My usually neat  blue mane was a mess as I galloped as fast as I could, my puffy purple tail flowing behind me. My small bag of belongings was strapped to my white coated body was perfectly placed to cover my blank flank. "I bet cousin Rarity is waiting for me at the train station! I can't wait, Ponyville sounds amazing!" I spoke to myself cheerfully as I ran through the busy streets towards Manehatten train station.

I rushed through the familiar streets I had grown up on, avoiding several garbage bags that had been thrown out as I turned the corner, nearly falling head over hooves attempting to avoid them.

Ah, garbage bags thrown all around the place, the perks of living in the apparently posh suburb of Manehatten.

"Whoa I finally made it!" I beamed to myself as I arrived at the train station, proud I'd actually ran so far. "And just in time too!" I noticed the train boarding ready to head to Ponyville. My fluffy tail hung low for a moment as I pondered for a moment. "What if cousin Rarity isn't totally excited to have me come stay with her though?" I spoke to myself fearfully.

"I AM TOTALLY EXCITED TO HAVE HIM STAY WITH ME!" Rarity beamed with excitement, hopping up and down on the train platform. "Oh my little Flicktailus Flufftail is finally going to be here!" Rarity beamed, scanning carefully as each pony stepped off the train. "Oh I do hope he gets here safely and I'm so glad you're all here to greet him!" Rarity glanced at her five best friends and Sweetie Belle.

"Flicktailus Flufftail?" Rainbow Dash sniggered at my name. "It took you this long to tell us your cousin has the last name Flufftail?" She burst out laughing.

Thanks Rainbow Dash.

My train had finally pulled in to Ponyville station, it was a fairly boring train ride, I'd spent the whole journey mindlessly staring out of the window.

I stepped out of the train and everything was right, I breathed in the fresh air away from the city for the first time my eyes closed tight, and it felt amazing. Before I could truly open my eyes to see what was in front of me, Rarity rushed up to me and pulled me in to the most enormous hug I'd ever experienced.

"Oh little Flicky! It's so great to see you!" She finally broke the embrace and used her hoof to make my mane neater. "Oh my you've grown! and your tail is even fluffier now!" Rarity was inspecting me. "Oh and your mane dear... that needs a nice deep conditioning I think, and what in the name of Equestria is that on your face?" She frowned at the dirt, licked her hoof and wiped my face.

"It's great to see you again Rarity!" I hugged her once more. "Thank you so much for letting me move in with you!"

"Oh it's not a problem at all, oh we're going to have so much fun! Just as long as you don't cause any trouble!" She teased, licking her hoof once again and wiping away more dirt from my face.

"I promise Rarity! I'll never cause any trouble at all!" I smiled up at my cousin eagerly.

Well that was a complete lie, sorry Rarity.

For that matter, sorry to the entirety of Ponyville. Anyway, I was always nervous meeting new ponies, so when Rarity insisted that I -

" - Must meet my best friends!" She proclaimed proudly.

Everypony stepped forward except Sweetie Belle who hung out nervously behind the rest.

"This is Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash!" Rarity introduced me to her friends, all of them smiled down at me politely. "And Sweetie Belle over there, oh come on Sweetie say Hi to your cousin, you've never met before!"

"Welcome to Ponyville Flick!" Twilight Sparkle stepped forward and lowered herself to my level.

"Hi Miss Twilight!" I squeaked excitedly.

"Yeah welcome... Flufftail." Rainbow Dash tried desperately to hide her laughter.

And that's how I first met Rarity's friends, they were all so lovely and welcoming. I had honestly no idea that I'd just met my new family it really was a perfect welcome. Although I recall Pinkie Pie firing some sort of confetti cannon that ended up with her getting kicked out the station at somepoint.

"Oh my, it's so nice to meet you," Fluttershy shyly spoke, clearly happy to see another addition to the group, yet still retaining her cute shyness.

Now my first impression of your aunt Fluttershy was that she seemed so kind, shy, quiet and just overall adorable, it was hard to imagine she seemed like the calmest pony you could ever meet. I'd eventually see what she's like when she finally loses her cool though.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

"Welcome to Ponyvillie squirt!" Rainbow Dash ruffled my mane. "And boy, you sure look like Rarity, hope you're not a fashion freak like her!"

I'd been told a few times that I resembled your aunt Rarity, besides my messy blue mane, I have the same colour eyes as she has, the same white coat, even a purple tail.

"If ever y'all need showin' around, ye can count on us to help ya!" Applejack winked, tipping her hat towards me. "We're mighty happy to have a new member of our group!"

"So Flicktailus Flufftail, what brings you to Ponyville?" Twilight asked warmly.

I had no idea at the time all the things me and your aunt Twilight would go through, I'd always had a huge interest in magic and had heard so much about her before I arrived in Ponyville. I'll get to all the amazing magic related stories later on. But for now I faced a problem.

Why was I here? I had to speak up and answer.

"Well it's lovely to meet you all! You're all so kind and welcoming thank you!" I blushed slightly nervously looking down at my hooves. "I decided to come here because -" I felt myself hesitating slightly, the idea of what I was about to say somehow sounded odd even though I'd told myself over and over that it was the reason I should move. "I want to earn my cutie mark, I thought maybe a new town away from the busy city and my parents might be a new start for me."

I knew that my life didn't belong in Manehatten or any other huge city. I knew deep down that getting away from everything could help me find that special something that I was destined to do. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sweetie Belle suddenly look up and stare directly at me, before jumping in front of me, startling me and the rest.

"You don't have a cutie mark yet!" She gasped with a tone of enthusiasm, leaping in front of me. "You can be our new member! We have a group called the cutie mark crusaders, I run it with my two friends! I have to tell Apple bloom and Scootaloo! They gotta know that we have our first colt joining the group!" She paused for a moment and noticed my fairly blank expression. "If you know, you wanna join that is," she averted her gaze.

I swear when Sweetie Belle gets so excited her voice raises several tones, sometimes it's so high pitched I momentarily lost my hearing.

I rubbed my ear several times, trying to hide the fact she'd nearly deafened me I opened my mouth to speak -

"Come on now Sweetie Belle don't suffocate him with questions, you two can get to know each other before you do any cutie mark related things," Rarity ushered Sweetie Belle aside.

I glanced across to Sweetie Belle when Rarity wasn't look and nodded, winking as I did so. She grinned in return.

"Hey I haven't welcomed you yet!" Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared behind me somehow. "You can't have a welcome party with confetti!" She pulled a giant confetti cannon seemingly out of nowhere. "WELCOME TO PONYVILLE FLICK!"

"Pinkie it's not a good idea to set off the confetti cannon here!" Twilight tried to stop her friend.

"Nonsense!" Pinkie beamed happily. "All I want to see is Flick smile and feel welcomed! There's no better way to do that than confetti! It's the best idea ever! nothing can possibly go wro - "

"So now that we've been kicked out of the train station." Rarity glared at Pinkie Pie. "Where would you like to go Flick?" She asked me warmly.

"I know just where we should go!" Pinkie bounced happily away. "This way everypony!"

"She's quite a character." I giggled. "I'm actually excited to see where she takes us!"

"I would say you'll eventually get used to Pinkie Pie but, well that would be a lie!" Sweetie Belle giggled.

I shook my head in amazement. "I've only been here for five minutes and I'm already having so much fun! I wonder where Miss Pinkie is taking us though?"

"Well duh, where else?" Pinkie hopped alongside me, "Sugarcube corner!"

At that moment in time, I had literally no idea what Sugarcuber corner was, of course it quickly became my favourite place in all of Ponyville. So when we arrived we had a nice little party, where I also happened to meet two more very special ponies.

"Flick, this is Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, my fellow cutie mark crusaders! Guys this is my cousin Flick!" Sweetie Belle pushed me in front of the two ponies grinning at me.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Scootaloo!" Scootaloo eagerly shook my hoof.

I felt dizzy but returned the smile she gave me, before turning to Apple Bloom.

"I'm Apple Bloom! It's sure fine to meet ya Flick!" Apple Bloom did the same.

"So you want to join our group?" Scootaloo and Apple Bloom spoke almost immediately.

Sweetie Belle was grinning behind them, already knowing the answer. I smiled at my cousin and took a deep breath.

"He's going to say yes!" Sweetie Belle whispered to the other two. "I already know that!"

I composed myself. "You know what, it's been amazing to meet you all, this is a whole new life for me here," I spoke slowly, breathing deep as I did so. "We all want to find that special talent, everypony searches, because without it we feel incomplete. Like a piece of us is missing and we need to... to find our destiny and I - " I noticed all three crusaders staring blankly at me. "Yeah I'll join your group."

"YEAH!" They cheered in unison.

"Did somepony say YEAH?" Pinkie Pie immediately appeared with the huge confetti cannon once again. "Hey everypony, three cheers for Flicktailus Flufftail, the new member of our family!" Pinkie screamed happily, letting off the huge bang of confetti.

Everypony cheered several times, I blushed slightly.

"Wait..." Scootaloo started to laugh. "Flufftail?" She fell on the floor laughing.

I rolled my eyes as Scootaloo began to laugh, "Looks like she'll be the joker of the group," I giggled to myself under my breath.

"So Flick, we all have things we're passionate about and want to get our cutie mark for... what's yours?" Apple Bloom asked.

Scootaloo finally stopped laughing and stood back up, "Yeah!" She wiped a tear from her eye, "Flufftail... what do you want your destiny to be?"

I smiled and stared for a moment, before nodding. "Magic, that's my most favourite thing in the world, I just know if I focus and put my mind to it, I can totally get a magic related cutie mark!" I beamed.

My newfound friends smiled at me, enjoying my enthusiasm.

"Now you're a crusader, you'll find your cutie mark in no time!" Scootaloo placed her hoof around me, "Of course it wont be as cool as mine, when I get it before all of you that is," She smirked.

Of course my cutie mark didn't end up being magic related, life never usually goes as you expect it to, I'd find my true talent eventually though, and the journey to find it was amazing because of my new family being there with me every step of the way.

"So guys!" Sweetie Belle grabbed four milkshakes and gave one to each of us, "To Flicktailus Flufftail, my cousin, the new crusader!"

"To Flick!" Apple Bloom raised her glass.

"Flufftail!" Scootaloo giggled.

And thats how I became a cutie mark crusader.

This was the start of my adventure, it was never an easy one and wasn't always filled with good times, but no story is perfect, but this was my story. And this was just the beginning.

Next Chapter: Chapter 2: First week in Ponyville Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 52 Minutes