My name is Fang.
This is all that I remember when I wake up on the muddy ground of the Everfree Forest. My head is throbbing, and I am lying in what appears to be a pool of blood. I can't really see straight, but I'm pretty sure it isn't Cherry Koolaid.
As I struggle to get up, I notice that my body does not agree with me. It just feelswrong to be on all fours, and my wings just don't feel real. I want to force myself to believe that I was a pony when I passed out, but alas, I cannot. There is a ringing in my ears, but I can still hear the rain pounding above me. A few drops even fall on my nose, but the thick covering of trees and brush allows me to stay fairly dry.
Looking around, I realize that I am probably at the heart of this forest. I want to curl up inside of the trunk of the hollowed out tree that sits directly to my right, but over the sound of the rain is the disturbingly close sound of other creatures. Knowing that I can not afford any more injuries or blood loss, I set off in a random direction.
After testing out my mobility, and discover that my wings are utterly useless. I try to create a circulation in them, but they just flop around uselessly, slapping my sides. They look strangely like soggy lumps of feathers. I sigh and fold them against my back, but they still look messy with feathers sticking out in random spots.
After about 30 minutes of walking a loud roar slices through the air. My pace quickens, and I am determined not to be anywhere near the creature that made it. As soon the greenery clears up, and I am drenched with rain. My body can not take much more of this beating it is getting from the storm, so I find a nice spot to rest. It appears to be an old abandoned badger set, and is consealed from the rest of the world by a thick layer of moss. It is not as nice as the fallen tree that I considered sleeping in earier, but anything will do at this point.
•••
When I awake next, it is sunny outside. My wounds feel slightly better, but my head is still throbing. I am able to control my wings more now that they are not soaking wet, so I clean them off a bit. After a few minutes of inspection I decide that it will take days, months even, before I will be able to think about flying. Walking was more of my cup of tea anyways. Out of my many fears, flying was a big one.
Three more hours.
Three more long, torturous, excruciating hours of walking. Then, I hear it. It is extremely faint, but I swear I can hear the sound of voices. I let out a yell of relief, and gallop towards the beautiful sound.
I slow down as I reach the spot where I heard the voices. There is a fairly large hut up ahead, and I see three teenaged fillies walking out of it. One is a beautiful white color with a pink and purple mane. She is farly tall, and pink swirl heart for a cutie mark. A cutie mark. I stop and think about these words in my head for a second. It sounds so unfamilier, but it's at least jogging my memory a bit.
The other two are about the same size as the first. The one in the middle is an orange pegasus with a simple butterfly on her flank. Her wild purple mane is quite easy to spot. The last one, I think, was the most beautiful of them all. She had a glossy butter yellow coat, and a quite lovely half apple for a cutie mark. Her mane was a devine shade of scarlet, and atop her head was a simple straw hat. I think I notice a cute red bandana around her neck as well. She strikes me as a very country style pony, and something about her makes me wish to meet her as soon as possible.
As I call out to them, I am stopped. Once hearing me, the butter yellow mare turned, and I was struck with those beautiful sunset eyes. My mouth begins to form into a goofy half smile, but I stop. I am imediately hit with the feeling of being struck upside the head. The pain grows, and soon it is spiraling all through my body. It feels like I am on fire, or at the very least being stabbed with multiple needles. Soon I cannot take the pain any more and scream in pain, falling to the ground.
Applebloom and the 'Cutie Mark Crusaders' walked out of Sugar Cube corner as happy as ever. Scootaloo still had the faint remains of a very delicious new cake on her face, and Sweetie Belle was singing a cheerful song. Pinkie Pie was in a good mood {as she always was}, and they were having quite a nice Friday evening.
Pinkie was still as hyper as usual, but age was taking a toll on her. It had been at least 20 years since the Cutie Mark Crusaders had gotten their Cutie Marks, and they were now free spirited young adults. Pinkie and her friends, however, were quite different. Even though they did not want to admit it, they were all becomming a bit more on edge, even Pinkie Pie.
Despite the age differences, The CMC and Pinkie shared a very close bond. They were almost like her little sisters, and they always tried to spend every Friday with her. They each had different days that they spend with their older friends and siblings. Scootaloo spent every Wednesday with her idol Rainbowdash. Applebloom, of course, tried to help out her sister as much as she could. Tuesday was their special day together, however. Sweetie Belle, now very good at singing and designing, spent every Monday with her sister Rarity. Thursdays were spend with Twilight Sparkle, and Sundays were spent with Fluttershy. Those were the days that the trio joined together. Saturday was always their 'party day'.
Of course, they all had jobs to keep as well. They each spent half of the day working, and half of the day with their 'Mane Six' friends. Sweetie Belle often got paid to sing for minor parties and occuasions. Her work was mainly confined to Ponyville, but she once was lucky to land a gig in Fillydelphia. They had all pitched in and thrown a huge party at Sugarcube corner when she returned. Sometimes she even made and sold dresses in Rarity's store, but that wasn't very common. She did make for good advertising, however.
Scootaloo, being trained by Rainbowdash, was one of the best fliers in Equestria. Over the past 15 years, Dash had taught Scootaloo everything she knew. Scoots could even preform her own Sonic Rainboom, but she prefered calling it 'The Sonic Chicken.' Scoots had even came up with a few mindblowing moves of her own. She got quite a sum of money preforming for the residence of Ponyville, and whenever a fair rolled around in Ponyville, 'Dash and Scootaloo were always the first two ponies the owners contacted. They were quite famous, and there were even a few daring fans getting 'The Scootaloo Look'. They were simply dying and cutting their manes to match Scootaloo's. She advised against it, though. She was still regretting cutting 'Dashie♥' into the back of her left leg. She made sure to keep the underside of that leg hidden to everyone, except her closest friends.
Applebloom took after her big sister and ran the Apple Farm. Whenever Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle preformed somewhere, Applebloom was sure to be there, selling her delicious apples. Many ponies came for the show, and stayed for the apples. With the help of Zecora, Applebloom successfully found a way to get the apples to a perfect red color, and taste even sweeter. They even names these apples 'Bloomin' Apples' after her.
Despite aging quite a bit and having busy schedules, they were all still friends untill the end of time. After they reached their teens, they noticed silly fights tearing friendships apart everywhere. It has started with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, and soon extended to quite a few more friendships, attacking them and tearing them apart. After seeing Diamons Tiara run away from her former 'friend' with tears streaming down her face, Scootaloo finally snapped. She didn't want her or her two friends to end up like that. That very day they forgave each other of every petty fight they ever had, and made a pact to never fight with each other again. They very well could have ignored this pact, but thinking ahead they carved 'CMC Forever' into the bottoms of their hooves. To go one step further, they each made a blood promise to each other. They only had one fight since then, and that was over a cute colt. The fight was quickly forgotten, though.
"Hey Applebloom, do you think that we could have some of those delicious Bloomin' Apples?" Scootaloo asked, licking the frosting off of her face.
"How can you still even be hungry?" Sweetie Belle asked, giving Scootaloo playful shove. "You ate like, three pieces of that cake!"
Scootaloo closed her eyes as she though of the cake Pinkie had made them. It was a double chocolatey explosion cake with molten chocolate in the center. It was frosted to represent each member of the CMC's coat color. Pinkie only allowed them to have slices with a different color then their own coat, though. To see what you each taste like! She had joked. Despite what many ponies had though, Pinkie had stayed quite sane over the years. She did make slightly odd comments some times, however.
"Mmm... I can still taste the chocolate! Sweetie Belle, you sure taste good!" Scoots exclaimed.
They all shared a laugh, but suddenly Applebloom stopped. "Aw shoot, girls! Ah need some more of that magic sweetner thingy-ma-whatsits from Zecora. We ran out a few months ago, and all the apple seeds 'ave done and run out! Ah guess ah darn forgot about it!"
Scootaloo gave her earth pony friend a reassuring smile "Don't worry, 'Bloom! We'll come with you to get that magic stuff!" Sweetie Belle was a bit hesitant to agree, since Zecora did live in the Everfree Forest, but was eager to help one of her best friends out. They all skipped happily to Zecora's house, completely unaware of how much their lives were about to change.
•••
"Thanks, Zecora!" Applebloom said as she walked out, a bottle of the special apple fertilizer tucked away safely in her bag. "Hey girls, do you think Applejack would kill me if-" Applebloom was suddenly cut off as the sound of an unidentified pony's voice called out to them. "What they hay?" She said quietly.
The trio turn around to discover a colt that they had never seen before. He looked to be about their age, and looked pretty beat up. He was a midnight blue pegasus with a starry pattern on his coat. His eyes were a pecular shade of silvery light blue. His mane was also dark silver in color, and he had a starry sword for a cutie mark. He would have been quite handsome, except for the fact that he looked like he had just been through a hurricane. After that particular hurricane, he got dumped in the Everfree Forest to only be attacked by a Manticore, and then been forced to fight off a Ursa Minor. Yeah, he looked pretty bad.
Despite his battered appearance, he looked quite happy. He must be happy to see some other ponies. Gee, ah wonder how long he was in there? Applebloom thought. She opened her mouth to call out to him, but stopped. She could only watch in horror as he sank to the ground, his face taking an expression of pure pain.
"H-hey! Are you alright?!" Scootaloo asked, as the trio raced over to him. She did not get a reply though, and all he did was scream.
