Canterlot, Present day
I landed in the haybale with a loud thump. Luckily, Ed had had the good sense to get the others out of the haybale before we landed, so we didn't impair each other's landings. Brushing hay off myself, I stood up and looked for my friends, who were sat at the side of the hay. Rob looked pissed.
"You kicked me off of a cliff!" He said.
"Yeah, I was there." I said. "Now then, we obviously can't stay here forever, they'll come looking for us. That cliff faces east, so we need to go... that way!" I said., pointing south of us. I set off walking, the others shrugging and falling in behind me. Rob was still pissed.
"Dude, you can't just kick people off of cliffs." He said.
"Okay, next time I'll shove you." I responded. I caught his look of irritation and sighed. "You wouldn't have jumped by yourself and the guards were on our ass. What was I supposed to do?" He faltered at that.
"Anyway, we should keep moving. They won't take forever to catch up to us." I said, addressing the rest of the group. "We should head to the Everfree, its where I hid out back in my day." Ed paled.
"The Everfree? No way man, that place is bad news." He said. "There were legends about that place back from when I was around, and I can't imagine it's gotten better." I grinned.
"I daresay there were legends, Ed. I started a few of them." The other three looked shocked. "What? You never heard the story of the White Phantom?"
Ed gasped. "That old story was you? Dude, that's pretty fucked up."
"Okay, I feel like we're missing something here." Dave said, walking between us. "First, what's the Everfree, and why's it so bad? Secondly, what's the White Phantom, and why's it so bad?"
"The Everfree is an incredibly old forest in the middle of Equestria. Back when I was free, it was where I kept my base of operations. I wasn't alone back then by the way; I had an order." I explained.
Dave nodded. "Yeah, I remember you telling us about that. Just you and a couple ponies wasn't it?"
"Pretty much." I said. "Anyway, the Everfree was a big hub of chaos magic back then, and I'm guessing it still is now, so the all the flora and fauna are out of whack. As for the White Phantom, well, I didn't exactly have the best of reputations."
"No shit." Ed butted in. "The White Phantom was a legend. A ghostly pony who would kill anyone it came across without mercy. And now it turns out that we knew him."
"Wait, you killed innocent ponies for no reason?" Rob said. "He's right, that is pretty messed up."
"Not for no reason." I said. "I did it to keep them away from my order. And a little bit because it was fun." The other three seemed shocked at my statement.
"You killed... for fun?" Ed said. I snorted derisively.
"Says the pirate." I pointed out.
"Hey, I didn't kill. Yeah, I stole and plundered, but I never killed if I could help it." He said defensively. "I don't mean to sound like Robin Hood or something here, but I stole from the rich and gave to the poor. We may have been pirates, but we weren't evil."
"Oh, implying I was?" I said. "I had a purpose back then, you know, and I plan to carry it on now. I'll tell you about it when we get somewhere safe. But for now, I'll tell you this much..." I spun to face them.
"The Apple wasn't the only Piece I found."