My Little Pony: Floppy's Story

Chapters

Chapter 2: The Golden Tickets
Chapter 3: Just a Little Picnic
Chapter 4: Red Flag to a Bully
Chapter 5: Never Dis the Dress
Chapter 6: Flying on Broken Wings
chapter 7: The Grand Galloping Gala
Chapter 8: A Demon Pony?!
Chapter 9: Trust
Chapter 10: Sweet Dreams
Chapter 11: Why Now?!
Chapter 1: Nightmare Moon

Chapter 2: The Golden Tickets

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Chapter 3: Just a Little Picnic

Floppy had managed to avoid interacting too much with everyone so far. Floppy knew that this peace where she could just wander around and observe would end soon. It was just too good to last. Nothing is ever that easy. She should have gone home yesterday while the going was good but she just didn’t want to return to the dark Everfree forest. Everything was so colourful in Ponyville that it almost felt like another world. Like the places she explored in her dreams at night. She felt drawn to it like a moth to a night light. She thought of leaving but could never bring herself to get up and go. But she could only hold the act for so long.

On the morning, after the golden ticket incident, things started to get more difficult. Applejack opened the barn door with a sense of purpose. Floppy knew what was coming. It had to happen sometime.

“Floppy, ya have been here for two nights now. I can’t just keep ya here like a stowaway. We need to get to the bottom of this business with your parents” Floppy tried to open her mouth but once she did she realised she didn’t have the words to say.

“No I won’t be havin’ any excuses this time” Applejack said in a stern but still rather sympathetic way. Floppy hung her head and struggled to look at her.

“Now don’t you worry, nothin’. I will come with ya and we can talk to ya mum about this. OK?” Floppy stood there in silence for a while before responding.

“Applejack. I don’t want to go back. I want to stay. I want to stay here” Floppy said, her voice cracking from the incoming tears.
“Now now, Floppy. Ya don’t need to get so upset. We can talk to her. It won’t be so bad”

“I just want to stay. Just a few more days”

“Floppy, I told ya, you can’t stay here”

“I can work on the farm. Just enough time for me to calm down”

Floppy looked straight into Applejack’s eyes. Applejack saw Floppy’s genuine fear behind her tears and her heart sank. How could she say no. It was true that she wasn’t in the best condition and Twilight had suggested to Applejack over lunch to perhaps try and fatten her up a little. With that perfect timing, Pinkie arrived. She bounced threw the door in what looked like a feathers weight but still managed to do enough damage to the barn door that it seemed a rhino had charged threw it.

“Oh Pinkie!” Applejack said in surprise.

“Yep! Pinkie Dinky here! Hehe he hehe” Pinkie chuckled with a little snort. Pinkie held a cupcake in her right hoof with a large, bright, rainbow coloured frosting on top, complete with colourful sprinkles. Floppy stared at it curiously.

“Twilight said you needed a treat and everyone knows Sugarcube Corner has the best treats in all of Ponyville so I brought you a cupcake for breakfast. That’s a treat right?” Pinkie Pie chirped proudly.

“Excuse me Pinkie Pie but I don’t think a cupcake is a good breakfast” Applejack said.

“What do you mean? I have a cupcake for my breakfast every day! It’s got all the healthy stuff in it” Pinkie pointed at the green swirl in the cupcake icing

“See here is the green. Oh and here is the orange. You gotta have your orange and ermm. Well it has all the rest of the colours to so it must be good for you” Pinkie exclaimed.

“Pinkie I don’t believe that how it-” Applejack tried to explain but Floppy unintentionally interrupted her

“What’s a cupcake?” Floppy thought out loud. Pinkie immediately turned her head to Floppy like a puppy who just spotted a tennis ball.

“What’s a cupcake?! What’s a CUPCAKE?!” Pinkie yelled in shock

“You have never had a cupcake before?!” Pinkie screeched. Floppy just shook her head.

Pinkie gasped in utter astonishment and then proceeded to scream “But y-you gotta have one now!”

Pinkie then proceeded to give Floppy the cupcake. Well I say give but it was more like a delicious punch in the mouth. Once Floppy had got over the shock of being choked with a foodstuff, she started to taste the cupcake. Floppy’s face froze and she stared into space. It felt like fireworks going off in her head. Applejack and Pinkie watched Floppy in anticipation. Applejack was a little worried with her lack of response so far but Pinkie just bounced in excitement for what was to come.

Then Floppy snapped out of it and swallowed the cupcake in one big gulp before squealing with all-encompassing joy. “Oh my FUCKING GOD! Thank Celestia! Thank Luna! Praise all the powers that be! That was AMAZING!” Floppy then feel on her rump and sat catching her breath.

“I knew you’d like it! yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!” Pinkie exclaimed while bouncing around the barn and dodging around all the apple barrels with surprising ease.

“Twilight said you need lots of food coz your so thinny thin. I need to get more! Be back sooo-oooooon!” Pinkie said bounding into the distance and just like that she was gone.

“That gosh darn Twilight!” Applejack exclaimed

“We don’t need anymore distractions. We get to get ya to-” Applejack was so busy thinking she didn’t notice Floppy zoom past her and out the barn doors.

“Ah, wait! Floppy! Where are ya goin’?!” But it was too late.

Floppy had already made it a good long way to the apple family house. Applejack soon realised after sniffing the air what she was aiming for. Granny was cooking up her brilliant apple pies as she always did on a Wednesday morning and Floppy was heading straight for it. When Applejack caught up with her the damage was already done. An entire family’s worth of apple pies gone within an instant. Applejack had thought Pinkie Pie’s appetite was bad but this was on a whole other level.

Floppy licked the last of the apple filling from one of the tins and then instantly passed out on the floor. Applejack could not believe her eyes. Big Mac and Granny Smith both looked to Applejack. Looks like she had some explaining to do.

Applejack wanted to question Floppy about going back home but Twilight suggested that it might be better for her to settle down first. So Floppy was going to have to stay for now. Ever since that cupcake incident, Applejack had taken to feeding Floppy at least one cupcake a day. Well maybe two or three or ten.

Floppy found herself desperately hungry every few hours and begged Applejack to no end. Over the next few days there was a battle of wills. Applejack would claim this cupcake would be the last but then find Floppy gorging on the food in the pantry. Anything she could find, Floppy would eat when she had a desperate moment. Floppy felt ashamed of herself but somehow she just couldn’t stand the hunger. Applejack wasn’t sure what to do with her anymore but she knew fighting wouldn’t help. Applejack settled on just feeding her how she wanted just to make things easier.

Applejack had been very accommodating and understanding until now for the most part. But it seemed Applejack and Twilight were determined to get to know more about her. Then the weekend came. Applejack told Floppy this morning that the meal they had together after the golden ticket arguement was so nice they wanted to have a picnic today. What an excuse. Twilight was curious about her from the very start and Floppy knew it. Twilight had been trying to visit and talk to her for days. Twilight must have planned this so she could get her to spend time with them. Floppy had managed to find excuses until now but now there was no excuse. She should have never tried to help them with the Elements of Harmony. This was getting out of hoof.

“Come on, Floppy. I know you don’t like me stayin’ while ya eat but please just try to come with us for once, sugarcube. Twilight and the others are dying to meet ya” Floppy fidgeted franticly. ‘Please just go!’ Floppy thought to herself.

You see over the past few days Floppy’s stomach had been making loud noises in the morning and pretty much any time she was hungry. Her stomach was always noisy and she was always penalised for it at home. She didn’t want to become the laughing stock of a whole town of ponies. What’s more, it was terribly embarrassing. She should have gone home when she had the chance but, of course, she didn’t. So far she has managed to keep it hidden by a random cough or getting a pony out of the room fast enough but it couldn’t work forever. Floppy knew that in a picnic, she would be doomed for embarrassment.

Floppy had also gained a substantial amount of weight over the last few days. Too much weight. Floppy could feel her fat belly sway slightly as she walked and she hated it. She could just feel the eyes staring and see the ponies laughing at her behind her back. She had used to go on walks around town to get familiar with it but the last few days she had become close to a hermit, hiding in her make shift bedroom Applejack had now prepared for her in the spare room upstairs.

Applejack carried on begging for her to go but Floppy down right refused and Floppy’s eyes demanded she leave. Applejack decided that maybe it would be better to get Twilight’s advice and maybe she could talk to her. Floppy knew what she was thinking. Despite her hate for walking around town, Floppy feared having to talk to Twilight more so she set off before Applejack could return. Floppy had conversions with Twilight before while on the street. Just a simple chat, nothing that interesting as she always had an excuse to leave so there was no time for full conversations.

Despite this, Floppy had always felt like Twilight had a way of looking at her that made her feel very uncomfortable. Twilight just seemed to seep into her soul whenever she looked at her. Floppy found it very difficult to hide herself and keep her composure when Twilight was around so she tried to avoid her like the plague. She always seemed to know exactly what to ask to push her buttons and Floppy knew she was very suspicious of how she avoided these questions.

The typical traps were “you seem distressed, Floppy. What’s wrong?” and

“why don’t you...” She also had a great memory so when Floppy went back on herself she always noticed.

Floppy wandered the streets, looking at her hooves as they waddled and scrapped across the floor like a penguin. Floppy tried to kick up more dust with her hooves as she walked so she would have something to look at. It was better than paying attention to the ponies who she knew were looking at her. She tried to concentrate on the birds singing and the sound of the dripping water from the fountain in the centre of town rather than the gossiping of the ponies she walked past. She tricked herself into thinking she couldn’t hear or see any of it...but she could, all of it.

Floppy was so busy looking at her hooves that she didn’t notice herself wandering straight into a queue for a market stand. Ponyville held a farmer’s market every weekend and this week was no exception. Floppy bumped into a pair of young teen ponies.

“Hey, like, what the hell” one of them said as she turned around with her giant ring earrings swinging after her.

“oh I-I’m sorry” Floppy cried and tried to step back but in doing so she tripped on a box of turnips and crashed into a stall behind her.

“HEY! What do you think you’re doing?!” The man of the stand yelled after he saw the destruction of half his stall display.

“I-I-I-I-I” Floppy tried to speak but she couldn’t seem to form words as she cowered in fear of the angry stall owner.

“Why don’t ya watch where you’re going, fatass!” The other young mare said while bobbing her head left and right and gesturing towards her with her hoof.

Floppy’s face fell and she felt the waterworks coming. Just then a voice came from the crowd.

“Hey! Leave her alone! That is no way to treat another pony!” Floppy recognised the voice and looked up to see Twilight standing between her and the young mares. Twilight then turned to Floppy, held out her hoof and smiled.

“Let’s go. Floppy. I don’t think you want to stay here” Floppy took Twilight’s hoof and walked with her away from the fuss. Floppy couldn’t hold it in this time and as soon as she got a hairs distance away from the town square she found herself sobbing uncontrollably. She was crying so hard she could barely think to walk at the same time.

“It’s OK. Floppy. Let’s go to the library and we can talk”

Floppy didn’t think about what she was doing. All she wanted was someone to comfort her right now so she just did as she was told. Twilight held her hoof all the way to her tree house and guided her in. Twilight made her a warm drink and got some pillows for her to rest on. Floppy took it all without question. Before long Floppy calmed down and found herself suddenly conscious inside the enemy base, Twilight’s house. Twilight slowly walked towards her with a sandwich and placed it in front of her before sitting down nearby

“I hope you like zap apple jam. It’s all I have right now” Twilight said. Floppy didn’t feel like eating but she found herself exchanging glances between the sandwich and Twilight.

“Oh should I put it away. Do you not like zap apple?” Twilight enquired

“nono. It’s OK” Floppy managed to conquer up in a weak voice

“Are you feeling a little better now?” Twilight asked. Floppy nodded. Twilight fluffed one of the pillows as she spoke.

“Now, I know that those ponies were pretty mean but” Twilight turned and looked Floppy dead in the eyes.

“that’s not the only thing you are upset about. Is it?” Floppy just hung her head in shame and tried to keep calm.

“It’s OK. You don’t have to speak to me if you really don’t want to but I think it would do you a world of good. Don’t you think?” Twilight said with an irresistibly comforting smile. Floppy sighed deeply and spoke

“I’ve been picked on by my brother a lot. I guess that made it worse” Floppy looked at Twilight to gauge her response before continuing. Twilight just smiled and waited patiently. Floppy was just waiting for her to say the typical ‘take your time’ comment, which literally meant hurry up but she didn’t say a word.

“Please can I not go the picnic!” Floppy begged

“No one said you had to, Floppy” Twilight said softly.

“But I have barely spoken to you guys” Floppy cried

“Does that bother you?” Twilight inquired. Floppy paused and looked at Twilight. She was still sitting there, patient and smiling.

“yes” Floppy said, the most honest she had ever been this past week. Floppy had never liked lying but she found it so difficult to speak her heart to ponies. It felt good to just say the truth for once.

“why?” Twilight asked. Floppy started to feel a little more at ease.

“I want to get to know you and your friends. I really do!” Floppy turned away in shame

“but...” Floppy stopped. Twilight still sat there. She seemed eager for her to continue but she didn’t pressure her in the slightest.

Floppy tried to continue but she found herself just stuttering and fidgeting the more she thought about how to put it across. Then it happened. Floppy’s stomach decided it now wanted that sandwich. Floppy closed her eyes and covered her face with her hoof. It was bound to happen at some point but what a time for it to happen. Floppy heard the plate being moved and peeked out of her hooves to see Twilight’s hoof moving the sandwich closer to her. Floppy started to break into a sweat and before long she had scoffed the sandwich. Floppy just stared at the empty plate in shame. Surely her time with these ponies was over. They would never accept such a greedy and disgusting pony but then she saw Twilight’s hoof grab the plate and she wandered away into the kitchen.

Floppy waited for the insults, the disgrace but it never came. Twilight came back with more sandwiches and passed them over to her. Floppy looked at the plate and back at Twilight and then back to the plate again. Floppy continued to eat the sandwiches. She might as well. Twilight waited patiently for her to finish, it felt a little awkward but comforting at the same time. Eventually Floppy had to speak

“I-I’m sorry.”

“It’s OK, Floppy”

“No it’s NOT!” Floppy found herself yelling. Twilight pulled her head back a little in surprise.

“I’m a fat pig!” Floppy cried. Floppy’s eyes started to water for what must have been the millionth time this week. Floppy almost felt too exhausted to properly cry. Floppy couldn’t bear to look at Twilight but then she felt a hoof gently touch her shoulder. Floppy looked up and saw Twilight looking at her dead in the eyes and with the most gentle, honest and softest tone she could muster Twilight said

“No, you’re not”

Floppy had never had anyone say something like that to her. Ever! To say it so honestly, like it was the truth. Like she truly believed it and wanted her to know. Floppy couldn’t believe her ears. Floppy was so shocked she burst into tears yet again. Twilight rubbed her shoulder and came closer to put her whole hoof around her.

“It’s OK, Floppy. Let it all out” Twilight said while rubbing Floppy’s back. Floppy had cried so much that day that it didn’t take too long to stop this time. She practically had no tears left in her anymore.

Floppy turned to Twilight and smiled. “Thank you” and she meant it with all honesty. She found herself swinging her hooves around Twilight in a tight hug.

“I told you it would do you a world of good” Twilight said with a little chuckle. It certainly did! Floppy found herself feeling rather bouncy and full of energy all of a sudden.

“Is there anything else on your mind?” Twilight asked. Good point! There was a few things but Floppy shied away again when she thought of telling her. But ‘what the heck!’ Floppy thought so she got on with it. She explained how she hated being fat and how she was anxious when ponies stared at her. How she waddled when she walked and how her belly swayed. Twilight didn’t mind about any of it though. She reassured her that it was nothing to worry about and her friends wouldn’t mind either.

“They wouldn’t be good friends if they did” Twilight said. Floppy explained how she felt so desperate when she was hungry and that led to how she ate nothing but weeds in the Everfree forest.

“It can’t be healthy eating those weeds. The plants in the Everfree forest don’t get much sunlight so they are lacking in nutritional value. Perhaps your body is just begging for nutrition” Twilight reasoned.

“But I don’t need it. I’m fat!”

“Perhaps it is a problem with your subconscious. You seemed panicked and scared to me when you were eating the sandwich I gave you. Perhaps you fear the hunger” Floppy nodded. Now this made sense.

“Don’t worry. Everyone has hardships in their life. This is just yours. It might not be a common problem but that doesn’t make it any less important” Floppy smiled. Finally a pony that understood. Floppy had never met a pony who was so open minded and understanding. So reasonable and yet social and kind at the same time. It was perfect. They talked for a long time about various things.

Floppy told her about how her ears were paralysed from birth so she couldn’t move them. How her mother had named her from her clumsiness when she was two years old. How she could climb trees and which was the best cupcake frosting. Twilight learned she didn’t know how to read and offered to give her lessons.

“Speaking of books!” Twilight told Spike to fetch a dusty thick book from the shelves.

“When I first saw you I swore there was something I read about your behaviour. It has been bugging me ever since but I finally found it!” Twilight said with excitement, flipping open the book and coughing at the dust that flew in her face.

“You show clear signs of having special needs and your behaviour points to you being on the Autistic spectrum!”

“What does that mean?” Floppy asked sounding a little deterred by the idea.

“It means that you were born with a brain that is wired differently. Common symptoms are...” Twilight started to read from the book

“struggling with social interactions and situations and a general lack of social skills and interest in repetitive tasks”

“wow” Floppy said, sounding a little worried

“That sounds a lot like me. Is that bad?”

“Oh no, it’s not a disease! It’s just a genetic trait you can have from birth. Although some people get similar symptoms from being in an accident with a head injury”

“So it’s an injury?”

“It’s a disability” Twilight said

“It also is closely followed by things such as Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and Dyscalculia. Dyslexia means you find it difficult to read and write, Dyscalculia means you find it difficult to learn maths and Dyspraxia means you have bad hand-eye coordination”

Floppy turned her head in confusion.

Twilight elaborated “It means, your body doesn’t quite move in the way you want it to. For example, if you wanted to pick up a glass of water your hoof might be slightly to the left of the glass when you try to pick it up or you might knock the glass over”

“That explains so much!” Floppy cried, now finding this rather interesting

“Yes, this probably explains the reason you walk unevenly and why you were so clumsy at the farmer’s market in town today”

“Oh, yeah” Floppy remembered and still felt hurt

“Don’t worry, Floppy. We won’t let that happen again” Twilight said.

“Oh wait! What time is it Spike?” Twilight asked suddenly.

“It’s 1 o ‘clock”

“We are going to miss the picnic!” Twilight cried and got up quickly

“Oh I’m so sorry”

“Oh don’t worry. It’s my fault for not keeping an eye on the time. I have got the basket ready in the kitchen” Twilight galloped into the kitchen and came out with a large wicker basket.

“Let’s go!” Twilight cried while dashing for the door. Floppy hesitated at the door and Twilight turned back to see she hadn’t moved.

“Come on, Floppy. We can go together. It will be fun” Floppy gave a sigh and composed herself before nodding and trotting off with her. Twilight guided her to the spot.

“Almost there. I can see the tree!” Twilight shouted back to Floppy

They walked into a field just off Ponyville where beautiful yellow and pink flowers grew all around. The short grass ticked Floppy’s hooves as she walked. There was a little hill in the distance and a large tree stood proud at the top. The tree blossomed with pink flowers. It was so thick with flora it seemed it grew them instead of leaves. Floppy looked up at the tree and had to wince and cover her eyes with her hoof as the sun shone past the hilltop.

“There they are!” Twilight cried. Floppy could see a bunch of small colourful figures on the hill.

“Hey everyone! We are here!” Twilight shouted over to the ponies. The ponies turned, waved and cheered back to them. Applejack came over and offered to carry the picnic basket.

“There you are, sugarcube. I was worryin’ about ya. Why ya have to go runnin’ off like that” Applejack said as she saw Floppy
“It’s OK. She was with me having a chat” Twilight supported her.

“Well as long as she is alright. Come on, I have brought a lotta apple treats for ya’ll. Apple tarts, apple pies, you name it”

Applejack said gleefully as they headed towards their friends. Floppy walked slowly behind them with her head held low. She looked forward and watched the others as they greeted each other. She wished she could be involved but she also didn’t want to draw too much attention to herself. She expected to watch and wait for them all to talk to each other while she just sat in the side lines but, to her surprise, Rainbow called out to her

“Hey! Stop daydreaming knucklehead and sit down. You can sit with me. Where the best ponies sit” Rainbow said teasingly while making sure Applejack was listening.

“Ha ha, very funny” Applejack said, sounding unimpressed.

“I think it would be best if Floppy sat next to Fluttershy. She is a little shy” Twilight suggested

“No kidding! She has been inside that nasty old barn for a week she MUST be shy to do that!” Rainbow retorted before letting out a snigger. Applejack smiled and playfully bumped her with her elbow.

“Go on, Floppy” Twilight reminded Floppy as she was too busy listening to Rainbow and Applejacks banter.

Everyone was beaming and seemed in a great mood. Floppy smiled. Maybe this won’t be so bad as she thought. Floppy sat next to Fluttershy. Fluttershy was holding and stroking a little white bunny in her hooves with the grace and softness of a loving mother. Floppy watched her for a while. It was somehow comforting to see, like a massage for the eyes.

“oh! Do you like bunnies to?” Fluttershy said in her usual feather soft tone.

“Well, I dunno. I like to watch them but-” Floppy started to say but she was interrupted by an enthusiastic Fluttershy

“wow! That’s great! This is Angel. Oh, would you like to pet him?” Fluttershy looked so happy to have a fellow animal lover with her. It was very hard for Floppy to refuse but she hadn’t exactly had the best experiences with creatures in the Everfree forest before.

“Thanks but I-”

“Awww come on, Floppy! It’s just a bunny!” Rainbow interrupted. Floppy turned to explain to Rainbow her reasons but before she could say a word she could feel the gentle touch of Fluttershy’s hooves passing Angel to her lap.

“Angel. Be nice, Floppy just wants to give you a little pet now” Fluttershy said as she passed him over. Angel didn’t look too pleased to be passed on to a stranger. Floppy looked on at him struggling and grew increasingly nervous. But eventually Angel was on her lap. Floppy just stared at the bunny for a while without moving.

“go on! Give him a stroke, darling” Rarity said

Floppy slowly put down her hoof to touch Angel and began to stroke. Unfortunately, she was stroking his fur the wrong way and it wasn’t long before Angel jumped back out of her lap towards Fluttershy. Floppy hung her head and shuffled on the grass. It wasn’t a bad experience but it wasn’t a good one either.

“Don’t worry, Floppy. Angel is always a little grumpy” Twilight giggled

“Oh, he doesn’t mean to be mean. He just likes his message and tail fluffing to be done just right. Don’t you Angel bunny?” Fluttershy said as she continued to stroke him in the most loving way.

Floppy looked over at the picnic basket and felt her stomach churning hungrily. She broke into a sweat. She knew what was coming. She tried to sit with her front hooves in front of her stomach to cover it. She had to try and conceal it somehow but she couldn’t touch it directly as then they would know for sure. It would be rude to interrupt the conversation to say she wanted to eat so she just sat with her head down, begging it wouldn’t make a sound. Nobody noticed except for Twilight who had been keeping a close eye on her.

“So why don’t we get the food out?” Twilight said to everybody.

“I brought daisy sandwiches” Twilight said while taking them out.

“You already know what I brought” Applejack said with pride while uncovering her large stash of apple related treats.

“I brought the best food! Hay burgers, extra crispy! Awww yeah” Rainbow exclaimed happily as she displayed them on the table after doing a little circle in the air.

“I brought some fruit punch. I made it myself. It’s gorgeous when you get the amount of passion fruit just right” Rarity said with pride.
“Cupcakes cupcakes cupcakes!” Pinkie cried excitedly as she put down a whole box of cupcakes of various kinds.

“What did you bring, Fluttershy?” Twilight asked

“A salad. The animals helped me make it” Fluttershy pulled out a large salad bowl from a little bag next to the tree and put it down with the rest of the food.

“I didn’t bring anything” Floppy said with a frown.

“Oh don’t worry, Floppy. You don’t know how to prepare food. No one expected you to” Twilight reassured.

Floppy looked down at the huge array of food in front of her. Then her stomach roared. Of course, it was bound to happen. Floppy quickly grabbed her stomach with her hooves in a hopeless attempt to drown out the noise. It wasn’t only loud, it was long as well. Rainbow started laughing and Floppy’s heart sank.

“Well, we better get eating then” Twilight said with a sprightly attitude and she quickly picked up one of the daisy sandwiches with her levitation spell.

“I claim at least one hayburger” Rainbow cried while grabbing a plate.

“You can’t eat that. You brought it!” Applejack cried

“That’s coz I like them! I’m not gonna let you guys have all the fun!” Rainbow said while grabbing a burger.

“There is enough food for everyone” Twilight said to settle the argument. She then proceeded to pick up a hayburger.

“Would you like a hayburger, Floppy?” Twilight asked. Floppy was still in shock that no one seemed to care about what happened earlier. She stared and Twilight continued.

“Go on. They are delicious” Twilight encouraged

“and very filling. If I ate one of those I would not be able to eat anything else” Rarity joined in.

“what is your stomach too dainty to handle the awesomeness that is my hayburgers?” Rainbow said while taking a big bite out of one.
“Rainbow! You’re getting crumbs all over me!” Applejack cried

Twilight smiled and pushed the plate closer to Floppy. Her stomach growled again and so she quickly grabbed the plate and proceeded to take a bite. It was certainly delicious but not as filling as she had hoped. Everyone was taking food at their leisure so Floppy thought it appropriate to get her own food from the picnic towel. Floppy proceeded to try everything. They were all so good.

While she ate everyone kept on chatting happily to each other about the last few days events. There was lot to talk about considering the whole Nightmare Moon situation not too long ago. They asked Floppy a few questions about her ears and about where she came from. They seemed surprised about most of what she said just like Twilight and Applejack but they backed her up on most of it so it wasn’t so difficult. It felt very strange finally being part of a conversation she would normally be watching from a distance at the edge of the Everfree forest. Not just next to it but also included in it and without much penalty. As the hours went on, she grew more confident but she never said anything unless asked.

She felt a little anxious after a while as the food started to disappear. She was willing to eat more but she didn’t want to look greedy. She stared at the food as some of the last of them were taken. Everybody chatted about how good the food was.

“What’s your favourite, Floppy?” Rainbow asked mid conversation with the others.

“I like...errr...I like them all”

“yeah but which do you like the best?” Rainbow asked eagerly

“I think I like the cupcakes the best” Floppy said

“Aww sorry sugarcube I just had the last one” Applejack said sadly

“no, there is one more!” Pinkie cried and she pulled it out of her bag.

“I was going to save this one for later but you can have it” Pinkie handed the cupcake to Floppy

“oh no. I-I can’t” Floppy insisted. She didn’t want to look greedy, even though she really wanted it.

“aww come on you love cupcakes. You can’t be full yet” Pinkie urged

“Go on. It’s OK” Twilight agreed. Floppy proceeded to eat the cupcake and thoroughly enjoyed it. In the end, there was still some salad and apple treats left. Each pony took part in tidying the empty bowls and plates and putting them back in their respective bags.

“What are we going to do with all this food? We can’t waste it” Applejack said as everyone got up and was ready to go.

“Hey, you’ll eat it. Won’t you Flops” Rainbow has taken to calling her this throughout the entire picnic.

“err I dunno. I’m full but I’ll tidy up the last of the stuff” Floppy said, trying to be as polite as possible, in case there was any hard feeling.

“Thanks, Flops” Rainbow said as she dashed away in her usual fashion. Everybody started to wander off in their own directions. Floppy was left behind and as they turned their backs she started to eat the left overs. Twilight and Applejack turned back and smiled at her.

“Once you’re done eating, hurry on up with those pots” Applejack yelled out to her. Floppy froze as she realised she had just pointed it out.

“Don’t forget to put my plates neatly along the side, dear” Rarity suggested.

Floppy picked up the last of the plates and hurried to the back of the group. They continued to talk as they all walked each other home. No one seemed to notice her belly sway as she tried to catch up to them. It also surprised her that they acknowledged her love for food but they didn’t seem to mind her eating so much, even when she lied so she could eat the left overs without anyone noticing. It gave Floppy a warm feeling.

Twilight was the last to be dropped off and Floppy and Applejack waved Twilight goodbye. Floppy went to bed with a smile that night, the first night in a week. Not because the day was going to end like usual but because she had made friends. The first friends she has ever had. Despite, having such a good time, she couldn’t help but wonder. What would they think of me once they know the real me? Will they care then? Do they even care now or are they just being polite? Even so, the going was good and there was no use upsetting herself now. She would have to wait it out. As soon as it goes wrong she would leave. She always had that to fall back on.

Chapter 4: Red Flag to a Bully

Author's Note

Things get a little serious here. If you don't like the c word and various adult language and adult dark themes then please don't read further. Proceed with caution. This is your last warning.

Chapter 4: Red Flag to a Bully

Another day in Ponyville and it was sunny again. It was the height of summer so it was sunny almost every day. With Twilight’s comforting talk yesterday, Floppy thought it would be good to try going on a walk around town again. Perhaps she did just need to settle in more. Perhaps she was worrying too much about her physique. Floppy, knew that Applejack or Twilight would insist on joining her if she told them so she left on her own.

The birds were singing and everyone was outside enjoying the weather. A pale blue and white unicorn and a white, purple and pink earth pony sat together on the grass for a picnic. A white earth pony with red main and tail wandered around watering the red roses in the flower patches spread around the Ponyville river going through the town. Floppy smiled as she passed them. It always made her day when she could see other ponies having a good time, even if she wasn’t. Floppy was so busy in fact, that she didn’t notice a group of young colts in front of her and she soon bumped into them. When she did, she lost balance and fell on top of the three little ponies.

“Hey! What’s the big idea!” One of the young ponies yelled.

“Oh I’m so sorry!” Floppy quickly tried to roll back onto her front but she found it difficult as her belly seemed to make her weight uneven. The ponies squeezed out from under her and looked down on her. The leader of the group, a dark red earth pony spoke first.

“Haha! What’s the problem?” He smirked

“She can’t get up!” The little white Pegasus laughed. The other one was a unicorn and didn’t say a word but Floppy felt unnerved by his dominating expression. Floppy managed to roll onto her front and quickly got up with a little wobble.

“I-I’m sorry. I’ve gotta go now” Floppy tried to turn and walk away but the three ponies ran into her path.

“Where do you think you’re going?” The earth pony smirked while walking closer to Floppy. Floppy started to sweat and tried to step back away from them.

“I bet she can’t go anywhere without stopping to eat a pound of hayburgers” The pegasus chuckled like a hyena. Floppy stepped back further until she soon realised she couldn’t go any further due to the fountain being behind her.

“I’ll bet she can’t even walk to the restaurant. She rolls!” The unicorn said. Floppy closed her eyes and tried to ignore them. She tried to listen to the birds and the bees. She tried to drown out the voices in her head but this only seemed to make them echo clearer.

“You listening fatty or are your ears full of fat to?” the leader yelled, completely invading her personal space to intimidate her further. Floppy tried to hold back the tears and she clenched her teeth.

“Fatty! Fatty!”

“Can’t get up!”

“Fucking fatass!”

“Worthless cunt!”

“No no!” She yelled to herself.

“no!”

The sound of the colts laughter bounced around in her head like a church bell ring. Everything was drowned in hateful voices. All the things she had been told she was. There was only one option left. She had to make it stop!

“NO!” Floppy cried as she turned and bucked the children.

They flew quite a distance and grinded on the floor a few feet away. The leader rubbed his cheek, blue and swelling from the impact. He was about to yell out to her but then he saw Floppy’s face as she it pulled up and he cowered in fear. He then proceeded to scream like a filly and legged it out of there as fast as his little legs could take him. The others looked at him and then back at Floppy before then running for their lives. Floppy screamed an almighty screech of anger before everything went black.

Rainbow was dashing to the scene and watched the last few minutes unfold as she flew over. She landed in front of Floppy. She lay there unconsciously splayed on the ground like a broken figurine. Rainbow turned to see a curious crowd gathering around the fallen pony. For once, Rainbow was unsure what to say for a few seconds as the ponies gathered closer.

“Hey! Stay back OK?” Rainbow finally said as the crowd started to grow uncomfortably close. Rainbow could sense a very unsettling feeling amongst the crowd.

“That pony bucked a bunch of young colts! I saw it!” One of the ponies cried in anger. The rest of the crowd agreed and started to grow further into disorderly rage. Rainbow looked back at Floppy’s limp body and then faced the crowd again before making her decision

“Didn’t you see what happened?! She was trying to defend herself!”

“From a group of children?!” The crowd cheered as this pony spoke up for them.

“Those children didn’t deserve that! Are you going to stand by while this strange pony beats up our youth?!” Before Rainbow could respond, she noticed the crowd getting even closer and aggressively staring her down.

“Back off! I’m warning you!” Rainbow said as she tried to stand her ground.

“Everyone please!” Twilight had arrived and shouted to the crowd with authority and confidence.

“This is an unfortunate misunderstanding! Everyone please calm down” Twilight yelled above the crowds cries

“Misunderstanding?! What is there to understand? She bucked a group of children!” the individual retaliated.

“I know it may seem hard to understand but this pony has been neglected for many years. She has been beaten and tread upon by her own family and has never known true friendship. She has already played a part in saving this town and all of Equestria. She was there when we used the Elements of Harmony!”

The crowd quieted down a little as she spoke.

“Please” Twilight begged

“Let me reach out to this pony. I can help her and she won’t do this again! I as a faithful student to princess Celestia, I promise you this!”

“But how on earth do we know you aren’t just lying? You only appeared a few days ago. Why should we trust you?!” Everyone yelled in agreement to this statement.

Twilight spoke with all the honesty and seriousness she could muster “You will have to trust me”

Everybody spoke to each other in the crowd but it didn’t seem like they were much swayed. Just then, a voice yelled amongst the crowd.

“I trust her!” The crowd split as Applejack wandered towards Twilight and Rainbow to stand beside them.

“I have spent a lotta time with this pony and I can whole heartedly say that I trust her. If you can’t trust Twilight, then trust me”

The crowd whispered and gossiped to each other. Twilight may be new but everyone knew Applejack. She had lived here for years and was known as the most trustworthy and honest pony in all of Ponyville. Twilight was one thing but Applejack was something else. Eventually the crowd finished whispering and the individual who had cried out earlier spoke up.

“Alright. We trust you Applejack. Please don’t fail us”

“Thank ya kindly” Applejack said and she quickly sighed a deep sigh when the crowd started to disperse.

“This is a lot worse than I thought. I wish I had talked to her more” Twilight said with her head down in thought and shame.

“Don’t blame yourself, Twilight. No-one could a predicted this.” Applejack comforted Twilight before she looked over at Floppy who was still unconscious.

“We better find Floppy a place to rest. She sure as heck can’t stay here”

“I think she may feel most comfortable at the library. Plus, it will give me a chance to talk to her when she wakes up” Applejack agreed and she threw Floppy onto her back.

“Woah woah woah wait a minute! What the hell is going on here?” Rainbow butted in

“Is what you said about Floppy true?” Rainbow said sounding baffled, curious and worried at the same time.

“I’ll tell you on the way there. Let’s go” Twilight and the others wandered off to Twilight’s tree house.

‘What a day this has already been’ Twilight thought to herself.

Floppy found herself waking up with a bad headache inside Twilight’s library, yet again. Floppy tried to remember what happened but it hurt to think about it.

“How do you feel?” Twilight said leaning over Floppy. Floppy screeched in surprise before realising it was just a friend.

“Sorry. You made me jump” Floppy rubbed her head

“Ooooh my head” she groaned

“I’ll see if I can find some medication. Don’t strain yourself OK?” Floppy nodded and Twilight headed into the kitchen for some headache medicine.

“How are ya doin’ sugarcube?” Applejack said in a gentle tone while stroking Floppy’s scruffy yellow mane. Floppy found this surprisingly comforting.

“I-I’m OK”

Rainbow stood in the corner of the room tapping her hoof. She had her lips pulled in like a scolded school girl and she was sweating profusely. Twilight wandered back in the room and gave Floppy the medicine with a glass of water.

Once Floppy had taken the medicine, Twilight turned to Rainbow “Alright, I think you can talk now”

“Oh thank Celestia!” Rainbow cried as she let out a burst of air.

“Floppy, what the heck happened there?! Why did you buck those kids?!”

“W-What?!” Floppy pulled back in shock.

“You mean, you don’t remember sweetheart?” Applejack found herself saying in a sweeter way than she had expected herself to.

“N-No!” Floppy cried before putting her hoof to her head again in pain.

“It’s OK, Floppy. Don’t strain yourself” Twilight said with the calmness of an ocean sea on a peaceful day. Floppy looked at Twilight with complete forlorn.

“Did I really attack some children?” Floppy said, hoping she had somehow misheard.

“I’m afraid so, Floppy” Twilight said in the gentlest way possible.

“It’s OK, sweetheart. We know you didn’t mean nothin’” Applejack said while putting her hoof softly on hers.

“You were defending yourself! They deserved it!” Rainbow cried

“Rainbow!” Applejack said with disappointment. Rainbow just frowned and sat down in a huff.

“You said I could speak and now your yelling at me!” Rainbow complained but no-one was listening

“What did they say to you, Floppy? Do you think you can tell us?” Twilight asked. Floppy just burst into tears. She was just so confused and didn’t remember doing anything. It was a lot to take in. Twilight looked solemnly at Applejack and Applejack looked back with just as sad a frown.

“We better get you home, sweetheart” Applejack said while coxing her up

“No!” Floppy weeped with her quivering voice

“Oh, not that home. Sweet Apple Acres, sugarcube” Applejack corrected. She was surprised herself that she had said that.

“OK” Floppy said weekly, her tears drying slightly but still breathing erratically. When they got to the spare room and her bed, Floppy fell fast asleep in almost an instant.

When Floppy woke again, it was already afternoon. She took a moment in bed to think about the past few days. This wasn’t working out as she had hoped. It was no use. Of course she couldn’t live there. She didn’t belong there. She didn’t belong anywhere. She was better off in the Everfree forest and so, with that, she made her way through the door without being spotted. She snuck quietly over to the edge of the Everfree forest. Just then, she stood on a twig and Applejack turned away from her apple trees. Floppy stood in alarm as Applejack looked over in her direction. She had been spotted.

Applejack looked to Floppy, then to the Everfree forest and then back to Floppy and quickly realised her intentions. Floppy turned and ran as fast as her hooves could take her into the darkness behind her.

“Floppy NO!” Applejack cried out. She quickly threw her apple barrel off her back and galloped over to the forest but by the time she got there it was too late. Just like that, the mysterious pony was gone, just as easily as she had arrived. But Applejack now felt like she had a new open wound in her heart. Applejack had started to lose hope but then she turned and ran as fast as she could towards Twilight’s tree house. Surely, there was something they could do. They couldn’t give up on her yet. They had to find her!

Applejack knocked quick and hard on Twilight’s door. Twilight came out and instantly understood something went wrong.

“Twilight! Floppy, she-” Applejack was in such a panic and lost for breath that she could barely speak. She had ran all the way across Ponyville to get there after all.

“Ran into the Everfree forest?” Twilight asked. Applejack nodded. Twilight quickly rushed in and got a lantern.

“Let’s go!”

“What about everyone else?” Applejack cried

“There is no time! Besides, we also don’t want to draw attention to ourselves. She is likely frightened and will run away if she spots us” Twilight said all the while galloping towards the Everfree forest with full confidence and determination. Applejack saw how strong she was and decided to trust her, following close behind.

Floppy kept running without turning back. She ran and ran and ran until she ran out of steam. She stood there, trying to catch her breath. So this is it. What my life has become. Just a stupid fucking pony who can’t even handle a bunch of children! Floppy kicked the mud underneath in frustration. What am I? What is even the point of being alive if all I do is spread pain and misery to everyone I meet?! Floppy kicked the tree in front of her with her front hooves.

“fat”

“pathetic”

“worthless”

The words spun in her head as she bashed and scrapped the tree to try and drown out the voices.

“WORTHLESS!”

“PATHETIC!”

“You might as well DIE!”

She slammed the tree with all her strength before crumbling to the ground in tears.

Twilight and Applejack searched long into the night. Twilight’s fore thinking meant they had a light at least and they made sure to stick together.

“If we stay out here any longer, we may be putting ourselves in great danger” Twilight said

“But we can’t leave her!” Applejack said in earnest

“Do you want to keep going?” Twilight asked while turning round to her.

“I ain’t leavin’ till we find her!” Applejack stated with the upmost clarity.

“I thought you would say that” Twilight said and they continued to search. Just then, Applejack thought she could hear the sound of a pony crying.

“Stop” Applejack said. Twilight stopped and everything went deathly quiet. Then they heard a rustle in the branches

“Flo-” Twilight covered Applejacks mouth quickly

“We need to be quiet. Remember what I said. She might run away” Twilight whispered. Applejack nodded and they continued, very slowly and gently tiphoofing on the muddy forest floor. Twilight and Applejack peeked round a tree and spotted a faint figure in the distance. Applejack couldn’t contain her excitement and she ran and pounced on the pony.

“Hey! What the fuck are you doin’?!” A male voice yelled from underneath Applejack. Applejack quickly pushed herself off this stranger.

“Oh my gosh! I’m mighty sorry!” Applejack apologised

“You better fucking be! You land on me again and you will get the beating of your fucking life, fat cunt!” Applejack was absolutely shocked by this ponies language and didn’t know how to respond.

Twilight, however, was more collected and she stepped forward “I’m guessing you are Floppy’s brother?”

“Say what?” Applejack said in surprise, trying to piece together what on earth was going on.

“Wait, who the fuck are you two?!” The voice yelled in anger

“I’m Twilight and this is Applejack. Now answer the question. Do you know Floppy?” Twilight scowled sternly. Applejack was surprised to see her acting with such confidence and strength against such an aggressive character. ‘I guess that is what comes of living in Canterlot’ Applejack mused.

“Yeah, I know that fat worthless bitch. What’s it to ya, chump?”

The figure was difficult to see with all the dark shadows of the Everfree forest and even harder as it seemed he had a dark tone of fur that merged into the darkness. And yet, his shining, glaring eyes were very visible. Applejack had never felt so intimidated by a pony before but she wasn’t afraid. Instead, she found how he spoke of Floppy as extremely offensive. The way he just dismissed her like a pile of trash and how he seemed to revel in every insulting word towards her. It made her blood boil unlike anything before but she had to stay calm. Twilight clearly knew what she was doing.

“What the fuck goin’ on over there?” A croaky voice bellowed from not far away. It was another dark figure but as the moonlight shone slightly through the trees when she approached, you could see her fur was a tone of green. However, it was impossible to tell exactly what type of green it was with all the darkness. Even Twilight’s lantern didn’t brighten up their faces enough to see them properly as if the darkness was eating up the light it emitted. But the figure, although faint, gave off a feminine air as she walked.

“I don’t fucking know. These ponies are askin’ ‘bout that fat bitch” The male pony responded to the other figure.

“Who are you and what do ya want?” The feminine figure spoke

Twilight kept a strong and calm composure “We are looking for Floppy”

“Oh great! Fucking take ‘er. I don’ give a shit!” The womanly figure said, sounding more fed up than aggressive as she turned and meandered away again.

“W-What?! You can’t just-” Applejack was stunned but she was cut off by Twilight.

“I guess you won’t mind if we take her then?” Twilight remarked.

“Yeah, fuck ‘er and take ‘er. Better yet, fuck her! That would be fucking hilarious! That bitch is mental. She would probably flip! HAHA!” The male pony teased.

Twilight grimaced, quickly losing her patience. Applejack was just frozen in shock. At this point she was so angry she couldn’t seem to move. The male pony turned and noticed their anger and continued while casually looking at his hooves as if searching for dirt.

“I’m gonna miss ‘er though. That flesh is a perfect punching bag. Watching the bruises form and seeing them bleed as you punch ‘em again is really much more entertainin’ then some tree or somethin’” Applejack felt like she was going to kill a pony, either that or spontaneously combust on the spot. Twilight breathed deeply and glared at him.

“She’s prob at the cave just south of ‘ere. Now piss off”

“Thank you” Twilight said and continued to drag Applejack’s frozen body away. Neither of them said a word as they wandered away from the pair of strange Everfree dwelling ponies.

After a while of walking, Applejack had calmed down tremendously but the things he said about Floppy were still burning in her mind.
“I can’t believe what just happened. I have never met someone so...so...evil and intimidating and all ma life” Applejack said, trying to piece together her feelings on the matter.

“I know. That was the most grammatically incorrect language I have ever heard!” Twilight said in astonishment

“Twilight! Forget his grammar! What about how much he swore? The things he said about, Floppy. As if she was just some-some play thing of his!” Applejack said with frustration and utter disbelief

“I always suspected she had been abused but I never could imagine to this degree” Twilight shook her head, dismissing the thought.

“We can’t dwell too much on it. There is nothing we can do about it now. The damage has been done” Applejack frowned as she realised she was right. It was no wonder Floppy had acted the way she has done. Now she felt like she finally understood her. Perhaps too well. It made her feel sick.

“The cave! Up ahead!” Twilight announced, pointing to a cave slightly lit by thin branches seeping the moonlight. Twilight and Applejack gathered speed and peeked into the cave. Floppy squealed at the sight of them but found herself too tired to move. Applejack ran and threw her arms around her. Floppy was surprised to see this and just stared at her.

“Oh thank Celestia! Thank Celestia your OK!” Applejack said, eyes just watering. Floppy just stared at her blankly, not knowing what to think. Twilight slowly came forward.

“We have met your family and I think it’s fair to say, you don’t need to see them again” Floppy looked up at Twilight in amazement.

“Are ya hurt, sugarcube?” Applejack cried, tugging on Floppy’s hoof

“N-No I’m fine”

“I have to be honest with you, Floppy. Your parents don’t want you anymore”

“Twilight?!” Applejack said in utter shock that she dared to say such a thing to her face

“That’s nothing new” Floppy said, looking down and shuffling her front hooves

“I didn’t think it would be” Twilight said as she came closer and sat in front of her.

“Floppy. You don’t have to hide here. You can stay with us”

“No I can’t! You saw what I did! I bucked a child! Several children!” Floppy said, getting agitated again.

“You were scared” Twilight said while holding her hoof

“It’s OK to be scared” Floppy looked up at Twilight and Twilight wiped her tears away.

“We talked to them. They agreed to let me work with you. We can make things better. Don’t give up now” Twilight urged Floppy while holding her hoof tighter.

Floppy looked to Applejack and back to Twilight. She had never met people that were so understanding, so kind and patient. It felt too good to be true. Like a dream. Nevertheless, it was definitely happening. Floppy thought for a moment. Could this really work? The way Twilight said it she almost believed it. Oh, what the heck! It’s not like there was anything else she had to do. She might as well try. Even if it hurt, Floppy had never been so happy as she had been with these ponies. Maybe there was a chance. Just a little chance.

Floppy nodded. Applejack and Twilight instantly both sighed in relief. Floppy couldn’t help but giggle. They smiled back at her and pulled her up by her front hooves. Then they wandered out of the forest together.

Chapter 5: Never Dis the Dress

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 6: Flying on Broken Wings

Author's Note

I hope you like this chapter but I have to admit I don't think this is the best chapter in the story. Something seems off about it but I need the chapter so it will have to stay that way. The other chapter is well on the way and it is much better so hold out for that if this one doesn't take your liking :3

Chapter 6: Flying on Broken Wings

It wasn’t long before Rainbow noticed that Floppy had not been making such good progress in her exercise regime. She seemed stronger but she was still over weight and uncoordinated. She still had very little stamina and got tired pretty easily. ‘It must be the weight’ Rainbow thought but despite how many times Rainbow had suggested for Floppy to cut down, she didn’t get any thinner. Rainbow decided to have a word with Applejack. She was caring for her after all, maybe she was feeding her too much. So Rainbow flew straight to Sweet Apple Acres after the days training to see Applerjack. She found her near the barn handling barrels full of apples as usual.

“Hey, Applejack!” Rainbow called as she descended.

Applejack smiled back “Well howdedo Rainbow. What can I do ya for?” Applejack answered cheerfully

“Well, it’s about Flops. She hasn’t been doing so well during our exercise classes. Have you been feeding her stuff?” Rainbow asked, casual as can be

“Well, yes. I feed Floppy a cupcake or two...sometimes” Applejack responded nervously. Rainbow was immediately suspicious

“a few cupcakes?” Rainbow specified accusingly while staring Applejack down

“a few cupcakes a day. That’s all” Applejack begged

“A few cupcakes a DAY?!” Rainbow cried in surprise

“Is that bad?” Applejack asked, although she already knew what the most likely answer was

“Yes! Of course it is!” Rainbow yelled like a teacher scolding its student

“You didn’t feed her anything else did you?” Rainbow questioned with a piercing stare

“o-only some pancakes” Applejack stammered, sweating like mad

“and?!” Rainbow pressured her

“s-some candy” Applejack continued

“AND?!” Rainbow pushed even harder. Applejack sighed deeply and hung her head in shame

“maybe a lot of candy” she admitted

“How do you expect me to help her lose weight when you are feeding her all the damn time, huh?!” Rainbow cried

“Oh. You’re right Rainbow. I’ll have a word with her” Applejack finally caved in

“and?!” Rainbow pressed

“and I’ll cut down the snacks” Applejack continued

“good! I’ll hold you to it!” Then Rainbow flew off, almost pulling the barn with her from the force of the take off.
Applejack sighed again. It was true. Applejack had been too soft with Floppy. It was about time she started to put her hoof down. Applejack had a talk with Floppy about losing weight. The whole time, Floppy hung her head in shame. She didn’t try to argue. Why should she? Applejack was right. There was no denying that fact.

Applejack found the coming weeks were very difficult. After the first few days, Floppy just seemed really bothered by it. She looked like she didn’t even want to look at food anymore. And yet, every week, Floppy never looked any thinner. Floppy just seemed more and more wound up. There were mood swings that just seemed to come out of nowhere and Applejack could even hear her crying in her small bedroom.

Floppy tried several times to steal food from the kitchen overnight and during the times Applejack and the others were away doing chores. But despite how many times Applejack told her off, she just didn’t seem to take it in. In fact, doing that only seemed to make it worse. Floppy would scream in frustration and shout at Applejack. Applejack could sense her hate for her and it hurt her badly. She could also see pain in her eyes. Something just seemed wrong. No. Something was wrong. Applejack just couldn’t stand to see her suffer.

Rainbow had also noticed Floppy’s bad moods and they had fallen out a few times. However, it was easy to make up again. Rainbow soon learned the best way to get along with Floppy after an argument was to pretend nothing happened. It was what Floppy seemed to like to do after a fight. Floppy just found it difficult to find the words to express her feelings so she avoided the idea as much as possible. They had fallen out so many times, it wasn’t even worth explaining after a while anyway. But it always made the meetings a little awkward for the first few minutes or so.

Amongst all this, Rainbow could still see no improvement for Floppy and she grew suspicious. It was time to find out what was going on and she knew just the pony to start with. Rainbow investigated Applejacks cupboards and soon found Applejack still had quite a few cupcakes and snacks.

“AHA!” Rainbow cried. She was going to need a word with someone.

Applejack was rather happy until she was shocked to find Rainbow soon flying over to her looking very displeased. When Rainbow mentioned it, Applejack looked very guilty. After Applejack had had a good talking to, she knew she had to cut down again. When she did, the mood swings started all over again but Applejack hoped it would all soon end once she got used to it. Then one week Floppy started coming home looking a lot happier than before. Applejack was relieved. She was finally getting over it!

It wasn’t just Applejack who noticed the difference. Rainbow didn’t like to be quiet and leave things unresolved so she was happy when Floppy eventually apologised for her behaviour.

“I’m really sorry. I-I don’t know w-what came over me. I-I’ve just been so stressed lately and-” Floppy wept
“Alright, alright. Relax, Flops. It’s cool” Rainbow said with her usual confidence. She wasn’t one for comforting.
Floppy felt happy she had made up with her and Applejack but she still felt a deep hole in her heart. It weighed heavy on her that she wasn’t being completely honest. But she couldn’t tell the truth. No-one would understand. They never do.

Rainbow decided to let off some of the steam from these last few days with a new regime. Flying! Rainbow had been training to get Floppy in the air for a while now, ever since the very first day of training. There was no way Rainbow could accept a pegasus not knowing the awesomeness of flying! Who ever heard of a pegasus who can’t fly?! Floppy had tried on the first day to fly but she couldn’t do it. Rainbow decided Floppy’s wings were too weak so lots of wing exercises were required to build up the muscles.

Now was the day of truth. Time to fly! Rainbow set her up and ready and Floppy flapped as hard as she could but she didn’t even lift off the ground. Her technique was off so Rainbow quickly corrected her before trying again. No matter how many times she told her to do it in a circle, she always seemed to end up flapping up and down. Even so, she should have at least lifted off the ground slightly but she stayed pinned to the floor like her hooves were glued to the soil. Floppy looked at her wings. They were not the prettiest wings, with feathers missing and scars all over them.

“Maybe it’s my wings. They have a lot of missing feathers” Floppy enquired. Then she looked down at her belly and hung her head in shame.

Rainbow watched her and took pity on her. Floppy had many talks with Rainbow about her dieting and how much she struggled with it. Rainbow didn’t want to think that was the problem. Rainbow told her to flap harder and to get a run up but in her attempt to do so Floppy fell over and grazed her knee.

Rainbow took her to Fluttershy’s house. Fluttershy was always there for her friends when they got a bang or a scrape. Rainbow’s reckless training often left Floppy with a couple of bruises and scratches so Fluttershy was a common visit for them.

Rainbow thought this was the perfect opportunity to ask a question. “Fluttershy, you keep lots of birds right? So you know a lot about wings right? Do you think Flops wings are too beat up to fly?” Rainbow asked eagerly

“Oh well. They do have a lot of feathers missing but I don’t know about pegasus wings. Only a pegasus can know about that. I just look after the animals” Fluttershy said in her usual soft voice, sounding disappointed she couldn’t be of help.

“That’s it!” Rainbow cried

“You need to see a pegasus doctor! He’ll know!” Rainbow cried excitedly now that she had a solution
Everything was all well and good, except for one thing. Floppy was still not losing weight. Looked like Rainbow would have to do some super investigation, ninja Rainbow style!

Rainbow decided to follow Floppy on her daily routine. She snuck behind the hay bales and around the shadows of the buildings as fast as lightning. There were a few close shaves where Floppy seemed suspicious of a hay bale or two but Rainbow was too fast and always alluded Floppy. Rainbow discovered that Floppy was suspiciously nervous when walking around on her own. Once Floppy had checked the coast was clear she snuck into Sugarcube Corner.

“I knew it!” Rainbow whispered loudly to herself before dashing to one of the windows of the building. She watched as Floppy happily greeted Pinkie in a way that was too friendly to have been a rare moment. Floppy picked out a whole box of various flavours of cupcakes and muffins before then trotting cheerfully out of the store. Applejack had trusted Floppy a weekly salary to spend on little somethings while she was out walking. However, Applejack had warned her many times NOT to buy more food. Nevertheless, Floppy went to get the cupcakes and treats every weekend but she didn’t just stop at Sugarcube Corner.

Then Floppy went to the bakery and got some tasty donuts and tarts, then she visited the traditional candy store and got some gummies and sherbet sweets and lastly she visited the general store to pick up a few big bags of crisps. By the end of it, Floppy was being crushed with four carrier bags of food goodies. Rainbow couldn’t believe her eyes. She had never seen anything like it before. It was like Floppy was trying to stock up for the winter and the whole time Floppy was watching her back. It seemed she was very aware of how wrong this was.

There was only one thing to do. Rainbow knew how bad Floppy was with confrontation so it was off to speak to Applejack yet again.

“But have you SEEN how much she is buying?!” Rainbow cried in protest

“No b-but I’m sure it’s not that much. S-she is a grown mare. You can’t just tell her what to do like a-a little filly!” Applejack argued back but she didn’t sound that convincing in her nervousness

“She’ll never lose weight like this! If this carries on, all my efforts will be for nothing!” Rainbow cried in frustration, stamping her hooves as she paced around and flapping her wings as she spoke.

“But she’s been through a lot Rainbow. She just needs time to adjust that’s all” Applejack begged

“It’s already been a month! How much longer does she need?” Rainbow asked. Applejack hung her head as she realised the truth in her words.

“But she just gets so hungry and I” Applejack tried to explain herself but Rainbow was having none of it

“Applejack this has got to stop! If you care about her, you would stop feeding her this crap!” Rainbow said before screaming in frustration and flying off before she really lost her temper. Applejack just stood there for a good while, fighting herself. Floppy couldn’t do that. She wouldn’t do that. She wouldn’t lie to her like that, surely. But Applejack couldn’t doubt one of her best friends. She decided to head towards Twilight’s house. Twilight always knew what to do.

“I just don’t know what to do Twilight. You said yourself she needed some time to adjust and I don’t want to put too much pressure on her but what if Rainbow is right? What if it is my fault she is like this” Applejack said as she finished her explanation

“Don’t blame yourself Applejack. You did what you thought was right and that’s all we can hope for.” Twilight comforted Applejack. Applejack just hung her head in thought

“Besides, what you are feeding her is nothing compared to how much she is buying herself. She is doing most of this to herself.” Twilight explained

“you mean...” Applejack looked up, afraid of what this meant

“We need to confront her about this and find out why she is doing it. Floppy isn’t one to be dishonest, even when it upsets others. This isn’t like her. There must be a reason” Twilight mused out loud, half to Applejack and half to no-one in perticuler.

The next weekend, Twilight and Applejack travelled to the Sweet Apple Acres farm where Twilight discovered a pile of plastic bags with candy and delicious snacks galore hidden behind the hay bales and barrels. Twilight looked to Applejack and she hung her head in utter embarrassment and shame.

“I can’t believe she would try to lie to me like this” Applejack said sadly. Twilight just looked disappointed. Just then Floppy came bounding into the barn, plastic bags in tow and a big smile on her face. She suddenly stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Twilight and Applejack turn around from the hidden pile and stare straight at her.

“I-I-I-I can explain!” Floppy stuttered

“Don’t bother, Floppy” Twilight said, sounding rather stern and fed up. Floppy just hung her head as low as she could go, avoiding eye contact.

“Floppy, why are you doing this?” Twilight asked softly

“This stuff is bad for you. You know that, right sugarcube?” Applejack added. Everything went quiet for a while as Floppy didn’t answer.

Then Applejack spoke again “You don’t need all this!” Applejack cried

“I do need it” Floppy responded at last, under her breath. Applejack and Twilight waited for a further explanation but she didn’t say another word.

“It’s OK, Floppy, sugarcube. We can just take this stuff away and-” Applejack said as she tried to move some of the hidden snacks out of the barn but Floppy ran into the doorway to block her inside.

“I need it!” Floppy yelled as she grabbed the bag off Applejack with her mouth and put it back in the pile. Twilight and Applejack looked over at Floppy and somehow they didn’t see the same pony they knew and loved. She stood with her body hung defensively over the food like a wild beast protects its prey. Twilight looked deeply into her eyes and saw nothing but manic fear. But this faded away as quickly as it came as Floppy calmed down a little.

“I-I-I need it, please” Floppy started to beg as her eyes started to grow wet

“sugarcube wha-” Twilight cut off Applejack with her hoof on her mouth and moved forward

“Why do you need it, Floppy?” Twilight asked

“I had nothing other than weeds to eat all my life. I-I...I need it”

Floppy’s voice cracked as tears started to pour “I need it” she said

Twilight wandered closer and hugged her gently “It’s OK. We will talk about this another time. We’ll find a way to help you. Don’t worry” Twilight said soothingly as she stroked Floppy’s crying head. And with that, Twilight left. Applejack didn’t know what to do so she stood quietly for a while. Rainbow appeared just at that moment souring through the air towards the barn door.

She yelled as she approached “Flops! I got an appointment at-” before soon realising something was going on.

“Twilight what are you doing here?” Rainbow enquired before seeing Applejack and Floppy looking rather upset behind her.

“What’s going on?” Rainbow asked, a little confused and concerned.

“Rainbow, did you just say you got Floppy an appointment for something?” Twilight asked curiously

“Oh yeah! I was gonna take her to see a wing specialist to see if her wings are too bust to fly!” Rainbow said, sounding rather proud that she came up with the idea

“a doctor...that’s actually a good idea” Twilight said

“Of course it is! I came up with it!” Rainbow boasted

“No, I mean. We should take her to see a doctor. Maybe there is a medical reason behind all this. If she ate nothing but a certain weed then she is bound to be lacking in some sort of nutrition. The weeds in the Everfree Forest can’t be too nutritious with such little sunlight” Twilight seemed rather happy with this knowledgeable conclusion.

“But what about the wing specialist? It took me ages to get that appointment! I had to sit the waiting room for 10 minutes! A WHOLE 10 minutes!!” Rainbow cried with fear

“Don’t worry, Rainbow. She can go to both. It would be good for her to get a proper check-up anyway” Twilight answered and so it was settled. Floppy now had two doctors appointments in the coming week. Twilight with her connections was able to get an appointment with one of the best doctors in Canterlot.

The Cloudsdale wing specialist agreed to come down to see Floppy in Ponyville to spare Twilight and friends a spell or two. The doctor confirmed that her wings were pretty damaged and probably couldn’t fly.

“Normally they would heal but it seems they have been damaged so often, the feathers aren’t growing back”

“So will Floppy ever be able to fly?” Rainbow asked anxiously, hoping the answer wasn’t what she was expecting

“If the feathers don’t grow back, I’m afraid not” Everyone hung their heads and then looked to Floppy. Floppy just sat quietly without a word.

“I’m so sorry sugarcube” Applejack tried to comfort Floppy as they left.

“It’s OK. It’s not like I have ever flown anyway. Why does it matter?!” Floppy said but everyone could tell by her tone that she wasn’t happy

“Floppy” Applejack tried to talk to her but Floppy ignored her

“Hell! Why don’t I jump off a fucking cliff?! That would be great wouldn’t it?!” Floppy said sounding increasingly frustrated

“Floppy, please” Applejack tried to console her

“IT’S NOT LIKE ANYBODY CARES!!!” Floppy cried at the top of her lungs before she lay crushed on the ground. Applejack and Rainbow helped to carry the sobbing pony home.

But Floppy didn’t have long to recover before she had to visit the other doctor. It also wasn’t the best news. It turned out she did likely have a sugar deficiency from her old diet and a deficiency in probably quite a few other nutrients she needed. However, she was still over weight and that wasn’t anything to do with her body. It was all her. Even that was worse than they thought as it turned out she is intolerant to certain foods.

Twilight and Applejack just watched as Floppy stared into the distance as they left. There wasn’t anything they could say that would make her feel better. What could they say? Denied the only blessing she had left, Floppy just felt empty, so empty. What was there to live for now? No parents, no friends, no wings, no life. The only way she felt like she could keep going was to splurge on food and even that pleasure she had now been denied. What was there to be happy for? What was there to aim for? Nothing.

What was life even for in the first place? To have children? That seems to be what Mother Nature thinks and yet Floppy knows she could never have children. She could barely take care of herself, let alone a defenceless child. What would the child grow up like? It would be bent for sure after she took care of it. She didn’t want to ruin anyone else’s life. She had already ruined her own. It would be greedy and selfish to ruin someone else’s just because she had ruined hers. She must have ruined countless lives just by existing.

She just wished she could find a place where she could end it all and no-one would know. Where no-one would remember and she could start over. But she also knew she was too much of a coward to even do that and she didn’t want the fuss. She knew that, in the end, she would slowly just rot in the corner. Everybody watching, wondering who that pony was and if they even cared at all.

chapter 7: The Grand Galloping Gala

The doctors confirmation didn’t make dieting any easier. If anything it made it worse. Knowing that it was all your doing and yet you just couldn’t stop. It was obvious to everyone that Floppy had some sort of obsession. Whether it be for fear of starvation or just for the sake of comfort eating, Floppy just couldn’t shake her eating habits. In the end, Twilight decided to try focusing on something else and Floppy’s eating habits were allowed to continue to some extent, anything to keep her calm. Especially, considering the Grand Galloping Gala was coming up.

Floppy was not one for fancy dress and definitely not comfortable going somewhere with such large and judgemental crowds but Twilight insisted that she went. She said it would be good for her. Floppy couldn’t possibly even begin to understand why and she found herself increasingly anxious about it. Twilight and the others decided it would be good for her confidence if they helped her to learn proper etiquette or at least enough to attend the event.

‘It doesn’t matter what they think! We know you are a good pony and as long as you try your best everything will be fine’ in various ways Floppy kept hearing over and over. It was nice to hear them say something along those lines but it was only a minor comfort in the scheme of things. Of course it matters! This was the most extravagant event in all of Equestria! There were bound to be ponies judging her every move from every angle, even the most unflattering ones. Nevertheless, it felt more awkward to reject something her friends wanted so much, especially when they were making such an effort to help her so how could she refuse?

Twilight and friends gave her an etiquette training session every day, mainly Rarity of course since she knew the most about this sort of thing. Rarity and Twilight had both been to Canterlot on numerous occasions so they both knew a thing or two. Rainbow Dash didn’t know anything so she just focused on encouraging words. Well I say encouraging but it was really more like shouting like Floppy was in some sort of army regiment. And Applejack’s only purpose seemed to be to shout back at Rainbow to calm down and stop shouting. Fluttershy was very gentle so she was a great example when it came to slow and polite movements. She loved to have tea parties and picnics with her animals all the time so even she was more experienced with this sort of thing than Floppy.

But there was one part Floppy was clearly dreading the most, the dress! Not only because she hated wearing anything, let alone a drooping dress which she could easily trip over and embarrass herself but also because she dreaded what they would consider the right dress for her. She had no doubt Rarity was good with her fashion and colour matching but Rarity also wasn’t the best at listening to what a pony actually wanted to wear. Floppy would feel even worse if she had to wear something which made her feel like a beacon of ugliness.

There were certain things which were fashionable that Floppy had hoped never to wear, EVER, and those were drooping fabric (it never looks good on a fat pony), detailed frills (this is not the Victorian times), pink and brown combo (WHY?!) and a short skirt (no just no). Pretty much anything else Floppy had brought herself to at least try and accept. She had to be grateful for anything she was given but even Floppy had her limits in some cases. Floppy had found herself rather liking some of the simpler clothes she saw ponies wearing like casual blue jeans and t-shirts with cute pictures on but she could never be thin enough to get away with that look.

After a long couple of weeks of training in manners, moving painfully slowly and carefully and countless falling over when trying to walk without waddling, Floppy finally was told her dress was ready. Floppy couldn’t help but quiver in her hooves. Rarity and the others insisted on blindfolding her for the great reveal. They must be very proud of it. Oh no. This can’t be good. Floppy was like glass when she tried to pretend to like something when she didn’t. She was NOT a good actor AT ALL! This was going to end in tears, she just knew it!

Her friends uncovered her eyes but Floppy tried to keep them closed before Rainbow nudged her and she opened them. Floppy looked the dress over. It was a beautiful shade of deep red with shining golden frills which just stopped before it hit the floor. She had been prepared to inspect it carefully to see something to comment on as to avoid the typical social awkwardness but in the end she inspected it for another reason. She actually liked it. Floppy couldn’t believe her eyes that this dress had actually been designed rather simply, focusing on colour and pattern rather than lots of add on parts. The colours also matched perfectly and although the frills were there, they were actually very nice despite being detailed as the rest of the dress was so simple it worked well together.

“Lost for words are you, darling?” Rarity said with pride.

“Well don’t just stand there! Try it on!” Rainbow insisted while pushing Floppy into the changing room with Rarity following close after to help. Before Floppy knew it, she was wearing the designer dress and staring at herself in the mirror.

“Look! We even made the dress a little shorter so you wouldn’t trip over it. I think I pulled off the look rather well, even if I do say so myself” Rarity chuckled with delight.

“Well? What do you think, Floppy?” Twilight asked. Floppy found herself blown away like never before. Her heart felt warm as if hugged by many hooves and she felt tingly all over. What was this feeling and oh how beautiful this dress was. The colours suited her perfectly. For once, she looked presentable. Not even that, she looked pretty. She felt the corners of her mouth forcing itself upwards and tears welling in her eyes in a way she just couldn’t control. She quickly put her hoof up to catch the tears but then stopped as not to ruin the dress’s sleeves. It must have taken so much time and thought and she couldn’t believe her friends would even think so carefully for her.

“Floppy? Are you alright, sugarcube?” Applejack asked with concern before being quickly being interrupted by Rainbow crying

“I see a smiiiiiiile!” out loud for everyone to hear.

“It’s beautiful” Floppy finally managed to say amongst the tears before sobbing her heart out like a month old baby.

“Then why are you crying you silly pony!” Applejack exclaimed above the crying

“I think she’s in shock” Twilight chuckled

“It’s been a long day. Let’s get that dress off her and take her home for some rest” Twilight suggested to the others as Floppy was clearly unable to respond. The others agreed and started to slowly pull Floppy away and back into the changing room. Floppy was too busy crying to have any idea what was going on but she just did as she was told.

The day for the Grand Galloping Gala seemed to come very quickly after that day and, although Floppy was apprehensive, she was also rather excited. They travelled by train over the Canterlot and that was interesting enough as Floppy had never been on a train all her life. At first she was rather scared when she saw how thin the tracks were that supported the huge beast of a machine but once she was on it she was having the time of her life. Peanuts delivered to your seat, the sounds of the train hooting and clunking along the track, it was an amazing experience.

Everyone was happy to see Floppy grinning so much since you don’t get to see that very often. They had never seen her so happy before and her mood left everyone else in a good mood as well. Everything just seemed to be perfect. Perhaps this Grand Galloping Gala thing won’t be such a bad thing. As long as her friends were there to support her, she felt like she could do anything!

After only an hour on the train, they were there. Floppy got even more surprises as she wandered around Canterlot for the first time. The shops had such amazing things for sale and in the shop windows she had never seen the like before. It all looked so expensive and flamboyant. Floppy’s eyes latched onto the sight of a beautifully large wedding cake but Applejack pulled her by the ear to move on quickly. Floppy could see ponies eating, what looked like, some very delicious ice-cream nearby a very welcoming cafe but still Floppy wasn’t allowed to stop. All these sights of food was making her rather hungry but it must have just been temptation as Applejack insisted she ate a little before leaving Ponyville.

It wasn’t hard to spot the palace of which the event took place. It was huge! Bigger than any building Floppy had ever seen! She could see so many piers, tips and fancy fenced linings it almost made her dizzy just looking up at it. Floppy couldn’t help but ponder how amazing it would be to climb that building like a mountain. It had so many fancy curls and grooves it would be very easy to climb it like a posh climbing wall.

“Look! I bet I could climb that!” Floppy yelled with excitement before being shushed by Applejack.

“I know you are excited but this is a fancy establishment ya hear? You gotta be quiet and polite, remember?” Applejack reminded her. Floppy frowned. Oh yeah. That.

Suddenly, Floppy wasn’t feeling so happy about the whole idea anymore. How was she going to enjoy herself if she had to watch her back every 5 seconds. If she even relaxed one tiny bit, her normal behaviour would show through like a red pony on an empty street. As they approached, it became increasingly clear everyone was very excited about their own means for being at the Gala. Everyone started to chat amongst themselves. All that is, except Floppy.

Floppy didn’t really have a reason to be attending other than that the others were going so she had nothing to really talk about. She walked slowly to make sure not to trip with her new fancy walk so she ended up at the back of the group quickly. As she watched and listened to the lively chatting in front of her in one big bunch a little away from her, she soon realised she was alone. Left out, already. Floppy brushed off the thought. Surely they wouldn’t do that. They were my friends and they worked hard to get me here after all. Surely they wouldn’t just leave me when they know how shy I am in large crowds.

Unfortunately, large crowds have a way of losing ponies and Floppy soon found herself completely alone in the middle of what must have been hundreds of strangers. ‘No!’ She found herself saying to herself. How could this happen?! Her worst nightmare come true. Despite being in probably the most public place she had ever been, she had never felt more alone. She watched as she saw Twilight and others rushing off into the distance to their destinations, leaving her standing there with a thousand eyes staring as she looked around completely clueless.

Then she realised. ‘I must look dumb just standing here! I need to hide!” So Floppy just galloped to the farthest corner of the palace she could find. A shadowed corner in a groove of the palace she stood, trying to hide herself from shame. She could feel the tears coming so she tried to turn into the corner so others couldn’t see her tears but then as she turned she twisted her dress and tripped herself over. She crashed to the ground with a big thump, not only hurting her shoulders with the impact but getting everyone’s attention.

Floppy looked around and saw all those faces peering at her. She knew what they must be thinking. What a stupid fat ugly pony. What is SHE doing here? She doesn’t belong in THIS establishment! Floppy started to burst out in tears. Look at her crying like a baby! How pathetic! They must think. She heard a pony sigh in frustration and saw through her cloudy eyes some turning away in disgust. Disgusting, that was what she was.

Floppy could think of nothing other than finding anywhere to hide from these cold stares and she desperately decided to hide under the outdoor dining table. She sat there, crying and crying until she couldn’t cry anymore. It wasn’t the first time she had to cry alone but somehow she felt more alone than ever before. Abandoned like a piece of fat trash. She couldn’t bring herself to ask any of her so called ‘friends’ to help as they were all happy doing their own thing and if they even cared they would have stayed with her. Besides, it was just too much for her to bare, asking them to babysit her like a little filly. It wasn’t fair on them. It was all her fault for being so STUPIDLY insecure!

Eventually she cried so much and had stayed so quiet under the table she became bored and a little hungry. It was strangely peaceful in her little tent under the table and it made all the noise sound like galaxies away. She even felt confident enough after a while to try snatching a treat or two from the top of the table and bring it to herself underneath.

She was always willing to try something at least once. The caviar was absolutely fowl but the tiramisu wasn’t too bad, despite being a bit too bitter for her tastes. The portions were very small but rich in flavour and she found it interesting to try them all. ‘Well, at least I got one good thing out of this’ she thought to herself. Then she remembered the amazing palace shape she was admiring before. She peeked out of the table cloth drooping around her and stared up at the magnificent structure.

‘Maybe if I can just find a part of the palace where no-one is looking...’ she thought to herself. She started to plan her route from the table and had just figured it out before a waiter stared down at her. Floppy smiled awkwardly and quickly got out and went towards where she had planned to go. She had almost changed her mind but now she had no choice as she was routed from her hiding place.

Now she was outside and in the midst of the party once more, she actually felt a little more confident than last time. The feelings of the situation before had subsided at least a little. She decided that the best thing to do would be to at least try to talk to one of her friends and perhaps see if there was anything she could do with them.

It was very difficult moving between the large amount of ponies at the party without stumbling and pushing through but Floppy found Twilight rather easily in the crowd waiting to see Celestia. She was looking at the ground, supposedly being rather impatient. Twilight could be like that sometimes if she considered something important and something was stopping her from doing it, especially when Celestia was involved. However, Floppy was not a recognised high standing guest so she was dismissed before she could even get into the same room by the guards blocking the doorway.

Then Floppy tried going to see Applejack. Surely she would have time for her. So she went to see her and quickly noticed her looking rather down and desperately trying to get ponies attention at the Sweet Apple Acres stall. She seemed rather busy so it was awkward trying to get her attention. Floppy had a habit of standing around when she needed to talk to someone and didn’t really know how to start the conversation or to interrupt. She didn’t do it on purpose but it had got her attention in the past and so it was useful at times although in a strange and roundabout way.

She tried standing there but Applejack didn’t pay her any mind. Floppy tried to butt in a few times but didn’t have the courage to speak up above her voice. Eventually she spoke loud enough but then all she got was

“Not now Floppy. Can’t ya see I’m tryin’ to hustle new customers? An’ I ain’t havin’ much luck” Applejack explained as a quick dismissal. Floppy got the hint and left quickly.

There was nothing more important than Applejack’s family so it was common for her to get caught up in her business like this to drum up money. It was especially difficult to get her attention when she was having trouble getting sales. Even if she did manage to get her attention she would only be mad with her as it wasn’t something really important and she didn’t want to be dragged into working on the stall. To be honest, now thinking about it, she didn’t even know why she bothered trying to talk to her.

Next one was Fluttershy. Floppy was slowly losing confidence as she found more and more ponies looking at her as she wandered about as clueless as ever. Fluttershy was gentle so surely she wouldn’t be too hard to speak to. Floppy wandered over to the gardens and soon saw Fluttershy. Floppy smiled and was about to come closer when she soon realised she was setting some kind of trap and she had a creepy grin she had never seen on her before. NOPE! Floppy said to herself as she trotted away at a rather fast pace.

Floppy felt hopeless and it was useless to try interrupting Rarity and Rainbow Dash when they were busy with anything they considered important. Besides, Floppy just wasn’t up to it anymore. So what would she do now? There was only one option left that she could think of.

She managed to find a part of the palace in shadow where only a few choice ponies were crossing from time to time. She found her moment and started to climb. She aimed for the furthest balcony in a centre tower. Not by choice but because she didn’t feel confident enough to climb anywhere else for fear ponies would see her.

Luckily, there seemed to be a crash inside the palace main hall so this was a great distraction for Floppy. Because the ponies were distracted, she could actually spend a long time climbing the tower slowly and steadily, getting used to the curves and grooves in the buildings masterful design. She actually rather enjoyed the climb and stopped at the balcony to stare at the beautiful night sky. She must have stayed there a while as she soon heard someone calling her name nearby. When Floppy came down, Applejack and Twilight were already there ready and waiting.

“There ya are! I was worried sick! Ya don’t climb the palace, Floppy! What in tarnation were you thinkin’?” Applejack cried in half frustration and half panic. Floppy just blushed in embarrassment as she came down and chuckled as Applejack twitched with every step she took.

“We are going for a drink at the bar. Do you want to join us?” Twilight asked, ignoring Applejacks struggles

“alright” Floppy said. She felt much better now than before and felt ready to face her friends again. She still wasn’t happy with them but that was only a back thought now.

They, of course, asked her how her day was and she told them she just pottered around the food table all day before climbing the palace. It was sort of true so she didn’t feel any guilt with not telling them everything. It would only cause unnecessary fuss. But she still couldn’t shake the bad feeling inside. Knowing that it was that easy for everyone to just leave her behind without even a second thought. Did they even like her at all or was this just an opportunity to be without her? But then why would they insist she came? She didn’t understand and to be honest she didn’t even care. She was just too tired. It had been a very VERY long day.

Chapter 8: A Demon Pony?!

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 9: Trust

Floppy visited Ruby every night from that day on and despite their friendship growing, Floppy couldn’t shake the fact that it was sad others didn’t accept her. Ruby shrugged it off like it was nothing Floppy had known suffering long enough to know it was all a guise. The more she visited her, the more it pained her she couldn’t just live with alongside her like every other pony in Ponyville. The one real friend she had and it just felt like perfection was so slightly out of reach.

Surely her other friends would understand. Surely Twilight at least. Twilight was always understanding of her even when everyone else seemed to doubt her. She HAD to understand! But even so, the fear bit at her heart just as harshly as the guilt of not doing it. She had been afraid her whole life and this wasn’t going to change that but nothing was going to change unless she did something. There was no-one responsible for this other than her.

So, in the end, Floppy decided to arrange introducing Ruby to her other friends. She had conversation after conversation with Ruby to make sure she was aware and mentally ready for the consequences. Floppy reassured her that she would NEVER abandon her over them and if anything went wrong then they would leave together. So it was settled. Ruby was still very uneasy about the idea and to be honest so was Floppy but they had to try. It was now or never.

Floppy slowly approached Twilight’s house on her own. Ruby hid behind the bushes for her signal to appear. They would try Twilight first. This would be the best chance and it would help weigh up the issues with trying the others. Floppy knocked lightly on the door with her hoof and it didn’t take long for Twilights head to pop round the doorway.

“Oh Floppy. How nice to see you” Twilight greeted her with cheer

“Are you here for a visit? Do you want to come in?” Twilight enquired eagerly while moving aside to make room for her. Floppy came in and Twilight closed the door behind her.

“So! Anything you would like to discuss?” Twilight asked, knowing full well Floppy always had a specific purpose for a visit however small.

“Well, you see. I have a new friend I would like to show you” Floppy said, trying not to look too nervous but still fiddling with her ear and fringe.

“Oh that’s great news!” Twilight responded with excitement.

“Why not show her to me then?” Twilight said with a big smile on her face waiting in anticipation

“Well...” Floppy hesitated and Twilight stayed quiet but her face changed from excitable to inquisitive and curious. Something was up.

“Well what?” Twilight said, urging her to continue.

“She is a little...different then most ponies. I have to admit I’m not sure you will like her” Floppy said with all honesty but couldn’t easily look straight at Twilight when she said it

“Oh Floppy” Twilight chuckled as if the notion was ridiculous

“Don’t worry. I’m sure it will be fine. Even if I don’t like her. It doesn’t mean I will force you to stop being friends with her if that is what you really like” Twilight reasoned

“Well OK” Floppy said with a little nervous laugh that suggested ‘It’s your fault if you don’t like it. Don’t blame me’ before opening the door and calling out to Ruby

“You can come in now. Slowly OK?” Floppy said with particular emphasis on the word slowly as if it had to be specified as great importance.

“Oh f-” Ruby called before Floppy gestured for her to shut up.

Meanwhile Twilight edged her head to the side to try and see round the doorway to see if she could get a closer look at whatever the frantic gesturing was about but before she could, Floppy had already started wandering back into the room. Ruby slowly walked in after Floppy. Twilight saw the ponies head and started to think how interesting it was that the pony had blood red eyes. They were rather beautiful and shining in the light of the room as she came in. Twilight also soon noticed the pitch black and red colouring of the ponies fur which was a combination Twilight had never seen in a pony. Well not in a friendly one anyway.

Then next was the realisation that Ruby had bat wings. Twilight’s eyes widened in surprise but in seeing Floppy’s concerned face Twilight tried to stay calm and keep her composure. She certainly wasn’t expecting this when she said the pony was ‘different’. Then she didn’t really need to see the tail to get the idea of who this pony was. Twilight had enough knowledge from her books to identify any fantastical creature in all of Equestria and this was a commonly discussed one at that. She had expected her to be perhaps a bit physically or mentally disabled perhaps and a little awkward in conversation but not actually a different species! ‘Trust Floppy to find the one demon pony around Ponyville and make friends with her’ Twilight thought to herself with a deep sigh.

“I know what you must be thinking. She isn’t evil! OK? She is just misunderstood” Floppy tried to explain

“Je-” Floppy gave her a stare and Ruby cleared her throat “don’t you think that is a little cheesy way to put it?” Ruby said, trying to sound as well-spoken as possible

“You don’t have to talk like a politician you know” Floppy responded

“Well what the fuck am I supposed to do?! I don’t know how to talk to these ponies! They think I’m a fucking freak!” Ruby yelled under her breath but it was not very quiet.

Twilight just stood at the other end of the room observing them both and smiled to herself when she saw how much they tried to be civil but failed miserably. The way they spoke to each other was like a an old married couple, completely comfortable with each other to the point that they even yelled at each other with no fear of any breaking of the relationship. If that wasn’t true friendship, she didn’t know what was and this is the princess of friendship we are talking about here.

“Alright, alright settle down” Twilight said amongst the whispering but not really whispering chaos.

“I’m sorry. Ruby isn’t very good at not using those words. She has lived on her own a long time so” Floppy tried to explain but Twilight put her hoof up to silence her.

“It’s OK. No long-winded explanations are needed. I can tell you two are good friends just by seeing how you talk and I don’t mind the swearing as long as she tries to cut it down” Twilight said softly

Floppy gave a deep sigh of relief and Ruby smiled and bounced on the spot a little with joy. It was clear Ruby was finding it hard to contain her happiness at the news she was accepted by a normal pony for once.
It wasn’t long before Ruby lost her self-control and yelled out loud “FUCKING YES! IN YOUR FUCKING FACE SOCIETY! WOOOOOOO!!”

Floppy panicked and tried to stop her but soon relaxed when she saw Twilight actually covering her face a little with her hoof to hold back some laughter. Floppy smiled with content. Things were finally looking up. A new friend which she could really trust and understood the deepest part of her feelings and the other friends who trusted her enough so this not be a problem. Perhaps things weren’t so bad after all. It just took a little courage and patience.
It was more difficult to get her to be introduced to her other friends. Not that the others were less understanding but let’s just say some were a little taken aback by one thing or another. Rarity found it hard to accept her species while Applejack found it difficult to accept her frequent bursts of foul language. Rainbow was surprisingly OK with this as she thought it would be awesome to hang out with a demon. She even offered her to join in on her practice flights because demons are known for their great flying skills apparently and it was clear Rainbow wanted to earn a few tips and tricks. It doesn’t really matter in the end though. As long as Ruby is happy and accepted, she didn’t mind...except...one thing worried her.

What if Ruby liked them too much? She felt awful for thinking it. The very thought of being JELOUS of her best friend being happy with someone else is just selfish and absurd but she still couldn’t shake the feeling. It wasn’t really jealousy if you weren’t angry and planning to do something about it, right? Floppy would never do something to get in the way of Ruby’s only dream but...as she spent more time with the others it meant less time with her and it hurt...a lot.

What was even worse was that she couldn’t even tell her. Despite being her best friend and thinking at one point she could tell her anything. This...was just too much. She would surely shun her and call her a bad friend and never speak to her again but then if she thought that...would that be OK? Would it still be the right thing to do? After all, then it would be her choice and hers alone. She wouldn’t be part of it but then again...is that just passing on the blame. She didn’t want to make her unhappy and she could perhaps be unhappy either way. What was she going to do? Although, she already knew what would happen. She would probably just let it worry her so much she would never end up making a decision and Ruby would be oblivious to her inner struggles and, in the end, maybe that would be best. Maybe...just maybe...

Floppy decided to give herself more time to think about it. There was no harm in delaying right now as it wasn’t harming anyone and she only just met her friends. It would definitely seem desperate if she mentioned it so soon so the only option was to see how things go for now. Floppy had been learning more and more about reading from Twilight’s lessons and she was excited to try reading a book all by herself and not a fillies book either. A real one! Obviously, it would have to be something for a teenage pony perhaps and not an adult one or an artistic one. Oh no! But even so this would be a great achievement. Floppy asked if she could try and Twilight was delighted to let her.

“Pick anything you want from the teenage section over there and don’t try to pick anything too difficult alright. Don’t pressure yourself” Twilight reminded her but Floppy was only half listening as she was too excited to get started.

Floppy rummaged through the books on the shelves and sampled a few first chapters of the ones that seemed interesting but most of them were either confusing, weird, romance novels BLEH or too awkward to read but then she came upon something that caught her eye. It was a darker looking book than the others and so stood out like a sore hoof. When she took it out, the cover had a dark leafless tree silhouette with various bits and bobs hanging from its branches including toys and even lit lanterns. There was also an eerie glow around the tree making it stand out a little more among the pitch black background. The book title read ‘Mr Simmonhymer’s stories of terror’.
Perhaps not the book that anyone else would pick first but this intrigued Floppy straight away. Finally something more serious and adult. She was so fed up of seeing romance novels and stupid teenage drama books around it was entirely refreshing to have a book with such a different tone. Floppy was so excited she dashed out the door before Twilight could see what she had.

Days passed and Floppy got straight to reading the book. The first chapter was amazing! Full of interesting suspense and great fantasy horror story telling. The book was split into mini stories per chapter and they were even based off some creatures and myths of legend Twilight had told her about. Floppy was completely invested and couldn’t wait to rave about how different and interesting this book was to Twilight and the others. Floppy showed Ruby first since she was her most trusted friend.

Ruby was taken into the book even faster than Floppy and soon they were reading it together. Well I say together but Ruby couldn’t read so Floppy read it the best she could for her. There were some words they both didn’t know but most words which were missed didn’t matter in the scheme of the story. Then Twilight decided one day as Floppy was telling her how much she loved the book that they could all have a friendly story telling sleep over. Floppy wasn’t so sure at first as she wasn’t comfortable in large groups, even if they were her friends but Ruby was so excited to show them the book that she didn’t want to let her down.

Floppy hesitated in reading the next chapter so they could read it to the group on the day of the sleepover. It seemed like the day couldn’t come soon enough for Ruby but for Floppy the day came faster than she expected. The meet up was a little awkward at first with two new ponies in the mix but things got on well when they all worked to create a bed sheet tent or fort as Ruby called it. It was Ruby’s idea and she wanted to make a huge one but in the end they had to settle on just a bed sheet tent roof over some chairs. The library didn’t have much furniture anyway so there wasn’t much to work with. Ruby was a little peeved about the lack of awesome in the tent and had even got Rainbow riving over the same thing but she soon got over it when the stories started to be read.

Rainbow insisted on starting and, of course, she chose to read the daring do book she had read a million times over. She knew it so off by heart she barely needed the book to read it. This made for good opportunities to pull faces and exaggerate the story every now and then as Rainbow was so good at doing. Everyone was psyched after Rainbows performance for the next story but they were a little disappointed when it came to Rarity’s turn and she started to read a book on a period drama which mostly consisted of tea party etiquette.

Then Ruby couldn’t hold her excitement any longer and it was then Floppy and Ruby’s turn. Everyone was patient with her as she read the story with her slow reading skills. However, Floppy looked up from the book only to see rather concerned and stunned looking faces.

“Well that was certainly...interesting” Rarity said while trying not to look bothered by the material.

“It was fucking awesome right?” Ruby exclaimed with pride. Ruby was often oblivious to people’s feelings. Either that or she didn’t care.

“Don’t you think that book is a little...harsh, Sugarcube?” Applejack tried to explain

“What do you mean? What’s wrong with it?” Floppy asked with genuine confusion and concern

“I think the material in that book seems a little too strong for you, Floppy” Twilight agreed

“What the fuck are you talking about?!” Ruby exploded in her usual protesting fashion

“It’s fucking fine. She has already read a couple chapters! She can take it! Right, Floppy?” Ruby said with confidence as she turned to Floppy. Floppy agreed.

To think they would treat her like she was a child just because she is disabled! It wasn’t that she would completely reject the idea. She admitted she was young minded at times but this is ridiculous and frankly rather insulting. She had thought more of her friends than that, especially Twilight and she was rather taken aback by the notion. Surely not! Floppy didn’t quite react until Twilight tried to move the book away from her while she was distracted. Now THAT was NOT OK!

“Excuse me but I think I can handle a bit of violence and gore, thank you very much!” Floppy said with frustration as she put her hoof on the book and slid it back towards her chest as she knelt on the floor.

“You fucking tell them, Floppy!” Ruby cheered her on. That made her smile. It was nice to have some actual moral support for once in one of her decisions.

“But Floppy. We are not trying to control you. We just want what is best for you. We are looking out for you. Trust us” Twilight said in earnest to get them to listen but Ruby was having none of it.

“Like fuck you are! Taking a book from her like she is fucking 1 years old is NOT what I call looking out for someone! She can read what the hell she likes!” Ruby yelled

“Yes I can” Floppy agreed but with little words to try and avoid getting too worked up.

“Come on, Floppy. Let’s read this next chapter properly. In peace!” Ruby said as she got up in protest. Floppy didn’t stop to think this was a little strong for the situation as she was too angry from being insulted by her only friends. Floppy looked at Twilight’s concerned face as she started to follow Ruby out the door and found herself feel a spike of sadness. ‘I trusted you’ she thought to herself before she turned and left quietly.

The next few days she kept away from Twilight and the others as much as she could, to let herself calm down at least. Ruby was happy to be spending more time with Floppy and was all in favour for abandoning them completely. Floppy never agreed to it but she never denied it either. She wasn’t sure what to do really. This was the first proper fall out she had had with a friend and it just felt so awkward and wrong. Luckily, she still had Ruby’s support but unfortunately Ruby does have her faults and it can be hard spending lots of time with her as she can be a little overbearing at times. This is even more the case after what had just transpired as it was hard to see Ruby without her randomly bringing it up again.

Floppy tried to ease her mind with more reading but she made a terrible discovery. She tried to read more of the book on her own to get more of a feel for it as was sometimes more pleasant. She liked to think about the details which Ruby didn’t even notice. Ruby always wanted to know the next creepy creature but Floppy knew about where the creatures came from and found this sort of thing more interesting. So Floppy spent one dark night lying on her bed and just reading the next chapter, a chapter after the one she read in the sleepover. Then Floppy’s face fell.

As she read she became more and more uncomfortable as she read of the terrible events transpiring to a little boy. Then the boy went on to create strange structures and worship evil. Last but not least, the boy did the unthinkable and murdered his cat. Floppy found herself much more scared than she had before. It wasn’t the fact he had tried to kill the cat or the satanic subject matter as that was tame really but the fact he was forced to do it against his will and how he cried and pleaded for mercy struck a chord. Floppy knew the book was meant to make you feel uneasy but surely not THIS uneasy. She found her eyes welling with tears and she stopped reading, afraid of what would come next. What was worse was when it dawned on her that all her friends were actually right.

Ruby seemed to find the arguement difficult to drop and Floppy ended up feeling more and more apart from Ruby despite being right next to her for most nights. Floppy had hoped it would never happen but it seemed even her best friend had things she didn’t like and not just a little, a LOT! It really bothered her how much Ruby went on and it became increasingly difficult to handle her feelings while she was around but she didn’t feel like she could talk to anyone else either. She couldn’t just admit she was wrong after all they went through to prove the point that she was above this. Surprisingly, despite all she had been through, this felt like one of the worst things she had ever experienced.

Floppy just couldn’t pluck up the courage to tell Ruby how she felt but keeping everything inside was even worse. She felt more and more fizzy like a firework ready to explode day by day. Sleeping hours became shorter and more restless. She found herself dreaming and dreaming and yet she couldn’t remember anything other than weird shapes and shadows that seemed to attack her mind. Floppy also found it harder to sleep at night without listening to every sound of the local wildlife and checking it wasn’t a demon of some sort.

Ruby had noticed Floppy wasn’t acting the same as usual and she kept prodding her for information but she stayed quiet. Ruby didn’t think about it too long thought as she shifted her thoughts to the book. She seemed very suspicious as soon as Floppy told her she didn’t want to read the book. Ruby soon noticed there were way too many different excuses and she became impatient.

“Why won’t you just read the godamn book, huh?” Ruby cried one night as Floppy rejected the idea yet again.
“I just need a little break. It’s difficult for me to-”

“NO! That’s bullshit and you know it!” Ruby yelled getting increasingly agitated. Floppy just hung her head in shame, not knowing what to say.

“What is it? Am I not good enough for you anymore? Is that it?!” Ruby cried out loud so hard it scared the birds away nearby

“NO! no! Of course not!” Floppy pleaded with her. She never would think that! She never saw this line of conversation coming at all!

“Then why are you avoiding me, HUH?! Tell me why!” Ruby yelled with frustration. Floppy curled up further into herself and started to shake anxiously.

“FUCKING LOOK AT ME!!” Ruby screeched. Floppy then finally cracked.

“I’M FUCKING SCARED! OK?!” Floppy screamed at the top of her lungs. Ruby was taken aback for a second with the volume and suddenness of this outburst. She wasn’t expecting that at all. Floppy then started to weep as all the feelings of the past weeks seeped out of her from every part of her body.

“I read the book and I’m scared. I don’t want to read anymore. They were right” Floppy sobbed with such a trembling voice it was hard to make out her words. Ruby’s face fell and she tried to turn away but ended up not able to take her face away from her sight.

“I’m a fucking pathetic child. I’m so sorry” Floppy cried as if frustrated with her own existence. Ruby couldn’t take her eyes off her and she just stood there staring and sweating. What is she supposed to do?! She has never had friends before and now this?! Ruby tried desperately to think of a solution but she had none but one option in her head. Eventually, Floppy felt a warm creature’s wings quickly wrap themselves around her and a head lean on her face. Floppy looked up and was surprised to see Ruby holding on tight with hooves and wings and tail and in the night sky, she swore she could see a sparkle of moonlight on a water stream down a dark shadowed face.

“You know I am no fucking good at these kinds of things you little bitch” Ruby said but with a quivering voice and warmth emanating from her that she had never felt before. Floppy stared down at her, unbelieving in what she was seeing. Ruby rubbed her cheek against hers, rubbing her dribbling tears away.

“There! I’ll be your fucking tissue!” Ruby said sounding a little more recovered.

Floppy couldn’t help but laugh and Ruby looked up and smiled.

“Don’t you laugh at me you little bitch!” Ruby cried before pouncing on Floppy playfully. They rolled around for a little while before both getting tired and laying on the ground, trying to catch their breath.

“You know what Ruby?” Floppy eventually said to break the silence

“what?”

“You are a fucking grade A liar. You aren’t bad at these things” Floppy turned to Ruby with a content smile

“You’re a fucking genius!”

“Damn right!” Ruby agreed

So they both looked up at the night sky and gave a sigh of relief.

“What the hell were we fighting about anyway?”

“You know what? I don’t even know”

Chapter 10: Sweet Dreams

Floppy woke up feeling rather...quiet this morning. She had that dream again. A pale Pegasus of yellow, singing her songs and cradling her like she was a filly. Who was this pony and did she dream of her so often? And the words were always the same. The same song and the same tale.

“Luna, Luna shining so bright. Why do you look so lonely tonight?

Ponies are yawning in your stead. Everyone is sleeping in their bed.

As you sit alone in the sky, you can’t but help wonder why

Luna, Luna shining so bright. Why do you look so lonely tonight?”

And she would always end the same.

“Sweet dreams little filly. May this song bring you peace”

Well she could certainly use some of that, that’s for sure. Floppy had been awake for some time now so she got up from her bed when she heard someone outside. She looked out the window to see Applejack talking to some pony at the door. It was clear to her at first that this pony wasn’t local. She had never seen this pony before. Even more than that! She couldn’t believe her eyes when she soon realised she had the same pastel yellow body and soft gentle mane of the pony in her dreams. She was even a Pegasus! The same Pegasus that put her wing gently around her every night.

But obviously, it must be her imagination. It’s impossible for a pony to just appear from your dreams right? Even so, this was a crazy coincidence. Floppy couldn’t help but be restless. Try as she might to forget and dismiss the idea it just refused to leave her mind. Then Floppy had an idea. THE CUTIE MARK! There is NO WAY this pony would have the same cutie mark as the one in her dream so this would settle her brain once and for all.

Floppy wasn’t one for conversation with strangers so she usually kept to herself when visitors came but this was an exception. She trotted down the stairs, trying not to make them creak like crazy as usual as that would be embarrassing, obviously. Applejack had always warned her about first impressions so she had to be careful. All she needed was one quick peek. Floppy approached and her ears, despite not trying, started to pick up on the conversation.

“It is a pretty hard question. I’m sorry I couldn’t help ya” Applejack said, sounding disappointed with herself

“Oh, no. It’s alright, really” a new voice said.

The voice was very gentle and soft like a cloud of words, possibly even more soft than Fluttershy if that was even possible. She was rather quiet, like she was whispering and yet she wasn’t raspy in the slightest and her words were still strangely clear to hear. It was like a whistling wind on a summers morning, just the same as she had heard sing to her before. She thought such a gentle voice couldn’t possibly exist, that she was perhaps making them out of the sound of the winds whistling through her window at night but nevertheless there it was. It can’t be! It just CAN’T BE!

The strange pony sighed deeply “I didn’t expect you to even be able to remember that far back. It is a rather silly question after all but do please tell me if you see anybody new around here any time soon, especially if they are from the Everfree forest” the stranger recounted with sadness but a formality as if she had said it many times before.

“The Everfree forest?” Applejack remarked with surprise.

That was certainly strange. A pony wouldn’t usually talk about that place let alone talk about some pony they were looking for from there. The only pony she knew of that came from the Everfree forest was...her! Now this HAD to be investigated! Now she HAD to see this cutie mark and tell herself this wasn’t that pony otherwise this would bother her for weeks! Floppy had no choice but to push past Applejack, despite that being a little rude. She HAD to get to her somehow!

“Excuse me I-” and suddenly Floppy stopped as her eyes glued to the ponies eyes.

Their blue eyes shone in the light like moonlight and she felt such a sense of calm it was like she was in some kind of psychic trance. But more, something MORE than that! Those eyes she couldn’t mistake. Those were the eyes of the pony in her dreams. Time seemed to slow down as her mind raced and her eyes quickly darted to her cutie mark to check...

It was her...

No-one but her. Definitely her! The cutie mark was a little pale blue hammock with a silhouette of a filly inside and stars all around. The filly had z’s coming from their head, symbolising it was asleep, in every detail, just as she remembered it. Floppy’s eyes quickly darted straight back to her eyes and she could soon see she was welling up with tears. Despite feeling a little awkward, Floppy felt like she was in a dream and she didn’t even think once about talking or moving aside. She just...stared...

“My baby” the pony said as she smiled the most gentlest smile Floppy had ever seen.

A smile only the pony of her dreams could do for her. The only thing that made her feel calm amongst all the stress and sleepless nights. Her voice had a sense of wonder as if she couldn’t believe her eyes either but yet it didn’t sound very surprised. More content. Before she knew it, Floppy was swept into a winged hug. The warmth and gentleness of that hug was so familiar to her and she felt just like a filly again. Then Floppy was snapped out of her stupor when she heard Applejack yelling.

“WHAT IN TARNATION IS GOIN’ ON?!” Applejack screeched in panic.

It seemed a rather over-the-top reaction for Applejack so Floppy turned around and stared at her. Applejack just looked back with what like a mixture of anger, sadness, confusion and possibly every emotion all at once. To be honest, Floppy had no idea what that mixture of expressions meant. She seemed to switch between emotions faster than a clocks second hand.

“Oh my. Please calm down” the Pegasus said with a hoof slowly to her mouth.

“CALM DOWN?!” Applejack cried in desperation

“who are ya and what are ya talking about?” Applejack yelled in protest

“Oh, yes of course!” The stranger said before turning to Floppy with a smile as sweet as a bag of gumdrops

“Do you know who I am, sweet heart?” the pony asked. Floppy shook her head, unable to give a more social response

“I’m Bedtime Drift. I’m your mother, sweet heart. The mother you lost so long ago” the pony said, sounding more fantastical and joyous as she went

“w-wha-w-” Floppy couldn’t respond.

It was just too much for her to handle. HER MOTHER?! She didn’t even think she had one! And for her to come back so late in her life and be so perfect. It was all just too good to be true and yet here she was. It was happening. As Floppy stumbled to speak the pale yellow pegasus put her hoof to her mouth ever so gently and shushed her in the most kind way she could imagine.

“It’s OK, sweet heart. You don’t need to say anything” she said calmly

“B-But why? How?” Floppy finally managed to muster. The pegasus smiled gently yet again, as if expecting it and was happy to answer.

“When you were a baby, you fell from Cloudsdale sailing above the Everfree forest at the time. I wasn’t the best at flying or balancing and a fellow Pegasus bumping into me was enough for me to lose you. The officer pegasi told me it was dangerous and held me back when I tried to get you. I screamed but they wouldn’t let me go! They told me to give up, that you were as good as gone but I couldn’t just forget about you. I could hear you screaming! Crying for me! I went to see you that night, as soon as they had lowered their defences. I searched and searched but all I found was tiny drops of blood and some little wing feathers” The pony was unable to continue for a while as her tears started to fall and her voice started to crack, making her soft uttering voice less sweet than before

“I thought the Timerwolfs had taken you. I thought you were dead! I’m so sorry, sweet heart!” she cried as she pulled Floppy closer with her wings and rubbed her cheek on hers but Floppy just stared into the distance.

Really? Is this really what happened? Did this explain her whole life? Is this why she was in the Everfree forest? Why she had no mother? Why she had suffered all these years? There was a mother out there for her and she didn’t even know! Floppy couldn’t even think properly as her mind was so scrabbled but then one question quickly entered her mind and she said it without hesitation.

“What about my farther? Where is my farther?” Floppy asked desperately

Bedtime Drift’s face fell and she looked up as if in reminiscence of past events “you’re farther was a great man. A kind man. He died as he tried to save everyone from the great Bertha tragedy” she said with great sadness.

Applejack had calmed down somewhat or at least wasn’t screaming anymore and continued the conversation “I remember that. Many great Ponies died during that storm” Applejack sighed

“Wait...so there was a storm called Bertha?” Floppy said with surprise. Bedtime chuckled a little as she answered

“Yes, of course. You silly filly. Didn’t you learn that in school? It wasn’t that long ago”

“I’ve never been to school. I have been adopted by a family of ponies within the Everfree Forest” Floppy explained

“Oh!” Bedtime said, finally sounding surprised, and tilted her head to listen intently

“They didn’t treat me well. They practically tortured me. I think the only reason they kept me was so I could do chores for them. My brother hated me and always bullied me and beat me” Floppy continued and watched as Bedtime’s face fell with concern

“Oh sweet heart” she cried and pulled her wings around her. Floppy carried on

“But eventually, I was crying and Applejack found me and I have had friends and a new life ever since” Bedtime looked over at Applejack and smiled and then looked back at Floppy

“Oh that is wonderful! I’m so sorry I couldn’t be there for you, honey. I’m so sorry” she said with tears welling up in her eyes again

“It’s OK. I never even thought about you” Floppy said without a second thought as to how that would sound but Bedtime burst into laughter which somehow was also very soft and smooth

“That’s my girl” she said while pulling her close to her chest with a wing yet again. Floppy rubbed her head against Bedtime’s chest and she had never felt so content.

Bedtime turned to Applejack as she said “Thank you so much for-” but before she could finish Applejack interrupted

“SHUT YER FUCKIN TRAP!” she cried and Floppy and Bedtime took a step back. They soon noticed the tears in her eyes.

“Applejack?” Floppy asked with confusion and concern.

“get out” Applejack said as she started to sob. Floppy hesitated but looked up at Bedtime’s smile as she stepped away. She tried to encourage her to move away with her by pushing her gently with her wing but Floppy stayed firm.

“GET OUT!” Applejack screamed in Floppy’s face. Floppy did as she was told and legged it away from the doorway and out of the house. Bedtime put her wing around her gently once again and spoke like the summer wind

“Don’t worry, Floppy. She just needs some time to calm down. I think I know what it is” she said as she gestured with her wing towards the grave stone on the far side of the farm.

Floppy knew about this grave stone and yet Applejack had always refused to talk about it whenever she brought the subject up. Floppy couldn’t quite understand what she was getting at but it didn’t matter as it was easy to occupy some time just by talking to Bedtime Drift about the latest in her life. It felt strange to explain this in detail to anybody as she had never met someone who didn’t already know and also wanted to talk to her about it. Bedtime listening carefully to everything she said with such interest she almost felt like a celebrity. She felt like anything she said this pony would love her for and it wasn’t long before she started to become very comfortable with her. It felt as if she already knew her.

Before Floppy knew it, it had been a while and she heard the old house door slowly creak open. Applejack came by with her hat off and looking very shameful. Floppy had never seen Applejack look so forlorn and guilty. She had always been a role model of sorts for her so it seemed very odd to see her looking so defenceless and lacking in confidence. It was as if she was a filly again, going to be punished by her parents for a misdeed. Applejack slowly approached and gave a deep sigh before talking.

“I’m awful sorry, Bedtime” she said before turning to Floppy

“and you Floppy. I’m sorry. It wasn’t responsible to act like that. Nor was it fair” Applejack explained

“It’s alright. These things happen” Bedtime said with her upmost calm voice

“Especially at a time like this” Bedtime continued.

Applejack looked down with shame and sadness as if she knew what she meant and they both looked towards the grave stone. Floppy knew something serious was going on so she kept her mouth shut. Although she didn’t know exactly what was going on, she could feel the weight of the situation and could sense a feeling of understanding between them.

“I was like that once. It’s no use trying to cover it up and pretend it hasn’t happened. You need to let go” Bedtime said.

Floppy’s heart sank at those last few words and it cut deeply into her soul. Now she knew what they were talking about but she had never experienced such a thing before. She thought it best to just leave them to it as she had no input on the situation and even if she did, she would probably ruin the atmosphere by screwing up somewhere.
Applejack stood there and sighed deeply with her hat tightly clutched in her hoof against her chest. After a while of silence, Applejack nodded and went to the grave.

“Come on” Bedtime whispered as she gently ushered her in the same direction with her.

Applejack stood in front of the grave and sighed deeply again. She paused for a while and then put the hat on the raised ground in front of the grave. Then she fell to her knees and started to cry her heart out. Floppy jumped a little at the sound as she had never heard her cry like that before. Floppy’s heart felt like it had sank to the bottom of the ocean. She even shed a few tears herself after a while. She just couldn’t stand to hear Applejack’s tears. She could just hear the pain and suffering oozing out of every wail she made. Bedtime pulled Floppy gently closer to her chest for comfort and Floppy just tried hard not to interrupt her wailing moment with her own crying.

It took quite a while for Applejack to be done but when she was she sat there quietly for a while before getting up and giving Floppy a hug. Floppy had no idea what to do so she just stood there and tried to put her hoof around her to.

“Thank you, Floppy. I’m sorry I made you so upset” Applejack said with a voice now croaky and tired from tears

“Errm OK...” Floppy said, having no idea how else to respond. Applejack smiled and chuckled a little at the remark

“Sometimes, all someone needs is for you to be there” Bedtime said to Floppy

“Thank ya to you to, Bedtime. I think I needed that” Applejack said with a little tired sigh

“I’ll always be here if you need someone to talk to” Bedtime said with the sweet smile she was so good at doing. Floppy wanted to agree but didn’t end up finding the courage to say something so bold in such a strange situation. Then she realised

“Wait, what?” Floppy asked as she turned to Bedtime in confusion

“What? Did you think I would spend years looking for you only to just go home afterwards? I’m staying here where you are!” Bedtime Drift said with glee

“Oh, OH!” Floppy said as she realised what this meant and again realised how important this was

“You silly filly.” Bedtime said as she cuddled and snuggled her head against hers

“You haven’t changed one bit”

Chapter 11: Why Now?!

Author's Note

This chapter is very shocking and has strong graphic VIOLENCE so bare that in mind here. I hope you enjoy the final chapter and if you reach the end thank you for reading :twilightsmile: please tell me what you think in the comments as I would love feedback :raritystarry:

Chapter 11: Why Now?!

Life was finally happy for Floppy and things were finally starting to go her way. Floppy had a mother now and a very gentle and understanding one at that. She loved her as if she had known her all these years already. It felt just natural to rub against her chest like the little baby she knew her as. It felt kind of strange at the same time and it was a little embarrassing when people stared but she found she no longer cared about appearances and social pressures. None of it mattered anymore with Bedtime by her side every day and every night. All her worries just seemed to drift away as long as she was with her. It all felt like a dream. A perfect, wonderful dream. It never occurred to her that it was too good to last. Not anymore.

She found when she had her new mothers support, she grew in confidence and shone like the pony she really was. She let ponies laugh at her as she did silly things and she was more honest at last with Twilight and company. Everything in the confusing jigsaw of life was now clipping into place like a piece of A4 paper into a binder. All nice, neat and clean. Nothing suspect in the slightest, which is what, in the end, made the event so shocking.

It was a happy sunny day and Floppy was trotting on her way to see her friend Twilight. She had always confided in Twilight at the very worst of times and trusted her as she always seemed to understand her and know what to do, even before Bedtime arrived. She rarely went around alone since finding Bedtime for a good few weeks but now she felt like she needed to branch off a little from her pale yellow safety bubble. Besides, she felt more comfortable with her friends now then she had ever been. What was there to worry about?

Floppy didn’t usually visit at this time because of chores or just not wanting to interrupt her but she felt cheeky and confident enough today to give her a rare surprise visit. If Pinkie thought it was great then maybe it was worth a shot anyway. Floppy was about to knock on the door when she noticed the door wasn’t closed but hanging open. She knew it was bad to wander into someone’s house without being allowed in but Rainbow was rather brash and did it all the time so why was she so worried about it. Let’s do it! I’m sure she will be fine with it and if not then I will take the blame.

So Floppy wandered into the house and soon noticed a book sitting open on the desk in front of her. This was Twilight’s main writing and reading desk so it was common to see a book on it but Floppy couldn’t resist having a little peek at what she was reading. She probably wouldn’t understand it and just ignore it afterwards anyways. It was all well and good while she waited to see if Twilight would appear to see her. So she peeked and on closer inspection it was Twilight’s handwriting. She meant to turn away and not go into it any further but at a quick glance she read a line without thinking.

“I was shocked to find what I thought about Floppy was-”

Of course, after reading something like that, you can’t possibly not want to know what the rest was. She desperately tried not to be dishonest by reading further but something felt wrong about it. What was she shocked about? About her? What had she done to deserve shock? It wasn’t something that gave very nice vibes that was for sure and if Twilight was being dishonest then she would have to find out! With some reluctance, Floppy did eventually read some more. Just a little. Just the end of that sentence. She told herself, knowing it probably wasn’t truthful to what she would actually do although she liked to hope it would be.

“Dear Diary,

I was shocked to find what I thought about Floppy was true! She really is an Emotion Lord!”

WHAT?! Floppy couldn’t believe her eyes. An emotion lord?! That sounds like something Twilight would talk about as an ancient type of beast that lives in the Everfree forest! How could she be one of those and what was one?! Why didn’t Twilight tell her about this? Was she keeping something from her?! She knew it was very bad to read someone’s diary but if she was keeping secrets like this from her then who really was in the wrong? Floppy felt a little scared at this point and so continued to read to clear her mind of worry.

“After my countless weeks of research...”

Weeks?! She had been keeping this secret for weeks?! Maybe even months?!

“I think I may have found a way to prove my theories. But to think that Floppy of all ponies was an emotion lord! I would never think such a shy and unconfident pony would have the tenacity to be such a creature. To have such unlimited power! I wonder what I must do? Should I tell Celestia and warn of her? With her emotional tendencies she could be dangerous to other ponies. Is it best to have her locked away for the safety of Equestria?”

Floppy’s eyes filled with tears. Lock me up?! Danger to Equestria?! What on earth was this?!

“Floppy!!” Twilight heard a familiar cry and she turned to see Twilight stunned to see Floppy reading her papers.

“NO! Floppy! It isn’t what you think!” Twilight tried to explain but this was far too much for Floppy to just shrug off like a simple misunderstanding.

“What? That I am a monster?! Is THAT what you think?!” Floppy cried with tears pouring down her face

“No of course not” Twilight said with a very gentle and yet sad tone.

“Don’t you try to play your mind games with me!” Floppy screamed as her fear and confusion started to turn into blind rage.

“What is an emotion lord huh? Why can’t I handle being one huh?! Am I not good enough for you?!” Floppy cried.

“No please listen! An emotion lord is a creature which is rumoured to take a new form with every 100 years when it is created. They are said to have immense power. The power to change time and space as we know it. If you were born as an emotion lord and you didn’t even know it...I am just trying to protect you!” Twilight tried to explain as she found the words difficult to muster

“Protect me?! How is getting me locked up protecting me?! So after all this time, you are just going to lock me up, like I am some sort of monster?! Like I am some sort of freak?!” Floppy started to pant heavily as her anger grew and Twilight could see objects starting to levitate around her.

“No Floppy, please!” Twilight tried to warn her but Floppy was too far gone to stop now as the windows smashed in on themselves.

“I trusted you! I thought you were always there for me! Now I see you for what you really are!” Floppy cried as she sobbed her heart out and could barely get the words out

“I trusted you. I loved you” Floppy said as her magic faded and she went quiet

“Floppy...” Twilight said as she tried to wander closer to comfort her but Floppy pushed her away and shook her head before running out of the door. Floppy ran and ran as fast as she could and as far away from Twilight as she could manage. Floppy stopped at the edge of the Everfree forest and remembered her previous life. What was she going to do? She was stuck between a rock and a hard place. She leaned on a tree and cried as she slunk down to the floor. All hope of her friendship, all gone. Was it all fake? Was it all a lie? She should have known. She should have known it was too good to be true.

Meanwhile, no-one in Ponyville expected a thing when a pony wandered through the shadows inside the Everfree forest. This pony wore a black hooded cloak, clearly not wishing to be seen. From the shape and walk it was easy to tell the suspect was feminine. She walked slowly and purposefully forward, deeper into the Everfree forest. She knew where she was going. She met another pony in the shadows and the exchange started.

“Did you do it?” she asked as she approached.

The other nodded. Then she nodded in return as they showed a mutual understanding of what was coming next. She turned and faced the small, innocent town of Ponyville and did one simple thing. She pointed. A large shadow came from the Everfree forest. NO! Not one but many shadows came looming from the forest like a dark cloud of doom over Ponyville. They were coming.

It was Floppy who was the first to notice as she was facing the forest at the time. Her face fell in horror of the sight before her. Ruby and Rainbow were playing a game of ball nearby and she ran past them. Ruby and Rainbow didn’t have a chance to talk to her or realise what was behind them, as Floppy ran by. She ran and ran and ran! She had to hide! She had to find somewhere to hide! But it is a creature’s very nature to turn around and see what they were running from if even the very smallest shred of doubt was upon them or even if there wasn’t any at all. So she turned and she regretted it.

All Floppy could see was a pile of various creatures marching from the forest like soldiers of chaos. She recognised them quickly. The creatures Twilight and friends had encountered over the years. All of them known to Ponyville well but this wasn’t any normal attack. This was fierce, this was big and this was planned. Everything they knew and feared after them at once. It was like a nightmare. Something you would never believe would happen but nevertheless...there it was for all to see. Floppy’s eyes filled with tears which made it difficult to see. The last thing she saw as she turned away was a blue blur zooming towards the pile. It was obvious who it was but Floppy had no time to think about it. She had to escape! She had to hide!

Floppy tried her best amongst the tears to run as fast as she could towards the safest place she knew; the little shack of which Ruby lived. She thought nothing of rushing there straight away and tried to drown out the ponies around her as she ran. She barely remembered the journey as her head was full of fear. She arrived at the door, squeezed underneath the broken wooden planks covering the entrance and stopped, her heart beating hard and reverberating within her like a drum. She gasped for air as her heart seemed to seep the energy away from her. Finally, she was able to think and she knew what she had to do. So she went slowly to the planked space of a doorway and peered between the wood. What she saw seemed to freeze time and space and her very soul into black ice.

Everybody screaming, everything destroyed and fire, so much fire. It shook her to the bone to hear the agonised wailing of the ponies she once thought nothing about. The ponies she had passed every day for half her life. Everything gone, erased from the earth as if they didn’t deserve to live. As if they were a mistake to wipe clean. Floppy could hear nothing but the sounds of pure pain and suffering which was made even worse when she saw the blood. It was so much to process she didn’t even notice for a few seconds the town was painted red with nothing but the ponies organs and pure red blood as paint brushes. Floppy wanted to look away but as hard as she wished her eyes and legs just didn’t obey her.

Then a pony of pale blue galloped to her and looked her straight in the eyes. The desperation and fear in her eyes was all too clear.

“HELP ME!! LET ME IN!! HELP MEEEEE!!” The pony screeched as she clawed her blood onto the wooden planks that held Floppy inside. Floppy could barely react before the pony was ripped in half by a huge mouth and the guts spilled limp on the floor like it had just taken the lid off a pot of soufflé.

Floppy breathed frantically and struggled for air as tears flowed down her face like leaking ignorance. All of her life as she knew it, gone. Nothing could ever make her the same again. Nothing could fix this.

It was gone.

Gone.

Floppy sobbed her heart out while trying not to choke on her own sorrow. It was difficult to hyperventilate and cry at the same time. Then after a few minutes it suddenly occurred to her. MY FRIENDS! Floppy looked around but she couldn’t see properly within the building. That problem was easily fixed when the fires started to spread easily within the broken building and nip at her tail. She had to leave although she wasn’t prepared for any more. She had no choice.

She leapt out and ran and ran without turning back. She kept running and running until she found the only two pieces of house wall that were still intact and not in flames. She hugged the inside of the walls and hid in the shadows. It was barely any protection but it had to do. Anything would have to do. Then Floppy’s eyes widened as she saw her worst fear. All her friends, scattered on the floor in a bloody mess. Rainbow, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity and even Ruby and Bedtime all splayed before her in a beautiful ironic rainbow of broken love. To think all these lives could be taken so easily. All this potential, all these thoughts and feelings just disappear from the world like they were never there to begin with. And the world carries on and on and on.

The only one left standing was Twilight, her beloved Twilight. The one that had trusted her and understood her above everyone else. At one point she had even considered her a role model to follow but what use was that now? If only her final moments with her were happy ones. She regretted fighting. She regretted everything. Her life was over. How could this happen? How? Why? WHY?! WHY THEM?! WHY NOW?! Why...Floppy’s tears just wouldn’t stop pouring as she stared at her whole world erased before her. Everything she ever loved and ever dreamed off never to be seen again.

Just then, Twilight turned and their eyes met. Twilight’s face was full of anguish and pain. Sorrow, regret and even guilt. As Floppy saw her face she realised how selfish she had been. She ran from them. She abandoned them. She left them to die! As she saw the hope fade from Twilight’s eyes, Floppy couldn’t bare to be alive anymore. She felt time slow down and everything became strangely quiet. Twilight’s lips read one word although the sound was only a gasp of air.

“Run”

Floppy stared as she saw the final blow coming towards her from the large beast standing before them. Floppy then realised she had nothing left to live for. And if there is nothing left to live for...

She might as well die.

With all her energy, Floppy ran towards Twilight. She had no hope of her success but it didn’t matter. Either way would be peace, for both of them. Floppy concentrated on the power within her and screamed with all her frustration of the world around her. She let out a burst of all her pain, all her suffering and the suffering of all those she knew and loved. Even the power of all the ponies she just gave a passing glance to joined in her heart as that monsters gigantic hand swung down onto her. Then for a brief second her soul spoke.

Hello friends.

I’m coming home.

Everything was wiped out in a bright flash of white. All Floppy could see was a blinding silence and a blank slate sweeping across her mind. She screamed with agony as the energy surged through her very veins and exploded through her. Then everything went black.

...

Floppy opened her eyes to the sound of a birds morning call. She looked around and saw the sun almost blind her with its light. She had to cover her face with her hoof to stop her eyes from burning in its heat. Her eyes darted around but all she saw was happy faces and the Ponyville she always knew. No, better. It was better and happier than ever before. Floppy couldn’t believe her eyes! Where was she?! Was she dead? Why are they not questioning all this?

Floppy quickly galloped over to Ponyville to find her friends. She HAD to see them! She dashed over and everybody was trotting around at their leisure. It was like a totally normal day. Not a single hair was out of place and there was no sign of fear or despair anywhere she looked. She wandered around and everyone seemed too happy to greet her but something was strange. Some referred to her as ‘stranger’ when greeting even though she was sure she had seen them around town before. And nobody referred to her by name. It was very odd. Almost every pony at least knew of her by now, especially with all the incidents that happened around her.

She thought upon those troubled times and wondered whether this was what ponies would have been like if she was never here. If those events never happened. She tried to speak to the stall owner and he insisted he didn’t know her. Now there was no question at all! She would always come here every week to at least browse the selection in the weekend market. The market salesmen knew her well. So it was true. No-one knew her. Had they forgotten her or was this some world where she never existed to begin with? She didn’t know and she pondered on it a lot. She had to see her friends. Perhaps then the answer would be clear.

She went to Sweet Apple Acres and she saw Applejack and Rainbow in the distance. She quickly went to hide beside the barn. She sat and watched. She heard little fillies and stallions playing nearby. She turned to see the school with the children all happy and full of innocent joy. She turned again as she heard a pony laugh and saw a pale blue pony and a white and purple pony sitting together having a picnic. It seemed they were enjoying their conversation.

“Catch! Haha! Good girl!” Floppy heard in the distance so she turned to see Applejack playing with a brown dog. It seemed familiar to her. Perhaps she had seen it before in Canterlot a long time ago. She wasn’t sure.

“Oh yeah? Try and catch THIS!” she heard and saw Rainbow do an in-air summersault and throw a red frisbee for the dog.

They all seemed so happy. As she watched her friends and all the oblivious ponies play together she finally relaxed. She felt the warm touch of the sun and grass beneath her hooves. It was simplicity itself. Life at its finest. Peace. Then suddenly, everything was calm within her. The universe, life, it was a miracle which needed to be treasured and she was never going to make the mistake of belittling it ever again. She smiled as she saw her friends all laughing happily together as Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Rarity came over to say hi to Rainbow and Applejack. Who was she to ruin their fun? All she had caused them was more pain and misery. Despair and anguish. Worry and fear. Now it was all gone and she knew what she must do. It all became clear.

She then stood up and walked away.

Chapter 1: Nightmare Moon

Sunny days are common in Ponyville, especially in the middle of summer, and this day was no different. With such good weather, Applejack was happily taking a leisurely stroll around the edge of her farm. She had finished her chores at least for now and so was able to spend some time just enjoying the singing of the birds, the buzzing of the bees and the laughter of the children playing in the sun. She smiled contently at the children as she strolled by. She felt very happy and content with life at this moment. Appreciating all she had been given. But life has a way of creating surprises and she was about to get yet another gift of fate.

Her farm was quite a ways away from Ponyville and it actually just scraped past the Everfree forest. This meant it was inevitable for Applejack to wander past the Everfree forest regularly but she didn’t feel any fear. The danger was well away from her deep inside the forest and nothing ever came out unless provoked from inside, meaning it was pretty safe as long as she didn’t go in. Besides, she was used to it by now anyhow. However, today she heard a noise she hadn’t heard before. Her ears immediately perked up. She stopped and listened closely. Applejack knew she always needed to stay alert of any danger, not just for her sake but for the sake of her family, the farm and all of Ponyville. And if something was close enough to hear at the edge of the Everfree forest, then this could mean trouble.

Applejack, knew it was unwise but she had the feeling that someone was in need of her help and so she edged a little closer to the Everfree forest. She wasn’t sure, but she swore what she heard was the sound of somepony weeping. She couldn’t just leave them there if it was, no matter how dangerous. She had to be sure so she walked a little closer and then a little more. The sound became clearer until she was sure it was crying. Now there was no question, she had to do something. She wondered whether to get help instead of foolishly rushing in but this ponies crying sounded distressed and young. If she went to get help she could be too late by the time she came back. No. She had to act now. But maybe there wasn’t any danger. Maybe a child was just lost.

Applejack then called out to the crying pony. “Hello? Hey, is anybody there?” she paused for a response but all she heard was the crying stop and what sounded like a startled young filly. Applejack started looking around for the filly.

“Now, now. No need to be scared.” Applejack said gently just before noticing a faint figure of a young female pony. She seemed a few years younger than her but not as young as she had expected at first.

“Ah, there ya are.” She said trotting forwards towards the figure but, as she neared, the pony started shuffling uncomfortably and moving backwards. Applejack knew she was scared and this wasn’t much of a surprise if she was inside the Everfree forest. For all she knew, she could have been wandering around the Everfree forest scared out of her wits for a while and obviously feeling very jumpy.

Applejack tried to sooth her by speaking gently and quietly to her. “Now, don’t be scared. I was just wonderin’ where all that there cryin’ was comin’ from.” Applejack said cheerfully, trying to lure a response from her. However, she got no response other than nervous shuffling.

Applejack tried a different approach. “What are ya doing here, sugarcube?” she said concernedly. The mysterious pony gently dragged her hoof across the ground shyly.

Applejack wasn’t sure what to do but, just when she was going to try talking again, the pony spoke in very faint, shy and quiet voice, still a little shaky from the tears. “I...I’m fine.” The pony said.

At that moment they both heard a rumbling noise that startled them a little. Applejack knew well what that noise was and she smiled as the pony shuffled in embarrassment. “Why don’t you common out that horrible dark forest and have a little apple pie, sugar?” she said gesturing towards her house on the farm.

“Errr-errrmm.” The pony shuffled and rubbed her hoof up and down her other leg uncomfortably.

“I don’t know.” The pony said, looking like she wanted to curl up into a ball and hide.

This pony was clearly shy and this reminded Applejack of her friend Fluttershy who was very much that way all the time. She had the feeling that she wasn’t going to get anywhere unless she was a little more pushy although she didn’t like the thought that if she was too pushy she might scare her. However, Applejack was a stubborn pony and she was determined to help this pony even if it meant a few tears in the end.

Applejack tried one last thing. “I won’t hurt ya, sweetheart.” Applejack was a little surprised at how that came out. She was talking to her as if she were a filly but she clearly was older than that. But her behaviour seemed to speak strongly of young and innocent to her.

Saying those words seemed to help calm the pony a little and Applejack felt like this was the time to make her move. She quickly but gently came closer to the pony. The pony was startled and looked over her own shoulder behind her for a chance to escape but in the end didn’t move before Applejack had come close enough to touch her. The pony froze on the spot as Applejack slowly and carefully moved her hoof over her mane and stroked it. Applejack could feel the ponies tension lowering as she stroked her mane. It was difficult to stroke it as it was tangled beyond belief and seemed to have dried mud stuck in it.

This pony had certainly been through an ordeal, Applejack thought. “A little food and rest and you will be feelin’ spritely as a pig in a big muddy puddle.”

The mysterious pony seemed confused by this remark but Applejack just laughed and gently coaxed her away from the forest and into the bright light of the sun near Ponyville. The young pony squinted as she was brought into the light when she was, what must have been, a very long time without it. As the pony flinched from the sun, Applejack took this moment to examine her condition. She was indeed absolutely smothered with dirt and muck as Applejack had expected. Her mane was tangled beyond belief with large sections of dried mud hung in place all over like a strange piece of modern art. But what puzzled her was just how tangled and mangled it was. It wasn’t just like any old dunk in the marsh or scrape from falling over a few times. After working on the farm all her life she certainly knew what that looked like. Instead it was so bad it seemed as if she had in fact had it like that for at least a few months! There was no way it could look like that unless her hair had not been cleaned in a substantial amount of time and her hair had grown around the muck and made a giant tight ball of hair, mud and grime like a steal mesh ball. She recalled the rescue dogs photos that Fluttershy had shown her one day and how awfully unkept their fur was.

And at that moment she made a conclusion that this pony wasn’t just in danger, this pony had somehow been neglected! Applejack was so overwhelmed at that moment with sympathy and shock at what had happened to this pony that she no longer spent any more time questioning it. Without realising it, that thought of neglect and this ponies childlike behaviour had affected her very strongly. Applejack suddenly became besotted with this pony and determined to help her and care for her. It was unlike her to be like this. Usually, Applejack was known as one of the most sensible mares of her group of friends or even all of Ponyville. It was more fitting of Fluttershy to suddenly bend on her knees and care for a neglected creature. But somehow this pony had hit her weak spot head on and she just couldn’t control herself.

“Oh, sugar. OH!” She found herself saying then she quickly but gently took hold of her hoof and started to rush her over to the house

“First things first! You need a bath, sugarcube! You need to get those terrible knots outta your hair!”

Applejack urgently pulled at the young pony so hard she was practically dragging her across the ground. It was lucky for them both that no-one was there to notice them rushing to the bathroom. Applebloom was at school at this hour, big Mac was out collecting some groceries and doing various other farm chores and old granny smith was asleep in her rocking chair and everyone knows how Granny just doesn’t wake up from her mid-day nap. And I say bathroom but really it was just a section of their large kitchen with giant wooden bucket big enough for a whole adult mare. They often filled this giant bucket with water and soap and used it as a make shift bathroom. It didn’t bother them, they got dirty a heck of a lot anyways so there wasn’t much use for an extra fancy bathroom.

“Just a waste a space those fancy contraptions are!” as Granny used to say and still frequently does whenever possible.

Applejack got straight to work in fixing up this ponies fur and mane. It was a long and difficult struggle and the knots were so bad Applejack even had to cut huge chunks of hair out just so she could move it about more freely. The young pony didn’t say much for a while, especially since it was such an ordeal as most of what came out of her mouth was yelps of pain from the hair pulling at her skin and from a few cuts and bruises being uncovered. However, Applejack managed to get a little conversation out of her during the quiet moments in-between.
She found out the ponies name, Floppy. A rather odd name Applejack thought but perhaps not considering some names ponies gave their children. But it made her wonder. Why did this pony have this name? Usually, pony names had something to do with their appearance, their hobbies or their talents but Applejack failed to understand what could have constituted to this name in relation to this pony. However, she decided perhaps not to ask, as it wasn’t all that important and it could be a touchy subject.

Next Applejack asked about her family. “So where are ya family sugar? Ya have any friends who can pick ya up?”

This was the main thing on her mind. Family was very important to Applejack as everyone knows so it struck her as odd that this pony had not mentioned anything of the sort, especially considering her condition. But maybe she was a little in shock and didn’t know what to do or think. That would make sense as she must have been through an amazing ordeal to end up like this. However, Floppy didn’t take kindly to the question she gave a slightly grimacing look of distaste and turned away as if in disgust of the thought.

Applejack waited a while for a response and just when she was going to ask another question to continue the conversation Floppy answered “No” she said with a mixture of hate and sadness in her voice.

It was a strangely vague answer so Applejack asked again. “ya have no family? No Friends at all?”

Floppy gave Applejack a very tired look like she had never seen before. It wasn’t a look of being tired from hard work, she was just tired. As if she was tired of living altogether. Then she turned away again before adding “None that really matter”

This hit Applejack hard. How could family not matter?! Of course family mattered! It mattered above all else surely! Applejack was speechless with shock for a while.

Then out of the silence, Floppy’s small voice whispered again. “I don’t have any friends. I only know my mum and my older brother. Mum rescued me from the Everfree forest when I was baby she says. So I am forever indebted to her. I wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for her she says. But I have yet to find proof of that.”

There was a pause and a faint touch of spite in every time she said ‘she says’. Floppy’s voice started to sound irritated and her tone raised as she went on “Then there is my older brother. He feels the need to constantly tease me and pick on me whenever possible. I am vulnerable so I am an easy target. So he tells me I am a disgrace, I do nothing right, I am a failure and yet I see no achievements of his. Maybe if he bothered to FUCKING do a days work in his life then he have something to show for it. He thinks he is the bigger one because he has me in his grasp and mum does NOTHING to stop him. He’s just playing! He’s just playing! Well, I have seen the other fillies play and that is NOT how they play! They think I am dumb! They think I don’t know what they are doing to me. They tell me not to go to the edge of the forest so I can never see the other children and figure it out but I KNOW! I KNOW WHAT THEY DO TO ME!”

“Sugarcube, please” Applejack tried to hush her as she could see what was coming but Floppy was too far gone to stop now.

“WHAT AM I NOT A PONY TO THEM?! AM I JUST THEIR PLAY THING?!!” Floppy stood up and Applejack’s heart skipped a beat.

She tried again to speak to her but her words fell on deaf ears. “I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!” Floppy screamed and bucked the bucket with all her might. Unfortunately, she was still in the bucket so she ended up doing nothing but forcing the bucket to violently scrape across the floor and with the loss of her balance it toppled over on its side.

Floppy froze and there was an eerie silence for a moment before Floppy broke down and started to sob on the floor. Applejack righted her up again and encouraged her to get back into the bucket. She then continued to clean her without another word. The sound of nothing but the sponge squeezing the soap and water into Floppy’s fur and dripping into the bucket below and the sound of soft sobbing echoing around the room. In the end, her hair was clean, what was left of it at least. She didn’t look that flattering but she was clean and Applejack knew that was what mattered. It was then that Floppy’s colours and patterns became clear to the eye at long last. She was thin with a light soft brown fur all over. Her mane was a very gentle and light tone of yellow along with her tail. She had pegasus wings but they looked battered and were missing several feathers. Applejack also noticed she didn’t have a cutie mark. It was unusual for a pony of her age to not have a cutie mark yet, very unusual. It was bad enough with Applebloom and her bullying. Just imagine the look on people’s faces when this pony goes past.

Nevertheless, it didn’t really matter. After a while of quiet, Floppy had calmed down. Applejack could see her eyes were heavy so she guided her outside again and into the barn. All the rooms in the house were spent so the barn was the only place she could stay and it would have to do, at least for the night. Applejack wanted to ask her whether it would be OK for her to stay here for a while, maybe even overnight, if she had a family as she said but thought it best not to bring it up again. It would be OK surely, just for a couple of hours. Perhaps afterwards she could take her to meet her parents again and have a good talk with them. Maybe they weren’t as bad as Floppy said. After all, she did seem to act strange, maybe she was just a little confused with all the stress of what’s been going on. Whatever’s been going on.

Applejack gathered some hay for the livestock on the farm and laid it on the ground as nicely as she could. “There! Now ya have a place to sleep. It’s not great but it’ll do for now”. But Applejack needn’t worry. Even while she was still talking, Floppy smiled at the sight of a nice place to rest and slumped into the hay and was fast asleep at the blink of an eye.

Applejack tip hoofed out of the barn and smiled as she slowly closed the barn door as not to wake her precious stranger up. She gave a sigh of relief after closing it. She had got away with it. No-one had seen anything and now all she had to do was make sure no-one entered the barn. Easy right? Or so she thought.

“Ah, I guess you are Applejack?”

Applejack turned around quickly to see a purple unicorn standing in front of her with a list levitating just underneath her nose. She seemed a similar age to herself and stood in a more unusual way than the ponies of Ponyville, more akin to somepony of a rather important stature, letting her know that this pony had probably come from a large city like Canterlot for business purposes. She was also accompanied by a little baby dragon with a purple scaly body and some large green rounded spikes along its back. Applejack tried to straighten herself up slightly to appease this ponies high standards.

“yes, indeed I am!” Applejack said, looking nervously towards the barn and hoping that she could dispatch of this pony as soon as possible.

“Good Afternoon, my name is Twilight Sparkle” Twilight had barely finished her sentence when Applejack started to shake her hoof in a friendly hoof shake. However, it seemed the hoof shake was a little too friendly as Twilight’s hoof was violently shaken up and down in a way that more than disorientated the poor unicorn

“Well howdy do miss Twilight! It’s a pleasure making your acquaintance!” Applejack said in the upmost friendly way, throwing a few fancy words into the mix.

“We at Sweet Apple Acres sure do love makin’ new friends!”

“friends? I e-e-e-e-e-e-er” Twilight tried to speak but it was difficult while being thrown around so much but luckily Applejack soon let go.

“So, what can I do ya for?” Applejack asked.

Twilight was a little shaken by the hoof shake event but she cleared her throat and pressed on with her business “Well I am in fact here by request of Princess Celestia to supervise the preparations of the Summer Sun Celebration aaaaand I believe you are in charge of the food?”

Ah, that explained it, Applejack thought. Applejack was thinking of what to do and just at that moment she saw big Mac on his way back with the groceries over Twilight’s shoulder, along with the filly applebloom coming home from school. Yes, of course! She thought to herself. This is the perfect opportunity to see to Twilight’s wishes and distract everyone from the barn at the same time.

Applejack called over to big Mac and then gestured him over. “We sure as sugar are! Would you care to sample some?” Applejack asked.

“Well, as long as it doesn’t take too long” Twilight answered but half way through Applejack had already rushed away to ring the little rusty triangle hanging in the middle of the farm to call everypony’s attention.

“Soup’s on everypony!” Applejack yelled out loud and suddenly a large crowd of ponies galloped over like a stampede and Twilight was pushed along to a small table round the back of the Barn.

“Well, why don’t I introduce ya’ll to the apple family?” Applejack said with pride as she gestured her hoof to the various ponies gathered around the table eagerly staring at Twilight and Spike.

“Thanks but I really need to-” but she was interrupted by a young pony presenting her an apple fritter on a small plate.

“This here is Apple Fritter” Applejack remarked

“Apple Bumpkin” she continued as another pony presented their prized food and laid it on the table.

“Red Gala” Applejack said as yet another pony came along and laid a little cupcake with an apple shaped decoration on the top and green icing.

“Red Delicious, Golden Delicious” Applejack continued as more and more ponies brought food to the table.

“Caramel apple Apple Strudel Apple Tart” Applejack kept calling names as more and more food piled onto the same small table to make a generous mountain of food. Applejack read the names so fast it was hard to keep up.

Applejack gave a deep breath and then slowed down to continue with the last few ponies. “Big Macintosh, Apple Bloom and Granny Smith” Applejack finished at long last.

“Up and at em Granny Smith we got guests” Applejack reminded Granny as she was awoken from her slumber by all the fuss.

“Why, I’d say you’re already part of the family”

Twilight found this rather uncomfortable and laughed nervously as she stated “well, I can see the food situation is in order so we’ll be on our way” Twilight said, trying to escape but the ponies all looked at her disappointed.

“Aren’t ya gonna stay for brunch?” The little filly Applebloom whined and puckered her lips in the most adorable way.

“Sorry but we got an awful lot to do” Twilight said feeling rather guilty and awkward for denying the child her wishes.

Twilight couldn’t stand such an awkward situation and Spike looked at her disapprovingly so she decided to stick around while sighing reluctantly “fine”.

The Applejack family wasted no time in dancing and singing and presenting the food to her. Twilight left a few hours later with her belly feeling rather bloated and uncomfortable. Spike bounced around happily and with a spring in his step. It was the most exciting day he had ever had! He was fed up of all those days spent endlessly researching and researching all the time. He was happy to be doing something different and in a new place too. Applejack watched them wander away into the distance. She had done a good job holding everypony at bay from the barn. Everypony soon went straight back to work and with the Summer Sun Celebration at hand, the ponies were certainly too busy to care about the barn. Not only that, but the chores were different than usual so the barn wasn’t needed for a long while. Applejack was secure in the knowledge that this strange pony would not be discovered any time soon. She decided to visit the pony inside the barn since she had been there for long enough to be awake from her nap by now. Perhaps she could now get some more answers out of her.

Applejack stepped over to the barn and no sooner had she got to the large barn doors, she heard a big bump and the sound of a lot of small objects dropping and rolling around the barn floor. Oh no. Applejack thought. She knew what that was and she wondered whether Floppy was OK. Applejack quickly opened the barn door to see Floppy slumped over a barrel like a big lump of skin and bones. The barrel was lying on its side with its apple contents spilt almost everywhere possible. It was clear that she not only fell onto the barrel but took some others with her on the way down.

“What on earth are ya doin’ Floppy?!” Applejack said with a rather firm tone.

Floppy looked up at her with a rather gormless face as if clueless to what she just did.

Applejack sighed “Let me help ya up sugar” she said calmly.

Applejack gently took hold of her right hoof and proceeded to pull her up. However, Floppy was very unsteady and she almost fell over again several times when trying to step off the round barrel surface.

“Put your hooves around the barrel ya silly mare!” Applejack exclaimed, almost baffled by this ponies inability to understand what to do. Soon Floppy was back on all four hooves.

“Now what were ya tryin’ to do sugar?” Applejack said, sounding like she genuinely wanted to know the answer.

“I was trying to get an apple” Floppy responded, looking rather nervous of Applejack.

“Now why would ya try and do that?” Applejack asked. Floppy’s stomach spoke for her.

“Oh, of course. Ya hungry aren’t ya sugar” Applejack said, feeling happy she had a solution. But when she saw Floppy’s face her smile fell. She looked very uncomfortable and she could tell she wasn’t feeling happy. Perhaps even ready to cry.

Applejack gently pulled her head up with her hoof to meet her eyes “You wait right here, sugar. I will get ya somethin’, OK?” Floppy put her head down again and nodded. Applejack wasted no time rushing out to get some food. The other ponies were too busy to notice her rushing around and it wasn’t much of a big deal anyway, considering everypony was rushing around right now with the preparations. Applejack took some of the left-over food from brunch waiting in the kitchen to be put away and was soon back in the barn.

She had brought a large apple pie. Plenty to satisfy any amount of hunger for a pony her size. Applejack presented the pie proudly to Floppy and waited for her to gobble it down. However, Floppy just stared at it.

“What is...this?” Floppy said, sounding confused.

Applejack wasn’t sure how to respond for a moment. She had never heard of a pony not knowing what an apple pie was. Never! “It’s an apple pie, darlin’"

Applejack was a little surprised to find herself talking to her as if she was a toddler but it was difficult to think of her any other way considering how she had behaved so far. She acted like she barely knew what anything was or had any idea how to act. It was as if she was a filly in a young mare’s body. She was acting completely childish.

Floppy looked up at her like a child stares at their mother when they want something but know they can’t ask directly. Her begging eyes looked up to her and she asked “I-is it food?”

“Of course it is. Did ya think I brought ya a table feature?” Applejack chuckled but Floppy didn’t need to be told twice and was into the pie like a shot before she had even started her little joke. Applejack had never seen a pony eat so fast in her life! When Floppy was done she sighed a sigh of relief and almost seemed to blank out as she just stood there as if she had found true inner peace.

Applejack was about to say something when Floppy burst out screaming excitedly “That was AMAZING!! OH MY GOD!!”

Now here is something that may take a little explanation. Everyone knows that the gods that run and supposedly also founded Equestria are Celestia and Luna. It is common for ponies to refer to them in sayings of normal conversation and it is deemed perfectly acceptable and even seen as polite in certain circles. However, referring to them by name was important. Just using the word god to refer to them was rude and seen as a derogatory term and way of representing them. It was disrespectful to the princesses and so is often frowned upon even in the lowest classes of pony society. It is also seen in higher class circles as very rude to use their name in a negative fashion so Floppy saying this was very rude indeed.

Applejack soon scolded Floppy for her language “Floppy?!” she yelled in shock.

She presumed she had perhaps not realised and needed a quick reminder of her manners. However, Floppy flinched in surprise and then looked at her worried and confused. She bent her knees as if ready to take a beating or to run away as soon as possible. Applejack remembered the things she had said about her family and considered it best to not continue this any further. She had no idea what was going on but she didn’t need this right now. There were more important things to worry about.

“Never mind” she said gently

“Now. You should be gettin’ home shouldn’t ya?” Applejack said.

Floppy shuffled uncomfortably. “Applejack?” Floppy said in a very begging but rather sad tone

“yes, sugarcube?” But then suddenly the conversation was interrupted as Applejack could hear a familiar bouncing noise outside the barn.

“Oh no. Pinkie!” Applejack said to herself and rushed outside.

Applejack was soon proven correct in her guess as Pinkie bounded towards her from the distance. “Applejack Applejack!” she cried while still bouncing with a surprising speed and skill

“anewponyisinponyvilleandithoughtifsheisnewherethenshehasnofriendssoIthoughtshecan’tbewithoutfriendssoIthoughtweshouldhaveasurprisewelcomepartyjustforherandsoIeveryponyhastobethereandthatincludesyouandsheisgonnabeatherlibrarysoonsowehavetogoapplejackwehavetogo!”

Applejack was used to Pinkies random explosions of excitement but Pinkie seemed even more excited than usual and there was no chance she could understand what she was saying with the speed of her conversation. Applejack was about to tell her to slow down but Pinkie wasn’t taking no for an answer and she grabbed her hoof and started to drag Applejack away.

Twilight had talked to several ponies today to check the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration and each one had dragged the conversation on and on and distracted her from her duties, which she most certainly didn’t approve of, especially since she needed to get to the library to research into this Nightmare Moon she was worried about. Nightmare Moon was due to come and wreak havoc tonight and Twilight was determined to get to the bottom of it. She knew she was right! But she had to find proof! Spike wasn’t pleased with how rude Twilight was being to all the other ponies in order to get away from them, even resulting to lying about Spike being tired to get a pony off her back. Twilight knew it was a little harsh but she had to figure this out. It was important and, if it was true, the lives of everybody depended on it!

She was just about to get into her studies when suddenly the lights turned on and tons of ponies cheered “Surprise!” Oh no, Twilight thought as she sighed in anguish and frustration.

A pink earth pony with curly mane and tail, bounced around with excitement. “Surprise!” She yelled a little too close for comfort.

“Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie and I made this party just for you! Were you surprised? Huh? Were you? Huh huh huh huh huh?” The pink pony yelled while bouncing laps around Twilight.

“Very surprised. Libraries are supposed to be quiet!” Twilight said with disgust as she was quickly losing her patience.

“What? That’s silly!” Pinkie said chuckling merrily

“What kind of welcome surprise party would this be if it were quiet? I mean DUH booooooriiiiiiing!” Pinkie exclaimed.

As this was going on, a young brown mare snuck in through the door as everyone was distracted and watched the events quietly. Twilight tried to walk away but Pinkie didn’t seem to get the message as she followed her along the room still chattering loudly

“You see I saw you when you first got here remember? You were all ‘Hello?’ and I was all like ‘HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUR!’ remember? Coz I never saw you before and if I had never saw you before then that means your new coz I know everypony and I mean EVERYPONY in Ponyville!”

Twilight sighed again more frustrated than before and continued to walk towards the punch bowl for a sobering drink.

“and if you’re new then you haven’t met anyone yet and if you haven’t met anyone yet then that means you don’t have any friends and if you don’t have any friends then you must be really lonely and that means you must be really sad and I had an idea and that’s why I went HUUUUUUUUUUUUUR!”

Twilight poured herself a drink from the various bottles on the table nearby as Pinkie continued to endlessly chatter. Then Twilight sipped the drink with a straw. However, she soon started to sweat profusely and her face went red as a radish.

Applejack was the first to notice and commented “are you alright sugarcube?”

Twilight quickly darted away towards her bedroom.

“awwwwwww she’s so happy she’s crying!” Pinkie dismissed Twilight’s behaviour with a big smile and everybody continued to party.

Twilight stayed in her room and tried to calm down but she just couldn’t settle. She started to pace around in frustration and rant to herself about how ridiculous this whole day had been. She was so frustrated that she didn’t notice a brown pegasus quietly enter her room. After a few minutes of ranting she screamed in anger and plopped herself down on the bed with her head in her hooves. The brown pegasus just stared at her without saying a word. Then she took a step to the side and tripped over her own hooves. She fell sideways and crashed straight into the shelves full of spare pillows and blankets. The pillows and blankets fell on top of her gently in a strange contrast to the speedy fall beforehand. Twilight jumped with a start and looked upwards to where she heard the sound to find a moving pile of pillows and blankets.

“Nice try but I don’t need anymore surprises thank you!” Twilight said in a still frustrated tone while wandering over and quickly lifting the blanket to reveal a thin brown pony with half its mane and tail pulled out and cut. Twilight was taken aback and stared for a while in shock at the strange sight before snapping out of it when the ponies eyes seemed to water and she curled herself back into the blankets and pillows she sat in.

“No no. It’s OK.” Twilight said softly. The brown pegasus looked up a little.

Twilight sighed “I’m sorry. I have had quite a day! And who might you be?”

The brown pegasus slowly looked up and said faintly “Floppy”.

“Oh” Twilight said trying to seem not too surprised as to not insult her.

Twilight waited for a response but Floppy just stared in silence. Twilight thought for a moment. She could tell something wasn’t right. Not just from her physical condition but also from the way she looked at her and her body language. It seemed. Off somehow. She had thought she had read about it somewhere but couldn’t quite place where.

She decided to go with a gentle approach as somehow that seemed appropriate. “What are you doing here?” Twilight asked.

Floppy looked down at her hooves and shuffled uncomfortably before answering “It’s a bit loud in there. I don’t like it” Twilight thought that this again sounded familiar.

Floppy spoke again after a little pause “I-I’m sorry. I will go”

Floppy started to get up on her feet but Twilight pointed her hoof at her and said “No no! It’s OK. Don’t go” she said urgently but gently as not to scare her. Floppy sat down again without a word.

“It’s nice to have a little quiet company” Twilight said and she meant it fully, with emphasis on the word quiet. Floppy smiled a small smile.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what’s wrong with your mane and tail?” Twilight asked, gesturing to her pale yellow hair.

“A-Applejack had to cut it. She said it was too tangled to just brush it” Twilight started to find this conversation rather fascinating. Who was this pony? Why was her mane so tangled it had to be cut off like that?

“Why was it so tangled?” Twilight asked without much thought

“It’s always been like that” What a strange answer, Twilight thought and it intrigued her even more. This pony was fast becoming an interesting specimen.

Twilight decided to move on to something different. Twilight’s eyes locked onto the sight of her ragged pegasus wings and she asked

“your wings are missing several feathers. Did you have an accident? Did you get it caught?”

“I have got it caught several times in trees. I don’t have very good balance so I have to use my wings to help me when I climb trees.”

“You climb trees?!” Twilight said in surprise.

“Yes” Floppy said with a look of confusion and said in a matter a fact way, as if it was totally normal for a pegasus to climb trees.

“My mum tells me to climb them sometimes so I can see where we are going.”

“Why don’t you fly?” Twilight asked eagerly

“I can’t” Floppy said very sadly and hanging her head in shame.

“Is it because you are missing some of your feathers?” Twilight asked.

“Maybe...but I don’t know how to fly anyway. I have tried many times.” Tears welled in her eyes

“I just can’t”

Twilight soon realised this was a touchy subject and perhaps realised maybe she was being a little too pushy with all the questions so she moved on, even though she had so many more to ask. “I presume you are a member of the apple family” Twilight said, trying to spur a more friendly conversation, although she had wondered why she wasn’t introduced to her when given the chance earlier today.

“n-no” Floppy said with confusion,

“I live in the Everfree forest.”

“WHAT?!” Twilight yelled in shock. Twilight had done some research on the area before arriving and so knew plenty how dangerous the forest was known to be so she certainly didn’t know of anybody being able to go through the Everfree forest let alone LIVE there!

Floppy flinched when Twilight yelled and so Twilight took her head back and cleared her throat to calm herself. “Why would you want to live in a place like that?” Twilight asked sounding considerably worried

“especially, when Ponyville is right here?!”

“Mum won’t let me come here. She says Ponyville is full of liars and crooks that will stab you in the back when they get the chance.”

“What a horrible thing to say!” Twilight thought without realising she had said it aloud until Floppy responded

“My mum doesn’t really like anyone. Hell! She doesn’t even like me! I don’t know why she even bothered to rescue me.”

Twilight lost her tension at the sound of this and again grew concerned “rescued you?”

“so she says” Floppy responded

“She found me in the Everfree forest as a baby and she took me in and raised me in the Everfree forest with my older brother. He always picks on me but mum doesn’t care” Floppy sighed deeply

“I am not getting into that conversation again.”

“who else have you spoken to about this?” Twilight asked.

“Applejack” Floppy responded

“She helped clean me and my mane and tail up” Floppy said.

“yes, I know” Twilight said.

“oh sorry” Floppy said instantly as if expecting to be punished for saying something twice by accident.

Twilight soon realised that this was no joke. This pony wasn’t in a good way. Not only was she in an unhealthy physical state but Twilight had good reason to assume her parents had neglected her. The things she said didn’t make sense and the things that she should know are abnormal she spoke of as if it was normal. These ‘kind’ parents had certainly not tried to take care of her or teach her anything about how to be an independent and healthy individual. Twilight started to feel angry. How DARE they treat this defenceless pony like this! How could they leave her so ignorant for so long! It doesn’t matter how poor they are or how difficult life might be in the Everfree forest, it was clear this pony barely even knew basic skills! Twilight was so caught in her own inner rage and thoughts of what she was going to tell her parents that she didn’t notice Floppy’s eyes grow heavy. Floppy lay down slowly and fell asleep. Twilight looked down at her and smiled. She curled up and cuddled the pillows just like a little filly. Twilight used her magic to gently cover the pony with one of the blankets and let her be. Twilight tried to sleep herself but wasn’t able to. Floppy must have been really tired because the music was just too loud for Twilight to sleep. Before she knew it, Spike was calling her saying it was time for the Summer Sun Celebration. Twilight tried to wake Floppy but she wouldn’t wake so she let her be and ran with Spike to the town hall.

Twilight trotted to the town hall for the Summer Sun Celebration. However, the thought of Nightmare Moon was still burning in the back of her mind. Nightmare Moon was due to come again tonight. But Celestia had told her otherwise and she worried that she was fussing too much. Maybe it was just a fairy tale. What if she had been making a fool of herself this whole time? She couldn’t interrupt something as important as the Summer Sun Celebration without some solid proof of the matter so she tried to forget about it, at least for now. The other ponies she had met throughout the day, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie followed Twilight into the town hall. Fluttershy was already there, preparing herself and her little birds for the opening song of the event. Rarity had been very busy with the decorations and was ready near the stage for the arrival of Celestia.

As Twilight walked in Pinkie greeted her yet again with her constant chatting about how excited she was for the celebration event. The only time she was quiet was when the music began for the announcement of the town mayor.

“Fillies and Gentlecolts!” The mayor began.

As the mayor talked Twilight couldn’t settle. She looked up at the moon through the roof window and saw a shadow on the surface seem to disappear. Now she was even more nervous than ever! A brown pegasus sneaked into the town hall unbeknownst to anypony. The mayor announced the entry of Princess Celestia and Rarity opened the curtains only to find the spotlight and an empty space. Everypony gasped in surprise. Where was the princess?! Then suddenly a wisp of blue fog sprinkled with stars like the night sky seeped into the room in place of where Celestia should have stood.

Twilight winced in horror. She knew what was coming. “Oh no. Nightmare Moon” she said out loud and at that moment a dark tall alicorn appeared from the mist.

“Hello my beloved subjects” The dark pony said while glaring around the room.

“It’s sooo long since I’ve seen your precious little sun-loving faces” she continued with disgust.

“What did you do with our princess?!” Rainbow yelled accusingly before trying to zoom towards her for a full on attack.

However, Applejack held her back “woah there nelly!” she said as she pulled Rainbow back by her tail.

“Why? I am not royal enough for you?” The dark pony chuckled patronisingly before then straightening her stance from her puckering and bent over position to talk on their level and raising her voice in anger

“Don’t you know who I am?!” she said with frustration.

Pinkie Pie thought it was a guessing game and tried yelling out various names to guess who she was. Applejack shoved one of the various apple treats on the banquet table in her mouth and smiled as Pinkie failed to speak with her mouth full of apple goodness.

“Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for 1000 years?” Nightmare Moon said teasingly as she stared at Fluttershy as she cowered away from her.

Then Nightmare Moon swifted softly over to Rarity and used her mane of night to flick her chin as she said “Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?”

Suddenly the dark alicorn flinched as a cry was heard from the crowd “I did!” Twilight yelled.

“and I know who you are” Twilight said with confidence.

“You’re the mare in the moon, Nightmare Moon!” Everypony gasped with this new found truth.

“Well well well. Somebody remembers me”

Nightmare Moon said with a bit of admiration and pride but this was quickly set aside as she yelled “Then you also know why I am here.”

“You’re here to-to” Twilight lost her confidence and cowered in fear at the thought.

Nightmare Moon just laughed at her and continued to talk to all the ponies present “Remember this day everypony for it was your last. From this moment forth the night will last forever!”

The pony started to laugh maniacally as her mane swirled towards the sky. Celestia’s guards tried to stop her but it was no use. She was much more powerful than those simple pegasus and earth ponies and even unicorn magic couldn’t keep her at bay as rarity also tried to stop her with her horn. Then Nightmare Moon became a mist of night and floated out of the room. Applejack lost her grip on Rainbow Dash and she darted after her

“come back you FUCKING SWINE!!” Rainbow yelled and continued to fly after her but Nightmare Moons magic was too much for her to keep up with and she got further and further away.

Rainbow didn’t give up though and continued into the distance speeding faster and faster. Meanwhile Twilight ran towards the library to search for some books to help with the situation. Applejack saw her leave and gave chase and her friends, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy followed her.

Twilight put Spike to bed as he was too tired to stay awake and she lovingly tucked him in. Then she buried herself into the books in the library, searching high and low for a book on the Elements of Harmony she had heard of in relation to Nightmare Moon.

“How can I stop Nightmare Moon without the Elements of Harmony!” Twilight said aloud as she struggled to find what she was looking for.

“And just what ARE the Elements of Harmony? And how did YOU know about Nightmare Moon HUH? Are you a SPY?!” Rainbow yelled into Twilight’s face. Rainbow had given up pursuit and joined the other ponies in following Twilight. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy were also there.

Applejack pulled at Rainbows tail “Simmer down sally. She ain’t no spy but she sure knows what’s going on. Don’t ya Twilight?” Applejack said approaching her expectantly along with the others.

Twilight continued to explain while a brown pegasus watched through the window. “I read all about the prediction of Nightmare Moon. Some mysterious objects called the Elements of Harmony are the only things that can stop her but I don’t know what they are or where to find them. I don’t even know what they do!” Twilight said in a panic.

Meanwhile Pinkie was meandering the library and read out one of the book titles “The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide.”

Twilight quickly pushed her out of the way and stared intently where she was looking “How did you find that?!”

“It was under E-eeee” Pinkie sung happily as if totally oblivious to the serious situation they were in. Twilight blushed at her foolish mistake and continued to search the books pages for information.

“There are six Elements of Harmony, though only five are known. Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty and Loyalty. The sixth is a complete mystery” Twilight read aloud as a blue mist drifted nearby the roof window.

"It is said, the last known location of five Elements was in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters”

Twilight turned to the others “that means it’s in the Everfree forest!” The other ponies gasped in horror.

“I must get my hoofs on them!” were Twilight’s last words to herself as she galloped out the door of the library and towards the ominous and dark Everfree forest. The other ponies followed.

They all paused for a second as they approached the forest’s edge. There was an eerie silence between them until Pinkie yelled in her usual bouncy way

“yay! Let’s go!” while trotting forwards

“are you crazy?!” Twilight yelled

“It’s dangerous in there!” She gave a deep sigh

“Look. I appreciate the offer but I can’t let any citizens be put in danger. I really got to do this on my own.”

“No can do sugarcube!” Applejack retorted

“We sure ain’t letting any friend of ours go into that there creepy place alone. We’re sticking to you like caramel on a candy apple” Applejack said as everyone wandered around her forwards towards the forest.

“Especially if there are candy apples in there!” Pinkie said as the only one left behind with Twilight. Twilight just stared at her in disbelief. Does this pony have any idea what she is doing?! How dangerous this all is? Are ALL of them crazy!?

“What? Those things are good!” Pinkie said as she trotted merrily on her way to catch up with the others.

Twilight couldn’t believe her eyes or her ears for that matter. This had to be the craziest day she has ever had. She didn’t need all these crazy characters following her around. If anything it made things worse! But there was nothing she could do. It was there choice after all and it seemed it would take brute force to stop them and she just wasn’t up for that. She sighed deeply for what must have been the third time that day at least and continued forward to catch up with them. A brown pegasus, peeked round the corner of the bush nearby and wandered into the forest after them. Things were silent for a while. Nobody wanted to talk. Except maybe Pinkie but even she was keeping quiet for now.

Twilight decided to start a little conversation to make the moment less awkward. “So...have none of you ever been in this forest before?” all the ponies responded in their own way but all of them said no. This didn’t help things, Twilight thought to herself.

Rarity decided to continue to explain “Why just look at it. It’s dreadful!” She whined

“And it doesn’t even look good for the gothic look! I mean, just look at all those broken branches! Nowhere near the right pattern and not at all neat! It’s neither one of the other” Rarity complained

“We don’t need your fashion advice right now Rarity!” Rainbow retorted in an irritated fashion as she folded her hooves while still flying.

“I have to admit. I wouldn’t think the forest would be aesthetically pleasing and it’s layout is by no means an appropriate topic for conversation” Twilight responded in hopes of this weird talk be over with soon.

“Oh, can’t a girl have just a little conversation about visual appeal without being violently harassed!” Rarity responded in frustration.

“Now now everypony simmer down” Applejack said which luckily stopped the impending battle of wills between Rarity and Rainbow Dash.

“We all need to smile! Smile! Smile! Smile!” Pinkie chirped but no-one responded.

After a while of silence Applejack spoke again. “The forest ain’t natural that’s for sure. I heard it doesn’t work the same way as the rest of Equestria.”

“and what is that supposed to mean?” Twilight said with fear. Rainbow Dash took this opportunity to start teasing the other ponies. She stared at Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie with an evil glare and chose the perfect spot for the light to shine under her face.

“Noooo body knooooows. You know why?” Rainbow said in a ghostly tone.

“Rainbow! Quit it!” Applejack said but Rainbow wasn’t listening

“coz everybody whose ever come in has never come out!” Rainbow yelled the last word and the ponies screamed and backed away. At that moment the cliff they were standing on came lose and Twilight being still near the edge fell sideways and started sliding straight off the cliff.

“arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhh!!” she screamed as she lost her footing and tumbled towards the edge. Applejack quickly ran after her by jumping from the rocks nearby and found a safe rock to grab her from. She grabbed her with both front hooves but she couldn’t pull her up as her footing was slipping. Applejack had to think fast, she saw Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flying in the air and she turned to Twilight.

“let go” she said .

“What?!” Twilight screamed

“are you crazy?!”

“Twilight calm down” Applejack said

“Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are behind ya. Let go and you’ll be safe” Twilight worried whether they could catch her in time but Applejack’s face looked so honest she felt safe in the knowledge that she wouldn’t let her down. Twilight let go and yelled as she fell before getting picked up by Rainbow and Fluttershy in a few seconds. Twilight watched Applejack jump down the rocks to the safe lower ground as she descended with Rainbow and Fluttershy.

“Well, that was a close one” Applejack said with relief

“You can say that again!” Rainbow Dash agreed.

So they continued on their journey. Rainbow started proudly proclaiming her rescuing skills to everyone and how exciting that event was.

“Well, it’s all well and good for you, Rainbow but I didn’t enjoy it so I’d appreciate it if you’d not mention it again thank you very much!” Twilight said as she was very irritated with hearing all of Rainbows boasting.

“Why? Were you scaaaared?” Rainbow teased

“That’s enough, Rainbow. You’ve caused enough trouble today” Applejack tried to settle the situation before a fire started but Rainbow wouldn’t back down easily

“Hey, I just saved your skin! Does THAT not count for anything?”

“Rainbow shush!” Applejack scolded.

Rainbow gave a mighty “humpf!” and crossed her hooves in a strop. She may pick on the other ponies but she knew better than to pick on Applejack.

As they wandered along, they came across a little passageway between two cliffs. Then suddenly a Manticore appeared right before their eyes and it looked like it was ready for a fight. Rainbow threw threats at it and started to dart towards it.

“Rainbow no!” Applejack yelled but it was too late, she couldn’t hold her back this time. Rainbow flew circles around the beast and kicked it’s face from many different angles. At first it seemed Rainbow was too quick for it but then the Manticore threw it’s mighty paw and caught Rainbow whizzing past.

“Rainbow!” several ponies yelled in horror as she flew through the air and grinded against the ground. Rainbow stood up angry with the creature. How DARE it attack me! She thought. Rainbow went to fly at it again and again and again. There was no stopping her despite being thrown back several times. Rarity tried running in to help but with one yell from the Manticore she ran away again screaming about her beautiful mane. Meanwhile Fluttershy yelled for attention and no-one could hear amongst all the fuss. Twilight also tried to get everyone’s attention to step back but to no avail. Applejack jumped in and gave a mighty buck but it had no effect and the Manticore swished her away with it’s scorpion tail.

Fluttershy, yelled as loud as she could. “STOOOOOOOOOOP!!” she yelled. Eventually everybody heard and they stopped to listen.

“You know about animals Fluttershy. Tell us how we can beat this thing!” Rainbow yelled while still scraping with the beast.

“Manticore’s aren’t usually hostile!” Fluttershy exclaimed

“let me talk to it and see what is wrong.”

“Are you crazy?!” Twilight yelled with the equal agreement of everybody else.

“You’ll get killed, Fluttershy!” Rainbow yelled.

“Trust me! I can do it!” Fluttershy said. The others looked at each other.

Twilight stepped forward “I say we let her.”

“easy for you to say!” Rainbow screamed at her.

“We don’t have any other options!” Twilight yelled

“and she is right. I read about it. Manticore’s are docile creatures. There must be another way.” everybody went quiet.

“OK” Rainbow finally answered

“I’m with you but you better not get yourself killed Fluttershy! As soon as he moves, we strike!” Everyone agreed this was for the best and they stepped back as Fluttershy stepped forward towards the Manticore.

Fluttershy slowly approached the creature. The Manticore seamed agitated and roared at her to stay back. Fluttershy moved slowly and carefully but kept going until she was right up to it. Fluttershy nuzzled the creature gently and smiled. The Manticore raised its paw.

“Fluttershy!” Rainbow yelled. But then the Manticore revealed it’s paw to her and a giant thorn was visable.

“Oh, you poor little baby!” Fluttershy said and without further ado she yanked the thorn out of the paw. The Manticore roared an almighty roar. Rainbow couldn’t take it anymore and dived at the creature only to suddenly stop when the Manticore didn’t attack Fluttershy. Instead it rubbed it’s head against her like a little pussy cat. Everypony was blown away. It worked!

They then moved along and fluttershy soon followed behind after saying friendly goodbyes to the Manticore and promising to see him again soon. They walked a little way until they heard a gasp.

“Rainbow, darling, your cheek!” Everyone turned to Rainbow and it was true. Rainbow’s right cheek had a large deep gash from the Manticores claws.

“It’s fine!” Rainbow said but it clearly hurt to speak.

“You need stitches! Hang on, darling!” Rarity quickly threw her handbag, yes she brought her handbag, down on the ground and started throwing out her possessions in urgency. After a while Rarity pulled out a medical kit and some blue thread.

“Ah! Here we are! Now, come down here Rainbow and hold still.” Rainbow did as she was told and Rarity started to stitch up the claw wounds. Twilight noticed how much love and care she put into each sew and it made her smile. Perhaps she had taken these ponies the wrong way. Rainbow has risked everything to help and never gave up and Rarity gave up her precious sewing thread to heal Rainbow Dash’s injury. Applejack’s honesty and bravery had saved her when she almost fell off the cliff and Fluttershy’s gentleness and kindness had saved them from the Manticore. These ponies were loyal, kind, honest and generous. Maybe they weren’t all that bad.

“All done!” Rarity exclaimed and it was clear she had done a fantastic job. The wound was barely visible, especially since she had used blue thread to match Rainbow’s skin. However, Rainbow wasn’t all that happy. She brushed off the glitter and sequins off her face.

“Rarity?” she whined

“did you have to cover me with all this stuff to?”

“sorry Rainbow Dash. Old habits die hard as they say” Rarity said giggling a little. Then her face went pale

“my bag!” she turned around to see all her belongings spread all over the muddy forest floor and she promptly fainted. Twilight wondered why she hadn’t fainted before from Rainbow’s wound if she was that sensitive and how she hadn’t noticed until now what she had done to her bag. Nevertheless, she didn’t think about it too much. There were more pressing problems to worry about. Nightmare Moon.

Applejack chucked Rarity onto her back with a hefty “Gosh darn it, Rarity!” and they continued onward.

They all strolled along on their way. Pinkie seemed to be feeling happy as she bounced ahead but everypony else was feeling rather worn out, especially Rarity. She was barely even conscious! Rarity although awake was still a little faint but she played it out like she was suffering with a few mighty whines and “ooooooh” and “aaaaaah”s. Everypony knew she just wanted the attention and didn’t wish to walk on her own four hooves and they were getting pretty fed up of it.

Pinkie looked back and frowned for a second before then perking up again “let’s sing a song! That’ll make everybody happy! Sing along everybody!”

“no sugar, please” Applejack sighed. Just at that moment Fluttershy yelped. They all turned to see what was wrong and soon they noticed she was staring at a tree.

“woah creepy” Rainbow said as she looked at it

“It looks like a face” Twilight remarked curiously.

“Err...girls” Applejack said as she looked around and it soon became clear not just this tree had a face but every one around them. There was a scream and Twilight ran away as a tree tried to grab her.

“These tree’s aren’t just expressive. They are alive!” Twilight yelled and everybody gasped in horror. Everybody that is except Pinkie who was laughing uncontrollably at one of the faces.

“This isn’t funny Pinkie!” Rainbow exclaimed with more surprise than anger.

“Oh, Rainbow” Pinkie said patronisingly like she were talking to a little filly who was scared of their own shadow

“Don’t you see?”

Then everypony could swear they could hear music as Pinkie began to shake her flank in a joyful dance. “When I was a little filly and the sun was going dooooooo-oo-oo-oown” she started to sing

“tell me she’s not” Twilight said in half shock and half anguish.

“The darkness and the shadows. They would always make me frow-oo-ow-own” Pinkie sang

“she is” Rarity said.

“I’d hid under my pillow from what I thought I saw” Pinkie danced around bouncing circles around the ponies

“but Granny Pie said that wasn’t the way to deal with fears at aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall. She said 'Pinkie you gotta stand up tall. Learn to face your fears. You’ll see that they can’t hurt you. You just laugh and you’ll make them all disappear’”

Then Pinkie calmly stood in front of one of the trees and laughed in its face. The tree’s face then promptly faded away to everybodies surprise. Pinkie then continued to sing while pushing the ponies towards the trees to laugh at them. Every pony tried to laugh and with their combined efforts all the trees remained trees as they once were. Twilight was unsure whether anything had been wrong with the trees in the first place as it was clear they were under a lot of stress. However, after a bunch of laughing they all lay there for a while and they all calmed down. It was strange. Twilight would never have thought Pinkie of all ponies would have been of any use in their situation but apparently she was and Twilight wasn’t even sure how she did it! Twilight wondered whether maybe Pinkie wasn’t as foolish as she first seemed.

Nevertheless, they had to press onward. However, it seemed the castle was just on the horizon. They were all happy to see the end of their long and perilous journey ahead of them so they all ran with excitement towards the large castle doors. When they entered, they all looked around in amazement.

Twilight looked up at the structure in front of her “The Elements of Harmony. We found them!” she announced happily. Twilight looked carefully at the book about the Elements she had brought with her and instructed the flying ponies to take the circular stones of the structure down in front of her. Twilight reminded Rainbow several times to be careful.

“yes, yes, I know!” Rainbow retorted with slight irritation.

“There is only five. Where is the sixth?” Applejack asked.

Twilight responded while kneeling down to get a closer look at the Elements “The book says, when the five are present, a spark will cause the sixth Element to be revealed.”

“I thought you said the sixth element was a complete mystery” Rainbow said in confusion and accusation.

“I didn’t have time to read it properly. I made assumptions, OK!” Twilight responded with more than a little irritation.

“A spark will cause the sixth Element to appear? What in the hay is that supposed to mean?” Applejack asked.

“I’m not sure but I have an idea” Twilight said in earnest.

“Stand back. I don’t know what will happen” Twilight said as she closed her eyes. Twilight sat there quietly with clear concentration on her face and a light glowed around her horn.

“C’mon now ya’ll. She needs to concentrate” said Applejack, leading everybody out of the room.

But before they could get far a blue mist snuck by and grabbed the elements in a whirling tornado right under Twilight’s nose. She yelped in surprise and the others quickly came in to see what was going on. They tried to grab the elements but the magic mist made the Elements and Twilight disappear in a flash. The pony friends rushed around in horror.

“Twilight? Where are you?” Applejack yelled with fear.

“Look!” Rarity had spotted a light emitting from another room in the castle. It was on the top of a castle tower next door to the room they were in. They all rushed as fast as they could to catch up to her.

Twilight coughed from the mist and as it cleared Nightmare Moon became visible laughing with pride in front of her. Twilight tried her best to stop her and stampeded towards her with her horn lit with magic.

“you’re kidding, right?” Nightmare Moon said insultingly.

Twilight continued to run at her so Nightmare Moon decided to meet her head on. However, Twilight had a trick up her sleeve. Instead of using her magic to attack Nightmare Moon, she used it to teleport away from her and to the Elements which were waiting behind Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon quickly used her magic mist to dash straight into Twilight but it was too late. Twilight had already just managed the spark spell.

Nightmare Moon yelled in horror “no, NO!” but then the light and the spark disappeared. Nothing happened.

Twilight shouted in despair “NO! But where is the sixth Element?!” Nightmare Moon crushed the Elements with her magic to Twilight’s horror.

“You stupid little fool! Thinking you could defeat ME!! Now you will never see your precious princess or sun. The night will last forever!” The room was filled with maniacal laughter that echoed around the old stone walls of the castle as Nightmare Moon gathered her magic mist and sent it swirling towards the sky.

Twilight heard her friends shouting and galloping up the stone stairs towards her. She remembered what they had done for her. And then. She realised. “Of course! How could I not see it!?” She yelled to herself.

Twilight turned towards Nightmare Moon triumphantly “You think you can destroy the Elements of Harmony just like that?! Well you’re wrong! Because the spirits of the Elements of Harmony are right here!!” Twilight yelled with pride. She felt such power unlike never before and it felt great. To finally know the solution. To finally understand. She felt enlightened. As she said these words the broken pieces of the stone Elements of Harmony statue raised in the air with a powerful magic.

Twilight began to explain “Applejack. When you reassured me of my safety at the cliff. I knew you weren’t in any way lying to me. Although, there was no way of me really knowing Rainbow and Fluttershy were behind me and ready to catch me. But I trusted you and I was right to do so. You represent the Element of Honesty!” At that moment Applejack levitated in the air and a necklace of pure gold appeared around her neck. It had an orange crystal in the shape of an apple in the middle as the centre piece to its grand design.

Twilight turned to Fluttershy “Fluttershy. When you showed understanding to that Manticore even despite it’s vicious attacks, you showed just how much you cared for all living things. You represent the Element of Kindness!” Fluttershy began to levitate off the ground without the use of her wings as a powerful magic enveloped her. A golden necklace of royal design appeared around her neck with a pink butterfly crystal as its defining feature.

Twilight turned to Pinkie “Pinkie Pie. Who banished fear with her love for joy and happiness. Represents the Element of Laughter!” Pinkie was lifted up into the air and was slightly disappointed by the fact she couldn’t jump anymore. A golden crest appeared on her neck with a crystal balloon as its main feature.

Twilight turned to Rarity “Rarity, who showed her compassion and love for her friends when she gave up her precious thread and dropped her inhibitions to help Rainbow in her time of need. Represents the Element of Generosity!” Rarity was pleased her own crest was fabulous enough for her taste as it appeared on her neck with a blue diamond shaped crystal as its defining feature.

Twilight turned to her final friend “and Rainbow Dash. Who could not give up and abandon her friends even for her own safety. Represents the Element of Loyalty!” Rainbow let the magical power envelop her with pride as she heard of her heroic deeds. Another golden crest appeared on Rainbows neck and it showed a yellow crystal of a lightning bolt as it’s defining centre piece.

“These five ponies have helped me get through every challenge you threw at us!” Twilight said with confidence and pride.

“But you still don’t have the sixth Element! The spark didn’t work!” Nightmare Moon tried to reassure herself but Twilight wasn’t done.

“But it did! A different kind of spark! I felt it the moment I saw my friends coming to my rescue and how happy I was to hear you coming for me. To know how much you cared to come all this way for me and still chase me when I disappeared from sight. And to know how I cared about you too. The spark was inside me! When I realised you all are my friends!” Twilight said with tears in her eyes.

And at that moment, a light appeared above them and the sixth Element emerged from the light. It floated towards Twilight in expectance of what was to come. “You see Nightmare Moon. When those Elements are ignited by the spark that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth Element of Harmony. The Element of MAGIC!”

However, Twilight’s crest didn’t appear and for a minute Twilight stood, confident something was going to happen but nothing did. Nightmare Moon was about to laugh again when somebody’s hoof steps were heard from behind. Everybody turned to see who it was. Who could it possibly be? Lots of huffing and panting could be heard as a thin figure of a brown pegasus pony appeared on top of the stairs.

“wait a minute!” she said out of breath and then fell down on the stone floor.

“Floppy?! What are you doing here?!” Applejack and Twilight yelled simultaneously.

Applejack looked at Twilight “you know her?” she said in confusion.

“YOU know her?” yelled Rainbow Dash to Applejack.

Applejack blushed and hung her head in shame, trying not to look at anybody. “yes, I do” Applejack admitted.

“We warned you about letting in stray animals Applejack but we never thought you would hide an entire pony!” Rarity said in surprise.

“I know. I’m sorry. I’m the Element of Honesty but I was dishonest to ya’ll. I wanted to protect her. She looked so...so...”

“needy? Young?” Twilight finished her sentence.

“I know what you mean. I had a talk with her at the welcome party after she came into my room. I felt it too. She is defenceless but has a lot of character.”

“That is exactly my point!” Floppy yelled now she had finally caught her breath.

“There is something you are missing here!” Floppy yelled to them as she slowly came closer.

“what?” Twilight said in confusion, completely baffled as to what this strange pony who had no involvement in all of this could even mean or know about all this.

“Friendship isn’t just about all the honesty and kindness and all that jargon. That’s what annoys me about everybody. Nobody thinks about anything other than those things but there is more to it!”

“then what is it?” Rarity said.

“hurry up and spit it out!” Rainbow yelled in earnest.

Floppy took a deep breath. “Personality!”

“Personality?” everyone seemed to remark at the same time.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Rainbow yelled impatiently.

“let the girl speak Rainbow” Applejack said and Rainbow sighed with frustration.

Floppy continued “Personality is a defining part of everybody. It is what makes us unique! And...not everybody makes friends with everybody else. Why? Because we are all different. We have different personalities! Personalities make us who we are and who we are makes us who we are friends with and determines whether we have honesty and kindness and generosity and even magic. So...what I am saying is...isn’t personality also important for friendship? Even more than everything else?” With that a spark ignited in Floppy’s chest and another golden necklace appeared around her neck with a symbol of a heart of crystal with all the colours of the rainbow. The colour seemed to change depending on the angle you looked at it.

“Floppy! Your flank!” Applejack pointed at her thigh and sure enough a heart of all the colours of the rainbow faded into place. Her cutie mark. It seemed she had found her purpose.

Floppy was so flabbergasted her lips quivered as her mouth gaped in surprise. She had no idea what to say so she just froze on the spot and stared. But before Floppy could fully take in what had happened, Twilight saw Nightmare Moon move and quickly remembered their task.

“Everybody gather round. It’s time to put an end to Nightmare Moon’s reign!” Twilight said with pride and confidence.

Everybody slowly walked closer to her and Twilight delved deep into her soul with a deep breath. The crystal on the necklaces shone and glowed paths between each other, linking them like a daisy chain. Then, as if her soul came to speak out and vanquish the evil, a bright light flew with an overwhelming force out of her horn with all the colours of the rainbow. The light overwhelmed Nightmare Moon as she screamed in terror. Then to everybody’s surprise, a rather young mare with a deep blue body and a mane as beautiful as the night sky became clear in her place as the light cleared the scene.

“Luna!” they all turned around to where the voice had come from. It was none other than Celestia herself, running towards the little filly with a sense of urgency and her eyes were moist with tears. When Celestia neared, the young mare also ran towards her. When they collided they tightly embraced each other in the most desperate and loving way.

“Oh my sister! Oh how I missed you!” Luna said, her voice shaky as tears streamed down her face. Celestia’s eyes were wet but they didn’t drop a tear and she gently pulled herself away. Celestia turned to Twilight and her friends and a rather sweet smile spread across her face. Twilight smiled in response as well as several other ponies. Celestia slowly stepped towards them and held herself gracefully as she spoke.

“Well done Twilight. I knew I could trust my most loyal student. Thank you to all of you for bringing my younger sister back unto me.” Twilight just beamed with joy at being praised from her most admired idol and bowed.

“It is my duty to serve you my Princess” Twilight said while trying to sound as respectful as possible. She was in the presence of a god after all.

However, Rainbow Dash wasn’t so good at understanding when not to speak and so she said what was on her mind. “Nightmare Moon is your SISTER?!” she cried in shock.

“Rainbow!” Several ponies shouted simultaneously.

“Don’t worry Twilight, Applejack, Rarity. It is quite alright. It is a reasonable question after all” Celestia said with a smile.

Celestia went on to explain what happened all those years ago. Of how she had imprisoned her sister after grief had encompassed her and she had become Nightmare Moon. Locking her within the moon until 1000 years later where she would rise again as she did. Twilight soon realised that maybe she had planned this all along and that was why she was sent to Ponyville and why she had ignored her letter when it was so unusually out of character to disregard her knowledge so quickly. A brown pegasus now dawned with a new cutie mark, ushered away on her own down the stone stairs back to the barn. No-one noticed her slip away quietly as she had done several times today. She didn’t feel like she should be needed and didn’t want a lot of fuss so she just left them to it. She wanted a good night’s sleep anyway. Today had been way too much excitement than she was used to.

The other ponies talked with Celestia for a while and continued to talk and ask questions while walking down the stairs a while later. When they left the castle they were a little startled by the bright sunlight above them and they shielded their eyes from its light. Celestia chuckled slightly and continued to call her chariot. The ponies all left through the forest together. It was a lot less scary in the bright day light and they easily made it home without any problems. They all said their goodbyes and split up from each other after coming out the other end of the forest near Ponyville.

Twilight wandered off to her new house in the library. She gave a deep breath and wandered in as Spike leaped to her aid asking many questions about where she had been. Pinkie Pie bounced away to her little gingerbread shop and her home Sugarcube Corner. Rainbow zoomed into the sky towards her house in Cloudsdale for a good chillax session on her bed. Rarity remembered a bunch of dresses and designs she needed to sort out before the day was done and rushed off to her Boutique with a light elegant but quick trot.

All of the ponies, with all the fuss, had all but forgotten about Floppy. Applejack made her way towards her home at Sweet Apple Acres before the sight of the barn made her remember she was missing something. However, Applejack had enough sense to check the barn in front of her first. Applejack had needn’t worry as Floppy was fast asleep on a pile of hay in the barn, safe and sound.

Applejack closed the barn door and whispered “Goodnight my little miracle” before closing the barn door.

Applejack was about to enter the house through the door when she suddenly stopped in her tracks. She stood for a moment in thought and then turned and trotted around the back of the house. There sitting under the shade of a large oak tree was a grey headstone. Etched onto the spotted pattern of the stone and moss was the message ‘Winona. A beloved friend and the best companion a pony could ever have’. Applejack sat in front of the grave quietly for a while before then gently laying her hat on the soil in front of her. She then stood up and waited a few more minutes before then wandering off home to talk with her family about the amazing day she had.