Chapter One: Ponyville Under My Hooves

Twilight Sparkle woke up having a good day. As usual, she made a list of things to get done that day, and then she did them. As she went outside, she was greeted by her friends Pinkie Pie and Rarity, as usual.

"Good morning, Twilight!" said Pinkie Pie.

"Good morning, Pinkie!" said Twilight.

"How is everything going?" asked Rarity.

"Fine, thank you," responded Twilight.

Her assistant Spike the dragon walked next to her, holding a scroll containing the list of things and a quill in his hands.

"Okay, Twilight," said Spike, "your first task is..."

"Hold up," said Twilight, pausing in her walking. "Do you feel that?"

"Feel what?" asked Spike.

"Nothing, it just felt like an earthquake."

"Well, you are standing on a manhole cover... Perhaps the construction workers are down there, fixing the sewers up."

"But that makes no sense," said Pinkie. "That sewer system hasn't been used for years now! Perhaps it's a ghost!!!"

Suddenly, the manhole cover started shaking again, and Twilight jumped off it.

"I definitely felt that," said Twilight.

The manhole cover started rising. All three ponies + Spike gasped as it came clean off and a black stallion with a blue mane stuck his head out, looking around in all directions. His eyes, covered by dark sunglasses, stared in Twilight's direction. Pinkie screamed and hid behind Twilight, and Spike, seeing Pinkie's reaction, naturally assumed it to be the right thing to do and also hid behind Twilight.

As the stallion climbed out, Twilight got a better look at him. His mane wasn't plain blue, but rather, blue with a cyan stripe across the middle. His tail was purple and green. He wore a white bodysuit and a dark brown cloak, so Twilight couldn't see his flank or his cutie mark. One thing she did notice, however, was that he was a pegasus. His wings, however, were folded up, and his left wing was bandaged. He was wearing a backpack.

The pegasus proceeded to walk through Ponyville, as everypony stared at him in fear. Fluttershy dropped the basket she was carrying. Rainbow Dash crashed into the side of a building. Most other ponies got distracted from what they were previously doing and instead stared at the mysterious pegasus. Sweetie Belle looked at the pegasus for a second, but then Rarity called to her.

"Sweetie Belle! Come back here away from that stallion!"

Sweetie Belle ran towards Rarity. It was then when the pegasus spoke.

"Don't mind me, I'm just passing through. Go back to your happy lives."

"Like hell we will!" yelled Rarity. "You expect us to believe that? Ha! We all know you're really here to ruin Ponyville like you almost ruined it five years ago!"

The pegasus showed no emotion, and instead turned around, saying "Tough crowd, as usual."

As the pegasus walked away, the crowds all backed away from him. He eventually disappeared out of sight. Spike stuck his head out from behind an unphased Twilight.

"Is he gone?"

"Yes, he's gone. You can come out now, Pinkie."

Spike and Pinke both came out from behind Twilight, Pinkie shivering.

"Now listen very closely," Rarity said to Sweetie Belle. "Don't you ever go near that lunatic ever again!"

"Okay," said Sweetie Belle, galloping away in the other direction. "I'm going to hang out with Scootaloo and Apple Bloom now."

"Hold on, Rarity," said Twilight. "Who is that guy? Besides a lunatic, of course."

"That poor excuse for a pony," said Rarity, "is Old Man Kirby. He tried to run against the mayor five years ago. We never let him win, of course."

"Why is everypony so scared of him?" asked Twilight.

"H-h-he i-i-is c-c-crazy!" said Pinkie, with her teeth chattering.

"Ugh!" groaned Twilight. "Pinkie, you're so hypocritical. Why are they really scared of him?" Just then, Rainbow Dash flew up.

"I'll tell you why!" said Rainbow Dash. "When he ran for mayor, he said some evil things that nopony wants!"

"Like communist ideals and such," said Fluttershy, walking to them. "And communism makes me cry!" Her eyes started tearing up.

"Those are bogus reasons for being scared of him," said Twilight, facehoofing.

"Well, aren't you scared of him?" asked Rarity.

"Maybe a little," admitted Twilight. "But we learned in the situation with Zecora that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, so I'm going to need some more facts. I'm going to go talk to him."

...

Meanwhile, at a certain apple farm, Applejack was bucking the apples again. Suddenly, Granny Smith came up to her and says, "Here comes trouble."

Applejack looked down the road and saw "Old Man Kirby" approaching. She frowned.

"Troubl' indeed."

As Old Man Kirby approached the farm, Applejack yelled at him.

"I though' ya said you wer' leavin' fer good!"

"I hoped I was!" yelled back Old Man Kirby. "Seems the case was not so sweet!"

Applejack glared at him as he came closer.

"Applejack," he said. "So I see you've taken over the farm since I left. Isn't it usually customary for the eldest sibling to take over? And isn't Big Macintosh older than you?"

"None of yer business!" she said. "Now either buy something or get out."

"That's exactly why I'm here," he responded, "after all, I certainly didn't come here for the small talk. Give me as many apples that can fit in my backpack."

He pulled his bag off his back and handed it to Applejack, who walked away, mumbling the word "jackass" under her breath.

"I heard that!" yelled Kirby.

Applejack made him wait an extended amount of time for them to come back. Finally, she gave his bag back to him.

"45 bits."

"Raised the price, eh?" said Kirby as he pulled out a wallet and pulled some money out of it. "And quite a lot since I last bought from here."

"Don' you ever come here again," whispered Applejack.

"I'll have to, since I need enough to live underground for another five years. Besides, I'm the one giving you money. You should be thankful I even considered this place."

"Go to the moon," said Applejack, spitting at him. "Go to the moon" is considered a major insult among the ponies, so Kirby was pretty pissed, as you all can understand.

"Ponyville under my hooves," he murmured. "Home again."

As he walked away, he didn't notice Twilight Sparkle spying on him from behind a bush.