//------------------------------// // The Pony Express // Story: Amethyst Star Isn't Prepared For This // by MagicS //------------------------------// Amethyst Star was not bothered by her friends trying to convince her to not go on her adventure into the Undiscovered West. She knew they wouldn’t be thrilled even before she told them. But if they had their doubts she’d just have to prove them wrong when she came back perfectly fine and successful. She wouldn’t just sit around in a village where her purpose had been supplanted for years and act like it didn’t bother her anymore. They had tried to get her to delay going off a few more days to prepare better but Amethyst Star had refused, she didn’t want to lose the passion and drive she had right now or give any of them the opportunity to change her mind. When she had gotten home after that dinner she gathered up and looked over her things once more. The “itinerary” she said she had planned was a map of Equestria with a line marked in red pen that showed how far west the trains went. Her friends probably wouldn’t be too reassured by that so she folded it up and put it away in her bag. She had a compass and canteen with a flowery pattern painted on it that she had borrowed from Roseluck. Why Roseluck had them in the first place she had no idea. Amethyst also never bothered to ask how the compass actually worked, figuring it just simply pointed north all the time and nothing else needed to be done. There was also a short length of rope, because she thought adventurers always had rope with them, and an apple that she would have for breakfast tomorrow. That was the current sum total of everything she was taking with her. She saw no problems with this. Amethyst Star smiled and nodded to herself, getting everything squared away so she could be ready first thing tomorrow morning. She was more excited than she could remember being in years but she still needed to get a good night’s sleep. The happy unicorn hopped into her bed and did her very best to rest before the big day. The next morning Amethyst Star stood on the platform at the train station. Right at the crack of dawn. The start of a new day. The start of a new life maybe. Dinky was happily at Berry’s and she had gotten to sleep fairly easily last night and felt well-rested. Things were already looking up for her. She was smiling happily after arriving here early, the train wouldn’t be coming for another hour or so but she found herself unable to just wait around in her house. No one else was at the station yet and she knew by the time she arrived at her destination she’d be the only one left on the train too. It filled her with excitement. “This is gonna be great! I’m sick of feeling like a background character in my own life, it’s time for Amethyst Star to take center stage!” She said to nobody. It might have been nice if her friends were here to see her off but Amethyst was sure that if they were here they’d still be trying to get her to change her mind. And she could do without that on what should be a very happy and auspicious occasion. So she was fine as it was. She wasn’t sure how long she’d be away and a last goodbye would’ve been nice but oh well. When she was back she’d surely have plenty of fun stories to tell and they’d all be happy for her. Definitely. “They’ll see,” she muttered. “I’ll show them that they should’ve believed in me. There’s absolutely nothing for them to worry about. I’m decent at magic, I’m smart, and I’ve got experience dealing with monsters and disasters thanks to all the crazy stuff that’s happened here ever since Twilight came. Hmph!” For another half hour she stood on the platform, ticket already purchased, with the only other pony for company the worker sitting behind his window. The waiting was actually starting to annoy her now. She just wanted to start her journey already! Once she was on it there would be no more “just waiting around”, she’d constantly be moving and looking for adventure. It would be great and she couldn’t hold back her excitement thinking about it while standing here. “Come on, come on, come on,” the pink unicorn tittered about. She had been out of Ponyville plenty of times before and had been at the center of some very big events thanks to her proximity to the amazing ponies she was jealous of but this was the first time she was really doing something so big and special herself. This was her first time being active. Sea Swirl had mentioned being fine with her simple out of the way life, and for a long time Amethyst Star thought she could live with that too. But it all kept building and building up and now she’s exploded and she just has to do this. Otherwise it was craziness or the resentment she denied having boiling under the surface and making her miserable forever. A slight rumble in the ground and a sound in the distance grabbed Amethyst Star’s attention. She looked to her left to see a faint trail of smoke coming over the horizon, the train chugging along on its way to Ponyville. “Yes!” She pumped her hoof. “Waaaaaaaiiiiit!” A horribly loud yell broke the silent morning right after Amethyst Star finished her hoof pump. “Huh?” Amethyst Star’s head whipped around at the pony yelling for her. Pinkie Pie was running to her at full speed, a tornado of dust being kicked up behind her. The pink party pony had a huge grin on her face now that Amethyst Star saw her. It made Amethyst herself a little worried to see. She grimaced and backed up a bit, worried that Pinkie Pie would bowl her over if she didn’t slow down soon. “Pinkie Pie?” Amethyst Star said. The pony in question ran up the steps of the train station and came to a screeching halt, sliding along like a train that had just slammed on the brakes. Right in time to barely avoid knocking into Amethyst Star. Instead she bounced forward and pressed her face right into Amethyst’s. “I heard you were leaving on a trip so I had to say goodbye and good luck and give you a happy goodbye and come back soon present!” She reached into her mane and pulled out a box. “So here you go!” Amethyst Star stepped back again to give her face some breathing room and gingerly took the box. “Er, thank you Pinkie. How’d you find out I was leaving?” “Well I just woke up and my mane was going all over the place,” she pulled an errant string of hair for emphasis and didn’t elaborate any further. “Right, I should have known,” Amethyst Star rolled her eyes and opened up the box to see half a dozen delicious looking cupcakes inside. “I baked those juuuuust in time this morning!” Pinkie Pie happily exclaimed. “Wow, thanks Pinkie,” Amethyst replied sincerely. “They look really nice.” “Yeah I figured you could use something that would give you a big boost on your trip,” her eyes suddenly widened. “Oh! I almost forgot! I have something else for you too.” She reached a hoof back into her mane and pulled out a much smaller box that could easily fit into a pony’s hoof. “What’s this?” Amethyst Star asked as Pinkie hoofed the box over to her, she motioned to pull off the lid… “STOP!” Pinkie Pie screeched, grabbing her hoof and stopping Amethyst Star from opening it. “Gah!” The unicorn was startled by Pinkie’s sudden jolt and she accidentally flung the small box into the air, juggling it a few times before safely grabbing it and holding it to her chest. “What did you do that for?!” “That’s a party-in-a-box!” Pinkie grinned widely at her. “You’re gonna be visiting new places and seeing all kinds of new people, right? Well if you ever need to set the mood or break the ice then just open that up and you’ve got an instant party! Careful though, there’s about ten square pounds of confetti packed inside that thing so make sure it’s not pointing at someone’s face when you open it.” “Right...” Amethyst Star winced at the small box and carefully put it into her saddlebag. “I’ll be sure to remember that.” Pinkie Pie then pulled her into a big hug. “I’m super-duper excited for your big trip! Whatever it is.” Amethyst Star wheezed under the crushing grip of the party pony. “Thank you, Pinkie. Can you please let me go now?” “Okay!” She just as quickly released Amethyst Star and looked down the tracks to see the train slowing as it pulled into Ponyville. “Your ride’s almost here too, great timing!” She took a deep breath and began rocking back and forth as she sung- “Have a great trip, have some great fun, go on an adventure and don’t get down in the dumps, yeah!” She took out a party horn and blew it in Amethyst’s face. The unicorn raised an eyebrow at the eccentric earth pony. “I was gonna include some more but nothing rhymes with purple,” Pinkie shrugged. “Well thanks anyways, Pinkie,” Amethyst Star said as she heard the train coming to a stop behind her. “I’m glad someone’s at least being supportive and saying goodbye to me.” “I just wanted to wish you good luck and hope you enjoy yourself. I have absolutely no idea what you’re doing though,” She replied with her usual smile still stuck on her face. “Good enough for me!” Amethyst Star smiled back. It was better than what she’d gotten from anyone else. She briefly glanced over her shoulder to see that the train was indeed there and ready for boarding before looking back to Pinkie. “Well, looks like my ride is here. I’ll see you when I get back.” “Have fun!” Pinkie Pie ecstatically waved at her as Amethyst Star walked up to the train. The pink and purple unicorn who was starting a poorly thought out mission showed her ticket to the conductor and was happily let onboard. She was the only one getting on from Ponyville this morning, it made her feel special. She took a seat by a window on the side facing Pinkie Pie so she could smile and wave goodbye to her when the train pulled out of the station. Pinkie Pie was just impossible to dislike even if she was one of the reasons Amethyst was doing this in the first place. And now she had a bunch of cupcakes to eat on her trip. That made her feel even better. In a minute the train started moving again and Amethyst Star was whisked away to the west, and despite everything she and Pinkie Pie kept their waving up until they couldn’t see each other anymore. Amethyst Star steadily made her way down the cliff of the red rock formation to the jungle below. It wasn’t the steepest cliff and it looked pretty stable but she wasn’t taking any chances on it. The unicorn wasn’t used to this kind of thing and she wasn’t exactly the most resilient pony in general. Luckily as well it wasn’t too high either. She may have been a bit… worried, after seeing the world in front of her and realizing she probably bit off more than she could chew, but she was still going forward. No way no how was it ending that soon! Bad idea or not! She made it down to a lower ridge that led to a hill with a nice and easy slope down to the bottom of the cliff. Now she could pretty much just walk down. And once she was done with that it would really feel like she was officially on her journey. If someone looked from Equestria’s western border they could see this rock formation but everything beyond it was definitely a part of the “Undiscovered West”. She knew she wasn’t really the first pony or creature, hardly at all, to come out here but maybe she’d be the first real Equestrian to travel and adventure through it all? “Okay Amethyst, you’ve got this,” she said to herself as she trotted on downwards. The jungle… she wasn’t sure what traveling through it would be like compared to the forests back home or anything. How should she know? But she figured it would at least be nice to have some cover over her head and plenty of food all around to eat whenever she wanted. It must be a lot more fun to walk through a jungle than a bunch of ugly red rocks at least, right? Either way the sun was now almost completely down by the time she made it to the ground, she’d probably want to find someplace nice and cozy to rest before doing anything else. “Huff!” She hopped off a boulder to finish the last few feet of her descent and grinned at the jungle that now rushed up on all sides of her. It was pretty wild and didn’t look like it would be too easy to get through on hoof… Her grin turned into a frown and she started walking parallel to the jungle, looking for any way that might be a little easier or any sort of path. “Come on,” she muttered. Not entirely eager to try and force her way through a myriad of trees, plants, and bushes all growing over and around each other. Suddenly her eyes lit up. Just ahead there was a break in the vegetation. A path! That’s the only thing it could be. She quickly trotted towards it with another happy grin on her face. Was it natural? Pony made? She didn’t know and she didn’t care, it was the path to her own personal adventure to her. Amethyst slid to a stop in front of it, kicking up a little dust and looking straight down the small path that cut into the middle of the jungle. There was a pony walking down it towards her. Her eyebrows shot up and her jaw dropped in surprise. Who was it? An explorer? Someone who lived here? Someone randomly going out on an adventure like her? Whoever it was she was shocked to already see another pony so shortly into what she thought was going to be a mostly desolate and uninhabited part of the world. She decided to stop and let him, he was definitely a stallion, keep coming to her. The stallion seemed to have seen her at the same time but didn’t have much of a reaction. He was a pumpkin orange earth pony with a sandy mane and tail and a black scarf wrapped around his neck. When he was close enough that Amethyst Star could see his face she saw him wearing a cool and unworried expression as if it was totally normal to meet another pony out here. The stallion stopped right in front of her and impassively looked her in the face for a few seconds. Amethyst Star was at a complete loss for words and didn’t know what to say or how to react. He then briefly looked behind himself before looking back at her and seemed to be slightly chewing on his cheek. “Are you going this way?” He finally asked. Finally some words found their way into her head and out of her mouth. “Er, yes! Yes I am!” She sharply inhaled. “Oh, right! Do you live out here? Are you a pony from the Undiscovered West? I’m from Equestria. It’s a pleasure to meet you, you’re the first pony I’ve met so far and-” He lifted a hoof to stop her, a grimace on his face. “Please, slow down. I’m not from here, I’m just traveling through.” “Oh, okay,” Amethyst calmed down slightly, an embarrassed and somewhat disappointed blush growing on her face. “Sorry, eheh. But it’s still nice to meet you! My name’s Amethyst Star.” She held out a hoof in an offer to shake. The stallion seemed to be mulling over on whether to respond or just walk right by her. His eyes drifted off to the side for a second but he eventually reached a hoof forward and gently shook Amethyst’s. “My name is Birdseed. Can I ask just what it is you’re doing out here?” “Of course!” She more than enthusiastically exclaimed. Amethyst was finding herself unusually excited to talk herself and her adventure up, maybe she just wanted to come off “bigger” to new ponies that didn’t know her. “You see, I came out here to go exploring and adventuring throughout the entire Undiscovered West! I just started today really.” Birdseed raised an eyebrow at her, he was probably expecting a little more detail. “I see… do you do this kind of thing often?” “N-” Hold on there. She didn’t want to seem like some idiot greenhorn that didn’t know what they were doing now did she? “Yes,” she replied. “I’ve been all over and stuff.” “Uh huh,” he didn’t seem entirely convinced as he rubbed a hoof under his chin. But then he smiled. “You know, if you’re traveling out further west, you might really be able to help me out of a jam.” Amethyst Star tilted her head. “What do you mean?” He walked beside her and she got a view of his Cutie Mark, an overflowing bag of seed. “Well you see, I was supposed to deliver something to an associate out west. But I unfortunately got side-tracked by several other things and now I can’t make it. But if you’re going that direction maybe you can deliver it to him for me?” Part of her was happy to be asked to do something like this. It felt like the kind of quest someone would give a real adventurer and it filled her with validation. But on the other hoof she was kind of confused. “Are you sure? I mean you don’t even know me,” Amethyst said. He shrugged. “Any chance of it getting to him is still better than no chance. And you seem nice.” “Yeah but even then like where am I supposed to find him? I’m just walking west, where is he? And I’m not gonna go totally out of my way for this.” “If you just keep going west you’ll eventually come across where he is. There are natural boundaries and borders and... other things out here that force you to go certain places, his name is Coin Flip too, just so you know. Unicorn, greasy mane and tail, gray coat. I may even be able to send him a message at some point describing you. So I’m sure it’ll be fine, it’s important that the package gets to him and I can’t risk taking it with me any further,” he finished. “Uh-huh,” Amethyst Star frowned and knitted her brows at him. “So what even is this package?” Birdseed smiled and reached into a fold in his scarf and pulled out a small box. “Here it is. Just this box, for the sake of privacy I can’t tell you what’s inside and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t open it yourself either. But all you need to do is bring it to him, simple right?” “I guess so...” Amethyst Star shrugged and took the box. “Well you know I wouldn’t entrust something important like this with just anyone I ran into, you just seemed especially capable and exceptional compared to most ponies,” Birdseed told her. That was a quick way to get on her good side. “Heh, yeah I guess you could say that,” she blushed and dismissively waved her hoof. She missed it but he rolled his eyes at her. “Right, so you’ll take it then?” Amethyst Star looked at the box. Someone was entrusting her to do something. Someone was giving her a job and expecting her to succeed at it. Someone actually needed her help. Not only did it make her swell with pride when she realized it it just made her feel good again that she had a purpose. She had just barely walked into the Undiscovered West and she already had a mission like this? Awesome! This really was a great idea! She knew she’d find some purpose and get her self-esteem back out here. “Yeah, you can count on me!” She confidently grinned at Birdseed. “Wonderful. Good luck out there, Miss Amethyst Star,” he walked past her towards the red rock cliff. Once he was out of earshot of her he muttered under his breath: “Rube.” “See ya! I’ll deliver this thing no problem!” She waved goodbye to him and giggled to herself when he was gone further down the cliff and out of her line of sight. “Alright,” Amethyst Star glanced down at the box and reached back to grab her saddlebag, pulling it off her side and opening it up. There was plenty of room left inside it for the box… and as her eyes scanned the saddlebag she noticed the party-in-a-box that Pinkie pie had given her. She winced. “Yeesh, probably wouldn’t end well if I mixed these two up,” Amethyst gently put the new box into the saddlebag, it was slightly smaller than Pinkie Pie’s, she just had to remember that. The unicorn nodded and slung her bag back on. With a single large step and a smile on her face, Amethyst Star took her first step onto the jungle path.