living in interesting(?) times

{Chapter 1, part 1, by Ray10k}

It was a day like any other, in the (mostly) quiet little town of Ponyville. Celestia’s sun had only barely passed the horizon, and most of Ponyville’s inhabitants were only just getting out of their beds. One of these ponies was a certain stallion, following his everyday routine:

Roll over once more, try to deny the beginning of a brand new day, give up the fight after only a few minutes, grudgingly get out of bed, stumble across the hall and into the bathroom, give self a quick inspection in the mirror.

{we could do different colors so people would know whos part is whos} {sure, but to do that we need to remember who did what in the first place ;-)}
{Chapter 1, part 2, by Kryxel}
{so, the rules stop me from doing my usual editing, but I can still suggest improvements, right?}
The stallion was not tall by most standards, nor was he anything special like a {capital}pegasus or {capital}unicorn. {capital}he was a simple {capital}earth pony, boring tan, with a mane that looked like mud.
{capital}his eyes were a vibrant green{,} so that was an upside.
{capital}now{,} you may think i am referring to Doctor {"}Time {delete one quotation mark}"turner" {capital}whooves{replace with comma}. brilliant inventor and adventurer {extraordinaire} extrordinare. {capital}but sadly you are mistaken.
{capital}this is the story of {capital}mossy {capital}mane. {capital}a{n} artist of humble beginnings, and even humbler wages.

{Chapter 1, part 3, by Ray10k}
Finishing his daily morning rituals, Mossy put a kettle of water on the stove and went outside to grab the newspaper. As he waited for the water to boil, he idly flipped through the paper.
Some Newfoals working on a more permanent cloud walking spell, a sale on bread at Sugarcube Corner, rumors and gossip about the Griffins negotiating entry into the conversion program, the usual.
Mossy grinned to himself. It was quite surprising what can become "the usual" in just a few short years.
Pouring himself a cup of coffee, he went over the tasks that had to be completed for the day. He was a little short on hay for his usual dinner, one of his earlier customers wanted a sign repainted, and he had a meeting with a potential client from Canterlot later in the afternoon.
He couldn't help but inwardly groan at that last one, sometimes it felt as if [i]those[/i] ponies had traded in all their common sense for bits, demanding stuff like three-dimensional company logos or expecting him to work for free, "because it would look good in his portfolio."
{so, a little more building the setting. Again, you can make of this what you want, if I didn't outright state otherwise, whatever you come up with is canon for this story.}