Discord's Made a Foal of Me

by Hailstorm_

Chapter 3

Swinging around to face the voice that just spoke, I spied a small yellow filly standing before me, wearing a cute pink scarf. Her red mane was tied up in a pink bow and her wide orange eyes stared at me curiously as she moved in a few steps. I stepped back just the same, to which she giggled mirthfully.

“Aw, come on. I ain’t gonna bite. You’re new to town, right?” She said as she smiled widely at me. She then offered up her hoof. “I’m Apple Bloom. I dunno how ya snuck this deep into my family’s orchard, but it’s nice to meet you.”

I blushed at her disarming smile, but I still shyed back a bit from her hoof. I had no idea to approach this. Discord hadn’t given me a name or a backstory or anything. I’d just have to fall back on my improvisation skills, as piss-poor as they might have been.

I gently shook her hoof, cringing as I felt my own being crushed by her massive strength.

“That’s more like it!” She said chipperly as she vigorously shook my hoof. Even as she stopped and pulled back, I could still feel my hoof shaking as I still cringed in pain. Ignoring this, Apple Bloom then gestured to me. “Now c’mon, don’t be shy. What’s your name?”

Finally getting my hoof back in control, I put it down to let it get comforted by some cold snow. “I’m, uh…” I hesitated. I almost used my Human Name, but that definitely wouldn’t work. Not only did I want to distance myself from it, but it definitely wouldn’t work because pony names were just weird.

I just decided to follow my gut and hope my thinkbrain could put together a good pony name for the rest of my Equestrian life.

“Uh, my name’s...Anon.”

Nailed it. There went any chance to be called Doom Savior or something cool.

“Anon?” Apple Bloom shot me a questioning glance, then pressed her hoof against her mouth as she giggled gently. “Sorry, but I ain’t never heard a name like that around here. Where in the heck are you from?”

“Manehattan?”

I said the first non-Ponyville town name I could think of. I’d never been in New York before, but I hoped deep in my heart that she wouldn’t ask any questions.

The way her eyes lit up was all I needed to know that I fucked up. “Manehattan? Aw shucks, my cousin lives there! Y’ever run into a little mare named Babs Seed?” I opened my mouth to respond, but I was cut off by her gesturing broadly. “You probably can’t miss her. She’s just a li’l shorter than me with an orange coat and, oh!, she’s always got her Crusader cape on.”

From absolutely nowhere, she pulled out a small red blanket and threw it onto her own back, tying it around her neck with a little flair. She angled herself in front of me, displaying the little Cutie Mark Crusaders logo emblazoned in blue and gold. It was as cheaply made as I hoped it would be.

“It looks just like this and-” Apple Bloom visibly realized something and, before I could hide it with my tail, looked to my flank. “Hey, wait a minute.” She approached me, getting a closer look as she squinted. I looked too, and thankfully my flank was as bare as hers was in the first few seasons.

Barring a transparent one, I was right on schedule.

She looked back up at me with a wide grin as she too figured that it wasn’t a transparent one. She took a step back and cleared her throat, standing up straight as she tried to act more formal. “Anon, I dunno how you managed to be a blank flank in Manehattan without Babs makin’ you a Crusader, but I’m about to change your life. Walk with me.”

I nearly broke out into laughter as she said that, obviously something she learned from watching adults make their business dealings. But I followed along with her, only mostly being able to hide my grin. “Wait, where are we going?”

“My clubhouse. Y’see, me and my friends are part of a group, the founders really, called the Cutie Mark Crusaders.” She grinned over at me, adding an eager bounce to her stride. “I dunno if you can tell, but we help other ponies like yourself get their talent and find their cutie marks. It’s, like, our talent.” I don’t know how, but her smile grew even wider.

It was infectious. I couldn’t help not smiling back to her. Not only was she adorable when she was this enthusiastic, but I was already prepared for what she was about to ask me. “So what, are you trying to recruit me or something?”

“Eeyup!” She replied chipperly. “I ain’t got full authority to add ya to the list, but I can’t see why the other two wouldn’t wanna add you.”

“Maybe because I’m a boy?” I added noncommittally. I really just wanted to keep the conversation flowing.

Apple Bloom shrugged. “Nah, that can’t be it. We’ve done colts before.” She shook her head, thinking it over a little bit before she looked at me with a confused gaze. “Hold on, how’d you know the Crusaders were all mares? I didn’t even tell you their names.”

I could only chuckle nervously at that, scratching the back of my head and blushing. Sadly, only now getting used to walking on four legs, removing one from the equation only served to knock me off my balance. I collapsed face first into the cold snow, letting out a small, squeaky yelp as I fell.

Distracted from my slip-up, Apple Bloom was quick to pull me back up to my hooves. And, in doing so, she looked at me with a shocked expression. “Anon, are you alright? You’re, like, super cold.”

Of course I was cold. I’d just fell face first into a pile of snow. I didn’t pay her any mind as I shook the snow off of my face and mane, but it was when I brushed off my chest fluff that I noticed something.

My hoof was shaking something fierce and, as I pressed it to my chest, I could feel my whole body quivering from the temperature. And yet, physically, I felt fine. I hadn’t even noticed until then, but I didn’t even feel the cold now that my mind was off of it.

I tried to not let the shock show too much on my face as I waved it off. “Hah, I g-guess I didn’t notice how cold it was t-till now.”

I had to at least act like I was freezing.

“We better get ya to the clubhouse right quick.” Apple Bloom told me seriously. She gave me another once over, this time not stopping to notice how talentless I was, then scrunched her face. “I dunno what kinda ponies you’ve got takin’ care of you, but sis’d kill me if I went out in the snow without a scarf.” She placed a hoof on her pink scarf, as if to show off her winter preparedness.

I frowned at the mention of caretakers, my head dipping a bit lower as I remembered how Discord abandoned me not too very long ago. Apple Bloom took notice, frowning along with me before looking down down at her scarf, a thoughtful look on her face.

Before I could react in any way, she tore the scarf off of her neck, freeing herself to the unforgiving cold of the current snow flurry, and wrapped it around my own neck. She deftly wrapped it tightly, which I thought would be an impossibility with hooves. Then again, it was all she had.

Accessory Get: Apple Bloom’s Scarf. +5 to cuteness, -1 to masculinity, +3 to bullyability

My face lit up with a blush as I smiled down at it, then beamed back at the generous filly before me. “Hah, t-thank you!” I told her, a bit confused. “But, don’t you need it?” I looked her over again, and she definitely didn’t have any other winter wear. Her bow, while cute, wasn’t going to keep the cold away.

Then again, it could do about as much as the scarf could.

Apple Bloom stood proudly for a moment, holding her head high in the air. “I’m fine! I’m big mare, I can take a li’l snow storm.”

I could already see her starting to shiver.

“So, the clubhouse?”

She nodded, trudging through the snow as quickly as possible in what I assumed was the direction of the CMC clubhouse.

I followed closely behind, trying my hardest not to giggle too loudly.