//------------------------------// // 3 // Story: Steps on a Twisting Path // by guldringr //------------------------------// An alarm has been going off in a dark room for quite a while, lonely blaring it's deliberately annoying beeping until it was joined in its course by a lonely dog. Even with the Reginald's assistance the alarm still took almost half an hour to get Twisted up from her bed. "I'm up." Twisted said tirely as she walked past Reginald. What followed was her humdrum morning routine, make food, shower, get dressed for work, and finally she left the house with little fanfare --- After dropping Reginald off with Posey Twisted got into work just barely on time. As she walked down a hallway she noticed the looming shadow and calmly turned around to see Toppled mountain looking down at her. "hello sir is there a problem?" Toppled looked her up and down a moment, before signing and shaking his head. "No there isn't Miss Path's, just that I'm starting to get a little worried about you." "What?" Twisted questioned with a confused stare. "You're a great worker, but you've been slipping a little recently. Plus you just don't seem as upbeat. I'd suggest you use some of the vacation time you have saved up." Twisted stared at Toppled for a moment, surprised and automatically saying. "Yes sir." With a satisfied nod Toppled continued walking down the hallway. While Twisted was suddenly left to think about things. --- Things have been going incredibly smoothly so far which was good because Twisted was a bit out of it. So much so that she didn't realize the next delivery was to the cheese factory even as she walked up to it. "Hey Twisty!" Surprise shouted directly in her face. If Twisted wasn't attached to a heavy cart she would have jumped backwards, as is it only took her a moment to get a soft smile on her face. "Hey Surprise, how's it going?" Surprise waved some ponies over to unload the cart. "Pretty great, after the last quarter this is officially the most successful cheese factory in the Canterhorn region of Equestria." Surprised said proudly puffing up her chest. "How about you?" Twisted looked down at her hooves. "I…. don't know." She said with a uncertain voice. "I'm getting some vacation time but I'm not entirely sure…. I guess I could go visit dad…" she tried to avoid eye contact with Surprise as the mare was far too good at reading her. "You could start your adventuring!" Surprise said enthusiastically. "That will... I mean…" Twisted tried to figure out why she was so hesitant about this. It had always been her dream… "What's wrong?" Surprise questioned staring right at her. Twisted shook her head and looked back at surprise. "Nothing, I'm just being silly. You're right I should try at least." "Wo ho!" Surprise shouted as the unloading was finished. They said they're see you laters and Twisted went off to finish her shift." --- Twisted had finished her work for the day, and quickly gone to get Reginald, she'd only intended on staying long enough to grab him but…. "You don't have to rush off immediately just because we're done with training." The soft voice of Posey said before Twisted could slip off. Twisted looked at the gentle mare with a slight sigh. "Sorry Posey but I have a lot on my mind right now." Posey walked up to her and started patting her shoulder. "Best way to handle that is to talk about it." Twisted almost wanted to….. but…."Sorry I gotta go." How could she talk about it when she didn't even know what it was. And so despite Posey's protests they parted ways. --- Twisted walked into her house…. And the first thing she saw was her mom's picture. She wasn't sure how long she just stood there staring at it. -- Twisted found herself sitting in front of the picture again. At some point she had made food that was sitting on the nearby table getting cold, she had also changed out of her work uniform at the same time. She didn't know what she was feeling when she looked at the picture…. She wanted to keep her promise to her mother and live the dream she had had since she was a child…. She would given half a chance…. This was more than half a chance….. so why couldn't she bring herself to move? … was there any reason for it? She thought about what her friends had said all throughout the day…. You know what? I can do this. And with that determined thought she stood up and started packing things into a bag. It's still early enough in the day for me to get a good start. I can make it to another town by train and then…. As she stepped out the door with Reginald excitedly walking beside her she suddenly realized what she was doing and froze for a moment. What she really ready for this- The top was cut off as the voice of Surprise came from above her. "Nooooo, you are so close! You know what I'm just…." Twisted looked up to see…. It was Surprise except... pink? And floating in the air without wings…. And barely smaller than Princess Twilight….. "Pinkie…" A frustrated voice said from behind Twisted and turned around she saw… it looked like Posey but yellow and pink, with an elongated almost snake like body and massively oversized wings, a crown of antlers resting on her head. "You can't just use our powers like that without permission, how many times has Rarity had to remind you of that?" "Okay simple." Surprise- Pinkie? Landed in front of Twisted and booped her nose. "Hey Twisty do you want to go on an adventure!" Twisted looked at her with a blank expression of confusion for a long moment before saying. "I… what? I mean…. I guess?" As soon as she said this the pink... Twisted was no longer entirely sure if she was a pony Booped her nose. "Pinkamena Diane-" was as far as the other… spirit?. Before Twisted opened her eyes find herself looking over a cliff. Reginald was barking uproariously at something behind her but Twisted was too distracted with the beautiful view of red mountains. By the time she noticed the giant scorpion-like tail flashing down at her it was almost too late. "Get out'ta the way!" A voice said as Twisted got tackled to the side. Looking at her savior she was horrified to see that the Stinger at the end of the tail had gone straight through the orange Mare's back... except this barely seemed to annoy the earth pony. This was around the time Twisted noticed the glowing green Balls of Fire that served as the mare's eyes. Is the mare in question twisted her body around in a way that should be breaking bones and grabbed the tail, and with a massive tug sent the giant scorpion creature it was attached to flying over the cliff side. "That'll take a few minutes to get back from." With that the mare turned rushed over to Twisted. "Y'all all right? And what the hell are y'all doing here." "Um... Surpris- Pinkie.. what is going on?" The orange coated earth pony muttered. "Of course it's her…" she then looked directly into Twisted's eyes. "Y'all look fairly fit, you and your dog have the Constitution'ta help me take down this creepy crawly?” Twisted I knew there wasn't much time to think so she just gave a short nod. Just in time as well as an oversized claw reached over the edge of the cliff. “All right then, we're in for some Adventures before we reach civilization so don't tire yourself out too much." With those words the orange coated mare ran forward and crashed into the Scorpion, knocking it off balance. As Twisted watched a small smile crossed her lips, and then she got up and ran to see what she could do to help.