Behind the mountain range whipped by gentle winds, there was a city that endured the ages: Unicornia---a place founded and built on mountain stones and minerals that stood proud on top of the plateau. Buildings were rigidly constructed, smoke rose lazily from the chimneys and the stained glass that adorned many of their walls shone with subdued lights. At the inner part of the city, a library, a grand school, researcher hall, and many other academic foundations crammed together, as ponies trotted along the stoned pathway.
But the proudest of the buildings was a great castle that stood at the edge of the rocky cliff.
Silence. Heavy emptiness filled the dimly room. The fireplace and candles keeping him company kept the darkness at bay. Although the food satisfied him for now, the sound of silence still rang heavy on his ears.
A cold night wind blew through the room, stirring the flames of his candles and his mane. He opened his eyes, ready to close the window--but then again, it wasn’t like somepony would dare enter his house to interrupt his peaceful meal.
A knock on the door perked his ears.
He rubbed the sleepiness from his eyes, placing the wooden spoon down. ‘Who could possibly visit on such a late evening?’ he thought. After moving out from his seat, he heard a whoosh outside the window. He swore to himself if this was going to be one of those jokes he’d hunt them down for good.
The sounds of the door unlocking could be heard outside. The door swung open—but there was nothing aside the lanterns from the other houses illuminating the paved street. ‘So they were really asking for it.’ He scoffed and hoped for those no good rascals to prepare themselves. Before he could go in to finish his dinner, he caught a glimpse of a certain something on his doorstep.
A basket.
And peeking inside, two curled foals greeted him, sleeping comfortably as he lifted up the blanket. Now who in the right mind would leave their children alone in the dark?
He looked around the empty street to see any sign of the pony who left the foals here. There was nothing, just the sound of crickets chirping through the ambience. Watching them sleep once more, he placed the blanket back in place and slammed the door shut. It wasn’t his responsibility anyway.
The hours went by, and the once peaceful night had transformed into a torment of eternal screams. He couldn’t tell how long those awful crying coming from outside his door would last. His eyes grew grim as he tried to block the noise with his pillow. Seeing it was no use, he got out of his bed with a grunt.
Walking tiredly down the stairs, he slammed the door open. He saw the blanket wasn’t covering the foals anymore--it must’ve slipped off. He picked up the rag, placed it back on them then slammed the door shut once more. Nothing has changed. The foals kept crying, forcing him to bang his head on the stair balcony.
He smacked the door much harder this time and grabbed the basket like it was an awful gift. Firing up the fireplace with his horn, he placed the foals close to the warm light. Observing them for a moment, it seems like he's cooking two rotten potatoes. The foals stared back at him blankly. It wasn’t too long before they started crying again. They could not be serious.
Anger welled inside of him, causing the flames near the foals to burst. They cried even more. He plugged his ears from the searing pain. Whoever left these two abominations in front of his house did a great job harassing him. He walked around in a circle, thinking of a solution, any solution to get rid of them--but he couldn’t even focus.
His eyes grew harsh, his head hurt, and he felt his ears about to bleed. He pulled out a chair to sit down. Hanging his head, he glanced at the foals warming up by the fireplace. He slid the flower vase on his table aside, lifted the basket with levitation and placed it on the table. He couldn’t take it anymore. The pain was eating him alive from the inside. He then noticed a parchment under the basket. Unfolding the paper, a message was written:
Please look after us. -Celeste, Selene
He glared his eyes at the foal, sobbing and crying at the same time. Among all the bad jokes out there, this was the worst. He crumpled the paper and flung it on the fire. After that, he once again dropped his head on the table.
In the room of silence that he knew, screams of tiny terrors filled every corner of it.
---
Aura Gleam walked along the hallway inside the palace. After retreating from his first defeat, he had been summoned by the unicorn king, Silver Rod. His failure had not weakened his courage to report, but what made him uneasy was reporting the situation concerning the rogue unicorn. Opening the door to the throne room, he paused for a moment. As always, the unicorn king was wearing his fancy silk robe and was talking to one of his court adviser, Verdure.
As he approached, he glanced at the tall windows where tinted light fell and showered the entire room. Each stained glass was designed with murals showing depictions of the unicorns’ history.
“Ah, Aura Gleam, you’ve finally returned,” the king’s voice echoed heavily.
“My lord.” Aura Gleam bowed before him. Meanwhile, Verdure stood still, observing the high knight’s weariness. He whispered to the king.
Aura Gleam stood up, not caring much for their secrecy. He only cared about his time, which was being wasted every second. “Is there a reason why you summoned me?” he spoke up.
“Yes,” the king replied. “There is an important matter that I want you to discuss. But before we proceed, I want to hear from you about your recent battle.”
The high knight shifted his glance to the court adviser, still as ever. Behind that pale expression, he sense him being an annoying presence. But Aura Gleam pressed on. “The earth ponies were nothing but stubborn commoners. They refused our request, and we took their food supplies by force as you’ve commanded.”
“And?”
“And then we raided Southern Earth. They showed some resistance throughout the fight. We have been outsmarted and outnumbered, but we managed to retrieve what we had.”
“And do you know what it cost?”
He remained silent.
“My trust in you!” This king shouted. “I gave you a simple task: To take our share of food the earth ponies had to give, and only use force if they refuse! But you went on to different places, wreaking havoc on the southern earth pony territories. Although I have to say, I was impressed you managed to conquer several towns.”
“They were all being stubborn and left me no choice but to-”
“And yet you ignored my order of withdrawal. I only gave you about a hundred soldier to prevent them from retaliating, not to go out and annex the entire earth pony lands. We do NOT seek conflict on others without reasons, but you went on rampage in Southern Earth. Do you even know how long this winter is going to last?”
“Forgive me, my lord. I assure you, we were on the verge of victory. As for my failure at Southern Earth, they had some outside help.”
“Help from whom?” Verdure interjected, his curiosity piqued.
“A rogue unicorn.”
The king and his adviser went quiet.
“This individual, who went against us, is as powerful as our strongest sorcerers. She was able to control a horde of gem hounds and rendered my troops helpless.”
They couldn’t understand what the high knight was saying. “A unicorn? Controlling an army of gem hounds? How absurd. Even our own sorcerers can’t do that,” Verdure said with a scoff.
“Believe me, this unicorn is far beyond formidable. She could be a problem to our cause”
Verdure couldn’t help but laugh. “You can’t be serious. If there’s such a unicorn who is that powerful. She could have move the sun-”
“Snow Cross is gone.”
Verdure was lost by this sudden news. “What? But he’s one of the top graduates of the previous batch from the Ministry of Arcane Arts.”
“That’s not what I’d seen.” The high knight scoffed. “You could have sent Radiance instead.”
“How disappointing.” The king held his head low.
“We don’t just send away our best sorcerer and you know that. They have much more important things to attend to.” Verdure sighed then changed the subject. “You should be thankful that we’re on the edge of having a stable agricultural magic. Our scholars are giving us promising results on their progress--unlike you.”
“I’m only doing what needs to be done.”
“That’s enough,” the king said. “I could demote you right now, but I’ve decided to give one last chance to redeem your failure.”
With that said, Aura Gleam took a step back with his own thoughts. The high knight decided not to push the topic further about his defeat. It would just be pointless.
“Now, it’s time we discuss some serious issues. Since you failed to accommodate for our winter preparation. I have a new task for you. This should suit the quality of your skills,” The king proclaimed.
“I won’t fail you again, my lord.” Aura Gleam lowered his head. “I’ll ready my forces as soon you give me an order. And this time, we’ll bring you more supplies than you’ve ever wished for.”
The king gave a short chuckle. “That won’t be necessary.”
“What do you mean?”
“I have already assembled a group for your journey.” The king walked down from the throne. “There are far more important things other than pillaging earth pony settlements. Far greater than your rogue unicorn threat.” He went past him and stared at one of the glass stained windows of mighty unicorn. “Starswirl the bearded has sent us letters about the winter storm and his report troubles me as the days go by.”
The high knight had heard about this. “Is this about the windigos?”
“Correct. According to Starswirl, there were some sightings across the lands, and one has even hit our remote town just a few days ago. Luckily, he managed to repel them.”
“The great Starswirl always had the upper hoof when it comes to sorcery. I’m not surprised at all,” Verdure cut in.
“Indeed,” the king added, and turned to the high knight. “Aura Gleam, since Starswirl has his hooves full of responsibilities, he requested an aid to search and rescue a group of magi near the western earth border.”
Aura Gleam hadn’t expected this. This wasn’t what he wanted. “Is this some sort of joke? What kind of job is this?! I never signed up to become somepony’s escort!”
“You will be. The group went missing for weeks now and nopony knows why. One of them is important to Starswirl and you’re going to find out what happened to them,” the king said, ignoring the high knight’s objection.
“He’s going to gather talented sorcerers to perform a powerful spell and deal with the windigos,” Verdure added, clarifying his mission. “They must have been ambushed by those earth ponies. Your main priority is to rescue and escort them to Coruscant. That is all you need to do.”
“If he’s planning to gather some magic folks then let them handle the situation. He alone can fight against those ghostly beings.” Aura Gleam just had to go fight this. “I’m more useful in a fight against the earth ponies for our food supply and-”
“No!” The king cut off his complaints. “You’ve already given me enough trouble. Because of your ruthless act, I have to make the journey all the way to Central Earth just to put an end to this conflict! Your conflict! I gave you a task and you must follow it! Or else I’ll have you demoted right were you standing now.”
“The court advisers had decided to strip you of your rank if you refuse to follow orders again,” Verdure said.
The king calmed himself down. “For all we know, they might have been captured by those earth ponies--or worst.”
“Starswirl may be a powerful sorcerer, but he doesn’t have any interest in fighting against the other races,” Verdure said with a tinge of disappointment in his voice. “That’s his biggest flaw.”
“If they’re being held captive, then you have my permission to eradicate those ruffians. And let none survive. I don't want the earth ponies to know this action once I'm gone.” The king gave him the order. “Coruscant is your hometown, isn’t it? Then I assume you’ll have no problem escorting them safely. I trust you can accomplish this.”
“I understand,” Aura Gleam replied with a sober voice. “I’ll do as you command.”
“Good. Now go, get yourself prepared. Verdure here will notify the others, you’ll meet them at the gate tomorrow.” The king dismissed the high knight to his new task. Aura Gleam turned around and walked out of the throne room.
The door shut itself with a loud thud. Aura Gleam heaved a heavy sigh, trying to vent out some of his anger. He never trusted those sorcerers, not the court advisers, not even Starswirl. He needed to get those fillies back before things get worse.
“Well, that went smoother than I expected.” A voice came from the shadows. Serene stepped out from behind a pillar.
“What are you doing here?” asked the high knight, even though he didn’t care.
“I came here to see Verdure. But seeing that he’s occupied, looks like I’ll just have to see you.” She smiled. “Are you alright?”
“No. Just leave me,” Aura Gleam walked away.
“I don’t want to think about business that isn’t mine, but I’ve never seen you cleanse every town and settlement on sight in the past. What changed?” Although she knew the reason behind it, she still asked just to start a conversation.
The high knight didn’t budge.
“You know, it’s not your fault that they left you. Being a father can be very difficult.
Aura Gleam paused. “You know nothing about it.”
“True. I may not,” Serene stepped close to him. “But I did have a very strict parent who forced me to become the very best.”
“Then you probably know why they ran away.”
“I don't blame you for that.”
The high knight knew where this conversation was going, and it was going to crash. “If you’re here to give some pity lecture, then you’re just wasting your time.”
He walked outside the castle without another word, all the way to the courtyard. Little did he know that the robed pony followed him at a distance with a very concerned look.
“Were you hurt when they left you?” She asked out of nowhere.
The high knight once again stood still, he turned to the unicorn, irritated. This mare and her words were getting annoying. “What’s your motive on me? This is none of your concern and you should keep your mouth shut.”
“Then let’s have a quiet talk,” she said with a kind smile.
Aura Gleam’s temper was close to exploding. She was getting too pushy. Then another question came in. “Why did you decide to adopt those fillies?”
“I never did!” he snapped. “Some imbecile just left their children in front of my doorstep!”
“Then why did you raise them?”
The high knight’s anger sizzled down. “Because..”
Serene waited patiently for his answer. Unexpectedly, he turned around. “Because they were helpless.”
He moved away from the pathway and walked into the grass. “I never decided to take them with me. Yet their crying outside my door got me irritated. I searched the entire day to look for that wretched owner who left those fillies. But I couldn’t find a single lead. I’ve waited for somepony to come and get them… but nopony ever came.”
“That’s kind of you. Based on your, well, colorful personality, that’s probably the most touching decision you’ve ever made.” But Aura Gleam remained stoic.
“I also heard they caused a lot of trouble in the past.” She said with a smug smile. “I’m surprised you actually raised them. Unicorns here usually leave their own child or send them to the orphanage as an... eternal punishment for disobeying. But you, why haven’t you?”
“They’re different.”
A pause.
“The unicorns won’t be able to thrive in the future, you know that too. Have you seen our superior sorcerers barely moving the sun and moon? They’re burning out, slowly. Other than that, we got pegasi harassing our settlements for being a nuisance. And now we have windigos to deal with, along with earth ponies hoarding all the food they grow.”
“Those two,” Aura Gleam breathed deeply. “It might sound too far fetched but--I believe those two could be our hope to a better world. Where unicorns are above all other beings.”
“I see.” Serene easily comprehended his ideal. “What makes you think they could do it?”
The high knight tried to give a hint, even though that hint doesn’t make much connection. “I can’t point it out. But my sense says so otherwise.”
“You’re going after them, right?” She asked.
Aura Gleam went blanked for a bit then chuckled for the first time. “No. Perhaps I should let that mare do the job.”
Serene realized he was mentioning the rogue unicorn. Aura Gleam looked back at the mare and her emerald eyes reflected the winter moonlight. This conversation was done. He left her with a dismissive wave. “You should get some rest.”
---
Morning had finally arrived, and the noise of the bustling residents from outside the window. The room was warmed by the harsh sunlight shining from the outside. A ray of sun struck at the passed out stallion. He had a heavy sleep, passed out on the table with his cheek plastered to the hardwood. That beam of light would not leave his eyelids, finally waking him up after the night of torment.
For a moment he thought it was just a nightmare--but then as he moved his eyes to the fireplace and the nightmare turned real. He saw the foals sleeping separately from each other. The white foal was found under the basket while the dark blue one was curled on the blanket. He held his head down in pain.
…There was no way he was going to be a foalsitter. He decided to roam around the neighborhood to find the pony who left them that night. It was his plan A. With no lead or clues, he moved on to his second plan, finding a suitable caretaker for them.
First off, he went to the local orphanage. It was his best bet—or at least he thought, but it turned out they had no place left for the two. He even tried bartering the lady... only to be refused.
So instead he decided to visit houses one by one, asking them to take the foals away from him. And one by one, the offer was rejected with their door slammed shut. The task was harder than he expected. Everypony rejected his offers, just as he himself would. If it wasn’t for their horrible crying, somepony might have gladly accepted them already.
It was a failure.
Back at his home, the foals tumbled around at the table while he remained seated observing their every action. His hooves crossed his chin, thinking of the remaining options he had left. But most important of all, he tried to understand why somepony would do this to him. His eyelids grew heavy. The lack of sleep was suppressing his thoughts.
This led one of the foals to crawl towards the fruit tray. The clueless foal tried to bite off a grape, but she couldn’t chew it quite enough and swallowed it whole. She choked and coughed. She wailed as hard as she could, but her cries were cut off frequently. The stallion snapped out of his quick nap and quickly levitated her—using his magic to pull out the grape blocking her throat. But it wasn’t over yet. She kept crying out loud, leading the other foal to cry as well.
What a bunch of helpless foals they were.
As he picked the white foal up close to his eye level, while reaching out for a rag, wild magic burst forth from her horn.
After the storm of magic passed, silence came down. His room became a cacophony of papers, books, quills and ink splotches, spilling out from his bookshelves. Every corner of the room singed black.
That was a close call for him. Good thing he ducked for cover.
The other foal stared at him after her crying. His senses knew what was coming next, and quickly cast a barrier. The foal eyes shone with curiosity at that shiny barrier, reaching out towards it. Unexpectedly, she sneezed and caused another magic surge to fire at him.
He was flung straight through the kitchen, tearing a new hole through the living room and giving his mane a new haircut. Utensils and ingredients fell on him, making the foals giggle for a bit. Gazing at the aftermath of destruction, he realized just what he was dealing with. They both had great potential. He could teach them the ways--for the greater good.
Recovering from his recent headache and injury, he stood up in front of them. The foals reached their hooves at him this time. Staring for a bit, he was having a hard time finalizing his decision.
Eventually, he gently pulled them both closer to his chest. Mixed feelings swirled inside him. Somehow, somewhere deep inside, he felt this was the right thing to do for these foals. And that was what truly mattered.