//------------------------------//
// 2. Companion 
// Story: A quest to deliver 
// by The delusional pegasus 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 2


Companion


Ditzy sat there and stared at the amulet, the light shining brightly on her face It's beautiful she thought. Ditzy reached out gingerly with one hoof and touched the glowing ornament. Nothing happened. She let out a sigh of relief and picked up the amulet to observe it further. It was warm to the touch and sent waves of heat up her forelegs.

The base of the amulet was a small circle made out of gold and there were small yet complex pictures and symbols engraved around the edges. In the centre was a deep orange sapphire from which the light was emitting from. The sapphire had carvings on it that ditzy couldn't quite make out. She squinted and saw the vague shape of a mother embracing her daughter. Any other carvings were too small and Ditzy couldn't see them through the light. Strangely, though, the light wasn't hurting her eyes no matter how long she stared at it for. she shook her head and examined it further. Around the golden circle were 12 more stones. These stone were silver but none of them had any carvings of any sort on them. Ditzy placed the amulet down on the bed next to her and looked back into the box. Another letter was sitting there so Ditzy reached down and picked it up. As she unfolded it she realised it was a map. she laid it flat on her bed in front of her and saw a red line drawn across the map ending at a big red X. That must be where I'm supposed to go. she thought. At the bottom of the map there was some writing. It read.


I see you have made your choice.
there is no turning back now.
for this adventure you will need a companion
you can't do this alone.
on the map you will see the place that you need to get to
when you are there you will meet two other ponies that are on a quest of their own.
together you will stop a destructive event from happening
any more information will be told at the destination.

To achieve this quest you must:
Tread carefully through the everfree forest
Then wander the endless lands of the forever prairie
once you have reached the other side you must step lightly over the streets of Griffonia
then traverse the great hills of ignotumque
finally trek through the Moltus mountain range
and scale Mount Externa
at the top you will find the other two and their companions
and together you will find the meaning of your quest.

Good luck.


"Can I come?" said a voice behind Ditzy

Ditzy yelped and jumped 5 feet in the air. She hit her head on the roof and then fell back down onto her bed, bouncing a few times before falling off with a thump.

"Whoops" Said the voice again. Ditzy stood up and turned to face a sheepish unicorn filly. She was a light greyish pink and had a blond mane much like Ditzy. She had a small horn sticking out of her mane, no cutie mark, yellow eyes and a big grin on her face.

"Dinky! What have I told you about sneaking up behind me?" Ditzy said in an annoyed tone. Dinky giggled slightly and replied.

"Sorry mum I didn't mean to. I was just going to get breakfast but I saw a light coming from your room. When I walked in I saw a shiny thing next to you and a big map in front of you so I- well, I wanted to see what it was. I wasn't trying to scare you! Honest!" Ditzy smiled at Dinky.

"It's alright. I believe you." She said ruffling her daughter's hair. Dinky giggled at this and looked up at Ditzy.

"So can I?" She asked curiously. Ditzy frowned.

"Can you what?" She asked back.

"Can I come on the adventure with you?" Dinky repeated smiling at her mother, who stared back as if she was crazy.

"No! Of course you can't! It's way too dangerous for a young filly like you." She replied sharply. Dinky pouted.

"But I have nothing else to do!" she wined.

"Why don't you go and stay with your sister?"

"She's gone to a friend's house in Manehattan."

"What about your friends from school?"

"well- I- they- uh..." Dinky stuttered and trailed off, accepting defeat.

"There we go. we can set up a play date with one of your friends," Ditzy said smiling. She flew down onto the floor and walked toward the bedroom door. "Come on! lets go!" Dinky sighed again and looked down at the map before snapping her head back up and shouting to Ditzy.

"Wait mum! It says here that you need a companion! I can be your companion! I'm a good companion! I can do loads of companion-y stuff! like! like. like... um... Well there's no one else who can be your companion!" Dinky was bouncing up and down on the bed now.

"Yes there is Dinky. I can go and ask Rainbow dash. She likes adventures. Now stop jumping around before you-"

THUMP

"Fall."

Dinky groaned as she picked herself off the ground and leaned against Ditzy's bedside table for support. At least she didn't break anything

CRASH

Dinky looked up at Ditzy, smiling sheepishly next to a shattered Vase. Ditzy sighed. I needed a new one anyway.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Please?"

"No."

"Pleeeease?"

"No.

"Pretty please with a muffin on top?"

"MUF- NO!"

"Ple-"

"For the love of Celestia! No means NO!" Dinky realised she had crossed a line and took great interest in the road below her. They had been walking for about five minutes. Five minutes of non stop Dinky begging to go on the adventure with Ditzy. She had said a whole speech about why she would make a good companion but to no avail. She offered countless muffins but Ditzy, bless her soul, turned down all of them. She almost gave in when Dinky offered to bake her a muffin with fresh blueberries, strawberries, bananas and apple flavoured jelly flowers. She LOVED jelly flowers! Especially the apple ones! Jelly flowers, if you didn't know, are sweets in the shape of flowers that are made out of the jelly plant that is only grown in the everfree forest. But through all this begging Ditzy stood strong, refused all of the offers and kept her head held high. At least she did until she tripped over a rock and fell face first into a puddle much to the delight of Dinky. But that was a minor set back. A mere rock was nothing to Ditzy. She was a headstrong mare! And she wouldn't give in to- oh. no she's walked into a tree.

"Are you okay mum?" Dinky asked trying to conceal her laughter. Ditzy turned around to face her daughter, who snorted when she saw her mother's face had a brown line across it from the bark.

"Yes I'm fine. We're nearly at your friend's house now so we can- oh look there's Thunderlane. I can ask him if he's seen Rainbow dash anywhere." She called to Thunderlane to wait up and started toward him. Dinky, trailing behind, was still trying to keep in her laughter but she completely lost it when her mother slipped on a patch of mud and fell flat on her face once again.

Thunderlane trotted up to where the two were standing and helped Ditzy back onto her feet. The black Pegasus was grinning at Ditzy's spectacle but promptly stopped when she glared daggers at him. He cleared his throat and asked.

"So Ms hooves what's up?" Dinky, now recovered from her laughing fit, stood up and replied before her mother could.

"The sky" Dinky said, Grinning wildly at her own joke.

"What?" Thunderlane asked, confused

"you said what's up and I said the sky 'cause the sky is up see?" Dinky explained, a bit annoyed that no one got her joke, but the smile returned to her face when Thunderlane started giggling. Ditzy started to facehoof but stopped when she remembered her hooves were covered in mud. She shook her head instead and answered Thunderlane's question.

"Well I wanted to know if you had seen Rainbow dash recently? I need to ask her something." Thunderlane stopped giggling, but continued to smile, and said to Ditzy.

"Sorry but I saw her earlier on today, flying toward the train station, and I asked her where she was going. Turns out she's off to Manehattan with her Friends she was just popping into Ponyville to get some snacks for the ride," Thunderlane explained. Ditzy sighed and started to say something but Thunderlane wasn't finished yet. "And! Apparently they have all got free tickets to see the musical Hinny of the hills! I've always wanted to see that musical!" Thunderlane concluded his speech and looked at Ditzy who didn't look too interested.

"Really?" She said. "I've never been struck on musicals. I just think it's a bit silly when ponies suddenly decide burst into song every two seconds. And even then for some reason everypony knows all of the lyrics and dance moves and I dunno. I just find it a bit unrealistic." Thunderlane smiled and took a step back. He took a deep breath.

And starting singing.

"Well I-"

"Don't even think about it" Ditzy cut in before Thunderlane could get anywhere with his song. She glared at him again and he grinned back, sheepishly. He took a few weary steps back.

"Oh wow. look at the time. I should be. um. going bye!" With that he shot off, embarrassed, and headed back to his house.

Ditzy watched him leave before sighing again and looking back to her daughter. As expected she was grinning wildly. she knew what this meant. With Rainbow dash gone Ditzy didn't have a companion. Sure, she could ask somepony else to join her but who's going to want to go on an potentially very dangerous adventure with the clumsiest mare in town? Exactly.

"Sooooo. Your companion is in Manehattan then" Dinky began slowly and patronisingly.

"Dinky don't do this to me." Dinky ignored her mother and continued

"Well if they're in Manehattan that means that you haven't got a companion right?"

"Dinky. Stop"

"Well that's a real shame isn't it? You might have to call this entire thing off." Dinky was enjoying the look of defeat on her mother's face.

"Dinky."

"If only you had somepony else. Somepony that wanted to go on an adventure too. Too bad you're sending your daughter to have a 'play date'." Ditzy sighed in defeat

"Fine you can come." She said. Dinky immediately beamed and ran up to her mother, smothering her in a massive hug.

"YAY! THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANK-"

"On one condition." Dinky stopped shouting in her mum's ear and looked up.

"What?" She asked. Ditzy smiled

"On the condition that you promise to make me that big muffin with jelly flowers on it for dinner tonight." Dinky giggled.

"Deal." And with that they bumped hooves to seal the deal.

"How are you so good at making me change my mind?" Ditzy asked.

"Because you're so bad at keeping it," Ditzy laughed at that and ruffled Dinky's hair. "Anyway I know you better than anyone else and so do you so we can look out for each other! Right?" Ditzy smiled

"I guess you're right," Ditzy replied as they turned and headed towards their home. "Besides, what's the worst that can happen?" Dinky's eyes went wide.

"MUM NO-"

SPLAT