Chapter 5: The Beginning...
The sun was slowly setting over the lush forests of young Equestria. The birds sang tunes of joy as they hopped up into their nests ready for sleep; bunnies yawned and crawled into their holes for the night; the whole of the forest was preparing for the peaceful darkness to come and bring about dreams of tomorrow. For some however, it seemed as though these blissful dreams of a better tomorrow would never come. In the shadow of Canterlot, on the edge of a small forest who's creatures had already long disappeared for the night, lay two such fillies. Sisters who had long prayed for the endless day of their lives to one day come to an end, but never seemed to find it; becoming trapped once again in the living nightmare of other ponies creation. They stood in silence as a crowd gathered around them again to gawk and laugh at the strange creatures they gazed upon in hopes that it would bring some hope into their own lives. This is where our story begins anew. This is the beginning...
"Freak!" the crowd chanted as they closed in closer around Tia and her sister Murky. They were used to this kind of treatment at New Beginnings orphanage, but this time it was growing out of hand. It seemed as though the entire building was clustering around them as they continued to chant their insults in growing unison. She did her best to keep her little sister hidden beneath her tiny wings as she glared around at the growing mass of ponies with teary eyes. "Why do they do this to us?" the little alicorn thought despairingly as the world grew darker and darker beneath the growing shroud of bodies that grouped in closer and closer till she was barely able to breath. She shut her eyes in desperation and yelled out at the top of her lungs. "Stop it!" she cried desperately to no avail, her pleads drowned out by the combined voices of dozens of other fillies.
She collapsed in a fit of tears, ensuring even through her sadness that Murky was still hidden from the crowd.. Then the prodding started. This was the part of the routine she dreaded the most. They would poke her wings and horn with their hoofs and laugh hysterically to themselves; like they were poking some sort of creature from another planet. "How could anypony be like this? Was there really no place for them in this world? Perhaps they should just run off and hide in the woods alone where they belonged... " These dark thoughts circulated around her weakened mind for a short while, but then she shook them away with the thought of her sister still cowering beneath her wing. She sealed the thoughts away and with newfound courage, stood her ground trying her best to keep her eyes shut away from the world.
Then suddenly, the shouting, cheering and evil laughing abruptly ground to a halt. The silence that followed gave the alicorn courage to open one teary eye to the world. She looked up and to her surprise, found herself facing the back of another pony. It was difficult to get a good look at her savior from behind, but she could tell it was a young unicorn, probably no older than herself with a bright red mane and a blue band around her hoof.
"You two gonna be alright?" she whispered back shyly without moving.
Tia was unsure of how to react. This had to be the first time in at least a month since anypony had bothered speaking to either her or her sister. All she was able to do was nod back in silence. The unicorn offered no response but it was clear she was satisfied with the answer. "Wow, you guys have reached a new low." she started annoyingly as the crowd timidly split apart down the middle. Soon, there were just two colts left standing where the group had once been. They were Crash and Bash, two brothers who seemed to be bred to cause trouble for the Tia and her sister; always the first and last ones to see them during their hours of torment.
"Well well well, look who's back to get her flank kicked again." the younger brother, Bash started in his usual mocking voice.
"Yesterday doesn't count and you know it Bash!" the mare retorted angrily. "If it hadn't been for old lady Serenity I'd have hoofed both of you back to the stone age!"
"Big talk coming from such a tiny little mare ain't it?" Crash, the older brother, commented to his sibling nasally.
"Yeah. Tiny little mare doesn't know what she's saying." the other colt replied laughing stupidly to himself.
"Boys, please." the juxtaposed unicorn started reasonably. "Don't test my patience. Do we really want a repeat of last week?"
Tia watched silently as the group continued to squabble, taking advantage of the calamity to check on Murky. She lifted her wing up slightly revealing her still cowering sister who held her hooves above her head. She lifted one hoof off and looked up at her sister with a fearful eye. "A-are the bullies gone sis?" she asked timidly.
"I... Don't know. They all stopped when this mare showed up." Tia spoke. She turned back to the confrontation trying to catch up with everyone else.
"Oh yeah, well we'll just see who's gonna kick who's flank today, four-eyes!" Bash shouted face to face with the unicorn.
"Yeah, right!.. WAIT NO, YOU FOAL!" Crash suddenly screamed frantically back at his brother.
"Huh? But I thought you said it was-"
"Forget what I said! Don't you remember what happened last time we insulted her about her..." he slowly turned back to the mare, who had grown unexpectedly silent. "... Glasses." Crash finished quietly as the mare's horn began to glow with bright red energy.
"... Did you really just say that... I mean really?" she started slowly.
"Uh... No!" Bash began nervously backing up next to his brother. "We didn't say anything about your stupid glasses!" he finished, immediately covering his mouth with his hooves as he realized his mistake.
The unicorn breathed deeply for a moment, tilting her head down away from the two. "Tell you what." she finally said after a few moments silence. "I'm going to give you two ten seconds to get a decent head start. After that, I'm gonna kick you both so hard, next time you wake up your manes are gonna be outta style!" she shouted angrily.
The brothers quickly exchanged looks of fear, returning to their foe as she looked up at them. "Starting... Now." she ended quickly. The two bolted as fast as their legs could carry them off into the distance, almost immidiately fading from view on the horizon. Satisfied, the unicorn turned out to look at the crowd who watched as the brothers vanished. "Anypony else have a problem with these two?!" she shouted furiously, ensuring her gaze met everyponies eyes. Needless to say, there were no agreements, and the area was soon cleared leaving the two sisters alone with their savior.
"Ugh, I hate those two..." she began turning to face Tia again. "They shouldn't cause you any more trouble."
The alicorn was speechless as she came face-to-face with the unicorn. She finally realized what the two meant about glasses. This pony wore a large pair of spectacles that would have dwarfed the moon; hovering an inch from her bright blue eyes. That didn't matter though. This random pony had come to their aid without even knowing who they were, and risked herself to defend them from the crowd. Tears built up again in her eyes, except these were not tears of fear or sadness; they were of joy. Pure happiness that only came once in a lifetime. She jumped up and wrapped her hoofs around the unicorn, squeezing her tightly almost to the point of choking her. "Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!" she repeated jubilantly as the filly smiled.
"No problem! Is there anything else you need?" the unicorn began, in almost a motherly tone.
"Well um... Could you tell us your name?"
"Oh! I'm sorry." she began, flustered by the question and the fact that she had forgotten to even mention her name in the first place. "You can just call me-"
Suddenly, a door slamming open was heard behind them, followed by an all to familar creaky voice filled with anger that interrupted the unicorn. "CHERRY!" old lady Serenity cried in her instantly recognizable voice that sounded more like a nail being dragged against a chalkboard than a mare. Serenity, as she was so ironically called, was the most recently appointed headmistress of the orphanage and had to be about as old as the building itself. The only redeeming quality about her was that she often forgot to punish the fillies she held captive in her office a few minutes after shoving them inside for their troublesome behavior; which only made things at the orphanage even more difficult. "How many times have I told you to leave those two poor boys alone!?"
"Look, Serenity they were-"
"Don't you 'Serenity' me! Honestly, so much talent is wasted on a ruffian such as yourself!" she shouted angrily as she scooted steadily across the dirt over to them. "You know the drill I assume, follow me you little brat!" the crotchety old mare yelled as she grabbed Cherry by her tail.
Cherry rolled her eyes as she was slowly dragged along the ground by her tail into the main building behind Serenity, who slammed the door once again behind them.
Murky finally chose this moment to pick her head up, watching as Cherry left. "Where is she taking her?" she asked curiously.
"Probably to her office..." Tia stated solemnly.
"Aw... I wanted to play with her..."
"Don't worry sis, I'm sure she'll be out of there before you know it!" she stated trying to keep her sister's mood up, especially after that incident with the crowd.
"Should we go wait for her to get out?" Murky asked questioningly looking up at her sister with playful eyes.
Tia smiled. That was the sister she knew. "Why not?" she began encouragingly. "Come on, lets go!" Laughing, the two sisters rushed into the building to meet their first new friend.
* * *
"... And that was when we first met..." Celestia ended softly.
Twilight looked shocked. "I don't know what to say..." she began slowly. "I never knew you had to endure such things, even two thousand years ago."
"Yes. That was not even the worst thing to happen to me and Luna... We never actually knew our true parents; all we could tell was that we were different. Maybe thats why they dropped us off in the first place..."
The group fell ever more silent as the Princess finished, all eyes drifting away and to the ground. Even Pinkie Pie had a look of sadness on her usually jubilant face.
Celestia sighed, regaining her composure and turned back of the group. "But never mind that. There is more to the tale..." she finished, glancing briefly to Luna who shared the same look of sadness she still held. "Lets see now... If I remember correctly it was about a year after that..."
"Princess Celestia," one of the guards interrupted, approaching from behind the group. "I sincerely recommend that we start for the Castle immidiately, unless we want that villain to acquire the Elements of Harmony."
Recent memory of her confrontation flooded back to the princess, switchinwho jumped up abruptly, her eyes growing wide. "The Elements! We cannot let Cherry have them!" she said fearfully.
"But we've barely learned anything Princess! How can we fight Cherry when we don't even know why she's fighting in the first place?" Twilight stated logically.
"I will continue the story on our way there, but we can't let her collect the Elements; we need to leave now!" she finished urgently.
"The Princess is right," Applejack interjected. "We should high tail it to Canterlot if we wanna stop Cherry's plans, whatever they may be. We've spent way too much time moping around here."
"We already have your chariot, ready your highness." a second guard stated, stepping beside the first one. "Its ready for you and your party whenever you are ready to leave."
"Good, we're ready."
"Alright, everypony get in the chariot now." the first guard started urgently, herding everyone over to the rather small box that would serve as their transport. "It is going to take us a bit longer to reach Canterlot with the extra weight of your company, but we should be able to reach it before that pony reaches the Elements." As everypony climbed aboard, the two guards harnessed themselves to the front of the chariot, checking back to make sure the group was all inside. "Ready?" they both said in unison. Met with nods from everypony, they charged forward, gathering speed, then lifted off into the air.
Celestia stared back at the remnants of the party one last time as they lifted off and away from the field. All this was her fault... And they would all soon realize it. Perhaps it was for the best. Perhaps she could end this nightmare she had been living in for millennium once and for all; or it could always come crashing down around her. The anxious princess shifted in place as she turned back to her friends, clearing her throat. "Lets see now... Where was I?" she began. Her heart sank into the pit of her stomach when she remembered. "Oh yes, three years later..." she ended distantly. "Alright now, we'll get started I suppose..." she began anew, sighing heavily as the second part of the tale that tore apart the closest of friendships to pieces began to take a darker turn...
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(A note from the author: Hello audience, Golden Hoof here to address you personally once again. I would like to sincerely apologize for the lateness of this chapter in the story you've all enjoyed so much; and I'm even more sorry that I had to cut it so short. I actually had to split this whole story part into three different chapters, so look forward to two more parts in the near future (hopefully). Thats about all I have for you right now. Golden Hoof we're done here.