(Disclaimer: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, all characters belong to Hasbro and their rightful owners.)
Premise: Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends will never forget the day they all got their cutie marks, knowing in their hearts that it was the first sign of their close friendship that was to come. But after a strange, unknown source of magic ruins the past and their special days of realizing their true destiny, the land of Equestria slowly falls into a state of chaos from the Elements of Harmony lacking their proper hosts. Who will the Mane 6 become without their true destinies and Elements, and can the magic of Friendship be rekindled in Equestria?
Well, my first MLP:FiM fanfic. Its been a while since Ive written anything. Also, I should mention, I do like MLP, but I do not consider myself a brony. I used to, but I got sick of the fandom and trying to get involved, so I essentially quit. Im just going to write the first couple of chapters for this to develop my ideas, then continue when more of the show's canon gets released. Anyway, here we go EVERYPONY.
My Little Pony: Grey Harmony
Chapter 1: Rainbow Crash
The frail, yellow pegasus looked up at the colored hoop looming above her. She took a breath, starting to flap her small wings. The little filly slowly lifted herself into the air, spreading her hooves and attempting to fly through the hoop that every other pegasus she saw could expertly speed past. "I can do it too, I know it, I can do it," she kept telling herself, moving forward in the air and going past the edge of the hoop. She gasped, her hoof slipping on the hoop and tumbling to the ground.
Hearing the short flapping of wings coming closer to her, she sighed and wriggled on the cloud floor, willing anypony else not to see her lack of skill.
"Hey there, Wimpy-shy!" the two male pegasi got closer to the yellow filly, smirking and teasing her. "What's wrong? Still cant fly through a scawy little hoop~?" said the tan-colored colt.
Fluttershy could already feel the tears welling up in her eyes. "Don't yell so loud, Hoops, the poor baby looks like she's gonna cry!" the brown colt said, laughing.
"I…I…" Fluttershy whimpered, looking away and sniffling.
"HEY! Leave her alone!"
Just then, a sky blue colored filly with a rainbow-colored mane flew in, standing in front of Fluttershy, glaring at the two bullies. "Go pick on someone your own size, jerks!" she yelled.
The colts laughed, the brown one pointing his hoof at the small blue filly. "Oh yeah, what are you gonna do about it, Rainbow Crash~?"
Rainbow Dash growled, standing firm and protecting the sniffling pegsus behind her. She remembered these two pegasi from their beginner's flight classes, and she wasn't surprised by their behavior towards this little filly they were pestering. Hoops would always gloat whenever he got the most recognition after races and warm-ups, making it a point to bring down his classmates, including Rainbow, on some occasions. "How bout we race? I'll show ya who's a wimp!"
Fluttershy stared in awe at the adamant filly that was standing in front of her. She's seen her flying with the other pegasi during their flight lessons, which she never bothered attending. Mainly to avoid the other mean, atheletic ponies, ironically.
"Hah! You wanna take us on?" Dumb-Bell, Hoops's friend, scoffed. "Me and Hoops'll beat the likes a' you any day!"
"Fine! Let's go now, then! I win, and you leave…this filly alone!" Rainbow glanced back at the pegasus laying behind her. She didn't recall ever seeing her, or know why she was staring at her. Although, Rainbow pretty much was the coolest pegasus in Cloudsdale, which could explain her disbelief.
The three small pegasi stood ready at the starting line, Rainbow Dash in particular squinting and licking her lips in concentration. Hoops and Dumb-Bell stared ahead confidently, spreading their wings.
Fluttershy held the white flag in her mouth, facing the three racers. She gulped and crouched slightly. The shy pegasus hated, or really really didn't like, having everypony staring at her. Fluttershy closed her eyes, waving the flag.
The pegasi zoomed off, Rainbow Dash being the first to lead. She quickly looked back at Hoops and Dumb-Bell, then speeding up to give herself a bigger advantage. Fluttershy was nowhere to be seen when she looked back to the starting line, but all her focus in this moment was on the race. The race, and going as fast as possible. She was determined to win, and protect the frail little filly's honor.
Rainbow rounded a curve with a tight turn, Hoops right behind her. Dumb-Bell rammed straight into a cloud barrier, leaving the other two racers to speed ahead of him.
Hoops was getting farther and farther behind Rainbow Dash, much to his annoyance and her glory. Rainbow dipped down after passing a colored hoop, flying faster and faster. The wind in her mane, the intense speed, she'd never felt this much power or joy in her life.
Just then, she thought she saw a black, hooded figure hovering directly in front of her, coming ever so close. Rainbow's eyes widened, then quickly stopping to avoid whatever it was that she was about to run into. A flash of light blinded her for a second, then went away. She blinked once, then twice. The figure was gone, and she floated in the air staring at the empty space in front of her. Her eyes felt itchy. She saw another figure zooming past her, laughing. Rainbow Dash groaned, attempting to fly and catch up to him. Although, much to her dismay, her wings felt numb. "What?! What's going-?!"
Just as she was picking up speed, her wings slowed to a weak flap, not near close enough to catch up to Hoops. Rainbow was extremely confused and frustrated, having no clue what the flash of light was or what was going on with her flying. She saw Hoops reach the finish line, hearing many pegasi cheering for his victory. Her jaw dropped, not believing her eyes.
"I…I lost?…" Rainbow frowned and landed softly on a nearby cloud. "But…I was…I almost had…" She felt tears coming up, one falling down her face. She growled, wiping her tears away and scowling. Rainbow Dash got up, starting to fly to where Hoops was, who was gloating about his victory.
"Hahaha! How bout THAT, Rainbow Crash?" Hoops smirked at Rainbow, who was approaching him with a furious glare. He frowned, raising an eyebrow. "What? Cant take a little beat-dow-"
Hoops fell to the cloud floor, tackled by Rainbow. "Beat-down?! Who do you think you are, you /freak/?!" She hit him with the flat of her hoof, hard. "That was all YOUR fault! Why would you cheat, you little-"
Rainbow was quickly pulled off of Hoops by a couple of adult pegasi. Hoops was sniffling and rubbing the bruise on his face, staring up at Rainbow Dash in fear. She struggled and kicked her little hooves, outraged for seemingly no reason. "Hey! You calm down, little filly!" the older pegasi commanded.
Rainbow Dash felt hot tears streaming down her face. She hate, hate, /hated/ to lose, especially to a bully like Hoops. Why did he have to cheat just so he could beat her? How could she lose to /him/? Millions of questions flew around in Rainbow's head as she was taken away from the race course from the pegasi holding her. She /knew/ she was the greatest flyer in Cloudsdale, in /Equestria/, even. Rainbow Dash, at that moment, realized that she needed to do all she could, everything she could, to show that she was the best. Because that's who she was. Nopony else could even try to be better.
Just then, a mark had appeared on Rainbow's flank as she was kicking and yelling. A dark grey cloud, with a red and black lightning bolt coming from the bottom. However, getting her cutie mark at this moment was the last thing on her mind.
"Well, how did it go?"
The black hooded figure walked into the dark cave located in the Everfree Forest. Taking off the hood, her red and orange slightly curled mane flowed out of the robe. "Well," she said, smirking.
The draconequus and god of Chaos, Discord, laid back in his makeshift stone throne. "Good," he said, producing a mug of steaming coffee from nowhere. "My, that was awfully quick, eh, Miss Shimmer~?"
Sunset Shimmer stared at Discord, who was sipping his coffee, with a frown. "At least for /you/ it was. You don't have a CLUE of how long it took to get that spell toge-"
"Yes yes, of course," the draconequus waved a lion paw, dismissing Sunset's rant. "Shall we get on with this grand 'plan' of yours? I'm getting tired, honestly." Discord tossed his mug behind him, snapping and turning his stone seat into a giant marshmallow. He took a handful, eating off a chunk of his armrest.
Sunset wrinkled her nose at him, sighing. "That WAS the plan. With Rainbow Dash not being able to perform that move that inspired the rest of the Element-bearers to get their cutie marks, we should be able to-"
"So we're done, /already/?" Discord's eyes widened, leaning forward in his marshmallow throne. "You mean I can just go back to my own time period and enjoy my complete freedom? Why, this is lovely!" throwing his arms up, confetti and balloons flew up behind him.
"Not /yet/," Sunset growled, a bit confetti being blown onto her face. "We need to make sure the Elements of Harmony aren't being put to use." Discord scowled and all the balloons popped. "We need to watch them and ensure Celestia wont try to stop us. Got it?"
"Oh, how EXCITING that will be," he grumbled, resting his head on his paw.
"All you need to do is keep an eye on where they're being kept-you know where that is, don't you?" Sunset raised an eyebrow at Discord.
He sighed, munching on another chunk of his throne. "Of course I do. Why ELSE would I even be here? I swear, this will be the ONLY time I take orders from somepony else."
Sighing, Sunset shook her head. She knew Discord was her only hope for going through with her plan, as he was the only one that had inside information on the Elements at this time period. She just didn't think he would be THIS impossible.
All life was dull on the Pie family rock farm, the whole area devoid of bright colors, laughter, and any kind of conversation. Only soft, quiet sounds of the rocks while being harvested, being loaded into wheelbarrows and stored for later use, like any good farm. Today was a day similar to most days for Pinkamena Diane Pie and her family, moving the rocks from the west acres to the east acres.
Her 2 younger sisters, Marble and Limestone Pie, were using a wheelbarrow to gather groups of rocks. Pinkamena's father and mother Igneous Rock and Cloudy Quartz, were also assisting in harvesting. Pinkamena herself was standing alone on the far side of the harvesting area, slowly moving a single rock along the ground.
She stopped momentarily, looking up to the bleak, cloudy sky above her. Pinkamena sighed, almost wishing for something to make her life more exciting. Her grandmother had come occasionally, letting her and her sisters have a break from their work on the farm to do more fun things in the winter. Pinkamena remembered learning how to ice skate, falling down with her unbalanced little hooves but having fun nonetheless.
Pinkamena looked back down to her little rock and went back to work. She saw her older sister, Maud Pie, with her parents holding a large sack of rocks with her mouth. Igneous nodded to her, and took the sack to put away with the others. Pinkamena mentally noted that this would be a large harvest.
Slowly walking up to her parents with a small pile of harvested stones, Pinkamena looked up to her father expectantly. Cloudy Quartz looked at her husband, and he sighed, picking up the rocks and putting them in another sack to give to Pinkamena. She looked down at it, frowning and taking it back to her area of the west acres. Marble and Limestone were staring at her, almost haughtily. Pinkamena scowled, turning away.
Then she heard Limestone snicker. All ponies' eyes were on Limestone, who's eyes had gone wide. She blushed, looking down in shame.
Pinkamena glared at her youngest sister. She was one of the first to recall one of the unspoken rules of their family: There was no smiling, and no laughing. She scowled as her parents took Limestone and Marble's wheelbarrow. Igneous sniffed, looking down at Limestone, who shook her head and turned to walk away.
"I-…sorry," she whispered, following Marble Pie back to their area of unharvested rocks.
"Sorry?" Pinkamena said, far too loudly. Limestone looked back at her, slightly turning her head. "What did you think /you/ were laughin' at?! Why not try shutting your /mouth/ someti-"
"Pinkamena Diane Pie," her mother said sternly, Limestone whimpering slightly. "Why don't you get back to work? You have plenty of work cut out for you, missy."
Pinkamena glared at her mother, growling. She turned around with a little huff, stomping back to the west acres. "Don't tell me what to /do/," she mumbled, shoving rocks into her sack.
Igneous and Cloudy both shook their heads, irritated with their rebellious daughter. She'd had a history with being notably more of a brat than even her younger sisters, especially when it came to her not getting enough recognition for what she's done. But recognition wasn't on the Pie family's agenda: There was only harvesting the rocks on the farm, and making a profit. That was business, as Igneous Rock had said many times while scolding one of his daughters. Most often Pinkamena.
Sniffling, the tiny pink earth pony kept putting rocks into her large sack and glaring back at her family, busy working. Why do I never get to say what I want? Pinkamena asked herself. What did /I/ do wrong? I'm right. Im just saying what Dad would say. Pinkamena wiped a tear from her face, not even paying attention to the rocks in her sack.
She just missed her time with Granny Pie, she realized. When she did what she liked, she was happy. She feels better when she's happy. Pinkamena stared at a small, rugged stone in her hoof. I can do better, she thought. I can be better than Marble, Limestone, and Maud /combined/.
Pinkamena shoved the stone into her sack, then lifted her head up towards the rest of the rocks laying on the ground in front of her. She'd do better than her whole family. No smiling, no laughing, no nothing. Just working. She'd show them that she could do better. Then she'd be happy, as happy as can be.
Maud Pie was collecting rocks and storing them in her sack, getting ready to deliver another load to her parents. Looking over at Pinkamena, she dropped the stone she was holding. She left her sack behind, rushing over as quickly as she could to her parents.
"F-father? Mother?" Maud looked up at her mother and father, who were glaring down at her with eyebrows raised. "Its….Pinkamena," she pointed her hoof over at a determined-looking Pinkamena, and Igneous and Cloudy stared at her in disbelief. There, they saw a large, rugged-looking stone that seemed to be made of pure ice had appeared on her flank. Her parents could hardly believe that their daughter had gotten her cutie mark so fast, and wondered how and why now.
End of Chapter 1
Well this was fairly long in comparison to my EEnE fanfic's chapters. Anyway, this is just the start of what's going to be fleshed out more later. I hope that this'll get similar reviews to what my other fanfiction has had, and feedback is much appreciated. Like I've said, character accuracy is most important for me, so tell me how I did with this one.