Alone

Chapter 1

You are Anonymous, and you are a human living in a world filled with colorful ponies. You came here a few years ago, and yet you have no memories of your former life on Earth. All you had coming here were the clothes you were wearing, and… well, your charming good looks.

At least, YOU considered yourself to be rather charming. I mean, the ponies seem to like you. Sure, it took a while to warm up to you, but now you and the ponies are cool, right?

Huh. This party’s cool and all, but… you kind of felt bad for that one pony earlier, the orange one that seemed all alone. What was her name again? It started with an “S”, you know that. Huh…

Fuck, you’re terrible with names. The fact that these ponies had such strange names didn’t quite help the situation for you, either. At least most of them had a similar name to a trait of theirs. Rainbow Dash with her mane and her insane flying speeds, the entire Apple family…

…

No, best you don’t remind yourself of that.

You turn to one of the graduated mares and smile, congratulating her. She has a gray mane and is wearing sleek, blue glasses. Her mane is in two braided tails, and she holds an air of superiority about herself.

“Of course I graduated, who do you think I am? A ruffian like those three “Cutie Mark Crusaders”? Ridiculous!” she exclaims, huffing and walking away.

…Well. That was rude. Learn to take a compliment, damn…

You sigh, before looking around. Where was she…

Ah, there she is! “Yo! Cheerilee!”

She turns around and smiles, her face instantly lighting up at the sight of you. “Oh, Anonymous! So good to see you!” she exclaims happily, approaching you. “What brings you here?”

“Saw there was a party. Figured, “Why not,” and headed over. That’s okay, right?”

She lets out a giggle, and nods. “Of course, Anonymous; this is an open party for the town, after all.”

“Cool. So hey, um… who is that orange one? The pegasus with the pink and purple mane?”

“Oh, Scootaloo? She’s another graduated student of mine,” Cheerilee says, her smile faltering a bit. “She had difficulty when she was younger, learning to fly. She was teased by many of the other pegasi because of it…”

Damn. That’s brutal, especially for a kid…

“Ouch… sounds like she’s had it pretty rough. What about her parents, why aren’t they here like the other graduates?”

Cheerilee shakes her head. “It’s a long story. But they’re no longer here, it seems,” she says. You don’t press the issue further; you have a fairly good idea of what could have happened to them. “It was many years ago. Poor young Scootaloo has been growing up all on her own…”

Your eyes widen, and you turn to look around for a moment, before leaning in closer. “All by herself? Didn’t anyone try to help her?”

“Of course we did,” Cheerilee responds, her voice softening to a low whisper. “But she wouldn’t have any of it. That mare’s stubbornness can even be compared to that of Rainbow Dash at times!”

Heh. That’s saying something, definitely.

Two hours have passed, and still next to nobody has come to congratulate you, save for Sweetie Belle and Applebloom. Cheerilee too, but she’s your teacher, she’s supposed to do that, or something.

Then there’s… HIM…

You haven’t been able to take your eyes off of him since he came to comfort you earlier. It’s like… he’s got some sort of spell over him or something.

Wait. Wait, Scoots. Backup; what the hell are you thinking? You couldn’t actually…

…But he was so nice to you before…

Gah. You need to sleep on this, it’s happening too fast…

Maybe it’d be best if you don’t stay at this party.

“Hey, Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, I’m not feeling too well. I think I’m gonna go ahead and head home for the night. That alright with you two?”

The two mares turn and smile at you, nodding. “Sure, Scootaloo; you go ahead and do whatever ya need t’ do ta feel better, alright?” Applebloom says, the bow in her hair still just as large as it was years ago when the three of you were just fillies.

“Yeah, don’t worry, we’ll cover for you,” Sweetie Belle replies, placing a hoof on your back. The two of them… they were true friends. Applebloom could probably relate to you not having parents anymore, but then again she has her older sister and Big Mac to look after her… Sweetie Belle has her entire family, as well.

Even though they couldn’t truly empathize with your situation, you knew that they were the closest things to family that you had. You’d do anything for them.

“Thanks you two, I owe you big for this.” You nod at them, before outstretching your wings and turning around, when you’re suddenly stopped by two ponies in your way.

“Where do you think you’re going, blank-flank?” one giggles, a grin across her face. Her mane is a light violet, with a large, white streak down the middle. On her flank, was an intricate design of a tiara.

Diamond Tiara. And the other one with glasses… Silver Spoon.

“What do you two want?” Applebloom turns to face them, your two friends stepping in front of you.

“I don’t think we were talking to you, were we?” Silver Spoon scowls angrily at Applebloom.

Sweetie Belle turns to look at you, and nods. “We’ll handle things here. You get your rest, Scootaloo.”

…They were going to defend you against these two ponies?

It almost brought tears to your eyes. Seriously, you owe them big time now.

“Thanks, both of you…” You push off with your hooves, flapping your wings a few times before hovering away from the party.

However, this isn’t before a certain bipedal creature takes notice of your absence…

You take landing after about seven minutes or so of flying, landing up against a nearby tree along the road. Pressing your back against it, you sit and catch your breath for a moment before you prepare to take off again.

For some strange reason, you always had difficulty flying. You never were able to figure out why, but usually after ten minutes of consistent flying, hovering, anything exerting your wings, you ended up plummeting to the ground, unable to continue. Sure, you tried to work up stamina to this; after all, what kind of pegasus can’t fly, huh?

Nonetheless, it’s better than what you were able to pull off as a filly. Ten minutes, as opposed to hardly even a minute at all, is definitely something to be proud of…

“Hey, what’re you doing all the way out here?”

…

Is it…?!

You turn your head to face the voice, and sure enough, there he is. He must have seen you leaving the party…

“What? Oh, um… I got sick, that’s all.” You need to get out of here, quickly. You can’t let him see you fly to where you li-

“Oh? Would you like me to help you get home?”

…Damn.

“N-no, that’s alright, I can fly on my own…”

He eyes you for a moment. “You sure?”

You nod back at him, getting to your hooves. “Yeah… Don’t worry, I’ll be just fine.”

He hesitates for a moment, before nodding. “Well, alright. Hope you get home safely. Get some rest, okay? That’s the best thing for when you’re sick.”

You smile at him, outstretching your wings. “Will do, don’t worry.”

He smiles, before turning and raising a hand. “See ya later,” he says as he walks away from you.

You wave back with a hoof, before taking flight. “Bye!” You hover in the air for a few moments, watching him walk away before flying off.

Whew… that was a close one. You didn’t want him to see where you lived, that’s for sure…

It only takes a few minutes after that, but soon you arrive at your home, a smile on your face. You land, and walk up the wooden steps into the house, before opening the door and stepping inside.

It hadn’t changed much in the last few years, but you didn’t care; it was home, after all. This was where your true family lived, even though the two of them didn’t know it…

The Cutie Mark Crusaders. The two fillies that, years ago, took you into the group the three of you created. It was more than just a group to you, though; it was a family. A TRUE family, not one of blood, but of bonds created through friendship. Over the years, this friendship blossomed further, and now you couldn’t see yourself without them standing by you every step of the way.

Sure, you idolized Rainbow Dash for her speed and her awesomeness, but she wasn’t quite as “family” to you as the Crusaders were. If something bad happened to Rainbow Dash, you’d be sad, yes…

But if anything were to befall the other Crusaders… you don’t want to think of what would happen.

Speaking of which… you hope the two of them are doing alright. Hopefully they didn’t get into any trouble when confronting those other two mares…

You breathe out a heavy sigh, before closing the door. As you do, however, a large crack opens from the sky, and a thundering roar can be heard from above you, causing you to jump in surprise.

Then… the rhythmic pitter-patter of rain begins to hit the roof of the tree house. Great… this area’s needed rain for some time now. It’s been at least a week or two since the last rainfall.

You look around, and turn on a small light. Immediately, your… “personal” furnishings of the clubhouse are illuminated by the dim light. Wonderbolts and homemade Rainbow Dash posters… toy figures, and even a rainbow wig that you used to wear when you were a filly.

You smile, and walk over to your makeshift bed in the side of the clubhouse, slipping under the covers and poking your head out the top. Giving your Rainbow Dash poster on the ceiling one final look, you close your eyes with a smile and begin your dreams about flying high, soaring across the clouds…

And standing on the green, lush grass below you… a tiny figure watches your ever-graceful gliding with a smile on his face…

End Chapter 1