Adventures Through De-trot

Adventures Through De-trot
1

It was a dreary day as Twilight met with Celestia in the library. There was a storm scheduled to start in about an hour so Twilight finished packing her bags and returned downstairs with them draped over her back. She was quite nervous to be leaving home, but it was only for five days so she was fine with it. Spike had been sent to Rarity's while she was away, and owlicious was at Fluttershy's. Finally the Princess decided it was time.

"Alright Twilight, time to go."

"Okay Princess." Twilight responded.

They went outside to where two chariots awaited them, one for Twilight and one for Celestia. Twilight was hesitant to get onto her chariot.

"Remember Twilight, you're only leaving for five days, then you'll be back home again."

"I know Princess but..."

"But what?"

"Well, I guess I'm a little scared that's all. All I've ever heard of out of De-trot is poverty and violence, so I'm just a little scared to be going there."

"Twilight I understand your concern, but the ponies there are going through a serious revival right now. Many areas in the center of the city are modernized and is actually quite safe."

"But that isn't where you're sending me, is it.?"

"I'm sending you into the outskirts of the modernized portion, it isn't great, but I need a report on the building conditions down there and since you're my star pupil I assumed you would be the one to do it.

Twilight sighed, "Alright Princess."

She stepped up onto her chariot and Celestia gave her a camera.

"Take this as well, to document your travels better."

"Okay. Where am I staying while I'm there?"

"I've arranged a contact for you to stay with, he's a native to De-trot, mild mannered, and very kind. You two should get along quite nicely."

"Great." Twilight tried her best to smile

The pegasi lifted up, and Celestia and Twilight went their separate ways. The chariots lifted up above the cloud layer and headed east. Twilight took the opportunity to watch the weather pegasi create the storm, stacking layers of clouds together, creating a massive storm front. Rainbow Dash noticed Twilight's chariot and waved goodbye to her as she left, Twilight waving back. She put on a brave face for the other ponies to see, but underneath she was terrified. Numerous stories of murders and poverty stricken ponies came out of De-trot, but not too many positive one's. She knew about the safe sectors of the city, around the theatre and such, but she was going to the outskirts, where nopony was safe.

About an hour later, she could see the city below her, and all the stories of violence came flooding back to her, but she pushed them away for now. She had to have an unbiased report for Celestia to read. The touched down about five minutes later outside of nicer looking house, surrounded by two burned-out buildings. Twilight asked one of the guards,

"Is this where I'm to stay?"

"Yes it is," came a voice behind her.

Twilight whipped around to see a white Pegasus stallion, with a rainbow mane like Rainbow dash, but grown out longer with a mustache, much like the big Lebowski. He had a long stride coming up to her, and his cutie mark was of crossed six-shooters. Twilight was startled by his deep voice behind her, but returned with her usual greeting.

"Hello, my name is-"

"Twilight Sparkle, yes the Princess informed me of your coming. My name is Quickshot."

"Nice to meet you Quickshot. As you may know, I come from Ponyville on an informational trip for Celestia."

"Ponyville you say, you may know my sister there."

"Sister?" Twilight looked at his rainbow mane again, 'No he couldn't be...' Twilight thought.

"Yes I hear my sister is pretty popular around those parts. One of the elements of Harmony? Loyalty I believe it was."

"Rainbow Dash?" Twilight blurted out.

"Yup. She was born here in De-trot."

"Sorry for not realizing, she hasn't mentioned you or her parents."

"Well it makes sense really. When she was born I was twelve and was just growing into a young stallion. She spent five years with us, and was showing great talent so we, my parents and I, felt that she shouldn't grow up like I did, fearing for my life on my way to school, having to learn to use weapons at the age of ten to defend yourself. We didn't want that for her, so we worked extra hard, and raised enough money to send her to a school in Cloudsdale, and summer flight camp following the school year, where she stayed. We eventually put her up for adoption there so she wouldn't have to come back here."

"Wow, I didn't know any of this about her."

"It makes sense really, she was just a filly, she probably doesn't remember us very well. You're a unicorn, I'm sure you could elicit her memories of us for her."

"Right."

Quickshot began to lead Twilight inside his house, and she noticed a scar going down his flank, and saw him limping slightly, favoring his right-hind leg and saw his tail was cut off at three inches. "Is that a popular fashion down here?"

"What? Oh, my tail. Let's get you situated first, then I'll tell you about myself. First, I want to hear what my little sis is up to."

"She's the best flier in Ponyville, just like she claims, and is aspiring to join the Wonderbolts."

"Well, based on how she was when she was young, she should have a good shot by now."

"Definitely. When I first met her she could clear the skies in ten seconds flat. She's even better now, all she has to do is get an audience with them."

"Hmm...I could probably help with that..." Quickshot muttered.

"What?" Twilight had heard the muttering, but couldn't make out what he had said.

"Nothing. In any case, welcome to my home," Quickshot opened the door to his house and held the door for Twilight to enter and nodded to the guards, permitting them to leave. He then followed her into the house, locking the front door once again.

The house was a one story ranch house, with the main living area right off of the entry way. To the right was a kitchen and to the left was a bedroom, bathroom and a closed door leading to a guest room.

"Down that hallway, first door on the left is your room. From what I hear you like books?"

"Yes they are my life."

"Great, the spare room is where I keep all my books, obviously I keep my favorites in my bedroom under lock and key, but all the others are left in that room. You can read whatever you find in there. Unpack your things, bathroom is across the hall, I'll be waiting in the living room." He headed to his room and grabbed his latest read from Dean Koontz, and headed to the living room to wait.

Twilight opened the door to the guest room and was met by the welcoming smell of old books. Quickshot must read a ton based on the collection of books in this room. Each wall consisted of a bookcase with eight shelves, floor to ceiling, completely covered in books. Twilight looked at them and found that they were mostly fiction books, mystery by the looks of it. Still the sheer number of books told Twilight a story in itself, that Quickshot must have been living here all his life.

She put this inquiry off for later, and started unpacking her bags, and putting her various toiletries next to the second sink in the bathroom. He seemed to keep simple upon inspection, simply a toothbrush and a mini toothpaste in a clear glass cup. She went back to finish setting up a desk for her report to be put on. The bed was soft and a decent size, with a quilt on top serving as the cover. She felt it and it was rough under-hoof, but soft at the same time, a strange feeling to describe.

After unpacking, Twilight went out to the living space, hooves clicking on the oak panel flooring. She found Quickshot fiddling with some contraption hung around his neck with a book slotted into it. He was sitting on the couch moving his fore hooves, which were attached to some metal thing. He had a sour look on his face, until he moved his right hoof to the left, and the contraption flipped the page of the book. His face lit up, and he tried it with his left hoof, to no avail. He saw Twilight watching him, giggling, and he joined in the laughter and removed the contraption from his neck.

"What was that?" Twilight said, still giggling slightly, but now curious.

"Oh, nothing, just a gadget my friend Ratchet wanted me to test out. I met him a few years back when he used to work on the line with me at the chariot assembly plant downtown. He and I got close when he didn't come in one day, and I clocked in for him and did his share of the work. Turns out his son had fallen terribly ill and wanted to be with him if he passed. Luckily he didn't, and returned back to work with no penalties. He thanked me and we got to talking and became great friends."

"You said he 'used' to work at the factory?"

"Yes he quit that job a couple months ago and is trying his hoof at inventing something. He tinkers around with doo-dads and what-nots like that contraption there and brings 'em to me once a week to test. He's a genius really, but some of those contraptions are just crazy. Like the other day he brought me something he called a 'Slinky.' Told me to push it down my front steps, and watch it us kinetic energy or something to carry it all the way down. Worked fine but it didn't really serve a purpose, just a coiled wire."

"Hmm...Interesting. Now, can I ask you about you now?"

Quickshot sighed and stood up and put the reading machine over in the kitchen and poked his head around the wall, "You drink?"

"Got some hard cider?"

"You bet."

He came back around with two bottles of Apple-Family brand Hard Cider, gave one to Twilight and sat on the chair opposite the couch.

"So which do you want to know first, my Cutie mark, my scar, or my tail?"

The bluntness of the question threw Twilight a bit, but she cracked the top of the cider and responded, "Let's start at the beginning."

"Right so the cutie mark." Twilight nodded. Quickshot opened his cider and took a swig, "Well it was back at senior year of high school..."
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Well this is the first part of the adventure! Next chapter is Quickshot's background story, his cutie mark, his tail, and maybe I'll include how he got that scar and his limp, but we'll see. Once again, I still need inhabitants for De-trot, so send me your OC's in a message including three things, What your pony looks like, Their job in De-trot, and their background story( don't worry if you can't or don't want to come up with a story, I can handle it if you want). Until next chapter.

Felix Lectio
-Skiskinator