#kaliq

Original :

Keira sat in front of her canvas, clearly still shaken by her lack of confidence. All she could think of is how she was too afraid to be in front of a crowd. It just didn’t make any sense to her how any pony seemed to get over their fears so easily while she sat and cowered every time something that scared her was mentioned.

While painting, she made a mistake, which really didn’t help her mood at all. With a groan of despair, she did her best to fix the mistake and set her brush done on the easel.

Keira: I can’t even paint right! Isn’t this just great? Is there anything I can do without making a mess of things?!

Shortly, she noticed that her pet gecko Kaliq had crawled into the room. The small lizard climbed onto Keira’s shoulder and flicked his tongue.

Keira: Kaliq, do you think I’ll even get the courage to be a better pony? I hate feeling like I’m just a burden to every pony just because I’m afraid to do what most ponies do.

The lizard blinked a couple times, flicked his tongue out again, and scampered off her shoulder to do something else.

As Kaliq ran off, Keira sighed sadly. Even though her pet hadn’t given any real indication that it agreed with Keira’s inner thoughts, she still took as such.

Keira: Yeah, that’s kind of what I thought...

Instead of walking all the way home through another gathering crowd, Discord teleported both of them back to Keira’s house.

Keira: Whew. Thank goodness for that. I don’t think I could push through another crowd.

Discord: So now what can we do?

Keira: Well, I still need to get Rainbow Dash a gift. I think painting her something would be great!

Discord: Ooh, goodie! I get to watch you paint again!

Keira: Discord, this isn’t anything new. You watch me paint all the time.

Discord: But I enjoy watching you paint! What’s wrong with that?

It didn’t take a whole lot of time to get started since Keira had already been thinking about what she should paint for Rainbow Dash.

Discord: It seems to me like Kaliq is really into your painting!

Keira: Glad he likes it. I just hope I can say the same for Rainbow Dash when it’s done.

Discord: Oh, nonsense. She love just as much as I-

A knock rang out on the door, causing the couple to whirl around. Kaliq scuttled off elsewhere.

Discord: Didn’t you close the shop down today?

Back in Ponyville, Discord was up to his usual brand of weird.

Discord: That kind of music just soothes the soul! I reminisce about the days of old. With that old timey rock-and roll! Take it Q! The fish blinked once and swam in circles happily. Kaliq sat on top of the canvases and stared blankly at Discord.

At first Keira was going to attempt to get Quincy down, but shortly another vine came in the house. This one had an easel and Kaliq on it. It was then Keira decided to try to make it outside to see what was going on.

Keira: That’s really weird... Why are there vines everywhere? And why is the sky split into night and day? What’s going on?

Just then, Fluttershy zipped to her.

Fluttershy: Oh, Keira! This is just awful!

Keira: What’s going on?

Fluttershy: I don’t know! No pony knows! We’ve got to make it back to town square!

Discord: There was this forest near Fluttershy’s house. She said that was the Everfree Forest and said it was a scary place. Could we perhaps take a visit? Keira: Sure we can. Kaliq, watch the shop. The gecko blinked and with a snap of Discord’s fingers, they were outside of the forest.