Writers Block

I lay in the bed of my hotel room, staring up at the ceiling. Several papers lie scattered across the floor and bedspread.

It had been nearly a week since I left Ponyville, and I had never felt worse in my life. I felt like an apple core that somepony had tossed aside and left to rot. I’m so sorry, I thought sadly in the solace of my hotel room, I’m so, so sorry. I still hadn’t forgiven myself for what I had said to Twilight, and how I had been so careless about Rainbow Dash’s feelings.

Just then, I heard a buzzer as the intercom went off. “Hasty Sketch, it’s Best Seller! I need you to come down to Grey Wings for a meeting with some of the other board members!”

I sighed and cleared my throat, and tried to sound happy. “Be there in a sec!” I quickly threw on my shirt, gathered my things, and ran out the door.

I sat at the head of the boardroom table, right next to Best Seller. “So, you all may be wondering why I’ve gathered you here. This,” he began, gesturing to me, “is Hasty Sketch, a brilliant young writer from Cloudsdale. He has an idea for a story that I think you are going to love! Take it away, Sketch!” he turned to face me, as did all the other ponies seated at the table. I stood up, feeling it would be better to stand.

“Um… Hello. So, my story is about…” I began, but a slight breeze coming in through the open window distracted me, and suddenly, I was flying through the air with Rainbow Dash, on our way to that picnic…

“Sketch!” Best Seller whispered loudly, snapping me back into the room.

“Huh? Oh, sorry,” I said, unsure about what to think of the vision. It was so vivid, like it were actually happening right there. “Anyways, my story is about Crimson Embers, who…” I trailed off again as a pony walked past the door, music playing from a pair of speakers, and suddenly I was at the party, dancing with Rainbow Dash as Twilight looked on.

I know how that feels, Sketch, to have to choose between what your head thinks is best and what your heart knows is best. When the time is right, you will know what you need to do, I heard my father’s voice echo in my head.

I do know what I need to do, I thought hazily as Best Seller whispered my name, this time sounding annoyed.

“Sketch! Focus!” I glanced over at him, and then to the ponies seated at the table.

“I’m sorry to have wasted your time, but I’ve realized something: I don’t really care about getting published as much as I thought I did. Sure, I’ve spent the last year working on this book, and it has become everything to me, but in the short time I’ve stayed in Ponyville, I’ve realized that all I really want isn’t to write, it isn’t to get published, and it isn’t to have people know me for my talents,” I broke off, almost laughing at how stupid I had been to not realize this before, “All I want is for the girl I love to know how I feel about her! Now, if you excuse me,” I called as I ran for the door, with Best Seller sputtering behind me, “I have some apologies to make!”

I didn’t take the elevator to the first floor. I ran down the stairs, barely tripping every other step and narrowly missing all the ponies I passed. The moment I left the building, I leapt into the air and took off into the clouds, half expecting my speed to cause something similar to the Sonic Rainboom.

I landed on the balcony of my house and ran inside. I had a lot to do, but I had to prepare first.

I set my bag down, took off my shirt, and jumped into the shower, singing way off-key, but I was too happy to care about how I sounded. I jumped out and brushed my teeth quickly, and was just about to run out the door when I stopped and started to turn back to the mirror. Mid-turn, my thoughts stopped me. You don’t need to do that, I told myself, interrupting my good-luck ritual. I smiled and ran for the door.

“Twilight?” I said as I entered the library. She was sitting at a desk, writing on a piece of paper. A quill hovered beside her, surrounded in a veil of purple magic. I saw her horn glowed a similar color as she turned to face me.

“What brings you here? I thought you were in Manehattan,” she said matter-of-factly. I looked down at my hooves.

“I was,” I started, “but I guess I didn’t care about my book as much as I thought I did,” I looked up at her now, “especially if that means I lose the ones I care about the most.”

She considered this for a moment. “So you admit you acted like a jerk before?”

I nodded quickly. “Oh, yeah.”

“And you admit that you care about us more than you do your success?” she continued.

I nodded again. “No contest,” I said with certainty.

Twilight smiled. “Well, I accept your apology,” she said as she quickly scribbled something onto a piece of paper, “but I’m not the only one you have to apologize to. And I think I know just the pony to start with.” The paper glided over to me and I saw what was written on it. “Is this Rainbow Dash’s address?” I asked.

Twilight didn’t answer, instead continuing with her previous point. “She hasn’t been the same since you left. Whenever she goes flying, she just sort of hangs in the sky and floats, rather than her usual racing or gliding. She’s taking this whole thing pretty hard,” she said sadly.

I nodded. “You don’t have to tell me twice!” I shouted as I charged for the door.

“Sketch, wait!” Twilight called from behind. I turned and she wrapped me in a warm hug. “Welcome home,” she whispered, and let me go. I stared for a moment, and then started running again, leaping into the air and soaring for Cloudsdale.

I reached the house Twilight had directed me to pretty easily. I stood out on the front step for a couple of minutes, unsure of what I would say. Finally, when I had planned out my speech, I knocked on the door. When it swung open, I saw Rainbow dash, just as beautiful as ever, and angry.

“OW!” I said as a book she had thrown at me bounced off my head and landed next to me.

“What do you think you are doing here?” she growled angrily.

I gave her an apologetic look. “Rainbow Dash, please listen. I’m sorry about what happened last week. I was stupid and careless, and should have thought more about what I had.”

But she wasn’t too keen on listening. She just sat there in the doorway and glared at me.

“You think you can act the way you did and just be forgiven like that? That’s not the way it works with me, pal,” she said as she started to close the door. I quickly jammed my hoof into the doorway just before it slammed shut, and held back a pained scream.

“Look, I know I acted like a jerk, but just give me one minute to explain myself,” I pleaded. She considered this for a moment, and finally opened the door again, giving in.

“Sixty seconds. I’m waiting.”

I took a deep breath as I began. “Okay, I know I was careless. I should have thought about your thoughts on the situation instead of just deciding to take off. I shouldn’t have snapped at Twilight like I did, and I already apologized to her for that. I let my dream of being a well-known writer get in the way of what’s really important to me,” I looked up at her and saw her expression had softened.

Okay, time to say it while the goings good, I thought as I continued, “I know we’ve only know each other for about a week, and I know this sounds crazy, but ever since I first saw you at Pinkie’s party at my house when I first came here, you’ve been all I can think about.”

I closed my eyes and swallowed hard as I went over the events of the past week. In the span of a few moments, I remembered: my surprise when I found there was a party at my house when I first arrived, Rainbow Dash crashing into me at the fountain, and then us flying to the picnic, all of my friends trying to calm me down with advice, even though some of it may not have been very helpful, and us dancing and laughing and having fun at the dance. I sighed confidently as all the panic that had built up over this inevitable moment suddenly disappeared.

I opened my eyes and looked solemnly at Rainbow Dash, who looked confused and surprised. Finally, I let go.

“Rainbow Dash,” I began, “I love you.”