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                     Search for Solace                     
                    -by ExplodingToast-                    
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               The Start of a New Beginning                
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The Start of a New Beginning
Under the scorching heat of the summer sun, a figure of a stallion can be seen pulling a carriage full of household items on a dirt trail towards Ponyville. Beads of sweat were streaming from his brow to his brown coat and his long grey mane was all soggy from the excess perspiration. As an act of will, the young stallion pulled the heavy cart with all of his might over a hill and his effort shows when the veins in his eyes were starting to pop.
What seems to be a minute in real time but an eternity for the poor stallion, he finally managed to pull the cart over the steep hill. As a reward, he immediately slammed his hindquarters to the dirt path in an audible thump to take his time to regain his energy.
“Chisellete, could you bring daddy his water bottle, please?” the stallion wheezed as if his lungs were nothing more than deflated balloons. Soon after, a rummaging sound can be heard from the carriage and suddenly a young filly with light blue coat and yellow flowing mane popped from the massive hill of items. Her tiny horn let out a soft amber glow as she levitated his father’s water bottle.
“I think you should take a breathe-“before the filly could finish her sentence, the stallion immediately grabbed the bottle with his mouth and hastily chugged the content of the bottle. “Dad! Slow down before you-“again, the filly was cut but this time by a violent series coughs. “Choke...,” she deadpanned at her father.
“I think I shouldn’t chug the whole thing down next time,” her father coughed as he tried to regain his composure, clutching his chest with a hoof.
“You think,” Chisel sighed, slightly shaking her head in exasperation. Without another word, her father looked over his shoulder and gave Chisellete a goofy grin. The little filly tossed her mane in the air and looked at another direction, hiding a soft smile from her father.
“So,” her father started as he coughed in his hoof. “This will be our new home,” he continued grandiosely, followed with his hoof waved towards the bustling village just ahead of them. Many colored ponies in all shapes and sizes filled the streets of Ponyville. The sky was filled with colorful array of pegasi as they were doing their daily weather patrolling routine.
“Dad, can I ask you something?” the filly squeaked, looking at her father with eyes filled with worry and her head down to avoid eye contact.
“Yes, sweet pea?” his father replied softly, immediately unfastened himself from the carriage to sit next to the worrisome filly.
“Are you sure you want to be a delivery pony?” she asked softly, looking at his father with fear in her eyes and her lips quivering.
“Of course, sweetie. Why are you looking so worried? I can handle it,” his father answered just as soft with a smile on his face as he extended his wings, covering the frightened filly.
“I know but-,” Chisel replied exasperatedly but quickly cut herself off, trying to find the correct words. “But, your wings are wounded from the accident,” she continued as she looked at his father’s wings that were covered with stitches. A tear started to form in the corner of her eyes just from remembering the day his father underwent recovery therapy.
“Now, look at me, honey,” he whispered softly as he gently pulled his daughter’s chin towards him. “I’m fine, honest,” he continued with a wide grin on his face. “My name is Star Dive the Third and nothing can get me grounded unless the Goddesses themselves pull me out of the blue sky,” he proclaimed enthusiastically, waving his hooves in a grandiose manner. “And you little filly,” he continued as he pointed a hoof at Chisel, grinning as wide as the horizon. “You have nothing to fear, because daddy is here!” he exclaimed before standing up onto his hindlegs and proudly puffed his chest. Chisel wiped the tear away with a hoof and gave her dad a wide smile.
“Yeah!” she cheered, thrusting her hoof into the sky above. “You’re the best, da-“ before she could finish her sentence, she heard and audible thump and saw a small cloud of dust where her dad was standing a couple of seconds ago. She quickly looked over the carriage and saw her father was lying on his back with a wavering grin on his face.
“Ouch,” was the only thing escaped from his mouth.
After another hour of trotting and Star Dive whining on how tired he was, the new family of ponies was just about to enter Ponyville. With just a step of a hoof into Ponyville territory, both Chisellete and Star Dive felt a disturbance in the air and had a hunch that something horrible was going to happen. With a deep breath, Star Dive continued to walk towards his new home. Just seconds of walking, suddenly a pink blob immediately erupted from the ground, causing Star Dive to lose his balance and fell flat onto his flank. “Ooof” he winced.
“Ohmygoodessnewfriends!” the pink blob squealed in excitement.
“Gaah!!” Chisel squealed in a manner that was an opposite of excitement and quickly buried herself into the mountain of items.
“Don’t hurt me, take the filly instead,” Star Dive yelled frantically as he tried to protect his face from attacks with his eyes closed shut.
“What are you talking about?” the pink pony giggled, bouncing in place excitedly. “I’m not going to take your filly. I am just welcoming both of you to Ponyville, silly,” the pony continued, chuckling.
“Oh, I see,” Star Dive replied as he slowly stood up and dust himself from the dirt. He immediately felt a chilling sensation on his back and at that moment, he was sweating cold sweat like never before. He slowly looked over his shoulder and saw his daughter looking at him with cold steel gaze under the pile of household items. He could only give a nervous grin to the young filly.
“Soon…,” Chisel whispered darkly under the items before slowly sinking back into the carriage.
“So!” the pink pony exclaimed excitedly. “You are moving into Ponyville?” she asked as she inspected the mountain of household items inside the carriage.
“Yes!” Star Dive answered anxiously, snapping his head towards the pony in record speed as he gave a slightly awkward smile. It was amazing that the action alone did not cause his head to fall off his shoulders.
“Welcome! My name is Pinkie Pie!” the pony giggled, extended her hoof in greeting.
“Nice to meet you, Pinkie Pie,” Star Dive replied as he tried his best to give the best hoofshake at the moment. But instead, he accidentally hoofbumped Pinkie Pie. He mentally facehoofed himself. The pink pony just giggled at the gesture.
“So, what’s your name?” Pinkie asked as she looked over Star to peek at the hiding filly inside the carriage.
“I-I’m Star Dive and the filly at the back is my daughter, Chisellete,” he stammered, nervously scratching his neck. “But she preferred the nickname Chisel, though,” he added as he looked over his shoulder, slightly gesturing Chisel to greet the friendly yet scary pony with his head. Chisel sighed inwardly and slowly crawled out from the carriage with her head held down.
“Hello,” she squeaked and immediately hid behind her father’s legs.
“You’re so cute!” Pinkie squealed as she took a step closer to get a better look at the new filly. This only made Chisel to turn into beet red in embarrassment.
“T-thank you,” Star Dive stammered in embarrassment as he nervously scratched the back of his neck, before he realized that she was talking about Chisel. “O-oh! Pardon me,” he let out a fake laugh to hide his embarrassment but it only made things awkward. Chisel said nothing and hid behind his father’s legs with her cheeks flushed red.
“Silly pony,” Pinkie Pie chortled. “You’re cute too,” she continued, ruffling Star Dive’s mane. “Tonight we’ll have a party to welcome you to our great town, are you guys in?” she asked, looking more excited as if she was expecting a ‘yes’ for an answer.
“Sure,” Star Dive answered with a nervous grin followed by a soft nod from Chisel.
“Great!” Pinkie exclaimed joyfully before launching into the air like a rocket and vanished in mid-air among the small explosion of pink glitter. Star Dive and Chisel could only gawk to the impossible trick but they immediately recovered and shook their head as if it was their imagination.
“S-so, she’s friendly,” Star Dive chuckled lightly, looking at Chisel with an awkward grin.
“Yeah,” she nodded softly, hiding her flushed cheeks. It was the first time in a long while that anypony called her ‘cute’ other than her dad.
“I think we’re going to have a hectic live ahead of us,” he chuckled as he continued to pull the carriage towards their new home.
“You know what, dad? I’m looking forward to it,” Chisel giggled, looking at his dad with a wide grin plastered on her face as she trotted alongside of her father.
“Me too, sweetie. Me too,” he replied, chuckling lightly.