7 - One At A Time
Chapter 7: One At A Time
“My hooves feel like they’re made of bruises.” Twilight gingerly placed her left fore hoof on the ground. That one seemed to go first. She wondered if there was any point in deciding the order for which her hooves should go. The entire experience was rather painful already. No need to add the complication of hoof placement to an otherwise mountainous hill of frustration. The frustration was mainly centred on herself, because she was quite sure almost all her friends would be able to make that distance. Probably even Rarity, but with a little more lip.
“You sound like you’ve never trotted before,” Star Swirl muttered.
Twilight’s mouth pulled into an annoyed frown. “I trot, all the time.” Twilight glanced back at the grinning unicorn. She was determined to prove the smug stallion wrong. “I can run and pace myself, but this is ridiculous. The distance is like going from Ponyville to Canterlot on hoof!”
Star Swirl swivelled around to face Twilight. His eyes drew upwards as he mumbled a few things. Shaking his head, he regarded Twilight quizzically. “I’ve never heard of these places.” He frowned. “But you don’t sound like a traveller…” he smacked a hoof to his head. “But of course! Your win—” The unicorn cut himself off before he could say ‘wings’.
Twilight nodded vigorously, leaping onto the opportunity like Spike on gems. Ah yes, wouldn’t do to let slip that she normally caught the train. They definitely didn’t have trains in the pre-classical era.
“Yes,” Twilight replied in a low voice. “I’ve been around… out of Equestria.”
Star Swirl pursed his lips. “Equestria?” he asked.
Twilight mentally kicked herself again. She was horrible at lying. Might as well be Applejack. “The kingdom,” she said quickly. “Kingdom.”
Despite her reasonable assurances, Star Swirl did not look convinced.
“You don’t have to hide it,” Star Swirl replied mildly. “I know what you’re hiding.”
Twilight bit her lip. Oh dear Celestia, he knew! “I-I wasn’t trying to hide it,” Twilight stammered. “It’s not like I enjoy lying… it’s just that…”
Star Swirl’s expression turned uncharacteristically sympathetic. “I know,” he replied. “These are strange times we live in. Pony against pony, court politics over populace.” His bitter gaze wandered among the trees, before snapping back. “It’s why I left in the first place. Then she wouldn’t have—” he bit off the words before they could be aired. Twilight couldn’t prevent her eyes widening fractionally at the hidden pain beneath the impish veil that usually curtained his expression.
Before she might have felt bad about dragging him along, but now she felt horrible. “I knew you didn’t like it,” Twilight said quietly. “But I didn’t know you…” Twilight hesitated as she searched for the words to express her sentiments. “I… If you don’t want to come along now, you don’t have to.” Twilight sighed. “And now you know where I’m from.”
Star Swirl shook his head. “I gave you and the ‘Lovely’ Lady Lily back there a promise. I don’t like it, but I always keep my promises. As for you, just because you’re not from these parts doesn’t mean I’ll abandon you for it.” He sucked his teeth and fell silent for a while. “Besides, I rather enjoy your company.”
Twilight was so shocked she stopped briefly, and had to run ahead at a brisk canter to catch up again.
“What?” Star Swirl said as she came alongside him again. “Never had a stallion tell you he likes you?”
Twilight blushed more than she was comfortable with. In fact, she blushed more than she thought any pony could possibly do in a day. “N-No,” she babbled back. “N-Not really.”
An interminable look shadowed Star Swirl’s gaze for a moment before he returned it to the road. “Ah,” he said. “Sorry.”
“What for?” Twilight replied.
Star Swirl gave her that look again. “I guess… for nothing.” He cleared his throat. “Well, besides being from somewhere further than the Kingdom’s borders, you’ve got some memorable physical features. You’re going to be out of place in Lady Lily’s local barony, and let’s not get started on the Royal Courts. I guess I should teach you some Etiquette.”
Judging from his unimpressed expression, Twilight didn’t think her winning smile was encouraging him.
“Oh come on,” Twilight growled. “Despite what I look like, I’ve had some experience in Royal Courts before. How hard can it be?”
Star Swirl shook his head, muttering to himself. “Don’t say that. Never say that,” he groaned.
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Why Twilight.... You had to invoke Murphy's Law now everything is going to go wrong!!
Very good story so far, nice work.
please more.
Hope you continue
One small detail, there is a "Starswirl the Beared" tag available. Use it as intended.
8147447 Thank you, as you can tell this was written before the tag was implemented. Thanks for letting me know.
8148462 I guess I don't have enough experience with Gdocs, and I publish manually myselt.
May I ask what softwere(text editor) you are using now, and why you migrated?
I gues I can understand the lre of the aesteticaly pleasing, but since I was publishing at Mibba first, I was partialy pushed out of this habit. I still enjoy some aestetically pleasing notions, I guess.
I fail to be impressed by your rather large number of stories, due to my own collection of stories here at FiM alone. Have a look if you doubt me.
On that note, make it a part of the editorial effort as you do go over a story. By then it isn't such a strain as you already go over the story as you are editing it.
8148470 Some people are apparently bothered by this, of which some can be quite bashfull at it as well. I had my share of these in the past.
The name is pronounced as a single work, and once the icon is implemented, it would be easier to stick to this as acommon standard. The next reader will be sure to have a different refference or interpretation.
They do pronounce her name in two entirely different manners even on the show. On the note, industry have a habit of these things, even to the point you can't even spell a Standard correctly. Sad as it is.
For Cadence, it is kind of like Pinkie Pie? The full original name was; Mi amore Cadenzy, from Spanish if I am not mistaken?
8148471 I noticed that the story is less then new.
Make a habit of checking the site for correct spelling and see which Icons are available from time to time. They do change every now and then.
8149495 Thanks for your feedback and advice. Though I can't guarantee I can meet expectations and revise all my previous works, I will try to keep all of it in mind as I write future releases.
For my software, I use Scrivener now. It's a bit more handy than G Docs and a lot less clunky than word, in my opinion.
Also, wow you have a lot of stories, that's a great achievement! With regards to myself, I'm not saying it's impossible to retroactively edit all my stories and I'm not saying this out of laziness. It's just that now that I have a full time job and trying to pay off a mortgage, this is more due to my circumstances not permitting me the time to dedicate as much as I would like. Saying that, I also want to finish my stories, which is why I've held back on publishing anything new and concentrated on finishing them from my oldest upwards, I hope you can understand. Sorry.
8150871 Just take one at a time, while you are wokeing on the respective story.
If you are taking the stories one at a time, consider making the incomloete as "On Hiatus", untill you get to them since there is little to no chance you will look into them any time soon?
Scrivener? Have not heard of it, but if it supports your work, it has to be good for something. I used to enjoy M$ W#ord, back in the day; but they fell from grace in my eyes. I have been working with numerous word-processors, other than M$ Word. My latest is Open Office.
Thanks, I have put effort and time into my work. While the response is not always as uplifting as one may have hoped. You may know that feeling, I guess? Editing your work takes time and effort, I know this all too well.
At least you hasve a job. Make sure to enjoy the time you spend with your stories, or it will just be a waste of time.
You are quite welcome, and I guess we wrighters at the FiM has to stick together.
Will this ever get continued?