Legend Of The Pink Mare: Vol. 1

Pinkie Pie was slowly calming her mind. Letting the chilly breeze pass by, the tall grass tickling her fur, and the warmth of the sun filling her mind with joy. A tall shadow suddenly blocked the sunny light and Pinkie Pie, out of pure instinct, grabbed her sword next to her. Pointing it at the tall figure, she looked up only to see to her surprise... Discord?

"By Celestia, you scared the living pink outta me, what are you doing here Discord?" Pinkie said, lowering her sword back into its original place in the grass.

"Oh, terribly sorry dear. I did not see you there. This tall grass made it nearly impossible to spot you. Though I must say, that by your natural pink color, you should be pretty easy to spot..."

"Discord! I asked what you are doing here."

Discord had stopped talking, as he saw the serious face Pinkie had on. With the help of his magic, he took a rock lying on the ground and turned it into a chair. Pinkie didn't have time for this, she had other things to do... Like napping.

"Well, Pinkie... I was actually looking for you earlier this morning because I wanted to tell you something. You see the thing is..."

Discord had to pause, thinking about how he should tell Pinkie Pie this, without her getting mad at him.

"Come on Discord, what is keeping you from what you are trying to say. Spit it out."

"I'm leaving Ponyville for a while, I have some business to do in the western province. Fluttershy asked for me, and it's been quite a while since I have talked to her, you know... After you girls went your own way? Communication hasn't really been great between us. I promise I’ll be back as soon as I can."

As soon as Pinkie heard that name, a sudden urge to cry swept over her. But she held her emotions back. she had never cried in front of her mentor, and she intended to keep it that way. She didn't quite know how Discord would react if she had started crying. Maybe he would think that she was not worthy of the training he had been giving her since her friends left her.

Discord and Pinkie Pie had not really known each other that well. Pinkie Pie had her own friends at the time. Only Fluttershy had been kind and understanding towards Discord. After their friendship had been shattered, Pinkie Pie had seen that same kindness and friendliness from Discord.

For the first few weeks after their friendship broke apart, Discord had been there for Pinkie Pie. He was there helping her with her depression. He had never seen Pinkie like that before, well only once, and that time it was his fault as he had transformed her. But this time it was worse, a lot worse than he had thought. He had sworn that he would do anything to help her get back on her hooves. He did this by taking care of her and guiding her back to her normal appearance.

"I understand, besides, you two were really good friends, and I know how much she loved you... So uhh, when are you leaving?"

Discord, surprised by her answer, jumped around bursting random fireworks into the air. It was only after a few minutes that he regained enough control to sit down again.

"Well, I'm leaving next week. So we will have plenty of time to practice those combat skills of yours. Though I must say you are getting pretty good at it by now." Discord said, pointing at Pinkie Pie's sword shining in the grass.

"Yeah well, I learned from the best you know. Without you Discord, I wouldn't even know how to hold a sword." Pinkie smiled at him, making him blush a little.

He was like her second father, especially since her parents had passed away years ago. So now Pinkie Pie was an apprentice of Discord, learning how to defend herself in these dark times. She had been training with wooden swords and sticks, learning new techniques every day. They had been training ever since she had gotten over her depression, and Pinkie Pie was becoming stronger every time they trained. Discord was sure that in time, she would become even stronger than he was.

"Oh Pinkie, you're making me blush... Now, I'm going to go prepare for some new training techniques that I've learned. Meet me at the old castle in the Everfree forest, and bring your sword with you."

"You know I always have it with me, in these times you never know who you will meet on the road." Pinkie said with a smile on her face as Discord waved goodbye as he flew off into the distance.

***

Walking through the streets of Ponyville was always a joy for Pinkie, even in these dark times. Not much had changed in Ponyville. The only difference was the massive amount of royal guards that had been deployed there. The ponies in Ponyville still seemed happy enough with the small changes, which had happened. There was no one arguing about and the citizens of Ponyville wanted to keep it that way.

There was only one change which had a major effect on the residents of the town. When the large amount of royal guards had been deployed to Ponyville they needed a place to treat as their barracks. Due to this need the school house had been closed to be converted into a barracks for the soldiers.

Other than that, Pinkie Pie found that Ponyville was a very pleasant place to live. As long as other ponies were happy, so was she. There was still some time before she had to go practice with Discord at the old castle, like they usually did. Pinkie loved whenever she had the chance to train with him. She enjoyed learning new moves and tricks with her sword. Even though she only intended to use her sword when it was needed.

Without Pinkie Pie noticing, she had walked to the very edge of Ponyville, she only had to walk down the small dirt road towards the Everfree forest, and... Fluttershy's old cottage. A chill ran down Pinkie's back, as came to the point where the road forked. Sitting between the two roads was a sign with two arrows, each pointing in opposite directions.

"Everfree Forest, turn left."

"Animal Health Care, Fluttershy, turn right."

It took some time for Pinkie to get her concentration back, but after standing there for a few minutes just staring at the sign she finally managed to decide that it would be best to meet up with Discord at the castle, rather than revisiting old memories which would surely leave her in a poor mood for training.

Pinkie slowly walked through the dark forest, even in the middle of the day the Everfree still had a creepy feel to it. After crossing a small river she finally came to a hanging bridge that separated the forest from the small opening where the castle stood (or what was left of it).

Pinkie came to the front gate and Discord greeted her, on his back was a small knapsack,most likely full of training equipment, Pinkie thought.

"Ahh Pinkie, good to see you. For a second there I thought you'd might have trouble finding your way. Discord smirked as he continued. Shall we begin the training?" Discord said, already on his way inside before Pinkie could answer.

"Sure thing, so... What do you have for me this time, I’m getting bored of just fighting dolls that can't defend themselves.

Discord looked back at Pinkie with a surprised look since this was her first time coming up with a question like that.

"Well, I do believe I know a spell or two to make those dolls more of a challenge for you, But I kind of hoped that we could practice with a bow this time, if that's fine with you?"

"Hmm, never really used a bow before so this should be interesting, sure let's give it a try."

They kept walking for a few minutes, through dusty old halls and large rooms mostly filled with bookshelves, statues, and a few damaged chairs. Finally they came to the dining room, which was the room they usually trained in. This room had a lot of space once they removed the huge wooden table and chairs that dominated the room. On the floor was a large rose red carpet, which, by the look of it had been greatly damaged during the destruction of this place, way back in pony history.

"Now, go ahead and get ready while I set up some targets, the bow and arrows are in my backpack. Go ahead and get used to the feel of it"

Pinkie walked to the little backpack lying in the corner, as she slowly opened it, a few arrows fell and landed on the floor beside her. She pulled out a long and decorated wooden bow, with steel tips on both of its ends to hold the thin string. Pinkie noticed some odd markings carved into the bow, all over it.

"Uh, Discord... What are these markings on the bow?" Pinkie said, showing them to Discord.

"I'm actually not sure dear, I got the bow from a traveler I met a long time ago. I must say that I've never really noticed these markings before, I’ll try and study them some more while I'm gone." Discord said, examining the bow closely before giving it back to Pinkie.

When the targets were finally ready, Pinkie found her spot on the small shooting pad that Discord had placed. With the bow in her left hoof and the arrows in a quiver on her right side, just above her front leg. She took an arrow out and placed it gently on the bow, slowly drawing it back. Pinkie took a deep breath before releasing the arrow letting it fly towards the targets, but instead of hitting any of the targets, it found its way through one of the windows directly above the targets. The air filled with the sound of shattering glass as the shards fell towards the floor.

"Oh dear, maybe I should show you how it's done before you tear this whole place down." Discord said with a rather concerned tone, but couldn't hold back a small chuckle.

"Damn, I’m so sorry Discord I didn't mean to, it just slipped out my hooves and..." Pinkie couldn't continue, tears had started to flow down her face as her emotions got the best of her. Discord watched Pinkie as she made her way to one of the chairs, which was placed up against the wall. A short time after he decided to go sit with her, he knew that they couldn't continue training, not with Pinkie like that.

"Now Pinkie, please stop crying. You know I hate when you do that, why don't you come sit here next to me and tell me, what went wrong back there?"

With the help of his magic Discord created a bench for them to sit on as he waited for her to join him. Pinkie took some time before finally take a seat on the bench, his hand came around her shoulders and the warmth of Discord slowly filled her with joy and happiness again. She cuddled closer to him nearly falling asleep in his arms, after some time she slowly began gain control of her tears.

"Now Pinkie, tell me what's wrong." Discord said, with his arm still around her.

It took Pinkie some time to find the right words to convey her feelings, and her crying didn't help at all. A minute or so she then finally spoke up, as well as she was capable of.

"I'm sorry Discord, I didn't want you to see me crying I know how you don't like it, but I just couldn't control myself. I started thinking about them, the elements... My friends, they meant so much to me and yet they just left me, for what, some stupid argument?" Pinkie's voice slowly had gotten more angry and serious, as she started talking about her friends. It was a mixture of anger, hate, sadness, and... Betrayal, yes, that was the word she had been looking for... Betrayal, it felt so wrong to say about her friends and yet, so right. After all, they were the ones who had betrayed her, not the other way around. Without noticing, Pinkie had started crying again. Not as much as before, but still enough to make tears drip down her pink face.

"Look Pinkie, I think we should skip training for today. I can't train you looking like that, why don't we go home and get some tea and cupcakes, I think it would help?" Discord wiped the tears from her face and giving her mane a quick brush with his hand. She agreed with a weak nod, and as they both started walking away, Discord gave a quick clap with and all the training gear disappeared, the bow and arrows gently flying back into his backpack as he put it on.

***

Walking back through the Everfree forest felt like took forever for Pinkie Pie. Her hooves had started to hurt and all she just wanted to do was to go home, and skip training for a few days. As they kept walking, dark clouds had begun to form above them and, before they noticed, it started raining, not very hard but still hard enough to cause both of them and their gear to get pretty wet. They started walking faster and soon they made it to the wet dirt road that Pinkie had been walking on, not even an hour ago.

"Look Pinkie, we won't make it home without getting incredibly wet and, I know you won't like this idea but... we could crash at Fluttershy's cottage, it is abandoned after all and I really don't want to catch the cold right before I’m about to start a long trip?" Discord looked at Pinkie as they neared the fork in the two roads.

As much as Pinkie hated the idea of staying at Fluttershy's cottage for the night, she knew that Discord was right. Before they'd get home they would already be soaking wet, and most likely have caught a cold. Pinkie had to agree with him, and she did so by giving him a small nod.

They rushed towards the cottage, as the rain had turned into a storm that would be far too dangerous for them to travel in. As they ran, they saw the cottage in the distance just near the beginning of the forest. The windows were pitch black and it gave the usually calming place a dark gloom over it. Both of them took no time to fiddle with the door as they kicked it open, revealing a dark and mostly empty living room.

Discord quickly ignited the cold fireplace with his magic, since both of them were pretty soaked and cold from the storm raging outside. Pinkie made her way upstairs to find some blankets and pillows, only to be stopped by something on the wall which made her heart skip a beat. Hanging there on the wall right next to Fluttershy's room, was a picture of all six of them. A picture which Pinkie clearly remembered. Pinkie took the picture down to examine it further. All six of them where there, Applejack, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Rarity, Twilight and herself. All of them were looking happily into the camera, the Elements of Harmony.

"Pinkie, are you alright up there?" Discord called from the lit up living room.

"Yeah, I’m fine... I'll keep looking for those blankets, could you maybe see if there's any food around, I’m getting kinda hungry?" Pinkie replied, not taking her eyes of the picture she still had in her hoof.

"Sure thing dear, I’ll be downstairs if you need me."

Pinkie folded the picture up and stuffed it into her saddlebags, she then continued into Fluttershy's room to look for some blankets and pillows. Later on she returned downstairs, where the light and heat from the fire gave the living room a comfortable feel to it. Pinkie threw what she had found on top of the couch and walking into the kitchen, only to find Discord working on dinner. He had found some cans stored on the top shelf, it was nothing special, just some beans and vegetables.

After eating the meal in front of the still burning fire, Pinkie finally decided to grab a few pillows and a blanket, trying to get comfortable as she knew Discord would start the conversation first.

"So? Do you wanna tell me what happened earlier today?" Discord said, finally finishing his meal, though he preferred meat rather than canned food.

"Sure. You see, as I was walking towards the castle. I came across the sign that showed the correct path to Fluttershy's cottage, and the thought of her has been stuck in my head since then. I know you've told me, not to mix my training up with my feelings, but..." Pinkie stopped, as she remembered the picture she had found upstairs.

"When I was upstairs, I found this. I was thinking maybe you could take it with you, when you leave Ponyville." Pinkie slowly pulled the picture from her saddlebags, and gave it to Discord.

"But, why? This picture has nothing to do with me. I mean, I know we were friends with them once, but why would I want to bring it with me on my journey?" Discord asked, as he looked from the picture to Pinkie.

"I was wondering if you could... Maybe give it to Fluttershy once you got there, as a reminder to her. That there's still one out of her four enemies, who's actually still her friend." Pinkie struggled not to let her tears get the best of her, but failed badly at just the thought of Fluttershy again. Discord noticed, quickly putting an arm around Pinkie once more.

Few minutes later the two of them were cuddled up near the fire, Pinkie had cried herself to sleep as Discord had slowly stroked her mane. Of course would he bring the picture to Fluttershy, after all you're both my friends and I would do anything to make you happy again. As Discord looked once more at the photo, thinking back to when they had been the best of friends. He slowly fell into a deep sleep, with the picture still in his hand and Pinkie next to him, dreaming back to time where everything was just perfect for him and the mane six.

***

The early light of the rising sun finally came through the small windows, where Pinkie and Discord were still sleeping. Only able to wake up pinkie, as Discord was just tall enough to avoid the beam of light to his face. Carefully sneaking out of Discords arms and into the kitchen to find a piece of paper and a pen, so that she could write a small note for when he woke up, so that he knew where she had went. Minutes later Pinkie laid the piece of paper on the dinner table, as she made her way to the door, taking a final look at her sleeping mentor, dreaming and twitching his leg a little.

Pinkie walked the long road through the small patches of trees and rocks lying here and there, she noticed something strange in the distance, just above the top of some trees. Focusing a little more on what it was, Pinkie finally saw it. Smoke coming from Ponyville, and she was certain that it was not from any of the chimneys, something was burning.

Switching her pace to a gallop, she quickly made her way up the hill just before Ponyville, only to stare in fright... Ponyville was in flames.