A New Life

Chapters

The Everfree Forest
The Mane 6
Prologue

The Everfree Forest

I had wandered Equestria for the last 7 years, with not a care in the world for where I went or what I did. I was a free Pegasus, and I didn't have to worry about anything else. But my amount of money had gone low, only spending it on water and small portions of veggie sandwiches. So as a result of that, I was a skinny, streamlined pony that was very quick and agile. Not as fast as the Wonderbolts, of course.

I bought a map of Equestria with 2 of the 13 bits I had left to search what town I could go to. I browsed the map while eating a tulip sandwich. Manehattan was too crowded, Canterlot had too many memories, and Fillydelphia wasn't my sort of place. I was looking for a quiet town, with nice residents and nopony that would cause me harm like a certain one had a week back in a small village. The older colt had his gang with him so it wasn't a fair fight. I had tried to fly away, but one of the bastards had flown up and grabbed my leg to drag me back down. After beating the living hell out of me, they just left me on the ground to suffer, to bleed from my wings, which were both broken, and my right back leg, which had been cut open by one of those idiots(he had a freaking knife). I took a look at those areas, which had been clumsily wrapped in a bandage by me. My wings hadn't fully recovered, and my leg had yet to mend, and I WAS NOT GOING TO VISIT A HOPITAL. I didn't have enough bits, and I was determined to let my leg and wings fix on its own, regardless of the pain.

Not to mention my streak of bad luck I've had since I was a colt. It had started with my parents and gone on from there. I shook my head free of the memory of when my mother died, and continued to look at the map. I saw the small town located away from all the major cities, a quiet place called Ponville. But to get there...would mean going through the Everfree Forest... whatever. I was going to get there, no matter what. I would have just flown, but thanks to those jerks at the last town, I couldn't. So I was forced to walk. I gathered supplies at a side store along the way and marched to the very edge of the forest. Sure I was young, but I was brave. Some ponies spotted me and asked what I was doing. Then I sprinted inside. I heard the ponies calling out my name, telling me to come back. But there was no turning back. I was going to a new life. I was a Pegasus with no bounds after all.

Or so I thought when I saw the paw lunge at me. I stepped back ready to face whatever had tried to strike. It stepped out of the bushes, and what I saw almost made me have a heart attack. It was a manticore. A full grown one, too. He ranged in at around 3 times as big as me, so what could I do? I ran like hell. I could hear his hot, foul breath right behind me as I tore through the branches in front of me, so I put as much use of my legs as I could into me. I leapt over each fallen branch and giant stone effortlessly, while that manticore had to barrel through them, slowing him down by a lot. Oh, and why he wasn't using his wings, I don't know. My only guess was that he was far too fat use them. Another disadvantage. Too fat to keep up with me. The thought brought a smirk to my face. I only halted when I heard he wasn't behind me anymore. He literally stopped chasing me after only 30 seconds, but it had felt like hours. As I came to a stop in the forest, I heard a rustle in the leaves. Then another rustle. I poked my head through the branches, only to see a parasprite looking happily at me. He was cute, but I knew what these things could do. They can devastate whole cites, and it would only take one little bug.

I started to walk in the other direction when it hit me. Not a realization. A foul smell. A timber wolf. And before I knew it, he was on top of me, his jaws ready to clamp on my head. But I wasn't going down without a fight. I hit the damn thing in the head so hard I knocked him off and got to my feet. The animal was ready before I was, though. He leapt on me and started chewing my leg and shaking me around like I was a rag doll. And his leg of choice was my wounded leg. Suddenly, the same manticore that was chasing me a few minutes ago jumped out of its hiding place and sunk his teeth into the timber wolf's back. He yelped in pain and suddenly released me and sent me swinging into a tree. My head and back took the worst of the impact, so I sunk to the ground bleeding and coughing blood. I checked my leg while the two alpha predators battled it out. It was a mess. The flesh had been shredded down right to the bone and I could barely touch it without getting lightheaded and faint. I had to get out of here. I faded into the leaves before the combatting beasts. I shouldn't stay and wait to see who won. I bolted fast as I can on my injured leg, causing me to wince in pain every single time I placed my hoof on the ground. I could only keep a heavy limp on the rest of my way to Ponyville. I had to get there, fast, or I would collapse from blood loss and shock and probably die on the forest floor. A tall order for only a 13 year-old pony. It was so long since I had gotten away from the two apex predators. I had lost at least a quarter of my blood now, and my vision was only half of what it used to be.

I saw a patch of light to my left and walked toward. It was like a dream. I had lost so much blood I could barely keep upright. I stubled out n the patch of light and I saw it. A barn. With a sign. Sweet Apple Acres. I chuckled in surprise. This was the place where I was headed. Then I collapsed onto the ground, unable to take anymore of this. My head hit the ground, and then I spurted blood out of my mouth. But right before my eyes closed, they were met by an orange mare's lively green eyes.

The Mane 6

I awoke in a hospital, where I heard a distorted voice say, "He'll be alright, although it looks like something had ripped his leg apart." I stirred in the bed and then I opened my eyes. I was surrounded by 7 ponies, one of which was the mare that I had seen right before I blacked out. The other six were as follows: a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane, a pink earth pony with a pink mane, a white unicorn that had a deep purple mane, another pegasus who was yellow and had a pink mane, that she was trying to hide behind, a nurse earth pony, and...an alicorn?! I opened my eyes slightly further and saw that it indeed was an alicorn, somepony they called Twilight Sparkle. I remember rumors of her becoming a princess a few months back in Manehattan, and now I was face to face with her!

"Hi there!!! I'm Pinkie Pie!!! What's your name?!" the pink earth pony shouted with a bit TOO much enthusiasm. I just looked away and closed my eyes.

"There, there Pinkie," the cyan one said, "he's just nervous." Of course I was nervous. I was lying down in front of royalty! That's not the way to greet them! I just scooted further away from the group in my bed, then I felt a jolt of pain through my back. I flinched and gasped in front of the seven.

"You might want stop moving, or you could get worse," the nurse said," You're lucky Applejack here found you outside of the Everfree forest. What in the name of Celestia were you doing in there?" No response. I may have forgotten to mention earlier that I was very shy, to the point I avoided contact with almost everypony else. Shy but brave. How ironic. The nurse told me how Applejack came bursting in with me on her back, followed by her five friends. "You had the mauled leg, broken wings, that gash on your head that took 30 stiches, and worst of all, your back. It was crooked at the middle. You're lucky it wasn't broken." She walked out, leaving me with the six.

"I mended your back for you," Twilight said, "It'll only hurt if you move a lot." I gave her a small smile in gratitude. One by one they filed out, leaving me by myself alone in the room. But I could still hear their voices.

"He doesn't have enough bits to stay at any of the inns," I heard the princess say, " Should he stay with one of us?" I rolled my eyes at this. I wouldn't mind sleeping out in the open. I was used to it after all.

"How 'bout you, Rainbow Dash?" one of them said.

"Maybe, he does need a home," I heard Rainbow clarified. Then I rolled my eyes again.

"Great! We'll just have to wait for him to recover, then send him to your home, got it?" It was a voice with an accent this time, like "fancy talk." I felt drowsiness coming on, as soon as I heard them walk away, then I closed my eyes and drifted off into sleep.

Prologue

I was a small colt when I was born, with brown fur, a black mane and forest green eyes. And I was an orphan. I had lost my father before I came into this world, due to a murderer stabbing him multiple times in the neck for unknown reasons. My mother had died during labor, because a doctor had messed up a machine connected to my her that pumped vital liquid into her body. So she died as I came into the world, barely making a sound. I was forced into a Canterlot orphanage after a year or two, to keep any trouble inside me controlled. But they let me go to flight school, and I discovered my special talent didn't involve flying, but something unexpected.

Dragons. Yes, dragons. I ran into one after attempting to run away from the orphanage. I ran into a teenage dragon by the looks of it, and he wasn't too happy with me getting into his personal space. Come on, I only ran into his eyeball once, is that really something to worry about? Anyway, he grabbed me by my leg and was prepared to just drop me in his mouth when the instinct to survive kicked in. I turned and kicked him in his one weak spot. The base of his skull. That kick snapped his spinal cord in two. He dropped dad to the ground and released from his iron grip. I just flew away like it was nothing, and left his body for the vultures.

As I was flying, I realized my cutie mark had appeared! A dragon skull was the mark of what I had done to save my rump. And only at the age of 6! Of course I got into immense trouble with the orphanage when I came back, so the cranky owner just kicked me out. Just like that. He did me huge favor that day and gave me a sack of 500 bits, exactly. So this is where my adventure really begins, when I start wandering Equestria for new friends and a new life...