Prologue
“Never forget where you came from. If you don't remember what came before, you'll never be prepared for what will come next.” -Cast Away
Heart hammering in his chest, he fled the enraged ponies. Looking over his shoulder, his eyes widened in panic as he saw a massive frying pan flying at him. With a stumbling sidestep, he managed to dodge the ungainly projectile. Muscles pumping, he struggled to outrun his pursuers, but with each second they grew closer, their longer legs propelling them farther with each galloping stride.
Luna curse them! He thought, tears in his eyes as he struggled not to think about the thrashing he was about to receive. Suddenly, a massive shadow loomed before him, great leathery dragon wings, black as night snapping open as the beast reared. The black-coated earth pony skidded to a halt, eyes locked on the monster's head, where two burning red embers glared out at the approaching mob.
Gasps of fear came from behind, as his would-be punishers scrambled to turn around, fleeing in the other direction, their wrath forgotten. He stood frozen, unable to breathe as the giant head swiveled to face him.
“Whadda we have 'ere?” A voice said, sounding decidedly undragon-like. The thing dissolved before his eyes, as one young foal hopped off the back of another, draped in a large, midnight blue blanket. With a shrug, the cover fell to the ground, and the blood colored unicorn beneath began circling to the earth pony's right side.
The other pony, a grass green pegasus with a scar across his muzzle, moved to his other side. As they circled him, they alternated speaking.
“Whatcha got there?”
“Something that doesn't belong to you?”
“Maybe it didn't before, but it's yours now ain't it?”
“Kind of liking that feeling, aren't you?”
“Feels pretty good to get whatcha want.” Both ponies now stood before him once more, eyeing the basket of cabbages dangling from his mouth. Reflexively, he lowered closer to the ground, preparing to flee.
“I wouldn't bother,” the pegasus said, indicating the roller blades on his hooves, and then the unicorn's horn, it's owner flashing him a dangerous grin. Slowly, he set the basket on the ground, and set his jaw, glaring at his two... potential rescuers. The unicorn laughed at his face.
“Ha! Look at the cantaloupes on this one! Gonna fight us are ya?” he sneered, flexing his muscles. Though they were still just colts, it was clear the two ponies had been in many, many more fights than he had, and had probably been eating better. They were tone, and limber, not to mention wielding magic and having wings for speed put them at a decided advantage. By the end of his assessment, his scowl had withered, replaced by a dejected frown as he pushed the basket away, and turned to leave.
“Hold on now,” he froze, fear rising up within him despite the geniality in the tone. Too afraid to move, he waited as the two ponies approached him, one on either side.
“He's a blank flank too...” one whispered. They circled around, coming to a stop in front of him. Both ponies sat on the ground, and the pegasus, who had the basket in his mouth, set it down between the three of them. He cleared his throat,
“Ahem. Maybe we got off on the wrong hoof here. Let's start with some introductions. I'm Cast Away. My brother here goes by Crimson.” The pegasus leaned in, adding, with a mock-conspiratorial whisper, “He's not very creative.” The other pony shot him a friendly scowl, causing the black pony to smile a little.
As he leaned back, the pegasus smiled too, with Crimson joining in last.
“Who might you be, if you could?” The strange wording caused the pony to hesitate, mulling it over. If I could...? With a widening smile, he looked up,
“If I could, I'd be Volition.” It was a name he'd chosen long ago, when he'd decided that his life would be his own, and nopony else's. Crimson nodded in respect, and Cast Away smiled, nodding as well.
“Well then, Volition, how about we share these cabbages, and my brother here and I will tell you all about our little club?” The earth pony nodded, and they began munching on the ripe vegetables.
“What do ya call yourselves?” he asked, mouth full. The pegasus carefully finished chewing, and swallowed, before speaking.
“We are the Blank Flank Brotherhood, and I'd like to extend to you an official invitation to join us.” Volition looked at the green foreleg being offered to him for only a second, before reaching out his own and shaking it. In the distance, they heard shouts, and Crimson rose to his hooves, scooping up the basket's handle in his mouth and galloping away.
“Come now my Brother,” Cast Away said to the black-coated pony, as he too prepared to run, “it's high time we were away from this place.” With a warm sensation in his chest he hadn't felt in over a year, Volition broke into a gallop beside his new Brothers.
It's about time something good came my way.
Chapter 1
“No matter where you go, ponies are all the same. I've heard stories, about six friends in Ponyville who are supposed to be special. Allegedly, they're different from the others.” -Cast Away
“Come on girls, hurry up!” Scootaloo whined, returning for the third time after racing ahead of the other two Crusaders. Apple Bloom shook her head with a patient smile, as Sweetie Bell broke into a trot.
“We don't need to be in the club house to plan what we wanna do to get our cutie marks,” the yellow filly said, though she too picked up the pace, keeping beside the white unicorn. Scootaloo huffed, but stayed close this time.
“So what are we gonna try?” she asked, excitement rising as she considered how awesome it would be to get her cutie mark today. As the three friends made their way, the birds of the forest chirped and sang, while a cool breeze billowed between the trees. It was a truly gorgeous day out, which was why Cheerilee had decided to let the class out early, since nopony was managing to pay attention to the lesson anyways.
“Ooh! We could try-” Scoots was cut short by a yellow hoof being jammed into her mouth.
“Shh! Do y'all hear that?” Apple Bloom whispered. The three friends waited in silence, until they heard what sounded like laughter up ahead.
“Sounds like some ponies having a good time,” the pegasus said nonchalantly, shrugging her shoulders.
“In our club house,” Sweetie Bell hissed, lowering her body closer to the ground. The others followed suite, and the three young ponies stealthily crept up to the wooden structure. Silently, their three heads rose up over the window sill. A green pegasus with roller blades was reclining on Sweetie Bell's bean bag chair, while a red unicorn and a black earth pony wrestled in the middle of the room, which had been cleared of all furniture.
The three heads ducked back down.
“What should we do?” Sweetie Bell whispered.
“Maybe we should go get mah brother, they look kinda...” she trailed off when she realized Scootaloo was gone.
“Hey! What're you doing in our club house?” she said, barging into the building. Apple Bloom and the little unicorn raced to back their friend up. When she'd entered, the other pegasus had slowly closed the book he'd been reading, and set it aside. The red unicorn and his wrestling partner had broken away from each other, taking up fighting stances. Slowly, deliberately, they began advancing on the orange filly.
“Don't even think about it buddy!” Sweetie Bell said, galloping into the room, Apple Bloom taking up post beside Scootaloo, assuming a fighting stance of her own. For a few seconds, the gathered ponies all stared at each other, until the pegasus on the bean bag chair let out a laugh.
“Okay okay, everypony just hold yourselves.” He rose to his hooves, and, as he approached the three fillies, the other two colts relaxed from their stances, backing away. When he stood alone before them, the other two having retreated several feet, the Crusaders relaxed.
“Allow me to perform some introductions. I am Cast Away,” he said with a bow, “and these are my Brothers, Crimson,” he indicated the unicorn with a forehoof, “and Volition.” After gesturing to the black earth pony, who also bowed, he lowered his hoof to the ground.
“Who, may I ask, are you?” The orange pegasus stepped forward, still angry about the way they'd been moving towards her,
“I'm Scootaloo, and I wanna know what you're doing in our club house!” The other two nodded, scowling at the three colts. Volition and Crimson seemed undaunted, and relaxed into sitting positions, their expressions bored.
“Club house?” Cast Away asked, raising an eyebrow. The three ponies blushed, but, standing together, they said,
“We're the Cutie Mark Crusaders!”
Snort! Volition had to hold his foreleg over his mouth to keep from laughing. Crimson merely smiled, though in a very condescending way. Only Cast Away remained neutral.
“Crusading for your cutie marks...” he mused, his gaze taking in the motley crew, so similar, and yet so very different from his own.
“Interesting... We,” here he indicated himself and his two friends, “are the Blank Flank Brotherhood. It would seem,” he said, raising a forehoof in front of himself, “we ought to be friends.” When they'd heard the name, smiles had lit the Crusaders' faces, and they eagerly reached out to shake his hoof. Crimson and Volition, on the other hoof, were staring at him aghast. Through their enchanted earrings, compliments of a traveling merchant they'd bamboozled, the two ponies telepathically accosted him.
“Are you insane?! They're like, polar opposites of us!”
“Ah think ye've lost yer marbles. They're gonna turn us in and we'll have'ta run away again.”
“No. Trust me. They are young. They will keep us a secret if we play our cards right. We just need to convince them we don't mean any harm, but that somepony is hunting us.”
“Shouldn't be too hard to pull that off, with all the ponies we've suckered...”
Having agreed, the ponies put on charming smiles, and tried to appear as unimposing as possible.
“Well then, shall we all sit down and have a little pow-wow? Get to know each other a little better?” Crimson's horn glowed, and the chairs of the building moved into a large circle. For a time after they'd all taken their seats, nopony spoke. Cast Away reached up and itched the scar across his muzzle.The silence lingered awkwardly until Apple Bloom, unable to stand it any longer, asked,
“How'd ya get that scar?” The pegasus, glad for an excuse to say something, explained.
“Well, I'd only just recently befriended Crimson here, and I was haggling with a merchant in Hoofington. When I picked up one of the bundles of carrots he was selling, trying to emphasize my point about the low quality, he reached out and grabbed my leg! Now, my friend here feared the worst, and fired off a bolt of violet energy at the stallion.” The fillies gasped, Scootaloo raising both forehooves over her mouth. Cast Away shrugged,
“We're just children, so the bolt didn't do much but further infuriate the old codger, and, since I was closer, he gave me a good wallop across the nose.” Cast Away sighed, looking at the ground as he gave a slow, sad shake of his head.
“Too bad his shoe wasn't on right. When the other ponies in the marketplace saw the blood, he knew he had to act fast to save face, so he did the only sensible thing. 'Thief! Thief!' he shouted, pointing at the bundle of carrots I was still holding.” The Crusaders' mouths fell open, as tears welled in Sweetie Bell's eyes.
“By Celestia,” Volition thought to Crimson, “where does he come up with this crap?” The red unicorn struggled to contain his laughter, raising a hoof to his face. To the three fillies, it looked like he was incredibly morose.
“So, long story short, we ran away. Nopony's going to believe a couple of ragamuffins like us against the word of a respected merchant, and he'd dug himself in too deep to come clean about it.” He looked up, wearing a pained expression.
“So now we travel from town to town, trying to find a place where we can rest. Sooner or later, though, our past always seems to catch up with us.” Though her two friends were regarding the ponies with awed expressions, Apple Bloom looked doubtful.
“What about yer families? Couldn't somepony have spoken up in y'all's defense?” For this part, Crimson didn't need to act. Tears leaked freely from his eyes, as his lower lip quivered with restrained sobs. When Cast Away reached a hoof over towards him, the unicorn angrily stood from his chair, turning his back on the group to walk a few steps away. The green pegasus turned back to the fillies,
“If we had families, I wouldn't have been haggling with a carrot merchant in the streets of Hoofington.” As his eyes drifted to the floor, tears fell with soft plips.
“I would've been in school... or at...” For a moment he was silent, struggling to form the word. The word that exemplified all that had been denied him. The one word that was the source, and the goal, of all of his trials and tribulations.
“Home.” The ponies all sat silently for a time, as the story sank in, with all its terrifying implications. Finally, Scootaloo rose to her hooves, and approached the other pegasus. Slowly, she wrapped her forelegs around him, pulling the pony into a strong hug.
“Maybe you guys should stay here for a while,” she suggested, pulling away. Cast Away's face lit up with a smile, his golden eyes sparkling in the light streaming through the window as the sun lowered in the sky.
“I think we'd all be very much in your debt.” The others had smiled, and Apple Bloom waved a hoof, like she was shooing a fly.
“Ah it ain't nothin'! We only use this club house for hangin' out anyways. As long as y'all take good care of it, ah don't have a problem with ya stayin' here.”
“And I can get a few blankets from the boutique so you guys can sleep comfortably!” Sweetie Bell chimed in, excited by the prospect of these three interesting new friends. Crimson had turned around, and all three colts bowed to the Crusaders, causing them to blush.
“You're too kind. Somehow, we'll find a way to repay you.” Again Apple Bloom waved her hoof,
“Don't worry about it! It's the right thing to do!” To the others she said,
“Come on girls, these guys look hungry. Maybe we could scrounge them up some grub while Sweetie Bell gets the blankets?” With eager nods, the three ponies moved to exit the building.
“Oh, but if I may impose upon you...” they stopped, turning back to the green pegasus, who had placed his forehooves together in a pleading gesture.
“Please don't tell anypony about us being here, no matter how much you trust them. They won't mean to, but each pony who knows we're here increases the chance of our enemies finding us.” The three looked a little apprehensive at the prospect of hiding such a big event.
“Who knows? Maybe your cutie marks have something to do with keeping secrets?” Their faces broke into grins as they turned and checked their flanks. With resolute nods to the three colts, they turned and left the club house.
“This is so exciting!” Sweetie Bell said as they trotted back to town, “I wonder what a secret keeping cutie mark would even look like?”
“It's probably something awesome, like a storm cloud with a question mark in it!” Apple Bloom didn't share their mirth. Something just didn't sit right with her about those three.
For some reason, she thought, I think they're hiding something.
“Well buck me sideways,” Crimson said, after watching the three fillies trot out of sight, “where in Tartarus do you come up with these stories?” Volition burst into laughter, as Cast Away gave a somber smile.
“It's all I think about when we travel...” his gaze drifted off, looking out towards the hills of Canterlot, his tone causing the other two ponies to sober up.
“The story that will find us a home...”
