Equestria: The Fallen Utopia

When I arrived in Canterlot, I wrote my letter to Twilight, sent it, then limped to the castle. Princess Luna was waiting for me at the gates.

“I received your message,” Luna said. “Come. My sister wants to meet you.” I limped with Luna to the throne room. As we walked, Luna noticed that my wings were missing, replaced with my bandage, as well as my obvious limp.

“What happened to your wings?” she asked. “And why are you limping?”

“That's part of why I asked for an audience,” I said. “I will explain everything to you and Celestia.” We entered the throne room. Celestia was waiting for us. I briefly bowed before moving closer.

“You must be the colt Luna has been speaking of,” Celestia guessed. “It is an honor to meet you.”

“The honor is all mine,” I said. “Did Luna tell you about my letter?”

“Yes, she did,” Celestia said. “What is the issue?”

“If you don't mind, Princess,” I said. “I would like to have this conversation with you and Luna in private.” Celestia nodded. She motioned for the guards in the room to leave. The Pegasi and Unicorn guards left the throne room, closing the doors behind them. I waited a moment before beginning my story.

“Princess Celestia,” I started. “I called an audience because of an important discovery I made last night. It has everything to do with my limp and missing wings. OK, so I woke up last night after a nightmare, and noticed a black carriage at the foot of Rainbow Dash's home. Curious, I followed it to a large facility far beyond Cloudsdale. I snuck in through the dark walls to find a horrifying sight. Pegasus Ponies working in this Rainbow Factory were murdering young Pegasi that had failed their flight test. They were using the Spectra in the blood of the young Pegasi to make the rainbows that we see all across Equestria. I attempted to run for it and get here sooner, but I was caught. Since the workers neglected to kill me right away, I tried to free the captive Pegasus Ponies, but it failed. In an attempt to kill me, one of the workers threw two cleavers at me. They both missed, instead cutting off my wings. I escaped and made it through the vents, but broke my left hind leg after falling out of the side of the building.”

“If I may interrupt,” Celestia said. “Why didn't you tell Rainbow Dash about this? She was your caretaker, am I correct?”

“Yes, she was,” I said. “But she was nowhere in her house. Her bedroom window was left open and a bit of tattered black cloth was on the locking hook. She wasn't home, and I don't know where she went. After I had escaped the factory, I tried to get help, but collapsed at Princess Twilight Sparkle's door. She recovered my health and helped me get here. That's all.” Princess Celestia and Princess Luna exchanged troubled glances. Princess Celestia looked at me.

“Thank you for bringing this to my attention,” Celestia said. “We will go to the Rainbow Factory immediately.”

“Just head due east from Ponyville and you will find the factory,” I said. “But be careful. The workers are ruthless, and will not go down without a fight.” The princesses left the throne room and flew toward the Rainbow Factory. I left the castle, hopeful that the Rainbow Factory would be destroyed. Or at the very least, shut down. Permanently. Since I was in Canterlot, I decided to do some sightseeing. I didn't feel welcome among the high class ponies, but I didn't care. I just stayed out of the way of everypony else. I visited a few shops, did a little shopping for essentials, and made a snack trip to Donut Joe's Doughnuts. I had one more errand to run before heading back to Ponyville. I started looking for the Canterlot Curio Shop. I found it in an alley near the outskirts of the city. I entered the dimly lit shop.

“Hello there,” the clerk said in a raspy voice. “What business do you have here?”

“Just looking for something important,” I responded. “I'm looking for a pair of wings.”

“Wings?” The clerk asked before laughing hysterically. “What do you think I am, a collective serial killer?” The clerk continued to chuckle as I gave him a hard look. I looked around the unorganized shop. After digging underneath some clutter, I found what I was looking for. A pair of mechanical wings, complete with real Pegasus Feathers. I picked them up with my newly learned levitation spell and brought them over to the clerk, who had calmed down.

“Is this what you were needing?” he asked. “That'll be 200 bits.”

“Damn,” I said. “Are these good quality?”

“You better believe it,” the clerk hissed. “Top of the line, back in the day. These were used in amputations during the clash of our great Pegasi ancestors, before Equestria was established. Some ponies out there still wear them, as a symbol of their heritage.”

“Thanks for the backstory,” I sarcastically said. I paid the fee and left the shop, grumbling.

“Creepy bastard,” I mumbled. I limped back to the train station to catch the next train to Ponyville. As I got on the train, I looked at the spell page I had taken from the book again. I studied it further. I felt the paper and the words on it. The paper felt crisp, like it had been burnt, and the magic flowing through the words burned. By the time I got to Ponyville, it was dark. I put the page back in by saddlebag as I got off the train. When I got to Twilight's Library, the rest of the Mane 6 were waiting for me. Rainbow Dash was worried with Fluttershy trying to calm her down.

“Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh!” Rainbow Dash cried as she bolted to me. “Are you ok? I heard from Twilight that you had gone to Canterlot, and you had a broken leg, and you had lost your wings, and...”

“Relax, Rainbow,” I said. “I'm fine. I just had to take care of something.” I looked at the wings I had bought. “And pick up a replacement pair of wings.”

“My goodness dear,” Rarity said. “You had poor Rainbow Dash worried sick. Please, do tell her next time you go away.”

“I will,” I assured. “If she's around,” I mumbled to myself.

“Why don't you sit down.” Fluttershy said quietly. “We'll all have some dinner together.”

“Thanks,” I said. I sat down at a table Twilight had set up. Rainbow Dash sat down next to me on one side, and Applejack on the other.

“So ah herd that you're an alicorn,” Applejack said. “That right?”

“Yep,” I said. “Did she say anything else?”

“Yep, yep, yep!” Pinkie Pie cried, not able to sit still. “She said you were disowned by your parents and left on the streets!” I glared at Pinkie as Rarity gave her a hard tap, telling her to not say such things. The seven of us ate together as friends, talking. When I mentioned that I didn't have a name, the Mane 6 decided to come up with one. After some debate, they finally settled on 'Braveheart'. I was happy with that name, and it stuck. The incident regarding the Rainbow Factory was behind me, and I had finally found a true family. One that cared about me.