ACT ONE
A few days later, Twilight and friends acted casual, while secretly spying on Stone Heart. They discovered where he lived; in an underground house dug into the side of a grassy hill in the meadows.
It seemed that all Stone ever did was come out of his house, in his uniform, grimmer than ever, and go around picking trash, and of course he got made fun of by several ponies along the way, and then he would just return home and not come out again until the next day, and then it was the same thing over and over and over!
Today, it was the same routine; he was passing by the same café collecting the trash from the bin. Twilight and friends looked up from their menus spying on him. “Twilight, this is so boring!” groaned Spike “We’ve watched him for three days and all he does is pick trash. When are you going to talk to him or anything?”
“Shh! Keep it down!” said Starlight.
Twilight on the other hand felt deeply concerned, “No-pony talks to him except for making fun of him. No-Pony says anything nice to him, or offers him help, and he always seems to be by himself… almost like… he has no friends!”
Starlight and Spike both felt that an awful situation to be in.
“Okay, we’re going in.” said Twilight.
“We?” asked Spike, but he was grabbed by Twilight’s magic and placed on her back as she and starlight trotted off to catch up to the sullen trash-picker.
Stone passed by a book stall and looked at the books on display. There were stories and novels he had read before selling like crazy, he only shook his head shamefully at them.
“Can I interest you in anything, sir?” asked the vendor, but Stone looked sourly at him and remarked, “I’ve already read these… they’re awful!”
The vendor felt most insulted, “Lots of ponies happen to like these stories, thank you very much.”
“Humph!” growled Stone “Then I guess I don’t like them either.” and then he walked off leaving the vendor to scoff, but Twilight and friends were confused at what just happened.
Finally catching up to him in a clearing, Twilight called to him softly, “Excuse me, Stone Heart?”
He turned around fiercely and snapped, “Yeah what!?” making the friends jump, but he quickly gasped and bowed down, “Oh, Princess… forgive me… I-I-I’ve just had a hard day.”
“Obviously.” muttered Spike.
“Shh!” snapped Starlight.
As Stone continued to walk home the friends walked with him. Stone could hardly believe; this was the first time ponies had walked with him and not say anything rude or insulting.
“So, um… this is your job?” Twilight asked.
Stone, and the others felt that a very silly question to ask, “Yes…” replied Stone “I need to make a living somehow, and this was all I could get. Most ponies wouldn’t hire me, and my books just don’t sell. Every-pony knows that!”
He referred to the newspapers as well as his infamous reputation.
They came to his house and there they found three big boxes with postage due on the tops. “Oh, no… not another one…” Stone groaned.
“What is it?” asked Starlight.
Stone opened the box, inside were many copies of books. Stone groaned miserably, “I thought so-- These are all copies of my unsold failed novels.” He picked up the postage due papers, “…and I have to pay for the delivery again!”
The friends looked at all the novels and their titles…
“The End of Ends”
“Some Things Never Change”
“Even the Purest Light Creates a Shadow”
“Voyage to the Edge of the World”
“Strange tittles.” said Spike.
Stone rolled his eyes, and then turned to walk to the door of his house. “Wait, aren’t you going to take these in?” asked Twilight.
“No, I have no room for them.” replied Stone “Now, excuse me please, I just came home for a bite to eat before my next shift. Good-day to you all, and thanks for not being mean with me.”
Then he went inside and shut the door leaving the friends outside to ponder at the stories. Twilight, being the book-worm pony she was and having her curiosity peaked, “I wonder why no-pony likes these stories?” she wondered. Spike and Starlight wondered the same things, and the each picked up a different book, and Twilight cast a special “Speed-Read” spell, allowing the three of them to just run through the books like being put on really fast-forward.
By the time they were finished each stories, they were all cringing and gawking in… rather a mix of disgust and shock.
“Why I… I’ve never seen anything like this.” said Twilight.
“How could any-pony possible stand reading this?” asked Starlight.
Spike just threw his book down and would have breathed fire on it to destroy it, but he was still cringing in disgust by what he had read. “Make it stop! Make it Stop!!” he cried!
Suddenly, they heard the door of the house slam shut hard, making them all turn round. There stood Stone Heart, and looked infuriated. He had obviously heard their remarks about his writing.
“I take back my thanks. I should’ve known…” that was all he said, and he grabbed his empty trash-wagon and headed off down the path.
“Wait, Stone Heart…” Twilight called, trying to apologize and explain, but Stone wasn’t the least bit interested; not after what she and her friends had just done!
Twilight felt really low, Spike and Starlight felt the same. “Come on, we’ve got to try and make it up to him.” said Twilight.
“But how?” asked Spike.
“Well, we have to try.” said Starlight “At least we can try to show him we don’t want to be mean to him like others have.”
“But we just tried that… and failed!” said Spike.
“Well, we’ll just have to try again, and harder this time.” said Twilight “True friendship always deserves a second chance.”
Inspired by her speech, Starlight was egger to try again, but Spike was not so optimistic, “Why do I have a feeling this isn’t going to end well?” he wondered, but he was, once again, grabbed by Twilight and mounted on her back as the ponies galloped off. Q�z��(