Chapters -Ponyville-
* 7:30, Edge of Everfree Forest*
I jolted awake. Being unfamiliar with my surroundings and not seeing Crimson, I grew worried and called out to her, "Crimson! Where are you?!"
"Calm down, Quill. I'm right here," a voice said behind me.
"Holy bit!" I yelled, startled, as I turned around. "Don't do that!"
She chuckled, "Oh get over it, you cryfilly." She stuck her tongue out at me.
"Whatever, where were you?" I asked.
"Oh, I was looking for food while you slept in."
"Hey! You should have woken me. That manticore could have come back looking for us!"
"Ok. Sure. Anyways, I found a few apple trees and brought back some apples. Want some?" she said while opening her saddlebags.
"Nah, I'm fi-", a loud growling sound was heard. She looked at me with a 'Sure, okay' face.
"Actually, on second thought, I'll take one."
She smiled and hoofed me an apple. "You know, you really should start eating more."
I waved a dismissing hoof at her, eating was the priority at the moment.
She sat down, pulling another apple out, and began eating as well.
* 30 minutes later *
"Okay, which way now?" I said.
"Well, the map says that we're on the Ponyville side of the Everfree Forest. We're almost out." she explained, showing me the map for proof.
"Finally! I thought we would never find our way out of that Celestia-damned place!"
She looked at me, suprised. "What? I don't like forests." I defended.
"Whatever, if we keep going straight, we should be out in a few minutes."
"Lets go!" I said as I galloped forward.
* 5 minutes later *
"Explain to me exactly HOW you managed to get yourself 10 feet up a tree, tangled in a thorn bush," Crimson asked.
"I don't wanna talk about it." I had vowed to tell nopony about how I had managed it. "Hey!" I said, "Who owns that house?" I pointed to a small shack close to the forest.
"I don't know, lets go say hi!" She said as she galloped to the door and knocked three times.
"One moment!" A voice said from the back of the shack.
I caught up to Crimson and looked at her like she was crazy. "Are you insane?! You don't even know them!"
"It's going to be fine, stop worrying so much!" She said as the door opened.
"Hello! How are you? My name is Calm Inferno." said a rusty red stallion about my height with a spiky red and yellow mane.
"Hi!" said Crimson. "I'm Crimson Venture and this is my friend Brilliant Quill. We're new in town and was wondering where we could get a house."
"Oh, thats easy. Just go to the town hall in the middle of Ponyville and talk to Mayor Mare. She can get you set up quickly. You do need about 275 bits though."
"Aargh! We only brought 75. I told you we should have brought more Crimson!" I said.
"Well sorry! I only had so much time before you would have gotten impatient and left without me."
"Hey, don't fight. You can stay with me for a while until you can get your own house and move out."
"Really?!" me and Crimson shouted. "Whats with the sudden offer?"
"Well, I was the same way once, new in town and no where to go. Until Twilight let me stay with her until I was back on my hooves and had a home. Guess now I can do it for somepony else."
"Well thanks!" I said. "Where will we be sleeping?"
"Oh! I forgot! Here, come in, come in," Inferno said, stepping aside.
We walked in, looking around. There was a couch and an end table in front of the fire place to the left of the door. To the right, there was a table and some chairs situated around it. Beyond that, was the kitchen. A stove and oven, counter tops on both sides, a fridge across from the oven and various appliances and cooking utensils on the counter accompanied by a sink. Straight across from the door was a staircase, the rooms were presumably on the second floor.
"C'mon, come see your room."
"What?! Only one?" Crimson said.
"Well, yeah. I mean, I don't live in a mansion, you know."
"Are there at least two beds?" she asked.
"Well, yeah, but one is-"
"Doesn't matter, it'll work"
"Ok, I'm gonna look around town, see if I can get a job," I said
"That's fine, just look out for a pink mare with a poofy mane. She tends to like parties a bit too much," Inferno informed me.
"Will do!" I said as I walked out the door.
'Okay, so Ponyville should be....that way,' I thought as I turned to the very obvious path to my right. As I walked along, I contemplated how I should tell Crimson that I like her. That is, until a speeding blue blur decided to crash headlong into me. "Ow! Buck! What was that for?"
"Sorry, sorry, I didn't see you there," the mare said as she stood up.
"Its fine," I said as I picked myself off of the ground to see a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail with a cloud and lightning bolt cutie mark. "Who're you?"
"You haven't heard of me? I'm Rainbow Dash! Fastest pegasus in Equestria and winner of the Junior Speedsters competition!" she said.
"Really? Awesome I heard that you pulled off a sonic rainboom! I thought that they were just an old ponies tale."
"Yes! It's all true."
"Awesome, but I need to get to town to look for a job."
"Oh...Ok then, maybe I'll see you around." Rainbow said, looking slightly sad.
"Yeah, maybe," I said, already walking away.
'Ok. Distractions aside, I finally made it to Ponyville!' I continued my inner dialogue when I suddenly saw a hint of neon pink bouncing along the path from Ponyville to the Everfree Forest.
'Wait....Didn't Inferno say to avoid a pink mare with a curly mane? Something about a suprise party?' As I was trying to remember I looked up and saw that she was right in front of me.
"AHHHHH!" I yelled in terror.
"AHHH!" she yelled back, seemingly not phased. "WHY ARE WE SCREAMING?" she asked me.
"Don't sneak up on me like that!" I said, not happy at nearly having a heart attack.
"Silly, I didn't sneak up on you, I walked!
"Thats not what I meant!"
"Then what did you mean?" she said looking at me intensely.
"Well, I-" I started to say before I was oh so rudely interrupted by a loud gasp.
"OOH! Are you new to Ponyville?" She asked, suddenly becoming very hyper.
"Uhm...yes? I answered.
"Yay! A new pony! I know everypony in Ponyville! And Since I don't know you, that must mean that you're new! Which means that I need to throw you a 'Welcome to Ponyvill party'!" she said, mysteriously never taking a breath.
"Uhh...No thanks, I dont really need..." I trailed off as I realised that I was alone."Great, just great, I do the one thing that Inferno tells me NOT to do." 'Oh well, guess I'll just head into town.' I thought as I continued my journey.
'Finally,' I thought as I made it to the center of Ponyville. 'Takes so long to get here!' I headed over to the local postal office to see if any spots were open, the job
being familiar to me as I had ran a route back in Manehattan. As I walked in I was nearly flattened by a grey coated, yellow-maned pegasus flying out the door. "Woah! That
was close!" I said.
"Dude, you okay?" a grey pegasus mare with a purple and black mane and tail asked me.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied.
"You need to look when you enter the building, Ditzy gets a bit forgetful sometimes and ends up in a hurry."
"Ditzy?"
"Ditzy Doo, the grey pegasus that almost took you out," she explained.
"Oh, okay. I was wondering who that was."
"Yeah, anyways, my name is Star Shine and I work here. The blue brony over there," she pointed a hoof, "is Wavering Maelstrom." He shyly waved a hoof in my direction.
I waved a hoof back. "He okay?" I asked, wondering if I did something wrong.
"He's fine, just shy," she explained. " So what brings you to the Ponyville Postal Office?"
"I was looking for a job, I'm new in town and need some bits, my old job in Manehattan was a mailmare so I figured why not go with something that I was used to."
"Seems legit. So what kind of route did you have in mind?"
"I don't know, what routes do you have?"
"Well, lets check!" she said, leading me to the back of the building. "Somewhere around here..... Aha!" she said as she opened one of the many drawers. "Wow, we have one route for you. It goes by the library and Fluttershy's shack by the Everfree Forest," she said while pulling out a single file.
"Really? Here, let me see." I said, taking the file from her hoof. I studied the route, which went from the library, to Sugarcube Corner, to a cloud house, to Fluttershy's Cottage, to a few apartments near one of the night clubs. "Doesn't seem too bad, I'll take it."
"Are you sure? That's a pretty long route."
"Yeah, I need something to keep me occupied anyways."
"Alright, you can get started tomorrow. Be here at about 8:00 A.M"
"Will do."
"Wait! We actually have a package that needs to go to the library, think you can take it there?" She said, holding out a package.
"Sure." I took the package from her and noticed that her eyes were a pinkish - rose color.
" I like your eyes by the way."
"Th-Thanks."
"Yep. Bye"
"Goodbye."
I left the post office and took to the air. 'Now, to find the library,' I thought as I set out in a random direction.
* 30 minutes later *
'REALLY? It was right here the whole time?' I thought as I descended towards the door. I had managed to look everywhere except a fourth of a mile behind the post office, and
as my luck would have it, right where the library was. 'I'm such an idiot,' I berated myself as I went to knock on the door.
*SLAM* *THUNK* "OUCH! Celestia Damnit!" I cursed as the door made contact with my face.
"Oh! Are you okay?" a feminine voice asked.
"Yeah, I didn't need a face to function properly anyways," I said as I held my nose with my hoof.
"I'm so sorry! Here come inside so we can put some ice on that."
"Okay." I picked up the package and followed the mare into the library.
As we walked, I got a good look at her. She was a unicorn with a magenta coat and a dark blue mane and tail with a streak of pink and purple through it. She had purple eyes
and a star with sparkles cutie mark.
"So, I'm Twilight Sparkle, you are?" she said.
"Oh, I'm Brilliant Quill. Me and my friend are new in town and are staying with Calm Inferno."
"New in town? Where are you from?"
"We are from Manehattan, I got kicked out by my dad for not wanting to go into construction with him, and my friend decided to tag along and keep me safe."
"So how did you get here, train?"
"No, we walked through the Everfree Forest" I replied.
"Wow, how are you still alive? That's a very dangerous place."
"We almost didn't, there was a very hungry manticore that we lost by luck. Anyways, I have a package for you, I'm guessing," I said, grabbing the package from under
my wing and set it down in front of her, pulling out a clipboard and pen. "I just need you to sign here."
"Oh, it must be my new book!" She said, clapping her hooves together once and signing her name.
"Thank you!" I said as I took the clipboard back.
"So, how did you meet Calm Inferno?" I asked.
"Oh, I met him about a week after he arrived. He had no where to stay and was sleeping on a bench near the market," she said, setting the book and box to the side.
!~ Flashback ~!
* 8:30 P.M. November * !Twilight's P.O.V!
I was walking through the market after a party by Pinkie Pie had taken much longer than expected. I was ready to get home and get at least a few hours of rest before helping
Fluttershy with the animals the next morning. As I was awalking along, I heard the sound of teeth chattering. Looking around, I saw a figure curled up on a nearby bench,
shivering.
"Hey, are you alright?" I asked, putting a hoof on the pony's shoulder.
He looked up weakly "Y-yeah, I-i'll b-b-be f-f-fine," he said, shivering badly.
"Don't you have anywhere to stay?" I asked him.
"N-no, I-i g-g-got h-here about a w-week ago."
"Well, you can stay with me until you get your own home," I offered, holding a hoof out.
"T-thank you," he said, taking my hoof and standing up.
"I'm Twilight Sparkle, who are you?"
"C-calm Inferno"
"Lets get back to the library."
!~ Flashback end ~!
!My P.O.V!
"Wow," I said. "I didn't know he had it so bad. What would have happened if you hadn't found him?"
"I'd rather not think of it," she said, clearly uneasy about the subject.
"Okay. Well, its getting late, I should head back to Inferno's house."
"Bye!"
* 45 minutes later *
"I'm back!" I said, walking into the cottage.
"Welcome back!" Calm said.
"Yo," Crimson said.
"H-hi," a blue pony said.
"Oh! You're that one pony from the post office!"
"Yeah, I'm Wavering Maelstrom. Congrats on the job..." he said.
"Thanks! So what are you doing here?" I asked.
"I-I live here."
"What?"
"I'm Calm's brother...."
"Oh, that makes sense. You do look pretty similar." I said. 'D'oh,' I thought. "Well, I'm going to bed, night y'all."
"I think I'm gonna head that way too, night Calm, Wavering."
"Good night."
"Night!"
'Can't wait to get in bed,' I thought as I started to make my way up the stairs. 'I wonder what Inferno was going to say about the other bed.'
"Hey, Infern- OOF!" As I turned around to look at the general direction Inferno was in, and wound up faceplanting the whole way down.
"Oh my Celestia! Are you okay Brill?" Crimson asked.
"Oh yeah! Just peachy, you know, just faceplanted down a flight of stairs," I snarked.
"Hey, hey, don't bite my head off. Just asking."
"Sorry." I said, picking myself up off of the floor. "Let's just go to bed."
"Yeah."
"What. The . Buck," we said at the same time.
There were two beds, but one was half..... burnt?
"Guess we are sleeping on the same bed," I said.
"Good thing that we did this as foals."
"Doesn't hurt that its a king size." I added as I lay down.
"True, good night," she said, getting on the other side and curling up.
"Night."
-B Day
-
*10:00 A.M, Bedroom*
I slowly opened my eyes, having a headache from sleeping too much. I wondered why I was allowed to sleep in as I made my way to the window, only to realize that I was on the bed. I picked myself off of the floor and opened the blinds, noting that the sun was fairly high in the sky, meaning that I had slept in a good two or three hours. This was something I wasn't used to, hence my headache.
I made my way to the bathroom, rubbing the remaining sleep out of my eyes. I opened the door and brushed my teeth, relishing the feeling that I hadn’t been able to partake in for at least two weeks. I finished my teeth, washing the toothbrush off with water and putting it back in the holder, exiting the bathroom and walking down the stairs, focusing on not tripping.
As I made my way into the kitchen, grabbing an apple, I pondered why there was no one in the house as of yet. I got up after finishing my breakfast and noticed a letter on the couch. I opened it and learned that Twilight wanted to introduce me to her friends, and that she wanted me to come by the library around 10:15. As I thought about this, I realized that it was now exactly 10:10. I had five minutes. I jumped up, grabbed my saddlebags and rushed out of the shack, locking it on the way out.
=-Unknown Place, Ponyville-=
“Is everything ready?”
“Almost, by the time he gets here we will be done with preparations.”
“Good, keep it up.”
=-Library-=
*10:15 A.M*
I burst in through the doors panting, startling Twilight. “Did I make it on time?” I asked.
“Actually, yes,” Twilight said. “You are right on time. Please don’t slam through the door next time. I get enough of that from Rainbow.”
“Sorry, I rushed here all the way from my house about five minutes ago,” I explained.
“Why did you wait so late?” she asked, heading towards the kitchen.
“I didn’t, I found your letter at the last minute. No pony woke me up this morning. I don’t know why,” I answered.
“They might have just wanted you to rest a bit,” she offered.
“Maybe. Anyways, you wanted me to meet your friends?”
“Oh! That’s right, lets go.”
=-Sweet Apple Acres-=
*11:15 A.M*
“This is Sweet Apple Acres. This is where Applejack works and lives,” Twilight explained.
“Wow! This place is huge!” I exclaimed.
“Wait 'till you see tha orchard.” A country voice said behind me.
“Holy crepe!” I shrieked, my voice raising about 2 pitches higher than a normal stallion's voice should.
“Whoa there, pardner. I’m Applejack, I run this here farm,” the now proclaimed Applejack spoke, holding out a hoof to shake. She was an orange earth pony with three apples as a cutie mark, a Stetson hat, and long blonde mane and tail with bands around the ends.
“Nice to meet you,” I greeted, extending a hoof. Big mistake. As soon as my hoof touched hers, I started shaking up and down from the force of her hoof-shake.
“That’s a strong shake you have there,” I complimented, taking the first chance I got to remove myself from the mare’s grip.
“Why thank ya,” she said. “What’s yer name?”
“I’m B-“ I started.
Twilight interrupted, “This is Brilliant Quill, he’s new in town and I’m showing him around and introducing him to you gals.”
“Well, it was nice meeting you, Brilliant, but I gotta get back ta work,” Applejack said as she walked away.
“You too!" I shouted.
“Okay, next is Fluttershy!” Twilight declared.
“Okay!”
=-Fluttershy’s Cottage-=
*12:30 P.M*
“Wow, it looks a lot like Calm’s house,” I commented upon seeing Fluttershy’s home.
“Yeah, this is where he got the idea,” Twilight confirmed
“Well, lets go meet her. Shall we?”
“Alright, but I have to warn you, she is really shy. Try to be less energetic around her than you usually are.”
“Alright,” I agreed.
*Knock Knock Knock*
“Yes?” a very quiet voice said.
“Hey, Fluttershy. I’m bringing my friend, Brilliant Quill, to meet everypony,” Twilight said.
“Oh, one second,” the voice said.
The door opened and a pale yellow Pegasus mare with a long pink mane and tail with three butterflies for a cutie mark stepped out, hiding her face behind her bangs.
“H-Hi, I’m Fluttershy,” she whispered.
“I’m sorry, what was that?” I asked
“I’m Fl-fluttershy,” She muttered
“Nice to meet you, Fluttershy, I’m Brilliant Quill,” I said kindly, not wishing to scare her.
“Fluttershy here runs an animal clinic. She takes care of the forest animals and acts as a veterinarian for pets,” Twilight explained.
“Oh, that’s very kind. I always liked animals,” I said.
“Well, we need to go, we’re on a tight schedule,” Twilight announced.
“Bye, it was nice meeting you Fluttershy,” I called.
“Y-You too,” she said.
=-Outside of Ponyville-=
*12:45 P.M*
“Okay, next is Rainbow Dash,” Twilight informed me.
“Oh, Dashie? I met her already,” I replied.
“Really? How?” she inquired.
I explained, “It was when I was on my way to Ponyville, she crashed into me and we ended up talking until she left to go do something.”
“Oh, then I guess we can skip her, next is Rarity’s,” she said.
“Rarity’s it is then,” I agreed.
=-Carousel Boutique-=
*1:00 P.M*
“So... Rarity, what is she like?” I asked, opening the door and holding it open for Twilight.
“She’s a fashonista, she creates clothes and the like,” she explained.
“Maybe I can get a hat?” I muttered, eyeing a fedora on a nearby mannequin. I jumped as I heard the bell on the door tinkle upon closing.
“Coming!” a voice with a canterlotian accent called.
A door opened and out stepped a white mare with and elegant purple tail and mane with a diamond cutie mark.
“Hello darling! Who is your friend?” she asked.
“I’m Brilliant Quill. It’s nice to meet you,” I responded.
“Well, I’m Rarity, the local tailor and fashonista,” she introduced herself.
“I was wondering how much that fedora over there was, actually...” I questioned, pointing at the mannequin. I really liked the fedora.
“Hmm, ten bits,” she offered.
I haggled, “I’ll take it for eight.”
“Nine bits,” she countered.
“Done,” I agreed, hoofing over the bits.
“Thank you,” she said, levitating the hat onto my head.
‘Brilliant Quill, now with 20% more swag!’ I thought.
“Very nice, if I do say so myself,” quipped Twilight.
“Oh, darling, you simply must let me try some outfits on you!”
“Uhh… no than-“ I started.
“He’d love to!” Twilight interjected.
‘Damn you Twilight, you do this on purpose,’ I thought
“Perfect! Come, we have much to do!” Rarity said matter-of-factly, levitating me towards a door that led deeper into the boutique.
“Noooo!” I shouted in denial, throwing my hooves out to grab on to something. “I’m too young to be used as a mannequin!”
“Stop being such a cryfilly, Quill,” Twilight snarked, walking out of the building.
“Never!” I exclaimed, throwing my hooves up for dramatic effect, causing me to let go of the door frame. “Uh oh,” I said, being floated into the room, the door slamming shut.
=- Carousel Boutique-=
*5:00 P.M*
“Don’t forget to come back now!” Rarity called.
“Yeah, okay,” I wearily said. Being still for 4 hours takes a lot out of you.
“Look out below!” a feminine voice warned.
“Huh?” I said intelligently, right before my face met the ground. “So, ground, we meet again.” The pony got off of me and, as I stood up, I recognized her as Ditzy Doo. “Hey, Ditzy, got any mail for me?” I asked.
“Yeah, actually, here you go!” she said, hoofing me a letter. “Muffin?”
“Sure!” I said, exchanging a muffin for the letter. Why did I have a muffin? Well, you never know when you might need a muffin, so I keep spares.
“Yay!” she exclaimed, doing a clumsy back-flip and flying away, spiraling.
“Heh, she’s pretty cool,” I absentmindedly said, reading the letter.
-Come to the Sugar Cube Corner, I want you to meet Pinkie Pie.
Sincerely, Twilight Sparkle.-
“Okay then, time to go meet Pinkie again,” I muttered to myself as I set out towards Sugar Cube Corner.
=-Sugar Cube Corner-=
*5:20*
‘Hmm, guess they must be inside,’ I thought as I entered the shop. As I went into the shop, I noticed that the blinds were closed and all the lights were off, making it pitch black inside. “Hello?” I called. I walked forward a bit and stopped, looking around. The lights suddenly flickered on and I was deafened by a roar of “HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRILLIANT QUILL”. “HEILIGE SCHEIßE!!” I shrieked, nearly having a heart attack. “Don’t do that!” I said, grabbing my chest. “Wait, did you say happy birthday?”
“Yeah, actually. Did you forget your own birthday?” Crimson said, stepping out of the crowd.
“Well…” I trailed off, embarrassed.
“I can’t believe it! You actually did!” she laughed.
“Yeah yeah, laugh it up, Holidays,” I shot back.
“Oi, that’s not very nice. You know I hate that nickname!” she pouted.
“Your fault, you shouldn’t have made fun of me,” I singsonged.
“Fine. I won’t tell you who the special guest at the party is,” she huffed.
“Who?”
“Nope, you were mean to me.”
“Fine, I’m sorry that I used that nickname. Now please tell me?” I asked.
“Well, she’s really popular and she may or may not be your idol.”
“Oh my Celestia! You got DJ Pon3 to be at my party?” I asked.
“Yeah, I thought that you would like that.”
“Like it? I LOVE it!”
“Anyways, lets PARTY!” she shouted, music starting to play.
=-Sugar Cube Corner-=
*9:23*
“That was a great party!” I declared. Everypony had pretty much left and was heading back to their homes after a long four hours of partying.
“That was pretty awesome,” Calm Inferno said.
“I agree,” Wavering Maelstrom added.
“Hey, I’ve got someone for you to meet, Skittles,” Crimson announced.
“Hey, hey! That was one time!” I seethed, turning around to face her.
“Yo. I’m Vinyl Scratch,” a white mare with two-toned blue mane and tail said, extending a hoof.
“Omigosh omigosh omigosh omigosh,” I stuttered, extending a hoof and bumping it with hers.
“Is he okay?” Vinyl chuckled, asking Crimson.
“Yeah, he’s fine,” Crimson affirmed, wearing a ‘payback is a bitch’ face.
I finally regained my senses and said, “Hi, I’m Brilliant Quill, and I’m a HUGE fan.”
“Nice to meet you, maybe we can meet up and talk sometime later. I need to get home and my set up takes a while to move around,” she explained.
“Alright, see ya,” I said.
She waved a hoof, already headed back to the stage.
“Hey, Brilliant, there’s a guy outside that wants to talk to you,” Rainbow said.
“Alright, I’ll be right back guys!” I declared, heading towards the door.
Before reaching the door, Crimson caught up to me and gave me a peck on the cheek. “Happy birthday, Brilliant.” She blushed, and ran back to the rest of the group.
I exited the building and looked around, spotting a very pale blue pegasus with a mane and tail cut like mine, except two-toned green, with what looked like a black spot as a cutie mark.
“Ah, over here,” he said in a sinister sounding voice, waving me over. “I need to talk to you.”
I walked over, not knowing what to expect from the strange stallion. “Can I, help you?” I inquired.
“Yes, yes you can. You see, you and your friends presence here interferes with a few vital plans of mine and you need to leave. You have one month,” he sneered.
“Uh. Not happening, sorry,” I replied, a bit miffed that he would try to tell me to leave.
“We will see. Remember, one month,” he said, walking away and somehow disappearing into a black void that closed as soon as he was fully obscured.
“Huh. Weird...” I murmured to myself as I walked back to the bakery. I walked back up to Crimson and told her that I was going to the house. She acknowledged me and I walked out, headed towards Calm’s shack. I made it back to the cottage and unlocked the door, opening it and entering the house. I closed the door behind me and walked up the stairs. I entered my room and was taken aback at all the presents that had somehow accumulated in my room. I decided to look through them tomorrow, I was tired. I scooted all the presents into a pile in one corner and laid down on the bed, quickly falling asleep.
Okay, this is for you ponies out there that have actually been reading this. I am sorry to say that this story is put on hiatus. I am going to re-write it and hopefully i can get an editor that actually edits. I am going to be getting a desktop before the new year and hopefully within a few months. Until then, this story will have no more updates. I am not cancelling it, I still know where I want it to go but hopefully the re-write will be much better than this one was.
-Prolouge-
* Unknown Time, Everfree Forest *
'Oh buck, oh buck, oh buck,' I thought as I ran through the brush. "Hurry up, Brilliant! It's gaining on us!" Crimson said. A stray root caught my foot as I was trying to
navigate the thick forest. I felt a nudge from behind as I struggled to regain my balance. "Keep going!" Crimson encouraged. We had been running for what felt like twenty
minutes, fleeing the manticore hell-bent on making us its dinner.
"Look! We can hide there!" I pointed a hoof at a hollow under the roots of a nearby tree.
"Sure!" Crimson agreed. "On three; One!.... Two!.... Three!" We both dove into the the space. We stopped and listened as the manticore rushed by, still believing that we had just turned
out of its sight.
"How did we get into this situation again?" I asked her.
!~ Flashback - Two Weeks - * Manehattan * ~!
"No son of mine is going to be some pansy-flank writer!" Steel Bearing yelled. "You're going into construction like me, or you won't live in this house!" He walked out and slammed the door to my room.
I stomped a hoof, "What the hay?! Whats wrong with writing?" I said to myself. I'm sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. My name is Brilliant Quill. Son of Steel Bearing and Agile Verve; my mother died when I was still a foal, so I live with my dad who always comes home drunk off his flank to give me
a verbal thrashing about my special talent, writing stories. Anyways, this has so far been the worst argument, telling me to either go into construction or get out. So me and my foalhood friend, Crimson Venture, set out to Ponyville. She insisted on going, even though I told her that I didn't want her to get in trouble or danger.
* Present Time, Everfree Forest *
"You ran away, and I followed to make sure you didnt get yourself hurt or killed, remember?" She said
"Oh, yeah, thats right." I replied.
"Whatever, I think the manticore is gone now... anyways, lets keep going." She said.
"Yeah," I agreed. "Which way now?" I hoofed the map to her from my saddlebags, "I'm no good with directions."
"Well," she pointed out, "the map says to go west for about 5 miles and we should be at the edge of the forest."
"Finally! We'll be free of this place!" I cheered.
"Yeah, Yeah lets get going, Quill."
"Okay, lead the way."
* Four hours later, Edge of Everfree *
"Okay, I'm tired. Let's stop for the night," I said.
"Fine, pansy," Crimson replied.
"Hey! No need to be harsh!" I whined.
"Whatever, go to sleep."
"Fine." I guess now would be a good time to describe us. I'm a golden eyed, brown coloured pony, medium length hair spiky at the end, blue with gold highlights and a flame-esque tail of the same colours and a quill-and-scroll cutie mark. Crimson is a green eyed, white coloured mare with the same hairstyle, but in red and green with a slightly longer tail of the same colour, with a green and white yin-yang cutie mark. She normally wears a black fedora, which was laying beside her head, out of harms way. I have had a crush on her for about three months; however, I've been afraid of what would happen if I told her, since she hasn't shown any signs of liking me more than a good friend. I layed awake for around ten minutes thinking of what could be if I could muster up the courage to tell her before sleep finally took me.