A young pink Unicorn foal ran excitingly through a hospital hallway. her name was Twisted paths and she was quite excited to reach her destination
"Mommy!" Twisting said as she opened the door to the hospital room and excitedly ran up to one of the beds. "Mommy, I got my cutie mark!"
The mare laying on the bed looked over with a slight smile. her mane looked as though it had once been the same shade as her daughters. but it had taking on a much duller tint. her coat appeared to have once been a much darker blue, but was similarly faded and spotty. "Is that so?" Despite her sickly appearance her voice was just as energetic and proud as you would expect of a parent hearing such a thing.
Twisted excitedly turned to the side, revealing an image of a path twisting onto a map. "It means I'm a great cho-reo-grapher, just like Daring Do!"
The mare gave a chuckle at this. "I think you mean cartographer."
But the filly had already started rambling about her favorite story, her mother always found it amusing sharing her daughter talked about the historical hero, especially since no one could really track down what exactly had happened during the Pegasuses Adventures a few centuries ago.
Suddenly the mare felt a sharp pain in her chest, she took a deep breath and gave a calm smile to her daughter. "Now dear, I want you to promise me that you will achieve your dream, that you'll keep chasing after it no matter what."
Twisted gave a wide smile and went through the motions of a trickster's promise, placing her hoof over her eye. "Of course!"
Her mother gave a smile, pushing Twisted towards the door. "Then you should probably get to practising, you can't become an adventurer if you don't train."
"Yeah!" The filly excitedly runs out of the room, and it's only then that the mare lets herself push the button to call a nurse.
I'm sorry dear. She thinks as she's quickly pulled out of the room. I don't think I'll be here to hear about your adventures.
Twisted ran into the house laughing, she had spent most of the afternoon playing with her friends and practising her new found map making skills. As she ran into kitchen she saw her dad sitting at the table with a dour expression on his face. A phone sitting beside him where it just been put down.
An alarm went off in a mostly dark room, light barely starting to come in through the window as the sun rose. With a slight groan of annoyance Twisted sat up and turned off the alarm. She quickly went about her normal morning routine of brushing her teeth making breakfast and getting into her work uniform, finally stopping to give a quick smile to the picture of her mother.
"Alright I'm off." Twisted says to her little puppy who leaps immediately licking her face. "Down Reginald" Twisted pushes the young dog off laughing. At his puppy dog eyes Twisted gives him a pat. "Don't worry mommy will be back." Barely a shadow crosses her face as she realizes what she said before quickly moving out.
Despite having already worked there a week, Twisted was still surprised that she had gotten a job at the Ditsy delivery agency, many people were surprised by how easy it was to get a job at the most well-respected delivery service in Equestria.
"Hey there, miss Paths" her manager, Toppled Mountain, had somehow snuck up behind her despite his stature matching his name. "Hope you're doing alright this morning, have a longer route to normal for you today."
After catching her from the sudden scare, Twisted smiled up at the large earth pony. "Okay I'll get on that." Brief encounter with her boss finished, she went to get her wagon set up.
Most of Twisted's usual route was pretty boring, but she always looked forward to when she had a package for the cheese factory. (She still had no clue why Equestria's Premier joke shop was named that) despite looking like a factory it always had a warm air and genuinely smiling employees, and the manager….
"Hey Twisty!" Said the aptly-named pegasus Surprise who had seemingly popped up out of nowhere. "How are you doing today? Do you have a delivery for us? Well of course you do, you wouldn't be stopping by here during work if you didn't, how's little Reginald doing? I love dogs, love love love them! Oh and how is your plan-"
"Hey Surprise" Twisted gave a smile at the mares rambling antics. " I'm doing fine, I have a few packages for the store, Reginald is doing fine, and I'm perfectly on track!" It had taken a few encounters to get used to Surprises rapid-fire questioning, but she liked to think she was getting rather good at it.
Surprise nodded as she waived a few employees over to take the boxes from the cart. "How much are you planning on saving up anyway?"
Twisted held out a clipboard for Surprise to sign. "Well I want to make sure there's enough to live off of for at least a few years in an emergency, but ditzy's pays surprisingly well….. if I'm strict with my money I can probably get away with it in a year." She closed the back of the cart and got re-hitched. "Well it's always nice talking to you Surprise, I gotta get going, lots of deliveries to make today."
It was getting later in the day as Twisted made her last delivery, a few large she had to deliver to the manager of a newly-opened pet daycare called "The Chaos Garden"
She was a bit surprised that the address had let her down a dirt path into one of the many wilderness preserves, and even more surprised to only find a few small buildings at the end of the path and a bunch of almost natural-looking habitats.
"Well hello there" A somewhat quiet yet commanding voice says, Twisted turns to see an earth pony stepping on the path from slightly Into the Woods.
"Hello are you Miss Posey? I have a delivery for you." Twisted pulls out her clipboard and starts to unhitch.
"Ho, don't worry about it, I've got it"
Twisted was about to protest when she saw Posey lift two of the rather heavy boxes at once, quickly walking over towards the small Shed off to the side.
After a moment of surprise, Twisted quickly moved to help, lifting up a box in her magic and following. "This place is nice, how soon are you accepting clients?"
Posey gave her a contemplative look. "Probably next week, what kind of pet do you have?" The last part was said with excited quickness.
"Reginald, my big little pupper." Twisted’s smile grew thinking about her beloved puppy. "He's got the biggest little paws, and the cutest little face, and he's going to be my big old Adventure some day!"
Posey chuckled hold at the eager display, but gave a slight frown at the last part. "Are you planning on putting him through a training program? Not all dogs are suited for a life of adventuring."
"I hadn't really thought about that…" Twisted said tapping her chin.
Posey gave a sigh before smiling. "I guess I could help you with that, if you wanted to stop by after your work?"
"I'd be happy to!" Twisted gets the wagon ready to go. "Sorry but I got to go for now, don't want to leave Reginald alone longer than I have to"
"Come again" as twisted walks into the distance Posey facehoof’s.
"Come again? She was here to deliver a package, stupid F-"
After quite the long day of work Twisted walked into her house with a bright smile. "and with that I'm one step closer!" Something she has started saying as a daily ritual as Reginald eagerly tried to attack her uniform.
An alarm went off in a dark room, the curtains were drawn to keep the sunlight that would normally help the rooms resident to wake up out, and as such the alarm continued blaring until a dog joined in to the cacophony, and that is when Twisted woke up.
The mare stretched out slowly, finally turning off the alarm and giving a tired smile to her pet. "Shush Reggie, mommy's getting up."
Her morning routine was fairly monotonous, brushing teeth making something quick for breakfast and getting into uniform, and finally saying goodbye to a picture of her mother like she did every day.
As she walked up to the door and opened it she called. "Okay Reginald let's go."
Twisted walked along the path to the Chaos Garden and smiled at all the little creatures she saw scurrying around, before she knew it, Reginald had darted forward and by the time Twisted caught up he had already jumped on to Posey and was licking her face.
"Come on now, you get off of me." The Laughing earth pony said as she pushed the dog off. With a smile she turned towards Twisted. "How are you doing today Miss Paths?"
Twisted rolled her eyes, after almost a year of dropping off Reginald with Posey she still hadn't gotten the shy mare to call her by her first name. "I am doing fine today, thanks for asking!" After moments of somewhat awkward silence Twisted decided to say. "So…. How do you think Reginald is doing with his training?"
Posey immediately cheered up with a bright smile. "I think both of you are doing great! Won't be too much longer before you're as ready as you can be for adventuring." Noticing Twisted get a downcast expression at this, Posey asked. "Is everything doing okay?"
Twisted blinks and puts on an only slightly forced smile. "Oh, nothing, don't worry about it." She gives a last pet to Reginald. "Well I'm off, got to get to work and all that."
After dropping off Reginald with Posey Twisted made her way over to the ditzy delivery office, barely noticing that she was quite a bit late.
She soon realized it however when a rumbling voice sounded behind her. " You're late." Turning she saw the large form of Toppled Mountain standing directly behind her.
"I...I'm sorry sir! Won't happen again." Twisted babbles panicking, this was the third time in the last week she had slept in long enough to be late. A sighing came from the stallion's throat. "Don't worry about it, I heard about your pops. Hope he gets better soon."
And with that her manager turned away, and Twisted couldn't help but feel a little ashamed.
The last delivery of the day Twisted had decided to deliver after hours, since she was meeting up with its recipient anyway. She did wonder why Surprise would be getting a letter from Canterlot and who R.Bell was, but she wasn't going to pry.
Walking into the cafe that she had agreed to meet Surprise at, she saw the energetic mare…. Going over business files? Sometimes Twisted forgot that she was the area manager of a well- respected company. Of course as soon as Twisted noticed her friend Surprise saw her as well. "Hey Twisty, over here!"
Twisted returned the smile and walked over pulling the letter out of her. "Hey Surprise, I have a letter for you."
"Oh" Surprise appeared quite surprised, but upon seeing the letter a look of joy crossed her face. Quickly taking the letter she started to open it before remembering that Twisted was still there. "I'll uh… read it later." And with that she stuck it straight into her mane.
Surprise turned back to Twisted and in a second was right in her face. "So how are you doing? Ready for your grand adventure to start soon, it's been almost a year."
Twisted face became downcast. "Not very good, my dad was diagnosed with…... The same disease my mom had, they managed to catch it early so he has a good chance of surviving but the medical expenses are going to be pretty high. Going to be at least another few months before I can pay for it and have enough money left over."
Surprise looked at Twisted with sadness. " if you need a little help…"
Twisted was surprised and a little bit ashamed that she even considered it. "No, this is my issue and I have a plan for it, don't worry yourself for my sake."
Surprise smiled sweetly. "It would really be no trouble, me and Posey both have connections…."
Twisted blinked at this, raising an eyebrow. "Uh…. Surprise? We I have never hung out with Posey together, why would you say that?"
Surprise's eyes went completely blue for a moment much too Twisted shock, and then after a moment Surprise suddenly got up from the table. "Sorry to go, I have a lot of managering things to do, want to meet up tomorrow?"
Before Twisted could reply Surprise was already gone, and Twisted had not seen her walk out the door.
Shaking her head Twisted decided to leave the weird mare to her oddness and it just pick up Reginald and went home, she needed a nap after today.
An alarm has been going off in a dark room for quite a while, lonely blaring it's deliberately annoying beeping until it was joined in its course by a lonely dog. Even with the Reginald's assistance the alarm still took almost half an hour to get Twisted up from her bed.
"I'm up." Twisted said tirely as she walked past Reginald. What followed was her humdrum morning routine, make food, shower, get dressed for work, and finally she left the house with little fanfare
---
After dropping Reginald off with Posey Twisted got into work just barely on time. As she walked down a hallway she noticed the looming shadow and calmly turned around to see Toppled mountain looking down at her. "hello sir is there a problem?"
Toppled looked her up and down a moment, before signing and shaking his head. "No there isn't Miss Path's, just that I'm starting to get a little worried about you."
"What?" Twisted questioned with a confused stare.
"You're a great worker, but you've been slipping a little recently. Plus you just don't seem as upbeat. I'd suggest you use some of the vacation time you have saved up."
Twisted stared at Toppled for a moment, surprised and automatically saying. "Yes sir."
With a satisfied nod Toppled continued walking down the hallway. While Twisted was suddenly left to think about things.
---
Things have been going incredibly smoothly so far which was good because Twisted was a bit out of it. So much so that she didn't realize the next delivery was to the cheese factory even as she walked up to it.
"Hey Twisty!" Surprise shouted directly in her face.
If Twisted wasn't attached to a heavy cart she would have jumped backwards, as is it only took her a moment to get a soft smile on her face. "Hey Surprise, how's it going?"
Surprise waved some ponies over to unload the cart. "Pretty great, after the last quarter this is officially the most successful cheese factory in the Canterhorn region of Equestria." Surprised said proudly puffing up her chest. "How about you?"
Twisted looked down at her hooves. "I…. don't know." She said with a uncertain voice. "I'm getting some vacation time but I'm not entirely sure…. I guess I could go visit dad…" she tried to avoid eye contact with Surprise as the mare was far too good at reading her.
"You could start your adventuring!" Surprise said enthusiastically.
"That will... I mean…" Twisted tried to figure out why she was so hesitant about this. It had always been her dream…
"What's wrong?" Surprise questioned staring right at her.
Twisted shook her head and looked back at surprise. "Nothing, I'm just being silly. You're right I should try at least."
"Wo ho!" Surprise shouted as the unloading was finished. They said they're see you laters and Twisted went off to finish her shift."
---
Twisted had finished her work for the day, and quickly gone to get Reginald, she'd only intended on staying long enough to grab him but….
"You don't have to rush off immediately just because we're done with training." The soft voice of Posey said before Twisted could slip off.
Twisted looked at the gentle mare with a slight sigh. "Sorry Posey but I have a lot on my mind right now."
Posey walked up to her and started patting her shoulder. "Best way to handle that is to talk about it."
Twisted almost wanted to….. but…."Sorry I gotta go." How could she talk about it when she didn't even know what it was.
And so despite Posey's protests they parted ways.
---
Twisted walked into her house…. And the first thing she saw was her mom's picture.
She wasn't sure how long she just stood there staring at it.
--
Twisted found herself sitting in front of the picture again. At some point she had made food that was sitting on the nearby table getting cold, she had also changed out of her work uniform at the same time.
She didn't know what she was feeling when she looked at the picture…. She wanted to keep her promise to her mother and live the dream she had had since she was a child…. She would given half a chance….
This was more than half a chance….. so why couldn't she bring herself to move?
… was there any reason for it? She thought about what her friends had said all throughout the day….
You know what? I can do this. And with that determined thought she stood up and started packing things into a bag.
It's still early enough in the day for me to get a good start. I can make it to another town by train and then….
As she stepped out the door with Reginald excitedly walking beside her she suddenly realized what she was doing and froze for a moment. What she really ready for this-
The top was cut off as the voice of Surprise came from above her. "Nooooo, you are so close! You know what I'm just…."
Twisted looked up to see…. It was Surprise except... pink? And floating in the air without wings…. And barely smaller than Princess Twilight…..
"Pinkie…" A frustrated voice said from behind Twisted and turned around she saw… it looked like Posey but yellow and pink, with an elongated almost snake like body and massively oversized wings, a crown of antlers resting on her head. "You can't just use our powers like that without permission, how many times has Rarity had to remind you of that?"
"Okay simple." Surprise- Pinkie? Landed in front of Twisted and booped her nose. "Hey Twisty do you want to go on an adventure!"
Twisted looked at her with a blank expression of confusion for a long moment before saying. "I… what? I mean…. I guess?" As soon as she said this the pink... Twisted was no longer entirely sure if she was a pony Booped her nose.
"Pinkamena Diane-" was as far as the other… spirit?. Before Twisted opened her eyes find herself looking over a cliff. Reginald was barking uproariously at something behind her but Twisted was too distracted with the beautiful view of red mountains. By the time she noticed the giant scorpion-like tail flashing down at her it was almost too late.
"Get out'ta the way!" A voice said as Twisted got tackled to the side.
Looking at her savior she was horrified to see that the Stinger at the end of the tail had gone straight through the orange Mare's back... except this barely seemed to annoy the earth pony. This was around the time Twisted noticed the glowing green Balls of Fire that served as the mare's eyes.
Is the mare in question twisted her body around in a way that should be breaking bones and grabbed the tail, and with a massive tug sent the giant scorpion creature it was attached to flying over the cliff side. "That'll take a few minutes to get back from." With that the mare turned rushed over to Twisted. "Y'all all right? And what the hell are y'all doing here."
"Um... Surpris- Pinkie.. what is going on?"
The orange coated earth pony muttered. "Of course it's her…" she then looked directly into Twisted's eyes. "Y'all look fairly fit, you and your dog have the Constitution'ta help me take down this creepy crawly?”
Twisted I knew there wasn't much time to think so she just gave a short nod. Just in time as well as an oversized claw reached over the edge of the cliff.
“All right then, we're in for some Adventures before we reach civilization so don't tire yourself out too much." With those words the orange coated mare ran forward and crashed into the Scorpion, knocking it off balance.
As Twisted watched a small smile crossed her lips, and then she got up and ran to see what she could do to help.