//------------------------------// // Chapter One - Twilight & Ponyville // Story: A Tale as Old as Time // by Ze1a7in //------------------------------// Tale as Old as Time Chapter One Twilight & Ponyville The sun started to rise over the sleepy little town of Ponyville. As its light washed over a small, two-story cottage on the outskirts of town, the door opened, and out walked a young woman named Twilight Sparkle. Twilight had vibrant purple skin, with dark indigo hair tied into a bun, and adjacent streaks of pink and purple hair towards the center of her forehead. She wore a simple, white shirt with sleeves that stopped just above her elbows and a few buttons going down from the collar, a dark violet skirt that reached just above her knees, white ankle socks and light indigo walking shoes. A plain, beige messenger bag was hanging at her right side, its strap atop her opposite shoulder. “Alright Twilight. It’s your second week in Ponyville, hopefully you remember where the places you need groceries from are located. If not, you have a map! It was nice of the couple that lived here previously to leave us a map of town when they moved out. I wonder what their real reason for doing so was. I mean, they told us it was because they didn’t have enough room for their dogs’ puppies, but how could one female dog have 101 puppies in such a short period of time? It just wouldn’t be scientifically possible. The average number of- No! Focus Twilight! What is the first place I need to go on the list?” Twilight took a list out of her bag, and after looking over it three times, she set out towards Ponyville proper. As she was walking she felt some urge to sing. If there was one thing Twilight was still unsure about after living in Ponyville for a week, it was why the Ponyvillians could break into spontaneous, synchronized song, with little to no provocation or warning. After the third time it happened, she vowed to discover how such a thing was scientifically possible. She had no conclusive data yet, and despite how much she tried to resist the urge that now gripped her, she was unable to. So, just as she reached first buildings in town, she started to sing ~ Little town It's a quiet village Every day Like the one before Little town Full of little people Waking up to say: ~ “Quiet! Too loud! The sun isn’t even fully up!” Twilight blushed as she heard these and other comments from the various houses in her vicinity. “Guess even the people of Ponyville have a tolerance limit for on the spot musical numbers. Filing that data away for later.” As Twilight continued towards Ponyville’s Market Square, with noticeably less singing, she passed by Sugarcube Corner, where one of the owners, Carrot Cake, if she was remembering his name right, was yelling inside to his wife, Cup Cake, asking how long until the first batch of pastries was ready. She also passed by Berry Punch’s tavern, walking under its sign proclaiming the name of the establishment as ‘The Drunken Nightmare’, with an almost cartoonish depiction of a black horse with a mane and tail that, oddly enough, resembled a starry night sky, chugging down a mug of beer. She could hear Berry Punch cleaning up the remnants of last evening’s business, in addition to her trying to wake up those patrons who had drunk themselves unconscious the previous night. She saw the town mailwoman on her rounds, her blond hair flowing behind her as she rushed to the next stop on her route. As Twilight entered the Square, she immediately spotted the first stop on her list. Walking up to the apple stall, she saw that today it was being run by the younger sibling. She could tell by the light yellow skin and waist-length red hair tied together by a pink bow on top of her head. She was also wearing a flannel shirt, a pair of overalls that seemed one size too big, and a pair of muddy brown boots. As Twilight got closer, the young girl greeted her with a smile “Howdy, Miss Twilight! How are ya doin’ this morning?” “Pretty good, Apple Bloom. Just doing the morning grocery run. I don’t mean to be rude, but isn’t your brother usually the one who runs the stall? Did something happen?” “Naw, nothing bad. Today’s just the anniversary of the day mah big sis’ went into the Everfree tah’ see if she could find some castle or something she heard ‘bout in one of Granny’s old stories. At least, that’s what Big Mac tells me. Ah don’t remember mah big sis much.” “You don’t remember her much? How long ago did she leave, if you don’t mind me asking?” “Don’t mind none at all. Well, let’s see.” At this Apple Bloom’s face turned up in thought, “Ah turned 11 last month, and Mac says ah was 5 when she left, so ah guess tha’ would make it 6 years today.” “She left 6 years ago?” Twilight asked with surprise on her face, “Didn’t your parents try to stop her?” Almost immediately Twilight regretted asking, as Apple Bloom’s face became downcast. “Mac tells me our Ma and Pa passed a couple years after ah was born, so ah remember them even less than mah sister.” “I’m sorry, I didn’t kn-” “It’s fine, Miss Twilight. You and yer Pa are still new to Ponyville, so you couldn’t have known. From what Granny and Mac have told me, mah parents and sis were some of the nicest folks in town.” Apple Bloom’s face regained its smile from moments ago, “Anyways, Mac wanted to use today to search some of the Everfree for any trace of our sis. He said tha’ she took one of our Pa’s most treasured items, a gold pocket watch with a ruby cut into the shape of an apple on the lid, with her when she left. He’s hoping to find it.” “Well I hope he does find something. Now, I should be getting along with my groceries. Three apples, please?” After receiving her purchase, Twilight said goodbye to Apple Bloom and went to get the rest of the items on her list. “Let’s see. Eggs, check. Produce, check. Bread, check. That’s all the groceries we should need for the week. I wonder if the library has any new books in? It wouldn’t hurt to check before I head home. I also need to return the ones I borrowed from last time.” At the thought of reading something new, Twilight quickened her pace, heading towards the center of town, and the chapel located there. The Ponyville Chapel was a peculiar structure compared to the architecture used throughout the rest of town. Instead of the stone, brick and thatch common in the houses and businesses of Ponyville, the chapel seemed to be comprised entirely out of blue-ish purple crystal, with gold-colored steps leading up to a pair of big, oak doors. Twilight had not yet been inside Ponyville’s place of worship, but she had met Ponyville’s resident man of faith, as he lived in and also ran the library right next to the chapel. He was. . . an interesting individual to be sure. Definitely not the kind of person you’d expect to be leading a congregation in prayer. Twilight soon arrived at the doors of the Golden Oaks Library. After mentally readying herself, she entered the tree-shaped place of knowledge. Upon doing so, she looked around, seeing that no one else was in the room. She also noticed that, like always, the shelves were a chaotic mish-mash of various books of every genre, author, size and shape, with no order or pattern to it. Twilight had offered to organize the library and create a filing system that made sense, but the man was quick to dismiss her offer, saying “My dear, what fun is there in making sense?” Twilight jumped from the sudden voice directly to her right, where, seated in a chair she was certain was not occupied a moment ago, Father Discord had spoken those same words she was thinking. Discord had greyish-green skin, yellow pupils with red irises, and a rat’s nest of white and black hair on his head. He was dressed in a mismatch of clothing, seemingly comprised of clothing for any occasion and season, and in almost every color of the rainbow. He was wearing a red winter scarf, indigo sandals, orange trench coat, yellow jeans, and a pair of skin-tight gloves, the left looked like an eagle’s talon and the right looked like a lion’s paw. Twilight had yet to figure out how he held anything with them, but didn’t want to seem rude by asking. “Sorry for startling you, my dear Twilight, but I couldn’t help repeating my words from the first time you offered. At least, I assume that was the reason for the disappointed look you were giving your favorite source of entertainment. Regardless, what can I do for you this fine morning?” While he was talking, Discord had gotten out of the chair and made his way to in front of Twilight, who, having regained her composure, reached into her bag, making sure to be gentle with her groceries, and pulled out a couple of books. Both were fairly thick, and were titled A Study of Physics in Engineering: Volume 1/Volume 2. Twilight had borrowed them the first day they arrived in Ponyville, and had already read through both twice. “I was hoping to return both of these, and was wondering if you had received any new books since I was last here?” “Ah, well you can certainly return those two, but I wasn’t expecting you to have finished them already. As for the second thing, sadly I have not, and probably will not for some time. Ponyville doesn’t exactly get much traffic, so I usually have to trade with any merchants that pass through town for new stock. My apologies.” Upon seeing Twilight’s less than enthusiastic response, Discord quickly added “But let me see if I can find something that strikes your fancy. Maybe something of the Fantasy or Fictional variety? One of my personal favorites involves a little island girl making friends with a multi-limbed, alien dog-thing.” “That’s alright, Father Discord, but I don’t feel interested in the make believe, like magic and aliens. Do you have any other books related to the Sciences or maybe Philosophy?” “I can certainly take a look, my dear. Give me a few moments.” Discord then proceeded to search through the many shelves, at times pulling out a title, only to moments later shake his head, mutter something inaudible to Twilight, and push the book back in. Twilight took this opportunity to look through the assortment of literature herself. After a few minutes, Discord spoke up, startling Twilight, saying “You are certainly a strange one, Miss Twilight Sparkle. Most young ladies your age are looking for romance, not scientific answers to the world around them. Not to mention that I have heard gossip around town, all of it harmless things, but most of it directed towards your father. His profession isn’t very common around here. It wouldn’t take much for the rest of Ponyville to label him as the town kook.” Twilight’s startled mind quickly became confused. “My father, labelled a kook? Why?” Twilight turned towards Discord with the intent to ask this question, but before she could open her mouth, Discord spoke again “And don’t bother asking me why. I stopped trying to understand Ponyvillians after my first couple months in town. You wouldn’t know, but before you and your father came to town, I was the most eccentric individual in Ponyville. Even after I took over for their previous pastor, I was still regarded as strange, on account of my… condition, yet they still trusted me to keep their confessions secret!” The confusion in Twilight’s mind now made its way onto her face. “Condition? Does it have anything to do with why you wear those gloves all the time?” Discord chuckled, responding “It has everything to do with my ‘gloves’. I suppose you want an explanation. It would be easiest to explain it if I told you how I became a pastor in the first place.” Discord took a couple books off of a shelf, and walked over to the chair he was sitting in earlier. He motioned for Twilight to sit in the chair across from him, to which she did. Discord then began “When I was young, I never believed I would become a man of the cloth. I always dreamed I would travel the land as a bard or entertainer of sorts. Unfortunately, I suffered from a very rare condition, one that was common in my Father’s ancestors, but hadn’t showed itself for a good number of generations. This condition caused my arms to grow differently. And by differently, I mean they grew into limbs that no human should naturally have. My left arm from my hand to halfway between my elbow and shoulder mutated into an eagle’s talon, while my right arm from my hand up to just below my shoulder took the appearance of a lion’s limb and paw.” As he said this, he took off his trench coat, revealing that he was wearing a woolly, sky blue turtleneck underneath. He rolled up the sleeves past the shoulder, showing Twilight that what she first took for gloves were in fact an eagle’s talon and lion’s paw, exactly as Discord described. Upon seeing this, her jaw dropped as her brain tried to scientifically process the mutation. “I’d close that mouth of yours, you could catch flies like that!” Discord joked as he rolled the sleeves back down. “Now, where was I? Oh yes!” “I was constantly teased about it by the other children, and their parents and the other adults would have nothing to do with me, if they weren’t outright encouraging the kids. My parents ran one of the most popular taverns in the city, but once word spread of my condition, their business suffered. My parents were a superstitious lot, and so they saw me as being cursed, and the cause of their troubles. So they kicked me out onto the streets. Luckily, one of the church’s priests was passing by when this happened, and upon seeing my distress, offered to let me live with him. To make a long story short, he was the reason I chose to become a clergyman. Shortly after becoming a pastor, Ponyville’s previous one requested me to travel to this town in order to get the town familiar with my presence before I succeeded him. Fast-forward to now, and that’s pretty much my tale.” The entire time Discord told his tale, Twilight was enraptured by his words. His explanation had answered some questions she had had ever since meeting Discord. A new one then presented itself to Twilight. “Why tell me this?” “Pardon? I’m not quite sure I understand your question.” “Why did you tell me about your past, and about your condition? What relevance does that have with myself and my father in relation to Ponyville’s population?” At this, Discord smirked, “My dear Twilight, I told you about my past in order to give you advice. That advice is to make an effort to get to know the people around you. The more comfortable they feel around you, the easier it is for them to accept who you are and the things you like. You’ve been in Ponyville, what, little more than a week? And how many people have you made an effort to get to know?” Twilight opened her mouth to respond, but closed it and looked down at her lap as she thought about Discord’s words. “Well, that’s enough surprisingly serious stuff for now. I expect you have to get back home before your father leaves this evening, right? I shouldn’t take up any more of your time. But, think about what I said, alright? I’d hate for you to become the town pariah.” At this, both Discord and Twilight got up from their chairs, Discord handed Twilight the books he picked out for her, and she bid him good day as she left the library.