My Little Pony Friendship is Magic: Friendship Warriors
A/N: Hey everyone, here's the second to last chapter, and I hope you all have been enjoying the story. Onward!
Read, review, and enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from My Little Pony: Magic is Friendship. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.
CHAPTER THREE: INSPIRATION AND SECRETS
Over the next few days, the Mane Seven got to know Sarah and her likes and dislikes: she enjoyed reading, listening to music, being around foals, fillies & colts, singing, writing kids books, horror novels, mystery novels, thriller novels, thunderstorms and roses. And she disliked dresses since she had all brothers back home and was the big reason she was such a tomboy, needles, blueberries, flower except for roses, bullies and having to write romantic, fantasy, spiritual, and syfy.
"You only have brothers and no sisters?" Rarity asked and Sarah nodded. "Oh darling, that does explain a lot, but no fear. If I come up with anything for you to wear for special occasions, I'll run it by you first."
"Thanks, and I'm sorry for being angry earlier when I found you inspecting my wardrobe," Sarah apologized to the grey unicorn, "but when growing up with nothing but brothers, I tend to get a bit overprotective of my stuff."
Rarity assured the red unicorn that it would be all right and she really should've asked for permission first. Despite the occasion blowup, the friendship between Sarah and the Mane Seven grew stronger each day as she got use to the way things were done in Ponyville, and she entertained them when she showed up wearing a red fez one time and explained that she wore it when she needed inspiration for writing new stories.
However, the seven ponies had noticed that Sarah didn't really like talking about why she moved from Las Pegasus, and they had a feeling that it had to do with something other then just with her not being a big party pony. Twilight Sparkle had noticed that whenever the mail arrived each day, Sarah would sort through her mail and hide away a particular type of letter that would come in a dark red envelope, and when she asked her friend about them, she would be told that it wasn't important and not to worry about it.
"I hate to say it, but I think Sarah might be getting threatening letters from somepony," Twilight Sparkle told Sunrise Blossom as they worked on bringing new supplies into the Apothecary. "Why else would she hide those letters?"
"Maybe, or they could be personal letters from her family," Sunrise Blossom suggested while Rarity opened the parcels containing the ingredients and began sorting them into their proper containers. "You know, stuff about how they're all doing, and Sarah just doesn't feel like sharing them since they're personal."
Twilight Sparkle didn't look convinced, but she chose to push it out of her mind for the time being, and this was made easier when Sarah ran inside the shop with an excited expression on her face while magically carrying a stack of bound papers. "Hey, Sarah, what do you have there?" she asked after greeting their friend.
"The rough draft for my new book series for fillies and foals," Sarah announced, presenting them with the manuscript. "After listening to your stories about your adventures, defeating Nightmare Moon, Discord, stopping the Flower of Eternal Rest, and all the friendship lessons, I was inspired to write an adventure series with a group of ponies based on you girls," she explained as they passed around the manuscript, reading through it. "I'm calling the group the Friendship Warriors, and they are ponies who fight to protect friendships everywhere."
The seven ponies were impressed by what their friend had written and said so, especially since her characters were spot on, even the one based on Spike.
"So, this is why you've been staying up late," Twilight Sparkle remarked. "You were working on your book."
Sarah nodded. "Yup," she agreed. "Like I said, this is a rough draft, but I really think it'll be a hit with the fillies and foals all over Equestria. Mind you, my editor in Manehatten will have to read it first and let me know if I have to make any changes," she added. "But just imagine, a group of ponies that go out on missions to fight against the forces of evil to save friendships, and teach valuable lessons at the same time. It's perfect! And I can promise that you seven will get credit since these are your stories, too."
"This is so exciting!" Pinkie Pie squealed, and gave each of them a party cannon with their respective cutie marks. "We need to celebrate!"
"I'm with Pinkie," Rainbow Dash agreed, grinning. "This is the coolest thing ever! We're heroes!"
The other ponies agreed, figuring it would be worth cleaning up the mess later, and they yanked on the cords at the same time, filling the room with confetti.
Over the next few weeks, Sarah didn't spend a lot of time with her friends since she had to work on her book, and the Mane Seven understood that writing book series was hard work. The draft of her first Friendship Warriors book did have to be revised a few times at the recommendations from her editor in Manehatten, but not as many times as she feared since the idea of warriors defending friendships was perfect for a series of books for fillies and foals according to her editor.
After all the revisions were done, it was announced that in a few months, the first novel, called "Formation of the Friendship Warriors", would be published and released to the public.
A few days after the announcement, Twilight Sparkle and Spike were doing some reorganization in the main room of the library when the mail arrived, and she brought it all inside to sort since Sarah wasn't there since she needed to buy more paper and ink in order to start working on the next book in the series.
"More fan mail for Sarah," the purple unicorn remarked, sorting the mail into neat piles. "Subscriptions for fashion magazines that I'm sure Rarity will like, and… huh."
"What is it, Twilight?" Spike asked, looking up from the comic book he'd gotten in the mail.
Twilight Sparkle magically held up one of the dark red letters and noted the stamp. "It's another of those letters that she keeps hiding away," she remarked. "Strange, it's from the publishing company in Las Pegasus, which used to published her books before she switch over to the company in Manehatten. I wonder why they keep sending her letters when she isn't with them anymore?"
"That is strange," Spike agreed. "Has Sarah ever said why she switched publishing companies?"
Twilight Sparkle shook her head and set the letter on the stack of mail for her friend. "No, she hasn't and I've never asked since it didn't really matter, or so I thought," she responded, frowning thoughtfully. "Do you think they did something that would make Sarah move away from Las Pegasus?"
The baby dragon shrugged. "I honestly don't know."
"Me either," Twilight Sparkle agreed, magically gathering up her friend's mail and put it on the desk in her room, choosing not to worry about the dark red letter, and she went back to her reorganization.
Meanwhile, Sarah was leaving the shop with her saddlebags filled with paper, ink, and quills when she almost ran into a pony about to enter. "Oh, sorry, I-" she began and froze when she saw that the pony was a tall unicorn stallion on the thin side with dark blue skin, dark red hair and goatee, red eyes, and his cutie mark was a torn dark red book. "Epic Clash!"
"Hello, Sarah," Epic Clash said with a cruel smile. "I've been trying to get in touch with you for a while."
"I know," Sarah replied, now glowering at him. "And I thought when I sent my only reply that you would get the hint that I'm not going back to do what you think I should write."
Epic Clash glowered at the red unicorn. "I am your boss and-" he began.
"Hey, Sarah," said Sunrise Blossom, trotting up at that exact moment and looked between them. "How's it going?"
Sarah was relieved to see her friend. "Great!" she said quickly. "Mind helping me get my supplies back home?" she asked and the orange unicorn agreed. "Great!" And she hurried her friend away, leaving the glowering dark blue unicorn.
Sunrise Blossom was confused by how her friend was acting and Sarah wouldn't answer any questions until they were back at the library. By this point, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash were there so that they all could go out to lunch as a surprise for the red unicorn.
"Sarah, what's going on?" Sunrise Blossom asked, moving so that the red unicorn couldn't disappear into her room with the paper, ink, and quills. "Who was that guy you were talking to?"
"No pony of importance," Sarah insisted and teleported herself into her room before any pony could stop her.
They heard the lock latched and exchanged perplexed looks.
"What was that all about, Sunrise?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"I'm not entirely sure," Sunrise Blossom admitted, her face etched with concern. "I saw her standing outside the shop and talking with this dark blue unicorn, and she didn't look very happy." And she described him to her friends.
"Well, whoever this guy is, he's definitely not from around here," Applejack remarked. "So, why should he come to Ponyville and give Sarah a hard time?"
"I wonder if it has anything to do with those letters she's been getting in the mail?" Twilight Sparkle wondered, and explained to the ponies when they all gave her questioning looks. "For the past few months, Sarah's been getting these dark red envelopes, and when she got one today, I saw that it was from the publishing company in Las Pegasus that she used to be with before she switched."
"Why would they be sending Sarah letters if she isn't publishing with them anymore?" Rarity wondered. "And does this have anything to do with her moving to Ponyville?"
Twilight Sparkle looked at the grey unicorn questioningly. "What're you talking about, Rarity?" she questioned. "Sarah moved here to get away from the constant parties in Las Pegasus and gain inspiration for her new book series, The Friendship Warriors."
"And those are very good reasons to move away from your family," Rarity agreed. "But I don't think they're the only reasons. Think about it. Why would she switch publishing companies after so many years, and why would her former publishing company send letters to her everyday?"
"Rarity's right," Applejack agreed. "There's something strange going on, and Sarah's the only one who can answer our questions."
Why was that strange unicorn bugging their friend? And how were they going to find out the truth?
A/N: If you have any guesses for the questions that the Mane Seven are pondering, post them in your reviews, and I'll let you know on Tuesday if you're right or not. R&R everyone!