the Adventures to be had.

Chapters

When things fall
Welcome Excel
The very boring town of coal
Been Waiting.
Item Get! WOO HOO!

When things fall

When things fall.

The water was cool and soothing as it rushed past my aching shoulders and flowed through my long hair, this however was not my first thought. My first thought was, “where the hell is the son of a bitch who pushed me over that waterfall!”

My next thought however was, “how did I even survive?” I could tell the water I was in wasn't very deep, could I have survived? Is it possible that I floated down river?

I was jerked out of my thoughts as I felt something touch my head; it was cold, hard, and smooth, like a shell. I tried to open my eyes to see what was trying to get my attention, but my eyes felt sore and swollen, like someone had blown up my eyes with an air pump.

When I wished I could have more adventure, I never thought it would be like this. I am the kind of Girl who likes to pretend that I could do exciting things, but never actually act upon these fantasies. But I thought that could all change when I got that postcard in the mail. I should have known better then to trust a postcard with no signature, handwriting that had to have been written with both hand clasped on the pen, and telling me to meet at an unknown place in the middle of some woods in Oregon. But with a free plane ticket from Santa Fe New Mexico to Astoria, Oregon, how could I say no?

“It has to be some sort of scam,” my sister told me. “People don’t just give out free tickets without some sort of catch to it.”

“But this could be the big adventure I have been waiting for.” I told her. “This is my chance to get out and see the world.” From then on until I left, she would not stop trying to stop me, going as far as trying to get me sick.

“I’m doing this for your own good,” she would say. “I want to protect you, Alexis.” But I would not listen. This was my chance for adventure and nothing was going to stop me from having it.

Well, finally the day came, the day I left for my flight. I got up early grabbed my pre-packed suitcase and camping gear, and made the forty-five minute drive down to the air-port. The flight, however, was nothing to write home about. I got stuck in front of a kid pushing on the back of my chair constantly, some fatty who slept the whole flight with a very loud snore, and on top of all that, I think I may have gotten airsick.

The terrible flight would be worth it as I landed in Oregon. I already knew what I was going to do: I was going to find the hotel that I had made a one night reservation with, map out my whole trip and then, get ready for the hike to the place I was told to meet this mysterious person who had sent me the ticket.

My plan, however, was not needed as when I left the terminal I was greeted by a tall and skinny man in a black suit, who only said one sentence to me, “I will take you to your hotel.” But he said in such a flat and monotone voice I’m glad that’s the only thing he said.

I should have known better then to trust someone who sent a whole limousine to pick me up. I should have known not to trust someone when they already know which hotel you have. Why did I not question when the cab driver said nothing when he dropped me off, but just drove away instead, somehow vanishing when it turned a corner.

I guess I was too focused on my Adventure to even care what was going on.

After checking in, eating a hot pocket, a very hot pocket, mapping out the trail I was going to take to get to the place I found out was called Destiny’s Falls, I tucked myself in the bed for a good night’s sleep.

The next morning when I woke up, I grabbed my stuff and walked down to a bus stop. I rode the bus to ‘Misty Mountain Trails and Camp Grounds’ where the start of my adventure began.

The sun was getting higher in the sky by the time I found the path that would take me to the destination. I was excited and scared at the same time, but I did not let that stop me. So I started walking the trail.

Oh ,why did I ever think it was reasonable when the map told me that I would need to go off the path? Why did I not heed the warning about not following the trail? I must have been too close to the adventure I was seeking to let it bother me. That or I’m just too head strong for my own good.

A fast flowing stream that would run off into a water fall, greeted me as emerged from the wood. It was spectacular, marvelous even, like something from a dream. It was, until I felt my body being pushed, by large hands, over the cliff and into the water hundreds of feet below, well it felt like hundreds.

The last thing I remember was the cold spray from the falls as I fell through the air, and darkness.

And that is where I am now, probably dead, or at the very least broken beyond medical repair, in a stream with something pestering me to get up.

I decided to risk moving, starting with my toes, still in my hiking boots by the way, and they seem fine to me. Next, though numb from the water, my fingers.

“So far so good” I thought, “If nothing seems injured then maybe it’s alright to move.” and so I did. I slowly got up. feeling pretty and my head felling quite large and bulgy, but other then that my head is in check, my arms are fine, my legs good, my mid-section had seen worse days. All in all, not bad.

Whatever had been poking me, stopped, now that I was moving around. Opening my eyes to see what was going on was a challenge, they were too sore to do such a task.

“Oh, Shit!” I thought. “I hope didn't go blind.”

“Don’t worry, my dear girl, you have not gone blind.” A high pitched man’s voice, echoed?

“Who’s there? Where am I?” I asked in the direction I heard the voice.

“Oh dear, it’s so rude to speak to someone when not looking at them.” the voice chuckled. “Let me fix that.” Without even letting me respond, two cold and smooth things touch my eyes.

Little by little the pain went away and I could open my eyes. Slowly, but ever so slowly, I peeked out from under my eye lids. Everything bright, I opened them a bit more. I began to see color, and so still more I opened my eyes. Form was given to the blurry colors.

With my eyes now fully opened I saw that I was on a river bed. The sand like pebbles shifted underneath me as moved around. I swiveled my head to find the one who had, rescued me?

Nothing, there was no one around. “Where did you go?” I muttered under my breath.

“Open your eyes dear girl, I’m right here.” I turned my head back to my front. I don’t know what I was seeing, I’m not sure if it’s even here or not but standing before me was a tall, thin, reddish faced man with a curly beard wearing, puffy women’s clothing?

“WHO THE FU-.” I began, but was stopped as the man raised his, claw?

“No foul language, very naughty you know.” He said in very sly high pitched tone. “Don’t bother asking for my name, I haven’t got one, but if you must, you can call me Lucius, or HIM, or even that one being that kidnapped you, reformed your body, and stuck you right in the middle of the game of the gods.”

“…WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!?” I screamed. Why does my voice sound, higher?

Lucius rolled his eyes, “oh please, just look down at yourself.” He commanded.

I did as I was told and got the biggest surprise of my life, my pants where gone, but I'm okay with, my legs however had been replaced instead with short stubby pink paws.

I began to freak out, as I checked the rest of my self. All my cloths where gone, save for my camo-colored, sleeveless, hiking jacket I still had. My whole body was covered in fluffy pink fur, except for a white “v” shape patch of fur on my chest. My hands had turned into, well, stubby hand like paws.

I had to have been at least one third my normal size. It’s funny how big the world seems to be when you’re shorter.

“If you think this is strange, wait until you see your face.” Lucius chuckled. He was really starting to frighten me, now.

“What? What did you do my face?” I nearly screamed, panicked. useing my new paw-like hands, I checked the contour of my face.

From the best I could tell, my mouth was stretched out across my whole face. My ears had moved down to the sides of my head next to my mouth and grew at least a foot long. “He must have really fucked up my face.” I thought.

“Don’t worry, my little pawn, you look, oh what’s a good word?” he mussed me sarcastically. He scratched his thin pointed head with one of his crab claw hand. “Oh yes! You look better than most of the ugly human mortals do.”

I would have punched him if I thought I could actually get away with it but those claws of his did not look like they were just for looking weird. Instead I just scowled and crossed my arms over my furry chest.

“Don’t give me that look.” He smirked.

“I’ll give you whatever look I want.” I growled back. “Now tell me. Where on God’s Earth, AM I?!?” I shouted at him. i'm starting to not like this one bit.

He just grinned. The kind of grin that you know he is about to say something that will shock you.

“Why, you’re not on “God’s” earth anymore.” He appeared at my side and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. “This is Equis.” He said as he moved his free arm in a large ark.

I frowned. “I never heard of it.”

“Oh, don’t worry, hmhmhm, you will find it quite…familiar.”

I don’t know what it was about him, but the way Lucius said familiar really put me on edge. I put my nerves about that away; it could just mean nothing at all.

I took a deep breath, calming myself before continuing. “Okay, why am I here?”

He disappeared from my side and reappeared in front of me, his back turned to me. “Now there is the fun question.” He said, slowly walking forward,his little feet making a tiny crunch noise with every step on the sand, “You are here because you’re my little pawn in this game.”

“What game?” I asked. this could only mean trouble.

He look back at me with a quick turn of his head. “Now where is the Adventure in telling you all that?”

“I’ll know what I’m doing, and I won’t die.” I pointed out bluntly. man, make me point out the obvious why don't you?

Lucius put a claw to his chin. “True, not much fun in seeing you die off soon.” He thought for a moment more before speaking again. “Okay, right through these woods,” he gestured to the line of trees that made up the edge of the wooded forest. “There is a small town, I’m sure there is something there for you to do. Do you accept this mission?” Lucius asked, as he waved his arm.

Suddenly a large flashing red square button appeared in front of me. It flashed the word, Start. “Well? Do you accept the mission? Hmhmhm.” He asked once again.

Seeing as I did not have much choice, I reached my hand out and pressed the button. It disappeared as I felt it click. Somehow, in my mind, I saw “go through the woods and find the small town” flash across my vision. I tryed to flinched away ,but as soon as it happened it disappeared.

Lucius was clapping his claws together giddily, hopping up and down very…flamboyantly. “Oh, goody.” He said in a sing song voice. “Now that you know what to do, I guess it’s time for me to disappear and watch you from afar.” He had ceased his little dance and began to walk away, but then stopped and turned back to me. “Oh and by the way, you will need to change your name, something more fitting for this world.” And with that he disappeared in a puff of pink clouds. very pink clouds.

“But what does that—.” I started to say but he was already gone. Find a new name? I'm going to need to think about that one for a bit.

Suddenly the world got fuzzy and I had to blink hard to get the world in focus again. I opened my eyesand my head felt strange, like I had just woken up from a dream, but I hadn't moved from my spot. There was something else though, something I had missed before: I could hear the birds chirping and the stream rolling, again. Is it possible that I had not noticed these things when talking with Lucius?

something bumped my leg. I looked down to see a much smaller version of my back pack stopped in the current by my legs with a note attached to it.

picking up the bag, I read the note. The note read: “Hope this help. ---Lucius.” I excitedly opened up the back-pack, hoping to find some food, but only found a blanket and a pillow stuffed inside. I would have cried if I was not already a bit pissed.

I shook my fist in the air and angrily shouted, “OH, THANK YOU SO MUCH. THIS WILL TOTALLY HELP!” now, tears beginning to form in my eyes.

It may have been my hunger talking but I’m pretty sure I heard a sarcastic, “you’re welcome.” whisper in my ear. Wow, really creepy.

Having no other option, I slung on the back-pack and walked away from the river and to the tree line. The forest looked deep, dark, and ominous, but I had to make it to civilization, if I was ever going to get some food.

before continuing, I just stood there for a minuet, listening to the whooshing sound of the wind as it blew through the tree branches. My mind was made up, i had to do this. putting one foot into the forest and then the next I was off into the unknown...and Speaking of unknown, I was going to need to think about the name thing, because i have no idea what to call my self.

Welcome Excel

Welcome Excel.

Ever get that feeling when you believe you’re going the right way but deep down in you’re brain, something is telling you that you’re going the wrong way and that you’re lost? Well that’s how I feel. I have been, hopefully, going in a straight line through these, God forsaken, woods for at least three hours, or in may have been five minutes, hunger has a way of obscuring one’s sense of time.

The worst part of this ‘hike’ was that my new legs are so damn short I’m not even getting anywhere fast. Well at least I have shelter from the sun under the trees.

*clonk*

something small hit me in the head. “ow.” I said, surprised. It didn't really hurt, it just surprised me. I looked down to see what it was that had hit me. It was an, acorn? “What the…?” I trailed off as I another acorn made contact with my head.

turning my head in the direction I was sure the acorn had come from, there were a few cute little squirrels sitting on a branch, up in a tall tree. The three squirrels where looking at me, and making strange chitting sounds. It almost sound like laughter, but squirrels can’t laugh can tha--?

*Clonk*

another acorn hit me straight in the forehead. Why those little bastards where chucking acorns at me.

The squirrel in the middle, which looked to be the leader, hurled another acorn at me, but this time I was ready. quick as a flash, I grabbed the acorn out of the air before it hit me and hurled it as hard as I could back.

I missed the squirrels by a few feet, hitting the trunk of the tree they were on instead. To my surprise the acorn exploded into dust, hitting the trunk with a very loud *CRACK* and causing the squirrels to flee in terror. The impact also left a tiny gash in the tree bark.

“What the hell?” I asked out loud. I could never throw that hard; in fact I don’t think it was physically possible for anything to throw that hard.

I was looking down at my small hand, thinking, “Did I really just do that?” but I was knocked out of my wondering when I felt the familiar pressure in my stomach and a *grumble* resonating from it. Man, was I hungry.

time to stop fooling around and get to this town before I topple over from hunger and exhaustion. So onward I hike, through these dim woods and deep foliage.

very soon, the woods began to get even dimmer, though, as the sun had begun to go down. This worried me because I was not interested in sleeping outside, in the open, especially when there are evil demon squirrels about. It was then, that I decided the best thing to do, if that happened, was to make a fire and to just wait the night out.

Just as I thought I might need to start gathering supplies to start a fire, which I had no clue on how I was going to start one, the sound of voices talking, came from up ahead of me. i also started to hear the crunch of feet on the forest floor.

my hopes have been lifted and my prayers have been answered, THANK YA JESUS! Finally, I had found civilization, and where there was civilization there was food, and where there is food there might be Chef Boyardee microwavable ravioli, which I have been craving at the moment.

quickly, I hurried to where the voices were coming from. some Low branches whipped my face, the pesky bushes scratched my lower section, and the messy forest floor clung to my boots. I just knew I had to catch up to the voices.

Just up ahead, past a few strangely comically large shrubs, I would catch up to whoever it was that was walking in the forest. “Hay, whoever that is!” I yelled out, “Wait up, I need your help!”

The voices and walking sounds stopped so I picked up the pace. finally braking through one last large bush, panting and sweating I found them. Man I really need to work out, but I think that most of the exhaustion was caused by the lack of food in my system.

I was looking down at the ground, trying to catch my breath when, whoever it was, finally spoke. “Hay, silver, what is that thing?” a female’s voice asked. I snapped my eyes wind open, I seemed to have over looked the fact that I was not quite human.

“Oh, I can explain.” I started to say as I looked up. I didn't continue, however, on account of what I saw. There standing before me where two horses, but they were not just horses, one had a horn protruding from its forehead; a unicorn?

I’m not sure how to explain what I was seeing, but to start with how they looked like is good: the one who was not a unicorn was a sandy yellow, with a dark reddish brown mane and tail and golden eyes. The most notable thing was that it was wearing a small purple jacket vest. It also had pink bangles on its front for leg, cute!

The horse standing next to it was slightly taller and had a horn coming out of it head. I didn't even know Unicorns existed. In fact they don’t, but standing in front of me, honest to God, is a real live Unicorn. The unicorn's silver gray coat, that seem to shimmer and sparkle in the light went well with it's Its short black mane, which was styled in a cool messy way. It had a streak of silver in it's hair, that looked like tin foil. I must look like an idiot, with my dirty vest, muddy boots, and the fact that they said they have no idea what I am.

The unicorn leaned over to its companion and whispered, “Do you think it’s some sort of wild animal?”

The tan hoarse had a “that’s a stupid question” look on its face. “No,” it replied in a normal female sounding tone. “If it was a wild animal, do you think it would be wearing clothes?” she pointed her hoof at me to indicate my vest.

The silver Unicorn face dropped to an “oh duh” expression. “Oh Ya. I didn't think of that.” He replied. He looked at me and asked, “Do you need any help?”

That’s the last thing I remember before I felt my legs give way underneath me and darkness envelope me. I guess I must have fallen to the ground, but it felt like I did so in slow motion. I lost consciousness before I even hit the ground.

I remember this place. The restaurant I used to hang out with my friends at. “Thunderbird Bar and Grill” why am I here? I remember now, this was the night before I left. My best friend, Peter, had thrown me a going away party. I was only going to be gone a week or so, but Still it was a nice guested.

“So this is the start of that big adventure you've always wanted, huh?” he had asked me.

I smiled, “yup!” I exclaimed. “But this isn't the start; it really starts when I meet this relative of mine.” Peter just stared at me. I knew that look he was giving me. “What?” I asked.

“You really think that 'true adventure' starts when you meet this guy?” he had asked me.

taken aback by this question I responded, “yes, of course.”

“So leaving by yourself to a state you have never been to, finding out you have a long lost relative, and finally, actually following through with it, don’t count as part of this adventure?” he asked, staring hard into my eyes.

I wanted to look away, but those deep blue eyes of his, kept me in a trance. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, not taking my eyes off him. “Well,” I began, “an adventure starts when I choose for it to start.” I said, thinking fast; smooth.

Peter just shook his head. “You’re missing the true fact about it.” He pointed out, “An Adventure starts weather you decide for it to begin or not.” He took a sip of his drink before continuing. “We can’t plan ahead for what we want an adventure to be, but really we need to excel toward the greatness of the adventure once we realize it has begun already.”

I rubbed the back of my neck. Peter was always spouting deep, insightful quotes like that. He comes up with stuff like this, on the spot all the time, but regardless I knew he was right; Damn.

I never responded to what he said, but instead was saved by our waitress placing our ordered food in front of us. We thanked her and I immediately changed the subject by asking, “How come it’s only you and me? Did you not invite Andrew, Chase, or Heather?” they were some of our other friends.

“I just wanted to spend tonight with my best friend.” He replied. He lightly touched my hand from across the table.

“Does he have a crush on me?” I thought. I could tell it in his eyes. We have been friends for so long that I can tell when he is in love with someone, even though his past relationships had ended in flops. I thought I could see that look in his eyes when he looked at me. man this is awkward.

Jerking my hand away, I pretending that I was fixing my hair. This startled him and he put his hand back on his side of the table, But what is this feeling that I feel now? Do…do I like him as well? I don’t want to make our friendship weird, but why do I feel I want it to go beyond that? okay maybe that came out wrong.

“I think…alright for…waking up some time soon.” a voice garbled as I began to come to. Something was warped around my head. It felt soft and cool. I could tell that I must have been in some kind of bed. It feels all nice and warm under the covers.

I began to stir in the bed, this was getting a reaction from whoever was in the room. They came over to me and I felt something pocking my shoulder, like someone was using their whole fist but had no knuckles or fingers. Slowly I opened my eyes and saw that I was in what looked like a hospital room.

“Was it all a dream?” I thought.

“Good, your awake!” a soft voice said.

I turned to the source of the voice. “GAH!” I shrieked in surprise. Standing there was a small white horse. In my defense, what scared me was that she was right up in my face, closer than I would have expected, and those eyes that seem to stare right through me.

“Calm down, please.” She asked, lightly placing her hoof on my shoulder.

“Holy Shit, Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” I said much quieter and in a breath. Placing my hand over my heart, I felt soft fur. I looked at my hand; it was still a short pink fluffy paw. “So, I guess it wasn't a dream.” I thought to myself.

“Do you mind telling us your name?” this question startled me out of my thoughts. “And what you were doing walking around in the woods.” The voice that asked this question came from somewhere else in the room. I turned my head to find who was speaking. It was the tan hoarse from earlier, you know before I passed out.

I just stared at her, still trying to process the question. There was a quick flash back to when I first got here and met Lucius. “Oh and by the way, you will need to change your name, something more fitting for this world.”

“Hello? Can you speak basic language?” another voice brought me back to reality. It was the silver Unicorn that was with the tan horse.

The only thing I could Spit out was, “I-I’m sorry, what?” this actually earned a smile from the two horses.

“Oh good, you speak equine.” The tan horse said.

“Who are you?” I asked.

The tan horse stepped closer. “My name is Gold Rush, you can call me Gold though.” She waved her hoof to signal the Unicorn to introduce himself.

the other horse stepped forward and said, “Hi, my names Quick Silver.”

Those where some strange names, I thought, and I was about to say so when once again I heard “you will need to change your name, something more fitting for this world.” in my head.

I had to give them a name; I don’t think that a name like Alexis would fly very well if every being had a name like those two had, well unless they were native american or something, but i doubt that. Just to get confirmation though, I looked over to the White horse.

She blinked at me. “Oh, silly me,” She giggled, “I’m nurse Tender Redheart, you may call me Nurse Redheart.” She said in a very soft and caring voice.

So I was right. I do need a silly-ish name. I had to think of something, but for some reason the last conversation I had with Peter popped into my thoughts. Something he had said stuck out to me. It was perfect; in fact it was beyond perfect. It was destiny.

“My name,” I started, “Is Excel.”

I waited a moment, seeing if they would believe me. Quick Silver was the first to do anything. He smiled and stuck out his hoof to me. “Well it’s nice to meet you, Excel.” He said in a friendly tone.

I shook his hoof in an awkward handshake, it being awkward because he had no hand.

“What are you? Why where you running around in the woods screaming bloody murder?” Gold asked, interrupting the half hand, half hoof, shake.

I almost forgot, I never got a chance to clearly see my face. I asked for a mirror. Nurse Redheart got a mirror off a small table and handed it to me and I grabbed it greedily.

I saw for the first time, my face. “DAMN!” was all I could say, as I finally saw my face.

My eyes where enormous, at least three times the size of a normal eye. Okay maybe not that big but they were still big and dark black with very long eye lashes. Next my nose, all I can say is that it was big, round and purple. As I expected my mouth was almost the length of my face, and my teeth, MY GOD! They looked like shark teeth. And there was bandage wrapped around my forehead. Coming out of the top of my head where two very long Antenna things.

I forgot that I was being observed as I poked and rubbed my face. “Umm…are you alright?” Quick sliver asked.

This brought me back to my senses. “huh? Oh Ya, I’m alright.” I said, putting down the mirror. I then remembered Gold’s question. But the Hell if I knew what I was. I had to think of something. “Oh and to answer what I am…uh…I’m a…,” what was I? For the life of me I have no idea.

Lucky for me, I was saved by Quick Silver asking, “Are you some sort of koala-Diamond dog mix?”

“sure?” I said, shrugging. I began to try and get out of the bed, but was stopped by the nurse.

She looked at me with kind eyes, “I’m sorry, but we need you to stay here for a few hours so we can make sure you are well enough to be released.”

I sighed, not wanting to stay here, but to just get on with…whatever it was I was supposed to do. “Okay, fine.” I said dejectedly. “Well, where am I, what town I mean?” I asked looking back at Gold and Silver.

Silver grinned widely. “You’re in MinersTown!”

The very boring town of coal

The very boring town of coal

Boring; That’s what this town is, Boring. You want to know why? The hospital only had four other patients and It was a one floor hospital at that. The town, you ask? The only people out, or should I say ponies since all the residents seemed to be ponies, were old and sitting on porches watching the hustle of the town, or should I say lack thereof.

I thought that, when gold told me this was a mining town, it would be a lot like the way they mine back on my planet: Huge trucks carrying loads of dirt, people running about all over, factories that extracted the elements from the dirt. You know, 21st century mining. Instead it looked more like this town still mines like they did in the Wild West. Someone needs to push the Cray Button, and fast.

“…And this is the town square.” Silver finished as he took me on a “Tour” of the town. Really the town was really just a very long road that cut straight through the town. There was a few turns here and there that went off into, God knows where, but mostly the whole town crowded around this one strip of road and around the square, but it was more like a cul-de-sac then a square. Basic geometry people; next thing you know, your gonna start telling me squares fit in round holes.

“It’s nice.” I said half mindlessly. I was too focused on studying the town to really pay much attention to the silver unicorn.

“Hello, Earth to Excel?” Gold said waving a hoof in front of my face.

I blinked and put my focus back on the two ponies. “Oh, sorry. What?” I asked.

“We asked if you wanted to go see the coal mines.” Gold asked. Well there really was no use standing around here, so why the hell not.

“Okay, sure.” I responded.

Gold and silver led me away from the town to what looked like a large wall made of stone that stretched on in both directions for miles. there were a few small farms Off in the distance, but I couldn't see any signs that the farms grew anything.

This puzzles me. “Hay, are all those farms abandoned?” I asked my tour guides, pointing in the direction of the farms.

Gold, without looking back, said flatly, “Those are all rock farms, duh.”

Rock farms? Whoever heard of farming for rocks? I mean really. The more I learn of this place the more backwards it seems to be. First that creep Lucius, then demon squirrels, then a mining town made up by talking ponies. Why did I not see farming rocks coming?

“Why would you farm rocks?” I asked confused.

Silver piped up to answer the question. “You don’t really farm rocks,” he explained, “They just use the rock for a whole ton of stuff.”

“Like…?” I asked, letting the question linger on for a second so they knew I had no idea what they meant.

“Well,” Gold started, “For one: they ground up empty rocks to turn into gravel, or melt it down to be used to cheaply pave roads or be reshaped into bricks.”

Empty rocks, what on earth, no pun intended, could that possibly mean? I was unaware rocks would even have anything inside them other then, well rock. What, were they like those capsule prizes you buy out of those twenty-five cent things you see outside of the grocery store? If they were, then that was yet another thing I could add to the ever growing list crazy things in this world.

To UN-confuse me I asked “why would a rock be empty?”

Gold put her hoof to her face. “Man, you ask a lot of questions. It’s like this: they mine rocks to see if there are any gems inside.” She answered, a hint of annoyance in her voice, “and just to answer any future questions, I have a feeling you will ask,” She put a hoof up, “simply because you have no knowledge of rock farming: They move the rocks around the fields, every so often, in hopes they will produce more or rare gems.”

Okay, I knew as crazy as this world was, there was no way that was true. “That sounds like a load of superstition bull, to me.” I commented. “As crazy as this place seems to be, I don’t think a rock chooses to have gems inside, if you move it around.” I then realized something, Gems? What did that mean? “Wait, gems?” I asked.

“Ya, this whole town, as we have stated before, was founded on mining. That would include gems.” Silver explained.

I was dumb founded. My mouth was frozen in the beginning of asking what. “Wh-Wh-Wh…ugh never mind.” What they said made no sense. In fact this whole damn place made no sense. I was kind of wishing I was with Lucius. Then again that would be going from one crazy nightmare to a whole new one.

I felt like I wanted to cry, I felt like I wanted to just crawl into a bed and will myself to go to sleep in hopes I would wake up, back home, I wanted to dance and sing in hopes that the plot gets more developed then this, But this was all too real, it was not a dream or a Stephen Sondheim Musical.

We stopped at the entrance to a cave, there was a larger pony stallion standing in our way. He was larger in size and build then either of the ponies who led me here. His coat was a brown color; his mane and tail were a messy back. He also had black smudges all over face and large hooves. On his flank there was a, tattoo? I looked over to gold and silver really quick, knowing I saw something similar to that on their flanks.

Gold had a heart shaped gold jewel on her flanks and silver had a few bars of silver on his. I then looked back at the large pony in front of us, not realizing he was giving me a semi-scared, semi-curious look. Ignoring it for the moment, I study his flank. he had the image of a pot of melted silvery stuff.

I looked back at his face, he was now scrutinizing me through squinted eyes. I was about to say something when gold lightly pushed me behind her and smiled innocently.

“Good afternoon, Lead.” She greeted the pony. “How’s the coal mining coming?” she asked sounding a bit nervous.

Lead had not taken his eyes off me; I was feeling a bit un-easy. He lifted a foreleg to point at me. “That diamond dog?” he asked.

Silver answered, not sounding the least bit worried. “Hay Lead, this is new friend, Excel.” He patted me on the back causing me to take a jerked step forward. “We wanted to show her the mines.” He continued. “Is that alright?”

Lead relaxed his face, now looking at Silver. “Sorry there, Silver, but Y’all know we can’t let diamond dogs in th’ cave.”

Silver looked downhearted. “but she’s only half diamond dog.” He said, probably hopping that would let him change his mind.

It didn't, lead just shook his head slowly. “Eenope, can’t risk it. We need all th’ coal we can get our hooves on.”

“So the rumors of the shortage of coal are true?” Gold said sounding very concerned.

Lead responded with an, “Eeyup, but how'd you know 'bout that?”

“But couldn't that destroy the Island?” Silver asked.

Before he got an answer I asked a question of my own. “What are you talking about?”

“The other two towns on this island, and the trains that run through the Island, and the boats to the Equestria main land, all run using coal.” Gold answered quickly.

Wait a minute, the Other ‘Two’ towns? This island only has three Towns, go figure. But wait, did she say ‘boat to the Equestria main land’? I had to get to that boat, I want off this stupid island.

“Yes, and we need to save up as much coal as possible. So get that filthy rock eating animal away from here.” Lead said, jerking me back to the conversation.

“Filthy…ANIMAL?!?” I screamed at the insult. I’d show him a filthy animal. I wanted to punch that Bastard so hard in the jaw his Dentist would feel it.

I was ready to lunge at the large earth pony but I was suddenly unable to move my legs. I looked down and saw a soft silver glow around them.

“Oh would you look at the time, we really should be going.” Silver said quickly. His horn was glowing with the same light that trapped my feet. “Come on Gold, let’s get back to town.”

forcibly, i was tugged away from Lead and followed Gold and Silver back to the town. “Hay wait, I wasn't finished with him.” I said, straining to get out of the grip of the strange force that had me.

“You really are a hot head, aren't you?” Gold asked with a smirk.

Okay so maybe sometimes I lose my temper, but I always had a good reason to, right? I mean that guy insulted me. But still, gold did bring up a good point, maybe I am a hot head. Nah, I’m right there wrong.

Silver’s freaky magic didn't let go of me until we were halfway back in town, and by then my stomach was beginning to make the rumblies that only chef Chef Boyardee could satisfy. “I’m hungry.” I half muttered to myself. surprisingly, getting pulled around against your own will takes a lot out of you.

“I’m sure we can find something for you to eat when we get back in to town.” Gold assured me. She then began to walk faster, wanting to get something to eat as well, I imagine.

Okay this can’t be the same town I was in a little while ago: The streets where filled with ponies walking to and from buildings, kids were out playing, and colorful lights were twinkling and flashing. “Whoa, what happened here?” I asked. “Just this afternoon this town was quiet and drowsy.”

“It’s the end of the in-town work day and the start of the night shift.” Silver said cheerfully. “Come on, I know a great place for dinner.” He then started to basically skip down the main street.

As I began to follow I heard a groan from Gold. “I think I know right where he wants to go.” She groaned out loud.

I tilted my head to side, letting one ear droop to show confusion. Now that I think about it, I must have looked more like a dog then anything ever, you know minus the antenna, giant black eyes, and the fact that I look nothing like a dog…but still you get it right?

Any ways, Gold knew I was confused. “He want to take us to,” She put a hoof up to face as if to do some sort of face-palm, but I guess it was more of a face-hoof, considering the lake of having a palm. Gold let out a small sigh and mumbled, “Puchu’s pizza arcade.”

I’m not quite sure why Gold was so down on wanting to come to this place, it seemed light-hearted enough. It was built like a Chuck-E cheeses, except they actually let people over the age of thirteen in. what? At the Chuck-E cheese in my town, unless you’re with an adult then, teenagers aren't allowed through the door.

The only weird thing were the games, stuff I've never seen in an arcade before, even though I have only been in a hand full of arcades. They had standard stuff like sky-ball, air hokey, and those games that give you tickets even if you have like zero to no skill. But there were also games like: a first person, rail-shooter called extinguisher redemption: rise of the AI’s, and a drilling game, that one was fun though and even a game where you have to guide a ball down a rail without letting it fall, but lets just say I didn't seem to be able to do the "Don't let it fall part. Other than the strange games, it seemed legit.

It was then when I saw the mascot, a giant teddy bear thing with a pink tutu and holding a stupid looking wand, that I knew why Gold hates this place. I don’t know if the thing was cute or just god damned creepy. I leaned over to whisper to Gold. “What is that thing?”

Gold sighed and said, “That thing is Pizza Puchu.”

An overly cheery pony dressed in a Puchu outfit came over to give us our pizza: a large pizza on whole wheat crust, with 1/3 plain, 1/3 covered in oats and hay, and 1/3 covered in, asphalt?

When the creepy waiter left I finally asked, in the most polite way I could manage, “Um, why is part of the pizza covered in rocks?” but I think it came out more like 'He dropped my pizza in the road, that bastard!'

Silver, who finally took his eyes off the strange band playing on the stage, answered. “I didn't know what to order for you when I got here. I know Diamond dogs eat rocks, so I just asked if they could just take some rocks and use that as a topping.” He used his magic to levitate a slice up to me. “I hope you don’t mind.”

I gave a very unconvincing grin and grabbed the slice of pizza. I know better than to try and make a scene in public, so doing something completely out of character, I opened my mouth and took a small bite of the end of the pizza. It tasted good. to my utter shock . The asphalt tasted nothing like asphalt should have; it kind of tasted like a sweet meatball or meatloaf. I took a bigger bite and found that for some reason my teeth could chew the rocks up with ease, like the rocks were made of cooked meat.

“I can see you like it.” Silver grinned happily.

I shook my head. “Yeph, its goodf.” I mumbled around the food in my mouth. I got to remember to add, eating rocks to the list of strange and weird things about this town.

Alone again, in the room that Gold had provided me. After dinner I was just plumb tucked out. Silver asked if I wanted to go take a look around the town, but all I did was yawn out, “I’m tiered.”

“Oh, do you have a place to stay?” Gold asked. Of course I didn't, they found me half dead in the woods, and I have been with them all day, but instead of bring that up I just shook my head no. “Well then you can just stay with me at my house.” She offered. so ya, that was nice.

But Really? Somebody they met just twenty four or so hours ago and they have already; paid my hospital bill; showed me around their town; bought me dinner; and now they want to bring me into their home to stay? Okay these ponies must trust way too easily, or they'er planning something, like in "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" or what ever movie it was.

Anyways, I’m now in the spare room in Gold’s house. Speaking of her house, Gold lives alone in a one story, two bedroom house, that’s at the end of one of those branches off roads I saw earlier. It’s really nice how she made her house look as nice as it did for only having those two bedrooms, one bathroom, a living room, and kitchen that she also uses as a dining room. its all cute and small and stuff. The room I was in, was next to Gold’s room, and had one small bed, a closet, a tiny dresser with a mirror, chair and a candle?

It dawned on me that in the whole house the only electric lights were in the bathroom and a small porch light. I thought I saw a fridge and oven in Gold’s kitchen, and wondered if they ran on electricity. So maybe this place gets most of its light from candles? maybe, but I'll have to ask later.

“I’m surprised that you have survived your first few days.” That voice made me jump. looking around the room, I saw the "ever so charming" face of Lucius in the mirror. I turned my head to where he should be standing but he wasn't there. He was only in the reflection. again I saw, Weird.

“How are you doing-.” I started to ask but Lucius stopped me by raising a claw.

“I just wanted to congratulate you on a First job well done.” Suddenly balloons and confetti appeared out of no-were and Lucius had a party hat on his thin red head, and Mariachi Music, coming form no where in particular, played. My vision flashed and the words “go through the woods and find the small town” appeared with a large green check mark next to it. Another flash and my vision cleared.

I scowled at Lucius, he had confetti blowing everywhere. “Is that really a cause to celebrate?” I hissed to him. “And keep it down. Gold might here you.”

Lucius stopped his Whooping and frowned. “Oh pooh, you’re just no fun at all.” He huffed. “And about your silly little friend, I sound proof this room. She can’t hear us.” I just rolled my eyes, smart-ass

“Okay, what do you really want?” I asked. “Unless you’re as crazy as I think you are, then I’m sure you did not come here to celebrate that I found the town.” I looked him squarely in the eyes.

“hmhmhm, It’s not that you found the town, which you didn't by the way. It’s that you came up with a name for yourself, made some friends, and you tried some new food.” A party whistle popped out of nowhere and Lucius blew it. “That’s quite the accomplishment.” He commented.

“Okay, so?” I asked.

“The more you can do by yourself while doing the little ‘Quests’ I have for you, then the stronger you become in mind, body, and spirit.” And again, he lost me.

“Stronger, What do you mean I’ll become Stronger?” I asked.

Lucius scratched his head in confusion. “Oh, that’s right. I haven’t given you your weapon yet.”

My, what now? Did he just say weapon? I think he did. I wanted to ask what He…she…it? What is Lucius anyways? Off topic right. I wanted to ask what Lucius meant,but he spoke before I could ask. “You don’t think I would leave you out here without a way of protecting yourself, did you?” he asks sarcastically. “Where is the fun in seeing you die the first day out? There are dangers and other players out there who would want nothing more than to see you suffer.”

“Wait, are you saying that I might meet these other players?” I asked.

“Not unless you get off this island first.” He tuttered

“Damn,” I muttered.

“Oh, but would you look at the time?” he said, pulling a pocket watch out of nowhere. “It’s late and you really do have a big day tomorrow.”

Big day, now what could that mean? I’m starting to have suspicions about Lucius. What is he not telling me? But he waved a good bye before i could ask.

“Au revoir, I shall see you soon.” He said and just like that, in a puff of pink, he was gone...again.

“Well that was just-whoa.” I started to say when again a dizzy feeling came over me, much like the last time I spoke with Lucius.

I just decided to shrug it off. I looked around the room, and everything seemed to be unchanged, as if He was never here. “I guess he’s right.” I thought to myself, “I really should get some sleep.” Who knows what adventures are out there just waiting to be had, by me?

Of course, what adventures could be had here, in the little boring town of coal?

Been Waiting.

Been Waiting.

When you think about it, Adventures and a set plan are complete opposite. Why, well because when on an adventure anything could happen, you have to think quickly. Roll with the punches…if need be, beat a hoe. With a set plan, you know almost everything that is going to happen and that it needs to happen accordingly…But ain't nobody got time for that! So if you say, you have a plan on an Adventure, then you’re just an Idiot.

Maybe that’s what went wrong. I planned out that whole trip that led up to me being here, and then kept calling it an adventure. The universe saw this grammatical paradox, and decided to punish me for it. But then again, what’s with Lucius, why is he here? It’s Possible that it’s a big middle finger for good measure, but then again maybe not.

I have no time to ponder these things as I find myself in my old room from when I was a little girl. It was just as I remember it. It wasn't a fairly large room; it only took about six to eight steps to get from one end to the other. Possibly more, I wouldn't know I never measured it.

I saw my old bookcase; full of the books I used to read or just used for show so it looked like I didn't spend all my time watching T.V., which of course I did, though. The dresser was about the way I always remembered it, sitting on the side wall: three drawers on one side, two on the other, one large mirror attached on top, cluttered with pictures of friends and family, clippings of magazines and news articles. There were also notes scrawled in lipstick or sharpie written on the mirror.

I was getting the greatest sense of nostalgia, and all I wanted to do is lie upside down on my bed and gab to my besties about celebrities, cute boys, gossip, and digimon. What, I liked various things in my mid-high and high school days. And don’t tell me you didn't think that Davis and Veemon were cute.

“Do you really miss it?” the sudden voice from behind, startled me and I whipped my head around to see the figure of peter standing in the doorway. Not comprehending what he said, I just gawked like a moron.

He chuckled a bit, “I asked, do you really miss it?” he gestured to the room, “All this, I mean? If I remember correctly you couldn't wait to get out and see the world.”

“Well, true but it’s always good to go back and remember the good ol’ days.” I responded, coolly.

He frowned a bit, “Something you know, but have not quite learned.” He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “Sometimes I feel like you don’t grasp concepts that seem to be right in front of you.”

Now it was my turn to frown. That was a low blow, saying that I was some sort of simpleton. I rounded on him, “and what’s that supposed to mean!?!”

He reeled back, stuttering. “n-no, that’s not what I meant. What I mean is; you are so good at seeing below the surface of what you are focused on. You can find solutions to problems that most people would never have seen. It’s just; when it comes to the obvious you look too deep into it and sometimes miss it.” He explained himself.

“You mean like in Algebra 2?” I asked.

“More like, all of math itself.” He teased and then chuckled at his own joke.

The chuckle soon turned to utter laughter, and it was at that point that I started to giggle as well, his laughter contagious. We just stood there laughing like children, but neither of us letting up.

“You are a wonder, you know that?” Peter said after he caught his breath again.

“What makes me so special?” I asked.

He shook his head, “no, not just special,” he answered, “but you are a wonder, an amazing gift to whoever’s lives you touch.”

I blushed, embarrassed, “your just saying that, I could say the same about you.” I explained.

“You have a great destiny ahead of you, Excel.” He said in a soft voice.

“It can’t be that great-wait, what did you call me?” I asked.

He called me Excel. But how could he know about the fake name I gave myself. “How did you-?” I started, but he was gone when I looked back. A sudden soft feeling came across me and I felt as if I was being flung up into the air.

I woke up, my eyes softly flipping up. sitting up in my bed, I looking around the room that was given to me to sleep in. it took me a few moments to remember where I was, 'WHO' I was. The sun was coming in through the small window on the wall.

“Wow, what a dream.” I muttered to myself. I never really had a dream like that. It felt so real, as if I was there, but that could be because of all that had gone on recently.

I softly stroked one of my long antennas and sighed, trying to find some comfort in it. Then something came into my thoughts, something Lucius said last night, a big day today? Yes something like that, but what?

I jumped out of the bed, put on the only pair of cloths I had, damn. I walked to the kitchen area, where the sounds and smell of food wafted through the place. Thank God, I’m hungry.

“Oh, you’re up! Good.” She Greeted. “Could you set the table?”

“Uh, Sure, I guess?” I answered.

I took a step forward and swiveled my head slowly, looking at the different cupboard, unsure of which one would have plates cups and eating utensils.

“Uuhhh…?” I voiced out loud.

I heard Gold Sigh. “Sorry,” She apologized. “They’re up in that cabinet.” She pointed to one of the Cabinets to her left with her hoof.

I reached up to opens it, but I only mange to just barely open it. Being shorter does have its disadvantages; in fact I don’t think there are any advantages to being short at all. No offence to short people though.

I ended up having to pick up a chair and placing it beneath the cupboard so I could reach the plates and cups, in side. I noticed how easy it felt to carry that chair and how stable I felt carrying two plates and two glasses in my hands.

That would be the second time, since I got here, where I felt stronger and more confident in something I normally would have had trouble with. The first being when I threw that acorn at the demon squirrel.

bragging to myself about how confident I felt in this task as I set the table. Man that sounded really lame. When I realized just how lame I made myself sound, I began to mentally slap myself and then I really did slap myself. OUCH!

“Okay, Morning Breakfast is served.” Gold announced after a little while. She turned around to where I was by the table, carrying a plate that held a stack of, very delicious smelling pancakes, in her mouth.

She smoothly walked over and set the pancakes on the table. How could she do that with such confidence? The pancakes must have been blocking her vision. Add that to the fact the pancakes aren't really the most stable stacking materiel, but she made it look easy. Just add that to the list of strange things, I guess.

“Thanks, Gold.” I said, eyeing the pancakes with a greedy stare. “They look really good.”

“Well eat up quickly; we have a big day today.” She said.

A sudden realization hit me. A big day she says? Could this be what Lucius had planned for me? “A big day, you say,” I asked, “How so?”

She slid three pancakes on to her plate and sat down on her little stool she used as a chair. “Well, we have to go to city hall and meet with the mayor,” She answers. She began to dig into her meal. “I’m a good friend of his, and he’s going through a tough time, and if what I learned from Lead the other day is true, then I might have a solution to his problem.”

Problem, What problem? That must be the “Big” in this “Big day”. Lucius must want me to be part of this solution. Ha, I’m really good at this mission thing. TAKE THAT FINAL FANTASY!

I three pancakes off the stack to eat. “Do you have any syrup?” I asked. I really like Pancakes with Syrup.

Gold Nodded and rushed to a pantry and grabbed a small bottle with what I knew must have been the delicious, sweet, goopy, mouthwatering goodness.

“Here you go.” She said, putting the bottle on the table and sliding it over to me.

After breakfast, I helped Gold clean up our meal. She then went to her room to get ready to leave. When she came back, she was wearing a clean shirt, like the one she had the day before. She also had those pinkish bangles on her front fore hoof.

I wonder if that is the only type of shirt she has? That would get old soon. I mean, wearing the same thing over and over again, Nasty. But am I really the one to talk? I only have one pair of cloths. My shoes and my jacket, and I guess you could count my back pack as an article of clothing, but it’s not like I have a choice.

We walked through the town and of course it was, like yesterday, very quiet. The town’s folk who work must have gotten up early.

When thinking of this, a thought popped into my mind. “Hay gold?” I asked, “If the whole town has work or school or what not, at this time, then how come you’re not up and doing something?

She hesitated a bit. Did I strike a nerve?

She looked a bit nervous. “Well actually, I do have a job, two in fact, but they are so silly, nobody counts them as jobs.”

I was confused but intrigued. “Silly?”

“Ya, well it's like this: my first job is: I shape gems and make small jewelry and baubles for the, um…” she looked a bit embarrassed.

“Well?” I coxed her, wanting to know.

She took a deep breath and let it out. “I make them for the towns tourist information and visiting center.” Her face went red.

“So that means you’re,” I started, “a gift shop owner?” I couldn't hold it; I burst out in a fit of giggles.

She looked a bit upset. “What? It’s a great job. It is my special talent after all, Gem carving I mean.”

Okay, so it may have been pretty mean of me to laugh like that. In retrospect it’s a pretty cool talent.

“I’m sorry, that’s really cool,” I apologized, “so what about this “second” job?

She looked more comfortable to answer this one. She smiled a bit. “Well I mentioned my friend, Coal dust, the mayor.” I nodded, remembering why we were going to the city hall anyways. “Well, I’m like a representative or agent for him.”

“Excuse me?” I asked, cocking my head in utter confusion.

“Well in a way, I go around to the other towns on this Island when Coal can’t.” She explained as we approached a nice looking building that I would have guess to be the town hall.

The building on the outside was a marble white, with a row of four tall pillars, reaching from the ground to the roof. The front door was a pair of polished wooden double doors that seemed simple in designed.

The inside was, what I guessed the inside of a town hall would look like. The floor was marbled tiled that looked nice and cool, the walls where covered in a light brown and green wall paper.

We walked past the receptionist, with Gold uttering a hearty, “Hello, glaze” to the bright yellow pony working behind the desk, writing something down on a small stack of papers. She hardly acknowledged us, which I thought more a blessing, you know, considering how douchey most of these ponies have reacted to me. ya, that's right I'm thinking of 'you' Lead.

Gold put a hoof out to stop me. “Wait here, I have to talk to berry over there.” She pointed to a unicorn mare standing guard next to a pair of doors.

I stayed where I was and watched Gold go up the guard and talk. My ears twitch and swivel toward them and I could hear every word they said clearly.

“…she’s a good friend of mine too and I know what she looks like, but trust me she’s a good one.” I heard gold say.

“Well she sure doesn't look like any Diamond Dog I've seen.” The guard responded. “Okay, I have never had a reason to not trust you, Gold. Just keep her under control.”

I saw Gold Nod. “Thanks Berry and I will.” She turned to me and motioned with her hoof for me to join her. I walked to the two ponies and smiled the most innocent winning smile I could muster.

It must have worked, because Berry’s face seemed to soften. “And say hello to Granite for me.” Gold called back to the guard pony as we walked through the door.

We were now in a hallway that stretched down about 5 or 6 doors. Are destination: the big wood door at the end. “Mayor’s Office,” I read out loud the words on the fogged textured window in the door.

Gold knocked politely on the door and we stood there in silence for a moment.

“Come in,” I heard a young voice call from behind the door and Gold opened the Door to the room.

The only way I can describe the office is a miniature version to the oval office in the White house. Right Down to the seal on the floor. The seal, however, was a pick-ax with a stylized Sun behind it, very pretty.

I was so distracted by the room that I missed the pony sitting at the desk, ask who I was. Suddenly I felt an elbow bump my side. “Excel, introduce yourself.” Gold, the owner of the elbow, whispered to me.

“Oh Ya, I’m Excel,” I introduced myself to the pony at the desk. “And I’m a Friend of…” I then began to trail off as I began to really look at the mayor.

A Zebra: a Zebra Pony: a green, brown stripped Zebra pony with a fez, wearing a gray and black coat. Seriously, the mayor of this town was a green and brown zebra. Okay, not what I was expecting, but the big shocker was how young he looked. This deserves to go on my list of strange things.

I found my voice again and cleared it, to speak. “Yes, I’m Excel and I’m a friend of Gold.” Gold just faced hoof at my greeting.

“Okay…Hey, I’m Coal Dust. It’s nice to meet you, but um, what are you doing here?” The mayor asked.

“I have an idea to save the town from the coal shortage.” Gold quickly replied, probably trying to get the focus off of me. It seemed to have worked for Coal was now completely focused on her.

“You Know, But how?” He asked.

“Lead spilled the beans to me, the other day.” Gold stated.

Coal nodded “well, what is it then?”

“Okay, so I have been doing some thinking, and you know that the reason we mine coal is so we can have energy, right?” Gold started. Coal nodded. “Well, there is another ways to get power and all it would take is cooperation with Ologycity.”

Coal though a moment. “Go on, tell me more.”

Gold took a deep breath to calm her nerves. “Solar power, there are Rumors coming from Ologycity saying that they can get just as much power from the sun as coal gives. If we could get that technology here in this, and the other town, then we won’t go through as much coal as we do. So if you would approve it, I would like to-”

“Be the one to volunteer as the representative to go and talk to the counsel on getting that tech here?” Coal finished.

“Hah, uh, yes.” Gold confessed.

“The trains going into that city have been shut down. You would need another way to get there.” Coal warned.

“We could walk there!” I interjected, really more to be a part of this conversation then really have any input.

“We?” Gold asked.

“Yes we, I’m going with you.” Shut up mouth, what are you doing? “I know we can do it.” What am I saying? Walk to a whole other city? Shut up, shut up, shut up! I’m just going to end up saying something- “I would be more than happy to take on this challenge.” …Stupid. Great, now I can’t back out.

Well, maybe it’s not too bad. I did want a real adventure and if the boats are out because of a lack of coal, then maybe this can get it back into business quicker.

Coal looked thoughtful for a long moment. “I Suppose. It’s not too far from here, just a day’s hike through the woods.”

Dear Christ Jesus, what have I gotten myself into? Well a day’s hike is not too bad, I guess. “Thanks, Coal.” I heard Gold thanks. she nudged me to follow her out.

Once out in the hall, gold let out a breath that she must have been holding for a long time. She then promptly hit me in the shoulder. “Ouch, what was that for?” I asked.

“What was that for? You know what, never mind, it somehow worked.” She said. “Come one we have to go tell Silver.” She called to me as she began to quickly trot back down the hall.

“-WE’ER DOING WHAT?” Silver yelled; a reaction to what Gold had just told him about what we were up to.

We had left the town hall to go find Silver who was doing something by the town center. How Gold knew he would be there is a mystery, but if they had been friends for as long as they had said, then it suffices to say that they know each other’s habits and schedules. But then again maybe she’s just that good.

“Excel and I are going to hike to Ologycity. Come on, I Promised I would take you on my next big trip.” Gold tried to convince Silver.

“Ya, at least six trips ago, and those you rode on the train. You guys are talking a full scale walk to the next town.” Silver retorted. “Why do you guys need to go there any ways?”

Gold brushed some of her mane out of her face, “I’m going to see the Council and try to convince them to transport there solar tech here.”

“But why?” Silver asked.

“Remember what lead said the other day? There is a coal shortage. If we can bring alternative methods of getting power here, then maybe we won’t run out for a long, long, long, time,” Gold explained, “So what do say, you in?”

There was a long pause before silver gave an answer, but finally he opened his mouth to speak. “Fine, fine I’ll go.”

“WONDERFUL!” A loud but, very familiar voice from everywhere shouted.

“Oh no, not this. Not now” I sighed.

Lucius appeared out of a poof of pink cloud, in all his red faced, pointed chin, crab claw, and strange clothing ‘Glory’.

He then began to speak to both Gold and Silver. “Well, it would seem that little Excel here has made some friends, so sweet, but that not why I’m here. Hello, my name is Lucius and are you in for an adventure.”

Item Get! WOO HOO!

Ch.5 Item Get! WOO HOO!

No, no, no, no, NO! Why would he do that? I thought I could keep him a secret, but Lucius just had to go and do something stupid.

“Uh, hi…who are you?” Silver asked. Really, that’s the question he asks? ‘Who are you?’ not something along the lines of ‘OH MY GOD! Be gone evil spawn of Satan.’ I mean Silvers face could be somewhat shocked enough but still.

“Where did you come from?” gold asked, yet another socially incorrect response.

Lucius just put on a warm smile, as if he were enjoying this but wanting us to enjoy this as well. “My dear I just told you, but of course you two must be in such a startled state that you must not have comprehended my greeting.” He started to explain, “A little slower now, I am Lucius. At least that is one of my names.”

“One of them? You have more?” Silver asked quickly.

Lucius just shook his head in response. “As for where did I come from, let’s just say I look down upon your dear friend Excel, here from a cloud.”

“WHAT DO YOU WANT?” I yelled at Lucius.

“Excel, please show some courtesy.” Gold reprimanded me.

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. “Lucius, hello, so nice for you to stop by and reveal yourself to these two, but why?” I asked.

Lucius disappeared and reappeared next to me, giving me a creepy half hug. “Why my dear Excel, you did it.”

“Did what?” I asked, getting real annoyed.

“Why you made friends, your established trust, you encouraged, and even better, you still held on to your stupid delusion of what ‘adventure’ means.” Lucius answered as he popped in and out, reappearing in random spots around us.

The last time he reappeared he had a sticker in the shape of a star that he stuck on my jacket. I smacked his hand away; feeling like my personal bubble was being intruded. It was fruitless anyways; he just plopped the sticker in the middle of my large forehead with his magic.

“Ouch, why is that so important?” I asked as I peeled the sticker off of my head, probably taking a chunk of my fur with it.

Lucius giggled. “Oh, it’s not. I just wanted to make a good impression on your new friends.”

“Well, you won me over.” Silver chirped up.

Gold slightly pushed Silver back protectively. “Not me, how do I know I can trust you? I’ve never seen anything like you before.”

Lucius put an arm around Gold. “True, Oh so true. You may choose to not trust me, but in time you may see that I am someone you may need to trust.” He explained.

Gold just huffed. “We’ll see about that.” she challenged.

“Maybe we will.” Lucius responded then turned to me. “Now, this is a new Quest.” A red button just like last time popped out of nowhere flashing ‘start’. “You already agreed, but it won’t hurt to make it official.”

“Why not?” I groaned, and I pressed the button with a nice little *click*. Just like last time, my vision flashed to that check list, this time something new on it.

‘Bring a new form of Energy into MinersTown’ it said. “Okay easy enough.” I said confidently.

Lucius shook his head, “I don’t think so. More will come very shortly.” He warned, “But I must be going, things to do and all. Mhm, arrivederci” he called, then in a puff of pink he vanished. Well, that visit was random, quick, and unneeded.

“Well, That was…strange.” Silver was the first to speak. I hardly heard him as my head again got that strange woozy feeling I gets every time Lucius disappears.

Gold rubbed her chin with her hoof, “more like suspicious, if you ask me.”

“I've just gone with crazy.” I added, shrugging.

“Well what do we do now?” Silver asked as he rubbed one fore leg with other.

Gold thought for a second before answering. “We go to Ologycity.”

“How?” Silver asked.

“We trek through the woods, it only a day’s hike,” Gold answered, turning to walk away, gesturing for us to follow, “but we are going to need the camping set and some provisions.”

Camping? I love camping! I may never have had a chance to go camping much back on earth but when I did it was always terrible, but then I look back at what happened and I find that it was really fun. Like the first time I went camping, I was with my dad and a skunk wandered into camp. The skunk sprayed its stink all over but somehow was able to miss everything except my sleeping bag. The rest of that weekend I had to share my sister’s sleeping bag.

I am more than certain that something hilariously funny will go wrong, and that it will somehow only affect me and leave gold and Silver alone, but hay, what are you gonna do, right? Maybe a bear will attack like the time when I was twelve and me and my best friend, Tierney, and her family took us camping or maybe I’ll get lost like the last time I went camping. I was with Peter, Andrew, and Andrew’s older sister, Clair, and I somehow got separated from the group and was lost all day. The only reason I got back to camp was because I came across some other campers who took me back to the camp site.

Nature hates me and has a sick sense of humor, but that won’t dampen my spirits. Besides, what could possibly go wrong?

“I have to pee.” Silver complain as we walked.

“We haven’t even been hiking 30 minutes,” Gold responded, “Why didn’t you go before you left town?”

Silver put on a cheeky grin. “I didn't have to go then.” Gold just rolled her eyes.

We really hadn't been walking for very long, we only left town about 20 minutes ago and the only reason it took us awhile to leave town was because I was a wee-bit unprepared. We had no food, no change of clothes ready, or any idea which way were supposed to go.

I didn't really need a change of clothes, mostly due to the fact I have non to change, but I did need stuff to sleep with. Gold help me pack together a fresh pillow, a sleeping bag, that I rolled my blanket in (you never know when you’ll need one), and a canteen in case I needed water, which I will. All this went in my Backpack, which was surprisingly light.

Gold packed in her own backpack: two fresh shirts that looked exactly alike, man, is that like the only kind of shirt she owns, and some of her bangles; her own pillow and sleeping bag; a canteen, a box of matches and fire fluid, and finally a tiny tent kit.

“That looks a bit small to make a tent.” I said, eyeing her tent kit.

“Oh, this?” she responded, indicating the kit. “It works with magic. Silver can put it up using his magic, along with his own. You can’t expect me to share a tent with him, do you?”

“No, no I guess not…”I said still I bit confused with the whole ‘magic’ thing.

This magic thing is starting to irk me a bit, actually. My whole life I sort of knew that there was no such thing as magic, only illusions and miracles. Here, magic is a science, from what I can tell, and I’m no good at science…well maybe chemistry, but that’s beside the point. Now, having all I believe in challenged like this, It’s scary and I don’t know what to make of it. I mean Lucius is magic, or the result of powerful LSD, I’m not sure yet, Silver is a Unicorn that can levitate objects, and apparently make me move against my will, Still creepy, and then there’s all this other crazy stuff like rock farming and cutie marks. It’s a lot to take in all at once.

Gold had packed more than enough food for us all, as did Silver, I found out, when we met up with him at the edge of town. The Sun was getting high in the sky, warming the earth. Lucky for us, we had a cool gentle breeze blowing on us, and we would be under the shade of the trees the whole time.

Back to where I was a few paragraphs before, “I still have to pee.” Silver persisted.

“Go behind a tree.” I suggested.

“I can’t, not when I know others are nearby.” He retorted.

Okay that makes little sense; he doesn’t even where pants, if he were a human, his junk would be all hanging out. But he’s a Pony, the use for pants would require the use of thumbs and ponies don’t even have hands…of course Silver dose have his Magic, so he could just…ugh, my head hurts, I hate having to try and think.

“Okay,” I finally said, “we’ll walk ahead and you can stay here and be eaten by a wild bear or lion…or an over grown mole rat.”

Silver gulped loudly. “Okay, fine, I’ll go, but you have to look away.”

Ya, I’m not going to go into detail about what went down after that. I’m just gonna get back to us walking…well we walked…and walked, and walked, and walked, and walked, until…

*clonk!

“OUCH!” I yelled out loud. Something had hit me in the back of the head. I turned around to see who the culprit was and low and behold it where those damn squirrels from the other day, they were back.

“What’s wrong, Excel?” Gold asked, oblivious to the situation at hand.

“Evil Satan squirrels, that’s what.” I replied, sill glaring at the nut hording, tree rats.

“Evil what now…OUCH!” Silver Exclaimed as a nut hit him square in the fore head. I swear to God, I’m going to mount those Squirrels over my fire place, if I ever get my hands on them.

Suddenly a flurry of nuts, rocks, sticks, and other things came hurtling at us. Glancing up, I saw that there were more squirrels, at least 500, relentlessly pelting us with projectiles.

“Quick, we need to find safety!” Gold Yelled back to me and Silver, as she began to sprint away as fast as possible. We quickly followed suit.

“Ouch! Why are they—Ow, doing this—whoa, to us?” Silver huffed out, as we kept on dodging the onslaught of projectiles.

I had to look back real quick to answer. “I don’t know maybe squirrels are just—Ah!” the ground under my paws disappeared, causing me to scream in surprise and cut myself off.

It would seem that I had fallen in to some sort of hole in the ground, as did Gold; for in the split second that I had any sense of what was happening, I heard the surprised yelp of Gold, who fell in right before I did. Silver, of course, followed suit, only being a step or two behind me and not having any time to react.

My screaming had turned my focus away from that fact that we weren’t actually falling, but just sliding down through a very slippery hole, like a twisty slide in the play-pins at McDonalds (copyright B.T.W. … Does that count? I mean, I am in an alternate world where McDonalds might not even exist). The hole twisted and turned further in to the earth, and I even would have enjoyed the ride, if I would just stop screaming. From the yells coming from Silver, I could tell he was having fun. Gold, surprisingly, was able to keep her yelp small; only crying out when a turn was a bit too sharp.

As all things, this little ride came to an end, a slow end, but an end. The downwardness of the tunnel slide evened out to level ground which, in turn, caused us to slow down as well. In the dim, dim light, the end of the slide seems to stop in a large room, from what I could see, maybe an underground cave.

Gold came to a gentle and safe stop, as did me, and then Silver. “Hold on,” Silver’s voice whisper to us, as we got up to dust ourselves off from the ride. Why would Silver need to whisper? That’s something I never really got? People always whisper when they are in the dark. Can’t we just talk normally, no matter what the light is like?

Speaking of light, what Silver meant by ‘hold on’ was that he wanted to take a second to get some light in this cave. His horn glowed, a soft, silver light and soon the whole cave, too, was lit with the soft light emanating from the silver unicorn’s horn.

I took this time to look around the cave, but soon wished I hadn’t. Over on the far wall of the cave I saw non-other than red-faced, skinny armed, skinny legged Lucius. He was just standing there in a long robe, looking wise (ha that would be a first), not moving.

“What do want now, Lucius?” I asked with obvious annoyance in my voice.

All he said was, “It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this.” He didn’t move or gesture to any specific location, so I just assumed he meant what was sitting on the small pedestal in front of him.

“Go alone? What do mean? I’m not—OH, IT SHINY!” When I saw the object, I guess Lucius wanted me to have; the first thing I noticed was that it is a shiny…well, whatever it is. “Thank you, I love it.” I thanked him as I picked it up.

The second I touched it, the shine that concealed its image faded and it turned out to be a cute golden bracelet. It was just so cute that I just had to put it on right away, so I did, and it was a perfect fit too.

There was a beautiful blue stone in it that was so smooth and sparkled so much, you would think that it was a star from the night sky…but of course that would be ridiculous. A star is mass of incandescent gas, like a gigantic nuclear furnace. It’s where hydrogen is converted into helium in a process known as the hydrogen cycle. You see, first: two protons hit each other and one is converted—I’m sorry, I got off topic again.

“Your very much Welcome, my little Excel.” Lucius returned my gratitude.

Holding it up to the light of Silver’s horn, I admired the shine that came from it. “So why are you giving this to me?”

Lucius’s gleeful grin grew wider. “Why, I told you that you needed a weapon to defend yourself, didn’t I?” Lucius flashed from where he was sitting to right next to me, in his usual attire.

This confused me; how could the most adorable and shiny bracelet I have ever seen, be a weapon? “, This Bracelet, you mean?”

Lucius nodded slowly, “Why yes. This bracelet is capable of far more than just an accessory.” He mused.

“How so?” I asked confused.

He gently took my arm in one claw and with the other touched the gem on the bracelet. It glowed slightly and then, to my utter surprise (haha, utter. It’s funny because of cows.), the glow condensed into a small ball and then flew out of the gem.

Silver gasp, “Holy sweet Celestia!” and the glow in his horn disappeared.

“And now we’re in the dark.” Gold pointed out, unamused.

“Hold on,” Lucius assured, and then there was a *snap* and the whole cave lit up with an ever present light coming from nowhere. “Better, now observe.”

The little ball of light was still there, just hovering around Lucius. He scooped it up in one claw, and with his other he waved it towered the opposite side of the cave. There was a *POOF* of pink cloud and a small black creacher appeared. Its movements were twitchy as it swung its small head around to look at, well, everything with it big glowing yellow eyes.

“Now watch and learn.” Lucius eyed the small creacher before winding up a pitch: The ball of light being the projectile. The throw was hard and hit the small creacher with pin-point accuracy. The creacher vanished in a puff of dark gas.

“YOU MONSTER!” exclaimed Silver. “How could you do that to a small little animal?”

Lucius popped right next to Silver and patted the back of his neck with a claw. “Silly little pony, he wasn’t even real.” He assured. “It was just a demonstration to show what this wonderful little trinket can do.”

“So I just touch the gem…like this?” I touched the gem and to my amazement there was a small glow that condensed into a ball, like last time. “Whoa!”

The small orb hovered around me, as if it was weightless. I reached my hand out to grab it, and as I did, it seem to want to listen to gravity, and I could feel the weight of the ball in my hand. It wasn’t heavy, probably only weighing as much as a golf ball, but it did feel dense and hard.

“Go ahead, knock some baddies out with it” Lucius invited as several of the same black creacher rematerialized where the last one was.

“uh, Okay.” I wound up for a pitch and, with all my strength, threw the ball as hard as I could. The ball screeched through the air, “Whoa! Never knew I could throw that hard before!”

Something was off about this, I threw the ball quite hard, yes, but I my aim was and I somehow still hit the creacher.

Lucius put on a small grin. “Oh, I did for get to mention, this new body of yours is much stronger and more durable than your shabby old form.”

I heard a small gasp from Gold, “What do you mean ‘new body’? Excel what is he talking about?”

“oh, it’s nothing you need to worry about.” Lucius reassured, “now, like I was saying,” he turned back to me, “you are much stronger, now, so please do be careful.”

I nodded my head. “Sure. Whatever.”

“And to make things easier on you, that orb can home in on wherever you’re aiming…provided you throw it closes enough.” Lucius continued.

“Well that pretty cool! Don’t you think Gold?” Silver said, looking around for the dark yellow earth pony.

Gold had gone to the other far side of the cave, eyeing Lucius. She obviously doesn’t trust him. She has good reason not to, I mean look at the guy; he’s creepy as all get out.

Lucius diverted my attention back to him by speaking again. “Now I don’t have time to describe the ‘level-up” feature, right now so when it happens, you can rest assure I will be there to help.”

Ok, now I’m confused again. Damn it, Lucius: You and your fancy technical gobbledygook on pretty much everything. Oh well, at least he might finally leave.

“Well, I believe that is all that is needed to be said right now.” Lucius said.

Gold looked up from where she was sitting. “So that’s all? You’re leaving now?”

Lucius shook his head, “Yes, I do believe I am.”

“Good. I still don’t trust you, and I am going to want some answers later, but for now we have taken an unneeded side tour and we really need to get back on track.” Gold stood up and began to dust herself off from the cave floor. Silver did likewise.

“How do we get out of here anyways?” Silver asked, looking around.

Lucius tapped his claw on one of the cave walls, “I can help with that.”

There a loud rumbling noise, like a huge truck driving by a small metal shack you’re in. the cave wall then began to move, like it was some kind of secret wall.

Light from the outside poured into the cave, blinding us all for a moment. When our eyes adjusted to the light we saw that Lucius had vanished.

Silver and Gold ran out quickly. Silver put his snout down in the fresh green grass to sniff it, “Aw, fresh outside grass, I love you! Never leave me again.” He then rolled on to his back and started rolling around in the grass like a bog: tongue hanging our and everything.

Okay, that’s odd, but I mean really, what hasn’t been odd so far since I’ve been here? (I dare you to go back through the last chapters and tell me), I looked over at Gold, who just had her hoof on her face in embarrassment.

“Silver! Get up you idiot!” She yelled at him.

Right away, sliver stopped, rolled back on to his stomach, and stood up. he grinned innocently, “sorry, I get stir crazy sometimes. I am 1/8th Pit-bull by the way.” He said with his tongue still hanging out. He shook the grass out of his mane like a dog would shake grass out of its fur.

I Looked over to Gold, “How…” Gold quickly shook her head no. “okay…so where are we?” I asked.

Gold looked around “I don’t know.” She too out her map and began to scrutinize it, while muttering to herself.

“What’s up? What does the map say?” Silver asked, coming over to glance at the map too.

Gold just shook her head in disbelief, looked at our surroundings and then back at the map again. “I hate to say this you guys, but I think we’re lost.”

Well, despite the fact that I acquired a means to defend myself and my friends, Lucius’s ‘little’ side track got us hopelessly lost. Well, shit!