Connor
Hard. One word can describe any kind of manual labor when someone just starts. Connor found the work on the farm was hard, but it was honest. Even though it was his first time working on the farm, he quickly got into the pattern. Bucking the trees, collecting the fallen apples in the baskets, emptying the baskets into the cart, then repeat. It was a pattern he could get lost in and simply forget the rest of the world as he worked. Kick, collect, dump; kick, collect, dump.
He heard Applejack call out to somepony that just arrived on the farm, but he ignored it. He didn't want to think about anything right now. After he filled up the cart full of apples, he hooked up the cart to himself and took it back to where Applejack told him deposit collected apples. After unhooking himself from the the cart, he gathered up the tools that were no longer being used and tossed them into an empty cart so he could put them away in the barn. He hooked up again and tugged against the weight and headed for the front barn doors. Connor opened the barn doors wide enough for him and the cart to pass through and looked around. The interior was empty of other ponies but had what one would suspect to be inside a barn. Hay was piled up in several places and a work bench was set up on the right hand side beside the doors. He pulled the cart in and started unloading and putting the tools back on the bench, in a tool chest, or on the wall.
Once finished, Connor paused to relax and look around the barn. Something caught his eye as his glaze passed over the barn insides. A few meters away was a heavy looking punching bag hanging on a portable stand. It was worn and faded red and it looked like the bag was repaired by hand on several occasions. Stitches covered the tough skin from top to bottom and recently some tape was put over a new hole as a temporary fix. Connor gave the bag a little push and it swung gently back and forth. He gave the bag a sharp jab as the bag came back on its pendulum momentum. The chain rattled a little as the bag's momentum was stopped with the force of the punch. The bag presented a perfect opportunity as a way to relieve some stress, do some extra training, and give him something that was close to home. But he wanted to ask Applejack for permission first before he started using it.
He walked over to the barn door and looked out to spot Applejack talking with some other ponies. He couldn't get a good look at them because they were so far away, but he didn't care who Applejack was talking to. It wasn't his business.
Connor breathed in to shout at Applejack, “Hey Applejack! Is it alright if I use your punching bag a little bit?”
Applejack turned a little to look at him before cupping a hoof to her mouth to shout back, “Uh, sure! I guess!”
“Thanks!” He entered the barn again and walked over to the bag. He squared up to it setting into his fighting stance with his left hooves placed farther in front of his right hooves. He paused, waiting for the right moment before rearing up onto his back legs to let loose a quick punching combination. He came back down and reset his stance. The pattern continued with the techniques becoming more and more complex and began to incorporate kicks, knees, elbows and a couple of wing strikes as well. When using his wings to hit the bag, he would step out to the side and dip his front end down while bringing his wing over the top to strike down on the bag. The chain rattled loudly as he got absorbed again in his work trying to feel as much as at-home as possible.
“Those are some fancy moves there.”
Connor stopped to see Applejack standing there leaning up against a support beam. He stopped in his barrage on the bag and grabbed it to steady its movement.
“Yeah, there are some fancy moves in there. But not all of them are just for looks.”
“Uh-huh,” Applejack pushed off the beam to stand up again, “And what makes you think that those fancy moves will help win in some kind of fight? It's not like a royal guard is going to stand there and let you spin around like a toy top on a record player before you finally swing.”
“If you're talking about that guard in the castle, he actually did just stand there and let me hit him in the face. But no, I know in a real fight I don’t have time to do a pirouette before kicking someone in the face.”
“So do you think your karate moves would out beat my apple bucking power?”
“What do you mean?” Connor narrowed his glaze slightly.
Applejack strode over to the bag and turned around, “I’m saying that my power can beat your karate moves any day. No need to show off when a good buck will take care of it. In fact, I think I can kick this bag here harder than you can.”
Applejack rocked her body weight forward before unleashing a powerful kick at the bag. The bag swung hard out to just under a 45 degree angle. She smirked and crossed her legs in a confident pose. There was nopony in Equestria that could out-buck Applejack. Her blue ribbons were proof of that.
“Challenge accepted,” Connor thought to himself. He walked over to the bag and grabbed it again to steady it. Applejack moved to get a good angle and see just how high Connor could kick the bag. He set in his stance again and chose to use his back kick again. He practiced a couple of times without hitting the bag to judge distance and to spot his target. Once satisfied, he set again and spun forward and planted his three hooves on the ground again and fired his left back hoof at the bag. The chain clattered loudly and the bag swung out to just past a 45 degree angle. It was just barely past what Applejack did, but it was still a noticeable difference. Applejack stared at the results with her mouth slightly agape. To rub it in even more, Connor struck the same confident pose and crossed his legs in similar fashion that Applejack had.
“How did you do that?” Applejack glared at Connor. Though, the glare was more out of angry curiosity rather than jealousy.
“Can you show me again how you kick?” Connor stepped to the side giving the bag to Applejack. She approached the bag again and prepared to kick, meanwhile Connor's inner instructor looked critically at Applejack to spot any kind of mistakes. She loaded again and kicked hard at the bag. The chain rattled violently again as the bag bounced around in the air. She stood up and looked at Connor for input.
“Okay, so you have lots of power and technique seems fine. That's good. The main thing I want to correct is how you are hitting the bag. When you kick, you are sort of hitting the bag at an upward angle which is deflecting some of your power away from it. You want to hit the bag straight on so all of your energy is being transferred to the bag with zero deflection,” Connor demonstrated by loading back and kicking in the same fashion as Applejack.
“Okay,” Applejack loaded back again but this time she hit a little bit lower and with more of a pushing motion rather than a swing motion. The bag buckled again and swung out to the same angle Connor had hit it.
“Wow! You weren't kidding about hitting the bag that way. I guess your fancy moves do have some use.”
“Well yeah, but it also helps to be a good teacher as well.” Connor stared a the bag as it swung back and forth losing momentum in each swing.
“Wait, you are a teacher too?” Applejack looked at Connor in disbelief.
“Yeah, I’m one of the instructors at my martial arts school.” he glanced over in a tired fashion before returning back to the bag which was slowing to a stop.
They stood there in silence for a while, simply staring at the punching bag. Applejack glance out of the barn to see that it was almost sundown.
“Well I guess that will be it for today. It's almost sundown you still need to foalsit Scootaloo.”
“Foalsit? Oh, you mean babysit. Yeah, I do.”
Applejack looked at Connor, “Yeah, about foalsitting. If you're going to work on my farm, you need to tell her parents about working here. I won't have you abandoning one job for another if you are supposed to be looking after her.”
“That's right. I’m going to have to talk to them when they get home tonight. Maybe I might be able to do both jobs if we set up a different way of looking after Scootaloo,” he said in realization and lifted his head up in thought.
“Well, go get Scootaloo and take her home. Once you get everything settled with her parents, come find me and you can get back to working.”
“So, tomorrow then?” Connor asked.
“Tomorrow,” she confirmed. With that final word, Applejack left the barn leaving Connor alone. He stared at the barn doors that Applejack had left through for a few seconds. His gaze drifted back to the punching bag in front of him while he let his mind settle down and organize itself after today's events. He stood there a little bit longer before putting a stop on his mind and refocusing on the things he needed to do before the end of the day. The first thing he needed to do was find Scootaloo.
~~~
Scootaloo was not hard to find. Somehow, Scootaloo and her friends were still in their club house giggling excitedly about their new list of things to do to earn their cutie marks. What were her friends' names again? I think it was Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.
Connor called out to Scootaloo still inside the tree house saying it was time to go home. There was a loud groan and a disgruntled Scootaloo came out. She said goodbye to her friends before joining Connor's side for the trip home. They ideally chatted about the list and the tasks that were on it as they made their way home.
Once Connor opened the front door, Scootaloo headed to her bed room saying she was going to keep writing ideas down while she waited for dinner. Dinner, Connor did not think about making food for when they got home. He looked at a clock hanging in living room and it read 7:00. not too late, but still too early for her parents to be home since they were no where to be seen in the house. That left him with the task of making a meal for himself and Scootaloo. He headed for the kitchen in the back to see what he could find.
The kitchen looked similar to one from his world. A large sink was placed in the counter top and cupboards lined the walls above and below the countertop. Off to his right, he saw a stove and oven combination at the end of the kitchen counter. It looked weathered and used but still functional. The stove burners on top were coil burners; the ones that use an electrical current passing through the metal to heat up whatever is placed on top of it. Along the back wall was a refrigerator, a dish washing machine and cabinets filled with dishes of both ceramic and glass, eating utensils that looked like forks, spoons, and dinner knives, and miscellaneous items like spices and non-perishable foods. He also spotted a toaster on the counter as well. Out of curiosity, he peered in the toaster to see its inner workings. It was one of those old toasters that cooked two pieces of bread at once before popping its spring loaded tray up and ejecting the toast. All of these appliances and one glaring question was staring him in the face right now. How did all of these things run without electricity? The frig, stove oven, and toaster all needed some kind of power source, but he didn't even see a cord leading out from the toaster. And yet, everything seemed to be working fine. The frig hummed gently keeping the food inside nice and cold and the stove heated up once he finally got a grip on one of the knobs and turned them.
However, his stomach let loose a deep rumble and his hunger said, “Dude, don’t worry about it right now. Just get some food ready and eat.”
He gave up and followed the advise of his stomach. He needed to make a meal for two before telling Scootaloo to go to bed. He couldn't do anything fancy, he didn't have the finesse or control to make something extravagant. He opened the frig to see what was inside. He found an assortment of foods in the frig but his eyes latched onto something from his world that was easy to make, peanut butter and strawberry jam. All he needed now was some bread and a knife. He found some bread in a bread box and a knife in a drawer. Once everything was gathered, he set to making the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Manipulating the knife was a struggle. He had to pinch it just right between his hoof and his arm the get a decent grasp on the knife. He eventually made a couple of sandwiches for the two of them and called Scootaloo down for dinner. He heard hoofsteps bounding down the stairs and Scootaloo come barreling into the kitchen for food. He passed one sandwich to her and she happily took it in her mouth, “Cool! Peanut butter and jelly for dinner! Thanks!” she said through a muffled mouth and ran off to the dining room to eat.
After both of them had finished and had full stomachs, Connor cleaned up the kitchen and put Scootaloo to bed. Once she was sound asleep, he sat down in the living room on one of the open chairs and waited for Scootaloo's mom and dad to come home.
The clock read 12:22 at night by the time they walked through the front door. Connor tiredly got up from the chair and greeted them before asking them if he could talk with them. They sat down at the table and Connor explained the situation to them. He described how he had found work on the apple farm just outside of town and would be working there starting tomorrow. However, he did emphasize his desire to continue foalsitting Scootaloo as that was part of the original deal for living in their home and asked if there was a way to compensate for the new change in schedule.
There was a tense pause for Connor as he watched the father look at him with his judge's eyes again. But his stare lightened and he gave a small smile. He believed Connor when he said he found work on the apple farm and understood his desire to honor their original deal. So, he gave new responsibilities for foalsitting. When the conversation ended, Connor's new responsibilities were as followed: he was required to take Scootaloo to and from school. If she wanted to go out and play she was required to check in with him and let Connor know where she was going. He was to make hourly check-ups with Scootaloo and bring her home by sundown. Other than that, he was glad that Connor found work. Connor eased the tension in his body and relaxed with a smile. The conversation went better than he had expected. He thanked both of them for being so kind and generous before heading back upstairs to his own bed.
~~~
The next day, he explained to Scootaloo what was happening with him and how things were going to play out now that he was working for Applejack. She was a little sad that Connor wouldn't be hanging around the crusaders all day long but she understood the importance of working. She had planned some of the crusaders adventures around him helping with games and such, but Connor told Scootaloo that he would be making regular check-ups to see how she was doing and might have extra time to help out.
Once he dropped Scootaloo off at school, Connor made his way to the apple farm and delivered the good news to her. Applejack was pleased that everything worked out and set to putting him to work.
For the next four days, Connor got into the rhythm of his new life here in this pony world. He would get up have breakfast that was left by mom and dad and take Scootaloo to school. After that he would head over to the apple farm to work until some time after noon where he would break to go pick up Scootaloo from school again. She would tell him about her day before heading off to join her friends, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle again for more adventures. After telling Connor where she would be, Scootaloo would run off to join her friends leaving Connor to work. He scheduled his hourly check-ups to be every two hours; hey, dad didn't say it had to be every hour on the dot so he gave himself a little lee-way.
Near the end of the day, Connor would put the tools away at the work bench and start pounding away at the punching bag again. He would start off simple every time before slowly moving up to the complex combinations using everything at his disposal to hit the bag, including his wings. He would do that for a good hour or so before tiring out and leaving to collect Scootaloo and head back to her house. His time on the bag was the only thing in this world that made him feel close to his own world and his own home. And the more time he wasn't doing something to distract him, the more homesick he would feel.
As the four days went by, he put more and more energy into his work and hitting the bag. He was trying very hard to ignore the feelings that were becoming more and more apparent in his head. Unfortunately, the feeling of being close to home was gradually fading over time as he spent more minutes on the bag. His body ache and could feel the injuries but he ignored them. He didn't want to think about himself or his home, so he just worked harder and punched harder. On the plus side, he noticed that Applejack was using the lasso less; to the point of never using it once in the day. She even brought out meals for him when she gave him lunch break. Applejack thought it was the least she could do since he was working so hard and didn’t have any money yet. Unbeknownst to Connor, Applejack was considering giving him some kind of payment so he could buy things for himself.
On what would have been Friday in his world, Connor was given half of the day off after lunch. With Connor's help, Applejack has been ahead of schedule with the harvest and thought it would be alright to have a day off. So Applejack told Connor to go and explore around town for the rest of the day. Applejack felt like she had to order Connor to leave because he was being so insistent to help out.
Connor slowly made his way off the farm and into town to look around. He made sure to tell Scootaloo where he was before leaving in case she needed to get him. He browsed around town and looked at all the shops that were available. There were a couple of cafes and restaurants scattered around town and one fast food place around the outskirts. He passed by a bakery that looked like a gingerbread's house. The smell of fresh bread, muffins, and cookies filled his nostrils, but did not fill him with delight. It was simply just another reminder of home and how his family would make their own home made bread and pastries. As he continued his tour around town he spotted more shops that just reminded him of home. A hardware store with bits and bobs, wood, tools, and the smell of grimy work like the one he would shop at for when he needed screws or bolts for replacing ones on his bike. He window shopped at a general store down main street but only saw remnants of his own world. He tried to rationalize the new setting of what he was seeing but there was no way he could accept the fruity colored, sugar coated, problemless world he was in. everything looked too perfect, like they never had any kind of inconveniences outside of bad weather. Of course, this was never true. Any of Ponyville's inhabitants could tell you that, but Connor did not want to talk to any of them.
After a few hours of mingling around town, Connor had enough and went back to the farm where the punching bag was. He could lose himself in the effort to kick the bag as hard as he could. It was the one thing he latched on as being close to home.
~~~
The day after that, Connor came in to work again but found nopony around the farm. He searched all the likely areas that Applejack might be, but didn't find her anywhere. After searching for a couple minutes, he spotted a note on the door that lead into the house attached to the back of the farm. He plucked it off the door to read it.
Connor,
Go ahead and take today off. I know I gave you part of yesterday off, but go relax today as well. I’m currently in Canterlot right now picking up some new tools and supplies that I can't get in town. The rest of the Apple family are on a trip with Pinkie Pie to visit her family on the rock farm. Sorry about not telling you yesterday, it slipped my mind and it was already evening when I realized that I forgot to tell you. There are a few bits in the barn on the work bench for you to buy something in town as thanks for working so hard.
Enjoy your day off,
Applejack
Connor looked at spot where the note hung letting his grasp slip on the note. It fluttered to the ground and landed softly in front of the door. He didn’t head for the barn to pick up the money; what was he going to buy? He felt there was nothing in town that he needed or wanted so the only thing he would buy would be food. But even that felt hollow and empty to him, and he loved food. Connor left the money in the barn and went straight for town again like yesterday. And just like yesterday, he mingled around the streets looking at everything and everypony as they passed by. Every one of them was unique in their own way just like him, But his mood prevented him from actually taking interest in it. It took even less time for Connor to get fed up and head back to the barn where he could take solace in the punching bag.
His movements were sluggish and lacked power but he pushed himself through it. He only stopped hitting the bag when he was too tired to throw a simple punch and needed to rest or to check on Scootaloo and make sure she was still fine. Those were the only things he did for the rest of the day until it was time to take Scootaloo home for the night. He hid himself behind a mask of 'faring well in the new world' so as to maintain appearances around others and not worry Scootaloo, but he could feel it failing as his exhaustion pulled at his every limb.
“Are you all right, Connor?” she had asked as the two of them entered the home again.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Why don’t you head upstairs and wash up and I’ll work on making us some food.”
“Okay...” she looked at him still with worried concern in her eyes.
“I’ll be fine. Go on.” Connor forced a smile to push the point home.
Once she left, his smile dropped and his eyes cast to the ground. He was not fine. He missed home and he was still struggling with coming to terms with his new life right now. He forced those thoughts as hard as he could out of his mind but they slowly crept back in like an undying monster that wanted to pull him down a spiraling path into darkness. He headed for the kitchen in the hopes that work would distract him again. He was getting better in manipulating things with his hooves and his wings after all the work he had been doing on the farm and taking care of Scootaloo, so making a simple meal was becoming easy. After a few moments he called Scootaloo down again for dinner and they ate in silence. Scootaloo didn't know why Connor was acting so differently, but she was afraid to ask so she continued to eat her meal. After they finished their food, Connor cleaned up again and put Scootaloo to sleep before trying to sleep himself.
~~~
The next morning, Connor got up, ate, and took Scootaloo to school again. He pretended to be fine again all the way until Scootaloo left his sight before he dropped his mask. He turned away so that nopony could see him and started walking in a direction. His work habit told him to head back to sweet apple acres, but he couldn't bring himself to go. The time he had gotten off had given opportunity to his mind to build up a ocean of defeated emotions and homesickness and it was ready to come crashing down around him and drown him in sadness. So he walked, not really looking at where he was going or at anything really. He knew Applejack would be waiting for him to arrive at the farm to work again today, but Applejack would not see him today. As a matter of fact, Applejack was waiting for him at the front gates to Sweet Apple Acres with concern. She knew something was up with Connor and was worried about him; uh, only for his general well being, not like as a friend. They were still working on that.
He walked and walked, slowly dragging his hooves slightly across the ground. His eyes stared at the ground not wanting to look at anypony in the face. He somehow found his way along side the river at the park outside of town around noon time. Fillies played in the grass and adults casually strolled through the paths or sat on benches relaxing in the nice weather, except for Connor who sat on a bench near the water's edge. He stared at the water as it flowed down its path to its final destination somewhere far off. He stared off into space as he let his mind spiral down into pit of despair and sadness that looked like it had no way of escape. His mind kept going over his mistakes and how his life seemed like it could never go back to normal. He would have to spend the rest of his days in this sickeningly sweet world. He spiraled further and further down into the dark hole, his minor faults and mistakes becoming as big as mountains that seemed unfixable and would never be fixed. The water shimmered slightly and he caught a blue figure staring back at him. Connor looked at the spot with curiosity and slowly got up from his seat to get a better look at blue figure. As he approached the figure began to take a clearer form and morphed into a faded jeans blue Pegasus. He stared at it as if studying an organism. He slowly realized he was staring at himself in the water. As he stared at his reflection with intrigue, he noticed his outward appearance. His eyes had dark bags under them and his hair was messy with dirt, sweat, and grim. His eyes held a deep sorrow in them. He looked absolutely terrible.
Fascination took hold and he needed to see just how bad he looked. He shifted closer to the water and to his side to get a full view of himself. His wings were in bad condition. Bruises lined the edge of his wing where he hit the bag so many times. His wing joint was swollen to the size of a baseball. A few bruises still lingered from his encounter with the bullies a few days ago. He shifted himself so that he could see the other side of his body, only to find it in a similar state as the other. He raised a hoof so that it was visible in the water. Connor couldn’t see just how bad it was in the water's reflection so he tore his eyes from the water to stare at his hoof. His hoof was cracked and scraped and his wrist was swollen badly. He rotated his arm to look at his elbow and could see fur rubbed off from hitting the bag so many times without recovery time. His knees showed the same kind of treatment. He chuckled to himself. It was a sad chuckle like somepony had finally accepted defeat. His body was a disaster with bruises all over and all of his joints being swollen and damaged to some degree. It was a wonder that he was still able to move as much as he had been while working. He had ignored his mental warnings and pain in exchange to not feel despair. Pain began to take hold again as his mental blocks disappeared and let his body tell him that he was broken. He looked back at the water with a chuckle still on his lips, but it quickly fell away. He looked back at his new face and stared deeply into his reflection. If he could describe his look in one word, what would it be? Hopeless, worn out, sad; depressed.
Depressed. That word stuck to him. It mulled around in his head, slowly growing into thought and analysis. Eventually his mind began searching in it's past memories for comparison and other notes until it finally found what it was looking for. During his earlier years in schooling, like elementary and middle school, he had been picked on and bullied. It wasn't an exorbitant amount that would lead to suicide attempts, but there was plenty enough to send him into the downward spiral of depression. His faults being pulled into light and being blown up to ridiculous heights, being rejected from the group when trying to fit in, and then finally believing the bullies that they were right and beating himself up for having such faults and being unable to fix them. The helplessness and uselessness he felt when he was unable to solve a problem affected him deeply during his childhood. He did have a habit of expecting perfection out of himself or setting the expectation bar higher than his current abilities which added to his depression. At one point, he did consider suicidal thoughts. He never acted on them, but it was the fact of having those thoughts at all is what made them scary. Luckily, he had caring teachers and a loving family to bring him around and tell him that he was alright and to not believe what the other kids were saying. Because of them, Connor was able to grow into a stronger individual. There were still times where he needed to vent, and mom was always a patient listener, but he never considered suicide again.
Now, he could see the downward spiral again and all the other signs that went with it. His change in mood and behavior, his change in eating habit, disregard of self mutilation; they were all signs of depression. His mind drifted further in to the black hole of depression and stood just a few steps away from the door of suicidal thoughts. He stared at the tar black door amongst the black void that surrounded it. It would be so easy to just turn the knob and let everything wash over him.
no.
He wouldn't have to think about anything anymore. His story would simply end and he could close his book to his life.
No.
All his problems would go away and never bother him again.
NO!!!
A fiery will welled up inside of him. He glared at the black door in his mind and turned on his heels/hooves and made his way out of the black abyss. He had stood before that black door before and had touched the handle to open it. That alone was enough to never try it again, and he would never consider giving up in that way ever again. He had too much to lose right now and too many goals that he wanted to achieve back home to throw it all away right now. He was going to make it out of this mess and make it back home even if he had to punch, kick, and bludgeon his way back to the human world. The first goal he needed to do was fix himself back up to full health.
But he needed other goals to aim for while in this world, and he needed somepony to talk to and vent. So the first task on his agenda was find somepony he could trust and vent to. After that, he wanted to apologize to the ponies he had cursed out when he first arrived in this world. Next he wanted to learn how to fly. If he couldn't have two wheels to burn rubber and tear up the streets with, he was going to wreck house with his two wings and shred feathers doing it. Finally, he needed to find some way to leave his own mark on this world; not just live and wait for twilight to fix her portal, but really leave an impression on this world before he left. There was no way he couldn't find something in this world he was good at and make a small career out of it. His fiery will to live grew brighter until it shined with renewed life and vigor and ready to set this pansy world ablaze in epic glory.
He stared at his mental list of changes and picked the easiest one to accomplish right now; he needed to find somepony that he could trust and vent his frustrations. He ran through his list of ponies that he knew after coming to this world like a detective going through a data base looking for clues. He scanned over every pony he knew on a personal level trying to pick the perfect candidate. None of them he really knew well enough to trust with handling his emotional vent. There was Scootaloo's parents, but his relation with them had been mainly business; no real personal connection there. Applejack was another possibility that came up in his profile search. She was trustworthy and had pretty good moral standards, not that everypony else didn't have them but Connor had spent more time with Applejack so he had seen it more often. The only problem was he and Applejack had started on the wrong hoof when he first arrived here; he wasn't ready to dump emotional baggage on her and he knew that she wasn't ready to deal with it either. Scootaloo's name also popped up in his search but he quickly tossed it to the side not wanting to involve the kid with his major dilemmas. Near the end of his very short list was twilight. He paused as he looked over his past experiences with her, how much time he had spent with her, and how she had earned some of his respect during her visit in his own world. He sat on the idea and let it turn over in his head for awhile. He continued to stare out at the river flowing before him. Twilight was the only other pony in this world that he really knew well enough and trusted enough to possibly vent to. He wish he had other options available to him but the more he thought about it, the more twilight seemed like the best pony to do this with.
He had sat there long enough. It was time to act. He was going to find Twilight and ask her to simply listen to him as he vented his frustrations and doubts out to her. His body groaned in protest as he slowly got up, but the fire burning inside him said this would be for the better. He turned to a pony that was just passing by to ask a question, “Excuse me, can you tell me where I can find Twilight?”
The pony stopped to look at Connor, “Princess Twilight? She is usually in her library. Its the big tree in town, can't miss it.”
“Thanks.” Now that Connor had directions and could see the giant tree in town from where he was standing, he limped his way into town with new determination and goals set in his mind.