Fifty Neighs of Gray: The Mystery Pony

A few days had passed after that frantic day of book chasing and utter confusion, but things had returned to normal, as they always would have. The events of that day were still fresh in the minds of the six ponies involved and they still laughed at the insanity that ensued because of one silly book. Each of their unique stories had been told over lunch after the ordeal had been resolved: how Rarity thought Sweetie Belle got the book from somewhere and blamed herself for her nonexistent habits, how Applejack thought Rarity left it out and Sweetie Belle accidentally brought it with her (and also how she got wrangled into quilting for the first time), all the way to what Fluttershy thought of the little bit she had read of the book.

However, no matter how many times they each recounted the story from their unique perspectives, they could not figure out the most prevalent, most important mystery of all: who dropped the book off at the library in the first place? Twilight's memory of the shadow she saw was still fresh, but there was nothing of use she could pull from what she saw: a silhouette of a pony running away before rounding a corner and disappearing from view. No colors, no cutie mark, no gender. The only thing they could assume was that they were not a pegasus, because why would a pegasus run on the ground when they could fly and get away much quicker?

They all settled with the fact that they would never find out and it would be best for them to forget about trying to solve the classic mystery case of "who done it?"

Twilight continued to read and eventually finish the novel (enjoying every word of it) and set up times to spend with Rarity to talk about their favorite erotica. Rarity began exporting her old books to Twilight while making sure to be the best role model possible for her little sister. Rainbow Dash, now better educated in reptile reproduction, taught Tank and helped him become a safer tortoise (even if he was not sexually active in the first place.) Fluttershy was completely fine and eventually ended up reading the book after Twilight, just to prove to the others that she could handle it, and, although it might not have been to the same extent as Twilight, she did enjoy the writing and plot of the story. Pinkie Pie was totally unaffected by the whole ordeal, since she had the least amount of contact with the book (despite reading the entire thing); however, she was now aware of what ponies had been doing all this time when she would accidentally walk in on their "secret wrestling matches." The Cakes managed to fight off the storm of peeved customers, but they decided to take the next two days off to get some much-needed and well-earned R&R.

Applejack was also mostly unaffected by the chaotic impact of the book, but she began taking part in more of the Crusaders' cutie-mark-gaining attempts, bringing her closer to both her younger sister and her friends. The farmer's family certainly found the whole story about the novel funny, sans Apple Bloom due to her age, but one pony in particular seemed a little off about it. She could not put her hoof on what it was, but he almost seemed uneasy when she had first told them about the book…

It was dark in the loft of the barn, hay bales scattered about and spare tools that had been tossed up there to be kept out of the way sat around. As the lantern cast its light onto the dark surfaces, its luminescents ebbed and flowed with the flickering flame, all in time to its moving container. The stallion was careful not to drop it, wanting to keep his family's barn from burning to the ground because of an accident. He set down the light source and moved to a loose board in the floor, raising it up to reveal a hidden compartment. Inside were books, at least five, each of varying size and colors, but they all had one thing in common.

"Applejack was close to findin' me out… too close," a deep voice came, "But these are worth it." He reached in and grabbed at a book with a black cover, gold print on the front reading "Fifty Neighs Darker."

"Ah knew it was risky leavin' that book at Twilight's, but what else was Ah supposed to do? Ah can't keep hoardin' these things, 'cause Ah'll run outta space," he reasoned, "And Ah couldn't bare just tossin' it into the woods or somethin'; it's too good for that."

Slowly, he worked his way over to a secluded part of the upper story: a crawl space behind some bales of hay that were stacked to keep light from getting out and possibly being seen from outside. It also doubled as a hiding spot for if somepony were to venture up there unexpectedly.

"It was even more risky stoppin' at the library in the daylight, but because of how Applejack was on mah case about runnin' errands that morning and seein' as how Ah'd just finished the book, Ah figured it'd be early enough that nopony would see me do it." He gave a sigh before continuing his monologue. "Ah was not, however, expectin' the darned thing to be so loud when Ah dropped it in. Made me wish Ah'd waited 'til later that night to do it."

He thought for a moment, going back over everything he had been told had happened, wondering if all of the stress and worry that took place was all his fault. He shook his head. "No. Ah did the right thing. Besides, everythin' turned out fine. Nopony got hurt."

The stallion flipped open the novel to the spot he had marked, the top corner of the page folded over at the beginning of chapter three.

"Now, where did Ah leave off…?"

It's Big Mac for those of you who had any doubt. :P

So that's it: Fifty Neighs of Gray is finished. There are no other chapters to wait for. I do have another story idea in the works, but I've yet to even come close to starting to write it, so it'll be a good while before the next story is out. It's another great idea, if I do say so.

I know that one of the things I absolutely hate about reading stories is that empty feeling you get when you're done. You've finished this thing that you've invested your time and emotions into, but now it's over and there is nothing left and no more to come. It sucks, period. Sometimes it would take me days to get over it, depending on the quality of the story and how long it was. That's why I'm writing this little after-story monologue. It's to kinda ease you down and away from the story and help you feel a little more resolved (for those who suffer from the same issue as me.)

So what did you think? Good story? Anything you would've done differently? Did the characters seem to stay true to who they are in the show?

I know I spent a lot of time making sure these chapters were how I wanted them to be (a process of which contained typing the chapter; reading it when it was done; having a close friend and fellow writer read them over; going through each to make sure punctuation and grammar were correct; conducting research on whether or not something was written correctly; reading through every single chapter [yet again] after all of the chapters were completed; going through and bolding, italicizing, and putting in page breaks in their appropriate places in the FanFiction document editor; and then finally posting each on time, all the while making changes and rereading them to make sure I liked them.)

If you couldn't tell, I take my writing seriously. While I know I'm not perfect nor the best writer out there, I take pride in my work, because I know I'm much better than when I first started and I wouldn't be where I am today if I hadn't stuck with it.

Listen to me, I'm talking about an MLP fanfiction like I did something important and worthwhile in my life. But that's the thing: this is just practice; it may be silly fanfictions now, but one day I may be writing best-sellers across the world. You never know. I believe that as long as you're improving in your craft, you are doing everything right.

There, how's a motivational pep talk for a way to transition back into the real world? I hope you enjoyed it! Same goes for my story. Like I said, I've put a lot of work into it and it's all in the hopes of people enjoying what I produce. So with all of that being said, I'm gonna go ahead and head on out. Please feel free to leave a review stating what you liked, what you didn't care for, what you think I could've done better, what doesn't make sense, anything! Or, if you're feeling really courageous, shoot me a PM if you have any questions or would just like to talk and I'll get right back to you. I love talking to new people!

All right, that's all. So until next time, have fun writing/reading/doing whatever,

-PSG