Crossing Anthology

All of us stepped out of the train; there was a long stretch of road surrounded by dark, dense forests. On the far end of the road was the same sign from my previous mental episode. As we walked down the road, I anticipated whatever voices could come. We walked past the sign, in front of me was a village in poverty. It was the gloomiest place I have seen so far in Equestria. I asked Twilight,

“Is this place usually so gloomy?”

“Whenever someone in Ponyville would mention this place, it’s quickly dismissed. I can definitely see why.”

As I looked around the village, I saw posters and flags of a crescent and moon. They were all over shops and houses. Each poster would say “THIS IS OUR WORLD.” Out of curiosity I asked Twilight,

“Twilight, do you know anything about these posters?”

“No, I’ve never seen them before. They have the same design as the cutie mark of the mare who took Spike. She must have something to do with all this.”

Fluttershy looked around the most cautiously, she then asked us,

“Say, didn’t that unicorn from the hotel say there’s racism against Pegasi and Earth ponies?”

“Well, yeah but-“

Fluttershy squealed in fear, ducked down, and covered her eyes with her hooves. I then said,

“Everypony stand behind me, and look out for each other. I won’t allow any unicorn to hurt any of you.”

They all got behind me and walked. As we continued on, the local unicorns gave us some unfriendly looks, and those looks changed to fear when they saw me. I imagined there would be no trouble, seeing as the unicorns were becoming so afraid of me. We walked into the closest grocery store available, inside were more unicorns with nasty looks, and hateful eyes. I reminded my friends,

“Everypony, remember, just stick together.”

We walked to the first register open; Twilight greeted herself to the cashier,

“Hello, my name is Twilight Sparkle. I’m a tad curious; I’d like to know a little more about the crescent moon posters and flags around town.”

The cashier gave Twilight an angry look,

“I don’t believe that’s any of your business, Miss Sparkle. We all know who you are; you’re the traitor of the unicorns.”

“Excuse me!? Traitor, I’ve never betrayed anypony!”

“Your show against The Great and Powerful Trixie last year doesn’t say that! You just had to stand up for your pathetic Earth pony pals.”

“What?! This is ridiculous! I had every reason to stand up to Trixie, and I wasn’t doing this for only Earth ponies, I did it for everypony, even Unicorns! Trixie only wanted to be better than everypony, and just how do you know about it?!”

“We all know, and Trixie wasn’t just trying to be better, there was family involved, and your actions that day ripped that family apart!”

“What family!?”

The unicorns in the store noticed Twilight’s argument with the cashier and began surrounding all of us. I could tell this was about to become ugly. But then, I remembered what Pan said to me about his friend, Shards.

“Her and her older sister was living alone at one point, in poverty. About a year ago, the older sister went to Ponyville to perform her own magic show; it was her only source of gaining any money at the time. She was gaining money for her and Shards, to afford food, and comfortable living conditions. During her visit, she was completely outshined by another unicorn, and the older sister had to leave Ponyville, and she returned to Shards with little earnings. The older sister gave Shards what she had earned and told her to go on her own, and that she’d be better off.”

These stories couldn’t have been a coincidence… The Great and Powerful Trixie, was Shard’s older sister. I was too distracted by this fact, the unicorn gang surrounding us, caught all seven of us in a telekinetic hold, no pony was able to move, and neither was I. I saw my six pony friends screaming in fear and pain, as they were forced into cloth bags and tied up. My friends were being dragged away from me they called my name begging for my help, they were quickly taken out of my sight. I refused to be taken by this gang; I broke free and ran out of the store, I looked all over the village for my pony friends. I called out their names,

“TWILIGHT! RARITY! APPLEJACK! RAINBOW DASH! PINKIE PIE! FLUTTERSHY! WHERE ARE YOU?!”

For the next few hours, I ran around the village countless times. I even broke into a couple homes and tore through doors and walls to look for them. After 3 hours of search, I gave up. I felt horrible, I let my new friends down, they depended on me and I failed them. No Unicorn dared to get in my way, especially after my hours of massacre on their town looking high and low for my friends. I sat on the grass frustrated and stressed; I focused all my thoughts on just where could that gang could have possibly taken them. Pan was obviously involved with gang, so I thought of him; I tried to remember everything he told me. I got it; Pan told me he came to Manehattan from his home on Foal Mountain, he also mentioned Shards residing with him. I stood up, my stress and frustration turned to rage and determination. I started running; I didn’t stop running until I made it to Foal Mountain.