Pale

by Allkore

1 - Pale Blue

"Dear, please come to bed," Doctor Cerebellum pleaded her husband, "it's already 3 in the morning. We can work on that tomorrow."

"No, no, no," Doctor Engram responded, "if I stop now, I'll never be able to pick up from where I left off." The sound of pencil scratching followed. Engram held in his hoof a pencil that had been worn down to only about two and a half inches long. Engram wiped the small bit of sweat off his forehead. Line after line, the pencil lost its lead, and his wife stood in the doorway, leaning herself against the door frame in worry. "If I could just figure out what I could do to keep it from overheating," Engram spoke, either to himself or to his wife, he didn't know himself. "I can't let it be too large or else it may affect the memory of the brain. Oh, this is dreadful. If only... - Wait! That's it!" Engram stood onto his two back hooves and grabbed a small, brown, wooden box, dusty from ages of sitting alone on its shelf. He rested the box on his desk and carefully opened it to view its contents.

"Dear, what are you doing? You can't possibly be..."

"Oh, yes, I am, yes I am!" Engram laughed out loud with a strange smirk on his face. "This is what will work. This is it. This." He held up a small piece of a strange, slightly blue-tinted piece of metal. It was no thicker than a paperclip and no longer than the eraser on the end of his pencil. A perfect rectangle. He laughed again, his body shaking.

"Sweetie, you can't use that! We don't know why that thing works the way it does, and we aren't even sure if we've seen its true potential!"

"Shush, shush," Engram gestured her with the wave of his left hoof. His messy, brown mane shook slightly as he whipped his head to and fro, looking at the piece of metal and back to the schematic he had been working on for the past 7 hours. "Yes, yes, this will work perfectly. I've gotten it." His voice lowered down to that of a whisper to himself. "Now, I'll just need something to test it on, first..."

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

"An' that'll be 4 bits, ma'am!" Applejack stated with her usual, warm smile. A mare, one with the softest shade of blue for a coat and the most baby of pinks for a mane, took out 4 bits from her bag hanging on her blank flank and placed it onto the stand before her, then retrieved her bag of apples. "Thank ya' kindly!" The blue mare continued on her way without saying a word. She continued into a nearby park, somewhere near Fluttershy's house. She chose a bench farthest away from the other ponies in the area whom were doing miscellaneous things. The bag rustled when she reached in to grab one of her red apples. She examined it thoroughly with her faded pink eyes briefly, then exhaled a warm breath onto the red skin and rubbed it against her chest to remove any dirt, then took a small bite. After a few moments, she swallowed, took another bite, then noticed a bright pink figure standing in front of her. The blue mare kept quiet and stared, while the pink mare before her met her gaze. Moments passed, and a few more bites later, the blue mare cleared her throat.

"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! You looked a bit lonely all here by yourself, and I don't think I've seen you around Ponyville before, so does that mean you're new? Oh, wait! If that's true, then..." The pink mare gasped and hastily took her lead, zooming off to the blue mare's right. Another bite of the apple.

When the blue mare had finished, she had left the plastic bag sitting on the bench, the cores of her apples inside. She began to pace to the exit of the park, when her ears picked up some kind of strange noise coming from behind. The blue mare quickly turned her head and shifted her eyes to the side to see behind her. A yellow mare with a pink mane was standing in front of the bench the blue mare had just been sitting on.

"Oh, yes, um, I was just wondering, if you don't mind, I mean, if it wouldn't trouble you too much, to, um, throw your trash away?" Fluttershy asked. The blue mare turned herself completely around and took a few steps forward. She glanced to her bag, then back to the yellow mare. "I mean, you shouldn't leave trash around, it's not good, but I mean if it's too troublesome, it's okay..." The yellow mare whispered. The soft blue mare stared at Fluttershy with blank, pink eyes, expressionless. "Oh, um... I mean..." Fluttershy turned her head and ducked down slightly, hiding herself behind her trailing pink mane. She began to shiver and shake, then let out a small squeal. A yell from yonder could be heard in the silence, but wasn't loud enough to clearly make out. The blue mare walked over to the bench and grabbed her bag, and in fear, Fluttershy ducked down even further and covered her head, letting out another yelp. The blue mare took a moment to take in the sight, when another yell, this time louder, caught her ear.

"Fluttershy!" the voice from afar screamed. Twilight Sparkle trotted down a small hill over to their direction. "Fluttershy, what's the matter? Did you do something to her?!" The purple coated mare looked over at the silent blue pony in front of her. In response, the blue mare blinked, then turned to take her leave. "Hey! I'm talking to- Wait, what?" Twilight squinted as she tried to make out the blue mare's flank. "Hey! Hey!!! Where's your cutie mark?" The blue mare ignored the question and continued walking at her slow pace.

"Now, who is this blank flank we're throwing this party for again, Pinkie?" Rainbow Dash inquired.

"I have no clue! She's totally new, and I didn't get to catch her name!" Pinkie responded, bouncing about in excitement.

"Blank flank? So the dear is only but a filly?" Rarity asked, a confused expression on her face. "Why haven't we heard about her? Surely we'd hear of a new filly being born."

"No, no, she's not that young! She's just as old as us!" Pinkie said in her sing-song tone. Rainbow Dash let out a small chuckle and then rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, Pinkie, real funny."

"No, I'm serious! I don't know why, but her flank was blank!"

"She's not joking, Rainbow. I saw a mare with no cutie mark today, too." Twilight added in. "But Pinkie, if you couldn't find out her name, how could you find out where she lives?

"Oh, that's easy! I didn't know who lived here, and I didn't know where she lived, so this MUST be the place!" Twilight shook her head and giggled a tad.

"Hey, y'all, I think this is her comin'!" Applejack alerted her group of friends. Pinkie Pie rushed to the window Applejack was glancing out of and saw a soft blue coated mare with the most baby of pinks mane and tail.

"Oooh, yeah! Here she comes! Everypony hide!" Pinkie Pie ordered. Fluttershy turned off the lights and hid herself just as all the others did. The six friends listened carefully to the jingling of the keys in the front door's lock. When the doorknob clicked, everypony jumped up from their spots and yelled "Surprise!" Streamers and balloons rose up and confetti rained down from the ceiling. The pale blue mare stood in the doorway without showing any signs of joy, shock, or anger. She set down her bags on a nearby table, then continued to take her leave without closing the door behind her. A few speechless moments passed by as the six ponies looked at each other in utter confusion.

"Well, somepony's a bit stuck up, don'tcha think?" Rainbow Dash broke the silence. Another few seconds of silence.

"I'm gonna go talk to her." Twilight proclaimed as she headed towards the door. The others looked at one another with sour faces and small shakes of their head. Twilight was on her own. She stretched her body upwards to get a better scope of the area. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a soft pink tail swaying left and right in the distance. She galloped and called out to her. "Hey! Wait!" The lack of response only made her run faster. The faded blue mare looked forward without the slightest of concern. When Twilight had caught up with her, she turned her head and took a long look at the blue mare's flank. It really was blank. Twilight looked forward again to find the mare gazing at her with that stare as blank as her flank. Twilight gave a nervous smile and an awkward smile in response. The blue mare turned her head to her front again and continued trotting.

"Hey, is something bothering you?" Twilight pried. No response. "Can you hear me?" Nothing. "Hey! I'm talking to you!" More silence. She clenched her teeth and tensed up slightly. "Alright, I don't know who you are, and I don't know who you think you are, but you need to stop acting like you're better than everypony else. We were only trying to be nice by welcoming you to ponyville, and we just get the silent treatment in response? We can't even figure out your name, for Celestia's sake! And-"

"Pale," the blue mare interrupted, turning her head back to the purple mare following her. Twilight's eyes grew wide in disbelief. "My name... is Pale."

Comments

[Bandy]

You have a good concept here. I beseech thee, do continue.

[MAO9]

I like silent types. Let us see where this leads.