Equestria Origins

by WonderShy101

Rating: teen
Tags: Drama, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Other, Romance, Adventure, Dark
Length: 17450

Equestria was once a place where everyone of different species can live in harmony. When that was destroyed by a dark entity, can Equestria's future be saved by a Pegasus whos past haunts her?

In a time filled with legends and rumors, the early ponies of Pre-Equestria discover that their past is about to catch up to them in the form of even greater magic. Through their desperate times, a hero unbeknownst to them will be reborn, and will rise to show what true harmony is.

A Pegasus named Quest will realize her destiny in a way that she's never expected, and will use it to unveil many secrets, which will help in the discovery of Pre-Equestria, as well as shape it's history.

... Or, will she fall because of her troubling past and completely abandon her destiny?

Published 2015-12-26 16:50:02 UTC
Last updated 2016-11-27 08:28:09 UTC

Chapter 1: A Dream Made Real.

Author's Note

Now updated, so no more old-speaking language!

Chapter 1: A Dream Made Real.

Chapter 1

A Dream Made Real.

The sun slowly begins to sneak in, along with the ones who wake in the premature hours of the day. The foals of this small village known as Clydesdale begin their usual morning routine by going to class. Each day they would learn something new, and sometimes take trips to discover the land around them, and the nature that continues to thrive every single passing week. This day, however, is slightly different, for today, the younglings will be learning something that their elders always mention to them.

"Are you joking? Alicorns are just an old pony's tale. No one has ever seen one, besides, they are just stories told by our parents. “A young colt scalds another while waiting for classes to start. The topic about Alicorns seems to take the fillies and colts interest, as they would constantly hear those stories from their peers, or by their parents at bedtime. In truth, no one knows if Alicorns exist or not, mostly because no one has ever seen any in their lifetime, nor heard of anyone ever encountering one.

Behind a group of fillies discussing magic and so forth, against a tree lays a small, quiet Pegasus with a book to the left of her. She always carries her diary with her since, to her disappointment, she has no friends to talk to. The diary's front leather cover bears the name of Quest, which is the Pegasus's name. Quest's light yellow coat shines under the rousing sun, and her long baby blue mane and tail sway in the direction of the wind as she turns the pages, the wind blowing them as much to her dismay. The calm breeze had reminded her of something, so she stops on a page with a sketch of pint-sized creatures in the shape of teeny tiny ponies with transparent wings. Apparently, she had a dream of how these mystical creatures seem to flow with the wind in large packs to migrate. Her classmates thought of that as ridiculous, and far-fetched. Because of their constant teasing, Quest decided to keep everything to herself, and only tell her parents of her experiences.

Speaking of dreams, Quest has been having a lot of them, strange ones at that. For example, she once had a dream of ponies that shined like crystals, and in the center of their city was a gleaming crystal in the shape of a heart. Another was a very disturbing one, not at all a nightmare, but about creatures with the limbs of other known animals like a Lion’s paw, or the horns of Elks with elongated bodies. Dreams like these she would remember, and most of the time she'd sketch them, and tell her parents about them.

Her parents were the only ones', other than the older ponies in her village, that listen, and call her 'gifted.' This is what makes Quest happy, the constant attention of the elders, her parents, and the fact that she could care less about having friends her age.

The teacher finally arrives and motions the fillies and colts to head on in. Quest lifts her head and puts her diary into her bag. She walks with the rest of her class into the building and sits in her seat, which is in the front of the classroom. Once she is fully seated, she takes her diary out once again, eager to now write something that's been on her mind. As Quest begins to press her pencil onto the thick sheet of paper, a group of fillies walks in front of her desk. Putting her pencil down in an annoyed manner, mostly because she had already forgotten what she was going to write, she considers the eyes of the fillies who tease her, mainly out of pure jealousy. The fillies didn't like how Quest was the center of attention every day, and how she's always being praised by other parents, and their teacher, whom always calls on her to answer a question, or to read a passage in a book. So, to get revenge on her, they pick on her, calling her inaccurate names like 'blank flank,' and always throwing her diary down on the ground anytime they get the chance to grab it.

"Why do you always carry that little book of yours? Is that your only friend?" A filly in the group ask.

"She probably thinks it is. For sure she does! " Another one answers while laughing. The 'leader' of the group of fillies was just standing there, glaring at Quest with pure jealousy, and intents of either hitting her or just sprouting colorful words to her. Quest only stared back, not caring what the other filly thought of her, in fact, she didn't care at all what other ponies thought of her if they were negative. None of it dawned on her, it just annoyed her down to the bone. Finally, after minutes of staring, the jealous filly finally speaks.

"So, I wonder what you will write in that dirty book this time. Oh, what, let me guess, something about how the grass is green? Or, what You have learned in class today? I have an idea, write about how you still don't have a cutie mark you... Blank flank!" The three laugh together. Quest was about to get up and knock some sense into her but remains seated when the teacher comes.

"That is enough out of you three, go sit back in your seats and stop teasing her, and Quest, put that book away, you will not need it for today’s lesson." explains the teacher. The three fillies quietly return to their seats, while Quest places her diary into her bag, and onto the floor next to her chair. She sits patiently for the teacher to begin, but couldn't help but notice that most of her classmates have cutie marks, but not her. She felt like the odd ball out, even though she knew that someday her destiny would come and go full on... She was getting sick of waiting, though... She turns to face the window next to her, looking past the ponies walking, past her small village, and into the distance, where she can easily see the foggy mountains and distant trees. Scenery like this can easily distract her, and before she knew it, the teacher was starting class, telling everybody to hush and to sit in their seats.

"Settle down class. Today we will be discussing the topic of Alicorns, or simply put, ponies with both wings and horn. There are many theories surrounding these mystical entities. Most ponies believe that they created the world that we live in, and controlled the elements in nature, like the weather, and... " The teacher starts, and everyone picks their pencils up, copying the teacher’s words.

Every pony runs out of the class as the day ends. Quest is the last to leave the building, walking slowly in the direction of her house. The group of fillies who were teasing her walked passed and made mocking faces, with Quest simply rolling her eyes. When they finally leave, Quest follows a long path to a small neighborhood where she lives, and usually when she arrives at the right time, she helps her father in carrying logs back home for the fireplace, since, even in summer nights, it can get cold to the point snow falls.

Speaking of arriving at the right time, Quest spots her father gathering logs and runs towards him. "Hello, father! Can I help you carry the logs again?" Her father looks up confusingly from a log and onto his daughter, then smiles.

"Oh, good evening Quest. Time passes by very fast, it was just morning. How was class? Did you learn anything interesting?" She picks up a couple of logs and wraps them around her with a cloth that she uses to carry them. The two start to walk alongside each other back home.

"It was fine father. We were talking about the mysterious Alicorns, and what they are. . . And I think that is it. " Quest says her last sentence quietly. Her dad then smirks.

"Are you sure? That must have been a short class." She laughs embarrassingly at his comment, trying to find what to say.

"Well, I was daydreaming again, and when our teacher began her lecture, I had doodles all over my paper, so I couldn't write properly." Quest's dad laughs a hardy laugh and stops to catch his breath. "That is not funny! I was distracted again by my own melancholy thoughts, and because of them I missed half of the lecture!" The father regains his composure, taking a deep breath, and beginning to speak.

"Sure, it was bad that you missed some info, but that is not always a bad thing, for some distractions can show your true desires and feelings." Quest groans, thinking that he was going to go on another one of his little speeches again, but was caught off when she heard him ask, "So, do you know what you doodled? Could you tell me about them?"

"The drawing? Well, it was just an Alicorn, a pink one with long hair and purple eyes that I made up. I was actually going to create a story with her, something about her and finding love and spreading it around, but I didn't get around to doing it because it was time to leave. . . "

The conversation lasted way until they reached their home. They walk inside of their house, placing some of the logs in the fireplace where supper is being made. The mother comes from downstairs and greets them. "Welcome back you two. How was your lesson Quest?"

"It was fine as usual mother. Are you getting along well with your health? How do you feel?" Quest says, placing her bag next to one of the legs of the table. She sits, taking in the aroma of food, waiting eagerly for supper. Waiting for her mother to respond, she opens her bag back up and getting her diary out. Reaching into her bag again she grabs the picture of the Alicorn that she doodled in class, and places it into the book. She hears her mother moving away from the pot and looks up to her smiling.

"I am glad you ask. Ay dear, I am fine, doing better, to say the least. " She places a plate and a spoon next to Quest, signaling that it's finally time for supper. "I am lucky to have a daughter who would sacrifice precious time, and who pays attention to their mother's health. Because of that, I am already better." Quest smiles widely and gets cleaned up for dinner...

Later at bedtime...

Wrapping the blankets around her, Quest lights a little candle and lays in her bed. She gets her diary from her bed-side drawer and begins to write in it. "Dearest diary... Today I have learned..." She stops and thinks. What had she learned today? She can't remember any of the information in class because of how much of a scatterbrain she is by completely tuning out the teacher's lectures. She looks back at the drawing she made of the Alicorn and thought of just writing about that, but that would be it. She could finally write the Alicorn's story that she planned on doing, but she didn't see that as something useful. Thinking even more, she couldn't help but get tired, after all, it is very late. She blows out her candle and lays down, quickly drifting to sleep, forgetting that her diary was still on her bed next to her.

Quest awakes with sounds coming from downstairs. She couldn't quite make out whether if it was her mom or dad, but she knew that she had to at least see what they were up too. Creeping downstairs, she sees light coming from the living area, but strangely enough, that light isn't coming from the fireplace. They sometimes let it burn overnight until it eventually burns out. Coming to a stop, she sees before her two floating entities, one light, and one dark, spinning in a circular motion around an orb of some sort. They appear to have both wings and a horn, and they were both very tall to be ponies at all.

Quest walks slowly towards them with a daze, surprised that a phenomenon like this is happening in her house. She notices that they are in front of her diary, just staring at it as the book starts to glow the more Quest walked closer. Strange, she didn't remember leaving it on the table, and she was sure that it was in her room. How did it end up here? Unless...

The diary's pages begin to turn and tear out of the book, making Quest agape in shock, and looking up at the floating pages when she sees pictures of the creatures that she drew from all her dreams. The ones that flow with the wind, the ponies made of crystal, the creatures with different animal limbs, and the doodle of that pink Alicorn. "Hello...?" She speaks out quietly. "Who are you two...?" The entities don't respond, instead, everything comes to a halt. The pages all flying around Quest as the two entities begin to float towards her. She tries to back up, but grows tired and weak, her eyes getting heavier as the two entities stop, looking down at Quest. Before blacking out, she remembers seeing the pages come falling slowly next to her, and the entities saying these fainted words...

"We are the ancient ones who come for you. Your story begins now. . . "

Quest awakes with a small yelp, breathing heavily. "What kind of dream was that? Never in my life, I had a dream that felt so real, yet, they said something about my. . . Story?" She stares at her bed, quickly noticing that her diary is not next to her. She jumps out of her bed, quietly walking down the stairs towards the table. There, her diary was laying, opened, and with pages everywhere. She picks them up quickly. Then... It clicked in her mind. She remembered what her father had said and repeats it, "... Some distractions can who my true desires and feelings."

She smiles the biggest smile, and picks up the rest of the pages, drops some, but picks them up in a hurried manner. She returns to her room and closes the door, not wanted to disturb her parents when she lights a candle. She opens her diary to a blank page and starts to write. "Dear diary, today I learned that my destiny is right around the corner. . . My true feelings and desires I now know. There is a reason why I get distracted by my thoughts of the outside world beyond my home, there is a reason why I have these life-like dreams of creatures that I have yet to discover, and there is a reason why those two 'Ancient Alicorns' appeared before me. That was no dream I had, it was oh so real. I need to find what I must do, I don't know what, but when I figure it out, it will probably change this world for the better. . . But what will that cost me? "

After looking over it, and making some changes and corrections, Quest turns the page to the back and draws what the light and dark Alicorns were doing. She draws them circling around and orb, then messing around and putting fancy designs all over. She doesn't know why they would appear to her out of everyone, but it's meant to show a sign of something to come, and Quest, after finishing the drawing, puts her diary back in her drawer, blows out her candle, and quickly drifts off to sleep, anticipating the next days to come...

Chapter 2: A Vengeful Plan.

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 3: Gone and Mistaken For.

Chapter 3

Gone and Mistaken For.

Quest opens her eyes, rubbing them while yawning. She gets up and heads to her window, where she opens the curtains to reveal the brightness of the sun. Shielding her eyes from the rays, she wonders about how the sun rises and sets all on it's own...

Smelling breakfast, she smiles and runs downstairs, but stops midway... Her mother was cooking? 'No way,' she thinks to herself. Quest thought her mom was too unfit to stand now, judging by last night. Besides, if it wasn't her mother cooking, it would be her dad, but everyone knows he can't cook for nothing. She runs back upstairs to her parent's room and quickly opens it. "Hey mom. You alright?" Looking again, she instead spots her father, gathering his coat and other things for work later after breakfast. 'So mom is cooking....'

"Good morning Quest. Your mom is downstairs.

She walks downstairs to her mother next to the fireplace making stew. She turns around, with spoon in hand, and greets her daughter. "Hello Quest. The food is almost ready, so you can sit and wait if you want. How was your night?"

"Huh..?" Quest turns her head to the side, confused. 'She's... Fine? But I thought...' Her mother walks over to the table and sets down a wooden bowl full of stew.

"What's wrong? Still tired maybe?" She struggles to smile, and Quest frowns, noticing the struggle. She looks at her bowl of stew after her mother returns to make a bowl for her and her husband, her face reflecting in the liquid.

After some seconds of silence, Quest speaks quietly, "You're doing all of this mom, but are you sure you are ok? You probably still don't feel well. Maybe you should rest, and me and father can take care of you. " She sips her stew, spitting some out after burning her tongue from it, and her mom laughs. Just before she speaks he father finally comes down and greets them as usual. The mother then gives him his plate, then turns to Quest, with bowl in both hooves sipping the stew.

"Oh Quest, thank you for always looking out for me, but trust me, I am fine. Sure I might not be well one day, but on other days, I feel great, like now. Do not worry, besides, I don't want to be bound to my bed or anything. " Quest, judging by the stained face from the stew, was worried. Sure she had hope that her mother will get better, but she wonders when. She turns to her father, who gives her a napkin to wipe her face. He smiles at her, giving her the impression that everything's going to be alright. Quest smiles, then continues to sip her stew.

Later in the afternoon.

Quest runs out of her little cottage with her diary in her saddle bag. She couldn't wait to see what today held for her. She was going to stay home and take care of her mother, but since she was being stingy, she decided to just trust her anyway. As she was walking, she notices a bunch of fillies and colts playing and racing in a nearby field. She frowned bit, wishing that she had actual friends to play tag with, talk to, or just hang around with instead of just walking and enjoying the scenery... Alone. All she would do is take care of her mother, and with that, she had completely forgotten to make any friends, or even care to make some.

Not looking at where she was going, she bumps into a slightly bigger than average pony. "Oh shoot! I'm sorry for bumping you! I wasn't paying attention.." She silences herself as she gasps at the looks of the mysterious pony's features. He was the color of dark Autumn leaves, with brown in his hair and tail, with bright purple eyes that shined like the brightest stars, and was taller then the average colt. What makes it even more strange, is that he has two, maybe four big beige horns curving down behind his head, scales or amour spots on his face and body, and two pair of wings that appear to be dragon wings. What kind of pony was this?

The mysterious figure turns his entire body around to look a few inches down at Quest, and smiles warmly. He begins to speak in a rugged child voice "... Could you tell me where I am?" He bends down to get a little closer to her, and Quest stares in his eyes, unable to answer. When he doesn't get an answer, he chuckles and continues, "I seem to have wondered off from my parents, or maybe, they have wondered away from me. Just kidding, I wasn't paying attention at the time, so it's my fault.. "

"Wait..." She finally speaks after what he said. "Your parents?" She turns her head slightly. "You look so mature, and so different from us. "

He laughs deeply at the remark, moving his long red and brown hair out of his face as the wind blew. "Well, true, I do look a little older then usual, but it's because of where I'm from, we have to look and be tough and stuff. I look nothing like you, who's all sweet looking and innocent."

Quest blushes at the last comment, but then remembers that he asked her a question. "Umm. . .About your question. You are in Clydesdale. I don't know how far you have traveled, but I can say that there isn't another town for miles. We're pretty much in the woods anyway. "

He takes in what she said, looking around, seeing some who are just staring at him in confusion. Turning back at Quest, he walks past her. "Yea, this places looks like it doesn't have any other town friends, but I guess that's all right. I guess I should start heading back out before my parents begin to start a ruckus because of me. My father is very nice, but he's very impatient, and my mother is very beautiful and very scary to be around, especially if you do something you wasn't supposed to do, or get lost like me. "

Quest laughs, "I can agree with you on that one. My name is Quest. I live here with my parents as you can see."

"Cute name you have there Quest. The name is Platinum Oath. I am mostly dragon, but very much pony hybrid. I am from a land where ponies and dragons live in harmony. It doesn't typically have a name, at least to my knowledge. "

Platinum offers a hoof, and Quest takes it, shaking their hooves to greet each other finally after they told their names. After, Quest decides that she should walk him to the main entrance just in case he goes the wrong way (which he did while they were walking).

Reaching the village entrance , Quest turns to him, blushing a bit. "Well, this is goodbye. hope you have a safe trip out there. " He bows at her, thanking her. "Oh, you really don't need to do that, we only walked a mile to the entrance." She says with her head down hiding her flushed face.

"I'm polite, so it's the least I can do, at least until I finally get out. " He says while walking farther out of the village, and still waving at Quest. She continues to wave until he's out of sight, staring into the distance for a but before turning around to go. She jumps back once she turns around to find Peal White, Silver Shade, and Arctic Meadow standing there looking at her, then back at who just left.

"What was that just now? Was you trying to plot something, or was you just trying to spread your ignorance elsewhere?" Pearl White was the first to give an insult, while Sliver face palms at that insult and Arctic just stand there, apparently catching leaving flowing in the wind. Quest gives an annoyed look and goes closer to Pearl.

"First of all, he's not a 'what. ' Second, maybe you should go back where you cam from, and that's in the trash. " Arctic gasps, seeing that Quest can counter an insult like that, laughs at the comeback, and Silver grows wide eyed while turning to a flustered Pearl. Quest smiles at her, seeing that she hit a nerve, but of course she didn't care one bit. Pearl started it anyway.

"Why you little..."

Quest jumps in. "You're little too."

"Stop trying to..."

"Stop trying to get on everyone's nerves."

"What's wrong with you huh?! Why does everybody like you so much? You don't do anything special!" Pearl gets up to Quests, but even that doesn't phase her.

"The question is, why doesn't everybody like you?" Quest widely smiles at that retort, see as though Pearl had broke a nerve and is walking off with little magic puffs coming out of her horn from being very mad. Seeing as she got her good, Quest looks at the entrance again, hoping that Platinum wasn't watching, and continues to waltz around town.

Some minutes later.

"I am so going to get her back for that! She thinks she's better? She has another thing coming. This prank should keep her in her place." Pearl takes out the books on dark spells. "Are you guys ready for this?"

Arctic looks confused, saying, "What plan? Ready for what" Both Pearl and Silver stare at Arctic. "Oh yes! Sorry, it got away from me." Pearl and Silver both roll their eyes as Pearl also takes out a small container of white makeup.

Silver asks about the makeup. "What's that for?"

"You will see. " That was all she said before taking out some other books and makeup. She plans to make this prank as real as possible. She didn't think about what bad stuff would happen, she just wanted to see Quest actually get in trouble, and to her, this would be the only way to do just that...

"Oh Pearl, I actually forgot to tell you, but my parents need me for something very important, and I think I better go. Tell me how the prank works..." She quickly scampers off to where Quest is...

Quest walks into the small marketplace to grab some veggies for dinner. She remember that they were running a bit low on some things, so she decided, before heading home after doing nothing but wonder around figuring out what to do, to pick them up to help her mother and take some weight off of her. Whilst trying to pick certain ones, her own thoughts of Platinum distracts her, and she continuously picks the wrong vegetables. "I wonder if he will come back. I wonder why he and his family were traveling so close to our town, and why too. Where is this land of Dragons and ponies live in harmony anyway? I would love to see that! Oh!" She drops some, and tries to put the wrong ones back on the small tables without letting the pony running the stand know. She pays for the rest of the stuff, then heads towards the direction of her home.

"Quest wait!"

"Somehow I knew that someone was going to come up to me, but I didn't think it would be you of all ponies. What did you want Silver? Quest adjusts the bags on her and looks to Silver, who's in a panicked state. "What? Something wrong?"

"Oh yes! Something terrible is about to happen! I don't know how affective it's going to be, but it's not sitting right with me one bit!"

"Is it Pearl?"

"Yes."

She thinks. Clearly she has bags to carry home, then again they are not that heavy to begin with. Plus she thinks she can come back just a little later than usual if something comes up after all. "Take me to her."

She stops in her tracks, forgetting a crucial thing that she always carries with her. "I know I took my diary with me... " She gasps. Her bag carrying her diary isn't on her back. She frantically looks around for it. She doesn't remember dropping it, nor did she ever take it out today. She's pretty sure that no one took it. She knows that Platinum didn't do it, and other than him, the only ponies whom she met today were...

She runs in the direction where she came from, while carrying a saddlebag full of veggies, with some falling along the way, and Silver tripping over them. Stopping a few distances away from a crowd of ponies, she listens to the crowd for a moment before dashing off. Before she could go, her name was being called in the crowd. She slowly closer, and the crowd of ponies turn to her with confused eyes. "There she is every pony!" Quest walks closer and sees Pearl White in the middle of them, holding other books unknowing to Quest but one: her diary. She gets angry, running to Pearl and snatching it away from her.

"Are you out of your blasted mind? What were doing with this?! Did you read it?!" Quest says while standing in the middle of the crowd as well. She notices that the ponies faces were a mixture of confusion, sadness, and anger. The ponies gathered around started whispering and talking amongst themselves.

"You made it on time Quest. Maybe you should confess and tell everybody about your little secret."

"What secret, I have none, other than this here diary, which is for me to see only. What's happening?"

"Dark magic. In her diary, there are spells, dark magic that you have, and I told everybody about it."

Quest cocks her head to the side. "That means you didn't read it. Now, what are you going on about? Dark magic? how am I supposed to do that if I'm not a unicorn or anything? In fact, how would I know to do something like that?

"That is what she wants you to think everyone. She's just using you, gaining your trust to only betray you in the end. She could take anything from any one of you."

Quest couldn't believe what she was hearing. Pearl must have gone mad this time. Quest looks sees in the crowd Silver whispering a sorry to her, and Arctic looking with worry. She starts to chuckle goes silent. "This is a rather interesting story Pearl White. I'm just a filly whatever I said to you earlier I'm sorry. I didn't think you could get so worked up over it to where you would make up such a ridiculous story such as that. " Everyone else starts to laugh at the story.

Pearl smiles, then opens a bag up, dumping a bunch of spell books. "Then what about all these?! I found these with her diary in her saddlebag. Admit it Quest! I caught you red handed! Who else would have all this attention from everyone but the ones closer to them?!"

"Those are not mine! Where did you get these? You could get in serious trouble!" She yells. The crowd goes wild. The village teacher stands quiet, not believing the story at all, but knows that her view will not go through the majority of the crowd. Silver and Arctic look at each other, shocked.

"Guys she's telling the truth, those aren't hers!" Silver jumps in.

"The who is it for then?!" A pony in the crowd yells out.

"I... It's... I don't know." Silver backs up into the crowd.

"I also saw this weird pony with dragon like features or something. It was super creepy to see with my own eyes. They must be plotting something dangerous to this town. We must do something!"

"That was a traveler, all three of you seemed to be there, or spying or something. Are you guys actually believing her out of all things? And look at those books! Those can't be mine. I have never seen those in my entire life, just ask my parents!"

Everyone, other than the teacher, and Silver, all gather closer to Quest, angrily trying to get her to confess. Her mother and father run up to see what the commotion was about.

"What is this madness? Quest what happened?"

"Your daughter has been using dark magic all along to use us!" Another pony in the crowd yells out.

Quest's parents see the books on the ground, and they both give an awkward stare. He father is the first to talk, picking one up and skimming through it. "I've never seen these before, and if I hadn't, so didn't Quest. She's a filly, how could she require all of these?"

Everyone grows silent. The mother comes in. "That's right. Everyone should be ashamed for listening to a child's story about dangerous stuff like this, and blaming it on a filly such as Quest. Who would have those books anyway? Besides, Quest would never imagine doing anything to hurt anybody." She rubs the back of Quests head, but is caught off guard when Quest stepped away.

"This is why I don't want any friends, because they will always make stuff up to get you in trouble. But it's not just that, the entire town was going against me over something that I don't do and haven't heard of, yet Pearl knows... If I had those, how could you have gotten all of them in the first place? Well it doesn't matter, everyone was buying it anyway!" She runs off pasts her parents, into her house, locks her room door and slides down, not really balling her eyes out but covering her eyes.

She didn't know what to think about all of this. Why would Pearl do that? What did Quest do to get her to that point. Lifting her head up fast, she notices that she left her diary there. She quickly opens the door, only to almost bump into her parents, her mother giving her the diary. "I'm sure everything is all clear now. Are you all right?"

Quest hugs her mother and father, then backs up with her diary, checking to see if no pages were ripped out. It is of course stained from the countless times it has been dropped on the dirt, usually because of her. "Why would she do that? I didn't do anything. She's the one who was trying to pick on me and all..."

Her mother cuts her off to speak. "Quest, it's all filly's play. When you're young, fillies and colts get each other in trouble. Me and your father were once like you and every foal here, it's nothing new. Like that one time your father and his father were chopping wood, and when it mistakenly fell at the village entrance, all the kids thought your father was trying to trap and enslave everybody."

Quest looks at her father and wipes her eyes, trying to fully get a clear sight of him while trying to fathom why, but her father comes in before she could even think about it further. "Now you know that wasn't true to begin with Quest, but you see how far 'fetched it can get, and the thing was, all the ponies had believed them. It is a rather funny story though because they took it so seriously."

"But why? Are we so gullible that we will believe anything?"

"Not quite." The mother continues. "We live in a time where we all live in fear. Most ponies here haven't been out of the village, and from that, they grow fearful of what's on the outside if that makes sense. They would believe anything true, but they would at least listen to reason."

"Yes they do. When you ran, we and Pearl's parents explained that you would do no such thing. Another problem too was that those books that she had. Those spell books she called them? They were just old school books from when me and your mother were foals. I remember them like it was yesterday..." the dad cuts in to explain further. Quest's mom laughs, leaning against her husband as he looks at her with a confused face, but pretty much knew what she was laughing at.

"Yes, me and you do remember. I remember when you first received your textbook, and then a day later you come along saying that someone stole it. You didn't get it back until the end of the semester, so you kept borrowing from me and from others until finally your book turned up." She continues to laugh, and soon Quest joins in, while her father sulks at how he easily loses stuff, and it's true, he does lose stuff a lot...

After feeling better from that unnecessary conflict, Quest returns to the town square, where Silver, Arctic, Pearl, and everybody who was still gathered there, apologizes for quickly jumping to conclusions. Pearl's parents are seen scolding her for her actions and misbehavior, and from that, gets her to apologize to Quest as well. Quest can tell from the look that Pearl is giving that her plan didn't go so well, and that she feels guilty for even doing it in the first place, but her face changes when Quest happily forgives her. Pearl nods, quietly going back to her parents side as they walk home to continue scolding her, at least that's what Quest thinks since their faces were still red and all.

Silver waves goodbye to Arctic as Arctic leaves. Silver walks over to Quests, head limp from what had happened. "I knew something was wrong, from the very beginning when she started to feel envy towards you. I should have told you right from the start. More importantly, I should have been a friend to you, but I was afraid that I might lose Pearl and Arctic since they were my actual friends. I don't really know how to speak up like you, or anything, so I wasn't able to do anything."

"It's all right." Quest nudges Silver. "I knew you weren't like her. I don't really know about Arctic, but I know that she wouldn't do this herself. You at least tried to say something, and that alone makes everything a bit easier."

"You can say that again... Her emotions were so strong and wild, I didn't think she would ever be able to think straight, but my own emotions were somewhat getting to me too. Overall, I'm glad all of this is over now, everyone seems to be calming down now. I was hoping they would, I wanted to show everyone my surprise for a while now today, but since they are all going away rather quickly, I might as well show you. I already showed Pearl and Arctic."

"Showed them what? What are you getting at?" Quest asks, and Silver turns around to the side with a big grin on her face. Quest gasps, there, on Silvers flank, was a shiny cutie mark, the symbol of a ponies destiny. The mark consisted of two masks, one with a happy face, and the other with a sad face, along with two ribbons behind them. "Wow! This is amazing! When did you get that? What does it mean? This is so exciting!" Quest jumps in the air, carful not to fall.

"I know! It is remarkable. I got it when that big crowd of people was still there, you know, trying to figure out what was happening and all. I felt a ton of emotions back there, and I was trying to get them to calm down and to think about the situation before going to the conclusion. Once some of the grown ups were calm and collected, I realized that I loved reassuring ponies, calming their spirits and having them rekindle their thoughts. That's when this beauty appeared."

"That's amazing! What do you think you plan to do from here on out then? There has be something in town that's fit for your talent." Quest asks.

"I don't think so, this town mostly has merchants, farmers, and just regular old grown ups who's destinies are here at home. I believe that such a destiny like this would take me out of my home and into the unknown world, helping other towns, and then some."

Quest was about to speak, but closes her mouth when her mother calls out to her to come back home. Turing around to face Silver again, she waves to her, promising that she would speak to her again tomorrow. Silver happily nods and skips away towards the direction of her home. Quest continues to look at Silver, who was struggling to get the key into the lock. She ponders why she hasn't seen her parents at all. 'They might be busy,' she thought. Snapping out of her thoughts, Quest walks to her home, and hugging her mother while her father leaves the town to gather up more wood to put into the fireplace or shed. 'Good thing the trees are already chopped for father.'

Then, Quest thinks of an idea. "Hey mother, can I go with dad to get wood too? I like to help him out sometimes. Please?" She begs.

"I don't see why not. It's a hop and a skip to get from there to here. It's nice of you to help though, your father doesn't want to admit how much he struggles with them." Quest's mom says, chuckling at that last remark.

Quest laughs. Not seeing her father in sight anymore, she runs to the entrance, and stops midway. "My father is such a baby. Be back in a moment mom!" She then runs in the direction where her father went. She can hear talking and such coming from deep within the forest. If she can fly then she would know exactly where they were.

Noticing that she has been walking for some time now, Quest stops to look around. Everything looks the same, and she couldn't hear any of the grown ups anymore, all was still but the voices of the animals in the trees and bushes. She made sure she had went the right way, the same way that she went before either once of twice. Not trying to panic, she calls out to her father, but nothing but silent was present, and what's worse, it's almost sunset. Time to panic.

Rustling in the tree from behind can be heard, which startles her. "Dad?" She calls out again. Her father loves hanging around on the top of the trees, so she suspects that he's taking a little break from getting more wood. She takes a step to the tree, only to realize that there was no chopped wood next to the tree or anywhere in sight. The rustling in the trees grow louder as Quest backs up to try and get a better look. "Are you taking a break again?"

"If I wasn't lost again then I would taking a serious break right now." Platinum jumps down from the trees next to Quest, crouching to her eye level. "What are you doing out here? Looking for your father? That means you're lost too." He chuckles.

"Platinum." She mutters out, almost happy to see him again, but because of the situation she is in she can't fully talk now. "And I'm not lost, I'm just... My father has been walking farther into the forest, and I was just following pursuit."

"Then you got lost?" He adds.

"No! I'm not lost." She yells out, not wanting to admit it.

"Come one, clearly you are, and it's alright. Luckily for you, you are not far from your home. All you got to do is fly back." He smiles at her while continuing. "I don't live around here, so I am truly lost, my parents will be mad at me again for wondering off. It's almost sunset, so you should fly off now..."

Quest scratches her head and laughs nervously, "That's the thing... I can't fly."

Platinum stares at her for a second. Quest's wings were pretty big, so he thought she was an excellent flyer, 'well, she's still a filly,' he thought, and busts out laughing, leaving Quest to chase him around and pleading for help...

Quest's father comes home to a cart full of wood that would last for an entire month or two judging by how cold it'll get. putting most of the wood into the shed, he grabs some into the house. He greets his wife as he steps inside and places the wood next to the fireplace, where he's just about to start it.

"Wow, you and Quest sure did a good job in getting a bunch of wood. I'm sure you two must be exhausted from gathering them, so when Quest comes in I will make something warm for all of us." Quest's mother says, walking to him with a rather tired expression.

"What?" He stops to look around the house and out the window. "She came with me? When was that?"

"What do mean when? Right when you left to get wood, she wanted to help, then she ran off to catch up to you." She adds.

"But, if I didn't see her, where is she now?" He responds. Not wanting to make his wife panic knowing that Quest is out there alone, he takes his saddle bag and opens the front door. "Don't worry now. She probably didn't tell you, but she did this before. She ended up taking a wrong turn and got lost, so I heard her calling for me. She wouldn't go that far if she knew she was lost, but I will find her." He says before flying out the door. Quest's mother looks at him flying away, back to where he was to look for her. She saw on his face that he was worried too, and she knew that he was trying to reassure her so that she wouldn't get stressed. She tries to relax, putting her faith that he would find her... Again?

Losing her balance, Quest's mother falls on the ground with a thud. Some ponies that were out came to her aid, and noticing that she was having complications breathing, and was growing pale by the minute. The school teacher rushes over to help as well. "Bring her to the hospital! Quick!"

In the forest, Quest's father was hovering over the trees, trying to find a hint of blue in every nook and cranny. Still coming up with nothing, he flies down on the soft grass to continue on foot, calling out to her as loud as he could. He then hears hoofsteps from the distance, and smiles. He runs in the same direction, saying how clumsy Quest is from getting lost...

Quest lands on the ground hard, huffing an puffing. Throughout the entire time she was lost, Platinum has been teaching her how to fly, or at least the basics. Platinum flies over to her with a serious face, one that she hasn't seen from him before.

"All right, it's almost dark. If you want to make it back home, you're going to have to fly now. You have been doing pretty good, and you can at least lift yourself from off the ground, the only problem is that you still have that habit of falling down. Overall, you got the hang of things, you just needed practice. So, right now, I need for you to fly again, but for a longer time, and at a higher distance." He explains to her.

Quest, with shaky legs, takes a deep breath while giving a huffed 'ok' to him. Her wings open up, and carefully pinpointing the wind's direction, starts to flap them. After some seconds she slowly lifts herself about two feet off the ground. Platinum gestures for her to go higher, and she does, to the point where she's higher than the trees. She stumbles in the air, but manages to regain her focus as he again tells her to fly higher. At this point he's now on top of a cloud, looking below at her. "Come up to this cloud." He shouts out.

Not wanting to fly faster, she slowly floats up towards, as much to Platinum's growing impatience. He want her to head home and not stay out for too long, plus doesn't know what his parents might think once they finally find him... Speaking of which, where are his parents anyway? it's been hours.

"Platinum? I'm up now." Quest says smiling in his face, taking Platinum out of his thoughts. He's now quite shocked that she made it up much quicker then she was some seconds ago, unless he was really in deep thought.

"Oh, well congrats, you now know how to fly, but you still need some more practice so you can get more fluent with it. So now, look where you are standing on, and look at the horizon before you." He says grinning.

She knows that she's able to stand on clouds because she's a Pegasus, but what she didn't know what the view, the vast landscape that was around her as the wind picked up from being so high up. From the cloud she can see her home with their brightly lit candles and torches, and other things unknown to her, like large mountain ranges from afar, a giant ocean, a wide grassland on another side, and simply trees on another. She wanted to know what secrets that were in those places, She wanted to go to these areas, explore vast lands and get treasure. She always imagined exploring, meeting new people, and learning new cultures. Yes, that was her dream, to explore outside her home.

Platinum's eyes grow wide as Quest's flank starts to glow. Her eyes glow a bright white as she is lifted off the cloud by an unseen force. A familiar voice can heard, and surprisingly enough, Platinum heard it too. The voice was calm, and it echoed around them, saying, "Your destiny begins now. Go and face it with the spirit such as yours.." And just like that, the voice fades away, and everything goes back to normal. Quest lands back on the cloud, confused, but suddenly turns around to Platinum, who heard it with his own ears.

"Ok, I bet that was for me." He playfully jokes, and Quests laughs, but it is cut short when he gasps. "Quest, look at your flank!" She looks, and is baffled by what she sees. She knows it's a cutie mark, but the design was stunning. A gold Phoenix on what appears to be a map. A Phoenix... Rebirth, and a map... Journey.

"Platinum, do you know what this means?" She asks him.

"No more getting lost?"

Quest face palms at the joke, but so far it was true. "Yes, but I meant about what I have to do, my destiny to say the least. Now that I know what I must do, I need to inform my family and newfound friends back at home about it, and that also means I have to slowly try and journey around the area outside my home so I can better my hopes of ever taking a real journey. Thanks to you, I have found what I love to do." She hugs him while talking, and he hugs back, muttering a 'your welcome' while at it. His dragon shield mark and her new cutie mark shines in the moonlight, which had carefully risen not too long ago. They both look at each other with an intense feeling that maybe Silver might sense if she was here. Quest couldn't tell what this feeling was, but she knew that he was the cause of her call to destiny. Platinum blushes a little, letting her go after realizing that he was still holding her. Quest only smiles.

Still on the cloud, Quest turns back to Clydesdale, already seeing that some lights were going out, but still many were lit. "I need to go home. My parents will be worried, but also ecstatic once they see me with this new mark, everyone will. I will also tell them about you, if you want me to that is."

"Sure you can. I don't really mind other then the fact that they might not believe the whole dragon pony thing." He responds back, but quieter than usual.

"Then I will not tell them that, I'll just say you are an average Pegasus that I met while looking for my father." She hovers off the cloud, realizing that it moved some distance away from where it once was before. She flies just a bit away before turning back. "This is goodbye. Stop getting lost, and maybe someday, we'll met again. I'll have a lot of stuff to tell you about to when that say comes."

Platinum hovers as well, going the opposite direction before stopping. "Same to you, don't get lost, and when that day comes, I will tell you about my... About my stories as well." He grins, showing his large fangs at her. She chuckles at his silly-looking grin, but also wonders what he was really trying to say, but decides that it's not important anymore. She flies away, waving at him as he waves back, with a little frown on his face...

Quest quickly flies back home, stumbling in midair just a little bit, but makes it back in no time. Looking back in the distance she could see Platinum flying off in the opposite direction, faster than any pony that she has come across in her lifetime. She then saw two other figures next to him flying off, but couldn't make out who they were. 'Maybe his parents,' she thought.

She lands on the dirt beneath her, and as soon as the ponies spot her, they rush to her with joy in their faces. Her school teacher, Silver Shade, and Everyone else soon exits their homes, and drop their things to come and greet Quest as well, asking if she was all right and what happened to her as the hours passed by. She explained how she got lost and met a traveling Pegasus, who in turn, taught her how to fly. She then showed them her cutie mark, which she told them that the wondering Pegasi caused her to get it, and it was all thanks to him. Everyone glows with excitement as they congratulate her, and SIlver runs up to hug her new friend.

"I can't wait to see my parents reaction to this! I hope I also don't get yelled at for getting lost too." She laughs as everyone's grins turn to utter horror. She stops laughing, and stares at the ponies that are staring back at her. Suddenly out of the crowd, the school teacher comes to her side, and crouches down, and Silver backs up a little to give her some space.

"Quest, your father came looking for you when he found out that you was lost. You went out of the town in the afternoon, and it is now night. Your father has not come back from his search."

"... What?" Quest simply asks. She backs up to look at the staring ponies, who were now silent. "I-I didn't hear his calls or anything, and I didn't see him while flying back."

The teacher nods, "There was a search party not too long ago. There is no trace of him anywhere, not even any hoofsteps. All was quiet outside the town. We will continue looking for him after..."

Quest suddenly interrupts, "Does mom know? Where is she now? I hope she is resting, I want to search too. Just like me, my father gets lost too. He can fly easily so that's why..."

The teacher gives Quest her father saddlebag, making her stop talking. "We found this, it's ripped to shreds. We will keep looking, but I don't think your father is...."

Quest grabs the bag from the teacher and flies to her home where she suspects her mom is there. She opens the door, calling for her mother, but gets no answer. She goes to her parents bedroom, where her mom is suppose to be, resting. Instead she see's three lit candles and an opened window. She stops at the doorway, looking around. She hears the teacher and Silver come in and walking upstairs to where she was. "Where's mother? I told her I'll be right back, me and father."

"Quest, I don't know how easy it will be to tell you when you're this young..." the teacher walks into the bedroom next to the window, and tries to close it, but not with a bit of struggle, she then stops when she see's the bag on the floor, and Quest's eyes, glassy. "But your mother can't be with you anymore..." She closes the window, but not before a faint gust of wind comes in, blowing two of the candles out, and leaving one in the middle to stay...

Silver comforts Quest, who was now lying on the floor, tears covering her hoofs and staining the floor. She starts whispering to herself, making Silver lay closer to hear what Quest was saying. "I couldn't save you." She whispers. "Is this what my destiny is about? To leave me here alone? I could change fate after all..." She continue to cry, but then after some moments, lifts her head to look at the single candle that was lit.

"Mom, dad... I got my cutie mark..."

Author's Note

Chapter 3 is finally up. This one is longer than the other two, and quite sad too.

I added a romance tag because of this story will have slight romance to it.

Any mistakes I made please tell me. Enjoy.

Chapter 4: A Doozy Exploration.

Chapter 4

A Doozy Exploration.

Many months later...

"Hurry up will you?" One Pegasus in the group of 4 says as they walk along a path in the woods. She was flying ahead, leaving the rest behind, thus, prompting them to hurry up.

"Be patient. The world is not going to end if we don't rush." An earth pony in the group says, shaking thorns and leaves from her hair, and somewhat bumping into another pony, a Unicorn in the group, who didn't seem to notice, or apologize for that matter.

"Oh, why did we have to take the more... Rigorous way? Couldn't we have just taken the usual route like what everyone around here takes? The unicorn says, using a cloth to wipe her face, which in truth, was not showing any signs of sweating. "This heat out here is making my face all wet, and my hair is losing it's curls, and I just did my hair once we left. That town that we are going too better have some pony who knows how to do hair."

The earth pony rolls her eyes, looking at the unicorn as she fixes her hat so the sun won't bare down on her face. "Quit whining. I told you before we left, we have to go this way, the map told us to. What would happen if we went another way? We may have been lost by now, and you would have been complaining even more."

"Well I should have properly prepared myself if I wasn't rushed like we are now. I could have brought my cosmetics emergency kit if something were to happen, or my jeweled umbrella just in case it rained, or..."

Another earth pony in the group was bouncing behind the arguing bunch. Her tail twist back and forth, and her cutie mark starts to pulsate. Gasping, She interrupts the Unicorn by landing on her head, knocking her bonnet off her head from the impact. The earth pony then shouts, "We're here!! I can sense it, and I can smell it, and it smells delicious!!"

"About time! This travel was boring!" The Pegasus speeds towards their location, completely leaving the group behind as they start to run. The Unicorn gets up and wipes her bonnet off and places it back on her head, shouting at them to wait for her.

"You guys could have at least helped me up! Oh, this might be my last travel, then it's back home to my parents." She then runs to catch up to them.

Landing on the soft grass, the Pegasus stops to let the group catch up. Once they do they began to look around at the small, yet bustling town full of ponies and foals. One pony inside of their home had just finished baking a fresh batch of bread. Excited, the giddy earth pony again rolls down the Unicorn and rushes towards the house, but is stopped by the group. Telling her to control herself, they ask around to find some information about the location that they are at.

They are then approached by a mature looking pony, who just came out of a school. "Hello there young fillies. I am a teacher here at Clydesdale. Is your parents around? Are you four lost?" She happily introduces herself and asks for their parents.

The Pegasus flies over to the teacher. "Sorry, we're not lost, and our parents aren't traveling with us. We're an exploration team, solving mysteries and problems, finding treasure, and getting in trouble. My name is Speed Reader, the fastest Pegasus alive! pleasure to meet you!"

She shakes the teachers hoof, who was slightly confused by her introduction. 'A young group of fillies traveling alone?' The teacher thought to herself.

"I know it may seem like a stretch, but trust me sugar cube, it's what our cutie marks is telling us to do, this is our destiny." The smart earth pony in the group says to the teacher. "My name is Keen, the intelligent one in this here group."

The unicorn walks up, shaking the teachers hoof in a classy fashion. "Good day darling, my name is Bodacious, the more sophisticated and more stylized filly in the bunch. I come from a line of rich ponies who crafts specialized objects from rare jewels, as well as..."

"Being annoying?" Speed Reader interrupts, making Bodacious' horn twitch a bright green. The other earth pony bounces up with a piece of bread in her mouth, spitting some out while talking.

"Hi! I'm Doozy! And I have doozies whenever danger is near, when we're at a location, or when we have to find someone! Oh, and I'm a chef who travels to find exotic foods. Oh, this bread is amazing!"

"Interesting." the teacher says, rubbing the bottom of her chin. "But, what is a group of fillies doing her in this small town? Surely there isn't anything out of the ordinary here. I'm surprised any other pony would come here for any other business besides trade." Right when the teacher says that, Quest, with her head down, walks alongside Silver Shade, who was talking to her and smiling. Doozy's tail and cutie mark pulsates and her eyes dilate.

Doozy zooms over to Quest and Silver, who were both equally shocked at how fast she came towards them. "Hi! I'm Doozy! What's your names?"

Silver, baffled, is the first to speak, while Quest simply gives a rather sad face. "Good day, I'm Silver Shade. This is my friend Quest." Quest simply uses her wing to wave a hello back.

"Wait a minute Doozy. Are you telling me that this whole journey was a search mission?" Keen says, walking towards Silver and Quest.

"Search Mission?" Silver repeats.

"It appears so. My name is Keen." She points to the others in the group, "And this is Speed Reader and Bodacious. We are an exploration team. As we were about to tell Ms. Teacher, the group and I was sent here to this town for a specific reason." She pulls out a map. It was glowing a bluish color, and each of the groups cutie marks were shown on it, hovering over the destination that they are at. Most of the map was fairly blank, signaling that those places were unexplored by the team.

"You see, this map is magical. What more can we say? It points us to locations to either solve, learn, or stop something from happening, or in this case, find some pony, or ponies. Why? Well, the outcomes are always different." Keen adds.

"So what do these two have to do with the map, or any of you in general?" The teacher says. She moves closer to Silver, and glancing at Quest, who's hair is covering half of her face to where you can only see one side.

"That's the point darling. We as a group must find the answer out as to why for ourselves. It is challenging, but in return we learn from it." Bodacious answers.

"And we get tasty treats too!" Doozy jumps in.

"Well, thanks for telling me, but I don't think I will be of much help anyway..." Quest says quietly with her head down as she walks away.

Silver catches up to her. "Quest, they're an exploration team. Maybe they came to recruit you. You will be perfect for them."

Quest shrugs, slowly walking away towards her home.

"Quest..." Silver quietly says. The teacher places her hoof onto her chest where her heart is.

"What's the matter with her? She's acting like she fell in a hole or something." Speed Reader shouts out, flying over to the teacher and Silver.

"She's been through a lot these past months. Me, Silver, and the rest of the town are doing the best we can to get her back into high spirits again."

"What happened?" Keen asked, but before the teacher can respond, Doozy's tail wiggles, and her cutie mark pulsates again, this time much harder than before. "Another one of your doozies? But I thought this was a search mission. Are you telling me there's something else here?" She asks.

From the distance, a loud roar can be heard. Everyone in the town pauses from their activities to find where the roar came from. Out of nowhere, a pony screams at the top of their lungs as they point up. Giant wings cover most of the sky from the ponies as the winds rapidly pick up.

"Oh my..." Bodacious says.

"Is that... A Dragon?!" Keen shouts.

"DRAGON!" Doozy yells out, making the town ponies scream and run, dropping everything they had to go hide inside their homes. Quest shoots her head up to see the ferocious dragon from above, seeing the thick black smoke from it's nose and it's bright yellow bright yellow eyes. No pony in this town, including her, has seen a dragon before in their lives, so the sight of it makes her hair on her head stand up.

"Quest!" Silver runs to towards her, "We should hide before that thing sees us!" Quest nods and prepares to run with Silver. When hearing the teacher shout out, and seeing Keen and the rest of the team speed on towards the direction where the dragon was headed she stops. Silver, who didn't notice that she stopped, keeps on running out of fear.

The teacher quickly turns to Quest to get her to a safe place, only to realized that she too has gone off into the direction of the group, who was already on hot pursuit of the dragon.

Once again, Speed Reader was in front of the group of explorers, excited about the whole ordeal. "Who knew that the map would lead us to something like a dragon! It would have been boring it this whole journey was just to find some random fillies."

"I kind of prefer to find some random fillies than follow a dragon, especially since it doesn't know how to keep it's gas inside of its body or whatnot." Bodacious says, growing tired from all the running.

"But something like a big scary dragon might lead us to something amazing! Like food, or treasure chests with food in them!" Doozy shouts while her cutie mark pulsates at a quicker pace.

"Or worse..." Bodacious says, chills going down her spine.

"Would you two hurry up before we won't be able to catch up to that dragon? He's moving faster than we can run!" Keen says, running past Bodacious and Doozy.

Speed Reader looks down at the group, and notices something weird about the ground below them. It was curving slightly down, and more trees were piling up in front of them, slowing them down, while the dragon continues at it's normal speed. Not wanting to lose it, Speed Reader flaps her wings harder, pulling herself up more into the sky to guide the group, but starts to panic.

Keen looks up at how far up Speed Reader is. "What are you doing up so high Speedy?" She perks her ears up more to try and hear Speed Reader's shouting. "What?!"

She rolls her eyes and flies back down to the group. "There's a cliff up ahead!" She shouts.

Gasping, Keen immediately stops, sliding towards the very end of the deep cliff. She looks down at the falling pebbles that were crackling, going into a deep pit of darkness.

Without warning, Bodacious slides and bumps into Keen, pushing her further at the end of the cliff. Sighing, she slowly backs away with Bodacious. Hearing Doozy shouting 'wee' in the distance and sliding, Bodacious jumps out the way. Doozy slides into Keen, making her fall from the cliff screaming. With her eyes close, she wasn't sure if she had hit the bottom yet, she just continues to scream with her eyes shut.

"Will you be quiet already? You're not even falling." Keen stops her screaming to look up at Speed Reader, who was holding her hoofs, preventing her from falling. "Did you really think I wasn't going to catch you?" She starts laughing. "You should've seen your face!"

"It's true, that was pretty funny how you was just screaming and making faces like you was really falling." Bodacious says while chuckling.

"I didn't know see could even show all those face!" Doozy says while laughing, as well as making faces, and exaggerating Keen's own face.

Keen blushes at the group who was laughing at her, mumbling to herself at such embarrassment.

The ground starts to crumble below Bodacious' feet without her noticing. "Bodacious, move!"

Before she can even react, or stop laughing for that matter, the ground caves in, cracking and breaking.

"AH!" Bodacious yells out. Unlike Keen, she was literally falling. Speed Reader quickly puts Keen down, seeing as how she can't hold two other fillies. She zooms to try and catch her, but suddenly stops after seeing that was already caught.

"Are you all right?" Quest says silently, hovering with Bodacious on her back.

'She's fast!' Speed Reader says to herself with a surprised look on her face.

"Wow! She's fast, almost as fast as you Speedy!" Doozy says.

"Ha! Good one Doozy." Speed Reader says, rolling her eyes.

"Quest! Thank goodness you came on time! Where did you come from?" Bodacious says, hugging her, or, more like squeezing her.

"Yes, were did you come from? I thought you was running off with the rest of the town to shelter." Keen says.

Quest gently places Bodacious down, and after, lands next to them. "Sorry, I followed you guys."

"But why?" Keen asks, "Do you know how dangerous this journey is?"

"We're all fillies here, you can just say we're all in danger." Quest replies.

"But we're an exploration team, we're suppose to do this, no matter how dangerous it can get, even though this is the first time we have seen a dragon in person, we need to follow it, the map lead us here, and we're going to finish what we started."

"Speaking of which, the dragon is nowhere in sight!" Speed Reader says while flying over the group, searching for the dragon. She couldn't even spot any smoke from the dragon either. All of them except for Quest sighs.

"Actually, he's still very near, but not within our eye sight." Silver says, coming out of the bushes where she was hiding apparently.

"Yes, Silver and I had both followed you." Quest says.

Silver runs up to the group. "I know you guys are explorers, but so is Quest. Couple of months ago she had received her cutie mark, and so have I. I believe that if she went with you guys to find this dragon she would have the courage and confidence to branch out and achieve what she loves and wants to do."

"Yes, but darling, I don't think your parents..." Bodacious says.

"We don't have any parents." Silver replies back. Quest stays silent the entire time, dropping her head, making her hair again cover half of her face. The group grows silent as Keen thinks to herself.

Suddenly the sound of a roar can be heard from nearby. "That's the dragon! You said he was near, right Silver?" Keen says.

"Yes." Silver answers.

"Ok, both of you can come with us to help, but don't dwindle, or you'll get left behind And when we spot that dragon make sure you guys hide!" Keen says.

"Thanks!" Silver says with a cheerful look. "This is your chance Quest. Who knows, maybe they'll actually let you join them on adventures and stuff, maybe."

Quest, feeling unsure about this whole ordeal, agrees to follow them, at least to learn the basics of exploration since, after that faithful day, she has completely stopped trying to become an explorer. She hasn't even touch her diary since then either, nor been going to school.

Silver has been a good friend to her, bringing her homework from missing school, or just keeping her company since she now lived alone, and since Silver was practically alone herself most of the time. Besides having Pearl and Arctic as friends, Silver finds Quest to be more like her, relatable, and strong, or at least trying to be. She can feel Quest's emotions running through her hooves, sadness, but a little bit of determination. That's why Silver prompted the group to take Quest with them, she still wants to fulfill her destiny, but just not at home, not in the position that she's in now.

But the big question was Silver. Why was she coming along? She thinks to herself and all the possibilities. She would be keeping Quest comfortable since they just met the group not too long ago, and she would be motivating Quest and all. 'But what good will I be with a power such as mines? I might be the weaker link to this group.' She says to herself.

Seeing as how far the group had already walked off into the distance, Silver hurries along to catch up, walking alongside Quest with excitement, but also with dread, remembering that they are looking for a big carnivorous dragon. Keen takes out the map from her small filly-sized saddle bag, along with some water. Bodacious does the same and takes out her nicely decorated water pouch.

"Wow! That's so shiny and cute! Where did you get that? it must have cost a fortune." Silver says, eye gleaming at the many jewels placed neatly on the pouch.

"Oh this old thing? I am a master sculptor indeed, but I also love to decorate my old useless hand-me-downs into something brand new!" Bodacious says, quite feeling confident in herself for impressing her.

"It looks new, all the jewels are perfectly placed." Silver comments.

Bodacious nods, she then lifts the cap from the bottle and drinks from it, the gleam from the jewels moving around.

After a couple of minutes of quietness in the group, and with Bodacious drinking from her bejeweled bottle again, Speed Reader flies lower next to Quest and Silver, with a wondering and questionable look planted on her face. "So, why don't you guys have any parents?"

Water spits out of Bodacious' mouth and at Doozy, who just laughed, making Keen turn around behind her.

"Speedy, you don't ask a question like that!" Bodacious shouts at her. "I'm sorry for my friends behavior, she can be... Morbid sometimes."

"What?!" Speed Reader shouts, "I was just asking a question!"

Silver chuckles, Quest simply looks away, hiding her face once more. "It's all right Bodacious. I don't really feel insulted or anything by it, I always get asked that question. Unfortunately, I don't know my parents. I have been by myself my entire life, although I do have ponies around me, so really I don't feel alone as much." Turning her head to Quest, who has no intent on answering that question, continues, "What about you guys? I'm surprised your parents actually agreed to let you travel like this."

"You can say that our situations are different from yours sugar cube. Keen says, slowly walking to talk to Silver and Quest. "My family is really big, and we are not the wealthiest bunch of ponies out there like Bodacious' family. I worked on my family's barn while also having a small job that earned me little to no bits. Once I got my cutie mark, decided to leave in search of knowledge to bring back to my family. I'm sure that knowledge can turn into some more jobs for my family since most of them never left their home or anything. I'm actually the only one who's ever gone out to explore like this."

"She is true about my family being rich and all," Bodacious comes in after, "but I felt as though I was holding my family back since I actually got my cutie mark a bit later than some fillies. My family is really critical, and expects their foals to be successful in their careers. When they found out that am an explorer, they were against it. You can say I had to leave in order to do what I love, and that's sculpting. I love making statues, either big or small, from jewels mostly, but sometimes with other metals or things of the same value. Traveling to different places will help me sell my work, and discover new things to use to create my statues with." She shrugs, frowning when remembering her family.

"As for me," Speed Reader says, smirking. "I dream to be the fastest flyer this country has ever seen! What more to do than travel across the land, showing different ponies something new?"

"She only wants attention that's all. Nothing more." Bodacious adds, smiling and walking as if she has the upper hand.

"What are you talking about? It's not my fault that I didn't get as much attention as I should have by my family when I was with them ok?" Speed Reader folds her hooves while still in the air. "I have a lot of brothers and sisters, so it was common to see my parents trying to pay attention to each and every one of their children. I almost didn't really talk with them everyday because of it. They probably don't even remember seeing me get my cutie mark, or even leaving for that matter. I had to go, it was getting to be too much for me. I want ponies to see me as important, someone who can shape their lives and bring something new to them..." She pauses to look at Bodacious. "Happy now?"

"Yes, I believe that's a valid reason as to why you're so full of yourself." She chuckles, making Speed Reader blush from embarrassment.

"Oh oh! I have a very dramatic and rather sad story as well!" Doozy, who somehow was jumping from tree to tree, says, "Me and my family are merchants, so we move from town to town, selling all our delicious sweets! But then, when I made my first ever dessert, and got my cutie mark, I branched away from my family to go travel to other farther places, to search for more newer and more exotic foods to bring back home to share with my family and other towns nearby." Doozy missteps and falls flat on her face, but quickly gets up, with her tongue sticking out.

"Uh, Doozy, how in what way was that sad?" Keen says.

"Because, I actually got separated from my parents while traveling with them. That's how I found you guys! They must think I'm dead.... You know, maybe I should go back home when we finish this journey." She laughs a little, only to realize what she just said. "Gee, now that I think about it, I sure do miss them, I wonder if they are looking for me."

They all go silent again for a second or so. "I guess all of us have some sort of problem, whether it involves the family or not." Silver says, breaking the silence.

"What about you Quest? You haven't said anything since we left." Keen says, not taking her eyes off of the map, which was still glowing.

"I... Would rather not talk about it." Quest says.

"But we told all of our stories? Why can't you?" Speed Reader says, a bit annoyed.

"Come now Speed Reader." Bodacious jumps in, "If she doesn't want to talk about it, then she doesn't want to talk about it. We shouldn't force her to tell us."

"But... Fine." Speed Reader, with an annoyed face, continues to fly.

The group stops suddenly, turning around to see Doozy's tail twitch and her cutie mark pulsate again. "The dragons over there!" She points to a tall mountain. So tall that it cuts through the clouds passing through. At the top next to the ledge was none other than the dragon, who was laying down sleeping, smoke coming out of its nose, making the mountain foggy.

The group is now right next to the mountain. They all look up to see that it was probably going to take a while to get up there.

"No worries, me and Quest can fly you guys up there!" Speed Reader says, showing off her muscles. "Hop on OOOF! Doozy!" Before she can continue, Doozy immediately jumps on Speed Reader's back, making her wince and float down somewhat from being caught off guard.

"I guess." Quest says, looking for Silver, who was hiding in a bush. "Silver?"

"They did tell us to hide and all, so you guys go on, I'll wait here..." Silver says

The dragon starts to roar, letting more smoke come out of it's nose and mouth now. The vibration of the roar made the ground shake, making some small rocks fall towards the group, making them back up a little.

"Hold on a minute..." Silver says, getting out of the bush with her head cocked to the side while looking. "The dragon... He's distressed."

"Distressed? Do you know why?" Keen says.

"Sadly no, I can only tell how he's feeling." Silver replies.

"We do know that he's not feeling too KEEN!" Doozy says, making a joke out of Keen's name. She laughs while still on Speed Reader's back. Everyone groans at how bad that pun was.

Quest prompts Bodacious to climb onto her back, at which she obliges, and grabs Silver by the hoof, and hovering on the same length as Speed Reader, who was struggling to get Doozy to be still. They fly all the way to the stop, breathing harder and longer after feeling that the air above is very thick and hard to breath in because of the smoke. After both Speed Reader and Quest land at the top, a few inches away behind the dragon and behind a large rock, Bodacious quietly takes out her handkerchief from her saddlebag and places it onto her mouth.

"This smoke is just awful...!" Bodacious says quietly.

"What are we to do now? It's distressed like what Silver said, but how can we be so sure that it's not going to snap at us and eat us?" Speed Reader says.

"And we can't possibly fight it that's for sure." Bodacious adds.

"None of us have any sort of plan?" Keen says.

"We can surprise it!" Doozy shouts out, making the dragon move around a growl a little before being still once again.

"How about not?" Bodacious says, hiding behind Keen.

"We can try talking to him maybe. It doesn't seem like he's aggressive or anything." Silver says.

Suddenly the dragon growls more loudly, shaking the mountain and the rock that the group was behind. Smoke covers the sky above them, making the air thick but slowly fading.

The group hides behind Quest and supposedly Doozy, since both of them are not reacting. "Ok, go surprise it Doozy"

"You got it!" Doozy jumps forward towards the dragon. From her saddlebag she takes out a party popper. She pulls the string, making a large pop, and unleashing confetti everywhere, even on the dragons face. The dragon opens it's eyes, staring down at Doozy with a blank expression.

"Today is your lucky day!" Doozy says, dancing around, "How would you like to try my family's newest creation..." The dragon snorts out smoke, covering the air around Doozy with thick black smoke, making her cough. "Y-you're the first pony er, dragon, to try one of our family's finest collection of desserts!"

Also from her saddlebag, she grabs a fairly small suitcase. She opens it up, showing the dragon nothing but perfectly made sweets, from sliced decorated fruit to different kinds of bread with toppings on them.

"All of this can be yours absolutely free! That is, if you are willing to pay a small fee of 200 bits plus tax and cost to fly up here, then it'll be free!"

"Doozy!" Keen shouts.

"Sorry! I need to bits too!" Doozy shouts, "There was this new ingredient that I wanted to buy from this little shop that is..."

"No, that's not what we're here for Doozy, remember?" Keen says.

"Yes, wait..." Doozy thinks, "Why are we up here again?" She laughs.

Keen face palms, whilst Bodacious, Silver and Speed Reader laugh. Quest then starts to chuckle herself at the silliness that is Doozy. The dragon gets up, stretching while at that, grumbling to himself. Doozy offers the small suitcase of sweets to the dragon, but then ducks when a bolt of fire shoots out of his mouth. His target wasn't Doozy, but still in the process of trying to duck from the fire, she drops the suitcase on the ground, and the suitcase gets burned instead, with all the desserts inside.

The group besides Silver and Quest, who was told to hide from danger, runs to Doozy's side.

"Uh, hello there." keen casually says, "Listen, while you was flying, you scared some of the ponies in town. I know this might seem like a stretch, but some of us haven't seen a dragon like you before." Keen turns to Silver, who was making some weird gestures at the group, telling them to get to the point about his problem, if the dragon even has one.

"But the real problem is how you are feeling right now. We have heard that you was feeling distressed about something, so we came all the way to try and see what's wrong so we can help someone as big as you." Bodacious says. She read stories about dragons, and found out that they collect loads of treasure, and have them stored in their caves, so as she was talking she was looking all over the dragon and peeking behind him, seeing if there was anything shiny in sight.

Growing wide eyed at seeing the mouth of the dragon, they all duck and prepare for the apparent fire to be unleashed, but the dragon simply yawns and lays back down on his back, scratching his stomach in the process.

"This dragon is completely disregarding us!" Speed Reader says, growing impatient, "We need to really get his attention!"

"Don't you do anything..." Before Keen could tell Speed Reader not to do anything stupid, Speed Reader quickly flies over the dragon, who opened one of it's eyes.

"We were trying to help you, but you blew fire at my friend. So this is payback!" Speed Reader turns around and with her two back legs, back kicks the dragon on the snout, making it wobble from the impact. The dragon flinches from the impact, and gets up, roaring and letting out fire around the mountain.

"Now you then and done it Speedy! Everyone, let's go!" Keen says, and the group begins to run towards Silver and Quest to get them.

The dragon let's out a blast of fire at the group, which they dodged, but Bodacious trips over, falling down as the dragon lets another blast of fire. Silver gasps, and Quest quickly leaps from behind the rock to grab Bodacious from the projectile. "Oh Quest! How many times are you going to save me?" Bodacious says.

"Well you are pretty klutzy" Quest says, smiling. The both look at the dragon, who was clutching his snout out of pain, and his roars were sounding like cries.

"My, did I hurt him that bad?" Speed Reader says hovering,

"No, that's not it." Silver says, running besides Quest and the group.

"Way to say it like that." Speed Reader replies.

"No, I meant that's not what's bothering him, if that makes it any better. Remember I said he was distressed? He's clutching his snout too, so something else is bothering him..." Silver says. She eyes the dragon as he roars, seeing his mouth's whole inside. She then notices that a particular tooth was not like the others, it was darker and some parts of it were broken off. "I know what the problem is, and it might be a little silly, but he has a tooth ache."

"That's it!? All that for one tooth ache!" Speed Reader says.

"That's why he didn't want my desserts!" Doozy says laughing.

"But how are we supposed to get inside his mouth without the fear of him closing it on either of us?" Keen asks.

Quest, without thinking or without the group knowing, flies up to the dragon at eye level. "We have heard that you have a bit of a bad tooth, so we are here to fix that for you by taking it out. If only you can just trust us and take us a bit seriously, we can help you with your problem." She says.

The dragon roars right in Quests face, making the hair on her to swing backwards from the force of the wind.

"Quest!!" The group shouts out.

The dragon continues to roar, and Quest notices the tooth the was darker than the rest. Focusing on the tooth, she flies almost inside the dragon's mouth, and back kicks the tooth right out. Quest doesn't think the dragon even felt it, because he kept roaring."

After he stopped, the dragon notices that his tooth was gone, and picks at where it once was.

"He's not distressed anymore. Everything should be good for him now." Silver says, taking a breath when seeing Quest fly back down. "That was very brave of you Quest."

"I just did what needed to be done. If we didn't take that tooth out, he might have made his way back to our home or somewhere and destroy it out of pain." Quest says smiling.

"I know. That's the sheer bravest thing we have ever seen in our travels!" Keen says.

"Yes! You are simply wonderful darling, truly you are!" Bodacious says.

"And sweet!" Doozy says.

"And not to mention quick to take action! I like you Quest!" Speed Reader says, patting Quest on the back. Quest smiles and thanks them for all the compliments.

"Thank you all, but if it wasn't for Silver, we would still be in a rut of what to do." Quest says.

"Me?" Silver says, "It was nothing really, you know..." Silver blushes and looks away, not really confident in herself but still takes some of the glory.

"This looks like I have to stay away from sweet gems for a while." The dragon says. The group looks up at him, who was in return staring down at them with a grin on his face. "I thank you for helping me with my little episode. I didn't know what came over me, and I'm sorry too." He apologizes.

"No need, my friend here is the one that has to apologize." Keen replies, nudging Speed Reader, who was hovering low, almost touching the ground.

"But I... But..." Speed Reader stutters, "UGH, fine. I'm sorry for kicking you."

"Now that you feel better than ever, what will you do now? Everyone was quite frightened when they saw you flying, and all the smoke will make it hard for us to breath." Silver asks.

"My dear ponies, I have no intention to stay here up on this mountain, I was just on my way back from my migration. I'm headed home to the Dragon Empire."

"The Dragon Empire?" Keen says, wide eyed.

"Yes," the dragon says in a deep voice, "It is a place where of course, dragons live, but also others as well. We are a growing country. Maybe in one of your travels, you will come across it again, and who knows, maybe we will meet again too."

And with that, the dragon's wings flap up and down, making the wind pick up around the group, as he flies away in the distance.

"The Dragon Empire... What journey that will be..." Quest says. Her eyes lit up from the excitement of it all, and everything that happened today, and she smiles such a smile that Silver hasn't seen since before that fateful day. Seeing this, Silver smiles as well.

"Oh Quest! You're smiling bright again! Everyone back at home will be so happy for you! Add, you can actually tell them about your first ever journey!"

"Home... Journey..." Quest whispers, frowning again. She looks to where the group was, who was nodding at her, Keen looked like she wanted to say something but decided not to. Quest looks towards Silver, who just smiles at her, but again nods at her. At this moment, from then to now, Quest knew what she had to do, she remembers what she wanted to be, and loved to become. She had forgot about that, but now, it's coming back to her at full force, she grins...

"So, when are we going to eat something? I'm starving!" Doozy says.

Back at home. A day later..

"Leaving?" The teacher says, baffled from what she heard, especially from Quest. The crowd of ponies gasps and whisper to themselves. "Are you sure? I mean, at this age and all..."

"I know what you're thinking, but if I stay here for so long, I will stray farther away from my dream, my destiny to be exact. There is nothing here for me but to shield me from the world outside my home. I know I am a filly, but believe me, with my new friends, I will be fine." Quest explains.

"And Silver?" The teacher says.

"I think it's best if I went too." Silver says, "I'm curious to see what the world has in store for me, and what my place in this world is as well... Plus, I'm Quest's friend, so I want to travel with her." Silver says.

The teacher sees that Quest's demeanor had changed back to what it once was, seeing as though the whole dragon incident and her traveling with the group has made her happy again, she thought that maybe it could be a good idea to let her go. What good will it be if she was sheltered from the world forever? the crowd of ponies smile and nod, wishing Quest and Silver a safe journey, and to always come back to visit sometime. The teacher turns at them. So they have decided already. That's right, they all know what's best for them...

"They will be in good hoofs Ms. Teacher! You can count on it! They will make a great addition to the team! A lot more hooves mean better expeditions!" Keen says. The rest of the group nods.

"If this what you two want, then so be it." The teacher says while back up to the rest of the crowd of ponies. "Everything will be neat and tidy when you fillies come back. Heck, you might not all be fillies anymore when you do come back." She says, chuckling at the end.

Suddenly, the map begins to glow inside of Keen's saddlebag. She takes it out and unfolds it. On the map the group sees their cutie marks, including Silver and Quest's marks, floating above what appears to be a desert of some sort.

"Out cutie marks!" Silver yells out!

"Well I'll be..." Keen says, "Not only is Silver and Quest's cutie marks are appearing, but we're going to a place we haven't been to before, making this a brand new journey."

"Woo!' Doozy cheers.

"I wonder what kind of treasures they have there!" Bodacious says

"Or if they want to see the fastest flyer in the country!" Speed Reader says, flying and flipping in the air from excitement.

"But why is me and Silver's cutie marks being shown on the map now? What does that mean?" Quest asks.

"There can only be one reason... The map not only sent us here because of the dragon, and to teach us something... The map sent us here to you Quest." Keen says.

"But... Why? We never met before or anything."

"Because the map sent us to you to show you, to give you what you wanted, to remind you of what, and who you wanted to be, and that is to be the explorer that you are." Bodacious adds.

"Seriously, you are a natural at that you know Quest! You too Silver!" Speed Reader says.

Silver blushes yet again. She believes she wasn't really a help at all, but after telling them about the problem and easily getting a solution, she at least says 'thank' about it.

Doozy spasms as the map continues to glow, with the groups cutie mark hovering above the next destination.

"I guess we should go now. Do you guys have everything you need before we part?" Keen says. Everyone shouts 'yes' while checking her own stuff instead. "Ok, looks like we can go now. Ready Silver?"

"Yes I am!" Silver shouts.

"And Quest... Are you good to go?"

Quest looks back at the teacher and the crowd of ponies, who were cheering for her. The teacher nods at her, and whispers 'everything will be all right Quest. You can go.' Quest can clearly hear it, and smiles.

"Yes, I'm ready." She says.

"Then let's go, this journey will be pretty long, but we as a team can make it." Keen says, before walking away.

The group walks away, waving at the ponies of Clydesdale. The ponies in the crowd all wave, shouting, congratulating them, telling them to come back soon, and stay safe as they walk further and further away. The teacher places her hoof on her chest where her heart is.

"You can do it Quest.... And remember... Remember how you made it..." The teacher says.

Out of the crowd, Pearl and Arctic emerge, running to the entrance of the town, but not going any further. They see Quest and Silver walking even further away They both shout out Quest and Silver's name. Both Quest and Silver hear their names being called, and turn their heads around to see Pearl and Arctic waving at them, Pearl looking the saddest out of the bunch. Silver waves back, and yells out, reassuring them that they will return. Quest on the other hoof, stands up straight with a serious face. She stares at Pearl for some seconds before smiling and waving at her. Pearl is a little pinkish in the checks, and is also surprised that Quest can easily forgive. Smiling herself, Pearl waves back again along with Arctic, who was also shouting out jokes and all until the group was out of sight...

...
...

"Say Keen." Quest asks while on the road.

"Hmm?" Keen hums while peering into the map.

"Who's the one in charge in this group? You know, the one who makes all the decisions?"

"Isn't it obvious? It's me of course, I'm the one who carries the map and tell us where to go." Keen replies.

"You mean you're the one that's being stingy and keeping the map from us?" Speed Reader retorts.

"But I'm the one who usually knows what the map is saying." Keen says back.

"So are you saying that we are illiterate when it comes to reading a map? If you gave me a chance to read it I would have easily told us which way to go," Bodacious comes in, "And I would have brought us to a shortcut too if you asked me."

"And my doozies are on point with the map, so it's pretty easy to follow!" Doozy says.

"Listen guys, I know all that, but maybe if I held on to the map then..."

"How about I hold on to the map? I can fly!" Speed Reader interrupts Keen.

"Shortcuts!" Bodacious adds.

"And let's not forget doozies!" Doozy jumps around.

"Guys?" Silver says, now seeing the group fighting over the map, grabbing it, and snatching it away from each other and they come to terms with who their leader is.

"Their arguing is really bad isn't it?" Quest says, taking out her once forgotten diary.

"I think we're going to have to get used to this..." Silver adds, shaking her head and smiling. This journey was really going to be long...

Quest, while walking, takes out a writing utensil, and for the first time in months, starts to write again, this time writing a title:

This fateful day...

After months of forgetting my destiny and not embracing it, I have finally decided to leave my home along with Silver. On this day, I have met 4 ponies who were an exploration team, traveling the country in search of new things, either for their family, for others, or both. In this one fine day, they show themselves, and take me on an adventure that I will never forget, and after today, I am alongside them, traveling a ways to a place that I probably would never know if I stayed home for so long. If it wasn't for them coming to rescue me from my own dark pit I would not be who I am now, I would still be this shadow that loomed over the town that I once knew, sulking, and never moving forward. I have to thank Silver again for pushing me this far. She wants me to reach greater heights, but I also want for her to reach it too, to have the confidence that she never knew she had to move forward in her life...

"Quest!" Silver yells out to her.

Looking up, Quest smacks into a tree, not dropping her diary, but her utensil instead. The group laughs at her as they walk up to her, asking if she was ok.

"I've never been better." She replies. They all continue walking, and Quest picks up her utensil to write one last thing:

This path that I have chosen, I can't walk alone though. I still need guidance, support, and friendship to keep me from falling further from what I have become now. As for right now, I must continue onward and catch up with my friends. So this begs the question: Am I really all right..?

Quest starts to laugh to herself, grinning as the wind blows towards the direction that she's headed, and not backwards.

Never felt better...

Author's Note

This is the longest chapter that I have written so far. x3

So in this chapter I wanted to introduce the group, and give some more time for Silver before heading back to Quest in the next chapter.

Tell me what you think about the ending, the chapter as a whole, or any mistakes that you see since I tend to oversee them, or anything else that you have in mind. C:

Thanks! C:

P.S. The stories cover will be update sometime next week or tomorrow.