Photography is Magic (Quest)

Your name is Ambient (Amber). You are a female unicorn with a pale coat and an unruly orange mane and tail. Your eyes are sky blue and your cutie mark is a film reel.

 

You've always been known to of been constantly on the move, going town to town trying to make a living off your photography. After finally being hired by the local newspaper company to take pictures of the latest events and happenings, you finally manage to settle down in a (very) small house in Ponyville with the money you made from those beautiful pictures of the tornado you somehow managed to take among all the chaos.

 

After selling the photos, you hear of an after party to celebrate today's success with the tornado, but apparently it's a "Pegasus only" party, oddly hosted by an earth pony. You question whether or not you should just stay inside until you get another story, or go around introducing yourself to your new neighbors when a small philly checks you with her scooter. She turns around and starts to apologize for her reckless scootering seeing how she hit you pretty hard and you can just tell already it's going to be a nasty bruise.

 

Instead of properly introducing yourself or even accepting her apology, you jump immediately to questioning her about the local party. Scootalloo feeling a bit uneasy slips out a lie about how she doesn't really know much about Pinkie Pie's Celebration Party, and starts to get ready to scooter away, not before apologizing for hitting into you one last time.

 

You called out to her "Hey, hold up!" managing to garner a few more moments of Scootaloo's time. Scootaloo stops for a moment and turns back around to you. "What now?" she asks in a bit of an irritated tone. You introduce yourself as being new to Ponyville and you tell her all about your job as a photographer and how badly you want to get inside the party. Scootaloo immediately identifies you as Paparazzi and cheekily offers her help for the price of 20 bits, saying she can even get you in and introduce you to her good friend Rainbow Dash, the greatest Pegasus to have ever lived apparently. Having just bought a small shack of a house leaving yourself with nothing more than 30 bits, you start to question yourself whether Scootaloo is even worth your time talking to as you start to look around a bit anxious taking note of the few earth ponies casually hanging out around town, none of which you assume would be able to get you into the party you now feel desperate to get into.

 

Even if you have to pay 20 bits to get into the party, hopefully you can do some interviews or snap some photos that'll earn you enough pay to decorate your house and stock up on food for the next couple of weeks. Rather than coughing up 20 bits though, you try to see if you try to bargain it down to 10 bits. Scootaloo, who wasn't even expecting you to pay at all, fantasizes about all the candy she can buy with 10 bits. The deal is made and Scootaloo offers you a ride on her scooter to the party. She tells you to try to keep a low profile as you're probably gonna get some strange looks for have never of even helped with the Tornado Day. She recommends you just say helped organize the training schedule and hope that no one calls you out on it.

 

A short ride later, you arrive with Scootaloo who accompanies you in. Immediately getting confronted by a Pegasus named Flitter and asked who you were or why you were even here at a celebration party for a Pegasus,

Scootaloo begins to explain for you how much you helped out behind the scenes before getting cut off by Pinkie Pie who bounces in exclaiming "Silly Flitter, Pinkie Pie Parties are parties for everyone!

 

You turn to the filly to give her a disgruntled face to see shes already trotting off to talk to who you could only assume to be Rainbow Dash

 

Ignoring Pinkie Pie, you weave your way through the partying Pegasi interrupting Scootaloo to talk to Rainbow Dash about Tornado Day and whether or not the Wonderbolts were going to show up to the party.

 

Rainbowdash gives you strange look, "Why are you talking to me? I don't think I even met you before." Clearly a little bothered that you reminded her about the Wonderbolts not showing up. You look down to Scootaloo for help, but she's just pouting at you, maybe you shouldn't have interrupted her while she was chatting with her idol. You recite how you helped set up the training regiment for Tornado Day before getting interrupted by Rainbow Dash "No you didn't.. I was the one who set up the strict training schedule." You start to freeze up not really knowing how to act, Scootaloo clearly not willing to help you out on this one.

 

After freezing up for a good minute, you decide to drop the lie and not so subtly try to pretend like that never just happened. "Rainbow Dash! Hey, I'm new to town. I saw the hurricane you pegasi created- it made for some great photos."

 

Rainbow Dash thrown off and confused gives you a bewildered look and hesitantly replies "Yeah... thanks kid.. I gotta - uhh... do something somewhere else" Doesn't seem she very much wants to talk to you after claiming her work as your own. You turn to Scootaloo who briefly shows that you annoyed her before following Rainbow Dash around. You look around the highly decorated room filled with dancing Pegasi, up beat music and enough snacks to feed a herd of bull, a bit unsure of what to do with yourself now so you take some photos of the crowd with your flash on, which gets you some nice shots, but it seems your flash temporarily blinded a grey Pegasus with a yellow mane and caused her to smash into the wall.

 

After freezing up for a good minute, you decide to drop the lie and not so subtly try to pretend like that never just happened. "Rainbow Dash! Hey, I'm new to town. I saw the hurricane you pegasi created- it made for some great photos."

 

Rainbow Dash thrown off and confused gives you a bewildered look and hesitantly replies "Yeah... thanks kid.. I gotta - uhh... do something somewhere else" Doesn't seem she very much wants to talk to you after claiming her work as your own. You turn to Scootaloo who briefly shows that you annoyed her before following Rainbow Dash around. You look around the highly decorated room filled with dancing Pegasi, up beat music and enough snacks to feed a herd of bull, a bit unsure of what to do with yourself now so you take some photos of the crowd with your flash on, which gets you some nice shots, but it seems your flash temporarily blinded a grey Pegasus with a yellow mane and caused her to smash into the wall.

 

"What do you want to do? Write? Get photos?" The Pegasus pony gives you a confused look (not that far from her average look) "I want to see my face on the front page of the News Paper while I deliver them in the morning!" You pause for a second not knowing how to immediately react to this.

 

Well I guess I can do a report on the "Very special mailmare of the whole Ponyville", but I'd love to get some group photos of all the Pegasi that helped make today such a success! Not many ponies seem to be taking a shine to me though.. so if you could help me with this I'd be more than happy to do a story for you, and I'm sorry but I also never caught your name." "You talk a lot Crystal" "Amber.." "Well Hamburger, my name's Derpy with a D and don't worry I can do this!" "My name's Amber-" Derpy quickly cut her off as she exclaimed at the top of her lungs "EVERYONE GATHER AROUND!!! AMBER WANTS TO TAKE A BIG GROUP PHOTO FOR THE NEWSPAPER!" You thought that was a rather blunt way to organize a party of 80+ Pegasi, but it surely did work as the room stopped partying and dancing for a moment and crowded together just as excited to be on the Newspaper as Derpy was. The mares of the hour - Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie along with Derpy, took front and center of the crowd as you tried to back up as much as you could to get every one in the photo. You turned your flash back on and got a picture of all the Ponies together causing some people to be dizzy, a concern that was overshadowed when the huge crowd of ponies erupted into a large cheer and the music started to turn up louder then it was before when the ponies began to party once more. Derpy approached you again after the photo and told you she was ready for her interview. You were having a hard time hearing her, but you understood what she wanted. The reporter inside you however told you that you'd get a better story from Fluttershy and you wanted to get a good interview out of her while you're still aware of where she is.

 

You realize Derpy is looking forward to an interview at this point, but you decide that you have to turn her down to chase after Fluttershy before it's too late."Hey Derpy, maybe we can do the interview later at my shack- urr.. house, it's a little to loud to do the interview here, so I'm going to go off and mingle!" Derpy feeling disappointed replied simply with a saddened "okay.." You give her an apologetic hug and write down were you live on a piece of paper so she can come to your place for an interview after the party is over. Derpy returns to being her happy self and flies around dancing as she was before she crashed.

 

You quickly trotted off into the crowd searching for Fluttershy who happened to of been sitting on a sofa in the corner while everyone else was dancing. You take a moment to admire her beauty as you approach her as you think to yourself for a second that she could definitely be one of those fashion models. However as you draw closer you notice she seems a bit shy and timid so you're not exactly sure how to break the ice.

 

"Hello fluttershy! I'm Amber, a reporter for the Daily Equestria. You think I can get a moment to talk to you?" Wow that came out easier than you thought it would. Apparently you're not as much of a social retard as you thought you were, and those situations with Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were just flukes.

 

You wait for a response from Fluttershy but all she did was squeel and curl up into ball...

 

This is no good. You decide to fly over and pick up some cider for poor Fluttershy and you quickly rush back to comfort her. You sit down next to her and offer some cider in hopes she'll come out of her shell. "Cmon, Fluttershy, all I wanna do is ask ya some questions. It's not gonna hurt or anything."

 

Fluttershy shakes her head and softly responds "but.. my answer are going to be on the newspaper... and everyone in Ponyville is going to see them! What if I say something and I regret it tomorrow and then I can't do anything because everyone will already have the newspaper by then!"

You watch Fluttershy bury herself deeper into the corner of the sofa while her voice gets squeekier. Dang this pony's good at making up Slippery Slopes. How they hay am I supposed to get any info out of her now...

 

You think you can play the sympathy card on this girl so you give it a shot "Ohh... well.. I guess if you don't like me I can always interview Big McLargehuge.. I was really looking forward to interviewing the star of Tornado ay but ya know...." You sniffle and wear a very hurt face which hits Fluttershy right in the heart. She rushes to you and wraps her wing around you "Oh no no no no, I didn't mean it like that, I'm so sorry, how about we go outside and do the interview, it can't be all that bad after all" She walks you outside and you two sit on a nearby bench together. You take out your pad and pencil finally ready for a solid interview. "So, what kinda questions did you have in mind..?"

 

Oh just a few about today's events. From the outside it looked like hurricane would of surely failed with out your contribution, correct? "Well.. I wouldn't say that.. Every one contributed in their own way. It took a lot of confidence that I didn't have before for me to perform in front of every one like that, but knowing I was helping my good friend Rainbow Dash and the rest of my friends here in Ponyville gave me the strength to do my part for Ponyville."

"You seem very proud of what you accomplished, and from what I heard, you really blew everyone away with your performance out there. How was it like inside the Hurricane, and what did you do to prepare?" You peer beside Fluttershy and see a few Pegasus starting to leave the party as it gets later. "Well, inside the Hurricane was very scary, I was getting tossed around all over the place when I first got inside, but once I pulled myself together I felt like I was on top of the world! and oh boy, I did a whole lot of training with my animal friends, which was really hard, but it really helped me when the situation called for it."While you finish up the interview with Fluttershy, you've just got about all you need for a headline story. To be on the safe side, you quickly snap of picture of her, which leaves her in a daze before she shakes it off. You float the pen and pad of paper back underneath your hat as you see the party has come to an end. Only a few Ponies seem to be hanging around outside casually chatting with each other. Among them you take special note of spotting Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and oh my gosh there's Soarin talking to Rainbow Dash! You also see Scootaloo getting ready to take off, starting to strap on her helmet as the sun starts to set in Ponyville. "Oh yeah, I don't think I've mentioned my name, I'm Amber!" Fluttershy giggles for a moment "and you already seem to know I'm Fluttershy, pleasure to meet you Amber!"

 

 

"Everyone knows who you are Fluttershy. You're part of the elements of harmony! You've helped save Equestria from Nightmare Moon and Discord." She says before spotting Soarin. "Ooh, hey! A wonderbolt. I thought Rainbow Dash said they weren't going to attend!" Finishing up the interview the same way one would a dried up prostitute, you quickly made your way to Soarin while Fluttershy tried to wrap her mind around how abrupt of a finish the interview had, interrupting Rainbow Dash who already seems to not care much for you at all. You immediately start running your mouth "Oh my Celestia! Soarin, I saw you at the event earlier today but I never would have guessed that you I'd have a chance to meet you face to face like this! Would you mind doing a brief interview for the local newspaper for me?!" Soarin looks a bit taken aback from your brash confrontation while Rainbow Dash just glares at you with what seems to be pure hatred. "Uhh.. yeah sure kid, we can do it here right? What kind of question did you have in mind?"

 

You ask her if you can get a picture with the two stars of Equestria, Rainbow Dash and Soarin, rearing up to spread her hooves out as though lettering the title mid air. This seems to stroke Rainbow Dashes ego as she gets up close with Soarin to pose for the picture. You take this opportunity to apologize and reintroduce ourselves. Rainbow dash replies casually "Don't worry about it kid, we all just want to fit in sometimes" and seems to of forgiven you despite what happened before. You introduce yourself as Amber to both the mares and after adjusting the shutter speed and turning off the flash you press your snout against the button on your camera to take the picture. Your pen and paper begin to glow as you ready yourself to begin the interview. "Don't worry, I'll try to make this quick guys!"

 

"What is your opinion on the on the assasination of the Zebra Ceaser Cassius? Is there any truth to the rumors that Equestrian military forces were involved?" Spitfire and Rainbow Dash just stare blankly at you having no clue what you're talking about as you try to figure out why you even said that in the first place. You shake it off as nervousness and start a normal interview. "So Spitfire, when did you arrive in Ponyville?" She replies "Well I was here earlier in the day to moderate Ponyvilles Tornado Day accomplishments. I just finished overseeing Manehatten's performance and the next one wont be until tomorrow in the town over, so I figured I'd come back to Ponyville to properly congratulate Rainbow Dash on a job well done. Unfortunately I missed the party, but at least I got here in time to catch Rainbow Dash on the way out." You try to jot down everything's shes saying as fast as your magic can hoping not to ask her to repeat herself, which you barely manage to do. You begin to ask your next question before getting interrupted "Well it's about time I head back home and get some shut eye! Maybe we can continue this interview some other time!" Before you can say or do anything to get her to stick around for a bit longer, it seems she has already taken off. You can tell Rainbow Dash is already blaming you for Spitfire's early departure, but despite it you stare blankly into space with a gut wrenching feeling like you've forgotten something important. The party pretty much cleared out half an hour ago, as the only ones left hanging around are you, Rainbow Dash who seems ready to pack it up, and Twilight walking besides Fluttershy on their way back home.

 

You turn to face Rainbow Dash and begin to apologize for everything that happened today, but she seems too tired to care about it all. You tell her good night as she begins to take off, and she replies with a casual "gnight" as she shoots off into the sky to her home. All the other ponies have already made their leave back to bed. You gallop back to your pathetic excuse of a home with all the pictures and stories you could of possibly gotten from attending the party to find a sleeping Derpy at your doorstep.

 

You nudge Derpy awake as her googley eyes start to slowly open and smile stretches across her face. "I've been waiting for ever for you Amber. Do we get to do the interview now?" Relieved that Derpy isn't the type to get upset, you nod and invite her inside your house (shack.) Seeing how it's already gotten pretty late, you invite her to spend the night. "Sure thing Amber! I sure do love slumber parties!" You turn on the one light in your house which illuminates your kitchen/hallway, bathroom, and bedroom to the right. Derpy gives you a vacant look as "Where do we sit?" You pause awkwardly for a moment as you trot to your bed and jump on the mattress. "Well.. yeah. Sorry about that. I guess the bed will have to do for today until I make some expansions." Derpy crashes onto your bed after trying to fly in and sits up right ready for her interview. "How does the interview work Amber?"

 

"Oh it's real easy and fun to do, I just ask some questions, you answer them, and tomorrow they'll be in the news paper!" Derpy seems to of become overwhelmed with joy. Yourself being pretty tired decide to scoot close to her and nuzzle up up against while you take your hat off and place it to the side. The pen and paper pad glow purple as you float them in front of you ready to ask your questions. Derpy sticking her tongue out is already bouncing up and down a bit, leaning on you in response to your nuzzling. "Thanks for remember my name by the way." Derpy replies "How could I ever forget your name? It's Amber just like your hair, and you were nice to me at the party!" You give her a warm smile, happy knowing that you've made a good friend already on your first day in Ponyville. "So Derpy, can you tell me about your experience with today's Hurricane?" She answers back "Well, it was pretty hard, but the harder I flapped my wings the more I was helping everyone. Rainbow Dash really trained me good so I was flying super fast. She kept yelling at me though because I didn't know I was flying backwards at the beginning. But then I turned around and I think I was doing a really good job helping out!"

 

You start questioning why you're thinking about consensual sex during an interview, but shake it off as you try to focus on the questions. "So Derpy, what was it like training under Rainbow Dash?"

"Oh it was a real work out! We had to do wing ups, tons of laps around the track, wing lifting and all that kinda stuff. I was really tired afterwards, but I was flying so fast when it was over. It taught me that we have to push ourselves to be the best pony we can be!" You smile as you manage to write down every word. "That was absolutely perfect Derpy! I only got a few more to go. How did it feel when the first attempt failed at the tornado failed, and what advice would you give to young fillies aspiring to become to help out with future Tornado days to come?" Derpy paused for a second articulating an answer, "Well, when we failed I was sad, but Rainbow Dash cheered us on really good and we got excited to do it again! It was good to know that every one gave it the best they got. And for the fillies, just keep on flapping those wings!" You finish jotting down her last words as you smile with content in your work. "That was great Derpy, definitely the best interview I've done all day!"

 

Instead of heading off to bed, you figure that since you are having a slumber party after all, might as well have some fun. Too bad you don't have that one book with all the instructions on how to have a proper slumber party... "Hey Derpy, I know! Let's play truth or dare!" Derpy starts flapping her wings with excitement already familiar with the game. You figure you should start off being the host and all. "Alright Derpy, I pick truth!" Derpy pauses for a moment and thinks hard about what to to ask you. She ends up saying the first thing that pops into her mind "Whys this house so gosh darn tiny?" Confidently you reply "Because I paid 50 bits for it! So now it's your turn Derpy, truth or dare?" Derpy starts hopping up and down on the bed as she starts repeating "dare" in a singsong tune over and over

 

"Derpy.. the pegasi brought the tornado but it's you that's making me so wet" You pause for a moment trying to comprehend why you just said what you did, let alone what you were going for, but luckily it seems what you said just flew over Derpy's head as well. "Amber, I don't think that was a dare. Can I get another dare instead?" You shake your head for a moment and come up with an actual dare this time, "Yeah sorry about that umm... how about this. Do a dance and make it up on the spot!" Derpy starts flopping around like a fish on land using her wings to rotate and twist her body around in ways you weren't even sure is possible. You break into a fit of giggling which causes Derpy too as well, finishing up her dance she exclaims "Okay now it's your turn, your turn!" You catch your breathe as you tell Derpy that you'll pick dare this time. "Hmm.. I dare you to get me the best drink you have! My dancing wore me out good" You figure it's easy enough and you use your magic to fetch a cup of water and float it off to derpy as she holds it in her hoofs and sips from it. "Just make sure you don't spill any on my bed!" She replies "Don't worry, I can be careful sometimes too." She finishes the water and starts bouncing around in excitement after that last dare. "I want a dare a dare a dare, I want another dare!"

 

"Alright alright alright, don't worry I gotta dare for you!" Derp sits down and stops bouncing sticking her tongue out waiting for her next dare. "I dare you to~ READ MY MIND!" you exclaim in an over dramatic way as Derpy just stares at you. She gives it the best try she could as you watch her face scrunch up and contort, trying to figure out what you're thinking. She lets out a big breathe and starts panting "Amber, I don't think I can do that. Can I have another dare?" Seemed like an understandable request. You look down to her flank and notice that her cutie mark has bubbles on it. "Alright then Derpy! How about this, I dare you to blow the biggest bubble possible!" She pauses for a second before replying "Oh that's easy! I can do that with my eyes closed!" She closes her eyes and starts blowing a large bubble from her mouth without needing any soap. The bubble grows to the size of her head before popping and sprinkling her face with her own saliva. She blinks for a while and we both pause before we simultaneously start laughing our planks off. "Alright Derpy, I'll pick dare this time!" Derpy bounces up and down and quickly recites the dare she spent some time thinking up of. "I dare you, I dare you, I dare you~ to do the same dance that I did before!"

 

Your face blushes red before you think to yourself "What the hay, no one's gonna see but Derpy". You start to flop about like a fish imitating Derpy, as you attempt to twist and spin yourself around while you bounced up and down the bed - all while giggling for making such a fool of yourself. Derpy looked thoroughly entertained by your shenanigans as she joined in on the laughter. "That was awesome Amber! Where did you learn those moves from! I wish I could dance like that." You give her a strange look before she starts bouncing up and down asking for another dare. You're exhausted at this point and almost fresh out of ideas for dares. You consider calling it a night, but Derpy still looks like she can go on for hours more.

 

 

"Alright Derpy, here we go! I dare you to~~ Give me a make over!" Derpy smiles brightens up the room as she lets out an excited squeel and starts bouncing around. She grabs you by the hoof and carries you to the tiny bathroom. "Don't worry Amber, I love doing this the mostest!" She leads you to the shower helping you get your mane wet before lathering a shampoo from a hygiene travel kit. Derpy definitely works fast, and you' be lying to yourself if you said you weren't enjoying the pampering. To your surprise Derpy was actually doing a really good job. Perhaps you initially misinterpreted the meaning of her cutie mark. She dries up your hair with a towel, something you can do with magic, but you're enjoying the attention right now so you let her go through with her dare. She brings you back to your room and brushes your hair for a couple minutes while you lay there relaxing as Derpy compliments "You have really pretty hair Amber, it just got a bit knotted up was all" After all was done, Derpy added the finishing touch of a green bow which she thought compliments your eyes, in place of that hat you like to wear everywhere. "Perfect!" Derpy exclaimed, proud of the make over she gave you and almost as if she forgot all the work she put into the make over she starts jumping up and down asking you repetitively "Truth or dare! Truth or dare! Truth or dare!" You let out a small giggle and smile, pleased with the surprising results of Derpy's make over. A bit exhausted from all of today's events. You pick truth and Derpy pauses for a while to think, it seems she was expecting you to say dare. Derpy contorts her all sorts of ways before thinking of a worthy question to ask you. "Am I your bestest friend in all of Equestria?" You pause, but for not too long "Of course you are Derpy, and I hope it stays that way for a very long time. You're the best friend a mare could ask for, and it is now, your turn to pick truth or dare!" You tell her while lightly tapping her snout. After blushing for a moment, Derpy starts flapping her wings in excitement "I pick dare! I pick dare!" You've already known how you wanted to end this night, and picked your last dare out a while ago "I dare you to.. slow dance with me. It'd mean a lot." You smile gently at her as she nods her head several times "Yeah uhhuhh I can do that!" You and Derpy stood up on your hind legs together and held each other up in our arms. Both of you a bit nervous at first force dancing on top of a bed was a bit difficult, but after a while you and Derpy embraced each other and grew more comfortable as you nuzzled into her arms. You let out a light yawn which let Derpy know you were getting tired. She lets out a yawn as well and after a few more minutes of dancing, you two fall to the side back onto the bed laying in each other's arms. You both giggle for a moment as you softly speak to Derpy "Good night Derpy." You smile warmly as she replies "Good night Amber, see you in the morning" as she starts to softly trail off her words letting out another yawn. You pull her close to you and cuddle with her as you reflect upon your day. You think to yourself that if you would have to do it all over again, you wouldn't of done it any other way, because in the end, it's not the interviews, pictures or famous ponies that mattered most, but the friendship of a very special mailmare. You hear Derpy's soft snoring as you start to drift asleep.

 

[END OF CHAPTER 1]