//------------------------------//
// Day 1 
// Story: My First Days in Ponyville 
// by OrangeRiff 
//------------------------------//

Day 1

My train was running a few minutes late, but there were no complaining ponies, as I was the only passenger, besides a quiet couple, who were coming from a farm along the tracks, so they can take the train from Ponyville to Canterlot.
At some point even I was considering taking that other train, as it was two days before the Summer Sun Celebrations, held in Canterlot, and this was the first year that 3 princesses, one coronated not so long ago, were going to attend. It sounded like a great party!
But I didn’t have to think for long, as my growling stomach remembered me, that I didn’t have the money for the ticket. So, even though I’ve never been to the city of the Princesses, this trip had to wait for some other time.
The train was running by some beautiful scenery: not so long ago we passed a huge cannon, with a small river running in the depths, now we were dashing forward next to a huge forest, called the Everfree Forest, which was rumored to be an interesting place.
It was said to be a self-sufficient art of nature, that had no need for anypony to maintain it. The plants were supposedly growing by themselves, and in the shadows and the bushes, mythical creatures waited for the unprepared bypassers. Sounds creepy, doesn’t it? A forest growing by itself? Yeah, right. As if that was possible.
From there, it didn’t take much time for the train to arrive to the Ponyville Train Station, which was a cute little cottage by the tracks. I almost missed getting off.
It was located on the brim of town with a two-storied house standing next to it, and a path leading to town that started between the two buildings. If I looked along the path I could tell, it would only take a few minutes to get into town.
I grabbed my stuff and started walking. It wasn’t heavy, as there weren’t much things in my luggage: I had my bass on my left side, and a small amount of food, a few bits and two scarfs I took from home, in a saddlebag on my right, to balance out the weight of my instrument of choice. At the time we left with the boys, it looked like a good idea to bring some warm clothes, but during my long trip, it turned out they were only here to remind me of Cloudsdale.
I never once thought about returning home. It would have been awkward to face my parents after I left without saying a word, but from time to time I sent a letter or two home, so they would know I’m fine. I never received a response, but it may be because I never stayed in one place for too long.
As I walked on the path, I passed by more and more houses, and eventually I arrived at a square, which was the center of town. There was a huge building in front of me, the Town Hall, some shops to the left, and a bunch of houses to the right.
First I went to see the shops, to find a job for the time I was planning to stay, as I had almost no money left in my bag. It turned out, none of them needed my assistance, so I moved on to look at some other places.
I walked around town for what it felt like hours, going from store to store, but after almost getting ran over by an orange furred filly on a roller-like thing, I finally found the place I was looking for.
It was a store by the name Quills and Sofas.
The owner was a stallion with light-brown fur, and darker brown mane, called Davenport, who offered a job to me. It wasn’t a hard or unusual one; I had to clean up the shop twice a day: once before opening it in the morning, and once after closing hour. Also, I was to help out the ponies at the moving company, when some big orders came in.
After we agreed on the details I once again found myself walking on the streets, but this time I was looking for a place to stay at.
I heard about a huge apple orchard on the outskirts of town, so I thought about asking the family there, if they had a room to spare, but first I wanted to know more about this place, so I went to find the library.
It didn’t take long to find the Golden Oak Library, as it was a huge and amazing building, built inside an oak tree. Sadly, I wasn’t able to go inside, as on the front door I found a notice about it being closed, due to the staff being out of town.
I sat down for a little, to rest for a few minutes, and eat the last nybbles of my food.
It was then, that a mint-green colored mare came up to me. Her name was Lyra Heartstrings, and turned out to be a fellow musician, a singer, to be exact.
„Hello there! My name is Lyra Heartstrings. Are you new to town?“
She looked very cute with her short cyan mane and bright sunglow eyes, so I kind of got lost in the moment while I stared at her.
„What now? Cat got your tongue?“ she asked jokingly.
I shook my head and introduced myself, as a traveling musician.
„Wow, that’s great! I’m also into music. What kind of bands do you listen to?“
We talked for a while about her and the town. She told me about the residents, like the new princess, Princess Twilight Sparkle, who was living in the library next to us. In exchange I told her about myself and my journey around the different lands of Equestria. While talking, we went for a walk, and she showed me the important places. I also asked her about where I could stay at, and she suggested I could go to her place, as she had a free room in the attic. I happily accepted her offer, and as the sun was starting to set, we decided to go straight there.
Once we arrived, she showed me to my room. It wasn’t anything big, or luxurious, but I wasn’t used to that either. It had a small window, that looked at the street. There was a bed, a table, and chest near the corner,with a standing mirror next to it. The walls weren’t painted, so I could see the raw wood the house was built of.
As I was tired from the long train trip, we decided to meet in the morning to talk about the details of me renting the room. She also mentioned, that there was another mare living with her, called Bon-Bon, but she wasn’t home at the moment, so most probably we will had to meet over breakfast. We said good night and I went straight to bed after setting my things down in the end of the bed.
At the time little did I know about the chaos that was waiting for us the next day.