Separated

by ItalianMugshot

Chapter 7 - The Good Ol' Days

I made my way out of Twilight's castle and into town again. Once exited, I decided to go free-flying again. It helped get rid of any doubt of possibilities of never seeing Set again. The flight reminded me of a few good memories I made back in Fillydelphia. It felt really great to be able to fly without a single care in the world, for the time being that is. When I was done free-flying, I decided to go back to my new home in Ponyville. I made my way to the ground and landed at my doorstep. When I got inside, I had forgotten how small it was. The house just had a kitchen, living room/bedroom, and a bathroom. I was just about to get settled in when, all of the sudden, I saw a note on the kitchen counter. It said, "Meet me at Carousel Boutique. I want to have a chance to talk. Signed, Rarity." I had no idea what she wanted to talk to me about, but I felt that I'd find out shortly. But before I could go anywhere, my stomach was, once again, pleading for attention. I looked what I had in the fridge, but I remembered that the only type of food I had were apples.

"Sometimes eating the same thing isn't always a good thing," I thought to myself as I ate one of the apples I had in my satchel. Before I headed to Carousel Boutique, I did a little grocery shopping. On my way to the grocery store, I bumped into Spike.

"I'm so sorry ma'am," Spike apologized. "I just di...Oh! It's you. Steady, right?"

"Yeah," I responded. "I was just on my way over to the grocery store."

"Oh, okay," Spike replied. "If you need me, I'll be over at Rarity's."

"Actually," I began to ask. "I'm headed over to Carousel Boutique as soon as I'm done shopping. Would you tell Rarity I'll be over shortly?"

"Sure thing," Spike accepted as he hurried off.

---

When I got out of the grocery store, I made my way back home. I flew over to my home and put away the groceries. I bought some carrots, water, bread, peanut butter (my favorite), cookies, potatoes, and some eggs. Before I left, I made myself a carrot and peanut butter snack. "I almost forgot how much I loved peanut butter," I thought to myself as I left for the Boutique.

I entered the Boutique to be introduced to the same purple and green baby dragon I ran into earlier today. For some reason, he had his claws behind his back.

"Hi Spike," I started. "Rarity wanted to see me."

"She'll be down in a minute," Spike informed. "But can I get a chance to talk to her first? It's kind of important."

That's when I saw a red petal sticking out from behind his back. It didn't take any genius to know that he was hiding a rose behind his back and that he was planning on asking Rarity out on a date. I couldn't help but feel bad that I was interrupting, what I thought was, Spike's big moment.

"By all means. Go on ahead," I responded. He then went upstairs to talk to Rarity as I made my way inside and made myself comfortable by sitting down in the lounge chair by the corner. Sweetie Belle then came downstairs from her room and saw that I was here.

"Hi Steady," Sweetie Belle began. "Great to see you again."

"Nice to see you too, Sweetie Belle," I responded.

"Are you still looking for your sister?" asked the anxious filly.

I didn't know how to respond, so I told her what I had in mind. "I don't know where she is, and I don't want to risk getting slaughtered by those changelings. I know she's smart, and I know she'll find a safe place to stay until the outbreak is over."

"But what if she's waiting for you?" she asked. "What if she's in an infested city and just barely getting by? Or even worse..."

"Don't say it, please," I insisted. "But you do have a point I suppose. If I were her real sister, I would search high and low. Starting tomorrow morning, I'll look for her. If only I had an idea of where she could be."

I was waiting for Rarity to come down and talk to me, but she seemed to be taking longer than I thought. I was going to go up to see what was keeping her so occupied, but then Sweetie Belle notice my cutie mark and asked, "By the way, how did you get your cutie mark?"

It brought back a time when I used to bullied. But I told her anyway, "Okay, it goes like this,"

---

It all started back when I was in my elementary school. Most of the fillies and colts had already earned their cutie marks. It was during recess when I found out my hidden talent. During recess, I was sitting against the wall of the schoolyard, watching the pegasi flying through the sky.

"Someday, that'll be me," the filly version of myself thought aloud.

Then a colt comes up to me and asks me a rhetorical question. "Hey Steady, could you go move that cloud for me?"

Before I got a chance to respond, the colt answered for me. "Oh right, I forgot. You don't know how to fly!" Then he and everypony on the schoolyard laughed at me.

"I know how to fly," I said, making an excuse. "I just only do it at home."

"Then prove it," the colt demanded. "If you can fly, then do it right now."

Then I leapt from the ground and flapped my wings, but it was no use. I fell flat on my face. Then everypony started laughing at me again, even harder this time.

"I knew it!" another colt teased. "No cutie mark, and you can't fly! What a loser!"

I started to cry, but not enough insults made me want to tear up.

"My newborn brother can fly better than you!" the other colt insulted.

Then I made a stand for myself. "Who needs wings, when you've got hooves!"

"Are you blind?" the colt asked rhetorically as the two colts who insulted me taunted me by flying high above me. "Look at us, it's so simple! And you can't even fly an inch!"

"That's because you rely on your wings rather than your hooves," I said back. "You're too lazy to walk around on your own four hooves because you're always flying everywhere you go. I bet you I'm better off with my hooves than with my wings."

"Is that a challenge?" the colt asked with arrogance.

"I'll tell you what," I started. "I'll race you to the big tree and back. The starting line will be at the flag pole. Whoever wins will prove which is better, wings or hooves."

"You're on," the colt accepted. "I know I can beat anypony with my wings any day."

We then got the race under preparation. I was using my hooves to race and the colt was using his wings.

"On your mark," a filly counted down. "Get set, GO!"

And we had taken off. The colt got a bit of a head start, but I caught up pretty easily by the time he got to the tree. From the tree back to the flag pole, I had taken the lead by then. In the end, I had won the race, proving having hooves beats flying everywhere you go. And that's when I got my cutie mark. It looked like a horseshoe representing my athletic ability on ground. Then, the whole school had chanted my name in amazement.

---

"And that's how I got my cutie mark," I finished.

"That's great and all," Sweetie Belle started. "But were you really bullied as a filly?"

"I was," I replied. "But it didn't stop me from reaching my goals."

"Kind of like the Cutie Mark Crusaders," Sweetie commented. "Speaking of which, I've gotta go."

"Okay, later Sweetie," I said.

Then Spike came down from upstairs and just when he was about to exit, I stopped him for a second.

"How'd it go with Rarity?" I asked.

"It went fine," Spike said as he exited the boutique. I then heard him shout with joy and excitement.

"Steady, are you down there?" Rarity asked coming downstairs.

"Yeah, it's me." I said. Then I waited for Rarity to come downstairs. "So, what's going on between you and Spike?"

"Oh, it's nothing really," Rarity replied. "He just came up to me and asked me out to go on a date. He also gave me a rose. Such a gentledragon. I also knew about his feelings for me from the beginning so I thought I had nothing to lose."

"Good luck to the both of you," I congratulated. "So, why did you ask me to come down here in the first place?"

"Well, if I'm being completely honest," Rarity started. "I never did get to know what happened in Fillydelphia. You might have told Sweetie Belle, but she never told me anything."

"Okay, here we go again," I said with annoyance. "It was me, my sister Get Set, and my two parents. We left our house to get away from the outbreak. I found a train station that only me and Set were able to get to. My parents didn't make it, and I put my sister on the train to keep her safe. I tried to save my parents, but there were too many changelings for me to handle. Then the train started and I was separated from my sister. I escaped to Ponyville where I thought it was safe. And so far, it seems like a safe place to stay. I've had one changeling attack me in the middle of the night, or at least I thought it was a changeling."

"That sounds pretty terrible," Rarity responded. "I hope you'll find your sister."

"Sweetie Belle said I should look for her somewhere else," I brought up. "I think I might end up doing that."

"Whatever you feel is best for both of you," Rarity added. "Tell me more about Get Set, please."

Then I told her what she wanted. "She's a very energetic, adventurous filly. We used to race one another all the time. Her appearance: she's a young, yellow filly. She has a dark green mane and a cutie mark in the shaped of a cloud. She discovered her cutie mark when she was playing in the clouds, but that's all I know. I remember teaching her how to fly. She was difficult to train but wasn't one to give up so easily. That's another thing about her: she's determined. She's also friendly, brave, and really, really nice. Basically, she's a younger version of myself."

"Well, I wish the best of luck to you finding her," Rarity said.

"And I wish the best of luck to you and Spike," I said with a little chuckle.

I headed back home and made myself something to eat and then went to bed. Later on, throughout the night, something didn't feel right. When I gained a full vision of my surroundings, I was surrounded by a bunch of changelings in my own home. What was going on?