New Generation, New Adventures!
Dear unicorns and pegasi, you have friends in Maretime Bay. Come visit us!
That’s what was written on the letter that Izzy had found when she was younger. It was attached to a lantern, one she happened to come across in Bridlewood. Back then she was too young and scared to act on the letter’s promise. Now however, she was older and way more hopeful. She held out hope that the letter’s message still rang true, and that she really would find friends in Maretime Bay. She really needed friends, because being one of the only energetic and lively unicorns did not score her any social points with the other horned ponies.
Izzy Moonbow, a purple unicorn mare with a long blue curly mane and tail. She lived in Bridlewood, the unicorn city. She had a very vibrant personality and home, yet she didn’t really have anypony she could relate to. She didn’t really have any true friends either, which could probably be chalked up to the rest of Bridlewood’s inhabitants being very despondent and superstitious. Which Izzy was not, she felt a little detached from her fellow unicorns because of this.
She had always wanted to go out into the rest of Equestria and explore! See new sights, go to new places, meet new ponies, and make some real friends. And today it became a reality as the violet mare with the button and heart cutie mark left Bridlewood for the first time in her life. She was on a mission, a mission to finally meet those promised friends in Maretime Bay. She had decided to not bring much besides the letter, which was stored in the back of her mane. She figured that if Maretime Bay, an earth pony city, was friendly towards unicorns like her that they would have anything she would need. She had studied her map of Equestria before she left, memorizing where Maretime Bay was in relation to her home and the path she’d take to get there. Now all that was left to do was to start on her little journey.
‘I hope they really don’t smell like rotten fish.’ Izzy thought as she began her trek towards Maretime Bay. ‘That’d stink, literally!’ She giggled at her own joke. ‘Wonder what they look like,’ she thought, ‘I’ve never seen one, so I guess they could look like anything. Though judging by the name and drawings I've seen, I’d say they probably look pony-ish.’ Izzy continued forward through the large grass field that laid in front of her.
The sun had just come up when Izzy decided to embark on her journey. It was still just barely morning, and judging by her cottage’s map she’d arrive in Maretime Bay by this afternoon. She could barely contain her excitement. The prospect of making new friends, and even friends from other tribes was almost too much to handle. Izzy did a little hop in excitement before transitioning into a small skip. She was just so excited to meet new ponies, and the letter said “unicorns and pegasi” meaning that she might even meet some pegasi. Which actually wasn’t something she was too excited about. She had heard about how vicious and mean the pegasi were, plus she even heard rumors that they had something to do with the unicorns’ magic disappearing.
The more she thought about it the more she hoped that she was the only one to receive that letter. She really didn’t want to meet any foal eating pegasi, they sounded like really bad news. She much rather just deal and make friends with some lazy and dumb earth ponies. At least that’s what she heard, that earth ponies were lazy and dumb. ‘I kinda hope that they aren’t dumb though,’ Izzy pondered as she navigated through a flowery field.
As she made her way through the flower-filled fields she disturbed some butterflies, who flew up and away from her. As soon as one crossed her field of vision she locked onto it and began chasing after it, trying in a vain attempt to touch it. Getting distracted from what she was doing and chasing the yellow butterfly led her to a little pond. Once she reached it she stopped, realizing what had just happened. She wasn’t too far off track, but she definitely needed to get a move on now if she wanted to make it to Maretime Bay by this afternoon.
Her eyes were drawn to the yellow butterfly hovering above the pond, just taunting her. She squinted at it and crouched down. She shook her rump as she got ready to pounce on the thing, but first she talked to the butterfly. “You know, I’m on a little adventure butterfly. I’m going to Maretime Bay to meet some friends.” The butterfly for its part just kept hovering in the same place, and Izzy scooted closer to the pond’s edge.
“You see I’m going to meet some earth ponies,” She boasted slightly, “I don’t really mind if they’re lazy, I can deal with that, but I really hope they’re not dumb or smelly. I could get used to it, but it’d be a bit of a turn off to be honest.” One of her fore hooves bumped the water’s edge. “There might even be some pegasi there, though I really hope not,” She continued to say, “They’re kind of scary and they could steal my luminescence. Hey, I wonder what they look like.”
Izzy was now in position to get the butterfly, all she needed now was to keep distracting it and wait for the perfect moment. “They fly, kind of like you,” She said mischievously, “But unlike you I haven't pounced on one!” And with that she jumped at the butterfly, sure that she had it! Only for it to swerve out of her path at the last second. ‘Well, this sucks’ She thought as she landed in the pond with a great splash. She pulled herself out of the pond and plopped herself down on its sandy shore. ‘Perhaps I was the one being distracted.’ She pondered.
Izzy looked up at the sun once more and decided that she really needed to get back on track. In her completely drenched state the warm sun was very welcome on her body. She trotted back towards the path to Maretime Bay she had originally set out on. She couldn’t help what happened back there. That butterfly was practically challenging her to get it, and that was one challenge that she wasn’t going to back down from. ‘Annoying little butterfly.’ She grumbled inwardly.
Her annoyance quickly lifted when she got back to the flower fields though. As the wind had picked up, beginning to dry her off and causing thousands of flower petals to soar into the air. The display was beautiful, causing Izzy to stop in her tracks for just a moment to admire the show. All of the sudden she thought about the letter in her mane, and how it could be soaked. This momentarily caused her to panic, as she didn’t want the letter to be ruined.
She reached back into her mane with a hoof and pulled out the letter. It was slightly damp in a few spots, but besides that it was mostly dry. This came as a relief to indigo unicorn, that fact that her letter was safe and sound was all she needed right now. A small smile graced her face as she viewed the letter held in her hoof. However, as the wind picked up it tore the letter from her hoof leaving her smiling at her now empty hoof. She blinked and then looked up and saw the letter flying away. She just stared at it for a second until her brain started working again and she yelped.
She began galloping after it as flower petals slammed into her face and mouth. She kept spitting out what seemed like an infinite amount of petals. The wind kept wiping her letter around until said letter blew into a forest. Once it entered the forest much of the wind keeping it afloat was blocked out by the forest canopy, causing the letter to begin to slow down and fall. Izzy had almost caught up to the letter, but at that moment a rogue breeze pushed her letter a little off track.
“It landed in a tree?!” Izzy questioned loudly, “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Izzy huffed a sigh as she approached her now stuck-in-a-tree letter. From its base Izzy looked up at the letter, it was stuck in one of the lower branches. She tried to jump for it, but she didn’t quite make it. Instead she landed awkwardly and then fell onto her back. She blew a tuft of mane out of her face as she stared up at her letter, a determined look crossing her face.
She got off the forest floor and looked at the tree the letter was stuck in. ‘I can do this,’ She thought to herself. She lined herself up with the tree and backed up a little ways, preparing to ram the tree head on. She huffed out a breath as she felt the wind pick up around her. Then she ran full speed towards the tree, only to skid to a halt as something on the ground caught her curious eye. It was…
“My letter?” Izzy spoke aloud. She looked back at the tree only to see her letter was missing from it. Her gaze went back down to the one in front of her and it dawned on her, the wind just pushed it back out. ‘I almost smacked into a big tree for nothing.’ She inwardly mused. And before the wind could pick up again she snagged her letter back up and placed it back in her mane. ‘Right where it should be!’
Thankfully her letter chase took her in the right direction, for as she left the forest behind she was in a grassy field. Directly in front of her was a small grassy hill, one which she swiftly climbed. Once she had scaled the hill she looked at the sun and saw it was almost mid-day. ‘Right on schedule...I think,’ She thought. She looked ahead of her and gasped, in the distance she could see it.
“Maretime Bay!” She exclaimed. In her excitement she started to gallop towards her destination, humming about new friends all the way. In her blind rush to get to her destination she wasn’t paying good attention to the ground beneath her hooves. And so when a small rock found itself in her path she didn’t notice it until too late. Her left hoof hit the rock and she stumbled, falling down and into a roll. She continued rolling forward until she fell into a deep ditch, one that would not be easy to get out of.
“It’s one thing after another isn’t it?” Izzy questioned aloud, “Can’t I catch a break!” She couldn’t take it anymore. She burst out laughing, all the while getting up. She wasn’t annoyed at anything at all so far. It was fun pretending to be a bit more serious, but she just couldn’t take it anymore. That just wasn’t her, and so far this little expedition had been one of the most fun things she had ever done. She’d be lying to herself if she said that she wasn’t slightly annoyed at some points, but overall this little adventure had been really fun. It was Izzy Moonbow’s first real taste at freedom, life beyond her cottage, beyond Bridlewood.
“To Maretime Bay!” Izzy yelled, ecstatic to meet her soon-to-be new friends. She backed up and ran full speed at one of the ditch’s walls. She almost made it but just slid down instead. It took a few more attempts after that, but she eventually cleared the top of the ditch and continued, slower now, towards Maretime Bay.
‘I can’t wait to meet my new friends,’ Izzy excitedly thought, ‘I wonder what they’re luminescence will be! Hopefully somepony will have tangerine luminescence, I haven’t seen that one before!’ Izzy was so excited and lost in thought that before she knew it, she had made it to Maretime Bay. ‘And right on time too if the sun is anything to go off of.’ She thought happily.
A huge smile crossed her face as she began making her way towards Maretime Bay’s entrance where she saw some earth ponies. She tried to wave at them, but as soon as they saw her they started to scream and run away. ‘That’s weird,’ She thought, ‘What Is everypony doing? The letter said they’re my friends.’ She continued to walk forward as the earth pony town in front of her went into a panic. She just chalked it up to the earth ponies showing their friendship towards her in their own extreme and special way. ‘Maybe they’re so excited to see a unicorn they just don’t know how to react!’ She thought positively.
In front of her laying on the ground she saw what appeared to be an earth pony with an orange coat and a light purple mane and tail. Said pony looked to also be a mare, and this mare also seemed to have a satchel slung over her. ‘The first friend I can properly introduce myself to!’ Izzy exclaimed in her head. So, Izzy went up to the earth pony and introduced herself.
“Hi new friend! My name’s Izzy.”
The orange earth pony started to slowly get up, looking at Izzy’s horn. She stumbled on her words at first, but soon enough the orange earth pony managed to say, “U-u-unicorn!” Izzy curiously looked around as the rest of her new earth pony friends began to scatter, just like before. It quickly dawned on her what they were doing.
“Ooo,” She vocalized her slight amazement. “Is everypony playing hide and seek?” She asked the orange earth pony, who still stood beside her. Looking around she quickly spotted an earth pony trying to hide behind an ice cream stand. ‘Well he’s not very good at hiding is he.’ She spoke internally. Out loud she notified him that he’d been found, “I see you!”
The earth pony acknowledging his loss decided to throw himself into the sea part of Maretime Bay, which Izzy had never seen before. ‘Must be special earth pony rules.’ Izzy figured. Izzy decided to look about the town to see what it was like. Besides every pony trying to find a hiding spot she noted the interesting architecture of the place.
Just as she was looking around she heard a pony yell out, “Unicorn attack!” She ignored this, presuming it was just another special earth pony rule. She however, did spare a quick glance over to the direction of the voice and saw it came from a handsome beige stallion, with an aquamarine-colored mane and tail. Said stallion having a strap going around them with a star badge on it.
She quickly lost interest in him and got distracted by the salty air she could smell. Even as an alarm went off she paid it no mind as she turned to her left and saw the sea. Something she didn’t register was there the first time she looked its way. She started making her way towards it as she reflected on the small journey it took to get here. All she could think about was one thing, one thing she was super excited for and couldn’t wait for it to happen. ‘This is going to be so exciting and fun! I just can’t wait to finally make a ton of new friends! A ton of new, true, and real friends.”
