A soft and cool breeze breezed through the open window, dancing gently with the thin and plain-looking curtain. The faint orchestra of the many crickets from the outside world echoed all around the dimly-lit room. A lonely candle stood on a candle holder on top of a table, its small and gentle flame flickered slightly and its soft ember light washed to almost every corner of the room...
...and on a yawning, teary-eyed brown-coated earth pony stallion with a darker brown mane and tail. Sitting on a wooden chair, Gold Quill rubbed his sleepy eyes with a hoof after that long yawn. A full morning of boring office work in town hall, a picnic lunch with a few of his friends and then back to his work for the whole afternoon wore the stallion out. Opening and closing his muzzle, his sleepy eyes gazed on a parchment lying on the table in front of him, with a quill and an ink bottle sitting nearby.
Gold Quill closed his heavy eyes and sighed. “...This is stupid,” he mumbled to himself. “I can’t come up with anything...”
He slowly moved his gaze towards the calendar hanging on the wall. Another yawn escaped his muzzle.
“Mmm... Three more days.”
Smiling a tired smile, he planted his hooves on the edge of the table and pushed himself back along with the chair he was sitting on.
“Mrrrfff...” He yawned once again. “Mmm... I got enough time...”
He turned his head, his sleepy gaze landing on his comfy, almost hypnotising, bed. Closing his eyes, and with a wide and lazy smile, he sleepily dragged himself towards his bed, collapsing onto it.
“Mmmmmmm—oh yeah...”
He sighed with a dreamy sigh, slowly losing himself to sleep...
...until a soft, flickering light gently pierced through his eyelids. “...I forgot to blow the candle out...”
He groaned and slowly pulled himself out of bed.
“You know, Gold,” Twilight Sparkle said, smiling as she hoofed the stallion two books he wanted to borrow. “If you’re having a hard time writing, you could just ask me to help you. I can even proofread it for you!”
The sun was already setting in the horizon, its gentle rays slipping through the Friendship Castle’s library windows, touching the many kinds of books on the many bookshelves lining up almost every inch of the library’s walls.
Gold Quill shook his head as he put the books inside his saddlebag. “Nah, it’s fine, princess.” He bowed with a friendly smile. “I wasn’t as busy today unlike yesterday, which is really surprising, considering it’s a Friday...” He shrugged, “So I’m sure I still have enough in me to write something. And besides... You’re going to be busy preparing the castle for the event, so I wouldn’t want to be a bother.”
“Formal and also not formal,” Twilight said, shaking her head in amusement. “Anyway, are you sure?” she asked. “You know that I would be happy to help out, right?”
Gold Quill chuckled, and nodded his head. “Oh, I know. But I can handle this before the deadline.” He looked back at his saddlebags with a smile. “Besides, the prompt is easy. I bet even foals wouldn’t have a hard time writing something.”
“Well, if you’re sure.”
He flashed her a confident smile. “Of course I am!”
“Well, at least I think so, anyway...” Gold said with a frown as he lamely stared at the parchment on his table, devoid of any signs of hoofwriting.
Stars were already twinkling in the evening black sky, indicating that the stallion had been sitting there for hours already.
Sighing, Gold looked at the two books lying near the edge of his table. After he arrived home and ate dinner, he read one of the books he borrowed from the princess, in hopes to motivate himself to write something.
Motivation is yet to show itself to him, however.
Sighing once again, the stallion looked at the calendar. “...Two more days.”
A smile slowly appeared on his muzzle. He blinked, and shook his head, wiping the smile off of him in the process.
“Wait, no.” Brows furrowed, he grabbed the quill with one hoof and the lid of the ink bottle with the other. “I’ll just write something that comes into my head.”
Opening the ink bottle, he placed the lid beside it and dipped the quill inside the bottle. Smiling, he pulled the quill out and jabbed it onto the parchment.
At least, he wanted to jab it. The quill hovering mere millimeters above the article, Gold Quill gulped.
“...Uh...”
With his free hoof, he rubbed his head as he tried to concentrate.
“Come on, brain... Stop blanking out on me.”
Silence.
Gold furrowed his brows once again. “Look, I know we still have two days for this, but what if we can’t come up with something tomorrow? Or the next?”
A pause.
He rolled his eyes. “Pfft, yeah, right. We can’t even come up with anything right now. Who’s to say we can think something up tomorrow? Or the day after that?”
Another pause.
Sighing in defeat, he placed the quill beside the parchment and closed the ink bottle. “...I can’t believe I was talking to myself over this.”
A yawn suddenly escaped his muzzle, making his eyes start to water.
“Mmmfff...” he mmmfff’ed, his eyes reflecting the soft glow of his lonely candle. Sighing, he blew the candle out, crawled towards his bed, and wished to the stars above that he could finally start writing tomorrow.
It was a good thing that tomorrow was the start of the weekend. It meant no work. It also meant more time for him to come up with something.
“Wat’cha doing, Goldie?” asked a sudden pink pony head that appeared above Gold’s vision.
Blinking, Gold looked up from his blank parchment and stared at the up-side-down party pony, who was perched below a tree’s branch. “Oh, hello there, Pinkie.”
It was a beautiful day in Ponyville, and Gold was seated on one of the many benches in the town’s park, right under a big tree, where a few birds graced his ears with their melodic tweets and chirps.
He returned his gaze on the piece of blank article on his hooves. “I’m just trying to come up with something to write...”
“Ooohhh...” Pinkie said, suddenly seated beside the stallion, her bright and happy eyes on the parchment as well. “For that FanFiction Writing Competition, right?”
Gold Quill nodded, frowning. “Yeah.” He sighed. “And I can’t come up with anything.”
“Pffft,” Pinkie pffft’ed, rolling her eyes. “Are you kidding? You always come up with something! That’s like your job!”
The stallion blinked. “...Pinkie, I don’t write stories in town hall.”
“But you do write stuff, right? I mean, I always see you writing stuff on paper every time I help Mayor Mare with ‘managing the files’ or whatever it’s called.”
He sighed. “It’s not really the same, you know.”
“Oh, potato patato,” the pink mare said, waving a hoof. “Just think outside the box, silly.” She pulled a horseshoe box from her tail, placed it on her head, and batted it away with a hoof, revealing her smiling face. “Easy peasy!”
Gold Quill smiled a small smile. “...Just that easy, huh?”
“Well, darling, it’s not really as easy as you think,” Rarity said before she took a sip of her tea.
Earlier, Gold Quill went to Sugarcube Corner with Pinkie for lunch, but the owners of the store needed the mare’s help. Instead of leaving the stallion on his lonesome, she dragged her unicorn friend who was conveniently just trotting by and sat them both down on one of the outside tables of the shop.
“At least, in the world of fashion, it’s not.”
“Good thing I didn’t join a costume contest then,” Gold muttered, frowning. “Any suggestions though?”
“Hm...” Rarity hummed in thought as she brought a hoof to her chin. “Well, darling, why not ask for Twilight’s help?”
The stallion shook his head. “I’d like to, but the princess and her dragon assistant are busy preparing the castle for the event.”
“Ah, yes,” Rarity said, nodding her head. “She has been busy ever since her coronation, hasn’t she?” She shook her head. “In any case, maybe you should try and write something that you like? A fantasy, written in words, maybe?”
Gold closed his eyes and sighed, reclining on his seat. Opening his eyes, he looked up at the sky. “Something that I like...”
“Well,” Rarity said, blinking at him. “You like writing, don’t you?”
He looked back at her and nodded. “Yeah...”
“But sometimes, I think writing itself hates me,” the stallion muttered under his breath, staring at the blank parchment on his table.
He spent his entire Saturday afternoon walking around the outskirts of town, in hopes of finding something that might help him.
He didn’t find any.
He bit his bottom lip as he looked at the calendar. Tomorrow was Sunday, the last day for him to come up with something, and to write it all down. The story didn’t need to be long, anyway, as long as he exceeds the minimum number of words required.
The candle’s flame flickered, making the stallion blinked. He’d been staring at the calendar for far too long. He sighed and dropped his gaze on the blank piece of parchment.
And then a long yawn escaped his muzzle.
“Mmmrrfff...” He stood up, ignored the candle and crawled towards his bed. “Maybe I can think of something while lying on the bed?” he muttered as he lied down on the bed, sighing through a smiling muzzle. He closed his eyes as he started to daydream different scenarios, judging each one if they’ll be good to be put on paper while telling himself that he’ll stay awake until he can make a decision.
The candle’s flame died when there was no more candle to burn on, the darkness consuming the room that echoed the stallion’s loud snores.
“Don’t beat yourself up over it, sugarcube,” Applejack said as she hoofed the stallion a bag of apples. “I heard that brain stress can be as stressful as bucking apples for the whole day. Sometimes more.”
Gold sighed as he hoofed her three shiny bits. “I still can’t believe I slept though. I told myself to just—”
“Lie down as you come up with something?” the farmer asked. She chuckled after receiving a lame nod from the stallion. “Been there, and will be going there for months and months, depending on our harvest and the season.” She smiled a reassuring smile. “But don’t you fret. I’m sure that brain of yours can come up with a fancy story for you to write.”
“Yeah, well...” he frowned. “I sure hope it’ll come to me now, since tomorrow morning’s the deadline.”
Applejack blinked, her smile fading. “...Oh. Uh... G-good luck?”
The stallion nodded with a fractured smile. “Yeah...”
“I’m doomed,” Gold muttered, his gaze almost burning holes on the parchment he held on his hooves.
He was sitting on one of the benches in the town’s park, ignoring the cheerful giggles of the playing foals running around.
“Darn... I can’t believe how hard writing is!”
“Why?” a young voice asked.
Blinking, Gold looked up from the blank parchment and saw three known fillies standing before him.
“Isn’t that, like, your special talent or something?” Apple Bloom asked, looking at his cutie mark.
He turned his head and stared at the mark on his flank: a quill on paper. Or, to be more specific...
He sighed. “...Yep.” He threw a frown at the trio. “A blank parchment.” He lazily showed them the blank parchment he was holding.
“Well,” Sweetie Belle said, “maybe it’s waiting for you to write something!” Her two friends nodded in agreement.
Ever since the trio got their cutie marks, they began roaming around town, like usual, but started helping ponies understand the true meaning of their cutie marks. They’re not successful all the time though, especially that one incident where they accidentally turned their town’s mail mare into a bubble... Twilight still didn’t know how they did it.
“Wait,” Scootaloo said, squinting at him. “You’re writing for that contest tomorrow, aren’t you?”
“Well, yeah,” he nodded. “Is there a problem?”
The pegasus filly shook her head with a growing smile. “Not really. But for you, maybe.”
He arched an eyebrow at that.
“Because Rainbow Dash is joining that contest, too!”
He blinked.
“Wait,” Apple Bloom said, looking at her friend. “Dash is joining a writing contest? But I thought she hates reading?”
Scootaloo frowned at her. “It’s a writing contest, Bloom. Not a reading contest.”
“So...” Sweetie Belle chimed in before Apple Bloom could retort. “Why is Rainbow Dash joining a problem for Mister Gold?”
Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Well, duh. Because she’s gonna win it!” She looked at the stallion with a smile. “Saves you the trouble of writing, right? Problem solved!”
Apple Bloom rolled her eyes before she flashed an apologetic smile at the stallion. “Sorry about my friend here, Mister Gold sir.” She threw a side glare at her friend. “She tends to be a bit harsh sometimes.”
The pegasus filly blinked. “What? It’s true! Rainbow Dash is joining that contest and is gonna win it with her Daring Do story!”
She’s writing a Daring Do fanfic, huh? the stallion thought. He shook his head. “I’m not joining the contest to win, Scootaloo,” he said with a small smile. “I’m just joining for fun.”
The filly blinked. “...Where’s the fun in losing?” A yellow hoof hit her head. “Ow!” She glared at her friend as she rubbed her aching head with a hoof. “What was that for?!”
“I’m writing for fun, I said...” the stallion sighed. “Where’s the fun in writing if I’m not able to write anything?”
It was the last night before the submission of entries tomorrow, and the stallion was sitting on his chair, his eyes staring at the blank parchment on his table, the candlelight flickering slightly, casting its soft, ember glow in his room.
He yawned. He shook his head.
He needed to write something now, even if it meant not sleeping for tonight. That might make him sleepy for the whole office hours tomorrow though. He wasn’t looking forward to that.
...Where was the fun in forcing one’s self to do something if they couldn’t do it? At least, not right now?
Another yawn escaped his muzzle, his eyes starting to water.
He writes for fun. That was always his reason why he wrote stories on his spare time. But now? With this contest? Was he having fun? Maybe that was why he couldn’t come up with anything...
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He needed to concentrate... He needed to let the ideas just...flow to him, like his previous writings those many months ago.
His ears twitched slightly, ignoring the crickets’ orchestra outside.
He let his mind go blank. He left it open for ideas to rush in.
And rushing in they did.
And he immediately grabbed the first idea that he could...
He saw a thunderous swirl of dark and thick clouds above the Everfree Forest. Twilight was in the courtyard of the alicorn sisters’ old castle, with a weird machine contraption, its dish-like...thing pointing up, aimed at the eye of the unnatural storm.
He wondered for a moment if using Twilight in his story would be considered as ‘fan fiction.’ But he was a fan of the princess and her friends’ adventures.
He returned his concentration on the scene. There was a bright flash of lightning up above, but Twilight ignored it, studying the many flashes of texts and numbers on the monitor of the machine.
Then Twilight muttered something obvious, like how unnatural the readings were.
And then, beyond belief, a bright beam of light struck the machine from the eye of the storm.
Twilight jumped back, startled. Despite the bright light before her, she could still see her machine if she squinted hard enough.
...And then the light disappeared just as soon as it appeared, a loud thunder roaring from its wake.
Seeing her machine still in one piece made her sigh in relief. She was about to wonder what that light was when she suddenly heard a groaning voice. Blinking, she looked around, until she saw a shape on top of her machine.
The shape stirred slightly, looking like a pony.
Scratch that, it really was a pony! But... But... Where did that pony come from?
“Home...” the pony muttered, pushing himself, or herself over the edge of the machine. She fell. Twilight saw the pony was a female, and snapped back in time to catch the falling pony with her magic before the ground did.
The pony had a white coat and a yellow mane and tail, her emerald green eyes barely visible from her weakly opened eyes.
“Who...” Twilight murmured. “Who...are you?”
The white mare’s eyes followed the direction where that voice came from. She saw Twilight, and her eyes slowly grew a little bit, looking tiredly surprised. And then she let out a weak chuckle. “Horses talk...? I...must be dreaming...” Her eyes slowly closed as she was losing her grip on consciousness. “I...must...be...”
And the next thing the white mare knew, she was opening her eyes and saw the morning sun’s soft rays greeting him, his mouth hanging slightly open, a pool of drool on his blank parchment.
“Hey there, Gold!” Rainbow Dash greeted the stallion who was on his way to town hall. She touched down and smiled a wide smile at the frowning stallion. “So! I heard that you’re joining the writing contest!” She extended a hoof at him. “I just wanna say good luck and may the best writer win!”
“Er...thanks?” Gold replied, but didn’t shook the mare’s hoof.
Rainbow arched an eyebrow, hoof returning to the ground. “Wow... Sportsmareship much?”
Gold Quill shook his head, and sighed a sad sigh. “I’m...not participating.”
The mare blinked. “Oh... Wait, really? But Scoots said that—” She tilted her head to the side. “I heard you write good stuff, so I was really looking forward to read your story in this contest! Why aren’t you joining?”
The stallion sighed once again. “I...ran out of time.”
