High Moon Ch. 43:

Of Talks and Debts

“Q-Quill, come on, it was a joke.”

It had only been a few hours since Quill had arrived in Ponyville to call in a few favors from some of the colts and fillies that owed her. Normally, this would be a very simple and easy task that she would happily rush through to get away from the town. However, it seemed that some of the colts that owed her weren’t ever intending on her to come crashing down on their hangout spot, demanding them to pay her back.

“Y-yeah,” one colt, named Snails, cried out as Quill had both him and his friend, Snips, by the collars of their shirts, holding them high in the air. “Ca-can’t ya take a joke, Barb?”

Upon hearing the ‘nickname’ that some ponies were known to call her, Quill yanked the two down to eye level to glare straight into their eyes. “I thought I told you two to never call me that,” Quill threatened in a low growl that was emphasized with a menacing snarl, baring all of her sharp teeth. “But never you mind that, you two owe me an ass-ton of things, and I’m here to collect.”

“W-well what you want us to do?” Snips questioned in a fearful tone of voice while Snails was too busy shaking. “It n-not like rolls of plastic are easy to find you know,” he retorted, trying to sound tough so Quill wouldn’t think of them as pushovers, but failing as he still was shaking. “Like, wh-where are we going to find something like that?”

“You’re joking, right?” Quill asked flatly, dropping both colts on the dirty alleyway ground, and hopping up to sit on a closed dumpster. “There’s a store for everything here in Ponyville, so don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about.”

Both colts started to get up from the ground but, thankfully, knew better than to try and run away from Quill. Upon seeing the absolute terror in Snips and Snails’ eyes, Quill softened her expression with a slight sigh, and made a note to take it easier on them since they hadn’t done anything. It wasn’t fair, only the elements and Celestia were the objects of her distrust, not all of Equestria.

“You guys get an allowance?” Quill asked the two with a lighter tone of voice, getting affirming nods from the both of them. “You know where the store I’m talking about is, right?” Again, both colts nodded their heads simultaneously as they held onto each other with misplaced fear. “Then why are you still here?”

“Do-don’t worry Quill,” Snips began with a forced a cheesy smile on his face, bullets of nervous sweat dripping down his face. “W-we’ll get you the stuff, rolls of plastic, right?”

Quill leaned against the hard brick wall with her eyes closed, letting out a sigh of light gray smoke. “Yeah, as much as you two can get if you want to be debt free,” she answered, not looking at them. By the time she opened her eyes again, both colts were almost out of the alleyway, frowning at the way she acted.

“Hey guys,” Quill called as she looked at a small murky puddle in the broken cracks of dirt. A short pause happened before Quill hopped off the dumpster, turning towards the end of the alleyway to see both colts looking her way with questioning stares. “It’s good to see you again.”

“H-heh, yeah you too Quill,” Snails said, now no longer fearing Quill after seeing that she was still the same dragoness they remembered. Only stronger, a lot stronger. “Don’t you worry a bit, we’ll get you that plastic if it’s the last thing we do,” he continued in a mock macho voice while he tried to stick out his flabby chest.

“Yeah, we’ll get it for ya,” Snips added, doing the same as Snails, only with a skinny chest instead of a fat one. “It’s only fair that we pay you back for not telling the Crusaders that we’d spied on them while they went skinny dipping that one time.”

“Then get going,” Quill chuckled as she waved the two off. Both colts nodded their heads quickly before running off to head to their houses to get the money to buy the plastic for Quill. “Meet me at the bridge leading towards Fluttershy’s house,” she called out to the two before they could leave the alleyway.

Quill giggled to herself when she saw both of them run off into opposite directions, only for Snails to run after Snips since their houses were next to each other. If Quill missed anything from her old life in Ponyville, it was the cheerfully funny ponies that she knew. However, there wasn’t a single thing that she would have changed over the last two months.

“Come on Quill, now’s not the time to be getting soft,” she mumbled to herself as she opened her wings to fly off, having a few other things around the town to collect.

Since she was pulling in favors, Quill thought that it would be best to call in a few more to get some other stuff for High Moon. And the best place to find all of the fillies and colts that owed her would be the prime hangout place in Ponyville: SugarCube Corner.

Banking left, Quill came to a stop on top of a cloud above the street of the bakery. As predicted, a number of ponies were either inside the bakery or out on the the patio, eating some of the well-made food, or chatting with friends to plan things out for the weekend.

It wasn’t long before Quill was able to count out quite a few ponies that owed her something just from the outside patio, with no telling how many were inside. ’Time to collect.’ Quill hopped off the cloud, using her wings to skillfully glide down to the ground.

All conversation stopped when Quill suddenly landed in the middle of Ponyville’s biggest hot spot. At first, Quill acted like everything was normal, and that the silence wasn’t because of her. She was still--more or less-- the same dragoness as before, so why should she act any differently?

“So,” Quill said quietly, walking towards a table with a pair of fillies that owed Quill. As she got closer, Quill could see the look of nervousness in the fillies’ eyes, and couldn’t help but give a toothy grin. It felt good, to have them frozen in fear at whatever she might say or do. Not that she was going to hurt anyone, but still.

“I’m here to call in some debts--now, are you going to pay me back, or...” Suddenly, Quill slammed her hand down on the round wooden table, causing the fillies to jump slightly. “Do I have to give you another reason to?”

A moment passed before one of the fillies opened her mouth to answer Quill, but was stopped by the door to SugarCube opening. When Quill looked towards the open door, she half wished that she hadn’t, as the elements were walking out.

Another silent chill came over the hotspot, freezing everyone in their places as Quill locked eyes with the ponies she used to call family. “Heh, well, well, well,” Quill started, letting the table back down onto the ground, and turning around to sit on it. “Look who it is, the Elements of Harmony. How have all of you been?”

For a minute, none of the mares could answer Quill’s question, as most of them were still getting over how much she had grown while Twilight was too busy thinking of why Quill would show up. “I’ve been doing just fine, so has Spike,” Quill answered after waiting another quiet moment. “If you're wondering, I’m here to pick up a few things for a little project we’re doing for the pack. So if you can excuse me...”

Quill hopped off the table and turned back towards the fillies, ready to call in those favors they owed her when Twilight finally thought of something to say. “We’ve been fine Quill,” she answered quickly to stop whatever Quill was going to do. “You and Spike aren’t the only ones that have done some growing.”

“Then where is Rainbow?” Quill retorted, not seeing the rainbow-maned mare anywhere, and expecting her to be with the elements if she was anywhere nearby. “How come she isn’t back in town just yet?”

“That’s cause we’re going to see her in Canterlot,” Pinkie Pie said with a cheerful voice as she bounced towards the table. Quill turned her attention to the mare, only to see a bright smile plastered on her face. Quill smiled back at her; with Pinkie, it was nearly impossible not to. “We got a letter saying that she’ll be in Canterlot with her cousin, who is visiting her boyfriend in the Solar Guard for the weekend. Twilight thought that it would be a great time to fix everything and make everyone smile!”

“In Canterlot, huh?” Quill asked rhetorically, making a note in her head to find some time to fly to Canterlot to see about Rainbow. “Well that’s good to hear guys, I’m happy that you’ve moved on from what happened two months ago,” she continued with a sincere tone before turning back towards the fillies. “Now if you mares will excuse me, I still have ties that need to be cut.”

“Quill, wait,” Twilight cut in before Quill could say anything to the fillies, waiting until Quill turned her head towards the princess. “If you guys still need some stuff, I-I have everything packed that I thought you could need.”

“Yes dear, we all packed stuff for you and Spike,” Rarity added in with the most cheerful smile she could manage with the given situation.

Quill again moved her head away from the elements and back to the still frightened fillies. Quill was of half a mind to just turn back to the fillies and finish up what she’d started, however, the urge to put an end to her old ties won.

But just barely.

“Alright,” Quill sighed, still looking at the fillies for a moment, silently telling them not to move before turning back to the elements. “Okay girls, thanks that would help a lot, but I do have business that I want to end first. I’ll meet you guys at the bridge heading towards Fluttershy’s house.”

Twilight continued to keep her eyes fixated on Quill as she, and the others, had noticed that something was different with her. They couldn’t help but wonder what had changed Quill in such a short time.

“Sure Quill, we’ll meet you over there when you’re ready,” Twilight said as she walked towards Quill and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t do anything illegal, okay Quill?”

Quill shook her head at Twilight, who was smiling the the best she could. “Right, sure Twilight,” Quill started with a flat chuckle, finding it amusing that Twilight was still trying to be a mother figure to her. “I won’t hurt any of your precious ponies. So as long as they hold their end of the deals,” Quill finished with a sharp turn back towards the fillies to give them a toothy grin. “Right Photovine, Melody?”

“Ye-yeah Quill,” Photovine, a dark lavender unicorn, said with a quick nod of her head that made her messy dark-pink mane cover one of her eyes. “I owe you for those sweet sky-light shots of Ponyville at night anyways.”

With a nod, Quill then turned towards the dark-blue filly that was trying hid behind her blue and white mane with a small blush. “S-sure Quill...and I-I still owe you for getting me introduced to Vinyl and Rave a few months back.”

“See Twi?” Quill asked in an attempt to be rid of the elements so she could get back to work. “I got this covered, you guys just go on. I’ll catch up with you in a bit.”

Twilight took a moment to look at Quill to see if she truly meant those words, but couldn’t see anything wrong with it. “Alright, Quill,” Twilight began, turning away from Quill to lead the elements back to her house to pick up the stuff that she had prepacked just in case either of the twins came to Ponyville again. “You girls wouldn’t mind helping me, would you?”

“Actually darling,” Rarity started with a slight blush on her face as she uncharacteristically scratched the back of her head. “I have something that I want to grab first.” Everyone, including Quill, raised an eyebrow at Rarity, but didn’t get an answer out of the white mare before she got ready to teleport off. “I’ll meet up with you all at the bridge.”

With that said, Rarity disappeared in a bright blue flash, supposedly off to retrieve whatever she was going to get for Quill to take back with her. “Well, okay,” Twilight began, as unsure as the rest of the elements about Rarity’s sudden retreat, but waving it off as her trying to be fully prepared. “See you at the bridge Quill.”

Again, the elements started off to Twilight’s house, and were down the street in a matter of minutes. And out of earshot of Quill. “Good,” she grinned, turning back to the two fillies. “I’ll be needing a few things from the two of you,” Quill continued, reaching into her dark purple denim shorts to pull out a small purple book with a green tear decal going down from the top right to the bottom left.

She opened it up to find the two fillies’ names in it, as well how much they, and others, owed her. ’Heh, Spike isn’t the only one that’s ‘organized,’ Quill thought to herself before stopping on the page where she had the two listed, and what she had in mind for them to get. “Let’s see here…”

It was going to be a long day.

“Alright Pip,” Quill said as she handled the large butcher's knife she was able to get from Pipsqueak, rubbing a finger on the stainless steel blade. She soon placed it back in a holster, which was also happily gifted by Pip, attached to her brown belt that held a number of other things Quill had been able to get.

Everything was a useful item to make life a bit easier in High Moon; towels, robes, tools, book bags, and other materials that would make life more manageable. Then there were some things that were just for fun: music players, CD’s, sketchbooks, and a few more cooking books.

“I don’t know where, or how, you got this thing, but thanks. Spike’s been needing something stronger than his magic,” Quill continued with a happy smile at the way everything was turning out for her. “You sure you want to give me this book though?” she asked, pulling said book off a strap that was holding it to her side. “Looks pretty old, and I’m sure that it’s really hard to find something like this in Equestria.”

“Oh that old dusty thing?” Pipsqueak asked rhetorically, leaning against the side of his doorframe. As he did this, Quill couldn't help but notice that Pipsqueak wasn’t the same colt she had met on the her Nightmare Night in Ponyville all those years ago. He had a strong upper body with legs to match now. From the look of things, he was one of the lucky few that was blessed by puberty rather than cursed by it. “Don’t worry about it Quill, I found things like that all the time when I lived in the Dragon Empire, and all the dragons there didn’t seemed to care if I had some for myself.”

“Oh right,” Quill started, hitting herself upside the head, as if jogging her memories. “That’s right, you used to travel a lot when you were younger,” Quill continued with a sheepish grin, embarrassed that she had forgotten that Pipsqueak had one of the coolest lives she’d ever heard of. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Sure Quill, what is it?” Pipsqueak asked, always enjoying time with Quill and Spike whenever they came around.

Quill paused for a moment as she thought about what she was going to ask, and made sure that it would come out the way she wanted it to come out. “How did it feel,” she began asking a question that had been burning in her head ever since she’d heard that Pipsqueak used to live with dragons. “To walk with others that were different from you, and you different from them?”

“Huh...that is a good question,” Pipsqueak mused as he tilted his head upwards to think for a moment. “Well, I never felt out of place. Sure, they’re dragons, they live a lot longer than I could ever hope to, but I never felt out of place,” Pipsqueak answered with a slight shrug of his shoulders before he turned his head back down towards Quill with a cheerful, yet unreadable, smile.

“Guess you could say, sometimes I feel like a dragon.”

Quill looked into Pipsqueak’s eyes for a moment as she started to sense something off about the colt, but couldn’t think of what it possibly could be. “Huh, is that so. Then what would you do if you didn’t feel like a dragon?” Quill asked, breaking Pipsqueak out of his daydream. “What would you do if you didn’t feel like you belonged?”

“Oh that’s easy,” Pipsqueak said with a dismissive wave of his hand and a quick chuckle. Before answering, Pipsqueak kicked off his door frame to stand in front of Quill with his arms crossed over his broad chest. “I would go somewhere I felt like I belonged.”

Quill’s eyes locked with Pipsqueak’s, she again felt something off about them. It was something she had also noticed with Blaze at times when she was using magic. “Th...then why come here?” Quill questioned, remaining deadlocked with Pipsqueak’s eyes so she could try to understand what this feeling was. “Why come to a country that is primarily made up of ponies?”

“I needed a change of pace is all,” Pipsqueak answered with a smile as he got ready to close the door to let Quill get back to the things she needed to do. “Be seeing ya around Quill, you’re not the only one that has things to do.”

Before Quill could question Pipsqueak about what he meant, he had already closed the door, and left her wondering why he suddenly ended the conversation. However, she soon shrugged it off as he just really had other things to do today, and she was probably asking questions that he didn’t really want to answer.

And since she had collected over half of the many debts that ponies owed her, she figured she might as well head over towards Fluttershy’s house to pick up whatever the elements had for her. “Better not be some trick though,” she mumbled to herself before spreading her wings open to take flight over towards the cottage near Everfree.

As she took the slow flight there, Quill mused over all of the old faces that she had to see again. Sure, some weren’t too ‘happy’ with her, but at this point she couldn’t care less what some ponies thought. Quill was living her life the way she wanted to, and if ponies didn’t like her for that then tough. If they still liked her then that was fine too.

Quill didn’t ever need or want their approval anyways. She was going to do the things she wanted, and all they needed to do was stay out of her way. Simple.

“So why can’t they just make it simple?” Quill questioned as she flew under a cloud before pulling back up to gain some attitude to make her flight shorter and without a chance of running into any pegasi. “Why can’t life be that simple…”

‘Nothing good comes from it being easy or simple, young one.’ Quill blinked a few times from the sound of her ancestor’s voice echoing out in her head, as she hadn’t heard a single word from her since she’d found Frost in the Everfree days ago. ’I know you are questioning my sudden appearance, however, my time is short so I must speak quickly. Quill, the things you have accomplished up until now, have they been easy to do?’

“Pfft, what are you kidding?” Quil flatly asked as she lazily flew about as she slowly started to approach Fluttershy’s home. “No, just about every day for the last two months, I thought I was going to wind up dead. I’m just glad me and Spike ran into Lily when we did.”

‘Hmh, yes that quite was the good fortune wasn’t it?’ the elder mused for a short moment before continuing on with what she had to say. ‘Although, it was from this that you and your twin began to grow, and time is growing short for me.’

Quill slowly started to come to a stop on top of a cloud with an expression of pure loss and confusion regarding what her ancestor just said to her. “Whoa, what is that supposed to mean?”

Silence. Quiet, empty, silence was the only thing Quill heard from the elder dragoness, and for some reason, it scared her. “Wait, what are you talking about? What do you mean time is growing short?”

‘Young one, do not act as though you didn’t know the day when I would have to leave would come eventually. I must join the four Makers soon.’ Quill knew her ancestor was right, as much as she hated it. She sighed in discontent. ‘Do not fret Quill, you will continue to grow without me. You will come to learn of the true power that you hold.’

“I know, I know,” Quill sighed as she sat down on top of the cloud with her legs crossed underneath her. “It’s just that this is a little sudden don’t you think? Like, I’m going to miss you and stuff. I still don’t even know your name.”

Quiet laughter sounded out in Quill’s head as her ancestor couldn’t hold back her amusement any longer. ‘Very well,’ she started as the world around Quill started to fade into a dim blackness while smoky white lines were drawn from the clouds themselves, taking the shape of an elder dragoness hovering in front of Quill with her massive wings. Quill was taken aback by the massive dragoness, wondering to herself if she would one day become like that.

‘After the many milestones you have surpassed young one, I do believe that you earned the right to know my name,’ the ancestor continued as she moved one of her gigantic, smokey claws closer towards Quill’s head. ‘You have learned so much in this short time. We will talk to each other again, young one. Continue to grow, learn, and live as you see fit.

As Quill’s ancestor’s clawed finger started to reach for her forehead, she closed her eyes, and bowed her head to allow her ancestor’s finger to touch the very center of her forehead. ‘Live as you will, sweet Quill.’

“Okay, th...thank you,” Quill said with a slightly saddened tone in her voice. She had only just learned of her ancestor’s existence two months ago, had only spoken with her a few times, and she still hadn’t left just yet.

So why was she crying?

She didn’t know, she just felt sad. The kind of sad that came with saying goodbye to someone after being around them for all your life. The kind of sad that came with having someone leave you forever.

“See ya later, Sol Argento,” Quill choked as she desperately tried to wipe away the tears from her eyes, only to have more replace them. Quill hated crying, for anything. She believed that it showed her as weak, and she feared others would pick on her about it.

Sure, at this point in her life, something like that was plain silly, but she couldn’t help it. It was just a part of who she was, and hoped to be.

‘Goodbye Quill Dragul, may your life hold many fortunes. I will see you once more before I make my journey to the lands of the four great makers.’

Once again, silence sounded out in Quill’s head, and it was pure madness. It was a madness that Quill couldn’t understand where it came from, but it was a madness that wasn’t going to stop her from living.

“Come on Quill,” she muttered to herself as she stood up from the cloud floor and wiped away the last of her tears. “You still have a life to live, and others to protect. No reason to stop now. You’ll talk to her again.” Quill then leaped off of the cloud and soared straight towards the bridge near Fluttershy’s house.

Once she was at the road leading towards the bridge, Quill skillfully landed, and began to walk slowly before reaching the small stream that would lead her straight back to the temple. It wasn’t long after that before she caught the sight of Twilight and the other, still curiously minus Rarity, standing on the bridge waiting for her, two duffel bags resting on the ground against the side arched bridge.

“Two bags, Twilight?” Quill asked with an arched eyebrow towards the group of mares as Pinkie continued to wave to her with the same goofy smile. However, Quill’s attention was focused more on the two green and purple duffle-bags. “Twi, I took more than that when me and Spike came to your house the first time around,” Quill continued walking up to the two bags to see that her name was written on the purple one while Spike’s was written on the green one.

‘Cute.’

“Oh you’ll find more than just two duffle-bags worth of stuff in here,” Twilight said with a confident smile that only told Quill that she did something to them with her magic. “You know that infinite-spatial spell I’ve been working on for Rarity?”

Quill’s ear-frills perked up a bit when she heard that Twilight was able to learn a spell without the assistance of her and Spike, but she did her best not to let this be known. “Oh, is that so? That’s great to hear Twilight,” Quill said with honesty as she hopped up to sit on top of the railing for the bridge. “So where’s Rarity?” Quill asked, placing her elbow on the bridge’s railing to rest her head in her hand while they waited for the glamorous mare. “I have a feeling she wouldn’t like it if I just took off without her giving me...what is she getting anyway?”

Shrugs and head shakes all around was Quill’s immediate answer as none of the elements knew what had possessed the mare to suddenly leave the way she did. “We don’t know either Quill,” Twilight said, getting a sigh to come out of Quill when she heard the mare’s answer. “She certainly was in a hurry too. Rarity hates using teleportation.”

“Lemme guess,” Quill began with a slightly flat tone of voice as she didn’t expect Rarity to change much. “Cause it’ll mess up her ‘beautiful’ mane?” Both Pinkie and Applejack started to laugh at Quill’s joke while Fluttershy and Twilight tried to hide their giggles. “No but seriously, I need to be heading back real soon. Knowing Wolf, he’ll want this greenhouse thing done by today.”

“This Wolf, who is he anyway?” Twilight asked, only having seen the dog one time, and only for a brief moment at that.

Quill opened her mouth to answer Twilight, however, she soon closed it, thinking for a moment. “Wolf, he’s kind of like...a pack leader,” Quill started, not sure if the elements should know about the existence of High Moon, or if Wolf didn’t mind her talking about it. “More like, our pack leader. Him and his marefriend, along with another mare have been showing me and Spike how to survive it out in Everfree, and we just sort of stayed with him.”

“Okay, but why?” Applejack asked, not seeing why Spike and Quill would choose to stay with a diamond dog’s pack over staying with them in Ponyville. “Ah mean, why would you want to live in the Everfree instead of here?”

Quill started to giggle at the farm-mare before she stood up on the railing with a smirk on her face. “Cuz AJ,” she started with a small flex of her wings and a small flare of purple flames coming off her body. “When we lived here, I wasn’t able to do this.”

Suddenly, Quill flared out her wings, and rocketed off skyward with streaks of purple and green fire trailing from her. All four elements watched in awe as Quill quickly ascended with a single flap of her wings before reaching a peak in her incline, moving into a sidewinder flip.

Following the flip, a sudden flare of green and purple flames shot out from Quill’s body as she started to freefall straight towards the ground. With the exception of Pinkie, who had somehow gotten a bag of popcorn to eat, all the mares watched in fear, thinking Quill was falling right to her death.

However, they were proven wrong when Quill snapped open her wings, and partly slowing her fall to where she was able to sit on the same spot she had before with a small huff as her rear end landed on the stone railing.

“Woo! Yeah Quill, that was amazing!” Quill giggled a little from Pinkie’s cheering while the others were still trying to understand how, and where, Quill learned such moves. “Oh my gosh Quill, you never did anything like that before.”

“Yes, and I say it was quite dangerous,” Twilight said, seeming to be displeased with Quill’s daring moves. Not that Quill cared much for what the mare thought about her stunts. “Quill, you could have seriously hurt yourself or burnt someone with that fire of yours.”

“Seriously, Twi?” Quill asked with an arched eyebrow towards the mare. Of all the things Twilight thought was dangerous, she was more worried about Quill’s magic and flying skills than the fact that she was living in the Everfree. “I’ve fought of packs of timberwolves, helped Wolf scare off manticores, and we even managed to trap a hydra in a garage a few weeks ago.”

The look on Twilight’s face only went from disapproving to horrified at some of the things that Quill had been up to. “Twi, when are you going to realize,” she continued, hopping straight up to stand on the railing, and holding out her hands out to her sides. “I’m not the same hatchling that you remember?”

Upon saying these words, Quill ignited two large purple and green fireballs right above her hands. “I’ve learned, and done, too much to be treated as a little kid anymore, Twilight. And so has Spike. In fact, he’s probably done a lot more than I have. So, can you do me and Spike the favor of treating us like adults?”

“Yeah, okay Quill,” Twilight said, slightly shaken from Quill’s impressive control of her magic, and--for some reason---fearful of what she could do with it. “We understand that you and Spike aren’t kids anymore, but we don’t want you guys hurting yourselves okay?”

Quill sighed from the shaking tone in Twilight’s voice. “Yeah, Twilight, I know. Wolf already makes sure that we know that anyway,” she said as she hopped back down to the railing to lay down on its edge, all while lifting the two fireballs above her up in the air, controlling them with simply her will. “Listen, what I said two months ago was…kind of out of line, but all of you can’t say it wasn’t coming. Just know that we’ll never forget the things that ya’ll did for us.”

“Aw, Quill that means so much to hear,” Twilight said as she and the others started to move towards the dragoness for a hug, only to be stopped by Quill pointing a finger out towards them. “Um, Quill...is something the matter?”

“Yeah,” Quill started, slowly turning her head towards Twilight to stare at her and the elements with a flat look. “Don’t do that. Not that I don’t like you guys any more or anything like that, it’s just that, don’t you think all of you are way too old to be doing group hugs every other day?”

Each of the elements started to blush in her own way, with Applejack trying to hide it with her hat, Fluttershy using her mane while both Twilight and Pinkie tried to play it off. “That brings me to another point. When are all of you going to find someone to get with?”

“Qu-Quill, that isn’t something you should-”

“Just answer the question Twi,” Quill cut in, not letting the mare finish the flustered sentence, nor not wanting to hear it from her. “Here, I’ll go first. You know that dragoness that was with me and Spike a few days ago?” Slowly, Twilight and the other elements started to nod their heads as they did remembered the blue and purple dragoness that was constantly standing near Quill. “Let’s just say...I’ve made her a real dragon a few time this week.”

Twilight’s jaw snapped open wide at what her ears were hearing from Quill’s mouth. Normally, she would tell Quill off, going on and on about how dangerous it was to be with someone she barely knew. However, it was no longer her place to do so any more.

Quill and Spike were their own dragons now; they were all grown up.

“O-oh, well she seems like a nice dragoness,” Twilight started, still trying to find the right words that didn’t sound like she was trying to tell Quill how to live her own life. “So, u-um, how did you two meet anyway?”

“Pfft...aw isn’t that cute,” Quill started with a laugh from noticing something about Twilight’s speech patterns. “Twilight, I know you better than Celestia does, don’t you think dodging questions like that is a little silly with me? You know what?” Quill continued, sitting up and ending the show of her fire. “I’ll just leave you to think about that yourselves. Ya’ll are fully grown, beautiful, mares, I’m just sure you’ll find someone.”

Right as Twilight was going to respond to what Quill was saying, the sound of flapping wings caught Quill’s attention, and forced her to turn towards the forest. When she did, Quill was happy to see that it was Cinder making the sound as she flew towards her.

“Hey girl,” Quill said with a slight smile after Cinder landed on her shoulder, nuzzling the phoenix. “Sorry for leaving you this morning, I was kind of in a rush, and I didn’t think I’d be here that long.”

Cinder seemed to not mind as she shrugged her wings before turning her attention towards the elements. Without much warning, Cinder flew from shoulder to shoulder of each of the present elements, giving each a quick nuzzle before moving back to Quill’s shoulder.

“Wow Quill, Cinder looks healthier than she did before,” Fluttershy said with her normal animal enthusiasm. “She has been getting enough exercise right, and a balanced diet, along with Peewee, right?”

Quill started to giggle at Fluttershy, finding this side of her more appealing than her overly shy one. “Yes Flutters, they have,” Quill answered as she moved to rub the underside of Cinder’s beak, getting a happy chirp from her. “Wolf and the others had been helping us keep Cinder and Peewee active with whatever we can find for them to do.”

Fluttershy nodded her head in understanding as Applejack spotted two familiar looking colts awkwardly running towards them. “What in tarnation?” Quill, along with the rest of the elements, had their attention drawn away from the growing phoenix, and to the dirt road. “Now, what on earth are them colts doing here, and what are they doing with those rolls of plastic?”

“Well, it’s about time they got here,” Quill said as she slid off the bridge’s cobble-stone railing, and walking towards the end of the bridge. Once there she placed her hands on her hips and took a mock hard expression. “Sinps, Sails, what took you guys so long, and please don’t tell me you guys got lost.”

“W-we would have been here faster, if someone,” Snails started, glaring straight at Snips, who was still trying to catch his own breath. “would stop trying to get with Silver Spoon.”

Quill raised an eyebrow toward the taller clot, not understanding why he would try to get with a filly like Silver Spoon. She could only guess that it had something to do with Diamond Tiara no longer living in Ponyville.

“I am not trying to get with her,” Snips shouted back at Snails with the hint of a blush on his face and his hands clenching at his sides. “She just seems lonely without her best friend, and I just wanted to make her smile.”

Snails rolled his eyes as he used one of the rolls of plastic to lean against. “Yeah, right, and I want to sing in a girly dress.” The glare, and blush, on Snips’ face started to grow to a volatile level; one Quill could easily see coming. “Face it man you gave better chance with trying to get with a grown mare than with a stuck up filly like Sil-”

“Snails!” Both colts jumped in fear from the roaring sound of anger in Quill’s voice. When the two of them looked over to her, they found that Quill was glaring at the both of them with a fire of rage in her eyes. Even Cinder, who was still on Quill’s shoulder, seemed to pick up on her master’s anger, and was flexing out her wings in a threatening manner.

“Where do you get off telling Snips who he can’t hang out with?” she questioned with a commanding tone of voice while a menacing line of black smoke started to seep from her nose. “How is it any of your business if he does like Silver Spoon? And if he doesn't, Snips is just being a good guy by trying to make her feel better about losing--from what I can tell--her only friend.”

Snails opened his mouth to answer the suddenly enraged dragoness in front of him, but he couldn’t think of any words that would lessen Quill’s rage. Not paying the shivering colt any more mind, Quill walked over to Snips, and placed a hand on his small shoulders.

“Snips,” Quill started, with a much softer tone of voice. Even Cinder took a softer body-language, hopping over to Snips’ shoulder, and nuzzling his cheek. “Remember, no one can tell you how to live your own life. Just don’t do anything stupid.”

“Ahem.” Quill cut a glance back towards Twilight to see her with her hands on her hips with a stern expression on her face.

“And don’t break any laws,” Quill continued, more to get Twilight off her back than to help Snips. ‘Seriously, ever since she became a princess, Twilight has developed this weird obsession with not breaking any laws.’ Once she got an approving nod, Quill turned her attention back to the colt, and again smiled. “Just do what you want to, not what someone else tells you to. You got it, Snips?”

Slowly, Snips started to nod his head with a growing smile on his face. “Ye-yeah I do Quill, thanks,” he said with the utmost amount of gratitude he could give to the dragoness. Quill returned the nod as Cinder hopped back onto her right shoulder. “Um...I think I’m going to…”

“Go on,” Quill started, waving the colt off with her hand, and taking the rolls of plastic in her tail as she turned back towards the elements. Snips stood there for a moment, just to gaze at Quill, who had changed in more ways than one. He then turned his attention towards his closest friend, Snails.

It was then that he realized that nothing would ever change if he just kept doing the same things with the same colt every single day of his life. “Snails, you’re my bestest friend ever, but we’ve got to grow up some time.” Snails continued to glare at the ground with an unhappy look. “Sorry man...” Snips sighed as he turned to make the long, lonely trek back to Ponyville to find Silver Spoon again.

“Snails, you know he’s right,” Quill said as she placed the rolls of plastic into the green duffle bag, along with some of the other stuff she’d gotten during the day. “The both of you can’t keep going the way ya’ll are. I hope you can see that.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Sails grumbled before turning around to run down the dirt road, right past Snips.

Quill continued to look down the road with an unreadable look on her face while Cinder let out a loud screech. “Yeah I know girl,” Quill started, gently rubbing the side of Cinder’s cheek to get her to calm down. “We’ll head home soon Cin, we just got to wait for Rarity.” Thanks to Lily, Quill and Spike had learned that the phoenixes had grown attached to their home in High Moon. To be more exact, the Everfree Forest: their natural habitat. “Where is that mare anyway, can’t one of ya’ll call her on your crystal-phones?”

“O-oh, I guess I could do it,” Fluttershy said as she reached into her back pants pocket of her tight blue jeans. Once the mare had her yellow-colored phone out, she began to look through her contact list to find Rarity’s name. It wasn’t long before she found it and called the seamstress.

However, as the phone continued to ring without an answer, Fluttershy, along with the others, began to worry about the mare. “O-oh my, Rarity would never let her phone ring more than twice,” Fluttershy noted with an anxious tone of voice as she again tried to call the mare once more.

“Well that’s just great,” Quill started, folding her arms over top her chest with a flat look on her face. “What in the world could she be looking for anyways?” Twilight was going to try to answer Quill’s frustrated question, or at least get her to calm down a little when a bright blue flash suddenly startled everyone and forced them to cover their eyes.

Once everyone was able to see again, all eyes were on Rarity as she slowly walked up the arch of the bridge with her face hidden behind her strangely straightened mane. Everything about the mare screamed sadness, her body movement, her lowered tail, and sluggish posture.

“Geez Rarity,” Quill said in a shock tone of voice, not once having ever seen the mare in such a state before, genuinely concerned for her. Quill moved to shorten the distance between Rarity, however, Cinder seemed to not like the air that the mare was giving off, and she flew over to Pinkie’s shoulder with a defensive screech following.

Quill took a moment to look back at her bird with a look of confusion before turning back to the mare, placing her hands on Rarity’s shoulders. However, it took the mare a moment to recognize Quill’s touch as she tried to continue walking as if she was in a trance. “Rarity,” Quill said loudly, shaking Rarity out of her state. “What in the world is the matter with you? Why are you-”

“Please darling,” Rarity faintly spoke, reaching into her purple pants, and pulling something out of them. Before Quill could again question the mare, Rarity gently pushed Quill’s hands off her shoulders, and placed the hidden object in Quill’s right hand. “Please, give that to Spike for me. He deserves it far more than I.”

“Okay Rarity, but just what is it?” Quill asked as she tried to look down towards the object, only for Rarity to keep her right hand closed. However, Quill was able to get a small peak of it and caught the sight of a gold colored chain and something red shining in the sunlight. “Rarity, what is going on with you?”

Still not answering any of the dragoness’ questions, Rarity gently moved Quill’s hands to her side, and started to slowly back away. “Quill please, tell Spike that I’m sorry for everything that happened, and I’m sorry for all the things that I’ve put the two of you through. Everything that has happened over the years...I’m sorry for all of it; I’m sorry for me.”

“Rarity what are you-” Again without answering, Rarity used a teleportation spell to flee the scene. For a moment, all anyone could do was stand for a moment just to think about Rarity’s sudden actions and the motives behind it.

“Quill, wh...what did Rarity give you?” Twilight asked in a nervous tone of voice, having a bad feeling that what happened two months ago could happen again. “Quill?”

Now, however, it was Quill’s turn to be unresponsive to the things Twilight said as Quill was fixated on the mysterious object in her hand. Said object was something that Quill honestly had hoped to never lay eyes on again; the trigger of Spike and her’s greed-growth all those years ago; a catalyst for the ponies in Ponyville to have a reason to fear the twins; a gift her brother gave to a mare he once loved.

‘Rarity has to be kidding me right now.’ Quill sighed as she ran a claw over the heart-shaped Fire Ruby necklace that Spike gave Rarity a few days before their birthdays. The act of Spike giving the mare something that he had toiled and starved over for weeks forced Quill to honestly believe that there was some hope for Spike’s dream of being with her.

However, that train of thought had crashed after the greed-growth was over, overhearing Rarity talking about it with Fluttershy several days later. She was afraid of what Spike and Quill would be like when they grew up. Even still, Spike had sacrificed a lot by giving the ruby to Rarity.

The fact that both the necklace and ruby were in the shape of a heart made the situation laughable, if not ironic, to the fact that Rarity was trying to give it back. To make matters worse, this would not only bring up bad memories of Rarity, but also Sweetie Belle and the other Crusaders.

One thing was for sure though. ‘He going to be devastated when I break the news to him.’ Sighing again, Quill placed the necklace into her pocket, and shook her head. “Hey, uh, Twi,” Quill said slowly, turning towards the confused looks on the elements’ faces. “Sorry, but I got to take off. We still have this greenhouse to finish, and then I got...I got other stuff to get done today.”

Sensing her master’s discontent, Cinder flew from Pinkie’s shoulder, and landed onto Quill’s to nuzzle the side of her cheek. Quill smiled faintly, glad to see that her bird was so worried about her. “I’m fine Cin, I just hope Spike will be too,” she sighed as she turned to the two bags. Quill quickly fastened the purple bag to the free space between her wings while she held the other within her arms.

“Quill, wait,” Twilight started, reaching out for Quill’s shoulder to stop her from suddenly taking off without answering any of her questions. “Please Quill, tell us what Rarity gave you. Maybe it would help us understand why she is acting like this.”

Quill turned one eye towards the alicorn, only to see the pleading look on her face along with the rest of the elements. “Fine,” Quill sighed, turning around so she could look Twilight in the eyes. “Twilight,” Quill reached into her front pocket again, this time to pull out the necklace that the elements quickly realized that was the very same one Rarity made out of the Fire Ruby Spike had given her. There was a collective gasp from the elements, as they couldn’t understand why Rarity would part with the necklace. “I really think you guys need to see about Rarity. Not tomorrow, not a hour from now, but right now. I really think she is hurting right now and needs you guys.”

“O-okay Quill, we’ll get Rarity to talk to us,” Twilight said, letting Quill’s shoulder go, and nodding as she mentally confirmed what she and her friends had to do. Quill returned the nod before she turned around to face towards the Everfree Forest. “But what about you Quill, what are you going to do?”

Again, Quill turned her head around to Twilight to look her in the eyes one last time. Quill started to frown when she saw the same lost look on Twilight’s face from the time she, Frost, and Spike found her locked within the library. She knew no good would come of it if the elements fell back into the same rut that they were all stuck in for two months, and she knew that it had to stop now.

“I need to speak with my brother,” Quill started, dropping her head in a slight sigh, and turning back towards Everfree again. Sensing the imminent departure, Cinder flew off of Quill’s shoulder, eagerly beginning to fly back to High Moon. Quill turned back to her bird flying off into the tree canopy, and took it as a sign that she no longer had business in Ponyville.

“You guys just worry about taking care of your own,” she said before she too opened her wings to fly back to High Moon, readying herself to confront her brother regarding a past memory that she still could not fully remember: their greed-growth.