To ocean and beyondby flutterdashpieChaptersCuriosityregretMiraculousSurpriseFluencyGlamoursophisticationPrologueCuriosityToday has been a nice day so far. Warm temperature, slight breeze, perfect color even. The sky was a peachy orange although it was only the middle of the day. I picked up a piece of paper and charcoal which was what I used for writing and drawing pretty much. I tried sketching out what I saw before me: Palm trees dotted with various sea birds, the ocean sparkling like a diamond and the sand which was the color of butter. This was my paradise, as lonely as I was here. My charcoal broke after about 7 minutes of me attempting to draw the pretty view. I sighed and placed the terrible drawing on the ground, looked up to the sky and then realised I was pretty hungry. I walked over to what I now called my home for 4 and a half years. A simple hut made up of bamboo, leaves, branches and a bunch of planks I brought from my old home. The entire house equaled 2 rooms in total. 1 for sleeping and 1 for pretty much everything else. My bed was made out of hundreds of layers of moss. I had no sheet but the warm, tropical temperature kept me as warm as could be. The other room was for cooking. I had a small cookstove and pounds of matches. I used up mostly all of my parents remaining money on matches and gas for the stove. I kept that in an underground pit that was covered by leaves and bamboo. What I usually did for food was boil the bamboo shoots. I boiled water from a nearby lake for water. I had everything I needed... except friends. A couple more months passed by. There were 5 more untill my birthday. I can't believe that I'm going to be turning 15 already... I started thinking about how my life would always be the same though, and that I might never get my cutie mark. I remembered the few friends I had in school. I was thinking alot today. Honestly, I was thinking a little too much today. I tried writing stories but it was useless. I had no good ideas for stories today. Something seemed to be pulling me to the water. Something felt different. I walked up to the water and felt it with the tip of my hoof. Slightly warm as usual. But something, just something seemed different. Then it came upon me that the sea birds weren't chirping, and the wind wasn't blowing. A strange whispering noise was floating by, trailing off into the distance of the ocean. I couldn't tell what it was saying. Something about... my father? My brother?... I don't have a brother... I didn't care. A strange feeling flew over me suddenly. I was alone, It was the same thing each day, and I would never learn anything if I just sat around and wrote, drew, and cooked all day long. I remembered what we had learned in school. We learned about the island we lived on. It included ponyville, Canterlot, Las pegasus, Manehatten and so on, but we never learnt about what lies beyond the ocean. My curiousity grew wild. I had to know. I had to! I flew after where the whispers were headed and flew on and on getting closer to the horizon, and farther from home. Farther, and farther, and farther... I wouldn't bother going back now. regretOnly after the sun was setting and I could barely see the land where I had come from did I realise that I had forgotten my saddlebags and it would have taken me nearly 5 hours to get back to land. I was never really the best with flying so my wings where aching quite a bit. I was hungry and I hadn't ate since 5 hours ago either. That didn't help. But I had already knew I couldn't turn back. I didn't care if I died out here. I just wanted something to do in my life for once. I flew up onto a cloud by the time the sun was setting. The sunset off of an ocean... It was the most beautiful thing I could ever imagine... When I woke, my legs and one of my arms where hanging off of the cloud. It had disintegrated a little over the night. This was no surprise due to the hot tropical climate. I got up, stretched my wings, and flew off into the horizon of the ocean. It's a good thing we had learned how to navigate using the sun in school. The sun would rise from the east, and set in the west. When the sun was setting once again, I was really thirsty, but I knew the salt water couldn't be drank. I flew up to another small cloud and slept once again. After 8 days of the same routine, fly, sleep, fly, sleep, fly, sleep, I had become very tired, hungry, and exhausted. On the morning of the ninth day, I had woken to find a storm. Rain was nailing my face, waves where growing as high as 10 feet tall. It really didn't help my tiredness. My wings were aching and muffled, my tongue as dry as sandpaper, and I could just barely open my eyes. I opened my mouth to try and take in some of the rain. It felt nice on my tongue, but the rain had a strange, unnatural taste to it. I got ready to fly ahead into the storm but I clumsily fell 5 feet sideways almost splashing into a thundering wave 4 times my size. I could barely fly, my wings hurt so much. I started to cry. This was hopeless. Why did I even leave home in the first place? I was dead now. I was dying. Not just of hunger. But of pain, sorrow, and even a small hint of anger. I closed my eyes and tried to fly on. Why was I even born into this cold and grey reality? I tried to wipe the thought from my mind. Suddenly everything went silent. Was I dead? I opened my eyes slowly hoping to see my parents kind smiles. All I could see was darkness. I tried to breathe in when I realised I was underwater. I tried swimming up to the surface but the force of the waves kept pushing me down farther and farther into the water. Everything was going dark around my eyes suddenly. "Now I'll see my parents" I thought. Then my consciousness seeped away from me, slowly, drifting, just like the water I was in. MiraculousWhen reality returned to me, I realised I was lying on a soft, sandy, beach. Did everything that I had thought happen even happen? Did I just happen to fall asleep on the beach? I opened my eyes to inspect. The surrounding area was a little too dark to see though, due to the fact that it was night. I got up and tried to adjust my eyes to the dark. A slow and cool breeze wisped past my mane and off into the distance. It was deffenitly colder where I was. That was the first hint that got me to know I wasn't neccecarily at... 'home'. The air smelt fresh and it had almost a minty scent to it. I wasn't really tired but I still decided I might as well try to sleep. I lay in the soft sand and closed my eyes. I only just realised how amazing it was that I had actually survived that storm. It would almost seem impossible! Eventually I fell asleep and took a trip into the strange world of dreams. The dream I had was quite different compared to most of my other dreams. I was flying over an ocean. The ocean had wisps of fire blasting through the waves, attempting to burn me up, but I survived. Suddenly the fire began to shift into the shapes of dragons, and the water shifted into shapes of princess Celestia... Then I woke. "What the heck?" Was the first thing I thought to myself. When I stood up I realised something and stopped. I wasn't even hungry. I was pretty much dying on the ocean of hunger but now... I wasn't hungry at all! I shook the thought out of my head and continued on into the massive jungle infront of me. The jungle was like a cross between the everfree forest and... and... well, I don't really know what else it's a cross of. The trees had a ton of green vines wraping up and around them, flowing from tree to tree, tying the forest together. The trees had big green leaves, kind of like palm tree leaves, but they were darker, and thicker. Some of the other trees had dark green leaves that ruffled about like the leaves of an oak tree. I began to walk slowly into the jungle, listening to the strange creatures and birds around. It was unusualy dark inside of the jungle and I wasn't really fond of the darkness. I stepped on a branch and was startled so much that I fell backwards and cut my wing a little. I tried to rub the pain away but I knew it was helpless and gave up. I got up and kept going, hoping to find some huge civilization or something. About an hour or two later I had a strange feeling. Something was watching me. I could feel it. "Hello?" I yelled "Is anypony out there?" I waited a minute or two but nothing seemed to happen. About half an hour later I got the feeling again. This time I froze and waited. I heard a very quiet ruffling sound coming from the bushes and a little bit of a strange, low rumble emanating from it. I curiously crouched slowly up to the place and pulled aside the bushes. I gasped and paced back about a meter. The bones were glowing with a strange, soft glow although the thick green canopy above blocked out most of the sunlight. They looked like any average ponies bones but they seemed to be more angled and the eye holes were thinner and more squinted. I shivered and continued on. Before I knew it, night had fallen. I could barely see a thing, it was so dark! My hooves were bleeding and blistering by now, and most of all, I was tired. I curled up in a ball on a mossy spot on the ground that was under a tree and fell asleep before I knew it. I was woken up by a high pitched ringing noise. It wasn't a painful ringing but almost a soothing sound. I looked around to see where it was coming from and noticed a slight dimmed light not so far in the distance. I neared closer to the light where the ringing seemed to come from and I could see a slight silhouette of a slim, wolflike creature. It had a long, slim tail and at the tip was an orange glowing light, the one I had seen in the distance. It's body was thin and curvy and it had short, slender legs. It's head looked similar to that of a hyena, and it had a fuzzy mane that curved slightly to the side and fell over one of his eyes. I couldn't see it's eyes perfectly, but I could tell they were large. When the creature caught site of me, it merely froze and stared at me. Green. It had pure green eyes, the same color as my mother's. It had stopped making the high pitched squealing, and was now making a low humming noise. It came strait up to me and looked me strait into my eyes. I was afraid at first but then the creature blinked and almost... Smiled at me. Right when I started to feel that the creature was harmless, it got up and began to bound away. I decided I might as well follow it but then I realized I was exhausted and fell to my side. How much sleep did I get? It didn't feel like much. The creature looked back at me as I started to make frustrated moans. Was it... Waiting for me? I tried my best to stand up and began to follow the creature once again. Every time I fell, it stopped to wait for me. When we got to a spot where the creature fell asleep, I had decided that this must have been our destination and fell asleep near a tree, opposite the creature. I woke up to a strange liquid dripping on my face. At first I thought it was rain, but then I realized it was sticky and smelly. Slobber. I opened my eyes to find daylight embracing me but now I could see the true face of the creature... and it was snarling angrily. SurpriseThe creature had Bright red eyes with a burning anger to them. "Wait..." I thought "He had green eyes last night why does he...?" Then I noticed that the strange tail light had disappeared. Maybe the light made his eyes appear green. His fur was pure black with red streaks that I would have sworn was... "Blood" I said out loud without noticing. The creature began to snarl again, revealing it's teeth, lined with the dark red substance as well. The creature jumped at me without notice just when I was inspecting it and I barely got the chance to dodge it. He scratched a tiny bit of my left ear up but otherwise I was not harmed. Now to inspect where I was. On the left was a cliff, leading down to a huge valley. On the right, The same forest I had come from before. I was definitely not going back in there. I decided I had no other choice but to head into the valley. I spread my wings and jumped, right when I was about to get destroyed by the unknown creature. It missed me by inches. I was shaking like a rattle which didn't help me fly. The heavy winds didn't help either but I knew well enough about flying through wind to survive. I let myself fall free of my body and close my eyes. The air here was fresh and crisp and the perfect temperature. The valley below consisted of mostly plains and forests of all types. The entire valley was surrounded by mountains and made me think of a bowl. Now what was I going to do? My first priority was to find edible food. I had been flying for about an hour now when I noticed a field full of Dragons. The largest, A pure snowy white one, Was about the size of me and was holding up a strange winged rabbit in its fist. "THE TIME HAS COME MY STUDENTS" The large white dragon was talking now. She had a tough sounding female voice with a strong anger within. "WE MUST SACRIFICE THIS GRUCIREN TO OUR DEAR GODDESS ANOBA. Why, YOU ASK? SHE HAS TAKEN OUR FOOD, OUR HOMES, AND EVEN OUR FAMILY! Why would she be so cruel? This is our fault because we have not sacrificed our yearly Gruciren to her. She is ANGRY! NOW LET US KILL THIS WEASLY CREATURE AND FEED IT TO HER!" The dragons started yelling in triumph and a thick green one brought out a stone and a small knife. This dragon was only about a foot and a half tall. He placed the stone on the ground infront of the white dragon and gave the knife to her as well. She threw the Gruciren down on the the stone, holding it in place by it's neck. The crowd of small dragons went quiet and the Gruciren started screaming. He sounded surprised and afraid "PLEASE! LET ME GO! I'LL DO ANYTHING FOR YOU I SWEAR! I JUST WANT TO DO ONE THING IN THIS MEANINGLESS LIFE! PLEASE! PLEASE JUST LET ME GOOOO!" It was surprisingly loud for such a small creature. The white dragon ignored the Gruciren and brought the knife up getting ready to strike. I felt queasy all of a sudden and felt a strange connection to the rabbit looking creature. I felt a very strong rage boiling inside of me. Why would they do this to such an innocent thing? Just as the dragon was brining the knife to the Gruciren's neck, I screamed out all the rage I could hold, Startling the dragons and causing the white one to miss the Gruciren and cut her own hand open. "YAAAAAAGHHHHH" Yelled the dragon. She looked up at me and said "WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS!?" She unfurled her wings and came flying at me with the knife she was about to use on the Gruciren and nearly stabbed me, but I dodged. I never really attempted to attack somebody before so I felt helpless and weak but I decided to go for a kick while we were fighting in mid air."YAH" I yelled as I kicked. The kick only hit her in the nose lightly and hurt my hove. She laughed in return and sliced at my leg with the knife. This resulted in a gushing cut about 3 centimeters deep into my leg. I screamed out in pain, feeling the blood flow down my leg, and fell to the ground. "You never should have interrupted me" She said in a cold, deadly voice. Right when she was about to bring the knife down I noticed a stick go right through the white dragon's neck, leaving a red stream down it, and I heard a kind voice quietly say "surprise." FluencyI stood there, surprised as the fluffy winged rabbit hopped off of the dragon and flew over to me. The other dragons were running and flying away by now. Were they really that scared of a tiny little rabbit creature? "W-who are you?..." I asked in awe "Me? Well... I'm called a Gruciren by all of... them... But my real name is" He pauses for a second and scrunches up his face in disgust "You know what? Don't worry about it..." The Gruciren was just about to fly off when I shout "WAIT! You can't leave just like that! I saved you and... now you're just going to leave me here? I don't even know where I am! I need... help..." I slump down now. "That rabbit must think I'm lame" I think to myself. I think I'm starting to cry now too. "No! No! No! I don't want to cry! I'll only embarrass myself!" I think. I try to suck the tears back into my eyes but a few of them drip out anyways. I don't hear a thing. The Gruciren must have left me by now. Right when I was about to fly away i heard his soft kind voice "Nibble" He said "My name is Nibble. Now you tell me your name or I AM going to leave you here." I bound up with joy and say "Thank you! Thank you sooo much for staying here! My name is Ripple." I chuckle and he smiles a shy yet strong smile back at me. I get back up and ask him quietly "so... do you live somewhere around here?" as I ask Nibble the question, his face looses its color and the smile along with it "SHOOT!" he yells "Ripple... follow me but don't say a thing okay? And do EVERYTHING i say." He quickly grabs my hoof and dashes into the surrounding forest. After about 15 minutes of walking we reach a short tree with an unusually wide stump. The stump was nearly as wide as 2 ponies standing in a line. A small hole sat at the bottom of the tree. It was only big enough for my head to fit through but Nibble had no problem squeezing through the burrow. "wait here" He said to me as he leaped through the dirt doorway. I sat and waited outside of the small hole whilst Nibble seemed to be talking to someone with a deep cracking voice. Most of their conversation was muffled but I did happen to hear them cursing about dragons and ponies. Eventually, after about half an hour of what seemed like endless waiting, Nibble came out of his burrow with a little back-pack and a slightly larger one. "Here" He said and handed me the larger back-pack. "My dad just made this. Custom made, just for you. You should be thankful. He barely ever makes things for ponies like yourself but you're lucky. He said he sensed that you aren't like the others. That you are an outsider. Is it true?" He paused and looked at me waiting for an answer, one of his eyebrows raised. I opened my mouth in awe and said "Wha.... How did he know?!" Nibble answered me with a shrug and said "I don't know... My dad just gets these feelings sometimes I guess. Somehow he knew that the dragons were after me and I haven't talked to him in years." I nodded taking in what he just said and then realized something "Your dad somehow knew I was an outsider so... do you think he knows anywhere I can stay? By the way, what is this back-pack for anyways?" Nibble looked at me surprised as if I should have already known the answer "Um... He isn't some kind of travel agent. I told you, he just gets these weird feelings sometimes. And the back-pack? That's so that you can um... carry luggage easier. Haven't you ever seen a back-pack before?" I shrugged "yes I have seen one before, but this back-pack is unusually large compared to the others I've seen." Nibble sighed. "yes. Well it's meant for traveling long distances so you can carry lots of food and supplies with you.It can carry much more than most other back-packs can. I thought it was obvious. Now can you stop with all these questions? We need to get going as soon as we can. Before the dragons get here..." Dragons? not again. "The dragons are coming back? How do they know you're here?" Nibble looked back at me with an annoyed glare " I thought I had asked you to stop it with the questions?" "Oh right! Sorry Nibble..." Nibble smiled and then said quietly "That's what I thought. Now then, I'll grab the supplies and we'll start heading north towards civilization." Civilization. The word almost sounded calming to me. Before I knew it we were headed through the forest to a city I never would have imagined. Glamour"CATCH IT!" I yelled. "I'm trying!" Nibble said desperately. He was chasing after a small dragon. a small dragon who had been spying on us all night from a tree top. A spy. He probably heard us talking about our plans to get to the city. Nibble wanted to catch him and cut out his tongue so that the dragon couldn't tell his master about our plans. It seemed like a gruesome idea to me but I guess Nibble was used to that kind of stuff. Apparently he had been dealing with the dragons his entire life. His mother was killed by the dragons as an offering one year. The whole idea didn't seem to make sense to me. A couple minutes later, Nibble came flying back to me. He had a trickling cut on his thin arm but it didn't look fatal. "Are you okay?" I ask him quietly. "yes." he says "I'm alright" He sighs deeply and then clenches his arm, attempting to rid of the blood. "Did you catch the dragon?" I ask. "heh" Nibble responds "The dragon was killed." I went cold. The dragon was dead? No... Nibble isn't a murderer... "You... killed it?" I asked him nervously. He chuckled in response "No. I didn't kill this dragon. I only kill when I absolutely have to. Ponies killed it." Then everything went silent. "Ponies?... What do you mean ponies? Ponies wouldn't even hurt a fly!" Nibble sighed and then began speaking once again "Ripple... the ponies here are a bit different. Rejects, criminals, and outcasts. All of them came here seeking a home. A pony named Golden Clove took them in to his home here on this island. Eventually the dragons discovered this little clan of 16 ponies living in an unusually large home on what they thought was their island. Golden clove took the rejects to the mountain and told them to mine away if they wanted to survive. Eventually a city was created, named after Golden Clove. It was 5 years ago when the first rock was chipped off of that mountain. I can't imagine how large that city is now..." I blinked. 5 years ago... 5 dreaded years ago. That was the same amount of time my parents had... gone away. "That makes a little sense I guess. What do you expect they want from the dragons? I don't remember you saying anything about dragons sacrificing ponies here...?" Nibble sighed "Again with the questions? Well anyways, if you really need to know I guess I'll tell you. It's all a turf war between them. The dragons like to say they got here first but the ponies think they're more civilized. I know, it's pretty dumb how they just can't share". I open my mouth to speak but suddenly Nibble perks up his ears and his pupils begin to grow rather small. "FOLLOW ME WE DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME!" He grabs my hoof and drags me off farther into the forest. As we run, I remember the cut that the large white dragon gave me the previous day and it starts to pulse with pain like crazy. I bite my lip and try my best not to whine about it. "Why exactly are we in such a hurry?" I ask Nibble as we run. "No time!" He says short of breath "I'll... tell you... later..." After a few more minutes of running Nibble stops and says "Wait!" I stop and look around at him. "Fly!" He says. I look at him with a confused glare and spread my wings, but I don't take off. "FLY I SAID, DANGIT! FLY!" I flap my wings a few times until I lift off of the ground and he jumps onto my tail, grasping for dear life. By the time I'm in mid-air, Nibble is on my back using my back-pack quite like one would use a saddle. "What direction?" I ask him "Head north" He says "Towards the mountains over there" I fly for a few more minutes until I reach an almost autumn looking forest. Most of the trees below us were colored red, orange and golden. "It isn't autumn here already, is it?" I ask. "actually" He responds "It's the type of tree. The red and orange ones are called burnt oaks but the golden ones are called golden oaks." I look down at the trees and get a warm feeling. I loved autumn when I was little. "By the way?" I ask Nibble "What were we running from?" Nibble sighs "Ponies of Golden Clove." I suddenly feel confused "I understand that the ponies are after the dragons but... they're after grucirens as well?" Nibble sighs. "yes... unfortunately. They treat us like vermin... and call us uncivilized creatures. If they catch any of us in their city we'll be beheaded publicly in town square." I go cold. I had a 'thing' for beheading... it creeped me out... a lot. "speaking of cities... What city are we headed to? Some kind of gruciren place?" I looked back at Nibble and see a sly smile creep across his face. "we're headed to Golden Clove." sophistication"Go down!" Yelled Nibble. I slowly glided down to the ground. We were very near to the mountain by now. I was getting pretty nervous. Would my leg be alright? It was still stinging like 50 hornets had decided to come and attack it. As I landed, I felt a little light headed. I think the pain of my leg was getting to me. Nibble jumped off of my back and told me to unclip my back-pack. I did as told and dropped it on the ground in front of me. Nibble unclipped the top of the pack and snuggled right in. I raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing?" He poked his little head out and looked right at me "Don't worry." He said "it's a part of the plan." Plan? I never heard anything about a plan? "Put the pack back on your back now" said Nibble clipping the flap of the pack closed again "I picked up the pack and did as said "I get it". I say "You want me to sneak you in, right?" "Correct" Replied Nibble, his voice slightly muffled. "If they ask you what's in your bags say that you have this" Nibble whispers 3 word into my ear. "aaah" I respond "Good idea." I begin walking closer to the mountain once again "HEY!" a loud raspy voice echoes through my ears and into my skull. His voice really leaves an impression. He's in charge. I could feel it through the way he spoke "YOU THERE. THE BLUE PEGASI." I look at him cautiously "Me?" "YES YOU! WHAT IS YOUR BUISNESS HERE? I DON'T RECALL SEEING YOU HERE BEFORE MA'AM." I take a deep breath and begin to speak "I'm here with a package for Golden Clove. Strait from... uhm... Vanhoover!" The guard looks behind him and murmurs some words to some ponies behind him. "ALRIGHTY THEN. THE GATE IS STRAIT AHEAD MA'AM." I slowly head North and as I turn around a few trees, A large, golden plated gate is revealed to me. A HUGE gate. The edges of the tunnel are made of pure white marble and the edges of the marble is reinforced with gold designs of what appeared to be rose vines curling up and around the gate, all the way to the top. The top of the tunnel had an engraving of a golden pony, running its way into battle holding a spear in his mouth. The mane of the engraving was painted gold while the rest was left white marble. The hooves looked like they were made of honey colored quarts. The gate was probably one of the most amazing things I had ever seen in my life. These ponies may have been criminals, but they were also some of the most artistic ponies I've EVER seen. The entrance to the city was so beautiful that I stopped for a few seconds just to look at it. The more I looked at it, the more amazing it seemed. After a couple more seconds of staring at the wall, it slowly began to open, slightly creaking and whirring. It sounded like they used some sort of gear work to open the gate because the guards were already outside of the gate operating room again. These ponies were artistic, and mechanical. I was starting to like these ponies. It was hard to tell that they were once criminals in their life. When the gate fully opened, one of the guards yelled "CLEAR" and gestured me towards the gate. I slowly walked into the tunnel. As soon as I was inside of the city, I heard the gates gentle whirring sound begin again. I looked back and saw that the gate was slowly lowering. No leaving now. The hallway was made of the same white marble they used for the entrance of the tunnel. Some sort of calming orange light seemed to fill the tunnel. the light looked like torchlight but I couldn't see any torches in sight. Within every ten feet of the tunnel was an engraving in the wall. Every engraving was outlined with glowing orange substance. The substance looked shiny and metallic. It seemed to be almost translucent and had tiny little specs in it. There were quite a few engravings. Some of the engraving were of ponies, dragons, and leaves. There was even an engraving of a lantern hanging off of a branch and another one of a hummingbird sipping water from a river. I eventually reached a fork that led off to two different sections. Large brass signs noted where they led to. A thick dark wooden door with golden hinges was on the left. On the right, was an oak wood door with cast iron hinges. The door on the right, the darker, more sturdier door, led to the upper class. The cheaper door on the left, led to the lower class. There was no middle class. I quietly asked Nibble if he knew what door I should take. He poked his head out of the bag and said to me "Take the door on the right and ask one of the armour wielding ponies where Golden Clove lives." I nodded and began heading towards the upper class doorway. As I pushed it open, I realised it was heavy and it creaked as if it had not been oiled in years. As I stared at the city, I realised that this was called upper class for a reason. The city was carved out of the inside of the mountain as far as I could see. I walked forward and saw that if I had walked any farther I would have fallen to my death. To my left was a map. I walked over to the map cautiously and inspected it. The whole upper class portion of the city seemed to be shaped as an oval and I was on the lower section of the oval. I examined the city a little more. Red, orange, gold, and purple banners were hanging down from peoples balconies and I could tell a light source was coming from deep within the rift. I flew up to look down the cliff and get a better look at what the light could be. Down below, hundreds of feet, was a lake. The lake had a HUGE tree growing out of the middle of it. The tree looked like a golden oak but it was MUCH larger and the leaves were... glowing! It was quite the sight. The water seemed to reflect the light off of the lake and bounce it to the rest of the cavern. Many, many houses surrounded the lake. I could hear many voices of ponies yelling out and laughs of families. This was probably a popular area. I knew I should probably get onto doing the mission but I couldn't see any armoured ponies around so I decided one look at the amazing lake wouldn't hurt. I landed gently on the ground. Where I landed the soil had lit up beneath my feet. I jumped back, a little surprised, but it was pretty cool. I poked the ground with my hoof again and the soil lit up beneath my feet again. I chuckled and walked closer towards the lake. An amazing sight. I would have sworn I was staring at the tree for quite a while. A huge glowing tree. This was like a dream. Was it a dream? No. It wasn't a dream. It was amazing. I turned around and headed towards the town dodging a happy family of ponies walking by. A sign was hung by the entrance to the maze of buildings. The sign read 'Marketplace'. Speaking of marketplace... I did actually really need some food. Prologue The warm breeze coming off of the ocean was soothing. It reminded me of when my mother used to tuck me in at night. The soft covers protecting me from cold. That's why I loved the ocean. My name is Ripple. My parents died when I was merely 9. I'm 14 now. I still cry every once in a while. They died in an attempt to capture outlaws or something like that. It didn't turn out so well... I flew away that day. To the ocean. I've been a bit happier here, but I still feel alone.... the worst thing is that I don't even have my cutie mark. I kinda want to try and actually do something with my life but all it really seems like I do is sit out here and... write. Why can't my cutie mark be a writing cutie mark? It would be so much easier. Maybe it's because my stories are lame and cheesy most of the time. I think I finally thought of a good idea for a story though... I always think that before writing something though. This story Is going to be about... my life... every day I will write something up I guess... wait... if someone reads this I have to try and make it like It's in the moment. So starting now I think I'm going to make this more like a normal story. Not as much like a journal. I don't have much else to say... but the ocean is nice... I guess.
CuriosityToday has been a nice day so far. Warm temperature, slight breeze, perfect color even. The sky was a peachy orange although it was only the middle of the day. I picked up a piece of paper and charcoal which was what I used for writing and drawing pretty much. I tried sketching out what I saw before me: Palm trees dotted with various sea birds, the ocean sparkling like a diamond and the sand which was the color of butter. This was my paradise, as lonely as I was here. My charcoal broke after about 7 minutes of me attempting to draw the pretty view. I sighed and placed the terrible drawing on the ground, looked up to the sky and then realised I was pretty hungry. I walked over to what I now called my home for 4 and a half years. A simple hut made up of bamboo, leaves, branches and a bunch of planks I brought from my old home. The entire house equaled 2 rooms in total. 1 for sleeping and 1 for pretty much everything else. My bed was made out of hundreds of layers of moss. I had no sheet but the warm, tropical temperature kept me as warm as could be. The other room was for cooking. I had a small cookstove and pounds of matches. I used up mostly all of my parents remaining money on matches and gas for the stove. I kept that in an underground pit that was covered by leaves and bamboo. What I usually did for food was boil the bamboo shoots. I boiled water from a nearby lake for water. I had everything I needed... except friends. A couple more months passed by. There were 5 more untill my birthday. I can't believe that I'm going to be turning 15 already... I started thinking about how my life would always be the same though, and that I might never get my cutie mark. I remembered the few friends I had in school. I was thinking alot today. Honestly, I was thinking a little too much today. I tried writing stories but it was useless. I had no good ideas for stories today. Something seemed to be pulling me to the water. Something felt different. I walked up to the water and felt it with the tip of my hoof. Slightly warm as usual. But something, just something seemed different. Then it came upon me that the sea birds weren't chirping, and the wind wasn't blowing. A strange whispering noise was floating by, trailing off into the distance of the ocean. I couldn't tell what it was saying. Something about... my father? My brother?... I don't have a brother... I didn't care. A strange feeling flew over me suddenly. I was alone, It was the same thing each day, and I would never learn anything if I just sat around and wrote, drew, and cooked all day long. I remembered what we had learned in school. We learned about the island we lived on. It included ponyville, Canterlot, Las pegasus, Manehatten and so on, but we never learnt about what lies beyond the ocean. My curiousity grew wild. I had to know. I had to! I flew after where the whispers were headed and flew on and on getting closer to the horizon, and farther from home. Farther, and farther, and farther... I wouldn't bother going back now.
regretOnly after the sun was setting and I could barely see the land where I had come from did I realise that I had forgotten my saddlebags and it would have taken me nearly 5 hours to get back to land. I was never really the best with flying so my wings where aching quite a bit. I was hungry and I hadn't ate since 5 hours ago either. That didn't help. But I had already knew I couldn't turn back. I didn't care if I died out here. I just wanted something to do in my life for once. I flew up onto a cloud by the time the sun was setting. The sunset off of an ocean... It was the most beautiful thing I could ever imagine... When I woke, my legs and one of my arms where hanging off of the cloud. It had disintegrated a little over the night. This was no surprise due to the hot tropical climate. I got up, stretched my wings, and flew off into the horizon of the ocean. It's a good thing we had learned how to navigate using the sun in school. The sun would rise from the east, and set in the west. When the sun was setting once again, I was really thirsty, but I knew the salt water couldn't be drank. I flew up to another small cloud and slept once again. After 8 days of the same routine, fly, sleep, fly, sleep, fly, sleep, I had become very tired, hungry, and exhausted. On the morning of the ninth day, I had woken to find a storm. Rain was nailing my face, waves where growing as high as 10 feet tall. It really didn't help my tiredness. My wings were aching and muffled, my tongue as dry as sandpaper, and I could just barely open my eyes. I opened my mouth to try and take in some of the rain. It felt nice on my tongue, but the rain had a strange, unnatural taste to it. I got ready to fly ahead into the storm but I clumsily fell 5 feet sideways almost splashing into a thundering wave 4 times my size. I could barely fly, my wings hurt so much. I started to cry. This was hopeless. Why did I even leave home in the first place? I was dead now. I was dying. Not just of hunger. But of pain, sorrow, and even a small hint of anger. I closed my eyes and tried to fly on. Why was I even born into this cold and grey reality? I tried to wipe the thought from my mind. Suddenly everything went silent. Was I dead? I opened my eyes slowly hoping to see my parents kind smiles. All I could see was darkness. I tried to breathe in when I realised I was underwater. I tried swimming up to the surface but the force of the waves kept pushing me down farther and farther into the water. Everything was going dark around my eyes suddenly. "Now I'll see my parents" I thought. Then my consciousness seeped away from me, slowly, drifting, just like the water I was in.
MiraculousWhen reality returned to me, I realised I was lying on a soft, sandy, beach. Did everything that I had thought happen even happen? Did I just happen to fall asleep on the beach? I opened my eyes to inspect. The surrounding area was a little too dark to see though, due to the fact that it was night. I got up and tried to adjust my eyes to the dark. A slow and cool breeze wisped past my mane and off into the distance. It was deffenitly colder where I was. That was the first hint that got me to know I wasn't neccecarily at... 'home'. The air smelt fresh and it had almost a minty scent to it. I wasn't really tired but I still decided I might as well try to sleep. I lay in the soft sand and closed my eyes. I only just realised how amazing it was that I had actually survived that storm. It would almost seem impossible! Eventually I fell asleep and took a trip into the strange world of dreams. The dream I had was quite different compared to most of my other dreams. I was flying over an ocean. The ocean had wisps of fire blasting through the waves, attempting to burn me up, but I survived. Suddenly the fire began to shift into the shapes of dragons, and the water shifted into shapes of princess Celestia... Then I woke. "What the heck?" Was the first thing I thought to myself. When I stood up I realised something and stopped. I wasn't even hungry. I was pretty much dying on the ocean of hunger but now... I wasn't hungry at all! I shook the thought out of my head and continued on into the massive jungle infront of me. The jungle was like a cross between the everfree forest and... and... well, I don't really know what else it's a cross of. The trees had a ton of green vines wraping up and around them, flowing from tree to tree, tying the forest together. The trees had big green leaves, kind of like palm tree leaves, but they were darker, and thicker. Some of the other trees had dark green leaves that ruffled about like the leaves of an oak tree. I began to walk slowly into the jungle, listening to the strange creatures and birds around. It was unusualy dark inside of the jungle and I wasn't really fond of the darkness. I stepped on a branch and was startled so much that I fell backwards and cut my wing a little. I tried to rub the pain away but I knew it was helpless and gave up. I got up and kept going, hoping to find some huge civilization or something. About an hour or two later I had a strange feeling. Something was watching me. I could feel it. "Hello?" I yelled "Is anypony out there?" I waited a minute or two but nothing seemed to happen. About half an hour later I got the feeling again. This time I froze and waited. I heard a very quiet ruffling sound coming from the bushes and a little bit of a strange, low rumble emanating from it. I curiously crouched slowly up to the place and pulled aside the bushes. I gasped and paced back about a meter. The bones were glowing with a strange, soft glow although the thick green canopy above blocked out most of the sunlight. They looked like any average ponies bones but they seemed to be more angled and the eye holes were thinner and more squinted. I shivered and continued on. Before I knew it, night had fallen. I could barely see a thing, it was so dark! My hooves were bleeding and blistering by now, and most of all, I was tired. I curled up in a ball on a mossy spot on the ground that was under a tree and fell asleep before I knew it. I was woken up by a high pitched ringing noise. It wasn't a painful ringing but almost a soothing sound. I looked around to see where it was coming from and noticed a slight dimmed light not so far in the distance. I neared closer to the light where the ringing seemed to come from and I could see a slight silhouette of a slim, wolflike creature. It had a long, slim tail and at the tip was an orange glowing light, the one I had seen in the distance. It's body was thin and curvy and it had short, slender legs. It's head looked similar to that of a hyena, and it had a fuzzy mane that curved slightly to the side and fell over one of his eyes. I couldn't see it's eyes perfectly, but I could tell they were large. When the creature caught site of me, it merely froze and stared at me. Green. It had pure green eyes, the same color as my mother's. It had stopped making the high pitched squealing, and was now making a low humming noise. It came strait up to me and looked me strait into my eyes. I was afraid at first but then the creature blinked and almost... Smiled at me. Right when I started to feel that the creature was harmless, it got up and began to bound away. I decided I might as well follow it but then I realized I was exhausted and fell to my side. How much sleep did I get? It didn't feel like much. The creature looked back at me as I started to make frustrated moans. Was it... Waiting for me? I tried my best to stand up and began to follow the creature once again. Every time I fell, it stopped to wait for me. When we got to a spot where the creature fell asleep, I had decided that this must have been our destination and fell asleep near a tree, opposite the creature. I woke up to a strange liquid dripping on my face. At first I thought it was rain, but then I realized it was sticky and smelly. Slobber. I opened my eyes to find daylight embracing me but now I could see the true face of the creature... and it was snarling angrily.
SurpriseThe creature had Bright red eyes with a burning anger to them. "Wait..." I thought "He had green eyes last night why does he...?" Then I noticed that the strange tail light had disappeared. Maybe the light made his eyes appear green. His fur was pure black with red streaks that I would have sworn was... "Blood" I said out loud without noticing. The creature began to snarl again, revealing it's teeth, lined with the dark red substance as well. The creature jumped at me without notice just when I was inspecting it and I barely got the chance to dodge it. He scratched a tiny bit of my left ear up but otherwise I was not harmed. Now to inspect where I was. On the left was a cliff, leading down to a huge valley. On the right, The same forest I had come from before. I was definitely not going back in there. I decided I had no other choice but to head into the valley. I spread my wings and jumped, right when I was about to get destroyed by the unknown creature. It missed me by inches. I was shaking like a rattle which didn't help me fly. The heavy winds didn't help either but I knew well enough about flying through wind to survive. I let myself fall free of my body and close my eyes. The air here was fresh and crisp and the perfect temperature. The valley below consisted of mostly plains and forests of all types. The entire valley was surrounded by mountains and made me think of a bowl. Now what was I going to do? My first priority was to find edible food. I had been flying for about an hour now when I noticed a field full of Dragons. The largest, A pure snowy white one, Was about the size of me and was holding up a strange winged rabbit in its fist. "THE TIME HAS COME MY STUDENTS" The large white dragon was talking now. She had a tough sounding female voice with a strong anger within. "WE MUST SACRIFICE THIS GRUCIREN TO OUR DEAR GODDESS ANOBA. Why, YOU ASK? SHE HAS TAKEN OUR FOOD, OUR HOMES, AND EVEN OUR FAMILY! Why would she be so cruel? This is our fault because we have not sacrificed our yearly Gruciren to her. She is ANGRY! NOW LET US KILL THIS WEASLY CREATURE AND FEED IT TO HER!" The dragons started yelling in triumph and a thick green one brought out a stone and a small knife. This dragon was only about a foot and a half tall. He placed the stone on the ground infront of the white dragon and gave the knife to her as well. She threw the Gruciren down on the the stone, holding it in place by it's neck. The crowd of small dragons went quiet and the Gruciren started screaming. He sounded surprised and afraid "PLEASE! LET ME GO! I'LL DO ANYTHING FOR YOU I SWEAR! I JUST WANT TO DO ONE THING IN THIS MEANINGLESS LIFE! PLEASE! PLEASE JUST LET ME GOOOO!" It was surprisingly loud for such a small creature. The white dragon ignored the Gruciren and brought the knife up getting ready to strike. I felt queasy all of a sudden and felt a strange connection to the rabbit looking creature. I felt a very strong rage boiling inside of me. Why would they do this to such an innocent thing? Just as the dragon was brining the knife to the Gruciren's neck, I screamed out all the rage I could hold, Startling the dragons and causing the white one to miss the Gruciren and cut her own hand open. "YAAAAAAGHHHHH" Yelled the dragon. She looked up at me and said "WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS!?" She unfurled her wings and came flying at me with the knife she was about to use on the Gruciren and nearly stabbed me, but I dodged. I never really attempted to attack somebody before so I felt helpless and weak but I decided to go for a kick while we were fighting in mid air."YAH" I yelled as I kicked. The kick only hit her in the nose lightly and hurt my hove. She laughed in return and sliced at my leg with the knife. This resulted in a gushing cut about 3 centimeters deep into my leg. I screamed out in pain, feeling the blood flow down my leg, and fell to the ground. "You never should have interrupted me" She said in a cold, deadly voice. Right when she was about to bring the knife down I noticed a stick go right through the white dragon's neck, leaving a red stream down it, and I heard a kind voice quietly say "surprise."
FluencyI stood there, surprised as the fluffy winged rabbit hopped off of the dragon and flew over to me. The other dragons were running and flying away by now. Were they really that scared of a tiny little rabbit creature? "W-who are you?..." I asked in awe "Me? Well... I'm called a Gruciren by all of... them... But my real name is" He pauses for a second and scrunches up his face in disgust "You know what? Don't worry about it..." The Gruciren was just about to fly off when I shout "WAIT! You can't leave just like that! I saved you and... now you're just going to leave me here? I don't even know where I am! I need... help..." I slump down now. "That rabbit must think I'm lame" I think to myself. I think I'm starting to cry now too. "No! No! No! I don't want to cry! I'll only embarrass myself!" I think. I try to suck the tears back into my eyes but a few of them drip out anyways. I don't hear a thing. The Gruciren must have left me by now. Right when I was about to fly away i heard his soft kind voice "Nibble" He said "My name is Nibble. Now you tell me your name or I AM going to leave you here." I bound up with joy and say "Thank you! Thank you sooo much for staying here! My name is Ripple." I chuckle and he smiles a shy yet strong smile back at me. I get back up and ask him quietly "so... do you live somewhere around here?" as I ask Nibble the question, his face looses its color and the smile along with it "SHOOT!" he yells "Ripple... follow me but don't say a thing okay? And do EVERYTHING i say." He quickly grabs my hoof and dashes into the surrounding forest. After about 15 minutes of walking we reach a short tree with an unusually wide stump. The stump was nearly as wide as 2 ponies standing in a line. A small hole sat at the bottom of the tree. It was only big enough for my head to fit through but Nibble had no problem squeezing through the burrow. "wait here" He said to me as he leaped through the dirt doorway. I sat and waited outside of the small hole whilst Nibble seemed to be talking to someone with a deep cracking voice. Most of their conversation was muffled but I did happen to hear them cursing about dragons and ponies. Eventually, after about half an hour of what seemed like endless waiting, Nibble came out of his burrow with a little back-pack and a slightly larger one. "Here" He said and handed me the larger back-pack. "My dad just made this. Custom made, just for you. You should be thankful. He barely ever makes things for ponies like yourself but you're lucky. He said he sensed that you aren't like the others. That you are an outsider. Is it true?" He paused and looked at me waiting for an answer, one of his eyebrows raised. I opened my mouth in awe and said "Wha.... How did he know?!" Nibble answered me with a shrug and said "I don't know... My dad just gets these feelings sometimes I guess. Somehow he knew that the dragons were after me and I haven't talked to him in years." I nodded taking in what he just said and then realized something "Your dad somehow knew I was an outsider so... do you think he knows anywhere I can stay? By the way, what is this back-pack for anyways?" Nibble looked at me surprised as if I should have already known the answer "Um... He isn't some kind of travel agent. I told you, he just gets these weird feelings sometimes. And the back-pack? That's so that you can um... carry luggage easier. Haven't you ever seen a back-pack before?" I shrugged "yes I have seen one before, but this back-pack is unusually large compared to the others I've seen." Nibble sighed. "yes. Well it's meant for traveling long distances so you can carry lots of food and supplies with you.It can carry much more than most other back-packs can. I thought it was obvious. Now can you stop with all these questions? We need to get going as soon as we can. Before the dragons get here..." Dragons? not again. "The dragons are coming back? How do they know you're here?" Nibble looked back at me with an annoyed glare " I thought I had asked you to stop it with the questions?" "Oh right! Sorry Nibble..." Nibble smiled and then said quietly "That's what I thought. Now then, I'll grab the supplies and we'll start heading north towards civilization." Civilization. The word almost sounded calming to me. Before I knew it we were headed through the forest to a city I never would have imagined.
Glamour"CATCH IT!" I yelled. "I'm trying!" Nibble said desperately. He was chasing after a small dragon. a small dragon who had been spying on us all night from a tree top. A spy. He probably heard us talking about our plans to get to the city. Nibble wanted to catch him and cut out his tongue so that the dragon couldn't tell his master about our plans. It seemed like a gruesome idea to me but I guess Nibble was used to that kind of stuff. Apparently he had been dealing with the dragons his entire life. His mother was killed by the dragons as an offering one year. The whole idea didn't seem to make sense to me. A couple minutes later, Nibble came flying back to me. He had a trickling cut on his thin arm but it didn't look fatal. "Are you okay?" I ask him quietly. "yes." he says "I'm alright" He sighs deeply and then clenches his arm, attempting to rid of the blood. "Did you catch the dragon?" I ask. "heh" Nibble responds "The dragon was killed." I went cold. The dragon was dead? No... Nibble isn't a murderer... "You... killed it?" I asked him nervously. He chuckled in response "No. I didn't kill this dragon. I only kill when I absolutely have to. Ponies killed it." Then everything went silent. "Ponies?... What do you mean ponies? Ponies wouldn't even hurt a fly!" Nibble sighed and then began speaking once again "Ripple... the ponies here are a bit different. Rejects, criminals, and outcasts. All of them came here seeking a home. A pony named Golden Clove took them in to his home here on this island. Eventually the dragons discovered this little clan of 16 ponies living in an unusually large home on what they thought was their island. Golden clove took the rejects to the mountain and told them to mine away if they wanted to survive. Eventually a city was created, named after Golden Clove. It was 5 years ago when the first rock was chipped off of that mountain. I can't imagine how large that city is now..." I blinked. 5 years ago... 5 dreaded years ago. That was the same amount of time my parents had... gone away. "That makes a little sense I guess. What do you expect they want from the dragons? I don't remember you saying anything about dragons sacrificing ponies here...?" Nibble sighed "Again with the questions? Well anyways, if you really need to know I guess I'll tell you. It's all a turf war between them. The dragons like to say they got here first but the ponies think they're more civilized. I know, it's pretty dumb how they just can't share". I open my mouth to speak but suddenly Nibble perks up his ears and his pupils begin to grow rather small. "FOLLOW ME WE DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME!" He grabs my hoof and drags me off farther into the forest. As we run, I remember the cut that the large white dragon gave me the previous day and it starts to pulse with pain like crazy. I bite my lip and try my best not to whine about it. "Why exactly are we in such a hurry?" I ask Nibble as we run. "No time!" He says short of breath "I'll... tell you... later..." After a few more minutes of running Nibble stops and says "Wait!" I stop and look around at him. "Fly!" He says. I look at him with a confused glare and spread my wings, but I don't take off. "FLY I SAID, DANGIT! FLY!" I flap my wings a few times until I lift off of the ground and he jumps onto my tail, grasping for dear life. By the time I'm in mid-air, Nibble is on my back using my back-pack quite like one would use a saddle. "What direction?" I ask him "Head north" He says "Towards the mountains over there" I fly for a few more minutes until I reach an almost autumn looking forest. Most of the trees below us were colored red, orange and golden. "It isn't autumn here already, is it?" I ask. "actually" He responds "It's the type of tree. The red and orange ones are called burnt oaks but the golden ones are called golden oaks." I look down at the trees and get a warm feeling. I loved autumn when I was little. "By the way?" I ask Nibble "What were we running from?" Nibble sighs "Ponies of Golden Clove." I suddenly feel confused "I understand that the ponies are after the dragons but... they're after grucirens as well?" Nibble sighs. "yes... unfortunately. They treat us like vermin... and call us uncivilized creatures. If they catch any of us in their city we'll be beheaded publicly in town square." I go cold. I had a 'thing' for beheading... it creeped me out... a lot. "speaking of cities... What city are we headed to? Some kind of gruciren place?" I looked back at Nibble and see a sly smile creep across his face. "we're headed to Golden Clove."
sophistication"Go down!" Yelled Nibble. I slowly glided down to the ground. We were very near to the mountain by now. I was getting pretty nervous. Would my leg be alright? It was still stinging like 50 hornets had decided to come and attack it. As I landed, I felt a little light headed. I think the pain of my leg was getting to me. Nibble jumped off of my back and told me to unclip my back-pack. I did as told and dropped it on the ground in front of me. Nibble unclipped the top of the pack and snuggled right in. I raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing?" He poked his little head out and looked right at me "Don't worry." He said "it's a part of the plan." Plan? I never heard anything about a plan? "Put the pack back on your back now" said Nibble clipping the flap of the pack closed again "I picked up the pack and did as said "I get it". I say "You want me to sneak you in, right?" "Correct" Replied Nibble, his voice slightly muffled. "If they ask you what's in your bags say that you have this" Nibble whispers 3 word into my ear. "aaah" I respond "Good idea." I begin walking closer to the mountain once again "HEY!" a loud raspy voice echoes through my ears and into my skull. His voice really leaves an impression. He's in charge. I could feel it through the way he spoke "YOU THERE. THE BLUE PEGASI." I look at him cautiously "Me?" "YES YOU! WHAT IS YOUR BUISNESS HERE? I DON'T RECALL SEEING YOU HERE BEFORE MA'AM." I take a deep breath and begin to speak "I'm here with a package for Golden Clove. Strait from... uhm... Vanhoover!" The guard looks behind him and murmurs some words to some ponies behind him. "ALRIGHTY THEN. THE GATE IS STRAIT AHEAD MA'AM." I slowly head North and as I turn around a few trees, A large, golden plated gate is revealed to me. A HUGE gate. The edges of the tunnel are made of pure white marble and the edges of the marble is reinforced with gold designs of what appeared to be rose vines curling up and around the gate, all the way to the top. The top of the tunnel had an engraving of a golden pony, running its way into battle holding a spear in his mouth. The mane of the engraving was painted gold while the rest was left white marble. The hooves looked like they were made of honey colored quarts. The gate was probably one of the most amazing things I had ever seen in my life. These ponies may have been criminals, but they were also some of the most artistic ponies I've EVER seen. The entrance to the city was so beautiful that I stopped for a few seconds just to look at it. The more I looked at it, the more amazing it seemed. After a couple more seconds of staring at the wall, it slowly began to open, slightly creaking and whirring. It sounded like they used some sort of gear work to open the gate because the guards were already outside of the gate operating room again. These ponies were artistic, and mechanical. I was starting to like these ponies. It was hard to tell that they were once criminals in their life. When the gate fully opened, one of the guards yelled "CLEAR" and gestured me towards the gate. I slowly walked into the tunnel. As soon as I was inside of the city, I heard the gates gentle whirring sound begin again. I looked back and saw that the gate was slowly lowering. No leaving now. The hallway was made of the same white marble they used for the entrance of the tunnel. Some sort of calming orange light seemed to fill the tunnel. the light looked like torchlight but I couldn't see any torches in sight. Within every ten feet of the tunnel was an engraving in the wall. Every engraving was outlined with glowing orange substance. The substance looked shiny and metallic. It seemed to be almost translucent and had tiny little specs in it. There were quite a few engravings. Some of the engraving were of ponies, dragons, and leaves. There was even an engraving of a lantern hanging off of a branch and another one of a hummingbird sipping water from a river. I eventually reached a fork that led off to two different sections. Large brass signs noted where they led to. A thick dark wooden door with golden hinges was on the left. On the right, was an oak wood door with cast iron hinges. The door on the right, the darker, more sturdier door, led to the upper class. The cheaper door on the left, led to the lower class. There was no middle class. I quietly asked Nibble if he knew what door I should take. He poked his head out of the bag and said to me "Take the door on the right and ask one of the armour wielding ponies where Golden Clove lives." I nodded and began heading towards the upper class doorway. As I pushed it open, I realised it was heavy and it creaked as if it had not been oiled in years. As I stared at the city, I realised that this was called upper class for a reason. The city was carved out of the inside of the mountain as far as I could see. I walked forward and saw that if I had walked any farther I would have fallen to my death. To my left was a map. I walked over to the map cautiously and inspected it. The whole upper class portion of the city seemed to be shaped as an oval and I was on the lower section of the oval. I examined the city a little more. Red, orange, gold, and purple banners were hanging down from peoples balconies and I could tell a light source was coming from deep within the rift. I flew up to look down the cliff and get a better look at what the light could be. Down below, hundreds of feet, was a lake. The lake had a HUGE tree growing out of the middle of it. The tree looked like a golden oak but it was MUCH larger and the leaves were... glowing! It was quite the sight. The water seemed to reflect the light off of the lake and bounce it to the rest of the cavern. Many, many houses surrounded the lake. I could hear many voices of ponies yelling out and laughs of families. This was probably a popular area. I knew I should probably get onto doing the mission but I couldn't see any armoured ponies around so I decided one look at the amazing lake wouldn't hurt. I landed gently on the ground. Where I landed the soil had lit up beneath my feet. I jumped back, a little surprised, but it was pretty cool. I poked the ground with my hoof again and the soil lit up beneath my feet again. I chuckled and walked closer towards the lake. An amazing sight. I would have sworn I was staring at the tree for quite a while. A huge glowing tree. This was like a dream. Was it a dream? No. It wasn't a dream. It was amazing. I turned around and headed towards the town dodging a happy family of ponies walking by. A sign was hung by the entrance to the maze of buildings. The sign read 'Marketplace'. Speaking of marketplace... I did actually really need some food.
Prologue The warm breeze coming off of the ocean was soothing. It reminded me of when my mother used to tuck me in at night. The soft covers protecting me from cold. That's why I loved the ocean. My name is Ripple. My parents died when I was merely 9. I'm 14 now. I still cry every once in a while. They died in an attempt to capture outlaws or something like that. It didn't turn out so well... I flew away that day. To the ocean. I've been a bit happier here, but I still feel alone.... the worst thing is that I don't even have my cutie mark. I kinda want to try and actually do something with my life but all it really seems like I do is sit out here and... write. Why can't my cutie mark be a writing cutie mark? It would be so much easier. Maybe it's because my stories are lame and cheesy most of the time. I think I finally thought of a good idea for a story though... I always think that before writing something though. This story Is going to be about... my life... every day I will write something up I guess... wait... if someone reads this I have to try and make it like It's in the moment. So starting now I think I'm going to make this more like a normal story. Not as much like a journal. I don't have much else to say... but the ocean is nice... I guess.
