Life in Fables

The apartment was, for all intents and purposes, now a one bedroom playpen. There was a crib they found at a garage sale, a diaper changing station gifted to them by Pearl, Winter bought them a large package of diapers, Spark and Voltage gave them an electric baby swing, Death Metal got them a onesie that read “I’d rather listen to SkullHoof”, and Fable’s mother got them all kinds of clothes, toys, bottles and a mobile for the crib. They had yet to hear from Quick Bullet’s parents and the date was ever closing in. Letty was due in just over a month and while they were prepared, they were so not prepared. Any parent worth their salt would tell you that when it comes to a baby, you are never truly prepared.

To say that they were nervous was a tiny spec of dust on an incoming comet from the vastness of space. The red male pegasus took the dad class like he was encouraged to do, and he went with Letty to all of her OBGYN appointments, as well as the sonogram with which they discovered the gender of the baby. That was an emotional time and exciting time as well. The baby shower was a huge success. Plenty of friends, family, food, and the aforementioned presents from everyone. Fable and Letty truly felt like the closest couple they possibly could.

Then that itching feeling returned as Fable did the dishes in their kitchen. Yes, their kitchen. The yellow furred pegasus went from one suitcase, to a gym bag, to a stack of books, her computer, then just said fuck it. They moved in together a month after they found out Letty was pregnant. It worked out quite well. In fact, they even made their stupid neighbor move out after complaining about their excessively loud and constant sex noises. Having sex in your apartment was not illegal, and the fact that the walls were so thin was not their fault. Letty wasn’t going to gag herself because some slob didn’t like the sounds of their love making. She would gag herself whenever she pleased, which was often.

There was that itching feeling again, the one in the back of Fable’s head. That sort of itching feeling that you couldn’t scratch because it just simply ran too deep. What was that? He was thinking of the child they were going to have. Then he started thinking about the doctor visits, then he thought of his mom visiting and how much she wanted them to-- oh there it was. Yeah, that was it. The most obvious elephant in the entire world was there in their apartment and it was not one that you could tip-toe around. It was one that never forgot because people would not let them forget. Half of the subject with his mom was the baby and the other half was when Letty and Fable were going to get married. The question had arose more times than he could count. Quite honestly, there was no answer to that question.

First off, it was bad timing. The two of them were invited to Pearl and Death Metal’s wedding, which was happening very soon. Then there was the fact that she was already entirely too pregnant to be planning any kind of a wedding. Then once the baby was born, the very last thing on their minds is going to be walking down that aisle. Not to mention, Fable hadn’t even popped the question yet. It was all just jumbled. The fact that Letty was pregnant turned out to be a very good thing, but the timing was probably the worst thing about the whole situation.

There Fable was, finishing up the dishes and putting them in the washing machine while Letty was in the living room, on her yoga ball. She squatted onto the ball, her legs evenly out to either side of the ball as she pushed down on it with her butt. She took deep breaths and released them little by little. The baby was now the size of a pineapple and she could no longer stay on her hooves for long periods of time. So she did stretches to help her mobility and stay limber while also keeping her balance. These stretches normally didn’t normally last long, though.

Letty sighed and gave a small exasperation. She got up from the ball and started walking to the bathroom.

“Three pee breaks in the last hour.” Letty said to Fable, keeping tally of how absurd pregnancy was. She also kept count of how many things her pregnancy brain forgot and when her menstration would start, but didn’t.

“Sorry, honey.” Fable said as he dried off his hands. He helped her with every facet of the pregnancy that he possibly could, but this was one he couldn’t touch.

“When is that Red Quill signing thing again?” Letty asked from the toilet. They didn’t even bother closing the door anymore. In some ways they already felt like a married couple.

“It’s at ten in the morning. I’m gonna be there at nine.” Fable said as he finally got out of the kitchen. He checked his cellphone to see that it was seven thirty in the morning. Letty’s pregnancy often woke her up early. His hooves were starting to kill him with all of the chores he was having to do all at once. Still, it was better than having her do them. Now he finally had a moment to sit.

“Okay, well do you mind if I give my friend a call to come and join us? She’s back from Manehattan and it’d be nice to have some company while you deal with a huge line of fantasy book fans.” The yellow pegasus said as she pulled out her phone.

“That’d be fine.” Fable said as he reached the couch.

There came a knock at the door. Fable rolled his eyes and let out a big huge sigh as his ass was mere inches away from the cushion. He stood back up and started for the door. He was going to warn Letty about closing the door, but she had already flushed and was getting back to her hooves as he was heading toward the door.

Fable opened the front entrance to see a blue unicorn lady in the front of their doorstep. She had reddish brown hair pulled back into a ponytail that dangled down to her neck. Her green eyes looked at the male pegasus in something of a nonchalant leer. She held up her ringing cell phone with Letty’s name and picture on it.

“Sky?” Letty asked as she came to the door. She gazed at her with wide eyes as she turned off her phone. “I was just about to-- how did you--” Letty tried to wrap her brain around the whole thing.

“Hi, Letty!” Sky Blue muscled her way through Fable so she could get her arms around Letty. They two of them embraced. After a moment of laughing with joy Sky held her at arms length and looked down at her protruding belly. “Oh my God! That’s one big baby! What is it?” She smiled big and hugged Letty once more.

“Oh, we’re not telling anyone just yet. Once we do, you'll be one of the first to know.” Letty and Sky kissed each other on the cheeks.

All the while, Fable was staring at Sky. He tried so hard to place her. He knew he’d seen her before but the stallion was drawing a blank.

“Wait a minute. Weren't you the--"

“Pizza delivery mare who watched you drop your towel? Maybe.” Sky Blue’s eyes darted over toward Fable and then started toward him. The angry look on her face made him recoil some. “Now, let’s talk about how you muscled your way into my friend’s vagina and so carelessly dumped seeds inside of her!”

“Whoa! Hold on a second, I can explain!” Fable said as the angry mare caused him to back into his front door and close it. “We were just-”

“You just what? Went bungee jumping and just happened to accidently cram your dick into my dearest friend and lifetime companion?!” Sky was directly in front of his face at this point while his hands were upraised and his face was off to the side with his eyes clenched shut.

“Please, don't hurt me!” Fable begged.

“Sky…” Letty drew the other mare’s attention and she turned her green eyes toward the pregnant pegasus. “Honestly, it’s… not his fault…”

“Not his fault?” She turned all the way toward the blushing yellow woman. “What do you mean?”

“Well…” Letty gazed off to the side.

Letty held her face up against the bed cushion as hard as she could. She was still sleek, skinny and beautiful as ever. They’d been going out for a little more than a month at that point. Fable made the suggestion to start going on dates before sex and Letty concurred. It was thirty minutes before the movie started at the theater and Fable was lunging his long, thick dick into the mare as fast as he could.

“God, yes! Please! Fuck me harder! Let me feel that cock deeper! Oh! Yes!” She clenched the bed sheets in her fists as her sweaty body rocked back and forth with the vigorous pace of his pistoning red rod.

“Someone’s a little wet, huh?” Fable held onto her tight, round ass as he fucked the glistening, sweaty mare deeper so his scrotum bounced against her clit.

“Only for you, daddy!” She huffed and puffed as his cock blew her cunt down.

“Daddy, is it? You wanna be a mommy?” Fable slapped her round ass as it bounced on his pelvis and her knees dug into the mattress.

“Yes! Make me a mommy! Put all of that seed into me! Shoot it deep! Fill me, daddy!” Her moans grew increasingly high octave and her legs began to twitch. “Give me a foal! Make me pregnant!”

“Alright!” Far too deep into the throes of lust, Fable drained his balls of semen. He filled her uterus through her cervix with six large globs of cum. Her full pussy triggered her orgasm as she shook and locked her lower legs onto his legs, whining out a high note.

Around eight months later, there they were. Sky’s eyes bulged at the story as they told it to her. They were sitting on the couch in the living room. The blue unicorn was speechless.

“You conceived because of a spur of the moment baby crazy brain?!” Sky crossed her arms over her moderately sized breasts and scowled at Fable on the other side of her.

His eyes widened and he took up another defensive position.

“No, actually, we traced the conception about a week after that. We went to a convention and held a questionnaire.” Letty rubbed her hands over her bulging belly. “We met a pegasus mare journalist and… well… one thing led to another.”

“Umm, wow. How often did you two have sex?” Sky asked, already knowing she probably didn't want the answer.

“Around thrice a day at that point.” Fable answered, drawing wide eyes from Sky at him as her jaw dropped.

“Yeah but then we decided to limit ourselves after that, so twice a day.” Letty nodded.

“Yeah twice a day, then once you started to show maternity, we went down to once a day.” Fable confirmed to Sky’s horror.

“Sometimes twice.” Letty shrugged.

“Then that day we did four times.” Fable tapped his chin as he tried to remember.

“Yeah, that was nice.” Letty smiled, then looked back at Sky. “Did you want some coffee?”

There came a long string of silence. Sky tried to think of the words to say but nothing came to mind at that moment. She had come here thinking that they were just boyfriend and girlfriend but here come to find out they were lovers. She blinked a few times, then looked back at Fable. He half expected her to lash out at him once again but her face was placid, and tranquil.

“Yeah, coffee would be nice.” Sky answered, then spoke before Letty asked. “Lots of cream, lots of sugar.”

Letty smiled, then started to plant her hands onto the couch in an attempt to get to her feet.

“Oh, honey, no. I got it.” The fact that he called her honey did not escape Sky. Fable got up from the couch and headed over to the kitchen, starting to open the coffee maker.

“Letty…” Sky turned back to view her friend and leaned in close. Letty met her halfway and Sky whispered. “You have never had this kind of relationship with a guy. What the hell is he packing in those pants?”

“Didn't you say you saw his penis before?” Letty asked, glancing back to see Fable pouring water in the coffee pitcher.

“I saw it for two seconds and he was limp. That’s not a great basis to go off of.” Sky looked at Letty’s hands as the pegasus separated them apart and tried to get the length about accurate between them. Sky’s jaw dropped. She mouthed “What?!”

Letty nodded vigorously and then made a circle with her hand in an estimate of how thick he was. She quickly dropped her hand as she heard Fable start to walk out of the kitchen. Sky’s lips were tightly pursed and she made googoo eyes at Letty as Fable sat beside Sky, opposite Letty.

“So! You said we were going to some book signing? That sounds exciting!” Sky made an excited hand gesture with both hands up in the air. “Who was the author again?”

“Red Quill.” Fable said, making her give an odd look.

“Red Quill…” Sky tapped her chin. “I think I've heard of him. I’m honestly not a big fiction reader, I read more slice of life stuff.” Sky giggled a little bit. “How many books are you gonna get signed?”

Letty surprised her by speaking up. “Just one. Gonna get it signed and put it in a case so it will never be harmed.” She smiled sweetly at Sky.

“You're a fan too?” Sky tilted her head.

“Oh, yes. I love Red Quill. He has such a way with words.” Letty giggled. “He writes amazing fantasy novels. I've read both books cover to cover.”

“Wow, mind if I borrow a copy of the first one?” Sky knew she probably shouldn't cave, but she found herself getting very curious.

“Sure! I'll loan you my paperback.” Fable said with a smile.

“Now, about this baby.” Sky found herself narrowing her eyes at him. Before he could say anything, she lashed her pointer finger straight for him and held it an inch in front of his face, her arm extended. “How do I know you won't up and leave after the baby is born?!”

Both Fable and Letty’s eyes widened to their capacity. At first, he thought she may be kidding but after she poked his nose a few times, he blinked and saw her expression wasn't changing.

“Wait, what? I--" Fable started to argue but Sky cut him off.

“Don’t even think I forgot our little run-in! I remember distinctly. I gave you my number and said call me.” She turned away from him and put on a sad face. “But no call ever came.” The unicorn put on another serious face and glared at him once again. “You so easily ditched my kindness! What’s saying you won't do the same to your foal!”

“Now that’s enough!” The ferocity of his voice took Sky off guard. “First of all, a phone number is a lot less important than my newborn child. Second, your phone number got accidentally thrown away when we cleaned up after the gaming party. Third, I would never do such a terrible thing to Quick Bullet! I am not some deadbeat piece of garbage that would walk away from such a huge responsibility.” It was Fable’s turn to glare back at her. She met his gaze with wide, blinking eyes and a blank stare. There came a brief moment of silence between them. Letty was about to say something, but then Sky grinned.

“Good answer.” The blue unicorn’s green eye sparkled. Fable was immediately puzzled at this reaction. “Now let’s test and see if you mean it!”

Before either pegasus could question what she meant, Sky hopped up from the couch. She clapped both of her hands together and pointed her elbows to the left and right of her. Her pupils and irises faded away, leaving two solid white orbs as they glowed a deep purple. Her horn shined out bright as the room around them began to shake.

“Sky!? What are you doing!” Letty shouted but soon air began to swoosh around the room, as a rift was opened in midair. Sky stood before the purple, glowing portal as it tore into the fabric of reality. With a push of her hands and a kia from her voice, the portal locked in.

Both pegasi watched in amazement as Sky reared herself back, only to sprint forward and jump into the void.

Fable went to the door, sighed, and opened it. He was surprised when he was met with two big green eyes from a mare. She was a unicorn, and she had an Oat Brand Pizza uniform on, the visor just above her horn, and the orange shirt with the logo on the upper right chest portion. She held a large pizza box in one hand and a two litre bottle in another.

She was a blue mare, and as her nametag stated, her name was Sky Blue. She opened her eyes a little more as she saw him. She couldn’t help but notice his midsection, which was chiseled much like those ancient statues you saw of athletes and long remembered heroes of old.

“Hi! You ordered a pizza?” Fable suddenly remembered Lemon and Cut mentioning something about it when they first got to the room.

“Um, yeah! We did. Did I need to get some bits?”

“No, it’s already paid for.” Sky said as her eyes began to trail off toward his livingroom, where she saw two sets of hooves on the ground and moving in a highly suggestive way. That’s when Fable leaned against the threshold and smiled big at her.

“Oh! That’s great. Yeah, let me take those from you.” He said as he grabbed the bottle in one hand and then as he reached up for the box, his hand came off of the towel around his waist and it instantly plopped to the ground.

Sky’s green eyes widened even more as she caught sight of his very low hanging anaconda of a cock and her bottom lip almost hit the ground.

“GAH! I mean, uhh!” Fable panicked and was about to grab the towel, but Sky put down the food items and lunged toward his legs. With great agility, Sky pushed her mouth over his limp penis and began to give it a good suck.

It was Fable’s turn to wear a gaped expression on his face. Sky’s mouth and tongue got him hard in no time flat, even after he had already fucked Final Cut in the other room.

Winter, Lemon, Grem, all of them in the front room stopped what they were doing and watched as the pizza mare gave Fable a deep, skillful blow job right in front of his apartment.

“Holy shit.” Winter said from the living room floor. “Wish I would've answered the door.” This drew an annoyed look from Lemon, as his cock was still inside her.

Sky pulled her mouth off of Fable’s long, hard manhood and jerked it right beside her face with a tight grip. She grinned up at him.

“Mmmm, now it’s time to give me my tip.” The pizza mare pushed the red pegasus into the entrance and shut the door behind her. She kissed his lips, grabbing his hands and putting them on her modest tips to squeeze them. As he caressed her tits, she pulled her shorts down to her ankles, her underwear close to follow. The unicorn turned toward the wall removed her top and her bra, and revealed her dark pink nipples in her handful of a chest. She placed her palms against the sheetrock and smiled back at the still reeling stallion.

Without a word, Sky backed into his dick, allowing it to enter her in her tight gripping vaginal tube. Fable started playing along, finally. He pushed deeper into Sky, making her cry out in absolute lust!

He fucked her with gusto. The idea of getting his cock sucked in the plain view of the public and sticking his cock into a total stranger made Fable rigid like none other. His hips slapped against Sky’s round, plump ass as he thumped his meaty dick against her uterus.

Sky reached down to her clitoris, starting to rub her gushing pussy with two fingers. She squealed as he only pushed harder into her tightening tube. She turned her head toward him, her mouth open with her tongue sticking out. They met in a sloppy kiss as she whimpered into his mouth. Higher she moaned as their tongues rubbed against one another until she finally came. She released a good deal of juice onto his cock, but then felt him twitch inside of her.

Sky pulled her vagina away from him as she turned around and squatted in front of him. She jerked his wide shaft with one hand. Her mouth cupped the tip of his cock as he came hard. With every slew of semen that washed into her mouth, over her tongue, she drank. With six gulps, she licked the tip of his glans and smiled up at him with a wink.

Fable was speechless. He stared down at her, dumbfounded. He caught his breath as she licked her lips and gave his tip a little kiss.

“Ummm, can I have your phone for a moment?” Sky asked. Quick as the eye could see, Spark got up from the couch. The orange unicorn ran toward the bedroom and came back.

“Here you go, bro.” Spark handed Fable his cellphone and the pegasus nodded his thanks. Sky took the phone and entered her number into it. She handed it back to him and stood up. She was much shorter than him, so she looked up toward Fable and met him in a kiss. Sky forced herself to break the kiss with a sigh. The blue unicorn looked down at his still hard and throbbing member.

“You have my number now. Call me.” She said in her sweetest voice, putting her hand on his cheek. She started to think about her friendship with Letty and how much it meant to her. She could never do such a thing to her most beloved companion, so she decided to start putting her clothes back on.

The rest of the party had returned to their normal activities. Winter continued to fuck Lemon Square, Final Cut was eating, and Grem took Spark into the backroom with a wave to Fable and Sky as they went. Sky waved back at them and began to gather her clothes, knowing that her time was starting to grow limited.

“So ummm, I’ll give you a call sometime.” Fable said, scratching the back of his head, a bit disoriented after the sudden events that occurred.

“Sounds good.” Sky grinned at him.

Her spell ended. Time went back to its normal flow as it always had and events played out with that subtle difference added to the line. The real difference this time is that he did call Sky after that. Fable called her the very next day. However, knowing that it was not how time should be altered, she did not answer the phone. Instead, she went to Manehattan for a long semester of her Ranch U college course and came back to check on her dear friend who was now pregnant.

Sky’s clothing burst into flames as she stood in front of them in the living room and disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving her naked.

Fable and Letty’s eyes went ballistic, as did their full facial expressions as they sat on the couch and looked at a now naked Sky. She grinned at the two of them and put on a modest stance. Her hands went behind her and her legs closed and crossed a little bit as she tilted her head to the side.

“Alright! Well, I’m sure both of you have a lot of questions as to what just happened. Namely because my clothing just burst into flames.” She said as she stretched and popped her back. “Oh, man! My powers are awesome, but they do a number on my back.”

“Soooo, what just happened?” Fable asked. Sky had come into the house with the nicest of intentions. Giving both Fable and Letty praise on how beautiful their baby was going to be. She also apologized to Fable for not calling him back, but she had totally missed his call.

“I just went back in time.” Sky said, whipping her hip toward him to reveal the purple and blue sand, silver hourglass on her thigh. “It’s a very complicated spell, but I have perfected it thanks to my studies. I just had to see something for myself. And lo and behold, Fable, you are everything I’ve ever wanted for Letty.”

She gave an exaggerated cheer. Then she leaped into his lap and hugged him with her knees on either side of his legs.

“You can time travel now?” Letty asked, still trying to reason out the fact that her best friend’s clothes just burst into non-existence. “So, why would that make you naked?”

“Oh, that’s just the after effects of using my powers. Not at all a contrived reason to get me naked again in an erotic story! You silly bird!” Sky gave a little string of laughter before she head a high pitched beeping sound from the kitchen. Then she gasped. “Coffee!”

Fable drove them both in his car as they made their way to Hardback Warehouse, where Red Quill would be for the book signing. Fable remembered the time he had very random sex with a pizza mare in front of his house, however, the memory was very vague. For some reason, it felt like it didn’t happen to him, because he remembered it in more of a third person point of view. It was hard to describe for him, but Sky was very much in his memory. She told them about her time travel, but she didn’t say why she did it, nor did she say what she did while she was in the past. However, the time had come for them to load up and head out to the signing.

“So, you’re also a writer.” Sky asked. She sat in the front seat while Letty sat in the back. She found it far more comfortable in the back seat space, not to mention the pregnancy had caused her to become car sick when she sat in the front. “What do you write, exactly?”

“Well, you already know that Letty and I met because we were working on the same Spider-mare comic book, so there’s that. I pretty much write anything. There’s sci-fi, fantasy, slice of life, horror and adventure. I love all kinds of stories and books. My first job in Ranchtown was a librarian’s assistance. I did that for about two years.” Fable said as she drove. “So I will definitely be teaching our child how to read at a fairly early age.”

“Well, that’s promising.” Sky Blue smiled and flicked her reddish brown hair back over her shoulder as she leaned her head back, sighing.

“You okay, Sky?” Letty asked as she saw the unicorn close her eyes and rest for a moment.

“Yeah, one thing about time travel is it uses a lot of energy to do. I have a lot of trouble in the aftermath. I definitely can’t do it multiple times in quick succession. Not to mention, I lose my clothes in a hurry.” Sky said, having to borrow some of Letty’s clothes because she left her luggage in her car. The yellow pegasus was more than happy to loan her some. It’s not like they fit her currently. She wore a purple shirt with a light blue dress that went well with her dark blue complexion. “I’ll be okay though. I normally just take a nap and it goes away.”

“Again with that time travel. Is this a normal thing for you?” Fable asked, turning into the parking lot of the bookstore. All three of their eyes widened to the point of bulging. The line came from inside the store to around the store near the parking lot. All of them were every shape and size, carrying books that they wished to have signed by he one and only Red Quill.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me.” Sky said as she saw the line. It would probably take a good three hours to get through the line, and the parking lot was filled to the brim. However, Fable turned away from the parking lot, and took the side road along the bookstore. “Where are you going?” Sky looked at him, and he looked ever so nonchalant.

“I know the bookstore owner and the manager. I just so happen to be one of their best customers.” Fable said with no shortage of pride as he parked in the back, in the employee parking, which was also quite full, but still had a few spots left.

“You can seriously do this?” Sky asked, then looked back at Letty, who nodded with a smile on her face. “Wow, you’re like… a super bookworm.” Sky said as they got out of the car.

“Card carrying and proud of it.” Fable locked the car and led them into the back of the store entrance. Sky was about to ask how he could enter through the back but she decided that it was a non-issue at this point.

He knocked on the backdoor. After just a moment of waiting, the door opened and a yellow stallion with orange hair opened the door. He pushed up his thin rimmed glasses and smiled.

“Fable!” He shook the pegasus’s hand and Fable patted his shoulder.

“How you doing, Page Turner?” Fable smiled and the earth pony let them all in.

“Doing great. Hey Letty, good to see you.” Page hugged her and kissed both of her cheeks as she walked in. Sky smiled at him and waved as he walked in with them.

“Pretty big crowd today, Page. Looks like it’s gonna be a long day. You up for it?” Fable said as he walked through the back. All of the employees were scrambling to get the book signing stuff out on a cart and ready to serve. They were going to sell drinks, books, snacks and Red Quill apparel to the customers in line to get a little extra money out of them.

“This is it. Wish me luck.” Fable started to look a little shaky at this point. He took some deep breaths and shook his head vigorously.

“You’ll do fine, honey.” Letty said and hugged him tight. Then she lifted her shirt over her belly and exposed it to him. “Kiss for luck.”

Fable knelt for a moment, kissed her bulging stomach. Then turned and walked out of the back.

“What’s he so nervous about?” Sky asked, then watched as he walked toward the front of the bookstore, going around the aisles toward the line of people.

There came a hush among the crowd as they looked back toward Fable coming toward them. All of the stallions and mares stared at him as he neared them and he smiled and waved at all of them.

“Is that him?!” A younger mare hollered from near the door. As she did everyone started to cheer and whoop at him. They started screaming for Red Quill to notice them all and Fable laughed a little, and kept waving as he approached the desk.

Voltage, who was among the line with Spark wore a dumbfounded face and Spark looked at her. They looked at one another and started to ask each other what the hell was going on. Diamond Sword stood with Grem and started to hyperventilate as he saw a familiar face. He couldn’t believe it. His mind wouldn’t allow him to believe it. There he was, though, walking to the desk and standing in front of the seat, starting to wave for them to quiet down.

“Hey! How’s everyone doing?” Fable asked, which was met with a large response from the crowd. All of them cheered and were astounded that he was there with them. “Yeah, I like that energy. It’s so awesome that I finally get to make an appearance. I really couldn’t do any of this if it were not for you fans helping me out. I have to thank each and every one of you for making this possible. I am proud to come and do my first book signing here in my hometown and I am overjoyed that there has been such an enormous turnout. Please, be patient, I will sign as fast as possible, because your time is valuable. Thanks again!”

They cheered at Fable, whose pseudonym, Red Quill, was synonymous with modern day fantasy. Those who knew him were shocked and those who had never met him were proud to be a part of his first signing.

First in line was Firewire, who got to the bookstore five hours early to get his edition of Fable’s story signed. He approached the desk with stars in his eyes, obviously recognizing him from when he fixed his computer.

“Fable, are you seriously Red Quill?” Firewire was star struck. The naval blue pegasus loved the books Red Quill released, and to find out that he actually met the original author was astounding to say the least. Not to mention, he was also a pegasus.

“Yeah. I kinda had to keep it a secret. I wanted to feel out the scene before I stepped into it. So the publishers said pick a name. So I kinda went with my red complexion and my cutie mark.”

“Your cutie mark is a quill?” Firewire asked as he handed Fable his copy of The Grimoire Key. Fable opened the book and signed behind the cover.

“It’s a quill and unrolled parchment. So I gave you the first edition of my first book signed, so now you’re letting me sign the second book. First in line, no less.” Fable chuckled and then stood up a little as Firewire took his cellphone out of his pocket. Fable raised up a peace sign as Firewire took a selfie with him, both with big smiles on their face.

“Thank you, Fable. If you need your computer fixed again, don’t hesitate to call me.” Firewire took a business card out of his pocket and handed it to the fellow pegasus.

“Thanks.” He nodded to Fire and pocketed the card.

After him was a whole string of ponies who asked him questions. Many of these questions were spoilers, or just random characteristics about his characters in the Blood Scale series. The first book being Dragon Scar and the second being The Grimoire Key. Fable saw all of the fans, took a bunch of selfies and accepted a few gifts from his fans, including a homemade action figure of his main character, which Fable graciously accepted.

Then came Voltage and Spark.

“Hey guys.” Fable smiled at them but was met with two angry eyes from the unicorn mares. “Ummm, what’s up?” Fable scratched the back of his head, chuckling nervously.

“Oh, I’ll tell you what’s up ‘Red Quill.’ I’ve known one of the top fantasy authors in Equestria and all this time, I didn’t even know it!”

“I was told not to tell anyone!” Fable held up his hands in a defensive position. Then he leaned in close, prompting her to lean in. “I was gonna get all of you my third story early.”

“Whaaaat? For real?” Voltage smiled at him bright. “I love you!” Voltage grabbed his head and pulled his face into her bust, smothering him as he struggled. “Thank yooouuuu!”

Fable finally got free and laughed a little as he signed her two books.

“Hey, thanks Fable.” Spark and Fable fist bumped.

“I'll call you guys later.” Fable waved as Spark led the awestruck Voltage to the bookstore coffee shop.

The line continued, Fable was signing fast. He told people about his experience in writing and how the books came about. He kissed babies and even signed a pair of EE breasts, getting a kiss for his efforts.

“Fable?” Diamond Sword came up to him and looked him in the eyes. He squinted and gazed at him close to make sure it was him.

“Hey, Sword. Hey Grem.” He smiled.

“Hi, Fable!” Grem the gray bat pony waved. That was when the white unicorn man put both of his hands on Fable’s cheeks, squishing them together to give him fishlips and wide eyes. He pulled Fable’s face right up close and gazed into his eyes.

“Is that really you, Fable?!” Sword spoke right up close to him.

“Yiss, Swird, ish mi.” Fable spoke as well as he could with his cheeks imploding.

“No way…” He released Fable’s face and let him sit back. “It is you. So that’s how you had so much insight on the series?” He said as Fable took his book and signed it.

“Yep! And now you have me to give you more. So I'll see you later.” Fable smiled, handing Sword back his book. Though Diamond was smiling, his eyes were still in disbelief. He wanted to talk more but he also knew that Fable, or Red Quill was busy at that moment so he and Grem said their goodbyes and walked over to the coffee shop to join Spark and Voltage.

The line was finally growing shorter and Fable was starting to feel the burn in his finger that took the pen writing indentation. Then another familiar face came in the form of an azure colored unicorn that wore a similar face of disbelief as Diamond Sword.

“Dude!” Winter said in a flabbergasted tone. He didn’t know whether he should be angry, pleased, excited, betrayed, star struck or insane, but he opened the cover of his book all the same as he set it down along with the second in the series.

“Hey, Winter.” Fable said with a big smile on his face. He signed Winter’s copy, then went underneath the book to sign the cover of the next book. “I didn’t know you read Red Quill.”

“I didn’t know you WERE Red Quill! Where did this all come about?” Winter asked, watching Fable sign his books as his pseudonym.

“Well, I mean, I did tell you about the writing gig that was going well. I just didn’t tell you any of the specifics. Obviously, I was going to tell you today.” Fable handed the two hardbacks back to Winter as he took them.

“Well, I’d ask for a selfie with you, but as I recall, we pretty much have a whole scrapbook of them. You got more explaining to do, bro!” The word “bro” was said with a nasty bit of contempt, but Winter was obviously more taken aback than actually angry.

“Oh, I’ll explain everything soon. Just let me get through this and I’ll sit down over there in the coffee shop with all of you.” Fable smiled.

Then something else caught Fable’s eye. One of the patrons of the book store walked in through the doors and walked off to the side of the line, obviously not waiting, but still standing outside of the bounds of the book signing. He was a sky blue colored bat pony with a long black mane. He crossed his arms and glared toward Fable with a big nasty look.

Page Turner noticed this from the sidelines and walked a bit nearer to the bat pony stallion.

“Umm, sir, the line starts over there.” Page pointed at the back of the line, but the bat pony held up his hand to stop him from talking.

“I’m not here to get anything signed, I’m here to set something right that was obviously wronged.” He spoke in a loud, deep, booming voice that turned what was left of the line’s attention toward him. The ponies in the coffee shop part of the bookstore also turned toward him, including Letty and Sky as they were talking to Fable’s friends. “My name is Fiction Tale, and I am a writer as well. I write horror novels and I have three that are published and on these very bookshelves.”

Fable and Winter looked at each other. Fable shrugged and both of them looked back toward the tall blue stallion.

“As an author, you know that plagiarism is not only a crime, but it is also an insult and a slap to the face of a fellow writer. I’m not a huge fantasy fan, but I decided to pick up on of your novels anyway to give it a try. What do I find? A villain that is almost completely derivative of one of my own in my novel ‘Opal Black.’ I can’t help but find this offensive and downright degrading.”

“Whoa there, pal. I didn’t get anything from your novels.” Fable said as he frowned at Fiction. His brow was furrowed and his jaw was clenched hard. “I haven’t even read any of your books before and I don’t know who you are, but to waltz into my book signing and call me out in the view of my fans is quite a slap to the face and an insult as well. As if your little speech wasn’t pointed enough.”

That was when another came into the store and started to walk toward the line, but then saw the little showdown that was happening between the two ponies. Fable did a double take as he glanced and reglanced at the unicorn entering, recognizing him right off the bat. It was Disterious. They had met in the gym and have been friends ever since, especially the last time they saw each other.

“Fiction? What are you doing?” Disterious said as he approached him from the side and Fiction Tale looked over toward him with a somewhat pained expression. “I thought you said you were coming to the book signing.”

“I did, but it’s not to get my book signed. This pony completely ripped off a concept from one of my books and now he’s denying the whole thing.” Fiction said, angry eyes turning back toward Fable, whose face was only turning more and more red than it already was.

“Now, listen here, Fiction!” The F in Fiction was very hard and sharp as it was said. “You are not going to stand here and point your fingers at me, telling me that I ripped off one of your villains and expect me to take it sitting down.” He rose from his seat and approached the bat pony with a trudge. “If you have a problem with something I have written, you should be taking it up with my publishers, not embarrassing me and ruining my one day that I finally became public!”

“I did talk to your publishers, they are denying it just as much as you are. I spoke to my legal department from my publisher and they just shrugged their shoulders, not willing to chance it. Well I’m not a pansey, I am a stallion of standards! And I am willing to point the finger at you whenever I damn well please!” Fiction and Fable both got face to face, the same height and the same build and the same ugly glare.

“Alright, that’s enough!” Letty called out from the other side of the store, drawing both of their attention. Fiction was a little taken off guard by a pregnant mare pegasus standing up and walking toward him. Her purple eyes also furrowed and scowling toward the stallion who would dare insult the father of her foal. “I know Fable is telling the truth. I’ve been with him for a long while now. I was there when he wrote the book and he even told me where he got the concept for his villain. Grave Vision was based off of a game he played as a colt on the Gauntlet Entertainment System. It was a game called Frost Armor.”

As she said this, Fiction’s expression softened a great deal and his eyes widened as his blood went completely cold. His lips pressed together as he listened and his bat wings began to contract closer to his back.

“And the villain was named--” Letty began, but Fiction Tale finished.

“Cold Heart…” The bat pony’s face dipped down low and off to the side. The embarrassment he felt was palpable and his palms became very sweaty from clenching his hands into very tight fists at the realization that he had made a mistake.

“You played Frost Armor?” Fable asked, his voice also growing softer. The game was an absolute atrocious seller of its time and became almost nonexistent due to abysmal numbers it pulled in. Later on, when it finally found its crowd, it became a cult classic and was selling on the internet for around three hundred bits. Fable still had his from when he was a very small child. His Gauntlet system broke, but he was able to get another one easily enough.

Fiction nodded, taking a deep breath and feeling Disterious’s hands come to his shoulders from behind. “When I was very young, yes. I didn’t think anyone else loved it as much as me.” Fiction couldn’t even look at Fable at that moment. He’d obviously jumped to conclusions and acted without thinking right. Disty, the gray unicorn took his arm in both hands and tried to lead him away, but he stood where he was. He finally looked toward the red pegasus. “I’m sorry, Red Quill. I’ll let you get back to your signing.”

Before Fable could say anything, Fiction walked with Disterious to the front of the shop and out the front door. There was a long moment of silence in the store, but Fable didn’t let that deter him. He walked back to the table and motioned for the next pony in line to step up.

After a while, the mood picked back up and the book signing went smooth for its last hour. Fable gained a lot of notoriety as Red Quill and made his first public appearance a memorable one for several reasons.

After that, the shop owner assured him some private time in the coffee shop, away from his fans. Fable sat at a table which was connected to three more tables, with all of his friends looking at him in a totally different light.

“Well,” Letty said as Fable got comfortable. “That was… something.”

“Yeah, it was!” Sky said, patting her on the back from beside her. “You were awesome! You stood right up to that Fiction guy and gave him the one two punch!”

“That was really cool.” Spark said, then he turned over to Fable. “Well, Mister Big Star Author, looks like you’ve done pretty well for yourself. Does this mean you’re gonna forget all of our names and become a rich recluse?”

“Yeah, a rich red recluse.” Winter gave Fable a smug look, then shook his head. “I still can’t believe you’re Red Quill, and it seems so damn obvious now. I’ve seen your cutie mark like six times and--” Winter said this, and all of the other ponies there gave him a look.

Fable’s eyes widened and his mouth clenched shut as he looked back at Winter as the unicorn figured out what he said had entailed. Winter gave them all a look and cleared his throat.

“Anyway, I’m happy for you, Fable. You really surprised me. Now, since you’re the author of two best selling books with another on the way, I guess that means you have enough to buy us all coffee.” Winter smiled as the red pegasus gave him a glare.

“Oh, yeah!” Grem said from the end of the table. “I’ll have a venti mocha with extra whipped cream!”

All at once, all of them started saying their orders and Fable couldn’t help but roll his eyes and laugh. But that was when Winter held up his hand.

“Wait a minute!” All of them looked toward the unicorn and he pointed toward Sky. “Isn’t that the pizza mare you… ummm… met?”

Sky’s eyes widened to their capacity and she wore a shocked expression as the others looked toward her. She put on a meek little smile and waved. “Hi.”