Adventures of Obie

by Psycho2cool

Around Town

Adventures of Obie
Around Town

Rainbow Dash left Obie after affirming her home was far more comfortable than a normal cloud. Although, Rainbow had seemed more like she was berating than assuring. Obie agreed he’d be there before her imposed curfew of sunset. With that, she soared high into the air and over Ponyville until she was out of sight. Obie took note that she flew in the direction where the clouds were least thick. He wondered what kind of weather job would involve so few clouds.

He quickly dismissed the thought. The sun was still showing high in the sky, placing the time around an hour and a half past midday. There was still a lot of Ponyville to experience. With time on his side, Obie broke into a happy trot back north towards town. A light smile was becoming wide as his thoughts filled with what the town would be like.

A deep hum radiated from Obies throat. He varied tunes as they came to mind. He kept his eyes on the town, anticipating his arrival, and intensifying happy tunes. A pony left the town pulling an empty cart. As he neared he saw the pony was a large red stallion, a very large stallion. He was a farm pony, obvious because of the yoke he wore, and had dirty blonde hair. The large earth pony chewed a sprig of wheat as he eyed Obie apathetically. The pegasus silently amazed at the size of the proud earth pony nearing to pass him. He hadn’t met many ponies larger than himself and those that were had not dwarfed him as much as this stallion.

As they passed he smiled and gave a quick hello. This only prompted a slight nod as the red pony carried on. Obie found that he respected the earth pony’s demeanor. Almost past the cart now, a light snoring could be heard from the empty cart. A quick glance revealed a yellow filly sporting a bow in her mane napping carelessly. This touched Obies heart. She's probably that fellow’s daughter, he thought. He became faintly homesick for a moment but it passed.

Not long after, Obie entered Ponyville for the first time. It was just as happily buzzing as it had been when he flew over it. He made his way somewhat aimlessly toward the center of town. Ponies took notice of him; some gave small hellos and welcomes, some gave a passing glance, and some giggled at the sight of him. Obie had forgotten that ponies had witnessed the embarrassing moments he had with Rainbow dash and simply regarded the mocking ponies as rude.

At the center of Ponyville was a large, round, two story town hall. It had a very inviting look. Obie looked around, searching out the most interesting buildings. He took note of a tree-building that seemed ignored amongst the hustle of the town. Was it a home or business? Curiosity peaked; he began to trot to the direction of the strange tree house-building thing when he remembered Sugarcube corner. That was where the party was to be hosted. Obie wanted to see what he was in for.

After asking a nice unicorn for directions, Obie made a short trot toward Sugarcube Corner. It was ever apparent that the building deserved its name. It looked just like a gingerbread house! Cupcakes, gumdrops, and other confections and candies were painted fittingly all over. It was a fairly busy shop with ponies frequenting it even as Obie approached. He made his way through the open door and found the store brightly colored and kept the same demeanor as it had from the outside. It had an open space that led to the business counter which was manned by a tall skinny stallion. Tables lined along the edge of the front of the shop in front of a large window. Directly across the fairly large room was a raised dining area that could also double as a stage. Next to the stage a flight of stairs disappeared into the second story. Overall, it seemed a fun place to be.

Obie walked to the line and began to wait, wanting to fill his stomach before he became hungry. His place was behind an orange maned Earth pony mare with a triple carrot cutie mark. She looked forward in silence for a while until her eyes began to wander. When their gaze landed on Obie she turned just enough to allow her head to face him. She stared, mouth agape, and after an uncomfortable moment said, “wow”.

“Hello,” Obie said. He smiled nervously.

“You know, I don’t think I’ve seen a pony like you around here before.” She faced him and her expression became more relaxed and open. She smiled.

“Well that’s because I’ve never been here before.” Obie noticed the line begin to move.

“Wow,” she said again with an exaggerated tone, “What brings you to Ponyville, stranger?”

“I’m traveling Equestria. I’d like to visit as many places as possible and make lots of friends.”

“How interesting.” The line moved forward again. She couldn’t have noticed.

“Yes, umm…” Obie was thinking of a polite way to tell the mare she was holding up the line.

“My name’s Golden Harvest. What’s yours?” She was oddly wide-eyed.

“Obsidian Shield. Please call me Obie.”

The mare began to smile and fidget excitedly. “Wow, what a neat name.”

“Yes well,” Obie felt uncomfortable with her sudden behavior, “your name is nice too.”

The mare giggled.

“Uh-hum!” Some mare behind them in line cleared her thought in that obvious ‘pay attention’ mannor. Golden Harvest took a quick glance at the line and then at the stallion behind the counter. There was no line in front of her. She blushed and cantered to the front. “My usual” she said meekly to which the worker replied “Of course, Golden.” He left through a nearby door and reappeared quickly carrying a small paper sack filled with a confection of some kind. She left quickly, but not before throwing a wink Obie’s way. He didn’t know how to correctly return the gesture so he smiled back and then made his way to the business counter.

“Quite a character, huh?” The business pony said.

“Yeah.” Obie Chuckled. “A small piece of that carrot cake, please?”

“Sure thing. Would you like to take it to go?”

“No, I’ll eat it here,” Obie said after a small amount of thought. The yellow pony retrieved a piece of cake on a disposable plate and Obie took out the required bits for the purchase.

“I’m Mr. Cake, by the way, and if you need anything just give me a shout.”

“Okay. I’m Obie.” He smiled and added, “thank you.”

Obie took an open table by the window. He sat down his treat and relieved himself of his saddlebags. The store kept busy with ponies going about their own business. Obie enjoyed his slice of cake while he watched the buzzing of the store for a small while. Ponyville seemed a good place to live. Nopony ignored the other and everypony wore smiles.

The pastry had been finished for a while when Obie saw Pinkie Pie enter. She was all smiles and hellos to everypony. Passing conversation followed her around the shop. She’d noticed Obie and gave him a smile which he returned. After a few obligatory greetings, she made her way to his table. They exchanged hellos and Pinkie sat across from Obie.

“So, I have time now,” Pinky started, “would you mind if we spoke? You know, get to know each other?” She beamed, seemingly with anticipation.

“I would like that, yes.” Obie replied.

“Good, ‘cause I want to know as much about you as possible!”

“Well, uh…, what do you want to know?”

“How about, what brings you to Ponyville? You wouldn’t just come here without a reason would you?”

“I suppose not. But my reason isn’t so special, I’m just traveling Equestria.” Obie chuckled. “This is only the third place I’ve visited. The other two villages weren’t worth spending too much time in.”

“Why not?” Pinkie Pies voice was laced with concern.

“They were just not as nice a place as this. They didn’t like strangers.”

“Doesn’t sound like anyplace I’d like to be, I love meeting new ponies!”

“I hear you. The first impressions those places gave off made Equestria seem like an unwelcoming place.” Obie sighed in relief and added, “I like it here.”

“So you’ve never left home before now?” A head shake gave the answer. “So this has to be extra fun for you! It’s exciting to leave home for the first time. I know it was for me.”

“You’re not from Ponyville?”

“No, I lived on a rock farm. It wasn’t a very happy place. I did what I could but making it too fun there was… counterproductive. So, as soon as I was old enough to, I moved here. Now I get to have as many parties as I could possibly dream!” The pink mare smiled and clopped her hooves excitedly.

“That’s inspiring. Is partying your special talent?”

“Yes sir!” she lifted her flank into view, “See? I have three awesome balloons to show for it as my cutie mark! What does your shield mean?”

Obie thought back on what chance Pinkie had on looking at his flank and nothing came to mind. He ignored the thought. “I think it’s because I’ve a protective personality. Not really sure.”

“How do you not know what your cutie mark stands for?” Pinkie Pie made a humorous face of confusion.

“I uhh… don’t know. I must have been very young when I got it. I’ve always just had it.”

“Wouldn’t your parents know it if you were too young to remember?”

“No, I was adopted.” The pegasus looked away and rubbed the back of the head with his hoof.

“Oh…” Pinkies ears folded back and she grimaced, “sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s not like I knew who my blood parents were. I only know my real parents. It’s not something I’m ashamed to share or something to apologize for asking about.”

“Okie-Dokie!” The instantaneous bounce back could catch anypony off guard. “So, have you seen much of Ponyville, yet?” The mare leaned over the table, anxious to hear anything Obie had to say.

“I haven’t seen much. Although, I did run into Rainbow Dash.” He decided he’d not tell her about the disagreement.

“Oh really? That’s great! Isn’t she great? How’d you like her?” Imagine a wide eyed pink pony with a grin longer than her face.

“She was nice. She even offered to let me stay at her house.”

“That’s very nice of her. I wonder why she’d just offer up her place like that, doesn’t seem much like her.” Pinky tapped her hoof on her chin in a puzzled manner.

“Well, uh… we really hit it off.” A wide smile obscured Obie’s half-truth.

“Oh, wow! That’s so amazing! I’m glad. Say, would you like me to show you around Ponyville? We have plenty of neat things here.” At that, the pink pony giggled.

“I would like that.”

“Okay! Let’s get going!” Pinkie Pie stood and took the disposable plate in her mouth and trotted off to a trash bin.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Might as well! I work here so I clean up after messy ponies all the time.” She chuckled at her tease.

Obie giggled. How could this pony get on his nerves like Rainbow dash said? Apparently, through extended conversation. Though he liked her forward demeanor, he found himself overwhelmed from the constant barrage of words. She explained just about anything and everything. Over expressive descriptions about bland looking houses and businesses flowed fluently and with little breath from her mouth. For the most part, Obie could catch the gist of what she was saying. Colgate’s Dentistry, Quills and Sofa’s, and the hardware and some other various places that Pinkie’s descriptions sped through were in particularly unimpressive. Obie often spaced out as they trotted along. Often, he fell behind and would need to cantor back to his guides side, who seemed never to notice.

“And this is where Golden Harvest lives! She grows carrots in her backyard garden and sells them at the market! They’re really good! Okay, Next!”

Obie heard a familiar name and snapped to attention. “I know her. We met in Sugarcube Corner.” Pinkie Pie was suddenly ecstatic.

“Ooh! Really? Maybe if she’s working in the garden she’ll come up front and we can talk to her.”

“I don’t think-“Pinkie interrupted him with a ‘shhh’ and stared at the side yard where the pony would supposedly come from. They waited.

“Pinkie, I-“Obie was immediately silenced by another ‘shhh’. Defeated, he waited in silence. One moment followed another as the mare stared at the empty space in the lawn. She was completely silent and motionless. A slight smirk adorned her face and she furrowed her brow concentration. More time passed.

A significant amount of time passed before Golden Harvest did emerge. The yellow pony had opened her front door and asked, “Pinkie, what are you doing?”

“Hi, Golden Harvest! Obie said that he met you at Sugarcube corner, so I thought if we could catch you on your way to the front yard we could all talk.” Pinkie beamed.

“So, that’s why you’ve been staring at my yard for ten minutes?” Golden asked, slightly amused.

“Yeah!” The pink pony’s expression didn’t change.

“What did you want to talk about?” Golden made her way to Obie and Pinkie Pie. To Obie she said, “Nice to meet you again,” with a smile.

“You too.” He smiled back.

“What are you two doing?” The orange mane pony asked.

“I’m showing Obie around town!” Pinkie Pie smiled with pride as she began to hop in place excitedly.

“Introducing him to everypony, eh?”

“Nope!” She stopped hopping.

“What?” Golden asked in surprise.

“I’m waiting to do that at Rainbows party! It’ll be so much more fun and easy that way!”

Golden Harvest giggled. “I bet. Say, Obie, how long do you plan on staying in Ponyville?” She looked into Obie’s eyes with flushed cheeks.

“Not too long. I’ll probably leave the day after the party.” He thought about how short a stay it was in such a wonderful place.

“Oh really,” Golden’s voice slowed, “Are you staying at the Inn tonight?” She lowered her head a bit but did not look away from Obie.

“No, I met Rainbow Dash and she is practically forcing me to ‘crash on her couch’.”

“Isn’t that nice of her?” Pinkie Pie interjected.

“Yeah, it is.” The yellow mare trailed off. After a small moment, she said, “I forgot that I have something to take care of. I’ll see you guys at the party tomorrow.” With that said, she cantered back to her door and quickly entered her home.

“I wonder what’s wrong with her.” Pinkie said concerned.

“I don’t know. Do you think she’s in trouble? Should we do something?”

“No, she probably has something to do. Let’s go! We still have plenty of time in the day.” Pinkie Pie then bounced on her way. Obie followed, unable to shake the feeling that he’d done something wrong.

The thoughts soon left Obie’s mind as Pinkie Pie began to go on about the town again. She mentioned a few places that were, to her, important sites to be. She showed him town hall, which he’d already seen, and the Carousel Boutique, that was owned by a friend of hers. The two went over various other places for a few hours. There wasn’t much to see in the town, but Pinkie made sure they went over it all and in detail. Obie found, as time went on, that the eccentric pony was easy to listen too if he ignored the less important things she had to say. They came upon the strange tree-building that Obie wanted to investigate before.

“This!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie, “is Golden Oaks Library! My friend Twilight lives here with her assistant, Spike. She’s a student and is really smart! She’s really good with magic and lives here to study friendship! Isn’t that neat?”

Obie stared at the strange building. “So, it’s a library. That’s interesting. I was going to visit this place earlier. Just to see it, you know? I couldn’t tell kind of building it was.”

“It’s a tree-house, silly.” Pinkie smiled dumbly at her tourist who only sighed in defeat. “Want to go in and check it out?” Without waiting for an answer she took him by the hoof and brought him to the door. The mare knocked on the door and it opened a few moments after.

Disbelief stained Obie’s face. The ponies were greeted by a smiling little purple and green dragon wearing an apron. He was shocked to see such a miniscule monster casually address Pinkie and he as they stood there. Having no idea how to react to the situation, Obie stood still and stared, dumbfounded.

“What’s up with him?” The dragon asked Pinkie Pie, gesturing an opposable talon toward Obie.

“He’s new to town. I’d bet a bit that he’s never seen a dragon before.” Pinkie giggled.

“Yeah, I know how intimidating we dragons can be.” The little guy tried to bear his fangs menacingly, but only succeeded in making a cute, wide smile. He then extended his claw open toward Obie, “Names Spike, nice to meet you. Don’t worry, I’m not as nasty as any stories you might have heard.”

Even if he wanted to be, he couldn’t, thought Obie, the little thing doesn’t even reach my shoulders. “Obie. Sorry if I seemed rude,” Obie took the claw in a shake, “It’s true that I’ve never seen a dragon. I’m a little awestruck.”

“Don’t mention it. It’s all good. Come on in, you guys, I’ll get Twilight.” Spike then hurried inside and upstairs. The ponies entered the library. It was more perfectly round than the tree shape would have made it appear from the outside. Along the rounded interior were bookshelves carved into the wood. There was a statue in the center of the shelved area. To the left of the entrance was a small study area with two desks and seats that could comfortably seat four ponies. There was a door to the right with a label etched in the wood that read “Kitchen”. Between the study area and shelved area rested a door labeled “Basement”. Stairs to the second floor winded above some shelves. The entire place had a very welcoming atmosphere and was surprisingly well lit. Windows seemed placed strategically along with a small amount of candles to achieve this goal. Generally, it was a very serene place.

“She’s on her way down,” Spike said as he rushed downstairs. He gave the two ponies a toothy smile before leaving through the door labeled “Kitchen”.

Soon after, a violet unicorn descended the stairs. She had a blue mane and tail with a purple and pink stripe running through them. With a practiced grace, she made her way toward her guests and greeted them with a warm smile.

“Hello, Pinkie Pie,” she said.

“Hey ya, Twilight!” Pinkie bounced a few times as she spoke, “I wanted to introduce you to my new friend, Obie!”

“It’s nice to meet you, Obie, my names Twilight Sparkle.” She offered her hoof.

Obie took it. “Hello and likewise,” he said simply.

“So, what brings you here? Something you need or is Pinkie just introducing you to everypony in town?”

“Nah, Twilight,” Pinkie Pie answered for him, “I’m going to do that tomorrow at Rainbows party. He was curious to see the library.”

“Well, I’ve never seen a tree carved into a building like this before.” Obie stated. “It’s very interesting.”

“It is, isn’t it?” the violet pony began, “It was built almost eighty years ago. I think the most interesting thing about Golden Oaks is that the tree is still alive. It takes periodical maintenance to make sure it’s growth doesn’t interfere with the layout of the library.”

“Neat.” Obie looked around, thinking about how the place would only get bigger.

“What brings you to Ponyville?”

“I’m traveling Equestria. I want to see as much as I can and make lots of friends along the way.” Obie smiled at Twilight as if proud that he could make the statement.

“That’s quite an undertaking. Where are you from, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I don’t. I’m from a small mining town nestled among the Northern Equestrian Mountains.”

“Wow, that’s a long ways away from here,” Twilight said, amazed, “Have you seen a lot?”

“Not really, I’ve kept to small villages. The last few were not as nice as this one. I plan on going to a larger town soon. Maybe, Trottingham, it’s nearby enough.”

“I hear it’s nice there, this time of year. Now, I’m sorry, I really don’t want to be rude but, Spike and I are about to have dinner. We’re going to have to take this conversation to the party tomorrow.”

“Is it that late already,” Pinkie Pie asked, “Oh boy, can time fly!”

“It was nice to meet you, Twilight Sparkle,” said Obie.

“Likewise! See you two tomorrow.”

“Bye, Twilight!” Pinkie exclaimed and she and her tourist left the house.

“It’s really late!” Pinkie Pie moaned.

“The sun won’t set for a while yet.”

“Yeah, but it’s dinner time. I’ve got to get home to the Cakes.”

Before Obie could respond, Rainbow Dash appeared before the two of them out of the sky.

“I’ve been looking for you.” The rainbow mane pony pointed a hoof at Obie.

“Wha- why?” Obie was suddenly frightened.

“Have you eaten?” she still appeared menacing, “I’m calling in your curfew early.”

“No I haven’t.” The stallion was confused.

“Well come one. You’re eating with me.” She smiled mischievously then laughed.

“What’s so funny?”

“You! You don’t want to go do you?”

In truth, he was dreading the idea of spending the night on a cloud. He’d never done it before. “That’s not it, you’re just being scary.”

Rainbow laughed hard, “You’re scared of this little filly? You’re a weird one Obie.” He blushed.

“You guys seem to be taken care of. I’ll head on home, Don’t want to be late to help out Mrs. Cake with dinner! Later, Obie, Rainbow Dash!” She hopped away. The pegasi gave her good byes.

“You ready?” Rainbow asked placidly. She launched into the air and hovered, waiting for Obie.

“I suppose.” He followed the mare’s example. They flew towards the east out of town.

“So, Obie,” Rainbow started, “why didn’t you go to flying school?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“It’s just weird, is all. I’m curious.”

“I think it’s because I was raised by earth ponies. There was no need to fly when working in the mines I worked with my father and brother.”

“Your parents were earth ponies? And you worked in mines? You’ve got to be the wei-“ she caught herself, not wanting to seem rude. “I mean, most unique pegasus I’ve ever met.”

“It seems that way. I was adopted, you know. So that should help make more sense of my parents.”

“It does, I guess.”

They didn’t say much more as they flew off toward the east to Rainbow Dashes house. She seemed a little distant. Obie didn’t press her. The two flew above the cloud layer and out of sight from below. It was about this time that Obie realized he was going to stay over at a mares house for the first time.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Authors note: Kind of a rushed ending for this Chapter. Don’t judge to harshly.

Comments

[August]

i'm really liking the writing style so far. nice and descriptive, and best of all, very few spelling/grammar errors.
it's much easier to enjoy a story when i'm not constantly stumbling over missing words and things like that

oh btw, i dunno if you've seen this already, but a few weeks ago a canon map of Equestria was unveiled:
deviantart.com/download/318946279/hi_resolution_equestria_map_by_pixelkitties-d59w4iv.png

dunno if you want to factor that into Obie's travels, or use your own personal imaginings. the map itself says that the distances are not to scale, so in a way it's more of a map of notable landmarks, good for directional reference, rather than a detailed piece of cartography to be strictly adhered to.

[Psycho2cool]

1108829 Thank ya. I'll have to use it as a point of reference. Although, I do plan on taking my own liberties with some things.

And thank you for stroking my ego. I haven't edited it yet so I thought there would be tons of errors. I'mma have a friend help point them out to me.

Again, Thank ya!