//------------------------------// // I Said NO! // Story: Pen Pals // by Zoom zoom //------------------------------// Pen Pals By Masteroflag (aka Nicholas Jorvan) Dear Blue, I would be delighted to assist you when you arrive. I’m so excited I finally get to meet you after all this time. I hope we can be just as good friends in pony as we are through these letters. I also hope we can sort of be more than that ;) Since you’re coming around through Froggy Bottom Bog I’ll just go make sure everything is safe. I’ll tell you about it when I see you but let’s just say I didn’t have the safest of trips last time. If everything is okay I won’t send another mail and I’ll try to meet you where Ponyville meets the bog so I can show you around. Looking forward to your stay, XOXO Fluttershy. You put down the letter and took a deep breath. Ah the smell of nature. Trees always had the best scent to them, you wish you had the skill to tell what smell was what. All you could tell was if a tree was a pine or not thanks to a few years helping at a Hearth’s Warming tree factory. But enough of that, you had to get going if you were going to make it to your reserved room at ponyville’s inn by nightfall. And with no second letter it was smooth sailing. Stretching out your small wings and back till you hear and feel that satisfying pop that tells you everything is unknotted and ready to go, you get started on your trek. You really didn’t have much on you really. In fact most of your stuff fit in the small cart you were pulling that was nothing to you despite your smaller stature than normal for such work. It contained just a few things from each of your family members who had seen you off and a small bag of Apples for the trip, their skin a darker red than your own fur which was your favorite type, whichever they were. You hadn’t gotten to know the types of apples when you worked at Golden Delicious’ farm a few summers back. You made a mental note to do that with the part-time work you’d be getting at his cousin Applejack’s Farm. After all the more you know the better. Your talent in, well nothing and yet everything was something you were proud of when you got to show it off but didn’t like to talk about. It was why you liked to fake that you had a normal cutie mark, but just like your body the mark was of an undecided nature. Jack of all trades, master of nothing you believe was the term. It left you with no true skill but it left you with the need for life experiences none the less. Even if your body wasn’t built for the task. But that wasn’t the only reason you were looking forward to going to Ponyville. Sure getting bits so you could live on your own and afford to become a traveling part timer without having to return home was a small dream of yours, and something you could now realize with your little sister finally getting her own job so that you didn’t have to help support the family any longer, but there was a pony you wanted to meet that lived there. You’d never met her, heck you were not even a hundred percent sure the pony was even a she despite the fact you technically considered “her” a love interest. It had all started back when you were a pretty horny teenager, and had a few extra bits from your odd jobs. Instead of what you would do from then on which was invest it in ads to get more work or save it in case of emergency, you had foolishly decided to pay for a dating service over the mail. You simply filled out a questionnaire, and they matched you up with someone. Whether it be by luck or, as a part of you thought, by the fact your “partner” was likely an ephebophile; you two became fast friends through letters and had been keeping in contact for so long it soon become clear “she” wasn’t really a pervert and you started to be more honest. Where you drew the line, at least until you really met “her” however, was giving out what you really looked like and your real name. And you assumed the same was true of her. Because while you took an old picture of your unicorn dad from an angle where his mark wasn’t showing to send and used a false name which was the boy version of your sister’s name, “she” had obviously done the same. Seriously, a pony that loves to take care of animals and is so passionate about it would not have balloons as her cutie mark. You thought the made up name though, Fluttershy, was a nice touch. It was cute and let you use the picture for an imaginary date you were also dumb enough to send to her back then in detail. In the back of your head, Fluttershy was still likely a boy who was messing around just like you were, but having made an actual friend and not wanting to confess to it for some reason you had decided to let it go and keep parts of yourself from “her” as well. There was more than just hiding as the reason you took your father’s picture, he looked normal. Not to say you were ugly, in fact you had come to terms with your good and bad features long ago when you had actual dates during your visits to places for jobs. But there was also a reason you never really had a special somepony before either. Your mane covered this fact very nicely and your wings were small enough too so from a distance you didn’t seem too bad, just a small earth pony. But up close girls would get freaked out and aside from a drunken girl or two that still made out with you before you let your better half take her home and let her rest, you didn’t ever get very far with any pony. You were never sure if you told Fluttershy this but you recall “she” didn’t reply to your letter about one such encounter or any after until you finally asked her for tips when you had found a temp job replacing a mare at an animal shelter on maternity leave. Just the thought that Fluttershy would actually be a girl that got jealous over such a thing made you smile every time you thought about it. But even if “she” turned out to be a guy the two of you had been having good conversations anyway so you at least could count on “her” as a friend that could help you out while you adjusted to working in Ponyville for a bit. Now you could be the better pony and say how the gender of a pony didn’t matter, but you were not a better pony, though you envied the ones who were though because they had a bigger lake to catch fish in than you did. But yours was big enough for you thank you very much. All that daydreaming and remembering had helped pass the time as you continued to trot through the roads, occasionally taking a bite out of an apple from your bag. It really didn’t take as long as you had thought to get to the entrance to the bog. You scanned for a decent road to walk on where your cart wouldn’t sink. If you went around the bog you’d be going around a set of mountains too so through it was the fastest way by a long shot. Luckily, because most ponies hated going round mountains so much a small stone road was made in the bog a few years back. The stones themselves were covered in moss and green, but it would hold up your cart well enough. However, as you took your first step you were instantly greeted by a loud voice calling out for you to stop. It was only once but your ears were ringing and you had to put your mossy hooves to your temples to rub them to quell the headache that you knew would likely follow. It was small so it didn’t take long to leave you, but when you opened your eyes again you could see a yellow pegasus in front of you. She was cute, nothing spectacular bone structure wise but she had a charm that most mares had that she could use to her advantage to cover for her plain looks. Her coat however was quite beautiful, as was her mane. You flashed to your time as a spa worker and had the sudden urge to rub your hooves into her coat but thought better of it fast enough. While her mane was a glorious pink shade, it was also covered in branches and moss. It was very likely she had rushed over here seeing you and was taking deep breaths. Her tail at first made you think she had tail extensions, but having been an nurse for a month you were surprised to find it was indeed real as was everything about this pony. Perfect looks she may not have but she wasn’t going to be having a beauty enhancing surgery any time soon either. The more pressing matter, you noted after a quick glance at the cute little butterfly cutie mark she had, was that she was now standing where you were about to be and blocking the way to that small road. You did the sensible thing and asked something first however. “Was that you screaming a second ago?” She stayed silent and a blush crawled up her adorable cheeks. “Cause if it was you’ve got a pretty good set of pipes to make it so loud. And you’re fast too if I didn’t even see you coming. The name is Red Manege.” You held out a hoof, “What’s your name?” The girl shrank back at the sight of your hoof and whispered something inaudible. “Oh crap,” was your first thought, “did she see under my mane? No she isn’t that close. Maybe she’s freaked out by how small my wings are. She must’ve thought I was an earth pony. Better just get her to back off the trail and move on then.” So you move forward, but she doesn’t back up, oh she’s shaking visibly but she isn’t budging and inch. “Okay,” you say now that it seems she isn’t going to move. You back up a moment and cough, “Let’s try this again then. Sorry to have spooked you, you already know my name. So what is yours?” Again her reply is too small to hear. “Sorry, could you speak up? I really don’t have the kind of time for this.” This time you could tell she was scared and trying to say her name, but you still couldn’t make it out. You looked up, it was going to get late soon at this rate. You’d be stuck in the middle of the bog at night if you didn’t get going soon. And even if you headed back you didn’t have the money or the food supply to camp or return to the last inn you stayed at. You had to get moving. The girl was a pegasus after all really. She could just fly out of the way. And lucky for you she didn’t see under your bushy mane yet so she wouldn’t be expecting what you were about to do. You focused your mind on your forehead. Lifting a full groan mare wasn’t too hard, you’d done so plenty of times with fighting your sister even the day before you left, but that was going to take a lot out of you if you did more than just send her in one direction. You got the spell ready and opened your eyes. The poor girl was now transfixed and obviously confused by the pale light coming from your mane. “My apologies miss. But my wings are not strong enough to lift my cart and I really must be going. So feel free to fly off at any time.” And with that you used your magic and flung the girl into the air high enough so that she landed behind you and into your cart. At which point you started to gallop down the path. She was perfectly free to fly off the cart at any time really, but not wanting to throw her into the muddy waters and your magic not being strong enough to really take her that far away from you forced you to use what you had. The ground was slippery, but you suspected that and half skated when you could at some points. You couldn’t run though this bog sure but this was still faster than a trot. Things were going good until once again you heard a loud shout. “NO!” Something slammed into your back and you felt your face hit the floor as your cart flipped over. The contents spilling out into the muddy water and to your horror as you gained your bearings again, all of the stuff your family had given you had sunk into the water. Frantic, you jumped into the left side of the road to go after the heavier of the items. Your wings may not be able to handle more than your own weight but they are excellent for swimming. That is they would be if the hooves holding on to your hind legs would let go. Running out of air you fly yourself out of the surface of the water and back onto the road. Gasping for air, you look down at the yellow mare who is looking from you to back to the start of the road. She obviously wanted to go back there but didn’t want to leave you here either. You however, could only wish the worst on her right now. “What was that about?” you cried. The mare staggered again as you got to your hooves. You were about the same height but her cringing made her look shorter. “Oh come off it,” you yelled. “It was you who called out for me to stop back there wasn’t it?” Slowly she nodded. “Well great, then care to tell me why?” She bit her lip. “Well fine then, this day is just going swimmingly isn’t it? I was expecting to just have a slightly creepy trot to Ponyville so I could do business there with the things in my cart. And now not only can’t I move on now, but I’ve lost all my stuff. Including, may I add, a very important gift from a family member, all because of you. So do you have anything to say for yourself?” The girl squeaked, but slowly you did hear something. “I’m sorry.” Normally you’d have turned that into a starting point. She was finally talking to you after all. But you were still far too angry at her. Sure you had just lied a bit about your business in Ponyville, but that she didn’t need to know and your talent was embarrassing enough as it was without a meek Pegasus using it to feel any better about what she just did to you. You even felt a slight sting. Your nose was bruising. Perfect. “’I’m sorry’ isn’t going to cut it with me missy. Care to tell me WHY you were so focused on making sure I didn’t come into this bog?” You couldn’t help but keep looking into the bubbling waters where your stuff had sunk. You’d be here all night if you got everything back while the daylight did what little help it could and you continued. But first you had to get this girl out of your mane so you could go after them. Your magic wasn’t going to work this time since she’d expect it and it would take too long. That’s when it finally hit you. “Okay so what’s the danger,” you said now that you were a tad calmer. You had guessed right it seems when she reacted as she did but she quickly tried to cover it up. You stepped closer but with that way now going to the entrance she was backing away again. This was getting old. So without bothering this time you slid up to her getting her to back up more, only to use the skating trick a friend had taught you to slide right into the bog and immediately make a bee line for the area where the first and most important of your items had sunk. This mare wasn’t about to follow you into the water now if she was afraid of touching you so it was for the best. It was too murky to keep your eyes open so you kept them closed and felt around. Feeling a box that likely at least contained something of yours you used your wings to propel you out of the water and place the box back on the road. Shaking yourself you looked back at the girl who looked like she was about to have a heart attack. “Gotcha,” you chuckled as you wiped some muck out of your eyes and stared down at the box. Yep, it was one of yours. “One down, five to go.” “You can’t,” called the girl as you dived in again. At least she was talking to you normally now. Feeling again for another box you found the target and started to swim back up. Only this time something caught one of your hooves. Air released quickly from you in surprise as you opened your eyes in a panic. Before the green moss covered your sight completely you saw several bright pairs of green eyes stare out to you. If you had any more air you’d swallow, but you didn’t so panicking as you drowned was all you really had.