New Friendships (My First Fanfic)

by Blazer

5

I coughed nervously, my throat a little dry from the lack of water. However, I was still too nervous to ask for water, even though I was never given a canteen.

We had been walking for a few hours, the source of the smoke drawing near. We had already eaten a lunch in relative silence. I was pretty much ignored (much to my relief), although I’d been under the wary vigil of Rainbow Dash.

I coughed again when I breathed in a little too much dust from the wind. Fluttershy noticed and flew down to my level. She offered me her canteen. “Here, this should help.”

Rainbow Dash was between us in an instant. “Hey! Careful! He might slip something into the water and poison you!” She warned.

Twilight stood next to Fluttershy. “Look, Rainbow Dash, he’s not our prisoner. He’s just tagging along for now.”

Not wanting any trouble or risk escalating it, I clamped my mouth shut, gently shaking my head at the canteen, much to Fluttershy’s dismay.

Rainbow Dash was slightly flustered. “Look, we still don’t know why he appeared in the first place, and what his goals are here in Equestria. I just think we should keep a right to be suspicious until then.” She explained.

Applejack looked confused. “Now, really, Rainbow Dash? This is startin’ to sound a lil’ ridiculous. You just start comin’ up with the craziest conspira-what-cha-ma-call-its whenever something seems fishy to ya.”

Pinkie Pie hopped over. “Oh, you’re such a worrywart, silly! You’re talking about Keith like he’s from outer space!”

Twilight smiled hopefully. “So can we just all get along? I mean, he’s done nothing wrong.”

Rainbow Dash looked at her friends, then at me. Slowly, her shoulders relaxed, and a sigh escaped her lips.

“Fine. But I’m still watching you, Keith.” She said firmly.

I nodded vigorously, still keeping my mouth shut.

Fluttershy offered me the canteen again, and I took a long and grateful sip.

The long march to the smoke’s source continued. It wasn’t long before we hit a narrow canyon. The sides were extremely steep, smoothed by running water, leading all the way down to the bottom, which appeared to be miles away. A rickety rope-bridge spanned the chasm.

Twilight examined the ropes. They looked intact, but could probably only hold the weight of one or two ponies at once. “So,” she said, turning to the group. “Who wants to go first?”

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flew to the other side, urging everyone to cross.

After much discussion and deliberation, the group was divided in half. Pinkie Pie and Rarity went first, Twilight would cross second, while Applejack and I would go last.

Rarity stepped onto the rickety bridge, the board creaking under her weight. She made an audible gulp.

“Cmon, Twilight! Nothing to it!” Rainbow Dash cheered from the other side.

It took another five minutes just to get Pinkie and Rarity going at the same time. Except Rarity was making three times the noise than Pinkie. It was a most pitiful sight.

“Oh dear!! This is definitely the worst thing ever!! I swear, I’ll never do anything wrong again; I’ll spend more time with Sweetie Bell, I won’t make my cat wear ridiculous clothing, just PUH-LEEZE let me live!!” She blubbered to nobody in particular.

Pinkie Pie bounced around her. “Oh, come on! It’s not that bad, see??”

As if reacting to her statement, the bridge gave a little. The two ponies tumbled to the boards, clutching to the ropes on the sides for dear life.

Rarity opened one eye, which happened to be staring straight through two of the boards. She took in the sight of a tiny sliver of silver miles below, a frighteningly long fall that awaited her if she didn’t get off of the bridge fast enough.

“Cmon, girls! Let’s finish this bridge before it finishes us!” She urged.

They hustled off of the bridge as fast as they dared, ignoring the constant creaking protests of the boards below their hooves.

Twilight was quick to follow, leaving me and Applejack on the other side of the chasm.

I looked Applejack. “Well, looks like it’s just you—”

She was already crossing without me. I sighed loudly and joined her.

However, we had both failed to notice that the post holding the rope was already loosened by the previous crossing, and had begun to give even more.

It didn’t take us long to notice, however, when the bridge swayed violently from the sudden movements of the post.

Recognizing the danger, Applejack reached out to me. “Keith, cm’ere for a second! Lemme see your knapsack!”

I complied letting her grip onto my knapsack with her mouth. She instructed me to grab hers, all the while struggling to keep her footing on the rapidly deteriorating bridge.

She started to swing me around, her strength astounding me. However, once I realized what she was doing, I knew I had to do something. What did I have to lose, anyways; it was just some stupid dream.

Waiting until I was above the bridge again, I hooked my hoof underneath the board, clenching my jaw tightly. I reversed the momentum, lifting her and transferring the momentum to her. She released my knapsack in surprise, and I made a single revolution before tossing her to the opposite side.

Her hat flew off, landing on the bridge in front of me. She landed a few feet away from the edge, crashing into the rest of the group.

Celebrating for a brief moment, I began sprinting towards the end of the bridge, picking up Applejack’s hat as I ran.

Watching the rope tear fiber by fiber, I knew time was limited. Anticipating the break, I jumped for the edge. The ropes tore almost simultaneously, causing the bridge to drop out from underneath me. I flew true, landing right at the edge and gripping the earth with all of my might.

I scratched for a hoof-hold, finding none. I began to slowly slide backwards, my lack of fingers making it impossible for me to grip the smooth rock.

Luckily, my slow slide backwards was stopped by the combined efforts of Applejack and Fluttershy, who pulled me back up the face.

Panting heavily, I dropped the hat in front of Applejack. “Hey, you dropped this.” I panted, collapsing from exhaustion on the spot.

Applejack laughed, throwing the hat back onto her head. “Much obliged, Keith.”

Twilight scowled down at me. “What were you thinking, Keith? Applejack was trying to save you, but you decided to play ‘hero’?”

I looked up, my head still spinning from the lack of air. “I… *pant* I dunno. Thought it’d make… *gasp* Make me look cool.”

Twilight looked at me funny. I looked back, forcing a grin. “Gotta look cool in front of the ladies.”

Twilight shook her head. “Ugh. Colts.”

I stood up shakily, brushing off the offers to help me (or lack thereof).

Twilight looked towards the setting sun. “We’d better keep moving. We won’t last long in the freezing cold of the desert at night.”

It wasn’t long before the sun reached the distant mountain tops, disappearing slowly like a mound of melting butter. Applejack shaded her eyes when she squinted at what was little left of the sun. “Well, we have about an hour before the sun sets; I say we set up camp before we hit the hay.” She advised.

Twilight nodded. “That’s fine. I’m sure we’re all tired anyways. Besides…” She nodded towards the foreboding maze of red sandstone formations ahead. “We’ve got a long walk ahead of us, and possibly a long negotiation process.”

Putting down our knapsacks, everybody split up in groups of two to go search for some kindle and fuel for tonight’s fire. Spike and I were left to watch the luggage.

Once everyone had left, Spike began asking me questions about where I was from.

“What part of Equestria you from?” He asked, resting his chin on his claw.

“Er… Sacramento.”

“Sacramare-to? So you’re an east-coaster, then?”

“Well…” I bit my lip. “Yeah, I guess.”

There was a long pause when the small dragon struggled to think of something else to ask. I proceeded with a question of my own. “So, Spike, what do you usually do for fun with everybody?”

Spike thought hard, bringing his claws to his chin. “Well, every year we go to the Galloping Gala, although I never go along. Those things are so boring; I never see what everypony thinks is so great about those. It’s one big bore.”

I cleared my throat. “So do you guys have smaller dances? Ones with more… uh, how should I say it… Dynamic dancing?”

Spike nodded. “Yeah, but nothing really big. It’s mostly small dances within groups of friends, or for a special reason, like birthdays and congratulation parties.”

I thought for a second. “Well, is there an open ballroom in Ponyville? You guys could hold big fundraiser dances in addition to the little parties. And I could DJ for you guys.” I asked hopefully.

Spike went back to thinking again. “Well, there IS one possible ballroom, but I don’t think it’s always open. It’s in the town hall, and it’s usually used for meetings or important conferences between town officials.”

Before we could plan out anything else, however, Rarity and Twilight returned with a heap of thin brush and branches, setting them near the small fire-ring. “Phew, took us long enough.” Twilight said, taking a seat next to Spike.

Rarity dropped her bundle neatly next to Twilight’s. “I hope this is enough to keep us warm; I don’t think I’d be able to sleep through a night of freezing my beautiful tail off.”

Twilight smiled back at Rarity. “Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Pinkie Pie are still out there gathering even more fuel for tonight; I’m sure we’ll have more than enough for the entire evening.”

Rarity settled next to Spike, who began writing another update to Princess Celestia.

“So, how are you feeling?” Twilight asked, turning to me. “I’m sure you’re still a little shaken up after that close call.”

“I was about to ask you the same thing.” I replied. “You looked a little shaken yourself.”

“Well, I guess… I felt afraid.” Twilight confessed. “I was afraid that I’d lose a good friend. Before you saved her, I knew that I was so close to losing her to the bridge. It was a horrible feeling, where for a second; I almost began to imagine life without her.”

After she finished, we fell silent for a few minutes. Somewhat hesitant to break the ice, I coughed quietly, and said, “Well, she’s alive now, that’s all that matters.”

As if she had dropped a huge burden, Twilight sighed loudly. “That’s true. Thanks, Keith.”

I nodded stiffly; still surprised she was warming up to me so quickly.

Silence settled around the campfire again.

It wasn’t long before Rarity finally summoned the guts to break the ice between her and I.

“Where did you get that ridiculous hat?” She asked.

I looked up at the wide brim. “This? I was on a trip to uh…” I paused, once again struggling to rephrase the story to pertain to Equestria. “Uh… a trip to the mountains. There was a little shop selling winter clothes, and I saw the hat sitting alone on the rack.” I thought hard for a second, now struggling to even remember when I had bought it. “It was a clearance sale, and the hat was the only one left. I don’t know why, but something told me to buy the thing. I just felt that it fit my personality the best. It was almost like—”

I stopped myself as the remainder of the group returned, dropping their bundles not-so-neatly on top of Twilight and Rarity’s piles.

Applejack looked at the deep-red sunset. “Just in time; looks like the sun’s gone and hit the hay.”

Twilight glanced at the canyon ahead. “We’d also better hit the hay. We’ve got a long hike ahead of us. Let’s just get the fire started so we can get to bed.”

It was a simple matter of just getting the kindle lit, and we eventually had a gentle blaze cracking away. The warmth was comforting, especially through the soft blankets that were distributed throughout the group. It wasn’t long before we were all asleep.

Except for me.

I literally woke up in the next second. And the situation I awoke to was regretfully not as pleasant as the cozy campfire.