Running. Flying. Running.
This is my first memory of life. It was a hour after the guards had turned. It was a day before the execution. And 2 years after I was born. My family was running from the guards. They had come to kill them. They had come to wipe out all sense of government. They targeted the senate of Cloudsdale. My parents were on the senate. I remembered the look on the guard's face, angry and cynical. He no longer wore the uniform of Celestia or Luna, but instead wore red. I could remember not much of the event besides that. But, today I have a reminder of it. When the guard came into my room he marked my hoof. On my right hoof he left a long scar going half-way up my leg. He had come up to kill me with a dagger, but my dad, Thunder Chaser, came and pushed him down. My dad knocked him out and took me and ran with my mother away from the house. We ran away from our house all the way to the country side of Ponyville, later in my life we would move back to Cloudsdale.
My family took shelter in Sweet Apple Acres. It was a simple arrangement, my family worked in exchange for a place to stay and food. We all watched the tv in the center of the family room. I sat next to Apple Bloom, who was several years older than me at the time, and looked at the tv. We were watching the channel that gave us the updates on the guard situations. What was on then was a program right from the Canterlot castle. It had the Princess on screen. They looked beat up. Princess Celestia white coat was tinted red and had cuts and wounds all over her. Her normal waving hair had been cut down and only a little was showing. Her cutie mark was x-ed out. The guards had cut her horn down to a stump, now I know they did it to keep her from using magic. Her wings looked like they were broken, they hung at awkward angles. Despite all this she held her head high with pride. Princess Luna looked different. The guards had bleached her coat to a white and then dyed it green. Her mane was now a pitch black and cut really short. Her cutie mark was covered in yellow. Her horn had been cut to a stump just like Princess Celestia. Her wings had been cut completely off. She had her head down with shame. Who knows what the guards had done to them. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were then put on a chain and tied to a pole. They were then shot at with bows. Right when the first shot was fired my mom picked me up and took me out of the room. But, I had still gotten a glimpse at what had happened and the blood coming out of the Princess. I heard the gasps of the rest of the adults in the room. I even heard the sound of Big Mac saying "Nope, they sure did not just do that." I was so little I had not made sense of it when I was little but, when I grew up I was able to understand what had really happened and how important that day was.
It was a couple months then the guards found where we were hiding out. We had thanked the Apple family for their generosity and left the farm to go to another home/hideout. From then on we moved more times than I could count. The guards were afraid that my parents could go back to Cloudsdale and reset the government. We had some intend to but, with the guards coming all the time we had no time to go back. In those 10 years we had lived in farms and in cities. We had lived in Manehatten and in Ponyville. We had lived in the Everfree Forest. Whenever we were found we would fly and fly until we had a safe place to stay and then live in fear of being discovered. I had never really made friends and my parents didn't want to curse another child to this life so, I was usually alone. I had had a pet in the Everfree Forest, her name was Shimmer. She was a cat. We had to leave her when the guards found us. Eventually we had settled back in Cloudsdale. We moved in to a house beside another family that had been part of the senate. When we got settled in my parents showed me Cloud Flicker, she was the next door neighbor's child.
About 5 years before I met Cloud Flicker, the Elements of Harmony were sent to go and straighten out the guards. We all, at the time, thought this would get rid of them and we could restart a government. But, it has been 5 years and they still haven't returned.
Author's Note
Next Chapter will be written 10 years from the beginning of this chapter.
10 YEARS IN THE FUTURE
It had been 10 years since that day in my crib. 10 years since the shooting. 5 years since the Elements of Harmony left. We lived in Cloudsdale at this time beside another senate member. Out of luck they had a daughter just my age, her name was Cloud Flicker. She had a light blue coat with a dark blue mane and tail. We soon grew to be close friends. We did everything together. We even sometimes ate together. I have to say, I was having the best time in my life. I could spend every ounce and second with her. Everyday of the week I had nothing to do, nothing besides hang out with Cloud. I could spend every day with her because the guards had burnt every school to the ground. My parents had taught us what they knew, but eventually ran out of subjects. It got boring fast.
I thought about this when I wake up in the morning usually. I wake up then go over my life story. My life story is a long one that includes lots of twists and turns. It was a story of tragedy.
"I need to stop moping about my life and get some breakfast!" I thought. I went down the stairs to the kitchen. I got a muffin out. It was a blueberry muffin. I got a napkin and sat down at the table. It was after my parents had gotten up. They left a note on the table that told me they were going to meet with their 'book club'. I of course knew this was no book club, but instead a meeting of any senate members left from Cloudsdale. They would get together and talk about all sorts of stuff. They would talk about reforming the senate, and on the occasion standing up to the guards. The guards mixed together Anarchy and Dictatorship. How they did this, you may ask. Well, they said that the rules were "No governments and kill the people who wanted governments." Besides that anything really could happen. That meant that you didn't even have to pay for your food, you could just steal it. But, my parents never did that.
In their group the topic of discussion was usually about the prophecy about the Elements of Harmony. Few people had access to the libraries that held them but, word spread fast. The prophecy was that if the Elements of Harmony were ever defeated or killed, new owners would show up. My parents were in a strong belief that the new owners were going to show up soon. I thought that my parents were just going crazy and looking for a way to bring back the old way of life. I finished my muffin and took my napkin to the trash and threw it away.
I went up to my room to get ready for the day. I got in the shower and washed my light pink coat, I washed over my blank flank. Most foals now didn't have a cutie mark now because if the Anarchy. Cloud Flicker didn't have a cutie mark either. I got out of the shower and went into my room. I dried my hair and brushed it out. I went over to my dresser and grabbed a hair band and put my hair up. Then I put a bow in it. I went down the stairs and opened the door. I locked it behind me. I then ran over to Cloud Flicker's place and knocked at the door. We had a special knock so they knew it was me. I knocked 3 times waited 5 seconds then knocked 5 times. Cloud Flicker answered the door.
"HEY!" I said in a loud voice.
'Hi!" Cloud replied
"Can I come in?"
"Sure." She let me in and locked the door behind me. I walked into her warm house. It smelled like cinnamon. I loved the way her house smelled.
"Have you had breakfast?" she asked
"Yes, I had a muffin." I replied
"OK. But, I haven't so could you help me get out some muffins?"
"Sure thing." I said and went for a cabinet on the left. I knew her house almost as good as mine. I reached into the cabinet and felt around in the back for some muffins. I felt a bump in the back of the cabinet and pulled. A door opened and a box with golden trim and the royal sisters' cutie marks were on the front.