The journey

by Dashed_Brony

CH1: Intro

'Death awaits the greatest of heroes!' "He shouted, with a mighty roar unlike anyone had ever heard! It made his foes tremble, it made them shake, it made them fear him! He was a massive one, the mightiest Equestria had ever seen! None ever dared cha-"

He was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"And who dares interrupt the mighty Laxed in his most mighty of stories?"

"You're too silly..." He stood face to face with someone not too off his own appearance. A mare with a black mane, striped red with equally black fur. It made her practically invisible in darkness, and the only thing one saw, was her red, hunting eyes.

Her name was Alita, a pegasi, and she might as well have been a vampony, had she only had the fangs. If she had any sharper teeth than the rather square ones located at the top and bottom of her mouth, he'd have probably been more frightened than attracted to her.

But attracted? Oh yes. He had a crush on her, more piercing and strong than anyone could hope to hinder or cut. Well, nearly anyone...

While she might've been his dreamgirl, he wasn't alone in the competition, and as far as he stood to holding her hooves in his own, his progress was lower than 'Him'...

He sighed. How could a male pegasi with two sea-blue eyes, black fur with red patterns spread out through various spaces and a black and red mane compare to the 'Hero of the town', someone far superior in both color, strength, speed, and everything else? Hay, he was even taller by half a head. To top it off, he was an alicorn.

A mane to fit his head which was obviously always in the clouds. Long and white, it flowed like a cloud in the soft breese.. Even better, he had a befitting coat which went well along with the hair, a lightened gray, much like that one clumsy pegasi that always flew about.

The competition was harsh, but a challenge had never stopped him before.

"Oh... Well, what brings you here? Finally cared for my offer to watch the moon atop the hill?" He was always quick to reply with some way of getting a date with her. She had never answered yes, but that warm smile she got every time he did was what kept him from stopping.

"Haha, no you goof. The kids needs to go eat." She only gazed at him for a moment, but it was the small moments she gave that mattered to him.

"Alright kids, pack it up. The 'Great and mighty storyteller' has better things to do, and so do you. Your mothers are all asking you to go home. You DO have better things to do than sit around telling stories all day, right?"

His heart stopped for a second. He wanted to win his heart over an alicorn that had everything on him, and as she had never asked before, it caught him fairly off guard. One hoofstep back, he regained his 'balance' once more and regained his composure. "But of course I do!"

He lied right in her face, and he felt like he had bit himself in the heart, but he didn't even see any other option. She didn't ask further, but the smile she had faded, even as he still had his. It was fake, but he had to make the lie trustworthy.

As she headed off with the kids, he turned to one of the windows in the library and simply gazed out into the wilderness that lay beyond it. "Imagine all the adventures that are out there..."

He was a bookworm by nature. Not the typical 'Nerd' though, he wasn't anywhere near Twilight's capabilities. She could answer just about anyone's questions, he could read stories. Made him feel all the more useless.

Ever since he was a kid, he had only dreamed of being one of 'The great', ponies who ended up in storybooks for their deeds, adventures and so on. He wanted to be an idol. Drowning himself in storybooks, he wasn't much of anything past a storyteller. His job was just being an assistant to whomever needed it. He worked wherever he got work, he wasn't permanently hired.

Bits was the least of his worries, he wasn't in a financial crisis. He felt like he had 'Lost his path'. He was a bookworm when he wanted to be a hero. So much for living up to his dream.

The cutie mark crusaders wandered outside the window. What he felt wasn't joy, love or anything like that. He felt envy bite away at him. At least they had their club, right? What did he have? A dusty old library filled with storybooks, most of which weren't even his. He had tried returning them to Twilight, whom he considered a Librarian he could visit at any time, but she had shook her head and told him to keep them. She wasn't quite so fascinated about them anyways.

He knew she lied, but she seemed to have pity on him or something, as though she knew. She probably did. He hadn't been the best of liars, and even more so, based on his 'job', most could probably guess what kind of a pony he was.

His thoughts had wandered off to her massive library. Still many books he hadn't read. As his focus returned and he once again saw the world before him, they were gone. The three of them had probably set off to another insane adventure at finding their cutie marks.

"Cutie mark..."

That word bit down on him hard. The skies had gathered all over. "Time for rain, huh?" He smiled. It almost felt fitting as his mood had already dropped at the thought of the description the two words formed. He looked to where his cutie mark was... Or should be, anyways.

Yes, he was a blank flank and every day it hurt him more and more. No wonder he always had his wings out in public. No matter how tiring it was, he had them spread fully open, just enough to cover his blank flank. He had managed to drop them once, believing nopony saw him. Served him right for being ignorant to get laughed at by a pair of fillies walking by.

He wasn't often glad somepony got yelled at, but as the parents scolded them, he nearly smiled, just a little as he wandered on. With the mothers' back turned towards him, he even reached his tongue at the little fillies and smirked at them and wandered on. That day was one of the few he had actually felt some joy past reading storybooks.

He simply gazed out of the windows for hours. Night befell him, and the beautiful moonlight shun through the window. Eventually, he found enough peace from the hassards of thoughts and fell asleep. The sunlight shining through the same window he had gazed out the day before was what woke him up. He hadn't moved far away from it, and not far enough to avoid the sunlight.

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He blinked a few times, aggitated, wanting to sleep more, but eventually grumbled as he woke up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. It was early. Too early for anypony else to be awake, he was sure. The sun had barely rose from the hills, and it was still making its full appearance.

"I swear she's doing this to mock me..." He grumbled. Hunger wasn't nagging him, so he decided to take a walk outdoors. Ponyville was the most pretty while it was empty. No eyes looking at him. Nopony judging him. No broad daylight shining him directly in the eyes wherever he walked. There were only a few strokes of sunlight every here and there.

It was still half-dark, and that was part of the beauty. It wasn't directly dark, but not directly bright either. The stands were empty, the houses had no light in them and there were no sounds past a few birds chittering and a chicken running across from one house to another. "Probably one of Shy's ran lose again."

If there was one pony he preffered being around to any other, it was her. He never felt uncomfortable around her. She was silent, friendly, and her eyes only befell his. Not in a romantic way, but she never, not even once, looked to his blank flank. She hadn't questioned it. Everypone else had. Made him wonder if she was considerate, or just naturally ignorant. In a good way of course. She hadn't ever done anything wrong. To top it off, she was rather cute. It made him feel bad they didn't talk to each other more.

He continued on. He wasn't in any mood to go chasing a chicken, and if anything, this was the one time he could truly enjoy himself outdoors.

He bypassed many buildings. One particular building made him stop. It couldn't be any other. He had walked for a little while of course, but he came across it accidentaly. What made him halt was the fact that he was walking too far, and if he didn't make his way back home soon, others would make it outside before he could return, and that thought made him disgress.

Still, he stood there for a second, looking up to the cloudy building. "Rainbow Dash... Heh..." She had once been his big crush. Before he met Alita anyways. It all reminded him of childhood memories. All the rejections he got, even then. He was persistant, he didn't want anyone else back then either. If he first found one, he stuck to her for a long time. It wasn't until later on, when he was closing up to being a fully grown stallion that he gave up the pursuit on her.

They still stuck around as friends. They even trained together. He might not have been the most athletic or anything, but he did love adventures. As if it wasn't obvious, anyways. They had that in common, as well as a liking for speed. Heh, they probably had more, but his thoughts had wandered on far enough, and now he made a swift, but controlled pace back the way he had first taken to get here.

He hadn't made it further than just getting back to the center of Ponyville, where all the buildings were, before he was stopped by another familiar voice.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh! You're out this early too? Is it because you're a blank flank? I heard some blank flanks go crazy! Does that mean I am a blank flank too? No, I don't have a blank flank! But we're both out here and I thought I was the only one! Maybe you came out after me and you actually have a cutie mark and it's hidden? Oh, this is so great! We're early-out-friends! Oh, I know what we should do! We should make a poster! I got a party cannon! I'll go make cake and everything and we'll celebrate that you've hid it this long an-"

The pink pony was interrupted. He had only caught hafl the sentence, he was too tired to do otherwise, as he was still waking up. Each time she mentioned the two words, he felt like he was being kicked right in the stomach, repedetively.

"Maybe another time Pinkie Pie... For now, I'll just head home. I'm a little tired."

She frowned, but nodded. "Okey dokey lokey... Next time then... 'Mr. I'm hiding my cutie mark from everyone"

He smiled a little. No matter how much it hurt that she had pointed it out over and over, she was Pinkie. She didn't mean harm by it, he knew that much, and Pinkie being... Well... Pinkie, she was too random for him not to get at least a little smile out of it.

She wandered one direction, him the other. This was just one of the many times she had assumed something about his lack of a cutie mark, but every time he met her, she always seemed to have forgotten her last conclusion and made a new one. He had never told her to stop either. He'd feel bad, since she only meant good by everything she said. She liked spreading laughter, and if he told her he only felt dismay at what she said, she'd probably have a more broken spirit than he had from her reminding him about his lack of a special talent.

Sun was rising up high on the skies, and every minute passing, less darkness covered the streets of Ponyville. He heard voices, saw lights in the houses and that caused him to start galloping across the street, hoping nopony saw or heard him. He slammed open the door to his own dusty little library. It had a kitchen, a bedroom and a living room that was more a library than anything else. No second floor. Just those three rooms. He didn't need more. He never had guests, nor did he have his special somepony. He probably didn't have a chance on Alita, and it was the only pony he could imagine himself spending the rest of his life together with.

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The door was shut, and so was his chances of being seen... He thought.

*Knock, knock, knock*

Somepony was at the door. He was afraid to answer. No matter how many days passed, no matter how many were aware, he always had a constant paranoia of someone seeing his blank flank, in fear of them commenting or laughing on it. Ponyville was friendly, he knew, but nothing struck more fear or sadness in him than laughter. He hardly dared even wandering outside because of this, since the town was usually cheerful.

He opened the door enough to peek outside with a single eye.

Fluttershy stood at the door. He was shocked. Then it struck him. She was probably outside looking for her chicken and wondered if he'd have seen it.

"I want to come in... If that's okay with you?"

He smiled. Again, he couldn't imagine anypony else he'd rather talk to, and she was one of the few he'd ever let into his home. She had been inside before, so he knew he didn't have to explain why his living room looked like Twilight's house had collapsed into a mountain of books.

There wasn't too much space for them to walk around, but there were carved paths if they needed to get anywhere specific. Aside from the small tops of books, there was two seats and a small table in the corner of the living room. His house wasn't too big, so it took its fair share of place.

He opened the door fully and raised a hoove, as to show her in. She walked inside and took a seat in one of the two chairs. He'd never have needed more since he only ever had one guest at a time, and even that was rare.

"S-So... Uhm... I saw you running... Is everything okay?"

Of course that was why she had come knocking. She was so caring to everypony, not just animals. She was better with the latter, but she tried to treat all alike. He had worried her, not just himself.

"Yeah... I'm fine... It's just... Do you ever have... You know... Urges to go out there... And explore everything? The books only tell so much... Hay, there aren't even enough images out there to really get a feel of everything we're missing out on..."

She shook her head. "Uhm... No I don't... That's not a problem... Is it?"

She had a worried expression, and her voice was shaky. He shook his head to reassure her she shouldn't worry.

"T-Then why do you ask?" She continued, still rather nervous.

"Because I do... I want to see all of Equestria... Every last bit of it... But... Since I never talk to anypony about it... I don't have any support... And if I die out there... Since that's a reality, not knowing what's out there... Will anypony even remember me?"

"Uhm... I would..." She cheerfully smiled.

"Haha... Thanks Shy... But in all seriousness... Would it be worth it? Please be honest Shy... I don't think there's a single pony out there I could ask this aside from you..."

She was probably ready to collapse right there. Due to her shy nature, it was probably not a very good idea to ask her for a major decision like this, but he saw no other way out of it.

"Please Shy... Yes or no..."

She calmed herself a bit. It was probably how serious he was about it that made her unable not to answer. She got up from her seat, and walked to the door. She smiled. There wasn't even a tiny bit of honesty in it though, he could see her wanting to cry. "Y-You've always dreamt about it, right? I t-think you should follow your dream"

She was choking on her own need to cry. She could barely hold it back before all he could hear was the door slamming shut as she galloped off.

They had been friends for a fairly long time, despite not talking as much as some friends do, or should.

"Was it the thought of me dying...?"

He questioned himself many things throughout the day as to why she had been so worried, but he had at least made a decision. He had her support on it, and that had made his mind clear. He was going to set out. He might even return a hero, and be able to win Alita's heart, who could tell?

- End, CH1 -

Comments

[Writey the writer]

'He had tried returning them to Twilight, whom he considered a Library he could visit at any time, but she had shook her head and told him to keep them. '

'whom he considered a Library he could visit at any time' Awkwardest of wordings; I'm not even sure it makes sense.

[Dashed_Brony]

953727 Well, it was meant to point out he visited her so regularely that she might as well have been a librarian that rented out books to him(Except he never really returned them). Sorry if that was unclear

Edit: Imminent ... I wrote Library instead of Librarian... My brain has some serious dyslectic behaviour at times, I swear...

*Fixed*