A Tale of Something New

"… Been a month... almost like you… wake up eventually..." the last bits of conversation were all I could gather as I drift back to sleep.

I woke up in the hooves of a unicorn mare much older than I was just as I could see the sun starting to creep into the small bedroom. The mare in question was pink with a magenta mane, and I could spot a Cutie Mark of a cupcake with purple frosting and a red cherry on top. "Red Cherry? So that's a red cherry," I said in a low voice.

I scanned the room and found it was probably on the second floor, if the way the sun shined through was any indication. The room had a simple design: stone walls, wooden floor with matching wooden door and furniture, and as I lay on it, the most comfortable pink bed in the world. Though this fact could be attributed that the mare currently holding me was using allowing me to use one of her forearms as a pillow.

After a while, the mare started to stir and I was greeted not only with a pair of beautiful magenta eyes, but shortly after a small smile that matched. "There should be a law about waking up with heart attack inducing cuteness in front of you," she said with an interesting accent causing me to smile shyly and blush. Thank goodness, my own pink coat was probably enough to hide the blush. "Good morning, my little mini me," she said as she nuzzled me, "my name is Sugar Belle, what's your name?"

"Cherry Blossom," I answered as I began to puzzle something, "did you just call me your 'little mini me'?"

She giggled a bit before directing me to a small picture on a nearby drawer. Sure enough, the picture in question held a family of unicorns with a tiny unicorn filly who, apart from the magenta mane, could have been my twin. I felt her curl her forearms around the rest of me in a small embrace. She felt warm and smelled as sweet as that cupcake Cutie Mark looked. With a sudden realization I shouted, "Where's Azurinne?"

"You mean that adorable blue kitten?"

Nodding, I squirmed my way out of her hug and began scanning the room in a panic. I suddenly felt a wave of relief hit me as I heard a faint 'meow' coming from the other side of the bedroom door. I opened the door and found myself almost having a heart attack at the adorable ball of blue fur staring back at me with a smile. "AZURINNE!" I shouted, "Oh, Azurinne, are you ok? Are you hurt? How long was I asleep? Were you well fed? Oh wait, you don't eat. Have you gotten enough sleep? Why-" I was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a blue paw.

"She really means a lot to you, doesn't she?" Asked a soft-spoken Sugar Belle from behind me, "if you tell me all about it after breakfast, I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have."

I looked back while still holding Azurinne only to hear said cat's voice from behind me saying, "Might as well, she can use a decent breakfast after how long she's been asleep for."

My only response to the shock that Sugar Belle was showing was bringing my hoof to meet my face and slowly shake my head.

Breakfast was as tasty as I had hoped. It wasn’t cupcakes like her Cutie Mark suggested, but a freshly baked apple fritter with some milk was well appreciated. We sat in her kitchen around a small table and could see the door that opened to the front of the building where I could only assume she conducted business. I was still in a small amount of pain, but if what Sugar Belle told me was true, then a whole month of sleeping through most of the pain was probably why it didn’t hurt as much as it did when I spoke with Mammešhu.

We sat there as I explained where I was from, why Azurinne could speak and why I was travelling through the mountain. I of course left out the parts of me being created and not born, as well as dying and meeting the Goddess of Destiny and Fate in favor of a more believable tale of protecting Azurinne with my climbing spell, but failing. I didn't spare any details of my adventure through the mountain though right up to the point where myself and Azurinne were attacked by what I believe was a gray unicorn colt with a black mane.

"I remember a young colt like that entering to buy some sweets," Sugar Belle said in a gasp, "it was on the very same day we found you and Azurinne. In fact, I believe he was the one who pointed us to the fact by saying how he heard something coming from the mountain. It was shortly after that our search and rescue teams found you."

"So... the colt we saw, the colt that attacked and nearly killed us-" I winced at the 'nearly' part as Azurinne said it, "that colt not only hear buying some sort of celebratory snack, but also told you where to find his victims?"

"What was he like?"

"Excuse me?" Both Azurinne and Sugar Belle asked together.

"What was he like?" I repeated, "I mean, it's easy for me to believe he was some kind of heartless monster, but why would some pony like that care to buy sweets? Why would they tell some other pony the whereabouts of whom they hurt? Why would they care enough to? So, I ask again, what was he like?"

"Cherry Blossom, I'll say this again, at times like these it's hard to believe your just a filly," said my magical blue partner.

"Doubly so when I consider you, she's about Applebloom's age," said Sugar Belle in agreement to the cat. She then turned back to me, "To answer your question, he was actually rather polite, and seemed very well educated. His Cutie Mark was also quite unique. If I remember correctly it looked like a black star surrounded by 7 white stars."

Taking it all in. I'm interested now more than scared. Why would some colt simply attack like that? Was he told to? Was he in league with those who took my parents? Was he brainwashed? But there was one question I could ask directly, "Who's Applebloom?"

"She's a filly from Ponyville who likes to visit from time to time with her brother," she stated while adding extra emphasis to the brother part, "she and her friends are all quite sweet if also very mischievous." Stopping to clear her throat she continued, "But enough about that, as I remember a doctor and a nurse from Ponyville will be arriving tomorrow to examine your recovery. I want you to stay in bed and rest up if you want a book or two I'll be happy to lend you some of mine."

Deciding to heed the words of the mare currently taking care of me, I call to Azurinne to follow me as we head up to Sugar Belle's bed room.