The Rise of Metal

by PanzerBrony Metallicom

Chapter 7 - Loner

As I walked out of the castle gates, I noticed that there was a carriage parked in front of them. Ähm … why is that here? I wondered myself. Suddenly an earth pony stallion in a brown jacket approached me with also a brown cap atop of his head.

“Are you Mr. Windhund?” he asked in a friendly tone.

“Yes, I am. What can I do for you, Mr …?” I answered back. I didn’t expect to meet anypony so soon.

“Oh, I’m sorry. My name is Golden Road, but most ponies just call me Roady and I’m the carriage rider of the princesses. Princess Celestia informed me that I should meet you here to show you around the city.”

My eyes bulged and nearly fell out if its sockets. WHAT?! Can Celestia read my mind or something? my head screamed. Back at the castle Celestia just had to snicker in the middle of a conversation. Everypony turned their heads towards the Princess in confusion.

“Well … I don’t know what to say really. I wasn’t expecting this at all.”

“It’s really no problem.” Mr. Road said with a smile.

“Alright, we should get going then.” And with that I started to walk again.

“Halt! And where do you think are you going?” Golden Road said with a stern tone.

“Into the city of Canterlot?!” I answered back with a tone that stated that the answer should be obvious.

Roady had to laugh very heartily that this. “And why do you think me and this beauty”, he gestured with a hoof towards the carriage, “are here? We don’t walk into the city. We are driving.”

“Are we really using a royal carriage for this?” I asked back, but still stunned from the fact that this carriage was just here for me.

“Well, it’s not the carriage the Princesses would use, but otherwise, yes. We are using this ‘royal’ carriage to get into town.” Mr. Road said as he got into the driver’s position. I entered the carriage and we were off.

The ride towards the city was calm. And against all of my expectations the Canterlot castle wasn’t built in the center of the city; it was located in the north of the city. While we rode though Canterlot Golden Road explained a lot about some Equestrian history. How Canterlot became the new home of Princess Celestia after the banishment of Nightmare Moon (this also included the story of how Princess Luna turned evil) and how Celestia was voted to rule over the newly founded land many centuries ago.

The capital of Equestria has an interesting build. In the north, next to the castle lived the nobles and other high society ponies, as well as Princess Celestia’s School. The center of town was filled with shops, parks and other stuff where you could spend your money on. Mr. Road even told me that the city has a high school here. The western side of town inhabited all middle class ponies and two kindergartens, one for ‘normal’ colts and fillies and the other one for small ponies with huge magical abilities. Some of them would be the lucky ones, who get a spot in Celestia’s School for gifted Unicorns one day. The south of the city was, against my imagination, the industrial part of the town. There was a power plant, a water cleaning facility and other big buildings that produced things for the ‘daily life’. The eastern side was … well … it wouldn’t qualify for the title ‘Ghetto’, but it was clear that only ponies with low up to no money would settle in this part of town. I don’t know why, but I felt a light tug on my heartstrings as I felt sorry for these ponies. If I had landed somewhere else when I entered this world, I could have ended up as poor as them.

--- Later that day ---

The sun had already set but the sky was still lit with a nice and hearty red tone, when Mr. Road and I arrived at a nice looking restaurant. I climbed out of the carriage and turned my head towards him.

“Are you coming with me or am I alone from now on?” I asked.

“As much as I would like to join you for a real fancy dinner, I sadly have duties to attempt to. Have a nice evening, Mr. Windhund.” he answered before he took off again.

I took a few steps to get up the stairs that lead to the entrance of the restaurant. And Roady wasn’t kidding when he said: "It’s good, but really fancy looking." It was an understatement. That thing wasn’t a place where ‘normal’ ponies would go to dine, it was a small palace!
"Well now I am curious to find out HOW good these dishes are that they are serving here," I said to myself. And with that thought, I entered ‘The Canterlot Cusine’.

As I entered the restaurant a servant shoot me an asking glaze, before I said to him: “Excuse me, good sir. Do you still have a table for one?”

The servant looked me over for a second time with a questioning expression on his face. After a few seconds of thinking and looking over the table list he finally answered: “In fact we do. Please follow me.”
I wonder what that was all about. my brain told me as I followed the servant deeper inside the establishment. I should found the reason for it soon enough.

While I followed the pony through the pretty filled restaurant, I caught a glimpse of some other patrons looking back at me with expressions of disgust or utter shock. As soon as we reached our destination, a booth with a window that gave a nice look of the city, the servant turned and told me: “This will be your table, mister. Please suit yourself and make yourself comfortable. A waiter will be with you shortly to take your orders.” He slightly bowed after he was finished and walked off again.

Not long after a waiter appeared and he took my order for a fresh salad and some hard cider. Some ponies told me that hard cider from Sweet Apple Acres was the best cider in all of EQ. Who was I to not take a chance to try some out?
While I waited for my food to be brought to me, I looked out of the window. The sun had already set and night had slowly begun to crawl out. The view that was there before my eyes was really nice. Maybe not that good when you had the view from one of the castle towers but this was still good. Some ponies outside where coming from work and where on their way towards home, while others were doing the opposite. A lot fewer ponies tend to do some grocery shopping before their trip home/to work.

I looked out of the window and enjoyed the view over the city of Canterlot, I failed to notice that I was the point of a lot of attention. Nearly everypony that had sight of me idle chatted with their partners/friends about what I would do in such fancy place as this restaurant. Most of their eyes were filled with fear that Nightmare Moon and her Children of the Night were back. I mean my almost completely black coat could easily assume such thing.

After some time my meal was brought to me by the waiter that took my order. When I changed my view from window, back to into the establishment, I finally noticed all the ponies basically staring at me. When they also noticed that I looked back at them with a questioning glaze, they all turned their heads away. Mentally shrugging I decided I was distracted long enough and began to eat. However, unheard by my ears, the conversations about me never seemed to fade.

By the time I was finished with my meal (which was absolutely tasty and the ponies where definitely right about the cider) I still had ‘room’ for one dessert. I looked around to find a waiter to take my order again. When I spotted one, he was talking with other patrons and they all glanced over to me from time to time. The feelings of worry and fear entered my belly region. And let me tell you this: when you have a bad feeling in your guts, something even worse is most likely going to happen. This time shouldn’t be any different.

Once the waiter was finished with his conversation, I waved him over to me with a hoof. When he came closer I noticed that he had a serious expression on his face. It only made the negative feelings in my guts worse.

“Hello, good Sir. I would like to …” I begun.

“I am sorry but out for the safety of our other guests we would please you to leave our establishment.” the waiter said with a straight face.
A lot of emotions raced through my mind and my jaw was about to drop, but I held my ground. Dumb folded I looked back at the waiter and said: “And what’s the reason for that ‘step’?”

“Well other patrons are full of fear, thanks to your outside presence. And that’s why we would like you to leave our restaurant.”

Anger and hate rose up in my system. It’s just like back on earth! Now I’m gonna be judged my outside appearance!! I just looked coolly up to waiter and answered with the coldest voice I could muster: “I’m sorry, but I did nothing wrong here. So I’m sadly declining your order.”

The waiter was surprised that somepony dared to stand up to him. It never happened before in his career. He raised his voice and said: “Sir, this is the last time I order you to leave this restaurant immediately. Otherwise I’m going to call the guards!”

That was it! If he wants to play like this, two can play this game. I stood up from my place and nearly shouted back at the waiter: “I am NOT gonna leave this restaurant because others are scared of my look!!” For emphasis I narrowed my eyes on the waiter and flared my nostrils for good measure. Of course this drew the attention of all the others back to me.

The poor waiter’s pupils shrunk to pinpricks and a bit of sweat escaped on his forehead. Before he could retreat to call the guards, other guests came over, some with hate in their eyes.

One of them was a yellow mare, with purple mane and wore a fancy dress. She dared to get into my face/muzzle and nearly yelled at me, her voice full of anger: “Now listen to me, mister! I don’t know who you are, but how dare you to scare us with your Nightmare Moon presence! Get out of here and go back to the tartarus where you belong, you monster!!”

My eyes widened and my jaw fell agape. Did I really just hear that right? I was in a stupor and failed to notice that a small mop of angry ponies formed around my table while they all were shouting insults at me. One word especially echoed through my mind again and again.

Monster. Monster. MONSTER!

Tears welled up in my eyes and I only knew one way to escape this hell. So I reared up and broke into a full gallop, nearly running over several others, but in my blurred vision I failed to notice. I just continued to gallop through the streets of Canterlot while tears freely feel from my face. I only had one place to run to: the royal castle. I ignored everything on my way to my destination; the calls from the restaurant guests, the angry voices of carriage drivers and finally the shouts of the guards at the front gate of the castle. I just ran past everything and when the stress and adrenaline left my system I collapsed on a bench and cried my eyes out. I was so busy with myself that I failed to notice three things:

1) I ended up in the maze in the royal gardens, near the fountain to be exact.
2) The night, the moon and the stars were out on full display and
3) That somepony just landed near me and slowly came closer.

Author's Note:

I guess I overdid myself here! 2k words is pretty big for my style of writing.

If you have any ideas, opinions and/or contructive critisism, please leave a comment below. It helps me and also the story out. Thanks!

Musical inspiration:

Comments

[ZakhepBloodyknife]

Continue IT! PLZ :3

[PanzerBrony Metallicom]

7766287

Next chapter has been sent to my editors. Will publish it when its done.

May I ask what you like about that story? :)

[Mocha Star]

Waiting for the metal!
Too many problems to comment otherwise.

[Sparkle Cola]

You started off well with some better crafted dialogue. Then you lost whatever energy you just had by just a glazed narration of the city and history in a glancing fashion.

Huh? Outside presence, or outside appearance?

If you are in the First Person voice, how does he know that this is the first time anyone has stood up to this waiter?

Wow, bigger effort here, much more plot happening and more dialogue... you are improving! And... still badly need editing help.

And how did he pay for his food? did he bring any bits in a saddlebag?