In a small Equestrian town, a petite stallion walked along a well-trodden path. Having gone this way many times before, he kept his nose in the pages of his book, not at all worried about tripping over anything on his way home from the local library. A copy of 'The Slendermane Chronicles' – the sixth book in the series – levitated by his horn in front of his rounded glasses, causing it to glow a subtle orange. Small groups of ponies milled around him, yet he kept a steady pace.
Suddenly, another pony rammed into him, leaving him winded and his belongings scattered about the ground. He sat up, dazed, and rubbed his scraped chin warily. All he could see was the blurry figure of somepony sitting in the dirt across from him, and he slowly levitated his glasses up to his face. Once he put them on, he could clearly see who had bumped into him. It was a mare. She smiled awkwardly at him.
“Hi,” she attempted. Then, noticing that he did not look particularly happy, added, “Um... Sorry.” The stallion picked up his book, coating it with an orange shimmer, and placed it beside him on the ground.
“That's quite alright,” he reassured, even though he did not completely forgive the mare. Yet. “And who might you be?”
“Arrietty.”
“A... different name, it seems.”
“And who're you?”
“You may call me Arthur.”
“Can I call you Arte?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Okay, Arte.”
“Stop that!”
“Alright alright! Now, Arthur. I think there's a reason why we ran into each other...”
“What?! You did that purposefully?!”
“No no! It was an accident. What I mean is, since you were the one I happened to bump into, it must mean something. Like....”
“Like... what?”
“That you're the one I'm supposed to take along with me on my adventure!”
“Great.”
Arthur started to walk past Arrietty with book in tow, only to be stopped by her as she flew in front of him.
“Where do you think you're going? We have a journey to go on! We need to pack, and find a map, and...”
She counted on her hoof as if she forgot something, still floating in mid-air.
“Who ever said that I was going with you?” retorted the stallion, eyeing the mare over the rim of his glasses.
Arrietty blinked slowly and her shoulders drooped.
“Wh-why not?”
Arthur snorted. Anyone in their right mind would understand why he didn't feel compelled to randomly leave everything behind and travel to who knows where with a pony he hadn't known 5 minutes earlier. But this pony certainly was not in her right mind, so he took one last look and ran the rest of the way home.
As he reached his small house, his anger bubbled. There, sitting on the porch, was Arrietty.
“Leave me alone!” he snarled, meanwhile unlocking his front door.
The pony giggled.
“You just have the before-trip butterflies! Everything will be fine once we leave. I promise.”
She smiled at him from across the porch, and Arthur noticed suddenly her cutiemark. A lasso.
“So, are you... a cowgirl?” muttered Arthur, trying desperately to change the topic and make her forget about the trip.
“No. You see, the lasso represents adventure and action! Like, sure, being a cowgirl, you would see a ton of action and adventure, but I'm not a cowgirl. Does that answer your question?”
Arthur nodded, upset that the explanation had taken less than a minute.
“Um, well, I best be off! Got to... hit the hay, as the saying goes.”
He slammed the door shut and leaned against it, sighing of relief. But it was short lived, for Arrietty instantly knocked, and the stallion cursed under his breath. Slowly, he creaked opened the door, to find a post-pony delivering the newspaper. He blinked. Where had Arrietty gone? Surely she wouldn't give up so easily.
“Thanks,” said Arthur distractedly, levitating the rolled up bundle into his house then closing the door. The stallion nodded and flew away, leaving the unicorn with his thoughts.
Eventually after trotting quite a ways, he came upon Arrietty. She looked zoned out, sitting on a park bench all by herself, as the stars began to twinkle in the orange-blue sky.
“A-Arrietty?”
The mare turned around to see Arthur, then looked away at the ground.
“What do you want?”
“I wanted to apologize. What I did was not sincere in the slightest, and was a terrible thing to do on my part.”
“Uh-huh.”
Arthur saw that that wouldn't be enough, so he added,
“Um, I want to make it up to you... By going on the, um, what did you call it? The journey? Adventure? Or was it trip...”
Arrietty looked up, surprised.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
She sprung into the air with a giggle, in which - Arthur did not exactly notice, but - he was starting to find quite cute. A grin from ear to ear, she flew around, and landed beside him, giving him a giant hug.
“See you tomorrow, 7 o'clock sharp!” called Arrietty as she flew away.
-----------
The next morning was a chilly one, and Arthur had pulled on a scarf to keep warm. His knapsack was packed, his house locked up and his mind racing. Had he actually agreed to this? Yes. And he wasn't about to turn back. Setting out towards the park where he and Arrietty had talked last night, Arthur took one last glance at his home. He wasn't sure how long it would be before he'd see it again, or whether or not he'd return to it at all. He pushed the thought to the back of his mind as the park came into view.
Arrietty waved from the bench, her bulging over-sized saddlebag hung over her back. “Hey! You didn't back out! I was afraid you'd ditch.” She raised an eyebrow teasingly. Arthur scowled playfully, and walked up to her.
“So... Why exactly are we going on this trip...?” he questioned, interest filling his gaze. The mare almost looked at him funny, as if he should have known.
“To save Equestria!”
Arthur suddenly looked puzzled.
“Save it how?”
Arrietty shrugged.
“Dunno!”
The small stallion eyed her, annoyance spreading across his face.
“All I know is that we have to save it. We'll just have to figure it out as we go along.”
Arthur sighed. He had already agreed to go with Arrietty. He couldn't just back out now. Besides, he had nothing else better to do.
“Okay. Where do we start?”
On a map she had pulled out of her bag, Arrietty pointed out landmarks with her hoof. “We have to climb that itsy bitsy mountain over there.... and get across that moderately hot desert...”
“You're kidding.”
“I'm not kidding.”
“Okay, first of all, that is not an 'itsy bitsy' mountain. That mountain is bloody huge! It is a mountain after all...”
Arrietty squinted at him.
“Are you still in this?”
Doubt clouded Arthur's thoughts, yet he replied,
“Absolutely.”
At least he had read up on some survival tips about the wilderness in the library, so they wouldn't be completely lost...
“Great! Let's go!” cheered Arrietty blissfully. “Our journey begins now!"