Chapter One

Camera Flash stared out the window of the fast-moving train, watching the grassy green hills and other terrain pass by.  He had his face resting on his hoof, occasionally dozing off before some noise or distraction woke him up.   The young earth pony had a dark, reddish brown coat, his mane, tail, and eyes having a slight orange tint.  His cutie mark was a camera about to take a picture.

As he sat there, bored out of his mind, a mare walked up to him, her face blushing softly.  "Excuse me," she asked.  Camera turned to look at her and asked, "hey, what's up"?

Still blushing, the mare asked, "well, I just wanted to ask, are you Projector"?

"Sorry, I'm not Projector, I'm his son, Camera Flash," Camera replied.   "Oh", she said, her ears drooping a bit.

"Well, would you like to have some dinner later", she asked with a hopeful smile.

Camera felt a wave of uncomfortableness hit him, as technically, she was asking him on a date and was clearly really hoping he'd say yes.

Swallowing, Camera replied, " I'm sorry, I can't accept. I'm gay".

The mare's eyes widened and her face turned a deep red.

"Oh, you-you're- I'm so sorry, I didn't know you were gay", she apologised frantically.

She quickly headed back to her seat,  definitely upset.  Sighing, Camera turned back to staring out the window.

Finally, after a day and a half of travel, the train reached Ponyville.    "All passengers for Ponyville, we have arrived at our destination. Please disembark the train and have a pleasant day",  the train conductor announced in his usual cheerful voice.   Grabbing his saddlebags from the storage compartment, Camera made his way to the front of the train, and stepped onto the platform. Stopping a bit, Camera took in the warm afternoon sun and the cool breeze that made his coat stand up a bit.

"Hey, Camera, it's me", a female voice called out to him.  Looking up, he saw a smiling pink pony waving to him.

Smiling back, Camera waved in return and called, "hiya Cous"!