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// Chapter 1: The Descent 
// Story: Lonely Is the One Who Endures: The Life of Spark Valor 
// by Spark Valor 
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	The tired unicorn looked up once again as the hospital doors opened into the waiting room, only to be disappointed. Again. He had been waiting for news on his wife for almost three hours. As he waited, he recalled the first time him and his wife met at an art gallery. She was new to him and that confused him. Her neatly kept snow white coat, golden mane, and deep blue eyes transfixed him. Her cutie mark was a hexagon diamond. He knew almost every pony of importance in Canterlot and when he went to go ask who she was she slipped away. This continued for the entire night. He enjoyed the game she was playing with him and reveled in the challenge of discovering who she was. As the gallery was closing he finally cornered her. She simply smiled at him and giggled to herself. He almost went weak in his knees as she stared at him, with eyes that could have stopped a raging manticorn in its tracks. That smile was that of angels and her laugh…the sound of perfection. He stumbled as he tried to give his name to her. She shushed him and walked closer to him, pressing her mane up to his face. She smelled like fresh roses in the early morning outside his home. He was close to collapsing. She moved her face to his ear and whispered her name. Diamond Charmer…what a beautiful name for a beautiful mare he replied, intoxicated on her scent. She laughed again and pecked him on the cheek. She told him to meet her at a small café he knew well. That was almost eight years ago. They had gotten married and after what seemed like an eternity, they were going to have a child. A unicorn to carry on their name and raise his family’s name to almost royal standings!  
His memories were interrupted as his name was finally called. He rushed over and nearly knocked the exhausted nurse over in his hurry. His first thoughts were to plead for any news on how his wife Diamond was doing and if his child was alright. She tried her best to reassure him that they were both fine. He didn’t believe her. He was the type of pony who needed concrete evidence and not some pony’s word for something. 
The nurse took him to his wife first. She was asleep when he arrived. He came to her side, slowly brushing her white coat with his hoof. She looked like hell. Her mane was knotted with sweat and she had a haggard look on her face. He waited patiently for an hour before exhaustion finally overtook him and he slipped into a fitful rest. He had been awake for almost two days waiting in the damn waiting room. He awoke several times and frantically searched for his wife in the soft moonlight. She was always there, resting peacefully. He stopped trying to fall back asleep and left her side reluctantly to see his child. He wandered the hospital floor until her found the viewing area for the newborns. He searched for his unicorn child but the only newborn there was a pegasus. He was confused and as he read the label on the crib, he couldn’t comprehend it at first. He had to re-read it several times. The label said it was from his wife’s room. Now he began to feel the first signs of frustration creep into the corners of his mind. With his wife asleep, there was no pony to stop his rage. He searched for a nurse and quickly brought her over to the viewing area.          											    
“Ma’am, sorry to be a bother, but who is the fool who mislabeled that crib?” he said in a strained voice. 
“Sir, we do not miss label anything here. If it says something, then it must be true.” She replied in a confused voice.
“I don’t think you understand.” He yelled at her. “My family…and my wife’s family…have all been unicorns. Since the founding of Canterlot we have always been unicorns. So tell me how that pegasus is my child!” The stallion was beginning to lose control of himself while the nurse slowly tried to back away. 
“I-I don’t know what to tell you sir…but that is your son. Your wife is the only mare who has given birth this week…”the nurse stammered in reply trying to ease the stallion.
He just turned and pounded a hoof onto the wall, leaving a hole. He then walked back to the viewing area crestfallen. He heard the nurse run off down the hall. He could make out her soft sobs. He just stood there and stared at the pegasus with his now throbbing hoof. Its coat, a light blue, almost a cyan, was unlike either of his parent’s white coat. The one thing that showed the relation between the parents and their son was the mane, a golden yellow. But as the sleeping child turned, a deep black streak was visible. 
The only thoughts that consumed his mind were how could this have happened? His wife would never have had an affair; that he was sure of. They hardly ever left each other’s side since their marriage. So how could this be possible? Two unicorns from the longest line of unicorns in Canterlot…were having a pegasus child? It was unheard of. This couldn’t be happening, he told himself. It’s just a dream and I’ll wake up in a minute. He squeezed his eyes shut and slowly opened them, expecting to see his wife. He only saw the child. Then it hit him. Stone cold realization crept into him chilling his rage and stiffing his limbs. He couldn’t move or think.
This was going to destroy their family’s standings in Canterlot. So close to the top too only fall to the dregs of society. Not a single pony was going to believe that they naturally had a pegasus child. They would assume an affair had occurred. All he had worked for…all the work his family had done to reach this position…gone. His vision turned red and tears of rage spilled over as he banged his hooves against the glass. He saw the child stir and open his eyes. But it didn’t cry. It just stared at his father. No, he told himself, maybe…just maybe…his wife did have an affair…maybe this wasn’t his child or his burden. I’ll catch the lying mare in the act. Yes! He told himself. That’s what I’ll do. I’ll catch them in the act and in the mean time make her life a living hell. The new born just stared at him not knowing what evil thoughts swirled in his head. And so Spark Valor’s life and hell began.