A New Start

New Start

Story 4

Prologue : The Past

By: FluttersIsAwesome

I flew out of my cave that morning to meet Nova Dash, Rainbow Dash’s older brother, at Fluttershy’s cottage. He was a rather famous racer from Canterlot that had come to stay in Ponyville until racing season started again. Back in flight camp, I had an extreme disdain for him, but in the weeks I had been with him I began to develop a deep respect for him that overpowered my dislike. He saved both my life and Ponyville from the anger of my father, but landed himself in the hospital in the process of the latter. I promised him we’d talk about each other’s past after he recovered. I agreed hoping it would make me feel better.

When I got there, he was lying back in a tree waiting for me.

“What took ya?” He grinned that happy, no-worries grin that we all had become accustomed to. “I thought you would be here sooner.”

I smiled at him. “I woke up late, alright? You can’t expect everyone to comply with your schedule.”

He jumped down and hugged me. I returned the gesture, though I was careful not to end up kissing him like I did a while ago; he was Fluttershy’s colt now.

“So, um... would you mind going first?” I drew back a bit. I didn’t like talking about my past, even to someone as close to me as Nova. I was even withdrawn with his sister, who was my only friend in Junior Speedsters Flight Camp.

He nodded. “Sure. Walk with me.” He turned and walked away, motioning for me to follow. “I don’t remember too much from my really young days, but I’ll start with what I can.” He paused. “Well... the most important and far back thing I can remember is how our parents died.” He sat down by a lake.

I sat down by him, putting my head on his shoulder laxly. “Listening.”

He began again:

“Our family was full of love. Despite my odd powers, both my parents and Bow loved me, and I never left that love unrequited. Our family was, quite literally, inseparable except through death.” He looked up towards the sun. “What a twisted sense of humor fate has.” He turned to me, looking almost angry. “Our father, Thunder Dash, was killed in a fight with a griffin. The griffin found Bow and I in the woods after father had taken us to Farrington to see what earth ponies and unicorns were like. We wandered off, and the next thing we knew, the griffin had found us.”

I assumed it was one from my tribe. It was totally like one of them to attack a young filly with absolutely no premise.

“He attacked us for no reason. Luckily, father heard us screaming and came to our aid. He told us to run while he held him off, but after waiting for six hours in Farrington with mother, he never came back.”

I hung my head. I had nothing to do with it, but I still felt bad that Nova and Dash lost their dad because of my race’s intolerance. “What about your-“

“Spectra Flare. Mom was lost in a bad thunderstorm. Bow and I got separated from her when we were returning home from a Wonderbolts show. The only thing we found when the storm calmed was the large hat she always liked to wear. Later her body was found floating in a rainbow river some three miles away from home.” He paused again. He sounded like he was getting choked up, so I patted his back.

“At least you had parents that loved you. I know it’s terrible to say, but never in my life was I happier than when I saw you take my father’s life.”

He smiled sadly. “I guess you’re right.” He looked back at me. “Our extended family wasn’t so welcoming. Our aunts and uncles refused to take us in because they were afraid of me. I felt extremely sad that I was the reason Bow had to live with nopony else but me to love her. It was hard, let me tell you.”

“Sounds like it would be.”

He nodded. “Not only did we have to fend for ourselves, but we also found it very difficult to even find any help at all. It was all my fault. The pegasi of Cloudsdale saw me as a monster, and they hated me for it. They refused to have anything to do with me, and as a result, they refused to have anything to do with Bow as well. We were lucky when we had doors shut in our faces. Often times we had things thrown at us, and once somepony even attacked us with a bat. Thankfully, we had flying practice to take our mind off of how hard our lives really were.”

I listened intently. Nova’s past broke my heart, but at the same time warmed it. It was nice to know there was someone out there who truly could sympathize with my life.

“Eventually we became old enough to enroll in Junior Speedsters. Since I was a year older than her, I went in before her, but they let her stay with me since we had nowhere else to go. You know the rest, right? Bow met you, you two became friends. I met Flutters, and we became friends. Now you and I are friends, and Flutters and I are in love.” He stopped. “There is more, but honestly, I’d rather not talk about the rest. I hope you don’t mind, but it’s not something I like talking out loud about. If it’s any consolation, I’ll write to you.”

I nodded, smiling. “That’s fine.” I patted his back again. “Before I start, I just want to say thanks. You’ve shared more than you needed to with me, and I appreciate it.”

He grinned. “Least I could do, Gilda.”

I took a deep breath. “I’ll just cut to the meat and potatoes.”

He nodded. “No prob.”

I hung my head a little again. “The Sharptalon tribe... well, griffins in general are a dying breed. I was the last of twelve kids. I had six brothers and five sisters. I was incredibly close with my sisters, but my father and brothers were extremely sexist and hated females. However, that didn’t affect how he beat us. Both females and males received equal abuse in our household, except for me. I was never a strong flier, so my father always made sure my beatings were worse than any of my siblings’ were.” I moved a few of my chest feathers out of the way to show him the scars that my father he had given me. “Just one of his ‘punishments’ for living.”

Nova slammed his hoof into a rock, cracking it. “That burns my ass!” he said through clenched teeth. “I did Equestria a favor by getting rid of that piece of shit, judgmental bigot.”

I somehow managed a sympathetic smile. “He never loved me. He never loved any of us. The best you could get from him was absolute apathy. If he didn’t care, then he had no reason to beat you. With me, though, he either found or made reasons to abuse me.” I sighed. “Eventually the bastard found out about my friendship with Dash and sent me into exile. If I returned without fulfilling the requirements, I was to be executed on the spot.”

Nova looked at me. “What were the requirements?”

I closed my eyes and took another deep breath. “I had to kill my best friend and bring their head back to the settlement. My father wanted Dash’s head.”

He hit the rock again, and I heard it break. He muttered something, but all I made out was “Fucking bag of shit.”

I went on. “I’m sure you were told about my first visit to Ponyville. It didn’t go over very well.”

He nodded. “Bow told me.”

“Eventually I just stopped caring about my exile. Being alone was tolerable, but having nothing to do wasn’t. I left what little area I loosely called home behind, in search of some kind of purpose. That’s how I ended up in Wellsprings working with Noir, the head of security in the town. It wasn’t very exciting, but it was better than what I had.” I shrugged. “I’m just glad I can do whatever I want again.”

He smiled and handed me a folded up piece of parchment.

When I opened it up, it was a map with another note in it:

this map will take you from Ponyville to Luvenhëgen. Once you get there, find any guard and ask for an appointment to see Captain Edge. Once you get to see him, either play this song on a woodwind instrument, or write the notes on a new sheet:

╓ ╝ ╬ ╤ ╓ ╝ ╬ ╤

Edge will know I sent you.

P.S. If you meet a Raishi named Soul Ragnarok, stay close to him. He’s a great friend to have.

I smiled again and kissed his cheek. “Thanks Nova. I won’t forget you.” I was eager to leave for Luvenhëgen, so I took off as fast as I could. I turned back to see Nova waving back at me, and I set off for my new life.