Author's Note

My name is Fireflower and welcome to the sixth installment of my first My Little Pony fanfic, a Mature story using canon characters as human beings: as such, I’ve decided to focus on one of the main characters alongside others, half are based on those from other media; nevertheless, while this chapter’s tame, the overall story will deal with heavy subject matters unsuitable for certain readers so be warned.

As always, My Little Pony, or rather Friendship Is Magic, including its settings and characters belong to Lauren Faust and Hasbro, though not all of them are from there anyway; however, this concept of my fanfic alone belongs to me so I will say this line one time only: please do not steal this story or I will sue.

Lastly, let me also say I hope you enjoy this chapter now and stay tuned for future chapters later on: after all, you're going to be taking solace in the fact the following pattern will serve as a heads–up so to speak; besides, we've a long way to go before you can meet the rest of them.

Cellulose

Light in and of itself was capable of traveling to and from anywhere throughout the whole wide world rather almost instantaneously; in addition, it also was accompanied by warmth as well since it was the only way of how it’d worked out for all the aspects making up the very reality interchangeably. At the very least, its absolute presence alone had served to provide a sense of identity for all the corporeal dimensions; after all, the fact it can be seen by all of its lifeforms in general was good enough to serve as a provider for every single environment hither and yon the entire realm so to be speaking of. Now, it would seem just about anything and everything could be discovered almost immediately, irregardless of whatever importance and/or lack thereof, all thanks to a wholesome slew of colors painting them all in many different hues and shades crying out with life in every single emotion known of so far. Given the very situation at a hand, it was best to assume, for the most part, today was just about to start for many of them up and running about on all parts within their sphere of influence alone, already rotating upon its own axis at one set speed while revolving around another distant star at a different other.

In any case therein, it was about time to set the stage in essence, even though much of the work had been done by virtue of external homeostasis, constants and variables alike working together. The upper atmosphere had been colored in the brightest shades of the starriest sapphires, shining about, thanks to the golden sun completely illuminating it all with but powerful rays of photons. Traveling across the log horizon with these crashing skies were gentle breezes already carrying on various debris and scents composed of both light and heavy materials, known and unknown. An occasional howl carelessly whispered unintelligible dialogue yet it was unheard of overall, unaffecting both the sound barriers and lifeforms unready, unwilling, and/or unable to pick up. The topsoil and a few floras upon themselves had already gotten pushed and pulled alongside by the many shifting pathways, dancing roundabout rather safely at once without so much as a care. To say the loneliness was currently filling the deadened air simply served as an understatement even if a single grain of truth had taken root previously ever since their very conception prior.

The woodwind sounds of whistling had just cut on throughout the cold diurnal oxygen as it was instantaneously followed by the constant percussion of steely parts in a rapid succession. Within the long distance, an enharmonic orchestra had already arrived into the form of a slender yet rustic locomotive locked into a continuously circular motion firmly directed onward. Rapidly yet carefully, the utter synchronicity of melody was currently on a repeat with the very bumping and grinding of metalworking accompanying its now whooshing smoke clouds. Standing directly nearby were another set of tracks empty unlike the similar road already being taken with a series of lights and billboards being littered about infrequently so to speak of. A couple cars which were in the process of being pulled alongside by the little tank engine that could had already lit up brightly, albeit dimmed compared to the arid landscaping itself.

The many coaches coasting throughout in motion had some insides more elaborate yet moist, not to mention the fact there was already life stirring roundabout. The ceilings were in a brownish gold, illuminated by a series of lanterns nearby with furnishings intricately telling one too many stories of past cures into teal. The walls closing in where the windows took refuge were of a brighter color so to speak, bearing the qualities of static electricity which flashed the messages. Underneath it all were an abundance of the brilliant green in a cluster of swirls in every possible shade for all the observers to even acknowledge and the like. Seating was of no consequence for the very inhabitants within the car, although the abundance of density therein had made whatever tranquility so unlikely.

In any case, not every passenger aboard was standing about as one kind of area in particular was fit enough for the tasks of slumbering about freely. Only luxuries found within itself were a windowsill and furniture at a close range, more cleaner than a wolf–whistle and chaster than a catcall too. The fact they were already devoid of crowding individuals served as proof of how neatness was the norm, emphasized by the ligneous formations. All in all, the scenery beyond itself became picaresque due to the shining sunlight shimmering so throughout the looking glass and its blinds as well.

Out of the two bunk beds laying away at a right angle with hinges keeping them suspended from the ground, one of them was already occupied by its tenant: short and thin yet full of life no less. Amongst the attire chosen for the occasion was an orange cap harmonizing with a near knapsack; everything else was in the darkest of fabrics, lighter than black yet still colorful enough anyway. Slathered across the lone inhabitant’s integuments underneath the very clothing was a faint shade of an otherwise vividly grayish brown reminiscent of cork with lines running down and freckles. Even though there were clear and present signs of a ligneous composition similar to the environs, the face was one of the only things separating its owner from there thanks to two grapevine orbs. Several leaves were found upon the passenger’s body, two of which were hovering over the narrowed eyes while the rest hung onto the forehead curving upwardly despite the disconnection.

“Attention all passengers, we’ll now be approaching Ponyville in several minutes time: if this is your stop, then we ask you check your belongings and hope you have a nice day; either way, thank you for choosing Friendship Express, Equestria’s finest in rail transit…” a voice had been announced but it didn’t belong to the singular being due to the lack of a corporeal formation.

Nevertheless, the tenant in question heeded it all even as both dots were focused onto a white sheet with words written wraparound wreathing:

Hello, you…

Even I admit this is lame and I was once the fifth wheel in a party of five but mostly the third in a small crowd of a company: you deserve a better name and yet I can’t even muster up the inner strength to summon up my own creativity to the forefront; besides, someone else maybe reading this now and then as well as one of many possible futures willing to let whatever remain survive. Typical but it can’t be helped anyways, even after everything’s all said and done as well as nothing none could speak or do; in any case, what I’m about to tell you is top secret, a conspiracy bigger than all of us, including my kin, may they rest in peace: there’s a powerful group of people out there that are secretly running the world, and in this case, right in the ground. I’m talking about the guys and gals no one knows about because they’re invisible and indivisible, even with the finest gadgets: societies’ one–hundredth daring to play with forces far beyond control and comprehension, all without knowledge or care; because of this, bad things happen all the times, irregardless of whatever moral fiber that dares to exist in their chosen victims, if any. Nevertheless, this is about last year, the anniversary of my faithful friend, Victor and his family, the only ones whom cared: while everyone else was out there scrambling to repair what’s left of their lives, I had nothing whatsoever to return to; even worse, it’d proved to me how worthless my search for friendship has become when everyone outside the family keeps pushing me away. For a guy who had next to nothing, I sure can’t seem to figure out a way to go an entire week without being somebody’s target: it didn’t even matter if I’d given them what little money on me or stayed out of their path, at least as far as they were all concerned; after all, it wasn’t enough for them to make my life perdition simply because I exist but did they really had to go this far?! To many, I’m but a simple person lost in a crowd caring nothing at all for whether I live and let learn or perish and rot away: nevertheless, I have a name, just like the rest the them, be if their world or others like and unlike them all the same to us here; though, I’m pretty sure you’ve already known after all these times I’d spent trying to remember every goshdarn thing ever since. Of course, what is a victim to do in a world that could care less about right or wrong compared to success at the expenses of others: all they know about is how to find a way to get everything they want for themselves while doing absolutely none of their own work; I only know my feelings on the issues at hand don’t matter to them so long as they’re not suffering greatly at all whatsoever. Either way, I refuse to live in a world that rejects concepts such as morality and sanity, especially when they’ve been subverted; likewise, I refuse to let myself be subverted by fickleness of cowards, hypocrites, and traitors claiming to care for such things: after all, the people I’d tried to be friends with did nothing more than playing in their hands thinking it’d have made them cool.

“Now arriving at Ponyville…” the voice from earlier blared on, “please make sure to be aware of your surroundings: the company is not responsible for the damage or disappearance of personal private property of any kind whatsoever; in the event of injury or death occurring onboard, the train will make the nearest stop and emergency services will be notified as soon as possible…”

“No matter…” the leafy inhabitant had cerebrated as the surroundings thereof were being subjected to a graceful deceleration, using the smallest amount of time to glance at the backpack sharing the same bed as the open chirography.

Closing time had instantaneously entered the reader’s mind as they were shut away from the open world, hidden inside one of many secret compartments belonging to the accessory firmly in its owner’s possession as it’d been latched abaft by two forearms and the hands attached to them now gripping the respective straps. The fact the passenger became more than ready to go on the move wasn’t of any such surprise or concern even as he was gaining awareness of how many likewise were in attendance, all dressed up with a place in on their minds as they were currently shuffling about to little end in sight much to their mutual ambivalence. Under no circumstances was there any additional need to stay here in the bedroom more longer than necessary as far as there was cause for alarm, or lack thereof in this particular case, since departure itself had rested firmly on many minds, like and unlike each other and themselves free from exceptions but filled with rules.

As the door had been opened, both eyes ended up seeing more than a handful of peers nearby; each showed so many differences between its observant owner as there were similarities as well: fine fluxing fibers, fluid formed flesh, fragrantly flamboyant fabrics, and flexibly framed faces.

It didn’t take much for the likes of the former tenant to hear a plentiful of things from anyone and everyone in the same train, not that it’d mattered at least in the short or long run all the same; out of the many words entering and exiting the listener, a few were ones of closest proximity, “isn’t this where we came in…?”

And so we cerebrate the thought of attending the show
embracing heated exhilaration of star ensign glow

Another set of words traveled as well after a dozen seconds, this time faintly accompanied by artificial levers pressed synced with organic harmony

Perhaps there’s some longing for the sunshine
that we’d not believed to see.
Should we wish to discover reality’s iced eyes
The least could be done is tear off the disguise!

“In Real Life, Mink Gray, Bricks In – a few decades before now, even less before birth…” the interspersing individual ruminated as the plucked strings of a distorted melody followed after, not that it’d mattered whatsoever since the distance between the corporeal being and the airy music had grown big and wide over time no less.

After joining withdrawn masses into the general vicinity of cars making up the locomotive, both textures of hardwood were being felt against each other, found to be part and parcel of a platform where many commuters had remained. It didn’t take long for the details of the new environment to be ascertained by sights and scents alone: mountainsides raging with growth and erosion, filled with aromas devoid of pollution and its pollutants within as intense as ever. Directly touching the tracks were copious amounts of soil painted in a lighter color, formless yet filled with ambiguity as the compounds therein were bound together in conformity as a few little plants sprang up with life and freedom. Even those purple eyes could see a building straightaway within full vision, made up completely of stones slathered in a lighter shade save for several glass windowsills affixed onto the sides, including the green door inside frames. Surrounding it all was a white fence barely separating the area from the rest of the civilization despite being apart of it, especially considering there was nothing whatsoever stopping anyone from going over, around, or thru at all.

In any case, the lone pedestrian watched as the platform itself gotten cleared over time, apathetic to the details of the others coming and going as sights were beginning to grow dull and listless; sure enough, the train from earlier ago had started to pull off from there, resuming the orchestral movement which had signaled its arrival prior, something the former had related to instantly.

Almost immediately, the sounds of footfalls were striking the surface below gently, made none other than by its sole owner as rigid knuckles delicately tapped the translucent texture at once; soon, the static staccato was being instantaneously answered by a gruff voice from the other side, “yes, can I help you…?”

“Hi, I want… to get some… directions… to the town’s… own local… florist, please…” another tone escaped in a reply, belonging to the traveler in question alone as it was lighter and oxygenated despite being choked out intermittently so to speak, “do you know… where to go…?”

“Straight to town hall dead center behind me and next to the Sugarcube Corner; you can’t miss it: the top will look like a pink cupcake as soon as you get here…” the primordial speaker intoned at once, sending the lonely listener onto the next destination at once without even bothering to look.

It didn’t take long for the interactive individual to leave this place at once but not before saying, “thank you…”

At that very moment, it was time to keep on moving forward as both eyes found their shared viewpoint entering a neighborhood, each structure made with materials reminiscent of three little pigs: straws for roofs, sticks for support, and bricks for integuments. The pedestrian could also see a number of people currently increasing in density while walking all throughout the dirt road between them, already cast off in a larger sea no different from the other passengers found on the very same locomotive not so long ago. Even though there more eyes belonging to numerous passersby looking back in turn, not a single one of them had dared to make an approach, leaving the owner of one particular pair alone whilst keeping their collective distances in check for one reason or another. More often than not, the traveler couldn’t find it any helpful whatsoever other than to see a few faces possessed by some shiny happy people encountered on the way, something that was rather lacking for the rest as well as the former as far as concern remained.

It wasn’t long until a spiral building had entered the line of eyesight, stuck in the middle of it all the land and water adjacent to them as its sweet blue flag fluttered against wind above the brown tile; still, the journey wasn’t over. To say another had resembled a certain food was an understatement: its frosted chocolate roofing topped off with its towering cupola had bore the aforementioned shape spoken to the inquisitive individual where lampposts stood. With it being said, it was still inedible due to its residential purpose; matter of fact, two objects stood onto the rooftop’s ends: a purple chimney with some smoke climbing up and a nest made up of straw beneath a lone flower. The sturdy walls where the windows remained adorned had been clothed in a uniform species of platinum accented by the wood and glass plastered in many different shades of pink imaginable, thanks to sunlight sparkling about. What had made it very special were the two stripey pillars colored in a pattern of pink and white as they were standing nearby a purple egress with a small stairwell sharing the very same color with a flowerbed and mailbox too.

As appealing as it was to most observers, the pedestrian in particular turned both orbs onto yet another building standing near: it was much smaller in size with roofing composed of thick hay as all the walls were colored in a predominantly emerald splash; one significant feature already adorned happened to be an abundance of flowers in no less than two dimensions up on display.

It didn’t take long for both feet to be planted firmly next to the doorway underneath the balcony, most of which was painted in a tickled hot pink scheme with a trio of yellow petals surrounding a light sapphire horseshoe matching its handle; after taking in a long deep breath, a knock on its surface was heard, this time more firm yet fair as the taps of the looking glass from much earlier.

“Just a second…!” a faint voice had now escaped into the open world, corporeal as the concise conversation from before but more maidenly all the same, “who is it…?”

“No one in particular: just a customer…” the traveler answered the tenant almost instantly, bearing more depth than previously all the same.

After hearing some footfalls creaking down onto the hardened surfaces, the clicking of metals were listened to afore the upper partition pulling inward, leaving the identity to become revealed. A tall bright woman with thinly purple hair had pushed herself out into the spacious atmosphere, gently leaning onto the jaded remainder as she’d looked around for anyone to continue the talks. All eyes were glittering with gold experience as they’d matched the blouse adorning her lanky body, bereft of shimmers due to their organic materials yet light enough to be welcoming no less.

It wasn’t long until the bright woman had made eye contact with her observer instantaneously, hesitant initially but brave enough to ask, “what can I get for you, stranger…?”

“Do you have any charities I can donate to, madam…?” the intermediate individual inquired immediately in an immanent impression of interchange, “I would like to actually do so for a special occasion please…”

“You look a little younger than I’d projected: are you actually of age to be doing this by yourself; where are your parents…?” she’d asked instantly.

This earned a faint frown from the interviewee, despite the lack of hostility within; nevertheless, an answer was given to the bright woman, “gone… but not forgotten…”

“I’m sorry to hear that, sir: I didn’t know about it; usually, I avoid allowing kids to partake in such things without any permission at all…” she gasped with little warning, her neutral tone now melded into a somber complexion while still staring right at the lone pedestrian, “what happened to them…?”

“I kindly… prefer not… to answer… miss…” some words trailed off into the bright woman’s ears at once, defaulting back to the previous tone.

It wasn’t long until she’d finished the traveler’s sentence in an instant, “Underground, Violet Underground, but you can call me miss Violet ‘cause everyone does, especially my sister Misty; what’s your name…?”

“Canterine… Canterine Sorrow… but others call me either Cant or Canter but never Can…” the little listener had answered in turn to the very titular tenant in question, looking away from herself only ever so slightly, “although that I’d lived nearby, I’m not from around here to be honest…”

“I’m not a local here either: my sister and I are from Neighpon and we’ve gotten a part–time job here at the local floristry; our employers used to do all the work themselves before until the war years ago…” the bright woman had said to the eponymous speaker almost without any kind of hesitation whatsoever.

It didn’t take long for the interspersed individual to reply to her, “I know… it’s not really much of a concern as it used to be anymore, at least for some people; they want life to go on as it is and forget about the ones that came before them as if nothing is or was wrong to begin with…”

“I disagree: people remember the dead as well; I know one of my employers had a sister who died in childbirth several years back…” Violet interjected gently, catching Can off–guard as she’d pulled back from the latter almost immediately with a slight frown too, “they were both the closest to each other since their very infancy because they were twins, same yet different too.”

“I had brothers older than me and we barely had anything in common with ourselves I’m afraid; even I knew this to be true but the lie was just too appealing all the same: everyone is special in their own unique way… yeah, right… and I’m the Duke of Manehattan…” the petite pedestrian prattled on plainly, popping up a plane of predominant perspective of pithy protective premises.

This left the bright woman a little cross though she’d stood her ground in continuing on the very conversation all the same, “look, if you’re looking for trouble, then please reconsider your choices here; everyone’s been hurt over the years because of the war but that doesn’t mean you have to be like this forever: there are still some options for remedying your ongoing issues…”

“You don’t need to remind me of that; after all, you weren’t the first person to tell me this advice: I know far too plenty…” Can spoke as the orange backpack had now taken the forefront between its owner and herself, the former reaching inwardly, “in any case, here’s the money for charity; I no longer have any further need for your currency much longer as far as I see it…”

“This is a little much, even for me; are you sure you’re going to be fine with making a donation of this size…?” Violet inquired suddenly as she’d watched the timid traveler go and pull out a huge sack where the jingling of metal was being heard from within its round dimensions instantaneously.

Can ignored the bright woman’s newfound concerns as the former had quickly responded almost immediately, “keep it; my family, may their souls rest in peace, almost never used money in our lifetimes: after all, one half of most currencies come from the forest but the other half, such as yours, is made of metal.”

“Then how do you all manage to live without commerce and stuff…?” she’d asked the indifferent individual as the rough surface area touched her palm without so much as a care in the whole wide world from the latter, “surely you would’ve had something you’d liked to buy and/or sell…”

“You wouldn’t understand anyway; I tried to get others too back then and look at me: a lonely drifter with nothing better to say or do for that matter…” Can sighed before putting the resealed knapsack abaft and turning away from Violet slowly, taking enough steps to keep the distance between themselves at once.

The bright woman had lowered the small sack out of sight as well as mind and leaned out a little forward to speak towards the perambulating pedestrian in due time all the same, “but what will you do for yourself for the rest of your life, sir…?”

“’What will I do?’” Can repeated after stopping himself in place, turning around to face her once more with clarity before facing forward again, “I’ve been asking myself the very same question since I was a little boy but it doesn’t matter anymore; what matters to me shouldn’t ever be anyone else’s business but mine alone: as far as I see it, I don’t really care about it anymore so to speak.”

“What exactly is wrong with these people: they used to be so nice and friendly with each other and themselves but now they’re just cold and distant like our homeland; did all this unrest and fighting destroy their way of life and everything they’d stood for, including himself as well…?” Violet thought to herself as the tense traveler walked further away from the house she was in.

It didn’t take long for the bright woman to be left alone again with nothing more than the sights and sounds of flora and fauna respectively keeping herself company as the stardust memories of Can’s transfer had left her at a loss for words in an equivalent exchange between none other than themselves but no one else thereof to give their input of any kind whatsoever freely so to speak.