Living Lava's Travel Journal
Entry 1, Ponyville - Part 1 of 3
It turned out when Discord left, he went to have a chat with Fluttershy, he was quite affected by Twilight's opinion of him, although he doesn't show it, Rose could understand how he feels, and the fact that he and Fluttershy are quite close, it made sense that Fluttershy had already heard about Twilights uncensored opinion of him, from what Rose had gathered from her chats with Discord, Fluttershy was a quiet and nervous pony, that assessment didn't fit with what she saw when they arrived at Ponyville.
While Twilight was sweating buckets and looking every which way, Rose noticed that Fluttershy was stonefaced and almost outright glaring at Twilight from the way that the other ponies at the station were avoiding the pair, it could be a rare occurrence or the fact that an alicorn twice their size that happened to be made of lava was also standing slightly behind Twilight, either way, Rose was a tad put off by the situation.
"Hi, fluttershy...," Twilight faded out as Fluttershy didn't respond so much as remain indifferent to her greeting. Seemingly resigned to the predetermined topic of the conversation Twilight continued, "Look, I know I messed up, Rose already pointed it out, I'm going to put in an effort and try to get to know Discord better, I just find it hard as he always ends up making everything into some kind of joke I mean, I know he isn't a bad pony, I just find it hard to communicate with him," Twilight finished, her head down and ears drooped.
"It's alright, I'm not mad, but I am quite disappointed, I thought you two had gotten over your differences after what happened with Tirek, I of all ponies know that to communicate with and befriend Discord, you have to have the patience." Fluttershy said while a small smile emerged on her face towards the end. Fluttershy looked toward Rose and her smile widened, "You must be Rose, Discord has told me so much about you and about some of the pranks you managed to pull off I haven't seen him this happy for quite a while, barring today of course," Fluttershy prompted them to follow her as they made their way out of the train station, Rose closed her eyes and smiled she took a breath of fresh air and concentrated, with a small grunt of effort, her mane and tail died out, replaced with light orange hair.
As she opened her eyes, they met with a smiling Fluttershy and a light clapping from Twilight, "That's a major improvement Rose, I'm glad you've made that much progress, and while you still let off a noticeable amount of heat, you shouldn't set anything on fire, although, I do wish you did that earlier." Twilight elaborated, as they trotted down the dirt path, a large crystal tree castle, sparkling in the distance, clashing somewhat with the rural setting.
"So, tell me about yourself Fluttershy, Discord has mentioned you from time to time, so I'd like to get to know you," exclaimed Rose, keeping pace with the smaller pegasus.
"Oh, well, there isn't that much to know, I love to take care of all of my animal friends and any injured animal that I find I try and nurse back to health Discord has told me about your tendencies to set things on fire and that you have been improving that issue quite a lot," Fluttershy answered her wings twitched at the mention of fire, but she kept her voice steady throughout the conversation.
Rose, Fluttershy, and Twilight kept a steady conversation as they trotted toward Ponyville proper, where Rose was met with the pinkest pony she had seen, "Hello I'm Pinkie Pie you must be Rose Flare It's lovely to meet you I love what you did with your hair I'll be going now I have things to plan, Byeee." Throughout the short time she was in her view, Rose was unable to get a word in edgewise before she bounced away faster then she had seen some ponies run.
Rose looked towards Twilight, who had a sheepish look on her face, "Do you know her? I don't and I'm not even sure how she knows my name. Did you tell her?" Rose asked.
Twilight shook her head and answered, "No, but she always seems to know a ponies name, she's friends with everyone in town, I'm sure you'll get to see her again anyway," Twilight paused for a second, "Would you like to stay the night at my place? We have plenty of room, and that means you won't have to worry about being able to say goodbye to Green Rose, She has been wondering what happened to you." Twilight paused, " I... Don't talk about you that much, so you'll have a lot to catch up on." Continued Twilight, nervously pawing at the ground.
Fluttershy watched on and smiled to herself, glad that her friend was trying to better herself. She hopes it will go just as smoothly when she talks to Discord again.
Author's Note
I've had some writer's block for a while, along with my growing disinterest with MLP, I've been reading a lot of Worm (great premise with really good fanfictions)
I've split this chapter into three, it'll help me keep focus, not sure why, but I find it much easier to write in many small chunks.
I've also scrapped this chapter a few times... I was never able to finish the ending for to, I didn't feel like I had Rose in Ponyville for enough time... So I'll be extending the chapter into around 850 - 1200 word parts. (three planned, but may be more)
As always I need criticism or praise to keep my flippant nature for writing in season!
How is the grammar and sentence structure?
Does the dialog read well?
Tell me more, in the comments below!
Living Lava's Travel Journal
Entry 0, Goodbye Canterlot (prologue)
Author's Note
Long waiting, and yet, only a prologue. There will be more in the future I have 15 more chapters planned, all chapters will be more than 2k words. I will aim for 3k, but some will probably be short.
Entry 0, Goodbye Canterlot (prologue)
Rose was giddy to explore, wrapped in her fascination with magic and the myth of the world she was in. Just knowing that there were new strange lands out there made her confinement in Canterlot much more bearable.
"Thank you for your offer, Celestia, but I think I'll make the way to Dragonlands on my own", Rose said, excitement dripping from her voice as her hooves tapped in place, "But can I get a map of Equestria? And I'd like to go to the village I first arrived in. I want to thank the first pony I met. I don't remember her name, but I do remember her face." Rose was abuzz with energy and excitement.
Celestia nodded before using her magic to retrieve a map along with a bag, "Here, the map you need, enchanted to survive the harshest conditions, it should suffice for your unique problem and a bitbag, it will refill once a month automatically, it should provide you for most of what you need." Celestia explained, her voice tired but hopeful as she levitated the items over to Rose's magical hold, she turned toward twilight, who still had her wing over her.
"Could you help Rose on her trip to Ponyville? I'm sure your friend will be happy to see you back early as well," Celestia asked Twilight, her eyes caring and voice gentle.
Twilight simply nodded her head and turned to Rose, "I'll travel with you to Ponyville, I have a lot to think about, but... for what it's worth Rose, Thank you. Fluttershy told me once that sometimes to be kind, you need to be mean, I think I understand that more now." Twilight confessed, a small smile on her muzzle and a new life behind her eyes.
Twilight moved away from Celestia after one last look before she trotted over to Rose, beckoning her to follow with a tilt of her head. "Come on, I'll show you the way to the Train station, it is a fair distance from here, and the ride to Ponyville will take a few hours," Twilight informed as she continued her way toward the throne room doors, her hooves echoing loudly throughout the hall.
Rose gave one last look toward Celestia, "Thank you for your trust, and, if possible could you tell Luna I said goodbye? I know she sleeps around this time, and I don't want to wake her, she looks tired enough during the night as is," asked Rose, her flames gentle and small as her voice.
In response, Celestia nodded her head before issuing her last goodbye, "I will, and thank you for thinking of her, she might be upset that you didn't get to say it to her face to face, but I know what you mean," Celestia said, her wings drooped slightly. "You shouldn't keep Twilight waiting, she hates it when her schedule isn't on time, I hope you enjoy your travels and Goodbye Rose," Celestia said as she returned to her throne, Rose couldn't help but notice a brief sadness in Celestia's goodbye, she shook it off however, it doesn't matter she thought, adventure awaits.
Twilight couldn't help but notice how Rose no longer burned through the carpet as they traversed the halls of Canterlot Castle, perhaps Rose no longer had a reason to, or simply forget, but it still managed to give her hope that perhaps Rose and Celestia could become friends in the future.
"Now Rose, I know you've been here for a little while, but most of the Canterlot ponies still don't know you're here, so don't be alarmed if they aren't as friendly as..." Twilight began, her voice lowering as she spoke, she turned her head toward Rose, realization in her eyes, "No one really was friendly to you were they?" Twilight spoke, her voice quiet, her wings dropping, yet her pace stayed the same.
"No, not really, Discord and Luna were, as well as you to some extent, but the guards, maids, and students kept away from me, said things quietly, thinking I couldn't hear them," Rose explained, a longing tone clipped the end of her statement. "Don't worry about it Twilight, I'm used to it, it doesn't really bother me. So tell me, does this train have an obsidian carriage?" Rose inquired, "I wouldn't want to cause any damage to it," Rose continued, as they reached a large ornate door, which was opened by Twilights Magical aura.
"Don't worry about it Rose, I'll cast a fire-resistance charm on the carriage, although I might have to reapply it, later on, It should hold for most of the way to Ponyville," Twilight explained, as she exited from the castle out into the castle grounds.
The grounds were quite empty save for the few guards and maids milling about, and Stoneleaf, the gardener, Rose had seen him around, but they didn't get along well, what with her burning all of his hard work with just her presence.
As they exit out of the castle grounds they could see the cities' main populous, out and about in fancy hats and coats, most of their noses seemed attracted to the sky, yet they were able to navigate perfectly with each other. Rose linked it to some sort of hive-mind intelligence. They continued their journey towards the train station in silence uninterrupted for around fifteen minutes, that's when the nobles to notice.
"Oh goodness, what a truly monstrous creature, what do you think it wants?" came a quiet voice, Rose couldn't pick out who said it, but by now it didn't matter. Rose ignored the whispers and continued with Twilight, her face neutral, while Twilight's ears were twitching and moving in the directions of the sounds.
"What do you think it's doing with Princess Twilight? could it be one of her pet villains?" the whispers continued in much the same manner until a large tomato came flying towards Rose.
'Splat'
Rose continued down ignoring the burning tomato sliding down her face, and while Rose never stopped in her stride, her face settled into a cold neutral frown, her mane reignited into brilliant red and orange flames, burning off the rest of the tomato.
The train station was, to say the least gaudy in Rose's opinion, Rose walked with Twilight to the ticket station, a light blue stallion with a white mane took some bits from Twilight, Rose didn't mention the terrified look she received from him.
Rose had to wait ten minutes before she was allowed on the train, Twilight has to apply the heat resistance charm pretty much everywhere in their carriage. Rose sat down on one the seats, noting that it was still quite soft, making herself more comfortable Rose turned and looked towards Twilight.
"Thanks again for your help Twilight, perhaps in the future we could become friends?" Rose mentioned, her tone neutral and her voice even. Twilight turned her head towards Rose, her wings still ruffled, "I, I would like that Rose," Twilight said.
"I know I'm not a perfect pony, and that I can make some really bad mistakes, so, Thank you, Rose, I feel like that's all I've said today, but, you opened my eyes, not only about myself but that Celestia also has flaws." Twilight continued, her voice quiet.
The trip continued in relative silence most of the way to Ponyville, Twilight ended up replacing the heat charm four times, draining a lot of her energy. Eventually, they arrived at their destination, where Fluttershy was waiting for them, her eyes hard and her position solid; Rose didn't seem fazed by this, but Twilight started to sweat buckets.
