It was a bright, sunny day in Ponyville. Ponies went about their days, happily talking, buying, and generally enjoying the cool winter air air.
On the very outskirts of town, you sit on a small hill, watching the ponies from a distance, wondering whether or not this would be a good place to settle down.
With a sigh, you stand up, glad of your patchy, hastily put together jacket to keep you warm; It was made of patches of denim, leather, cotton, all kinds of materials. Yes, you could have easily bought a warm, comfy jacket from a boutique, or a clothes shop, but you refused to spend such a ludicrous amount of bits on bits of fabric. Yes, the jacket looked horrible, especially when you combined it with the bright yellow gumboots that donned your hooves at all times, or your tattered, broad brimmed hat that almost never left your head, but it was all functional. Plus, you could never give up your jacket.
Not to say you didn’t care about looks; Any self respecting stallion kept himself looking good. Your mane was always nice and clean, your coat kept nice and soft. But fashion never appealed to you. Why wear such pretty clothes when they were just going to end up in the wardrobe, gathering dust?
Knowing that you may as well get things moving, you shake yourself, and begin walking, grabbing the small brown sack used to carry your things, heading towards the happy, colourful town. You had just enough bits with you to buy room and board from a hotel, an inn, or, if worse came to worse, to buy a spare room from one of the residents of the town, until you had enough cash to buy a proper home.
You instantly knew you were being watched as you walked through the small crowd of Ponyville, as per usual. Your jacket always got you strange looks, laughs, or, when you’d gone to Canterlot a few months back, outright insulted.
However, you were used to it, so you happily walked along, looking around for a hotel or an inn. You saw a few couples as you walked, making sure to take note of the mares in particular, so you knew who not to try and come onto.
Having had a few partners in the past, you had experienced one or two unfortunate situations where the mare you were with had failed to mention that they already had a partner.
Blue earth mare, red mane... She looks a bit old, anyway... Yellow pegasus, pink mane... Looks a bit quiet for me. You start humming a quiet, familiar tune, stopping and looking around, a small frown on your face. There was a familiar grumbling in your stomach, reminding you that it had been a day or two since you had a proper meal; You almost never packed enough supplies for travel between the capitals of Equestria.
With a small grumble, you make your way to a simple cafe nearby, and sit down, with a small, tired sigh. You open your mouth to order, but are interrupted when you hear a horrified scream behind you. With a loud yell, you jump over the table, and peek over, seeing a white unicorn rushing over to you, her eyes wide with horror. Frowning, you quickly back away as her horn glows, and you’re lifted into the air. Flailing wildly, you try to yell at the mare when you feel her tugging at your jacket with her magic.
Realising what she’s trying to do, you toss your sack of stuff at the mare, causing her to jump back, cringing as you drop to the ground. Standing up, you open your mouth to speak to her when the unicorn rushes forward, trying to grab the jacket.
“Hey, buck off!” You yell, pushing the mare away. The unicorn stumbles, but soon recovers.
“Dear, that jacket is one of the worst fashion crimes I have ever had the misfortune to lay my eyes on! Please, I can give you something much better, dear!” She says, trying again to get your jacket away. Flailing weakly, you shove her back again, hearing a loud rip. Your eyes widening, you look at one of the sleeves on your jacket, seeing a large tear.
You feel a small burning in your gut, worse than hunger as you shove her to the ground, grabbing your bag, and running like hell. The scene had caused a bit of a crowd to form, and you didn’t want to stay any longer than you had to. Only after shoving the mare did you realise how bad the scene looked.
Eventually collapsing on the edge of town, you catch your breath for a few minutes, listening closely to the area around you to make sure you weren’t followed. You stumbled to your hooves, realising you had collapsed close to a simple, cheap inn. Sighing happily, you managed to force yourself upstairs, and walk inside, tiredly hiring a room for a week, glad of the low price. Barely hearing the old grey mare behind the counter telling you about breakfast, you took the key she gave you, and found your room, collapsing on the bed.
Well... New town... Probably just made an enemy... Looked like a brute and a prick in front of a large crowd... And I’m still starving... You let out a loud groan, and close your eyes, trying to sleep, and failing miserably. You had been so exhausted only a few seconds ago, now you were wide awake.
Every. Damn. Time. You think, sitting up and punching your pillow a few times, before sliding off the bed. Thinking that you should probably get undressed, you pull off your boots, and hat, before carefully sliding your jacket off, making sure not to widen the rip.
I’ll get that fixed tomorrow some time. You think, looking out the window, seeing a blue pegasus mare, with a rainbow mane, flying with a stallion. They both fly behind a cloud before you get a good look at them.
With a sigh, you turn back to the bed, and collapse, chewing your pillow for a few minutes out of hunger, before you finally, gratefully slip into the warm embrace of sleep.