It had been three weeks ago since the dark purple filly had ran away from her father's house, three weeks ago since she had started on her journey to find her mother, three weeks since she cropped off her entire tail and most of her mane, and three weeks since she charmed her once colorful mane into the blood red with a blue streak it currently was. The filly has never been as tired and sore and hungry as she was now. Being on the road so much, it was hard to sleep long, find food, or relax her sore muscles. The journey had been worth it though. The sun had set an hour ago, but she could still see the lit streets of her destination, Ponyville. The filly around town awhile before coming across a large orchard. She decided it was as good a place to rest as any, so she trotted in and lied down under a big apple tree. Sleep came quickly, and the filly fell into the first peaceful sleep she'd had in a long time.

The purple filly awoke to find a yellow face right in her own. The filly leaned back to take in the yellow mare with a pink mane. She looked to be in her early twenties. "Howdy," said the yellow mare, "what's yer name?"

The filly gulped, "I-i'm Shayde."

The yellow mare smiled and took a step back, "I'm Applebloom. Nice to meet ya Shayde. Welcome to the Apple orchards, wanna come in side and clean up a bit?"

Shayde only nodded standing to follow the kind mare. Shayde tilted her head to the side as she looked at Applebloom's hammer cutie mark. "What's your cutie mark mean?"

Applebloom smiled, "That's easy. It shows i'm good at construction. I got it when me and my friends accidentally broke the barn and had to repair it before anyone woke up." Shayde nodded before falling silent. This mare seemed kind enough but Shayde was still weary.

Shayde was surprised when, upon entering the dinning room, she found five other ponies there. There was a white mare with pink and purple mane, an orange mare with a purple mane, a red stallion with a blonde mane, an old green mare with a white mane, and an orange one with a blonde mane. Applebloom had announced to them all our arrival by saying, "We got guest, if that's alright by you Applejack."

Applejack, the orange mare with a blonde mane, nodded, "Fine by me. So what's your name sugar-cube?"

Shayde blushed slightly, not used to all the attention, "M-my name's Shayde and before any of you ask i'm a girl."
The purple-maned orange one spoke up, "No worries about that here in Ponyville. Back when I was a filly, I kept my hair short and there never was a problem. Granted, I had a tail so they may have judged off of that...I'm Scootaloo, by the way."

Shayde smiled and nodded, warming up to Scootaloo's bold personality. It reminded Shayde of her dad.

Shayde took her seat at the table and quickly joined in the breakfast chatter. When breakfast was over Applebloom and her two friends, Scootaloo and Sweetiebell, offered to show Shayde around town. Shayde accepted the offer and the quartet were off exploring the town. Shayde quickly learned, despite being full grown mares, the trio still acted like a group of fillies.

It was half through this tour that Scootaloo finally noticed something, "Shayde," Scoot started, grabbing the filly's attention, "I just noticed, you don't have a cutie mark."

Shayde blushed and tried to hide behind what there was of her mane to no avail.

Sweetie bell, the white mare from breakfast, giggled and chimed out, "Maybe she can be the founder of the next generation of Cutie Mark Crusaders."

Shayde uncurled from her ball a little to say, "The Cutie what?"

Now it was Applebloom's turn to speak, "The Cutie Mark Crusaders is a little group me and the girls made as fillies to work together to find our cutie marks since none of us had one at the time. We had a song and capes and even a club house."

Shayde nodded in understanding, "Could I see this club house?"

The mares all nodded and raced off after one yelled, "Follow us!" Shayde was running faster then she ever had just to keep up, but she didn't mind. She was just hoping the club house was in good enough condition she could secretly use it as her home while in Ponyville, seeing as she had no where else to go.

When the four ponies got to the clubhouse, Shayde saw a fact that devastated her. The clubhouse was horribly rundown from harshness of nature and dis-use. Applebloom saw the disappointed look on Shayde's face and asked the filly, "What's wrong Shayde?"

Shayde just look at the ground as she drew circles in the dirt. Applebloom quickly realized the problem and started cautiously, "Do you have anywhere to stay while in Ponyville?" Shayde shook her head.

Sweetiebell smiled, "Well you can stay with me. I recently got my own place and could use some help settling in. A guest would be the perfect help."

Shayde looked up hopefully, "Yo-you'd really l-let me..stay at your house..with you?"

Sweetie bell nodded, "Of course, come on. Let's show you to your new home." Shayde smiled, “Thank you.”

Scootaloo smiled, “So why is a filly like yourself traveling alone anyways. Are you a runaway?”

Shayde blushed at the accusation, “N-no, my dad knows where I am and that I left and gave me permission to do so. I came to Ponyville because he said this is where I could find my mom.”

The three mares looked at each other before Applebloom finally said, “So you've never met your mom but you know she's somepony in Ponyville? So who is it?”

Shayde shrugged, “I'm not too sure. I don't know her name or what she looks like. I'll know her by her personality though. Dad's told many stories about her.”

The mares nodded, then Sweetiebell sing-songed, “Time to go to my house!” The white mare then sprinted off, leaving the other three ponies to chase after her.

Author's Note

For a better idea of what Shayde looks like, you can look at the picture of my Shimeji of her: http://aydenshade.deviantart.com/art/Shayde-Shimeji-376585789?q=gallery%3Aaydenshade&qo=0