Chapter 1
“Hey! Thief get back ‘ere!” An angry shopkeeper yelled.
Aurora groaned in annoyance as she looked behind her, catching a glimpse of a scrawny, dirty looking child running away from an old looking fruit shop, arms full of what looked like overripe and borderline rotten apples. The shopkeeper had started yelling very colourful language at the poor child as he attempted to chase after him but failing as he was too overweight to catch up. Her frown changed into a bemused smirk as she watched the scene unfold behind her. It was really amusing to see an overweight, overly angry, grown man unsuccessfully chase after a small boy just for stealing a few apples.
She quickly focused her mind back on the street in front of her as she adjusted her heavy sports bag on her shoulder, pulling her greyscale plat over her red jacket cut off at the start of her waist with the sleeves rolled up to her nonexistent biceps. She wore the aforementioned red jacket over a black flowing tank top secured to her torso with a simple brown belt. Underneath her top, her legs were covered with dark blue jeans with black shin high boots over the top. It was a simple but comfortable outfit that got worn a lot.
Currently she was heading over to the Canterlot Royal Library to research wing injuries and replacement but it looked like today the world just wanted to stop her from doing so. On her walk to the library she'd been stopped by several people including guards for pieces of rubble to be cleared or arrests to be made. She'd also stopped in at a bakery but was immediately ordered out as it was a Skyborn only bakery which made absolutely no sense as the shop was based in a Mage centred city.
After she'd failed to go to the bakery, she tried a back alley to cut her walk in half but had only ended up running back out from where she had entered with a group of Earth Dwellers chasing after her. Apparently that route involved a gang hangout spot.
"People..." She breathed, looking over at an arguing couple, sitting under an umbrella as it was an unusually hot day for spring. She couldn't quite make out what they were arguing about but it wasn't good by the tone.
Eventually Aurora arrived at the library, looking up at the huge building about three times her size. The building itself was about the size of a large mansion with two rooms jutting out of the main building to make it into a ‘C’ shape of sorts. Each wall to the spiralling tower behind it were covered in windows from the cream coloured base all the way up to the deep mahogany tiled roof. The windows at the front of the building were brightly coloured in stained glass with pictures of famous Mages casting spells and reading ancient books, two males on the outer windows and two females on the inner ones. Wedged between the jutting walls was the entrance with ten or so steps leading up to the white pillar framing and mahogany doors. At the end of the steps and on the little platforms were four figures, two lower wall posts were two female unicorns reaching up whilst their manes and tails were flowing backward to give the effect of the unicorn casting a powerful spell. On the two pillars pressed against the wall, framing the huge doors stood two male unicorns standing as if they were walking forward, their beards, hats and coats lined with bells were carved in such a way that it gave the effect of striding forward in fierce winds. It was odd to have Unicorns on the pillars when they could’ve easily had famous Mages from history but it was their choice and the statues somehow seemed like they fit in and belonged there.
Walking up the ancient looking steps to the entrance, she guided her hand along one of the walls, her fingers brushing over the cracks and holes accumulated from time and weather. Once at the top of the steps, she walked over to the huge doors, pushing one of them open as soon as she was close enough. The familiar sound of the door creaking open graced her ears, reminding her that the owner desperately needed to oil the hinges as just about everyone in the library could hear the sound no matter how far they were away from the door. Letting the door close behind her with a soft bang the smell of ink and old parchment paper wafted into her nose making her smile contently as it always did when she ventured into the building. She looked around to see a few people reading books of all shapes and sizes. Unsurprisingly almost all of them were mages and one or two of them were glaring at her for so foolishly disturbing their precious studies which she was sure were oh so important to furthering the library’s already vast collection of scrolls, books and pieces of parchment collected over many years.
The inside of the Library was set up in a manner where the Librarian sat at the front of the room then behind it the people could sit in the front half of the spacious room, using the natural light pouring into the room from the huge windows to their advantage. From the tables they could easily walk down to the many rows of shelves squished into the room, going all the way to the back to search for just about any book they wanted. At the end of the ginormous room was a set of double doors centred in the middle of the long walls which lead to the restricted section where only official Mages were allowed to enter as the tower connected to the library. The spiralling room was filled with books upon books upon books of spells, some of which were illegal but hadn’t been confiscated yet.
The old librarian at the round table at the front of the main room looking up at her, a smile gracing her lips as she watched Aurora walk over to her. “May I help you love?” She asked as if she were reciting those words for the thousandth time which she had done.
“Hello. I’m looking for a book on wing injuries and replacement.” Aurora answered as politely as she could.
The woman chuckled, “Any particular reason?”
“Oh, just for a friend. She broke her wing.” She lied, trying to sound as confident as possible, trying not to sound completely nervous at all.
The woman looked at her for a moment before eventually nodding, “Alright dearie. Back in a moment.”
As the librarian walked off, Aurora sighed in relief, slouching as she’d gotten away with the lie for once. she would come in sometimes asking for some of the weirdest books and the librarian usually didn’t believe her lie so it was a big surprise to her that she’d believed it for once. She was terrible at lying and she knew it.
The woman returned a few minutes later with a small stack of books in varying sizes and colours, hopefully all of which were related to her desired subject.
“Alright. This is all we have on your particular subject. If its not what you’re looking for, you could always try the castle archives love.” She placed the books down on the counter before sitting back down on her chair.
“Thank you.” Aurora thanked gratefully. Somehow she had a feeling that she’d end up having to search the archives and that was if she even got permission to do so from the guards. She picked up the books from the counter, bending down slightly from the weight from all of the books combined. How the old librarian managed to carry stacks larger than this each day was baffling to her.
She headed off to one of the small rooms to the right of her, away from the long tables lined up the length of the room, filled with books for the Mages and occasional Skyborn. She always opted for the secluded rooms away from the tables as she always got glares from the Mages for doing the slightest thing like coughing or turning the damn page. Some of the Mages in the library were some of the most stuck up people you could meet, they were just so full of themselves.
Pushing one of the smaller doors open with her back, she entered the left room at the front of the library, finding only one other person in the room and thankfully they were an Earth Dweller not some stuck up, snobbish Mage who would only glare at her the entire time. The man looked up briefly before looking back down at his book, clearly not interested in who was entering the quiet sanctum. Her small smile grew as she placed the books gently down on the opposite table in the room. There were only two tables in the room with a few bookshelves lining the walls in-between the windows and under the light fixtures.
She placed her bag on the chair next to her as she sat down in her own chair, flexing her shoulder back and forth from the relieved weight having been lifted. She hadn’t noticed how heavy her bag was until her shoulder ached from not having the weight on her shoulder anymore. But then again she was used to it. Reaching for the first book on top of the pile she dove into it, effectively starting her research.
— — — Three Hours Later — — —
Aurora pushed open the heavy entrance doors once more with a single book in hand. Out of all of the books she had read and skimmed, the smallest book in the pile was the one she was looking for as it was focused on the different types of injuries with mention in several pages of people loosing their wings. It was very summed up in some parts so she’d have to visit the Archives to get the information she ultimately wanted. The small book just wasn’t enough.
The blinding light of the afternoon sun filled her vision, causing her to shield her eyes with her free arm as she slowly walked back down the steps, clutching the book tightly incase she fell. Eventually her eyes adjusted to the sun as she continued down the street she was walking down a few hours ago. Along the way to the upper plaza in the city, she stashed the book away in her bag which was a challenge as it was already pretty full. Getting closer and closer to the upper plaza, the houses and shops started getting fancier and larger with every step she took. But that wasn’t the only thing. Wanted posters started appearing on lamp posts, sides of buildings and even shop windows. They all seemed to be about one or two people. One was a woman with long windswept midnight hair surrounding her, pointed purple goggles over her eyes, concealing her identity and what looked like a dark grey vest with hints of yellow covering her which hinted to some form of uniform. The other poster was of another woman in the exact same get up but this time her hair was a deep blue with what looked like electricity cracking and jumping all over it. A cult of some sort maybe?
As weird as it was, she focused back on the road ahead of her, mainly looking at the Mages and Skyborn walking around her with their noses high in the air. Snobs. But then again, that was expected of Canterlot.
Turning the corner, she cut across the street and up a flight of stairs between houses which as luck would have it came out onto the upper plaza. Right where she wanted to be. The plaza was beautiful as it was one giant, round clearing paved with cobble stone. The finest and most expensive cafés and shops lined the plaza with the café reaching their tables all the way to the centre where a huge fountain with a water nymph holding a water pot was placed to be the focal point of the place. Here in Canterlot, the plaza was one of the only places where Mages, Skyborn and Earth Dweller alike could get along and work side by side as no one race controlled it. Though it was a beautiful place to go and visit, it was rather annoying as it was the only way to the castle where the Archives were. One way in, one way out. Completely annoying.
“Miss! Come visit our café!” A woman, presumably a waiter shouted in her direction.
She looked to the woman, shaking her head. “No thanks.” She waved, walking faster than before to get away from her. It wasn’t that she was trying to be rude, she had a goal and wanted to complete it as soon as possible. Maybe on her way back she’d stop in if she got the chance and it was still open.
She walked up to the fountain, letting her hand be dragged across the smooth surface of the wall. Cool to the touch but not too cold thanks to the sun. She heard giggling coming from the other side of the fountain causing her to look over and see a little girl using her magic to play with the water coming from the top of the nymphs’ water pot. Her gentle smile returned to her lips as she didn’t notice it had disappeared.
‘So innocent.’ She thought, her pace slowing to a very slow walk as she was fixated on the girl playing so carelessly. ‘So clueless.'
Shaking her head violently, she picked her pace up again, trying not to look like a kidnapper for focusing on the girl for so long.
“WATCH OUT!!” Someone screamed from behind her. She snapped her head around to see the same waitress from before pointing up at the sky, shear terror clearly present on her face.
Aurora turned around to where the waitress was pointing just in time to see a figure crash into the tall fountain, pieces of the statue and water flying in every direction possible, hitting a few people as a result. As a result of the figure hitting the fountain at such a fast speed, a shock wave from the impact caused everyone around including herself to go flying backward a few feet.
What was once such a nice spring day had turned into utter chaos in the span of a few seconds, all around her she heard people screaming and shouting along with the sounds of sirens blasting throughout the courtyard along with the sound of people stampeding to get out of the plaza as fast as possible.
“What the hell?” She muttered to herself as she slowly got up, holding her head in hopes to make the headache she’d accumulated from the crash to go away. She looked around to see nothing but debris and hurt or unconscious people lying around the place. Had this much damage happened from something smashing into the fountain?
It couldn’t be real, none of this. Nothing like this could happen so deep into Canterlot, next to the Palace of all places. She was just walking through the plaza looking at a kid playing in the water.
“Wait! The kid!” She shouted out loud. The girl had been playing in the fountain when the thing hit it. Without another thought, Aurora ran over to the fountain, looking for any signs of the small girl at all. She had to be alive! She just had to!
She searched all over the fountain for the girl, not finding anything but rubble and dirty white feathers. She hadn’t checked under the rubble and chunks of the fountain from where the girl was playing so she started pushing the pieces away with all of her little strength she had, chucking the pieces behind her or letting them roll away. With each piece of rubble she moved, the harder and harder it got to move the next piece. Thankfully her adrenaline had already kicked in allowing her to move a lot more than she would’ve been able to regularly.
Suddenly she remembered she still had her bag on her shoulders so she ditched it next to her, allowing her more movement to find the little girl. Slowly she started hearing wheezing coming from somewhere and the smell of what she could only assume was blood started becoming more and more noticeable the further she dug. ‘Come on!’ She screamed in her head, forcing her muscles to move against their will.
Throwing a large chunk away, she spotted part of a face covered in blood. It wasn’t a pretty sight in the least but it gave her hope. A few pieces of rubble removed a few minutes later she could make out the slightly crushed face of the small girl, blood and cuts just everywhere on the girl. She sighed heavily in relief for the second time that day as she could at least see the girl alive. Granted she looked a complete mess, her once curly cream hair was now stained red and grey and what she could see of the light blue dress she’d been wearing, it was completely torn up. It was just horrible but she had to keep going and get her out.
Careful not to cause anymore damage, she slowly moved the heaviest looking boulders off the girl and set about pulling her out of the hole which proved a lot more difficult than she thought it would’ve been, she very slowly managed to wiggle the girl free but one of her legs was trapped between some rubble which she had no chance in hell of moving.
“Ace!” Another voice shouted from behind her once more as a loud thump was also heard coming from the same direction. This was becoming annoyingly regular and she didn’t like it one bit.
She slowing and painfully turned her head to see a tall man standing a bit back from her, his arms crossed over his chest as he looked around in annoyance. The man himself was absolutely huge with giant dark grey wings about two thirds of his body wrapped around him very loosely as if he was protecting himself. He adorned the same goggles as the women from the posters which drew her to his flaming hair, a complete sunset with the outer tips a dark red and the hair closest to the shaved sides and back were a very light yellow, hence why it looked like flames. His hair stood out even more thanks to the dark grey colour of the shaved part of his hair. He wore a very similar outfit like the posters, a long vest going down to his hips, a simple yellow belt underneath and baggy pants tucked into his shin high boots. the whole outfit consisted of three colours; medium purple, dark grey and bright yellow. The top of the vest, pants and skin tight shirt under the vest were all coloured dark grey then on each item of clothing were lighting bolts in a ‘v’ shape and below that was the medium purple. The boots were a very similar colour scheme consisting of the tops being bright yellow, the material from his shins down to his ankles were the same dark grey and from the ankles down were the medium purple. It was a very odd outfit choice but it all seemed to fit together well. Maybe these people in the posters and in front of her were more than just a colt, maybe it was something bigger.
“Ace ya arse!” The mysterious man shouted again as he started walking toward the destroyed fountain. His accent clearly indicated that he was from Cloudsdale but the lower, poorer part of Cloudsdale. The slums you could say.
Obviously the man was oblivious to Aurora and the little girl in need of immediate help so she bent down, picking up a very small piece of what looked like part of the water pot and proceeded to throw it at the man.
Fortunately for her it hit him but unfortunately it hit him in the side of her head, leaving a nasty cut where the strap of his goggles were. The man was knocked off his course, whipping his head around to see who threw the rubble at him.
“Hey!” Aurora shouted, gaining the attention of the now furious man. It was hard to see how furious he was as the yellow tint from the goggles covered his eyes but she knew he was pretty angry as his wings were flared out as far as they would reach as he turned to her.
“What the hell woman?!” He roared back, stomping over to her.
“Help me!” She indicated to the small girl in her arms who looked even worse by the moment.
“Why should I?” The man asked, standing up to his full height once more, his arms returning to being crossed over his chest.
“Because she’s injured!” She argued in hopes of getting the man to help.
“No.” He flat out stated.
“Why not?!”
“I don’t feel like it.” He shrugged, walking away as he tucked his wings back to his sides.
She couldn’t believe her ears. This towering, muscular man wouldn’t help a little girl because he didn’t feel like it?!
She sunk to the ground, shaking in anger, her bag a few feet also shaking. She just could not believe this man. He would deny a badly injured little kid the help she desperately needed just because he couldn’t be bothered. He was the lowest of the low. He wasn’t worth being a Skyborn let alone a man.
“So you’re just going to walk away when this little girl could be dying?!” She tried to reason as she watched the man climb up the rubble to the top to look into the hole created by the figure from earlier.
“Yeah. Do ya have any idea how many people die each day? As if saving a little brat would do anything to lower that number. Just look around ya now greyscale. I bet ya half the people ‘ere are dead or near it. Nothing is gonna change if a few people die right now.” He replied, dropping into the long hole.
There was truth in his words but she just couldn’t let a life die in front of her. That wasn’t what she stood by.
“It doesn’t matter how old or young or how big or small someone is!” She shouted, looking at the little girls’ unconscious form. “You have to try no matter how close someone is close to death! It doesn’t matter how many people die each day, it matters saving one now!”
The man stood in the crater, looking at something. He wasn’t moving or talking but thinking. He looked very frightening as he just stared at the thing in the hole, he looked like he was concentrating hard before he reached out to a feather on top of the rubble. A moment later he crushed the feather in the palm of his hand, chucking it behind him as he moved forward once more. At the end of the hole which went up to his waist. He looked at Aurora, shaking his head before bending down and picking up the figure in the hole.
“No.”