//------------------------------//
// Day 1 
// Story: Ponyville: Day 1 
// by SteelChords 
//------------------------------//

	It wasn't even 2 hours ago that the sky was clear and I was taking in the scenery. I had just landed in Ponyville. Everything looked just like I'd heard about. Everypony walked around with big smiles on their faces, and seemed happy just to be alive. Nopony seemed to be stressed about work or school or anything related to that. All the buildings were lively and colorful. There was one building in particular that caught my eye. It looked like somepony made Equestria's largest gingerbread house and added a gigantic birthday cake on the rooftop. The sign in front read "Sugarcube Corner". I made a mental note that I would go there if I ever ran out of food.

Ponyville was already beginning to grow on me. It was completely different from my old home in Cloudsdale. Cloudsdale... my home... where I'd lived for my entire life... all my friends... all that I'd ever known... "Snap out of it!" I thought to myself. "You're not here to start getting homesick already! You came to Ponyville for a reason, remember! Now buck up and stay strong!" It was easy to tell myself that, but I had no idea how I was going to get anywhere with the few things I'd packed in my saddlebags and the 2 bits that were scavenged from my old house. Granted, 2 bits was still something, but I wasn't going to be able to buy a roof to sleep under with 2 bits. I needed to either find an old abandoned building before sundown or pray to see a familiar face.

I kept walking along. I would turn my head from left to right looking for somewhere to crash, but also to see if anypony looked familiar. So far, I was out of luck in both departments. Like I said, all the buildings were lively and colorful. And as far as familiar faces, I saw plenty of faces... all of them looking at me, probably thinking, "Who's the new pony?". I couldn't blame them. I saw plenty of other pegasi like me, but they all seemed to be flying around overhead, so I couldn't get a good look at any of them. I just saw flashes of colors, so I just kept walking along.

I honestly didn't want to talk to anypony I didn't know. I really wanted to find somepony that I could trust. Somepony that I used to know in Cloudsdale. Plenty of my friends from Cloudsdale had said that they were moving down here after they graduated High School, but I'd still yet to see any of them. Maybe if I kept walking down the road, I'd see somepony familiar eventually.

Then it suddenly hit me... I hadn't seen anypony in the last few minutes. Where'd they all go? I heard a door slam shut behind me and I looked down, noticing that there was a shadow forming around my shadow. Then everything started getting darker... was I just losing it again? Then I felt something fall on my hat... nothing too heavy, but something that I hadn't predicted. When I looked up, I was hit in the eye with a drop of water, and my other eye beheld the sight of dark clouds. Why hadn't I considered the possibility of a rainstorm happening today?

I frantically looked for the nearest awning so I could take shelter, but I couldn't find one, so I just started running. Then I spotted it. A gigantic tree, with the most leaves I'd ever seen. "Perfect!", I thought. I made a dash for it. I was underneath it's protection within a matter of seconds. I sat down to catch my breath. I was no athlete, no matter what I wanted other ponies to believe. I hated running. I checked my saddlebags to make sure they didn't get too wet. The outer fabric seemed pretty dry. I took that as a sign that everything inside was dry as well. Of course my slightly relaxed state was short lived.

CRAAAAAAAAAAACK!!

"What the hay...?!" I shouted in surprise. I looked up to see the leaves of the tree on fire.

"What? No no no no No NO!!" I dashed out from under the tree before I could get engulfed. I heard it again.

CRAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!

"Really?! Not only is it a rainstorm, but they had to enhance the experience with lightning?!" I thought sarcastically. I had to get somewhere dry, and fast, but there was nowhere nearby.

My hat started sinking closer to my head. The heavy rain must've been weighing it down. I could only imagine what that was doing to my saddlebags, not to mention what I had inside them. If nothing else, I had to find somewhere to keep my saddlebags dry. Everything I now owned was in them, and I couldn't let any of that get ruined.

CRAAAAAAAAAAACK!! "Celestia! That was a big one!"

Then I spotted it: an alleyway. There were two houses that were built fairly close together and their roofs overlapped making a covered alleyway. There was a ton of trash and condemned leftover food littering the alleyway, but it was my best bet at a dry night's sleep. I had no choice. I sprinted for the alleyway. It only took about 20 seconds to reach it, but with the rain coming down like a torrential downpour, the wind blowing me in every direction, and the sudden cracks of lightning every few seconds, it felt like it took hours to reach. When I finally made it to the alleyway, I flopped down on the ground and tried desperately to catch my breath... again.

I took my hat off and shook until my mane and tail were dry, then I wrung out my hat until it was dry. When I put my hat back on, i noticed something about the alleyway. It was really long. I saw shadows leading down further until it ended at a high, chained fence, topped with barbed wire.

"Well, at least I won't have to worry about anypony attacking me from behind tonight." I said audibly. I jerked my head to my right. Something moved... I heard something move. I waited for a couple of seconds. Silence.

"Probably just a mouse... ha ha..." I chuckled to myself, a little bit scared. I jerked my head to the left. There it was again.

"Ha ha... ok, funny joke guys... pick on the new pony in town... real funny... you can cut it out now... you got me..." I said to the alleyway. Silence. Ok, I was getting pretty scared now. There was something out there, but I couldn't see it. It was hiding from me... It didn't want me to see it, clearly. I tried to remember what my mom said to me when I would get scared as a young colt:

"Whatever scares you is twice as scared of you as you are of it."

"Thanks, Mom." I thought hoping she heard me. I continued forward.

This time, I saw something. A flash of orange momentarily appeared infront of me as I was walking forward, and in the same direction I saw it go, a large cardboard box started rocking back and forth. Curiosity had me at this point, so I decided to slowly approach the box. It stopped moving, but I could hear small noises of what sounded like something smacking into the walls of the box trying to escape, or something of that nature. I crept slowly closer, trying not to make too much noise as I did. From what it seemed, the closer I got to the box, the louder the noises became. If it wasn't for the fact that I knew the condition of the world outside at the moment, I would've made a break for the open land that awaited me outside of the alleyway. But, I was stuck, so I had to face my fear, and I'd have to do it quick. Just as I got close enough to open the box, whatever was making the noises jumped out of the box and started swinging a rolled up newspaper at me.

"Get away! Get away! Get away!!! This is my alley! Get AWAY!!!"  I just fell backward on my back and started scooting backwards. I couldn't get a good look at what was coming at me, and it was obviously hostile. I eventually ran into a full bag of garbage. I was stuck, there was nowhere for me to go now. I looked up as the being with the rolled up newspaper stepped out of the shadows. I couldn't help but heave a great sigh of relief in my head. Standing before me was a small orange filly with a purple mane and tail, purple eyes that were wet with tears, of fear I guessed, and tiny wings. She was shivering almost uncontrollably as I picked myself up from the ground.

"Stay away from me!" she screamed as I got up. "I'm warning you, I'm vicious!" she continued.

"Relax kid. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just looking for somewhere dry to sleep for the night." I said, trying to sound soothing. It didn't work so well.

"Well, I'm sorry, but you're going to have to find somewhere else! This is MY alley! MINE!!!" she screamed again.

"Please let me stay here. I just moved out of my house in Cloudsdale, and I don't know anypony here. I'm just looking for somewhere that I can call home for the time being." 

At this, she seemed to calm down a bit. She stopped shivering as much, and she dropped the rolled up newspaper she was holding in her mouth. "Y-Y-You're sure you don't want to h-h-hurt me?" she asked, cautiously.

"Positive." I said with a reassuring smile. "Do you think I could share your box for the night?" I asked her. She turned around and walked back to the cardboard box, which was now on it's side, with the opened top facing me.

"Yeah, I guess so, but don't get any funny ideas. I've still got my eye on you." she warned me.

"Great" I thought. "My first day in Ponyville, and even a small filly won't trust me."

I started walking over to her box, when I realized my back felt lighter. I turned around to look. My saddlebags! Where were they?! I started panicking and frantically looking around the alley for them.

"Hey, are you looking for those?" the young filly called to me, pointing towards the opening of the alleyway. There were my saddlebags... sitting in a large PUDDLE!!! NOOOOOO!!! I made a beeline for the puddle, grabbed my saddlebags in my mouth and rushed back to the cardboard box, where it was dry.

"Please be in one piece. Please be in one piece. Please be in one piece." I said to myself. The young filly was looking at me rather confused now. "What could be so important about what was in my saddlebags?" she had to be thinking. I opened up the little flaps and dumped out the contents of my saddlebags on the ground. All I had was the small pouch for my 2 bits, original records for the first songs I ever wrote, and the photo album of full of pictures of my family, and my friends back in Cloudsdale, but it was all I had left. I didn't pay much attention to the pouch with my bits in it, and went to the records. They were all wet and cracked beyond repair. They nearly fell apart in my hooves they were so damaged.

"That's alright... maybe the album is still intact" I thought, going to the photo album. When I opened to the first page, my heart sank. As soon as I opened up the cover, every page in the album fell out on the floor sopping wet and ruined.

"No... No... no... no..." I kept repeating to myself trying to believe it wasn't true. It was all ruined. All I had to remember my old home... my old friends... my old life... my family... gone. I couldn't help it. I don't usually cry much, with the exception of when I lost my family, but right there, in front of that little filly, Luna and everypony, I broke down.

This definitely got the young filly's attention, as I felt a small hoof on my shoulder and heard a small voice saying, "It's ok. Don't cry, everything will be ok."

I couldn't help it. I'd had a horrible day, and I didn't know what to do now. "OK?! How can you say everything will be OK?!" I screamed at her. "All I have to my name is lying here in a broken and useless pile of nothing, and the only bits I have can't buy a bite to eat for a foal! I've never been in a worse situation in my life!"

Ok, that wasn't entirely true. I had been in worse situations when I was growing up, but that's a story for a different day.

Then the little filly said something that surprised me so much, that I immediately stopped crying. "Well, you've got me." Stunned, I turned around to look at her, and she gave me a hopeful smile. My heart melted. She was right, I wasn't completely alone. I had somepony with me, even if we were both cooped up in a dirty, depressing alleyway while the elements raged around us outside, we were cooped up together.

"Thanks kid. I'm sorry I yelled at you." I said with a smile as I wiped my eyes with my hoof.

"That's alright. Now let's get inside the box. It's not fun out here." she said frantically. She dashed inside the box, and curled up in the corner. After a couple of seconds she looked out at me as if to say, "You coming?". I picked up my empty saddlebags, and the pouch with my two bits, and walked over to the box with the small filly lying inside it. I set my saddlebags down next to her and curled up beside her in the box. She looked at me and yawned.

"My name's Scootaloo, by the way. What's your name?"

"My name is Steel Chords, but you can call me Steel if you like." I said.

"That's cool. It's nice to have someone to sleep next to for once, Steel. I'm glad you wandered in here tonight." she said closing her eyes. Wow, she was tugging at my heart strings. She was so cute the way she was just lying there about to fall asleep. I extended my wing and pulled her close to me.

"Me too, Scootaloo... Me too." And with that, I laid my head down and relaxed for the first time that day.

I wasn't in the best of conditions, but neither was she. Either way, we had each other, and I learned back in elementary school that problems are a lot easier to face when you're with somepony else. I let my thoughts wander as I drifted off to sleep. Maybe she had friends that could help me find a job, or someplace to stay. Maybe she could take me to her friends in the morning. Maybe... I felt her snuggle up next to me, pressing her face into my side. I opened my eyes to look down to her.

"I'll worry about that in the morning" I thought. "For now, I just want to relax and sleep."

I looked up at the stars for a moment, and saw a familiar face. She smiled down at me and winked. I couldn't help but smile. This is what they had meant after all. I laid my head back down and closed my eyes.

And so, in that cardboard box, at the back of that dark, depressing alleyway, at the end of my first day in Ponyville, I fell asleep, next to the only other pony that I knew I could count on, and I felt a slight glimmer of hope emerge in my heart as I drifted away into dreamland.