//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Of bravery and walking // Story: The Chronicles of No One // by Pr1me Sh0ck //------------------------------// Chapter 1 “Before you can run, you first need to walk.” Canterlot Current Era Day of the Royal Wedding Six mares stood bound and defeated, their heads hung low from the weight of their failures. The changeling queen had won, she had infiltrated the highest level of governance, she had bested Celestia herself in one of one combat, and she had routed the Bearers of Harmony in their endeavours to reach their beloved Elements. From high up in the palace Chrysalis looked down upon the royal city of Canterlot, small fire burnt where houses fell. The initial wave of the attack had almost decimated the lower reaches of the city and badly damaged the upper regions. Not even the palace had been spared, scorch marks marred the once perfect marble and rubble littered the rooms and corridors. Chrysalis thought that this was the most perfect ending to the invasion, the battle had been brief and clean-up had commenced immediately. Even now pockets of resistance were being sought out and incapacitated. Guards and civilians alike were being rounded up and take to the crystal chambers below the palace for processing. Her orders were clear casualties were acceptable but no fatalities. But Chrysalis did not count on two things the first was the determination of Twilight Sparkle to see her brother and old foalsitter happy even for a fleeting moment. The second was the power of the love that the Captain of the Guard and the Alicorn of Love held for each other. A spark shot forth from Twilight’s horn shattering the goo binding Princess Cadence, “Go to him,” she whispered. With the last of her strength, bolstered by the hatred for the changelings for what they had done, Cadence stumbled over to her fiancé, nuzzling him gently. With that one simple gesture the spell of hypnosis that had been cast upon Shining Armour broke. Looking down into his beloved’s eyes he gave a faint smile and nuzzled her back. A soft sigh escaped both of their lips, they leaned into each other and with every ounce of the love they had for each other formed a spell. Using her affinity for love Cadence channelled her energies to fill the spell with the power of love. With his knowledge of magical defence Shining Armour created a kinetic barrier, his target of choice the changelings. Distracted by her flawless victory Chrysalis did not notice the humming of a spell powering up. Singing a song for her victorious day she was too distracted with her gloating to notice the impending danger. The humming loudened, droning out every other sound until it was impossible to be ignored. Turning around Chrysalis’s eyes went wide at the sight of the happy couple together, “What are you two doing?” she screamed, lunging forward to break them apart. She managed to halve the distance between them before the spell cast, a wave of love seeking out and stripping away changeling disguises immediately before the kinetic barrier forcefully removed them from the city flinging them high and far. In the distance towards the direction of Ponyville as the spell had been building an ominous cloud had taken shape. The blackest black against an empty sky, as the spell lightning forked from the edges of the cloud racing towards its centre. As the individual branches of electricity reached the centre of the cloud a blast of light shot skywards from directly below the unnatural formation. As the heavens and the ground became connected a bolt of electricity shot downward. The already blinding light dimmed before pulsed brightly and then fading into nothing. The clouds dissipated as though they were never there, a scorched ground denoting the impact sight of the bolt of lightning. Ponyville Current Era Day of the Royal Wedding Blackness and then pain, flooding the mind of Noah, searing as though every nerve ending was on fire and every part of him torn to shreds then reassembled a thousand times over, unbearable, but quickly lessening. The voices in his head had stopped, replaced by a low buzzing of white noise. A disembodied voice spoke, but no words were intelligible, like the tones of 56k modem. From the ground on which he lay Noah slowly began to stir, his ears twitched as the disembodied voice shouted once more. As his mind restarted he realised his lungs held no air. Gasping in a ragged breath and exhaling in a throaty sigh he heard the tell-tale sign of footsteps landing, like someone had just jumped backwards. Again the shouting continued, albeit a little more subdued, until actual words could be heard. “Mister, Hey mister are you alright?” hollered the voice, soft in tone and volume like that of a small girl. Suddenly Noah felt pressure on his spine, then nothing, then pressure again, like… like someone was jumping on my back, came the stark realisation. “Hey mister wake up,” shouted the voice again, this time a little louder and behind his head. “Augh,” was Noah’s response, an unintelligible groan to signify his level of alertness to the situation. “What was that?” asked the voice from behind him again, “I didn’t quite catch that.” “I said Augh, and I feel like hell” whispered Noah in a hoarse voice, his mind still reeling from… from whatever happened. I must have done some damage to my throat, I sound like a bloody insect, he thought to himself. “Well you don’t look so good,” said the voice, “your coat looks like it has been burnt off, your mane and tail are all tattered, and your horn and hooves have holes in them.” “My what?” replied Noah, “what do you mean my horn and hooves?” “Like I said, you have holes in your horn and hooves.” “I know what you said I don’t have a horn or hoov… ARGH!” screamed Noah as he opened and then promptly shut his eyes, the sun blinding him for the fraction of a second he held them open. “Sweet Jesus that burns,” shouted Noah. “Who’s Jesus?” asks the voice of the now white void. “Who’s Jesus,” Noah repeated, “He’s the guy you blame whenever your luck turns good or bad in large quantities,” he said, his voice rife with sarcasm. “Well it’s not his fault you looked at the sun now is it,” retorted the voice, Noah swore he could see a tiny tongue poking out at him, in his mind’s eye. Noah tilted his head down, trying to shield his eyes from the sun with his brow, and slowly squinted, his eyes opening slower this time, letting them readjust to the light level at their own pace. As his sight slowly returned the colours started to overtake the shades of grey. Slowly, as though a veil was lifting, he took note of the dirt and cobblestone road he was laying on. Feeling returning to his limbs, thousands of pinpricks rolling across his body as the nerve endings came alive, the pressure on his back solidified. The pressure moved up his back, his neck pressed into the ground slightly at the weight until it came to rest at what he thought was the top of his head. Peering up for a moment he caught the sight of impossibly large and impossibly cute golden eyes looking down at him with wonder and astonishment. Tracing the shape of the eyes in his mind he took in the sight of the small muzzle beaming down at him, a short horn protruding through choppy blonde mane. The golden eyes of the face above scanned over his own features, drinking in as much information as possible, emotive ears covered in the same powder purple coat as the rest of the face flicked every so often displaying what seemed to be fascination, confusion and sometimes fear and bravery. “Something doesn’t seem quite right,” remarked Noah, his brain not yet catching onto the identity of the creature on top of his head. “What’s not quite right?” asked the face above him, in sweet innocent voice. “Well it’s just that there seems to be a small and impossible cute face of baby horse, or baby pony, laying on my hea…” his voice drifted off as the cogs in his brain finally meshed together and started turning in unison. “What was that click?” asked the face. Noah’s mouth hung agape, a soft sound of air escaping from his lungs in astonishment, slowly the soft whooshing of air became louder until a most horrified scream erupted from his lips. The face, not ready for the audible onslaught, clenched a pair of hooves over her ears. Unable to find a balance on his head the face, and the attached body, rolled forward off his head and landed on its back with a solid thump on the ground. Unready to process the verbal assault and startled by the sudden fall to the ground the face began to pout slightly, its muzzle downturn, its eyes began to water, sniffles could be heard (if Noah had stopped screaming then sniffles could be heard) emanating from the face. Then with almost no other warning the bundle in front of him broke down into wails and sobs of terror. Noah quickly shut his trap upon noticing the crying creature in front of him. Lowering his voice to a whisper he tried to comfort the small being. “I’m sorry for startling you,” he tried, “really, I’m so sorry, please stop crying, I didn’t mean for you to get frightened.” The sobs from the small creature reduced down into whimpers and then sniffles. “I’m really sorry I frightened you,” repeated Noah, “But you just frightened me and I’m quite jumpy at the moment.” “How could a filly as small as me frighten somepony as big as you?” asked the being. “A filly, is that what you are?” a nod was received as affirmation, “Well I must admit that even the largest of us get frightened from time to time, anyone who say differently isn’t telling the whole truth.” He said in a comforting tone, adding a small smile at the end for good measure. His attempt to lift the spirits of the filly works a broad smile replacing the quivering lip of her muzzle. Now smiling, the filly rolled over onto her front, picking herself up and dusting herself off, Noah took the a chance to see the filly in her entirety. The powder purple coat continued across her entire form, her blonde mane in a ragged cut finishes at her shoulders a long blonde tail accompanied the mane finishing just off the ground. In all, the filly stood no more than half a metre tall. “My name is Dinky Doo,” said the filly, holding out her hoof for a shake, “What’s yours?” “It’s very nice to meet you brave Dinky,” replied Noah, “And my name is No…” His voice trailing off as he notices his hand he raised to shake Dinky’s hoof. Noah’s mouth opened and closed several times with no sound coming out. Raised in front of him was not his regular hand attached to his regular arm, but a hoof, covered in black chitin and perforated by numerous holes. “No, that’s an odd name, I know I already asked this but are you alright mister?” Dinky enquired once again. Noah’s mouth hung agape once more for a second, a deep breath in was heard, a most frantic scream building in his throat. Looking upwards from his newly discovered hoof he spies Dinky’s bottom lip start to quiver again in anticipation of another verbal assault. Realising his scream may set the skittish filly off again he quickly jammed the hoof in his mouth before his scream could be expelled. Focus on something else, he thought to himself, ask questions, indulge your inquisitive nature, and for god’s sake don’t focus on your sudden transformation. “What does the rest of me look like?” he asked, a hint of desperation leaking into his voice. Brilliant the one thing I told me not to focus on. “Welllll,” said Dinky, drawing out the L to give herself more time to think, “You look like a Bug,” she exclaimed happily, “But you also look like the princesses, are you a princess?” she asked, her voice tinged with confusion. “A bug,” Noah stated, “So six legs, triple segmented body, antennae, the whole lot?” “Well no, four legs, like us ponies, I don’t know what triple means but your body looks like a regular ponies, well except for no fur and a hard shell, like a bugs.” As if to emphasise her point she took a step towards Noah and rapped her hoof on his upper forearm, a solid knock was heard. “And how do I look like royalty?” “Well the princesses have a horn and wings because they are alo-ala-, no that’s not right, alicorns, yes they are alicorns, and you have a horn and wings, so therefore you must be a princess,” she beamed, oblivious to the gender assignment that comes with the term princess. “Pretty sure I’m not a chick, wouldn’t I look like a prince?” “What’s a prince?” “What’s a prince? Don’t you know what a prince is?” he repeated dumbfounded, “Umm, Oh, like a princess except male.” “Oh so like a stallion princess that make more sense,” she exclaimed happily, eagerly grasping the new concept. “Okay, well semantics aside are you able to help me to the nearest hospital?” Noah asked in the most innocent manner possible. “Um alright, but why?” “Well you see I believe I am having hallucinations and may require the use of a padded white room and the strongest antipsychotic drugs available.” “What’s a hall-hallac-, what’s a hallucinana?” asked Dinky as innocently as possible, her limited vocabulary proving a mental block for the more difficult word. “A hallucination,” began Noah, “Is when you are seeing things that aren’t really there.” “Oh, like my imaginary friends,” she innocently stated, “and what about the other word, the anti-something’s?” “Antipsychotic drugs, those should, normalise my brain chemistry and make me stop seeing things.” Dinky looks at him with a confused frown upon her face. “It should make me see things better,” He said. “Ah, okay, well come on, get up and I’ll show you to the hospital.” Noah tucked his forelegs underneath his chest and slowly pushing up on them to raise his front half off the ground. Carefully he brought one of his outstretched hind legs forward and then the other till he stood upright. “Okay step one, stand up, check, step two, walk.” He took a moment before lifting his foreleg off the ground… and promptly fell flat on his face. Dinky jumped backwards to avoid being flattened. She opened her mouth to speak but was cut off. “Yes,” Noah groaned, “Before you ask, yes I’m all right. Casting her gaze downwards, Dinky began scuffing a hoof against the ground in front of her. “I wasn’t going to say anything” she muttered under her breath. “Right take two,” exclaimed Noah, he pulled his foreleg in again, pushing against the ground until he stood upright again. Wary of his new centre of balance he carefully lifted his left foreleg off the ground again, placing it back on the ground a few hoof spaces in front. Unused to his new stance he then repeated the step with his right foreleg. Feeling himself stretching like a plank he quickly brought his left and right back legs forward in quick succession. Watching from in front, Dinky tilted her head to the side, trying to figure out what he was doing. “Don’t you know how to walk?” she asked. “I know how to walk,” he replied curtly, a hint of shame creeping into his voice, “But I’m used to walking on two legs while this body walks on four. How the heck do you even walk like this?” “Well when I was really little and learning to walk, my mommy taught me a little trick. Start with a front leg, follow with the other back leg, swap and repeat,” she said proudly. Mother, Noah thought, I’ll ask about that later. “Alright so front left, rear right, front right, rear left, I can do that.” Carefully lifting his front leg he placed it forwards of his position, repeating the steps in his head he slowly walked forward a couple of metres. Turning his head to the side slightly he altered his path and began to walk in a circle, completing his loop to stand back in front of a happily smiling Dinky. “I think I’ve got this” exclaimed Noah happily, “Thanks Dinky.” “Not a problem, mommy says I should always try and help those in need, come on I’ll show you to the hospital.” Dinky turned around and started walking down the road at a snail’s pace so that Noah could keep up. “You mentioned her before, your mother,” said Noah, trying to pass the time with idle conversation, “Where is she, shouldn’t she be taking care of you?” “I think she’s working her job right now, she works as a mailmare, and she needs that job to provide for us.” “Oh, well what about your dad, what does he do?” “Um my dad,” she mumbled softly, moisture could be seen collecting in the corner of her eyes, “We don’t really know where he is, or who he is, or…” She trails off. “Oh geez, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories,” said Noah, his mind reeling from his lack of judgement, “Hey want to hear a joke,” he asked, his voice as upbeat as possible. “Um, okay,” Dinky replied, still feeling quite down. “Okay, what do you call a deer with no eyes?” Noah asked with a cheery voice. “Um, I’m not sure,” said Dinky, a hint of anticipation creeping into her voice. “No Idea, get it, No Eye Deer,” said Noah, now cracking a wide grin at his own bad joke. “I don…” Dinky started, her mind taking time to mull over his words, “Oh No Idea, hehe ahaa, oh that’s really bad.” “Hey don’t knock the bad jokes they made you smile didn’t they,” He said, her response, a small tongue poking out at him in a silly manner. Noah’s smile grew a bit larger, he thought for a second before asking his companion, “So where is everyone? I can’t imagine you and your mother living in a deserted town.” “Well they’re probably all hiding,” she replied, “The same thing happened when Zecora came to town. She was a zebra and everyone was scared of her, they still are a little.” “So you’re saying that of an entire town a small filly is the only… pony? Are you ponies or horses?” He asked, a little confused about the population. “We’re ponies.” “Alright out of an entire town of ponies a small filly is the only one brave enough so say hello,” His voice growing in volume towards the end to project it out into the empty street. In the windows of the distant houses curtains could be seen parted slightly in the middle, inquisitive eyes peering out from the darkness. “Well mommy said bravery is doing something even when you’re scared, I just wanted to be brave.” “You certainly are little one, the bravest I’ve yet seen.” The walk Dinky had taken Noah on led them straight to the double doors of the local hospital. “Um thanks,” Dinky said, pawing at the ground with her hoof, a little embarrassed at the level of praise received, “We’re here, the hospital just like you asked.” “Thank you, this shouldn’t take longer than a moment,” he said, nudging open the large doors, making a beeline for the front reception, the filly hot on his heels. As he reached the desk an alabaster white pony with a neat pink mane noticed his hoofsteps and spoke out, not even looking up from her work. “I’m Nurse Redheart, how can I direct you today?” “Ah thank you,” replied Noah, “I believe I’m suffering hallucinations and may require a psychiatrist and some antipsychotic medication, also a white padded room may be in order.” “Alright I’ll need your name to begin with,” the nurse started. Glancing up from her work, she placed a sign-in clipboard with a pen on the desk in front of Noah, her mouth slowly dropping closer to the floor as she looked him over. “Well my name is No-,” “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH,” came a screaming reply, overpowering all other sounds and filling the room with a terrible din.