//------------------------------// // Chapter One // Story: Paper Pen: Plagerism // by Paper_Pen //------------------------------// I woke from my nest of strewn blankets on a worn out mattress and, like every morning, tried to find something poetic or inspiring in it. Writers block is hell when you know thats your purpose in life, every time I look in the mirror I see the ink I fail to spread, granted, I have a black mane on a pale coat, but still, forced poetry. I was about to have my signature hash brown and hard cider breakfast when a knock at my door interrupted me. "What do you want?" I asked a stern light blue guard mare. "You have been summoned by Princess Celestia for an urgent issue regarding friendship" "Really? The princess and not some bureaucratic pony? How is this all set up-"         "Listen, buddy, just spare the rant and go, It's a royal decree, ya' think I wanna be knocking on some random stallions door during my only day off? I'd rather be in bed too" "Fine, what time I gotta be there?" "Do you not get what 'urgent' means? Get your flank there ASAP" "Sure, I'll get there after breakfast"         "Your oats can wait, why are you not at all concerned about being given some awesome friendship quest from the god queen the rules the whole kingdom?" "Say, hypothetically, this is a set up, I'd like to eat before I got jumped" "Buddy, I can assure you that the palace hasn't been taken over"         "Just let me eat!" "Come on!" The guard mare then escorted me to the castle without a word. During this long walk I noticed a few odd things about her, for one, all guards I'd ever seen had an honorary white or black coat given to them while hers was blue. I decided to ignore this and instead focus on the pastry magically suspended in front of my face. The odd blue mare stood to my side smiling as Celestia entered the hall.         "Hello, my child" She said, but her tone was all wrong, it was that of a royal trying to sound nice, maybe she had a cold or something.         "How are you, your highness?" I asked in the most formal voice I could manage, she seemed to like this.         "I'm doing well, Paper"         "Actually I go by Pen"         "Well, Pen, I have a very important mission for you"         "Anything for the crown" "Magnificent! It seems you haven't been making many friends since you've moved here" "With all do respect, your majesty, I'm not a very social stal-"         "I don't want to hear it, it's more of a quest anyways" "As much as I would love to drop everything and go on a quest, I have a very important contract to draft for the Apple family"                  "You're a lawyer?" She looked at my mark, an inkwell as monochrome as the rest of my body.         "No, but I have a typewriter and a flank that leaves me with the option of an ink kiosk or writing to make money" Thinking about it, and ink kiosk wouldn't be too bad an idea, I could call it "Inkiosk", not much of a client base though.         "Just do me this for me, Paper, go to the Crystal Empire and tell Shining Armor that I need to see flurry heart"         "You sure you can't find some other messenger pony? I really need to get this contract done, then Granny Smith wants to draft a will, so I'd like to get that over with-"         "I am your princess, your petty scripts can wait!" She yelled. It was then I realized why everything looked wrong, this was not Celestia, she was a kind ruler, and whatever was talking to me carried the voice of a weapon, not an aid.                  "With all do respect, your majesty, just who the hell are you?" Mystic paint of a goddess washed away, revealing a public enemy. Chrysalis had taken Canterlot. I ran from the throne room into the street, by now the rainbow of fake guards turned to changelings, still not sure how they messed up the colors. I ran to my home and packed my essentials. With my saddle backs packed, I headed for the nearest small town, Ponyville.