"Is she dead?"
"'Course not! Can't ya see her chest rising and falling?"
"Sorry. Can you blame me though? She hasn't moved since we found her."
"Maybe we should go get help? She's been out a long time."
"Alright. Let me go get my scooter and-"
"Wait, I think she's wakin' up!"
A moan escaped me as feeling returned to my body and I regained consciousness. I slowly opened my eyes to see three blurry figures. After a few more blinks, my vision realigned and the figures were revealed to be three, multi-colored fillies.
"Are you alright?" The yellow filly with an amaranth mane and tail asked in a southern accent.
"I… I think so," I replied, slowly getting to my feet. Once I was back on all four hooves, I began to study my surroundings. Just to the left of me was an eerie-looking forest, and to my right was what appeared to be a village. Turning back to the fillies, I asked "Where am I?"
"You're on the border between Ponyville and the Everfree Forest," the white filly with a pink and purple streaked mane and tail explained. I noticed the horn atop her head, leading me to believe she was a mythical equine humans called a unicorn.
"We were on our way to our friend Zecora's place when we found you passed here on the side of the road," the orange filly with a dark, hot pink mane and tail stated. The tiny wings at her side confirmed that she was also a fairytale creature known as a pegasus.
I placed a hoof on my head, which -for some odd reason- didn't surprise me; but what did surprise me was that my fur color had changed. No longer was it the pitch black coat I had lived my last thousand years in, but a dark, navy-blue shade. Confused, I looked over the rest of my body and saw that my mane and tail had grown significantly in length to the point it nearly fell to the ground and was a glossy white. Upon closer inspection, I also noticed a strange marking on both my flanks. It almost looked like three, four-pointed stars of snow-white in a triangle formation.
Is this what my true form looks like? I silently asked myself.
"No, this is only temporary form," a familiar voice replied.
I drew in a small gasp, but when I opened my mouth to reply, the voice stopped me.
"Speak only through your thoughts. I do not wish to scare the little ones."
"Is everything okay?" The unicorn filly asked, she and her friends looking at me in confusion.
I gave them a reassuring smile. "I'm fine, young ones. I just need a moment to collect my thoughts."
"Okay, then we can take you back to Ponyville," the pegasus offered.
The first filly nodded in agreement. "Yeah. It'll get dark soon and you look like you'll need a place to stay, right?"
I nodded. "Thank you." I turned away from the fillies and took a few steps so I had time to speak with the voice. "Didn't you say you were going to restore me to my true form?" I asked the voice through thought.
"In order for me to restore your powers and memories, you had to be within range of where my true form resides. Unfortunately, part way into the transport, a foe I had hoped to avoid interrupted the process. To protect your identity, I placed you here."
"So then, where are you?"
"In the Everfree Forest, but I think it best be wise to wait. The dark force that interfered may learn who you are if you head into the forest now. I will help teach you the ways of your birth-home, but I would like you to go with the three little ones to Ponyville. There is a group of ponies residing there that will help you reach your intended destination."
"Alright then." With that, I ended the conversation and returned to the fillies. "I'd be most grateful for your assistance, but I don't believe I ever caught your names."
"My name's Applebloom," the yellow filly replied.
"I'm Sweetie Bell," the unicorn chimed.
"The name's Scootaloo," the pegasus finished.
I nodded to each of them as they introduced themselves. "It's very nice to meet you all. My name is Diana."
As the girls led me to Ponyville, they shared with me their stories and a little about their town, seeing that I wasn't from the area.
Applebloom was the youngest of the Apple Family that lived on Sweet Apple Acres. She had a sister named Applejack, a brother called Big Macintosh, and a grandmother who went by Granny Smith. The Apple Family was in charge of the entire apple orchard and providing the valuable product across Equestria - the kingdom we were currently in.
Sweetie Bell lived with her mom and dad, but would often stay with her big sister, Rarity, at the Carousel Boutique, where Rarity was the local seamstress.
Scootaloo lived with her parents as well, but often stayed with Applebloom or Sweetie Bell as her parents were out of town on business quite frequently.
All three of them attended the local school and were a group known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Together, they worked together to find their cutie-marks (the thing that was suppose to appear on your flank and represent your special talent). When they asked me what my cutie-mark represented, the only answer I could give them was that it was a secret. It wasn't a total lie, but the thought that it wasn't the full truth still stung in my chest. The girls, however, didn't seemed fazed by it and actually got excited, trying to guess what it might mean.
When we entered the village, it wasn't much different from the small town that was just a few miles from where Faith and her grandparents lived back on Earth. There were shops, apartment complexes, even a sweets shop called Sugarcube Corner. It was around here that I met the first of the ponies that the voice wanted me to meet.
The encounter was very strange to say the least. A happy-go-lucky-looking pony with a pink coat, darker, pouffy mane and tail, and a cutie-mark of three balloons was darting from pony to pony at a speed that didn't seem normal, a tray of sweets in her hooves, when she seemed to spot me. Her eyes bugged out as she let out a huge gasp, dropped the platter, and darted back to the sweet shop.
I turned to the CMCs for an explanation, but before any words could be uttered, the pink mare returned with a small, dark pink wagon that was in the shape of a chest, three balloons -two blue and one yellow- was painted on the lid and the front and back ends of the wagon. The mare pushed a button, causing the lid to burst open, revealing multicolored flags, horns, whistles, and shelves of cupcakes, pies, and a mini oven.
Music began playing from the cart as the pink pony began to sing.
"Welcome welcome welcome
A fine welcome to you
Welcome welcome welcome-" She placed a hat on my head and continued.
"I say how do you do?" She blowed a trumpet by ear suddenly, startling me, before pulling a giant drum out of nowhere and going on.
"Welcome welcome
I say hip hip hooray!" She returned to the cart and finishing
Welcome welcome welcome
To Ponyville today~!
Wait for it…"
The oven door opened, spewing out confetti and showering me in colorful paper.
When the mare was done, she started vigorously shaking my hoof with hers like a human would and began speaking at a very fast rate. "It's so nice to see a new face here in Ponyville. My name is Pinkie Pie, I work at Sugarcube Corner, but am best known as the greatest partier of all time! You need a party planned, I'm the one for the job, speaking of which-" She suddenly pulled a clipboard from out of thin air and pen from her enormous mane before continuing "-every new pony that comes here to Ponyville has to have a welcoming party, so I'm gonna need your name, favorite cake flavor, favorite color, oh, and what kind of music do you like? I like anything that has a bounce to it, because it just makes me want to bounce along with it like this!" The clipboard and pen disappeared as she started bouncing around me like a rabbit.
I blinked a few times as I tried to process what she just said and answer them in the order that she asked. "Uh, umm, well, my name is Diana, I've never actually had cake before-"
"WHAT!?" Pinkie Pie froze in midair - which I could never quite figure out how since she wasn't a pegasus. In an instant, we were nose to nose, her blue eyes bearing into me. "How could you have possibly never had cake before!?"
"W-Well, sweets were never part of my diet before…" She continued to stare at me, so I quickly added "but I've heard that they can be quite tasty and I've always wanted to try cake. What flavor would you recommend?"
This seemed to do the trick, for Pinkie Pie backed away as her eyes grew wide and a giant grin crossed her face. "I just got a new shipment of white chocolate from Trottingham, and I've really been meaning to try out this new recipe I found, so how about that, huh, huh!?"
I couldn't help but laugh a little, but managed to respond. "Yes, that would be perfect."
"Okie dokie loki!" Pinkie said cheerfully, pulling out her clipboard and pen - again out of nowhere- and scribbled something on it. "Alright, next on the list: What's your favorite color?"
The next few questions were pretty easy, but the last one I didn't know how to reply.
"Last one; when's your birthday?"
I blinked in surprise, for I didn't have an answer to that. "I… I don't know."
The CMCs looked up at me in confusion, Sweetie Bell the first to question me. "How do you not know your own birthday?"
I closed my eyes and shook my head. "I don't know. I lost my memories when I was real little, so I don't even know who my parents are or even where I come from."
"That's so sad," Scootaloo stated.
"I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have any memories of my family," Applebloom added.
Sad looks all crossed their faces, even Pinkie Pie looked a little depressed, so I quickly gave them a sweet smile to try and reassure them. "It hasn't been all that bad. I've had many friends who have been there for me over the years, so I've never been completely alone."
Their smiles returned and their eyes brightened slightly, causing me to silently sigh in relief.
"Well, at least you had somepony to keep you company," Applebloom said cheerfully. "Maybe one day, your memories will return."
I nodded. "I sincerely hope for that, Applebloom, and thank you."
"The Winter Solstice."
My heart skipped a beat when the voice suddenly spoke, but I somehow managed to keep my appearance calm. "What did you just say, voice?"
"Your birthday. You were born on December 21st, the day of the Winter Solstice.”
"Well, if you say so. "I'm… not sure why, but something inside me is telling me I was born on the Winter Solstice, December 21st."
Pinkie Pie smiled at my answer and wrote it down on her clipboard. "Well, that's all I got for ya, so I better go." And in a flash, she was gone, leaving a cloud of dust in her wake.
When she was gone, I turned to the three fillies questionably. "Is she always like that?"
They all nodded in unison, and I couldn't help but laugh a little.