My Little Pony: Floppy's Story

Chapter 1: Nightmare Moon Part 1

Sunny days are common in Ponyville, especially in the middle of summer, and this day was no different. With such good weather, Applejack was happily taking a leisurely stroll around the edge of her farm. She had finished her chores at least for now and so was able to spend some time just enjoying the singing of the birds, the buzzing of the bees and the laughter of the children playing in the sun. She smiled contently at the children as she strolled by. She felt very happy and content with life at this moment. Appreciating all she had been given. But life has a way of creating surprises and she was about to get yet another gift of fate.

Her farm was quite a ways away from Ponyville and it actually just scraped past the Everfree forest. This meant it was inevitable for Applejack to wander past the Everfree forest regularly but she didn’t feel any fear. The danger was well away from her deep inside the forest and nothing ever came out unless provoked from inside, meaning it was pretty safe as long as she didn’t go in. Besides, she was used to it by now anyhow. However, today she heard a noise she hadn’t heard before. Her ears immediately perked up. She stopped and listened closely. Applejack knew she always needed to stay alert of any danger, not just for her sake but for the sake of her family, the farm and all of Ponyville. And if something was close enough to hear at the edge of the Everfree forest, then this could mean trouble.

Applejack, knew it was unwise but she had the feeling that someone was in need of her help and so she edged a little closer to the Everfree forest. She wasn’t sure, but she swore what she heard was the sound of somepony weeping. She couldn’t just leave them there if it was, no matter how dangerous. She had to be sure so she walked a little closer and then a little more. The sound became clearer until she was sure it was crying. Now there was no question, she had to do something. She wondered whether to get help instead of foolishly rushing in but this ponies crying sounded distressed and young. If she went to get help she could be too late by the time she came back. No. She had to act now. But maybe there wasn’t any danger. Maybe a child was just lost.

Applejack then called out to the crying pony. “Hello? Hey, is anybody there?” she paused for a response but all she heard was the crying stop and what sounded like a startled young filly. Applejack started looking around for the filly.

“Now, now. No need to be scared.” Applejack said gently just before noticing a faint figure of a young female pony. She seemed a few years younger than her but not as young as she had expected at first.

“Ah, there ya are.” She said trotting forwards towards the figure but, as she neared, the pony started shuffling uncomfortably and moving backwards. Applejack knew she was scared and this wasn’t much of a surprise if she was inside the Everfree forest. For all she knew, she could have been wandering around the Everfree forest scared out of her wits for a while and obviously feeling very jumpy.

Applejack tried to sooth her by speaking gently and quietly to her. “Now, don’t be scared. I was just wonderin’ where all that there cryin’ was comin’ from.” Applejack said cheerfully, trying to lure a response from her. However, she got no response other than nervous shuffling.

Applejack tried a different approach. “What are ya doing here, sugarcube?” she said concernedly. The mysterious pony gently dragged her hoof across the ground shyly.

Applejack wasn’t sure what to do but, just when she was going to try talking again, the pony spoke in very faint, shy and quiet voice, still a little shaky from the tears. “I...I’m fine.” The pony said.

At that moment they both heard a rumbling noise that startled them a little. Applejack knew well what that noise was and she smiled as the pony shuffled in embarrassment. “Why don’t you common out that horrible dark forest and have a little apple pie, sugar?” she said gesturing towards her house on the farm.

“Errr-errrmm.” The pony shuffled and rubbed her hoof up and down her other leg uncomfortably.

“I don’t know.” The pony said, looking like she wanted to curl up into a ball and hide.

This pony was clearly shy and this reminded Applejack of her friend Fluttershy who was very much that way all the time. She had the feeling that she wasn’t going to get anywhere unless she was a little more pushy although she didn’t like the thought that if she was too pushy she might scare her. However, Applejack was a stubborn pony and she was determined to help this pony even if it meant a few tears in the end.

Applejack tried one last thing. “I won’t hurt ya, sweetheart.” Applejack was a little surprised at how that came out. She was talking to her as if she were a filly but she clearly was older than that. But her behaviour seemed to speak strongly of young and innocent to her.

Saying those words seemed to help calm the pony a little and Applejack felt like this was the time to make her move. She quickly but gently came closer to the pony. The pony was startled and looked over her own shoulder behind her for a chance to escape but in the end didn’t move before Applejack had come close enough to touch her. The pony froze on the spot as Applejack slowly and carefully moved her hoof over her mane and stroked it. Applejack could feel the ponies tension lowering as she stroked her mane. It was difficult to stroke it as it was tangled beyond belief and seemed to have dried mud stuck in it.

This pony had certainly been through an ordeal, Applejack thought. “A little food and rest and you will be feelin’ spritely as a pig in a big muddy puddle.”

The mysterious pony seemed confused by this remark but Applejack just laughed and gently coaxed her away from the forest and into the bright light of the sun near Ponyville. The young pony squinted as she was brought into the light when she was, what must have been, a very long time without it. As the pony flinched from the sun, Applejack took this moment to examine her condition. She was indeed absolutely smothered with dirt and muck as Applejack had expected. Her mane was tangled beyond belief with large sections of dried mud hung in place all over like a strange piece of modern art. But what puzzled her was just how tangled and mangled it was. It wasn’t just like any old dunk in the marsh or scrape from falling over a few times. After working on the farm all her life she certainly knew what that looked like. Instead it was so bad it seemed as if she had in fact had it like that for at least a few months! There was no way it could look like that unless her hair had not been cleaned in a substantial amount of time and her hair had grown around the muck and made a giant tight ball of hair, mud and grime like a steal mesh ball. She recalled the rescue dogs photos that Fluttershy had shown her one day and how awfully unkept their fur was.

And at that moment she made a conclusion that this pony wasn’t just in danger, this pony had somehow been neglected!  Applejack was so overwhelmed at that moment with sympathy and shock at what had happened to this pony that she no longer spent any more time questioning it. Without realising it, that thought of neglect and this ponies childlike behaviour had affected her very strongly. Applejack suddenly became besotted with this pony and determined to help her and care for her. It was unlike her to be like this. Usually, Applejack was known as one of the most sensible mares of her group of friends or even all of Ponyville. It was more fitting of Fluttershy to suddenly bend on her knees and care for a neglected creature. But somehow this pony had hit her weak spot head on and she just couldn’t control herself.

“Oh, sugar. OH!” She found herself saying then she quickly but gently took hold of her hoof and started to rush her over to the house

“First things first! You need a bath, sugarcube! You need to get those terrible knots outta your hair!”

Applejack urgently pulled at the young pony so hard she was practically dragging her across the ground. It was lucky for them both that no-one was there to notice them rushing to the bathroom. Applebloom was at school at this hour, big Mac was out collecting some groceries and doing various other farm chores and old granny smith was asleep in her rocking chair and everyone knows how Granny just doesn’t wake up from her mid-day nap. And I say bathroom but really it was just a section of their large kitchen with giant wooden bucket big enough for a whole adult mare. They often filled this giant bucket with water and soap and used it as a make shift bathroom. It didn’t bother them, they got dirty a heck of a lot anyways so there wasn’t much use for an extra fancy bathroom.

“Just a waste a space those fancy contraptions are!” as Granny used to say and still frequently does whenever possible.

Applejack got straight to work in fixing up this ponies fur and mane. It was a long and difficult struggle and the knots were so bad Applejack even had to cut huge chunks of hair out just so she could move it about more freely. The young pony didn’t say much for a while, especially since it was such an ordeal as most of what came out of her mouth was yelps of pain from the hair pulling at her skin and from a few cuts and bruises being uncovered. However, Applejack managed to get a little conversation out of her during the quiet moments in-between.

She found out the ponies name, Floppy. A rather odd name Applejack thought but perhaps not considering some names ponies gave their children. But it made her wonder. Why did this pony have this name? Usually, pony names had something to do with their appearance, their hobbies or their talents but Applejack failed to understand what could have constituted to this name in relation to this pony. However, she decided perhaps not to ask, as it wasn’t all that important and it could be a touchy subject.

Next Applejack asked about her family. “So where are ya family sugar? Ya have any friends who can pick ya up?”

This was the main thing on her mind. Family was very important to Applejack as everyone knows so it struck her as odd that this pony had not mentioned anything of the sort, especially considering her condition. But maybe she was a little in shock and didn’t know what to do or think. That would make sense as she must have been through an amazing ordeal to end up like this. However, Floppy didn’t take kindly to the question she gave a slightly grimacing look of distaste and turned away as if in disgust of the thought.

Applejack waited a while for a response and just when she was going to ask another question to continue the conversation Floppy answered “No” she said with a mixture of hate and sadness in her voice.

It was a strangely vague answer so Applejack asked again. “ya have no family? No Friends at all?”

Floppy gave Applejack a very tired look like she had never seen before. It wasn’t a look of being tired from hard work, she was just tired. As if she was tired of living altogether. Then she turned away again before adding “None that really matter”

This hit Applejack hard. How could family not matter?! Of course family mattered! It mattered above all else surely! Applejack was speechless with shock for a while.

Then out of the silence, Floppy’s small voice whispered again. “I don’t have any friends. I only know my mum and my older brother. Mum rescued me from the Everfree forest when I was baby she says. So I am forever indebted to her. I wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for her she says. But I have yet to find proof of that.”

There was a pause and a faint touch of spite in every time she said ‘she says’. Floppy’s voice started to sound irritated and her tone raised as she went on “Then there is my older brother. He feels the need to constantly tease me and pick on me whenever possible. I am vulnerable so I am an easy target. So he tells me I am a disgrace, I do nothing right, I am a failure and yet I see no achievements of his. Maybe if he bothered to FUCKING do a days work in his life then he have something to show for it. He thinks he is the bigger one because he has me in his grasp and mum does NOTHING to stop him. He’s just playing! He’s just playing! Well, I have seen the other fillies play and that is NOT how they play! They think I am dumb! They think I don’t know what they are doing to me. They tell me not to go to the edge of the forest so I can never see the other children and figure it out but I KNOW! I KNOW WHAT THEY DO TO ME!”

“Sugarcube, please” Applejack tried to hush her as she could see what was coming but Floppy was too far gone to stop now.

“WHAT AM I NOT A PONY TO THEM?! AM I JUST THEIR PLAY THING?!!” Floppy stood up and Applejack’s heart skipped a beat.

She tried again to speak to her but her words fell on deaf ears. “I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!” Floppy screamed and bucked the bucket with all her might. Unfortunately, she was still in the bucket so she ended up doing nothing but forcing the bucket to violently scrape across the floor and with the loss of her balance it toppled over on its side.

Floppy froze and there was an eerie silence for a moment before Floppy broke down and started to sob on the floor. Applejack righted her up again and encouraged her to get back into the bucket. She then continued to clean her without another word. The sound of nothing but the sponge squeezing the soap and water into Floppy’s fur and dripping into the bucket below and the sound of soft sobbing echoing around the room. In the end, her hair was clean, what was left of it at least. She didn’t look that flattering but she was clean and Applejack knew that was what mattered. It was then that Floppy’s colours and patterns became clear to the eye at long last. She was thin with a light soft brown fur all over. Her mane was a very gentle and light tone of yellow along with her tail. She had pegasus wings but they looked battered and were missing several feathers. Applejack also noticed she didn’t have a cutie mark. It was unusual for a pony of her age to not have a cutie mark yet, very unusual. It was bad enough with Applebloom and her bullying. Just imagine the look on people’s faces when this pony goes past.

Nevertheless, it didn’t really matter. After a while of quiet, Floppy had calmed down. Applejack could see her eyes were heavy so she guided her outside again and into the barn. All the rooms in the house were spent so the barn was the only place she could stay and it would have to do, at least for the night. Applejack wanted to ask her whether it would be OK for her to stay here for a while, maybe even overnight, if she had a family as she said but thought it best not to bring it up again. It would be OK surely, just for a couple of hours. Perhaps afterwards she could take her to meet her parents again and have a good talk with them. Maybe they weren’t as bad as Floppy said. After all, she did seem to act strange, maybe she was just a little confused with all the stress of what’s been going on. Whatever’s been going on.

Applejack gathered some hay for the livestock on the farm and laid it on the ground as nicely as she could. “There! Now ya have a place to sleep. It’s not great but it’ll do for now”. But Applejack needn’t worry. Even while she was still talking, Floppy smiled at the sight of a nice place to rest and slumped into the hay and was fast asleep at the blink of an eye.

Applejack tip hoofed out of the barn and smiled as she slowly closed the barn door as not to wake her precious stranger up. She gave a sigh of relief after closing it. She had got away with it. No-one had seen anything and now all she had to do was make sure no-one entered the barn. Easy right? Or so she thought.

“Ah, I guess you are Applejack?”

Applejack turned around quickly to see a purple unicorn standing in front of her with a list levitating just underneath her nose. She seemed a similar age to herself and stood in a more unusual way than the ponies of Ponyville, more akin to somepony of a rather important stature, letting her know that this pony had probably come from a large city like Canterlot for business purposes. She was also accompanied by a little baby dragon with a purple scaly body and some large green rounded spikes along its back. Applejack tried to straighten herself up slightly to appease this ponies high standards.

“yes, indeed I am!” Applejack said, looking nervously towards the barn and hoping that she could dispatch of this pony as soon as possible.

“Good Afternoon, my name is Twilight Sparkle” Twilight had barely finished her sentence when Applejack started to shake her hoof in a friendly hoof shake. However, it seemed the hoof shake was a little too friendly as Twilight’s hoof was violently shaken up and down in a way that more than disorientated the poor unicorn

“Well howdy do miss Twilight! It’s a pleasure making your acquaintance!” Applejack said in the upmost friendly way, throwing a few fancy words into the mix.

“We at Sweet Apple Acres sure do love makin’ new friends!”

“friends? I e-e-e-e-e-e-er” Twilight tried to speak but it was difficult while being thrown around so much but luckily Applejack soon let go.

“So, what can I do ya for?” Applejack asked.

Twilight was a little shaken by the hoof shake event but she cleared her throat and pressed on with her business “Well I am in fact here by request of Princess Celestia to supervise the preparations of the Summer Sun Celebration aaaaand I believe you are in charge of the food?”

Ah, that explained it, Applejack thought. Applejack was thinking of what to do and just at that moment she saw big Mac on his way back with the groceries over Twilight’s shoulder, along with the filly applebloom coming home from school. Yes, of course! She thought to herself. This is the perfect opportunity to see to Twilight’s wishes and distract everyone from the barn at the same time.

Applejack called over to big Mac and then gestured him over. “We sure as sugar are! Would you care to sample some?” Applejack asked.

“Well, as long as it doesn’t take too long” Twilight answered but half way through Applejack had already rushed away to ring the little rusty triangle hanging in the middle of the farm to call everypony’s attention.

“Soup’s on everypony!” Applejack yelled out loud and suddenly a large crowd of ponies galloped over like a stampede and Twilight was pushed along to a small table round the back of the Barn.

“Well, why don’t I introduce ya’ll to the apple family?” Applejack said with pride as she gestured her hoof to the various ponies gathered around the table eagerly staring at Twilight and Spike.

“Thanks but I really need to-” but she was interrupted by a young pony presenting her an apple fritter on a small plate.

“This here is Apple Fritter” Applejack remarked

“Apple Bumpkin” she continued as another pony presented their prized food and laid it on the table.

“Red Gala” Applejack said as yet another pony came along and laid a little cupcake with an apple shaped decoration on the top and green icing.

“Red Delicious, Golden Delicious” Applejack continued as more and more ponies brought food to the table.

“Caramel apple Apple Strudel Apple Tart” Applejack kept calling names as more and more food piled onto the same small table to make a generous mountain of food. Applejack read the names so fast it was hard to keep up.

Applejack gave a deep breath and then slowed down to continue with the last few ponies. “Big Macintosh, Apple Bloom and Granny Smith” Applejack finished at long last.

“Up and at em Granny Smith we got guests” Applejack reminded Granny as she was awoken from her slumber by all the fuss.

“Why, I’d say you’re already part of the family”

Twilight found this rather uncomfortable and laughed nervously as she stated “well, I can see the food situation is in order so we’ll be on our way” Twilight said, trying to escape but the ponies all looked at her disappointed.

“Aren’t ya gonna stay for brunch?” The little filly Applebloom whined and puckered her lips in the most adorable way.

“Sorry but we got an awful lot to do” Twilight said feeling rather guilty and awkward for denying the child her wishes.

Twilight couldn’t stand such an awkward situation and Spike looked at her disapprovingly so she decided to stick around while sighing reluctantly “fine”.

The Applejack family wasted no time in dancing and singing and presenting the food to her. Twilight left a few hours later with her belly feeling rather bloated and uncomfortable. Spike bounced around happily and with a spring in his step. It was the most exciting day he had ever had! He was fed up of all those days spent endlessly researching and researching all the time. He was happy to be doing something different and in a new place too. Applejack watched them wander away into the distance. She had done a good job holding everypony at bay from the barn. Everypony soon went straight back to work and with the Summer Sun Celebration at hand, the ponies were certainly too busy to care about the barn. Not only that, but the chores were different than usual so the barn wasn’t needed for a long while. Applejack was secure in the knowledge that this strange pony would not be discovered any time soon. She decided to visit the pony inside the barn since she had been there for long enough to be awake from her nap by now. Perhaps she could now get some more answers out of her.

Applejack stepped over to the barn and no sooner had she got to the large barn doors, she heard a big bump and the sound of a lot of small objects dropping and rolling around the barn floor. Oh no. Applejack thought. She knew what that was and she wondered whether Floppy was OK. Applejack quickly opened the barn door to see Floppy slumped over a barrel like a big lump of skin and bones. The barrel was lying on its side with its apple contents spilt almost everywhere possible. It was clear that she not only fell onto the barrel but took some others with her on the way down.

“What on earth are ya doin’ Floppy?!” Applejack said with a rather firm tone.

Floppy looked up at her with a rather gormless face as if clueless to what she just did.

Applejack sighed “Let me help ya up sugar” she said calmly.

Applejack gently took hold of her right hoof and proceeded to pull her up. However, Floppy was very unsteady and she almost fell over again several times when trying to step off the round barrel surface.

“Put your hooves around the barrel ya silly mare!” Applejack exclaimed, almost baffled by this ponies inability to understand what to do. Soon Floppy was back on all four hooves.

“Now what were ya tryin’ to do sugar?” Applejack said, sounding like she genuinely wanted to know the answer.

“I was trying to get an apple” Floppy responded, looking rather nervous of Applejack.

“Now why would ya try and do that?” Applejack asked. Floppy’s stomach spoke for her.

“Oh, of course. Ya hungry aren’t ya sugar” Applejack said, feeling happy she had a solution. But when she saw Floppy’s face her smile fell. She looked very uncomfortable and she could tell she wasn’t feeling happy. Perhaps even ready to cry.

Applejack gently pulled her head up with her hoof to meet her eyes “You wait right here, sugar. I will get ya somethin’, OK?” Floppy put her head down again and nodded. Applejack wasted no time rushing out to get some food. The other ponies were too busy to notice her rushing around and it wasn’t much of a big deal anyway, considering everypony was rushing around right now with the preparations. Applejack took some of the left-over food from brunch waiting in the kitchen to be put away and was soon back in the barn.

She had brought a large apple pie. Plenty to satisfy any amount of hunger for a pony her size. Applejack presented the pie proudly to Floppy and waited for her to gobble it down. However, Floppy just stared at it.

“What is...this?” Floppy said, sounding confused.

Applejack wasn’t sure how to respond for a moment. She had never heard of a pony not knowing what an apple pie was. Never!  “It’s an apple pie, darlin’"

Applejack was a little surprised to find herself talking to her as if she was a toddler but it was difficult to think of her any other way considering how she had behaved so far. She acted like she barely knew what anything was or had any idea how to act. It was as if she was a filly in a young mare’s body. She was acting completely childish.

Floppy looked up at her like a child stares at their mother when they want something but know they can’t ask directly. Her begging eyes looked up to her and she asked “I-is it food?”

“Of course it is. Did ya think I brought ya a table feature?” Applejack chuckled but Floppy didn’t need to be told twice and was into the pie like a shot before she had even started her little joke. Applejack had never seen a pony eat so fast in her life! When Floppy was done she sighed a sigh of relief and almost seemed to blank out as she just stood there as if she had found true inner peace.

Applejack was about to say something when Floppy burst out screaming excitedly “That was AMAZING!! OH MY GOD!!”

Now here is something that may take a little explanation. Everyone knows that the gods that run and supposedly also founded Equestria are Celestia and Luna. It is common for ponies to refer to them in sayings of normal conversation and it is deemed perfectly acceptable and even seen as polite in certain circles. However, referring to them by name was important. Just using the word god to refer to them was rude and seen as a derogatory term and way of representing them. It was disrespectful to the princesses and so is often frowned upon even in the lowest classes of pony society. It is also seen in higher class circles as very rude to use their name in a negative fashion so Floppy saying this was very rude indeed.

Applejack soon scolded Floppy for her language “Floppy?!” she yelled in shock.

She presumed she had perhaps not realised and needed a quick reminder of her manners. However, Floppy flinched in surprise and then looked at her worried and confused. She bent her knees as if ready to take a beating or to run away as soon as possible. Applejack remembered the things she had said about her family and considered it best to not continue this any further. She had no idea what was going on but she didn’t need this right now. There were more important things to worry about.

“Never mind” she said gently

“Now. You should be gettin’ home shouldn’t ya?” Applejack said.

Floppy shuffled uncomfortably. “Applejack?” Floppy said in a very begging but rather sad tone

“yes, sugarcube?” But then suddenly the conversation was interrupted as Applejack could hear a familiar bouncing noise outside the barn.

“Oh no. Pinkie!” Applejack said to herself and rushed outside.

Applejack was soon proven correct in her guess as Pinkie bounded towards her from the distance. “Applejack Applejack!” she cried while still bouncing with a surprising speed and skill

“anewponyisinponyvilleandithoughtifsheisnewherethenshehasnofriendssoIthoughtshecan’tbewithoutfriendssoIthoughtweshouldhaveasurprise welcomepartyjustforherandsoIeveryponyhastobethereandthatincludesyouandsheisgonnabeatherlibrarysoonsowehavetogoapplejackwehavetogo!”

Applejack was used to Pinkies random explosions of excitement but Pinkie seemed even more excited than usual and there was no chance she could understand what she was saying with the speed of her conversation. Applejack was about to tell her to slow down but Pinkie wasn’t taking no for an answer and she grabbed her hoof and started to drag Applejack away.

Twilight had talked to several ponies today to check the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration and each one had dragged the conversation on and on and distracted her from her duties, which she most certainly didn’t approve of, especially since she needed to get to the library to research into this Nightmare Moon she was worried about. Nightmare Moon was due to come and wreak havoc tonight and Twilight was determined to get to the bottom of it. She knew she was right! But she had to find proof! Spike wasn’t pleased with how rude Twilight was being to all the other ponies in order to get away from them, even resulting to lying about Spike being tired to get a pony off her back. Twilight knew it was a little harsh but she had to figure this out. It was important and, if it was true, the lives of everybody depended on it!

She was just about to get into her studies when suddenly the lights turned on and tons of ponies cheered “Surprise!” Oh no, Twilight thought as she sighed in anguish and frustration.

A pink earth pony with curly mane and tail, bounced around with excitement. “Surprise!” She yelled a little too close for comfort.

“Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie and I made this party just for you! Were you surprised? Huh? Were you? Huh huh huh huh huh?” The pink pony yelled while bouncing laps around Twilight.

“Very surprised. Libraries are supposed to be quiet!” Twilight said with disgust as she was quickly losing her patience.

“What? That’s silly!” Pinkie said chuckling merrily

“What kind of welcome surprise party would this be if it were quiet? I mean DUH booooooriiiiiiing!” Pinkie exclaimed.

As this was going on, a young brown mare snuck in through the door as everyone was distracted and watched the events quietly. Twilight tried to walk away but Pinkie didn’t seem to get the message as she followed her along the room still chattering loudly

“You see I saw you when you first got here remember? You were all ‘Hello?’ and I was all like ‘HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUR!’ remember? Coz I never saw you before and if I had never saw you before then that means your new coz I know everypony and I mean EVERYPONY in Ponyville!”

Twilight sighed again more frustrated than before and continued to walk towards the punch bowl for a sobering drink.

“and if you’re new then you haven’t met anyone yet and if you haven’t met anyone yet then that means you don’t have any friends and if you don’t have any friends then you must be really lonely and that means you must be really sad and I had an idea and that’s why I went HUUUUUUUUUUUUUR!”

Twilight poured herself a drink from the various bottles on the table nearby as Pinkie continued to endlessly chatter. Then Twilight sipped the drink with a straw. However, she soon started to sweat profusely and her face went red as a radish.

Applejack was the first to notice and commented “are you alright sugarcube?”

Twilight quickly darted away towards her bedroom.

“awwwwwww she’s so happy she’s crying!” Pinkie dismissed Twilight’s behaviour with a big smile and everybody continued to party.

Twilight stayed in her room and tried to calm down but she just couldn’t settle. She started to pace around in frustration and rant to herself about how ridiculous this whole day had been. She was so frustrated that she didn’t notice a brown pegasus quietly enter her room. After a few minutes of ranting she screamed in anger and plopped herself down on the bed with her head in her hooves. The brown pegasus just stared at her without saying a word. Then she took a step to the side and tripped over her own hooves. She fell sideways and crashed straight into the shelves full of spare pillows and blankets. The pillows and blankets fell on top of her gently in a strange contrast to the speedy fall beforehand. Twilight jumped with a start and looked upwards to where she heard the sound to find a moving pile of pillows and blankets.

“Nice try but I don’t need anymore surprises thank you!” Twilight said in a still frustrated tone while wandering over and quickly lifting the blanket to reveal a thin brown pony with half its mane and tail pulled out and cut. Twilight was taken aback and stared for a while in shock at the strange sight before snapping out of it when the ponies eyes seemed to water and she curled herself back into the blankets and pillows she sat in.

“No no. It’s OK.” Twilight said softly. The brown pegasus looked up a little.

Twilight sighed “I’m sorry. I have had quite a day! And who might you be?”

The brown pegasus slowly looked up and said faintly “Floppy”.

“Oh” Twilight said trying to seem not too surprised as to not insult her.

Twilight waited for a response but Floppy just stared in silence. Twilight thought for a moment. She could tell something wasn’t right. Not just from her physical condition but also from the way she looked at her and her body language. It seemed. Off somehow. She had thought she had read about it somewhere but couldn’t quite place where.

She decided to go with a gentle approach as somehow that seemed appropriate. “What are you doing here?” Twilight asked.

Floppy looked down at her hooves and shuffled uncomfortably before answering “It’s a bit loud in there. I don’t like it” Twilight thought that this again sounded familiar.

Floppy spoke again after a little pause “I-I’m sorry. I will go”

Floppy started to get up on her feet but Twilight pointed her hoof at her and said “No no! It’s OK. Don’t go” she said urgently but gently as not to scare her. Floppy sat down again without a word.

“It’s nice to have a little quiet company” Twilight said and she meant it fully, with emphasis on the word quiet. Floppy smiled a small smile.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what’s wrong with your mane and tail?” Twilight asked, gesturing to her pale yellow hair.

“A-Applejack had to cut it. She said it was too tangled to just brush it” Twilight started to find this conversation rather fascinating. Who was this pony? Why was her mane so tangled it had to be cut off like that?

“Why was it so tangled?” Twilight asked without much thought

“It’s always been like that” What a strange answer, Twilight thought and it intrigued her even more. This pony was fast becoming an interesting specimen.

Twilight decided to move on to something different. Twilight’s eyes locked onto the sight of her ragged pegasus wings and she asked

“your wings are missing several feathers. Did you have an accident? Did you get it caught?”

“I have got it caught several times in trees. I don’t have very good balance so I have to use my wings to help me when I climb trees.”

“You climb trees?!” Twilight said in surprise.

“Yes” Floppy said with a look of confusion and said in a matter a fact way, as if it was totally normal for a pegasus to climb trees.

“My mum tells me to climb them sometimes so I can see where we are going.”

“Why don’t you fly?” Twilight asked eagerly

“I can’t” Floppy said very sadly and hanging her head in shame.

“Is it because you are missing some of your feathers?” Twilight asked.

“Maybe...but I don’t know how to fly anyway. I have tried many times.” Tears welled in her eyes

“I just can’t”

Twilight soon realised this was a touchy subject and perhaps realised maybe she was being a little too pushy with all the questions so she moved on, even though she had so many more to ask. “I presume you are a member of the apple family” Twilight said, trying to spur a more friendly conversation, although she had wondered why she wasn’t introduced to her when given the chance earlier today.

“n-no” Floppy said with confusion,

“I live in the Everfree forest.”

“WHAT?!” Twilight yelled in shock. Twilight had done some research on the area before arriving and so knew plenty how dangerous the forest was known to be so she certainly didn’t know of anybody being able to go through the Everfree forest let alone LIVE there!

Floppy flinched when Twilight yelled and so Twilight took her head back and cleared her throat to calm herself. “Why would you want to live in a place like that?” Twilight asked sounding considerably worried

“especially, when Ponyville is right here?!”

“Mum won’t let me come here. She says Ponyville is full of liars and crooks that will stab you in the back when they get the chance.”

“What a horrible thing to say!” Twilight thought without realising she had said it aloud until Floppy responded

“My mum doesn’t really like anyone. Hell! She doesn’t even like me! I don’t know why she even bothered to rescue me.”

Twilight lost her tension at the sound of this and again grew concerned “rescued you?”

“so she says” Floppy responded

“She found me in the Everfree forest as a baby and she took me in and raised me in the Everfree forest with my older brother. He always picks on me but mum doesn’t care” Floppy sighed deeply

“I am not getting into that conversation again.”

“who else have you spoken to about this?” Twilight asked.

“Applejack” Floppy responded

“She helped clean me and my mane and tail up” Floppy said.

“yes, I know” Twilight said.

“oh sorry” Floppy said instantly as if expecting to be punished for saying something twice by accident.

Twilight soon realised that this was no joke. This pony wasn’t in a good way. Not only was she in an unhealthy physical state but Twilight had good reason to assume her parents had neglected her. The things she said didn’t make sense and the things that she should know are abnormal she spoke of as if it was normal. These ‘kind’ parents had certainly not tried to take care of her or teach her anything about how to be an independent and healthy individual. Twilight started to feel angry. How DARE they treat this defenceless pony like this! How could they leave her so ignorant for so long! It doesn’t matter how poor they are or how difficult life might be in the Everfree forest, it was clear this pony barely even knew basic skills! Twilight was so caught in her own inner rage and thoughts of what she was going to tell her parents that she didn’t notice Floppy’s eyes grow heavy. Floppy lay down slowly and fell asleep. Twilight looked down at her and smiled. She curled up and cuddled the pillows just like a little filly. Twilight used her magic to gently cover the pony with one of the blankets and let her be. Twilight tried to sleep herself but wasn’t able to. Floppy must have been really tired because the music was just too loud for Twilight to sleep. Before she knew it, Spike was calling her saying it was time for the Summer Sun Celebration. Twilight tried to wake Floppy but she wouldn’t wake so she let her be and ran with Spike to the town hall.