Celestia’s sun was shining bright above the small town of Ponyville filling the air with a warm summer heat that was not too hot nor too cool, all the ponies in town were outside enjoying the beautiful sunshine. Glitch and D-pad, were walking along one of the many outskirt trails of Ponyville, seeing the sites and planning their new life in this unknown town.
“Why here?” whined Glitch.
“Because I wanted somewhere quiet” replied D-pad.
“Why couldn't we move somewhere cool like umm, Manehattan?” Glitch asked.
“Because we're moving to get away from the city not find a new one.” D-pad looked at her little sister while trying to muster up the most caring, sweet, motherly face she could.“Hey, I’m sure this is gonna be awesome, the scenery is beautiful, the townsfolk seem nice and there are lots of little fillies and colts that you can be friends with. You’ll see this town is gonna be a great place to start our new lives.”
Glitch kept her head low and eyes towards the ground, “I just don’t want to leave mom and dad.”
D-pad placed a hoof on Glitch’s shoulder “I don't want to leave them either but there is nothing left for us in that city we need to find somewhere new, somewhere normal and Ponyville seems like just that kind of place.”
Glitch looked at her sister with tears in her eyes “I miss them so much.”
D-pad was shocked to see her normally bubbly sister in this state of sadness.
She began to brush her hoof on the little earth ponies messy electric blue mane as memories of that one horrible night came into view.
2 years earlier
Lightning cracked through the cloudy skies of the large city as the terrible storm continued to terrorize the landscape. The few trees left standing were whipping back and forth with the violent winds, wagons and carts were left broken in the streets. A family of ponies were huddled together in their two room apartment, warding off the cold of the dreadful storm.
“Mom I'm s-scared.” whimpered glitch with her face buried in her mother's white coat, “When is the storm gonna pass?”
The white earth pony opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by her eldest daughter, “It's gonna be alright Glitch, the storm will be over before you know it, just try and get some sleep.” The purple pegasus pulled a bright orange blanket over her sisters grey coat.
*CRACK!!!!*
Lightning struck the roof of the small apartment building smashing a large hole in the ceiling of the top floor apartment. A small fire left by the lightning began to spread through the small room filling the air with a thick cloud of black smoke. “We have to get out, NOW!” Yelled D-pad.
The purple filly scanned her surroundings, searching for her family. Her vision was suddenly blurred by the dense smoke. She began to walk forward blinded by the soot. She could hear the sound of wood cracking around her. Suddenly, the floor beneath her gave out thrusting her down several feet down onto a small table in the room below. Injured, she pulled herself up and limped under the cover of a fallen banister to examine her wounds. A terrible realization struck her when she saw the now tarnished orange blanket her sister was using, the blanket had been sheared in half. D-pad slowly trudged towards the small orange blanket and picked up off the ground. She drew her hoof back realizing that it was damp. Reluctantly the purple pony drew her hoof up to her very small field of vision, peering through the black smoke to find her normally purple hoof had been stained with soot and blood. D-pad’s heart sank at the sight of the thick crimson liquid. “Oh-no...” she muttered under her breath and then choked from smoke inhalation.
“HEEEAAALP!” The sound of someone screaming for help snapped the pegasus back to her senses. But she was gasping for air and fell to the ground. She spotted what looked like a window and began to crawl towards it, hoping to get some real oxygen and find a way out of the building. Crawling for what seemed like hours, D-pad found herself in a small bedroom.
“D-diane is that you?” spoke Glitch followed by a few coughs. D-pad’s heart skipped a beat at the familiar sound of her beloved little sister. “Yeah its me, hold on we're gonna get out of here!”
“What about mom and dad!?” asked Glitch as she crawled out from under the bed she was using for shelter.
D-pad realized she never actually saw her parents leave the room, in fact she completely lost them in the black smoke just before the floor had collapsed beneath her hooves. “Th-they are gonna be fine, now come on lets go!” D-pad picked up Glitch, wrapping her legs around her to keep her safe. The purple pegasus flew into the thick black smoke, looking for a way out of the quickly collapsing building. A massive chunk of the wall collapsed next to the two ponies exposing a way out of the room. D-pad quickly seized her chance and flew through the hole as the ceiling of the bedroom caved in behind them, leaving an avalanche of burning wood and debris. D-pad ended up in the scorched remains of what looked like a small living room. She spotted a closed window on the far side of the room. D-pad could feel her wings giving out... With one final flap of her wings, she rocketed towards the closed window. She shut her eyes anticipating the shattered glass.
*SMASH!*
D-pad crashed through the window into the storm outside. Maintaining her speed she began to black out, her vision faded, her wings finally gave out. The last thing she felt was the crushing impact of the hard pavement against her back.
D-pad slowly opened her eyes, the faint sound of a light rain could be heard all around her. “Hey the purple one is waking up!” D-pad looked around. Her head was pounding and her vision still blurry, she could make out the silhouettes of some other ponies. “Little filly are you okay?” D-pad heard somepony say. She looked up to find the face of a light green unicorn mare.
D-pad groaned from the pain. “Ugh what, where am I?” Then she was suddenly struck by the memory of what had transpired. “Where is Glitch? Where are my parents, did they make it out!?”
The unicorns face grew grave “You and the little grey earth pony are the only survivors...”
“Come on..Glitch we better get home” D-pad said through her tears. The little grey pony nodded and followed her older sister to their new house. “It’s getting dark and the mover ponies should be done by now.” Both ponies arrived at their new house scanning it over. D-pad had only seen pictures of what the place looked like and Glitch had never seen it before. Both ponies grew distracted from their woes “Wow I didn't think it was this big.” D-pad gawked at the two-story building eyes growing wider the longer she gazed at it. Throughout her life D-pad had only lived in small apartments. Finally owning her own home was a major step up in her life.
“DIANE!” shouted Glitch.
D-pad snapped out of her trance with a jump “Wha- huh what is it?” D-pad kept her gaze on her new home.
“You have been staring at the house for like twenty minutes, the mover pony needs you to sign something.”
The purple pegasus shook her head, once again snapping her out of her trance “What, oh, yeah movers, were are they?”
“I’m right here” said a voice.
D-pad jumped at the sound of the unfamiliar voice. She turned around to meet the gaze of a bright yellow unicorn. Even in the dark of the night her beautiful yellow coat and lime-green mane glistened like the rising sun. D-pad lost track of all thought, all she was able to muster up was a few barely audible mumbles. “Well, uh, hello. I’m Sunstone” The unicorn said, sounding more proper than she needed to be. “I just need you to sign this and we will be on our way”
D-pad, still lost in all thought, signed the small paper Sunstone had given her. The unicorn brought the paper up to her eyes. Half of the signature was off the small black line. “Uh, close enough, thank you for your time, goodbye.” Sunstone and her co-workers started to walk away. D-pads mind began forming tangible thoughts again as the yellow mare left her gaze “No, wait!” Sunstone looked back at the purple pegasus “Yes?”
“I noticed your cutie mark is a heart, what does it mean?” D-pads cheeks became a dark shade of red when she realized what she said “Not that I was staring at your flank or anything.”
Sunstone blushed a bit” Don’t worry It’s fine, and my cutie mark shows my love for, well, love.”
“What, you mean you love, to fall in love?” D-pad asked, tilting her head.
“I would like to eventually,” she giggled. “But my cutie mark shows my love fo-” Sunstone was cut off by one of her co-workers. He whispered something in the yellow mare’s ear before walking away. “Oh listen, um, pardon me but I never actually got your name?” inquired Sunstone
“My names Diane but my friends call me D-pad.”
Suddenly Glitch poked her head through the second story window and interjected “You don’t have any friends you call yourself D-pad!” D-pad blushed lowering her head in embarrassment. “Oh, and I call this room!” Glitch remarked, retreating back into the house.
“Well yeah I really only have my sister these days, as annoying as she may be!” D-pad said, making sure to say the last part loud enough for the little filly to hear inside the house. “Well I would love to be your friend.” Sunstone said with a smile “How about we meet up tomorrow and I could show you around town?”
D-pad was ecstatic about the idea of making a new friend, she and her sister had been alone for years. “I would love to! Shall we say twelve?”
Sunstone nodded “Sure, sounds great.” The yellow unicorn motioned her co-workers to head out. “I’ll meet you at Sugar Cube Corner at twelve O'clock, don't forget.”
D-pad gazed longingly at Sunstone until she was out of site. Elated, she pranced into her new home. “Oh my gosh, I've got a date!” She started spinning with glee as she went through the front door. “Well... It’s kind of like a date, to me at least.” D-pad stopped spinning and stared blankly at the empty house. “But Sunstone won't see it like that...” D-pad frowned. “Wow we really need to furnish this place.”
Glitch sauntered down the stairs and leaned on the banister, crossing her forelegs “There are two huge bedrooms up there, this place is so epic!” Glitch pumped her hoof in the air at the last word “Oh and did I hear, you managed to get a date?” Glitch looked at her sister. “Didja ask one of those big mover guys out?” She said, arching her eyebrow and smirking.
“No, the unicorn.” D-pad stated in a matter-of-fact tone. “She is just so pretty.”
Glitch blew a raspberry in disgust, “I can't believe you’re into mares that way, it’s soooooo weird!” She walked back up the stairs. “It is not weird!” D-pad shouted after her sister. Her only response was the sound of a door closing. “...Is it?”
