Abrupt Sense of Flames

Your hooves kick up a dust cloud in your wake as your chest burrows into the wind, sprinting down the dirt path of Fluttershy’s house. First place you should go, Sugar Cube Corner. That’s where you were last, right?

  You run straight forward, hoping you’ll end up in the middle of town. A few ponies out galloping notice the panic on your face. A large red stallion, baring a yoke around his neck sticks his hoof out, stopping you.

  “Aye buddy, slow down there. What’s botherin’ ya?” the red stallion renders.

  “Get out’a my way! Need to find my sister!” you declare.

  “Ah haven’t seen you ‘round here before. Are you new? I’m Big Macintosh but you can call me Big Mac”.

  “Yes, nice to meet you. Now please, let me find my sister!”

  “Ah! You must be that pony my sis keeps rattlin’ on ‘bout” Big Mac says with a big smile on his face.

  “Who’s that?” This intrigues you. Somepony is talking about you?

  “Applejack.”

  Your eyes bulge, and your heart races. This is Applejack’s brother. “OH! Please! Just stay away from me!” You dash away, down the path you were just on.

  “Is it somethin’ ah said?” The stallion says, baffled.

  ‘No. Keep running. You’ll find her soon enough. You shouldn’t have let her out of your site. Just. Keep. Going.

  As you near the centre of the town, buildings becomes more clustered, ponies blanket the streets, your brain not once thinks of slowing down until you’ve made it back to Sugar Cube Corner.

  You can feel the eyes of a few ponies as they watch you frantically scuttling around. You pay them no attention as the gaily decorated building covered with baked goods and lined with icing around its edges comes into few only blocks away.

  The sun is about mid way across the sky. ‘What time was that party? 4ish or somethin’?’ Doesn’t matter. You can figure that out later, once Cherry is safe.

  Right when you get to the door, you hurl yourself at it. The second you touch the door, it opens, catching you off guard as you slide across the room. The sharp pain returns to your back.

  You stand up, noticing the red smear on the ground and the bouncy pink pony standing over you.

  “Hay! It’s you! Are you okay? That entrance sure was a doozie woozie!” Her face is so near yours you can’t help but smell the cupcakes and sweets dissipating from her maw.

  “Where is Cherry!?”

  “She’s with Sweetie Belle and all of her friends! Silly willy billy nilly po-pilly ka-chilly ma-nilly sa-hil-”

  “Oh thank you!” You cut off the party pony, clutching her, shooting up off the floor. She accepts with a hug of her own.

  “Gee, you sure are worked up aren’t ya?”

  “I just didn’t know if she was safe. Sorry for barging in on you like this. I’ll uh… clean up that mess.” You release from the embrace.

  “Well it’s not like we were just gonna leave her here! It was nothing to get worked up over. After you disappeared the girls had a sleepover at Rarities. Speaking of, why did you disappear?”

  “I uh… left my saddlebag and uh needed to go get it…”

  “So that took you all night?” She gives you a quizzical look.

  “Yeah I got… tired.” You never have been a good liar.

  “Well whatever you were up to, I’m sure it was super important you just don’t want to tell me!”

  “Yeah… right. Well, I’ve got to go get Cherry now. I’ll come by later and clean that up.”

  “You should really get that checked out. Looks like a broken wing. And especially if it’s oozing green like that!”

  “Yeah thanks for the advice Pinkie. See ya”. You nod her off and make your way out of the store and in which ever direction Rarities house is.

  ‘Why did I freak out that much? Obviously they weren’t just going to leave her there.’

  You’ve been having these kinds of panic attacks since your parents died. They’re pretty rare. Last time you had one was when you left the oven on when you left for school back in flying school. Cheery was too young at that time to be even going to school. When you got home turns out the oven wasn’t even on. You missed class just for that so you had detention all week.

Apparently Rarity is some popular “fashionista” in Ponyville so it isn’t that hard to find her house. It was a few blocks down from Pinkie’s.

  Three little foals and Cherry are messing with some contraption made out of wood, brass, and gears that looks like a train wreck outside.

  “Cherry!” You run up to her with a strong embrace, lifting her up off the ground.

  “Hey! These are my friends. Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo”.

  “Nice to meet you girls.” You reply with a grand smile.

  “Hello!”

  “Howdy!”

  “Nice to meet you!”

  You return Cherry back to the ground. “How would you all like to go out and get some ice cream? My treat!”

  “YEAH!” All four foals reply at once.