really have an actual home as such, I stay at a room of the most convenient hotel at the city or village I happen to stay at the time. I lost the interest in possession of a physical address for myself, years back. Maybe it is in part a matter of the Agency I have been working for. It is what it is and I don't care to change it. Once Eponey gave me the gate, I haven't really enjoyed the regular mode of transportation. Cabs, buses, trains, planes, ship, they no longer call out to me. I just use them from time to time, when it is convenient, since I don't need to let on that I have the gate. I can take a cab, or a bus, a train or the like, when it is included in the description of an address. Something I soon found out, is how the gate is giving me the local currency, wherever I show up, if I use the gate to take me to where I wanted to go. Maybe this is part of the reason why I don't enjoy to go places any other way, or is it the matter of security. Using the gate is easy. It merely creates a rift through which I can go to where ever I chose to go. Sometimes it creates the illusion of some kind of a door, making you think I used a regular means to leave. This time I had placed my door on an existing door to the restroom of the hotel I had been staying at, just that I had just checked out, carrying all my belongings in the backpack. With that, none was the wiser as to where I went, which is the way I like it. I had stepped right into a café known as 'Sugar-Cube Corner', which seems a convenient place to have a meal. The chimes went off and the pink Pony looked up, soon finding a male Human squarely in her site as I approached the counter where she was standing. “Greetings, Stranger. Welcome to Sugar-Cube Corner and Ponyville!” she squealed happily as she saw a new face she never had seen before. “Hi, Pinkie Pie and thanks!” I responded and started to look at the assorted pastries stored behind the glass of the counter to the right and left of the pink mare I had before me. She may have been the first Equestrian Pony I had seen, but after all the various individuals I had seen, a talking Pony was the least of my worries, pink or otherwise. She did look too nice to scare me, so I simply made my best effort to give her an expression and posture to give her the same impression of me. Why should I scare or bother any Pony? Bothering others felt like bad business to me. Besides, she is tending the counter where I was to buy my breakfast, from what I could see, had I been looking out the windows. “I'm John Doe, but I guess you could call me Doe!” I then added, as if something told me how their name traditions worked. Then I continued to go over what Cakes and Cookies were on display. “Okeley dokeley, Mr. Doe. Just a strange name for a male? I hope you find something to your taste. Our Muffins are renown far and wide. Should be great for breakfast at this time of the day too!” she concluded. “Yeah, I guess it is kind of an odd name, since it is the expression for an unknown Male where I came from. They are? Sure look delicious, from what I could see. Breakfast you say? Looks like it, going by the light from outside!” I responded. “That is what I thought too. I doubt you find any better Muffins anywhere else in Ponyville or any other place. Hmm, you sure are the strangest Stranger I have ever seen!” Pinkie Pie confessed. I read the labels, as I picked out my choice. Then I noticed Eponey had landed by my side, still in her Angelic form, now a full four feet tall. “Blueberry, Raspberry, Blackberry, Apple and Lemon would be great. A Pot of Lemon tea and two cups would be great, too!” I then concluded. “Woah, where did you come from?” Pinkie Pie exclaimed as Eponey landed on the floor. “Sorry if I startled you, Pinkie Pie. I'm Eponey. I was merely sitting on my friend Doe's shoulder as he entered your café. I guess we're both new here!” Eponey responded. “No problem, Eponey. A winged Centaur, now I have seen everything? I also need to throw you a party, since I know you are both new to Ponyville. I hope you will stay long enough for me to prepare for the party!” she then expressed. “Could I have two of the Blackberry Muffins?” Eponey enquired. “Sure!” Pinkie Pie responded as she pulled out the final two Muffins asked for. I calculated the expected cost and extracted the bits and placed them on the counter. I noticed Eponey extracted the bits for her Muffins at the same time. Pinkie Pie collected and counted the coins, before she slipped them into the register under the counter. “I take it you will enjoy your breakfast here today?” Pinkie Pie then added. “That is what we had planned!” I responded. I saw the pink Pony place the plates and pot on a small cart with the two cups as we walked into the room inside, where we soon found a table in the corner. “This certainly looks like one of the better Café's I've seen you at. I'm going to enjoy this breakfast!” Eponey exclaimed. “I'm sure you will and so will I. I'll take her recommendation and stay here for a good long while, too, by the way!” I then added.