My Little Adventure

Episode One: Journey of One, Party of Two

As I fly through Cloudsdale, my mind lingers on the passing sights.
The perfectly fluffed clouds, the blissful blue of the sky.

I almost miss my stop, but I lower my altitude and land in front of the local art supply shop.

The little bell rings as I open the door.
Savvy Cloud, the shop owner, looks up at me; smiling. "Back for supplies again, Q?"

I smile back and roll my eyes. "You know me, I'm always spilling my ink."

She laughs and shakes her head, looking back down to her newspaper.

Picking up a basket in my mouth, I head toward the ink aisle.

My hooves click against the tiled floors as I move through the familiar aisles. Looking at rows of different colored inks, I set the basket on the floor.

I grab a black, grey, and a correcting ink, then head down to the next aisle.

Grabbing quills and scrolls, I look in the direction of Savvy. "Have you gotten my shipment in yet?" I say through the quiet store.

I hear a gasp and the flutter of her feathers as she makes her way to me. "Thank you for reminding me," she says and waves me to the back room.

Walking through the doors, there are boxes stacked to the ceiling, and quills and scrolls all over the place.

I chuckle at the mess, "Seems like you need somepony to organize all of this, Sav." Smiling back at me, she nods. "Yeah, I could use some help."

Walking further back, she flies up to grab a small box on top of a few others. Setting it down, she cuts the tape to reveal a very rare ink and quill set. I gasp, "It's even more beautiful than in the catalog!" She smiles, "Well it better be, it's straight from Manehattan's best quill shop."

"Oh, thank you, Sav. You're the best!" I say hugging her, then picking up the box and carrying it out of the back room.

"Anything for my favorite customer." She says, and I smile.

I look to the empty shop, "What's been going on around here?"
Savvy sighs, "I love it, right?"
She looks around and I look down at the floor, confused.

When I look back she's staring off at her newspaper, "But-"

"Things aren't the same as they used to be, pegasi used to come here and always buy directly from me."
"Now I don't get to see any of the faces I used to, apart from the few minutes on delivery."

She looks so hurt and I can tell this has been weighing on her.
"It kind of feels like my friends don't need me right now."

I respond quickly, "Savvy that's not it."
"There are other reasons for things like that- like Nanny runs the nursery and River is rarely home."

As I'm talking I start to calm down and I start again.
"Even so,"
"I'd never stop coming to see you and Sav, if you need the extra help around here; I'd fly over in a wingbeat."

She sighs again, crinkling her nose up and smiling. "Thank you Q, I appreciate you listening."

"Of course," I say and I set my box and basket on the counter. I look out and the warm sunlight lights up the aisles.  A thin shred of light passes behind them and through the doorway into the back room. I look at the clutter and as I turn back to Savvy my eyes catch on the stairway.

She must be so lonely now nopony is here...

"10 bits, please." She pauses, "And don't go spilling your special ink!" She chuckles and I give her the bits.