//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Greyscale // by Zoom zoom //------------------------------// Colors, they swirled around like incoherent blobs before you. Even though this was a place you should have remembered what was what colors and should be able to see the shapes a little, your mind refused to allow you access to that. With an annoyed mumble and a hint of disappointment you shut your left eye and opened your right instead. There it was, the familiar town you had grown up in: The wonderful trees, the different houses, the river running right through it, and of course the wondrous clear sky with only a few clouds drifting in thanks to the Everfree forest. The only thing missing from this sight was the best part about Ponyville, the various colors you had grown to long for more over time now that you had little access to it. It was why up to this point you had basically lived in Las Pegasus for the past few years. As grand as that city was, outside a rainbow that was easy enough for your left eye to work without having a shape, there was nothing by black and white for most of the cloud buildings and thus you never felt like you were missing out on much. Even your last girlfriend, Lightning Dust, didn’t seem to have much of an issue with you condition at first. But like all things it built up to the point you two had to break up. Granted she could have just told you her concerns so you could leave like you always ended up doing instead of finding her in bed with a griffin. But never being the type to hold a grudge, and noticing the two of you had slowly grown apart, you couldn’t blame her for it either after being sent home by her icons that got her so upset. At least then you were sure she was not going to turn to you when she was weak which told far more about her. The look of sadness in her eyes as she realized just what she did was burned moreso on you because you could really see every detail in it even if you were twenty feet away. But was done was done and after a long talk the two of you agreed it would be best if you moved on with your life and let her be. A darker part of you taking some solace in the fact she was obviously more upset with the break up than you had been. The back of your head throbbed as you remembered that day looking out over Ponyville. You could feel the scar where the wood and he nearly gone straight through your brain from your accident as a foal. The thin line of bald spot that most of your mane covered well enough actually helped calm you down. What were you so worried about? Your two best friends from childhood still lived here and your roommate was a regular too. It wasn’t like this was a new town again, and yet you felt just a nervous as you pushed up your sunglasses and knocked on the door that lead to the Mayor’s office. A dark shaded colt greeted you on the other side of the door and welcomed you in. “You must be my new roomy eh? Well glad to meet you in pony finally. You can follow me and greet the mayor. I already did most of the paperwork, but she insisted on interviewing you first.” You nodded, your shades falling a bit before you pushed them back into your face. Noteworthy’s expression showed he saw you slight exposed left eye and winced a bit, but he was a good enough pony not to bring it up as he walked you to the office. The glasses blacked out your left eye so that you didn’t have to remember to keep it closed. Usually you had an eyepatch on, but it would likely be a bit too much for a first impression, something you needed for this job interview. As you trotted, Noteworthy did his best to give you a small tour of the rather small city hall and the important buildings you could see through the windows. Even recounting how a particular wall that was basically just boarded up had been destroyed by the town mailmare. You were not sure how such a pony who was worse at flying than you were sometimes was allowed to deliver mail, but Noteworthy mentioned how the only other mailpony in town was a mixed up old man who may give you the wrong mail so you could understand that. It wasn’t very long before you were at the top floor and allowed into the Mayor office as the two of you discussed the town. “Well now,” called the Mayor as Noteworthy closed the door behind you, “You must be the pony who is coming to fill our weather advisor job.” She motioned for you to take the seat in front of her desk. “Yes ma’am,” you replied taking a seat as indicated. She started at you a bit as you did, looking mostly at your sunglasses. It suddenly came too you that Noteworthy may not have told the Mayor about your condition, possibly because it would be a better chance at getting the job. Rather than push your luck explaining it was easier just to take off the glasses and keep your left eye closed. Whether the mayor got the message or not she seemed to back off body language wise, which was still a plus and your interview continued. “Well now,” the mare said after all the basic stuff was finally completed. “I see no issue with hiring you. There are just two more things I need to make sure of. The first is your basic drug test to make sure your not-“ You immediately slid over an envelope with your doctor’s note inside to the mayor before she could finish that sentence. You didn’t take drugs regularly, but since your medication for the pain in your skull and right eye was on a “use as needed” state and would show up in a test it was something you had learned quickly to get out of the way first. “Oh,” said the mayor scanning over the note. “I see now. Very well, but that will make this second thing all the more needed as I won’t be able to properly judge your performance ability myself. Besides she’ll be more your boss than myself anyway.” After calling Noteworthy back into the office, she instructed him to show you outside to meet Rainbow Dash, the weather manager and your final screener before you could be hired. You felt your scar tingle at the sound of her name, but kept your hoof from going up to it. You recognized this name all too well. This mare had not only become famous in some circles for being an element of harmony, but Lightning had written about her in the one letter you did get before she was sent home from the Wonderbolts Academy. She was also mentioned when it came to being the only pony known currently who could make the legendary Sonic Rainboom, that magical blast that had caused you trouble as a foal. Still, you were not the kind of Pony to hold a grudge. It was easy for you to forgive what she had done, especially with time and finding out she was both unaware and only a month older than you so it wasn’t like she could apologize. Your only real issue was that you couldn’t forget, and that was something you hoped you could at least try to do now since if she was going to be your boss it meant you were going to be working with her a lot from now on. Luckily for you, Rainbow seemed to be running late and you had time to collect yourself as you rocked back and forth waiting for her outside. Nopony paid much attention to you, a testament likely to the fact everyone was so diverse and such strange things were known to happen based on Cheerilee’s letters here that even a one-eyed pegasus no one had seen must not be of much note. You were considering what you should do if your new boss didn’t show when a head popped out in front of you with a loud, “Hiyah!” That nearly got you to jump out of your fur. The soft giggles coming from the assailant got you to shake off your surprise and focus on this short haired mare. Her mane was indeed of various shades which suggested this was the very mare you were waiting for. “Sorry about that,” the mare explained. “You just looked so serious I couldn’t help myself. The name is Rainbow Dash, best flyer in all of Equestria. What’s yours?” She held out a hoof in greeting with a small smile. You smiled back and introduced yourself taking her hoof to shake it, only to be met by a sting that felt like you were hit by a lightning bolt and the sound of a loud buzz as you did so. This in turn caused you to pull back. Rainbow Dash let out a long and hardy laugh at your expense for this. It would seem that Cheerilee also wasn’t kidding when she mentioned Rainbow was a serial prankster in this town. This was going to be a long day.