In Equestria, things are not always as they seem. The bright colors and mostly-happy atmosphere making up the land, even disregarding the conspiracy theories pertaining to rainbows and cupcakes, and the many urban legends, still harbors much in the way of problems, that most ponies never quite see, or simply disregard on sight, not understanding or, worse yet, not caring.
A great example of such an issue lies with the orphan problem in the land, which though brought up in various literature over time highlighting the existence of the issue, never ceases to be mostly ignored by the common pony, hardly even thought of. It does not help that the princesses, though they could be excused for having other issues to tend to, say nor do barely anything save for authorize the funding for the broken farce of a system.
The best way to explore this would be to take the life of a duo who found themselves in a similar predicament, and learned to work with and help one another through the struggles that they faced, a stallion by the name of Raven Star and a mare by the name of Holly Leaf. This is their story, and perhaps not one for the truly faint at heart.
It was the middle of the winter in the well-renowned yet still small town of Ponyville. The weather team had put up information bulletins around the town for this particular day, calling for a pretty heavy snowstorm to cake the town, to the groans of parents and the excited screams of foals.
It was during the evening hours when the icy wind from the coming storm was starting to blow more heavily, and a grey and black earth pony stallion named Raven trotted along one of the well-traveled roads of the town nearby the central park, wearing a tattered but functional black coat and a keepsake black fedora with blue stripes.
After a time of trotting along that path and whistling to himself a tune he learned from a visiting pink pony many moons back, a sadistic yet joyful, contradictory masterpiece that found its way into his memory, still “knowing the words to this song,” as it kind of says, he suddenly hears what sounds like some sniffling coming from the aforementioned park.
A bit curious as to who else other than himself would be out near the beginning of the storm, Raven decided to investigate, seeing the beginning of snowflakes falling on the town. When he arrived at the park, a simple square with benches surrounding an odd central tree, he noticed a rather sad sight. A rough-looking mare of white and green seemingly Raven’s age was shivering and whimpering, curled up on one of the benches, nothing to brave the present weather and weather to come, unlike Raven. Not able to simply leave at this juncture, he approached the mare, trying to adopt a friendly expression.
“Fair mare, I am not sure you should be out in such weather without a coat to your name,” He said, attempting to break the ice, so-to-say. He most certainly accomplished this, by making the mare jolt and stare wide-eyed, until relaxing slightly.
“I th-thought you were..a member of the Royal Guard. S-sorry,” The mare replied, rubbing the back of her hoof.
“I would not have thought you a criminal based on your looks,” Raven responded.
“A criminal of circumstance, not of intention,” She simply said.
“Well, a public park is not exactly the best hiding place, you know. I will not ask for your reasons nor details, as they are none of my business, but I refuse to allow you to continue as you are without at least trying to help you not die. After all, these pegasi have a lot more snow incoming if I understand the bulletins correctly. So, here you go,” Raven simply replied, taking off his coat and putting it onto the bench. At this juncture, he proceeded to tip his fedora, and sought to simply leave the park, trotting away in silence.
“W-wait, where are you going, and why did yo-, hey!” The mare exclaimed, going after Raven as he continued to move away in silence. He turns around to say one last thing.
“It is my gift to you, take it and stay warm. The cold never bothered me anyway, so I will be fine. Loners must stick together, after all,” Raven stated with a smile, before trotting off once more, leaving the mare dumbfounded in his wake.
Once he had left the park and grew closer to his destination, his stomach began to remind him of a very important and pressing matter.
“Bloody hell, my meal for tonight and tomorrow was in that coat as well,” He lamented aloud. “Though, I suppose she could probably use it more so than myself. From the looks of her, she was not doing too good. Maybe I should find her another day, and try to talk with Princess Twilight..hm,” He continued, resolving to visit the Princess of Friendship at some point once more, the one who had freed him from legal trouble back when he jumped ship from the orphanage he was in many moons ago. Continuing to trot down the path, he made his way to his favorite cliff area, where he can overlook the Town and get some shut-eye. He eventually arrived.
“Huh, already here. The town still looks as beautiful as always,” He said with admiration. The town radiated a warm glow from its various lights, candle and artificial, the latter due to rising technological innovations. Despite the increasing artificiality of it all, the relatively new castle not helping, Ponyville still maintained a rustic charm that Raven could not help but to admire, from the old clock tower that still operates as it always has, to the nearby fields of Sweet Apple Acres, and so forth. There is something about a small town that is simply lost on those in bigger cities.
After having admired the scenery for a while as he usually did, Raven got comfortable in front of an old Apple Tree that has supported him with food at times and as a sleeping surface other times. With a sigh, he had closed his eyes, desiring to get some rest as the cool breeze and peaceful surroundings took their hold on him.
Soon before he was able to do so, however, his peaceful surroundings soon turned a bit chaotic, as he heard the galloping of hooves, the panting of a mare over-exerting herself, and the same mare eventually sliding due to a slippery piece of ground, heading towards the edge. Having begun standing up before that latter situation, he was able to move quickly to run into the mare, diverting her dangerous course, them instead hitting a tree, both managing to hit it and subsequently feel the pain and disorientation from it. Eventually coming back to their senses, Raven stood up and offered his hoof to the mare, who sheepishly accepted it. When she arose, she began trying to take off the coat to give it back to Raven, who put his hoof on her and shook his head.
“Did you know that you are incredibly stubborn for a freezing loner? Do I look cold enough to need that coat, compared to you who is still shivering even with it on? Keep it, please,” Raven stated, offering another smile.
“B-but, this..it is not..why?” She asked, having begun to cough.
“Did I not mention this before? Loners have to stick together. Judging by your appearance and circumstances, I felt it was an appropriate assumption,” Raven responded.
“Do I..l-look that..b-bad?” She inquired, a bit of a frown coming on.
“Not naturally, I do not believe, but as you currently stand, you look pretty rough,” Raven admitted, pulling a leaf out of her mane to illustrate his point, her face becoming a bit red.
“Eh..heheh, I s-suppose you h-have a point,” She replied with a light giggle that turned into a bit of a violent cough.
“Are you quite alright? That cough seems to be growing worse,” He asked.
“I d-do not know the l-last time I was not s-sick. The w-weather is likely m-making it worse,” She stated.
“Well then, let us get you some place warm, hm?” He said.
“Wh-what? Y-you said..I thought,” She began to say.
“Princess Twilight and I are well acquainted, so I can easily get help for you. Come on,” He responded, once more trotting away.
“W-wait, stop!” She exclaimed, tugging him.
“What is it?” He asked.
“I-I am w-wanted, remember?” She stated, her eyes wide with terror. Raven simply chuckled a bit at this. “Wh-what is so f-funny?” She continued, her former expression replaced with a confused frown.
“You said it yourself, it was not of intention. Chances are, you and I share a lot in common, and we can talk about it over some tea or something, probably. Or, you can choose to not follow me, and perhaps die due to the increasing cold. Your choice,” He explained.
“I..you..” She tried to say. “..y-you r-raise..a valid p-point. I will..g-go with you,” She continued, not too keen on dying.
“Glad to hear it. We should start making our way then,” He said. “Oh, and also, I never heard what your name is,” He continued.
“H-Holly. Holly Leaf,” She replied.
“My name is Raven Star, but most just refer to me as Raven. It is a pleasure to properly meet you,” He responded, before they began their trot, Raven supporting Holly, due to her being weak from the tree hit, hunger, and the cold.
It is said that on this day, a seed became planted, that would grow into what was never expected, with many twists, turns and otherwise to come as a consequence, from this budding friendship.
Author's Note
Greetings all of you who gave my little backstory a chance here, and thank you for the read!
As a backstory, the main purpose is to develop and provide a solid background to two of my OCs. I am welcome to suggestions, comments and critiques though, as I want to make this a nice and interesting story for you guys as well as building up my character. Who knows, perhaps you guys can help me understand and make my character better in the end.
If you hate my story, so be it, but at least leave me parting words on why you hate it, since regardless of the flak I get, I do plan on building my characters, and will do my best to do so here. Admittedly, I want to make a story people like and have it get popular, and I need to work on that, but maybe some positive will come out of it.
My idiocy on that part aside, thank you again mates for reading!
