Chapter 5: A new start

Although Alpha was free, he had no idea how to fly. He dropped like a rock, falling through the cloud layer and began plummeting toward the ground. "Shit!" He screamed as he fell, "Beta, help!"

"I was an Earth pony when I was alive. I have no clue how to fly!" Beta replied casually.

"Thanks for the help." Alpha said sarcastically.

"Try spreading your wings and legs to slow down your speed to glide and balance out."

With his legs spread, Alpha's mind raced as he struggled to spread his wings. Once the tips of his wings caught hold of the wind, they instantly opened, slowing Alpha's decent. He was still falling at an incredible rate, but it was no longer in the lethal range. As Alpha started to slowly balance his weight, something caught his attention in the distance. It was a small village. Alpha slowly leaned forward, placing his weight on his legs and glided toward the Village.

"What are you doing?"

"There is a village up ahead. We can probably find ponies there, considering it's actually there and not an hallucination"

"So? You are aware that it has been 6 years since you have actually been in a public place, right? And we don't have any bits/currency that they use. "

"You don't need remind me of that. I am fully aware. I'm sure my skill at welding can become of great use there."

"Do you know how to land?"

Alpha was about to respond when he realized he was about to fly straight into an old oak tree. Alpha instinctively leaned to the right, turning sharply to avoid the tree but was too late. His left wing bounced off the tree, throwing him off balance. He fell 10 feet to the forest floor. His mechanical wing hit the ground first, causing Alpha tumble through the forest, his head hitting another tree, knocking him out in the progress. He finally came to a bone-crushing halt, 6 feet away from the edge of the EverFree Forest.

Alpha woke up the next day. He slowly got up, shaking his head to shake off any dirt in his mane.

"That was a hell of a crash landing you had there. Are you hurt?"

Alpha let out a sigh of relief when he heard Beta's voice in his mind.

"No, I'm okay," He made a thorough check on his wings for any damage then shook off any dirt on his back and tail. "Just some scratches" Alpha continued, "nothing serious." He took a last look at his right wing and then started to walk to the edge of the forest. He stopped at the edge of the forest when he Beta getting nervous.

"What's wrong?"

"I remember this place." Beta said slowly. "I used to live here…"

"So did I…but I didn't have the luxury of having a home…"

"What do you mean?"

Alpha shook his head. "It's not important anymore. It was a long time ago. Everything is different now."

Alpha took a few steps into the sunlight. He moved his head to the right as he shielded his eyes with his left wing. He wasn't used to such brightness. He continued to walk to the village, determined to find somepony that could help him. As he walked, he was aware that he was attracting attention because of how he acted. He began walking to the center of the Town square when he was stopped by a guard.

"You okay, colt? You seem lost." The guard said, looking at Alpha.

"I am not from around here. Where am I?" Alpha asked, his wing still covering his face.

"You are in Ponyville." The guard replied, tilting his head to one side in curiosity. "Lower your wing, colt. No pony here will hurt you."

Alpha slowly lowered his wing to his side, his face almost glowing in the sun light. The guard stepped back in horror and awe as he saw Alpha's face. Alpha slowly looked around himself and realized that he was being surrounded by ponies.

"Alpha…I do not like this." Beta said, his voice growing cautious.

Alpha nodded in agreement with Beta. He watched as the unicorns and earth ponies closed in on him, not threating him but curious of him. Alpha stretched his metallic wing in an effort of pushing away the surrounding group. It worked, the group stepped back a few feet, giving Alpha some room.

"Who is he?" "Where is he from?" "What happened to his right wing?" "What happened to his face?" Alpha could hear the questions that the group was whispering. He stood silently, retracting his metallic wing, watching the group. He could feel Beta rising.

"Not now, Beta. This is not the time to do that." Alpha muttered as quietly as he could to Beta.

Beta listened to him and stopped.

"No pony here will hurt you." The guard repeated, slowly moving toward Alpha.

"I am just lost. I am not from around here. I don't have a home." Alpha said aloud, addressing not just the guard but the whole crowd. "I am willing to work for food and a place to sleep. I have a knack for welding." He said.

"If you can weld, you can work at my place." A grey stallion with a brown mane replied. "I will pay you on how well you can repair metal. If it is a good repair, clean and accurate, you will be paid. If it is a bad repair, dirty and messy, you will not be paid."

"When do I start?" Alpha replied, looking at the stallion.

"You start when you show me how much you know on welding. Follow me." The stallion said, walking away. Alpha trotted after the Stallion, the crowd watching him leave.

"What is your name?" Alpha asked the stallion.

"The name's Smith." The stallion replied. "And what is your name?"

"You can call me Alpha." Alpha said.

"You got a last name, Alpha?" Professor asked.

"I don't know." Alpha commented.

"Well Alpha, when we get to the work station, I want you to show me what you know."

"Ok." Alpha replied as they walked to the repair station.

When Smith asked Alpha what he knew, he was stunned. Alpha knew more about welding than any other stallion/mare the Smith had ever met. Smith gave Alpha a left wing glove, a mask, and a welding torch, and told him to get to work.

At the end of the day, Alpha had a pouch of 32 bits. He was able to repair everything the station had to repair. Every repair was accurate and clean. Smith was expecting Alpha to be a colt who was exaggerating everything he said. But Alpha was not exaggerating. He wasn't even tired. This was considered as a rare break at the RF. Once he was paid and was told that he could leave, he asked Smith where he could get buy some food. Smith gave Alpha a map of Ponyville. Alpha thanked him for the map and walked out of the station. Looking at the map for directions, Alpha made his way to the town's market. He then bought and ate some food. After he was done eating, Alpha checked the map to see if there was any place to spend the night.

"It's been so long since I was here. Everything has changed." Beta said.

"I know." Alpha replied.

Alpha walked to the EverFree forest. He explored the forest and found the oak tree he hit the day before. He moved on from the tree, turned a right and walked on. After about 15 minutes, he had found a cave. He checked inside the cave for anything that could hurt him. The cave was surprisingly big; Alpha had walked about 3 minutes when he hit the end of the cave. Satisfied with what he found, he walked to the entrance of the cave and, with Beta's help, was able to create a fire with some nearby tinder. Once he thought the fire could last for a bit, he walked out of the cave, and cut some trees and branches with his metallic wing. He then dragged the wood he cut with his wing and went back to his cave. The fire was still blazing. He dragged the wood 1/5th of the way into the cave, and gave the fire some more wood. Alpha watched as the fire caught the wood he had given it and grew. Alpha relaxed as he lied down on the cold rock floor. He took off his metallic wing, freeing his burnt wing, and carefully examined it as if he had just noticed it for the first time.

"It's amazing, how such a small thing can do so much." Beta said, referring to the fire.

"I like it. I have never seen it this big. I have seen fire before, but that was with my welding torch. It's…" Alpha paused as he tried to figure out the right word. "It's…It's…"

"It's comforting." Beta said, finishing Alpha's comment.

Alpha fell silent. For an hour, neither Beta nor Alpha spoke. Alpha was putting more wood on the fire when Beta spoke.

"You never told me you lived in Ponyville."

"You never asked."

"What happened before you were in the RF?"

"It really doesn't matter." Alpha said as he watched the fire.

"To me, it does. Don't worry. I won't be afraid of you." Beta said sarcastically.

Alpha got up and walked past the fire into the open area in front of the cave. "I'm not afraid of me scaring you. I know I won't. It's just a part of my life that I don't look back on. It does nothing but bring back bad memories when I think of it. I try to avoid the subject." He looked up and gazed at the night sky. "But if you really want to know…" Alpha let out a long sigh.

"I was born 13 years ago. I had parents; a mom and dad who loved me, or so I thought. I was abandoned by my parents when I was five.I remember it so clearly, as if it happened yesterday." Alpha said, struggling to keep his emotions in check.

"They brought me to a park one day, telling me to go play with some colts. When I ran after the colts, I looked back to see my parents leaving. I ran after them, asking where they were going…" Alpha lowered his head, tears streaming down his face. "They told me that they had forgotten something back at home, and were going to go get it and come back. I was a fool. I replied okay, and ran after the colts. When all the colts began leaving with their parents one by one, I began to wonder when my parents would come back. I had no idea where I was. I stayed at the field until it became dark when I began to realize what had happened…" Alpha paused as he struggled to regain control of his feelings.

"I became a stray. I began to steal food to eat. I would stay in the alleyways to sleep. I tried to join in with the other strays, but they would never allow me to join. They always ran away from me when I came to them." Alpha wasn't crying as hard as he was earlier. "I was eight when I was caught by the guards for stealing some apples… After that, well, you know the rest."

"I didn't know. I always presumed you were a stray, but I never knew how you became one."

"Remember the time when you told me that you were afraid that I would be afraid of you?"

"What about it?"

"What I said was true. I would never be afraid of you; you were and still are the only pony I am able to actually trust; that I could call a friend. No pony has treated me like the way you do."

"I'm not leaving you. I will never leave you." Beta said, trying to comfort him.

"I know. Thanks." Alpha said, looking at the fire as it slowly turned to red, smoldering coals.

Alpha walked to the fire and gave it a few more branches. He then lied down on the cold rock floor, and tried to fall asleep. Sleep eventually came, and when it did, Alpha embraced it as fast as he could.

He always hated talking about his past; about his parents; about his life before he knew Beta.