Chapter 1: Monochrome's Memoir

Monochrome was born in a small town called Mountvale. There was nothing that made this town stand out from any other town in Equestria. The citizens themselves were of a commonplace sort of nature. None of them would ever be famous and they didn't have the dreams of such either. The entire town was full of everyday normal ponies. However Monochrome easily stood out from the crowd. Her superior intellect was quickly seen at a very early age. As a young pony she was reading at the level of adults. Monochrome was easily the smartest pony in the entire town. Not even the adults were more intelligent than the gray filly. She earned her cutie mark at an early age and it depicted a large textbook. Monochrome knew that this meant that she was destined for prestige and greatness. Nopony could ever be able to compete with Monochrome in an academic or mental contest. The gray pony also carried herself with a sense of superiority and arrogance which quickly alienated her from the rest of the ponies. Her parents sent her to a private school where she would be with ponies that were at the same level of intelligence as her. The two adults hoped that this would enable her to make friends due to shared levels of intelligence.

The gray pegasus started her time at private school and she quickly shined at the top of the class. She won every single academic prize that the school had to offer. She earned flawless grades in every single class with the exception of gym class. Monochrome hated physical activity and deemed it to be a waste of time. She felt like the time spent in that class could be better used for more productive reasons. She quickly graduated the school and went back to her hometown. Her intelligence and arrogance had only grown since her time at private school. Her parents were proud of her but they also wanted her to have some friends. They decided to send her to Junior Speedsters Flight School in the hopes that she would connect with some ponies. Maybe she would get along better with pegasi since the only ponies she met in school were earth ponies and unicorns.

Monochrome went to Junior Speedsters Flight School and she quickly made enemies with Gilda the Griffon. The gray mare didn't care for the daredevil dreams that Gilda had. This caused Monochrome to bully Gilda during their time at the school. If there was anyone that Monochrome hated more than the brown and white griffon it was her best friend Rainbow Dash. The light blue rainbow maned pegasus pony was born to be a very great flier and she hardly cared for academic success. This quickly got under Monochrome's skin and she despised Rainbow Dash with a passion.

However Monochrome did make a few friends. Well, she used the term 'friends' very loosely. The only things she had in common with the two ponies were her hatred of Gilda and Rainbow Dash. One of her new friends was a fiery red alicorn male named Psyke. The other was a pegasus female named Chunker. Monochrome was a little bit tolerant towards Psyke since he was somewhat intelligent. Chunker however was a different matter altogether. Monochrome was a very intelligent pegasus pony while Chunker was extremely dimwitted. The only reason the gray mare hung around the muscular pony was because of Psyke. Monochrome wasn't in love with Psyke but he was the only pony she had met that was anywhere near her intelligence level. Psyke was extremely knowledgeable about anything that was related to fire. He was average in other aspects but he was better than Chunker or the other ponies at the school.

After roughly three months at Junior Speedsters Flight School, Monochrome took part in a prank against Gilda. She was very eager to humiliate the griffon that she hated. She used her intelligence to plan out how the prank would work. Chunker and Psyke did everything that they could to help. All three of them were certain that this prank would be very humiliating for Gilda and extremely entertaining for the trio. However Rainbow Dash noticed the prank and she saved Gilda from being humiliated at the cost of her own reputation. Monochrome and the others were attacked that night and while they were certain that it was either Gilda or Rainbow Dash that had hurt them, none of them had any way to prove it.

Once the Mid Term exams were over Monochrome had to wait out the rest of her first year before she could get into the advanced classes. Monochrome might have been intelligent but she wasn't the greatest flier. As a result of such she failed her test and had to wait to get into the advanced classes. Despite being a mediocre flier, the gray pegasus excelled in pretty much every other class. Once she started her second year of school she'd be in all honors classes. However two weeks before the end of her first year, Monochrome was caught bullying Gilda one too many times and she was expelled from Junior Speedsters Flight School.

After being kicked out of Flight School, Monochrome went back to the small town of Mountvale. Her parents had been highly disappointed that she had been expelled. They scolded their daughter but she hardly cared. Monochrome was looking for some way to showcase her intelligence. No school would be able to suffice her desire for recognition. Mere awards and classes were nowhere near enough to push Monochrome's smarts to their fullest extent. The gray mare found a number of jobs but none of them enabled her to take advantage of her gift. Every night she dreamed of being famous for her intelligence. She didn't care what she had to do to get that fame. All that mattered to the gray pegasus pony was making sure that ponies across Equestria knew that she was an absolute genius.

A few years went by and Monochrome was approached by a griffon. He had a dark brown body and a black feathered head with red highlights. He also had a scar on his left eye running vertically down his face. He introduced himself as Grayback and he offered Monochrome a spot on his team of thieves. He said that her intelligence would be used to its fullest potential if she worked for him. At the promise of vast riches and recognition, Monochrome eagerly accepted the villainous griffon's offer and she was hired as the brains of Grayback's operations.

Much to her surprise, Monochrome found that she would be working alongside her old 'friends' Psyke and Chunker. Both of them had been expelled from Flight School before her and they had been hired shortly before Monochrome herself was contacted by Grayback. The griffon trained each of them to be the best they could be. The gray pegasus pony was able to increase her brain power beyond what she had dreamed. Her intelligence could rival that of anypony in the entire land of Equestria. Grayback made sure that the trio worked together in an organized manner and they were able to pull off heists with ease. Monochrome knew that her genius would be recognized by ponies all across Equestria. Soon enough the entire world would be regarding her as a genius.

After a few months of working for Grayback, Monochrome was sent to a small town called Ponyville along with her teammates Chunker and Psyke. The trio of thieves thought that the heist would be a simple and quick process. What they hadn't expected to find in Ponyville was Gilda. She, along with several of her friends, trapped the trio which made Grayback join the fray. The foursome were beaten in a battle and got sent to jail. Within a few weeks Grayback used his brute strength to break down the walls of Canterlot Prison. He then freed the trio and they tried to get revenge on Gilda and her friends. After that had failed, they had come to Ponyville to aid them in the war against Grifforia.

During the war, Monochrome fought on the side of Equestria. Much to her displeasure, she was forced to work with her old enemies Gilda and Rainbow Dash. She even had to risk her life so that they could pull of some harebrained scheme to win the war. Had it been up to her she would have let Ponyville's citizens deal with the issue on their own but Grayback had ordered her to help. Once the war ended she quickly went back to being a criminal. Monochrome was itching to put her mind to the test on another heist but Grayback hadn't ordered anything to be done yet. The gray mare was getting more and more frustrated at his inaction. Even Psyke seemed preoccupied with something. On any other day he'd be the most eager to do some stealing but now it was like he was in his own little world. Monochrome knew that she needed to talk some sense into the duo. The only one who shared her sentiments was Chunker.