> Quill Master > by Petchricor > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- My name is Quill Master, but my friends call me Quill. That is, if I had any friends. Anyway, I was born in Cloudsdale with my mother, Golden Quill, who is a great artist. Her specialty is drawing amazing art with nothing but a quill, which is quite a feat without magic. She's a great mother and I love her, she's always done her best to make sure life was good for me and that I grew up well despite the fact that I didn't have a father. And it's been tough for both of us because, you see, it's rare for somepony to have a child when not married. In fact, nopony can remember it to have happened at all. And not having a father is the least of my problems anyway. You see, I was born with a cutie mark, an hourglass. It's small, but it's still there and it baffles everypony that sees it. And no one can figure out what my special talent is. I can't do anything with clocks, I can't make hourglasses and it can't have anything to do with organizing time, like my mother suggested, because I'm constantly losing track of time. After a few years ponies gave up on trying to figure out what it meant and when I got to the end of my school years I earned another cutie mark over the first one. This one was a gold quill along with a matching golden ink bottle, with the hourglass resting as a symbol on the ink bottle. It still baffles everypony, but it's stopped being wondered about and just excepted. But before I got my real cutie mark, which was for my talent in writing, my mother married a nice stallion named Sketcher. He was very nice and always treated me like I was his own daughter, always offering me ice cream and giving me two bits to get myself something if I went out with him somewhere. When they got married I was so excited and happy for them and I've always called Sketcher 'dad' since that day, he loves me calling him that. About two years after I got my cutie mark my half-sister was born, a term rarely used, and she was named Ink Mistress. We've been best friends since the second my mother brought her home and I love her so much. We've never seen each other as only being half sisters but real, full sisters and it's amazing. When I turned fourteen, two years from being a full adult, there was an accident. Well, no, not an accident. My mother and I were out running errands, talking as usual and laughing, having a good time like we always did, when he showed up. We were confused at first how a unicorn was walking around Cloudsdale, but he told us about a spell he learned and we started talking. He was nice and I liked him, his name was Star Gaze. He walked with us and helped us on our errands, carrying anything extra that we couldn't. He was so nice and we let him come inside, helping us put the stuff away. I went to my room to hide my step-dad's birthday present, which was in two days, when I heard my mom scream and I ran in to help, wondering what had happened. Her whole right wing was missing and Star Gaze was hovering her just above the cloud floor, both of us knowing that if he dropped her she'd just fall through without both wings. I tried to ask him why he was doing this, what he wanted, but he just kept talking gibberish to me, something about energies and regeneration and lords of time, I didn't understand it. When I couldn't give him the answers he wanted he let my mother fall. I remember bucking the cloud out from under me and flying down the catch her. I did catch her and took her to the hospital in the nearest town. After the incident we had to move away; we couldn't live in Cloudsdale with my mom only having one wing. After a lot of talk between my step-dad and my mom we chose Ponyville, a nice little town just outside of Canterlot. It took awhile but we managed to move there and we've been here for about a month now. My sister has made plenty of friends in school and my step-dad works in Cloudsdale on the weekends to help with living here while I look for a job of my own. My mom will look for a job once the doctors say she's allowed, but until then it's up to my step-dad and I to keep us up and going. And this, dear readers, this is where the story truly starts. > First Day > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quill made her way down the stairs, covering a large yawn with her wing as she did so. No pony else was up yet so she made her way into the kitchen and quietly made herself some toast, making sure not to wake her family as she did. When the toast was done she buttered it before eating it in the silence of the early morning. When she was done she grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil, writing down a note to tell her mom that she'd be out in town for most of the day looking for a job. She left the note on the counter then grabbed her saddle bags before heading out the door. The sun was just coming up and a few early risers were getting their stands in the market place ready and Quill gave them each a polite 'good morning' along with a smile before continuing on her way. Quill was never one for small talk unless it was with somepony she knew, of course the result was that she didn't have many friends. But that was ok, the less people she had to trust the better. If Quill was quite honest with herself she didn't want to go job hunting again today, but she knew that if she didn't get a job soon they could be evicted from their house. Her dad's job could only get them so far. She sighed and kept herself from hanging her head as she trotted at an even pace down the path, looking to and fro at everything around her, wondering what she'd do if she didn't find a job. She supposed to could try and get one of her stories published, see if that helped, but she hadn't managed to finish her book yet so that wasn't an option. She loved her book though, writing wasn't just her talent but her passion, she loved making up stories. But out of all her stories her current novel was her favorite. Her only probably with her stories was making her characters believable, she kept taking them out of character and having them do things that didn't make sense for them, which made her current novel not as awesome as it could be. Quill stopped walking and looked around her. She had lost track of where she was going again in her train of thought and couldn't tell where she was. Quill sighed and turned around, going back to the way she came and hoping that she came upon something familiar. As she trotted she did her best not to let her mind wander, she didn't want to get lost again. When she found market street again she took a right and kept walking towards town hall, hoping to see some 'help wanted' ads posted there, the Mayor usually put them there. "Good morning, Quill." Quill stopped walking and turned her head to see Twilight Sparkle walking towards her, smiling with her saddle bags filled to the brim with books. "Checking the wanted ads again?" Quill smiled awkwardly and nodded. "I thought so. Hey, if you aren't busy today, you could help me restock and reshelf my library for some extra bits, I'd love to help." Quill felt her smile grow. "That'd be great! Thank you," Quill said with a grin. Twilight beamed and the two walked into the town hall together. Quill went over to the wanted ads and sighed when there was nothing new. She had already looked at these and been excepted for none of the above, which was disappointing. She turned and watched Twilight and the Mayor talk for a moment before Twilight hovered a pair of books onto the Mayor's desk. Twilight turned to Quill and smiled knowingly as she trotted over. "I knew that there probably wouldn't be anything new. Come on, let's get started on those books," Twilight said with a friendly smile and the two headed towards her library just down the road. Quill didn't know what she'd be doing exactly but she was grateful for the extra work that Twilight was giving her. Even if it was only for today the extra bits would help in the long run of things. AΩ Quill waved goodbye to Twilight with her wing as she left the library, ten bits now in her possession. It had been long, boring work but Twilight was a nice pony and Quill was glad to have helped her out. Even if it was only for ten bits. Quill sighed and trotted along the road, wondering if there were any other odd jobs she could take. She let out a scream as a pink blur rammed into her and tackled her to the ground. "What in the name of Tartarus?!" Quill shouted as she got back to her hooves, looking around for who had rammed into her. She let out a slight groan. "Pinkie Pie, what the heck was that for?" The pink pony lept to her hooves and her mane instantly got its poof back, sending the sticks and dust there were trapped in it flying everywhere. Quill coughed as a bit of dust from her mane got stuck in her mouth. "I heard that you were looking for a job!" Pinkie exclaimed with a grin. Quill opened her mouth to reply but Pinkie was already speaking at high speeds. "Ihearditallfromrainbowdash!" She hadn't even paused for a single breath. Quill blinked and just nodded slowly. "GREAT! We can use an extra hoof or two over at Sugarcube Corner! Mrs. Cake said that you can come every other day to help me out. You start tomorrow morning at 10am sharp! SEE YA!" Pinkie then bolted away, leaving Quill stunned and baffled in the middle of the road. AΩ Quill trotted down the stairs and into the kitchen, grabbing a piece of toast before rushing out the door. Today was her first day of work and she wasn't going to be late, and she refused to use her faulty alarm clock as an excuse, especially on her first day of work. She heard her mother call after her to have a good day and Quill shouted a mumbled reply from behind the toast in her mouth as she kicked the door gently shut behind her. She trotted down the street, somehow managing to eat her toast without the use of hooves, and smiled at anypony who said hello but didn't stop to chat, even if she had the time she didn't want to. Ever since moving to Ponyville Quill felt out of place, like everypony was staring at her. Even though she was used to this it made her feel weird because she felt like everyone pitied her because of her mother, which she hated. She could take judgement but pity she couldn't stand. Quill ignored them though and finished the last bit of toast as she walked up to Sugarcube Corner. She pushed open the door and stepped inside, looking around her curiously at all the bright colors. She looked over at the pink pony behind the counter who was grinning at her. Pinkie Pie, the crazy party planner that had set up a party the day after Quill and her family came to Ponyville to celebrate their arrival. Quill liked her, she was a little loud for her taste but she was nice, and she had given her this job so she couldn't really give her the cold shoulder like she did with everypony else. "Hi there, Quilly! It's great to see you! Ready to get started?" Pinkie Pie asked excitedly, bouncing up and down where she stood with a grin. Quill nodded. "Follow me!" Quill followed Pinkie into the kitchen. "We have an order for three dozen cupcakes with blue icing, one of the dozen with cherries. You ready?" Quill nodded and set her saddle bags over by where Pinkie's where and headed back over. "Ok, three dozen blue cupcakes, coming right up!" Quill said with a smile. Pinkie grinned and bounced around the kitchen while they made cupcakes, singing about all the ingredients and such and having a great time. Quill had fun making the cupcakes with Pinkie and she even got to manage the counter once or twice while Pinkie made other treats. She liked meeting all the ponies from around town, they were really nice and great to chat with. The day went by fast and Quill hardly realized that the entire day had passed, but when the Cakes called them over and gave them their bits she knew it was time to call it a day. "Thanks again." She called back as she waved at Pinkie with her wing. Pinkie waved happily back with a grin. "See you in two days, Quilly! I can't wait to work with you again!" Pinkie called out into the night as Quill walked away. Quill chuckled and headed home, trotting at an even pace as she hummed happily. Her first day had gone really well and she had a lot of fun too! She never knew that work could be fun, the way that her step-dad talked out it, it sounded really boring, drawn-out and irritating. But she liked working with Pinkie and making sweets was lots of fun, so was working the counter. "Maybe I don't have terrible luck after all," she said to herself with a smile. Everypony was heading inside and a few waved when they saw her, getting a wing-wave back when they did. She saw a few kids chasing fireflies and such, it was a nice sight. Maybe she'd grow fond of this place over time, learn to call it home. As she opened the door to her house and set her saddle bags down she yawned. "Mom, I'm home." "That's great sweetie! How was your first day?" Quill walked into the kitchen, ruffling up Ink's hair with her wing. Ink giggled and swiped it away. Quill chuckled and sat down at the table, her dad still away for the weekend. "It was good, fun actually. I got to bake sweets all day and worked the counter, it was nice," Quill told her as dinner was set out. Her mother smiled, the wrap around her injured wing catching all of Quill's attention even though she did her best not to look at it. They all ate in silence, each reflecting on their day. Quill yawned. "I think I'm just gonna head up to bed, I'm tuckered." "Ok, sweetie, see you in the morning," her mother said as Ink helped her with the dishes. "We've got it handled down here." Quill nodded and headed upstairs to her room, closing the door softly behind her and instantly falling sleep when she hit the bed.