We Are Equestria

"Nurse Burdock?" an older earth pony slumped on a bench in the sitting room in the Crystal Clinic, looked up to observe the crystal pony calling for him. "Is she awake?"

"Hello Scrawl. It's nice to see you too," the worn, sullen earth pony snapped.

"Is she available for today's session or should I just come back tomorrow?"

"She's awake, I was just tending to her." The old stallion responded, trying to sound as spiteful as possible.

Scrawl walked out of the waiting room and down the hall, nodding to the guard posted outside the room.

"She wants to see him again," the guard informed him.

Scrawl sighed in response. The guard opened the door and motioned him in.

The white-washed crystal walls of the resident patient room surrounded him as he looked at the orange unicorn mare laying face up on the bed staring up at the light. The cold white bulb fitted with a crystal mobile sent shafts of colorful light bouncing around the room.

"Miss Clementine?" Scrawl said, placing a microphone and recording equipment on the table between himself and Miss Clementine.

"Whatever you say, I still don't think these sessions are necessary." The mare rolled to turn her back to him.

"The Princess wants this story to be told, and it’s my job as the Lore-master to record it. Do you really not feel any better then you did when you first got here?" Scrawl seated himself on the opposite side of the table from the bedded patient.

"I suppose these helped a little bit." The mare shrugged

"This time I'm going to record you so I can write it afterwards," he said plugging in the microphone to the cassette recorder.

"I assume you want me to start form the beginning then."

"Yes," Scrawl said.

"I'd be easier for you if you'd just ask him—"

"You know we can't do that," Scrawl interrupted.

"Fine." The mare took a deep breath. "It all started about twenty five years ago, on the outskirts of Ponyville."

Victory Bell sat in her garden, pulling weeds from her carrot patch.

"Mommy, can Patches and I go to the park?!" Tribute, her eldest, was known for his practical jokes. And for his knack for being quiet enough to pull them off while the teacher is in the same room.

"Tribute, you know better than to sneak up on ponies like that!" Victory said, pulling herself together.

"Sorry mom, but can we?" The colt pleaded.

"Alright, but be home before your father. Remember that surprise party we have to get ready."

The colt nodded, "I know mom, and we’ll be back before dad gets home."

"Have fun, and watch after Patches." Victory beckoned after her colt, already galloping off with his little brother in tow.

She sighed, looking back on her small vegetable patch. Her sunflowers were starting to sag, unlike those of her neighbors.

"Well, it's not bad for a Unicorn at least." she said. Her thoughts turned to her husband's surprise birthday party, wondering if she had forgotten anything she had planned.

She stuck the trowel into the ground with her yellow magic aura, and walked back around to the front of her family's small cottage, close to the Everfree forest. Her husband said too close for comfort, but she disagreed. She claimed truthfully that the nature calmed her down.

And that had been it; she and her husband built that cottage with her magical precision and his knowledge of carpentry. Then she was blessed with two strong colts, Tribute the earth pony and Patches the unicorn. Nothing could make her prouder.

She opened the door and walked inside. The cake was made; balloons covered the living room ceiling, the streamers...

The streamers!

"Oh how could I forget the streamers!" She ducked into the broom closet that she had been using as a hiding place for the party supplies. Victory dug through the party box, looking for the streamers.

"Candles, extra balloons, party blowers—Ah, here we are! Streamers."

The roll of streamers fluttered about the room, leaving a trail of streamers in its wake. Hues of red, green, blue, and yellow flew across the Living room, tying themselves to lamps and other free spaces.

The cardboard tube rolled up to her hoof, having left all the colorful strands hung decoratively around the room. She took the tube and levitated it into the trash.

A knock at the door caught her attention.

Redwood wasn't supposed to be home for another couple hours. Tribute must have forgotten something here and came back.

Miss Bell pulled back the blinds to look at who was at the door. A pony, pale looking beneath his darker coat, stood weak-kneed waiting for someone to answer.

She moved to open the door for the stranger to see what he wanted, but something felt...wrong. She hesitated; something was off about how the pony carried himself. A chill ran down her spine as she moved back to the window to look at the stranger at her door.

The pony had already turned to get back on the road, his gait limp and weak. "I should be concerned," she thought to herself. "Why am I so scared?"

She sat at the window, watching the stallion wobble away. He had nothing with him; no saddlebags, tools, or anything. But his path lead him into the Everfree. She sat and watched until she was certain he was gone.

She hadn't noticed she had been holding her breath, and let it out in a sigh.

Who was that stallion, and why did he walk into the Everfree forest alone? He looked horrible, but again, why was she so stricken with fear when she saw him at the door? She looked at the potted flower outside in the windowsill. It had closed its petals, projecting at her the same fear she had felt.

She opened the window, taking up the potted plant like a parent would a swaddling foal. "It's alright," she whispered. "The scary pony is gone. It's fine now." Saying it half to comfort her precious flowers and half to comfort her.

Victory thought about her plants, which reminded her of her cutie mark. A small beanstalk in a pot gilded her flank. "An odd talent for a unicorn," she remembered her father saying. She had discovered her talent in class one day outside at recess. She and her class had been assigned bean plants to take care of individually, and she had been taking care of it constantly. The stalk never left her side, even leaving it on her nightstand in her room next to the window.

Everyday she took the plant to school, levitating it carefully as she walked down the long road from her farmhouse home to school in Ponyville. Every day, the plant got a little bigger, a little more robust. She remembered talking to the plant; she talked about her day at school, all the pretty flowers in the fields on her way to school, and even read the beanstalk bedtime stories. After a few weeks in her care, the plant had vastly outgrown the plants grown by her unicorn classmates. It had even grown to be among the best of the beanstalks grown by her earth pony classmates as well.

She even won a blue ribbon for the beanstalk, and the extra joy when she earned her cutie mark.

She let the memories flow freely, fond childhood memories and moments of adult hood that filled her with pride. The memories flowed out as a green aura, emanating from her horn. The fright that had overcome the poor plant subsided. The flower again opened its pedals, opening in happy hues of yellow and red.

She levitated the flower out of her grasp and took it with her as she paced around her house, comforting her plants. Most had closed up, but some had stayed open. She wandered outside after checking carefully for any sign the freaky pony might still be around. Her plants had all closed, scared of what had come so close to the garden's borders. She comforted them the same way, reciting the story of her gleeful life in her mind. Again the aura flowed from her horn, caressing and calming the plants.

As all her plants opened up, Victory again sighed to herself. What could cause all her plants to act this way? Every vegetable, fruit tree, and flower clammed up.

Except her sunflowers.

Her sunflowers, the ones in front of her cottage and the ones in her garden, hadn't budged. Thankful she didn't open the door, she walked back inside.

____   ____   ____

"Surprise honey!" Three voices shouted in unison as the door opened wide. Two colts jumped into their father's fore-legs. Followed by his spouse with a peck to the cheek.

"Dad, we made you a cake!" Patches said.

"Mom said we did a good job following your recipe!" Victory bell floated him a piece of cake.

"My recipe?" He looked at his wife.

"Your world famous Charcoal Cake, don't you remember?" Victory snickered as their boys looked up at him in awe.

Redwood looked back down at his colts, "Oh yeah, I remember now." He feigned acknowledgement and returned his wife's playful look.

Then there was knock at the door.

"Uncle Rivet!" The two colts yelled as they ran from their father to the door. Their father followed, holding them back from the door so they wouldn't pounce on his brother.

Victory smiled at her children's disposition towards excitement and moved to the window to see what Rivet had brought his brother. She pulled back the curtain, and screamed at the top of her lungs as her husband opened the door. Her world slowed down as adrenaline rushed into her system.

The same pale, miserable pony slammed into the door as it opened, knocking Redwood back into his colts. The pale pony erupted with magic green shards chipped off and fell away, leaving only an insectoid behind. Victory scrambled to her foals and pulled them back, screaming.

The thing was flailing violently at her husband, who was just barely keeping the bug from tearing out his throat. Victory Bell jumped to aid her husband.

A volley of kicks, bucks, and when all else failed, she broke a lamp over its head. The lamp shattered, slivers stabbing into the beasts face and eyes. It reeled in pain, its limbs scraping at its wounded head. Redwood used its preoccupation to throw it off.

The monster landed in a hissing mass, green blood was starting to really run from the lacerations it had sustained. Redwood got to his hooves and slammed all his weight into the creature. In a focused rage of self-preservation, he beat down the creature with much more force than his wife.

The thing stood little chance. Redwood outmatched it in size and strength, it was only quick enough to avoid a few blows from the towering stallion. Redwood beat it to a pulp.

Victory Bell ran out into the street, where neighborhood watch ponies where walking by. She called out to them, screaming that her family had been attacked, and needed help.

Her neighbors rushed to their aid. Ferrying her husband to the Ponyville Hospital, and waiting with her until the proper authorities arrived.

____   ____   ____