Alex walked next to Vibrant Colors while she pulled the cart. Even though Vibrant didn’t paint anything last night, he still offered to pull the cart in the morning. They made good time down the mountain into the fields, as the roads they were now travelling on were maintained much better.
After a short snack at noon, they switched and moved on. As Alex watched the town in the distance come closer and closer, he got nervous. He was going to enter a real town for the first time since coming here. Even though Vibrant assured him that the locals would be friendly towards him, he still had his doubts.
They were now only about half an hour away from entering the town proper, and already they were passing a few farms along the way. Alex went over his mental checklist once again.
First he would need to visit the Sheriff of the town. There wasn’t really any point to it, it was more for appearances sake. He already knew how he got that far away from civilisation, and was sure nobody had reported him as missing. He just didn’t want Vibrant to worry. If nothing else, he could ask the Sheriff for information about the town.
Secondly, he would need to acquire a map. He had no idea where he was, or where he should go, so a map would help him out greatly.
Finally, he would need to find a mode of transport. Maybe he could join one of the trade caravans?
“So, how are we going to do this? Do you want to split up, or go together?”
Alex looked expectantly towards Vibrant. She looked up to check the position of the sun.
“If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to split up. We’re here earlier than I expected, so the marketplace should still be open. So I want to try and sell some of my paintings.” Vibrant looked over to him. “I’ll drop you off at the Sheriff’s office. It’s on the way.”
“Yeah that works for me. Should I come to the marketplace after I’m done?” Alex asked.
“Sure, after market hours we can go grab something to eat. How does a decent meal sound after three days of sandwiches and fruit?”
“That sounds fucking amazing. I could really go for a hot meal to be honest.”
Vibrant furrowed her brow a bit, a question on her tongue.
“You keep using that word. What does it mean? You’re the only pony I’ve ever met that used it.”
“What? Which word?” Alex adopted a confused look, trying to figure out just what she meant exactly.
“There are different variations… Fuck being the most prominent.”
Vibrant looked at him like she was genuinely curious. Meanwhile Alex was facepalming internally. Or rather, ‘facehoofing’, he thought to himself. Since coming here he didn’t really spend any time thinking about possible differences in their language.
Now that he thought about it, shouldn’t they be speaking ye olde english right now? Luna seemed to do it, and according to her it was all the rage before her banishment. Maybe it was just something the nobles did? Or maybe it was a fad that popped up, shortly before her banishment?
“Ummm… Let’s just say it’s a very versatile word. It can be used as almost everything. Nouns, pronouns, adverbs, you name it. I guess it’s just a part of unicorn culture?” Alex tried to look like he knew what he was talking about, but didn’t really do a great job.
“Oookaayyy…” Vibrant looked like she didn’t really believe him, but let it drop. “Anyway, we’re here.”
There was no sign indicating the small town's name, so Alex was a little disappointed. The town reminded him of what you may see in an old western movie, just with a lot more green. The sign would have really fit the image.
The town was shaped like a big plus sign. He could see two streets intersecting each other in the middle, framed by houses of various shapes and forms on each side. The resulting free space behind the buildings was mostly used for private gardens, growing all kinds of fruits and vegetables.
Alex took a look around, and noticed for the first time how many ponies were actually around him. Even though the town was small, earth ponies could be seen milling about everywhere. The My Little Pony fan inside him squeed a little at the sight. He saw a few fillies and colts run by, apparently playing a game of tag. A little colt ran between his legs, and bolted under the cart in an attempt to throw off his pursuers and Alex d’awwed hard. Only internally of course.
Vibrant led him towards the middle of the town. A couple of ponies greeted her, apparently knowing her. But almost everypony else was looking at Alex. Some were trying to be sneaky about it. But others just flat-out stared at him.
“Vibrant?” He started. “Are you really, really sure they don’t have a problem with unicorns? They’re starting to creep me out a bit here…” As he talked he unconsciously moved a little closer to Vibrant.
“Hmm?” Vibrant looked around for a bit, noticing the stares for the first time. “Oh yeah, it’s not a problem. They won’t cause you any trouble, but unicorns are still a very rare occurrence around these parts. So a bit of staring should be expected.” She nodded a bit to herself.
“Alright, if you say so…” Alex said, but still moved a little closer. Not really trusting the other ponies around him.
They arrived at the town center, and Vibrant halted the cart. Alex took a look down each of the roads and found them to be mostly similar to the one they just walked through. Although the road to their left was filled with different stands selling a plethora of things. He could see a few ponies buying and selling produce. But there were also stands peddling everyday goods, like blankets or baskets.
“You see that building over there? The one with the star on the front?”
Alex followed Vibrants outstretched hoof with his sight and spotted the building she meant. About two houses down there was a two story house that had, quite literally, a huge star painted to it’s frontside. Alex guessed that was the sheriff’s office.
“That’s the Sheriff’s office.”
‘...called it.’
“Just go in and look for a stallion named Lucky Strike. He’ll help you out.” Vibrant put her hoof back on the ground and looked at Alex. “I’ll look for a spot to set up my goods. So when you’re finished with your business just walk down the road and look for me, okay?
Alex looked down the ‘market’ street again, noticing it wasn’t all that long. So it shouldn’t be a problem finding her there.
“Sure, see ya later, and good business unto you!” Alex said while walking off.
“Right back at you. I hope you find out something.” Vibrant gave him a little encouraging wave, and went towards the market.
Alex looked back at Vibrant’s disappearing form, and apologized silently for deceiving her this way. He approached the front door of the building and entered. A small bell announced his arrival to the occupants.
He looked around once he was inside. The interior was a simple thing. To his left, stairs led up to the second floor. Right next to it were three holding cells, occupying the whole of the back wall. All of which were currently unoccupied. To his right was a simple desk, with various office utensils strewn about on top of it.
A brown colored pony with an almost black mane looked up from a scroll he was reading once he heard the bell. His eyes focused on Alex, and he could see that they went to his horn for a split second.
“Can I help you?” The pony asked in a friendly voice.
“I was told to find somebody named Lucky Strike in here, you know him?”
“Well lad, you found him.” He answered smiling. “Lucky Strike. Sheriff of Harvest, at your service.”
“Ok then, nice to meet you.” Alex approached the desk and put on his best poker face. “My name’s Alex and I have a bit of a problem. Does the name Vibrant Colors ring any bells with you?”
Lucky Strike nodded, and gestured for him to continue.
“Do you know where she lives?” Alex asked.
“Yeah, about three days by hoof East of here, why? She didn’t do something did she?”
Lucky Strike started to worry a bit. Vibrant Colors was a well known name in his little town, and everybody liked her. Having to arrest her would sadden him greatly.
“No, no. Nothing like that.” Lucky strike visibly relaxed. “Thing is, she was the one that found me.”
“Found you? What do you mean?”
“I’m getting there. Vibrant found me somewhere close to her home about three weeks ago. Apparently I was just lying knocked out in the grass, and she took me in.”
Alex purposefully left out the part about him sleeping for three weeks straight without dying. He didn’t want to start any weird rumors after all.
“I seem to have a heavy case of amnesia, and can’t seem to remember why I was out there, if someone was with me, or where I come from for that matter. According to her this is the closest settlement around, so we came here to investigate.”
“So you want to know if anyone here knows something?” Alex nodded. “Well, I can tell you, that if you had friends with you, neither they or you were seen here. The last time we had a unicorn come through was almost half a year ago. So I’m afraid you’ve hit a dead end here.”
Alex let his face fall, like he was disappointed that Lucky couldn’t help him out.
“Are you sure? Maybe you just didn’t see them? Us?” Alex scrunched up his face. “Me?”
“I’m quite sure. Unicorns usually cause a bit of a ruckus around here. Or at least some unrest.” Lucky shot his idea down right quick. “And they’re the talk of the town at the local watering hole, so everybody knows when and where a unicorn was here. Sorry lad.”
Alex let his face fall once again. He expected something like this, but keeping up appearances was important. Now onto step two.
“Thanks anyway.” Alex sighed. “Could you maybe point me in a direction where I could acquire a map? I’m sure it would help greatly in my further travels.”
Lucky Strike looked him up and down, trying to assess Alex. After a while he pulled open one of the desk’s drawers, and pulled out a rolled up piece of cloth. He put it on the table while he unrolled it.
“This,” He pointed at it. “is a map of the united tribes.”
Alex took a closer look at the cloth. It was a map to be sure, but nowhere near as accurate as their earth counterparts. Mostly it was a color coded mess where green meant grass and brown stood for desert. Simple triangles were used to mark mountains, and blue lines snaked between the colors indicating rivers and lakes. On the left a few clouds could be found, of which Alex assumed represented Pegasi cities. The leftmost part of the map was also dominated by blue.
‘Most likely an ocean’ Alex thought.
Lucky Strike’s hoof was resting on a green colored spot to the right, directly above the word ‘Harvest’.
“You are here.” He said matter of factly. “As you can see, you’re quite a way from home.”
Lucky moved his hoof, circling an area along the top of the map that was full of triangles. Alex then realized that the map was split up into three triangles. The part to the right had a lot of green and belonged most likely to the earth pony tribes, considering he was currently there.
The part Lucky just pointed to would belong to the unicorn tribes if he told the truth. Then the part to the left would be Pegasi territory, proving Alex’s suspicion right. Also, he could see from the maps coloring alone, that splitting the land like this would be problematic.
Every tribe seemed to be lacking crucial resources the other tribes had. Alex now understood how the events in the show eventually would come to pass. Back on Earth this would most definitely cause a war sooner or later. But if the show could be believed, they would try to solve this at least somewhat peacefully.
“I have no idea how you ended up this far out. But I’d say your best bet is going back to where you’re most likely from.” He pointed to a big triangle on the map. Around it was a large blob of green. One of the few green spots in the Unicorn territories.
“This here, is ‘the lonely mountain’. At its base you’ll find the great Crystal Kingdom. If there’s any hope of finding out who you are or why you were here, it’s there. Of all the unicorn cities it has the largest population. If all else fails you can always ask for an audience with King Gold Bar. He should have ways to find out something.” Lucky cleared his throat. “But he’s umm… not exactly known to do things for free, so you’d need a lot of money.”
He smiled sheepishly at Alex, who just returned the smile. His head was swirling with information, and he now had a clear goal in mind. Reaching the Crystal Kingdom.
“I doubt I will have to go this far. But thanks for the tip.” Alex said. “ But do you have any idea how I could get there? It looks awfully far to just walk.”
Alex tried to coax some more information out of Lucky, seeing as he obviously knew his way around.
“Well for starters you could always join one of the trade caravans coming through here. They always need a helping hoof, so you’d probably have to work with them, or pay them if you have the money.”
“That sounds good, can you tell me when the next one should be here?” Alex asked jovially.
“If they didn’t run into any trouble, one should arrive here tomorrow. They usually set up right outside the town proper, extending our own market road. You’ll find them there.” Lucky rolled the map back up.
Alex reached a hoof over the desk in an attempt to shake Lucky’s, which he gladly accepted.
“Well thank you for your time Mr. Lucky, sir. You helped me a lot.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t help you more kid, and I wish you the best of luck getting your memories back.”
Alex put his hoof back to the ground and made to leave, when he heard Lucky call out to him again.
“Actually, why don’t you take this map here with you? Free of charge.” Lucky offered him.
“Oh no I couldn’t, you’ve helped me more than enough already!”
On the inside Alex was as happy as could be. He didn’t have any money on his name, and procuring a map could have been difficult. So just being offered one made him almost thank the gods. Until he remembered what they did to him, that is.
“Please, I insist.” Lucky held out the map with a hoof, expecting Alex to grab it. “Take it.”
Alex ‘reluctantly’ walked back to Lucky and took the map in his mouth. Lucky nodded happily and Alex let out a muffled ‘Thank you’ before he left the building.
While he still couldn’t quite believe his luck, he started walking down the market. Passing stand after stand, he marvelled at all the items on sale. He spotted a green mare trying to sell her paintings in front of a cart, and walked towards her. All the while thinking about the amazing sights he was sure to see on his travels.
Luck was finally on his side.