//-------------------------------------------------------// Stand By Harmony -by CountDerpy- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1 Twilight Sparkle sat in front of an empty book in an empty room. The only things in the room besides the nearly full grown alicorn and the empty book was three pots of ink and six sharpened owl feather quills. She looked off through a big window to her side and sighed. Her attention turned back to the book as she opened it to the first page. I was just a simple unicorn filly the first time I saw a dead pony. It was the summer of my twelfth year of life, along time ago if you measure from the age of an Alicorn. I was living in a small town in Equestria by the name of Ponyville. There where a little under 300 residents, but to me and my friends it was the center of the world. A small lavender unicorn walked through a grassy hillside towards a large oak tree. The tree was nearly 400 years old, the wood rotting around the base, but it was home to a broken town tree house that was the greatest place in her mind. She climbed up the wooden 2x4's they had used in place of a ladder that they had used before, but promptly three away after it snapped in half. She pushed open the door and found that several of her friends where already there and deep into a game of Apple's High. The first of her friends was a stark white unicorn that tried to stay fashionable while keeping up with the rough and tumble lifestyle of this one horse town. She wasn't very tall, but she still dwarfed Twilight by several inches. Her eyes where focused on the three cards she held tight in her magic grip. " I knock." Rarity Duchamp was the most prim and proper pony in our whole group. Even though she tried her best to keep her appearances up, she did it more to hide abuse than for fashion. Her father was an ex Royal Guard, and beat her at every chance he got. One time he tried to pry her horn off with a large piece of Sheetrock. The second was a cyan blue pegasus with an ego bigger than Canterlot. She sat back, flicking her hoof against her cards while puffing on a cigarette, as if she were some mafia boss back in Manehattan. Her mane was short and spiky, each strand reflecting the colors of a rainbow. "No fucking way, you don't have shit!" Dashie Chambers was the leader of our group and the best friend I have ever had. She came from a large family in Cloudsdale that usually caused more harm than help in any place they settled. The whole town knew the Chambers where bad, and that Dashie would turn out bad. Even Dashie.... The next pony in line was an orange earth pony. She was a lot sturdier than the others in the group, years of working on her family's farm building up her muscles more than other fillies her age. She sat forward, a toothpick hanging out of the side of her mouth in a wicked grin, though you could barely see her eyes under her enormous cowboy hat. " Ah've got 35." Apple Daniels wasn't very talkative unless she was fighting with Dashie. Her family owned a small apple orchard and distillery on the north side of town. They were one of the richest families in all of Equestria, but they liked to live a simple life in a simple town. "BULLSHIT!" Dashie snapped, causing the small yellow pegasus in the corner to curl up in a ball. She was very tiny compared to the rest of them, but she still could kick some flank whenever she needed to. Her hooves where wrapped tightly around a small stuffed bunny that she had gotten years ago for a Hearth's Warming present. "Dash! Stop snapping like that your scaring Shy!" Twilight snapped towards Dashie, gaining a whimper from the yellow pegasus. Shy was one of the most complicated ponies I have ever met. She never told us her real name, so we gave her the nickname Shy because the first time we found her, she nearly ran when we said hello. She didn't have a family and we all took turns watching after her at night while she slept in the club house. It was sad really, but she never wanted to go to a shelter or stay at one of our houses. "Ehh, she'll get over it. "Dash laughed as she threw down her cards. "45! Bet you can't beat that Rarity, you little bitch!" "And what if I can, Dashie?" Rarity said in her usual snooty tone of voice. "I'll French kiss a scorpion. By the way..." Dashie's face twisted into a wicked smile. "How can you tell if a French pony has been to your house?" Rarity glared. "Watch it Dash, I'm part French!" "....You're garbage is empty and your dog is pregnant." Every pony except Shy and Rarity busted out in a fit of uncontrollable laughter. "Well you can kiss my flank Dashie. I've got 65." Dashie threw her cards up in the air as Rarity laid hers on the table. "NO FUCKING WAY! You had to be the lucky one and get the golden fucking apple didn't you!" "Aww come on  Dashie," Twilight giggled. ", at least you can go and make weird mutant babies with a scorpion." "Fuck off Sparkler!" Dashie tossed an old copy of Playpony at Twilight's head, but narrowly missed. The sound of the magazine slamming against the wall was drowned out by a high pitched voice that came from under the trap door entrance to the club house. "Hey girls! Let me in!" The voice cried out. "What's the secret knock?" Apple called back, trying not to laugh at the voice's plight. "....I forgot it again." As if we we're all one mind, all of our voices cried out in unison. "Pinks." Twilight levitated the door open and a pink ball of lightning shot out from the opening and slammed into the ceiling before landing in a perfect seated position on the bean bag next to Dashie. "Girls! You are not going to believe this! This is the craziest thing in the world! I got over hear as fast as I could. I ran all the way from my house." Twilight, Dashie and Rarity all looked at each other and smiled as they began to sing. " I ran all the way home! Just to say I'm sorry!" "Come on you ponies I'm being serious here!" Pinks Tessio was the most picked on pony in our gang, but she didn't mind it half of the time. She was hyperactive and strangely seemed to bend the world to her will. It freaked us out, but none of us ever knew Pinks to be serious about anything, this time however.... "Ok, what is it, Pinks?" Apple asked the pink earth pony. "Ok! Your not going to believe this. This is just too crazy! I mean I'm a bit crazy but thi-" Her voice was cut short by the chorus of singing coming from around her. " I ran all the way home!" Pinks finally quelled her excitement. "Fuck all of you....cept' you Shy." Shy said nothing. "Oh come on, Pinks! Just tell us already!" Pinks' next 8 words changed our whole outlook on life, and in someways changed our own destinies. "....You girls wanna go see a dead body?"