Forgotten

Twilight and Bumble continued planning their method of solving this problem as the train bounced along the route to Ponyville. They knew they had a gigantic mountain to climb, but they didn't know how they would climb it. It seemed as if all of their support had been taken away, and they were left floating in midair, stagnant as they awaited fate's rippling wind. Not even bringing up pleasant memories of days gone by could help the two. Twilight found it surprising that Bumble had these kinds of memories, considering how rough his life had been, but it was touching to hear them. It reinvigorated her, and she knew that she had something dear to her that she had not had since coming into this strange world: a true friend.

She didn't know why, but she felt warm sitting next to him, and she cherished the solidifying of their friendship. She suddenly felt comfortable telling him about her insecurities. She told him about how she thought she had failed in her mission to spread friendship because she had spoken to him so sharply and not offered him the same compassion or trust she would have offered other ponies. He smiled and nodded and told her that he didn't hold anything against her, and he was thrilled to have the Princess of Friendship on his side. "Heck, I'm thrilled to have anypony on my side," he said with a chuckle.

Twilight chuckled, and then suddenly, she gasped. She caught a view of his cutie mark, and it was of a pony tripping and falling. So…being a klutzy, clumsy pony is his special talent? She thought in shock, that…that's terrible! I mean, special talents are things that designate one pony from another, and this poor stallion has been saddled with this!

"You…um…have a very nice cutie mark," she said awkwardly. His face twisted up oddly, not only at the abruptness with which the princess had changed the subject, but also the subject itself. "You really think so?" He asked, "because…I don't. I hate my cutie mark with a passion. It just reminds me of what I can't be."

"What's that?"

"Somepony more than I am. Whatever force in our world distributes cutie marks determined that I was supposed to be nothing more than a klutz. My parents changed my name when they saw how clumsy I was, and the rest is history."

"What was your original name, if you don't mind me asking?"

"It was amazing, Twilight. My original name was Flame Mane. When I was born, my mane was the color of a burning fire, and my parents were obsessed with it. But then they found out that I wasn't as oriented to fire as I was to clumsiness. So…they changed it."

"Wow," Twilight breathed, "you've really had it rough. I'm so sorry."

"It is what it is," Bumble said, "I'm just happy that I found you and now my entire world is so much better. I'm experiencing true friendship for the first time, and it feels amazing!"

Twilight smiled. She was so happy that she was able to open the doors to friendship for this young stallion. Now her heart had done a complete turnaround, and she felt that she had solved a friendship problem that the Cutie Map didn't even call her to. She loved having her own group of friends, but she thought that making new friends or guiding a pony towards his destiny was the greatest feeling of all. Her heart soared, and she found herself throwing her hooves around Bumble Trot.

"You listen to me," she said, "I'm not gonna call you Bumble Trot anymore, and when Equestria is restored to normalcy, I am going to see to it that your birth certificate and everything about you is changed. You don't need to be Bumble Trot. You need to be Flame Mane. So, as a princess of Equestria, I hereby change your name to Flame Mane."

Flame Mane almost did a dance. He couldn't stop hugging the princess, and she couldn't help but giggle at his enthusiasm. He was so thrilled at having his name changed, and she was so happy to see him in this frame of mind, that they nearly missed their train stop. But when the conductor announced that they had arrived in Ponyville, they quickly dashed off their car and into the train station.

"Alright," Flame said, "so…where's our first stop?"

"Our first stop is the Ponyville Prison. We've gotta bust somepony out."

"Wait…we're actually gonna try and pull off a prison break?"

Twilight turned around in front of him. "Yes, Flame, we are. My good friend Starlight Glimmer is in there, and she's the only pony out of my original group who still knows and cherishes true friendship."

"Do we know how we're gonna do this?"

"Not yet, which is why we're gonna head there. It's research time!"

Flame Mane smiled at the princess's sheer joy over getting to do something so many ponies found tedious and boring. He followed her as she ran through the streets towards the prison. He couldn't help but notice that she had quite an attractive way of galloping. He couldn't keep his eyes off her, as her mane flew behind her in the wind. He felt his heart skip a couple of beats. She's so beautiful, he thought in a daze as he imagined being with her forever. This was one friendship he couldn't let go by the wayside.

When they arrived across the street from the jailhouse, she stopped him and they ducked into an alley. He took a peek at their target and noticed, with a bit of humor, that it was rather small. It was certainly no Baltimare Correctional Facility, which housed thousands of inmates. "That's the Ponyville Prison?" He asked, "it looks more like a small hotel."

"That's because it used to be a small hotel," the princess said, "now, listen. We need to break Starlight out of there, but we don't know what kind of guards they have. From what I've heard since coming into this new Equestria, the Captain of the Guard is none other than Sombra himself."

"Sombra?!" Flame whispered loudly.

"SH!" Twilight commanded, "yes, that Sombra. We need to know how many evil ponies he's employed to do his dirty work. I imagine that he's the one behind the removal of friendship in the land. So, what we're gonna do is head inside and count the number of guards in front of Starlight's cell. Our pretext is that we're brand new guards of Sombra's elite corps!"

"OK, Twilight," Flame Mane responded, "I'm with you!"

She smiled and nodded before bolting across the street, her friend hot on her heels. The good news for them was that, with Twilight's wings disguised, they looked like a couple of unicorns. So nopony questioned them being together. When they got across the street, they bounded up the stairs and disappeared into the jailhouse.