In hindsight setting my wagon down on the edge of the mountains, overlooking the badlands, was asking for trouble. But my thought at the time had been “Oh it’s a lovely view, with the red sands below reflecting back the sun making a mystical glow, plus the dots of green are quite cute and it’s a more interesting view than the sides of the mountains.” So yeah, I asked for it.

I should probably introduce myself before I get any further ahead: I’m Boltblood Thundercloud, funnily cool name for my profession but I’ll get into that later. My parents gave me Bolt after, when I was first born, I apparently started letting off little arches of electricity like a fire cracker, blood because of my fur colour obviously (Don’t need to guess to know that I was bullied for that fact) for a while however I was simply known as Boltblood or Bolt as my parents had no ideas for a second name… Then I started showing an interest in thunderclouds at a young age, making them turn into funny shape or produce more electricity, which I once used to power an over to make a cake, hence my cutie mark. Anyway, got off topic, I’m a Pegasi, I have dark red fur, like I said for my name sake, with a peachy muzzle and hooves, probably used to be red as well but got burnt away from electricity. I have a short dark brown mane with bright red streaks and my eyes are dark blue. I also managed to lose part of my left ear when a knife flew at me one time (Don’t ask, let’s just say stuff can literally bounce back to bite you!) and my cutie mark is a lightning bolt and chef’s knife forming an X. Right, now that the introductions are out of the way let me share my story.

So the reason I was even up on a mountain overlooking the badlands was, actually, quite simple. I was attending a race and the mountain was acting as a starting line. Now with that explanation you’ve more than likely jumped to the conclusion I’m a racer, eh can’t say you’re completely wrong but it’s not a main carrier more a hobby to me, racing, pretty much like every Pegasi we simply enjoy flying and getting paid to do what we love is always a lovely bonus, so that’s why I do it. But my main job is a travelling chef hoping to bring my dishes to all different parts of Equestria and beyond. I was attending the race as a spectator and food provider, you know cakes, sandwiches things like that, however I didn’t want to pitch down my wagon (Which also functions as my mobile home) with everyone else because I didn’t want to be facing a mountain wall, nor have my line tightly packed near the mountain wall, so I moved over to someplace that seemed clear aside from one or two other wagons. Didn’t seem to be any restrictions to staying there and, again, had a nice view. So I set down.

The following morning was fine; I had done the daily set up with the intention of going to watch the start of the race. But this is where everything went downhill... Literally. See I’m okay at getting up quickly if I have something to wake me up, but my alarm was broken, so I overslept, what woke me up; The start of the race. I sat bolt upright (Oh great a pun with my own name) with an announcers voice booming across the mountain top.

“Welcome Fillies and Gentlecolts to the snow tipping marathon,(What was with that name? Just because the finish line ended up at the mountain peak and it sometimes knocked down snow didn’t symbolise the entire race!)we have racers from far and wide, here to show you what they’ve got! So are you ready to see these ponies do some mad racing!?” and cue the problem!

Ever heard the saying Shook the building with applause? well it turns out that can also apply to mountains, because that’s what the stomping of the crowds hooves did to answer the announcers question. There was a crack like a cannon firing and suddenly I was flung forward from my bed as I was attempting to get up, this is my thought pattern leading up to the applause.

“What’s going on? Dude, turn down the damn megaphone, ponies are still sleeping.” my mind replied with.

“Actually onlyyou are still sleeping, that would be the pre-start announcement to get ponies excited.”

“And that’s important because...?”

“The race is about to start!”

“...Oh shit!” I sat up and was about to throw my covers off when I felt myself become weightless as if I was flying, but my wings were folded.

“OH SHIT!!!” I cried out loud.

I smacked into the wall of my small bedroom and fell down, only to bounce back up into the air mumbling from the hit directly to my face.

“Order ready to go.” I muttered managing to open the bedroom door.

“DEAR CELESTIA!” I cried. One of my chef’s knives flew by and wedged itself in the door on the other side and as I looked into the kitchen another knife whizzed past, was this what it felt like to be in a blender? The wagon was bouncing around, like some sort of massage chair of death and now my kitchen was spewing all the utensils around like confetti. This is similar to how I lost part of my left ear, though without the ‘falling down the mountain’ part.

I attempted to crawl along the kitchen floor to the door at the end of the room (Thank god I had the hind sight to nail down the fridge and ovens otherwise they might be joining in this crazy rave of; let’s kill Bolt!) halfway across the room, the wagon must have hit either a pot hole or rock because we suddenly pitched to one side and began to roll... which is about as safe for an unfastened passenger as you could get. I slammed into the wall just above the sink, then rolled onto the ceiling, then the opposite wall by the door to the bathroom, back onto the regular floor with little knives, forks and other tool for preparing meals for customers. Nearly got knocked out by my steel (That’s a metal pole used to sharpen knives if you didn’t know.) the wagon spun in a circle pushing me around like a spinning top (Which was about the kindest thing fate had done for me at this point.) then the wagon slammed to a stop and I slammed into the fridge, I then slumped down against it, if you ever have the choice to do that, don’t not for all the bits in Equestria, felt like I’d been run over. Something warm began running down the side of my right temple and then everything just went dark.

I don’t know how long I was out for, probably a little while, at the very least I wasn’t dead so that was a plus. I sat up slowly holding the spot that hurt the most and when I brought my hoof down there was defiantly the colour of blood on it (A brighter shade of red than my coat, ironic given my name)

“Hay look I’m bleeding my name.” I grumbled putting my hoof back in place and began searching around the littered ground until I found some napkins. With a large pile of them balled up and pressed against my head (Then tied around my forehead with a bit of medical tape so I wouldn’t have to use up one of my hooves.) I walked over to the sink and twisted the tap (Single tap, only have whatever temperature the water is heated at from outside, so in summer I have to add ice cubes and winter have to boil it, since I can’t afford any enchantments to do it for me.) I scrubbed off the blood coating my front hooves. Now came the painful part. I slowly peeled off the makeshift gauze I’d made, which obviously had to stick so I’d have to tug it off which hurt like all Luna, and yes I screamed obviously, then I ran a cloth under the water and rubbed the blood of with a muffled cry of pain every time I moved the damn cloth over the cut. Pain my only weakness!

I set the cloth down after finally rubbing away the blood and put my hoof to the area that had been bleeding. Pain, lots of pain, but no blood present, so I stuck a large square plaster on and called it dealt with (I’m not a medic alright). With my injury dealt with, I made my way towards the door, avoiding the fallen utensils which lay all over the ground, like metallic confetti. I pushed the door open and gasped.

I’d heard that the badlands were basically nothing but the seasons gone chaotic and weird, the closest point to where Equestrian guards enter, in the North, to check nothing is trying to cross into our borders, is actually a desert. Me, I was in a frozen tundra but for some reason it was still incredible warm yet the snow was solid and didn’t look like it’d melt anytime soon. Like I said; weird. I stepped down onto the snow and it was a weird feeling having cold hooves but a warm body, I looked back at my wagon and sighed in relief. Aside from a few new scratches the wagon was okay to go, it had hit a tree against the right side of the harness which…

“Oh, okay so not ready to go.” I mumbled, the harness had snapped off slightly from the side it had collided into the tree with, it was still in one piece, by some miracle, but it was bent at a weird angle and if pulled at even slightly the left side would likely rip away.

I grumbled as I walked around the wagon inspecting it for any more damage, but, other than the harness, the whole thing had held together quite well, nice job old girl. I walked back towards the side of the wagon with the door on it with the intention of cleaning the interior before beginning to fix the wagon when something brightly coloured in the corner of my eye flash by, I turned towards where the source had been my heart racing. I was too far from the royal guards entry point, there was no chance anypony else had been unfortunate enough to join me down here from the race, so my mind raced to the first panic driven conclusion that something from the badlands had flashed past. I thought up every vague, mad rumour and thought.

“It’s all true!!!” I even made a few up there on the spot that didn’t make much sense, trust me if you’d been brought up with all those horrors at a young age, even Celestia would probably shake in her shoes.

I stood there staring towards nothingness, for about five minutes, until my heart slowed down enough for me to slowly trudge back to the wagon. I paused by the door to look at the harness which was bent downwards now for some reason, but I paid little attention to that fact as I was a bit busy looking for badland monsters, I then stepped into the wagon and locked the door. I breathed a sigh of relief, glad of the familiar homely space, and set to work cleaning up the interior of the wagon.

I could hear the race starting above me but the noise was so far away it was like listening to something at the bottom of a well, the clearing took a little while because I wanted everything back in its old place, my mind was hardwired that way and it also delayed dealing with the harness, going outside to get wood for repairs, facing the terrors outside. When I finally got round to closing the last draw I whimpered, then my brain went.

“What about the other rooms they need cleaning, especially the bathroom…” the last thought almost made me want to go outside, almost.

I started with the bathroom, which wasn’t as bad as I’d thought. My toothbrush was mercifully stuck in the sink, if it had ended up in the toilet… I tried not to think about it, but I doubt I’d ever do my teeth with it again, I’d have had to use my hoof with toothpaste on the end, still a better alternative! The washing liquids and soaps were all over the floor and in the bath but, other than toilet water, nothing had spilt. I opened one of the bathroom cabinets and took out another cloth and began wiping up the water (As fun as it sounds) then replaced all of the fallen items around the bathroom.

The next room, on my delaying tactic- er I mean cleaning list, totally what I meant, was my bedroom. For the most part, it was just tidying up my racing gear, you know goggles lightning proof suit, it was fancy but I liked to have it around in case of some fun flights, and then sorting the bed back into position. With the bedroom done that left a little closet I had next to the bathroom but that only took a few seconds to sort out the equipment in there, which included the tools and supplies to fix the harness which I reluctantly grabbed. The wagon was pretty much back in order, except for the harness. I walked to the door and stared out the window, which was above the oven, I liked to see the world go by as I cook deal with it, and looked out at the seemingly endless forest. I shuffled around nervously attempting to gather my courage. Eventually I made it to the door and unlocked it gently pushing it open and stared out, the view was the same just a little wider and with more trees.

With a hatchet tucked under my wing I stepped down onto the snow. Upon stepping forward my front right hoof sunk deeper, I glanced down then pulled my hoof up gasping in surprise and fear. A clean trench, a few inches deep, had been made by something moving around my wagon. The trench looked like it had been made by a snail or worm going in a straight line, except every so often there were thin lines in the trail, like something had gripped the ground slightly, like a snake. My mind instantly brought up a giant snake (Since a giant worm or snail didn’t seem as threatening in comparison) that wanted to break my ribs and eat me. Then I slowed my breathing and sighed, trying to calm myself. Snakes were cold blooded they wouldn’t like this area, plus no snake would grow this big except maybe a reticulated python and they were too normal for the badlands.

I followed the trail with my eyes watching it lead back into the forest, then followed it the other way. It led around the back of the wagon to the opposite side then disappeared. I blinked and glanced around, either the trail had randomly started or this is where it ended and whatever caused it had climbed onto something, but the only thing around was,

“...Oh crap.” I stood there for about thirty seconds expecting something to attack me, when I finally looked over nothing was perched on the roof of my wagon. I blinked then chuckled nervously.

“I’m losing it.” I mumbled to myself and carried on towards the forest to collect wood, glancing back over my shoulder a lot.

Nothing interesting happened while I looked around for some trees small enough for me to cut down into some planks. When I returned to the wagon, several logs acquired, I might have noticed the fresh brushed off snow on the entrance of the wagon, but I was too tired from chopping and I still had to saw up the logs, plus I had been watching my back rather than my front more so that was probably a mistake too. I locked the door behind me and piled the logs on the table across from the door. I walked over towards the tool closet and noticed a few patches of snow outside the bedroom, I shrugged it off assuming I’d done that earlier... In hindsight very dumb. I returned the hatchet and retrieved a small saw and exited the wagon again (Because I wasn’t going to saw my table in half in the process of sawing up planks, thank you).

Several sawed up planks later, and many picked out splinters, and a few nails hammered on and the harness was back in position. To be honest it looked absolutely horrible, but it was functional and would hold until somepony who actually knew what to do could fix it. I returned to the wagon stretching my cramped wings one last time before closing the door and I sighed. The sun was setting and the race was over, likely being packed up now. There was a slim chance somepony might check for my wagon but I wasn’t going to bet on it, still it was safer to stay here for the night since it was, technically, closer to the Equestrian border so hopefully nothing would venture too close.

I showered (Because I was sweaty and covered in bits of barks and wood shavings, which wouldn’t be comfortable when sleeping) and fell on my bed pulling the covers over me and lay facing away from the wardrobe, maybe if I’d faced it I might have seen what was inside, but, being me, I’m oblivious as all high Tartarus. And that got me in some deep trouble right then.

Author's Notes:

So this is my first pony story, but not first ever story, so be gentle in that regard. Also I have to warn you all that I'm not the best at setting up a plot (ba dum tish)

I'm so sorry! XD