One year

by PonyFromSpace

1. New in town

1. New in town

---

The streets of Ponyville were foggy and moist when the carriage arrived. The wheels creaked under the weight of what it carried. The weather ponies had driven clouds into the town, in an attempt to catch the dust and dirt in its moist. After that, a group would be cleaning it all up with mops.The town librarian had had a little accident with a desert spell, but that was of no importance to the little colt in the back of the cart.

No, Early Stride had other things on his mind. He took a deep breath. Let it go. His red mane hung in front of his left eye. He remembered he should probably ask his mom to shorten it a bit. There was no mark on his flank. A bit of a late bloomer, dad had said. After the events in Manehattan, he was glad his parents had brought him to Ponyville. If things went as planned, he'd have a calm and quiet year.

A calm and quiet last year. No more worries, grumpy doctors or annoying class mates. Just life as it should be. He smiled a bit at the thought. Yes, life as it should be. His mother was exploring the boxes they had brought, desperately trying to figure out whether they had forgotten something. When Stride broke into coughing, his dad immediately handed him a bottle of water.

"It'll be better now, son," the stallion said. He looked pained, crooked under the misery his son had had to endure.
"We're here so you can rest. Have fun," he continued.
His son nodded, faking his own strength.

It was peculiar, really. The father was a unicorn stallion, the mother a pegasus mare. The son however, had neither a horn nor wings. According to his medical records, he was pegasus though. His wings were removed. It was part of his condition.

They had started calling him an earth pony. He didn't have the muscle of the average earth pony, but it saved them a lot of explaining.
The carriage stopped in front of a lovely little house. Its curves surreal and joyful.
In the fog, it looked more like a haunted mansion. The curved bars of wood dark and overshadowing in the mystic glow. Stride hopped out of the cart. Dad used his magic to carry part of the luggage inside. The colt enthusiastically explored the house.

"How do you like it, Stride?" Storm, his mother, asked.
"It's great!" their son answered.
The parents sighed in relief.
"Glad you like it son," dad said, "do you want to go pick your room?"
Stride nodded.
"Let's go then!"

Storm carried her son's favourite toys inside. A joyboy, an old stuffed bunny puppet and a ball. In the same box was a bundle of paper, Stride's hoofwriting on it. Storm didn't look at it however, because Stride had specifically asked her not to.
A tear well up in her eye. She had offered him more toys, wanted him to feel normal. He had told her not to waste the money. When she had persisted, he had locked himself in his room for an entire day. He only came out when she promised she wouldn't buy him any more toys.

After Storm had unloaded the rest of the things off the cart, she paid the chauffeur. He tipped his hat and pulled his carriage away. As she pondered on what she would make for dinner that evening, Storm saw a pink blur in the thick mist. When she saw the blur was coming right at her, she took a few steps backward.

"Hi there! I'm Pinkie Pie, are you new here? Of course you are new here, I have never seen you here before and I know everypony in this town! Just visiting, moving in? Here for a party?" the pink pony said with a wide smile that would make any serial killer cry for his failure.
It took Storm a while to realise Pinkie Pie had asked her a friendly question.
"Uhm, we are here to move in," the terrified pegasus uttered.
"Oh welcome in Ponyville! I should give a welcome party, yes I'll give a welcome party! I have to go organise a party, see ya!" the mare said, after which she disappeared as quickly as she had appeared.
Storm was trying to figure out what Pinkie had just said whilst she walked inside and started unpacking.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Stride had picked his new room. It was L-shaped, with a window at the farthest end, gazing out on a huge tree in the middle of town. It had a door in it, so Stride figured it was hollowed out. What was inside however, he didn't know. In the part of the room facing the door, there was a small, comfortable looking bed. If you entered the room, you couldn't see the window, but you could see the bed and the large wardrobe covering the entire wall on the left. Storm entered the room with his things and started unpacking. He quickly grabbed his papers and pencil and fled to the bathroom, after saying: "Thanks mom!"
He had found the bathroom on his search for a bedroom and found the cupboard next to the sink was large enough to write on.

He picked the bundle that contained his diary. Reflecting on his day, he wrote a new entry.
"Today, I came to Ponyville, today starts the last year of my life."
Stride stopped writing and thought about that sentence. He used the gum on the back of his pencil to erase a word, and wrote a new one.
"Today, I came to Ponyville, today starts a new year of my life."
He smiled at the result. Much better.

His 'condition' the doctors had discovered, was a strange one. An anomaly had blocked his wings from growing when he was a foetus. The doctors had had to remove both wings and anomaly. Sadly, a small part of his wings couldn't be removed, connected to his spine. It had started growing inwards.

After many years of unpleasant tests, the doctors agreed they couldn't cure him, and he had only one more year to live. One year. Occasionally, the wings would press against his lungs, causing him to cough loudly. His parents, Storm and Burst, had promised him a year of being spoiled. He didn't have to go to school, do any work. The last few years, he had been putting a lot of effort in numerous songs. He had one he really wanted to record before the time came. His swan song. Now, after he had finished his diary entry, he didn't really feel inspired to write the lyrics.

Burst suddenly knocked on the bathroom door.
"Stride? Are you in there?"
"Yes dad, I am!"
"Can I come in?"
"Sure."
Burst opened the door. He held a small bag of bits.
"Perhaps you want to go take a look around town? Have a milkshake while we wrap up in here?"
Stride's eyes widened. Alone?
"Can I? Alone?"
"Sure you can boy", his father nodded, "you're old enough."
Stride hugged his father.
"Thanks dad!"
"Now go out and show this place what you are made of."

---

He slowly breathed in the fresh fog air. It filled him with energy. The mist made everything look mysterious. Stride loved mystery. He trotted over to a building. A shop: sofas and quills. A strange combination. The grumpy stallion behind the counter didn't seem to be in the mood for chatter, so Stride walked on. This was an opportunity to see what that weird tree was about. Searching his way through the low hanging cloud, Stride finally arrived at the door. He tried to read the board hanging from the side. Was it a library? He carefully tried the door. It opened up immediately. Stride hesitantly paced inside, only to meet a dragon.

"Hi there! What are you here for? Need a book?" the small purple creature asked.
After swallowing his fear for the little baby dragon, Stride stuck out a hoof.
"Hi, I'm Stride. I just moved here from Manehattan. I saw this tree and I wanted to go check it out."
The dragon shook his hoof using a claw.
"I'm Spike. I'm the librarian's assistant. If you ever need a book, here's the place to be," he replied.
Stride gazed through the racks. Books, books and more books. This was amazing.
"This is great! Can I have a look around?" he asked Spike.
"Sure, feel free to browse."
Stride looked in all the racks, taking out every book and carefully reading the first chapter of each book. Finally, he found one he liked.
"Can I borrow this?" he asked.
Spike looked at the cover.
"Publishing records" Spike read.
He frowned. Not really the type of book a foal of that age would borrow.
"Eh, sure, take it. I don't think Twilight will need it any time soon."
Stride froze. Twilight?
"Twilight as in Twilight Sparkle, princess of friendship?" he stammered.
"Yes, princess Twilight Sparkle. She owns the libary," Spike answered.
The colt stared at the book. He'd really have to keep in mind the princess was only one block away from his house.
You never know what can happen with somepony like that in the neighbourhood.
"Thanks for the book! I'll return it by the end of the week."
"Nah, don't worry about it. Return it whenever you want."
"Jee, thanks."

---

Scootaloo was in a hurry. Her wings moving at the speed of light, as she burst through the fog.
She felt on top of the world, narrowly avoiding collisions with ponies on the streets. If this was her price for being late for a crusader meeting, it was worth it. Her scooter under her hind hooves, her wings at top speed. The wind in the curl of mane sticking out from under her helmet. She was unbeatable. Nothing could stand in her way. Or at least, everything jumped out of her path when they heard her buzzing by. Everything, except for that one guy. Of course, he had to ruin everything. With a loud thomp, she was launched off of her scooter. Usually, avoiding ponies was easy peasy. This time though, the fog was thick enough for her to see nothing before she passed by. Her helmet left her head. Try not to forget closing the band next time, Scoots, she thought to herself whilst she rubbed her forehead. She picked up her scooter, but it was broken. The colt who hadn't moved laid on the street. He was moaning and trying to get up. At first, Scootaloo wasn't keen on helping him up. He had wrecked her scooter, after all. Then, she realised it wasn't purposefully, since he got hurt so bad himself. She lifted him by his front leg.

"Are you okay?" she asked.
He had a beige fur and red mane.
His mane hung in front of his left eye, so she couldn't see that one. She did see his right eye, however.
She had never seen an iris so deep red.
"I'm fine," he said, "I'm sorry."
"Sorry?"
"I broke your scooter, didn't I?" he nodded at the combination of wheels and broken planks.
"No, I broke my scooter. I'm sorry I hit you."
The colt looked around a bit confused.
"No problem, it's a thick fog."
He got back up on his legs.
"I haven't seen you around here before," Scootaloo said, "are you new in town?"
"Yeah, just moved in. I'm Stride. Early Stride."
"I'm Scootaloo."
They shook hooves. He didn't really have a firm hoofshake.
Scootaloo noticed his blank flank.
"So, I see you don't have a cutie mark yet?"
The colt quickly turned his flank away.
His cheeks a bit red, like his eyes and mane.
What a strange guy.
"Well, uh, no. My dad says I'm a late bloomer."
"Don't worry, I don't have one either" she said and she turned her flank so Stride could see.
The saddlebag on his back was ripped, a big hole gaping in the top.
"Uh, there's a rip in your saddlebag."
The colt took it off. He looked inside. He picked out a bag of bits.
"Well, this is intact," he managed to say with his mouth full.
He kept on searching.
"No, nonononono," he panicked.
"What's wrong?"
"The book! I borrowed a book from the library, from the princess and it's gone! I'll be thrown in a dungeon for the rest of my life!"
Scootaloo raised her brow. Weird guy indeed.
"Twilight isn't that grudgy, you know. I don't even think they have life-long punishments for foals."
He was scanning the area for his book. No matter how weird the guy was, Scootaloo felt guilty for crashing into him, so she helped searching.
"So, were are you from?" she said whilst she checked the pavement.
"Manehattan," Stride answered.
"Have any interest in finding your cutie mark sooner?"
Stride stopped searching and gave her an interested glare.
"How?" he asked, clearly willing to get his cutie mark.
"I'm part of a club, the Cutie Mark Crusaders," she said, "we strive towards getting our marks as fast as possible by exploring our talents!"
The colt smiled.
"Something like that exists? Wow, that sounds amazing!"
Scootaloo lifted her shoulders.
"It sure is. Wanna join?"
Now, doubt streamed over Stride's face.
"I don't know, eh. I'm not exactly comfortable in large groups," he said, scratching the floor with his right front hoof.
"That's fine! There's only three of us."
He brightened up.
"Then I'd love to join!"
Scootaloo found the book. She dusted off the cover.
"Publishing Records?"
Stride quickly snatched the book.
"Uh, yeah, a little research I'm doing," he spoke as he put the book in his saddlebag.
Scootaloo chose not to go in on the subject. He clearly didn't want to talk about it.
Suddenly, she realised the time.
"Oh no, I'm late!" she yelled.
"Late for what?"
"The meeting with the CMC. I have to go."
"Wait, can I come with? I don't have anything to do right now anyway," Stride uttered.
"Uh, sure, let's go!"
They spurted to Sweet Apple Acres.

---

When they left central town, the fog cleared. Stride smiled at the collection of clouds behind him.
They ran past fields and orchards. The sweet smell of the growing fruits caressed his nose. He had to remember coming here more often. The fields were beautiful in the sunlight. A few birds twittered in the tops of the trees. Singing their songs.

Stride looked at Scootaloo. She had no idea how beatiful this place was, did she? She just looked in front of her, not around her. She didn't notice the ouzel washing up in the pond near the road. She didn't notice the green grass dancing in the wind, the flowers in full bloom.
The orange pegasus was probably used to all of it. He noticed she had left her helmet with her scooter, so now the curl of purple mane was dancing along with the grass, as if it was waving goodbye at the fields they were passing. Her tail was trailing behind her, almost horizontal due to her speed.

He kept watching her mane dance. It's funny how hypnotising the effect of the wind can be.
She turned her head towards him.
He could see her irises properly now, he hadn't been able to distinguish the colour in the fog. Even now he had trouble determining what the colour was. Was it lavender or purple?
"Hey, what're you looking at?" she suddenly said and she looked around her, "what're you looking at? I don't see anything."
Stride answered, "Oh, nothing, I was just thinking."
He didn't dare talk to her about the beauty he saw in everything just yet. She wouldn't understand, maybe call him crazy. The fact he was just staring at her mane didn't help that.

Soon, they arrived at a small tree house in the midst of a tree garden. It was gorgeous.
In Manehattan, Stride hadn't seen much beautiful scenery and crafty buildings. This place had both. The thick tree carried a colourful little shed. A stairwell led up to it. This was probably the most wonderful place Stride had ever seen.
"Here we are," Scootaloo sighed.
They trotted up the stairwell. Scootaloo carefully knocked on the door. A yellow filly opened up. She had a large pink bow, a red mane and large orange eyes.

"Scootaloo! You're late!" she said.
"Well, uh, yeah. Something happened on the way here," Scootaloo answered.
"What kind of a something, Scoots?" a white filly had appeared behind the yellow one.
She had a split purple and lilac mane. She was a unicorn. Her eyes were bright green.
"Well, I kinda bumped into someone," Scoots answered. She stepped aside and pointed at Stride. The fillies finally noticed him. He waved his hoof.
"Hi, I'm Early Stride," he said.
"Hi, I'm Sweetie Belle," the white filly replied.
The yellow filly stuck out a hoof.
"I'm Apple Bloom," she said.
Scootaloo tried to warn him. Too late.
Stride eagerly gave her a hoof to shake, but instead of just the hoof, his whole body was swung up and down, bumping into the floor repetitively.
"Nice to meet ya," Apple Bloom said when she finally let go.
"What happened?" Sweetie Belle said, curiously.
Stride was too dizzy to reply.

Scootaloo scratched the floorboards with her front left hoof.
"Well, I kinda hit him with my scooter in the fog. He has no cutie mark, so I thought he could maybe join."
Apple Bloom frowned.
"He WANTS to join? That's new."
Stride raised his shoulders.
"Just aching to get my life mark," he said.
They all raised a brow.
"Life mark?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Well, uh, that's how my dad calls it."
"That's like, really old. Ah heard Granny Smith say it from time to time," Apple Bloom added.
"Just aching to get my cutie mark, then," the somewhat agitated Stride corrected.
"Okay, welcome!" Sweetie Belle said. She stuck out her hoof.

Stride was hesitant to reach for it, after Apple Bloom's firm hoofshake.
Apple Bloom jumped in before he could do so though.
"Hold on a second," she protested, "we don't even know this guy, we can't just say he's a crusader!"
Scootaloo turned her eyes.
"Of course we can't, Apple Bloom, we need to do the ritual first."
"That's not what Ah meant, Ah think we should give him a trial period and see if he's got it in him to be a crusader."
The three fillies nodded at one another.
"All right. Stride, you are now a mot!"
"A mot?"
"Member on trial."
"Uh, sure."
The three stuck their heads together and shouted.
"Now let's do some crusading!"
Stride smiled. This was going to be great.

Scootaloo felt like she'd die of boredom. They had been sitting in the thinking spot for hours now, but still hadn't had a single idea. Stride was looking out the window. What was that silly colt looking at so intensely? He seemed to have a dreamy look on his face. She decided to ask.
"Hey, Stride. What are you looking at?" she asked.
He didn't avert his eyes from the orchard.
"The trees," he replied.
"The trees? What's so special about the trees?"
He finally turned his head.
"I can show you," he said, a sad reflection in his eyes.
Strange guy.
"Sure. It's better than sitting around and doing nothing."
The two other crusaders had gathered up behind her.
"Maybe we can get our cutie marks in tree observing?" Sweetie Belle uttered.
Apple Bloom wasn't so keen on it.
Scootaloo was curious now, though. What did Stride see in those big lumps of wood?
She lifted her shoulders.

"Let's give it a try."
Stride smiled widely. Not a creepy smile, like Pinkie Pie tended to give them. No, a truly glad smile.
He walked to the door.
"Let's go then!"
The trio followed him outside.

Stride walked over to one of the thickest trees. He closed his eyes and put his hoof on the stem.
"Perfect. Scootaloo, can you come over here?" he said.
"Uh, okay."
She hesitantly walked closer. He nodded to encourage her. As she reached the stem, he took a step aside.
"Stick out your hoof," he said.
Scootaloo put her right fore hoof on the wood.
"Now follow the lines."
She tried to follow the lines, but shot off of them in a straight line.
He shook his head and put his fore hoof on hers. He was now behind her.
He pressed her hoof against the wood. Old oak. The forest smell reached her muzzle. She closed her eyes. He moved her hoof over the curves in the wood. It moved in many directions, twirls and curls. She felt vibrant, alive with the melody of movement she felt on the wood. Each line they followed was unique. She breathed in slowly as the sweet smell of apples and tree sap filled her muzzle.
He moved his hoof away, but she kept following the bark. Her breath going slower and slower. She was calm, relaxed and still very alive.
The silent melody took her away, like a lullaby for a child too energetic to sleep. When she retracted her arm, she felt content.
She opened her eyes and turned around. Stride seemed proud to share this knowledge of the trees. Her fellow crusaders however were freaked out.

"That was weird," Sweetie said.
"Yeah, were you just petting a tree?" Apple Bloom asked.
Scootaloo facehoofed, then shook her head.
"It's really nice guys, you should try it!"
Sweetie Belle raised her brow.
"No thanks, I contact tree sap way too much already when we crash into trees."
Apple Bloom nodded in agreement.
"Uh, forget it. You guys are hopeless", Scootaloo moaned whilst she trotted back into the clubhouse.
Stride looked up at the sun.
"I should probably go home. It's getting late."
"Guess we'll see you at school tomorrow?" Sweetie Belle said.
"Uh,yeah, at school tomorrow."
Apple Bloom sat down and groaned.
"We haven't even done any crusading yet!"

---

The fog had been cleared when Stride arrived at home. Storm was at the window. She was relieved her son had come home safely.
"Stride, were have you been? I've been at the coffee shop, but you weren't there!"
"I was walking and suddenly somepony crashed into me," Stride said.
"Oh my, are you okay?"
"Yes, mom. I'm fine. Now, it was this filly..."
"A filly?"
"Well yeah, ponies can have two genders. Some are born male, others female and..."
"I know that, continue."
"She said she was part of a club. They go out on adventures to get their cutie marks."
Storm sighed and lay an arm around her son's neck.
"Oh, Stride. And you wanted to get your cutie mark this year?"
"Well, that too. I also wanted to have some friends," he said, chin down, "and their clubhouse is in this beautiful apple orchard nearby."
"Well, I guess it would do you good. It's better than staying here all day."
"Thanks mom!" he brightened up.
"Don't worry honey, now what do you want for dinner?"
"Hayfries and oatburgers?"
"Okay."

Storm grabbed a few bits. There was a grocerie store nearby, so it would be easy to get food. She wouldn't be making food the day after, no, they would take Stride out to Sugar Cube corner for pancakes! Also, Pinkie Pie had come by and said she was throwing a welcome party next weekend, but it had to be kept a secret for the little one.
"Oh, and mom?"
Storm turned her head.
"Yes honey?"
Her little boy looking at her with huge begging eyes. Was he going to ask for a new joyboy game?

"Can I go to school tomorrow?"

---

Comments

[Equestrian Clock]

First comment.

(Don't worry, I actually read it... and some other things.)

[Vedues]

There were a few grammatical errors. Most notably, commas go inside of quotation marks, rather than after them. If the quote ends in a period, question mark, or explanation point, then skip the comma entirely. At least, I'm pretty sure that's the rule.
Anyway, grammar aside, I enjoyed the story and the characterization. My only concern was how AB didn't want to touch the tree. Her older sister literally named one and read it bedtime stories, so I doubt 'petting' a tree would be all that weird to her.
Keep up the good work, and I look forward to your next chapter!

[EndlessHarmony]

...!!!! I like it!

[PonyFromSpace]

4078665 Thanks for the constructive comment! Since you said you weren't sure, I'll look it up. I'll try to fix the errors when I have time. Probably after writing the next chapter, then remove errors, then write following chapter, then remove errors from the previous...

About Apple Bloom and the tree, we don't really see a lot about her ideas on it in the show. I put up an alternate universe tag because I was certain not everything would be able to add up, but I do think the Apple Bloom part was very plausible. Here's why: whenever Applejack shows her quirks, even Apple Bloom (if she's in the scene) seems to be creeped out. In both Apple Family Reunion and Somepony to watch over me. I'm not sure whether there were other episodes, but I think there were. Not a single time has Apple Bloom been shown thinking the quirks were normal, so I didn't think it went in the wrong here. However, that's only my headcannon.
Thanks again!

[PonyFromSpace]

4079685 Yaay!

[Vedues]

4081761 Good point. I take back what I said about AB. In any case, good luck with the next chapter, and I hope to see it soon!

[PonyFromSpace]

4082105 I've looked it up and you're absolutely right about the quotation marks. After I've finished the second chapter (my pen is itchy) I'll try to fix it in the first.

[Cheddarhead]

This looks like a very interesting story, you've earned my favourite :)