The Crystal War Book I: A Spark to Light the Dark

by NatureSpark

Ch.3 One Eye on the Future

~Chapter 3: One Eye on the Future~

Nature Spark had awoken before dawn and gone outside to have his morning tea and a smoke. The golden sun was just beginning to rise over the tree tops, painting the sky with its breath taking palette of luxurious colors. Times like this were when the unicorn liked to take a moment to thank Celestia for her amazing gift to ponykind. He found his thoughts turning to Luna soon after and wondered if he was the only pony who took her sweet nights for granted. They were so peaceful and mysterious, yet he often chose to ignore them. Spark made a mental note to personally thank her if ever he got the chance. When the birds began their usual morning call he decided it was time to grab his saddle bags and set off for Dodge.

The sky was clear and blue, with a cool breeze blowing through the leaves to compliment the fair weather. Spark was enjoying the sound of birdsong and getting lost in his thoughts as he traveled down the dirt road. Every day that went by Equestria was getting closer to war and he wanted to do his part to stop it. What exactly that meant, he wasn’t too sure of yet, but with any luck, Silver Blood would be able to answer that question for him. Though his skills in mystical plants didn’t really seem like they would be much use in political circles, Spark couldn’t help but thinking that maybe a little herbal medicine would ease everypony’s tensions during negotiations.

“Brilliant, I’ll just get everypony so high that they’ll forget about the whole war,” Spark said aloud, chuckling at his own wit.

“Still talking to yourself, Spark?” Draft asked. The familiar grey pegasus had snuck up on him while he was lost in thought. Smirking, Draft gave the unicorn a playful shove with his wing as he trotted up beside him.

“Oh joy, it’s the younger feather brain come to ruin my day bright and early,” Spark commented dryly. The brown stallion rolled his eyes at his winged friend. “Where is the shorter one of you? For that matter, why are you even here right now? I thought we were going to meet at my mom’s house this afternoon?” Spark asked.

“Well, Downpour wanted to go see Mint Drop. Something about trying to get lucky before we leave for the next couple weeks, and although his offer to ‘tag team her’ was enticing,” Draft’s sarcasm was thick enough to cut with a knife as he spoke, “I’d rather stick my head in a dragon’s mouth if it’s all the same to you.”

“How chivalrous of you,” Spark laughed.

“I have my moments, so what’s first on your agenda for today?” Draft asked. The Pegasus decided to hover next to his wingless friend instead of walking. It forced Nature Spark to have to look up at somepony for once, instead of looking down, as was usual for the tall unicorn.

“I was going to walk door to door and deliver all of the herbs that my customers will need for the next few weeks, that way I won’t have to be in such a hurry to get back here. Now that I have a little helper with wings though, I think I’ll let you handle that while I go and visit with Heart Charm,” Spark explained with a grin.

“Let me guess, I’m supposed to do this for free, aren’t I?” Draft huffed. Spark nodded and pulled a couple packages out of his saddle bag, his horn’s green glow reflecting off the Pegasus’s grey eyes. He shoved them into his friend’s saddle bags and nodded his head.

“Yup, you should know where to take each of them and the names are written on the packages, so even you can’t mix them up,” Spark told him.

“Whatever you say, boss,” the pegasus replied. With that last snarky remark out of the way, Backdraft took of with his usual speed, leaving Spark to stand there hacking up dust and cursing under his breath.

Spark arrived at Charm’s house without any problems, but as he was standing in front of the front door of her house, he began to get nervous. He had planned on walking in and telling her exactly how he felt about her; that back in school he had always admired her drive to succeed, as well as her kind ways. In reality, almost nothing he had ever done to try to impress a mare had gone smoothly. In fact, the last time he went to confess his feelings to a mare, he wound up telling her about the effects of magical potions on the brain of a young pony. He had slept alone that night.

Just as Spark was raising his hoof to knock on the door, it unexpectedly opened mid swing. His hoof met with the pink mare’s head and she fell backwards onto her perfectly shaped flank with a startled yelp.

“Sweet Celestia, I am so sorry, Charm. I swear to Luna that I didn’t mean to do that. Here, let me help you up,” Spark babbled. His horn glowed green for a moment as his magic lifted the mare to her hooves. She still looked stunned and for a few seconds and Spark was afraid that he had hit her much harder than he realized. “Are you okay? Please be okay.”

“Spark? I- I’m fine, just a little bit stunned to have, um, gotten bumped into by you,” Charm replied slowly. The mare’s face flushed that bright pink color that made Spark’s knees weak and his hooves shake. “Please, won’t you come in and join me for some tea?”

“I would like nothing more than to join you for some tea and sorry again for hitting you in the head. I wasn’t paying enough attention to what I was doing,” Spark apologized as he followed the earth pony into her humble home. Charm led him to a dining area in the back of her house and then she set about preparing a kettle of tea for the both of them. Spark had to admire the nimble ease with which she completed the task. What would have taken forever for him to complete without using magic, she managed just as if she was working a spell of her own. Earth ponies were an enigma that he would probably never understand.

“What are you doing today, Spark? Did you come over to find out more about what is happening in the government?” the pink mare asked as she continued to move about the kitchen. Charm blew softly on her cup of tea before taking a small sip. “I’m afraid I haven’t heard anything relevant about it,” she added, taking a seat near Spark.

“No. I came here to, um, to ask you. No wait. To, uh, tell you something,” Spark sputtered. His heart rate was starting to rise again and it felt like it was beating loud enough that she would be able to hear it. The nervous stallion could feel beads of sweat on his forehead and the shaking of his hooves as he tried to talk.

“Are you okay? You seem to be sweating an awful lot,” Charm said with a look of concern that made Spark blush a little.

“Oh no, I’m perfectly fine, it’s just, Charm, do you remember back in school how you used to work so hard? You had good grades, ran two different clubs and played the harp,” Spark replied. He wiped away the sweat from his forehead and practically shouted, “I, well, you see, IjustwanttoletyouknowthatIlikeyoualot!” The confession wasn’t nearly as hard as hard to get out as he originally thought it would be. He took a deep breath and searched the earth pony’s face to see how she would react, but she simply wore a quizzical smile.

“I’m sorry, Spark, but I couldn’t make out a single word of what you just said. Could you repeat yourself a little more slowly, so that I can understand?” Charm asked. She smiled sweetly at the flustered unicorn, who facehoofed before taking in a deep breath to start over again.

“What I wanted to say is, Charm, you are the most amazing mare that I have ever had the good fortune of meeting, so before I die of a heart attack from the anticipation, I’d really like to say something. Every time I talk to you, I find my heart racing and my brain shutting down.” By now Spark’s gaze was locked firmly with his front hooves and he failed to see that the pink mare had started walking around the table to him. “I was hoping that you felt the same way. I know I’m not the best stallion arou-” His thoughts were obliterated as her lips fused with his in a passionate kiss. When she finally pulled away, he was dizzy and felt faintly as if he were floating off the floor.

“Yes, Spark. I do feel the same way about you. I have for a while, but whenever I thought about telling you I just couldn’t get it out,” Charm confessed. “You are so kind to everypony around you and I know how much you care about making people happy. Even though I may not fully agree with your methods, I still think that you are the greatest stallion I know.” With that she gave him another quick kiss and he became so light headed that he was actually surprised he didn’t pass out right then and there.

“I…” Spark croaked. For one of the few times in his life, the intelligent stallion couldn’t even come up with something stupid to say, let alone something that would accurately convey how he was feeling at that moment. He settled for flashing an absurd grin and pulling Charm against himself in a relieved embrace.

They spent the next couple of hours talking about how they felt, intermingled with quick breaks to kiss each other passionately, until they were out of breath. Spark and Charm talked about family, friends, work and what the future might hold for them. Yes, they were probably getting ahead of themselves, but it was all just a part of young love. The feelings were intense, illogical and wonderful all at once. Too quickly however, or so it seemed to Spark, it was getting close to noon and the time for him to meet up with his friends.

“I have to go now, but I promise that I will be back before you know it,” the unicorn explained to his new marefriend. He gave her another kiss before stepping out the door. The sun seemed to be shinning brighter that it ever had and the air smelled even sweeter then he remembered.

“I want you to be extra careful, Spark. I’m already going to be worried about you the whole time your gone, so promise me you’ll avoid dangerous situations,” Charm pleaded with him. Her maroon eyes were large and hypnotic for the unicorn and he would have promised her the world if she asked him. For Charm, he might even come close to delivering it too, Spark thought.

“I swear that I will come back to you in one piece besides, I have Downpour and Draft watching my back,” Spark replied with a smile. He blew her another kiss and then disappeared down the road. Charm stood on her porch until the last of her new stallionfriend was out of sight. As soon as he was sure that he was out of Charm’s vision, Spark got up on his back hooves and started to do the most awkward victory dance anypony had ever seen. It consisted of a goofy smile and plenty of strange hoof movements.

“I got a marefriend, she really likes me. I got a marefriend and she really likes me,” Spark chanted in a singsong voice. He was enjoying his own bad melody until he heard somepony clear their throat in front of him. Spark opened his eyes to see Downpour looking at him like his mane was on fire. The cheery unicorn didn’t care though, he was so high on good feelings that even Downpour couldn’t bring him down.

“You have got to be one of the lamest ponies I’ve ever seen. What are you dancing around for anyway?” Downpour sighed. Both of the stallions began to head in the direction of Spark’s mother’s house, figuring that Draft would most likely be doing the same.

“Not even you can bring me down, my friend, because you are looking at the stallion who is going out with the beautiful, Heart Charm!” Spark bragged.

“Funny. Really though, what’s got you in such high spirits?” Downpour asked again. The pegasus hadn’t believed his friend, knowing how terribly Spark composed himself around pretty mares.

“Oh, I’m not even bucking with you. I told her how I felt and well, I got a marefriend and she really likes me!” Spark began singing at the top of his lungs, all while prancing around the muddy street. Downpour couldn’t help but stop where he was and laugh at the display.

“I can’t even imagine what she sees in you,” Downpour chuckled. Shaking his head, the pegasus resumed flying beside his wingless friend.

“What about you? Your brother told me about your plans to visit Mint Drop. Did you two make friendly or what?” Spark asked his brash friend.

“Actually, I messed up with Minty and that’s all you need to know,” Downpour retorted. He looked rather grumpy, which for some reason just made the love struck unicorn smile all the brighter. The bounce in Spark’s step lasted all the way to his mother’s house, where Draft was already waiting for them by the white, wooden gate.

“It certainly took you both long enough, I’ve been waiting here for like twenty minutes already,” Draft complained as he watched them approach the well manicured yard. “You could have told me that you were going to take half of the day.”

“Well, why the hay didn’t you just go inside, stupid?” Downpour asked as he walked up and bumped his younger brother out of the way, so that he could reach the front door first. It was pretty common for the two brothers to argue with one another, but sometimes Spark could do without the whining.

“Yeah, my mom already told you that you were always welcome in her house,” Spark explained for the tenth or eleventh time. He had lost track pretty quickly.

“I know. I just don’t feel comfortable walking into her house without you,” Draft admitted. He followed Spark and his older brother as they walked into the house. Scarlet was sitting in the living room with a book on her lap, looking a bit tired, but no worse than the last time Downpour and Draft had stopped by to visit. Sugar was sleeping on the couch next to his mother, soft snores rising up from his gaping muzzle..

“Hello, you three, and how are you doing today?” Scarlet asked, glancing up from her place in a thick, dusty book.

“We are doing better than ever, Scarlet,” Downpour replied with his usual playful cockiness. “There is such nice weather and your son got a new marefriend.” Draft looked over at them both quizzically, having missed out on learning this information earlier.

“Good to hear. To be honest I was starting to think that he liked stallions with all the time he spends around you two,” Scarlet joked. She gave a sly smile at the group of friends and her son facehoofed. The two pegasus couldn’t help but laugh at the older mare’s remark. Spark certainly wasn’t gay, but that didn’t stop his friends from getting a few chuckles at his mother’s jest.

“I think we all just got put in our place,” Downpour chuckled.

“Yup,” Spark had to agree, his mother had a quick wit and could really hurt somepony’s feeling when she had a mind to. The unicorn spent a little while catching the other two ponies up on his meeting with Charm, making sure to leave out the awkward moments which made the story fairly quick to tell. His mother got them a couple of daisy sandwiches and some ciders for lunch, choosing a salad for herself instead. It was only after they had finished eating that Spark began to tell her what they were planning on doing. She didn’t seem all that thrilled, but she had long ago stopped trying to prevent her son from following after his crazy hunches. It made it easier for both of them to coexist.

“I’m not sure exactly what you think you can do to help, Spark, but I’ll give you some bits for the road and I’m pretty sure that I have something else that might help,” Scarlet said. She floated a small bag of bits over to Spark and he put them in his saddle bag, then she brought out a silver unicorn dagger from her room and dropped it in her son’s waiting hooves.

The slender object was razor sharp at the tip and was crafted to look like three vines entwined around each other. It felt fairly heavy for it’s small size and left a faint feeling of magic tingling in the unicorn’s forehooves.There was also a small emerald inset in the front of it and words etched on the back. Before Spark had a chance to read the inscription his mother spoke.

“It says ‘May my spark light Celestia’s fire in the darkness’ and it was your father’s from when he was in Celestia’s personal guard,” Scarlet explained. Spark was as surprised by this revelation as his two friends.

“I thought that dad was just an advisor, why didn’t you ever tell me?” Spark asked his mother, torn between confusion and irritation at being lied to for so long. Spark’s mother looked away briefly, taking a slow breath before she answered him.

“Your father never wanted you kids to know that he was a soldier and yes, after he stopped fighting, he did act as an advisor to Celestia herself. Even though he was very good at what he did, he never wanted that kind of life for you. If you’re going to be in Canterlot though, you would have found out about all of this sooner or later anyway,” she replied sadly.

Spark twisted the dagger onto his horn until it fastened down. All of the unicorns in the royal guard had worn daggers like this, while the Pegasus got swords that attached to the front of each wing and earth ponies wore spiked shoes on their hooves. With full armor on as well, it made the royal guard quite imposing to behold. Spark’s father had apparently been a part of that elite group of soldiers, but the thought seemed a bit surreal to the unicorn. His only memories of his father, Oaken Field, were all very normal and strangely peaceful, not what one would expect of a soldier.

“How does it look?” Spark asked as he stood up and shook his head back and forth, whipping his mane around and cutting the air with the shining blade.

“It’s pretty awesome, to be perfectly honest, just watch where you’re swinging that thing. If you poke one of my eyes out I’m going to be a very unhappy pony,” Downpour replied, taking a step back just as the blade flashed to close for his comfort.

“… Jealous,” Draft squeaked. That single word was all that the younger pegasus had managed to get out. He had always admired well crafted weapons and often thought about joining the military just so he could get some of his own and now Spark, his best friend, had a genuine royal guard dagger.

“Be very careful with that sweetie,” Scarlet told him. “Most guard’s daggers have an enchantment on them so that they never go dull. I just want you to be able to protect yourself and your friends. If you’re feelings prove to be true, your journey might become unsafe. Besides, I can’t have you dying before I get a grandfoal.” She smiled at her son’s uncomfortable expression and he laughed nervously.

“Well mom, let’s not get ahead of ourselves now. Charm and I only had our first kiss earlier today after all,” Spark replied. He shifted uncomfortably on his hooves and then took off the dagger with his magic, placing it gently in its case and into his bags.

“I know, I know, but I’m not getting any younger and I don’t expect your sister to ever bring me home a grandfoal,” Scarlet explained. Spark’s sister had caused his mother quite a bit of disappointment as well. Scarlet walked over to her son and gave him a hug which he returned before turning to his sleeping brother.

“Sugar. Hey Sugar, it’s your brother. I’m going to be gone for a while, so I just wanted to say goodbye before I left,” Spark whispered into the colt’s ear. He gently nudged Sugar Leaf, who opened one sleepy eye and yawned.

“Spark?” Sugar mumbled. He yawned once more and sat up part of the way while his brother wrapped him up in a hug.

“I’ll see you real soon buddy, take care of mom for me while I’m gone, okay?” Spark asked as he squeezed his little brother tightly. The young colt was already sleeping again by the time Spark was finished talking. He gave his little brother a kiss on the forehead and grabbed his saddlebags before turning back to where everypony else was sitting. It was about time for them to get going.

“Aww, you’re such a good big brother,” Draft said to him in a voice usually reserved for talking to foals.

“Yeah, I’m the best brother ever,” Spark chuckled.

The three young stallions said their last goodbyes, each of the boys receiving a quick kiss from Scarlet before she would let them leave. After that business was completed, they took off down the road to go see Discipula Star about sending Chestnut’s letter to Canterlot for them. Spark couldn’t help but let his thoughts turn to Charm. Sweet Celestia, he still could hardly believe that she had said yes; talk about a confidence boost. With a spring in his step, the joyful unicorn took off running.

“I’ll beat you there!” he called back to his flying friends as he bolted around the first corner. Downpour and Draft just smiled at each other and rolled their eyes in unison. It wasn’t like Spark had even a slight chance of beating them in a race, after all.

Draft arrived at Star’s house first, followed shortly after by his older brother. They landed in front of the gate a split second before Spark turned the last corner to her street and disappeared in a bright green flash of magical energy. He reappeared in another flash, standing just inside Star’s yard with a wild grin on his face.

“That was like three blocks! I kicked some flank right there!” Spark hollered. The unicorn was about to suggest they smoke a victory joint before he realized where they were. Discipula Star was Princess Luna’s favorite student and probably wouldn’t take too kindly to a couple of stoners smoking on her front lawn. Spark figured that his hearbs would be best saved for a later time.

They walked up to the front door and Spark rapped on it with his hoof, making sure that it wasn’t about to accidently open on him. After a minute they heard a mare’s voice from inside the house and a moment later the door swung open. Standing in front of the three ponies was not a mare; it was a young dragon with red scales and coal black spikes. Spark had heard that some of the princesses’ student received dragons once in awhile, but he had never actually seen one of the serpentine beings, young or old.

“Get your flank down here Star, you have visitors,” the dragon shouted with the raspy voice of a mare that had been smoking for many years, but Spark just assumed that most dragons must sound like that. It made sense considering all of the fire breathing they were known to do. She led the three stallions through the house, to a room filled with strange objects behind glass cases. “You can have a seat anywhere, Star shouldn’t be much longer,” she explained.

The pegasus both took a seat, but Spark contented himself with walking around and checking out some of the mysterious artifacts. There were many odd looking pieces of pottery and jewelry, the likes of which he had never seen. One particularly caught his interest. It was a pendant about the size of his hoof with a ruby cut in the shape of a candle flame resting in the midst of it. Spark pushed his glasses up his nose and read the name plate aloud as he gazed at the relic.

“It’s wonderful isn’t it?” a mare’s voice asked from behind him. He spun around to find that Star had walked into the room while he wasn’t paying attention. She wore a wistful smile as she looked at the jewelry.

“I suppose it is. What’s so special about it that it deserves to be in a locked case though?” Spark asked, mildly intrigued by the strange object. The black unicorn walked around him to admire her trinket more closely as she spoke.

“It’s called the Wyrm Stone. It allows whoever wears it to breathe fire like a dragon. It is the only one in existence and was crafted for Princess Platinum at her father’s request, or so the legend goes,” Star answered. “After her death it was stolen from her final resting place, being traded from pony to pony, until it eventually made its way to me.” She gave Spark a smile and then walked back over to the two pegasus sitting in the corner of the room. Without the least bit of strain, Star used her magic to wrap three more chairs in a white glow and teleported them next to her at the table. “Please, have a seat. Now, what can I do for you three today?” Spark sat down and looked over to the third chair, where the dragon was climbing up.”

“Uh, well, I’m Nature Spark and this is Downpour and Backdraft,” Spark explained with an awkward smile. He gestured toward each of his friends in turn.

“I am Discipula Star and this is Inferno,” the small mare replied. She smiled at each of them while the dragon huffed in annoyance.

“Okay, so what do three stallions want with my mare?” Inferno asked, her yellow eyes flashing with mild irritation. “I can’t imagine any of you came to enjoy the exhibit.”

“Inferno, there is no need to be rude to our guests,” Star lectured, glancing back to Spark as she waited for his answer.

“We were hoping that you might be able to help us. Draft said that you might be willing to deliver a letter to Canterlot for us,” Spark told her. He looked hopefully at the young mare who was shaking her head.

“I can’t, but Inferno could help you out. Would you mind terribly sending a letter to Luna for them?” she asked the dragon.

“Well actually, we need it to go to someone named Silver Blood,” Downpour cut in before something could go wrong.

“Then you will have to write that down at the top of the letter, because Inferno’s magic is tied directly to the princess for some reason,” Star explained.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I follow. How exactly is she going to use magic to deliver our letter?” Spark questioned. The brown unicorn looked dubiously at the scaly creature nearby, then he pulled out the letter that Chestnut had written, adding ‘To: Silver Blood’ across the top in his own relaxed script.

“Just watch everypony,” Inferno said with a sly smirk. Suddenly, the small dragon snatched the letter from Spark’s grip and spat a black flame at it, burning it up and sending the smoky fumes drifting out an open window.

“What the hay was that for? If you didn’t want to help all you had to do was say as much. There was no need to go all dragon on the letter,” Spark raged furiously. They had just wasted most of a day by going to Star’s house and now had nothing to show for their effort. It infuriated the brown stallion.

“Just give it a minute,” Star urged. She was sitting at the table, still smiling, which only served to make Spark even more pissed off. Suddenly the dragon opened her mouth and poured out another black flame, this one forming a similar letter before dissipating. The three stallions stood with their mouths hanging open, each sporting a dumbfounded expression. Neither one was quite sure what had just occurred.

“Pretty spectacular, is it not?” Star giggled.

“What the hay just happened?” Draft asked as he snatched the letter out of the air in front of his face.

“Yeah, I’m just as confused as my brother on this one. Is that our letter, and if so, what was the point of that trick?” Downpour questioned.

“It’s not our letter, Downpour. This is a letter from Princess Luna herself. It says that she would be more than happy to deliver our letter to Silver Blood for us,” Draft mumbled as he read the scroll.

“How is that even possible? Are we supposed to believe that our letter was sent to the princess through dragon mail? That doesn’t even make sense,” Spark argued. His brain was beginning to hurt trying to fathom the perplexities of the situation it had been presented with just a moment before. Even for a unicorn, magic could be endlessly confusing sometimes.

“Well, it is a very long story, suffice it to say that there was a magical treaty formed between the Dragon Lord and the Queen of the Alicorns a very long time ago,” Star hastily replied.

“Wait a bucking minute there, missy, and let me see if I heard you right. You said the Queen of the Alicorns. Are you trying to tell me that Celestia and Luna have parents?” Downpour asked her in complete disbelief. The stocky pegasus had a look on his face that must have been shock mixed with confusion and Celestia knew what else.

“Well yes, most people assume that the princesses created the world, but I’m afraid that it is quite a bit more complicated than that. I wish we had more time to talk about it, but I’m dreadfully busy right now and I’ve wasted far too much time as it is. I need to prepare for my trip to Manehatten and I’m falling behind schedule,” Star said as she got to her hooves. She started to show them out the door, but Spark was forming a plan as he walked. The two pegasus were still trying to process the strange mare’s story and walked right out without another word, but Spark got a brilliant idea and stopped in the doorway.

“Star, you said that you were going to Manehatten right? Well why don’t you pack your stuff and head out with us. It will give you time to teach us ignorant common pony some much needed history. You can visit with Luna at Canterlot while we are meeting with Silver Blood and from there we will escort you to your destination,” Spark suggested. The stallion smiled at his own reasoning. It seemed like the perfect plan.

“Um, I suppose that’s a good idea. You’ll have to wait just a few minutes while I finish packing, but I can’t think of a reason not to travel with you three,” Star admitted. “I would like to see the princess before I go anyway; there is a strange artifact I found that she might want to see. Okay, I’ll agree to travel with you for the time being.”

“Are you sure about this Star? I don’t know if we should trust these three strange stallions. I don’t want you getting in over your head,” Inferno asked, looking up at the mare with a stern gaze as she waited for her answer.

“I went to the same school with Draft for a year and almost everyone in town has heard of Spark and his, uh ‘medicine’,” Star replied.

“It’s settled then. You two run inside and pack your things while I inform the others. I’d like to get a move on before it gets late,” Spark told her.

The mare and her dragon turned and walked back inside the odd house while Spark went to have a talk with his friends, who were waiting just off Star’s property. They spent the next twenty minutes figuring out a more concrete plan of action. Initially Downpour wasn’t happy bringing a mare and young dragon with them, but before long he gave in and accepted Spark’s logic. It was always nice to have more company when traveling such a far distance anyway.

“Okay, we’re ready to leave now. Is there anything else you three need to do before we set out?” Inferno asked. Star had her saddle bags packed full of all sorts of things, but Inferno only carried a lone book with her. Spark realized that Charm would want to know the new plan and mentally kicked himself for not thinking about her before asking a mare to travel with him. Hopefully she would understand why he had arranged the deal. It wasn’t as if Charm had a reason to be jealous.

“Yes, there is one place that I need to go,” Spark replied. “Can you two escort these ladies to my house? I won’t be more than a half hour behind you and we will leave from there.” Spark waited for the nods of agreement from his friends before taking off at a gallop towards his marefriend’s home. He really needed to talk to her about his plans for the next few weeks, but if they also happened to get caught up in a little bit of harmless fun while he was there, so be it.

Spark ran all the way to Charm’s house and burst through her front door, out of breath and dripping sweat as he stumbled inside. His lungs and legs burned with fire, but he’d made it across town fairly quickly, so it was worth it. Charm jumped up out of her chair, startled until she realized who it was that had barged in. When she saw the unicorn’s flushed face, the pink mare smiled and got up from her comfortable seat.

“What are you doing, Spark? I thought you were leaving for Canterlot today,” Charm grinned up at him. She walked over and wrapped her panting stallionfriend in a sticky embrace while he caught his breath. When he could finally talk, Spark began to explain the change of plans, as well as he could manage to while trying to kiss the mare wrapped up in his forelegs.

Charm accepted the situation much easier than he had imagined and they were soon kissing each other passionately, without the need for flustered words. They started in the living room, exchanging tender touches and caresses, but had soon found their way into Charm’s bedroom. When Spark finally walked out the front door of her house, he was a half hour later than he had planned on being and even more out of breath.

“Sweet Celestia, I love that mare!” Spark exclaimed with a satisfied sigh. He was barely a block down the road before he started running again. The entire trip through town was spent in a dazed gallop, but it was still nearly dark before he made it in the house. The winded stallion walked in to see three agitated faces staring back at him from his ragged, old couch. The fourth face belonged to Downpour, who was smiling a big goofy grin at him, for some strange reason.

“Did you have fun there buddy?” Downpour asked with a stupid grin. Spark just started laughing and apologizing to everypony for the long delay.

“Let’s just get some sleep here, and we’ll leave bright and early tomorrow morning. I’m really tired anyway,” Spark said with a drawn out yawn.

“I’ll bet you are. I’ll bet you are,” Downpour mumbled as he grabbed a blanket off the back of the couch and went to the spare room, where he would be bunking with his younger brother for the evening. Spark let Star and Inferno take his room and decided to take the couch for himself. When everypony else had gone to bed, he did a quick victory dance to celebrate his coupling with Charm and then flopped down to the couch with a smile on his face. That night Spark’s dreams were full of Charm; the smell of her mane, the softness of her skin and the warmth of her body made for the best dreams of his life.

Author's Note:

Although not much happens in this chapter, as it's the introduction of the last main character in this story, I've always felt like it was pretty much the end of the beginning. The story really starts after they meet Star and Inferno.