Pushing Towards Tomorrow

Luci woke up bright and early, wanting to do something special for Twilight, so she decided to cook breakfast. Twilight woke up to the wonderful aroma of hay bacon strips and eggs. Twilight walked downstairs to see a table of food prepared, “wow Luci I didn’t know you knew how to cook.” Twilight said with an impressed look on her face. “Oh it was nothing, just something simple, like hay bacon strips and eggs. I just wanted to try and repay you in some way for you being so kind to me.” Luci smiled, “Eat up I’m sure you have something planned for us today.”

Twilight ate the delicious looking food and was surprised of how good it came out, “this is the best breakfast I have ever tasted!” Twilight exclaimed. After Twilight finished she began to tell Luci about the day ahead of them, Okay Luci, today we are going to visit the apple’s family. Your amazing cooking reminded me of their delicious baked goods. How does that sound to you?” Luci looked at Twilight nervously, “Does it have to be the whole Apple family?” Twilight reassures her that they were only going to meet one pony in particular, and her name is Applejack. With that being said they made their way over to Sweet Apple Acres.

While on the way there they run into Pinkie Pie, who didn’t recognize Luci, and immediately tried to get to know the new pony. “Twilight, who’s your new friend and why is this the first time I'm seeing her?” Pinkie asked excitedly. “Oh hi there Pinkie, this pony’s name is Luciana Midnight and I’m taking care of her until we get her on her hooves. She’s also very shy, so I’m trying to let her get to know our friends so she can be somewhat comfortable in Ponyville.” Twilight explained, Pinkie obviously too excited to pay attention, “why not throw her a party and invite everypony, so she can get to know them all?!” Twilight was getting impatient “Pinkie, listen to me! Luci is shy and would be overwhelmed with so many ponies around. I’m sorry we can’t stay and chat, but we have to meet up with Applejack soon.” “It w-was nice m-meeting you Pinkie.” Luci said before trotting off after Twilight.

Already somewhat late they pick up the pace toward Sweet Apple Acres, and after some time they arrived. Applejack notice Twilight coming towards her, “Hay there Twilight, what can ah do ya fer?” “I wanted you to meet a friend; I’m introducing her to you guys, so she can have someone to rely on during her stay in Ponyville if I don’t happen to be around.” Applejack looks around, “sounds like a wonderful pony, but where is the little sugar cube?” Twilight signals for Luci to come out from behind the apple tree. Luci slowly walks up to Applejack and in a soft voice introduced herself, “M-my name is Luciana Midnight, pleased to m-meet you.”

Applejack with a shocked look on her face blurted out, “you haven’t found yer cutie mark yet?” Luci blushed and hid behind Twilight. “Well you see Applejack, I found her unconscious in the Everfree forest with no memory of who she is or how she got there.”, “Ah, I am mighty sorry Luci.”, “I-Its okay Applejack you didn’t know.” Luci replied. The three ponies took a tour of Sweet Apple Acres, and Luci even got to meet the rest of the Apple family; Except Applebloom, who was probably off with her friends somewhere.

Eventually, Luci began to get really weak from being in the sun for so long, and she fell over from exhaustion. Twilight and Applejack rested Luci in the shade of an apple tree. “Luci is unique; she can’t stay out in the sun for too long. So, we’ll let her rest here for now, because I wanted to ask you a huge favor.” Applejack put her hoof around Twilight, “ask away Twi, I would do anything to help out a friend.” Twilight smiled at Applejack, “I can always count on you Applejack, anyway right now Luci is staying with me and I wanted to do something for her.

So, I was wondering if you would be okay with building a house for Luci. Kind of like a “we care about you, welcome to Ponyville”, kind of thing. Don’t worry it won’t just be you building it alone I’m sure the others would be willing to help out.” Applejack takes a few moments to think before answering, “Twi, Luci seems like a sweet pony, but we know nothing about her. I mean she passes out from staying out in the sun too long, is that not weird to you?” Twilight frowned, “I understand Applejack, I just feel sorry for her, you know? She wakes up with no memory about herself, and has no clue where she is.” “That’s very sweet of ya Twi, but you found her in Everfree Forest and nothin’ good comes from that place.” Twilight heaved a sigh and nodded at Applejack, after their conversation they started to walk back where they left Luci.

When they arrived to the spot they had left Luci she had disappeared. Luci had woken up while Applejack and Twilight were talking; she looked around a bit, but had no idea where they could have gone. After sitting under the tree for awhile, her eyes wandered over towards The Everfree Forest and felt drawn to the ominous forest. Luci ended up walking towards the forest, feeling drawn deeper and deeper into the depths of the dark forest.

After wandering through the forest for awhile Luci ran into two out of breath fillies. Luci jumped behind a bush, frightened by the two fillies. Scootaloo still trying to catch her breath tries to ask Luci for help, “please you –gasp- have to –gasp- help us!” Luci pokes her head out of the bush and stares at Scootaloo, “I feel like I know that pony, but I’ve never met her before.” Luci thought. Getting impatient Scootaloo yells, “come on! We don’t have much time Apple Bloom is in terrible danger.” Recognizing the name “Apple Bloom” Luci snaps out of her thoughts, “huh? A-Apple Bloom is in t-trouble? W-Wait here I w-will go get Applejack.” Before Luci could run off Scootaloo grabs Luci by the tail and tells her there’s no time, and pulls her to where Apple Bloom is.

Luci, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Bell arrive at the scene where they see the helpless filly hanging onto a rope for dear life. Below Apple Bloom was a raging river and a another cliff she could of swung on too, but the rope couldn’t handle any more stress and was close to breaking. “H-How... did t-this happen?” Luci asked studying the situation, “Well, we thought we would get our cutie mark in rock climbing, but we realized that it’s a lot harder than it looks. But we found a unicorn like you, so you can use your magic to save her right?” Luci remembers what Twilight said about the horn on her head. With a sad look on Luci’s face she shook her head, and explained why she couldn’t use magic.

Scootaloo felt sorry for her, I’m sorry, I didn---“ Apple Bloom interrupts, “Sorry for interrupting your lil chat, but the rope is breaking, so stop standing around and HELP ME!” Luci’s emotions were shot... she didn’t know what to do, but a sudden surge of determination swelled up inside her; she had to save Apple Bloom. Luci looked around for anything that would help in this situation, but couldn’t find anything in particular. She noticed the cliff right below the taller one where she could catch Apple Bloom. Luci galloped towards the lower cliff’s edge hoping to get there before the rope snapped.

Just as she got to the ledge, the rope gave away, with not much time to think Luci stretched out her body and barely grabbed Apple Bloom by the tail. “Pull me up! Pull me up!” Apple Bloom said panicking, but Luci had used up most of her energy galloping to the edge. Luci struggled for awhile, focusing on keeping her balance and not letting Apple Bloom fall, but Luci was determined to save the little filly even if she put herself in danger. With the last of her energy she swung Apple Bloom on the ledge next to her, but before Apple Bloom could say thanks to the mysterious mare that had saved her Luci had fallen over the ledge.

As Luci was falling a small smile had appeared on her face, “I did it” she whispered to herself before being consumed by the river. Apple Bloom watched in horror as the raging river threw Luci up against rock after rock like a rag doll. Meanwhile, the cutie mark crusaders galloped as fast as they could to tell someone what happened. They finally ran into Applejack, “there y’all are, have you seen a dark purple pony, with no cutie mark and wears glasses?” They all looked at Applejack with tears running down their face as they explained the situation to Applejack. Before they could finish Applejack rushed off to find Twilight, she found Twilight talking to Rainbow Dash.

“Twilight! Ah have some bad news to tell ya.” Applejack explains the story to Twilight, “Alright ponies she could still be alive, lets find that river and rescue her! Rainbow Dash, could you get Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity to come help us? We don’t have much time, so we need to work fast! We will meet in front of the forest, now go!” All the ponies meet up and go to the cliff where Luci fell, “Alright girls we are looking for a dark purple pony with a teal and turquoise colored mane. We will travel down the river in three groups of two, spread out so we can cover more ground. A pony is in need of our help lets’ move out!”

Applejack called out to Twilight before they started to head out, “Twilight, I just wanted to say sorry bout being skeptical about Luci, but she risked her life to save my lil sis. I would be more than happy to help build her a house.” Twilight smiled warmly at Applejack and gave her a hug, “thanks” she said in AJ’s ear, “now lets’ go find Luci.” Hours went by with no sign of Luciana Midnight. It was really dark; the moonlight was being blocked by large clouds, making their search for Luci harder. Most of the group was tired and worn out and had to go home, but Twilight and Applejack were determined to find her.

Twilight used the magic from her horn to help light the way. The two searched for hours looking for Luci, but they themselves were starting to lose hope. Twilight started to quietly sob; sad that she would never be able to see Luci again. Applejack joined her as she wouldn’t be able to thank the pony who saved her sister. They sat there in the dark crying into each other shoulders, and then they heard rustling from a bush from nearby. They began shivering; scared that they were found by a vicious beast of the Everfree Forest. To their surprise they saw a shadow slowly pull itself out the bushes, Twilight used her magic so they could see what it was and to their surprise it was Luci.

Luci had blood coming from her head, and several cuts around her body. She was unsightly; twigs and dirt filled her mane and tail, one of her back legs made a trail in the dirt, like she had been dragging it. Luci looked at both of the crying ponies with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes. She had been dragging herself around the forest for a long time looking for help. The sound of the two ponies crying caught her attention.

“Luci!” Twilight and Applejack screamed, “We are so happy you found us!” the two ponies were so excited they didn’t realize Luciana had passed out from exhaustion. “We need to get her to a hospital immediately!” Applejack nodded and carried Luci on her back to the hospital where Luci was treated. It had been days before Luci woke up.

Luciana woke up to a room fully decorated with thank you cards and baked goods, she even had a banner running across the ceiling in big words that said, “Luci our little hero!” She sat up slowly to get a better look at the room and saw Twilight in the corner of the room asleep with flowers in her lap. Luci chuckled at the passed out pony, she reached over to grab one of the baked goods, but was met with excruciating pain. She noticed a clipboard on the table and attempted for the first time to use her magic to pick it up. She focused really hard and little sparks came out of her horn but nothing moved. She tried one more time and manages to get a soft glow coming from her horn; the clipboard slowly lifted itself off the table and made its way towards Luci.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t use her magic for very long and dropped the clipboard with a loud “bang!” The sudden noise made Twilight jump out of her sleep, “No I didn’t steal the cookie!” Twilight said still half asleep. Then she noticed that Luci was awake, “Oh thank Celestia your finally awake! We were so worried about you, how are you feeling?” Luci stared at the apple fritter on the table next to her, “hungry, but I’m alright just my leg is in a lot of pain.” Twilight handed her an apple fritter and picked up a clipboard, “yeah... you had a broken leg, and because you were still dragging it around some of the bone shards were cutting into you.”

The doctor walked in when Twilight finished explaining, “Alright Miss Luciana, it’s time for your painkillers. I know you just woke up, but this will make you sleepy again.” Luci nodded at the doctor. “Well, I have to go back home and get cleaned up, ill visit you again when you’re awake again. And… thank you for everything you did for Apple Bloom the Apple family really appreciates it and sends their regards; that’s where all the food came from.” Before, Luci knew it the painkillers kicked in and she fell right back to sleep.