//------------------------------// // A Background Story // Story: Friends Never say Goodbye // by CDasher60 //------------------------------// Dr. Skyheart did as he said, and arrived shortly at Gumdrop's house. Upon looking at her, he knew that the small pony was going to be a challenge. Putting on a kind face, Skyheart approached the blue Pegasus. "Hello there. I'm Dr. Skyheart. Whats your name?" The filly looked up at Skyheart, startled at his voice. "H-Hi. Its C-Cloud Dasher." "That's a lovely name. Do you mind if I look at those scratches on you? It'll only take a moment." Before the little pony answers, her two new friends Squishy and Gumdrop walk inside. Are they crying? What happened? "Um, s-sure." She looked at both ponies, practicing her telepathic abilities, but neither glanced at her. Cloud's curiosity and growing anxiety were left unsatisfied. "Splendid! Have a seat over here and lie down for me, please." Cloud does as shes told and relaxes on the set of pillows that were previously set for her. She starts fiddling with the yarn around her. "Now, I see that you got some bad scratches on you. Do they hurt at all?" "No. Not really. Except my leg. It really, really hurts." She gently picks up the leg with a deep gash, but sets it back down, wincing at the pain. "Oh, I see. I'm gonna have look at it, and clean it so it doesn't hurt any more." Dr. Skyheart looks in his bag for something. "But its going to hurt again!" "Well, maybe. But tell me, does sleeping hurt?" Skyheart replies, still rummaging in his bag. "N-no. But what does sleep have to do with anything?" "You see hun, if sleeping doesn't hurt, why not go to sleep while I make your leg feel better? Wouldn't that be easier?" He stops rummaging, finally finding what he needed. But he keeps his hoof in his bag, hiding the object. "Yeah, I guess so. But its not night yet. And I'm not sleepy." "Well, I can fix that. Can you look towards Squishy for me?" Skyheart slowly pulls out a syringe fitted with a needle. He fills it with a small bottle labeled, "Sedative". "Okay. But why do you wan- Oh no, no, no, no! What is that? I-I change my mind. I'm okay. It-it doesn't hurt anymore! Please- Oh golly!" Cloud Dasher starts hyperventilating and tries backing away, but the pain from her leg stops her. In an attempt to buck the needle out of Skyheart's hooves, the gash opens again, and leaves Cloud helplessly pinned to the ground. "Hush, calm down. It'll be okay. This wont hurt any, I promise. Calm down." Skyheart tries his best to comfort the blue pony, but to no avail. He looks at the three fillies for some help. Receiving the message in her own telepathic email, Squishy walks up to the blue pony, and tries to comfort her. "Hey, Cloud. Its okay. My dad knows what he's doing." "Calm down. It wont hurt any." "Eileen's right. It'll be fine. Just calm down and look over here." Gumdrop manages to calm Cloud enough for her to look away from Skyheart. "Oh golly.." Cloud shuts her eyes as tight as can be, and awaits for the needle. Skyheart ejects the sedative, and waits to begin until Cloud Dasher is asleep. The last thing Cloud saw was the three ponies' worried faces. Why are they looking at me like that? What's wrong? Before she could ask, darkness over swept her vision, and she fell into a much needed sleep. *** Tweet! Twee-e-e-t! Birds sung their morning songs as sunrise colors painted the sky, and the night drifted away. Sunlight seeped into the rooms of every house and little cottages. Morning dew and a spring breeze stirred the trees, still bare from a hard winter. A couple weeks has passed since the day those three fillies found a small, blue Pegasus named Cloud Dasher, who lost her parents from an unfortunate event only months after her birth. When they found her, she was covered in scratches and injuries that are healed now, but she still finds that her leg doesn't fully support her at times. Frankly, her injury may never heal properly, and yet that doesn't stop her from enjoying a day's adventure with her new friends. Her amazing friends, Squishy McMuffin, "Captain" Gumdrop, and Eileen saved her life. If Squishy and Gumdrop hadn't gotten Dr. Skyheart as quickly as they did, Cloud would've been horribly sick. And because of her quick act to enter Cloud's abandoned home, Squishy earned her cutie mark, a horse shoe in the shape of a heart, just after Cloud Dasher woke up the next day after being put under the sedative. And as her health quickly improved, it was obvious that Squishy's true gift was to be a loving and loyal friend. Now, the four friends explore their town of Ponyville, getting into mischief and venturing to find Eileen's and Cloud's cutie marks. While causing all sorts of ruckus, their oddly enough lifting other pony's spirits. Enough to actually be able to convince Mr. and Mrs. Cake to bring Sugar Cube Corner, back to business. With smoke rising from the chimneys, and the smell of freshly baked cupcakes, more and more faces show happiness and compassion towards one another. And even more oddly enough, King Thanatos has yet to even lift a hoof. No spies. No deaths. No nothing. Even so, Ponyville has taken advantage of Thanatos's silence and begin to seek out happier memories. Starting with the foals, who have secretly been trading forbidden stories like Adventures of Badger Bit, Tales from a Phoenix, and even the notorious foalsbook, Thegmaster's book of Stories and Tales. Besides, who doesn't enjoy a good story to read being gathered around your friends in the late spring nights? *** And speaking about "being gathered around friends", behind one of the hay bales at Sweet Apple Acres are the four fillies, deciding on today's adventure. "What to do..oh what to do." Cloud Dasher says. "How bout..swimmin?" In her lovable, southern accent, Eileen suggests. "Nah, y'all know how it must be right now. The pollen is coming in again." A-Achoo! Sniff. "Yeah, don't remind me Cap. Im surprised though, my allergies are acting up more this year than it has been." Sitting with a box of tissues next to her, Squishy remarks. "Iv noticed that too. More flowers must be growing. Thats weird though, because I thought that King Thanatos destroyed all the fields with that storm he casted." Says Gumdrop, while playing with a piece of straw. "He did that? My daddy told me it was the Windagos howlin." "Well, it could be Cloud. But I heard my parents talking about it and they say that it was Thanatos. How much do you know about him anyway C-Dash? You seem to be missing a lot." McMuffin comments as she tries her best to hide another sneeze, but to no avail. "Um..I know that he controls all of Equestria. He's a bad pony, and likes to see other ponies hurt.. But my parents didn't talk about him, as far as I know at least." "Boy howdy! Thats hardly anything! How could your dad be a colonel and not even talk about Thanatos?" Eileen stares at Cloud in disbelief. "I dunno. Why does it even matter?" Burring herself in the hay bale Cloud mumbles off. "C'mon. If were gonna tell her everything, we better go someplace else." Gumdrop stands up, and helps Squishy gather up her tissues to throw away. Eileen sits up, and takes a glance toward Cloud. Then she gets up, and walks toward her fellow pony friends who were about a couple feet away. Taking a big breath in and out, Cloud stands up. Lifts her hoof to join her friends, but hesitates. Shaking her head as if to release a thought, she puts her hoof down, and moves forward, trotting to catch up. The four friends walk in silence, down a worn-down dirt path toward a forest of bare apple trees. Each knowing where they were headed. To a familiar, but abandoned, clubhouse. Where a particular group of friends, spent their days crusading for their cutie marks. But each were older and discovered their own destinies. Which is what the fillies hope to do in the future. But for today, story telling is on the agenda. *** The Cutie Mark Crusader's clubhouse had aged since the trio grew up and left. Few planks for the stairs leading up to the porch had broke. The shudders and windows have gained holes from nearby baseball games. Once pink paint had faded into a softer color in some areas, paler color in others. And it was because of this that nopony ever came by the clubhouse, except for a much older Applejack from time to time, recollecting past memories of her little sister and her friends. But now the Cutie Mark Crusader's clubhouse belonged to them, after years of Sweet Apple Acres retirement. And the four best friends like it that way. A sense of ownership to prove they were big ponies now. And "big ponies" need a meeting place, of course. As the pack of fillies reached the clubhouse, they each carefully climbed the steps to the room above. Squishy McMuffin sat in her usual seat, a squishy bean-bag chair, and turned around to pull out a white unicorn stuffed pony, tucking him in his own little house beside her. Captain Gumdrop pulled out her neon purple zebra-print pillow that was covered in designs of hearts, stars, and baby animals. Eileen took a scroll from their personal library, before walking towards a space by the window where sunshine shined through, warming her forest-themed blanket. Lastly Cloud Dasher found a soft blanket with snowflakes, and folded it into a neat square before turning around three times and finally lying down with her hooves tucked beneath her. The ponies were silent for a moment, lost in their own thoughts, before the sound of rustling, old parchment paper disturbed them. "I found this scroll in the restricted section of the Golden Oak Library, before they were all later burned. Its written by somepony named Lord Adalgar, who was known for his nobility and leadership when Thanatos began his trek to power long ago. This scroll is apparently during Adalgar's last days, and he wrote this in hopes that one day the "Prophiced Four" would read it and learn how to defeat Thanatos." Eileen told her friends as they silently watched her tell the ancient story that most believe is a foal's bedtime story. "Wh-Who are the "Prophiced Four"? What does that even mean?" Cloud Dasher looked at Eileen for an answer. "The Prophiced Four are a group of ponies with unique abilities that are the keys for destroying Thanatos. The prophecy reads: When the world of Equestria is at a lost, there will be four. One with the ability to disappear. A love for ponies that is pure and strong. Another Pegasus with talents that give great cheer. And a mare, with wings as blue as the night sky." The green camouflaged filly looked up at her friends again. They were looking at each other, with puzzled faces. Squishy's eyes fell on Cloud as she stared at her wings before wrapping herself in the blanket and covering her wings. The friend's attention fell back on Eileen and she continued reading. "The prophecy was created by a mare by the name of Lady Fortune, who could look to the past and future to tell other ponies their destinies. Someponies say that she was a crazy old lady, and that she should be locked up for telling false destinies and prophecies. But the ponies that believed them, ended up disappearing in exactly three days. Nopony ever spoke about Fortune ever since, and eventually she disappeared too." Eileen passed the old scroll to Gumdrop, who took a turn at reading. "It goes on to talk about Lady Fortune and some other things. Wait- heres something. "A Dark Day for all of Equestria" This ones about Thanatos and how he became an evil pony." Captain looked at Cloud who in turn looked back at her with an expression that told her she was needing to hear this. Gumdrop turned back to the scroll and continued to read. "Apparently, Thanatos is the son of King Sombra, a dark ruler who ruled the Crystal Empire for almost 1000 years! And when his father was captured and banished, Thanatos was hated when he was a colt. All ponies bullied and made fun of him. So one day he vowed his revenge on all of Equestria, and ran away from home, never to be seen again. But years later, he came back. Something had changed in him; he became evil. He used dark magic to control ponies to be his slaves, and brought darkness and fear to his hometown of Manehatten. When Celestia heard about Thanatos, she sent Shining Armor and his elite army to arrest him. However, he over powered them with his own army, and Shining Armor was forced to retreat. When Thanatos was able to defeat Armor, he quickly set a destructive course to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna's castle in Canterlot. There was a brutal and terrifying war that lasted for a whole year! In their last major battle, Celestia casted a death spell towards Thanatos, but he some how blocked the spell! It ricochet and aimed for Princess Luna, and before anything could be done, the spell stabbed her in the heart...and Luna fell to the ground. With her sister dead, by a spell that was cast by herself, Celestia couldn't bring her self to fight anymore. She gave up..and Thanatos threw Princess Celestia into the castle's dungeon, and declared himself as King Thanatos, Ruler of Equestria. The world has been living in darkness and fear for years since. Nopony ever heard of Celestia ever again, and Princess Luna was buried in the Royal Canterlot's Cemetery, next to her parents, Queen Eternity and King Infinity. Nopony else has stood up against him, and those who did..were killed.." Gumdrop's voice cracked on the last sentence. And looked down at her hooves, lost in a memory. She remembered when her parents told her amazing stories about Princess Luna and Princess Celestia. Luna became her idol, and for weeks she played games with Squishy, acting out the stories that were told to her. But when somepony told her that Luna and Celestia were dead and to stop acting like a little filly, she cried for days. Squishy McMuffin got up and walked towards Gumdrop, placing a hoof around her. She took the scroll from Captain's hoofs and traded it with her white unicorn plush. The friends exchanged smiles and Squishy walked back to her bean-bag seat, and took her turn at reading. "Adalgar continues to write, speaking to who ever reads.."The days of Equestria are darkening. Ponies lives are being ruined and shattered with grief, fear, and a lost in hope. King Thanatos has destroyed many cities and brought chaos to the balance of harmony. Celestia rest their souls, The Element Bearers, Lord Hasenhooves of Laughter, Lady Amana of Honesty, Lady Loving Karam of Generosity, Lady Charity of Kindness, Lord Besnik of Loyalty, and Lady Mystic Fay of Magic, have been captured, and killed. The fate of Equestria rests on the hooves of the Prophiced Four. And hopefully, the day when these ponies will save our world will come soon, before its too late." McMuffin looks up from reading. "Thats it." The four friends take a moment to think. Gumdrop holds the white unicorn pony close to her, as if somepony is going to take him from her. Eileen looks out the window at the evening sky, watching the sunset fall. Squishy looks over the scroll one last time, before rolling it back up and putting it back on the shelf. Cloud Dasher looks at her hooves. She shakes her head again, trying to erase a thought in her mind, but to no use. Without saying a word to her friends, she immediately jumps from her seat and rushes out the door, down the stairs, and runs into the forest of empty apple trees, with tears streaming from her eyes. Her friends, startled by Cloud's sudden movements, quickly react with shouts telling her "Come back!" and "Don't go!" They all gallop after their running friend. Eileen, being an earth pony with a faster pace than her pegasus friends, comes up beside Cloud enough to talk to her. "Cloud!! Stop! What ever is wrong, we can help! Please, just stop running!!" She tries desperately to have her friend stop, but its no use. Noticing her friend at her side, Cloud quickly takes a sharp turn the opposite way and nearly runs into her other two friends. But she doesn't stop to apologize or look back, instead just keeps running. Harder and harder, until the shouts and thundering sounds of hooves fade away. After a few more minutes of running farther away, she finally slows down. She finds herself in the middle of a small area of grass, surrounded by a dark forest with the night's moon rising to her side. Anger rises up in her and she yells at the air. In a rage of fury, she bucks and spins around, before collapsing to the ground from exhaustion. Cloud huddles into a tight ball, and tears cloud her vision. Thoughts begin to rush through her mind again. Why did my parents lie to me? Why didn't I know? Why.. Where am I? Where are my friends? The darkness over powers her and she slowly starts to fall into a rough sleep. Before she does, a black figure creeps from the shadows. "Wh-Who..are..you?" Cloud manages to whisper to the unknown pony. "A friend, young filly. Rest now." The stranger responds. Cloud Dasher drops her head, and darkness sweeps her vision. ***