//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: A Dash of Stardust // by k12314 //------------------------------// CHAPTER 2 "Hm. Do I need to brush my mane? I look kinda... Ugh." Yeah, I'm not the most fashionable stallion ever. I didn't wanna look like a bum. I didn't totally trust Evangeline yet, but if she was trustworthy, I didn't want her thinking I was a raggedy loser... What's with that look? Feelings for her...? Shut up and listen. "Eh... I guess I look good enough. I just gotta, uh... Hm... Yeah, that'll work." I quickly ran a comb through my mane, managing to make it less messier than usual. I even put on some cologne. I only had it for if I had a special occasion, and this seemed special to me. I thought I stank, too. I'm pretty sure I didn't, but whatever. "Th-This is g-g-gonna be awkw-ward..." I wasn't too confident, surprisingly enough. Heck, I was more worried about her thinking I was a loser or a slob or something than about her stabbing me in the back. Whilst I thought she was gonna do that, I was trying to convince myself otherwise. There was just something about her that got through to me and made me want to like her and trust her. I dunno, she just had that effect on ponies I guess. Anyways, where was I...? Oh, right, I was waiting for Evangeline, so I curled up on my couch with a good book. "Starswirl's Selection of Special Spells." I'm not a Unicorn, but I still love reading spellbooks. A lot of spells are really interesting, actually. Like, there's this one- Hm? Back on track- Oh right! Uh... Ah, right, well, after about... A half an hour? Yes, after about a half an hour, Evangeline was knocking on my door... ---------------------------------------------------------------- I went through my daily morning routine, and prepped myself up a bit. No good to look messy when visiting a friend! I cleaned up my mane a bit, and even put on perfume. I dunno, I just felt like it'd be a nice touch. "Hm. I wonder what his house'll be like? Oh, I bet it'll be all empty and stuff, he seems the kind to keep it simple. Or maybe it'll be a bunch of books and stuff, like Twilight's Library." I shook my head and snapped out of my deep thought. I usually don't get lost in my thoughts, but that was an exception. I looked at the clock, and of course... "Oh gosh, it's been twenty minutes!" I almost blasted my door of it's hinges with how fast I flew out the door. We didn't set a time, but I thought he might have been waiting for me, and I felt bad that I might have kept him waiting. I flew right to the outskirts of town, and sure enough, there was an old, run-down house out there. I landed, and knocked on the door. Quick answered almost immediately. "H-Hey." He stared at me for a minute, then cleared his throat and stepped back. "Uh, p-p-please come i-in." "Oooh, a real gentlecolt. Thank you." I did a little mock bow, and put my hoodie next to the door, shaking my mane out after I got it off. I looked around to see that Quick's house was pretty old. The whole first floor was open, no doors but the front door. I saw the living room to my right, with just a couch, table and lamp, and small bookshelf, and the kitchen in the corner of the building, adjacent to the living room. To my left was the dining room, with nothing but a ceiling light, a plain table, and two chairs. There was a room adjacent to that as well, but it had a door. In-between all these rooms was a small hallway leading from the foyer to a staircase upstairs, ending at a door which I assumed opened to another hall or something. "Nice house." "Th-Thanks..." He seemed like he was being very cautious. I couldn't see why, but I didn't pay it any mind. He was probably just trying to adjust to having a friend over or even just having a friend. I dunno. "U-Um... Is th-there anything y-y-you'd l-like? M-Maybe a d-d-drink?" "Well, I am a little thirsty. Just a glass of water." He trotted off to the kitchen in a hurry. I looked around a bit more, and saw a book sitting on his couch. "'Starswirl's Selection of Special Spells.' Huh. He wasn't kidding when he said he'd read whatever he could get his hooves on." I opened it to the page Quick had bookmarked. There was a picture of a Unicorn shooting a huge fireball out of his horn on the left. On the right, it had the name of the spell, "Enflamus Maximus," and a very complicated set of instructions and details. "Sheesh. I doubt I could read this even if I wanted to..." I heard a glass hit the table next to the couch, so I shut the book and put it down. Quick picked the book up and looked over it, a small smile on his face. "It's a g-good b-b-book. I've been r-reading this for about t-two m-m-months. I'm not a U-Unicorn, b-but spells inter-rest me. The w-way Unicorns cast sp-pells by the use of m-mental p-p-power and f-focus. It's f-fascinating." I'd never even thought of how Unicorns cast spells. I was impressed with all the knowledge Quick had. I always thought those kinds of things were kind of boring, but they actually seem kind of cool. "And you study these things on a daily basis?" "M-More or l-l-less. Some days I read a nice fiction novel, like "Daring Do" or "The Scepter of Stalliongrad." "Ooooh, I love Daring Do. How far are you in the series? I'm on 'Daring Do and the Temple of Ahuizotl.'" "I'm p-past that o-one. I'm on 'D-Daring Do and the G-Griffon's Goblet.'" "Oh yeah, that one came out just a few months ago." "Mhm. I'm on th-the l-l-last ch-chapter." Woah. Speedreader. "And... How long do you read it every day?" "Hm. I g-got it the d-d-day it came out, and I've b-been taking my ti-ti-time with it... I'd s-say about twent-ty to thirty m-minutes every day or s-so." "Jeez. Quick, you read too much. It's official, I'm getting yout outta this house." "Wh-What?" "You heard me. I have some tickets to a Wonderbolts show in Cloudsdale this weekend- Oh, wait, right..." He let out a surprisingly genuine laugh. A dry one, of course. "I c-can get to C-C-Cloudsdale." ---------------------------------------------------------------- "I c-can get to C-C-Cloudsdale." She looked surprised when I told her that. Of course, my way of getting there is a bit... Difficult. "How?" "W-Well, I c-c-can't fly, b-but I can st-till move and m-morph clouds. I can t-take some of the f-fog cloud from the out-ter Everfree and use it a-a-as a m-makeshift elevator." "How'll you do that without your wings?" "I'll m-measure the w-w-wind patterns and r-ride the upd-draft." "That's... Really clever." I couldn't help but crack a grin. She was right, I guess. I dunno, it seems stupid to me... It is clever? Oh be quiet and listen. "Th-Thank you. I'll m-m-meet you on Th-Thunderclap R-R-Road." "Sounds like a plan. I'll see you on Saturday then?" "S-See you on S-S-Saturday." We said our goodbyes, she put her hoodie back on, and went out the door and blasted off into the air. I looked over my house; Nothing was missing. I felt bad for not trusting her, but also relieved that she wasn't just some conmare. Having a friend felt good. I used to always think friends would just get in the way. But, I was wrong. But hey, sometimes it's good to be wrong. "That was actually kinda fun. I'm really looking forward to this weekend. I like this. I like it a lot... Why do I feel like I'm forgetting something...? Oh, right, I have more work to do." Oh, right. My job. I'm a small-time author. It doesn't pay the best, but it pays my bills and buys my food. And I enjoy it, anyways. The feeling of a pencil flying across a page... It's amazing. That's why my Cutie Mark is a quill and ink. I know being an author isn't glamerous, especially in a small town like Ponyville, but hey, I enjoy it. I use a pen name of course. Even less attention. It's not really the attention that matters, I just like entertaining my readers. Making them happy, you know? It's contradictory to be antisocial but enjoy making ponies happy, but it's how I am. Anyways, I slowly made my way up the stairs to a small hallway running in the opposite direction to the staircase, with three doors. The one at the end of the hall is my room, the one on the left the W.C., er, the bathroom, and the one on the right was my workroom. In my workroom, a lightbulb in the ceiling, some paper, quills, and inkwells. "Hm... I g-gotta get s-s-some decor for this r-room." I laughed at myself, and sat down to go to work... I'm pretty sure I didn't sleep a wink that night. Just writing and writing... I gotta stop doing that. ---------------------------------------------------------------- "That was fun. I didn't expect him to be so... Calm." I really didn't. I thought he'd be freaking out, and all worried he wasn't being a good host and all that. But, as you can tell, he was really calm. A bit cautious at first, but calm. Pomf Soft landing on a soft cloud. I love that sound. Living ok a cloud beats living on the ground any day. It wouldn't be fun if you were afraid of heights. But yeah, I went home, and relaxed a bit, and decided to think about Quick and his place a bit. "Quiet stallion, simple house... Makes sense. I wonder what was upstairs, though? He didn't seem all protective of it, and I doubt he's some psycho. It's probably his bedroom and bathroom or something. I feel kinda weird thinking about this. Is it normal to think about these things?" I see you holding back that laugh. I couldn't help it, he was my new friend, and he was pretty... Different. Anypony would think about him, and being in his house. GROWL "... I'm hungry..." I probably should've asked for something to eat at Quick's, but I thought it would've been rude. I should've risked it, because that flight home really built up my appetite. I practically tore the door off of my fridge, which was fully stocked, thankfully. "It's chow time." ---------------------------------------------------------------- "'... And then, as he slowly came to...' Gah, mysteries are hard to write..." I leaned back in my chair a bit, and took my glasses of to rub my eyes. I'd been at my desk, scribbling away for hours. It really takes a toll on your eyes. I even felt a headache coming on. "G-Gotta start t-t-taking care of m-myself..." That I did. Didin't eat much, skipped showers, sometimes didn't brush my teeth... Gross, I know. I never left the house, so I never really cared about hygene, but hygene is part of heath, so... Yeah. Not being able to move your wings makes it difficult to wash under them, too. I don't like being crippled, but, I made a decision and need to face the consequences. So anyways, while I was sitting there resting my eyes, my mind drifted to my little meeting with Evangeline. "So. She's not some conmare. Not surprising. She seems to well-meaning and good-spirited for that. I guess she really does just wanna be my friend... I can't imagine why. I'm lazy, unattractive, and, well, weird. I can't really say no to a friend, though..." It felt good knowing I wasn't alone anymore. I enjoy solitiude, but everypony needs a friend. I guess I just didn't think I was worthy of friends or something. I can't really explain it. But, that feeling has been replaced with friendship. Corny, I know, but I can't figure out another way to explain it. "Maybe I'll set up some Hearth's Warming decorations... She could be planning on coming over. Don't wanna seem like a Scrooge."