Adventures of Obie
Introduction- A Brief Trip into Ponyville
On the northern most road leading to or from Ponyville, a stallion walked patiently towards the town. He enjoyed this walk. So much so that he slowed down to take in the day fully. What a beautiful day it was. Pleasantly warm with just the right amount of clouds to give the sky a pleasant disposition, it made the pony wonder if the local weather ponies were artists. It would make his trip through a new town much more enjoyable. Hopefully, it would be far more pleasant than the last few villages. The stallion loved meeting new ponies but for some odd reason, which always escaped him, they did not like to meet him.
The more he thought the less he could figure out about why others disliked him. He had always been polite like his mother taught him. He had always spoken his mind like his father taught him. Always he kept the logic that was to know the differences between those two concepts like both his parents taught him. Therefore, he came to the conclusion that he wasn’t mean or ill-spoken.
Appearance couldn’t be the cause as he was not overwhelmingly deformed. Pegasi did not come as large as he but he wasn’t larger than most farm ponies and he knew his wings were very large because most every pony gawked at them. They would seem more in awe than disgust and after the initial surprise wore off they would not bother him about them. He was never made fun of for his long and unkempt mane either. Perhaps his dark blue fur clashed with his blonde mane and others didn’t like it?
It seemed that when ponies shied away it was because of something he said or did. Though he didn’t understand why, he always held his head proud when he was mocked or insulted and simply and silently took himself away from the situation. He loved to be happy and he wouldn’t let any other pony let him down. Happy was something he was determined to stay on his journey. He had started not so long ago and was still excited to see Equestria. All of it. He knew he’d make friends eventually even though the thought of leaving any newly acquired friends so he could continue his quest made him feel sad and lonely.
The stallion slowly neared the town. It was such a good looking town. He could already see well decorated shops and clean, maintained houses. He could make out a small group of ponies making conversation around where the road past the first few houses. Their voices were lively and one in particular seemed to demand they stay that way through giggles and jokes. The stallion resisted the urge to trot to meet them as he still was enjoying the weather. He smiled, anticipating the new ponies and hoping to join in on the laughter.
As he neared he was saddened to see the group break up. Most ponies dispersed but one, a pink pony, caught sight of him and stared. He grinned as the mare began to hop his way. A friendly and direct confrontation was something he enjoyed and she was going to be the one to initiate conversation! Most ponies would ignore strangers. The pink pony had, in her mouth, a small wicker basket which contained several pieces of paper. The stallion was silently amazed that none fell out as she bounced toward him.
They stopped in front of each other. The mare spoke first with the basket still in her mouth.
“Hmp! Hmpheh meh fhhaph!”
The stallion did not even attempt to stifle his giggles. The pink pony sat down her burden and joined his quick laugh.
“Sorry. I said ‘Hi! You’re a new face!’ I’m Pinkie Pie. Who are you?”
“Hi. Obie.”
“Obie?” Pinkie Pie asked with exaggerated interest, “That’s an odd name. Where does a pony get a name like that?”
Obie began to fight back pure excitement. She was alluring to his origins! What a fun pony, he thought. “My father gave me the nickname when I was young. It’s short for Obsidian.”
“So your name is Obsidian?” She gave him a quizzical grin.
“Yes,” Obie replied. He grinned wide, fighting his want to jump in the air and fly around to exhaust his energy. With little thought he added his full name, “Obsidian Shield.”
“Wow! I see why you got the nickname. Obie is a lot simpler than Obsidian. But I like it! It’s special! Well, most names are special. That’s why we all have our own! But yours has a particular ring to it. It has to have some special meaning! I’d like to learn more about you but I’m in a hurry to get these party invitations out for my friend’s party tomorrow.” Pinkie Pie stopped to look at the empty sky. Her eyes moved around as if watching something that wasn’t there. “She’s a super awesome daredevil flyer and learned a lot of really hard tricks lately so I thought ‘Hey! I should throw her a surprise party to congratulate her on being such a good flyer!’ But then I told her about it and she was like ‘It’s not a surprise if I know’ and I was like ‘oh yeah’ so now I’m inviting everypony that loves to watch her do tricks! But everypony does like to watch her do tricks so I’m inviting everypony. Her name is Rainbow Dash by the way. Say! Would you like to come?”
Obie smiled almost dumbly as Pinkie Pie sped through her speech. He missed most of what her point was. Her sudden question at the end surprised him. “What?” He managed out.
“Would you like to come to Rainbow Dashes congratulations-on-being-an-awesome-flyer party?” She didn’t seem to notice Obie had spaced out.
“I don’t know her,” he replied, slightly confused. “Would this be appropriate?”
“Duh! How else will I get to introduce you to everyone in town?”
“Oh, well, I didn’t think that you would do that.” Obie suddenly felt like her being so direct was more than he would have liked. It was an overwhelming thought. Meeting an entire town?
“It’s okay. Here.” She gave him an invitation from her basket. “I can’t wait for everyone to become friends with you!”
“Friends?” Obie was beginning to feel puzzled. This was coming on all of a sudden.
“Yeah! It’ll be so much fun! Well I got to go! I got a lot to deliver before tomorrow.” Pinkie Pie then immediately jumped into opposite direction and cantered off toward Ponyville.
As she was leaving, Obie inspected the piece of paper. The party was tomorrow afternoon at Sugarcube Corner. He then stuffed the invite into his saddlebag. He cheered loudly, spread his wings, and took off into the air. This was going to be fun! Ponyville had to be a great town with all sorts of nice ponies. Where there more ponies like Pinkie Pie? So open and friendly! And a party! This would be his first outside of his hometown. Obie flew around excitedly. Ponyville was being more pleasant than he could have hoped and he hadn’t even been in town yet.