The lone wanderer
Long Way Around
I stared at the sun through groggy eyes for a few moments, admiring it as it hung there in the sky, providing the starting point for life on the earth below. I knew that it wasn’t my sun; I would likely never set my eyes upon it again. This was the sun of a land that human eyes had never been blinded by before.
I stretched slightly to alleviate the stiffness in my body but continued to lie there. I wasn’t going anywhere in a hurry. Looking around I saw nothing but grass and the sun. I still had my clothes on from the previous night and my trainers were by my feet, undone and ready to be worn.
I lay there in the grass for few more minutes, letting the sun wash over me and warm my skin. Eventually I decided that I should begin my journey and put my shoes on. I looked at my laces. I didn’t especially want to look around as I tied them; I already knew about the sun and grass. I finished tying them both up, tugging to make sure that they were tight enough, and then I stood up.
I looked up at the sun once more and then turned in the opposite direction so that it was on my back, lighting my path in front of me. I looked at the grass once more and then I began to walk. I knew where I would go. I would go as far as I wanted to, and then the next day I would do the same again. Today I would see more grass and tomorrow I would see grass or maybe some trees. Further into my future was unknown, maybe more oceans of grass or maybe I would come upon a forest and spend weeks walking amongst the trees as they towered above me, starving the land beneath them of sunlight. I would walk under the trees that had risen first and had reaped the rewards and starving the losers who has suffered and died. I would walk amongst those losers and witness their suffering. That may be a step on my journey that I would have to take, but today there were no trees in sight.
I was fairly certain as to where I was. I would have to wait for my assumption to be proven but for the moment I accepted that my prediction as to my whereabouts was correct. For the rest of the day I walked, being guided by the falling sun behind me and darkness coming to greet me. My stomach asked for food but I had eaten the day before and that would provide for the time being. Eventually the darkness swallowed my sight and so I lay down and now stared at the moon. Like its counterpart it was not my moon, instead it belonged to someone else. No thoughts flooded through my mind or set me to fearing as to where I should go. I knew where I was going.
The stars were different too, as expected. A brief thought crossed my mind, as to if any of them were my star. One of them could be but I did not know which one. One day I might, but at this moment in time I resided to not having yet acquired that piece of information. Sometime on my journey I may come to know but not yet. I would wait.
The first day of my journey had nearly come to an end. Had I accomplished anything? That was uncertain. I had seen some grass and the sun and moon but not much else. I had seen neither birds nor other wildlife. They had eluded me today and maybe they would tomorrow. Perhaps there were no other living things besides grass until the horizon and then to the all the other horizons after that.
No, I had accomplished something today. I had been greeted by two strangers and walked amongst some of the humble inhabitants. What had been a passing thought countless nights ago had become a reality. The journey that I had proposed upon myself, one sleepless night, had been taken up. I was free to wander the world as I saw fit. I would avoid the clichés and the “normal” things to do in my predicament that countless others would jump upon to perform. I was like them in some regard but different in others. I would not make it my purpose here to meet inhabitants of villages and cities of brick, but instead to walk to amongst the residents of forests and deserts and plateaus and wherever my feet took me. I would explore this world not to meet the individuals within it but to meet the land itself. If my journey took me to a town then I would enter but I would not stay. If others chose to follow my journey then so be it. I do not know when my journey will end but I know that it has now begun.
The stranger’s sun came to wake me once again and stretched out its beams of light towards me. I lay there letting them embrace me, ridding me of the chill from the previous night. It was nothing too serious but eventually I would have to find some way to keep warm at night.
I turned towards my shoes and repeated the steps from the previous day. I raised myself up on my legs and stretched. I heard a slight crack; the grass was soft enough. I began to walk towards my shadow and to the far off horizon.
My stomach asked for food and I refused it; grass wasn’t exactly edible. Instead I carried on walking, one foot in front of the other, until I saw a smudge on the horizon. Fortunately the smudge was in my path and so I strode towards it. After a few hours the smudge began to turn into smaller smudges and then eventually into trees. I walked amongst them, grateful for the protection from the early riser. Vegetation littered the floor and amongst the weeds and roots, were a few leafy bushes. I looked at them and their fruits being shown off to the world. I had never had to eat wild berries before and didn’t exactly know which were edible and which would end up being unpleasant for the following few hours. I don’t think that I was yet a beggar but I decided that even if I had known about berries before, the knowledge would most likely be useless here. So I popped a few in my mouth. Tasty enough, I never really liked berries, but they would do until I found something better to eat.
I looked around the forest floor and picked any berries that I could find which, most of, were stored in my pockets. Probably not the best place to keep them but good enough. The fact that I hadn’t yet had to take use of any of the nearby large leaves meant that they were probably safe. I allowed a few bushes to keep their fruit in case anyone else had the need of them, and then I carried on my journey.
The trees turned out to belong more to a wood rather than a forest. I stood on the edge of the tree line and looked over the forb, to the mountains in the background. By now the sun had nearly reached these mountains and so I sat there, on the edge of a foreign wood, and watched a sun set on the horizon. By the time the sun had said its farewells to the land, my mind was thinking. A few thoughts passed to my friends. I probably wouldn’t see them again but we’d had good times together and done things that friends do. We had done what we could and they had kept me happy. Their job was done, they may stay friends until they were old men or they may drift apart over the years. Now it was no concern to me, I had no way to influence their future anymore. Instead I let memories of them keep my mind busy as I looked at the strange stars.
The last of my berries went from my pockets as I closed in on the mountain range. It was then that I realised that I may have to slightly alter my course. The mountain range ahead of me looked much more imposing than it had the previous day. It was still a noticeable landmark and I was at least a few days walk from it. An even steeper mountain range stuck out of the land to the left of me. Both would prove impossible for me to maneuver over, especially as all I had were some trainers, shorts, a t-shirt and a few squished berries in my pocket. I could either try and find a pass through either of the mountain ranges (which was unlikely), turn back or walk around both sets of mountains.
As I stood there trying to come to a decision as I saw some large birds off in the distance. They flew across my field of view and then proceeded to make in the general direction of the mountain range on my left. They probably weren’t birds as they seemed too large even from this distance. Deciding that they probably knew where they were going, I chose to follow them as they were the first local wildlife that I had yet seen. For a few futile moments I decided to jog and try and keep them in my sight but to no avail. They soon became dots in the sky and then they were gone. They had seemed to be flying straight ,with no indication changing course, and so I carried on in that direction.
For the remainder of the day I saw no other flying objects in the sky, instead I saw metal and wooden tracks leading towards one of the mountain ranges. Metal and wood, same as most places but these seemed slightly less modern. I squatted down next to part of the track and placed my hand on it and waited. After about ten minutes I felt a slight rumbling in my hand. I kept it there as the rumbling became more powerful and began to spread up my arm. I could feel something fearsome coming closer, getting angrier as it neared me. My whole arm was shaking now as the beast raced towards me. I waited another minute and then stood up. I shook my legs to get rids of the pins and needles and then I walked across the track.
About a hundred metres from the tracks I turned and sat down. I watched the tracks and listened. The train was pretty fast and considerably loud. I watched as it raced towards its destination. Most of the windows had curtains thrown across them but one or two didn’t. Instead they had bored faces looking out of them, counting the minutes down until they reached the station.
The grass and the small bush next to me didn’t provide the best cover but I wasn’t trying to hide. I didn’t notice any change in the quick bursts of faces that I was offered. Maybe one of them had seen me but hadn’t yet processed it. They might think about that quick glance of the odd shape that they had seen and dismiss it as nothing or they might have already begun having a panic attack.
I watched the train as it dissapeared towards the mountains and then I once again began to walk in the direction of the pegasi. I had a feeling that I knew where they were going. It was somewhere that I would have rather avoided for the time being but I might as well get it over with. The sooner that I got Ponyville out of the way, the sooner I could carry on with the rest of my journey.
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Hmm, refreshingly different so far
Finally, a focus on the environment rather than the ponies. The environment can be just as interesting as the ponies, if not more so depending on temperament. You're off to a good start, keep going!
What's this?
A HiE story that doesn't involve the main character being attacked by a manticore in Chapter 1, fighting an ancient evil, and wooing one of the Mane 6?
Devil best get his PJs cause hell just froze over and you earned a Gold Star.
I must read later hHHHNGGGG uhh good
Sound REALLY interesting, image link pls?
1188825
For the display picture? I got it from here http://www.sendspace.com/file/vmyzjc just click start here to download.
grammar mistake?------->"I looked around for the forest floor and picked any berries..."
This is pretty great so far, other than that certain part at the end (where it shows he knows where he is; felt to abrupt)
Also, the music was VERY fitting; in fact so fitting that I started reading the story out loud!
Can't wait for more of this unique story
Interesting.
I like the concept. Sort of an HiE version of Austraeoh, I suppose. One issue I'm having, though; this is a first-person fic, but your character, at least thus far, has literally no personality. Maybe you're just planning to use him(?) as a vehicle for world-building, but I can imagine this story getting boring quickly from the point of view of a person like this.
And that's another thing; for a fic that's going to focus entirely on the environment of Equestria, you have very little actual description of what's around him — just the bare minimum to say where he's going. Like, the entire first day, despite all of the walking he apparently did, all that the reader gets to hear about is how unsure he is about every thought he has. He just 'talks' repetitively about what he doesn't know, that he might soon know it, and that he accepts the fact that he doesn't know it currently.
All in all, I find the idea behind this fic interesting, but the fic itself (at least up to this point) monotonously introspective.
Well that was different... I like different! Looking forward to more.
Though there was one thing that my mind seemed to focus on.
and
Wouldn't that mean that he's walking back to where he was?
1189364 No, with the sun at his back, his shadow is in front of him, and thus he's walking forwards. Although... the sun's position does change over the course of the day, so maybe it's more like he's walking in a semi-circle...
1189377
Well if Equestria's Sun is like ours then it sets in the West, if that's the case then if the Sun was falling at his back then it would be setting. Then the next day it would be on the other side of him at the East.
For the most part the Sun goes in a straight line across the sky, so wouldn't his shadow just do a 180 and be on the other side of him than it was before he stopped walking?
1189377
When he starts walking it is still relatively early in the morning and so if the sun is behind him, then he will be able to walk towards his shadow. If he did keep on following his shadow then he would go back and forth (like you said)
Also the lack of actual description of the land and lack of personality are things that I will go into more detail. Thanks for your opinions :)
1189239
Thanks, didn't notice that
I haven't read anything pony like this. I look forward to reading the rest as it comes.
I am intrigued.
A thumb,
and your star are now yours.
This is something along the likes of what I would enjoy to write myself, but never get/got around to. Great work. And fitting music, as well...
Going to leave this here...
Is there going to be any more chapters? Sounds (from what ive read so far, barely a couple of paragraphs) its really interesting, a break form the whole traditional (and albeit stupid sometimes) HiE formula
1190111
Yep, there will be
1190027
Cheers :)
1189605
I quite like his view on the world, I quite like how you're barely describing the environment around him, why?
Because it's organic, it seems slightly more real than the rest. He seems not to care to much about where he is now, only about where he's going and I like that, it truly sets the theme.
It also has a sense of mystery, like the land around him and this makes the story seem more, mythical I guess? Like a story a wise man would say around the campfire. I truly, truly enjoy this style.