Chapter 1: Welcome to Ponyville + Prolouge
PROLOGUE
The city of Rubic was an advanced civilization that existed many years before Celestia ruled all of Equestria, and its main population was unicorns. It existed in the clouds, but had large platforms held up by magic so that they would not fall. The scientists had discovered the many colored stones, called maru, that had the capacity to store and output large, near infinite amounts of magic - much more than the average unicorn - to power their city. They also had large engines in the command center for moving the city if need be.
There were many inventions concerning maru after the city had risen. To name just a few, Red Maru power grid, Diamond Maru core, and Blue Maru speakers. The red maru conducted magic very well, along with being soft and malleable. Maru Gemstones produced large amounts of magic, and Blue maru vibrated when given a current, nicknamed Singing Stone. Shortly after these inventions, a maru trading shop opened in West Mall. Many unicorns came to buy, sell, and trade maru stones. The blue ones became very popular because of their brilliant color.
They were a peaceful race, with normal lives, without the threat of war. They had only been attacked once, but their repulsion shields held them at bay. They were not affected by Discord's rule, nor the chaos he created. The city was far from those lands, sometimes over the ocean. During the Great War between Discord and Celestia, they became secluded, avoiding all contact with the outside world. The people lived on, oblivious to what was happening outside their little bubble. They all thought they were safe.
But one day, there was an attack. There had been small attacks before, but nothing like this. Many large airships filled with cannons, explosives, and all sorts of other weapons came slowly to attack Rubic. Nobody knew why they wanted to attack the peaceful society. At first, the city's shields held them off, but they couldn't be up forever. Eventually, they started to falter and a single shot got through.
That first shot was the beginning of the end for the fated city of Rubic. After that first shot, more cannonballs got through, until the shields were fully down. It was chaos on the streets. Families were taking cover in their homes, but they were never prepared for an attack like this. Most of them were confused, but a few remembered this thing called war. What a horrible thing, war.
During the attack, a dark gray stallion galloped through the falling and cracking platforms, as the magic holding them up failed. Explosions shattered the air around him, though his mind was elsewhere. He had gotten a message to report to the throne room as fast as possible when the attack started. He wondered why he was summoned. The colt tripped over a piece of shrapnel and was jarred back to the harsh reality. The platform under him cracked. I am going to die. he thought. At the last moment he jumped onto the final platform. He was at the palace, and he stopped to get his breath. It had been a rough day for him.
He was now in the palace. He galloped as fast as he could through the maze of corridors leading to the throne room. The walls soon began to crack and bend. A section of roof crumbled and crashed down and almost hit him. He jumped to the side on instinct, but he kept going. He finally arrived in the throne room. When he got there, there was a special chamber that the guards made him enter, and they closed the doors.
Once he was in the chamber, one of the guards pulled a lever. Instantly the stallion's mind went blank, only the most basic functions still intact. The king walked up to the glass pane that was the front of the chamber.
“The fate of Rubic is in your hooves. Good luck, Nathaniel Bolt.”
The king pressed a button, and as lightning engulfed the colt, everything faded to black.
Rainbow Dash shot across the sky along with the other Pegasi, trying in vain to clear the dark storm clouds. “It's useless!” she exclaimed, as she could not clear the storm clouds. This is unlike the pegasi, thought Twilight, as she watched the storm from her library, taking notes on this strange storm. At that moment, an enormous bolt of lightning erupted from the storm cloud. The thunderous roar that it emitted was heard all the way in Canterlot. As the pegasi finally managed to clear the clouds,
Rainbow Dash was flying toward the lightning strike spot. There was a large area of scorched ground, and lying in the middle, unconscious, was a seemingly unharmed dark gray stallion.
Rainbow managed to pick up the stallion and haul it into a nearby clearing that just so happened
to have Fluttershy in it. Rainbow asked:
“What should we do with him?”
“Oh... I-I think we should take him to Twilight's house. Maybe she will know what to do with him.”
The next morning, Twilight opened her eyes, yawned, stretched, and sat up to see...
A dark gray stallion, lying unconscious on a cot near her bed. There was a note beside him that said:
This colt was found inside the lighting strike last night. We thought you would know what to do with him.
-Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy
Twilight stared at the stallion. Who was he? And where was he from?
End of Prologue
Chapter 1: Welcome to Ponyville
I woke up to the sound of hoofsteps and one word echoing through my head: “Bolt.” I opened my eyes to see a lavender mare standing over me. She gasped and jumped away.
“What's wrong?” I asked.
“Oh, nothing,” she said, “I didn't expect you to wake up so soon.”
“Where am I? Who are you?”
“Oh, um, you're in Ponyville, and I'm Twilight Sparkle.”
“Well hello Twilight, I think my name is Bolt, but I have no memory. Care to show me around Ponyville?”
We exited the library, and within moments a pink blur appeared in front of me. She talked so fast I could barely understand her, something about a party for me? Twilight said, “Sorry Pinkie, maybe later OK? Bolt, this is Pinkie Pie.”
“Oh, uh hello, Pinkie Pie,” I said.
“Hi Bolt!” Pinkie grinned from ear to ear. “We'll be best friends!!”
“Uh OK...”
“We better go now, bye Pinkie!” said Twilight urgently.
“OK, bye.”
Carefully stepping around Pinkie Pie, we continued on to meet more of the ponies. After a bit of walking, we arrived at the Carousel Boutique. Using my weak horn magic, I managed to open the door for Twilight and we stepped in. Hmm, maybe this gentlecolt-ly side came from a past life. “Wow!”
I looked around in amazement at the outfits lining the room. There were dresses, tuxedos, gowns, and all sorts of other clothes. I turned my head and noticed a dazzling white unicorn with a curly purple mane, sitting at a table, sewing. She was wearing orange glassed lined with gems. Without glancing up from her work she said, “Oh hello, Twilight darling, who's your colt-friend?”
Twilight's cheeks reddened, and she said sternly, “He is not my colt-friend. We just met today.”
“Yeah, I'm not her colt-friend,” I added. Although I supported Twilight with my words, I felt just the smallest bit disappointed at how forcefully she insisted that we were not colt- and mare-friend.
“Oh of course you are, Twilight Sparkle. You two are just so cute together!” said Rarity. She walked over to Twilight and added, “I can see it in the way he looks at you. Twilight, he LOVES you!” Twilight's and my cheeks turned bright red and we slowly backed out of there.
When we were out Twilight was all business again. “Let's find Applejack.” she said. We walked along in silence. On the way to the apple farm, we ran into Applejack.
“Oh howdy there Twilight. Ah was just goin' to Pinkie's party. Wouldn't y'all know it, there's a new pony in town. Oh, lookie there Twilight, there he is right now!”
“Yeah, I noticed.” Twilight rolled her eyes. “Anyway, let's go to the party, Bolt.”
“What kind of a name is Bolt?” questioned Applejack.
“It's MY name.” I said. “Now let's get going.” We turned around and headed for Sugarcube Corner. As we walked along, Applejack told me a bit about her life on the Apple family farm. I was enjoying the walk when a rainbow sped past us. It stopped and turned around and I saw that it was a pegasus pony. She had a blue coat and a rainbow mane and tail.
“Hi, I'm Rainbow Dash! I haven't seen you around before. What's your name?”
“I'm Bolt. Nice to meet you, Rainbow Dash.”
“We were all going to Pinkie Pie's party.” said Twilight.
“Cool, so was I.” said Rainbow Dash. “I heard it was for you.”
"So how did you get to Ponyville?" asked Applejack.
"Well," I said, "I'm not sure exactly how, but Twilight here said that I was sent through lightning!" As I said that word, I remembered something. My name was Nathaniel Bolt. "Hey guys, I think I remember my full name."
"Wow, really?" asked Twilight.
"What is it?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"I think its Nathaniel Bolt, not just Bolt."
"Yeah, being in lightning will do that to you, you know." said Twilight Sparkle.
"Do what?”
"Make you lose your memory."
"Oh" I said. "Oh look were at the Sugarcube place" We walked into Pinkie Pie's house and it was very dark.
"Oh no." said Twilight. suddenly the lights turned on and the party person and all the residents of Ponyville jumped out and yelled, “Surprise!!!” Whoa! I jumped back but then realized it was just a surprise party. And man what a party.
Pinkie Pie had set up everything, even a dance floor and disco light. everyone in Ponyville was there, drinking punch, dancing, or just hanging out with friends. I tried to levitate a cup of punch with my magic but it was very weak and I almost spilled it. Suddenly Twilight was at my side and got it before it could fall.
"Thanks." I said. I asked her if she would like to dance. She accepted as Vinyl Scratch ran another round of music. After the song then Twilight had to go home, but I could stay. I wondered why she had to go but she was out the door before I could ask her. How strange.
I partied for a while longer and then decided to go back to the library. I got lost a few times but managed to find the big tree that was the library. The inside was a mess of books and in the middle of it, sleeping, was Twilight. I looked around and saw that she was reading 'How to Flirt; A Beginner's Guide. Another book was simply titled 'Romance'. I smirked, and then I went upstairs and found a book on basic levitation spells and laid down. I learned many useful things from that book, but eventually I went to sleep.
The next morning I woke up and saw a small baby purple dragon staring at me. What is that? I thought as I jumped back, wide awake. “Who are you?” asked the dragon.
“AAAH! IT TALKS! A TALKING baby purple dragon?” I jumped back and pushed
myself into the corner.
“Spike! Are you scaring Nathaniel?” shouted Twilight from downstairs.
“Yes, Twilight.” said Spike. Twilight came upstairs after a moment and introduced me to
Spike.
“Oh, it's your assistant. Well I have never seen a dragon before. And you can call me Nate if you wish.” I said to Spike.
“Oh, well that's cool. Where are you from?” asked Spike.
“Nobody knows for sure,” Twilight said. “He appeared in that lightning storm the other night.”
“Awesome!” said Spike. “Do you have lightning powers or something?
“Where did you get that idea?” I said, slightly intrigued.
“Oh, Spike. Have you been reading those superhero comics again?” asked Twilight.
“Yes, Twilight.” Spike said guiltily. “But his Cutie Mark IS a lightning bolt...”
I turned to see that there was, in fact, a lightning bolt Cutie Mark on my side.
“Well, I guess that does mean something. I hope that I do have lightning powers.”
As Spike and I became immersed in a conversation about super powers, neither of us noticed Twilight slipping away. “Hey, where's Twilight?” asked Spike. “Oh, wait, mail's-” BURP! “here...” a scroll bound by a red band and golden horseshoe seal laid next to Spike. “Uh, that's for Twilight.”
I picked up the scroll with my horn magic and brought it into the main room. On the way, I crashed into Twilight. “Ouch!” We both toppled over and I dropped the scroll. Twilight was up in an instant as I slowly stood up. Twilight opened the letter. “It's from Princess Luna! She wants us to meet her in her chambers immediately.”
* * *
When we got to Canterlot Castle, Luna was waiting for us in her chambers just as she said. “I have called you here because this stallion is a legendary hero.”
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.
"It means that you, Nathaniel, must travel the 5 regions of the world to reach your destiny."
"But what am I a hero of? Who am I supposed to save?"
"We don't know yet, but you can stay in the library and I will set you up with books on the 5 regions. You will face many dangers even on your way through Equestria, including dragons, manticores, and other things. I will also give you a book on combat spells and that sort of thing, you will need to train as well. There were not any dangers within a day's walk of Ponyville, so you may be able practice then."
Shortly after the meeting with Princess Luna, we left the castle loaded with books on the 5 regions and everything about them. It's amazing how much information they have about the other regions. Once we got to the library then we set down the books. "My back hurts." I complained.
"So does mine. Carrying so many books will really take the toll on your back. What region do you want to study first?"
"Hmm, the Rayne forest looks interesting." We opened the book on Rayne and settled onto a plushy cushion. I levitated the book, my magic stronger now, and opened to the first page. Twilight started reading. "The Rayne forest is a forest region south of Equestria..."
* * *
"All that reading has made me exhausted. I think it's time that we slept.” I said. Indeed, it was getting dark outside. That book was very large, and we had read it all. “I think I know enough about Rayne to last a lifetime.” We both went upstairs where Spike was snoring like, well, like a dragon. I got into my bed, which was actually Twilight's extra bed for sleepovers.
The next morning then Twilight wasn't there and neither was Spike. I knew they were in the main room so I went in there.
“Want some breakfast?” asked Twilight. She was eating very nice looking pancakes that I guessed were from Sugarcube Corner.
“Sure, they look great.”
“Two more pancakes, coming up.” said Spike, walking out of the kitchen holding a plate with two hot steamy pancakes topped with syrup. I grabbed it with my magic and accidentally Spike with it. “Hey, put me down!”
“Uh oops, I still don't have full control of my magic yet.” I tried to lower him to the ground but he wouldn't come off of the plate. “Twilight a little help?” She giggled and pulled Spike off of the plate and set him down. I still had the pancakes though, and took a seat next to Twilight. I took a bite of the best pancakes that I have ever tasted to this day.
“Aren't they great?” asked Twilight.
“Uh yeah.” I said with a mouthful of food. She giggled as I continued to eat the delectable pancake. After we were done eating the pancakes then we went over to the books that Luna gave us.
“What should we study next?”
“Hmm, the Quillan tundra looks good.”
We sat on the plush cushion that we sat on the night before and I read this time. “The Quillan Tundra is a region that is south of the Rayne forest. It is a large barren ice plain that has various 'hot spots' that can sustain life...”
* * *
After we finished the Quillan book it was almost time for lunch.
"When we go to Quillan, I sure will know how to survive." said Twilight.
"Yeah, me too. Do you think we should eat lunch now?"
"Yes, all that reading has made me hungry. Spike, what's for lunch?"
"Tulip sandwiches with apple fritters fresh from the Apple farm." responded Spike.
"Great." I told Spike. "When will it be ready?"
"In just a minute, I have to do one last thing..." Spike came out of the room and gave us our lunch. "Hey, doesn't Nate have to meet Fluttershy?"
"Who is Fluttershy?" I asked.
"I'll take that as a yes." said Spike.
"I was planning on taking him to her house today." said Twilight.
"Sounds good to me."
After we finished our lunch then we went to Fluttershy's house. Twilight knocked on her door, and she responded with a tentative 'come in.'
Twilight opened the door. “Hello Fluttershy.” she said.
“Why hello Twilight. Who's that big, scary looking- eep!” Fluttershy hid behind her chair. Twilight sighed and she dragged Fluttershy out from behind the chair.
“Fluttershy, this is Nathaniel. Nathaniel, this is Fluttershy.”
“Hey, you're not so scary looking after all.”
“Nice to meet you, Fluttershy.” I extended my hoof and we shook.
“Would you like some tea?” asked Fluttershy, and I could smell it from the kitchen.
We entered the kitchen and all of Fluttershy's animal friends scattered.
“Oh, it's OK, animal friends.” said Fluttershy, and then most of the animals came out.
“I can communicate with animals.”
“Wow, so, you can like talk to them?” I asked.
“Well, yes, that's what communication is.” Twilight cut in.
“Oh look, the tea's ready.” said Fluttershy. We sat down at her little table that she had and Twilight, Fluttershy, and I both lifted up our cups and sipped them. “So Nathaniel, how did you come into Ponyville?”
Twilight explained, once again, how I was sent through lightning. She also told Fluttershy that Luna said I would be a great hero. After that we had to go but Fluttershy said that she hoped she would see me again soon. It was mid-afternoon when we got back to the library. When we got inside, and Twilight suggested we train.
"Ok, we really should learn how to fight." I said. Twilight then called Applejack and asked her to bring over a bunch of straw dummies. Moments later, she knocked at the door with a cart full of them.
"Thanks Applejack, we'll return them soon!"
"No problem Twilight." she responded. She left and we set up the dummies in the back yard.
"Ok, let's see what this book says about combat. 'To summon swords, one must first gather ones thoughts. Concentrate on the image of a sword in your head. Will it to become ral, and that will be the sword you always summon.' Well, should we try it?"
"I will." I voulenteer. I focus all of my thoughts on a beautiful sword with a gold hilt and a slim blade. I concentrate at making it become real. I feel a burst of magic, and open my eyes. There. right in front of me, was the exact sword I had imagined.
"Woah!" shouted Twilight. I moved the sword in the air, feeling it cut through the air. It was well balanced, and also light. I suddenly lashed out at one of the dummies, cutting it clean through. The air crackes with electricity, then stops. Twilight applauds my performance.
"It's your turn." I say, making my sword disappear
"I'm not sure..." she says uncertianly. She steps into the center and closes her eyes. Her horn glows with a feirce light, and the air shimmers with magic. There is a bright flash, and a beautiful purple blade cuts through the air.
"Nice sword!" I compliment. She stabs a few dummies and makes it disappear.
"I think we'll get the hang of it." she says. "Now, we should read another book."
“I think we should read about Ibara island, it's a pretty thin book.” I said.
“That sounds great.” said Twilight, and we sat down and opened the book.
“Not much is known about Ibara, other than that it is a small, remote region in the middle of the Great Ocean...”
* * *
“Well that wasn't very informative.” remarked Twilight, after I finished the small book, as it didn't have much information. It mostly had legends and old mare's tales in it and very few real facts. The one useful thing it did have, though, was a world map.
Spike walked into the room. “Dinner's ready, lovebirds.” he said. Our cheeks reddened and he said, “Oh I'm just kidding. Come and get your dinner.” We walked into the dining room and Spike had our dinner ready. It was pizza, which they don't have very often here in Ponyville.
“Ooh, pizza! Thank you, Spike!” Twilight hugged him. “Where did you get it?”
“Oh, they had it at the bakery. It was the last one, you know how fast pizza goes here.”
“I'm willing to try it,” I say. “Make sure it's not poisoned.”
“Hey!” Twilight says as I grab a slice. I take a bite and say, “Nope, it's not poisoned.”
We each grab a slice and put it onto our plates. I take another bite of the slice I have and sit down. “Pizza's not something we'll have on our journey.”
“That's still something we have to tell the other 4 ponies.” Twilight said.
“We still have time to do that today.” I added.
We set off and gathered Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity. We told them all about the event at Canterlot, the regions, and me. Rainbow was the first to accept the adventure.
“I'm always up for an adventure!” she said. Eventually, the rest of the ponies agreed to come too.
“ It's settled then. We leave at noon tomorrow.”