Letters To Celestia

by silverthorn


Letter 5 - Oh great, she has a flying house

Dear Princess Celestia

The delivery had turned out to be another example of how the 'kind, down-to-earth Apple clan' idea was just a con. The message I had to deliver was to none other than the loud-mouthed Pegasus who had already stated she was keeping an eye on me. As I made my way through Ponyville I noticed ponies staring at me. I assumed at the time that they were staring because of my less than illustrious past. I later found out that it was because of the rig I had to wear to stop me damaging my wing further but att the time I just felt like dirt.

As I was moving through town, trying to work out how I was going to get to Rainbow Dash's house when I got there. I assumed that, since she was a pegasus with working wings she would have a cloud house, therefore it was going to be difficult to get to it.

On the way I ran into Applebloom as well as her two co-conspirators. The pegasus looked at me and frowned as she sniffed in my general direction. “At least you don't smell as bad as you did yesterday”.

I smiled, guessing that the last thing she had seen was me running from a fighting mad Applejack. “I managed to get the sh.. muck off me. At least you don't look as scared as you did then”.

The pegasus's hackles rose as she puffed her chest out. “I wasn't scared, I was just trying not to upset Applebloom and Sweetie”. I struggled not to laugh, she was definitely going to be a problem. “How did you hurt your wing?”.

“She fell out of a tree when she tried to steal apples from the farm”. Applebloom removed the need for any untrue excuses I had for my infirmity. “She's staying until she pays back what she owes us”.

“Thank you Applebloom”. I smiled, trying to look civil while I imangined strangling her. “What are your friends names?”.

Almost as if choreagraphed, the three fillies grinned. “I'm Scootaloo!”.

“I'm Sweetie Belle”.

The three fillies stepped closer together before speaking as one. “And we are the Cutie Mark Crusaders”.

I had to grin, they were so young. I couldn't remember ever being as young as they were. “And what do Cutie Mark Crusaders do?”.

Scootaloo looked up at me. “We try to get our Cutie Marks”. She looked at my cutie mark free flank. “Why don't you have a Cutie Mark?!.

I looked at her, rolling my eyes. “I never needed one to survive this far. I've known my destiny for years”.

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked at me like I was an idiot. Scootaloo looked at me with a different, sad expression. I didn't think much of it at the time. I wish I had, things would have been much easier then.

After I asked the three what they were going to do that day we parted ways, the Cutie Mark Crusaders to try and get their cutie marks in Water Skiing, myself to walk to the outskirts of town. The way my luck was going I was not surprised that Rainbow Dash's cloud house was a good distance off the ground. I paced around, before yelling “Is anypony up there?”.

I heard a banging of doors from above, then the cyan pegasus flew out of the door and landed in front of me. “What do you want, thief!”.

I motioned to the saddle-bags at my hooves. “Courtesy of Sweet Apple Acres”. My job done, I turned to walk back to town when someone put their hoof on my shoulder. I guess I tensed up, that shoulder was still sore from when Applejack shoulder charged me the previous afternoon but Dash pulled her hoof back. I turned to face her, sick to the bone of her attitude. “What now, I've done what Granny Smith told me to do. She said that it was all paid for”.

Dash looked me in the eyes before asking. “I have one question. Why did you try to steal from Sweet Apple Acres?”.

I looked down at the ground. “I had flown in from Dodge Junction, it was three days since I'd seen anything which looked vaguely safe to eat and I was hungry and thirsty. Those apples were like ambrosia when I passed over that field. I was going to take two or three and make do for a day or two on them. Of course Applejack caught me and scared me so much I fell out of the tree so I'm stuck in town until my wing heals from the torn muscles from the crash landing”. I looked at Dash. “I think karma has more than paid me back for what I did, wouldn't you say”.

“But,why were you even travelling here from Dodge Junction?”. She sounded a lot less cocky now.

I frowned. “It's what I do. I outstay my welcome and it's a case of get out of town or get sent to prison. It's not nice, it's not even right but if it comes back to stealing food or starving to death I know which one I'd rather do”.

Dash now looked more confused than anything. “What about your family?”.

“What family. I spent all my life in a orphanage until I escaped. I was about the same age as Applejack's sister when I escaped. You can't get a job or a home when you're that age. The stallion in charge of the orphanage told me when I was running that he would make sure that if I ran he would make sure that the guard was after me”. I looked back at the ground. “When my wing heals, that purple unicorn turns off the tracking spell she put on me and I get out of this one-horse town I'll go back to doing what I've been doing and Ponyville will just be a painful memory”. I shrugged. “That's all I can do”.

She was practically dumbfounded by what I had said. It took me a while and a few more arguments to figure her out. Rainbow Dash is a perfectionist. It's always first place or you're nothing. The problem is that while she holds herself to almost impossibly high standards she also holds other people to the same standards. I think I probably was the lowest form of life she could think of at that point. Dash just looked at me then nodded, picked up the saddlebags and flew up to her house. I started back to Sweet Apple Acres.

Your loyal subject
Wandering Star