I sigh as I plod along the dirt road in what I hope is the direction of Ponyville, a place, that I had heard, was good for making friends and beng treated fairly. I doubted that very much.
My last home was also branded as a place where everybody was friendly. They were, at first, until ponies discovered that I was a blank flank. A fully grown stallion without a cuty mark.
I was treated as a freak, like if anypony talked to me they'd lose thir cuty mark... I expected things like that from fillys and colts, not mares and stallions. The same could be said about blank flanks.
As I troded over a hill, I saw a small, but not overly so, town full of activity. It seamed brights and colourful, but not like Las Pegasus had, with all the flashing lights. This seamed more natural.
I sighed again as I walked towards it, wondering how long it wuold be until somepony found out. And then how long I could stand the ridicule before moving to a new town.
I shifted my saddle bag so that it covered my lack of a cuty mark, and walked a bit slower to town, thinking of a way to earn some bits. I had always been good at drawing, but that was a hard way to make bits.
I was not ecceptional at anything really. Not flying, running, baking, cooking, drawing, writing, maths... the list goes on. Oh yeah, flying... I promised Wingsely that I would see his first time flying. That was the day I left Coltifornia.
I told him not to write until I sent him a letter first. I wouldn't write until I found somewhere permanent, even if that place was a shack in the woods.
My wings were strong, so I could fly, but I was slightly overweight and was travelling a long way, so I had walked to conserve energy. I looked down at my hooves. Covered in dirt. Like always.
My dark brown coat made it easy to see. I kind of wished my coat wasn't something so... noticeable. Most ponies had bright coats, so my dark one sort of stuck out. That and my height (me being slightly taller than the average pony) made me easy to spot in crowds.
Most of the time I wished I could just turn invisible, but I wasn't a unicorn and I had no real friends, the few I have being pegasi like me.
I could proababy get sme work via manual labour. I wouldn't call myself especially strong, but I was in no way a weakling. I hadn't ever realy gotten into a fight more than once. The stallion had been drunk and more than a bit predjudiced.
He had thought that I was just big. He didn't think I was actually strong. He backed down after a minute or two of me kicking him. I was lucky to not have any fights with ponies. And luckier to not have encounters with monsters while walking so close to the Everfree Forest.
As I took the last few steps towards town, I heard somepony shout "Get out of the way!" before I felt something, or rather somepony, crash into me.
CHAPTER ONE
I groan as I get up off the ground and rub my head, the shake some of my almost dark enough to be black hair from my mane out of my ear. I hated when it got cought in there. I'd have to cut it soon. Then I looked over at the pony who had crashed into me.
It was a earth pony mare with a magenta coat, a purple mane, emerald green eyes and a lolipop cuty mark. "Sorry." she says as she gets up off the ground, which reminds me to do the same. She extends her hoof to me which I shake before withdrawing it back quickly.
I glance back to see if my saddlebag was still covering my flank and, to my relief, it was. "I'm Sugar Rush!" she says, placing her hoof on he chest. I nod, but forget my mannees and don't tell her mine, which promts her to ask "Ands your name is?"
I stare at her for a second, before shaking my head. "Forgive my manners. I'm Checkers." I respond, smiling sheepishly.
"You new in town?" she asks, smiling kindly. I nod and she starts to say "Well let me show you aro-" before another pony comes running up.
She's an earth pony with a pink mane and coat, with blue eyes and some balloons for a cuty mark. "Hii'mPinkiePieandyour'enewtootownsoIhadbetterstart planningyourWelcometoPonyvil leparty! Ohdon'tyoujustloveparties?! Idosothat'swhymycutymarkismakingpartie s. Itwaseitherthatorbakingdesse rts!"
It takes me a few seconds to gather the information, process it and piece together a responce before I say: "You're gonna make me a party? Wh-why? I only just got here. I haven't even got a house. All I've got is 10 bits and some random junk!"
"Do you want to be my friend?" she asks simply, staring at me her big light blue eyes.
"Um, sure?" I ask, sort of scared about what this strange mare, apparently named Pinkie Pie, was going to do due to my responce.
"Yay! Now I'm friends withe everypony in Ponyville again!" she says as she jumps into the air, confetti somehow blasting out of her hooves. I stare at her with my hazel (a mixture of green and brown) eyes and try to understand her actions, behaviour and attitude.
What I gather is that she's an extremely happy pony who likes parties, friends and baking desserts. As for how she talked that fast for that long and how she made confetti come out of her hooves is beyond me.
I'm about to ask how she did it, when she zips off, calling back something about "party planning".
"So... that was Pinkie Pie." Sugar Rush says, and when I look at her she seams to find my confusion really funny, as she has a big, goofy smile on her face.
"Yeah, I guess it was. C-could you please show me around town? And hopefully show me somewhere I could find work?" I ask, hoping that she will.
"Sure, follow me buddy." she says, before walking into town, me trailing behind her.