Rally Ah Do!: A Tale of Truly

Rally ah do!: A tale of Truly- part one

Southern Mustangia- twenty-five years ago...

The sunlight reflected across the surface of the river, as it lazily set behind the Cypress and Magnolia trees. It was almost as if she were gazing at some impressionistic painting in a museum. Yet here it was before her very eyes, real as day. It was a sight she had seen many, many times growing up in this bountiful land. Yet to this white pony with the pink mane's eyes, it always seemed like something of a miracle.

"Truly, Truly dahling!" Fancy Flower, a blue mare with a pink mane, called out from the top of the hill.  "Suppah's ready! Y'all come back to the house naow, ya heyah?"

"Comin, aunty Flowah!" The filly in the pink hoop skirt and bonnet jumped up, and galloped away from the river bank, and back towards the great manor house that stood at the center of the property.

The magnificent estate was a sight to behold from the river- a large with mansion with Doric columns supporting it's roof, surrounded by beautiful cypresses and magnolia trees. As Truly made her way back up to the porch, she saw her mother and her sibling all seated at the outdoor veranda, as one of the servant ponies sat the table for them.

"Theyah y'all are, Truly!" Her mother called out, as the filly dashed up to the table. "Heart Throb and ahthought we'd have ta eat these sandwiches ahll by ahselves."

"Sorry momma." The filly apologized, as she hopped up in one of the fancy chairs sitting around he table. "Ah was just daown lokkin at the pretty river ahgain."

"Y'all gonna fall in thiat ol rivah, if ya keep goin' daown ta stare at it every day." Truly's sister, a pink Pegasus with a winged heart cutie mark, teased her.

"Naow Heart Throb, don't be goin ahd teasin yo sistah!" Aunt Fancy snapped, chiding the other filly. "A little lady should ahlways watch her manners in public."

All four of the ponies laughed at that, as the serving ponies brought them tea. Having known only a life of ease and tranquility growing up, Truly the earth filly was the true spirit of a southern belle, the fifteenth generation descended of the Equestrian cavaliers who had settled here along the Maresisippi river. They had come to Southern Mustangia to make a new life for themselves. This very plantation had been in the family since there ancestors first arrived, and even now her mother and aunt- two of the five siblings the locals had dubbed the 'sweetheart sister ponies- still made thier home in the manor house.

"Mama, when's daddy due back from thait business trip up nawrth?" Truly asked, taking a sip from her tea with her hooves. "Ah do miss him so."

"Don't worry, honeh.  yo daddy will be home as soon as he cain." The yellow mare with the blue mane replied, wiping her daughter's chin with a handkerchief. "Ah'm shore he doesn't want ta be up theyrah with those nawthern scaliwags any longah thain he has ta."

It was at that point that one of the serving mares, carrying a tray filled with lemonade on her nose., accidentally bumped into the table. The tray and the glasses upon it crahed down to the floor, breaking into a hundred little pieces.

"Ahhh! Mah good crystal!" Truly's mother wailed, as the yellow liquid splashed everywhere.

"Look what ya'll haive y’all done, ya clumsy girl!" Aunt Fancy snorted, scowling at the yellow serving mare with the green mane. "Ah cain't believe we brought ya in from the fields ta be a house servant ta let ya foul up ouah good dishware!"

"Ah-ah'm so sorry, miss Flowah." Lemon Treats, the Mustangian serving mare, replied sadly. "A-ah didn't mean ta-"

"No no, it's quite alraight." Truly's mother replied, placing a hoof on the now crying serving mare. "Just clean up this mess, chile, an don't worreh about it, heah?"

Leamon Treats smiled weakly, bowing to the two mares. Truly's aunt looked back at her sister with a scowl.

"Frilly, y'all cain't jes let these mustangs off the hook laike thait!" Fancy complained. "Theyah really stupid, an if ya don't draive the point home, thaye'll foget eyerthin' ya'll said in ten minutes!"

Heart Throb knew what her aunt was referring to. The Mustangian ponies were so different then them. Always neighing their words when they talked, their manes far curlier than a normal pony's. Truly and Heart Throb's tutor had taught them that the mustangs had live a miserable life in these lands before the Equestrian settlers had gotten here. The cavalier ponies, fleeing from the collapsing Equestria, had settled and made use of the land the mustangs had let sit idle. The once miserable Mustangians could now happily works as laborers in the Equestrians fields, as gratitude for the ponies who had brought them civilization.

But little Heart Throb didn't quite see things that way. After they had eaten thier meal, the filly turned towards the two older ponies to ask;

"Aunty Fancy, why y'all so haid on poor Lemon?" Truly asked sadly. "She didn't mean ta do thait!"

"Naow don't y'all be questionin' your aunty, heyah?" thier mother scowled, motioning back down towards the river with her head. "Naow, why don't you two go back saown by the riveh and play?"

"Yes, mama." The two girls replied in unison, galloping away from the table, and running back down towards the mares

"Frilly, ah wanted ta talk to y'all agahin abaout sendin' the two girls tah visit our sistahs in Dream Valleh fo the summer." Aunt fancy added. "Ah thank ah summah with Waild Flowah ahnd Dainty maight do them good!"

"Naow sitah, theyh's no reason they should haive ta leave home." The other mare protested, as the two cleaned off the table. "It's a dark and scary world out theyah, why push the little thangs inta adulthood any fastah thain they haive ta be?"

"Ya always have been the soft one, Frilly." Fancy told her sister with a sigh. "Y'all cnevah could make the hahd decisions."

As the two little fillies ran down through the fields, the mustang ponies looked up from thier work to watch as they ran by. Many picking cotton in the upper fields smiled at the sight of innocent youth. Other Mustangians pulling their heavy plows though the dirt, stare at the children with clenched teeth. A silent anger burning in their hearts that these cavalier Equestrian children have the idle time to run free and play, while their own children plow beside them, their childhoods stolen by the horrible burden of a heavy yoke. But a stern glare from the unicorn overseer, levitating his whip over their heads, is enough to return all of thier attention to their work.

"Wow, cain y'all believe it?" Heart Throb asked, as she leapt up, and rolled across the grass near the river bank. "It's such a wondahful day out heyah! Oh Truly, ah cain see why y'all love ta come daown to the rivah, it's ah'll so loveleh!"

But the other filly was barely paying attention to her sister, staring out at the river. Finally, after several minutes of silence, the earth pony spoke up.

"Heart Throb, why ya'll think aunty yelled at Lemon?" Truly asked, turning back to look at here sister. "Ah really don't thank she did anythin' thait wrong."

"What kinda question is that, sistah?" Heart Thorb stopped rolling, looking back at her sibling. "Lemon treats broke some dishes, ahnd she got a scoldin'. It's just like we get a yellin' when wheah naughty."

"It still don't feel raight, Heart." Truly replied, her ears drooping. "Ah wish we didn't haive ta bean so mean ta the mustangs."

"Honey Chile, ah'm so glad ta hear ya'll say thait." A yellow mare replied, trotting up over the crest of the hill. "It's so naice ta know not all o' ya'll don't like us so much."

Lemon!" The two other fillies ran up to the little mustang, and the three began to chase each other along the riverbank, laughing and playing. Heart Throb and Truly had grown up side by side with the little filly, and had trouble seeing her as anything other than their friend. Mustang or Equestrian, curly mane or straight... to these little fillies who knew nothing of politics or prejudices, Lemon was simply just another pony to run and play with.

"Ya'll ah it, Truly!" Lemon laughed, as the earth filly barreled after the other two.

"No, y'all are!" Truly giggled, tagging the other pony, then running away from her.

Finally, the three fillies collapsed into a heap on the riverbank, still laughing and giggling. As the three friends lay in the grass and looked up at the clouds, Lemon asked her friends a question.

"Girls, what do y'all what ta do when ya grow up?"

The two slighly younger fillies thought for a moment, before Heart Throb replied;

"Ah want ta hailp folks faind theyah true loves!" The pink Pegasus replied with a romantic sigh. "Hailp lonlehponies faind true happehness!"

"Whut abaout y'all, Truly?" Lemon asked, looking over at her other friend.

"Ah want... ah want everehboady ta be happeh." The white filly replied, looking up at the clouds, and smiling. "Ah want ta haive a big estate like ouah family's, wheah all ponehs cain be friends, Mustang or Equestrian" She looked over at Lemon. "Aind no one cain yell at y cause of as mistake y'all make."

"Why Truly." Lemon replied, her eyes misting up. "Thait's the most noble tang ah've evah-"

"There ya are, ya filthy dog!" The unicorn overseer barked out, suddenly appearing at the top of the hill. The stink of cider was one his breath telling the girls that he was going to be trouble. "Wht're ya'll doin, pesterin' these gentle fillehs?"

"Ah-ah'm sorreh, suh!" Lemon pleaded, bowing to the overseer submissively. "Ah didn't mean tuh-"

"It's okay, suh.We asked her ta come play with us." Heart Throb pleaded, trying to reason with the inebriated unicorn. "It's ouah fault she's nawt workin', nawt hers."

"So gettin' these gentlefillies ta make exuses for ya?!" The overseer barked, raising his levitated whip over his head. "I'll teach ya not cause such trouble, ya filthy trollop!"

The lash came down again and again, the young mustang mare's scream echoing in the two little fillies’ ears. A drop of blood suddenly flew off the whip, and landed on Truly's quivering face.

"Stwap it!" The white filly yelled, stepping forward as if suddenly coming out of a trance. "Ah said STAWP IT! Quit hurtin' mah friend!"

CRACK!

The whip came down across Truly's midsection, sending the filly skittering to the ground with a painful cry. All three of the other ponies present stared at the filly who had jumped in front of her friend in stunned silence, not believing what had just occurred.

"Truly!" Lemon shrieked, running over to the fallen filly's side. "Oh no, Truly, are y'all raight?"

"Jes wait till' mama fainds out ahbout this!" Heart Throb yelled angrily at the now-terrified overseer, stamping her hoof. "Y'all be the one get the whippin naow!"

And at that moment, two unusual things occurred with the little filly writing on the ground. First, a blue dove with pink hearts- a sign of loving friendship escaping to freedom, appeared on Truly's flank. The next was a burning desire in the filly, greater than any fire before it or since, that none of her friends would never be made to feel as if they inferior ever again.

All ponies would be treated as equals... a filly named Truly would see to that.