A vibrancy of yellow, orange, and red was played out across the sky as Celestia's sun was beginning its final descent, giving the light of power to her sister, Luna's moon. A flock of birds descended onto a tree among a green and young forest, tired from their flight and wishing nothing more than to reunite with loved ones and sleep comfortably in their tree. The birds were soon joined by crickets and mosquitos, their chirping and buzzing filling the air as the music of dusk was slowly coming to its end.

Among the cacophony of squawks and caws, however, was a distinct, constant, and rhythmic sound of hoofsteps going down a age old dirt path, with a squeal of a cartwheel behind it. The hoofsteps belonged to an earth pony, his coat the color of the deep ocean blue. His mane was long and had a slight poof to it, a matter that would be not helpful, as sometimes the hair would fall onto the top of his small, boxy glasses, and he had to bat it away with a hoof and a small sigh.

"Hey Ritz? You there?" The stallion asked. He turned his head behind him while he was still walking, seeing the bags of clothes, papers, and a small and large guitar sitting side by side, strings up to the dimming sky. A second layer and a colt, a lighter blue than the older one in front, but with an unkempt mane to match, popped out of the mess of bags like a meerkat, looking at the stallion.

"We're getting close to Ponyville, but it's getting late. Do you want to stop now, or do you want to keep going?" The stallion asked, stopping the cart to push out another strand of his mane away from his glasses and out of his eyes. The colt only furrowed what little brow he had at the stallion, and spun his hoof around in the air.

"Oh, sorry. Do you want to stay and camp for one more time?" The stallion again stopped to push more of his mane out from his eyes, while giving himself a slight knock in the head as if he forgot something. The colt replied with a shake of his head, and laid half of his body down on the bags the cart was carrying, the other half still inside the spot where he jumped out from. He looked up to the now-appearing stars with a small smile, the little lights twinkling in his eyes.

"Heh, just wanna get the trip over and done with, huh?" Asked the stallion, receiving only a silent nod from the colt as he still looked up at the stars. The stallion raised his eyebrow at the colt in a bemused expression, before turning his head to the road and chuckling to himself. Well, that will do. He can just go to sleep anyway right now if he wanted to, poor thing had a bad fright last night with that bear... The stallion recalled the incident, whereby a local bear had scavenged really close to their camp site, and had been curious about their campfire. Luckily it left, but not before it came snout to snout with the colt. He probably won't ever forget it, that's a lifetime opportunity to be that close, but at his age he probably still sees it as a monster close encounter of the third kind.

The stallion started walking again, only to stop to swipe away another strand of his mane. "Oof. I guess I better get my mane cut once we're there, huh?" The stallion remarked, the colt looking back at him and smiling with a nod that shook his own mane back and forth.

"Are you sure you want to move to Ponyville, Ritz?" the stallion started to smirk and gave a glance at the colt, who now crossed his hooves with an unamused expression. The stallion stopped and turned around, getting close to the colt.

"Come on! It would be wonderful! Look at us, moving to Canterlot, living like kings, having everything we want!" By now, the stallion was smiling with glee, and a far-off expression, while the colt only scowled. After seeing that he wouldn't give in, the stallion sighed and started walking again.

"Oh fine. I suppose Canterlot is a silly place anyway, what with all the nobles, and ridiculous fashions," the stallion remarked with a smile. Then again, he stopped and turned towards the colt. "Though, I suppose you would look absolutely adorable in a tux."

The colt scowled and looked away from the stallion, a tint of crimson appearing on his cheeks, and crossed his hooves. The stallion only patted his head and smiled.

"Maybe we'll even find a dresser to help you get one! I'm sure all the fillies will swoon for you and your handsome tux!"

The colt scowled and blushed harder.

"*snerk* You know I'm just teasing you, right?" The stallion shook the colt's mane with his right hoof before turning around and walking along the road, squinting at the strange lights in the distance.

"Hey Ritz! Look!" The stallion stopped and pointed his right hoof towards the horizon. For now he was pointing at a small town in the distance, as many lights were still on in their own houses,. The stallion doubted they would be on for much longer. With a swipe of his hoof to get rid of any more strands of his mane, the stallion trotted rather quickly down the road, hoping to catch the pony who had the title and keys to his and Ritz's house. The colt dive back under the bags, trying to make sure they weren't knocked loose from the sudden speed.

~~~~

Luckily, it seemed the town known as Ponyville didn't tuck in at the first sight of dark. Most ponies were still on others' yards talking to each other. The stallion trotted up to one pony who didn't seem preoccupied.

"Excuse me? I'm sorry to bother you, but we are just moving into town, and I'm wondering where I can go to see how I can get the deed and house keys," the stallion asked.

"Oh, you just have to see Mayor Mare! But what do you mean by 'we'?" the lady asked.

At that moment, the colt popped up from the bags with a loud yawn, accompanied with another yawn coming from the stallion, with a tired expression evident on his face.

“Aww. Ain’t he the cutest thing!” the mare cooed, as she rose up on her hindlegs and used the wagon as supports to get a better look at the colt, who tried his best to scowl at her before he succombed to sleep again.

“Excuse me for being short, ma’am, but we are quite tired and would like nothing more than to get to our house and rest as soon as possible,” the stallion stated.

“The town hall should be over there. I hope to see you again soon!” the mare pointed with her right hoof, then waved as the stallion dragged the cart over in the direction he was pointed to, the cart now starting to feel heavy as he pulled.

After a few minutes, the stallion parked the cart in front of the Town Hall, noting it was surprisingly larger than he had considered what would be a town hall for a small town such as Ponyville. Walking inside, he felt his eyelids begin to droop, and shook his head in order to wake himself up if but only for one more hour.

C’mon! Just 15 more minutes at least!, the stallion thought, as he walked towards what he thought was the door that led to Mayor Mare’s office. Stepping inside, he glanced to see that the mayor was more or less trying to pack up her belongings, closing up for the day.

“Excuse me, miss Mare? I hope I’m not too late,” the stallion spoke, causing the mayor to flinch for a second.

“Oh my, I didn’t see you there! I would have expected my assistant to come in to tell me a visitor is here!” the mayor exclaimed. She turned and trotted behind her desk, looking in drawers before sighing. “Am I to assume you are Escrito Pluma, the writer moving into a house here with his son?”

“Please call me Quills ma’am. And yes, I am,” the stallion stated.

“Are you an immigrant from the south, if I may ask? Your name isn’t in Equestrian, or at least it doesn’t sound like it is,” Mayor Mare remarked, as she sifted through paperwork in one of the drawers.

“My father was Marexican, but I was born and raised in Phillydelphia, before moving to Manehatten for my work... What exactly are you looking for?” Quills asked before the mayor threw her hooves up in the air and groaned in frustration.

“I can’t seem to find the deed to your house, mister Quills. I must have given it to my assistant to file somewhere. sigh, I’ll have to ask you to come in tomorrow at noon.”

“Oh, OK then. I’m really sorry for barging in like this. If only I wasn’t stopped at the forest brook today I would have…”

“No, no, I’m sure you have a perfectly valid reason, I’m just in a bit of a huff after what happened earlier today,” Mayor Mare sighed.

“What happened?”

“I will tell you tomorrow, as right now I’m in a bit of a rush to get home and relax tonight. Excuse me for acting a little slighted against you, as you have no fault in what that pink monstrosity did…” the mayor grounded her teeth in frustration. “Regardless, I do have the key to that house you had already paid for. 304 Mulberry Lane, correct?” The mayor raised up a duo of silver keys that both had the numbers ‘304’ on their tops. Quills nodded and took the keys from Mayor Mare. He waved goodbye, thanking Mayor Mare, before walking back to his cart, with his son still sleeping on top of the bags. Silently chuckling, he followed the road down to Mulberry Lane, reading the houses numbers before turning right and walking a little bit more before he found what was now his house. He used the keys to unlock the front door before heading back to the cart to grab the bags, waking up Ritz in the process.

“C’mon now, son. Grab the bags and bring them in to 304, over there,” Quills said, putting the sleeping bags they had used whenever they stopped for the night on his back. Tired, the duo dragged their legs across the yard to their house, setting the bags down in the empty and unpainted living room. Quills brought the sleeping bags to the middle of the room before laying down on top of one, with Ritz laying down on the other soon after.

“Well Ritz, I guess this is it. New house, new town, new life. Not that our life back in Manehatten was bad or anything, but...well…” Both ponies nodded in silent understanding. “It’s still summer, so I bet you’ll find some kids like you tomorrow. As for your dad, I’ll be seeing what we can do in this town, maybe find a school for you to enroll in the fall.” Quills heard a stirring from Ritz. “And yes, you are going to school. No ifs, buts, and/or anythings about it, you hear me?”

Quills looked to see his son scowling at him, before sighing and softening his expression to a tired one, trying to get some sleep.

You’ve been sleeping in the cart the whole day, and you’re still tired in the night? Sometimes I wonder about you, little guy. Ah well, at least I know what I’m doing tomorrow, and I can trust Ritz to behave himself. Quills shifted to get comfortable on his sleeping bag.

You would have liked this. Your son is growing into a fine young colt. I only hope you will come back and see it yourself...

Author's Note

Hey! So...my first epic project in Fimfiction. I'm going for maybe ten chapters and see how far this little fic will go. Updates are going to be irregular until further notice.

All chapter names will be based on songs as they apply. If you do not know the song, I'd advise you to look them up on youtube.

Comment, like, and fav, if you would be so kind! Constructive Criticism is appreciated, as I still don't have an editor or proof-reader. Let me know if I missed any mistakes!

TTFN