//------------------------------// // 2. Welcome to Ponyville! // Story: The Life and Times of Jaded Dawn // by DawningJade //------------------------------// There was one thought going through Jaded Dawn's mind. 'Where am I?' “Oh! You're finally awake!” came a voice from beside him. Looking at the source of the voice, he saw that same yellow pegasus he met the day before. 'What's her name? Fluttershy?' Jaded was so busy trying to remember what had happened, he didn't even notice his surroundings, or the yellow pegasus who was still talking to him. “... So then we brought you here, and you woke up,” She said. Jaded was pretty sure he knew what had happened, so he didn't bother asking her to repeat herself. Looking around, he saw he was on a couch in the library, with a bag of ice on his muzzle. It was rather cold in the library already, and the ice made it almost unbearably so. Taking the bag of ice off of his muzzle, he asked Fluttershy if she knew where he could dispose of it. “There's a trash bin in the corner for the bag, and a sink in the kitchen for the ice.” ”Thanks, Fluttershy. Say, have you seen Twilight? I'd really like to talk to her.” “She's probably in the main room. If she isn't there, she is probably upstairs studying or something.” “Thank you.” Going into the main room, Jaded didn't see anypony. He did see Spike, but he wasn't scared. He had talked to Twilight, and she had told him about Spike beforehand. “Hey. You're Spike, right?” “No. Spike's the other dragon in Ponyville.” “Oh, A touch sarcastic, are we? Be prepared, young drake.” Jaded rubbed the tips of his wings together menacingly. “You're kinda worrying me here.” “Yeah, I have that effect on people. Anyways, it's nice to meet you. My name's Jaded Dawn, and I'm going to be helping you as Twilight's assistant.” “Oh, I remember Twilight telling me about you. She was really excited to have a stallion like you helping.” After hearing that. Jaded was blushing to the point that his face was as red as Spike's would be if Rarity ever learned about his crush. “Whoa. No need to be so embarrassed. I was messing with you.” “Well then. I have one thing to say to you, Spike. My vengeance is coming.” Jaded tried to keep a serious face, but in the end, he failed. Miserably. He laughed until his lungs started to burn. Then, after catching his breath, he laughed some more. “This has been fun and all, but I gotta go talk to Twilight. I'll talk to you in a few minutes.” Walking upstairs, he saw three doors. Knocking on the first one, he got no answer. 'Meh. I guess that door is something else.' Knocking on the second door, he heard something hit the floor, and a mare's voice telling him to come in. Upon entering, Jaded noticed three things. Firstly, there was a lavender unicorn under a pile of books. Secondly, this was a bedroom. Lastly, there was a small bed near the end of a larger one. It looked like something a pet might sleep in. Had Jaded missed a pet scampering around somewhere in the library? “Are you Twilight Sparkle?” asked Jaded. “Yes. Yes I am.” “Do you need help? You appear to be stuck.” “No, thank you.” Levitating the books back to their rightful places on the bookshelf near her bed, Twilight spoke to the stallion. “You must be Jaded Dawn. Please, come sit down.” One interview later “You're hired!” stated Twilight enthusiastically. “Thank you. I just realized something. I am staying here in the library, right?” “Yes.” “Where will I be sleeping?” “Do you have any problems with sleeping on the couch?” “No, but thanks for checking. I have one more question.” “Shoot.” “When will I be starting?” “Your first day starts tomorrow. I need you to get up pretty early tomorrow, because I need to run some errands, so it will be just you and Spike.” With that decided, Jaded was going to celebrate his new job. Walking outside he spread his blue wings and looked up. “I'm going to do it. I am finally going to try to do a flip.” Flying up as fast as he could, he started leaning backwards once he got higher. “I'm doing it! I'm really do-” “...” “...” “Ow.” Taking his muzzle out of the hole his “landing” had created, he made his way back inside. It was getting late, so Jaded volunteered to make dinner. “Be careful not to burn the house down!” shouted Spike. “No promises.” “What?!” “I was just joking with Spike. Sorry, Twilight.” Jaded knew exactly what he was going to make for dinner, and so he started getting all the ingredients ready. Thirty minutes later, there were three bowls of salad ready on the table, along with potato soup. “Dinner's ready, everypony!” After eating, Twilight went back to studying, and Spike started reading a comic book in the front room of the library. After Jaded cleaned the dishes, the sun was still up, so he decided to go out into the town. Soon after walking out, he was in the middle of town. A few ponies waved, and some even introduced themselves. After meeting all of those ponies, he walked closer to his destination: Sugarcube Corner. Right before he got near the door, it opened and a pink blur came bowling straight into him. “Hi! My name's Pinkie Pie! You must be new in town! I could tell because I don't know you, but I know everypony in town!” She proceeded to let out a gasp that should not have been possible, before racing back into Sugarcube Corner, and placing a closed sign on the door. “Well, then. This has been a huge waste of time. At least I met some new ponies.” Jaded muttered as he began his trip back to the library. There were still a lot of ponies in the town square, even though it was going to be dark soon. When he got back to the library, he checked through the window, and was relieved to see that there was nopony or dragon near the door. Opening the door, he saw Twilight talking to a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane. “Hey, Twilight? Am I interrupting something?” “No, it's fine. I was just talking to Rainbow Dash. She's a good friend of mine, and head of the Ponyville weather team.” “Silly Twilight. He already knows who I am.” “How would he know who you are, Rainbow?” “I'm myself. Duh. I'm a future Wonderbolt, and I am twenty percent cooler than the average pony.” “What kind of math did you use to figure that out?” asked Jaded. She blew a raspberry and said, “Math? Who needs math?” “I can't begin to count the number of things wrong with that.” “Just ignore her sometimes, Jaded. It will save you a lot of headaches.” “That's ri- HEY!” “I was just wondering if you needed any help.” “No, thanks. Hey, I have an idea. Why don't we all go to Sugarcube Corner?” “It's closed,” stated Jaded.” “Just come on.” “Okay, fine.” As they were walking through town, Jaded noticed that even though the streets had just been full, there was almost nopony else in them now. After a quiet walk to the bakery, Jaded saw the open sign on the door again. Jaded opened the door, but the lights were off. As soon as he stepped in, the lights flicked on. “SURPRISE!” His wings popped open, and he jumped up in surprise, knocking his head on the frame of the door. “Ever since coming to this town, my head keeps getting hurt.” Pinkie Pie raced up to Jaded at what must have been at least Mach 4, but he didn't hear her. He was too busy rubbing his head. After saying hi to everypony there, which was the majority of the town, he walked up to Twilight. “Hey, Twilight? I just remembered a question I had earlier. I saw you had a telescope back at the library, and I was wondering if you would let me use it.” “I didn't know you liked stargazing.” “I do. It is actually one of my favorite hobbies. I used to make maps of the stars, but I got rid of them. In fact, making those maps is what gave me my cutie mark. He turned to the side, showing her his cutie mark, which she had somehow failed to notice. “Is that the Big Dipper?” Twilight asked. “It sure is. It was the first constellation I was ever able to find.”