//------------------------------//
// Prologue 
// Story: New Beginnings: Bluebelle 
// by Bloobweez 
//------------------------------//

"Okay, make a wish and blow out your candles!" Inhaling deeply with an exaggerated motion, you follow up with an even more exaggerated blow to the candles on top of the cake before you. As the smoke washes over your face you can barely make out the number written in frosting on the cake, 6. Six years you've been living here, in Equestria. You briefly recalled in one of your psychology classes back on Earth that children hit a moment where they forgot everything before that point, called infantile amnesia. For the first couple of years you dreaded to think that you might end up forgetting that it was even called infantile amnesia, not to mention your entire life before you woke up in a giant bed in Cloudsdale, thinking you were just drunk, but nowadays you were fairly certain that wouldn't affect you. Thank Go- wait shit Celestia. Luckily even six years of this shit hasn't been enough to kill your... you, even if you have to avoid dropping fuck bombs in speech still. 

"So what did you wish for, Blue?" Dad asked, butting into your internal monologue. 

Before you can reply with a witty remark, Mom shoves him, "Stop it honey, you know she's not supposed to say, otherwise it won't come true!" Gotta love the fact that pony society took the same routes as human societies, somehow. 

Your friend, Star Light, giggled from next to you, reminding you that it wasn't just the three of you every day anymore. Since moving to Fillydelphia the two of you had become the 'absolute best' of friends. It was even more annoying when she picked up talking sooner than you did and you had sooooooo much fun with her foalsitting you. Of course once you finally mastered that strange horse tongue in your mouth, you set the record straight. You were the Cobra Commander and she could occasionally hang around... If occasionally meant every fucking day. The joys of being neighbors with a single mother, and Mom just loved the prospect of you having a friend over every fucking day while Night Hook was out at work with Dad. It kind of always surprised you that she wasn't a hooker, given that name, but hey pegasi gotta be weather ponies here in the land of the mud horse. 

At least it was fun messing with her when you could, without getting in trouble. Mom and Dad were staunch proponents of the soap treatment for cursing and you didn't look forward to it now anymore than you did as a kid back on Earth. 

As you let out a mournful sigh for the days when you didn't have chores, you received a bump in your side from Star, "Come on Blue, it's time to open your presents!"

"Right, yeah, presents!" Ugh, presents. Mom pulled the cake away from the center of the table to start cutting it while Dad plopped the first of your presents on the table, wrapped with childish wrapping paper and a comically large bow. At least unwrapping the presents was always fun, almost moreso than the presents themselves. As you tear open the wrapping, you find inside.... Dun dun dun, a cardboard box! Though a pretty light weighing one given the si- Oh. That's what it is. They're doing the large box for a small package trick. Ha. Ha. Ha. As you look quizically at the box and shake it, you hear snickers around as your gathered party seems to all know what's inside. Eugh. Opening up the box you stick your head inside and, aha! A ticket to go see the Wonderbolts! The unveiling of your annual ticket to see them this year was better than last year's where it was stuffed inside a card, and of course you had to put on a cheerful show, had to be nice to the breadwinners of the household. 

"Thank you thank you thank you!" you said as you hopped up to hug the two tightly. Sure, they treated you like you were only six, but hey, they were your parents for the time being. And sure while you might have been able to pick up on their annual Wonderbolts tickets, it might end up being a surprise for an actual six year old, and otherwise it was a nice tradition to have. Even if you basically knew the entire playlist of events, it was nice getting posters so you could have at least a little bit of blue in your bedroom.

Eventually Star decided to break the family hug by piping up with "Mine next, mine next!" 

With some help from Night Hook, Star was able to get herself and her present for you up onto the table and into your face. As she held it out for you, it was painfully obvious that she wrapped it herself, it being a a dragon plush almost mummified with random strips of wrapping paper. Again, playing the game for the adults in the room, you have to make a big show of wondering what it is before unwrapping it with all of the restraint of a starved hyena in a pen filled with mice. 

Once unwrapped you let out a squee and hugged it to yourself before hugging Star, "Thank you so much, it's just what I wanted!" It wasn't just what you wanted. You'd seen Star's room and it was almost completely covered in stuffed animals, specifically dragons, and she seemed intent on doing the same to your room, you already had to stack them ontop of each other to be able to sleep on your own bed. Still, at least dragons were cooler than ponies. 

As you broke the embrace, Mom had begun distributing slices of cake to everyone, vanilla with frosting, not the worst cake. Part of you wanted to try asking for an ice cream cake one year but you weren't sure if they even had that in Equestria and even if they did you didn't want to try explaining how you knew about it, especially with Star the goody two shoes... Four shoes you correct yourself, always being present to explain that 'Oh no, there weren't any surprise birthday parties in school, nobody had anything called ice cream cake.' Still the concept was simple enough, maybe they'd chalk it up to you just being an imaginative kid or just looking to get a head start on diabetes. 

Speaking of that was one of the great things about starting over, you hate to admit it but back on Earth you were outside of puberty and your metabolism stopped being quite as good as it once was, but now that you were a filly you got to enjoy all of the treats you ever wanted!... Y'know, if your parents would let you. One of the many annoyances, especially as a filly and not a colt. You've gotten more than a few questionable looks from the adults after some free coloring time, apparently the reaction images were wrong and ponies had not, somehow, created the M1 Abrams tank, nor any others that you could tell, which was really confusing considering Rainbow Dash had a turtle named Tank... Maybe she meant like a storage tank or something? Ah whatever, tomorrow you got to return to see the Wonderbolts again! And of course, that meant going back to Cloudsdale which honestly was more of a treat than the Wonderbolts since it's fucking Cloudsdale. A literal city built on literal clouds. Like that is by far the coolest fucking shit imaginable, even in a world where dragons are an actual thing. As you looked around at what basically amounted to your family here in Equestria, you had to smile to yourself. Despite everything you've lost... including your dignity, you still feel like you've managed to come out on top. Of course, you were only six years old now, so who knows what sort of adventures you might end up in!