Chapter 1: Gratitude by The Beastie Boys

So this story idea just popped into my head at the most random of times and I decided that I personally had never really seen anything like this, so I've decided to try to write it. I don't really know if I'm doing this idea justice, but it's going to be fun to write and hopefully fun to read. And again as I always do, chapter titles are songs because of laziness, not creativity. And I don't own MLP, Hasbro does. Not that I have to tell you that, but I just have to tell you that. Onto this new story...

The train departed from Canterlot Station. It was the first stop in the morning and the sun was just beginning its ascent into the sky as the moon fell into tonight. Despite the time however, there was one pony who had gotten off the train. It was a stallion. He was taller than the average stallion but it wasn't noticeable from afar. He was very skinny for his height and his ribs were just barely showing. He had brown fur and a fiery orange mane with a horn protruding from his forehead. He had one lone bag slung across his shoulder. He stood on the platform, taking in the view of Canterlot and the land below that could be seen from the mountainous capital. As he stared though, a blank look was ever present on his face. While most considered his face to be very handsome, what caught most ponies' eyes were his eyes. They were so vacant, it actually made you double take just to make sure you weren't looking at a corpse.

Deciding he had seen enough, he began walking out of the station. Since it was early in the morning, there was hardly anypony else out at the time. Those who were out though, even the nobles, took notice of this strange stallion. He had the striking face of a noble that was well kept, but he was just walking around with the lone traveler's bag and a blank look on his face. However, there was one thing that they all especially noticed about this strange stallion.

"Look at his flank." "He's got nothing there." "Oh my gosh, he's a blank flank."

The stallion was too busy to pay attention to what they were saying as he was making his own observations of the foreign surroundings.

'A lot of the ponies here seem to be wearing expensive clothes like they did back home. And everypony keeps looking at my flank. I wonder if they all have class marks. Maybe this place isn't too different from home', he thought to himself. He continued to walk towards his destination, it being visible since he had first arrived. He stopped as he faced the Royal Castle. It was bigger than any castle he had seen before, which was saying something considering all the castles he had been to. He walked up to the front gate, which was guarded by two stallions in golden armor. He was about to walk by them when they blocked his way with their spears.

"Halt in the name of Princess Cele- what the?" One guard said as the stallion just seemed to disappear from view. He blinked and turned to his partner, "... You saw a stallion there just a moment ago… right?"

"I-I thought I did?" The other guard said. Then they heard hoofsteps behind them, which was odd, since none of the patrols should've been around this area at this time. They looked at each other before looking behind them. The stallion had just continued walking as if nothing had happened. They quickly charged him from behind and tackled him to the ground. He provided no resistance as they hauled him to his hooves. He looked back at them as they started pushing him along. He mentally shrugged, they were just taking him in the same general direction so it didn't matter.

"Don't even think of using that weird magic trick you pulled," the second guard said. The stallion looked back at them again, one eyebrow raised on his blank face.

"Magic trick?" He asked. He had a voice that sent shivers down the guards' spine. It didn't contain any form of happiness, sadness, fear, surprise or anger. It was just simply a voice. It was unnatural and unsettling.

"What you did back there at the gate," the guard replied. He finally took a good look at the stallion. He found himself distracted when he stared at his eyes. He'd heard some ponies say that the eyes are like windows into your soul. But all the guard saw was a deep, dark abyss into nothingness. The guard snapped back into reality when the stallion spoke again.

"That wasn't magic. I just created a gap in your concentration and then took advantage of it. I can do it again," the stallion said.

"Well don-" the first guard was saying until the stallion vanished from sight again.

"Son of a-" the second began until the stallion seemed to flicker back into view.

"See? It's actually pretty simple. All I'm do-" he was interrupted by one of the guards grabbing his mane and using it to push him along again.

"That's it, you're going straight to the anti-magic chamber until further questioning," he said, aggressively pushing the stallion forward. Still though, the stallion provided no resistance.

"Oh dear," the stallion remarked. They all turned a corner and almost ran into the princess of the sun herself, out for her morning walk after raising the sun. She looked down at the stallion.

"Why hello-" She began before noticing the guards who were dragging him along. "What's… going on?"

"He forcibly entered the castle and attempted escape after being captured," the guard who had a hold on him replied. Both guards bowed, shocked when the stallion didn't even attempt to bow though.

"Hello Princess," he said, his voice not changing. The princess looked down at him for a few moments before sighing.

"You didn't show them the letter… did you?" She asked the stallion to the surprise of the guards. The stallion stared at her for several seconds. She assumed that a look of realization came on his face afterwards… but it was hard to tell. He grabbed his bag and began rummaging through it. He dramatically pulled out a piece of rolled-up paper. It would have actually been funny or dramatic, had his face not been as blank as a wall while doing so. He unraveled the binding and hoofed the paper to the guard who had a hold of him. The guard let go and grabbed the paper before reading it. His face contorted through a variety of emotions before settling on pure shock.

"Why didn't you show this to us at the gate?" The guard asked, handing the paper to his partner.

"I forgot about it," the stallion replied, looking at the second guard. He watched as the guard went through the same range of emotions before settling into pure shock. 'Equestrians are so funny.'

"You guards should return to your post," Princess Celestia said. After hoofing back the letter, the guards bowed one last time before leaving. She waited a bit before starting up conversation. "So you're here earlier than expected."

He made a grunting sound before rhetorically asking, "Can you blame me?"

"No, I guess I can't," she said. She continued walking again as the stallion followed. "I hope your trip was pleasant."

"Yeah, it was. I've gotten more sleep in the past few days than I have in the recent weeks," he said. He turned to her with a blank look on his face still. "How have you been Princess?"

"Oh I've been alright. But a couple of days ago, I had a little fiasco with my personal student," Celestia told him, chuckling to herself about that incident.

"The Twilight Sparkle you've told me about?" He asked. Celestia nodded.

"The very one. You see, she had become so worried about turning in a report on time that she had turned the entire town of Ponyville into a bunch of lunatics for a stuffed doll", she recalled. "And she was sure that I was going to send her back to magic kindergarten."

The stallion briefly wondered how one even accomplished such a thing like that. Were the reports that important? He hadn't realized that Celestia had been studying his face the whole time. She sighed sadly as she stopped walking. The stallion stopped as well and faced her.

"I take it that you haven't had much success?" She asked him. He quickly caught on to what she was referring to.

"None at all," he replied, shaking his head. "Whatever she did to me, it's not ordinary. Frankly, I don't really know if I can undo it myself."

"I still think that I could help you greatly," she informed him.

"I do too. But I think that if I want to truly recover, it's something that I have to do myself," he said. They continued walking, all the while, Celestia kept stealing glances at the stallion next to her. She truly wished that she could do more for the poor stallion. It was quite a tragedy, his only crime in life was being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Now he was left with absolutely nothing. In fact, she wasn't even sure what was in his bag.

"What's in your bag?" She asked him. He readjusted the said bag as if he had forgotten he had it.

"Memorabilia from the past couple of decades," he replied. She gave him a stern look.

"You're willingly carrying around stuff like that?" She asked. He gave an empty sigh.

"Yes," he simply said. It was her turn to sigh, but hers was from frustration.

"Why would you carry around a bunch of reminders about your past?" She asked.

"Because it's better than pretending like it never happened," he answered, making Celestia not push on the subject further.

They arrived at her office, where she used her magic to open the door. They walked in but the stallion stayed close to the door while Celestia continued to her desk topped with papers. She began searching for something before levitating a piece of paper up to eye level just to make sure it was the right one. She rolled it up and banded it before walking it over to him and hoofed it to him. He took it and crammed it, rather unceremoniously, into his bag.

"Thank you," he said, whether he was truly grateful or just showing common courtesy, she didn't really know. His thought process was rather enigmatic unless he explained it himself.

"Well Princess, it was nice talking to you but I should get going," he said to her.

"Oh… alright. I hope to hear from you soon", she said.

"Don't worry, you will. But I should get out of your mane. I'm sure you have business to attend to and… princess stuff to do," he said while leaving. As Princess Celestia watched him leave, she heard an 'excuse me' from him after he left. One of her maids walked in, looking rather confused as she watched the stallion leave.

She had done what she could for him. She could've done more, but she knew he'd reject further help. The best thing she could do was let him figure out his own problems and help him grow past his, well, past.

(Back to the stallion)

He looked around the Royal Gardens. How he had arrived here and where he actually was in the castle, was a complete mystery to him. He sighed before exploring the Gardens. He walked around aimlessly again, it being the reason he was now lost, while trying to find somepony to get directions from. He was almost surprised when he saw a mare standing in front of a draconequus statue.

He quickly commenced a visual dissection of her. She was a bit taller than him. She had a midnight blue coat and mane that flowed with her tail as if an ever-present gust of wind was blowing. She had the mark of the moon on her flank. She was also adorned in royal attire. He easily deduced that this was the princess of the night and Celestia's sister, Princess Luna. She had small bags under her eyes, showing her fatigue. Maybe since she was the princess of the night, she stayed up all night and slept during the day? Seemed lonely. He walked right next to her, startling her greatly. He stared at the statue before she said something.

"U-Um… hello," she greeted, calming herself down. She looked around, seeing if there was anypony else who was with him. She wasn't aware of any visits from the public. Though, her sister still wasn't quite used to having to update her on events going on.

"Hello," the stallion greeted back, still staring at the statue. It was quite magnificent, almost life-like. He'd have to figure out who the sculptor was and what they based this statue off of. It's almost like the mismatched creature knew its fate and was terrified of what was to come. The facial features were astonishing. She stared at him for a few moments before looking back at the statue as well.

"Is… there something I could help you with?" She asked. He stopped staring at the statue and turned to face her. She looked back at him. They held this stare for as long as it took for Princess Luna to start feeling awkward (so not that long). She was about to say something but the stallion spoke before her.

"Probably," he simply said before turning back to the statue.

"... Well… what could I help you with?" She asked again.

"I want to know how to get to the front gate so I can leave the castle," he told her. She stared at him for a bit before answering.

"If you go to where you came out from and walk straight, you'll reach the front," she said. The stallion sighed an empty sigh. Luna suddenly took notice of the stallion's expression, it had never changed.

"So close," he muttered, turning away to leave.

"Wait", Luna said, causing the stallion to stop. "Don't you know who I am?"

"Of course Princess Luna," the stallion answered. There were still a hooful of ponies who didn't know so she always felt the need to ask strangers.

"Then, aren't… aren't you afraid of me?" She asked. The stallion seemed to consider her question

"... Do you want me to be?" He asked back, still not facing her though. She didn't answer immediately as she wasn't used to that sort of response.

"Um, no," she answered.

"Then I'm not," he said looking back at her. She then blinked, her mind trying to process his answer. Maybe he knew her, but didn't know what she had been. "Anyways, I should get out of your mane. You seem tired."

Luna stood there. She admittedly was very tired and still getting back into the swing of her royal duties. It was getting easier at least. She followed him inside but stopped as she entered the castle. She stared at the stallion as he walked along the hall to the front gate.

"I see you've met him," her sister's voice broke her concentration.

"Who… is he?" She asked her sister. She turned to face her, seeing the small smile on her sister's face.

"... Somepony who's very interesting," Celestia answered, walking back to her office to attend her daily duties. Luna stared at her fleeting sister before staring in the direction the stallion had left. She had gotten that impression, but another feeling rose up within that she couldn't quite explain why. She pitied him. The vacantness in his eyes, the monotonous tone in his voice. It wasn't natural. And she pitied him for whatever had caused that.

(Back to the stallion with a timeskip on top)

He stepped off the train for the second time today, but this time there were a hooful of other passengers. In fact, there had been this one mare who throughout the entire train ride, had hit on him insistently. He was certain though that it was because she was drunk, considering her breath reeked of alcohol. Which was strange taking account of how it was still morning.

He took in the view from the platform, surrounded by trees and even saw Canterlot on the side of the peak of the mountain. He sighed before leaving the station to find this Twilight Sparkle. He also then realized that he had no idea where to even start. He decided to do what he did best, and aimlessly drift. It didn't take long to get a result as he came across an apple stall vendor with a mare behind it.

Orange fur, blonde tail and mane. She was about the average height for a mare. She wore a slightly worn out Stetson on her head. Surprisingly enough, she had the mark of an apple on her flank. After finishing his dissection, he approached her.

"One apple please," he asked. He began rummaging through his bag while she got an apple. He pulled out a small bag of bits.

"Here's one apple fer ya," the mare presented. He noticed she had a southern belle accent which was interesting considering that this town wasn't in Southern Equestria. He guessed that her family must have moved here a generation or two ago.

"Thanks," he said, dropping the bag of bits and grabbing the apple. He was about to walk away when she stopped him.

"As much as Ah appreciate the money, the apple's only two bits," she said. The stallion blinked and looked directly at her. He walked the short distance back to the stall, staring at her the whole time. He looked down as he grabbed the bag and expertly poured out three bits before throwing the small bag back into his larger bag. He then went back to staring at the apple mare while she put the money into her register. She looked back up to see the stallion staring at her.

"Uh… Is there anythin' else I can do fer ya, sugarcube?" She asked him. He stared at her for a few moments before suddenly putting his forehooves on top of the stall. He saw as the mare reached to grab something under her stall and decided it would be best if he said something before that happened.

"Yes, there is something you could help me with," he said. He saw as she slowly lowered her hoof back to the ground.

"And… what would that be?" She asked him.

"I would like directions to the Golden Oaks Library," he stated, not moving his hooves from the stall. The mare stared at him for a bit before answering.

"If you go down that way for about 3 blocks, take a left and then a right, head straight, you'll be at the center of town," she told him, pointing off in the direction she indicated. "You'll see a big oak tree. That's where the library is."

"Wait, it's… inside a tree?" He asked her.

"Yep," she replied. He stared at her for a moment before getting off the stall.

"Equestrian's sure are weird," he said before walking off. The mare gave him an odd look. "Well it was good talking to you Applejack."

"Wait, tha's the wrong…" she began, watching him head off in a random direction. "... way."

She sat there, going over her brief experience with this random stallion before realizing something.

"How did he know mah name?"

(Back to the stallion with a shorter time skip on top)

He stood before a giant tree… building? He stared at it for a moment. He had never seen anything like this. Sure most houses were made from wood, but this felt like it was taking it too far. What confused the stallion the most though, was that the leaves on the… building… were green. How this… tree… had growing leaves on it when its center appeared to have been hollowed out, amazed the stallion. He also then thought about how he had gotten here and wondered how he had actually arrived here. He talked to the apple mare, Applejack the Element of Honesty.

He had seen her on one of the stain glass window panes, also Celestia had told him about all the Elements. He then asked for directions, only to not follow them at all. And here he was. He shrugged his shoulders before going up to the door and knocking. He waited a few seconds before the door opened, revealing… nothing. He heard a cough and looked down to see a baby dragon that had purple and green scales. They stared at each other for a several moments.

"You're a dragon," the stallion stated, as if the dragon had that kept secret from him.

"Yes, yes I am," the dragon replied, confusion on his face. The stallion assumed that the dragon did in fact know that it was a dragon. They stared at each other for another moment.

"So… is this the Golden Oaks Library, home of Twilight Sparkle, personal student to Princess Celestia and the Element of Magic?" The stallion inquired. After saying that he briefly wondered if this was an actual library.

"Uh, yeah," the dragon said. The stallion then assumed that this dragon had some sort of personal connection with Twilight Sparkle. That or all-knowing baby dragons were a common thing here in Equestria… which would actually be rather handy.

"I have a letter here from Princess Celestia to Twilight Sparkle," the stallion said, fishing through his bag.

"What, really? Why didn't she just send one?" He asked the stallion. The stallion detected some suspicion in the baby dragon's voice.

"Don't know, don't care," the stallion replied, pulling out the rolled up piece of paper. The dragon reached to grab it, but the stallion moved it out of his reach. Again, this is for Twilight Sparkle, not her pet."

"I am not a pet!" The dragon yelled, clearly insulted. The stallion raised an eyebrow. "I am her companion and #1 assistant!"

The stallion heard an echo of her voice in his head 'Do you even understand your position? You're not my friend. Not a companion. You're a pet that I keep around just because you look so pitiful out on the street. If that.'

Although the stallion's expression never changed, the dragon felt a sudden shift in his mood as it seemed to darken.

"Hm," the stallion said, his only reply. The dragon blinked, realizing the stallion was gone… in fact the door was closed. He heard hoofsteps behind him and turned around to see the stallion heading upstairs. The stallion went up the stairs quickly before finding Twilight Sparkle's room. He opened the door to see her reading a book in her bed.

"Who was at the door and why were you yel-" She began until she saw him and jumped from being startled.

"Hello," the stallion said.

"H-H-Hi," she said, still not over her scare. That was when the dragon came into the room.

"I'm sorry Twilight, I tried to stop him," the dragon said. Twilight looked at the dragon in confusion before looking at the stallion. She was about to talk but the stallion knew what she was going to say.

"Yes there is something you could do for me," he interrupted, showing her the rolled up piece of paper. She looked at it before levitating it out of his grip and bringing it to reading distance. She undid the bindings and unrolled it. She scanned the page, quite quickly the stallion noticed. The look on her face became more and more confused. After finishing it, she looked at the stallion.

"Who are you?" She asked him.

"... I am #23", the stallion recited… having to have said that line his whole life…

And that's a wrap. Like a lettuce one… with chicken inside. Yeah… well anyways, while you finish your wrap, I'm sure you're all thinking 'What? Isn't this just some other fanfic where the main character is emotionally shut in because of a dark, gruesome past? And only through the magic of harem will he be able to open up?' in which, I would reply 'NAY! It is not! Well… not really.' Anyways, I know you're all thinking this is just another one of those fanfics and I assure you that it is not. Is he emotionally shut in? Yeah. Does he have a dark and gruesome past? Not really. It's sad maybe. But not really dark or gruesome. And will he have a harem? Eh… I'm kind of on the fence on this one. We'll see. Anyways, I encourage you to please give this a shot and review on what you think of the opener. Follow/Favorite if you enjoyed it. Well I'm done.

~Djsoresupon3 signing out