For Lack of a Better Word

by Gunsmith

Chapter Eight

Mid-morning light seeps into the room, illuminating it; and at the same time, nearly blinding me. I bring a hand to my face, sighing and rolling away from the light. I find that it's too late, though; I'm awake. I push the blanket off of me and onto the floor, sitting up and rubbing my face groggily for a moment. Gathering my bearings, I glance around.

Noting my increased blankets beneath me, I silently thank Twilight. I don't know where she gets them from, but I won't question; I've checked and made sure they aren't her own or Spike's, so they satisfy me. I still don't understand why she won't accept any rent from me; I suppose I might be the same way when it comes to hospitality, though.

I glance over at my growing pile of small, brown-cloth bags, each filled with similar amounts of gold bits. My mouth twists into a frown; the expression 'burning a hole in my pocket' comes to mind. I find that I have little use as of yet for the currency, given that I am basically living off others at this point, a fact I despise with a passion. I've managed to start buying my own food, which mainly consists of bread, apples, and carrots. I need to find a way to get some meat...

I need to do a lot of things, I remind myself. The most important is to become self-sufficient. And to become self-sufficient, I need a way to support myself, which happens to come in the form of money. Which, in turn, leads me to my current goal, one that has been the goal for the past few days: get a job.

It pleases me that these ponies are starting to warm up to me, finally. They still avoid eye contact and directly talking to me, save for the occasional reporter, but they no longer part to either side of the street when I walk down it. It still feels like I have an odd protective bubble of some sort, deflecting the ponies around me as they pass, but it only spans for a few feet, rather than a few yards. And, best of all, there have been less and less occurrences of ponies going hysteric upon seeing me at their doorstep.

In the past three or so days, I have found myself using up most of my days doing odd jobs around Ponyville. It's nice, actually, as it's usually something different every time. A lot of carpentry, like fixing a leaking roof or patching up a wall, but also some more random jobs. I recall one where I had to climb up a tree and jump into a second-story barn window that was barely big enough for me and not big enough for anything like a Pegasus pony, just to unlock the door from the inside. I had intended on doing it as a favor, but the pony had paid me, anyways, despite my attempts at refusal. There was even a job where I had to catch some loose chickens. I actually don't like chickens very much, so I didn't really enjoy doing that one. It occurred to me at some point that unicorn magic is somewhat of a rare commodity, especially in this town, so my ability to grip things as their magic does, along with my better flexibility, in some cases, proves fairly useful.

I've taken to just strolling around town when I have free time, helping out ponies I see when I can. Some pay me for doing so, but what satisfies me more is seeing the mixture of wonder and relief on their faces when they realize I'm not as bad to be around as they thought, especially on the foals. And, if no one's around to be helped, I usually try to find Rainbow Dash. To pass the time, I'll watch her practice for her idols, or we'll go steal some apples from Applejack's farm.

I don't know why I like to hang out with her, but I do. She's just fun to be around, I suppose. Certainly keeps me on my toes; I swear she tries to prank me in some way every time I see her. That and the fact she almost seems oblivious to the fact I'm so much more different from everyone else, save for the occasional joke about how weird my face looks or how slow I run. Maybe that's why. It's nice to have someone who doesn't get all paranoid or freaked out around me.

Standing up, I twist my head around, loosening up my neck. After a moment of scanning about the quiet library, I turn and crouch down, picking up one of the small bags of coins beside my makeshift bed. I open it and withdraw around five bits, dropping them into my left pants pocket. My gaze shifts to my dark shirt; I rub my fingers along the soft fabric for a moment. I probably could not have a better host than Twilight Sparkle. She lets me use her bathroom to wash up every day--apparently pony showers aren't used too often, so she said it wouldn't interfere at all--as well as having helped me figure out a way to wash my clothes. Washing machines, even washboards, are an uncommon thing here, which is understandable since ponies only wear clothes during special events or to dress up.

And best of all, she lets me do what I want without question. If I don't feel like discussing something, she drops it; I've noticed she might try to slip it in later on, but that isn't very often. Usually about why I don't talk. I don't really mind, though, as again, she lets me do what I want, go where I want, when I want. I walk over to the door, pushing it open and walking outside.

The day is ridiculously nice, a fact that I both welcome and am annoyed by. I'm used to overcast weather, rain, sleet, fog, sometimes even snow. And a thick blanket of smog to top it all off. It's almost unnerving to see nice weather, every day; I've been told by Rainbow Dash that the Pegasi create the occasional rainy day for farmers, but those adhere to a strict schedule. I start walking along the path I have been taking the past few days to the center of town. As I walk alone through the usual sea of colorful ponies, eyes darting towards me until I look back, at which point they quickly look away, I stick my hands in my pockets. My left hand idly plays with the coins in my pocket, evoking a quiet jingling noise just audible over the general noise of the crowds in the streets.

Working somewhere from two to five jobs per day, depending on how long they take and how many pop up at town hall for me to accept, I've managed to earn something like one hundred bits in total, possibly more. Ponies continue to overpay me, I think; maybe I'm just doing more in a day than I realize. Either way, I can't do much about it.

I make my way into the town square, aiming for the town hall. I give Applejack a wave, which is returned to me. As with many of the things I do, I don't know why I do it; just something else that has worked its way into my daily routine, I suppose. I push through the door of the tall, white building, focusing on the task at hand.

***

I run the large brush I hold in my hand down the side of the shed, filling more of the outside wall with white paint. Almost done...I continue delivering concise brush-strokes, going with the grain of the wood to avoid having the paint dry in an odd manner.

A thud just above me causes me to step back, looking up in surprise. Atop the roof of the shed I'm painting perches a light blue Pegasus pony, a rainbow-colored mane streaming down one side of her neck. I smile at Rainbow Dash, not having expected her company.

She peers over the edge of the shed's roof, looking at the wall I'm painting. "Painting? That's lame." I chuckle softly, stepping forward and resuming my lame activity. "C'mon, we should go do something cooler," Rainbow informs me. I smile, pointing at the last patch of brown, wooden siding on the shed. "Laaaaaame," she groans, dragging out the word. I laugh, focusing on the wall again. A nice white slowly begins to cover the dull brown, and after a few more minutes and a thorough look around every side of the shed, I decide I've completed my task. I hold up my pointer finger at the Pegasus prancing about on the shed, indicating I would only be a moment.

I go up to the back door of the small house, knocking a few times before standing off to one side. A red Earth pony with a green mane opens the door, then sees me and trots outside, going over to the shed. Rainbow Dash quickly hops off the shed, flying over to me. The pony slowly walks around the structure, smiling to herself. After a few seconds, she trots towards me, smiling pleasantly.

"Well done!" the pony, named 'Sweet Pepper', exclaims to me. "It looks absolutely wonderful! Here, you deserve this," she continues, turning halfway around. From seemingly nowhere, she pulls out a small sack of coins, dropping them in my open hand. I ponder how she had stored that; pockets? I joke to myself. After a little more wondering and coming up with no explanation, pockets begin to seem less and less far-fetched. I focus back on reality, smiling in thanks to Sweet Pepper. The mare trots off, leaving me alone with Rainbow Dash.

"Okay, you got your bits. Let's go do something, now," she says impatiently. I smile and nod to the hovering pony, following her back onto the street nearby. We start along down it without aim, yet. I look around, surveying the area; I haven't been to this part of Ponyville as of yet. It appears similar to the rest; quaint, peaceful, and overall friendly, if a little less populated.

We continue through the neighborhood, rounding a corner every so often. As we turn onto a new street, one named Moonlight Avenue, something catches my eye. It is something out-of-place, different from the rest of my surroundings. I eventually find what it is, and gaze at it for a moment; my eyes rest upon an old, ramshackle-looking house. I realize it sticks out because of its poor condition in comparison to the other houses in the town. Boarded up windows and doors, missing boards in the walls, shingles missing off of and water damage present on the roof. It almost looks kind of sad, if inanimate objects could convey emotion.

I hear a scratchy voice saying my name, and look over. "Mark? You alright?" Rainbow Dash asks. I realize I've stopped in my tracks; I nod to the rainbow-maned Pegasus, glancing back over to the desolate house. She follows my line of sight, looking between the old house and me a few times. "Looking at that house?" I nod. "Yeah, it's been abandoned for a few years. The pony that used to live there moved to Manehattan, told everypony he was going to get rich and be famous. I haven't heard of him since," she muses with a chuckle. The gears start to turn within my head; I get out my paper and pencil, scribbling rapidly.

So it's available for someone to move into, yes?

Thinking for a moment, the light blue pony nods her head. "Yeah, I don't think anypony owns it or lives in it or anything." She pauses, then looks from the house to me with a frown. "You're not actually thinking about living there, are you?" I glance at the house again, looking at it a little more closely. I note that the house number is eleven, the fading, white numbers hardly visible beside the boards covering the door. I write down a question for my hovering friend.

What if I was, what would I need to do?

Rainbow raises an eyebrow, shrugging to herself. "You could probably just move right in, I doubt anypony would care. Might wanna' check with the mayor, though, I think she's supposed to know stuff like that." Satisfied with the response, I look around for a moment, searching for the top of a familiar white building. Spotting it in the distance, I start walking in its direction. The sound of beating wings approaches my right a second later.

"You're going to talk to the mayor, aren't you?" I nod, smiling. She gives an exasperated sigh. "Guess that's better than watching you paint a shed." Chuckling, I continue towards the center of town.

I eventually step up onto the porch skirting around the town hall, pushing through and ducking under one of the outside doors. Rainbow Dash drops down to the ground, her hooves making a clip-clop as she matches my pace on the marble flooring. I lead us around the large board in the center of the open room, not entirely sure where I'm going. I spot a door with a sign next to it, which happens to read Mayor Mare. I look down at Rainbow, who nods. We walk up to the door, and I knock lightly.

"Come in!" a female voice calls from behind the door. I open the door and slowly step inside, letting the sky-blue Pegasus follow me in before closing the door again. I look back into the room.

It is a fairly stereotypical office, upon first glance. Comfortable in size, but not exceedingly large. A large window basks the room in sunlight. Near the center back of the room is a large desk, in front of which sits four chairs. Behind the desk is a pony; she has a tan coat and gray mane, and wears both half-rimmed glasses and some sort of fancy attire around her neck. A plaque on her desk reads Mayor Mare, like the one outside the door.

The mayor looks over her glasses at us, specifically me after a moment. Her eyes widen a little, and she looks up completely. "Oh! You must be the newest member of our community, Mister...Mark, was it?" I nod. "Word has been traveling around about you quite a bit," Mayor Mare says, nodding towards a pile of newspapers on her desk. I take a few steps forward, reaching for the top-most newspaper and bringing it in front of me. It appears to be today's edition of the Ponyville Express.

Mysterious Creature Remains in Ponyville

by Juicy Story, Head Reporter

Only a few days ago, a new creature was spotted by many residents, roaming the streets of Ponyville. Upon further question, it was found this creature is called 'Mark'. When this reporter attempted an interview, Mark only stated that he did not intend to bring harm to anyone. And it seems he was not lying; Ponyville residents, over the past few days, have received help of all sorts from the creature. Many still question where he comes from and what exactly he is, though. Something from the Everfree Forest? If so, why hasn't he returned? Possibly an extra-terrestrial being? Or maybe a creature of myth, finally revealed to--

I set the paper down again, looking at the mayor. "What brings you here, Mark?"

"He wants that old abandoned place out on Moonlight Avenue, Mayor Mare," Rainbow Dash answers for me. I think to myself that I need to thank her at some point; she's been saving me a lot of writing.

"Oh, number eleven?" I nod in confirmation. "Well, that place hasn't been touched in years. Nopony has wanted it, so it fell into disarray, I'm afraid. Are you sure you want a place like that? It will be quite a hoof-ful," the mayor warns. I nod, smiling. I need something to do, anyways. Mayor Mare brings a tan hoof to her mouth, tapping in thought. "I suppose that as long as you can take care of it, you may have it. You'll be burdened enough with fixing it up, so don't worry about purchasing the property." I frown in protest, about to start writing, but the mayor speaks again. "No, no. You have been helping the town and our ponies, so it's the least I can do in return." My look of dismay remains, but I nod submissively.

"Now, is that all you needed?" she asks. I nod, smiling gratefully to her. "Alright. Good luck!" After a moment, she adds, "And though it may be a little late, welcome to Ponyville!" I smile again, then turn for the door.

Once back out in the large entry room, Rainbow Dash looks up at me. "Well, you've got a really ugly house. Now what?" I smile in reply, walking outside again. I begin heading towards the house, my house, out of memory. The light blue mare pesters me with questions along the way, usually entailing what I plan on doing or why I won't tell her. I continue to smile, actually not knowing why I don't feel like explaining to her. Fun, maybe.

We eventually reach the depressing little house again. I walk up to the place where the door should be, instead covered by worn boards. I give one of the boards a testing push. After a moment, I step back, giving the boards a kick. My foot rebounds, to my minor dismay. I'm about to give a harder kick, when Rainbow steps in front of me.

"Amateur," she says with a grin. She turns around, facing me, then bucks the boards covering the doorway with her hind legs. Fragments of wood splinter inward, and a loud crack resounds in the area. The light blue pony gives the boards a few more kicks, creating an entryway just big enough for herself. I crouch down, slipping through the hole in the boards and heading into the house.

The first thing I notice is that...well, it's dark. Light only comes in through the holes in the boards covering up windows and through a hole in the roof. "Ugh, I can't see anything," Rainbow Dash says. I nod, but realize she probably can't see me. I carefully walk over to one of the windows. I push on one of the boards; it gives a little. I push harder, and not receiving any more progress, I pull my right arm back. My fist smashes into the wood, creating another crack that echoes within the house. I hear a yelp behind me, and turn around.

Now that more light is being let into the house, I can see my rainbow-maned friend. She holds a hoof over her mouth, eyes wide in surprise. The pony quickly makes herself return to normal, giving me a wide smile.

"I wasn't scared. I just...stepped on a nail, or something," she explains. I smile slyly; tell your lie however you want to. I clear out the rest of the boards in the window, then go over to another window. I begin working away at it with hits and pushes, eventually opening that window, as well. Looking back into the room, I see Rainbow Dash following suit, bucking the boards off of a window. She clears out the last window in the room.

I glance around, a new light literally shed upon the situation. The house is empty on the inside, as expected, save for the occasional cobwebs and dust bunnies. It appears very simple in design, having one main room dominating most of the area. I spot an unblocked doorway off on one wall of the room, and walk over to it. Peering around the corner, I see that it is a full bathroom. Pony bathrooms are fairly simple, and not very human-friendly, but at least the showers are fairly tall.

"Hey, check it out!" I hear Rainbow Dash exclaim, seemingly somewhere above me. I go back into the main room, looking around. Noticing some rickety-looking stairs, I assume she's gone to a second floor. I tentatively place a foot on the first stair; it creaks loudly, but holds. I put more and more of my weight on it until I'm standing on the first stair. Repeating this process with each of the stairs, I make my way up the stairs, albeit slowly.

I place my weight on a stair only three away from the top, and hear a snap. I quickly shove off of the stairs, leaping up to the top floor. The board snaps, landing with a dull thud on the floor below. I pull myself up into the second floor, moving to my feet. I look over to see the light blue Pegasus kicking out some more boards covering one of the two windows in this room. I see that it's more like an attic, the walls formed by the slanted roof of the house. I can stand up fully along the middle, though. Stepping over to the other window, opposite the one Rainbow Dash had already opened up, I hit the boards out of it, lighting up the rest of the room. Looking around, I feel satisfied; I figure this will serve as a nice bedroom. I start down the stairs again, avoiding the top few boards.

Dash meets me downstairs, looking around with mild interest. "Y'know, this place isn't too bad. Definitely not good, but not as bad as I thought. It's not haunted, at least. Not that I thought it was," she quickly adds. I smile at her, nodding in agreement. "Well, you gonna' do anything with it?"

I step over to one of the windows, peering outside. There's only a few hours of daylight left, from what I can tell. Wouldn't be able to do too much today...I get the paper out of my pocket, writing an answer.

Not today. Will be dark soon.

She nods in agreement, then her face brightens. "There's still enough time to get some practicing in, though! Wanna' come?" she asks cheerfully. I smile, nodding. We exit out through the hole in the boards covering the doorway, back into the afternoon. We start off towards Luna Lake, both eager for Rainbow Dash to practice her flying.

Comments

[Gunsmith]

1162733 Excellent gifs are excellent.

Also, let me know what you guys think about Chapter Eight.

[KnifeGun]

To awesome, cant wait for more
Still, i think your updates are amazing.
Could it be faster though? *hint hint*

[RubberBrony]

denver.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw3331-1330550367387.gif

[Solarius Shield]

mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw6227-Medal.jpg

[Gilgamesh King of Heroes]

1163170 I have bad feeling when Celestia finds out about Mark something tells she wont be pleased

[OneAmongOthers]

Well I feel a "fixing up the house montage" is coming Rainbow seems to like the place hmmm...
digizona.net/subir/images/MnQDv.jpg
Then they start fixing it up happy shenanigans happen. Then well I dunno.. This?
static.diary.ru/userdir/5/3/7/8/537897/73465161.png
and then maybe?
cdnimg.visualizeus.com/thumbs/0b/16/funny,memes,my,little,pony-0b162a072bb4b7a4064aa2b671da0406_h.jpg

[OneAmongOthers]

Now for opinion of chapter.. Mark seems like he's gonna be a very rich man seeing as hes got a ability (well appendages) the ponies lack. hopefully jealousy doesn't happen and I too also wonder what the princesses are going to think about Mark guess we'll have to wait and see eh?

[Ledomare]

1163383
I don't know why so many writers portray Celestia as anti-human. She seems like the kind of pony who gives everyone the benefit of the doubt, no matter what background they came from.

Also, OHBOYOHBOY HOME IMPROVEMENT MONTAGE INBOUND

[bocaj518]

WOO! another great chapter =)

[Dancing Dead]

Reminds me of this:

[Proofy]

Yes, another chapter from another great story.. *sigh* now I have to wait for moar...

scranton.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw5566-luna_scooting_by_vapgames-d54x0bq.gif
.....I still can't get over how creepy that looks.....

[Gunsmith]

1163275 Sadly, no, probably not. The weekends are about the only time I get to write a lot; throughout the weekdays, I can usually only manage an hour or two. If I could write all the time...well, that would be more excellent than excellence itself. But I can't, so I'll have to keep killing people with suspense, instead.

1163359 Discord, whatchu' doin' here? You aren't in my story, silly.

1163365 Woohoo, a medal!

1163383 I thought I wrote that Celestia knew of his presence, as dictated by her letter in reply to Twilight in an earlier chapter. I'll have to go check. Either way, she is supposed to know about him, omniscient demi-god and all. But nah, no Trollestia here. Trying to stay as canonical as I can with everything except for the main plot, like all the secondary characters and actions.

1163462 Hawt. Yeah, I think hands would come in handy (ba-dum, tsssss) given the fact they're sort of like unicorn horns. Half the time unicorn magic seems to involve telekinesis, and hands do that via grip. See reply to comment above, I thought I mentioned that she knew of his presence. Maybe not, I really need to go check.

1163586 Well, humans are horrible, horrible things, so it's a little understandable, but yeah, I figure she'd be pretty nice despite the fact we're murderous, aggressive, traitorous, whimsical creatures. I imagined the song 'Gonna Fly Now' playing to a montage like that when I read your comment, Rocky style.

1163949 Thanks.

1164440 Well, minus the fire, and replace Nathan with a mute guy, and replace Sully with a talking pony that can fly and has a technicolor mane. Also, no people shooting at them. A lot of breaking boards and stuff, though!

1164667 Disturbing.

Now that I've replied to everyone. Going to start on Nine tonight, I think, but it may take a few days before I publish it. Thanks for the feedback and opinions, everybrony.

[Solarius Shield]

And now we play the waiting game

[KnifeGun]

>>Gunsmith Aww, sadface
I like your name though, reminds me of mine so i'll let that slide..
For now.

[Gunsmith]

1169111 I like your username as well. A knifegun sounds particularly scary. Reminds me of:

scottthong.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/rpchainsaw1.jpg

[KnifeGun]

1169496 haha oh god, Never laughed so much. SO AWESOME

[Gunsmith]

1169572 Wouldn't it be, though? Could you imagine the look on the enemy's face when they saw a rocket-propelled chainsaw hurtling towards them?

Hot damn, that's what I should do as a gunsmith. Make myself a chainsaw rocket launcher.

[KnifeGun]

1169643 SWEET CELESTIA. We could RULE the world my friend, if you want to that is

[Gunsmith]

1169650 Bronies already do rule the world.

[Genesis1212]

I've read it up to this point so far so now I must comment on this great story I've thoroughly enjoy the protaganist mark he's a pretty cool guy still troubled definitly not perfect but helps where he can :3

Not to mention I love your top notch narration especially the first chapter the amoun of detail on how he was feeling when he woke up was fantastic without being over done at all, all these chapters so far have been great, pacing is well done as well ,oh before I forget I love how rainbow is portayed in this fic she's in character just like everyone else, but she doesn't outright attack the unknown (big hoove xD) creature.

So upvote and fave from me xD now time to read the other chapters woot!

[thesavior711]

Awww, I think Rainbow likes him.

[Chancegunnett]

1171418
The world is ours, all resistance from other fandoms is futile, the age of the pony has DAWNED

[CORRUPTED-DATA]

I just looked at the chapters and there is a SHIT-TON of chapters like an actual movie or book its unique