Imagination

Imagination

Chapter 6

Shooting Star

A feather, a locket, a few strands of mane. These were the physical items I had brought back from meeting the “fictional” characters I created. I had bought a small display case which I hung over my desk, so I could look at them while I wrote my stories. They were there to remind me to treat my creations well. My encounter with Silk Light had showed me that they could be thankful if I did so, and it was a feeling that I enjoyed very much. Helping others... had been the reason I had become a nurse after all.

This time however, I was at a total loss. My readers had asked me to write a sequel to the story of Moonsinger, and I had started to do so without a clear storyline in my head. I had usually written that way, making it up as I went, but now I was drawing a total blank. It had been several months since I had written anything for that sequel, and I just couldn't bring myself to pick it up again. The storyline I had written so far sure had some potential, but I just didn't know how to get to the end I had in mind. What was even worse was, that if I wrote it like that, I would have to write a third story in that universe just to complete it.

I didn't want that, so I changed my story to private so that no one would be able to read it until I had either completely rewritten, or deleted it. It was tedious to write a story you really didn't want to write in the first place...

My eyes fell onto the brown feather in the display case over my desk. Moonsingers feather... She had asked me not to forget her. Indeed I hadn't. In my sequel I had even brought her back to life, but  I had only done that due to a lack of motivation to keep writing it at all!

After a while of simply staring at the feather, I opened the editing window of my story again. Staring at the few chapters I had written so far, I couldn't help myself but sigh. I had put so much work into it already, but I had run out of ideas halfway through my latest chapter. It was nothing less then frustrating.

While staring at the screen, specifically at a dialogue between Moonsinger and her daughter, I was suddenly blinded by a flash of light. I felt my chair disappear from under me as everything around me changed....

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Falling... I was freaking falling! My arms and legs were flailing wildly as I saw the Everfree forest rush up to meet me.

“THIS IS SO NOT FUNNY!!!!”, I screamed as I fell towards my sure exit of this world. Whoever had brought me here, had a strange sense of humor. I had ended up at least a mile above the ground in the middle of the night no less! It was then that I saw something fly low above the treetops. I identified it almost instantly. An Alicorn. A midnight blue Alicorn with a flowing mane that reflected the night sky! For the love of god, why had it to be Luna?

The figure positioned herself under me, catching me on her back as she flew by. First of all: It hurt! Second of all: I was quite sure that this wasn't Luna as soon as she began to spiral through the air with me on her back! (Not to mention that she was laughing like a little filly while doing so! It was scary!)

The laughter, the slightly smaller statue and her antics finally made me recognize the Pony.

“Shooting Star?”, I shouted over the wind that was rushing past me as I held on to her neck for dear life.

“Wohoo! That was fun! Let's do it again!”, she shouted back and her horn began to glow. Before I could protest I was in full free fall again. I cursed myself for writing her with a strange sense of humor. This time however, she didn't let me fall as far. Instead she came rushing up to me and turned in midair to catch me on her back once more.

“Yeeeha!”, she called out in glee. I could tell that she was just playing around, but my lunch was about to come upstairs and tell me what it thought about all of this. I couldn't even warn her before I vomited all over her neck.

“Ewww...”, was all she said, before going into a steep dive towards the ground. When she finally touched down, I did everything I could to get off of her back as fast as I could. As sick as I felt, that wasn't very fast. And it was pretty cold as I had to find out soon after, since dear Star had touched down in the middle of a river! As I scrambled to get out of the water, gasping for air (I can't swim OK?) she was taking a bath... In a river... In Everfree... I kind of didn't remember having written her THIS insane.

“What... What the the hell was that for?”, I demanded, wringing out my shirt as best I could before checking my pockets. Great. My Cellphone was toast! Another loss due to my poor writing... I seriously considered just quitting at that point. Star however, didn't bother to answer me while she enjoyed her bath. Deciding to let her take her time (I knew I had no chance of getting her attention when she was occupied with something else anyway. The only thing that could have done that would have been the royal Canterlot voice, and I was not capable of that.) I lay down on the grass of the riverbank, enjoying the view of the night sky.  After a while a very wet Alicorn stepped over me and started to shake.

“Oh come on!”, I exclaimed trying to push her away. All it did was provoke more giggles from her. (Hey that Alicorn was heavy OK? They are almost as big as a grown horse after all.)

“You're funny.”, she giggled, laying down next to me.

“Yeah, and you're insane! I am kind of fed up with... Wait! Have YOU brought me here?”, I asked indignantly.

“I'm not insane! I'm just bored!”, she pouted cutely, her violet eyes glaring at me in mock anger. “The adults are talking about the situation with the Alicorns of old. It's the only thing going on around here, but we don't seem to get anywhere!”, she added.

Now I understood. Moonsinger, her stepsister, must have told her about me, and that I was the one who decided what was happening in this world. She was sure one energetic filly... Maybe too energetic... Since I had stopped writing her story for the time being (and maybe forever!), the least I could do was to keep her company for a little while.

“OK, OK, I get it. You summoned me here somehow to have some fun, is that it?”, I asked and she nodded vigorously. All I could do was sigh and ask her what she had in mind. As it turned out I was in for the night of my life...

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“FUCK, I KNEW YOU WERE INSANE!”, I shouted as the pack of Timberwolfs chased me. Differently from last time I was a little faster and had more endurance, but there was no way I could take on even one of them. I turned a corner, running towards a clearing on which Shooting Star should have been waiting for me. That goof of an Alicorn had wanted me to “lure in some playmates”, and sent me off into the forest. Had I known she sent me straight into the den of a pack of Timberwolfs, I would have called her insane. (Again)

My lungs burnt as I burst through the underbrush and onto the clearing, but Star was nowhere to be seen. She should have been there! My would-be killers didn't give me any time to ponder her absence, since they exited the forest directly behind me. Seeing no other option, I just kept on running. (Which was not easy due to the uneven forest floor and the burning in my lungs.) I could already feel myself loosing speed, yet Star was still nowhere to be seen. Then it happened.... I heard someone try hard (and fail) to suppress a laughing fit. As I looked up, I saw Shooting Star. She sat on a cloud directly over me and was laughing her tail off!

I was distracted for a second by this, and totally missed that I was about to reenter the forest... Running into a tree at full speed tends to stop ones attempts to escape. The laughing above me stopped abruptly, and was replaced by a gasp of shock.

“Did she finally realize that the prank she pulled on me here is going out of hand?”, I thought as I lay there, the air having been knocked out of my lungs by the impact. Instead of her coming down to help me however, another midnight blue Alicorn positioned herself between me and the predators. You may ask yourself how I was able to tell that it wasn't Star. Well that is quite easy. While Shooting Star had a full moon as a Cutiemark, this one whore a crescent moon on her flank. A quick flash of her horn later, and the whole pack of Timerwolfs was gone with the telltale flash of a teleportation spell.

Luna turned around and poked at me with a hoof until I began coughing, still trying to catch my breath. Relief seemed to wash over her when she saw that I was still alive. Looking up at her daughter, who tried to hide herself in the cloud, Luna took a deep breath.

“I am VERY disappointed with you young lady!”, she shouted, using her royal Canterlot voice. “Come down here this instant!”

A very ashamed looking Shooting Star joined us shortly after. I had managed to sit up and lean against the tree I had bumped into. Breathing was still painful, but at least not as bad as it had been initially.

“I must apologize for my daughter, Zeomak. I am sure she meant you no harm, but she has been pretty bored recently.”, the former Princess said to me, bowing her head. Oh great Moonsinger... Did you tell everypony about me?

“Would have been quite the show if the Timberwolfs had gotten him...”, I heard Star murmur under her breath. I wanted to reply to that, when something flew at me. It was silver, shaped like a U and it hit me straight in the face. Dead center. The last thing I heard before I went out, was Shooting Star crying out that it was an accident.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I woke up next to my desk with something heavy on my face. In that instant I was really glad that I didn't need my glasses anymore. Had I worn them, I might have lost an eye. When I sat up and the object fell into my lap, I saw that it was, indeed, a silver horseshoe...