Chapter 1-1

The young stallion’s sighs were so heavy that they temporarily cut through the background noise of the bowling alley. He stared from beyond the lanes, near the reception.

"She'd never be interested in somepony like me. A beautiful mare like herself..." he thought.

He had been watching a tall bowling unicorn at the local bowling lanes. Cornfield had been daydreaming about this mare for weeks now. He always hoped, one day, she might notice him. Maybe he could catch her attention with his thick blonde mane, his natural green coat, or his blue eyes. Maybe she would even notice his cutie mark, a camera with a red and orange leaf under it, and strike up a conversation on his interests. Anything to get that mare to catch her attention and say "hi".

So far, no luck.

It was evening, and he just wanted to go home for the night. Alone. In his self contained hut.
Leaving the bowling alley, he headed towards his very humble abode alongside the Everfree Forest and outside the town of Ponyville. A figure stepped out of the shadows, out from the alleyways between the buildings on his way home. His head hung low, however, so he didn't notice until he bumped into it.

“OOF!” He fell over backwards, sitting back on the ground with his hoof on his head.

“Oww... Hey, wa-?!”

The figure let out a small feminine gasp before he could finish.

"Goodness. Sorry about that..." the figure said.

He was surprised to find somepony of the opposite sex talking to him, let alone walk right up to him. But, to make this encounter even more bizarre, the pony who bumped into him wasn’t a pony at all. The tall figure extended her pink bird-like talons openly to help him up. His eyes traced up the female’s foreleg and locked eyes with the hippogriff creature. He studied her face and noted her adorable curved pink beak, her dazzling sea-blue eyes, her feathery ears, her light purple fur that can be confused with feathery plumage to the untrained eye, and her mane consisting of four very large light red feathers.

"Here, let me help you up," she politely offered.

Cornfield can only babble on incoherently. Even though she wasn’t a pony, that didn’t stop him from thinking she was the most beautiful creature to grace Equestria at the moment. She took the time to brush her talons through her feathery hair, shake it around, and extend her claws once more.

"I'm new in town,” she explained. “And, well, I'm pretty lost. Ponyville is a much bigger town than I'm used to."

“Uuuuuuuhhhhhhhhh…” Summoning the courage to break his dumbfounded silence, he made an earnest attempt to introduce himself. “I-I-I-I'm a corn field.”

He suddenly covered his mouth as the hippogriff cocked her head to the side like a bird.

“What?” she asked.

“Ah, I-I meant that my name is Cornfield,” he nervously explained. “I mean, I just thought maybe you wanted to know. But you don't have to say your name. Uh, just being nice?” He flashed her a nervous smile.

"Oh? Ohohoho,” she laughed. “There's no need to be nervous. I know I'm like a fish out of water. Almost literally, too. But, even a girl like me can take the time to appreciate good manners." She motioned her open talons towards him closer, still reaching out to take his hoof and help him up. It’s actually starting to cramp up from being held in mid-air for so long. "I'm Cobalt Coral. Coral, for short."

Cornfield stood up from the ground slowly. “Uh, my name is Cornfield…” he said again instinctively. “ACK! I-I mean… N-nice to meet you, Coral.”

He extended his hoof to her to properly greet her. She gently grasped his hoof in her claws and shook it. "A pleasure to meet you twice over," she said with a polite tone.

Cornfield blushed and looked away, laughing nervously again.

Smiling, the sultry hippogriff walked past by him, exaggerating her walk a bit to give herself a bit more of a swagger in the hindquarters. She let out sigh and said "It's always tough to visit new places."

Cornfield had to do a double take when he noticed the way she strutted her stuff. Although the first half of her was bird-like, the rest of her was all mare. He noted the curves on her haunches in all the right places and the way her hind legs were sculpted like marble. Her tail looked as feathery as her mane, looking like two feather plumes were growing from her dock. He even went so far as to desperately sneak a peek on what may be hiding underneath...

"I have to find an inn,” she said, “then pay an exorbitant amount of money for a few days, then be on my way to get lost once again. I've been wanting to travel ever since my people were freed from the captivity of the evil Storm King."

“Oh...Yeah...that's so... great…” Cornfield’s mind was in the gutter.

"But the trip has been very lonely…” She put her claws on her chest and looked at the ground pitifully. “I only wish I could make a friend to help me. But... I suppose I'll find my way eventually.” She turned her head to look at Cornfield, who wasn’t bothering to make eye contact at all. “Thank you for your time, Cornfield." She slowly walked away, hoping for him to object.

Cornfield, snapping himself out of it when he realized that the one friendly female contact he had since forever was slipping away, spoke up. “Wuh-wait!”

She turned around, eager for his response. "Yes?"

“Uh... Maybe you could... stay at my place? You know... for free until you... Uh, why are you here again? To get food, wasn't it?”

The seductive hybrid walked over to him, put her claw lightly on his nose, and giggled. "You have absolutely no tact, do you?” she asked. “You ask a girl you BARELY know to come back to your house for the night? What would ponies think?"

Cornfield blushed beet red, unable to come up with an answer to that question. “Uhhhhhh... ummmmmm…”

"Well, as long as you are offering, I have little in the way of bits, so I suppose I have no choice than to accept your hospitality, Cornfield."

His eyes widened and his mind raced at her unexpected answer. "Wha-WHAAAAAAAAT!” he thought to himself. “I can't believe that worked!" Excitedly and anxiously, he shouted out “Yes! Oh! I mean, thank you-er NO! Uh, you're, uh, welcome... to come with meeee...?” He motioned her to walk with him through town and back to his home. Coral smiled, rolled her eyes when he wasn’t looking, and walked along beside him.

Coral and Cornfield travelled just outside of Ponyville to a solitary shack on top of a hill near the Everfree Forest. The threat of being near the dangerous woods would be intimidating to most, but it doesn’t seem to faze the lovesick stallion. Coral looked around the small hut. There’s no doubt about it, there doesn’t seem to be anypony close by. "You seem to be out on your own from the rest of town,” she noticed. “Why?”

Cornfield hesitated to answer.

“I'm sorry. Was that rude of me?”

“Oh…” he said, collecting his thoughts. “Well... You see, I was never born or even raised in Ponyville. My parents raised me near Rambling Rock Ridge. Then, I moved out and, with not much bits left, I ended up out here.”

That name rung a bell for Coral. Rambling Rock Ridge? That's where all of those Diamond Dogs lived. She quickly recalled how she stole the priceless Puppy Peridot from them. A harrowing escape that was. She shook her head. "Er, well, I'm sure things are a lot better since you moved here, yes?"

“Ah, well, yeah! Of course it has!”

She giggled a bit, making Cornfield blush. "Well, as long as you say you're happy, then I believe you are. You have no idea how exhausted I am. Thank you for offering me your home."

Cornfield approached the door to open it and let Coral inside. “Ah, go ahead and make yourself at home.”

The hut was a lot smaller on the inside than it was outside. It was barely about the size of a bedroom with bunk beds, a stove and pantry across the end of the bed, many boxes filled with clutter and junk, and one peculiar green box with his cutie mark on it. It could barely fit one pony inside, but a pony and a full-sized hippogriff whose head is just a few inches from the ceiling?

"Oooooh, no. I got more than I bargained for..." she thought to herself.

“I know it's a little… ’cozy’, but it'll work!” Cornfield said, trying his best to reassure her. “Trust me...” He followed up with a nervous laugh.

"It's... something!” she replied. “Er... I hope, I can... squeeze in somehow..."

“It's ok! I have a bunk bed! I call bottom bunk!” Cornfield enthusiastically said while a grin creased under his nose.
"A bunk bed? What are you? A colt?" Coral asked herself. She stared at the top bunk and envisioned how uncomfortable it would be to sleep so close to the ceiling. "Ah... Cornfield? Sweetie? If it's all right with you, I would like the bottom bunk." she asked Cornfield before thinking "I don't think I can fit my whole body on the bed and I'll be damned before I fall off".

“Awwwww... But, I called it…” Cornfield sadly muttered before giving her a look with puppy dog eyes.

"Oh, HAY no... You can't out-pity me," she thought as she extended her claws out and softly scratched under his chin. "Cornfield, darling, the top bunk is so high up. You wouldn't want me to fall and get hurt, would you?" Coral asked as she fluttered her eyelashes.

“Uh…” Cornfield blushed from the contact of a beautiful female touching him. “I-I suppose not. That would make me feel bad...ok.”

She smiled after getting her way. “Thank you, Cornfield.” She turned around from him and opened the door outside. “I need to stretch my legs for a bit. I'll be right back."

“Ok!” Cornfield excitedly pictured in his head what he’s going to do with the half-mare portion of this hippogriff. "Ohboyohboyboyohboyboy-" he thought over and over again.

Coral sauntered out with the flick of her feathery tail and exited the hut. When she closed the door and confirmed she was out of sight, she let loose an exasperated sigh and walked behind his hut. There, all of her belongings are preemptively stashed away in a saddle bag in an empty barrel where it couldn’t be easily detected. She opened the bag and pulled out a faded map, a pencil, and a lantern. After lighting the lamp and placing it on the grass, she unfolded the map and grasped her pencil in her talons. "It's a good thing stallions like him are so easy to fold to a pretty face,” she whispered to herself. “Saves me the trouble of lugging all of this around..."

Inside, Cornfield cleaned around the hut to make sure it's extra comfortable inside and ensured that she wouldn't stumble onto his "fine collection of mares from Ponyville", photographs that he’d taken with his prized camera. Meanwhile, Coral was outside, unaware of his antics and sketching on the old and tattered parchment.

"Let's see,” she thought to herself, “If I start from this location... push my way through some heavy forest…”She drew a dotted line past the pictures of foliage. “Go through a large cave…” She drew a dotted line through the image of a cave and its tunnel network. “...and explore these ruins...." She etched a circle around the image of the ruins and tapped the middle with her pencil. "There I will be able to find ‘The Heart of Nature’, deep in the center of the Everfree Forest..." She looked around to see if there’s anypony around. Satisfied, she put her beak into her map once more. "I will need to rest up and wake up early enough before that slimy stallion does. I don't want him to think I'm TRULY gone until I'm done squatting in his poor excuse of a house..."

Happy with her ultimate game plan, she rolled up the map and extinguished the lantern before tucking them and her pencil away in her saddle bags. Standing up, she walked over to the door of the hut, about to twist the knob and head inside. However, she thought about the possibility of walking into somepony like Cornfield doing something unspeakable… She knocked it, just to be safe. Inside, Cornfield is startled scared by the knocking while hiding his secret, shameful stashes away, but he quickly shaped himself up to act cool and collected when he approached the door and opened it for the lovely lady on the other side. “Uh... Like, sup?” he asked, trying to playing coy.

Coral faked a chuckle. "Uh... Sup? Right?" She asked as she walked inside. "Well, I do not know about you but I am simply too tired to keep going today." She walked past Cornfield to the bunk bed, climbed in the bottom bunk, and tried to snuggle in and get comfortable. However, she was having difficulty. She struggled to fit her tall legs the small bed built for a pony and her bottom was sticking out from the end of the bed. The short blanket doesn't help cover her up either.

“Oh, ok,” said Cornfield, helping himself to an eyeful of her backside. “I'll be here if you need me…”

Coral noticed, and tried to cover her backside with her feathery tail. "Er... Ok, then,” she said nervously. “Thank you... EVER so much for the hospitality, and I hope you... have a good sleep, too!" She flashed a fake smile, then grunted and struggled to get comfy again.

Cornfield, in the meantime, decided to make a small dinner for himself. He opened the pantry above the old-fashioned stove that required coal to heat itself up and found very little in what to eat. He settled on a simple haycake as he took out the mix, lit a match to heat the oven, and stirred the haycake flour in a bowl with water.

Coral can smell the haycakes cooking on the stove. Cornfield didn’t bother to use a pan and, as a result, the surface was very dirty, but that didn’t stop her stomach from growling in protest when the scent of the food reached her beak. She wanted to go to bed now to wake up early, but she didn't know when she'd eat again in the morning. She lifted her head up to look behind her while she was still lying in bed. "So,” she asked. “Do you know how to cook well?"

Cornfield looked behind him, trying to make eye contact with her head on the other side of the bed. “Ah, well, since I live alone I had to learn how to do it on my own,” he explained. “I think it comes out OK, considering I don't get sick... Ah... Hah…”

"I see. Well, I don't want to be a bother... But, do you have enough for me? I can pay you back, I'm sure."

“O-Of course!” Cornfield was brimming with enthusiasm, though he didn’t have very much to offer in food or haycakes.

"Thank you. Please, take your time and make yours first..." She still struggled to find the perfect spot on the bed to accommodate for her larger size. "I still need to figure... Rrrgh... this out.” She tucked her legs in a position that fits in the bed, somewhat. Her rear is still sticking out, but one thing at a time. She makes a mental note of the position. "So... what do you do for fun around Ponyville?"

“OH! I-er…” There was a long pause. “...Like to go to the bowling alleys, and concerts for....that stuff, yeah!” Cornfield bit his hoof as he cooked the haycakes nervously, worried about the fact that what he REALLY does is daydream about certain mares all day everyday when he’s not taking pictures.

"Bowling? Can't say I've even tried it. Does it have to do with bowls?"

“Uh... No. It's a game you use a ball to knock down pins…”

"Do you know how to bowl?"

“Uh, yeah…” Cornfield said softly. “Of course.”

"Really? Do you own any balls? Think you might let me handle them?" Upon saying that, Coral made a silent gasp to herself and covered her mouth. "WHAT did you just say?!!” Coral thought. “Tone it down before you come off too strong!"

Cornfield’s ears and tail perked up as his eyes widened. "What...?!” Cornfield thought with beads of sweat going down his brow. “Could this be it? Could this be my moment of glory?!" Thinking he’s got her full attention, he attempted to act suave like some of the more successful stallions he passed by in Ponyville. “Uh... O-o-ok,” he stuttered. “If you really want to try 'my balls'..."

"Er, of course!” she shouted out, trying to diffuse the situation. “When we practice for bowling..." Her brow furrowed as she put her claws on her forehead. "Great. You raised his expectations and now thoroughly dashed them."

“Uh, WAIT! Just give me a chance!” He quickly moved to grab something and accidentally tipped the stove over, enough to make it launch a single hot lump of coal without tipping it over completely.

Coral can hear the stove crash back into its original place."What was that?" She tried to see what happened behind her from her bed, but the top bunk obstructs her view.

Cornfield barely saved his haycake, thanks to it sticking to the stove itself. “That was close…” he told himself before picking up the scent of smoke. “Is it already done? Wait…” He looked behind him towards the direction of the smell.

"Did you mess your haycakes up? What's that burning smell?” Coral questioned, concerned that the haycakes might be ruined. Cornfield saw the lump of coal on Coral's rump, going deeper into her exposed end. He panicked and quickly tried to stop it from burning her rear, but shouted as it burned his hoof. He tried again to roll it off of her, but Coral looked behind her to see him reaching for her buttocks like he’s trying to cop a feel.

"HEY?! What do you think you are DOING?!” Coral shouted in disgust. “HOOVES OFF!" She bucks him with one leg in the chest and the coal lump rolled to the floor, but not before a small spark ignited her fur where it landed.

Cornfield doubled over in pain from the quick and violent force of her hoof hitting him as he tumbled to the floor. He cried in pain before trying to correct the misunderstanding. “Wait!” he shouted out. “Coral, you don't understand! You're on fire!”

"Keep the euphemisms to yourself, buster. If I'm that hot, you shouldn't touch!" Suddenly, a sharp pain hit her as she winced. She can see smoke billowing from her rump as she stared in silence. "Oh… I'm ACTUALLY on fire..." Coral is silent for another few seconds until the realization came crashing down on her. "AaaaaaaaaAHHHHHHHHHH!"

Cornfield quickly got on his hooves after being knocked down. “OUTSIDE!” he shouted for her attention. “THERE'S A BUCKET OF WATER NEAR THE DOOR! HURRY!”

Coral screeched like an eagle while tumbling out of the bottom bunk bed. She scrambled to get off the floor, through the door, and outside! She busted through the door with violent force while Cornfield quickly smothered a small portion of the bunk that started to burn from Coral's rear fire. "OWW! OWW! OWW! HOT! HOT! HOT!" she screamed as she rushed towards the bucket of water. The flames are quickly building and giving her an intense burn on her rump. Wasting no time, she took the bucket and threw the water behind her. It splashed on the small inferno as the flames died down with a hiss... She breathed a long, relieved sigh from the cool water soothing the burn.

Cornfield came running out the hut. “CORAL!” he shouted before seeing her backside and tail soaking wet. “Oh. Uh, I see you...found it…” He thought to himself as he stared at the charred black, wet rump. "She's even cuter when she's all wet...and...uh oh!"

Coral turned her attention to him angrily. She was ready to snap and wring the neck of the stallion in front of him. She stomped her talons on the grass and emitted an angry growl before raising her foreleg like she was about to give him a taste of her sharp claws, but she restrained herself at the last minute. She tried to force a smile like nothing happened, speaking through the corner of her beak angrily. "Cornfield.... Darling.... Let's make a deal."

Cornfield cowered, but was strangely aroused by her anger. “Uhh, sure! What's up, babe?!” He covered his mouth, daring not to push his luck any further.

Coral placed her claws on his shoulder and squeezed hard. It hurt him, but not too badly. "I'll ignore this little incident the best I can,” she said, “And, in return, you are to NEVER do that again. Understand?"

He slightly flinched from the pressure on his shoulder. “Ah, uh, sure. Whatever you say.”

"Oh... And you can have the bottom bunk." She let go of him and went back inside his house. She didn't care about what happened anymore. She just wanted to go and sleep.

It was getting late. Luna raised the moon some hours ago or so. “I guess after I finish my haycake.” he thought. “I'm ready to sleep, too.” He followed behind her inside, where he promptly scraped the haycake off the oven, ate it in three bites, and climbed in the bottom bunk of his bed.

Despite the bed’s size, Coral woke up from a restful sleep. Carefully, she climbed down from the top bunk of the bed and looked at Cornfield as he was sleeping and snoring mildly. "Good,” she thought, “he's still asleep... He's a dunce, but at least he's cute when he's sleeping and not trying to be as awkward as possible..." She tip-hoofed to the door and walked out silently, but not before looking back and whispering "Thanks for the accommodations, tiger".

She closed the door behind her and walked to the back of the hut to get her belongings in the barrel. After attaching her saddlebags on her back, she dug out her map and a compass from inside as she bravely waded into and through the thick forest canopy of the Everfree Forest. She looked around as she marked each tree she crosses with her talons before she got lost.

After some more wandering, she found the cave she was looking for like the one on her map. A smile stretched across her face as she approached it, but her heart sank when she heard something growling inside the cave.

Cornfield, meanwhile, was still asleep soundly in his hut, possibly dreaming about all the stuff he was so close to having that last night.

Author's Note

This is the first chapter written by Me and my friend, TheFlamesOfSorrow!