“They say that you’re supposed to live for your friends, not die for them. However, sometimes, sacrifices must be made for them to live, and if that sacrifice isn’t made, then who is there to live for?” That was the standard in our village. Only, none of us ever thought we’d ever have to follow it.
Outside of Equestria, past the Macintosh Mountains and the perilous Badlands, rested an unexplored mountain range; the Crimson Range. Named by the locals, it was dotted with Crimson Scar trees, called such for the color of the marks they bear when damaged. Nopony dared to damage these trees because the sight of a scar forming was rather gruesome. While it was rarely visited, is still was painted red.
In the middle of the Crimson Scar range sat a small village whose inhabitants were forsaken by Equestria itself. Every single house and living-space was made from terribly-cut and broken wood from the Crimson Scar trees, as no other product was available to build with. The builders of these houses were rewarded heavily for cutting down the trees that made such a disgusting sight when cut. Even the soil was too loose to construct adobe houses from. Any food that grew there was tough, dehydrated, and tasteless. Still, the inhabitants of Trottington managed to survive. The ponies that lived here were a mix of earth-ponies and unicorns with no real occupation other than farming. Life in Trottington was a difficult one indeed, and yet the residents seemed perfectly fine with it. They knew no other lifestyle.
At the base of a Crimson Scar tree in the outskirts of the northwest portion of the forest sat a unicorn. He was a young stallion of only fifteen years with a diamond-white coat of fur and an emerald-green mane that stretched down to the middle of his back. His bangs were long and drooped over his eyes. His tail was even longer, sometimes even dragging along the ground as he walked. It seemed to reach out about three hooves long and then turned towards the earth in three major bangs sprouting smaller ones. His flank was imprinted with an image of a paintbrush with paint curving around it. This unicorn’s name was Canvas Gravewind.
He sat reading a book entitled “Friendship Is Magic, Volume 2”, a rather popular book written by Princess Celestia herself. As Canvas sat there, nearing the end of the final page, he began to wonder if such creatures as Changelings existed and if they could be defeated with the very same thing they thrived off of.
“Reading those old foals’ tales again, eh brother?” a voice called out.
Canvas closed his book as he finished reading the page. “Just finished as a matter of fact. And it’s not a foal’s tale. It was written by Princess Celestia, you know, the one who raises the sun every day.”
“I don’t care much for childish excuses for obvious scientific anomalies,” the voice replied. Another stallion stepped into the clearing.
“Ooh! Three big words in one sentence. When did you get a thesaurus?” Canvas snapped back.
“’Bout the same time you started believing in Celestial Beings.” The stallion’s name was Hilt Gravewind. He looked much like his brother save his hair. It was a dark copper color. His mane wasn’t as long as Canvas’ but his tail was much longer and was rather bushy. His cutie mark was a silver figure-six representing a curved blade.
“You should start believing as well, brother.”
“Why? So she won’t banish me to the moon for a thousand years? Grow up, Canvas.”
“I have. You should, too. You might not be such a buzzkill,” Canvas retorted.
“Before this conversation goes any further, what do you say we get on with the training?” Hilt replied a bit frustrated. Everypony in the village was required to train for any form of battle, in case of any external threats. Canvas and Hilt were the only ones who trained outside the village, in the forest.
“Changing the subject before I insult you further? Good choice. Let me just put my book up.”
“You can be a real pain in the flank, sometimes. You know that?”
“As can you. But, only because we’re brothers. It’s what we do,” Canvas smiled as paint shot from his horn and wrapped around his book.
“I suppose so,” Hilt smiled back. The paint hardened to the point where it was flexible, as Canvas willed it to. It then launched into the air, extending and carrying the book, towards the village. In the blink of an eye, it had reached their house, deposited the book next to the others, and disappeared. “Have I ever told you that that paint magic of yours is pretty amazing?” Hilt asked.
“Have I ever told you that your blade magic is even more so? Seems like it would be more useful in battle.”
“I suppose so. In any case we should start soon. The sun’s going down.”
Not far away, in the same forest, walked a mare; a rather well known mare by the name of DJ PON-3 or Vinyl Scratch. Being outside of Equestria for the first time had set her on edge. “Sheesh. This forest is really creeping me out. I guess it really lives up to its name of Red Scar.” She looked to the west. “Ah crud. The sun’s going down and I don’t wanna be stuck in this forest all night. There’s gotta be somewhere I can crash for the night.”
Canvas and Hilt positioned themselves in their regular fighting stances. The two of them stood on their hind legs as their horns started to glow. Canvas’ horn glowed multicolored as paint started to flow from it and conform to his will. Hilt’s horn glowed a bright metallic silver and two magic blades sprouted from his two front hooves. The blades were dulled for the training of course. The two of them were about to launch simultaneous attacks when-
SNAP!
The sound of a twig snapping sounded through the woods. It hadn’t come from either of the brothers as there were no branches or twigs around them and it didn’t come from any of the village ponies because none of them ever came to this part of the forest. It had come from no other animal either since no animals actually lived in the Crimson Scar Forest. This could only mean one thing. There was an outsider in the woods and, as the brothers had been taught, all outsiders were enemies.
As if on instinct, the two brothers hid. Canvas willed the paint to change colors so that it appeared to be tree bark. He then applied the camouflage to himself and leaned up against a tree. Hilt used his dulled blades to reach a rather high tree branch and leave the ground and hide on the limb. There the two of them waited for whoever was trespassing to trot into their line of sight.
The two of them remained there quite a while. After so long a wait, the sound of hooves became audible. The trespasser was nearing the clearing where the brothers had hidden themselves. The sound, that of hooves repeatedly stomping on grass, continued to grow louder and louder. Canvas and Hilt were anxious to find out what poor soul was either brave or stupid enough to venture into the Crimson Scar Forest.
Into the clearing stepped a young mare with a bright, white mane. Her hair was spiked and striped with blue and sky-blue colors. Her eyes were a deep shade o raspberry and her cutie mark was that of two connected eighth notes. She wore a pair of dark glasses and a cream-colored saddle bag with a latch that matched her cutie mark.
The instant she was in their line of sight, the two of them leapt at her. Before she knew what hit her, Vinyl was trapped under a cage of hardened paint, unable to stand. Hilt stood before her and lowered a magic blade to her neck. “Name and homeland.”
“W-what?” the mare responded. “What’s going on here?! Wh-”
“I asked you your name and homeland,” Hilt spat moving the blade an inch closer to her neck.
“Ugh! Vinyl Scratch and Equestria now will you get that thing away from me?”
“Wait, wait, wait, wait,” Canvas sputtered as he removed the cage from around Vinyl. “The Vinyl Scratch? DJ PON-3? The same Vinyl Scratch that played at the fashion show in Ponyville and at the wedding in Canterlot?”
“Well yeah! Wait, ponies outside of Equestria know about me?”
Canvas looked over to his brother with annoyed eyes, “The literate ones do at least. Brother, get that knife away from her. She’s not our enemy. If anything she’s an ally.”
“How so? She’s from Equestria; the very same land that cast us out. How, within reason, is she our ally?”
Before Canvas could answer, Vinyl looked up and saw Canvas’ face, “What the, Canv-,” she was cut off as Canvas shoved her head into the ground.
“Excuse us for a second,” Canvas said nervously as he dragged Vinyl behind a nearby tree. He then created a thick, soundproof barrier between them and Hilt. “What are you doing here, Vinyl?”
“I should ask you the same thing. What are you doing all the way out here?”
“I live out here. Now answer my question!”
“I’m supposed to play at a concert in a village that’s quite a long ways from here. But you live out here?”
“Yes. In a village called Trottington. And … concert?”
“Yeah. There’s one quite a ways from here.”
“But it’s outside of Equestria. How did you hear about it?”
“I got an invitation asking me to play. It sounded like a great chance, so I set off in this direction. Oh! That reminds me. Do you, by chance, have a place I could stay the night that isn’t in this creepy forest?”
“I might, but it’ll be pretty tough convincing my brother and the village to let you stay.”
“Oh, well, I don’t really wanna cause you any trouble. I mean I-”
“I don’t think there’s any other option. The sun’s going down and there’s not another village for at least a hundred kilometers. I think you staying in my village is your only option.”
“I … well … I don’t-”
“Don’t worry. It’ll just be for two nights. Once on the way there and once coming back. It shouldn’t be too much of a problem.”
Vinyl smiled, “Thanks, Canvas.”
Canvas dispelled the barrier and walked over to Hilt. “We should let her stay the night.”
“You never answered my question. How is she our ally?”
“I- agh. Will you just trust me on this? She’s just a unicorn from Equestria. I doubt she could even do any harm to us.”
“Harm?” Vinyl questioned.
“Even if she is a threat, once she sees the ponies from Trottington, she wouldn’t even consider using magic against them.”
“I’m sorry, but since when am I a threat? And why did you two tackle me a minute ago?”
“Shut it,” Hilt snapped. “Look even if I agreed to this, we’d still have to convince Mitch to let her in,” He said to Canvas.
-
“I can’t believe he actually let her in.”
“Well, I am very persuasive,” Canvas retorted. It was completely dark when the trio was just arriving at Canvas and Hilt’s house, a wooden shack; same as every other house in the village. There was nothing special about it and nothing unique about it. The only thing that was “different” about it was the collection of various books resting inside of it. Novels and documentaries and many other genres of books piled on Canvas’ side of the house. “Well, it’s not much, but it’s home.”
“It’s certainly … different from the houses in Equestria.”
Hilt glared. “You should get some sleep. You have a long day tomorrow with this concert and all.”
“Brother, can I speak with you? Outside?” Canvas requested.
“… Sure,” they left the house.
Canvas poked his head in, “Although he is right. You really should get some sleep, Vinyl.”
Vinyl yawned. “You’re right.” Just as Canvas was heading outside, Vinyl said, “Oh and Canvas,…”
“Yes?”
“Thank you. I’m glad you still remember me,” she smiled.
“How could I forget,” he replied and then left the shack.
“So, what did you want to talk to me about?”
“What do you have against Vinyl?”
“Well for one, she’s an Equestrian pony. Second, we don’t see any Equestrians in years, then one randomly shows up claiming that she’s just passing through to go to a – a concert?! That just doesn’t sit well with me.”
“Why? What’s unusual about that? From what I’ve read, they’re quite common.”
“Yeah, in Equestria! Not here. Look, Canvas, there’s something not right here!”
“Maybe, but it’s just for two days. All we have to do is-” he was cut off by a flash of green light, and explosion, and total darkness.
-
“Ugh. Wh- where? Wha?” Canvas tried to sit up, but found it rather difficult. Both his left leg and one of his ribs were broken, and he had massive lump on his that were all severely painful. “Woah. What happened?” He looked around, trying to regain full consciousness. It wasn’t his house, nor his village. It was much nicer. The beds were soft and comfortable. There was light coming from the ceiling and there were walls that weren’t made of blood-red wood. There were glamorous banners of all colors and stained glass windows. And it was all familiar. “This place. I’ve been here before.”
“Well of course you have,” a female voice answered him. “You were in the very same you are now; hurt, in pain, and needing medical attention.”
“Wha?” He looked around to find a mare sitting at the foot of his bed. She was had a pale purple mane and a darker violet-blue mane with two stripes running down the middle: one pink and the other pure violet. She was an alicorn with a cutie mark that resembled a purple star with five smaller, white stars surrounding it. “Wh-who are you?”
“Really? You remember Vinyl but you don’t remember me?” the mare retorted.
“Ah, gimme a break. I just woke up. Do you really expect me to… what the?” He had completely regained consciousness and his vision was back to normal. “Twilight?!”
“Seems you do remember.” She got up and sat down beside him. “Welcome back to Canterlot. It’s been, what, eight years now?”
“Something like that. It’s good to see you again, Twilight. I’ve read quite a bit about you … you-you have wings. Why? That wasn’t anywhere in the books.”
“I’m guessing you only have the first two books. Not surprising, considering where you live.”
“Where I live,” he muttered to himself. “OH MY CELESTIA!!! What happened! Why am I here?!” Twilight froze up when he asked this. “Well? What happened? Why am I talking to my brother one minute and the next minute, I’m waking up in Canterlot, injured?”
“I’m sorry, Canvas.”
“What?”
“All we know at the time is that Chrysalis destroyed your village,” she sputtered with a horrified expression.
