//------------------------------// // Free Falling // Story: The Pony That Fell From The Sky // by Zurvan //------------------------------// Chapter 1: Free Fallin' "Come on Rarity." Sweetie Belle whines. "Let me help you, I really want to see if I can get my cutie mark in fashion just like you." "Forget it!" Rarity says. "This is an order for Hoity Toity, and I will not risk you messing it up. Why don't you go play with your Crusader friends?" "Apple Bloom's busy at the farm, and Applejack kicked me off the main farm saying family only." Sweetie replies. "And what of your pegasus friend?"          "Scootaloo? She's getting a flying lesson from Rainbow Dash," Sweetie replies. "I don't know what to tell you Sweetie, this order is simply too important to let you mess with it.  I have some dresses I'll be working on tomorrow that you can help with if you're serious." "Really?" "Of course, I just really need to finish this, and it would be a great help if you would leave the Boutique for the rest of the day. I’m very busy and just can’t afford to keep an eye on you.” "If you promise I can help you tomorrow I won't be back until night fall." "That sounds marvelous, we have ourselves an accord." “An accord?” Sweetie asks confused. Rarity rolls her eyes while muttering under her breath. “What are they teaching foals these days.” She sighs and speaks normal. “An accord is another word for an agreement Sweetie.” “Oh, okay!" Sweetie says. “Then we have one of those.” “Good, run along then.” Without another word Sweetie Belle runs out of the Boutique and goes to the clubhouse, even though it’s on the Apple’s farm she hopes she won’t get in trouble for going there. The clubhouse feels empty and lonely without her two friends, but if leaving her sister alone for a day earns her her cutie mark the next day then it'll be worth it.  She stares out the window and sees the familiar rainbow trail that could only be Rainbow Dash showing off for Scootaloo, and she sighs "I wish I had someone that would spend time like that with me. I know Rarity’s work is important and everything, but sometimes it seems like I’m just an inconvenience to her.  It seems like Apple Bloom’s always busy, and lately Scootaloo’s not even wanted to hang out with me, it feels like I’m losing my best friends." She looks around the clubhouse. “Great, now I’m talking to myself too.”  She looks back out the window and around Ponyville, when she hears a noise she's not familiar with above her and looks up to investigate.   To Sweetie's surprise she spots what appears to be a griffin, and it appears the griffin is holding something in it’s talons. "What's going on?" she asks herself and quickly climbs down the tree. She starts following the griffin curious as to what it's carrying when she gets a clear enough view to realize that the griffin is carrying a pony!  Sweetie quickly looks around for somepony to tell when suddenly a flash of light comes from the griffin's claw, and the pony begins to fall.  Sweetie not wasting a single second runs in the direction the griffon was flying, running right into the Everfree Forest. To her surprise she sees the pony falling, and using every bit of concentration she can muster focuses all her will into her unicorn horn. The familiar green glow of her magic surrounds the descending pony, and slows its descent a good bit, but the pony still hits the ground with an audible crack. "Please don't be dead." Sweetie mutters mostly to herself as she goes to check on the pony. She sees a unicorn colt, about her age with a light gray colored coat and short black mane and tail laying on his right side.  His right foreleg is bent at an unnatural angle, so she can only assume that it is broken. “Hello?” She asks the colt, “are you okay?” Not getting a response from him she looks around and yells, “help!” Sweetie hears only forest sounds for a minute and then adds, “please?” Sweetie hears a rustling in the nearby bushes and turns to the bushes. “Is somepony there?” "Sweetie?" Fluttershy asks as she steps out of the bush. "Fluttershy, I need your help," Sweetie says. "What is it?" The timid pegasus asks as she steps toward Sweetie and notices the young unicorn laying on the ground and gasps. "What happened here?" "I saw a griffon fly overhead carrying this unicorn, and then the griffon dropped him. I managed to slow down his fall with my magic," Sweetie grimaces, "but obviously that didn't work very well." Fluttershy walks over and checks on the pony. "Sweetie he's still alive." She says, "we need to get him to the hospital right away." "How?" "He's just a colt, I should be able to carry him if you can get him on my back." "Is that safe? Miss Cheerilee said something about not moving injured ponies cause it'll make the injury worse." "That is true, but we can’t get help to him, so we have to take that risk. Also if we're careful we should be able to avoid that. I treat injured animals all the time Sweetie, trust me. I know what I’m doing." Sweetie nods, "Okay how do we do this?" Fluttershy spreads her wings. "Gently as you can lift him up and then just as gently place him on my wings. If we’re careful they should cushion him enough to avoid further damage." "Okay." Sweetie says then once again concentrates her limited magic on the pony, after several seconds the green aura of her magic envelops him. "Ready?" Sweetie asks and Fluttershy nods.  As gently as her magic will allow she lifts the unicorn up.  "Fluttershy, I need you to move under him. I can't move him to the side without dropping him." "I understand." Fluttershy says as she moves and carefully positions herself beneath the pony. Sweetie then gently lowers him onto Fluttershy's back. ‘There nice and safe.”         "Let's get going then," Sweetie says. “We have to take it slow.” Fluttershy says. “I don’t want to hurt him. I need you to keep an eye on him and make sure he’s fine while I walk, can you do that?” “Of course Fluttershy.” Sweetie replies, “not a problem.” The two of them start walking toward town.