Tick Tock Goes the Clock...
Tick Tock goes the clock, the seconds just pass by...
The Canterlot hospital had never seen a storm quite like this. It was raining softly and was not destructive, they wondered why this was, yet they didn't think that their patient in room 115 ordered it. The heartbeat monitor let out a constant and soft beep, beep, beep. An IV bag was hooked on one of the metal pegs and led down to a catheter in solitary white hoof. There was a white mare laying in the bed, staring out at the small rainstreams on her window she smiled slightly and turned her gaze to the ceiling again. "Thanks Scoots..." she thought, "You were a loyal friend to the very end." she chuckled slightly, then let out a small dry cough. She saw the pictures on her bedside table and focused on them. One of the pictures was of three blankflank fillies piled on top of each other, staring at the camerapony, Featherweight. The one a couple of inches to the left was of those same fillies in their adolescent years and with their cutie marks in Manehattan, there were also three colts with them either leaning up against them, kissing them, or just touching noses sweetly. She saw herself with that wonderful colt Silver Needle, a traveling seamspony from the great kingdom of Salldearabia. He was a lovely shade of yellow, with a maroon mane and piercing green eyes. They had fallen in love instantly and he had given up his job to be with her. She sighed at the memory of their first kiss... It was a cold night and they both warmed each other up perfectly... She fell asleep in the pleasant memory.
Everybody's time fades, and soon everyone must die...
Her fluids bag was replaced, and the mare woke up at the clink of the metal against itself. "Oh, I'm sorry." said the nurse, "I didn't mean to wake you, do you need anything?"
"Could you contact my son please?" the mare said, obviously strained fro each word, "I want to talk to him."
"Of course ma'am, I'll bring him here when he arrives."
"Thank you..." said the bedridden mare said, and fell asleep again as the nurse closed the door behind her.
Tick tock goes the clock, the minute hand strikes twelve...
"Mom!" a deep voice whispered to the mares right, which broke her out of sleep. She turned her head and saw her son, her pride and joy since her husband had died in the battle of Saddlearabia, a bloody battle where their corrupt dictator rose up against his people. He had her eyes and his father's stoutness and loyalty. "You wanted to see me?"
"Yes Brave, but don't tell me you skipped guard practice just to see your old mother now?"
"Nah," he replied," tears forming in his lovely green eyes, "Shining armor let me off early so I could see you. Now what do you want to tell me?"
"I want to tell you a story Brave Heart... A story I have been writing throughout all these years that I have lived. so please listen, you will learn something in all of this.
"Ok mother," he replied, "I will listen."
"Good... she replied. Now it all started thirty years ago with my birth..."
You can't run away, save others or yourself...
"I was born in a small town, not like Canterlot at all. We all lived in simple wooden cabins with a small furnace and a lovely view of Horseshoe Lake. Then Rarity left for Ponyville to expand her knowledge on the art of the dress. My parents were distraught at losing their older daughter. Eight months passed and my parents were to travel the mountain ranges that were to the East of our village, I could not go because I was not of age. So they left me with Rarity until they would return two months later. I was soon enrolled in Ponyville's top school for fillies and colts. Mrs. Cherilee was our teacher, and after school ended, I didn't realize that I would meet my lifetime friends. I was walking out of the schoolhouse when it happened. I was confronted by two colts at least twice my size who knocked my book to the ground."
"They started calling me foul names such as lame horn and freak, since my magic was not developed enough to cast spells. They backed me into a corner and were about to hit me when I heard a small voice call out behind them.
"Now what do y'all want with her?" A southern drawl called out.
"Yeah get lost bozos!" Another tougher, yet smaller voice yelled. One of the colts kept looking at me while the other turned to confront the new witnesses. was able to peek through a crack between their two bodies and saw two small fillies like me. One was a pegasus with extremely small wings perched on her back, while the other was a yellow earth pony with a red mane with a large pink bow.
"What are you two gonna do about it?" the backwards colt said.
"We'll call Cherilee, and you really don't need another weekend detention do you Steel?" the pegasus shot back. The colt snarled and gestured to his partner.
"Come on Paints, we don't need to deal with these freaks."
Paints snorted in disgust and followed Steel away from me and into the blazing afternoon. I watched them go and then focused on my saviors. The pegasus had a helmet on and was riding a scooter, and the Earth pony was picking my book up from the dust and placed it on my back."Thank you." I said.
"Not a problem sugarcube." The earth pony drawled.
"Yeah," continued the pegasus, "We have to teach those jerks a lesson every week. "So what's your name new foal?
"Sweetie Bell," I replied, "and yours?"
"I'm Scootaloo," said the pegasus, "and this is Applebloom. Her family runs Sweet Apple Acres." Scootaloo looked at my flank and gave out a small squeak. "Hey! You're a blank flank just like us!"
I blushed at this statement, our village foals usually got their cutie marks at this age, except for me. For this reason, I had been ridiculed everywhere I went. I looked at their flanks in turn and saw that indeed they were both blank like me. "Hey you know what would be a great idea?" said Applebloom.
"What? I replied.
"All three of us could work together to get our cutie marks, like a club or something.
"Yeah!", Scootaloo cried, "We'll call ourselves the Cutie Mark Crusaders! We can meet in the tree house I built over the summer!" she took one hoof off of her handlebars and put in the center of the three of us, where Applebloom put her hoof in only a second later. "So you in Sweetie Bell?" she asked tilting her head slightly. I thought for a minute then replied, "Of course!" and placed my hoof with both of theirs. Our friendship was forged in steel that day. And that Brave is your first lesson. "Keep your friends close, they will stick with you through anything life has to give. Sweetie Bell looked over at her son and saw that he was fast asleep. She gave a small chuckle and levitated a blanket over his sleeping form. He grinned slightly and she kissed him lightly. She then stared out at the newly darkened sky until she felt her own eyelids surrender to sleep.
