Author's note: Is it just me, or does this seem rushed? I'm trying to keep it slow and well paced, but that will mean having to write filler chapters which I have a hard time with. I need to suck it up and stop whining if I actually want to finish this. And yes, I know Cheerilee is OOC. That was done to entertain me tbh.

Your name is Elodie, and right now, you are laying in your room, scheming. Tonight, you're going to rob a bakery. You can tell your mother isn't pleased with your earlier purchase. She's muttering to herself in the kitchen, thinking you can't hear her. But you can. The radio in the kitchen crackles to life.
"...and in other news, the stock market dropped a few points...wait! Oh fuck!" The radio news anchor's tone is dripping with panic.
Interested at why the newspony was swearing, you make your way to the kitchen. Your mother is leaning against your counter, hoof over her heart.
"News from Canterlot! Canterlot and Maris are under attack! Or, will be. These plans just leaked!"
"We're literally undefended." Your mother whispers. "Get me the scotch."
Your mother is the most sober pony you know. She probably hasn't touched a drop of alcohol in three years. Nevertheless, you grab the bottle from the alcohol cabinet and bring it to your mother. She opens it and downs half the bottle in one swig, before slamming it down so hard you jump in surprise.
"Holy shit." You whisper.
"Elodie, you know I don't like it when you swear." She pauses, fear in her eyes. "What are we going to do?"
"I have a gun." You wait for the scolding you know you have coming.
"Don't try to fight back! They'll shoot you! We're going to die!" She wailed.
"No we won't."
"You should evacuate."

"Where would I go?" It's not like any of your friends would have you. Their apartments are too small, their tolerances too low. All of your family lived out of the city.

"Fuck." You savored the forbidden word.

"Oh, knock it off with that." Your Mother takes another swig, then wipes her mouth with the back of her hoof. What does Scotch even taste like? Is it bitter? Why is she even drinking? You do know that sometimes, ponies do bad things that aren't smart, like getting blackout drunk. Why? To take away the pain. Because maybe the alcohol burns less than the sting of a heartache. Does love hurt? You wouldn't know, as you've never actually been in love. But your mother wasn't drinking because she was heartbroken. Well, you didn't know that for a fact. Perhaps she was. Maybe she was heartbroken for you, because you were stuck in this damn city. Because you would die young and never find someone to love. Because she knew what happened to the pretty young mares when the enemy soldiers marched in.

"Elodie!" Your mother snaps. "Get out of your head. Get me the fancy china and the gold cups. I'm going to see if I can bribe those brutes to leave you alone." She pauses, before saying "and get half of the money out of the safe." You do just that.

You are now Reckless. You don't think you've actually been you in a long time, which is an odd concept to think about. Who even thinks about those kind of abstract thoughts? You guess you do.

Today, you have to finally go to that hell called school, because Cricket won't stop nagging you. To be fair, what else did you have to do in that town?

You didn't actually go into the building. Instead, you leaned against the doorframe and observed. The school was too small for your tastes. It was a one room schoolhouse! You didn't even think those things were still in use in this century! Whatever, you thought as you stepped in. Whatever happened to be your most common thought. The small room was packed with students who were milling around, and large desks that looked as if they could seat one pony each. Some purple earth pony mare stood at the front of the front of the room. The first thing that you noticed about her was she looked exhausted. Dark circles lay under her eyes, and her mane looked a bit unruly. She yawned and slumped down at her desk. Was she hung over or something?

The mare noticed you standing there, and asked "Who are you?"

"I'm Reckless." You say. "I'm new here."

"Sit next to Applebloom." She lay her head on the desk. Yup, definitely hungover.

"Miss, who's Applebloom?"

"The filly with the big bow." The answer was muffled by the desk.

You only saw one filly with a big bow, talking with two other fillies. A pegasus and a unicorn. Casually, you wandered over and stood a few feet away, eavesdropping, ears perked toward them.

"I'm just worried." The pegasus said. "She's going to be so far away, and with the way things are going…"

"She's going to be fine." The unicorn assured. Who were they talking about? Why wouldn't they drop a name?

Now was as good a time as any. You sauntered over. "Is anyone here named Applebloom?"

"Me. Why?" Asked the filly with the bow. You noted that she had a southern accent.

"I'm new here. I'm supposed to sit next to you."

"Oh. Well, my desk is over here." She walked toward a desk, and you scampered after her. "There." Applebloom pointed to an empty desk to the right of her, and you slid into the seat while she turned and walked back to her friends. One of the things you were never good at was making friends. In Manehatten, you were known as the filly with the explosive sister. But now Rusty wasn't here to shelter you with her reputation. You couldn't really force the other foals to be your friends and get away with it. Maybe you could try being friendly? How does that even work?

As you pondered this, along with the other mysteries of life, class began.

"Ok, class." The mare said in a monotone voice. "We have a new student with us today. Reckless, come to the front of the room." Nervously, you stood up and made your way over.

"Hi." You said as calmly as you could.

"So Reckless, where are you from?"

"Manehatten."

"Nice city. I assume you found your seat?"

"Yep."

"You may go sit." You returned to your seat next to Applebloom.

"We'll start our day by listening to the radio." Cheerilee turned on the radio on her desk.

"This is new news from Canterlot!" The announcer said. "Maris and Canterlot will soon be under attack!" Your first reaction was to scream, but that, of course, would be unhelpful and rather annoying. Best to keep your big mouth shut.

One foal took the news worse than you, and literally fell out of his chair and fainted. It looked like he hit his head pretty hard.

"Is he ok?" You asked. "Where's the school nurse?"

"We don't have one." Someone said.

"What?" You couldn't believe your ears. "Why?"

"Scootaloo, get him an icepack." Cheerilee interrupted your thoughts.

"But shouldn't someone-"

"That will be enough, Reckless."

The ponies in this town really were stupid.