Lightning flashed through the stormy sky as rain pounded the ground. The dirt of the dark forest began to flood, causing massive amounts of mud to flow like rivers, it was utter chaos, animals scurrying for shelter, trees being pushed over with relative ease, but for one small family it meant something more. It meant the birth of their first child. A child whose power made Celestia's spine shiver when she was born. A child with a great destiny in hand.
"I know it isn't fair, sweetheart... But that's just how destiny works... It was your birth that began this chain of events. It is your destiny to decide what happens... Hm? What do you mean you don't want to decide? You'll always have to make choices, and even if you walk away from them you are deciding to ignore the other options. Now go out there and see the bright big world." Her mother's words still echoed through her head, they would never leave, and that was nearly three months ago, since she left her family, her village, and her home behind. She had a single destination in mind, a single place that might hold some kind of a future for her. Her destination was Ponyville.
Twilight couldn't believe this, this is the second time that it's happened, and to be honest she was disappointed. The town was nearly deserted, with ponies having locked themselves inside of their houses, with shops closed, and not a single pony on the streets, Twilight even had reason to believe that school had been cancelled, for she couldn't see a single soul near the place. "Whoa... It's like some kind of war zone out here. What do you think happened?" Spike asked, and Twilight let out a sigh.
"I don't know... This is ridiculous... Why is everypony locked up again? They haven't done it in so long... And I thought we already sorted out all that stuff with Zecora..." Twilight said, but felt a pair of hooves grab her side, before yanking her and Spike into Sugar cube corner. Twilight and Spike both looked up to see Pinkie, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Applebloom all inside.
"Twilight! Thank Celestia you're all right. Oh it's really bad..." Pinkie said, and Twilight raised an eyebrow.
"Are you really going back to treating Zecora like this?" Twilight asked, but saw Rainbow Dash roll her eyes.
Rainbow grabbed Twilight's face and directed her gaze outside towards an approaching figure. It was a unicorn mare, that much was obvious, but upon seeing her closer up, Twilight understood why the ponies had decided to hide. She was a deep green, she had no cutie mark, her black mane was uneven, and filled with knots and gnarls, but perhaps the most disturbing part were her solid green eyes, each one without a pupil.
"Oh... So that's who you're all hiding from... Have you ever seen her around town before?" Twilight asked, and they all shook their heads.
"She looks like a storybook monster..." Applebloom began, but Applejack quickly cut in.
"Now, monster lookin' or not, it ain't right to talk about a pony like that." Applejack said, and Twilight let out a groan.
"Then is it okay to hide from a pony who looks like that?" Twilight asked, and she noticed her friend's faces change expression. "You're treating her the way you treated Zecora, and she turned out to be a good friend. What if she's the same way?" Twilight asked, and her friends remained silent.
"You know Twi... I kinda have to agree with Applebloom, she looks like a banshee..." Spike said, and Twilight let out another groan.
"You're all being ridiculous! I'll go and prove that she's not some monster like you all say." Twilight said, before opening the door to Sugar Cube Corner and walking out towards the mysterious mare.
Twilight had her mind set on proving that this mare was just a traveler, maybe somepony who was hoping for some hospitality in this normally warm hearted town. Twilight continued to close the distance between them, and eventually was close enough to get the mare's attention. "Excuse me... I couldn't help but notice that you're new to town. My name is Twilight Sparkle and you are?" Twilight said, giving the most heartwarming smile she could. However, when the mare turned around she saw only a confused face.
"A-are you talking to me?" She asked, and Twilight nodded her head. The mare seemed to quickly brighten up at the fact of finally being noticed and gave a large smile, revealing her razor like teeth. Twilight gave a startled squeak at the sight of the jagged, and disproportionate chompers, each one was a different size, no two being alike, with several pushing forward or back a bit more than others. The mare seemed to notice this and quickly stopped smiling. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to... I..."
"Don't worry... I was just surprised is all. I wasn't expecting you to have such a... Lovely smile. Can you tell me your name?" Twilight said, trying her best to keep calm, for who knew what other surprises she had waiting.
"Well... Most of my friends back home called me Lusty... But my real name is... Bloodlust..." She said, turning very quiet at the end, but Twilight was still able to hear.
"W-What did you just s-say?" Twilight asked, starting to back up. The mare squeezed her eyes shut, and Twilight thought that she could see tears starting to flow from between her eyes.
"BLOODLUST! MY NAME IS BLOODLUST! OKAY!? LIKE BEING THE FREAK WITH THE WEIRD EYES AND SHARP TEETH WASN'T ENOUGH, I HAD TO BE GIVEN THAT NAME!" She shouted, and Twilight was able to confirm that there Bloodlust was indeed crying. "I left home to try and make something of myself, but no matter where I go, no matter who I try to talk to, it always ends up the same way! This always happens! Ponies lock themselves away in their homes, they chase me out of town, they treat me like a monster." Bloodlust turned and started walking away, but Twilight quickly put a hoof on her shoulder.
"Listen... Bloodlust. I can't say I know what it's like to be treated that way... But if you really have no place to go to... You can..." Twilight paused, knowing that she would never hear the end of it from her friends, but this had to be said. "You can stay with me if you'd like." Twilight finished, and looked up to see Bloodlust's expression had calmed down, and once again began to fill with tears.
"Do you really mean that Twilight? Or are you just trying to build up my hopes before you ultimately crush me like a tiny insect?" Bloodlust suddenly stopped crying, and her eyes seemed to flicker with distrust and anger.
"N-No! I would never do that to somepony! So what do you say?" Twilight asked, and Bloodlust continued to stare at her with distrust, until she sighed and nodded. "Come on then. We'll head back to the library and get you all set up. Let me just tell my friends that I'm heading back home." Twilight quickly gave instructions to the library, before waving goodbye and moving back into Sugar Cube Corner. Shortly after entering she was tackled by Pinkie Pie, who began to yell.
"WE THOUGHT YOU WERE DONE FOR! WE THOUGHT SHE WOULD DO SOME HORRIBLE THING TO YOU AND WE'D NEVER GET TO SEE YOU AGAIN AND WE'D NEVER GET TO THROW YOU ANOTHER PARTY!" Pinkie shouted, and Twilight wiggled out of her grasp.
"I'm fine, don't worry. She was new to town. She said she had come out here to make something of herself. She needed a place to stay so I'm letting her stay with me at the library." Twilight said, and she heard them all gasp in shock.
"You're letting her live with us? What if she is some evil monster that's just using you!?" Spike asked, and Twilight rolled her eyes.
"She's not!" Twilight said, glaring at the baby dragon.
"Well, were you at least able to get a name?" Rarity asked and Twilight suddenly became quiet.
"She said her name was... Was... Was... Bloodlust..." Twilight said, and she immediately regretted it.
"BLOODLUST!? YOU'RE LETTING A PONY NAMED BLOODLUST LIVE WITH US!?" Spike asked, and he noticed that the others were giving a similar reaction.
"She seems nice enough, besides from the way she acted she didn't really like her name... Almost like she would change it if she could." Twilight explained, but this did nothing to curb their fear and anger. Twilight let out a huff and said "This is going to be difficult."
