Bold: Brave Beginning

Strongbolt stared at Canterlot in the distance and wondered if the ponies there were questioning why the night was lasting so long. Hopefully Shining Armor had everything under control, after all, he had a strange talent of being able to reassure others. He glanced behind the boulder again, the path was still clear.

"I need to get out of here. Need to find Shiera and leave." He said, but he could not move his legs.

The thing that had followed him, called itself the Corruption. That meant evil, hate, fear and hundreds of other negative emotions, could it be that the Corruption was made up of these emotions? Perhaps born from them? Or maybe it inflicted these negative thoughts and feelings upon it's prey? That would explain why Strongbolt felt so afraid.

"Oh, Shiera where are you?"

The night seemed to drag, for some reason Strongbolt could not sleep, he had too much information flowing through his head. And the thought of leaving made him wonder if he truly was ready to go out into the wide world. He had always been so reclusive: Shining Armor and Shiera were the only two ponies he really ever interacted with. Shining Armor's sister and him were fairly good friends as well, however, he rarely ever saw her. Apparently she did not associate herself with other ponies and much preferred the company of books. He stared at the ceiling, then looked out of the window and up at the night sky, the stars that circled the moon seemed to have moved closer. He turned to Shiera, who layed motionless on his right, she always looks so peaceful when she sleeps, he thought to himself. He stared at her elegant golden hair that now rested slightly over her face, but not enough to cover her eyes, or her smile.

"This is going to be better for both of us." He told himself, and with his mind at rest he gradually drifted off into slumber. When he awoke, he saw a pink mare with purple eyes and a golden mane staring down at him.

"Ah!" He yelled and rolled off of the bed.

Shiera giggled, "Sorry, I just couldn't help it." She was so full of energy Strongbolt worried she might explode at any second.

Strongbolt got up, he smiled at Shiera. "Today's the day." He said.

Shiera raised her eyebrow, "You don't say?" she laughed sarcastically and Strongbolt joined her.

"So you're sure your family can take care of this place every so often?" He asked her as he locked the door.

"Sure." Shiera called from the end of the path. "I gave them a spare key." She was dragging their bags across the road.

Strongbolt picked up a suitcase with his mouth, and then mumbled. "Ren does the rain reave? Shiera looked at him, puzzled.

He put the bag down, then repeated: "When does the train leave?"

"Oh," she said, "in about half an hour."

Strongbolt looked down at his watch. "So nine o'clock right?"

"How did you figure that out, Holmes?" She gasped in a joke-like manner. Strongbolt just shook his head and smiled.

"Wait a minute, who's Holmes?" He asked.

Shiera laughed. "You really need to read more."

They arrived at the train station five minutes before the train was supposed to leave. Strongbolt saw Shining Armor in the distance.

"Shiera, could you load a few of these on?" He gestured towards their luggage. Shiera turned and saw Shining Armor, she nodded.

Shining Armor walked towards him slowly, with a grim look upon his face. His ears hung downwards: he was upset about something.

"Hey." said Strongbolt. No answer, Shining Armor looked at the floor. Strongbolt waved his hoof in front of him and watched him blinked twice before realizing his friend was standing in front of him.

"Oh, hey." he said and returned his gaze to the floor, shaking his head.

"What... happened to you?" Strongbolt asked, slightly shocked. Shining Armor's ear perked up slightly, like it was intercepting a signal. He breathed in heavily.

"You remember Twilight, right?" He inquired.

"Your sister or your mother?" Strongbolt replied.

"Sister."

"Yeah, I remember. Why? What happened to her?" Strongbolt suddenly became more alert and Shining Armor noticed.

"She's not hurt." He confirmed. "She's... been sent to Ponyville, for the Summer Sun Celebration. I don't know when she'll be back. I guess everything that's happening is just... taking its toll on me."

"I'm sorry, friend." Strongbolt said emphatically, he patted him on the shoulder.

He looked up. "I'm just overreacting." he admitted, "Twilight and I... well, we've always been so inseparable and I just don't want to see her go. And the fact that you're leaving isn't helping either."

"Hey, chin up, you'll see her again, I'm sure of it. Same as you'll see me again too."

"Yeah, I guess so..." he muttered.

"Tell you what, me and Shiera are heading to Ponyville now, we'll give her your regards, alright?"

"Alright, sure. Thanks, but don't tell her I miss her too much, okay? I just don't want her to feel like she needs to come back."

"You can count on me." He saluted.

The conductor blew the train whistle and gave the traditional "All Aboard!"

"Well, guess I'll be going. Look after this place for me okay." He held out his hoof, Shining Armor took it.

"You can count on me." He said as they shook on it.

Strongbolt waved him one final goodbye before disappearing inside the train. Shiera was already waiting on one of the seats reading a magazine, she watched him as he sat down.

"Everything alright?" she asked. Strongbolt watched the station fade into the distance behind him.

"Yeah, of course."

Strongbolt slept through most of the Journey there, he had a strange flashback dream of his first day in high school, when he and Shining Armor had first met Shiera. He remembered arguing with some other student and things got out of hand. He winced slightly at the memory.

"Look!" A filly called from up ahead, she was pointing out of the window at Ponyville which appeared from behind a large hill. Strongbolt opened one eye, Shiera had jumped up and pressed herself right up against the glass, she looked like a child that had just seen an ice cream truck pass by. He laughed quietly to himself at the thought.

An announcement came through the speakers above them: "Arriving in Ponyville in five minutes, please secure all belongings, including family. We hope you've had a pleasant ride with us today."

Strongbolt flew up and grabbed their bags from the overhead locker, he lay them on the floor beside their seats.

Another announcement came through: "We hope you have a safe journey from here and we remind you to avoid the Everfree Forest. Once again we thank you for joining us."

"The Everfree Forest?" Strongbolt asked himself.

A voice came from behind him, "You ever been to Ponyville before, stranger?"

Strongbolt turned to see a pale peach colored mare with bright orange hair and grey eyes laying back on her chair with her hooves behind her head. She wore a velvet cloak with a hood attached onto it, through her hair Strongbolt could make out a horn.

"No, first time actually." He replied.

"I see." She said. "Stay clear of the Everfree Forest. There's a lot of things in there you would not want to run into." Her voice was soft and calm.

"Oh, thanks I guess." He said awkwardly.

"The name's Iris, I'm travelling Equestria, like you."

"Strongbolt, and this is... wait, how did you know we're travelling Equestria?"

"It's funny, what you can tell about somepony, just by looking at them." A whistle blew behind Strongbolt, he turned towards the noise.

"What do you..." He asked, turning back, but Iris was gone.

"Did you see that?" He asked Shiera who gazed at him.

"See what?"

"Oh, nothing. There was somepony here and now they're not."

"Maybe because they walked off?"

"Oh, yeah, of course."

The train came to a halt, Strongbolt picked up a bag and flung it over his back, Shiera did the same. He glanced one more time at the spot where Iris had been, before leaving.