TotalNeon

@, Driftwood overheard Bardic mention food, "the forest we are entering is bountiful, we will be camping, there so you could forage for food." Ahead of them, the entrance of the forest stood as a wall of trees. The sound of wind in their branches could be heard as well as the singing of a bird now and then. Chapter 2: The River in the Woods Zone: the forest Driftwood walked into the woods, the trees were very old and tall and provided shade over the ponies. The whole forest was rich with greenery, many kinds of bushes, plants, and trees grew there. "This is a large forest, and as many times as I have been through it I do not know it all as well as I should. I don't know what dangers lurk here, though I can't say I have ever found any."

@, Driftwood saw the symbol, remembering it instantly, it was most definitely the Hippocamp seal. "That seal was a very old family seal of my caretaker's" he began, "it hasn't been used for centuries, but my guardian and I used to use it when we left notes in the house for each other when I was a colt. It was a sort of in joke." he explained. "I thought that the symbol held no value or meaning to anypony else. Obviously that isn't true." @ "I don't know the true intentions of any of these ponies..." Driftwood said to Bardic in a lower voice. "as long as they are traveling with me however, I will be keeping an eye on them. I doubt that I will even sleep tonight." The group were fast approaching the forest, they were now walking past an open plot of grass and the town's buildings were becoming fewer as they walked.

The pony caravan headed off in the direction of the forest, some local Seaponyport ponies looked curiously at the strange band as they passed by. Driftwood, listening to Fire Sharp and Lightning Chaser's conversation, wondered what they were talking about. "Hey, you two," he turned his head slightly so he could see them in the corner of his eye, "what are you talking about back there?" he faced forward again, he didn't want to walk into another pony, considering what happened the first time he'd done that who knew what would happen the second time.

@, Driftwood recalled his actions that day, "I've been on edge all day" he said solemnly "I'll be fine once we get going. This has all been very... sudden." He approached the wooden cart again and put the saddle of it onto his back and strapped it around his midsection so that he could pull the cart along with him. @@Frosty V, As he finished attaching himself to the cart, Jaeger fell over. Driftwood stared at him, unimpressed for a moment. "If we're all ready, we should leave now. It is noon, and we need to use the daylight we have."

@@Spiritual Nightmare, "We're all here, but some members haven't collected their supplies yet." he looked around at the group "We should be off soon though." @@Durandal, There was definitely an odd air about Soothing Serum, something that didn't sit right in Driftwood's mind... perhaps it was just because of the amount of ponies that had come to join him on this unexpected quest, but he was not quite sure. A pony with medical knowledge would certainly be useful though, especially on a journey such as this. This strange feeling about the pony, however, drove Driftwood to question the unicorn. "Who told you that a caravan was headed to Canterlot?" He looked at Serum harshly. If anything, perhaps she had more information about the sender of the messages he had been picking up.

@, "Another pony for the caravan?" Driftwood stood upright again "Sorry I knocked you over." he said flatly. "The caravan leaves soon, some ponies have gone to get supplies. You should too if you need any." @@Durandal, He turned to the newcomer, a blue unicorn, "I am Driftwood, what is it that you want?"

Driftwood had stood by the trailer, and waited for his companions to return from their supply-gathering. He leaned against the wooden cart and glanced at the familiar seaside town surrounding him. He thought to himself, although he had very few good memories of the place, a part of him was going to miss it. He wasn't sure how long he was going to be gone for, or even if he would return. Driftwood took a moment in himself to take in the old town, cherished it for a little time... then dismissed it. He admitted to himself, he was quite excited for this quest. Though he would never show it.

@, "There are many stores in this town, but you will find the most useful goods at the market in the town centre. There you can get food, tools, maps, things of that sort." Driftwood opened his knapsack "I have with me enough food and water for myself, some directional essentials, namely a compass and a map, and some useful things including a lighter and a blanket. You others might want to get some equipment like that."

"It seems as though we will be traveling together then, I'm sure most of you know that this will be a dangerous trip, be careful in the wild." He said sternly. @, He turned to Bardic, "I am Driftwood." he nodded to the tall unicorn, "We have some time to gather supplies, in a few hours it will be noon. We can reach the forest by tonight, I think" He took out his trusty map, and traced a road along it with his hoof. "It is probably one of the least treacherous places we will stay in on this journey..." He put the map away again "Or of course, we could stay in town overnight and leave tomorrow morning, I prefer not to waste the hours however." he suggested "I have very little money though." he muttered. As for a common acquaintance, Driftwood thought over the very few people he knew. There were, perhaps, friends of the old, widowed mare who used to take care of him, but he didn't know any of them really although they no doubt knew of him. He wasn't sure if they lived in Canterlot, or had business there. "I don't know anypony who lives in Canterlot, the ones that might know me are all old pony folk, not sure what reason they would have of causing a thing like this. Perhaps somepony else has some clues."

@@Moonlight Fire, @@Frosty V,@@Spiritual Nightmare, the sandy pegasus shrugged "All I know is that we all happen to be heading to Canterlot, and we all happened to meet up here. In Seaponyport. Perhaps not all of us were intended to be part of this Caravan, but I know at least that somepony has put a lot of work into getting me to go into town this particular day and find this trailer marked as Caravan Merchandise." He picked the note back up and added it to his pack, putting it in a compartment along with his first note from the anonymous sender. "I'd like to remind you all that there is no shortage of magic in the world, if you want to disband and find some other group to travel with that's alright with me. Perhaps I am wrong and you will find the caravan or ponies you were actually looking for."

@@Frosty V, @@Moonlight Fire, @,@@Spiritual Nightmare, Driftwood took the cargo note in his mouth and put it on the ground in front of the ponies. "See for yourself," he stomped his hoof above the note drawing attention to it "the signature emblem is the Hippocamp seal, which means it's for me." He looked around at them, giving each a glance as he spoke. "We are all traveling to Canterlot, for different reasons yes, and this is our cargo." He looked serious, more serious than usual that is, "a very clever somepony arranged this meeting, at least two of you have been sent here, one of you by the Hippocamp emblem bearer himself it seems." He walked back to the trailer filled with shells "Perhaps somepony knew that the rest of you would be going to Canterlot around this time, I can't say I'm sure of anything if I'm honest." He studied the trailer, it was a standard sort, he would carry it there and find out who had done this and why. "I'm not certain of any other caravans in this area destined for Canterlot, but I am sure that we are the Canterlot Caravan you probably all heard of."

@@Spiritual Nightmare,@,@@Frosty V,@@Moonlight Fire, "Your contact must have paid you a pretty penny..." Driftwood muttered. He approached the odd little gathering of ponies, just as he was about to ask them if they knew of a caravan traveling to Canterlot, he caught a glimpse of something familiar to him. Just ahead of the, now larger, group of ponies, there stood a solitary, rather small wooden trailer, the sort a single pony could carry. Within it was a heap of assorted seashells. Now that was very interesting. Driftwood walked past the group and up to the trailer, there was a note attached to it with the Hippocamp seal on it. CARAVAN MERCHANDISE FOR PROMPT DELIVERY TO CANTERLOT DO NOT ARRIVE WITHOUT IT There were the sort of shells Driftwood's caretaker used to collect and export. That's when it hit him. This little group of ponies was the caravan. He turned around and looked at the assemblage. "I think I know where the caravan to Canterlot is." He started, "It's us."

@@Spiritual Nightmare, Driftwood was impressed, it seemed as though Lightning Chaser knew he was trying to find malice in him. "If you want to put your life on the line traveling to Canterlot, fine. I just had to make sure you realise what might happen." He looked onward, the other pegasus he spotted approaching him earlier was conversing with two unicorns, a tall foreign looking one, and a pale mare. He started walking towards them, "Come on, Canterlot is this way. I heard one of these ponies talking about a caravan also."

@@Fox801, "No, no that won't do any good. I'm stupid really, I should have looked at the house first" She laughed, worriedly, "they won't let me have a new house, I signed a contract and everything..." She found her new house key and unlocked the door. It creaked as it opened, revealing a hallway leading into a kitchen. A staircase and a door were also present in the hallway. The house didn't look so bad on the inside, the floorboards weren't rotten at least. "Don't worry Music, I can get this place fixed up in time... " she dragged her luggage through the doorway and left it at the bottom of the stairs. She looked at the drab, grey walls. Some paint on the walls should get this place looking a little better, maybe even some murals... she thought to herself. She invited Music into the house and wandered into the kitchen.

@@Spiritual Nightmare, "Come along with me to Canterlot...?" He paused. Driftwood was not a social creature, and his introverted nature caused him to believe he could make it to Canterlot alone and without aid. His more logical side, however, suggested to him that a traveling companion would be beneficial. Safety in numbers and all that. It was unlikely that this pony was an assassin, Driftwood had a small ego, he knew that he was defiantly not valuable enough to be hunted down, what purpose would that serve? The stranger could also be a thief, but Driftwood carried nothing of real value, and barely any bits. "Maybe." He decided after a while of thought. "But it is a long way, not just an idle field trip, this will be a harsh journey." He gave the pony a stern look "Are you sure you want to go?"

@@Spiritual Nightmare, "I'm not monster." Driftwood responded. "I must leave soon, it's a long way to Canterlot and I need to find out who sent me this message. Any information you have will help me very much". He put the white paper back into his pack "It is a very personal matter, you see. That emblem is not widely know."

@@Spiritual Nightmare, "Somepony sent you?" He pondered for a moment, then took the message out of his knapsack once again looking at the emblem. This was all very mysterious, a pony sent to him and an illusive message appearing in his house bearing a lost seal known to few. "Who sent you? It is important that you tell me." He ordered, never breaking his unfeeling expression.

@@Spiritual Nightmare, Driftwood grunted at the bespectacled pegasus before him. "Driftwood." he answered plainly, a little way behind the white pony, a dark grey pegasus was approaching with a smile. "You're all making a big scene here, I'm disliked well enough as it is." he said rolling his eyes, becoming a little bit annoyed. The newest pony had said something about a caravan quietly to themselves, Driftwood thought for a moment. "Was this planned? Did one of you plant this message in my house?" Driftwood demanded. No, they couldn't have. These strange ponies couldn't have known the Hippocamp seal. Perhaps fate was intervening with his little trip? No. That's just nonsense. He sighed, and looked past Lightning Chaser at the grey pegasus "I think you have the wrong group. We are gathered only on account of a minor accident."

@@Spiritual Nightmare, @, "C-Can you help me?" a white pegasus called to Driftwood, and started trotting along behind him. Driftwood glanced back at him, then continued trotting onwards ignoring the distressed pony. However, as he looked forward again, he was greeted with an Eden coloured unicorn butting right into him causing him to trip over her and onto the floor. He grumbled, and arose, but his expression of indifference did not change.

Driftwood, the sand coloured Pegasus, began walking up the main street of Seaponyport. As he walked, he took the curious message he had found in his house out of his knapsack and examined it more closely. He noticed a seal, depicting a hippocamp (a horse with the bottom half of a fish) with three shells above it, the midmost one being larger than the other two. Driftwood recognised the seal immediately, and stuffed the message back into his pack. Now he knew that whoever was at Canterlot, they were certainly not joking around. He began to trot up the path, taking care to avoid the other ponies and resisting every urge to open his wings.

~ Click here for the OOC thread ~ Please re-read the OP of the OOC thread, I have updated the rules THE CANTERLOT CARAVAN Chapter 1: The Edge of Equestria Zone: Seaponyport Town / Beach On a beach on the edge of Equestria, a sandy brown Pegasus sauntered along the sand dragging his hooves as he went. He stopped for a moment and examined one of his wings, then continued walking. He was walking towards a little single-floor house just past the beach, a white building with a flat roof, a couple of seagulls stood on top of it and called. The stallion pushed open the door to the house, the inside was dark yellow due to the blinds covering the only source of light in the room. Besides the blinds, the room appeared to be part kitchen, part dining room. He looked as his right wing again, the bandage was still there, unsurprisingly, and the wing was most likely still broken, as it hurt when he tried to move it. He sighed and sat at the polished, solid pine dining table. He looked at the cork board to his left, nothing out of the ordainary. Or wait... He turned and looked again at the notice board, a white A4 sized sheet had been blatantly pinned to it where there had been none before. Curious, and angry at the notion that somepony had broken into his home, the Pegasus plucked the paper from among the old photographs and drawings. MEET YOU IN CANTERLOT Dumbfounded, and still annoyed, the pony looked around his small abode. Nothing appeared to have been stolen, whoever this pony was they went through some trouble just to post this message on his kitchen cork board. He decided that going to Canterlot would not be so hard, and would probably do him no harm. Probably. Besides, it had been a while since he had wandered the land in search of adventure and answers and whatever else came with it. The stallion picked up his adventuring knapsack, emptying it of rotten food, replacing it with wayfarer bread, and taking a few essential items with him for long distance travel. Namely a compass, a map of Equestria, a bottle of water, a fleece blanket, and a lighter. The flightless Pegasus locked the door behind him as he left his only home and started heading towards the seaside town, the town was called Seaponyport and was famous among travelers. Its taverns were full constantly, and many of the ponies walking its streets were not residents of Seaponyport. Seaponyport had many other establishments also, tourist shops, restaurants, commercial stores of all sorts, a guild for adventurers was also rooted here.

Sorry about that, the book was a bit of a spur-of-the-moment decision, I suppose he does look a bit silly with it here's him without the book, I'm glad you liked it anyway!

Your request is finished! Hope you like it I thought he'd look cool with a book in his mouth, after seeing the other images of him, but if you don't want it I can edit it out I'm glad you like it so much It was a fun pose to draw you're very welcome! Your request is done! I hope it's what you had in mind, this one was a bit more complicated

Finished your request! Hope you like it These requests all sound fine Adding you all to the list right now! And thanks for your compliments