Transgressions of Blood

Chapter One

Shadow Rose flapped into town, her blue-grey wings beating against the air. Here was her new home, in Ponyville. It was said to be the most peaceful place in all of Equestria.

Back where she had come from, life had been rough. She had been forced out of her town by her own parents all because she had been falsely accused of a crime. She didn't even know what the crime was!

'Hey, you up there! Y'all knew here, 'ain't 'ya?' said a tan mare in a cowboy hat.

Shadow Rose descended to the ground, bringing the flapping of her wings to a halt. She didn't know what to make of this mare, but she seemed nice enough. Might as well answer her, although she felt a bit shy.

'Yeah. My name is Shadow Rose, but you can call me Rose,' she announced proudly. 'Nice to meet you.'

'Nice to meet ya'll, too,' the mare replied. 'I'm Applejack, but ya'll can call me AJ. Want to come on down to my apple farm? I can show you 'round Ponyville.'

'It's very nice of you to invite me. I'd love to go, but I actually have somewhere to go right now. I really do want to go, but could you wait for me?' Rose asked.

'Just come on down now. T'aint nothing to be rushing to! Ya'll just got here,' AJ persuaded.

'I guess you're right on that aspect. Okay, I'll come,' the dark blue-grey mare replied with a smile.

'I'll lead the way. You stay close, now. Don't want ya'll gettin' lost,' she said.

'OK, I will,' Rose consented, taking off.

They traveled to AJ's apple orchard Rose was captivated by the rows and rows of apple trees.

'It's amazing!' she exclaimed, twirling in the air.

'Thanks! I work real hard on it, day and night,' the tan mare replied.

'I really mean it! I'd love to go fly down there just to see all the apple trees,' Rose said excitedly.

AJ laughed. 'Well, go on, now. Just be careful down there! Try not to get hit by any trees.'

Rose dove down into the trees, her dark wings beating against the air, her scarlet eyes narrowed by the wind and concentration. She wove between the trees, then decided to go up to get a better look and see how big the orchard really was. Rose pointed her muzzle to the sky and shot upward. Suddenly, a rainbow and a gust of wind shot right past her.

What was that? She thought. Well, might as well find out.

Rose shot after the rainbow, flapping her wings as fast as she could to catch up. Then she noticed the rainbow went downwards. She descended, following the rainbow, until she came upon a blue mare with a rainbow-striped mane. Rose didn't want to bother her, so she decided she would head back to the apple orchard to check back on AJ. Maybe she could help out there, I mean, it was a very beautiful part of Ponyville. Before she could go back, though, the blue mare called out.

'Hey, you there! Nice acrobatics! You been to a flight camp?' she said.

'No, I never had the chance to,' Rose replied, turning around.

'You do good...for a pegasus-pony that hasn't been to flight camp,' the Rainbow pegasus said.

'Is that a challenge?' Rose asked.

'Eleven 'o clock tomorrow,' she said with a smirk.

Rose smirked as well. 'You're on,' she said.

They both nodded and walked away.

'By the way, the name's Rainbow Dash,' the pony said.

'Shadow Rose,' the blue-grey pegasus said with a wink.

Rose flapped back to the hill at the top of the orchard. AJ wasn't there anymore, but she decided to go look for her. She padded across the hilltop to see her talking to a red pony with a blonde mane. She didn't want to bother her, so she just walked past her.

'Oh, howdy, Rose! We were just talkin' 'bout 'ya'll,' she said. 'This is Big Mac, by the way.'

'Nice to meet you, Big Mac,' she said, turning around.

'Well, I don't want to be a bad host, so I'd best be getting to giving a tour of Ponyville to this here pegasus-pony,' AJ said, bidding farewell to Big Mac.

'You didn't have to do that,' Rose tried to persuade.

'Nah, that's all right. I'm fine with showing you 'round. In fact, I'd rather do that,' AJ comforted.

'Well, I'm glad,' Rose replied. 'By the way, do you know a pegasus-pony named Rainbow Dash?'

'Of course I do! She's a bit overzealous, but she's a good friend,' AJ explained.

Rose simply nodded as she followed AJ to Twilight Sparkle's house.

'This is the home of Twilight Sparkle. She came from Canterlot, and she's apparently here to learn about friendship. She's a nice pony, but t'aint nothing she does other than studying. I'll see if she's home,' the tan mare announced.

AJ clopped up to Twilight's door and knocked on it with her hoof.

'Twilight? Ya'll there?' she called out.

A little purple and green dragon answered the door for Twilight.

'Howdy, Spike,' AJ greeted.

'Hey, Applejack. Are you looking for Twilight? She's writing a report to Celestia,' the dragon (apparently named Spike) said..

'Do you think we could see her?' Rose asked.

Spike studied this new blue-grey pony.

'Who...are you?' he asked.

'Name's Shadow Rose,' she replied. 'Nice to meet you.'

'Oh. I'm Spike,' the small dragon said. 'Come on in. Twilight should be in her room.'

Rose nodded as Spike lead them to her room.

'I'll stay outside,' AJ said. 'Ya'll can catch up with her on your own.'

When Rose stepped inside, the room was mostly dark, besides a little light leaking out from the window and a candle lit in the corner. There was a purple glow over there as well, it seemed...