Chapter one is undergoing a complete rewrite, since the first half of it was written over a year ago before I started writing regularly. Don't judge the quality of the whole by the quality of the first chapter in the meantime. The rest is written much better, and only improving. I promise.
-HB
Streak was panicking.
Okay, maybe he wasn’t panicking. Not yet, at least. There was still an hour until sundown. He was fine. He’d make it through to the other side before sundown. He had to. The Everfree forest was dangerous during the day, everypony knew that. They also knew one fact; during the night, it was suicide.
Streak cringed at every leaf crunched, every twig snapped made him jump. He was going to be fine. He’d traveled the path to Ponyville before. He'd never been to the town, but he'd traveled the trail. He knew how long it took to cross the Everfree. It would help—mind you—if he knew where the path was.
It was so dark in the Everfree that he could hardly see his hoof in front of his face. This was the first time in his life that Streak was glad for his coloring. His grey coat helped him blend in better with with his surroundings. His black mane would have helped, if not for the rainbow streak down the center that was his namesake. That kind of gave him away.
A distant howl reminded him to keep his eyes on the trail. Timber wolves, poison joke, manticores, and worse stalked the woods here. To forget that would be fatal.
Speak of the devil; Streak scooted around a patch of unassuming blue flowers. Poison joke always seemed to have an ironic or amusing symptom, such as turning a pegasus’s wings backwards. Best to keep your distance. Lots of it.
Suddenly, he heard something walking behind him. He froze, listening for any clues as to what it was that was stalking behind him. Don’t panic, he thought to himself. Don’t panic. Don’t panic. Don’t panic. He repeated it like a mantra.Don’t panic.
He turned around to be face to face with teeth. Above those teeth were wicked, intelligent eyes. Around its face, a mane of matted and bloody fur stood, framing its bestial features. It had a grin on its face that had more in common with a shark than Streak was comfortable.
Panic.
Streak took off at a gallop for the nearest edge of the forest. He heard a bellow from behind him as the manticore started running after him. The hunt had begun.
Streak ran, frantically searching for a trail or some other sign he was on the right path. He ducked around a tree, hoping to slow the beast. No such luck, he heard a splintering sound and a loud thud. He didn’t even have to turn around to know the manticore had just plowed through the tree without slowing down.
Streak managed to stay directly ahead of the manticore for a few minutes, but it was slowly catching up to him. He heard a faint rumbling sound in the distance and knew her was hopelessly lost. Where in the Everfree was there a waterfall?
Streak leaped through the foliage to find himself at a river. He turned left to go downstream, that waterfall would prove to be an impassable wall.
Shortly downstream, he would prove how right he was. He had misjudged which direction the waterfall was in, and found himself at the top of a cliff. The animal smashed down the shrubs between it and its prey, and charged.
At this point, Streak had to choices: death by mauling or death by jumping off a waterfall. He figured that if he was going to die it would be awesome, so he grinned at the creature and hopped backwards.
When he landed in the water, he smashed a hoof against a rock. As the current pulled him away, he took a mental inventory of himself.
His hoof wasn’t broken, thankfully, but it definitely was not in good condition. If he ran into another creature he was in no condition to run. Hopefully the river ran into the town nearby—Ponyville, if Streak recalled correctly.
At that moment there was a splash behind him. He looked to see the manticore folding its wings and floating along behind him, a hungry look in its eyes.
“Oh yeah,” Streak deadpanned, “wings.”
Both Streak and the manticore tumbled down the river, Streak never quite able to get away and the monster never quite able to catch up with him.
Streak saw a slower river—a stream, really—branching off of the main river and managed to get himself angled down it. The furious roar fading behind him indicated that the beast had not.
Within an hour, Streak saw Ponyville. Luckily, the sun was down, which meant that ponies would be off the street and not prone to ask questions, allowing him to reach whatever passed for a hospital here unmolested. Unluckily, that meant there would be no direction to the nearest hospital. Streak needed to get his hoof looked at in a bad way.
As Streak wandered, looking for the hospital, he heard a thump and roar from behind him. The manticore had followed him to Ponyville, and it was hungry.
Streak stared in horror as the beast walked towards him. He knew he was in no condition to fight, or even run. Anypony that had been tempted to come out had gotten scared off when the manticore showed up. All he could do now was close his eyes and hope it was over quickly.
He felt a sharp pressure on his side as something hit him, and his flight through the air was accompanied by a wet ripping sound. He slammed into a building, nearly blacking out.
He was surprised when the pain immediately became a dull ache, no sign of the terrible damage those claws should have dealt. Streak opened his eyes to see a teal-maned pony lying on the ground, red staining his white coat.
The pony shakily stood up, staggering to the side. The creature tried to hit him, but didn’t count on the stagger, so it missed. This, however, infuriated it. Why would its prey not stand still?
Looking at this pony Streak noticed two things: he had a horn, and his stumbling wasn’t from any injury. Streak fought the urge to facehoof. This stallion was drunk.
The drunken pony ducked under another swing. Well, ‘ducked’ is too strong a word. ‘Stumble and faceplant’ is a better way of saying it. Standing up, the stallion managed to dodge another swing.
Streak had seen enough. Looking around the street, he saw frightened faces sticking out of curtains. Cowards. Their neighbor was going to die and nopony raised a hoof to help him?
As if on cue, a rainbow streaked across the street, slamming into the manticore. There was a bright flash, and a lavender unicorn appeared, accompanied by an orange mare. The mare bucked the beast, keeping it off balance long enough for the unicorn to grab the drunken pony with her magic and pull him to safety. As soon as he was out, the orange pony disengaged to give him first aid.
Streak saw that the rainbow pegasus was having issues dodging the beast’s paws, so he hobbled toward it with a shout of, “Hey, dragon bait!”
The monster roared at him, providing just enough of a distraction to allow the pegasus to get a shot at the side of its head. The beast stumbled, blinked, and collapsed into unconsciousness from the hit to its temple.
“Ha! Hit him in his reset button!” the pegasus cheered.
“Now calm down there, RD,” the orange mare said. “Fightin’s never something to be proud of.”
“AJ’s right, Rainbow,” the unicorn said as the pegasus opened her mouth to protest, “but at least there wasn’t too much damage.”
“Ahm gonna hafta disagree witchu there,” the drunk pony slurred. “Ahm smashed and it still hurts!”
“I swear, Change,” the unicorn sighed, “you have the worst of luck.”
“ ‘Cause I gived it all to our friend o’ there,” Change said, pointing a hoof at one side of Streak, then quickly switching over to the other side. “One of ‘em, at least.”
“Let’s just get you to the hospital,” she said, moving to support the drunken pony.
“Ah can support mahself, thank you very much!” he began, stepping forward and faceplanting. “I meant to do that!” he shouted, muffled by the ground. The unicorn sighed and picked him up with her magic, and the group started walking towards the hospital.
“Uh, Twi? Ah hate to be a bother, but our friend here is limping,” AJ said.
“I’m fine,” Streak said, suppressing a groan. He really didn’t want to be a bother about a bruised hoof when the other stallion got slashed by a manticore. “I get worse hopping out of bed in the mornings.”
“Yeah, you’re lying,” Rainbow said, flying up next to him. “Your hoof is swollen and bruised, you’re limping is incredibly pronounced, and your dye job is horrible. Like, I like having a fan, but you could have at least gotten the other three-quarters of your mane dyed, too.”
“RD!” AJ admonished the flier. “You don't just-"
"Miss Rainbow," the now mildly annoyed stallion began, "might I point out that I am not nearly as injured as your friend there, nor nearly as drunk. On top of that, I have neither heard of you, nor would I dye my mane had I ever."
"Oh, Mr. High and Mighty, are we?" she asked, annoyed. "Too impressive for the awesomeness that is Rainbow Dash, are we?"
"Have you even heard the word humility?" he asked her. "If you were so great, your actions would cause others to speak for you. Since I have not heard of you in my nearly two decades of life, I am forced to believe that you aren't anything special, or if you are, it isn't as special as you believe."
The rainbow-maned pony seethed in anger at his words. "You gonna back that up?"
"Back what up?" Streak asked. "There was literally nothing in my sentence that was boastful or challenging. It was all observation. Observation that hit close to home, by your reaction."
The prismatic-maned pony grit her teeth as AJ stepped inbetween the two. "Now hold it for a second and think, RD," she said. "He's tryin' to get you riled up."
"Not very hard," he said, immediately regretting his poor choice of words. He had intended to admit that he was slightly antagonizing her, and now it sounded like he was making fun of her for her hot-headed nature.
The pegasus glared at him, before snorting and taking the lead, setting a quickened pace. Streak wasn't able to keep up, so AJ walked pressed up against him, supporting his weight so he didn't have to put it on his injured leg. He gave her a thankful smile. When they reached the counter, Twilight checked in the drunk pony—who Streak learned was Frequent Change—and stood out of the way for Streak to check in.
“Name?” the bored-sounding secretary asked.
“Streak,” the such-named stallion replied.
“Injury?” she asked.
“My hoof’s not too happy with me right now,” he said.
“Any specifics we should know?” she asked.
“I hit it on a rock jumping off of a waterfall,” was his reply. At the shocked silence, he asked, “What?”
“Why did you jump off a waterfall?” Twilight asked slowly.
“Because the manticore was behind me,” he replied. “Speaking of, did we just leave it lying in town square?”
“Nope, we sent a letter to the Princess and she sent a detachment of royal guards to bring it back to the Everfree,” Twilight replied with an ‘are you an idiot?’ look on her face.
“Wait, how long ago did you send that letter?” Streak asked, worried.
“Just before Twi teleported us,” AJ said. Seeing the worried look on his face, she added, “Spike sends letters instantly to the Princess. She got it.” Streak let out a sigh of relief at that.
“Hey Streak, get that leg looked at,” Twilight said, turning to Rainbow, who was studying every move he made. “And Rainbow? Go get Pinkie, Shy, and Rarity so we can all be there when Change wakes up.”
Rainbow shook her head to clear her thoughts. “On it!” with that, she shot out the doors.
The nurse looked at Streak and motioned for him to go down the left hallway, “Room seventeen, the doctor will be in in a few.”
He thanked the nurse and limped to the room specified. After a few minutes, a cream stallion with a brown mane and a white lab coat walked in. “Now what’s this I hear about you jumping off a waterfall, young man?” he asked while examining the other stallion's hoof.
“Well, you see—” Streak started to say.
“What could have possibly inspired you to do something so monumentally stupid?" he asked, walking to a shelf on the wall and gazing at the multitude of leg braces there.
"It was better than being mauled to death by a manticore?" the injured stallion asked.
"Slightly," the doctor said, grabbing one of the braces and walking back. "There was still a good chance that you would have been killed by the jump."
Streak shrugged as the doctor fit the brace onto his wounded hoof. "It was a possible death versus a guaranteed death. Plus, now I can say that I jumped off a waterfall, which is awesome."
The doctor shook his head at that, but he finished fiddling with the brace, saying, "That is horrible logic, but it works. Try to walk on that, see if I need to grab another brace."
Streak complied, giving a low whistle of appreciation as none of his weight was put onto his hoof. "Thanks, doc. I don't have any money, though, so how would I pay for this?"
"Accidents in the Everfree are covered for free here," the doctor said, "even if they follow you to town."
Streak winced. "Yeah, sorry about that."
The other stallion waved his hoof dismissively. "We have to rebuild half of Ponyville every few months. We're used to things wandering in from the Everfree."
The injured stallion's jaw dropped. "Why do you stay here?"
"This is our home," he replied, swelling with pride. "We won't abandon it because it gets a little crazy. In the past month alone, we've hosted the return and fall of Nightmare Moon, and had the entire town whipped into a frenzy when the local librarian secured an extra ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala."
"How does the librarian get two tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala?" Streak asked.
"She's Princess Celestia's student," was the reply. "She was sent to stop Nightmare Moon and decided to stay."
Streak was silent for a moment, before saying, "That sounds like somepony I want to get to know."
The doctor arched his eyebrow. "You don't already? You came in with her."
Streak groaned, "Don't tell me it's the rainbow one."
The doctor chuckled, "No, it's not Rainbow Dash."
"That's seriously her name?" Streak asked.
"It is," the doctor said. He then got on topic again, "The librarian is none other than Twilight Sparkle."
"As in 'purple pony with magic' Twilight Sparkle?" Streak asked.
"The same. Come now, I have to check in on Change," the doctor said, walking out of the room. Streak followed closely behind. "If you spend any time around him, do try and get him clean, would you?"
"Is he always drunk?" Streak asked.
The doctor nodded. "Always," he said. "I'm pretty sure that he lives at the bar, but you'll have to ask Berry about that."
As they reached the door, Streak spoke up, “Uh, doc? You wouldn’t happen to have any openings for someone with literally no training in the medical field, would you?”
He stopped with his hoof on the door. “I can’t say that we do, why?”
“I kinda don’t have a job, and I don’t know what I’m good at yet.” Streak turned his flank forward, showing off a solid grey where his cutie mark should have been.
The doctor’s brow furrowed. “You don’t have a cutie mark?”
“If I do, it’s the same color as my flank,” Streak said. “Blank as the day I was born.”
The doctor sighed. “I can’t help you right now. Try talking to the mayor. She should be able to find you a job and a place to stay for a while. Come back tomorrow and schedule a visit, though.”
Streak cocked his head. “Why? Afraid I’ll have some strange disease?” he asked.
“No,” the doctor said. “Sometimes there are magical maladies that can prevent a pony from getting a cutie mark. They are only found in the Everfree, though.”
“I’ve lived on the other side of the Everfree for my whole life,” Streak said. “I’ve been inside at least once.”
The doctor nodded, smiling at the other stallion’s poor attempt at humor. He pushed the door open, revealing a grumpy stallion on the bed. “Hey, doc! Why can’t I have a beer?”
“Alcohol dilutes your blood,” the doctor said. “So no, you can’t have any.”
“It’s a communist conspiracy,” the stallion muttered. “First you sober me up with magic, now you tell me I can’t drink. I paid good money to get drunk!”
“Do you even remember what happened?” Streak burst into the conversation.
Change looked at him. “You look. . . familiar. Like I know you, but don’t.”
“You saved his life,” the doctor said.
“I what?” Change asked. “What do you mean I saved his life?”
“I was chased into town by a manticore,” Streak said. “You took a hit for me, buying time for ponies to come and rescue both of us.”
“I. . . think I remember that,” the other stallion said. “I owe my life to that hot piece of flank on wings, don’t I?”
“If you mean Rainbow Dash, then yes you do,” the doctor said. “I also no longer wonder why you’re single.”
“Yeah, that doesn’t surprise me,” Streak said, planting his hoof into his face.
“Hey, I don’t mind being single. Berry gives me a discount on my next drink every time I get shot down hard by a new mare.” Change grinned stupidly. “Twelve and counting.”
“There is something wrong with you,” Streak said, scrunching his face in distaste.
“Hey, don’t knock it until you try it,” the drunk said. “Come drinking with me sometime. I’ll show you the ropes.”
“I don’t think—” Streak started.
“I insist. You owe me, don’t you? I’ll even pay,” the other stallion said.
“Let me check those bandages and get out of your mane,” the doctor said, “so that I don’t have to listen to this entire conversation.”
Streak sighed. “Fine,” he said. “But I’m not taking mare advice from you.”
“Hey, man, I’m great with the ladies,” Change said, indignant. “I just like getting discount drinks and don’t really care about getting laid. If you listen to me, you’ll even be able to bag the librarian. She’s so oblivious that you’d need to stick your hoof right up in her—”
“I’m done,” the doctor said, while Change was talking, “and out.” he walked out while the other stallion continued talking.
“—and then she’ll finally understand what you’re saying. Bye doc!” The stallion waved at the retreating doctor. “Okay, he’s gone. Look kid, I heard you outside. I can’t get you a job, but I have more house than I know what to do with. You can crash with me.”
“Is that a good idea?” Streak asked. “I’m not like you.”
“I keep regular hours, and I’ll leave Berry instructions to keep me from leaving the bar past midnight,” the drunk said. “I won’t wake you. Plus I keep pretty regular hours. I get up at six, go to work, go to the bar, and go to bed.”
Streak paused. That actually sounded good. “Do I pay rent?”
“When you get a job,” Change said. “I won’t kick a fella while he’s down. I already own the place, so I’m not losing anything by letting you chill. I won’t even kick you out if you can’t pay. Won’t even charge you extra.”
“This sounds too good to be true,” Streak said cautiously. “What’s the catch?”
“You come drinking with me when the doc finally lets me out of here,” the drunk said. “It’s a really good deal on your part.”
Streak sighed, “Fine. I’ll come drinking with you sometime.”
Change smiled. “Good. I leave my doors unlocked. Your room is the one with no bottles in it.”