The story begins

"Run! Get Out As Fast As You Can!"

That was the line that made this pegasus awake every night; night after night, a reoccurring dream of his past. One that he could never forget.

This pegasus wore a dark gray coat, with a mane that was ruffled. His mane was two shades of red, the lighter of the shades being at the bottom of his mane. His eyes were a darker pink color, which was more than the normal eye can see. His rump was potentially blank, for he never found his talent. He never looked for it either. He didn't care for cutie marks, friends, or happiness. His mind was as gray as his coat. The Pegasus sleeping in behind a hollow tree in the Everfree forest only dwelled on the past.

"Why do I constantly awaken there?" the pegasus thought out loud "What happens afterward? I just want to know what happens."

Upon saying that, he smelt something; the breath of a timber wolf, no doubt. The colt looked up and saw it, standing a little ways ahead of him. The pegasus simply stood up. The timber wolf then charged, but was quickly stopped. With no emotion at all, the pegasus simply shattered the beast with a dash of his left hoof.

"It isn't nice to disturb ponies when they’re busy" the pegasus said, not moving what-so-ever from the spot of the shattering. "Maybe, you will remember this, after what I have just taught you." He then continued down the trail he had been following, before he had fallen asleep.

It was night time; the pegasus preferred this. He could get traveling a lot faster if no pony knew he had ever been there. He didn't know where he was going as long as it was far away for the place in his dreams.

The trail he followed led him to a placed called Ponyville. As the pegasus went through the road to the edge of Ponyville, he remembered his mother. He remembered the stories she told, about the places, about the ponies, about the happy times there.

The pegasus felt like he should find out if these stories were true. If a pink pony was truly a party pony, the best parties were said to be thrown by this one. If a rainbow-maned pegasus could really do a sonic rainboom; if, he really had family here.

He stopped at the edge of Ponyville, waiting for his mind to decide whether to prove these or not. He was split into two pieces.

One half, his brain and stomach, told him to go past Ponyville disregarding all the things he heard about it. His heart, however, told him this is what he was looking for. The pegasus never had to decide something like this. So, having such a hard choice, he decided to wait till morning. He didn't expect to fall asleep.

The same dream reoccurred, the dream of his past. He was a foal, in his room and couldn’t sleep. Then loud crashes came from down the hall. He heard his father yell something, but couldn’t understand it fully. The pegasus opened the door, and looked down the hall towards his parent’s room. After a second, He heard his father yell, then his mother. He ran down the hall and peeked into his parent's room to see his mother face down on the floor bleeding from some places. The young foal went to push the door open, but his mother's head rose to see her baby and the monster standing above her. The father of the young foal was nowhere to be seen.

"Mom..." The poor foal whispered, as he saw the evil monster slowly raise their blade.

"Run! Get out as fast as you can!" the mother yelled. The dream ended suddenly after the blade came down, right before contact.

The pegasus quickly sat up and yelled. He couldn't breathe, his chest hurt intensely and his eyes were watery. The dream hadn't had this effect in a long time. It was painful, more emotional than physical. His body was used to pain externally, but on the inside it was soft and could be hurt easily. But what hurt most was something he had forgotten or lost. The rest of his dream, not telling him what happened next, he didn't understand how he didn't know himself. He wanted to know if he tried to help his mother, or if he listened to her. He could have done either of those things, the pegasus just didn't know.

After he recovered he noticed that the sun was just rising. He didn't realize he was just watching the sun rise, until he could fully see it. The pegasus stood up on all four, and yawned tiredly.  After a few minutes of deep thinking about the stories again, he continued into Ponyville.

He trotted through Ponyville, until he saw one of the places in the stories, Sugarcube Corner. He smiled at the building made of sweets, and thought about entering. Then he also thought he might want to get some bits first. As he turned to walk away to explore some more, he heard someone gasp. He turned, only to be crushed by a pink blur.

"Ooh, a pony has come to visit Ponyville!" The pink one said, "You must be new, because I don't know you, and I know everypony in Ponyville." The pink pony started to laugh. "Do you like Ponyville? I mean, I know I like the look of Sugarcube Corner. I saw you smile as you looked at it, so I also know you like sweets..."

The pegasus was just trying to compute with what was happening, but the pink one's speed with words was crazy. "Hey, um, do you mind not crushing me? I can answer all your questions when I can breathe." He said, trying to be polite, but also trying to breathe. As the pink pony hopped off him as he sat up, knowing he was stuck talking to this hyper pony until she was happy. "Yes, this is my first time visiting Ponyville. I like the looks of it, but you can never be sure until you move in."

That was a mistake. "You're staying? Great!" the pink one said, as if knowing he planned to just pass through. "That means we need to throw a party!" The pink one gasped.

The word "party" hit the pegasus, hard. This pink pony was the legendary party pony. How he didn't see it moments ago, he didn't know. Her mark was balloons, and that basically sealed it.

"So you are the legendary partier." He said with a smile, "My mother told me stories about you, and your fantastic parties, even as a filly." It was his turn now to go the offensive and continue talking. "She said that you knew every pony, and that you always had parties for the occasional staying ones. It brings me joy to know the pony that made my mother one of the happiest fillies in the world. Thank you, may I ask for your name?"  He finished his turn and expected an earful.

"My name is Pinkie Pie, and yours is?" Pinkie Pie had replied quickly. This surprised the pegasus, not expecting instant return of fire.

"Ummm... You can call me what you want.  I‘m known to have many names to respond to." He said, then realizing the disappointment on Pinkie's face, he sighed and gave in. "My given name is Thunder Flare, but as I said, call me anything."

Hoping that Pinkie didn't call him Thunder, he preferred Flare, if any part of his given name was needed.

"Okie Dokie Lokie, Flare." Pinkie Pie said, seeming to know he didn't like Thunder. Flare was happy with being Flare, and not Thunder. Pinkie then grabbed him and pointed towards Sugarcube Corner, "Tomorrow at noon be there, It's where I work." Flare simply nodded, and Pinkie hopped off, but not before waving goodbye.

"Well, that was... random." Flare said as he continued to stand for a moment and went to explore the rest of Ponyville.