Origins of Madness
Written by Twi, edited by TheRoboticFist

Chapter 1
To start a new Life… again

Grumbling under his breath, Life Dreamer walks through the Streets of the middle District in Solaria, the new Capital City of Equestria. The Town itself was merely 3 Years old, but had already reached the population of Canterlot. No matter which Way you take, you would always see construction sites and architects planning the next building. The ruler, King Starshine, wanted this City to become the biggest City in Equestria as soon as possible. Solaria was built in cycles, representing the different Districts. The smallest one was, of course, the District of the Nobles and royalty. Big, breathtaking and glorious Houses could be seen everywhere, even the poorest Ponies in this District had enough money, to feed their family without having a Job, and that for more than one Generation. The Ponies there would act a little snobbish from time to time, but never would one look down on those who weren’t as wealthy as they were.

The second Ring was the most important District: The Trading District. It was the Heart of Solaria, seeing as the City was built in the middle of nowhere, there were no valuable natural resources nor was the ground good enough to conduct agriculture in a scale needed to provide enough food for the locals. If you needed something, you would go there, no matter what you desired. From Bred and Daffodils to rare iron or precisely crafted Gems you could find anything a Ponies heart could ever desire. This was the reason for why the population would increase this insanely fast: Soon the markets of Solaris would be the main junction of Equestrias trading network. And everypony wants to be part of it.

The outer ring was the district of the commoners. Countless, humble buildings would soon fill the Area around this City and would house thousands, if not millions of Ponies. There is nothing special about this District, if you don’t count the sheer size of this Sea of Structures, but it would become the home of countless families and single Ponies coming from every place in Equestria, with the hope of finding their luck or to start a whole new life.
The same goes for the mud brown stallion, who now realized why it was a bad idea to come here in the first place. Equestria and Draconia, the land of the Dragons, are on the verge of war, both sides seeming to be ready to strike as soon as the next day starts. Given this fact, you would at least see one royal Guard per 10 Ponies. Their eyes scanning the surrounding, ready to stand up and serve their Land till the very end. Every time one of the Peacekeepers even looks in his direction, Life Dreamer starts to grow nervous, hoping they wouldn’t try to advance on him.

He isn’t a criminal, nor would he change this fact anytime soon, but ever since the incident in his old Orphanage, he would occasionally get in troubles, proving the Ponies around him that Ponies are capable of developing such horrid feelings like hate and anger. It was just a matter of time till the word of an evil Pony would travel across Equestria, and after a few Years he would be named the “Demon of Equestria”.

Yeah, it wasn’t nice of them, but in comparison to every other Pony, this title was fitting him, so he couldn’t argue against it. He would need to prove them wrong. But that’s easier said than done, because no one would really trust him. Every time he thinks he made a friend, he would have one of his breakdowns, even if they were small ones, causing his “friend” to abandon him within the hour.

Over the course of Years, the unguided Unicorn would develop the feeling, that everypony hates him, that he would never be welcome in this flawless society. This feeling would soon turn into paranoia and mistrust for anypony who would even stay near him without gazing at him or walking away to bring themselves to safety. Especially towards guards he felt this kind of paranoia, even to the point that he wouldn’t wonder if they would imprison him without any real reason, just to lock the demon away from public. Of course, this would never happen, but you can´t simply shake of this feelings after so many Years of pain and sorrow.

King Starshine wanted to let his whole nation know, that there would be an affordable House for everypony who wanted to life there. And he was right, no matter how much money you had, there was a House that would fit your budget. Of course you couldn’t expect a 2 Stories House if you had only a few hundred bits, but you could live in Solaris, and even enjoy your life there. Life Dreamer was humble, he didn’t need a fancy Villa and thousands of Bits to buy everything out there, for him, a 4 Room Apartment with a few possessions would be enough. As long as his Bed was comfy.

Oh God, there was nothing comparable to a comfortable King sized Bed that would embrace you after a day’s hard work. The satisfying feeling one have when he falls into his bed just to sink in a few inches, before sleep would take over. It wouldn’t be the first time that his belongings were limited to a Bed and a refrigerator. This, of course, wouldn’t help him at finding the one special somepony, not that the mares would come with him very often, when one considers how infamous this particular Pony was.

After hearing this, he scraped up every bit he had (around 531 Bits, corresponding to about 215 Euro) and tried his luck to find a Home in the commoners District. For the first real time in his life, something didn’t went totally wrong, like the incident with a swarm of parasprites, but that was a Story for another Chapter. He strolled around town for a few hours, before stopping in front of a little hut. It was only one Story high, painted in a light red tone with a yellow Roof. The billboard in front of it said it had a kitchen, a bathroom and 4 spare rooms. The price for this House was around 500 Bits – perfect! Life Dreamer took a mental note of the real estate broker and set off to buy his new home.

As he walked down Manestreet, he couldn’t stop to think about some rumors he heard. The Kings daughters weren’t of the 3 known tribes, but a combination of all three of them, beings called Alicorn. One, the purest white you could ever see, with a long, pink mane and tail and matching eyes, the other, younger, daughter had a dark blue coat with stains of an even darker blue on her flanks, were soon would appear her Cutie Mark.

At this point, he looked down his own flank, seeing the Cutie Mark he “earned” back, when he was 6… It was two, golden and overlaid four-point stars, surrounded by 5 grey Gems and one, slightly bigger, black Gem in the middle. He couldn’t think of any talent it could represent, neither knew anypony he asked.

“One day I´ll eventually find out, but then it better is something really awesome!”
With a sigh, he continued walking down the Street, which was now a big, rainbow colored, ocean of Ponies. A few minutes later, he stood in front of a rather tall building, which appeared to be the broking he wanted to visit. A quick look at the sign confirmed his guess and he entered the building quickly. Even if nopony even looked in his direction, he felt uncomfortable being in such an open area, surrounded by countless Ponies.
The first thing he noticed upon entering was the large auditorium in which he now stood, searching the room for the business Pony which would hopefully sell the house he wanted to live in. The floor was made of polished marble, the walls painted in different shades of blue, from dark blue at the bottom, to sky blue at the top. From the ceiling hung a shiny, golden chandelier with rows of candles on it. As soon as the sun sets, they would illuminate the room and give away a charm, which no other building had around the town. In the middle of the room was the reception he searched for. A small mahogany table with a few piles of paper, probably some documents about the plots they had available for selling. Behind the table, stood a grass green, rather small earth Pony mare, probably in her mid-twenties. She wore glasses and her dark green mane was bound to a long Ponytail, that hung over her right shoulder.

“Hi there, I wondered if I could speak to someone about one of the houses, you sell in the outer circle of town? I´m interested in one of the smaller ones.”

“This shouldn’t be a problem at all. I am the one who manages and sells the houses in the commoners District. I need to know which one you are interested in, mister…?”

She stretched her head, trying to see his Cutie Mark, only to be blocked by the piles of Paper in front of her.

“Well, my name is Life Dreamer, and the house I´m interested in has the ID 2341/A”

Now slightly nervous, he looked her straight in the Eyes, hoping she wouldn’t know his name, because the last thing he wanted was a frightened broker who could raise the price as she wished. But the way she looked told him, that she probably only knows him as the “Demon of Equestria”. What Life Dreamer didn’t see was the growing interest in her Eyes.

“Oh, my name, or similar sounding names were quite common in my hometown, maybe that’s why you heard it before….”

“That sounds quite interesting, how about you tell me a little more about you after I´m done here?”

“That sounds nice, but I´m new in this town, so I don’t know any places we could go to…”

“That won´t be a problem at all, I know just the right restaurant we could meet later tonight. But for now, we should concentrate on the task at hoof.”

She chuckled, trying a second time to get a view of his Cutie Mark. But just as last time, the countless documents would be in the line of sight.

“You said the apartments ID was 2341/A? Just let me see if I can find the papers… ahhh, yes, here it is. Apartment 2341/A, Coltington Street 17. One story high, kitchen, bathroom and 4 spare rooms, the current price is 503 Bits, is that correct?”

The brown Unicorn smiled, while doing the same as Clearly Oblivia tried two times before, but because he was taller than the two toned Pony in front of him, he was able to see her Cutie Mark. It was a small house with a brown “sell” board in front of it.

“Of course it is, I just need you to sign this land certificate and the payment of 503 bits, and you can call yourself a homeowner.”

He tossed her the bag with the golden Coins, called Bits over to her. She counted the money and handed him his certificate and the Key to his new home.

“Congratulations, I hope you will enjoy your life in Solaria, and I´m looking forward to meet you. There is a restaurant only a few hundred meters away from your house, how about we meet there at 6 O’clock?”

“Sounds fine by me, but for now, I better get going. See you later, Miss Oblivia”

Life Dreamer turned around to leave the building, but stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he heard a quiet gasp coming from his date.

“N-No, I-It´s just t-that I remembered something really important and got startled for a moment, but now it’s alright…”

He waved her a last time before turning around and leaving the building. As soon as he left it, the broker mare collapsed to the floor, letting out a long sigh. Now, that she saw his Cutie Mark, she remembered were she heard that name before. She realized that she nearly dated the Demon of Equestria! At least, she now knew what place she would avoid for a very long time…

It was 5:55 P.M. and Life Dreamer was more excited than he was for a very long time. A new town, a small, comfortable house, a real comfy bed, that already stood in one of the spare rooms and the best of all the things, a date on his first Day in this wonderful town! He hummed happily as he walked down the Street he now lived in, approaching the restaurant in which he would meet the green colored mare. He stopped in front of it, taking a last look on his appearance. His mud brown coat was freshly washed and groomed, his black, short mane combed.
“Not bad,”
he nodded to his mirror image that looked at him from the reflection of one of the windows. The now dressed up Stallion entered the restaurant and took a seat near the entrance, so that he wouldn’t be overseen by Oblivia. A short time later, the waiter came by and asked, if he wanted to place his order. Life Dreamer politely declined, he wanted to wait for his arrangement to arrive.

The minutes passed, but Oblivia was nowhere to be seen. The Unicorn started to wonder, what could have happened that she would be late, but decided to simply wait for her to show up. Maybe she just lost track of time…

Another twenty minutes passed, before he called the waiter again, ordering something to drink. When the clock indicated half past six, he started to realize, what could have kept her away. His Cutie Mark! Everypony knew how it looked, and maybe, when he turned to leave the broking, she saw his Cutie Mark and remembered who he was? It stuck him like a freight train that his date wouldn’t appear. He drained his glass and paid for the drink, leaving the restaurant as fast as possible.

‘I should have known! Something like this never ends well when I´m involved! Why did I even THINK that I had a chance at making a friend on my first Day in this town?’

He trotted down the road, anger in his thoughts and pain in his heart. There weren’t many Ponies on the streets, now that the Day´s end was near, only a group of Ponies in front of him would be out on the Street.

‘Stupid, why am I so bucking Stupid?! No one would ever want to be with me. Not in the past, not in the present and definitely not in the future!’

Lost in his thoughts, he didn’t notice where he was walking until he bumped into another Pony.

Was all that was heard before he could shove his front legs into his mouth. Being the only Stallion in Equestria that would use such rude words let the Ponies around you recognize you fairly easy.
The Citizen around the two, on the ground lying, Ponies immediately started to whisper to each other, some of them with shocked expressions, some of them with a glint of fear.

“Oh my, I´m so sorry, I hope I didn’t hurt you? I was lost in thoughts and didn’t….”

He was cut short by the screams of some of the guards who watched the whole incident.

‘Yeah, what a wonderful Day,’ was his last thought, after being hit by something hard and before passing out.

Origins of Madness

by Twi

Chapter 1 - To start a new life... again