Title:           For Afterman
Author:          Codexes
Pastebin link:   http://pastebin.com/60cXqtNy
First Edit:      Tuesday 11th of August 2015 04:57:21 PM CDT
Last Edit:       Last edit on: Tuesday 18th of August 2015 03:53:38 PM CDT

This is for Afterman, one of the content creators at /emo/ and /bat/, and a good friend of mine at Skype.
 
>You are Afterman.
>Under the shade of one of the big trees at the park in Ponyville, you are leaning against the tree trunk while playing your acoustic guitar.
>Ponies walking in the park usually stay around and listen to you play.
>You left your guitar case open for them to give you bits.
>How kind of them!
>After you are done playing with your song, the ponies clap their hooves at you and some put in one or two bits in your guitar case.
"Thank you everypony!"
>You look over at the sun and see that it is time for you to pack up for today.
"Sorry folks, but I have to get going now."
>Some of the ponies groan in disappointment, but they nod and thank you for playing.
>The small crowd waves goodbye to you and they disperse, going back to talking to one another or heading home.
>You use your magic to grab all of the bits in the guitar case and place them in a small sack.
>You could count about ten or fifteen bits in there.
>It will do!
>After sealing the sack, you use your magic again to place the guitar back in the case and close it.
>Before you could walk away from the big tree, you hear something...
>... Is that... paper folding?
>"Ah!"
>You hear a sharp cry in pain from a mare nearby.
>It came from the side of the tree you were leaning on.
>You put the guitar on your back and the sack of bits to your side and walk around the tree.
>You see a magentaish gray mare, with a light green bowtie on her very pale cyan-blue mane and cyan blue bangs.
>Her tail is also a pale cyan-blue color, her eyes are lime green, and her cutie mark is a paper folded heart.
>You also notice that... there are cuts on her wrists and hind legs.
>But, aside from her cuts, she looks like a very pretty mare.
>You see that she is in pain and is covering her right hoof with her left.
>You walk up to her and raise your eyebrow at her.
"Excuse me, miss?"
>She opens one of her eyes, looks at you, and blushes.
>"O-Oh! U-U-Um..."
"Are you okay?"
>"U-Uh... y-yeah! Just..."
>She looks at her right hoof and you can see a very small paper cut on it.
>"J-Just a small paper cut..."
 
"Do you need that bandaged or...?"
>"N-No... I-I'm fine... I'm... used to it..."
>You look around her and see some colorful origami paper scattered around this mare.
>There are also paper animals around her, like a crane, turtle, snail...
>The mare starts to collect the paper and paper animals and puts them in a small cardboard box.
"So... you paper craft in your free time?"
>"Y-Yeah... I... t-teach other ponies... how to paper craft..." she said.
"That must be great!"
>"... S-Sort of... yeah..."
"What do you do with the completed paper animals?"
>"... S-Sell them... I have a stall... not too far from here..."
"Do they come in different prices or...?"
>"T-The easy ones..." she pulls out a green paper crane and shows it to you, "... they're a bit each..."
>The only thing you could fold is a paper airplane, and you would call that a masterpiece.
"How is it? The business I mean."
>She casts her head down and sighs, "Not good..."
>She puts the crane back in the box and looks at you.
>Wow... she really is a pretty mare.
>The two of you lock gazes at each other and you notice that she blushes and looks away from you.
>"S-So..." she said.
"So... what's your name?"
>"M-My name...?"
"Yeah."
>"... I-I'm..."
>She mumbles something under her breath.
"What is it?"
>"... Cut... Paper Cut."
"Nice to meet you, Paper."
>"Y-Yeah... w-what's yours?"
"Well, some of my friends just call me Afterman."
>"... Afterman?"
>You nod at her.
>"... S-Strange name..."
>Tell that to the others back at home.
>"U-Um..."
>She rubs her left arm with her right hoof and is looking down at the ground.
>"I-I like... listening to you play..." said Paper.
"I'm glad to hear that!"
>"... T-The music is... nice to listen..."
"Were you listening to me play while you were paper crafting?"
>She slowly nods.
>Interesting. She crafts while you play music?
 
"Say... Paper?"
>She looks at you and raises her eyebrows, "Y-Yes...?"
"Do you want to listen to another song? I could play one more song before it gets dark."
>She slowly smiles at you, "... S-Sure..."
>You set the guitar case down, open it and grab your acoustic guitar with your magic.
>"Wow... i-it looks nice..." Paper said, as she looks at the guitar.
>You smile and nod.
"Yeah, one of my favorite guitars too."
>You sit on your haunch and hold the guitar with your hooves.
>You take a deep breath and use your magic to help you play with the guitar strings.
https://youtu.be/zWPPY5FxaXo
>...
>You don't usually play this song for any pony in Ponyville.
>You thought it was too sappy to play and no pony would be interested in listening to it.
>But, you thought it was a good idea to play it for Paper.
>While you are playing the song with your guitar, Paper is happily making a white paper bird.
>She makes no mistake in making the bird and makes every fold precise.
>...
>After you are done playing the song, you sigh and look at Paper.
>She is holding up the paper bird and is smiling at you.
"What did you think, Paper?"
>"... That was great..." she said.
"And that's a nice looking bird you got there!"
>"T-Thanks. U-Um..."
>You keep looking at Paper, but you use your magic to slowly put your guitar back in your case.
"What is it?"
>She holds out the paper bird to you.
>"I... I want you to have this..."
"Are you sure? Do I have to pay for this?"
>"I-I'm sure... and it's free... I want you to have it... b-because..."
>... Because of what?
>You accept her gift and raise an eyebrow at her.
"Thank you, and because of...?"
>She casts her head down.
>After a few seconds, she looks back at you with her eyes closed.
>"I-I have to go! It's getting late!"
 
>She quickly picks up her box full of origami paper and paper animals, and runs away.
"Paper wait!"
>She ran away...
>Was it something you said?
>Hopefully not.
>You grab your guitar case and sling it on your back.
>You also make sure that you have your sack of bits with you, which you do.
>... Maybe you can meet her again tomorrow at the same place?
>For now, you have to tell the others at home who you meant today.
>...