Coral was having a hard time. She had entered a writing competition and was having a hard time coming up with a story. Especially because her long-term, but temporary, job as Princess Luna’s assistant was taking up a lot of her time. Now, in her little free time, she couldn’t think of anything. Was this what authors called writer’s block? Coral glanced at the clock. She was really pushing it; her break was almost up. She sighed and decided it would be best to use the rest of her lunch break for actually eating. She closed her notebook, slipped the pen into the spiral binding and put the notebook and pen away.
After lunch, she got up and trotted back down the palace halls. Because she was Princess Luna’s assistant, Coral naturally had the night shift. So it was really 2:30 in the morning. She couldn’t help feeling a bit dejected that her story hadn’t been as easy to write as she had hoped. As she made her way through the halls she took in the scenery; the stained-glass windows illustrating the more recent escapades of Twilight Sparkle and her friends. Maybe she could draw some inspiration from them? She paused in the middle of the big hall as though ideas could catch up if she waited for them. But no ideas came, because ideas don’t work that way. She dejectedly started up again and went to work.
Soon enough it was 6:30, the end of Coral’s work day. She began to pack her things back into her saddlebag and organise the papers which would stay on the desk. Princess Luna came over and watched her for a bit before gently saying, “is anything on your mind, Coral?”
“Yeah, but it’s not really that much, you shouldn’t worry about it,” Coral replied, without much conviction.
“Maybe, but you work so hard for me it’s only right that I listen to your worries.”
Coral dumped a bunch of papers into the rather large ‘out’ box. “If you insist… I entered a writing competition. I thought that creating a short story would be easy, but it’s much harder than I thought! And I just don’t know what to do or where to go for help, and if I keep procrastinating I’m just going to drop out anyway. It’s just really hard when I don’t have everything spelled out in black and white.”
“Have you seen if there are any story prompts?” Luna inquired.
“Uh…” Coral blushed a little, “I think there was, but I can’t remember any of them. It was pretty late for me, you know, because I have to stay up really late to get out and about with everyone else.”
“I see…” mused Luna, “maybe you could draw inspiration from your situation?”
Coral put a stray pencil away and lined up one last stack of papers. “Maybe. All done! I should go, perhaps I’ll come across some inspiration on the way home, or tomorrow on my day… night off”
Luna smiled. She knew what Coral meant by a night ‘off’. Coral had worked as a Royal Guard, but she had got injured doing her duty and had a long recovery time. Once she had got out of hospital and could comfortably move around, Coral had wanted to do some kind of work, so she could feel useful. That had lined up well with Luna’s old assistant retiring, so Coral got the job, at least until she was fit and well enough to take up her guard duty. Whenever she had a night ‘off’, she meant that she had appointments to check on her healing, physically and mentally.
“Good day then!” Luna said cheerfully as Coral trotted out the door. “And good luck with your story!”
As Coral made her way through Canterlot to the tiny apartment she called home, she mulled over what Princess Luna had said. Her situation? Was Luna referring to the fact that it was harder to write a story than she had expected? Or did she mean how she had been injured? Now she thought about it, given some creativity it would probably make a pretty cool story.
She approached the door, undid the ward she used to keep her apartment locked and strode inside. Once in, she used her telekinesis to levitate her chock-full saddlebags onto the low table and then she flopped onto a floor cushion. The story could wait until tomorrow… Right now she needed to sleep…
Coral trotted forwards, pretending she was on duty, wearing armor. This was all part of her physical assessment, which was happening every two weeks to track her progress. She looped back in a wide circle (tight turns were a bit too much for her, another annoying reminder of the fact that she couldn’t return to guard duty yet) and came back to the doctor. The doctor, a pony named Royal Jade, smiled encouragingly.
"That was really good! At this rate you will be back at normal work in just a few weeks!" Dr Jade chirped. Her enthusiasm echoed through the medical center's huge gym.
"Thanks" Coral said, a little disappointed that she wouldn't be going back to her proper post for a while. "It's still hard to turn around sharply, is that normal?"
Dr Jade thought for a moment. "It's normal for a pony in your situation, yes. But, like I said, you need a few more weeks to heal fully. We're lucky you've found a job that's not too much for you, that will do wonders. It's not too much to wear you out, but being an assistant you still have to keep moving. That's exactly what you need right now."
"Okay." Coral replied. She walked out of the gym, picking up her bag on the way out.
Coral had a lot of spare time on her day off. The day had come to be known as 'appointment day' in her calendar. As all her appointments were done, she decided to work a bit on her story. The story she had no idea what to do for. She checked the calendar and saw that the contest required the story to be submitted in two days. Great.
"Why is it so hard to write?" She asked the tree which she had sat next to. She was in a park, next to a school. Oddly enough, it looked like the school was in operation. At night. She had to investigate!
One sign-browsing investigation later, Coral had concluded that this was a school where fillies and colts were sent when their guardians had night shifts, as it was easier for the family to be all on one schedule. That worked. Now back to her story.
Thinking back to what she said earlier, an idea occurred to her. If story writing was so hard, than why didn't she write a story about a struggling author? Finally blessed with an idea, she settled down and wrote a title.
Why is it so hard to write?
Author's Note
So, this is me attempting to write a story when I have no idea what to do. It turned out quite fun to write though! Should I try to write more about Coral the Guard?
Edit: I am writing Coral's backstory! It should be out sometime soon-ish.
