Quills and Sofa's Speedwriting Anthologyby Atom SmashChaptersThe New MarePainting LatitudesSuit Up!Monster Under the BedThe TrooperFalling With StyleThe New MareIt was late afternoon in the town of Ponyville, a young mare stood by her stall to sell her wares, her brother stood next to her side. Applejack couldn’t help but hope the new mare would drop by today. She tried to help herself from looking around. You never want to seem too eager in a marketplace. Her brother on the other hoof was just as stoic next to her as usual. His presence was reassuring, and unnecessary. He didn't need her help to sell apples, so why had she insisted on coming? She knew the answer, and much to her chagrin, so did he. It hurt when she felt his hoof on her shoulder. Not that the gesture wasn't kind. Applejack loved her brother and she knew he was just trying to make her feel better. It wasn't his fault that his sympathy had the opposite effect today. The gesture might be reassuring, but what hurt was the fact that he felt she needed reassurance. It was still a few minutes until closing time. Rainbow Dash could still show up. She could still show up, but it didn't seem all that likely. Applejack sighed as Big Macintosh let go of her and started to pack up their wares. She had wasted the entire day, two ponies doing the work of one, and for what? Just so she could ogle the new mare? She felt the anger bubble up. What was so special about this new mare? Why did Rainbow Dash have to choose Ponyville of all towns to find a job in? It wasn't right. Big mare from a big town, coming here and playing with Applejack’s feelings. What infuriated Applejack even more was that she knew she was being unfair. Rainbow Dash didn’t know Applejack liked her, how could she? They had barely talked. The only time they exchanged words was when the pegasus bought some of her apples, and then she was too tongue tied to say anything, she just handed the fruit over and didn't even have the presence of mind to haggle over the price. What bits Rainbow hoofed over was the price. AJ was aware that she tended to grossly overcharge the pegasus. A small, petty payback, and an unintentional one. Rainbow came from the big city in the clouds, where fruit had to be imported and sold in stores with several merchants racking up prices along the way. The pegasus probably didn't know how much cheaper you could get apples when they were sold right by the farm that grew them. Applejack shook her head, it was no use dreaming about a mare who barely knew she existed. Rainbow Dash hadn't shown up, and now she had twice as much bucking to do tomorrow to catch up for today's missed work. Well, she only had herself to blame for that one. Whatever qualities the new mare had, it was AJ’s own fault for pining over her all day. With a sigh she joined her brother in the packing up. And then it happened! The pegasus swooped down like a bolt of lightning from a clear sky. Applejack barely had time to admire her rainbow mane whipping in the speed, or the way her muscles worked under that cyan coat before the mare had landed in front of them. The speed this mare could move at, it was mind boggling. One moment she was barely a dot in the sky, and the next she was standing right in front of Applejack. Standing right in front of her, and talking. AJ quickly pulled her act together and focused on the pegasus. She was talking, asking something. Talking to her. That meant having to reply, and focus. Focus was a good idea. "You guys haven't closed yet, right?" Rainbow Dash frowned, eyeing the empty stall. "Eh, no of course not. What can Ah get ya?" AJ did her best to appear cool, pushing her hat back and giving a smile that she hoped was confident. Big Mac just rolled his eyes, having just packed up and lifted the last of their produce. He put one sack down by Applejack and started walking. She’d just have to catch up with him after this was done with. No pressure at all, she could totally handle this, probably. "Cool," the pegasus smiled, utterly oblivious to the cold shoulder the stallion had given her. "A dozen of the red ones." She demanded, and put a hoofful of bits on the counter. Easily enough to buy 3 dozen, Applejack noted. She took some of the coins, pushing the rest back with the apples. She was done taking the new mare’s money, it was unfair and unbecoming of a pony as honest as she liked to think herself to be. "Here's yer apples, and here's yer change." She mumbled. "Ah sweet!" The pegasus cheered, packing up the apples in her saddlebag, and the bits she hadn't expected back. It was a good deal. She then turned and left, completely oblivious to the longing look the farmpony gave her as she trotted away. AJ was so lost in admiring the mare that it wasn't until Big Mac cleared his throat next to her ear that she realized she had been staring at another mare's plot, in public, and her brother had stayed behind and seen it! She blushed furiously and pulled the hat down over her face. Now if the ground could just open up and swallow her, that’d be nice. Big Mac just sighed. "Just go talk to her." He suggested, giving his sister a nudge. "What?" That was something that hadn't even occurred to Applejack, yet it was so simple. "Really?" She asked, looking up at him, doubt clear on her face. He just nodded reassuringly. "Eyupp." And gave her a push. Dizzy with excitement Applejack trotted after the angelic pegasus, wondering what she could possibly say to interest a mare like her. But you know, you gotta live on hope. Author's Note The prompt to this one was Emotions, which was also the original title to this story. I Thank my friends in the Quills and Sofas Speedwriting group for editing and coming up with the prompt. Painting LatitudesCardinal Direction yawned, taking a break from her drawing to look around from her perch on top of the cloud. Behind her, nothing but empty endless ocean, in front of her, the new coastline she’d spent several hours sketching out and all around her was empty air. Fresh air, she reminded herself. She was doing what she loved, even if this was the more tedious part of her calling. She was exploring, discovering really. There was even a chance she was the first pony to ever venture this far south. Certainly she was the first to map the new continent out. That was how she’d gotten Princess Twilight to finance her one-mare expedition after all. So little was known of Giraffrica, other than that was where Zebras came from. It was nothing but a myth to most Equestrians, having never seen it nor even heard of anypony coming from there. Well how could they, as far as Cardinal knew there weren’t any ponies on this continent. Oh she was convinced there were people there, just probably not ponies. Historically every race had kept mostly to themselves, though as they said times were changeling and so the newly crowned Princess Twilight Sparkle had sent out envoys to every known culture or, as in Cardinal’s case, to the unknown ones. She had been part of the expedition to contact the elusive Zebra tribes, well she still was part of it even if she had split off on her own. It had been over a week since their ship struck land, only to find nothing but deserted shores. It had been agreed that the ship would follow the coastline to the west until they met any sign of habitation while the pegasi took turns scouting ahead. Cardinal though had a slightly different mission. She would leave the diplomacy to the others, her talent was in making maps after all. She had taken on the rather daunting task of mapping the entire coastline. It would probably take a while, continents weren’t exactly known for their small size. Still, she had no regrets, enough supplies to last for at least a couple weeks more and no intention of turning back until she had to. As a pegasus she had an endless supply of water in the form of clouds and if worse came to worst and she didn’t find any edible plants she could always fish. Her nose wrinkled at the idea of eating another creature. Yet she’d just have to deal with that. Pegasi had after all a long documented history of pescavorism and well fish was fish, it wasn’t like she’d be eating any cute animals. You had to make some concessions to survival when you were the only intelligent life for miles around. She grabbed another chunk of cloud with her wing and wiped it across her brow, then threw it overboard, it would be too salty to drink. That was one thing she could say for Giraffrica, it was hot, no wonder the entire place seemed like a desert. Maybe the Zebras were just as heat resistant as dragons, or the continent was larger than even Cardinal had expected. Only one way to find out. With a satisfied smile she stuffed her finished drawing into it’s tube, ate a chunk of cloud to hydrate herself and set off into the unknown. Author's Note This I believe was a panic write, hence the brevity. I am unsure if I want to expand it, though I find the idea of exploring the world beyond Equestria fascinating. Suit Up!Octavo inspected himself critically in his full-length bedroom mirror, a recent purchase, and did not hate what he saw. That too was another recent development. In fact, Octavo had made a lot of changes lately. Despite wearing nothing but underwear, he found himself intrigued rather than uncomfortable. Still looking at himself he raised his arm and flexed. It should have felt silly, but he was immensely proud of how his upper arm swelled with the movement. He glanced over at the dumbbells in the corner, all that hard work was certainly paying off. He relaxed his arm, letting it hang loosely by his side and was delighted to see that it still looked good, strong, manly and immensely satisfying. He would probably always have slim shoulders, there wasn’t much he could do about that, it was the legacy of Octavia, but he was still proud of the progress he had made. Flexing again he couldn’t help but smile at his mirror image as it took on a very masculine shape. For the first time in his life, Octavo felt good about his looks, and that was worth everything he’d gone through to get to this point: all the exercise, the hormone shots, the arguments, yes even the lost friends. His image wasn’t perfect though, not yet. He still had some work to do, and he looked forward to it. First came the shaping undershirt which pressed his breasts flat, then the dress shirt. It was a long sleeved button down affair that he had custom made after he came out. The buttons matched the mulberry of his eyes and both shoulders sported embroidered treble clefs. These decorations were unnecessary, it wasn’t as if they could be seen under the jacket and tie, but he liked having them there. Clothes were all about expressing the real you, and Octavo wanted to do that on every level he could. After the shirt was firmly buttoned down came the trousers, which he carefully tucked the shirt into and selected a belt that would go well with his shoes. Every item of clothing added to his confidence and comfort and he found himself stopping to admire himself in the mirror several times. He looked like a real gentleman standing there in his slacks and button down. Had it been a normal school day he would have stopped there, but today he had a date and he felt justified in treating himself to his very best. He selected a mulberry tie, reminiscent of the pink bowtie he had used to wear when he was still dressing like a girl. That old thing had been his first act of rebellion. It had been meant to be worn as a hair accessory, but he had clipped it to the front of his shirt instead. Even back then it had just felt more him. Well, the mulberry tie was him grown up. It was wider, darker and almost completely hid the hint of cleavage that he was still working on getting rid off. The benefit of a plain tie was that he didn’t have to worry about pattern as he tied it into a simple yet functional knot. Lastly came the jacket, it was a deep charcoal that fell somewhere in between the bright gray of his skin and the much darker tones of his mane, complimenting both. The real benefit of the jacket however was the extra structure. The stiff canvas front flattened out his chest and the discrete shoulder pads gave him a very masculine silhouette. Perfection. Octavo gave his mirror image an approving nod. “That will do,” he said, doing his best to sound formal, but there was no hiding the huge smile on his face as he left for his date. Author's Note This was my entry in last year's entry into the T is for Trans Contest ran by Quills and Sofas last year. I was quite happy with it but it was too short to post on its own. I don't generally write anthro, but do love an opportunity to express my passion for male fashion, and ponies just don't have the anatomy for it. Monster Under the Bed"Go back to bed sis!" Limestone yelled, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. A yell like that would have woken a normal household, but the Pie family was made from sterner stuff, or so they claimed. Four sisters shared the room, yet two slept soundly. One was shouting, and the last just timidly shaking her head. "Nuh huh." Marble protested with the volume of a mouse. She let her long mane shield her face from the angry glare of her sister. "Look Marble, there is no monster under your bed, just go back to sleep!" "Nuh huh." Her more timid sister replied. There was something under her bed. Something dangerous. "Oh for rock's sake!" Shouted Limestone and bent down to peer under the bed. "Get out from under the bed, monster!" She demanded. For a second nothing happened. "See, I told you tha-" Her speech was cut off as something exploded from under the bed. Limestone's mane was blown back as a shower of confetti splattered against her face. "Hmm." Marble hummed in that particular tone that meant 'I told you so.' "PINKIE!" This time Limestone's voice managed to stir another sister. "Hnnwha!" The pink sister rolled over and found herself rudely awakened by a hoof yanking her out of the bed and sending her crashing to the floor. Pinkamena was so startled by this revelation that she entirely forgot to hit the floor and instead was left hovering a full hoof above it. "What?" She repeated. "I was dreaming about ice cream." She locked her blue eyes on her older, and much more grumpy sister, and scowled. "That's a stupid thing to dream about." Limestone shot back, wiping streaks of confetti from her own scowl. "Well, it's better than eating rocks!" She floated up near the ceiling, grabbing her pillow on the way. This only seemed to infuriate Limestone "Is not!" She shouted back, picking up a pillow and throwing it at Pinke. The flying earth pony deftly caught the projectile, and was suddenly holding all the pillows in the room. "Why you always got to be so weird!" Limestone yelled in impotent rage as she found herself bereft of ammunition. However, the loss of a pillow, and subsequent drop of a couple of inches had stirred the fourth sister. The other three held their breaths as the heaviest sleeper opened her eyes and locked them all with her deadpan glare. "Limestone, shut up. Pinke, stop breaking the laws of physics, they are there for a reason." As the pink sister crashed to the floor, landing softly on her impromptu cloud of pillows, Maud finally turned her eyes to Marble. "It's just a type 2 Boogeymare under your bed, it's perfectly safe to sleep on top of, you are too big for it to eat." With that said she rolled over and was fast asleep. The three sisters looked at each other and shrugged. "I'll get the rockhammer." Limestone replied and left the room "I'll get the cannon." Pinkamena said, saluting. "Mhm." Marble agreed, and stayed where she was. The morning found four well rested young fillies, and for some reason a badly trampled boogeymare covered in confetti on the porch. The end. Author's Note So this was my first ever Panic, but I really enjoyed it even if it had to be very short. The prompt was: Superstition. The TrooperAuthor's Note This was a contest where we were asked to pick a line from a song and run with it. I happened to be listening to Iron Maiden at the time and though: "I wonder what I can do with just AAAAAAAAAH!" But do have the opening line of the song for context: You'll take my life, but I'll take yours too You'll fire your musket, but I'll run you through So when you're waiting for the next attack You'd better stand, there's no turning back The Trooper "AAAAAAAAAAAH!" The screams of terrified and wounded ponies rang out around Daring Bayonet, drowning out the rolling echo of the enemy cannons as their deadly projectiles struck home. There was no turning back, however: she and every pony in the light brigade knew that. There was only one thing to do. The bugle sounded out as if agreeing with her, with her and every single one of her siblings in arms. They all replied with a single word: "CHAAAAAARGE!" The shout rang out from hundreds of pony throats, thousands. They all screamed their defiance as the air filled with noise, horse's breath and the acrid smoke of gunpowder. The Equestrian army let off one last salvo of musket fire against the opposing Gryphonian army before they began to move, plunging towards glory and certain death. Daring itched to follow them, but first she threw one last look at the pony beside her:, a stallion and her lifelong friend. If they were doing this, they would do it together. Silver Spade, for that was his name, was busy plugging the barrel of his musket with the bayonet. Daring could see the fear in his eyes as he fumbled with the task, his hooves too sweaty to get a good grip. Daring, already having finished the task herself, as befit her name, reached over to help him but he rejected her offer. Giving her a fierce look of determination he threw the firearm in the mud and gripped the bayonet between his teeth. She gripped her own weapon tight as he moved next to her, the two stragglers watching the first line of ponies rush straight at the Gryphonian force, screaming out their defiance as they were gunned down. A single look was shared between Daring and Silver, one nod that said more than words could ever manage, and then they broke into a run. "AAAAAAAAAAAH!" Daring screamed for both of them, Silver running with the blade between his teeth. "AAAAAAAAAAAH!" But even then her voice was barely audible over the sound of the Gryphonian guns as they raced towards the wall of feathers, flesh and sharp steel. "AAAAAAAAAAAH!" Daring was far from the only pony screaming as they charged. The blood-curdling screams of the fallen echoed around them as she and Silver jumped over the bodies littering the ground, ponies who had been one step ahead of them as the gryphons fired their second round. Daring felt a horrible realization as they rushed past what was left of the force they had arrived with; there were far too few ponies and far too many bullets. There was no way they would make it. The Gryphonian line was getting closer, but it might as well be on the other side of the world for all good it would do them. It was only her, Silver and a few other stragglers against the whole Gryphonian army now. Like that would stop them! There was no going back. She was close enough to see the whites of the enemy's eyes, and the terror there as the soldiers furiously tried to reload in time. They would not! Daring would reach them before they did, and then she'd stab and hack away at them. She would kill every single one of the feathered bastards to avenge her fallen friends. It didn't matter that they would take her with them. Her hooves tore at the mud beneath her as Daring rushed towards the awaiting horde, bayonet held high. Daring snarled as she saw one of the enemy, a brown gryphon rooster raising his musket and aiming straight at her. They were only a dozen steps apart when the rooster pulled the trigger and Daring felt the bullet hit. She only stumbled as the projectile tore through her ribcage, she barely felt the pain. She didn't hear the burst of rounds that claimed Silver's life. There was only one thing left for her, one last action in this world. She met the rooster's eyes as she stumbled the last few steps towards him. The gryphon looked terrified, he dropped the musket that had claimed Daring's life and turned to run. Too late, Daring's bayonet caught his side, piercing him just beneath the wing. It was with grim satisfaction that Daring Bayonet felt the blade that bore her name sink into the yielding flesh of her killer, all the way to the hilt. The gryphon spluttered, he feebly clawed at the weapon impaling him. His talons found no purchase on the blood slick musket and soon he collapsed, drawing his last ragged breath. As he fell he took the weapon with him, Daring's own hooves lacking the strength to hold on to it. No, that would not do, she was surrounded by enemies, she couldn't stop at just one! She lifted her eyes from the dying gryphon at her hooves and felt her vision blur as she tried to focus on the enemies closing in on her. No doubt they were eager to avenge their friend. Daring gave them a grim smile and in lieu of weapons raised her hooves to defend herself. She'd take them all on, kill every single bastard with her bare hooves if she had to. That was the plan. What really happened however was that she felt her limbs give out and the wet mud rising up to meet her as she too collapsed, her body finally succumbing to the gunshot. It had held together long enough for her to get her revenge, and as she lay there looking up at the sky she felt that it had been enough. Daring Bayonet, it was a name and a promise, and by Celestia she had delivered. She held no regrets as she let out her final breath. Falling With Style“Uhm,” Scootaloo gulped while looking between her mentor and the very long way down to the ground. “Are you sure this will work?” “Sure?” The rainbow maned mare replied, looking almost as offended as she did confident. “Absolutely! It’ll totally work.” Scootaloo merely nodded in reply, she didn’t trust her voice to keep steady. This had been an insane idea to start with, but she had only herself to blame, and technically Rainbow Dash, but she’d known her honorary big sister would come up with some crazy plan, so it really was Scootaloo’s own fault for asking. Oh why had she asked? Was not being able to fly really such a big deal? She’d gotten by for years not being able to fly. Earth Ponies and Unicorns spent their whole lives not being able to fly. Unless you were Princess Twilight of course, or Starlight Glimmer, and Pinkie had that weird helicopter thing… “You’re stalling squirt,” Rainbow said with what Scootaloo determined to be an appropriate amount of enthusiasm. “No,” Scootaloo lied, of course she was stalling. It wasn’t as if she didn’t trust her big sister but… she didn’t want to die either. As she dared another look over the edge of the cloud she felt that dying might be preferable to falling. The sheer height they were standing on was mind boggling. Scootaloo could barely make out Ponyville beneath them, much less any of the ponies living there. “Look,” Rainbow said, not buying Scootaloo’s brave face for one second, she was awesome like that. “If you jump off this cloud, what’s the worst that can happen?” she said, giving the younger mare a confident smirk. “Uhm… I’ll fall for a really long time, then hit the ground hard and go to pony heaven?” Scootaloo tried to not let her fear show and grinned as she added, with a gesture of her hooves: “...splat.” Rainbow Dash gave her an odd look, tilting her head as she did so. “No,” she said, putting on a much more confident smile than Scootaloo ever managed. “The worst thing that’ll happen is that you fall for a little bit, I pull off a heroic rescue and tease you about it for the rest of your life. But that’s the absolute worst case. I probably wouldn't tease you about it. Too much. At least not in front of Twilight.” Scootaloo did feel reassured by that. “I guess it’s not really falling to your death if you have an awesome friend waiting to catch you.” “Eyupp!” Dash exclaimed, mimicking Big Macintosh and motioning to the end of the cloud. “It’s just falling, but with style.” She waved her other wing at herself, clearly indicating that she, in all her rainbow resplendent glory, was style. “Okay,” Scootaloo nodded, once more looking over the edge of the cloud. “I think I can do this.” “Sure you can,” Rainbow said. “I promise nothing really bad is going to happen, and you'll be happy you tried. I mean, come on, if it does work, it means you were flying!” The older pegasus put some extra emphasis on those last few words, giving Scootaloo a warm feeling in her chest. She did want to fly. “Here goes!” Scootaloo bit down and threw herself off the cloud, wings spread, feeling the wind against her face. Too much wind, entirely too much wind, she was losing height with an alarming rate. “AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!” she screamed. “That’s the spirit kiddo!” was Rainbow’s reply, before she realized she had better dive fast if she wanted to catch her little sister before she hit the ground. Author's Note I believe the prompt was: Flying.
The New MareIt was late afternoon in the town of Ponyville, a young mare stood by her stall to sell her wares, her brother stood next to her side. Applejack couldn’t help but hope the new mare would drop by today. She tried to help herself from looking around. You never want to seem too eager in a marketplace. Her brother on the other hoof was just as stoic next to her as usual. His presence was reassuring, and unnecessary. He didn't need her help to sell apples, so why had she insisted on coming? She knew the answer, and much to her chagrin, so did he. It hurt when she felt his hoof on her shoulder. Not that the gesture wasn't kind. Applejack loved her brother and she knew he was just trying to make her feel better. It wasn't his fault that his sympathy had the opposite effect today. The gesture might be reassuring, but what hurt was the fact that he felt she needed reassurance. It was still a few minutes until closing time. Rainbow Dash could still show up. She could still show up, but it didn't seem all that likely. Applejack sighed as Big Macintosh let go of her and started to pack up their wares. She had wasted the entire day, two ponies doing the work of one, and for what? Just so she could ogle the new mare? She felt the anger bubble up. What was so special about this new mare? Why did Rainbow Dash have to choose Ponyville of all towns to find a job in? It wasn't right. Big mare from a big town, coming here and playing with Applejack’s feelings. What infuriated Applejack even more was that she knew she was being unfair. Rainbow Dash didn’t know Applejack liked her, how could she? They had barely talked. The only time they exchanged words was when the pegasus bought some of her apples, and then she was too tongue tied to say anything, she just handed the fruit over and didn't even have the presence of mind to haggle over the price. What bits Rainbow hoofed over was the price. AJ was aware that she tended to grossly overcharge the pegasus. A small, petty payback, and an unintentional one. Rainbow came from the big city in the clouds, where fruit had to be imported and sold in stores with several merchants racking up prices along the way. The pegasus probably didn't know how much cheaper you could get apples when they were sold right by the farm that grew them. Applejack shook her head, it was no use dreaming about a mare who barely knew she existed. Rainbow Dash hadn't shown up, and now she had twice as much bucking to do tomorrow to catch up for today's missed work. Well, she only had herself to blame for that one. Whatever qualities the new mare had, it was AJ’s own fault for pining over her all day. With a sigh she joined her brother in the packing up. And then it happened! The pegasus swooped down like a bolt of lightning from a clear sky. Applejack barely had time to admire her rainbow mane whipping in the speed, or the way her muscles worked under that cyan coat before the mare had landed in front of them. The speed this mare could move at, it was mind boggling. One moment she was barely a dot in the sky, and the next she was standing right in front of Applejack. Standing right in front of her, and talking. AJ quickly pulled her act together and focused on the pegasus. She was talking, asking something. Talking to her. That meant having to reply, and focus. Focus was a good idea. "You guys haven't closed yet, right?" Rainbow Dash frowned, eyeing the empty stall. "Eh, no of course not. What can Ah get ya?" AJ did her best to appear cool, pushing her hat back and giving a smile that she hoped was confident. Big Mac just rolled his eyes, having just packed up and lifted the last of their produce. He put one sack down by Applejack and started walking. She’d just have to catch up with him after this was done with. No pressure at all, she could totally handle this, probably. "Cool," the pegasus smiled, utterly oblivious to the cold shoulder the stallion had given her. "A dozen of the red ones." She demanded, and put a hoofful of bits on the counter. Easily enough to buy 3 dozen, Applejack noted. She took some of the coins, pushing the rest back with the apples. She was done taking the new mare’s money, it was unfair and unbecoming of a pony as honest as she liked to think herself to be. "Here's yer apples, and here's yer change." She mumbled. "Ah sweet!" The pegasus cheered, packing up the apples in her saddlebag, and the bits she hadn't expected back. It was a good deal. She then turned and left, completely oblivious to the longing look the farmpony gave her as she trotted away. AJ was so lost in admiring the mare that it wasn't until Big Mac cleared his throat next to her ear that she realized she had been staring at another mare's plot, in public, and her brother had stayed behind and seen it! She blushed furiously and pulled the hat down over her face. Now if the ground could just open up and swallow her, that’d be nice. Big Mac just sighed. "Just go talk to her." He suggested, giving his sister a nudge. "What?" That was something that hadn't even occurred to Applejack, yet it was so simple. "Really?" She asked, looking up at him, doubt clear on her face. He just nodded reassuringly. "Eyupp." And gave her a push. Dizzy with excitement Applejack trotted after the angelic pegasus, wondering what she could possibly say to interest a mare like her. But you know, you gotta live on hope. Author's Note The prompt to this one was Emotions, which was also the original title to this story. I Thank my friends in the Quills and Sofas Speedwriting group for editing and coming up with the prompt.
Painting LatitudesCardinal Direction yawned, taking a break from her drawing to look around from her perch on top of the cloud. Behind her, nothing but empty endless ocean, in front of her, the new coastline she’d spent several hours sketching out and all around her was empty air. Fresh air, she reminded herself. She was doing what she loved, even if this was the more tedious part of her calling. She was exploring, discovering really. There was even a chance she was the first pony to ever venture this far south. Certainly she was the first to map the new continent out. That was how she’d gotten Princess Twilight to finance her one-mare expedition after all. So little was known of Giraffrica, other than that was where Zebras came from. It was nothing but a myth to most Equestrians, having never seen it nor even heard of anypony coming from there. Well how could they, as far as Cardinal knew there weren’t any ponies on this continent. Oh she was convinced there were people there, just probably not ponies. Historically every race had kept mostly to themselves, though as they said times were changeling and so the newly crowned Princess Twilight Sparkle had sent out envoys to every known culture or, as in Cardinal’s case, to the unknown ones. She had been part of the expedition to contact the elusive Zebra tribes, well she still was part of it even if she had split off on her own. It had been over a week since their ship struck land, only to find nothing but deserted shores. It had been agreed that the ship would follow the coastline to the west until they met any sign of habitation while the pegasi took turns scouting ahead. Cardinal though had a slightly different mission. She would leave the diplomacy to the others, her talent was in making maps after all. She had taken on the rather daunting task of mapping the entire coastline. It would probably take a while, continents weren’t exactly known for their small size. Still, she had no regrets, enough supplies to last for at least a couple weeks more and no intention of turning back until she had to. As a pegasus she had an endless supply of water in the form of clouds and if worse came to worst and she didn’t find any edible plants she could always fish. Her nose wrinkled at the idea of eating another creature. Yet she’d just have to deal with that. Pegasi had after all a long documented history of pescavorism and well fish was fish, it wasn’t like she’d be eating any cute animals. You had to make some concessions to survival when you were the only intelligent life for miles around. She grabbed another chunk of cloud with her wing and wiped it across her brow, then threw it overboard, it would be too salty to drink. That was one thing she could say for Giraffrica, it was hot, no wonder the entire place seemed like a desert. Maybe the Zebras were just as heat resistant as dragons, or the continent was larger than even Cardinal had expected. Only one way to find out. With a satisfied smile she stuffed her finished drawing into it’s tube, ate a chunk of cloud to hydrate herself and set off into the unknown. Author's Note This I believe was a panic write, hence the brevity. I am unsure if I want to expand it, though I find the idea of exploring the world beyond Equestria fascinating.
Suit Up!Octavo inspected himself critically in his full-length bedroom mirror, a recent purchase, and did not hate what he saw. That too was another recent development. In fact, Octavo had made a lot of changes lately. Despite wearing nothing but underwear, he found himself intrigued rather than uncomfortable. Still looking at himself he raised his arm and flexed. It should have felt silly, but he was immensely proud of how his upper arm swelled with the movement. He glanced over at the dumbbells in the corner, all that hard work was certainly paying off. He relaxed his arm, letting it hang loosely by his side and was delighted to see that it still looked good, strong, manly and immensely satisfying. He would probably always have slim shoulders, there wasn’t much he could do about that, it was the legacy of Octavia, but he was still proud of the progress he had made. Flexing again he couldn’t help but smile at his mirror image as it took on a very masculine shape. For the first time in his life, Octavo felt good about his looks, and that was worth everything he’d gone through to get to this point: all the exercise, the hormone shots, the arguments, yes even the lost friends. His image wasn’t perfect though, not yet. He still had some work to do, and he looked forward to it. First came the shaping undershirt which pressed his breasts flat, then the dress shirt. It was a long sleeved button down affair that he had custom made after he came out. The buttons matched the mulberry of his eyes and both shoulders sported embroidered treble clefs. These decorations were unnecessary, it wasn’t as if they could be seen under the jacket and tie, but he liked having them there. Clothes were all about expressing the real you, and Octavo wanted to do that on every level he could. After the shirt was firmly buttoned down came the trousers, which he carefully tucked the shirt into and selected a belt that would go well with his shoes. Every item of clothing added to his confidence and comfort and he found himself stopping to admire himself in the mirror several times. He looked like a real gentleman standing there in his slacks and button down. Had it been a normal school day he would have stopped there, but today he had a date and he felt justified in treating himself to his very best. He selected a mulberry tie, reminiscent of the pink bowtie he had used to wear when he was still dressing like a girl. That old thing had been his first act of rebellion. It had been meant to be worn as a hair accessory, but he had clipped it to the front of his shirt instead. Even back then it had just felt more him. Well, the mulberry tie was him grown up. It was wider, darker and almost completely hid the hint of cleavage that he was still working on getting rid off. The benefit of a plain tie was that he didn’t have to worry about pattern as he tied it into a simple yet functional knot. Lastly came the jacket, it was a deep charcoal that fell somewhere in between the bright gray of his skin and the much darker tones of his mane, complimenting both. The real benefit of the jacket however was the extra structure. The stiff canvas front flattened out his chest and the discrete shoulder pads gave him a very masculine silhouette. Perfection. Octavo gave his mirror image an approving nod. “That will do,” he said, doing his best to sound formal, but there was no hiding the huge smile on his face as he left for his date. Author's Note This was my entry in last year's entry into the T is for Trans Contest ran by Quills and Sofas last year. I was quite happy with it but it was too short to post on its own. I don't generally write anthro, but do love an opportunity to express my passion for male fashion, and ponies just don't have the anatomy for it.
Monster Under the Bed"Go back to bed sis!" Limestone yelled, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. A yell like that would have woken a normal household, but the Pie family was made from sterner stuff, or so they claimed. Four sisters shared the room, yet two slept soundly. One was shouting, and the last just timidly shaking her head. "Nuh huh." Marble protested with the volume of a mouse. She let her long mane shield her face from the angry glare of her sister. "Look Marble, there is no monster under your bed, just go back to sleep!" "Nuh huh." Her more timid sister replied. There was something under her bed. Something dangerous. "Oh for rock's sake!" Shouted Limestone and bent down to peer under the bed. "Get out from under the bed, monster!" She demanded. For a second nothing happened. "See, I told you tha-" Her speech was cut off as something exploded from under the bed. Limestone's mane was blown back as a shower of confetti splattered against her face. "Hmm." Marble hummed in that particular tone that meant 'I told you so.' "PINKIE!" This time Limestone's voice managed to stir another sister. "Hnnwha!" The pink sister rolled over and found herself rudely awakened by a hoof yanking her out of the bed and sending her crashing to the floor. Pinkamena was so startled by this revelation that she entirely forgot to hit the floor and instead was left hovering a full hoof above it. "What?" She repeated. "I was dreaming about ice cream." She locked her blue eyes on her older, and much more grumpy sister, and scowled. "That's a stupid thing to dream about." Limestone shot back, wiping streaks of confetti from her own scowl. "Well, it's better than eating rocks!" She floated up near the ceiling, grabbing her pillow on the way. This only seemed to infuriate Limestone "Is not!" She shouted back, picking up a pillow and throwing it at Pinke. The flying earth pony deftly caught the projectile, and was suddenly holding all the pillows in the room. "Why you always got to be so weird!" Limestone yelled in impotent rage as she found herself bereft of ammunition. However, the loss of a pillow, and subsequent drop of a couple of inches had stirred the fourth sister. The other three held their breaths as the heaviest sleeper opened her eyes and locked them all with her deadpan glare. "Limestone, shut up. Pinke, stop breaking the laws of physics, they are there for a reason." As the pink sister crashed to the floor, landing softly on her impromptu cloud of pillows, Maud finally turned her eyes to Marble. "It's just a type 2 Boogeymare under your bed, it's perfectly safe to sleep on top of, you are too big for it to eat." With that said she rolled over and was fast asleep. The three sisters looked at each other and shrugged. "I'll get the rockhammer." Limestone replied and left the room "I'll get the cannon." Pinkamena said, saluting. "Mhm." Marble agreed, and stayed where she was. The morning found four well rested young fillies, and for some reason a badly trampled boogeymare covered in confetti on the porch. The end. Author's Note So this was my first ever Panic, but I really enjoyed it even if it had to be very short. The prompt was: Superstition.
The TrooperAuthor's Note This was a contest where we were asked to pick a line from a song and run with it. I happened to be listening to Iron Maiden at the time and though: "I wonder what I can do with just AAAAAAAAAH!" But do have the opening line of the song for context: You'll take my life, but I'll take yours too You'll fire your musket, but I'll run you through So when you're waiting for the next attack You'd better stand, there's no turning back The Trooper "AAAAAAAAAAAH!" The screams of terrified and wounded ponies rang out around Daring Bayonet, drowning out the rolling echo of the enemy cannons as their deadly projectiles struck home. There was no turning back, however: she and every pony in the light brigade knew that. There was only one thing to do. The bugle sounded out as if agreeing with her, with her and every single one of her siblings in arms. They all replied with a single word: "CHAAAAAARGE!" The shout rang out from hundreds of pony throats, thousands. They all screamed their defiance as the air filled with noise, horse's breath and the acrid smoke of gunpowder. The Equestrian army let off one last salvo of musket fire against the opposing Gryphonian army before they began to move, plunging towards glory and certain death. Daring itched to follow them, but first she threw one last look at the pony beside her:, a stallion and her lifelong friend. If they were doing this, they would do it together. Silver Spade, for that was his name, was busy plugging the barrel of his musket with the bayonet. Daring could see the fear in his eyes as he fumbled with the task, his hooves too sweaty to get a good grip. Daring, already having finished the task herself, as befit her name, reached over to help him but he rejected her offer. Giving her a fierce look of determination he threw the firearm in the mud and gripped the bayonet between his teeth. She gripped her own weapon tight as he moved next to her, the two stragglers watching the first line of ponies rush straight at the Gryphonian force, screaming out their defiance as they were gunned down. A single look was shared between Daring and Silver, one nod that said more than words could ever manage, and then they broke into a run. "AAAAAAAAAAAH!" Daring screamed for both of them, Silver running with the blade between his teeth. "AAAAAAAAAAAH!" But even then her voice was barely audible over the sound of the Gryphonian guns as they raced towards the wall of feathers, flesh and sharp steel. "AAAAAAAAAAAH!" Daring was far from the only pony screaming as they charged. The blood-curdling screams of the fallen echoed around them as she and Silver jumped over the bodies littering the ground, ponies who had been one step ahead of them as the gryphons fired their second round. Daring felt a horrible realization as they rushed past what was left of the force they had arrived with; there were far too few ponies and far too many bullets. There was no way they would make it. The Gryphonian line was getting closer, but it might as well be on the other side of the world for all good it would do them. It was only her, Silver and a few other stragglers against the whole Gryphonian army now. Like that would stop them! There was no going back. She was close enough to see the whites of the enemy's eyes, and the terror there as the soldiers furiously tried to reload in time. They would not! Daring would reach them before they did, and then she'd stab and hack away at them. She would kill every single one of the feathered bastards to avenge her fallen friends. It didn't matter that they would take her with them. Her hooves tore at the mud beneath her as Daring rushed towards the awaiting horde, bayonet held high. Daring snarled as she saw one of the enemy, a brown gryphon rooster raising his musket and aiming straight at her. They were only a dozen steps apart when the rooster pulled the trigger and Daring felt the bullet hit. She only stumbled as the projectile tore through her ribcage, she barely felt the pain. She didn't hear the burst of rounds that claimed Silver's life. There was only one thing left for her, one last action in this world. She met the rooster's eyes as she stumbled the last few steps towards him. The gryphon looked terrified, he dropped the musket that had claimed Daring's life and turned to run. Too late, Daring's bayonet caught his side, piercing him just beneath the wing. It was with grim satisfaction that Daring Bayonet felt the blade that bore her name sink into the yielding flesh of her killer, all the way to the hilt. The gryphon spluttered, he feebly clawed at the weapon impaling him. His talons found no purchase on the blood slick musket and soon he collapsed, drawing his last ragged breath. As he fell he took the weapon with him, Daring's own hooves lacking the strength to hold on to it. No, that would not do, she was surrounded by enemies, she couldn't stop at just one! She lifted her eyes from the dying gryphon at her hooves and felt her vision blur as she tried to focus on the enemies closing in on her. No doubt they were eager to avenge their friend. Daring gave them a grim smile and in lieu of weapons raised her hooves to defend herself. She'd take them all on, kill every single bastard with her bare hooves if she had to. That was the plan. What really happened however was that she felt her limbs give out and the wet mud rising up to meet her as she too collapsed, her body finally succumbing to the gunshot. It had held together long enough for her to get her revenge, and as she lay there looking up at the sky she felt that it had been enough. Daring Bayonet, it was a name and a promise, and by Celestia she had delivered. She held no regrets as she let out her final breath.
Falling With Style“Uhm,” Scootaloo gulped while looking between her mentor and the very long way down to the ground. “Are you sure this will work?” “Sure?” The rainbow maned mare replied, looking almost as offended as she did confident. “Absolutely! It’ll totally work.” Scootaloo merely nodded in reply, she didn’t trust her voice to keep steady. This had been an insane idea to start with, but she had only herself to blame, and technically Rainbow Dash, but she’d known her honorary big sister would come up with some crazy plan, so it really was Scootaloo’s own fault for asking. Oh why had she asked? Was not being able to fly really such a big deal? She’d gotten by for years not being able to fly. Earth Ponies and Unicorns spent their whole lives not being able to fly. Unless you were Princess Twilight of course, or Starlight Glimmer, and Pinkie had that weird helicopter thing… “You’re stalling squirt,” Rainbow said with what Scootaloo determined to be an appropriate amount of enthusiasm. “No,” Scootaloo lied, of course she was stalling. It wasn’t as if she didn’t trust her big sister but… she didn’t want to die either. As she dared another look over the edge of the cloud she felt that dying might be preferable to falling. The sheer height they were standing on was mind boggling. Scootaloo could barely make out Ponyville beneath them, much less any of the ponies living there. “Look,” Rainbow said, not buying Scootaloo’s brave face for one second, she was awesome like that. “If you jump off this cloud, what’s the worst that can happen?” she said, giving the younger mare a confident smirk. “Uhm… I’ll fall for a really long time, then hit the ground hard and go to pony heaven?” Scootaloo tried to not let her fear show and grinned as she added, with a gesture of her hooves: “...splat.” Rainbow Dash gave her an odd look, tilting her head as she did so. “No,” she said, putting on a much more confident smile than Scootaloo ever managed. “The worst thing that’ll happen is that you fall for a little bit, I pull off a heroic rescue and tease you about it for the rest of your life. But that’s the absolute worst case. I probably wouldn't tease you about it. Too much. At least not in front of Twilight.” Scootaloo did feel reassured by that. “I guess it’s not really falling to your death if you have an awesome friend waiting to catch you.” “Eyupp!” Dash exclaimed, mimicking Big Macintosh and motioning to the end of the cloud. “It’s just falling, but with style.” She waved her other wing at herself, clearly indicating that she, in all her rainbow resplendent glory, was style. “Okay,” Scootaloo nodded, once more looking over the edge of the cloud. “I think I can do this.” “Sure you can,” Rainbow said. “I promise nothing really bad is going to happen, and you'll be happy you tried. I mean, come on, if it does work, it means you were flying!” The older pegasus put some extra emphasis on those last few words, giving Scootaloo a warm feeling in her chest. She did want to fly. “Here goes!” Scootaloo bit down and threw herself off the cloud, wings spread, feeling the wind against her face. Too much wind, entirely too much wind, she was losing height with an alarming rate. “AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!” she screamed. “That’s the spirit kiddo!” was Rainbow’s reply, before she realized she had better dive fast if she wanted to catch her little sister before she hit the ground. Author's Note I believe the prompt was: Flying.
