1- Boredom Nigh, Anything to Stir Things Up
He had been of the highest of youthful states.
Bored out of his friggin mind. So he traipsed around the house, desperate for something to take his mind off his boredom.
“Mooooooooooooom! Theres NOTHING to dooooooo!” he called to his mother, who was currently deep in work, writing an article for the Galloping Gazette, a local Canterlot newspaper publication.
”Busy...“ she muttered angrily around the pencil clenched tightly in her mouth, not even stopping to take her eyes off the offending half finished page before her.
He shrugged his withers, knowing that his mother had barely heard him as is, and would only grow aggravated if he pressed the issue any further. He walked back to his room, his hooves making a wooden clop that reverberated around the hallway. He stopped suddenly, his eye being caught by a glint of sunlight off of metal.
The light was coming through a window set into the hallway at about neck height, reflecting off of a picture frame on the opposite wall, recalling a family reunion long past.
The flicker of light continued upwards, until it landed on the hanging circlet, attached to a trapdoor set into the ceiling.
THE ATTIC!
Mom was always telling him to stay out of the attic, that there were a lot of very old, very breakable items that they were keeping for some reason or other (some he knew had been handed down from his grandfather, and others he knew were junk from seeing his father levitate a treadmill -he had used it once and never again- directly into the attic, claiming it “a waste of valuable space”)
”Allright,” he said, looking upwards at the door, “I’m gonna get up there...but how?” He looked upwards, the door tantalizingly out of reach. He looked around, but there wasn’t anything he could use as a hoofstool, even a heavily improvised one.
”Horse feathers!” he exclaimed ”...once again, genetics returns to personally mock me...”
Being the offspring of a pegasus and a unicorn, he had always thought it odd that he had been born an earth pony, and had found constant reminders of the fact. In his everyday life, the pegasi were always faster, they always won any race themed or running challenge that came up. And forget any game that required fine motor skills, the unicorns always had an unfair advantage in those games.
He walked slowly down the hallway, wracking his brain for an idea. He stopped suddenly, a reckless plan fresh in the forefront of his mind. Turning around, he lowered his head, slightly scuffing the floor, steadying himself with the intent of charging down the hall, jumping, bouncing off a wall, and grabbing the ring with his teeth.
”DON’T YOU DARE!!!”
He did a half go-stop, landing with his rump high up in the air and his front legs trapped under the weight of his torso, his face half pushed into the floor by his poorly halted momentum.
”Aaaargh, Mooooooom, what the heck?” he nearly yelled, slowly disentangling his limbs and righting himself.
”Don’t you DARE take that tone with me, I told you once, I’ll tell you again, STAY. OUT. OF THE ATTIC,” her voice dipped to a low growl while simultaneously managing to enunciate each word at the end, sending chills down his back while his imagination churned out horrifying punishments she might have inflicted had she come upon him dangling from the trapdoor. ”Seriously Ecks, what am I supposed to do with you? I cant have you noisily trotting through the house when I’m on a deadline, you KNOW this!” She exclaimed, pointing a wing towards the window. ”Why don’t you go outside, run around, burn off that energy of yours?”
”I don’t want to go outside, there's nothing to DO around here,” he whined.
”Well I have work to do, so outside,” she stated, dramatically pointing with both her right wing and foreleg out the window, “Or I swear, I am going to get VERY. UGLY.”
She didn’t have say it twice, a clattering of his hooves and the sound of the front door slamming shut marking the beginning of a quiet afternoon in which to reach her deadline.
”Seriously, that darn colt is going to give me a heart attack one of these days...” she said, walking back to the table in the living room, plopping down again at her half finished paper.
”...AAAAAARRGHHH, WHAT THE HECK ELSE AM I SUPPOSED TO WRITE ABOUT MIGRATION PATTERNS? THEY GO NORTH, THEY GO SOUTH!!!” With this she crumpled the page into a ball, deftly tossing it into a bag lined pail behind her without looking. ”Allright...It is the conclusion, therefore, that the flocks of...“
He had avoided a major hassle. His mom was in one of her moods, and nothing short of another changeling invasion would distract her.
He sat on the porch, loathe to submit to his enforced exile from his house.
"Seriously Ecks, what am I supposed to do with you?" he mimicked, hitting the pitch and intonation perfectly. He could have copied his mothers voice exactly, as was his special talent (his Cutie mark was that of a parrot, of which it was constantly getting him folks asking if he liked birds or something like that), but he got a more perverse pleasure in the 'straight up mock'.
"Ey, Echo!" Trotting down the street towards him was one of his colt friends, an amiable unicorn named Rising Crest. His special talent was the manipulation of water molecules, which apparently was an 'unimpressive talent at best' which got him a lot of flak from the neighborhood kids. Seriously, those goat foals were MEAN.
"Hey Rise, what're you up to?" he said, copying his friends voice. He mainly copied to piss other ponies off, but in his tightly knit group of friends, most of them found it hilarious to watch an adults face slowly devolve into confusion at hearing the same voice come from opposite sides of the room.
"I'm on my way to give Penny Whistle her homework," Rising Crest stated, pointing to his saddlebags."Miss Tack also gave me some remedial stuff too..." With this, he glanced sheepishly at the ground, knowing that Echo had already completed all the "home work" for the next week. He tended to take a months work and cram it into a single night, much to the chagrin of Miss Tack.
"Mind if I tag along? Mom's out on the warpath today, if I so much as step a hoof back inside, I think it and I will get thrown out separately."
"No fur off my back, I'll tell you that. Plus, you know her dad likes you better than me anyway, if you're there it'll cut down on," with this, he stopped talking, screwing his face up into mock horror, "THE LOOOOOK" He drawled these last two words out, eliciting a knowing grin from Echo.
Penny Whistle and Rising Crest may have been going steady for nigh on over three years, but her father Tin Whistle just never seemed to warm up to the fact. In fact, it seemed for a time that he had expected Penny and Echo to start 'seeing each other'. Penny was nice, but she was just his friend, nothing more.
"And then he says, I DIDN'T EVEN SEE HER!" With this they both broke out laughing. It was a bit of a trek to Penny Whistles house, so they had chosen to recant old jokes and stories for the way over. Rising always preferred hearing Echo do the stories, as he could mimic the voice of the character and bring life into the simple retelling. Echo preferred when Rising told jokes, always finding a way to twist the punchline or the delivery into something new.
"So..." Echo stated, their destination having been reached, a simple house set alongside two others that for all purposes appeared identical in color, design, and shape. The only tangible difference that could be seen was the house number tagged in white paint in front of each house upon the road. "52117...you know, if her dad REALLY wanted to keep you away, he'd just remove all the numbers on the street," Echo teased.
"Goodness, why don't you say it louder, give him yet more ways to mess with me?" Rising Crest asked, a slight sour grin alighting on his face. "After the whole 'silent treatment' debacle I cant help shake the feeling that he's just waiting, biding his time till he comes up with something really big."
It had happened several months prior, Tin Whistle had simply decided to 'ignore' Rising Crest. Much to the displeasure to his daughter. It had all been ended with Penny Whistle yelling at her dad until he agreed to 'knock it off'. All in all, an exciting couple of weeks. Not one of the worst things he'd done over the years, but not the least horrible either.
"Psssssssssssssst" a hissing sound came from the top left window, connected to Penny Whistle's room. Leaning out was Penny Whistle, a cute little pegasus filly with a headful of yellow mane and a coat of deep tinged orange. "Guys, gimmie a minute, wait there, I'll be right there thank you-" with this she ducked back inside, pulling the window closed with a sharp snap.
"...she seems excited." Echo stated, slightly amused by Penny Whistle's tendency to cram as many words as she could in any given sentence. And breath. In fact, he was pretty sure that if she never had to breathe, she'd never stop talking.
"Dude, did you seriously forget?" Rising Crest asked incredulously, staring at Echo with wide eyes, a confused look stamped across his muzzle.
"Ummm...noooo, never...Hypothetically, if I did-" Echo's query was cut off by a loud groan from Rising Crest, who had lifted his forehoof and was rubbing his temple in irritation.
"I reminded you TWO days ago Echo, two days ago!"
"...Yeah I got nuthin."
With a slight glare to counter his friends amused glance, Rising Crest finally sighed in resignation. "Its our anniversary? Three years? Been planning this for months?"
Echo smiled, an impish grin growing on his face. "Oh ho ho! Mister 'I'm just bringing her her homework', eh? Had me going for a while, thought it was odd for you to show such interest in homework..." he trailed off as Rising Crest rolled his eyes, then focused them on the figure hurriedly walking down the driveway. Penny Whistle had foregone the option of clothing, leaving her cutie mark of some sort of flute visible. She had however, done up her mane in a ponytail.
"Come one, lets go, come on come on come on!" she hissed at them, quickly walking past them and down the road. With an amused glance between them, Echo and Rising Crest followed at a swift trot.
"So we can't go to dinner tonight. Dad found out and I heard him tell mom that he's gonna crash it so we could maybe go to a different place altogether but I'd rather just wait and go to the Tomato Garden some other time since we already planned on going there oh hey Echo why are you here?" Looking back and forth between Rising Crest and Echo, she splayed her ears back with a grimace. "You forgot, didn't you."
"Why does everypony just ASSUME I forgot? I have a good memory, I remember tons of stuff, loads better than you and Crest..." Echo trailed off, seemingly trying to focus his entire undivided attention at a cloud lazily floating above.
Penny Whistle giggled, leaning into Rising Crests side. "Well, lucky for you we have some time to kill now. Wanna hang?" With a glance towards Echo -who had still been embarrassingly examining the floating cloud at this point-, she craned her head forward and nuzzled Rising Crest. Such an action was quickly returned with a giggle of Rising Crests own.
Now, Echo loved his two friends, in the same way he loved his family. But at certain points in his life he couldn't help but feel like the fifth hoof in thier relationship. At least they were young, thinking on it he was sure the pda (pony displays of affection) was just going to get worse as they got older. What if they went and actually got married? Gah, they'd be perfectly insufferable.
"Sure, how bout we head over to Crests?"
"Thats a no go. My dads holding a poker game while my moms over in Hoofington. Unless you want to inhale an entire islands worth of cigar smoke, that is." Rising Crst wrinkled up his muzzle in disgust, he was unsure as to why his father and his friends liked such a horrid activity. The scent clung to the walls of his fathers office, making it a place he tried to avoid. At least he'd get a tongue lashing when Rising Crests mother returned.
"Maybe we could go to the cinema? We haven't checked in a while they might have a new one in by now whaddaya think?" Penny Whistle asked.
"Nope, its still the same one they've had for the past six months. I was over near there with my mom the other day." Echo stated with a huff. It wasn't really the cinema's fault. Making movies was a long, arduous process. He'd even heard that the one currently in had taken over ten years to make. They didn't really rake in that much money, either. Why 'damage' your eyes by sitting in a seat staring at a large screen in the dark for just under an hour, when you could be outside? Because it was a good time waster, that's why.
"I've already seen it 3 times already, don't know about you but I'm fairly certain I could quote it by now." Echo said with a smirk.
Penny Whistle laughed, a derisive snort that stuck in her nostrils. "Took you three whole viewings? Someponys losing their touch~."
"What about your place Echo?" Rising Crest asked.
"Did you already forget about my mom? And here you were ribbing me in MY memory..."
"Actually I was just thinking about her. Isn't that her running this way?"
Echo rubbernecked in the direction that Rising Crest pointed, his eyes bugging out as they locked onto the form of his mother trotting towards them. Her mane was a wind blown mass, she had most likely flown around for a bit before that point. She had on a large pair of saddlebags, stuffed to the brim with paper.
"Echo! Glad I caught you. Look, I'm taking my draft over to the editor, I'll be back home late, don't wait up all right?" She rattled this off in a fast stream of words, and Echo could see the beginnings of a twitch forming from her left eye.
"...why didn't you just leave a note?"
Echo's mother stared at him for a moment, trying to come up with an answer. True, she had been working hard as of late but that shouldn't have made her overlook something THAT simple. "No time, give your dad a kiss from me love you!" With that and a quick peck on her sons forehead, she flapped her wings and took off.
"She....guh. Looks like forgetting stuffs going around. Dads over in Manehatton for the magic conference." Echo let out a disappointed sigh. His mothers cooking wasn't the best, but it was still a sight better than anything he could whip up. "Looks like I'll be dining on the regal, majestic feast of a simple salad tonight. Well, at the very least we now got the house to ourselves." with a sudden smile and a wicked grin, he turned to his friends, "And I know just what we can do..."
"You have an attic?" Rising Crest asked, lighting up his horn and illuminating the seemingly cavernous space. He then made the mistake of breathing in too deeply, causing him to have a sneezing fit and fall back down the collapsible ladder. Thankfully he had two soft bodies to break his fall.
"Sweet Celestia what have you been eating?" Echo drawled, finding his face pressed to the floor twice in the same day.
"As comfy as this is, I have to agree that you are kinda heavy maybe you should go on a diet or something?" Penny whistle joked with a laugh, wriggling out from the pile and dusting herself off. They checked each other for any injuries, thankfully the only thing damaged appeared to be Rising Crests pride. With a flap of her wings, Penny Whistle rose off the ground and poked her head into the horizontal door. "Oooooooooh~ Cresty, you gotta see this, its like a museum up here!" She pulled herself in, and was quickly lost from sight.
"Well than, 'Cresty'?" Echo asked, contorting his vocal cords to match Penny Whistles voice. "Age before beauty!" Echo gestured up the ladder.
"Goodness that's creepy, I thought you said you were going to stop that." Rising Crest reached down after making it to the top, helping Echo make it the rest of the way up.
"Stop what?" Penny Whistle asked, leaning over a tipped over mirror. She had found a wide selection of costume jewelry, having adorned herself with what looked like about five pounds of plastic gems, necklaces and even a large impressive looking crown.
Rising Crest and Echo looked at her in confusion and amusement, before Rising Crest broke the silence. "And who are you supposed to be, Princess Sparkles?"
With a twirl, she declared with an exaggerated prissy sounding accent," Ah ahm Queen Elizabit, The thiiiiiird!~"
"Ummm... Prance?" Echo asked. His history had always been something he struggled over.
"No, its.. forget it, you'll just forget it in a minute anyway ooh Cresty whatcha got there?"
Echo looked over at Rising Crest, who had been digging in a pile of various nicknacks. He stifled a laugh as he saw what was perched on his head.
"Hey, don't knock old Romane armor, this stuff looks awesome." Rising Crest had what looked like an old legionaires helmet on, his mane slotted out through the top like a mohawk. "I think there's a whole set here, gimmie a minute." He turned back to the pile, pulling out random articles of armor, none of it looking in particularly good condition.
"Apparently, we're playing dress up now. Give me a minute, and I'll find an outfit to blow both yours outta the water." Echo claimed with a laugh, and then triapsed deep into the mess that was the contents of the attic. Looking round he saw his parents had apparently collected one of everything. A huge dresser stained with age. A large barrel filled with fake plant leaves. A pile of what looked like failed sewing projects. Oh hey, the treadmill. Finally, Echo saw something that caught his eye. It was a simple, yet ornate chest.
It was a plain midsized wooden chest, with delicate looking horseshoes engraved on both the ends. What truly caught his eye, was engraved onto the front of the box. It was the profile of a parrot, seemingly identical to his own cutie mark. He dragged it out of the pile of random junk, and heaved it up on a nearby suitcase. Cracking the top open, he was momentarily disappointed by what he saw inside. A pink wooden mane brush, carved to look like a shooting star was sitting on top of what looked like a plain blanket. Placing the brush to the side, and was pleasantly surprised when he discovered the "blanket" to actually be a carefully crafted robe of deepest arcanists blue. He quickly pulled it over his head, "Sweet, now I just gotta find a 'magic' staff and my disguise shall be complete!" A glint of light caught his eye, and he saw that hidden under the robe were what looked like four golden hoof sheathes. The golden metal was crafted so that it would rise up from the tip of the hoof. Pulling them all out, Echo poked and prodded the bottom of the chest to see if there was any more hidden goodies to be had. Finding nothing more, Echo careful studied the four golden horseshoe covers before coming to a decision.
"Battle mage!"
Echo came trundling back to the others, a fake beard held on with string causing most of their mirth at the sight of him. He had found a wooden hoofinstick that he used as a 'magic staff", and alighted on his head was a green pointy cowl. Most surprisingly he had somehow managed to tape a wooden bit of junk to his forehead, making a makeshift horn.
"I am the Illustrious battle mage, Orion of the Belt!" he exclaimed, raising the "staff" above his head. This in turn caused both Rising Crest and Penny Whistle to fall to the floor, laughing their flanks off.
"More like the grimy janitor of a thrift store, where the hay did you even find a hat like that?" Rising Crest laughed, pulling himself off of the floor and wiping a tear from his eye. He had since Echo had gone, assembled an entire set of armor, which was obviously made for somepony much larger than his self. It hung off of him, making him look like a little foal. Penny Whistle had also augmented her outfit since Echo had been gone, adding a saddle of purple velvet that had what looked like it had actual diamonds and pearls strung on it.
"It was in a box labeled 'books'. Wanna guess what wasn't in there?" He leaned closer, placing a hoof alongside his muzzle and dipping down to a loud stage whisper.
"Ooooh, pretty horseshoes where'd you find them can I try them on?" Penny rattled off, leaning closer and trying to pry the item in question off of Echo's hoof.
"I found them in a box and- AGH! pull on the horshoe, not my hoof, ow!" Echo retrieved his hoof, and set off to remove the horseshoes with less bone crushing force than his friend had managed. Finding it stuck harder than he had thought, he brought his hoof up to his mouth and clamped his teeth down on the offending horseshoe.
"Ewww, slobber..." Penny Whistle said, sticking out a tongue in disgust.
After several minutes, Echo had to come to a horrifying conclusion.
He couldn't get them off.