Difference

Chapter One – Hidden

{Point of View: Cinnamon Lily}

“Cinnamon Lily?” I heard my mother call as she came towards my room. Moments later she came into the room just as I was hiding my wings under the bandages I used to keep them down. “Could you fly up to Cloudsdale and fetch an airmail package?”

“Why can’t one of the usual Airmail Ponies do it?” I grunted finally finishing with the bandages.

“Because it’s a Pegasus holiday and everypony has the day off,” she walked over to my closet and brought me one of my various hoodies. Taking it from her I noticed it was the Pegasus hoodie she had given to me for my eighteenth birthday. She had claimed she had gotten the wrong one in front of my extended family, but I knew she did it on purpose. She didn’t like that my grandmother had cheated on my grandfather all those years ago, but I was her daughter. She would never abandon me just because I was different. “I heard it was cold up there, so I thought this would be helpful.”

I smiled up at her. “Thank you,” I said pulling the hoodie on. Getting my saddlebags from their spot on the back of my chair, I pulled them over my head and rested them on my lower back. “What does the package look like and how heavy is it?”

“It should just be a couple of medium cubes, it’s a new Unicorn invention we’re going to try out on our Pomegranate trees. They shouldn’t be heavy at all because the Unicorn magic made them light,” she said as we trotted out of my room. I pulled the door closed and locked it. “If the postal office is closed tap on the door three times. I have a friend up there who knows you’re coming in,” she said grinning.

“Wait…Uncle Lighting Ember is there?” he wasn’t really my uncle, just an old friend of my mother’s. She had grown up with him when she was a filly and had become best friends with the eccentric Pegasus. When I had been a little filly myself my mother had called on him to teach me how to fly since she couldn’t. In the dawning hours of the weekends I would spend hours learning to use my wings with him. Of course we had to travel a little ways away from the town in where my family farm was in order to keep my wings a secret. Over the years I had grown close to him enough to consider him like a family member.

She grinned. “Yep, he’ll be there waiting. Oh and don’t mention anything about his latest invention, he’ll make your ears bleed and keep you up there forever,” She sighed rolling her eyes at me. “I learned that the hard way a couple days go.”

I snickered as I walked out the door. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Alright honey,” she said hugging me. “Fly safe,” she whispered.

“I will,” with that I took off. Running across the ground I headed toward the outskirts of town where there were few houses and farms around to see me take off into the sky. As I neared the edge of the town I heard hooves pounding the ground behind me. From what I could tell the pony was quickly gaining speed and closing in on me. I grinned, I knew who exactly it was. Within two minutes a dark black stallion with a green mane and tail got into sync beside me. Looking at him I ginned. “Wanting to go visit Cloudsdale?”

“Hell yeah,” he said with a wicked grin and a flap of his wings. He was a descendant of one of the few Pegasi families who had decided to stay in Saddle Valley. We had grown close together over the years to the point we had become a couple. Of course this was all kept in secret because some members of my family would keel over at the thought of me dating anyone that wasn’t an Earth Pony.

I grinned back and returned the wing flap. Cantering through the town we finally broke out of where the town ended. We kept running until we were well into the woods, then we slowed down. I maneuvered to a section of the woods where no pony ever dared to go. Which was by the Darkling Caves. The caves had been rumored to harbor dark magic and Shadow Ponies since before the founding of the town. While most ponies today just believed it to be a folk tale, the majority of ponies avoided the place out of respect and maybe a bit of fear. However my mother had used this to her advantage. This was one of the places she had taught me how to fly.

Walking into the caves the torches on the walls lit up with a blue hue. A Unicorn friend of my father’s had bewitched these torches to only light up for either my parents or I. Since they glowed blue their light couldn’t be seen outside the caves. Wandering over to the small chest it popped open for me, another thing that had been bewitched for only my parents and I. Pulling off my hood I hung it off the top of the chest while I took my bandages off.

“Here, I’m itching to fly and you’re moving too slow,” he walking forward he pulled the bandages off and I jumped a bit when I felt a sharp sting of a feather being pulled the wrong way. “Sorry.”

“I know you are wanting to get in the air, but be careful and don’t rip the bandages,” I finally felt the last of the bandages slip off and I instinctively flexed my wings up into the air. “That feels so good,” I sighed gratefully. Whenever I was around outside family or people from the town I had to keep my wings bound up at all times. So they usually were set free once a week and even once a couple weeks if I had no time to fly.

“Oh I love seeing those,” he grinned.

I grinned back at him. “I know you do Lime Monsoon,” I came over to him and bumped my forehead to his. “Are you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” he said softly.

Before pulling my hood back on I opened the slots for my wings and pushed them through. Walking out of the cave I carefully looked around. Hearing a snicker behind me my head snapped back. “What?”

“No one in their right mind would come around here. It has enough rumors and legends to prevent that from happening,” Lime said trotting up behind me. “Let’s go, I’m itching to see those wings in the air,” he wiggled his brow.

I smirked. “Try anything and my dad will have your wings,” I caught up to him. Shivering a grinned, it had been a long time before I had been in the air. Occasionally I would sneak out at night just to stretch my wings or preen them since having to been pressed down all the time. Unlike most parents mine were fine with me sneaking out at night, they trusted me to stay out of trouble. Plus my mother even loved it since I sometimes brought her back Wild Moon Berries. These only grew in select areas around the valley and only showed fruit and blooms when the moon was out. My mother had managed to successfully transplant some in the garden, but she had said the ‘tame’ ones just didn’t taste as good as the wild ones.

“Want to get some Moon Berries for your mom?” Lime said as if reading my mind.

I gave him a look. “Are you secretly a mind reader?”

“I wish,” he said as he trotted along. “I just know your mom likes wild Moon Berries.”

We trotted along in silence for a while until we got to a clearing far from the town. It took little over thirty minutes to get there, but we passed the time by telling stories. Also by wondering what would happen if my family ever found out that I was dating a non-Earth Pony. I already knew what would happen, some family members would refuse to talk to me or disown me all together.

Entering the clearing I looked around and ignored the snicker from Lime Monsoon. When you had spent your entire life hiding a vital part of yourself from your family, you learned to be on edge when your secret was out in the open like this. When I had deemed it safe I took a running start and leapt up into the air.