Red Crimson

Everything comes back in a blurry state at first. Red realizes she's on the ground. Then, her sight begins to focus on a pink blob of color hovering over her. Her sight struggles to focus, though.

"Hey, are you okay?" The pink blob asks in a high tone.

Red's sight finally locks on to a clear vision of the pink blob, only it's not a pink blob. It's a pink filly with cotton candy-like hair.

"Are you alright," The pink filly asks again, cranking her head to the left slightly while raising an eyebrow.

Red sits up and darts her head in each and every direction, getting a look at her surroundings, "Where am I?"

"You're a couple of miles away from my rock farm. That's what I know," The pink filly smiles.

"Rock farm?" Red wonders. Then a twinge of pain feels on her head. She places a hoof on the spot and groans, "Ow."

"Yeah," The pink filly begins, "You fell off the cliff up there and hit your head preeeetty hard, but you're lucky there was a bush or you would have been done for."

Red is still processing the sentence when the filly introduces herself.

"I'm Pinkamena Diane Pie, but my family just call me Pinkie Pie or Pinkie. What's your name?"

"Uh," Red thinks for a moment to gather her thoughts, "Red Crimson. Wait, you said I fell from a cliff?"

"Yeah, it's right there," Pinkie points toward the cliff behind Red. Red turns around and looks up to the cliff and Pinkie continues, "It's the only cliff around in the forest."

"Forest?" Indeed Red is in a forest. She looks around herself to see that she's surrounded by trees.

"Yeah, my dad calls this forest Jet Black Forest. But anyway, we need to get you to my home and heal you up."

"What?" Red was confused, dumbfounded, by what she'd just heard. Another filly wants to help Red? When? Why? How?

Red looks at Pinkie with a complexion of pure disbelief mixed with confusion.

"I said we need to get you to my house and heal you up."

"But... Why do you want to help?" Red asks sincerely curious, but nervous.

"Cause I want to be your friend!" Pinkie blows up with joy. Somehow when she does, colored confetti comes out from nowhere with the sound of a rubber duck's squeak. Once Pinkie lands onto the ground from her jump of joy, she looks to Red expecting a smile but is met with a look of caution and fear.

Pinkie's joyful persona switches to concerned, "Are you okay?"

"Um," Red calms down, "I have a question."

"Sure, what is it?"

Red rubs her right foreleg with her left one and asks, "What's a 'friend'?"

Pinkie is shocked and she gasps loudly into her lungs, "You don't know what a friend is?"

"Not really."

"Oh my Celestia," Pinkie exclaims, "You have a lot to learn. You've never had a friend?"

"I don't know."

"Come on. I'll tell you on the way," Pinkie begins trotting and Red follows.

"She said I'm lucky to be alive?" Red thinks, "I don't feel lucky."

"So a friend," Pinkie starts, "A friend is a person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection."

"Huh?" Red asks.

"Basically, a friend can be a pony, or another animal, that you like or love and this pony or animal likes or loves you back."

"Like my pet bird?"

"You have a pet bird?" Pinkie asks impulsively.

"Uh, yeah. Her name is... I mean, was Jezebel."

"Oh, did something happen to her?" Pinkie asks.

"Well, something happened to me."

"What?"

"I fell down a cliff."

"Well, that doesn't mean she's gone forever. She could still find you," Pinkie assures.

"Really," Red asks hopefully with a smile.

"Of course, but it probably won't be today. She's possibly looking for you all over where you came from, so it might take a day or two until she finds you," Pinkie gasps happily, "Unless you have a special bird call." Excitement and joy refill her eyes along with a smile across her face.

Red is stunned in her thoughts for a moment but soon answers sadly, "No. I don't."

"Oh," Pinkie replies, slightly disappointed, "Sorry I asked."

Red simply says, "Okay."

They continue trotting through the forest and every once in a while an owl sounds somewhere nearby. Eventually, Red starts to feel like the two fillies are being followed, but Pinkie just verbally waves away that idea, "Nah, there's no pony out here except us. It used to be just me who went out in the forest, and I was never followed."

After a few more minutes, the two fillies reach the opening end of the forest as Red sees a blue sky and white clouds.

"The sky's... blue?" Red asks.

"Of course it is, silly," Pinkie laughs, "Don't tell me you didn't know that."

Red just looks sadly toward the ground.

"What?" She shrieks, "You didn't know that? How?"

"Well, where I lived the sky was always grey and clouded."

"Really?" Pinkie asks.

"Yeah, this sky is strange to me. I'm only used to dark colors. Not bright blue and white."

"Okay. Well, my home is up ahead of us."

"Okay," Red replies as they begin trotting, "I had a question."

"Sure, what is it?"

"You live at a rock farm?"

"Oh, yeah," Pinkie says.

"I've heard in books that normal farms grow plants that hold fruits and vegetables, but what do you do at a rock farm."

"Well, we collect rocks for rock soup and other reasons, but rock soup's the main reason. We find gems sometimes, but my oldest sister, Maud, doesn't like them as much as rocks."

"You have a sister?"

"Yeah," Pinkie begins, "actually three of them, and they're all a funny sight to see. Full of their own personality. Besides Maud, there's my older sister, Limestone, and my little sister, Marble."

They continue walking and soon Pinkie sings to Red, "We're here~!"

Red sees the farm, accompanied by a huge boulder a few feet away. The boulder is so tall and wide, and yet it's near a cliff.

"That's a big boulder," Red notes.

"Oh yeah, that's Holder's Boulder," Pinkie explains cheerfully, "but don't touch it... and maybe you shouldn't even get close to it."

"Okay," Red replies. Being used to taking orders without question.

The two fillies walk up to the home's door and that's when Red takes notice of how plain and old the house looks. It has brown hay for roofing and wood planks to support the home, not that it needed support though because the walls are made of hard rocky material. It reminds her of her home, and she likes it, but it's a big contrast from Pinkie's colorful tone.

Pinkie opens the door and walks in while gesturing Red inside. The house is silent and seems vacant, but Pinkie shuts the door behind them and calls for, "Dad! Mom! I'm back, and I brought someone who's hurt!"

"Confound it," A stallion's voice comes from the kitchen. The owner of the voice walks into the room. He has a brown beard on his face in the midst of turning grey and he continues speaking, "We told you not to bring animals and whatnot in-," He stops in mid-sentence and notices Red who stares gloomily at the floor with a pinkish red bump on her forehead.

"Who... Who's this, Pinkie?" The stallion asks, his tone soft now.

"This is Red, dad," Pinkie says cheerfully, "Red Crimson."

Red simply waves without looking away from the floor, "Hello."

"Well, lead her in the kitchen and I'll get her some ice."

"Okay," Pinkie replies. She turns to Red as her father walks into the kitchen, "Come on, Red."

Red only follows without a word.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't want to disrespect your father," Red says.

"How could you?"

"He might get mad if I speak without being spoken to."

Pinkie laughs, "Don't be silly. He may be strict, but he's not that strict."

They make it into the kitchen and Pinkie's father instructs Red, "Sit on the stool by the sink and place this bag of ice on your head." He hands her the bag and once she takes it she positions the bag on top of her bump while sitting over on the stool.

"Pinkie," Pinkie's father asks, "Stay with her for now. I'm going to go tell your mother."

"Yes, sir," Pinkie salutes comically and her father leaves the kitchen. She walks over to Red and stares at her.

"What?" Red asks.

"Are you okay?"

"Not really."

"Oh, sorry."

"Hey, Pinkie?" Red asks.

"Yeah?"

"Are we friends?" Red's voice is questioning and Pinkie's frown turns upside-down.

"Of course we are."