Written to Tearsby KittyluvrChaptersChapter 1, Pools of excitement.Chapter 2, Training for the Visit.Chapter 3, The Night ThickensChapter 5, Trains, Grains, and Fear of Discovery.Chapter 6, Discussing CatAstrophe.Chapter 4, Fixing the DamageChapter 1, Pools of excitement.Novel Inkwell sat at his desk. He had just completed his story and was thinking up of ideas for another. What new ideas could he do to add on to the stories from his books? What mystical or romantic exploits would the legendary Rainbow Dash get in to? What problems would Applejack face? How about the spells of the famous Twilight Sparkle? How would they save her? Could he tell more tales of Pinkie Pie’s parties, or Fluttershy’s animals? Maybe he should write something about Rarity. He had never written about her. Novel never really liked her as a character. He supposed it didn’t matter. They were fictional of course. There had never been Elements of Harmony, what a ridiculous idea! No pony could possibly exist like these mythical six. Still, writing stories about them was what he did best, and he needed a new one. Novel racked his brain for a new story, but nothing came to him. Eventually, he sighed and gave up, climbing the stairs to his bed. Maybe it would come to him in a dream. About half way up, he tripped over his cat, Cloudy. Just then, an idea jumped into Novel's head, and he sat down to write. The words flowed and he worked late into the night. The next morning, Novel was rudely awakened by a mass of fur resting on his head. The weight of the fluff and the fat caused his face to be pressed closely against the parchment on his desk. Using what magic he had, he lifted Cloudy off of his head, and placed him onto the ground, where the cat purred, then promptly rolled over and fell back asleep. Novel stared at the affectionate fluffball. It wasn’t that he was surprised that he had woken up in such a state, he had fallen asleep many times while working late into the night, and he usually awoke with the cat sleeping on top of him in some manner. No, he was staring at the black splotches that had appeared on the cat in the night. Novel carefully picked up his cat, and took him up to the bathroom. There he started his bath going. He was proud of his recently installed plumbing, and was glad to not have to walk down to the town well. Rowan Oak was such a small town that not many ponies had running water yet, although most of the businesses had it and it had started to move into more residences. Once the bathtub had filled, Novel unceremoniously dropped his cat into it, and scrubbed away all of the black spots, despite Cloudy’s protests. Once he had finished washing off his cat, he began to trot back downstairs. He had been in the most interesting part of his story, and couldn’t wait to get back to it. That wasn’t what was nagging at his mind though. He was wondering how his gray tabby had gotten so ridiculously messy. He suspected his fireplace, and it’s fresh ashes, which he had yet to clean out from yesterday afternoon. They would probably have been warm enough for Cloudy to curl up in them and sleep. He investigated his fireplace, but the ashes were relatively undisturbed. Confused, He sat down at his desk, still staring at the untouched hearth. Giving up, Novel turned back to his desk. There he saw the answer to his question. The parchment with his carefully written story had a huge black splotch in the middle of it, next to his overturned inkwell. The dried ink had a clean spot in roughly the shape of his face. There were also lines in it, like bits had been wiped off with cotton. In the middle of the puddle lay his once red quill, now turned black with ink. There was a thick line on the left side of the splotch that was about the size of a pony foreleg. The top of the scroll, which he had tightly bunched up once dried, had been unfurled and rolled off the desk. Novel attempted to lift the parchment only to find the ink had soaked through it, and had practically glued it to the table. As Novel attempted to scrape the useless scraps of parchment off the table, he heard a knock at the door. Novel turned to open it, but before he could reach the door a pale blue earth pony with a cream white mane burst through, nearly knocking Novel over. He stumbled to maintain his balance, before standing upright and turning to the Excited pony. "Hi Corncake. Why all the excitement?” Corncake slowly turned towards him, mouth opening. “Wel-” Corncake cut herself off, bursting into laughter. Novel tilted his head in confusion. “What’s so funny?” Corncake sat down, still chuckling and snorting. “Nothing, It’s just your face matches your name.” “What?” “Well it has half your novel on it, as well as two thirds of your inkwell!” Using his magic, Novel levitated over a small hand mirror and stared at the black spotted pony’s face. Then he looked back to his desk. Then back to the mirror. Then Novel sat down at lifted a rag over and started scrubbing his face. “So, what brought you through my door in the first place?” Corncake bounced in place and almost shouted. “They’re coming!” “Who’s coming? What are you talking about!?” “Those ponies you’re always writing about! They’re coming here!” “Are you feeling okay? You must be delusional, because they are fictional. How could they be going much of anywhere?” “Don’t believe me? Look for yourself!” Suddenly, there was a newspaper on in front of Novel. On the front cover was the headline “Heroes come to Rowan Oak!” with a black and white picture of two earthponies, two pegasi, one unicorn, and one alicorn underneath. Novel, who had just gotten back up, fell back down to a sitting position. His jaw flopped open but he quickly shut it again. He then sat straight up, and looked his friend in the eye. “Did you fake this in any way, shape, or form?” “Novel! What kind of pony do you take me for? I saw this on the way to work, and bought it. When my break started, I rushed over.” “Then tell me, Corncake, how is this possible!?” “You tell me! You’re the one that knows all about them!” “Yeah! About them as fictional characters! I know nothing about their real personalities!” “How do you know they’re any different from the characters you’ve written and read about?” “I suppose you have a point. Ok.” Novel took a deep breath, his lungs filling with air and then propelling it back out along with all of his panic. “Ok. I’ll see them when they arrive, but I’ll just be part of the crowd. Nothing will go wrong. They’re just here for a visit.” “Ok. They’re arriving tomorrow. Hope everything goes well for you.” As Corncake left the house and carefully closed the damaged door, Novel sat very still. His mind filled with worries and questions that had never come to him before. The one that sat on the forefront of his mind, however, was perhaps the most important to him. Writing stories about these ponies was what he did best, but, could he continue now that he knew they existed? Could he write these stories about real ponies? On his desk, sat the unfinished and damaged stories, which he had put so much effort into. Author's Note This is the first chapter of my first real story. Neither Novel nor the town of Rowan Oak is based on anyone. Novel's name was inspired by a name generator and the town is a pun off of Roanoke Virginia. It has nothing else to do with the town. Thank you for reading, and the next chapter should be soon. Chapter 2, Training for the Visit.Novel slowly got up, his desk long forgotten. He had finally sorted out the torrent of thoughts that had filled his mind enough to move. He decided there was nothing he could really do besides let this play out. Novel didn’t know what to do the remainder of the day. He couldn’t do his normal routine, because he did not have one besides writing. He couldn’t write until he had thought through the recent revelation. He could not go to work because he was self employed by his fiction. Novel barely considered these things. Instead it spent the afternoon coming up with every possible way the visit could go wrong. He paced for hours, before sitting in one of his chairs. He was so wrapped in his thoughts that he barely noticed the time. Nor did he notice when his cat, who had been curled up next to him, got up and left his house. Meanwhile, not very far away, a train was chugging along. The ground was whirring past it at 65 miles per hour. It was a relatively short train, pulling three cats and a caboose. The first cat contained a kitchen with a couple chefs moving around. Preparing the evening meal for the train’s important passengers. The dining room that took up the other half of the cat was empty. The second cat was filled with seats. The cat was almost entirely empty, except for seven ponies who were talking excitedly. The third and final cat had bedrooms for the train’s ten passengers. Three of the rooms were occupied. Specifically, they were the rooms with the names Spike the dragon, Rainbow Dash, and Scootaloo posted on the doors. The ponies on the second cat were talking excitedly about the train and it’s destination. One of the ponies, a white unicorn named Rarity, sat down on one of the seats. She then exclaimed enthusiastically, “Wow Twilight, this train is amazing! How did you manage to book it?” Twilight turned to look at Rarity, then sat down across from her next to the window. “Well, it turns out being a princess has many advantages. More than being a princess’s protègè.” Pinkie Pie bounced over to Twilight. “Yeah, but this train is still super funerifical!” Just as Twilight began to answer, the train hit a huge bump. The outside world jittered, then stopped rushing past. There was a couple thumps from the following cat, then the separating door opened. Out of it walked two ponies and a dragon. All three looked groggy and confused, as if they had been rudely awoken and thrown across a room. The smallest pony, Scootaloo, walked over to her two friends, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, and all three began talking. Rainbow Dash and Spike walked over to the other five ponies. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy had been knocked over, as all three had been standing during the vibrations. Applejack slowly stood up, then carefully sat down next to Rarity. “What in tarnation was THAT Twilight!?” Twilight turned back and replied, “I don’t know! This train is supposed to be state of the art!” Fluttershy quietly said “Um… Girls?” Rainbow Dash, not quite hearing Fluttershy, turned to Twilight. “Yeah, but didn’t you say it was a prototype.” Twilight replied slightly sharply, “One that’s been tested before! It was about to go on the market, but they needed a little bit more testing as well as some marketing!” Rainbow retorted, “So that’s how you got this trip free! You put us on a not fully tested unsafe thing! Just so some business pony could say a princess and her friends rode the train.” Twilight returned, “This train was supposed to be safe!” Before Rainbow could reply, Fluttershy spoke up “Umm… Instead of arguing, shouldn’t we go see if anypony is hurt?” Twilight took a deep breath. “You’re right Fluttershy.” Then, she took on her leaderly demeanor. “Ok! Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Pinkie! Go to the kitchen and see if anypony is injured! Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash! Go check the locomotive! Spike, you search the Caboose. Applejack, Applebloom, go to the cabins and check each one for injured. I’ll go to the very front of the train with Fluttershy to see if we hit anything.” As each pony ran off to their assigned areas inside the train, Twilight and Fluttershy flew out the window and started flying to the front of the train. Twilight hovered down to the tracks and examined them, while Fluttershy flew ahead. There were skid marks against the tracks, as if the train had suddenly applied all of it’s brakes, and one of the wheels was dislodged. As she started to examine the tracks closer, Fluttershy, flew past at top speed and darted into the window. A few seconds later she flew back out the window carrying a tightly coiled piece of cloth. Twilight abandoned her investigation and flew up to meet Fluttershy. “What is it!?” Fluttershy, who didn’t bother to slow down, responded curtly. “The train hit something. I think it’s injured.” “Well let me help! We can’t just leave it there!” Author's Note Don't know why those duplicated. Chapter 3, The Night ThickensTwilight Sparkle and Fluttershy carried the creature that the train had hit in to the car. Applejack, Applebloom, and Spike had already returned. Twilight hadn’t thought they would find anything, as the caboose and bedrooms were either empty or had their occupants accounted for, still, it was important to be certain. Fluttershy began to try and do what she could to help the poor creature, but she could not see what she was doing, and the night was so thick that even Twilight’s magic could barely penetrate it. Still, Twilight did what she could to help, but after a few minutes, she left. She was worried Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Scootaloo. None of them had returned. Twilight and Spike went to the Cab of the train, while Applejack and Applebloom went to help in the kitchen. Fluttershy stayed behind. As the Apples entered the kitchen, they saw a huge mess. There were pans and pots strewn all over the floor. Broken dishes lay everywhere, and the cutlery drawer had come loose and thrown it’s contents across the room. One of the large heavy cabinets had fallen over and hit the counter, breaking both the counter and the pottery inside. The most important thing about that cabinet, though, was the fact that it had fallen so that a pony was trapped under it. It was thanks only to the counter that said pony was not crushed. Applejack’s three friends were now pulling this very cabinet, trying to get it off the pony. The other chef was standing on the other side of the room, eyes wide and staring into spaaaaaace. Applejack and Applebloom walked up to the cabinet and the other ponies. Applejack slid a metal sheet between the cabinet and the trapped pony. She then reared up on her forelegs. “Everypony stand back!” Using all her strength, Applejack kicked the cabinet. Large cracks formed in it. She kicked it again. Those cracks widened. She kicked it for a third time and the cabinet shattered, raining splinters and broken pottery towards the pony underneath. The shrapnel, instead of hitting the pony, hit the metal sheet and bounced off. Sliding to the floor. Once the rain had stopped, the pony got up and left the now dented sheet behind. Meanwhile in the cab, Twilight Sparkle and Spike entered to find Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo attempting to interrogate the conductor, who was too shaken to speak. Twilight interrupted them, saying “Come on, we can interrogate her later! Bring her to the seating car. I’ll check the kitchen.” Just as Twilight and Spike entered the kitchen, there was an explosion of wood and clay shrapnel. A minute later a pony crawled out from the metal sheet which seemed to be the epicenter of the explosion. Spike told everypony to head to the passenger car, where everyone regrouped. It was still dark. The electricity had completely stopped, but the unicorns present used their magic to light up as much as possible. “Ok,” Twilight said. “What happened.” The conductor pony had finally calmed down, and was sitting in a nearby seat. “There was something on the tracks. I slammed the brakes to try not to hit it, but the momentum still carried us into it.” One of the chefs snapped, “Well, did you think about the ponies ON YOUR TRAIN? NO! YOU DIDN’T!” Twilight, trying to calm the chef, said, “I’m sure she did what she could on instinct. Besides, everyone ended up ok...” Fluttershy quietly interrupted, “We don’t know that yet! This poor thing is still injured!” Applejack replied, “Well Twilight, why don’t ya’ll move over there to give Fluttershy some light while you have your important conversation.” Meanwhile Novel, who had fallen asleep in his chair, was having a nightmare. His thoughts and worries had followed him into his dreams, and they were showing what he thought to be the worst possible situation. Worst of all, even though it was a sunny afternoon in his dream, there was an inexplicable night wind. His back fur stood on end, and tingled and shivered. Suddenly he woke up. The breeze was still there. His shaking spine continued, as his house was filled with cold. Novel stood up, and started up his illumination spell. He struggled against the cold darkness before his light burned bright enough to see. He followed the breeze to an open window. He had to get quite close to see it. As he reached to close it, he noticed some smeared ink splotches. The splotches were in the shape of a cat paw-print. There ink was spread by the night wind, but it was fresh, within the last four hours. What scared Novel the most, though, was that the prints only pointed out. There were no return prints. Novel stepped out of his house, a scarf tightly wrapped around his neck. He found the window and saw indentations in the dirt. He followed them, but they quickly disappeared. Losing hope, he walked back and sat in his house, in the cold, to wait for his pet to return. Author's Note The plot thickens. I probably won't write another chapter today. Maybe tomorrow. Chapter 5, Trains, Grains, and Fear of Discovery.Novel Inkwell sat at the train station. He turned to Corncake, who sat next to him. Corncake looked back at him. “Are… you okay?” Novel sighed. “Well... Kind of. Not really. Why do you ask?” “Your ears are perked like you just can’t wait, but your eyes are clouded like you’re preoccupied. What’s going on?” “I am really excited for the visit. Also nervous. Is it that obvious?” “You act like this visit is a personal one. They’re just coming to town. Nothing will happen. I promise. But there’s more to it, isn’t there? If you were just nervous you wouldn’t be that upset.” “Well, I guess I’m just worried. Cloudy jumped out the window of my house last night. I have no idea where he got to.” Corncake moved a bit closer and gave Novel a small hug. “That’s rough. Hasn’t Cloudy been out before?” “Not really. I try to keep him inside. It’s dangerous outside. When he does manage to get out he usually comes in within five minutes. He’s been gone for hours now.” “Well I’m sure he’s fine. Where are our visitors though? They were supposed to arrive this morning. It’s already noon.” “That’s a good question. I guess we’ll just wait.” As Novel turned back towards the tracks, a train chugged into them. The train gently applied its brakes well before it reached the station, slowly stopping it. When the train had finally come to a stop, six silhouettes stepped out. The smoke cleared to reveal the six ponies Novel had read so much about. Seeing them first hoof, they weren’t really as majestic as he’d imagined. Really, they just looked… tired. Corncake leaned over and whispered into Novel’s ear. “Sorry. I’ve got to go to work. I’ve already taken my break and my boss will be mad if I’m gone much longer.” She then slipped behind the crowd and headed towards The Feed Bag Cafe, where she worked. As Corncake snuck off behind the crowd, Novel watched the six ponies walk past him and down the stairs. He stood up and took a step towards them, then backed up behind the crowd. He followed after Corncake, slipping into the cafe. He sat down at a table near the door. Corncake walked over to his table. “Hey, I thought you were gonna watch the guests arrive.” Novel looked up. “I would have, but..............." Novel sighed, "I don’t know.” “Got cold hooves?” “Yeah, I just couldn’t stand there. They weren’t at all what I’d imagined.” “I don’t know, I thought they were pretty cool.” “I guess.” “Anyway, what did you want to order?” “Umm… I guess I’ll have the cinnamon oatmeal.” As Corncake left to get his order, Novel noticed a high-pitched voice outside.”Hey, can we get breakfast? I’m hungry… We didn’t get anything on the train!” Another voice replied, “Oh faihn Pinkie Pie. How ‘bout here?” Then, in walked Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity. They sat down at a large table at the edge of the room that was next to where Novel sat. Pinkie Pie was holding a magazine. Pinkie Pie held up the magazine she had earlier. “Hey look at this! They had them by the entrance.” “So what Pinkie?” said Twilight. “You can probably get that magazine anywhere.” “Well, it says here that all the stories the magazine prints are written here!” Novel Inkwell leaned into his oatmeal, trying to be inconspicuous. Many of his stories had been printed in that very magazine, and they had recently created a special issue just for him. Corncake walked over to the larger table. “Oh hey, is that ‘Rowan Oak Stories”? You know, my friend writes for that magazine.” Novel muttered, “Not helping, Corncake.” Corncake didn’t hear him. She was busy taking orders. That was fine. He didn’t really mean for her to hear him anyway. As Corncake walked off towards the kitchen with their orders, the six ponies looked at Pinkie Pie. Novel then quickly turned back when she picked up the magazine, trying to be invisible. He could not tell which issue the magazine was, they never changed the cover, but he had his fears. He heard rustling and the sound of magic as it’s alicorn owner levitated the magazine over, saying, “I’m always interested in new literature. Let me see that.” Rarity’s cultured voice replied, “I’d like to see it too. Maybe this town has some new fashion ideas.” “Hey, why don’t we pass it around and read out loud? That way we can all read it and eat and talk." An excited Pinkie Pie voice replied. “Hey that’s not a bad idea! I love reading funny stories! Wait… who should go first?” “Hmm… who doesn’t want to read first?” Applejack looked up. “Well, ah wanna start eatin’ as soon as we get food. I’ll go later.” “Ok. AJ, think of a number between 1 and 100.” “Seriously? Yall are doing this? What are ya, twelve?” “Well, why not? It’s an effective way and it’s better than arguing.” “Ok faihn, ah’ve gotta number.” “Ok… We’ll go clockwise around the table, so Rarity, you can guess first.” Rarity immediately said, “Well, this does feel kind of childish, but how about the number 50? It’s exactly in the middle.” Rainbow, who was next to her, paused before saying “Ok… I choose 60.” Novel, who was still listening in, paused while the other ponies chose numbers, muttering to himself, “Huh, that’s 20% greater.” He then overheard Corncake returning with their food as the six ponies finally decided that Fluttershy would read first. He heard the magazine pages rustle as Fluttershy opened the magazine. "It says this issue is a special issue in honor of one of their writers. The title says 'The Complete Works of Novel Inkwell.'" Novel, who went to hide further into his oatmeal, noticed that his bowl was empty. He must have finished it without noticing. He began to stand up to leave when he was interrupted by Fluttershy's next statement. "There's a black and white picture of the author here." Novel froze. If he moved they would notice him and recognize him from the picture. He slowly lowered himself back into his seat from his quarter raised position. Fluttershy started to read one of his tamer tales, which was one of the few that didn't directly involve any of the particular present ponies. It was a story about Babs' friends in the Manehattan branch of the Cutie Mark Crusaders attempting to get their cutie marks when Babs was away for the Apple Family Reunion. As the magazine got passed around and the stories got more and more inappropriate, Novel began to realize that the longer he waited to leave the more likely he was to be noticed, but if he left he was certain to be. He was stuck. As the stories got more and more related to them and more and more violent, the six ponies listened in shock to the stories, their mouths full with food. Novel was just glad that they hadn't grabbed his romance compilation. When they finally finished with the most graphic description in his entire library, which is of violence and/or raunch this story is far from rated for, the six ponies sat there staring at each other, their long since cleaned plates in front of them. Suddenly, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie started laughing. Novel looked up, confused but still trying to hide his face and be inconspicuous. Why were they laughing? What had happened that was so funny? Pinkie answered his internal questions. "Can you believe this pony? It's so ridiculous!" Applejack replied, "Ah'm more curious about how he knew about us." Rainbow responded, "Of course he knew about us! We've only saved the world like fifteen times this year, as well as one of us becoming a princess! How do so many ponies not know about us?" “I don’t know, it’s very inconsistent.” mused Twilight, “But back on topic, this writer is really-” Suddenly a large crash was heard outside of the cafe, jolting the ponies out of their semi-relaxed state. They all ran outside, and Rainbow swiped the magazine on her way out, destroying Novel’s plan to steal it while everyone was outside. Instead he joined the crowd of other ponies rushing outside. When outside he saw the second shelf of newspapers and magazines give way. Chapter 6, Discussing CatAstrophe.Novel levitated up another magazine and put it on the pile. It was quickly followed by one which Applejack placed. There was something mildly satisfying about working with his idols, even if it was only for minor tasks. His one worry was that one of them would notice him, so he tried to blend in with the few other ponies who had stayed to help. As the gathered ponies collected the last of the magazines he walked over to Corncake, who had done a large amount of the cleaning. She turned and asked him “What do you think caused this?” “I’m not sure, but I would guess that the top shelf wasn’t quite sturdy enough. It fell onto the lower one causing a chain reaction. The vibrations then weakened the other shelves. That’s just my guess based on what I saw though.” Novel replied. “That makes sense. Still strange they fell now though.” “Good point… I don’t have any other ideas though.” Novel sighed. “What’s wrong?” “I was just thinking about Cloudy. I hope he’s safe.” “Maybe you should put out fliers so that anypony who finds him knows what to do.” “I suppose I’ll do that… I just hope he’s safe” Novel was interrupted by the town’s six visitors walking toward the two of them. He overheard a bit of their discussion as they approached. Twilight was saying “It’s has been strangely eventful this week, hasn’t it? I just hope we don’t get caught in another mess.” Corncake turned to the approaching posse. She thanked them, saying “I wanted to thank you all for helping me to pick up that mess. I’m sorry it interrupted your meal.” Applejack responded, “Nah, it’s alright sugarcube. We’re happy to help. Besides, we’d already finished. We just need to pay.” “Well, actually, the boss said that those who stayed and helped would get a voucher for a free meal up to twenty bits each, so you’re covered.” “Oh… Thanks! That’s cool.” exclaimed Rainbow. Novel slipped away from the conversation before the other ponies noticed him. ……………………………………………………………………………………………… Twilight noticed the male pony slink away, but before she could say anything, she was interrupted by the waitress in front of her, who had introduced herself as a Corncake. “Hey, you’re ‘The Princess of Friendship’, right?” “Yeah, though that’s kind of an awkward title. Just ‘Twilight’ is fine.” “Can I have your advice?” "Of course. I always try to help. “I have this friend. He’s kinda awkward, but he’s been really worried lately. You see it’s his cat. This grey tabby? He escaped, and my friend has been really worried about him. He usually never gets outside alone. I wish I could help, but I don’t know what to do. I basically just told him to make fliers, but I doubt that will be enough. I can see it’s really getting to him.” “I’m not really sure what to tell you besides just to help him look or make fliers and… wait, what type of cat?” “Huh? Oh! A grey tabby.” “Oh…” Twilight cast a sidelong look at Fluttershy. “What? Wait, have you found him!?” “You could say that…” Fluttershy spoke up to stop the awkward silence. “Our train hit a grey tabby on the way. He wasn’t seriously hurt beyond a few broken bones. He’ll live.” “Really? What was the name on the collar? Was it Cloudy? I can’t wait to tell my friend!” Twilight looked pensive. “We don’t know. The collar was pretty badly damaged. I’d be careful telling your friend. What if it isn’t Cloudy? We don’t want to get his hopes up. I’m not saying don’t tell him, just be sure not to get him excited. That’s all.” “Also, he’ll need to stay with me for the next couple days to allow his bones to heal.” added Fluttershy. “Ok. I hope it is Cloudy. At least then we know where he is.” Corncake sighed. Before the others could reply a voice came from inside the cafe. “Corncake! You need to get back to work. You were late this morning and we need to make up for lost time and money! Hurry!” Corncake hurried inside. “Ok. Ok. I’m Coming!” Twilight turned to the other five. “I think that stallion who was talking to Corncake before we walked up was the friend in question. Even if he was I never saw his face, did you?” “Nope.” They all responded in varying degrees of unison. “Oh, that reminds me,” said Fluttershy urgently, “we should be getting back to the train. I need to check on the cat. That also allows me to see if he responds to the name ‘Cloudy.’” The six ponies trotted off towards the train station, their hooves billowing up dust in a large but light cloud. Chapter 4, Fixing the DamageThe next morning Fluttershy was done. She turned to the rest. “Ok. So the animal is a gray tabby cat. He didn’t take any serious injury. Just scared.” Twilight, who had sat down, stood up and tilted her head. “How is that possible?” “Maybe it’s because this train doesn’t have a plow.” the conductor, who’d mentioned her name was Steam Sprocket, responded. Rainbow Dash asked, “I thought Twilight or Fluttershy would have noticed that.” Twilight responded “Yeah, but you know how dark it was, and it was even darker outside.” Twilight raised her left hoof. “Wait, why doesn’t the train have a plow?” Steam Sprocket, who’d started to stand back up, sat back down. “It’s extremely dangerous! What if a pony were on the track? At slower speeds it would merely push him or her to the side, but at greater spee-” Applejack firmly placed her hoof against Sprocket’s mouth, cutting her off and pushing her back into a sitting position. “I think we get the picture." Fluttershy nodded. “There being no plow would make sense. The cat was at most skimmed.” AJ paused, “Then why did it take yall so long?” “Well, I needed to get him to wake up, then check every bone and joint.” Pinkie Pie, who had been bouncing with nervousness, stopped and stood still for once. “Wait! Didn’t you say he was injured though?” “Not seriously, no, he has some minor bone fractures which will take a few weeks, but nothing permanent.” Spike walked over. “Well, who’s cat is it?” “There’s a collar. Most of the address is scrapped off... but what I can read says it's up ahead in Rowan Oak.” Sprocket stood up. “Well, we’re near the town. We should still be able to reach it on time.” Twilight shouted. “Wait!” “What is it?” “One of the wheels has come derailed. We need to fix it first.” “Ok. You go fix it. I’ll check that the engine wasn’t damaged.” “Ok. Rainbow, you help me.” “Why me?” Rainbow retorted. “Because you can fly and Fluttershy can work best with the cat. Now come along!” A few minutes later, the train was chugging along towards Rowan Oak again. Author's Note This is a short chapter that is mostly dialog.
Chapter 1, Pools of excitement.Novel Inkwell sat at his desk. He had just completed his story and was thinking up of ideas for another. What new ideas could he do to add on to the stories from his books? What mystical or romantic exploits would the legendary Rainbow Dash get in to? What problems would Applejack face? How about the spells of the famous Twilight Sparkle? How would they save her? Could he tell more tales of Pinkie Pie’s parties, or Fluttershy’s animals? Maybe he should write something about Rarity. He had never written about her. Novel never really liked her as a character. He supposed it didn’t matter. They were fictional of course. There had never been Elements of Harmony, what a ridiculous idea! No pony could possibly exist like these mythical six. Still, writing stories about them was what he did best, and he needed a new one. Novel racked his brain for a new story, but nothing came to him. Eventually, he sighed and gave up, climbing the stairs to his bed. Maybe it would come to him in a dream. About half way up, he tripped over his cat, Cloudy. Just then, an idea jumped into Novel's head, and he sat down to write. The words flowed and he worked late into the night. The next morning, Novel was rudely awakened by a mass of fur resting on his head. The weight of the fluff and the fat caused his face to be pressed closely against the parchment on his desk. Using what magic he had, he lifted Cloudy off of his head, and placed him onto the ground, where the cat purred, then promptly rolled over and fell back asleep. Novel stared at the affectionate fluffball. It wasn’t that he was surprised that he had woken up in such a state, he had fallen asleep many times while working late into the night, and he usually awoke with the cat sleeping on top of him in some manner. No, he was staring at the black splotches that had appeared on the cat in the night. Novel carefully picked up his cat, and took him up to the bathroom. There he started his bath going. He was proud of his recently installed plumbing, and was glad to not have to walk down to the town well. Rowan Oak was such a small town that not many ponies had running water yet, although most of the businesses had it and it had started to move into more residences. Once the bathtub had filled, Novel unceremoniously dropped his cat into it, and scrubbed away all of the black spots, despite Cloudy’s protests. Once he had finished washing off his cat, he began to trot back downstairs. He had been in the most interesting part of his story, and couldn’t wait to get back to it. That wasn’t what was nagging at his mind though. He was wondering how his gray tabby had gotten so ridiculously messy. He suspected his fireplace, and it’s fresh ashes, which he had yet to clean out from yesterday afternoon. They would probably have been warm enough for Cloudy to curl up in them and sleep. He investigated his fireplace, but the ashes were relatively undisturbed. Confused, He sat down at his desk, still staring at the untouched hearth. Giving up, Novel turned back to his desk. There he saw the answer to his question. The parchment with his carefully written story had a huge black splotch in the middle of it, next to his overturned inkwell. The dried ink had a clean spot in roughly the shape of his face. There were also lines in it, like bits had been wiped off with cotton. In the middle of the puddle lay his once red quill, now turned black with ink. There was a thick line on the left side of the splotch that was about the size of a pony foreleg. The top of the scroll, which he had tightly bunched up once dried, had been unfurled and rolled off the desk. Novel attempted to lift the parchment only to find the ink had soaked through it, and had practically glued it to the table. As Novel attempted to scrape the useless scraps of parchment off the table, he heard a knock at the door. Novel turned to open it, but before he could reach the door a pale blue earth pony with a cream white mane burst through, nearly knocking Novel over. He stumbled to maintain his balance, before standing upright and turning to the Excited pony. "Hi Corncake. Why all the excitement?” Corncake slowly turned towards him, mouth opening. “Wel-” Corncake cut herself off, bursting into laughter. Novel tilted his head in confusion. “What’s so funny?” Corncake sat down, still chuckling and snorting. “Nothing, It’s just your face matches your name.” “What?” “Well it has half your novel on it, as well as two thirds of your inkwell!” Using his magic, Novel levitated over a small hand mirror and stared at the black spotted pony’s face. Then he looked back to his desk. Then back to the mirror. Then Novel sat down at lifted a rag over and started scrubbing his face. “So, what brought you through my door in the first place?” Corncake bounced in place and almost shouted. “They’re coming!” “Who’s coming? What are you talking about!?” “Those ponies you’re always writing about! They’re coming here!” “Are you feeling okay? You must be delusional, because they are fictional. How could they be going much of anywhere?” “Don’t believe me? Look for yourself!” Suddenly, there was a newspaper on in front of Novel. On the front cover was the headline “Heroes come to Rowan Oak!” with a black and white picture of two earthponies, two pegasi, one unicorn, and one alicorn underneath. Novel, who had just gotten back up, fell back down to a sitting position. His jaw flopped open but he quickly shut it again. He then sat straight up, and looked his friend in the eye. “Did you fake this in any way, shape, or form?” “Novel! What kind of pony do you take me for? I saw this on the way to work, and bought it. When my break started, I rushed over.” “Then tell me, Corncake, how is this possible!?” “You tell me! You’re the one that knows all about them!” “Yeah! About them as fictional characters! I know nothing about their real personalities!” “How do you know they’re any different from the characters you’ve written and read about?” “I suppose you have a point. Ok.” Novel took a deep breath, his lungs filling with air and then propelling it back out along with all of his panic. “Ok. I’ll see them when they arrive, but I’ll just be part of the crowd. Nothing will go wrong. They’re just here for a visit.” “Ok. They’re arriving tomorrow. Hope everything goes well for you.” As Corncake left the house and carefully closed the damaged door, Novel sat very still. His mind filled with worries and questions that had never come to him before. The one that sat on the forefront of his mind, however, was perhaps the most important to him. Writing stories about these ponies was what he did best, but, could he continue now that he knew they existed? Could he write these stories about real ponies? On his desk, sat the unfinished and damaged stories, which he had put so much effort into. Author's Note This is the first chapter of my first real story. Neither Novel nor the town of Rowan Oak is based on anyone. Novel's name was inspired by a name generator and the town is a pun off of Roanoke Virginia. It has nothing else to do with the town. Thank you for reading, and the next chapter should be soon.
Chapter 2, Training for the Visit.Novel slowly got up, his desk long forgotten. He had finally sorted out the torrent of thoughts that had filled his mind enough to move. He decided there was nothing he could really do besides let this play out. Novel didn’t know what to do the remainder of the day. He couldn’t do his normal routine, because he did not have one besides writing. He couldn’t write until he had thought through the recent revelation. He could not go to work because he was self employed by his fiction. Novel barely considered these things. Instead it spent the afternoon coming up with every possible way the visit could go wrong. He paced for hours, before sitting in one of his chairs. He was so wrapped in his thoughts that he barely noticed the time. Nor did he notice when his cat, who had been curled up next to him, got up and left his house. Meanwhile, not very far away, a train was chugging along. The ground was whirring past it at 65 miles per hour. It was a relatively short train, pulling three cats and a caboose. The first cat contained a kitchen with a couple chefs moving around. Preparing the evening meal for the train’s important passengers. The dining room that took up the other half of the cat was empty. The second cat was filled with seats. The cat was almost entirely empty, except for seven ponies who were talking excitedly. The third and final cat had bedrooms for the train’s ten passengers. Three of the rooms were occupied. Specifically, they were the rooms with the names Spike the dragon, Rainbow Dash, and Scootaloo posted on the doors. The ponies on the second cat were talking excitedly about the train and it’s destination. One of the ponies, a white unicorn named Rarity, sat down on one of the seats. She then exclaimed enthusiastically, “Wow Twilight, this train is amazing! How did you manage to book it?” Twilight turned to look at Rarity, then sat down across from her next to the window. “Well, it turns out being a princess has many advantages. More than being a princess’s protègè.” Pinkie Pie bounced over to Twilight. “Yeah, but this train is still super funerifical!” Just as Twilight began to answer, the train hit a huge bump. The outside world jittered, then stopped rushing past. There was a couple thumps from the following cat, then the separating door opened. Out of it walked two ponies and a dragon. All three looked groggy and confused, as if they had been rudely awoken and thrown across a room. The smallest pony, Scootaloo, walked over to her two friends, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, and all three began talking. Rainbow Dash and Spike walked over to the other five ponies. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy had been knocked over, as all three had been standing during the vibrations. Applejack slowly stood up, then carefully sat down next to Rarity. “What in tarnation was THAT Twilight!?” Twilight turned back and replied, “I don’t know! This train is supposed to be state of the art!” Fluttershy quietly said “Um… Girls?” Rainbow Dash, not quite hearing Fluttershy, turned to Twilight. “Yeah, but didn’t you say it was a prototype.” Twilight replied slightly sharply, “One that’s been tested before! It was about to go on the market, but they needed a little bit more testing as well as some marketing!” Rainbow retorted, “So that’s how you got this trip free! You put us on a not fully tested unsafe thing! Just so some business pony could say a princess and her friends rode the train.” Twilight returned, “This train was supposed to be safe!” Before Rainbow could reply, Fluttershy spoke up “Umm… Instead of arguing, shouldn’t we go see if anypony is hurt?” Twilight took a deep breath. “You’re right Fluttershy.” Then, she took on her leaderly demeanor. “Ok! Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Pinkie! Go to the kitchen and see if anypony is injured! Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash! Go check the locomotive! Spike, you search the Caboose. Applejack, Applebloom, go to the cabins and check each one for injured. I’ll go to the very front of the train with Fluttershy to see if we hit anything.” As each pony ran off to their assigned areas inside the train, Twilight and Fluttershy flew out the window and started flying to the front of the train. Twilight hovered down to the tracks and examined them, while Fluttershy flew ahead. There were skid marks against the tracks, as if the train had suddenly applied all of it’s brakes, and one of the wheels was dislodged. As she started to examine the tracks closer, Fluttershy, flew past at top speed and darted into the window. A few seconds later she flew back out the window carrying a tightly coiled piece of cloth. Twilight abandoned her investigation and flew up to meet Fluttershy. “What is it!?” Fluttershy, who didn’t bother to slow down, responded curtly. “The train hit something. I think it’s injured.” “Well let me help! We can’t just leave it there!” Author's Note Don't know why those duplicated.
Chapter 3, The Night ThickensTwilight Sparkle and Fluttershy carried the creature that the train had hit in to the car. Applejack, Applebloom, and Spike had already returned. Twilight hadn’t thought they would find anything, as the caboose and bedrooms were either empty or had their occupants accounted for, still, it was important to be certain. Fluttershy began to try and do what she could to help the poor creature, but she could not see what she was doing, and the night was so thick that even Twilight’s magic could barely penetrate it. Still, Twilight did what she could to help, but after a few minutes, she left. She was worried Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Scootaloo. None of them had returned. Twilight and Spike went to the Cab of the train, while Applejack and Applebloom went to help in the kitchen. Fluttershy stayed behind. As the Apples entered the kitchen, they saw a huge mess. There were pans and pots strewn all over the floor. Broken dishes lay everywhere, and the cutlery drawer had come loose and thrown it’s contents across the room. One of the large heavy cabinets had fallen over and hit the counter, breaking both the counter and the pottery inside. The most important thing about that cabinet, though, was the fact that it had fallen so that a pony was trapped under it. It was thanks only to the counter that said pony was not crushed. Applejack’s three friends were now pulling this very cabinet, trying to get it off the pony. The other chef was standing on the other side of the room, eyes wide and staring into spaaaaaace. Applejack and Applebloom walked up to the cabinet and the other ponies. Applejack slid a metal sheet between the cabinet and the trapped pony. She then reared up on her forelegs. “Everypony stand back!” Using all her strength, Applejack kicked the cabinet. Large cracks formed in it. She kicked it again. Those cracks widened. She kicked it for a third time and the cabinet shattered, raining splinters and broken pottery towards the pony underneath. The shrapnel, instead of hitting the pony, hit the metal sheet and bounced off. Sliding to the floor. Once the rain had stopped, the pony got up and left the now dented sheet behind. Meanwhile in the cab, Twilight Sparkle and Spike entered to find Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo attempting to interrogate the conductor, who was too shaken to speak. Twilight interrupted them, saying “Come on, we can interrogate her later! Bring her to the seating car. I’ll check the kitchen.” Just as Twilight and Spike entered the kitchen, there was an explosion of wood and clay shrapnel. A minute later a pony crawled out from the metal sheet which seemed to be the epicenter of the explosion. Spike told everypony to head to the passenger car, where everyone regrouped. It was still dark. The electricity had completely stopped, but the unicorns present used their magic to light up as much as possible. “Ok,” Twilight said. “What happened.” The conductor pony had finally calmed down, and was sitting in a nearby seat. “There was something on the tracks. I slammed the brakes to try not to hit it, but the momentum still carried us into it.” One of the chefs snapped, “Well, did you think about the ponies ON YOUR TRAIN? NO! YOU DIDN’T!” Twilight, trying to calm the chef, said, “I’m sure she did what she could on instinct. Besides, everyone ended up ok...” Fluttershy quietly interrupted, “We don’t know that yet! This poor thing is still injured!” Applejack replied, “Well Twilight, why don’t ya’ll move over there to give Fluttershy some light while you have your important conversation.” Meanwhile Novel, who had fallen asleep in his chair, was having a nightmare. His thoughts and worries had followed him into his dreams, and they were showing what he thought to be the worst possible situation. Worst of all, even though it was a sunny afternoon in his dream, there was an inexplicable night wind. His back fur stood on end, and tingled and shivered. Suddenly he woke up. The breeze was still there. His shaking spine continued, as his house was filled with cold. Novel stood up, and started up his illumination spell. He struggled against the cold darkness before his light burned bright enough to see. He followed the breeze to an open window. He had to get quite close to see it. As he reached to close it, he noticed some smeared ink splotches. The splotches were in the shape of a cat paw-print. There ink was spread by the night wind, but it was fresh, within the last four hours. What scared Novel the most, though, was that the prints only pointed out. There were no return prints. Novel stepped out of his house, a scarf tightly wrapped around his neck. He found the window and saw indentations in the dirt. He followed them, but they quickly disappeared. Losing hope, he walked back and sat in his house, in the cold, to wait for his pet to return. Author's Note The plot thickens. I probably won't write another chapter today. Maybe tomorrow.
Chapter 5, Trains, Grains, and Fear of Discovery.Novel Inkwell sat at the train station. He turned to Corncake, who sat next to him. Corncake looked back at him. “Are… you okay?” Novel sighed. “Well... Kind of. Not really. Why do you ask?” “Your ears are perked like you just can’t wait, but your eyes are clouded like you’re preoccupied. What’s going on?” “I am really excited for the visit. Also nervous. Is it that obvious?” “You act like this visit is a personal one. They’re just coming to town. Nothing will happen. I promise. But there’s more to it, isn’t there? If you were just nervous you wouldn’t be that upset.” “Well, I guess I’m just worried. Cloudy jumped out the window of my house last night. I have no idea where he got to.” Corncake moved a bit closer and gave Novel a small hug. “That’s rough. Hasn’t Cloudy been out before?” “Not really. I try to keep him inside. It’s dangerous outside. When he does manage to get out he usually comes in within five minutes. He’s been gone for hours now.” “Well I’m sure he’s fine. Where are our visitors though? They were supposed to arrive this morning. It’s already noon.” “That’s a good question. I guess we’ll just wait.” As Novel turned back towards the tracks, a train chugged into them. The train gently applied its brakes well before it reached the station, slowly stopping it. When the train had finally come to a stop, six silhouettes stepped out. The smoke cleared to reveal the six ponies Novel had read so much about. Seeing them first hoof, they weren’t really as majestic as he’d imagined. Really, they just looked… tired. Corncake leaned over and whispered into Novel’s ear. “Sorry. I’ve got to go to work. I’ve already taken my break and my boss will be mad if I’m gone much longer.” She then slipped behind the crowd and headed towards The Feed Bag Cafe, where she worked. As Corncake snuck off behind the crowd, Novel watched the six ponies walk past him and down the stairs. He stood up and took a step towards them, then backed up behind the crowd. He followed after Corncake, slipping into the cafe. He sat down at a table near the door. Corncake walked over to his table. “Hey, I thought you were gonna watch the guests arrive.” Novel looked up. “I would have, but..............." Novel sighed, "I don’t know.” “Got cold hooves?” “Yeah, I just couldn’t stand there. They weren’t at all what I’d imagined.” “I don’t know, I thought they were pretty cool.” “I guess.” “Anyway, what did you want to order?” “Umm… I guess I’ll have the cinnamon oatmeal.” As Corncake left to get his order, Novel noticed a high-pitched voice outside.”Hey, can we get breakfast? I’m hungry… We didn’t get anything on the train!” Another voice replied, “Oh faihn Pinkie Pie. How ‘bout here?” Then, in walked Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity. They sat down at a large table at the edge of the room that was next to where Novel sat. Pinkie Pie was holding a magazine. Pinkie Pie held up the magazine she had earlier. “Hey look at this! They had them by the entrance.” “So what Pinkie?” said Twilight. “You can probably get that magazine anywhere.” “Well, it says here that all the stories the magazine prints are written here!” Novel Inkwell leaned into his oatmeal, trying to be inconspicuous. Many of his stories had been printed in that very magazine, and they had recently created a special issue just for him. Corncake walked over to the larger table. “Oh hey, is that ‘Rowan Oak Stories”? You know, my friend writes for that magazine.” Novel muttered, “Not helping, Corncake.” Corncake didn’t hear him. She was busy taking orders. That was fine. He didn’t really mean for her to hear him anyway. As Corncake walked off towards the kitchen with their orders, the six ponies looked at Pinkie Pie. Novel then quickly turned back when she picked up the magazine, trying to be invisible. He could not tell which issue the magazine was, they never changed the cover, but he had his fears. He heard rustling and the sound of magic as it’s alicorn owner levitated the magazine over, saying, “I’m always interested in new literature. Let me see that.” Rarity’s cultured voice replied, “I’d like to see it too. Maybe this town has some new fashion ideas.” “Hey, why don’t we pass it around and read out loud? That way we can all read it and eat and talk." An excited Pinkie Pie voice replied. “Hey that’s not a bad idea! I love reading funny stories! Wait… who should go first?” “Hmm… who doesn’t want to read first?” Applejack looked up. “Well, ah wanna start eatin’ as soon as we get food. I’ll go later.” “Ok. AJ, think of a number between 1 and 100.” “Seriously? Yall are doing this? What are ya, twelve?” “Well, why not? It’s an effective way and it’s better than arguing.” “Ok faihn, ah’ve gotta number.” “Ok… We’ll go clockwise around the table, so Rarity, you can guess first.” Rarity immediately said, “Well, this does feel kind of childish, but how about the number 50? It’s exactly in the middle.” Rainbow, who was next to her, paused before saying “Ok… I choose 60.” Novel, who was still listening in, paused while the other ponies chose numbers, muttering to himself, “Huh, that’s 20% greater.” He then overheard Corncake returning with their food as the six ponies finally decided that Fluttershy would read first. He heard the magazine pages rustle as Fluttershy opened the magazine. "It says this issue is a special issue in honor of one of their writers. The title says 'The Complete Works of Novel Inkwell.'" Novel, who went to hide further into his oatmeal, noticed that his bowl was empty. He must have finished it without noticing. He began to stand up to leave when he was interrupted by Fluttershy's next statement. "There's a black and white picture of the author here." Novel froze. If he moved they would notice him and recognize him from the picture. He slowly lowered himself back into his seat from his quarter raised position. Fluttershy started to read one of his tamer tales, which was one of the few that didn't directly involve any of the particular present ponies. It was a story about Babs' friends in the Manehattan branch of the Cutie Mark Crusaders attempting to get their cutie marks when Babs was away for the Apple Family Reunion. As the magazine got passed around and the stories got more and more inappropriate, Novel began to realize that the longer he waited to leave the more likely he was to be noticed, but if he left he was certain to be. He was stuck. As the stories got more and more related to them and more and more violent, the six ponies listened in shock to the stories, their mouths full with food. Novel was just glad that they hadn't grabbed his romance compilation. When they finally finished with the most graphic description in his entire library, which is of violence and/or raunch this story is far from rated for, the six ponies sat there staring at each other, their long since cleaned plates in front of them. Suddenly, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie started laughing. Novel looked up, confused but still trying to hide his face and be inconspicuous. Why were they laughing? What had happened that was so funny? Pinkie answered his internal questions. "Can you believe this pony? It's so ridiculous!" Applejack replied, "Ah'm more curious about how he knew about us." Rainbow responded, "Of course he knew about us! We've only saved the world like fifteen times this year, as well as one of us becoming a princess! How do so many ponies not know about us?" “I don’t know, it’s very inconsistent.” mused Twilight, “But back on topic, this writer is really-” Suddenly a large crash was heard outside of the cafe, jolting the ponies out of their semi-relaxed state. They all ran outside, and Rainbow swiped the magazine on her way out, destroying Novel’s plan to steal it while everyone was outside. Instead he joined the crowd of other ponies rushing outside. When outside he saw the second shelf of newspapers and magazines give way.
Chapter 6, Discussing CatAstrophe.Novel levitated up another magazine and put it on the pile. It was quickly followed by one which Applejack placed. There was something mildly satisfying about working with his idols, even if it was only for minor tasks. His one worry was that one of them would notice him, so he tried to blend in with the few other ponies who had stayed to help. As the gathered ponies collected the last of the magazines he walked over to Corncake, who had done a large amount of the cleaning. She turned and asked him “What do you think caused this?” “I’m not sure, but I would guess that the top shelf wasn’t quite sturdy enough. It fell onto the lower one causing a chain reaction. The vibrations then weakened the other shelves. That’s just my guess based on what I saw though.” Novel replied. “That makes sense. Still strange they fell now though.” “Good point… I don’t have any other ideas though.” Novel sighed. “What’s wrong?” “I was just thinking about Cloudy. I hope he’s safe.” “Maybe you should put out fliers so that anypony who finds him knows what to do.” “I suppose I’ll do that… I just hope he’s safe” Novel was interrupted by the town’s six visitors walking toward the two of them. He overheard a bit of their discussion as they approached. Twilight was saying “It’s has been strangely eventful this week, hasn’t it? I just hope we don’t get caught in another mess.” Corncake turned to the approaching posse. She thanked them, saying “I wanted to thank you all for helping me to pick up that mess. I’m sorry it interrupted your meal.” Applejack responded, “Nah, it’s alright sugarcube. We’re happy to help. Besides, we’d already finished. We just need to pay.” “Well, actually, the boss said that those who stayed and helped would get a voucher for a free meal up to twenty bits each, so you’re covered.” “Oh… Thanks! That’s cool.” exclaimed Rainbow. Novel slipped away from the conversation before the other ponies noticed him. ……………………………………………………………………………………………… Twilight noticed the male pony slink away, but before she could say anything, she was interrupted by the waitress in front of her, who had introduced herself as a Corncake. “Hey, you’re ‘The Princess of Friendship’, right?” “Yeah, though that’s kind of an awkward title. Just ‘Twilight’ is fine.” “Can I have your advice?” "Of course. I always try to help. “I have this friend. He’s kinda awkward, but he’s been really worried lately. You see it’s his cat. This grey tabby? He escaped, and my friend has been really worried about him. He usually never gets outside alone. I wish I could help, but I don’t know what to do. I basically just told him to make fliers, but I doubt that will be enough. I can see it’s really getting to him.” “I’m not really sure what to tell you besides just to help him look or make fliers and… wait, what type of cat?” “Huh? Oh! A grey tabby.” “Oh…” Twilight cast a sidelong look at Fluttershy. “What? Wait, have you found him!?” “You could say that…” Fluttershy spoke up to stop the awkward silence. “Our train hit a grey tabby on the way. He wasn’t seriously hurt beyond a few broken bones. He’ll live.” “Really? What was the name on the collar? Was it Cloudy? I can’t wait to tell my friend!” Twilight looked pensive. “We don’t know. The collar was pretty badly damaged. I’d be careful telling your friend. What if it isn’t Cloudy? We don’t want to get his hopes up. I’m not saying don’t tell him, just be sure not to get him excited. That’s all.” “Also, he’ll need to stay with me for the next couple days to allow his bones to heal.” added Fluttershy. “Ok. I hope it is Cloudy. At least then we know where he is.” Corncake sighed. Before the others could reply a voice came from inside the cafe. “Corncake! You need to get back to work. You were late this morning and we need to make up for lost time and money! Hurry!” Corncake hurried inside. “Ok. Ok. I’m Coming!” Twilight turned to the other five. “I think that stallion who was talking to Corncake before we walked up was the friend in question. Even if he was I never saw his face, did you?” “Nope.” They all responded in varying degrees of unison. “Oh, that reminds me,” said Fluttershy urgently, “we should be getting back to the train. I need to check on the cat. That also allows me to see if he responds to the name ‘Cloudy.’” The six ponies trotted off towards the train station, their hooves billowing up dust in a large but light cloud.
Chapter 4, Fixing the DamageThe next morning Fluttershy was done. She turned to the rest. “Ok. So the animal is a gray tabby cat. He didn’t take any serious injury. Just scared.” Twilight, who had sat down, stood up and tilted her head. “How is that possible?” “Maybe it’s because this train doesn’t have a plow.” the conductor, who’d mentioned her name was Steam Sprocket, responded. Rainbow Dash asked, “I thought Twilight or Fluttershy would have noticed that.” Twilight responded “Yeah, but you know how dark it was, and it was even darker outside.” Twilight raised her left hoof. “Wait, why doesn’t the train have a plow?” Steam Sprocket, who’d started to stand back up, sat back down. “It’s extremely dangerous! What if a pony were on the track? At slower speeds it would merely push him or her to the side, but at greater spee-” Applejack firmly placed her hoof against Sprocket’s mouth, cutting her off and pushing her back into a sitting position. “I think we get the picture." Fluttershy nodded. “There being no plow would make sense. The cat was at most skimmed.” AJ paused, “Then why did it take yall so long?” “Well, I needed to get him to wake up, then check every bone and joint.” Pinkie Pie, who had been bouncing with nervousness, stopped and stood still for once. “Wait! Didn’t you say he was injured though?” “Not seriously, no, he has some minor bone fractures which will take a few weeks, but nothing permanent.” Spike walked over. “Well, who’s cat is it?” “There’s a collar. Most of the address is scrapped off... but what I can read says it's up ahead in Rowan Oak.” Sprocket stood up. “Well, we’re near the town. We should still be able to reach it on time.” Twilight shouted. “Wait!” “What is it?” “One of the wheels has come derailed. We need to fix it first.” “Ok. You go fix it. I’ll check that the engine wasn’t damaged.” “Ok. Rainbow, you help me.” “Why me?” Rainbow retorted. “Because you can fly and Fluttershy can work best with the cat. Now come along!” A few minutes later, the train was chugging along towards Rowan Oak again. Author's Note This is a short chapter that is mostly dialog.
