A New Home (Continued)

The bell chimed as Fireseeker entered Sugarcube Corner. The pleasant smell of freshly baked treats wafted towards him, making him sigh with delight.

He gestured towards the counter and spoke to Kid.

"Pick whatever you like."

Kid wasn't used to the smell of treats, and although a pleasent scent. It was sickeningly sweet. It would take him a little while before he could handle the scent.

Kid trotted over to the glass counter and looked over all the treats, all of them either had tonnes of sugar, doused in frosting or both!

He looked it over for awhile, before finally deciding on the plainly sugared donut. Deciding it was possibly the only thing there that wouldn't make him freak out on a sugar rush. He had experienced one of those before...not fun.

"Uhhmm...I would like that one!" He smiled as he pointed towards the donut. "Please and thank you."

"Sure."

Fireseeker ordered the donut and a blueberry muffin for himself, as well as two glasses of lemonade from the energetic pink mare behind the counter.

He opened his wings and balanced everything on a tray, heading over to a table and sitting down.

Kid followed along and sat down, smiling. He hadn't realized how hungry he was from riding (and hiding) on the train from Manehatten to Ponyville. He started to eat the donut, when he realized, he was going to need an income in order to actually do anything.

"Hey, Fireseeker..." Kid started as he continued to enjoy the donut. "You wouldn't happen to know where I could get a job or buy(or)rent a place to live, now would you?"

Fireseeker wished he hadn't been drinking his lemonade when Kid asked that question. After choking down the liquid and spluttering heavily, he cleared his throat to speak.

"Honestly, I don't really know," he admitted. "I can imagine it might be difficult for you to get a job here..."

Fireseeker took a bite of his muffin then settled down and looked at the colt.

"So Kid, why don't you tell me your story? What are you doing here, alone?

Kid shifted uncomfortably at the question. He knew that it was inevitable that it was going to be asked, but still. He just made a new friend...he didn't want to lose him in 10 seconds flat.

"Welll...uhhh...you know...homeless...manehatten..." Kid said as he shifted around, trying to avoid eye-contact at all costs while still eating his donut. "heard of ponyville...liked it..."

Kid found himself at a loss of words that didn't make him sound like some sort of character from a poorly written story.

Fireseeker just sat and listened to Kid talk. Being a writer, he was used to piecing stories together from little bits of information and small ideas.

Of course, the most obvious and possibly most painful question had yet to be answered. Fireseeker almost dreaded it but he figured he had to ask it sooner or later. Might as well be sooner...

"Do you...do you have parents? Or did they...are they...gone?"

Kid shifted around some more as he was starting to get more and more uncomfortable.

"Honestly...I have no clue..." Kid sighed as he finished the donut, his expression becoming more serious. Making him look much older. "I was just... abandoned...the only thing I gathered about my parents is that they are alive, they just couldn't stand me."

Kid sniffled a tad, but he didn't cry. He refused to do so, tears just bring pain.

"Well then, lets change the subject." Kid smiled weakly as he still fought back tears. "Before this turns into some sorta melodrama where we go searching for my long lost parents."

Kid laughed weakly at his joke.

As expected, it was clear to see that it was a bad subject. Anypony with half a brain could see that Kid was on the verge of crying yet he held back strongly. Fireseeker quickly changed it before anything bad happened.

"So, it sounds like you don't have a lot of bits, if any. So how exactly did you afford a train from Manehatten to Ponyville?" he inquired.

Kid looked guilty as he looked downwards at the ground. Another inevitable a question, another question without a good answer. What is up with this pegasus and asking hard questions? Well, to anypony else they wouldn't really be hard questions.

"I...I...I didn't..." Kid admitted as he sighed in guilt. "I hid in one of the abandoned train compartments."

Kid's face was tensing up. He didn't want to cry and as long as he had any say in it, he wasn't.

Then Fireseeker did something unexpected. He laughed.

"Really? Ha, nice one Kid," he said, grinning. He had finally figured it out too.

"Ya know, you asked me why I was so willing to help you. Well, I think I can answer that. You remind me, of myself."

Fireseeker leant back in his chair and relaxed.

"I left my home as soon as I was old enough and went out to do what I wanted to. To go out an adventure. Just like you."

"Really? You went on an actual adventure!?" Kid looked at Fireseeker with admiration. "I will be honest, i'm not an adventurer... nor am I on an adventure. I just thought it sounded less depressing than 'homeless!'"

Kid started to think for a minute or so.

"You know what though, I might go on an actual adventure someday!" Kid smiled towards Fireseeker. "You could come along too! With your experience, and my...well...whatever my talent is. We will become world-renowned adventurers!"

Fireseeker ended up laughing again.

"I wouldn't call myself an 'adventurer' Kid. I'm really just a writer. I've travelled across much of Equestria, visiting different places, meeting different people and coming across lots of different problems," he explained, before rubbing his chin. "Actually, come to think of it, that is kind of adventuring..."

"That's awesome!" Kid exclaimed, with admiration shining in his eyes "A real adventurer just bought me a donut!"

Kid's grin was so large that his face looked like it was going to crack. To think, in just a few days that he has switched from being called worthless trash by a guard in Manehatten to having an adventurer buy him a donut. Life just kept getting better!

"So, what kind of adventures have you been on?" Kid asked, anxious to hear tales of great bravery and valor. "How many princesses have you saved? Have you ever met a sea-pony? Did you ever have to fight a dragon?"

The admiration and eagerness overflowing from Kid was hard to believe. Fireseeker was struggling not to laugh again.

Yes, this colt definitely reminds me of myself.

"Well..." he began, tapping a hoof to his chin as he remembered, "I've never saved a princess. I caught a glimpse of what may have been a group of sea ponies. And yes, I fought a dragon once...or twice. It wan't pretty, let me tell you..."

"Woow!!" Kid admired as he sat on the edge of his seat, eagerly listening to what Fireseeker was saying. "Go on! What was it like!? What did they look like!? How'd you beat em!? Did they give you their treasures afterwards!? Did they try to burn you with their fire breath!?"

Kid wasn't sure if he'd ever get over the fact he was talking to a REAL adventurer! Somepony who has actually traveled to place to place. Other than to simply go from point A to point B.

Fireseeker was really starting to into his story telling swing.

"I'll tell you."

He folded his front hooves together over the table, looked Kid in the eye, and spoke in a low voice.

"I was flying low over woods near Baltimare, steering clear of the mountains. All of a sudden, I heard a cry for help. Landing near the sound, I find any earth pony called Compass.
She was a real adventurer, and she told me that she had tripped and fallen, with a rock trapping one of her legs. I barely managed to lift the rock away and as I did, she screamed in pain. Her leg was twisted quite badly so she could only hobble at best. Anymore pressure and she just screamed again.
Of course, neither of us heard the loud breathing or growling behind us..."

Kid was on the edge of his seat, listening carefully to every word.

"And then? And then?" Kid asked repeatetly, anxious to hear the rest of the story. "Was it a dragon?"

Fireseeker nodded in response.

"It was. He wasn't happy about being woken up. From there..."

He raised a hoof and scratched the back of his neck.

"Things get a little blurry. One thing lead to another and in the end...he somehow ended up with a landslide landing on his tail and trapping him, whilst I carried Compass on my back as I flew away."

"Wooooooowwww!!!" Kid said as he admired the pegasus. "What happend after that? huh? did you and compass get married and live happily ever after?"

Kid was lost in his own fantasy world of adventurers, damsels in distress and happily ever afters. Expecting to hear a response in the positive he sat there excited.

Suddenly blushing a little, Fireseeker let out a startled laugh.

"No, no, no. Nothing like that," he hastily replied, "She, urm, thanked me and we parted ways. We wrote a couple letters back and forth but it's hard to stay in contact when you travel a lot like I did."

Fireseeker then realised he had been talking a lot for quite a while. How had this turned into story time?

Kid was slightly disappointed at hearing that the two didn't get married. At the same time, feeling stupid for not knowing better.

"Well that stinks that the two of you didn't stay a couple." Kid commented. "But if you did, you wouldn't have been able to go on as many adventures as you wanted."

Kid then looked at the tall glass of lemonade still fool sitting on the table. He still wasn't fully certain if Fireseeker had meant it for him or not.

"Yeah, I d-dunno if that would have worked between us," stuttered Fireseeker, his blush finally beginning to fade.

He noticed Kid eyeing up the lemonade. Grinning, he nudged the glass towards the colt to answer his unspoken question.

"So what about you Kid? Any tales of life as a 'nomad'?"

Kid smiled as he took a sip from his lemonade. Glad he got something to drink that wasn't from a rain well in the slums of Manehatten.

"Well, I have one or two I guess." Kid said, not sure if his stories were nearly as interesting or heroic as Fireseeker's. "But none of mine really involve me being an amazing hero and rescuing somepony."

"Ah, I bet they are good," encouraged Fireseeker, "Besides, it was barely a rescue. More like an accidental meeting and a dragon just happened to be there too."

Although he seemed reluctant to talk too much about himself before, Fireseeker hoped that he had proved to Kid that he was friendly enough to share stories with.