//------------------------------//
// 4 - I am alone, and they are everyone 
// Story: A Fateful Flurry 
// by FIygon 
//------------------------------//

"Hey, Kieran!" The accompanying voice was met with a knock on my door as my visitor opened it fully.

My eyes brightened largely at the sight of my taller older brother. Dressed in half-torn clothes and wearing a red beanie that covered his unkempt, long brown hair. I nearly jumped out of bed, where I was reading a comic book. "Damon!" I shouted excitedly.

I ran over and threw my arms around him. He was always much taller than me, and my head only reached his chest. He laughed jovially and ruffled my hair with one hand, "Hey kiddo, happy birthday."

I looked up and laughed. "You remembered!"

He nodded, "Mhm… and-"

"Wait, does that mean!?" I asked with unbridled excitement.

My brother nodded once again, "Yep." He said this before revealing the hand he’d been keeping behind his back. He revealed two tickets to the demolition derby they were having in town today. I reached out excitedly, and he pulled them away and held them above my head with a smug grin. "You know, these weren’t easy to come by."

I laughed as I jumped to reach for them, and he kept pulling them away. "I know, how’d you do it?"

"I have my ways." He bemoaned cryptically as he finally relinquished a ticket to me. "So what do ya say? Are you up to it? It starts in two hours."

"Is that even a question?" I said with a raised brow as I ran over to my closet and began to throw on some more suitable clothes.

As I was searching around through the mess of drawers for something, my brother walked around my room while looking at everything with an exasperated sigh. "You really need to clean your room, lil bro."

I shrugged and said, "I do; it just doesn’t look very clean when I do it anyway. What’s the point?"

It was true—the room I was in was a mess. The paint on the walls had long since peeled, and there were many holes in the drywall that encompassed almost the entire wall. The floorboards creaked like crazy, and the less safe parts of the floor were where I threw my items to keep myself from falling through. The only real things in my room were the bed, a desk, and a bunch of other things that mostly related to school.

"Still…" My brother sighed, giving me his own shrug afterward. "Have you done anything else for your birthday today?" He asked while changing the subject.

I stopped searching through my drawers for a minute as my shoulders sagged. "No, Jane and Eric are out of town this week." I said, referring to our foster parents.

My brother gritted his teeth, "Oof, that’s rough…" He said sympathetically, well for him anyway. "But to be expected." He followed up.

"What’s that supposed to mean?" I grumbled as I returned to rummaging through my mess of a drawer.

He sighed dramatically, "Oh well, when your big bro can just walk through the front door with no locks, it becomes a bit obvious."

I hummed dissmisively, "I’m old enough to take care of myself anyway. What's the big deal?"

He huffed a short laugh as I finally found my favorite shirt and began throwing it over myself. "That’s all we’ve ever done. Jane and Eric sure didn’t."

I knew that my brother had disdain for our foster parents. He made it readily apparent when he cut ties with them when he turned eighteen. A year later, they only begrudgingly allowed him to see me on occasion.

But still, they hadn’t abused me in any way and had given me a home when I most needed it. I still felt a large amount of appreciation, even if they felt distant from me at times. "I don’t know about that, Damon. I’d still be scraping around dumpsters and shoplifting without ‘em." I said this while grabbing my phone from the desk.

Damon shrugged and moved out of the doorway as he gestured with his hand in a mockingly fancy way. "Ladies first."

I punched him lightly as I walked by, "Don’t get any funny ideas about today just because you can’t land a date." I teased him.

"Alright! Alright." He said with another short laugh.

Exiting our short, run-down house in the middle of the city, we began the rather long walk towards our destination. Evidently, my brother couldn’t afford a car. We lived in the city of St. Louis. Overall, it was a rather fine city. Just make sure you know where you’re going and walk with purpose. Don’t look anybody in the eyes unless you’re looking for a fight or otherwise. It was easy.

As we walked the rather dull and emptier parts of the city sidewalks, I couldn’t shake what my brother said from my head. I’d felt upset when they left me money and said they’d be gone for the week. But it wasn’t malicious; my sixteenth birthday wasn’t the most important thing in the world, after all.

"Why’d you say that?" I hummed quietly to myself as I watched my feet. "About our parents."

My brother sighed and put his arms in his pockets as well. "Calling them parents is a bold term, Kieran."

"You haven’t explained why." I countered bitterly.

"Because they don’t care." Damon said in a very matter-of-fact way. He sighed loudly. "I mean, they didn’t even stay in town for your birthday."

"They must’ve had something important to do, Damon. I don’t get why you always see them as bad people." I muttered.

"Well, for starters," Damon began, "I’m not one to judge morality."

"You’re a good guy, Damon." I glanced up at him.

He eyed me for a moment before averting his gaze, "Alright, you’re sixteen now. I’ll play it to you straight if you want."

He waited for an objection that never came as I listened intently. "Listen, Kieran… You know how the foster system works, right?"

"Yeah?" I voiced my confusion.

He nodded. "Then you should know our foster parents get a specific amount of money every month to take care of us."

I nodded my head even though he wasn’t looking at me. He took another sigh as he rubbed his temple annoyedly, "And some foster parents… You know what? I’ll just say it." He grunted. "Jane and Eric literally only took us in for the money."

"W-What?" I asked with a growing look of many emotions.

He nodded as he looked at me directly, placing a hand on my shoulder. "They don't use all that money to take care of us. They’ve been using it to go on extravagant vacations and treat themselves. That’s why they only ever took in you and me. I was sixteen, and you were fourteen. We were old enough to not die without supervision."

"T-That’s not true." I denied with a shake of my head.

"Believe it if you want. Might hurt less to pretend otherwise, I guess." My brother grumbled.

"But you know, every time they sent us to school with barely any supplies. Every Christmas, when they'd suspiciously buy themselves some extravagant vacation or other thing they wanted while we barely got another shirt when all of our stuff is falling apart?" He paused. "At least you know why now."

They'd always just told me that when I got a job, I'd be able to buy myself those things. I did find it kind of odd how they acted when I told them I needed things for school. Did they really only take me in to use the money? That was… no, they couldn’t have. My brother was just overreacting. They were nice people, and they genuinely cared about seeing us make our way in the world.

He kicked a rock slightly angrily, "That's why I always tell you not to rely on people. Because at the end of the day you're the only one living your life. Nobody is going to live it for you."

After a long bout of silence, my brother elbowed my side and laughed, "Hey, don’t be so down; today’s going to be great."

I just nodded and smiled back at him, "Of course!"

My brother suddenly got a text message as the ringtone came, and he pulled out his phone. I watched as a few emotions spread across his face, and eventually he smirked and looked down at me. "Mind if we make a detour?"

"Sure… but what for?" I asked while trying to get a look at his phone.

He held it firmly away from me as he held my head back. "I’ve got to meet up with someone. They’re supposed to be paying me."

"What for?" I hummed with raised brows.

"For things your tiny child brain couldn’t understand at this time." He teased as we changed directions, and he ran ahead.

"Not true!" I yelled back as I ran to catch up.

We made our way through a part of the town I’d never been through before. It was thoroughly descending into what most people would consider "unsafe" as the number of shady-looking individuals increased. We kept taking back alley after alley, each one seeming like more and more of a place I shouldn’t be in.

My brother walked carefully and would often glance back to make sure I was following. He would also put a hand on my chest every once in a while to stop me. "Uh, Damon…" I asked carefully.

"Shush," he commanded me.

I stayed quiet after that, choosing to trust my brother. We made a couple more turns in alleyways before we stopped in one. The alley we were in was quite empty but full of garbage, broken fences, and pallets.

My brother brought his phone out and began rapidly texting off some words, tapping his foot on the ground incessantly with growing impatience. Or was it anxiety? Because that was surely what I was feeling right now. I was practically clinging to the back of Damon’s hoodie.

After a few tense minutes of silence and waiting, somebody walked around the corner up ahead. Black hoodie pulled over his head, sunglasses, and hands in his pocket. He glanced up at us before heading our way.

My brother outstretched his arms widely and practically changed into a different person. "Ah, there you are, my friend. I was afraid you’d gotten lost."

The man in the hoodie stopped a few feet away and took his glasses off. I was surprised by the large scar that adorned his face across the bridge of his nose. It was his most defining feature. He looked ragged and older than my brother by a large margin. He smirked at my brother and said, "I’ve been around here longer than you, kid."

My brother nodded his head, "Of course, of course." Then he clasped his hands together with a serious look. "You said you finally met my payment due, correct?"

The man gave a slow nod and took a few steps forward. "Of course I did."

When the man was close enough, he reached into his pocket. A look of annoyance crossed his face as he clicked his tongue. "Oh… I think I forgot something."

My brother was so caught up in anticipation that he had no time to react to the right hook he took directly to his face. I let go in shock as my brother stumbled to the side and fell into a stack of pallets. "Damon!" I shouted.

The older man glared at me sharply, "Shut up, kid."

He took steps towards my brother, who was only barely recovering off the ground. The man grabbed him by the front of his hoodie and pulled him up to his face. "Ah, you think you can just raise prices on me and expect immediate payment?" He spit in Damon’s face.

My brother grabbed his shirt back, "You don’t want to do this." Damon spat with a look of intense anger.

"Oh, and why not?" The man asked mockingly. 

My brother reached into his pocket and quickly flipped open some sort of knife. The man dropped him quickly back onto the pallet. And took a few steps back. "Damon, don’t!" I yelled as I began rushing towards him.

I felt myself choke as the back of my shirt was grabbed, and the mysterious man quickly pulled me over to himself and locked his arm around my head. I struggled desperately to remove it while kicking.

Damon stood up and grunted, "Let him go." He yelled as he rushed forward with his knife.

I heard a clicking sound, and my brother’s face fell as he stopped in his tracks. His entire face went white. I felt the cold sensation of something metal being held to the side of my head. "One. More. Step." The hooded man said.

Damon stuttered as he stood frozen in his place: "H-Hey man, I’ll drop the charge for the month." Damon chuckled nervously. "It’s a good joke, man; hey, let’s negotiate."

I heard the sound of it clicking again as it was pressed harder against my head. I was frozen in fear and didn't know what to do. "Just the month?" He asked.

My brother slowly shook his head, "Hey, how about I give you a… permanent discount? Let’s say… twenty percent less?"

The man slowly began taking the weapon from my head, "Make it thirty."

Damon held his hands up, "Thirty! Thirty is great!"

The man lowered his gun, and my brother took a few careful steps forward. "And forget about the payment today; we’ll call it off this month. Sound good?"

The man holding me nodded as he released a breath himself. The moment the man’s gun lowered, my brother's face contorted in anger. And he rushed him, knife held up.

A bunch of things happened at once: the man slowly aimed his gun upward, and my brother realized the mistake he was making. I also made the worst decision of my life.

I elbowed the man behind me and pushed his arm that was holding the gun away from my brother just as he went to pull the trigger. And somehow, in this mess of confusion, a resounding bang was uttered.

Both of them stopped, and I felt a rather warm sensation rise up from my chest. Looking down, all I could see was red, spreading quickly. I fell to the ground and began coughing, which was red as well.

Red started splattering the ground below me as my head started ringing and my body went numb.

In the aftermath of this, the man still had his gun and was now holding it upward, firmly pointed at my brother, while making his retreat.

My brother had dropped his knife and was now slowly backing away, looking down at me with conflicting emotions.

My vision was blurry and growing worse by the second. I reached my hand out from the ground. "Damon… Help." I gasped loudly.

Damon released an uncharacteristic yelp as he continued to take steps back. I felt tears welling up in my eyes as my body grew colder. I didn’t want to die. "Damon!.." I shouted one last time with the last ounce of my strength.

The scarred man in the alley was completely gone at this point. And I could hear sirens blaring from somewhere nearby. I watched with horror as my brother shook his head and gave me one last glance before adorning his own hood and turning his back on me. Hands in pockets.

"Damon?" I said as tears started pouring from my eyes, "Brother?"

Jane had never cared.

Neither had Eric.

And Damon?..

I watched as the form of my brother disappeared around another alleyway corner, and my final heaving breaths were uttered into this life, completely and utterly alone.

Damon never cared…

…

…





Cadance was desperately holding onto the small alicorn filly in her forelegs while laying on a large pillow. Sitting next to the fire, with a thick, warm blanket wrapped around her. The nurse, a purple mare with white hair and pink streaks, was checking every inch of the filly with care. After checking her last hoof, the nurse stepped back and said, "She’s definitely going to need to be on bed rest for a few days. Thankfully, hypothermia didn’t cause any permanent damage." Cadance and Shining Armor, who was sitting right next to her, sighed in relief.

The nurse continued, "However, she’s malnourished. And her temperature is higher than it should be; she likely has a fever."

Cadance nodded eagerly. "Of course, Moon Petal, I’ll make sure they eat three times a day and get plenty of sleep." Moon bowed her head before swiftly exiting the room. Cadance pulled the filly tighter and nuzzled her carefully.

Flurry got up from her spot and walked over to look down at the filly. "Momma, isn't Kieran just going to run away again?"

Cadance shook her head, "I’ve placed a tracking spell this time. Unless they know how to dispel my magic, they won’t be hiding any time soon."

Flurry seemed happy for a moment, but her face slowly fell into a small frown. "But… Kieran doesn’t want to stay here, momma."

Cadance sighed and shifted Kieran in her forelegs. "Kieran thinks I’m going to get rid of them or otherwise. I’m sure when they realize I don’t intend to, they’ll be willing to stay."

"Speaking of… them. Is there anything we can do about that particular problem? Kieran said that they used to be male, right, Flurry?" Shining Armor asked wearily.

Flurry nodded as Cadance released a low hum. "Possibly. But it would far exceed my own magic knowledge."

Shining nodded with an understanding huff, "I don’t think he’ll be happy when he wakes up."

Cadance hummed as she watched the troubling emotions dance across the young filly’s face. "No, probably not." She agreed with a short sigh.

Shining watched as well, then looked towards Flurry with a smirk. "Alright, missy, it’s far past your bedtime."

"Okay daddy…" Flurry spoke a bit sadly as she led the way back to her room.

Cadance and Shining shared a kiss as Cadance looked down at the filly, who was loudly sleeping and snoring, and released a short giggle. "I’ll be taking this one to bed as well, then."

The family exited the large living space and returned to their quarters after an emotionally exhausting night.





I felt awful. I had a headache. My body felt weak and hot. My mouth was dry, and I was starving. I could barely even register what had happened. I just remembered the cold and running, and then everything went blank.

I slowly forced my eyes to open, and they did so begrudgingly as I looked around me. It was dark, and I actually felt somewhat comfortable. Fear shot through me as I realized somebody was wrapped around me. I struggled to calm my growing panic and not run. My body tensed as my mind raced, and memories flooded back into my brain. ‘Did she actually take me back with her?’

Try as I might, my inability to control my fear worked against me. And I felt the pony wrapped around me slowly stir. I had to get out before she grabbed me and before she woke up. I quickly stood on my hooves and took a few steps back. "Kieran." The voice of Cadance chimed worriedly.

The candle next to the bedside flickered on, and then Shining began to stir in the bed next to her. My worst fears were coming to fruition as I helplessly backed away from the large pink witch. Cadance sat up in bed but made no immediate attempts to control me. "Kieran, no, honey, please don’t be scared." She pleaded with me.

I tripped over the bedsheets, ending up upside down and unable to escape. Cadance sighed before she hesitantly enveloped me with her magic and brought me into her forelegs. I felt far too weak to even protest the action as chills racked my body. She gingerly nuzzled my face as I stared at her in confusion. "It’s okay," she told me worriedly. "You’re safe now."

I wanted to kick and wrestle my way out of her grasp, but my body still felt like it’d been hit by a train. I groaned as I relented to the pain and put a hoof against my head. I sniffed to try and clear my nose, which felt stuffy. Cadance began rocking me. "Shh…"

Trying to escape could wait; I’d just die if I managed to get back out onto the street in this condition. I felt tears filling my vision as I whined, "My head."

"I know, little one," Cadance cooed. "I can get you more medicine."

I tried to block out my vision; everything was too much, and my mind was reeling from it all. At some point, I buried my head in her chest fur; it felt more instinctual than purposeful. "I’m hungry and thirsty." I moaned with a whimper.

Cadance nodded as she rocked me still, "Of course, honey."

Cadance looked over to Shining, who was already standing up as he rubbed sleep from his eyes. "I’ve got it, dear; hang tight, little one." He told me with a sympathetic smile as he left the room.

"Why?" I asked exasperatedly, glancing up at the intensely worried alicorn. "Why are you doing this?"

She must’ve known exactly what I meant because she immediately replied. "Because we care about you."

I shook my head, which caused more head pain as tears streamed down my face. "I told you to leave me alone. I don’t need your help."

Cadance hugged me tighter, "Kieran, you do need our help." She said with a small huff, "And no amount of wishing that fact away will make this any easier for you. But I promise, helping is all we want to do. Nothing more."

I looked away with a sigh of defeat and mumbled, "It just... doesn't make sense…"

She nuzzled me again, "If I had let you die, I’d have felt so terrible. I'm sorry Kieran. I know I gave you the wrong impression; I was being selfish the first time we met. But I do truly love and care for you, as I do for many ponies."

I groaned as another wave of pain washed through my head. "I don't get you ponies and your obsession with affection." I huffed, "I’m not that gullible. When morning comes, I know you're just going to get rid of me so that you and Flurry can have your perfect princess. And I don't care in what way anymore. Just make sure what's left of the old me is gone when you wipe my memory or whatever." I said bitterly.

Cadance sighed sadder than I'd heard her do yet. "Can you please understand that I’m not going to get rid of you in any sense, Kieran?"

I shook my head, "No, I do understand; I've gotten over it already. Nobody just helps someone like me for no reason. You want something out of me. Because otherwise, why else would anyone care? Especially when you can just start over with a brand new daughter after getting rid of me, you have the power to do it."

Cadance began to let a few tears fall from her eyes. "I want you to be safe and happy! I don’t know who hurt you before, little one, but I’m not like them. I promise!"

I felt a slight bit of anger as I released a huff and argued louder than before, "Who said anybody hurt me? Nobody hurt me." I felt another wave of pain and covered my head with both hooves. I released a slight whimper at the feeling.

A few minutes passed, and Shining came in wheeling a small cart. He stopped at the bedside and levitated a small capsule over to my face. "It’ll help with the pain and fever," he reassured me. I relented and opened my mouth as he levitated a glass of water up to my mouth. I swallowed the pill and began drinking as the sweet, cold water began to wash down my throat. I grabbed the glass just to make sure he wouldn’t pull it away as I nearly drank the entire thing.

All the while, Cadance was petting the back of my head. After I drank that, Shining levitated a sandwich over to me. I looked at the contents, which were spilling out, with disdain. Flowers, lettuce, and other greens. It looked wholly unappetizing, but my stomach growled at the prospect of eating it. Cadance stroked my mane, "It’s good, I promise. You have pony tastebuds now."

I relented and allowed Shining to feed me a bite of the sandwich. It tasted just as good as any old sandwich from my world, but to my starving body, it tasted like the best thing alive. Shining could barely keep up with my hunger. I ravenously finished the sandwich and looked a bit disappointed. Shining released a quiet laugh, "Don’t worry, I've got two just in case. Here you are, little one." He smirked, "That last one was Cadance’s favorite; this one is my favorite. I’m somewhat of a sandwich connoisseur, so tell me what ya think."

I looked up with some appreciation as he fed me the new sandwich. A different kind of flower, and it had what tasted like cucumbers and carrots. I couldn’t really pick a favorite between the two since I was so hungry that garbage would probably taste appetizing.

After finishing, I’d eaten more than I probably had in the whole month I’d been here. And I released a satisfying hum as Shining gave me another drink of the glass of water. I attempted to process what I was allowing these two ponies to do with me, but nothing was working up there. It felt blank, but I could tell it was due to exhaustion.

Cadance smiled sweetly, "Is that better?"

I released a large yawn as I nodded my head. "Thank you." I muttered begrudgingly under my breath, I was raised with manners after all.

Shining hummed, "No problem, get some rest." He told me before laying down in bed next to Cadance.

I reached up to rub my eyes, and Cadance pulled me in. Lying down and wrapping her wings around me in what felt like a way to prevent escape. I felt wholly uninterested in arguing against her act. "Sleep, Kieran. You’re safe now." She whispered.

I knew all of this was only temporary. But I had to admit that for a few moments, I did feel a small sense of happiness. It's too bad that the world and it's people doesn't care about your happiness or feelings in the end. If I were to let my guard down at any point, I'd have what little is left of myself ripped away coldly and uncaringly. And I wouldn't let that happen. I would never be safe.

My body relented to her request, and without much trouble, I slept once again.