Chapter 1- The Marketplace.
It was a bright and sunny spring day in Equestria. The sky was blue, with some white, puffy clouds that floated by gracefully. In the town of Ponyville, many ponies were awake and doing their daily errands. The hustle-and-bustle of the marketplace was at it's peak. At one of the stalls, a yellow mare stood trying to bargin with the owner. She was wearing a red cape with a flower on the hood of it. With her, she was carrying a small wicker basket in which were a variety of local herbs. This was none other than Little Red Riding Shy.
Little Red Riding Shy was just about the kindest mare in town. Everyone loved her good nature and she always looked at the world with a poisitive outlook. She even had all her animal friends who would listen to her sing her beautiful melodys under a tree near her cottage. All of them cared for her dearly because she cared for them. If she was ever hurt or sick, the animals would always make sure she got better. She would do the same thing for any of her animal friends.
Her pet, Angel, wanted to keep her away from the horrors of the world. Before he had met her, he had seen things that nobody should even have to live through. He didn't ever want to go back to the wretched life. When Fluttershy found him, he was soaking wet in the rain. The moment he saw her, he knew she would care for him and love him forever. So, in return, he sheilds her from harms way, emotionaly and phyiscaly. At times he may seem rather mean, but he does all this just to protect Shy from the world.
Oh am I boring you with details like I always do?
Typical me! Getting off topic all the time.
Let's focus this story on Shy's cottage at the begining of her day now.
"What a lovely morning" Shy said as she looked out her bedroom window at the grassy fields and the town off in the distance. She got up out of the bed and headed to her dresser. She pulled out her normal red cloak and dawned it. Then she got herself ready for the day and went downstairs to eat.
Angel had already made her some fresh salad with orange juice and some toast on the side. He was busy waking up the other animals for the day. Normaly, Shy would do it, but seeing as she had woken up a tad lad, Angel decided to do it for her. He had on his pink helping apron as usual.
Shy sat down to eat. She felt well rested and ready for the day, but she knew that having a heathly breakfast would make somethings a little easier for her. As soon as she finished, she took her plate to the sink to wash it off. When she turned around, she could see that one of the animals was aguring with Angel for waking him up. Shy saw this and walked over to resolve the conflict.
"Is everything okay? You two look like your aguring." Said Shy as she walked up to the 2 bickering animals. Angel then proceded to gesture what happened to Shy, though sometimes this doesn't work for him.
"You two are figthing about wheat?" Said Shy, rather confused at Angel's gestures. As soon as she said this, Agnel facepalmed and instead wrote what he was saying on a peice of paper. Shy looked at what he had wrote and understood what he was saying now. "Oh, your fighting about sleep!" She said with a understanding look.
"It's okay Badger. You can sleep a little longer if you want!" She said. As the Badger was climbing back into his burro, Shy did not notice Angel rolling his eyes, as if suggesting the badger was lazy. After this conflict was resolved, Shy went into the next room, Angel following behind her.
She turned her attention toward the wicker basket on the couch. Her mother had given it to her when she was moving out. It was carfully decorated with a lace trim around the outside. The handle was made of some small rose vines, trimed of any thorns that might have been on them. Shy carried it everywhere with her, everyday. It reminded her of home, where she had missed dearly when she moved away. She picked it up and carried it with her to the door.
Then, in a panic, Angel remembered what day it was. And, more importantly, what time it was. Her ran over to her just before she opened the door. "What is it Angel?" She asked "Is something wrong?". Angel then gestured to her what she had promised someone today. She, however, was clueless as to what he was trying to say.
"Um...your late for a meeting?" Shy guessed. Angel shook his head and tried gesturing again. "You're behind in the day?" She guessed again. Angel shook his head, getting frustrated. He tried one more time. "You need to be somewhere? Or, I need to be somewhere?" She asked. Angel nodded as she said that and gave a planner of her day to her.
"Oh goodness! I need to get to the marketplace before their sold out of those herbs!" Shy said worried. Shy opened the door, as Angel hopped into her wicker basket, and of they went to the marketplace.
Shy made her way through the busy marketplace as quickly as she could. She hoped the line wasn't too long and that they wouldn't be sold out. She searched around for the stall, looking everywhere. Finally, she spotted the green and blue tent. She flew over to it, seeing the herb she needed and no line at all. She sighed at this sight and walked up to the counter.
The owner was rather tall. She had a yellow coat with brown spots, a long neck, blackish mane, and some pierceings all over her ears. She had to duck underneath the top of her tent so as not to go right through the roof. She didn't look like one to bargin and, in retrospect, she looked rather scary. She wore too much eyeliner and her eyes looked somewhat like a snake's eyes. Her expression was one of frustration, annoyence, and bordom, though it seemed like she had something on her mind.
"Um, excuse me?" Shy said as walked up to the counter. The owner appered not to hear her, just seemed to stare straight ahead, right at Shy. Shy felt rather unnerved by this, and tried to talk again, a bit louder. "Um excuse me, do you have any of these herbs on my list?" She said as she took out the list and placed it on the counter. The owner still did not respond. Shy looked behind her to see into her shop, just to see if there might something preventing her from responding. As she did so, she saw a deck of cards with some pictures and 1 word on each card. To it's left was a crystal sphere that seemed to have mist swirling around in it. To it's right, there were some pony dolls, with pins and needles ticking out of their heads, chests, and legs. On all the other shelves were herbs of all asortments. Just as Shy had taken this all in, the owner shook her head to snap out of her trance, and saw the customer in front of her.
"Ah hello. You wish to buy some herbs from lands away from heaitage of yours, yes?" Said the owner, who had introduced herself as Gina. Shy turned her attention back to the owner to reply. "Oh, yes. Do you have any of these things on my list?" She said, and pointed toward her list on the counter. Gina picked up the list and looked at it. "Why of course have this I do! Tell me, are you making kind of some brew?" She replied, her manner of saying rather odd because it seemed to ryheme all the time. "No, their just for a friend of mine who's lives in the everfree. I promised I'd bring her some of them because she lives far off the edge of town and these herbs seem just so exotic to her." Shy replied, not at all creeped out at the way Gina ryhemes everything. "Ah okay. I think I have some on this shelf. Why don't you and I chat whilst I do that?" Gina asked and replied at the same time. "Um well...okay." Shy responed unsure. She was not really the talkivtive type much, but she really had nothing to do at the moment, which is why she agreed. So while Gina looked and Shy waited, they chatted.
"Please excuse me for my staring. I must be feeling rather wary." Gina said, moving from shelf to shelf. "Oh it's okay. I was just wodnering if you were okay is all." Shy replied, feeling relived that the owner was okay. She was, however, now curious of the asortment of antiques she had on that one shelf. She wasn't sure it was polite to ask though, so she decided to keep the thought to herself. Gina,however, seemed to have sensed her thoughts.
"If you are wondering about my antiques, you cna come into my tent of mystic tricks. Not only do I run a shop, but I can tell you your fate with luck." Said Gina, moving to another shelf. Shy was shocked by this statement. Did...did Gina just read her mind? No...it must have just been a lucky guess on her part. Shy thought. She then proceded to respond to the last part of her statement. "No sorry. I'm okay for now. I'd like to not know my fate right now." She said, scarred of what her fate might be or could be. "Okay then. No problem" Gina said, placing the herbs on the counter. "Okay, how much?" Shy asked, taking out her money purse. But before should could get it out..... " Do not worry. You do not have to pay. Zecora is a personal friend of mine. It is free of charge for her. I owed her a favor anyways." Gina said with a smile. " Oh thank you!" Shy said happily and with a smile. She put the herbs in her basket and troted away. Halfway out of the Market place, though, she wondered why Angel had been so quiet. She looked inside her basket, and then giggled. Angel must have fallen fast asleep halfway here, because he was snoring slightyly like a baby. He looks so cute when he's asleep! She thought. Then she continued the walk to her cottage.
Shy arrived at the cottage as the sun was high in the sky. Some of the animals were outside playing in the sun, while others were just relaxing. One partiuclar turtle was wearing some red sungalsses and stilling on a small rock, as if getting a tan. She smiled at this sight and then opened the door. As she walked inside,she saw most of the nighttime animals trying to hide from the sunlight. A possom was teaching some young ones how to play dead, although it may have been teaching a bit too dramaticly,as one would in a theater. Shy walked over to Angel's bed and opened the basket. she carfully took him out, being sure not to wake him. He had been such a good help latelt and hy thought he deserved a rest. She places a blanket ontop of him, then went into the kitchen to make him a sundae for when he wakes,incase he is hungry. Then she walked out her door, carfully closing it behind, and made her way to the forest entrance/ Halway there, she stopped. Was something watching her from the forest? She felt like something was, but after a while, she dismissed it as her imagination and continued into the Everfree.
Author's Note
Wow that took a while for me to finish. All together i've been working on this from 3 am last week to whenever i uploaded it. (Sleep? Saneity? What are those?? Sorry,never heard of them.) I got this idea when I saw the cover pic and "A canterlot Wedding" was on at the invasion part. Then this idea jsut poped into my mind! (You'll see what i'm talking abotu in later chapters.) Also, I'm putting this into chapters for many reasons. One, I can't do all that in one night, and since i'm very forgetful, I probally would have forgoten about this in the morning. Two, it's better for my schedule in real life (Yes, I have a life outside the internet. Shocking coming from a technogeek girl right? Wrong.) And, three, I jsut think it would be better for my story if I want to add some side scenes for the story as to why some chracters are there. Now if you exscue me, I have to face some screamers and play Luna Games in one shot.
Looks like nightmares for me tonight! *Psyhco-happy-killing face.*
Chapter 2- The Walk through the forest
As Shy entered the forest, she felt rather regretful she didn't bring Angel with her. The animals that lived around here were a rather creepy bunch, and though Shy might have cared for every animal, ever animal didn't include the ones in the Everfree. Even the forest itself was strange. Weather, day, and night all happened on there own here. Not to mention the stories told about this palce by others. Shy has had a few bad memories here herself. Once, she was watched by a hydra and hadn't even known had it not been for Pinkie's Pinkie Senses. Then there was also the many encounters with timberwolves. Applebloom even once told her about a town of blank flanks. And some ponies tell a story of a pony with no face that lives here. Shy just wanted to get in and out of this place ASAP.
She continued down the path, hoping nothing was following behind or above her. She thought she heard the sound of buzzing wings, but when the sound went away, she thought it must have been a parasprite. As she continued down the path, she came to a crossroad. There were 3 paths ahead of her, one made with yellow bricks, one made by thorns, and the last made by dirt.
The yellow brick road seemed to lead into the darkness. Near the sides of it were flowers, almost as if planted there. Strangely, it seemed to be glowing with fariy dust. Shy peered far into the darkness of this path. There seemed to be something glowing green up ahead, almost as it were a city made of emeralds. Shy knew this couldn't be the path to Zecora's home, as her home was a tree. She turned her attention to the second path. The path seemed overtaken by thorns, brambles, and weeds. It looked like it would hurt if she went this way. She looked deep into the way of this path. There didn't seem to be anything at the end but...a rock? Shy turned her attention away from this path to the last one. The dirt path seemed to lead straight on. There wasn't anything of important or detail along the sides of the path for Shy to notice. She decided this was the way to Zecora's, and proceded down the path.
As Shy walekd down the path to Zecora's, she came to a part of the path where is seemed to become a circle and lead onward still. She thought this was rather strange, as you would on seem this type of detail in a town center or a important meeting palce, such as a park. As she pondered why this might be here in this way, Shy did not notice a familer purple unicorn troting down the path, her nose in a book, reading away at it like no tomorrow. Since both did not notice the other, the collided as Twilight walked straight into Shy.
Shy droped her basket in fear of what might have just collided with her, but sighed when she saw it was just Twilight. "Oh sorry Fluttershy. Didn't see you there. I was busying reading a spell book." Said Twilight, gesturing toward the book. "Oh it's okay. I was just pondering why the road looks diffrent at this point." Said Shy, now realizing that might have been more of something Rarity would have done. "Where are you coming from?" Shy asked, curious as to the location of why Twilight was here in the forest. "Oh, I was just getting a spell book back from Zecora. She had needed for her new pet you gave her." Said Twilight, picking up Shy's basket to give it to her. "Oh, was something wrong with her pet sea lion? I thought he was doing great when I last talked to her." Said shy, worried about the poor creatures health. "Oh don't worry, Zecora made him better. He just had gotten into some poison joke" Said Twilight, trying to reasure Shy. "Oh okay. Just wanted to know if he was okay" Said Shy, happy that the creature was better. "Well I had better be off. have lots of stuff to do today. See you around Shy!" Said Twilight, walking off out of the forest.
With that nice convesation over, Shy continued walkeing down the path to Zecora's home. Something still felt weird though... Shy just decided it was nothing and continued down the path. When she was nearing Zecora's house, she checked to make sure she had the herbs in her basket. Wait...her basket! She must have dropped it when she bumped into Twilight and forgot to get it from her! Shy turned around and ran back to the dirt circle, looking around worried.
She knew it had to be here! Where else could it be? She looked in the trees and in the bushes. She couldn't find it anywhere. She was just about to give up and go home when she saw it in the middle of the path. Where she had passed by and not looked at many times.
At this point in time, Fluttershy facehoofed her forehead, and picked up the basket. She felt like a idiot for not noticing it. It was right infront of her and she didn't even glance! This basket was her favorite-and only- basket. If she had given up looking for it, some animal might have gotten into it and gotten sick. I have to be more careful of where I leave this basket Shy thought. After that moment of stupidity, she troted back down the path to Zecora's house.
Author's Note
I bet you guys are wondering why this one is so short and why I included Twilight now. Once the story continues, you will see why this part was important. Also, if I am not online tomorrow, I shall be in Boston. Hm...did I leave anything out Pinkamena?
Pinkamena: Not that I can see. What step are we on now?
Still on step 3. You'll get your killing rave party, you just have to wait!
Pinkamena: Fine... but I'm still betting on that-
DON'T GIVE THEM A SPOLIER!
Pinkamena: Oops! Sorry Luv!
