> Stick in the Mud
>  by marquise
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I love the sun. It is hard to look at and hurts my eyes, and some ponies say it is yellow but it is not, and I don’t think that makes much sense. But I like the sun because when the sun is out I can see. But that is not the only reason why.

I also like sticks. I like them because they are all different, and they are brown and I like brown. Brown is a nice colour because many things are brown, like the dirt and my mane. Sticks are nice because they are easy to find, but some sticks are hard to find when they are from trees that are hard to find, like birch trees or the western redcedar trees, which I have read about. I used to read, but then I found out that books are made from trees and I do not like that because I like trees when they are alive.

The sun is really important to trees, and that is one of the reasons that I love the sun. Sometimes I wish I could be a tree, because they are strong and they can live for a very long time, and because trees do not have ears so they cannot hear, and trees do not have a nervous system so they cannot feel things. I do not want to hear things. They are too loud and when I hear them I cover my ears and I put my face against the wall and then he yells at me and then it is louder. But I cannot tell him that I do not want him to yell at me because I am just a colt and I do not pay bills. That is what he told me. 

Today I am happy because the sun is out and I love the sun. But when the sun is out it is hot and the hot burns my ears and my skin. So he says I need to wear the cloak. I do not want to wear the cloak because it is itchy and it hurts. But it is brown so that is okay.

And I go outside and I look for a stick. It is not hot when I go in the woods. And I take the cloak off and I fold it into a triangle because I like triangles. But I cannot fold it right so I walk away.

My favourite stick is a small stick and I named it Twiggy. Twiggy is my pet. But Twiggy stays in the woods because he says I cannot bring him inside because Twiggy is dirty and sticks are dirty and they will make things inside brown. I think that does not make sense because I like brown. 

When I am outside I walk to see Twiggy but he is not where I last put him. Twiggy wanders away sometimes and when he wanders away I have to go find him. I walk until I see Twiggy. And I did not know what time it was, because when I am in the woods I cannot see the sun and the sun is what tells you what time it is. But then I walked out of the woods and I did not see the sun, and when you do not see the sun outside that means it is night time, but sometimes it means that it is just cloudy, and that means that the pegasus ponies have not gotten rid of the clouds yet, and when they do not get rid of the clouds you cannot see the sun. And when he asked me what time it was, I told him that I could not see the sun, so it was either night time or the pegasus ponies had not gotten rid of the clouds, and he called me a smart mouth and he did not let me go outside, which made me sad because I could not see Twiggy.

But when I left the woods I figured out that it was night time, because I could see the moon. The moon is like the sun, but it does not hurt to look at and it does not make things easy to see, and when things are hard to see that makes me upset, so I was upset. And when I am upset I go into my room and I sneak Twiggy inside by putting him under my cloak, and then I lay underneath my bed. I want to go to my room with Twiggy, but I do not know where I need to go. So I stayed because when you are lost you stay where you are, unless you see a mare with foals, because if you see a mare with foals then she is safe because she does not want to take you away and have sex with you. That is what he told me.

So I did not move. And when I saw a mare I almost moved, but then I saw that she did not have children, so I stayed. And when I saw a birch tree I almost moved, but I did not move because I was not supposed to move. And when I heard a stallion ask me if I was lost, I did not say anything because you are not supposed to talk to strangers. Which does not make sense because everypony is a stranger to you at one point, and because it is okay to talk to a mare with foals, even if she is a stranger. But I did not talk to him and then he left. And then I saw the sun and I liked that because I like the sun.

And then my father came and he was not a stranger or a mare with foals, but he was my father and it was okay to talk to him. And he told me that he saw my cloak was in the woods and that he heard that a neighbor colt went missing and that he was worried about me. And then he told me he was happy to see me, and I told him that I wanted to go to my room because even though I saw the sun I was still upset, which did not make sense. But he told me that we could go to my room. And then he asked me about my cutie mark. And I did not know what he meant. But there was a cutie mark on my flank and it was a twig like Twiggy and it was in mud. And that made me happy because it was brown and had a stick, and I like brown and sticks. And I told him that it must have been because I like sticks and I know a lot about them. 

I went to my room and my father went to the house, which my room is a part of because that is how buildings work. And he let me bring Twiggy in the house and that made me happy, but he put his muzzle on my forehead and it felt weird and it made me upset, but he told me it was just a kiss because he loves me and was worried, and he was sorry. And I said it was okay and then I went to sleep.