//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: "Welcome to Ponyville" // Story: Scorched by Fate // by Scorch215 //------------------------------// I followed Twilight from the market place as she showed me the town. Honestly there wasn’t much else to see though she did take me to the edge of town and point out Applejack’s farm in the distance and explained it was the Apple family who founded the town a couple hundred years ago and she told me about Granny Smith, Applebloom and Big Macintosh. I was starting to see a theme with these ponies and their names. Well after the tour of the town it was around midafternoon and Twilight suggested a lunch. It was here the issue of not having any money came into play but Twilight was nice enough to say she’d pay and thus I found myself standing outside one of her favorite places to eat in town staring at it. “Oh you have got to be kidding me.” Is aid as I stared at a building with a red sign topped with three gold arches out front and the name of McDoodle’s proudly displayed. “What is it?” Twilight asked looking back at me with some confusion. I just sighed and shook my head. “It’s nothing, this just reminds me of another place I know.” I said while staring at the place, least it’s a familiar place. “Well that’s good.” Twilight said with a smile before heading for the door and using her magic to open it as I followed her in. Inside the place just added to the fact this place was definitely a McDonalds’s as even the inside had the same themes and wouldn’t look out of place back in that fast food chain and o wondered if they had free Wi-Fi as well, though due to the lack of internet that was very doubtful. There were several other ponies of all the different types gathered here, some sitting alone while others sat in small groups chatting about this or that. We had either beaten the lunch rush or had just missed it, either way meant the place was calm and the food would be fresh. Come to think of it how can there be a fast food burger place? I wouldn’t think a horse based species would eat meat though with some of the other aspects of dream I wouldn’t put it past it to disregard biology. As we approached the counter the young stallion, he was definitely older than the standard teen and when we cause close the reason why was revealed by the fact his name tag had MANAGER above his name of Blue. Yes that was his name and yes his coat was indeed a dark blue and his mane was a lighter shade of blue, his parents were real creative with his name. Anyways when we approached Blue smiled in that manner all those employed in an industry that required you to be interact with customers regularly. “Welcome to McDoodle’s how can I help you today?” The stallion asked. “I’ll have a McDoodle’s Special with a medium drink.” Twilight said and looked back at me. “Uh….I’ll have the same, but with cheese if it doesn’t come with it already.” I said and manager behind the counter nodded as he somehow pushed the buttons on what looked a lot like a modern cash register. “Alright that will be nine bits.” He said. “Will that be for her or to go?” “For here.” Twilight said and the stallion nodded before pressing another button on the register as a small bag appeared from somewhere held in her magic and she pulled out the money. I looked at them, as she placed them on the counter. They were small and gold colored. Before the manager grabbed them I saw one side had a stylized sun on it while the other seemed have a crescent moon on it, I made a mental note to learn the significance of the symbols as my curiosity was quipped. The stallion gave Twilight the recite and told her the number before handing us the cups, I was glad to see they were in fact proper medium cups and not the size of a large. Twilight held one out to me in her magic and I took it in hoof, only pausing for a few moments to stare at the cup defying gravity before following her. I would like to go on record in saying while I was getting used to walking on four legs that did not translate into walking on three and after two steps I face planted onto the floor of the fast food joint. “Are you ok?” Twilight asked as she held out a hoof to me. “Just peachy.” I said as I took her hoof and she helped me up as I rubbed the end of my muzzle. My ear swiveled around towards a group of other ponies as I heard them quietly laughing and a quick glance confirmed they it was at me as they spoke quietly and kept glancing and pointing towards me and I think I caught the word “Derpy” said. I felt my ears splay against my head and some heat touch my face. It seems this new pony body was very expressive. Twilight glanced over at the group then back at them. “Just ignore them; I should have remembered that you’re still having trouble walking.” She said her own ears drooping as she looked down a bit. “No, no it’s fine, I’ve pretty much gotten walking down with the tour and you didn’t know I’d have trouble.” I said quickly, I did not like to see people sad especially when it was because of me. She looked at me. “You sure?” She asked and I could tell she was really upset about my fall, I’ve heard of wearing your heart on your sleeve but these ponies seemed to show all their emotions without much restraint though it may be the larger eyes and ears that seemed to do as they pleased. Slowly Twilight cheered up and used her magic to pick up my cup from the floor before going to ask for another one. I didn’t much care that it had been on the floor as the place looked rather clean and it’s not like it was a wet object that will cause things to tick to it but I figured she was doing it to make up for the fall and I was going to let her do what she thought she needed to as I went over to where the drinks were. What I found caused me to stare. There were only a few to choose from but that wasn’t why I stared. Hilltop Dew High-Dee Orange Dr. Pebble Pug Root Beer Lemonade And Pepsi The only thing that was off were the names but the colors and logos were all correct, and Pepsi was actually Pepsi. I was literally staring at soda’s I knew with only slightly different names. “You ok?” I jumped as Twilight asked from beside me and I felt my wings unfurl slightly till I realized it was her. She looked at me with a bit of concern. “You ok?” She asked again. “You’re just staring at the drinks.” “Uh…yeah just trying to decide what I want.” I said and she stared at me for a moment, I thought she may have seen through what I said but then she shrugged and stepped up to the drink dispensers. “So what would you like?” She asked. “Uh…Pepsi.” I said and she nodded before filling one of the glasses with a bit of ice and then filling it with the drink as she filled the other with Dr. Pebble. With the drinks filled and straws in tow me and my unicorn guide headed for an open booth and took a seat. We had just gotten our straws in our drinks when our order number was called, out of habit I started to get up to get it as I usual picked up the orders when with friends or family as I was faster and could maneuver through crowds easier when the place was busy but before I rose very far Twilight said she’d get it and I remembered fact I couldn’t really carry the tray easily. So I took a sip of my drink and within a few moments the unicorn had returned with the tray held in her magic and it was placed in the center of the table. Using her magic Twilight separated burgers and fries, I was happy to see they were indeed French fries though something told me they probably weren’t called that. Not wanting them to get cold because no one likes cold fries I started to eat them first. Not going to lie sitting in a fast food place eating food that is not the healthiest for me and hearing the quiet murmur of other patrons of the place was very calming, probably because it was the first truly familiar and normal thing I had done since waking up. I could almost forget I’m now a totally different creature in a world of more of the same creatures. “So tell me where you are from?” Twilight asked as she also ate her fries first, thus proving once more no one wants to risk them growing cold before you could eat them. I thought about either saying I didn’t remember but discarded that thought as ridiculous because that made little sense. Finishing what’s in my mouth I spoke. “Well technically I didn’t live in a town but was near one.” I said. Twilight nodded. “Uh-huh, what town? It will be easier to get you home if I knew the name.” She said. “Place called Alintora, you heard of it?” I asked, I was wondering what the town would look like in this strange coma dream. Twilight furrowed her brow as she ate a few more fries before speaking. “I don’t think I’ve heard of a town called Alintora but then there are a lot of small towns and villages all over Equestria.” She said and then smiled when she saw me staring at her in shock. “Relax I’ll check a map when I get back to the library.” I blinked at that last bit. “You work in a library?” I asked. She giggled. “Well that and live there. “She said. I blinked. “You’re joking right?” I asked. “No the library has a living place on the second floor so it’s also my home. “She said “Is that weird?” She said ears drooping a bit. “Are you kidding? That is beyond awesome!” I said with a large smile and she blinked at me. “Really? Most ponies think it’s a bit strange…”She said trailing off a bit. I shook my head. “Not me, you’re looking at someone who was my local libraries live in patron so to speak, I spent every chance I had there either reading or checking out books to read at home.” I said. I swear her eyes lit up as I spoke. “Really?” She asked with a large smile. “Fiction or non-fiction?” She asked. “Mostly fiction but some non-fiction if it sounded interesting, which was mostly history.” I said. She nodded. “History can be so interesting; I don’t know why most ponies don’t like it.” She said. “I mostly read magic theory books as well as study other sciences when I’m not reading other books.” She said. I nodded. “Yeah I know, history is full of interesting stories that are even more interesting when you factor in they are true.” I said, I almost started to list off facts about World War Two as it was an era I found very interesting but caught myself as I had a feelings Equestria didn’t know anything about the world wars and so talking about them as fact would lead to a few issues and the last thing I need is to be labeled as crazy as if I am stuck in this coma dream for however long it takes me to wake up I’d rather have an easy time at it. Come to think of it this entire world seemed to have its own lore and such which meant… I felt a large smile split my face. Which meant new stories and new history to research, maybe being stuck here wasn’t so bad eh? “I know it is.” Twilight said responding to my last statement, her face wearing an equaling large smile at I assumed finding someone who enjoyed reading as much as she seemed too. I had already planned to visit the library after it was pointed out to me as it had been a while since I read any new books, I had long since read all the books I owned and so had been out of a good book to read due to the fact it was hard for me to reread books due to the fact I usually remembered the most minute details of them even months after I had read them last. Needless to say the topic of conversation was on reading and research, I had to catch myself on mention the history I know and only mention vague isolated stories I knew that only had significance as interest trivia but were individual stories that didn’t play out on grand scales like treaties and such. My assumption was right in that Equestria had never had anything on the scale of a world war, the closes being the Nightmare Moon rebellion and that has been akin to the civil war on a smaller scale as for the most pare the two sisters did the fighting while those loyal to them fought skirmishes in the surrounding area. Other than that there had just been a few skirmishes and the occasional boarder clash here and there but nothing to major or recent. Twilight did mention a few battles that took place after someone named Discord was dethrones and there was a large vacuumed of power and the land was in chaos as everyone tried to cut their own slice of the so called pie. I was definitely looking forward to reading up on an entirely alternate history then the one I knew. Long after the meal and our drinks had been finished we finally noticed how much time had pasted as we left our own little world. Twilight looked outside as it had gone from afternoon to late afternoon early evening by my own estimation. “Hehe, suppose we should head out.” She said a bit sheepishly and I nodded in agreement. We both got up from the booth and Twilight dumped our tray while I went to the door to wait. I walked out first and held the door open for my companion as it was my habit to hold the door open for people and twilight smiled and nodded in thanks and we headed down the street. It was as we walked I became aware of a very concerning issues, namely I had no money for a motel or anything and thus had no place to stay. This issue I voiced to the mare beside me who was fast becoming a friend as far as I was concerned. It’s not every day you find someone interested in reading so heavily, least not back home as I was the very small minority in my school who read books extensively and could understands the stories beyond the words on the page. Twilight smiled. “Don’t worry about that, I have a guest room you can use.” Twilight said in answer to my issue. I blinked at her. “Uh…you sure about that? I mean we did just meet today.” I said. The unicorn nodded. “Yes I’m sure.” She said. “It’s not a problem at all and you do need some place to stay till we can get you on track to get home.” I nodded not really used to people being this trusting, though I guess I hadn’t done too much to be seen as untrustworthy besides throw a glass in her face when I first met her but that could be written off as disorientation inducing panic and confusion from me smashing my face into a tree after waking up in the woods. “Well ok, then thanks a lot twilight, I owe you one.” I said. She giggled. “Don’t mention it.” She said as she walked beside me. I nodded and made a mental note to find a way to repay her, I always repay my debts somehow even if it’s not with money. Soon we reached the library; I still found it ironic that it was inside a tree that was somehow still living despite having been hollowed out and filled with furniture and the like. I wonder how much of the wood was used to make more books like the ones that now sat inside of it? I chuckled internally as the thought that the books inside were made of paper that were in turn made from the very wood that used to be inside this tree and that its inside had returned changed into something else. Don’t look at me that way, I have a very dark sense of humor and find things like that humorous in a way. As we approached the door I asked if today was a day the place was usually closed seeing as she would have to close it due to not being there all day and twilight told me her assistant Spike had ran it today as he usually did when she was absent. I was very interested in meeting a pony named Spike to see how he got that name due to the way these ponies named each other. Twilight used her magic to open the door and I frowned as I saw inside the library was dark and I looked around at the fading light, plus the fact every library I had ever been in usually had lights on even when they had large bay windows, which this one did not have, so people had plenty of light to read by. “You sure you assistant was around today?” I asked as I eye the darkness, something about it seemed darker than it should be, as if the windows were not admitting light into the interior for some reason. I couldn’t help being reminded of a scene in a survival horror story I read where the character walked through a dark hallway filled with an unnatural darkness that their flashlight only went a few feet in and the pair of night vision goggles they had didn’t go much farther as the darkness threated to consume them and fill them with fear so they made mistakes like the rest of their friends had already. In short I felt the hairs on my back stand on end at the same time my wings shifted uncomfortably as my eyes narrowed. Twilight was looking at the dark door way in confusion so she didn’t see my reaction to the darkness. “He was supposed to be, he probably just stepped out for a moment.’ Twilight said as she walked forward. I followed her simply because I wasn’t letting her go into the unnatural darkness alone but couldn’t stop her as I had no real way to explain why I was uncomfortable. As we entered the darkened main floor of the library the door behind us closed on its own and the library was plunged into absolute darkness. My mind went into overdrive a split second before the lights snapped on. “SURPRISE!!” I leapt back towards the door and felt my wings flare wide on their own to make myself look bigger I assumes as I took what I thought was a defensive stand by having my upper body lowered close to the ground, legs bent and reading to leap forward if need be. All of this was just my body moving on its own so I assumed it was some instinctual part of my body reacting to me being startled. What I saw was a room full of streamers, balloons, a table of food and some very surprised looking ponies in party hats. Me and the group stared at each other before I slowly started to relax seeing as nothing was jumping to attack me. I slowly stood back up and folded my wings back to my side as I looked at the ponies who still stared back at me. I slowly got the feeling they were not used to that reaction to a surprise party but in my defense unnatural darkness and doors closing on their own are not something that usually says “come hither I shall not harm you” and usually screams “I am going to kill you in the most horrible fashion possible.” “You ok?” Twilight asked as she looked back at me in surprise. I felt my wings ruffle a bit as I collected myself from the massive adrenaline dumb that comes from fight or flight response. “Yeah just….was not expecting this.” I said gesturing to the room of ponies. Judging by the large banner that said “WELCOME TO PONYVILLE” I assume this was that party for me I was told about. This seemed to satisfy everyone as slowly the looks of surprise faded and were replaced with mind embarrassment and some small chuckles of understanding and embarrassment. It was at this point the one I assumed was responsible for this party because she said it’s what she was off to do, bounced out of the crowd with the same large smile on her face and landed between myself and the rest of the crowd. “That has to be one of the best reactions if seen to a surprise party ice seen since Fluttershy!” She said with the broad smile before looking back at the other ponies. “Come on everypony don’t look so down this is a party to Welcome Scorched Wing so let’s party!” She said with a big jump and throwing confetti I didn’t see her holding. When she landed music started to play from a stereo that no one was near somehow. Come to think of it how is it they have a modern looking stereo in a town that looks like it’s pulled out of the Middle Ages? I would be looking into this when I could but this party did not leave much chance for me to read as people tend to get annoyed when you ignore the party in favor of reading, I imagined it would be even more annoying ignoring that party when it was being thrown for you. With the music now played, some remixed party tune it seemed which meant they had synthesizers here in Equestria and yet they used horse drawn carts, which is also odd due to them being a type of equine. I can already feel a headache forming as I try to make sense of this. I decided to push it all aside till later as I headed for the refreshment table, my eyes locked on the large punch bowl. Arriving at said punch bowl I carefully poured myself a glass of the red liquid and moved a ways off so as to not take up space incase others wanted some which by the small group that arrived moment after I settles near the wall I was correct in my assumption. I stood sipping my drink as I surveyed the room before me. I was ignoring the multi colored ponies and looking at the walls of books. There were many of them all different sizes from large thick tombs to small thin pamphlet sized books. All of them placed upon the shelves with great care in great respect to the words held within their covers. I couldn’t wait to begin reading them. When I finished my punch I made my way over to the food table and looked over what was there. Every single item was a pastry of some sort much to my annoyance. Don’t get me wrong I like cakes and cupcakes as much as the next guy….erm….I guess mare would be more accurate? Anyways I like pastries and baked goods as much as the next pony but honestly I always preferred fruit, I know shocking but that’s the truth and the lack of any form of fruit or vegetable with dip was disappointing. There weren’t even any chips. However I did find something that made up for it in the form of a certain type of cake I loved. It wasn’t hard to mistake the cake for anything else then what it was what with its darkish brown cake topped with white frosting with a single dab of orange and green in the shape of a certain root vegetable. I am of course speaking of carrot cake, my second favorite cake on the planet just under angel’s food cake but that did not seem to be present sadly. No mater carrot cake was an excellent substitute. Happily I grabbed a plate and carefully made my way to an empty table with it, making sure to watch my step as I was on three legs again and definitely did not want to drop my cake. Placing my cake on the table I grabbed a seat and happily started too much on the slice of cake. “So enjoying the party Scorched?” I jumped slightly as Twilight spoke behind me before coming around with her own slice of cake hand in her magic I nodded my head as I still had the fork in my mouth from the cake I had just place din it and she giggled at the sight of me before I noticed a blue Pegasus with a rainbow colored mane and a white unicorn with a styled purple main sit down with their own cakes. I blinked at the two knew ponies before Twilight spoke up. “This is Rarity and Rainbow Dash.” She said gesturing to the unicorn and Pegasus in turn. “Two of my closes friends, Rarity is the one who owns Carousel Boutique and Dash is head of the Whether Team here in Ponyville.” “And the best flyer in all of Equestria and future Wonderbolt!” The blue pegasus added puffing out her chest a bit in a show of arrogance. Just the type of person I like being around. I thought barely surpassing an eye roll before looking at Rarity who smiled politely. “And as Twilight said I am Rarity and proprietor of Carousel Boutique.” She said and I could hear the high class accent and I questioned why she was in a small town. Only three options came to mind. She came from money and lost it all, she came from money and preferred the small town setting, or she wished came from money and thus emulated those type of people. We shall see which she is soon enough I figured. I nodded my head and swallowed what was in my mouth before speaking. “Pleasure to meet you miss Rarity.” I said politely, if she did come from wealth best not to piss her off as that could lead to a lot of trouble. The unicorn smiled as she looked over my clothes with a critical eye. “May I ask where you got those…clothes?” She asked a bit hesitantly. I looked down at the jumpsuit I was still wearing since I woke up. “Uh…I’ve always had it, don’t really know what I got it.” I said in all honesty. She nodded once more. “Well if you ever desire a proper dress to wear do come by the boutique as I could make you look fabulous darling!” She said with a smile. I nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind miss Rarity.” I said as I grabbed another bite of my cake. Twilight was smiling as she looked between me and her other two friends apparently happy I was getting alone with them. “So what are you an athlete?” Rainbow dash asked suddenly. “Uh…not really, why?” I asked as I blinked at her, the question was rather sudden. “Me and AJ have a bet on what you do, I said you are some sort of athlete as you have the build.” She said looking at me with an appraisal eye. Was she…checking me out or merely just trying to settle a bet? I looked down at myself and while I wasn’t entirely sure how I looked as the only two pegasi I had seen were Fluttershy and now Rainbow here I didn’t know how my body really compared so I would have to take her word for it being an athletic build. Personally I wasn’t very athletic before so I had no real idea if I was now or not. “You tryin’ to settle our bet without me” Applejack said as she walked over with a plate of three cupcakes and took a seat at an empty space at the table. “Hey nopony said you had to be present for it.” Rainbow said looking at the orange farmer. I looked at them and I know Pinkie was running around somewhere in the party so that left one missing and I spoke up. “So where is Fluttershy?” I asked as I expected her to be here. “One of her animals wasn’t feeling well so she couldn’t make it but don’t worry the party wont stopped anytime soon! “I heard Pinkie’s voice beside me. And I looked over to thank her for the info. What I saw made my eyes become pin pricks as I was staring down the barrel of a light blue cannon with the fuse lit. Now I may not have been a soldier or a cop or anything of the like but I have seen the effects of firearm and what they do to people who stand around and I also had seen what cannons can do to unprotected people who take direct hits from them in games, movies and TV shows so I think I had a very appropriate response to finding myself face to face with a cannon about to shoot me point blank with a smiling pink mare behind it. “FUCK!” I yelled and threw what remained of my cake into the face of the mare trying to kill me and kicked the cannon so it was aimed elsewhere before I was out of my seat and halfway across the room so fast I swear I teleported. My wings automatically opened and now that I knew they were there I allowed my body to act on its own as they gave a flap and I took to the air. This allowed me to move faster as I wasn’t relying on what my legs could do and only had the air to resist my movement. In short I took off like a bullet straight for the nearest exit which was an open window as I was getting out of there ahead of the coming stampede of panicked ponies as the library was about to become a death trap. I knew twilight could deal with the killer mare with her magic as I had experienced it but I didn’t have magic and so I was getting the hell out of there. As I flew through the window I heard the cannon go off behind me and then I gone racing through the darkened town as fast as I could.