> Diamonds in the Rough, > by The Trotting Dead > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prolouge: Fate Or Accident? > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fate Or Accident? THe Prolouge is 1st Person, and the next few chapters will be 3rd person Ever since MLP, or My Little Pony came out. I have been resisted to watch it since seeing critics on the internet telling every how bad/gay it was. Until I met Charles, how was a full blown Pony lover. When I heard about him, I thought he was a country boy who raised horses, I was deadly wrong. The letters M.L.P kept popping into my head so I kept lookig it up, and kept seeing more and more fanwars about ONE show. I didn't believe one show meant for six year old girls could cause a war over the web. It did. I am about to tell you when one show changed my life, To tell about that fateful day when Me and my College Roommate Charles Brown vanished from our comfort zone into a dream... or a beautiful nightmare. Rain batted against the rooftops as thunder shook the windows, and Lightning streaked across the sky as it was cracks. Me and my best friend, Charles, was just playing video games, Just as we were kids. "Max! help! they're going to get me!" Charles said, sitting beside me with his black controller in his hands. His hands were sweating which made his controller slippery, "Not if can't help it!" I said, and findled with a couple buttons on it and the screen flashed black, I stared in pure confusion until I noticed the screen came back on. "WHAT THE FUCK?!" I yelled at the screen, " THE LAST THING WE NEEDED WAS A DAMN POWER OUTAGE! WE WERE NEARLY ABOUT TO BEAT IT! NOW WE GOT TO FIGHT THE BOSS AGAIN!?" "Max, relax man!" Charles said, "That thing really wasn't that hard." "Yeah, I know, I'm just on edge." I replied sinking back into the couch, "It's like nine-aclock and we got nothing better to do," "I do," Charles said, slyly sitting up, What was he getting at? "And what's that?" I replied, "SEASON THREE MARATHON!!!!!" He shouted, "AWEOME!" Me and Charles already had a massive dinner when we wen to the china buffet, (and had to explain to people who looked disgusted at us. Maybe they thought we were gay, I don't know, maybe the "Brony" Shirt was a dead give-a-way.) So we settled for a tall glass of hot cinnamon Apple Cider, Okay.... I put the disc into the slot of my Playstation3, I felt the unpleasant shock of electricity, Good thing I wear rubber bands, I ignored it and pushed the sucker in! I ran back to the couch with my controller in hand and hit "PLAY" When the Main Menu showed up. After like three hours, I finally felt a unrecognized strain in my head, Possible the headache from seeing anything bright in the dark. Charles seemed to be having it too, "Hey do we have any Aspirin?" "Maybe, I'll go check." I went into the small kitchen and rummaged through a tiny basket filled with medicine bottles. Strangely, I found a bottle with a rainbow on it. "The hell?" I muttered confused, I opened the cap and shook a two purple gel pill into my hand. Being the curious cat I am, I summoned enough saliva and popped a pill into my mouth and swallowed it. I saved the other one to pull a prank on Charles, Hopefully he won't kick my flank later, "I should get back to Charles," I shoved the bottle back into the pile, and grabbed the small bottle of Advil. I walked back into the common room and sat on the couch, "No Aspirin but here is some Advil," I slipped the purple Pill by pretending to lose my balance and catching myself (Charles didn't care, He told me to get the buck out of the way! Oh well...) I opened the small bottle, Then I popped two pills in my mouth and handed the bottle to Charles, who shoved two in and gulped down a glass of Cider with it, I drank my glass of cider and saw the episode was over, "Time for the Finale!" During the episode, I noticed the screen getting blurry, so did my TV, then my room, "Wha-?" I couldn't finish my sentence, My tounge felt was numb, as if I went to the Dentist. Then a wave of numbness washed over my body. When it waved over my eyes, I saw ripples in the air. I fell on the floor, staring at the ceiling. What did I do? I thought grimly then I felt the sensation of falling through the air. My skin was on fire but I was getting hypothermia due to a icy chill in my blood. I cringed in pain. So much pain that I was seeing a rainbow swirling, then pitch black. It stayed black. > Chapter One: What? > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Max blinked awake, world around him was a drunken blur. His vision started to clear and he noticed he was in the hospital bed, he struggled to sit upright. He noticed in his nose was a different shape, He frantically lifted his hands to his face, but instead of palms and fingers, he had blue hooves! "What the..." He started, "No way.... This is awesome!" He said, and pulled the medical sheets off of him and looked to a mirror to find a blue stallion staring at him, with teal eyes and a damaged ear, That made him look tough. He also discovered he had a back flowed Mohawk that's dark purple and grey. He felt somewhat naked, and that made him uncomfortable. He looked at his foreleg to see a tube in it filling him with medical liquid that was unknown to man. He has gotten an headache since he was laying down for so long so he laid back in bed until Nurse Redheart showed up, It was easy to identify everypony since he watch the show for a long time. "Okay, Cloudy Days. Sees like you suffered minor fall damage, and a major shoulder fracture we thought you weren't going to make it, But with the help of unicorns you made a full recovery!" When Nurse Redheart discharged him, He fount puzzlement when she called him "Cloudy Days," Which surprised him at first because that wasn't him name, or at least his human name but oddly She reminded him of the nurse he had when he was a child, But that was like a decade ago! Maybe time in Equestria is longer than the one in human years... Maybe Cloudy Days was full of it, He'll never know, but for now, He has to buy a house... How much money did he have on him? He reached for his back pocket for his wallet, but he realized that his jeans had all the money he had on him! That was until he found a little fold on his hindquarters, He wondered if anybody have wondered if there were pockets... Oh well. He found a clear bag that was full of gold coins, No, it wasn't a fortune. "Bits," He said, and tried to guess what was in the bag, "It's like counting jellybeans in a bloody jar!" He had no idea how much the currency for Equestria is to Britain. Blimey, It could be two pounds for a bit or a two bits for a pound? Ugh, Lets just find a hotel for the day. If he knew anything about horses, It was they can sleep standing up. The last thing he needs is to be nicked on the side of the road, or be crushed by a carriage in the middle of the night. Or be... "WAH!!!" Max lost his train of thought as pink mare started blabbing in his ear, ARE YOU NEW IN TOWN BECAUSE I KNOW EVERYBODY IN THIS TOWN, SO YOU MUST BE NEW! I LOVE MEETING NEW PONIES ESPECIALLY UNICORNY, THE PEGASUASRESREX, AND THE EARTHY PONIES! SINCE YOU'RE NEW, HI I'M PINKIE PIE AND I WANT TO WISH YOU A VERY GOOD DAY *GASP* I FORGOT TO THROW YOU A PARTY!!!" Max started to lose his hearing, as she kept the onslaught on words, Max was leaning backwards so he could get way, but instead his other ear was pressed against the dirt, Her voice as the rock and the dirt was the hard place. the only thing from literal ear bleed was lowering his right ear. That pink mare confirmed it, Pinkie Pie, (Whom if you make here take a bloody test, You'll find more sugar than blood!) but he didn't want to lose his hearing so he covered his ears with his hooves with little to no success. After that barrage of earsplitting yelling, Max ran to find a hotel before night comes or before Rainbow Dash might come and soaks him, or worse. He ran to find on and found a two story INN called, The Hay and Stay "Clever name for a guy who expected something like The Hampton INN in America," He walked in and paid four bits for a room, and trotted to the second floor and went to room 2-12 and looked around, "Not bad, Not good." there was black walls, with a curtain, He ripped it opened to find another building next to it, that meant he had window facing a brick wall, "Really cliché," At least the floor and the bed was clean, He didn't dare look in the bathroom, for everything that's worse is in the men's room. He trudged to his bed and sat on it but experienced terrible pain his spine and laid on his back, "Okay, so sitting like a human isn't allowed in this body..." He saw a remote and tried to grab it, but it slipped through his hooves, He tried again with the same result, this time he grabbed it but it slipped and he used his other had to get it but it bounced up and he caught it in his mouth. It was foul, as if someone has used their hooves to use it. He spat it out and just flicked the lights off. He was tired anyways until a spider landed on his snout..." He flicked it away and rolled over, "This needs some tie to get used to.... Wait..... CHARLES!" > Who the heck is Clockwork? My name is Charles! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the other side of Ponyville lies a brown pony with two color mane, This pony easily gets excited! Charles opened a blue eye, He felt the weight of a thousand ponds, Not the best way to wakeup! He thought. He lifted his tannish brown head to see he was in a barn, wrapped in rope. "What the?" He squirmed, and wiggled but got no success, "KNEW I shouldn't eat the last hotdogs!" He saw his hooves(?) was tide together in a noose, as his legs were as well. He had no choice but lay on his belly, normally this would be on comfortable for a regular person, but it didn't bother him, But for some reason, he thought something was wrong... but he couldn't put a finger on it. "Hooves... brown legs... THIS ONLY MEANS I DIED AND BECAME A PIG!!!" He mentally "Hoofpumped" He say a brown wing sticking behind him, "Who says pigs can't fly? Hehe!" He manly giggled and saw as a orange mare with blonde hair arrived she also had noticeable freckles, She did NOT look happy! "Hello!" Charles said waving a hoof, But the mare looked puzzled about his hooves, one being planted on the ground and one raised, "How did you get out of yer bindin's? I made sur I tied ye up REAL tight!" She inspected, made sure there was no flaw with her rope.. "That's easy! I'm an escape artist! I went to college for it I'm not a master, but I can do it!!" Charles said, making a fake pout, "Why didn't my rope keep you down? It's near impossible to get out! The mare said, "I don't have time for your fancy tricks! "I LOVE TRICKS!" Charles lit up like a fire! "Well the reason the rope didn't keep me down is that when in distress, you kind of panic, but I keep my cool and take my time! The rope is meant for cattle, not to keep down pigs! so I slid out easily by just wiggling my hands like I'm at a disco inferno! So that means I can get free- Wait, why aren't you a pig when I'm one... Why are you orange?" The Mare shoved her snout against his, "I should call you a pig! But you're a darn thieve! I ought'a beat you senseless for breaking in my farm!" She reeled back her orange hoof, making Charles flinch, "Trying to steal my apples in the middle of the night, I have to feed my family! How do you sleep at night?!" The orange mare was made of brute steel, It seems that he was one joke away from having his flank handed to him! He kept full eye contact, but was confused and scared, he never stole something other than some cookies out of his mother's batch.... maybe she was out to get him by turning him into a pony, about to be arrested and charged with thievery! Not only that, He's going to have a broken jaw hen he arrives in prison! He heard about the horrible things they do to you if you drop the soap! Charles shook in fear. He took a shaky breath and started to explain, "L-look, I don't know what happened, or why I'm here, but I w-woke up in your farm for s-some reason, Maybe I had one to many or I was passing the h-herb with my friends but I seriously don't know what's going on!" He stammered, He wished he was anywhere but here, looking into the fire depths of an emerald eyes hell. He shut his eyes closed and waited for eternity for the strong hoof to connect with his cheek, instead. He felt the tightness around his weight and legs disappear, "If I find you anywhere near my farm again, I'll let Big Mac Tear you to shreds, got it?!" The Mare's glare softened, "The name's Applejack, What's yours?" "I don't know," He shrugged, "I think I have amnesia." He tried to walk but it was a bit shaky, "I'll get the hang of it! See ya!" He walked out of sweet apple acres, "WOW! I haven't even been conscious for a minute and I'm already threatened by Applejack..." Charles said to himself as he walked out, He looked as the morning sun vanquished the bane of night. The stars burned up, and the black night turned to a blissful, creamy velvet as the giant orb of fire rose. "IT would even be more beautiful if Max was here... Where is Max? Problebly at Sugar cube corner? Nah, At the library? Most likely," He began to wonder around,Humming something out of tune, He kept a straight face as he staggered around, not really knowing how to use these hooves. He thought of using a wheelchair, but that would look ridicules! He still has a shred of dignity! He began to think of what happened before he was knocked out. "...." He stopped and , taking a sitting position and shoved his hoof into his chin. What came into his mind was curling rainbows and unimaginable pain, as if he was freezing to death nand and being burned alive! He looked up and stomped his hoof on the ground, Damn his ADHD. He couldn't remember NOTHING! "I can't remember anything!" He scratched his ear with his front hooves. He looked at his wrist to see what time it was, there was no watch! He sighed and kept walking, He had no idea where he was going. In fact, he forgot what he was doing at all... He groaned and took the "Thinker" Position , he sat there for a while, getting strange looks from the weather ponies doing their jobs. "Hey Max remember what I was doing-" He found himself talking to a lamppost, "Oh right... He's gone... "Not really gone, but I miss him, SO I BEAT THE LIVING SHIT OUT OF HIM FOR BRINGING ME HERE!!!!" Charles rose up, "Not that's anything wrong here in Equestria, I mean, Don't feel... out of place lamppost? I do," It took him only seconds before he smacked his hoof to his forehead, "I called myself a pig... I'm a pony..." He continued walking, He walked up to a pinkish mare, she was staggering just a little bit, "Hey, Do you know where a big tree is? A library?" She shrugged her shoulders, she swigged a bottle down her throat, "care for a drink?" She seemed too drunk to kidnap Charles... right? HAH! Berry Punch! I knew it! Charles gave a nervous chuckle, "Sure?" He then felt the glass bottle meet his front tooth, and gagged as the strong, cool liquid steamed into his throat. When it washed to his stomach, it felt like fire, But he loved it. HE gasped for breath as the mare took the bottle away, "Alcohol?" He asked, She nodded, "Anymore in there?" She nodded, again, taking him inside. where thousands of bottles laid on the walls and littered on the floor. "I'm going to get wasted..." A few hours later, Charles walked outside, feeling good, his head was swirling and his cheeks were tinted pink, which was hard to see because of his dark coat. He staggered a few paces before he nearly fell. He chuckled as his mane fell to his ears. The "Punch" Berry gave him was intensely strong, and he was out after a few glasses!. He felt tired, and he also had a few "Love bites" on his neck but who cares, He had no idea what he did, but he didn't care. He saw a good bench and sat on it, burying his hooves in his face. He looked up to see amber eyes, excited and wild, He flinched back, hitting the back of the chair, and saw a creamy earth pony dragging the unicorn to a bench across from him, "Bon-Bon! look! He's sitting like a human! I told you they're real!" A minty green mare was bouncing in her seat across from him, "He must be one of them!" "Lyra! Don't be rude!" The candy colored mare scolded, Charles jumped off his seat and kept walking, He didn't stop walking until he bumped into a blue stallion, "Sorry!" He said, The Blue stallion looked carfully, "Charles?" "Maxie?" "Dude! Are you dunk?!" "No," "Really?" "Yeah," Max looked at his neck, "Did you get bit?" He asked, "You could say that," Charles said with a coy smile, "You didn't... You DONE IT with a pony?!" Max's mouth hung open, "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!" "Hey, don't pretend you don't know, I get all the girls,: "No, That ONE time you brought home a girl and she left you because you were a Brony!!" Max sighed, "I Leave you for about 12 hours and you're already causing trouble!" "Chill out Max, We were drunk, I think this can blow over by tomorrow when a hangover occurs!" Charles said, "Count on it!" Charles fainted from the alcohol.