//------------------------------// // Chapter One // Story: The Merchant of Ponyville // by nameundetermined //------------------------------// All things considered, Jasper could be having a far worse day than he was. Sure, he was fairly far out into an unfamiliar woodland, with only his most personal affairs in his briefcase to aid him should something go awry, but at least the weather was acceptable, and the sun seemed like it would still be out for some time yet. A gentleman paid little mind to his troubles, save to alleviate them. And alleviate them he would! he had found himself on a well-beaten dirt path, and seemed t be making good headway through the woods. With any luck, he would find himself out of the thick of things by sundown and hopefully be able to spot a town close enough to make the trip by nightfall. As much as he appreciated nature, he certainly had no desire to get quite so intimate as to lay on the ground for the evening to rest his head. Earlier that Day... ................. Discord's eyes widened as the little ponies he had so handily demoralized before came together as friends once more and activated the Elements of Harmony. He had been, it seemed, a bit too confident in his ability to tear their little group apart. And now it looked as if he was going to pay the price once more for his hubris. However, that did not mean that the fun had to end. As the rainbow rushed towards him, his tail formed into a hand at the tip, sneakily snapping as he pretended to be utterly terrified of his upcoming petrification. "Ah, little ponies, it seems I will be out of commission for a while longer." he thought to himself as he was slowly petrified by the power of the ancient artifacts. "But not to worry! I think I have a perfect substitute in mind to keep you all entertained while I am unavailable, have fuuuun~" The six ponies responsible for the feat were not sure why as the stone crept up his neck, he began to laugh, but they certainly did not like it. They did not like it one bit. ............... The next day, one of that six, a rather gentle, kindly young pegasus, was attending to her daily works. She was at the outskirts of the White Tail Woods and busy tending to some of her many woodland companions. it seemed that Mr. Ferret had gone and hurt his paw during the unfortunate happenings yesterday, what with the entire area in the throes of chaos and all. He was honestly lucky to have gotten off so lightly, in the mare's opinion, and she was happy the rest of her animals, had also made out so well from the event. As she finished applying the comically small bandages to his paw, she smiled down at him softly "There you go, Mr. ferret, now, try not to put too much weight on it for a few days, if you could. And if you experience any increased discomfort, please let me know so I can get Dr. Fauna to take a look..." The ferret looked up to her and nodded,d chittering a thankful response, when suddenly... His ears perked up, then flattened, and he quickly as he could manage, scampered off into the woods, looking somewhat fearful. And not only him! The birds nearby seemed to have stopped chirping and flown off in a tizzy, quick as they could, as had the other animals nearby. The woods around her were now quite uncomfortably quiet. Quiet save for the footsteps that were now slowly trampling towards her, a voice calling out from past the trees as a tall, lumbering figure towered in the distance. "Helloooooo...?" ............ "Hello? Hello? is anybody there?" The gentleman called out affably as he finally made his way out of the woods. He could see a cottage not too far from here on the horizon, and a bit past that what seemed to be a rural town, admittedly one more pastel and cheerful than any he had seen in his day. But he had also heard someone talking to someone else, a young lady by the sounds of it. He smiled wide in a welcoming manner despite being slightly disheveled from his trek through the woods as he looked around, trying to find the source of that demure, gentle voice from earlier. Sadly it seemed that he was alone, he looked around slowly, giving a soft sigh as he realized that whoever had spoken, as far as he could tell, was gone. He gave a small sigh and took a seat on a fallen log nearby, putting his face in his hands, "Goodness. I must really be having a bad time to be hearing voices already. I have not even been out here for a day!" He says with a chuckle, his hands sliding downward and off of his face after a moment, landing in his lap as he looks around. It takes him just a moment, but he realizes that he is not in fact, entirely alone. There seems to be a small pony nearby. it was...strange-looking, to say the least. A soft yellow coat. Not Blonde, mind you. Outright yellow. in color, with a pastel pink mane to match it in terms of strangeness. Its wide, blue eyes seemed to peer up at him with considerable fear and anxiety as he looked down at it. Even from his stump, he was taller than it by a good foot and a half at least. "Oh, a little pony..." he said softly as he slowly leaned forward to get a better look at it. it shied away a bit at his movement and he chuckled ever so softly "Well, aren't you just a precious little thing, what are you doing out here all on your own? Are you lost?" It was in this moment that he was thrown for quite the loop! After he spoke, the Pony spoke back! "O-oh, no. I'm not lost. I live in the cottage nearby, actually..." The pony said in a voice decidedly like the one he had heard before. Though admittedly this time it was much more frightened and nervous sounding. He blinked, slowly. Once, then twice as he looked the other up and down. "I...I am sorry, but did you just speak?" he asked her gently as he stood up, tilting his head at the little pony whose head barely came up to his waist upright. She squeaked a bit more loudly than before and seemed to shrink back slightly, giving a small nod, shaking. "Y-yes I did..." she said as she looked up at him as though she might cry at any moment "I was just saying I live at the um..." His eyes widened a bit at this "A talking pony. How queer..." he said as he rubbed his chin slowly "My apologies miss. I do not see terribly many of those where I am from." he said as he shifted the hand to run through his hair while sucking in a bit of air and exhaling in an almost exasperated manner. "Do you belong to any of the people in that village there? or is your owner In the cottage?" "O-owner?" she asked, sounding almost just a tad insulted. or at least she would if she did not sound so scared. "I do not have any owner, I'm a pony," she said in a way that indicated she felt this was a self-explanatory phrase. "a-and there are no people in Ponyville, only ponies...what is a people?" She asked softly after she finished her previous statements. This left the poor man somewhat dumbfounded, as you might imagine. If what she was saying meant what he thought it did, then it seemed he was in a place where there were no people. Only these...strange little talking ponies. "Oh er...well, a people is what I am, little pony. or rather, I am a singular person. My name is Jasper by the by. Jasper Mountebank," he said as he removed one of his gloves and offered her a hand, bending down on one knee to be closer to eye level to her. Suddenly coming closer seemed to frighten her again, however, and she dropped to the ground, her front legs covering her eyes, and her...wings.... splayed onto the ground. Wings? yes, wings. Not simply a talking pony, but a talking pegasus pony it seemed. Honestly, that little extra shove out of his perception of normal reality made this a bit easier to accept. of course a Pegasus might be able to talk! A pegasus was magical after all, that made tremendously more sense. If magic was at play this all seemed dramatically more coherent. At least, that is what his already overworked ego told him to shield him from the strangeness of it all as he took in this extra bit of information. He swallowed dryly and, standing up, stepped back a tad "O-oh! Please, I assure you I have no intention to hurt you, I was simply attempting to greet you properly." He said as reassuringly as he could, putting his hands up in a nonthreatening gesture. "Please, there is no need to be so afraid of me, I am a gentleman after all. I would never harm a lady or erm...mare, such as yourself for no good cause." This seemed to reassure her somewhat. She stood back up slowly on wobbling legs, giving him an unsure, but somewhat relieved look. "O-oh dear, sorry. You are just so large and strange I am simply not sure what to do with myself..." she said as she slowly extended a hoof up to him, looking down and away still somewhat fearful "M-my name is Fluttershy..." He moved more slowly this time, knelt down to be closer to her eye level and took her hoof, gently making a motion as if kissing the top of it without his lips touching the hand and smiling down at her softly "it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Fluttershy." He had never seen a horse blush. bit he did have to admit that on this sort of equine, it was a rather adorable look. As her face reddened slightly he pulled his hand away and slowly stood up, straightening his cravat and dusting himself off, placing his glove back on and humming a bit. "Just to be sure I have understood you correctly, Miss Fluttershy, if I make my way in that direction, the town will be populated with other ponies like yourself?" She nodded slowly, looking him over a bit more closely now that some of the initial shock had worn off for her. "That's right, yes. Ponyville should have plenty of ponies who can help you with whatever you might need." She said as she walked over and started gently nudging him in the general direction of the town with her head "N-now I-if you'll excuse me, I have to tend to the rest of the animals, a-and I don't want to be rude, but you are scaring them all away..." He gave her a somewhat apologetic look as he realized he had been making a bit of a ruckus when he had arrived. he took the hint and went on his way, briefcase in hand "A-ah! My apologies, miss. I will just be on my way, I suppose..." he said as he took his leave "I do hope to see you around, Miss Fluttershy, good day!" She did not answer as he walked away, dashing back towards her cottage and quickly slamming the door, the click of a lock behind heard as he passed the building. "Hmphhh...I suppose not as gentle a maiden as I might have speculated initially..." he said softly as he turned his sights towards the town. Ponyville, he believed she called it. he hoped that the residents of the town would be a bit more...agreeable than Fluttershy had been. If he was truly the only human around, being outside of the good graces of the local citizenry might certainly put him back a ways.