It had been a while since the whole gang and I had met up. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Applejack and I were all playing a round of cards. Of course, I knew who was winning because she had a whole bunch of bits in front of her. Pinkie, who was the dealer, placed a new bunch of cards in front of us. I, unfortunately, had nothing worth of value, and was the first to fold.
"I'm out," Pinkie said flatly.
"I don't have anything, sugarcube," AJ put down the worthless hand.
"Nothing," Twilight chimed in.
"Well, I think I have something," Fluttershy said softly, putting down her hand. We all stared eagerly at it. It was a 9, 10, Jack, and Queen. We all smiled, finally happy somepony else was winning.
"Girls, before you get all excited," our present winner chuckled, "perhaps you'd like to see my hand." Our winner put it down, and we all saw that she had four Kings. The orange earth pony stated, "I still think you were cheating."
"Doesn't matter!" Rainbow Dash, the one who was winning royally (if it wasn't obvious enough), exclaimed, "Put your hat in the winnings pile!" AJ angrily threw her hat on the table and groaned, "This was the new one from last time…" As Rainbow Dash was collecting her winnings, I looked at a letter that Derpy had interrupted our card game to give. I noticed the return address, and gasped. It was the names of my parents.
I then proceeded to rip it open, my friends staring at me. Twilight was the first to speak up, and asked, "DD, what are you doing?"
"The letter that Derpy gave me during our game is from my parents." They all gasped and went from crowding around RD to crowding around me, much to the Pegasus' dismay. They had all known I had intentions on going back for a while now. They all really wanted to see RainiValley, despite it being a small town on the map. I then got the letter open and read it silently.
Dear Doodledraw,
It has been over a month since we saw you last! It's really nice that you and your friends want to come, but we don't know if we can make enough room for your friends at our house.
But the inn has enough arrangements so that all six of your friends can stay over there, two rooms for three each. Your friends have been missing you. Sapling has wanted you to see the new apple orchard she set up, and Lapis Loopy wants you to use more of the sparkles she found in your next piece.
In short, we hope you can return soon, even with your wonky mail service.
Sincerely,
Your Parents
"What's it say?" Rainbow Dash asked, a bit shocked from all the attention I was getting. I stuttered, "M-my parents want you guys and me to come out as soon as possible." Everypony cheered, and we all started to plan and prep for the trip. AJ was eager to help my friend Sapling with the new apple orchard once I told her about it. I explained, "Sapling and Lapis Loopy are my best friends back home. Sapling is a unicorn that loves gardening, and Lapis…let's just say Pinkie and her would really get along."
"I bet!" Pinkie chimed in. "I could show her my sapphire cupcake recipe!" Spike, who had joined us for planning, since he was coming with us, drooled at the thought. Fluttershy asked, "Do you have any interesting animals there?"
"Sorry," I sighed, "nothing really tropical or rare to the area." Rainbow Dash jumped in to ask, "Well, is there anypony I can impress with my flying skills?"
"Actually, we don't have many pegusi in town."
"Then how do you clear the clouds for Winter Wrap-Up?"
"Pegusi from Baltimare come in to help. We're really close to it."
"But Baltimare's, like, eight hours away! And that's if you ride by carriage!"
"I know. It took me, like, three days to get here on hoof. And I took the scenic route." We then mapped out a route that would take us there the shortest distance, and figured that Pinkie Pie and Applejack would pull the carriage for the first half, Twilight and Fluttershy the rest. Rainbow Dash would fly ahead and tell us of any obstacles, and Spike and I would just sit back and relax. After all, we were meeting up with my folks.
The next morning, we loaded up a carriage as Twilight and Fire Twilight (now in a steady relationship) said their good-byes. After that, we all headed to RainiValley, an eight-hour drive ahead of us. Around halfway, we stopped for lunch and to change positions. Rainbow Dash, who was getting tired of flying, just sat atop the moving carriage.
"There it is!" I shouted, finally seeing RainiValley in the distance. My friends all cheered, exhausted from the trip. Our first stop was my house, and the girls would take the carriage down to the inn. I nearly jumped out of the cart when I saw my parents waiting for me outside of the house. My friends stopped, and I got out, exclaiming, "Mom! Dad! You're here!"
"We sure are!" My mom laughed. "Come inside! Your father made dinner, and there's something we need to talk to you about."
"Wait, you guys want me to move back here?" I asked, a bit of my dad's mashed potatoes in my mouth. My mom only nodded, while my dad explained, "Being out on your own while you're young can be difficult, especially when you're an artist."
"But Dad, I'm getting commissions by the boatload for paintings! The mayor is even thinking about selecting me to do a portrait of her."
"That might change later. We only are thinking of what's best for you," my mother chimed in. "We'll give you until tomorrow night to decide." The rest of dinner was spent in silence. I then went to my room, which hadn't changed at all since I had left. I only had until tomorrow night to tell my friends that I'd be staying….unless they could help me decide. I slowly fell asleep, the thoughts of leaving my new friends haunting my dreams.
The next morning, my friends decided to come over before I woke up. How did I know this? Because the first face I woke up to was Applejack looking through my room. As soon as the orange earth pony saw I was awake, she apologized, "Sorry for bein' up here, DD! I didn't move anything, I promise!"
"I trust you," I yawned, getting out of bed. All six of my friends gathered around for breakfast now that I was awake, and I explained what I had planned for the day. "I was thinking we could all take a walk out in the woods outback. I used to trek through them all the time as a filly."
"W-we have to go out there?" Fluttershy asked nervously.
"Relax," I reassured her. "It's not like this place is the EverfreeForest or anything." We all laughed except Fluttershy, who was still suspicious. After we were done eating breakfast, we packed our saddlebags with so we could spend the whole day out in the woods. Then, we headed out. I noticed many of the sights I had put in my mind of the place, and many new things as well. I then saw a log that brought back a memory in my mind. My friends stopped when I stopped to see what I was doing. I explained, "You know, that log over there is where I got my cutie mark."
"Really?" asked Twilight, a bit skeptical. I then went into the detailed story of how I got my cutie mark.
I was for almost my entire childhood, a blank flank. The problem was I was good at many things. I liked to play video games, had some writing skills, and was an exceptional singer. I also loved doodling on my notes constantly, but my teachers had gotten used to that.
Me and my other blank flank friend Araidia were constantly teased for it. And you know what I said to each and every one of them? "I can earn it! It just needs more effort put into it than most ponies use!" They still laughed at me, but my teachers were very encouraging. Especially my art teacher; she loved giving me pencils and paper to express how I was feeling right now. She'd call work like that "vent art" because it was a vent for my emotions.
One time, I was thinking about a story we had heard in class. The one about the two allicorn sisters, and I just couldn't get the image I wanted to draw out of my head: the two sisters lunging at each other, the sun and moon in the background. I did it, and though the teacher was very impressed, but everyone thought it was weird that I'd do a piece of work that'd probably been done a thousand times over and completely fictitious.
I took the piece of art and ran home, crying. I went to this log to cry, and was tempted to throw my art into the stream nearby. My mom, though hating the woods with utter disgust, came out to try and cheer me up. I told her what everypony thought of my art. She then looked at it, and said, "Well, at least I like it. It's very nice, and….actually looks somewhat professional." The approval of my parents was always the best for me, so I took it to heart. Suddenly, there was a flash of light behind me. I turned around to see, and found a picture of a paper and pencil on my flank. I cheered, and my parents began to plan my cute-cenera.
"Wow, that was great story," Rainbow Dash said. We went back to walking, and the blue Pegasus continued, "Actually, the story of how I gained my cutie mark is how I found out I was friends with the Elements before we even met." As we continued foreword, she explained how she got it, her friends pitching in to tell their stories. Once they were done, I said, "You know, I never met my best friends, Sapling and Lapis Loopy until I was about 12."
"Really?" Twilight asked again. We all stopped again as I went onto explain how I met my best friends.
I was about twelve years old. Two new students had joined my class that year. Much like your school back in Ponyville, mine was a one-room schoolhouse, and that meant we shared it with ponies older and younger than us. Most of the class was around the same age, but these two new students weren't. Sapling, a blonde unicorn with a green coat was about 15, and Lapis Loopy was 10, a purple coat and a light blue mane.
Now, I had felt like I was drifting away from my old friends for a while. They had grown into having different interests than me, and I felt like I just didn't fit in. But the way Sapling talked about gardening made it sound like the best thing in the world…so I joined her.
Sapling had begun to make friends with Lapis, and invited her over to a small "garden party" she had set up for us two. Sap picked out flowers to plant, and I brought some fruit seeds to plant. Lapis, however, brought gems for us to plant. She was always strange like that.
By the end of the day, we had set up an impressive array of fruits, flowers, and buried gems. Sapling, for some reason, asked us if we all wanted to be best friends. Lapis eagerly accepted, but I told her I'd have to think about it. It was a lot to consider. I'd never had a best friend before. But we had so much fun together. And the best part about that fun was that nopony hurt the other's feelings.
The next school day, she asked me if I had finally made my decision. And I said, "Yes. I choose you as my best friend."
"Well, I think it's time for lunch," I said, breaking them out of the story. They all nodded their heads, and pulled their lunches out of their saddlebags. AJ packed a lunch of apples and other assorted fruit, while Pinkie Pie was gulping down a gallon bottle of…
Chocolate milk.
Disgusting drink, I thought. Then I realized I was thinking out loud, again. The rest of the group looked at me, then at what Pinkie was doing. Applejack said, "Uh, Pinkie, I think it's best if you put the gallon jug away. Not everypony likes it after-!"
"It's alright, I understand," the pink pony said apologetically, and stopped gulping it down and put the bottle back in her bag. "I've had many ponies overreact because I still drink this stuff." RD then commented, "Yeah, drinking the stuff just doesn't have the same appeal ever since-!"
"You don't have to bring it up…" I said as softly as Fluttershy. The forest was silent until Twilight stepped foreword and asked, "Okay, I'm stumped; what did he do to hurt you?"
"It wasn't what he did to me, but it's what he did to my parents…"
It had taken a while for the chaos to reach Raini Valley, mostly in the form of cotton candy clouds and chocolate rain. That's about how chaotic I remember it got. My parents, however, had an unfortunate run-in with Discord, who force-corrupted them for no reason, but to, you know, create more disorder.
I had gotten home from school, and wanted to show them a picture I had made. I wouldn't have noticed it at first, but my parents were staring down at me, like I was a young filly. I wasn't, though, I was 17! I gave the picture to my mom, and she didn't even look at it. She just held it with her unicorn magic…
And slowly, straight down the middle…
She tore it in half. Tears started to run down my cheeks, and my parents walked away like they didn't even care. I just ran up to my room and cried my eyes out. I didn't feel like drawing anything. A chill that made my world feel grey came over me.
After a while, I could hear my parents arguing from downstairs, something they never did. Then, I knew something was wrong, but I didn't come down. What did it matter? My life felt worthless now, like I had lost my purpose. Then, came a sweeping rainbow of color over me, and all of Equestria. It inspired me to draw, and it didn't matter what anypony thought anymore.
After a while, my parents finally apologized, but by then, I had realized that they weren't themselves. And I also realized it didn't matter what anyone else thought. I could be my own person, make my own decisions…
I gasped as I realized my own words. I could make this decision on my own…and my parents didn't have to affect it. Although my best friends were here, I kept good relationships with them by sending letters to them often. Besides, I had made a new best friend…Twilight Sparkle.
My best friend and the rest of the group spent the rest of the day in the woods. Fluttershy took in all of nature and loved looking at the animals. Rainbow Dash would run and do daring tricks around the trees. Twilight took a book out of her saddlebags and read as we went.
As soon as we got home, my parents immediately asked me what my decision was. I explained, "Well, I have learned today that I need to be my own person, and sometimes do what I think is best, even if it's not what other ponies want. You can pursue your own talent, no matter where you come from or what your family's history may be. So, I decide to stay with my new friends in Ponyville. I'm sorry…"
"It's okay," my father said. "We kinda figured you'd want to stay with your new friends." And I did. We spent the next few days helping my old best friends. Applejack gave Sapling tips on how to help the new apple orchard grow to its fullest, while Lapis Loopy and Spike became fast friends. To sum it up, it was pretty good to come back home.