On the border of a scary forest, near a quiet town, sat a small cottage, inhabited by a shy pegasus.
The kind pony spent most of her time helping any critter in need. This was however more of a hobby than a job, and to pay the bills, she mostly relied on the chicken coop in her garden.
Its occupants were happy, and beside two of them repaid their caretaker kindness and food with the eggs supplying the local bakery and a few farms.
It wasn't much, but the money allowed a quiet life. Nothing extravagant of course, but beside a few bills and the foods for all the small creatures living under her care, the only somewhat expensive pleasure she had was a weekly trip to the town spa with a friend.
But that isn't really our story...
Back in the chicken coop, you could find a rooster and a dozen hen.
This was absolutely normal.
What wasn't normal however, was that there should be more, while all the nests were occupied.
Almost nopony ever noticed, but this coop wasn't totally unlikely the opposite of a blue box that could often and sometimes be found around the nearby town.
It was bigger in the outside than in the inside !
Brillant minds(if they had noticed) would probably assume it was due to magic, a dimensional distortion or even some trompe l'oeil.
The truth was elsewhere. To be exact, if you wandered for a few minutes to the east you'd find a path going into the forest. Tracks could be found on it, but no animal could leave these, they were some symmetrical, straight lines. Not unlike those left by carts, just a lot smaller.
Following this path led you back near the cottage. To be exact, behind the coop. Here could be found a secret door leading to a hidden room.
It wasn't big, it wasn't luxury, it was however, pretty comfy. a small table and chair, a drawer full of clothes and a bed made of hay and some blankets. Complete some posters on the walls, most of them of a cerulean pony with a colorful mane.
Here lived a filly. She should, by no way be living alone at her age, she however, had lived here as long as she could remember.
It was one of her secret. She had many of them. She also had a scooter, a few friends, an orange coat and a purple mane. Oh, yeah, she also had a helmet for riding her scooter, safety is important.
She also had a family, or at least parents, but she was their shame. Why ? well, a lot of reasons really. Not that it bothered her much, as none of them was her fault.
Her father never recognized her. That is, if he was aware of her existence. her mother, well... Teenage pregnancy, shame, fear, you know how it goes... The filly didn't hate her however. She was smart and understood why her mother did this... Not that herself would ever do it.
still, she had to live here and hide it from everyone, which wasn't easy sometimes...
Yet she managed. None of her friends or their family ever found out. She had a close call once with the mailmare, but that was it.
If it is of any relevance, the filly, due to years of proximity, and a thin wooden wall, knew EXACTLY what a chicken did NOT sound like.
But that isn't really our story...
Wait, nevermind, that is our story...
So this little filly is our main protagonist.
Beside the aforementioned back-story that may or may not be of any importance, there were two important things about her.
first, she wasn't able to fly yet, which would be normal would she be an earth pony or an unicorn, but she wasn't. She may have been an alicorn, had she a horn, so I guess that made her a pegasus.
She would one day of course, but for now, she had some troubles missing the ground.
The second important thing, was that her flanks were just as the rest of her body : orange.
That fact could mean two things :
That there was no symbol adorning her rump yet.
Or that or she was destined to be an orange farmer, but it was unlikely, given she was a pegasus, and of course that oranges were pretty rares around here and she didn't particularly like them.
To solve her first problem, not much could be done beside waiting and training.
For the second however, she and her two best friends, who also wished for a mark had formed a club. No, more than a club : a secret society.
What was secret about it was known by none, not even it's creators. Which in turn would turn to be the prefect secret. A paradox is always trouble. That could define perfectly what the trio was.
They had tried a lot of things already, leaving destruction in their wake.
They didn't know what to do.
They knew to some extent what they wanted : something akin to what their role-models (be it sisters of idol) had.
Things of course didn't work that way.
Was it a law of the universe ? that until you found what you are good at, you'd be bad at everything else ?
Others could do a lot of things beside what their talent was.
Yet they failed at everything.
Well, at least they didn't get marks for things like singing or dancing. Do you have any idea how worthless it is somewhere anypony can go full musical anytime ?
Anyway, after yet another vain day of crusading, our heroine was going home.
It was pretty late, as she buzzed into the forest, and she didn't notice the yellow and pink pony that was coming back from town with some groceries.
The other however, noticed her, and with a scowl, followed her...
As the filly finished stowing her scooter and closing her door behind her, the door shot open.
There stood a mare, her face full of sorrow, frustration, pain and anger.
She spoke. She may have yelled, but it was hard to tell.
"What are you doing? I saw you going into the forest this late, I can't believe it!"
The filly shrunk a little. Yes, it was late, she was tired, but she knew it was no excuse, she's been spotted.
She was about to speak when her stomach groaned. The mare face softened into a smile and she reached in her saddlebag for a loaf of bread.
The filly accepted it and smiled back.
"Thanks, and sorry..."
She looked for something and found a knife, that'll do perfectly she thought as she grabbed it.
The mare closed her eyes "please, that's ruin both of our lives, you know it"
"I know, I know, I'll just have to be more careful, you won't have to worry about it"
She lowered the knife. It wasn't very hard, not soft either, but she had strength to spare.
She cut once, twice, wondered few seconds if it was enough... Then cut once more.
She looked at the mare, knife ready for another one. With a sad, small smile, she asked.
"Want a toast, mom ?"
Yep, last thing she wanted was to have to call one of her friends "auntie".
