Caring for Emerald

by AzureWing

Lost: The Begining

“Sir, that’s going to be 40 bits.”

“40!?” The bulky stallion exclaimed in disbelief. “That’s outrageous!”

“If you and your family want to ride this train, then I need 40 bits, simple as that.” The conductor stated with an annoyed look on his face. There was a long line of other ponies, impatiently waiting to board the train behind the enraged father. The sun represented mid-day as it stood perfectly in the center of the sky. The brown train car reflected light into the faces of the ponies waiting to board.

“This is ridiculous! 40 bits is defiantly more than it cost to get my family here in the first place!” The red stallion argued as he motioned his hoof towards a purple mare and four small fillies.

The conductor sighed, leaning against the inside wall of the train. “Will you be entering the train or not?”

“I should be forcefully entering something else of yours-.”

“THORN!” the disgusted purple mare snapped as she used her wing to slap the unsuspecting stallion’s face. His poofy, cloud like mane bounced as he moved his attention to his wife, who had a cold enough stare painted on her face to freeze a volcano. His height seamed to shrink a little bit as he realized the defeat at his wife’s expense. “We will pay, that shouldn’t be a problem. Right hun?” she shot. Thorn said nothing, but used his unicorn magic to float four 10 bit pieces to the colt who was struggling to stop himself from bursting in laughter. Thorn’s children however, had no problem giggling at the scene that just transpired. The family made their way into the train car and found a few seats together. Five of the Six sat down as the smallest filly made her way further to the back of the car. None of the family took notice of the migrating child at all.

“I can’t believe it was 40 bits.” The father muttered.

“I don’t want to hear anything out of you for the rest of the ride home.” The mother shot. She flipped her long, light blue mane to face away from her seat neighbor.

“They must have raised the price.” Thorn continued, paying no attention to his greatly displeased wife. “It used to only be 10 bits for adults, and 5 bits for kids.” He said as he shot a glance over his left shoulder across the aisle to his three children who were all taking up a row only meant for two. “It should have only cost 35 bits….” He trailed off as his wife rested her head on the window.
The rest of the passengers slowly filled up the train cars. No one even noticed the pegasus with the emerald eyes standing in aisle. All alone.

Two ponys galloped quickly through Ponyville. Every step made loud clops that would easily get the attention of the passing ponies who would glance in curiosity at the charging duo. They expertly dogged oncoming traffic, evaded obstructions, and cut through several property lines to reach their destination. Spectators would be treated to a purple and pink blur if they did not focus hard enough. The runners were both breathing heavily as neither were used to too much exercise, however their will power pushed both of them to continue galloping. It was not too long before the end of their journey came into sight. They both fixed their eyes on the thousands of apples that represented their finish line. The two picked up speed simultaneously, still remaining side by side. They could make out a red barn that casted a shade that covered a large area in front of it. Both a white and orange dot emerged from the absence of light in front of the barn. At the realization of the charging ponies, the orange and white dots decided to run themselves and meet the other two half way. They all joined together at the opening of the gate that welcomed ponies to Sweet Apple Acers.

“Good, huf, You’re both here.” Twilight pushed, still trying to catch her breath. “I ran and got Pinkie as soon as you told me the news.” Twilight said to Rarity. The pink party pony, while not as out of breath as Twilight, was gasping for air.

“Yeah, so what’s this about Dash’s filly?” Apple Jack asked, fixing her signature hat.

“WHAT!? Twilight, you didn’t tell me that Dash had a filly!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Come to think of it, Rainbow did not tell me either… Are you all trying to hide this from me?”

“Wha- Pinkie! Rainbow Dash does not have a filly!” Twilight responded.

“Rainbow Dash has been in charge of a filly for a little bit now due to unfortunate circumstances.” Rarity chimed in.

“Aaaand now the filly is lost?” Apple jack asked, raising an eyebrow to the situation overall. At this, Rarity dropped her head and stared at the ground.

“It… It was not actually her fault.” Rarity got out, which greatly caught the attention of the other ponies. “Both Fluttershy and I were there and none of us heard her leave.”

“What exactly happened?” Twilight asked. The ponies waited eagerly for the tale to be told.

“You see.” Rarity started, but was stopped by a blur of random colors. This announced the air arrival of Rainbow Dash, who was breathing harder than she usually does after flying. The others kept their eyes on the new comer as Rainbow straightened up after her landing. Her eyes finally were visible to her friends, who all recognized the worry in them immediately. Even Pinkie was ready to take this situation serious for her friend.

“Any luck darling?” Rarity asked, breaking the moment of silence. Rarity knew the answer before the cyan pegasus could form the words.

“No… not yet.” Rainbow muttered. “I flew all over Ponyville over and over again, but she was nowhere to be found.”

“It’s okay, you tried your best.” Twilight started as she approached Rainbow, placing a comforting hoof on her back. “Maybe Fluttershy had better luck.”

“Maybe.” Rainbow doubted it, but it was not entirely impossible.

“It’s okay sugarcube,” Apple Jack started, “hows about you just take a few seconds to tell us what the hey happened.”

“Well…” Rainbow Dash cleared her throat. “I did something I shouldn’t have while working. This caused Emerald to fall off of Cloudsdale. Thankfully I found her on the outskirts of Ponyville.” Pinkie started tearing up at this moment. Surprisingly, this random act sort of lightened up the mood since none of the story was too sad yet. “I would have taken her back to Cloudsdale, but that was the time of the huge storm and this made it too dangerous for me to take the kid back. She stayed at my house and I intended to take her back the next day….but.” Rainbow Dash stopped. She could feel the emotions boil inside her. She felt just as she did when she learned the cruel truth behind the rather energetic and happy filly.

“That’s when we found out something dreadful.” Rarity took over, noticing Rainbow’s pain. “You see, Emerald wore an……interesting band on her fore hoof. I asked her if she wanted me to make her something nicer but she refused. She said that her mother demeaned she kept that band on.” Rarity stopped for a second, piecing together how she was going to word the rest of the story.

“That band.” Twilight said to herself loud enough for the rest of the ponies to hear. “I remember it…” She thought hard to remember the reaction Emerald gave both her and Rainbow Dash when they inquired about it. “She had a very odd reaction when it came to it.”

“There were scars and bruises under it.” Rainbow Dash coldy stated. “Her mother beats her.” The sentence seamed to linger in the air around the mares. They all waited for whatever would happen next, as they let the seriousness of the situation sink in. “That’s why I did not take her back home. Rarity, Fluttershy, and I talked in a different room about our options. When we were done…. she was gone.”

“That’s just aweful.” Pinkie got out, still dropping tears.

“If I…” Rainbow started, letting tears of her own surface. “If I would have just taken her home to Cloudsdale, none of this would have happened. She would be safe.”

“You can’t go blaming yourself Dash.” Apple Jack cut in.

“But I told her I couldn’t go home to her own mother. Her MOTHER. You of all ponies should understand.” Rainbow’s voice began escalating. Apple Jack was caught off guard by the statement.

“I… I guess.” Apple Jack got out.

“Apple Jack!” Twilight gasped. “You can’t be serious!”

“If I lost Applebloom, I don’t know what I would do.” AJ shot out. “I know she’s only my sis, but I am sure Emerald’s mother feels the same way.” Rainbow let out more tears, giving a few quick breaths.

“This is different Apple Jack! Emeralds mother HURTS her. Such a mare deserves no interaction from their filly.” Rarity snapped, looking directly at Apple Jack. AJ took a few seconds to absorb the situation even more.

“Now because of me, the filly is alone in Celestia knows where!” Rainbow almost shouted.

“Rainbow Dash!” A voice called from the sky. Before Rainbow could look up to locate the origin of the voice, a pink haired mare landed quickly next to the five other ponies. “You know that’s not true!” Fluttershy scolded in a tone that failed to fit her personality.

“Shy, you can’t tell me what I do and do not know.” Rainbow said, getting frustrated. The other ponies were surprised with how the timid pony was acting.

“For once, Rainbow Dash, you were taking responsibility. You cared for that little filly in the short amount of time you were watching her. Now that you are having difficulty, you are just beating yourself up?” Silence filled the air. “That’s not the Rainbow Dash I’ve known since childhood! Helped me through so much growing up and now when you have the perfect opportunity to prove all those hollow words, I find you here crying like….like me!”

“I never said I was giving up!” Rainbow said. “I just wish I would have taken that filly back earlier. This all would have never happened! See? I am taking responsibility!”

“No.” Fluttershy said, getting closer to Rainbow’s face. “You did not do anything wrong in not taking her back! You’re making excuses. The only thing that went wrong is that we all failed to keep an eye on her. Admit it; you don’t want her going back to that woman. You just won’t act up to the responsibility of watching that filly.”

“I think that’s enough Fluttershy.” Twilight spoke up, still afraid to get in the middle of the debate.

“I looked up to Rainbow Dash. All my life, I have looked up to Rainbow Dash. Now that I see her acting like me, It hurts.” Fluttershy got out, returning to her normal, soft voice. Rainbow looked at Fluttershy. How could Rainbow have had such an impact on her? Fluttershy was older than Rainbow in all. They would always hang out when the two lived in Cloudsdale. Often times Rainbow would get bullies off Fluttershy’s back and Fluttershy would help Rainbow Dash in school. Above all they were best friends.

“Dashie.” Pinkie said in a high pitch, innocent voice.

“Yeah Pinkie.”

“It’s time to find this filly.” She said very seriously. Rainbow looked at the pink pony. Pinkie Pie’s tears stopped a little bit ago. She now had a determined smile across her face.

“She ran away to get back to her mama, huh?” Apple Jack chimed. “Ain’t no way we can let that little filly get hurt anymore. Family is about love and comfort. Not fear and pain.”

“How should we go about finding the little angel?” Rarity said, determination in her voice.

“You ready Rainbow?” Twilight asked, a spark in her eye. Rainbow looked at all her friends with the dumbest smile she has ever worn.

“What do you say, Dash?” Fluttershy asked.

“I say,” Dash started, as she opened her fore hoofs, “that we should be able to find Emerald in ten seconds flat!” The six friends all came in for a group hug, smiles on all their faces.

Time crept by slowly as Emerald used all her strength to stay upright. She found comfort in looking out the windows and seeing the scenery all around the fast train. She had learned about the train system in school. She however never thought in her wildest of dreams that she would ever ride it. In fact, she never thought that she would ever touch her hooves to the ground. She never wanted to.

“Excuse me, do you want a seat?”

Emerald kept her eyes fixed out of a window. She noticed grand grasslands, tall mountains, and vast forests. She stared at a waterfall in the distance and lost herself in thought. Emerald could only recall the rainbow factory as the closest thing she has ever seen to a waterfall. It was so much more beautiful than she imagined by just hearing the word. She would do anything to be able to see one up close. Maybe even…swim in one. Was that possible?

“Excuse me, little miss?”

Emerald decided it would be best to ask her mommy about the water falls. Mommy will know. She always knows. Mommy is always there to tell Emerald when she has done something wrong. She wishes she was not wrong so often, and that she could do something right. Maybe mommy wouldn’t get so mad. Emerald made a mental note to be home before it got too dark. Mommy will be very upset if Luna’s moon is in the sky before Emerald gets there. Mommy needs her sleep.

“Miss?”

The feminine voice finally became audible to Emerald. The hoof in Emeralds eyesight did not hurt either.

“Oh, um, yes mam?” Emerald squeaked, jolting back a little from the shock. Emerald laid her eyes on the mare who questioned her. She was a purple adult pony. Emerald was immediately confused as she looked closer at this mare. She did not have wings or a cone on her head. Is she deformed? Emerald used to have a friend that was deformed in school. He had one small wing on one side and one normal sized wing on the other side.

“I was just wondering if you wanted to take my seat, you’ve been standing in the aisle for some time now.” The purple pony gave a very comforting smile as Emerald thought about her next action.

“Ummm, I don’t have any bits.” Emerald finally said to the nice pony. The mare took a few seconds before letting out a little laugh. Emerald immediately blushed, afraid she answered wrong.

“Is this your first time on a train?” The pony asked. Emerald only nodded for her answer. “You don’t need to pay for a seat if you are already here.” Her green eyes were very enticing to the little filly. She immediately liked this pony.

“But,” Emerald began, “The family in front of me had to pay 40 bits just to get on!” The older pony chuckled again.

“They might have had a big family then. Go ahead, take my seat.” She said with a smile as she got up. “My stop is next anyway.” Emerald returned the smile of her new friend as she took the seat. She sat for a few seconds, relived to be off her hooves. The older pony stretched out her body and yawned. Her tail and mane swayed back and forth with her actions.

“It’s really comfy.” Emerald said, with a childish giggle.

“Good to hear.” The older pony said. “Are you on the train alone?”

“Yeah. I am going home!” The little pony announced in a gleeful tone.

“Oh, well that’s very nice, I bet your family is going to be happy. My name is Cheerilee, what’s your name?”

“I’m Emerald!”

“Emerald huh? That’s a cute name.”

“I like your name too, miss Cheerilee.” Cheerilee couldn’t help but laugh.

“You sound like my students.” She said with a smile.

“Students?” Emerald questioned. “Are you a teacher?”

“Yes I am, Emerald.” At this, Emerald got a good look at Cheerilee’s cutie mark. She saw three sunflowers with very happy faces on them. Wouldn’t that make her a gardener?

“Miss Cheerilee? Can I ask you a question?” Emerald asked, looking back at the grown mare’s face.

“Of course Emerald, what is it?” Cheerilee replied in her teacher voice.

“Umm... Are you deformed?” Emerald asked innocently. Cheerilee was completely taken back by the random question. She did a quick check of her body to see how someone might perceive her as deformed in any way. After passing her own test she thought for a moment on how she was going to answer this question.”

“I am not deformed.” She said with a monotone voice. “However did you come to that conclusion?”

“Are... are you a pegasus or unicorn?” Emerald questioned. Cheerilee let out another chuckle.

“Silly, I am nether. I am an earth pony.”

“Earth pony?”

“You don’t know what an earth pony is?” Emerald responded by shaking her head ‘no.’ Cheerilee took a deep breath before answering. “Equestria is made up of three different kinds of ponies; unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies. Earth ponies can’t fly or use magic, however, the way we are built we have typically more strength, stamina, and speed than the other races. Of course there are thousands of exceptions to this, but because earth ponies have a history of more laborious work and field dutys, we have adapted to perform these tasks more efficiently.”

“Oh. So which race is the best?” Emerald asked.

“Silly filly, there is no ‘Best’ race. In fact, ponies have been able to live peacefully and prosperously because of all the cooperation between the three races.” Emerald was amazed at this new information. She couldn’t believe there was so much she had left to learn.

“Thank you, Miss Cheerilee.” Emerald said with another bright smile.

“It’s no problem at all, Emerald.” As Cheerilee got that sentence out, the train began to slow down. The two ponies looked outside to see a wooden train stop. Many ponies stoop waiting for the giant train to screech to a complete stop before crowding the doorway. Many ponies in different seats got up and made their way to the exit. Family’s stuck close together as unicorns used their magic to lift luggage through the aisle. The new passengers were quickly replacing the old ones right in front of Emerald’s eyes. Cheerilee bid farewell as she joined the chaos of the other passengers. Emerald stuck close to the window as she waited for the train to start again.

“It’s getting late.” The farm pony remarked as she wiped a beat of sweat off her forehead. Her multicolored partner followed her lead and wiped her own brow.

“It’s about time to meet the other girls at Sugar Cube corner.” Rainbow Dash said. “If we are lucky, one of them has a lead.”

“Day’s not necessarily over yet.” Apple Jack replied. “We got time.” The duo began trotting in the direction on Sugar Cube Corner. They had spent a few hours around the area that Rainbow and Emerald both used to search for the burrowing creatures that morning. Rainbow spent time on the ground with AJ and in the air during the search. Many times other animals would take the form of Emerald from a distance, but never to any avail.

“AJ?” Rainbow began mid trot.

“What’s up RD?” Apple Jack replied.

“Thanks for helping me as much as you have.” Rainbow got out. There is no way Rainbow was about to find Emerald all on her own.

“I did what all of our friends did.” AJ started. “Because we know that you would do the same for us in a heartbeat.” She was right. There is nothing that Rainbow wouldn’t do for her friends. She just wanted to make sure that Apple Jack understood her appreciation. After a few minutes they arrived at the Shop and let themselves in. Mr. Cake was making the most noise by beating a concoction of what Rainbow could only guess is cake batter. Mrs. Cake had the babies, Pound and Pumpkin Cake, in separate high chairs, feeding them a concoction that looked worse than the raw cake batter. Rainbow and Apple Jack spotted Fluttershy and Rarity at one of the tables set up for costumers to the right of the door.

“Good after noon Mr. and Mrs. Cake.” AJ said as the two mares stepped through the store.

“Hi Mr. and Ms. C.” Rainbow called out herself.

“Oooh well hello there Rainbow and AJ. Any Luck with the search at all?” Mrs. Cake asked, genuinely eager to hear any news at all.

“Not yet, but all is not lost until the sore rooster crows.” AJ replied with a little bit of forced enthusiasm.

“That’s rather unfortunate. I don’t know WHAT I would do if one of these rascals got lost like that.” Mrs. Cake said with a little sadness in her voice. She must be imagining the scenario very vividly in her mind.

“Rainbow, you’re not gonna have your boss barge in a scare us half to death again, are you?” Mr. Cake teased. Rainbow forgot that she had work tomorrow. She might have to take the day off if they don’t end up finding Emerald today. Psyrin, her boss, would be PISSED.

“Haha,” Rainbow forced, “Not today.” The four friends joined together at the table and failed to say a word for a minute or so.

“Im gussing you two had about as much luck as we did.” Apple Jack finally said, breaking the scilence.

“We looked all over the boarder of the town, and asked many ponies, but we couldn’t find anything.” Rarity said, looking down in failure.

“We even asked the hot air balloon pony if she made any trips to Cloudsdale but it turns out she did not have ANY costumers today.” Fluttershy added.

“We did not find much, ourselves.” AJ said, disappointed to hear the failure of the other ponies. A few seconds later brought the sound of the bell attached to the door as Pinkie Pie bounced in closely followed by Twilight Sparkle.

“No luck?” Twilight asked as she got closer to the table. The seated ponies all shook their heads in unison.

“That’s not good.” Pinkie said. Her bouncy pink mane seamed to deflate a little at this info.”

“We looked up and down Ponyville. Not one trace of her. It’s almost like she never existed at all.” Twilight stated. The six friends were all quickly lost in deep thought.

“We just have to look harder!” Rainbow Dash declared.

“Yeah! She’s gotta be somewhere, she can’t be Nowhere. That’s very impossible!” Pinkie said.

“Well, Captian Obvious, you are right about that!” AJ said with a little laugh in her words.

“Let’s switch up the teams and explore every possibility!” Twilight declared. No pony was going to give up. They were going to find this filly.

Emerald continued spacing out of the window during her ride. The train has not made any stops since Cheerilee got off, but it has been a few hours for sure. At least, that’s how it felt to Emerald. Suddenly, Emerald felt the rest of the seat next to her get lower as she turned to find a grey stallion take the seat for himself. Emerald opened her mouth to talk, but was quickly silenced faster than she could get the words out.

“I hope you don’t mind that I sit here next to you for the rest of the train ride, little filly.” The Stallion said, looking directly at Emerald as he talked.

“I, I guess not.” She got out; she was completely shocked with the random company.

“Good, good,” Is all he said as he sunk down lower in the seat. Emerald let out a breath as she continued to look outside of the window. “So, I heard you tell that pretty Mare that you were alone on this trip, am I right?” He asked with a smile.

“Yeah, that’s true.” Emerald replied, keeping her gaze out of the window. Momma told her never to lie.

“Then do you have folks waiting for you in Las Pegasus?” She large stallion asked.

“No, my mom lives in Cloudsdale.” Emerald replied.”

“Perfect.”

Author's Note:

FINALLY got to work on this again =D

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[Rainboom713]

Hurry Rainbow!