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Chapter One - Flashback: Sacrifice
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Editors - Keobro, Quilzel, and NeutralMilk
The Fable of Flintlock Spark
Chapter One
Flashback -- Sacrifice
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Far beyond the outskirts of Northern Equestria lies a small village seemingly left behind by the world with few modern aspects. The village known as Kruxville had an archaic look, complete with a dwindling population of 107.
Kruxville was a lively place. Everypony enjoyed themselves every day. On the surface, the village appeared to be full of exuberant ponies. This joy was the camouflage of many dark secrets of the village's church, The Church of Galgoraughst. The church believed that at the beginning of every second decade, a sacrifice was needed.
Though many ponies were smiling, not all were able to partake in such joy.
When this foal was but 5 years old, his parents were accused of treason and theft towards the high priest. His bible, said to be the original of its kind had gone missing and he was looking for somepony to accuse. The foals parents, who were already somewhat suspicious due to their lack of social interaction and peculiar coloration and design, were at the wrong place at the wrong time and were picked to be the blamed. The villagers shunned the two and forced them from the village. In their sudden departure they left behind one thing, their child.
Because of his parents exile he was ignored and pushed aside by anyone he tried to make contact with. Also, unbeknownst to him, the High Priest had a decree set forth that none shall have no contact with him at all. Nearly everypony in the village obeyed as to not disturb or disrespect their old traditions. There was but one pony who would dare to speak to this young foal.
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Over at a small home on the southern edge of the village; seemingly abandoned with a beaten yard accompanied by an old wooden box with the word MAIL poorly engraved on the front; there was a small shadowy figure lurking nearby.
The figure closed in on the rear of the house, then suddenly...
*clink clink* There was a knock on the glass window.
A familiar voice was heard outside the rear windows of Flintlocks bedroom, "Hey, Flintlock Spark, open up will ya?"
Flintlock, suddenly woken by a knock, rose from his bed then trotted over to the window, swinging it open to see a familiar face holding a brown pouch the size of his head.
Rubbing his head then his eyes he asks "Thunder Bane? What are you doing here? It's the middle of the night!" he says with a slightly annoyed tone accompanied by a slight yawn.
"Just let me in, I got something cool from my grandma!" Thunders' eyes were radiating with excitement when a faint sapphire aura began to form around him. Flintlock was struggling a bit but managed to lift his friend into the room.
With a small sigh and a raised eyebrow, Flintlock begrudgingly asks what the contents of the bag are.
"Just the coolest fruit in all of Equestria!" exclaims Thunder as he pulls out two decently sized, rainbow colored apples. "I wanted to come earlier but I couldn't get away from my folks. And we have to eat them by tomorrow morning, so we might as well do it now, right?"
With a bit of hesitation, Flintlock ensnared on of the apples with his telekinesis and brought it towards himself, "So, what exactly are these anyway? Are you sure that they're safe to eat?"
"I’m 100% sure that we can eat them. I think my grandma said that they are called Zap Apples." he says while searching for the best spot to take the first bite.
Slowly Flintlock brings the apple to his mouth, the aroma from the apple is a reminder that he had yet to eat today. Before he could take a bite, the sound of a loud crunch resounded in his ear, to turned to see that Thunder had taken at least a third of the apple in one bite.
His eyes growing wide as he stopped chewing and swallowed the entire mouthful in one go.
"THAT WAS THE MOST AMAZING THING I'VE EVER TASTED!!!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, a smile from ear to ear.
"Jeez, keep it down!” Flintlock said with a strained whisper. “What if somepony hears you in here?!"
"Oops, sorry,” Thunder replied, smiling sheepishly, “ but that was amazing! Hurry and take a bite of yours before I eat it myself!"
Without another thought, Flintlock takes a small bite out of the apple. In that tiny bite, there was a king’s feast of flavor. The rapturous flavour flooded his taste buds in a massive wave. Thunder was just finishing his apple as Flintlock began to tear away at the rest of his.
"That was One. Awesome. Apple," exclaimed Thunder .
"No... kidding." Flintlock responded through heavy breaths.
With a small amount of apple remnants scattered about their faces they look at each other and began to laugh. Both thrashing about the floor trying to contain their laughter.
"Well let's clean up.” Flintlock began, rising to his hooves. “And then you better head home right away before your parents find that you’re missing.”
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Thunder Bane responded, cracking his neck.
While in the kitchen they both looked into a mirror and just stared.
Thunder look at himself, then at Flintlock, and back at himself. With a questioning look he asked “Do you ever wonder if we are actually related somehow?”
“It’s crossed my mind once or twice.” Flintlock responded with an ‘as a matter fact’ look.
They both had a black coat with bright blue hair and eyes to match, though Flint’s hair was a tad bit longer. Thunder had two luminous rings on his two front shoulders. Flintlock on the other hoof had rings around each of the lower parts of his legs.
The starred in wonder for a few minutes before resuming their cleaning.
Once they were cleaned up, Thunder headed on home and Flintlock got into bed to rest until Celestia’s sun rose to bring in the new day. A day that neither of the young stallions were prepared for.
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That morning Thunder had decided to make a trip to his friends house to see if he wanted to play some games in the yard. Upon his arrival, he found the house completely wrecked. Tables turned on their sides and broken glass strewn about the floor. On the counter there was a red liquid and Thunder knew exactly what it was.
Thunder searched the entire house to searching for Flintlock. After about 3 minutes of frantic searching with no one to be found he decided to head out. On the way out of the door he noticed a golden cross on the ground attached to a broken chain.
With fear of his friends safety Thunder galloped out of the house with a terrified look on his face, searching in every direction.
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Moments earlier, Flintlock was just getting up and about to eat when he heard a knocking on the door. He darted to the door expecting to see Thunder, excited for another day of good fun, but was greeted by four guard stallions, two pegasus, an earth guard, a unicorn, and the High Priest.
Flintlock’s eyes widened in fear as the ominous group began to advance toward him in a threatening manner. In a wild frenzy to escape his impending doom, he managed to retreat into the kitchen. He used his magic and opened the kitchen drawers to throw rusty knives and silverware at the guards only to be deflected by the magic of the Priest. However, one did manage to get by and barely grazing a pegasus guard.
The unicorn guard annoyed that such a young colt was giving this much trouble decided to take matters into his own hooves. He began catching all of the thrown items and sending out of the colts reach. The guard began casting his levitation spell upon him but Flintlock had other plans. He picked up a nearby plate unseen by the rest and shot it at the unicorn guard full force. The plate made contact with the guards horn and shattered on impact. He yelled out in pain as the magic was canceled and fell to the floor.
“ENOUGH!” The High Priest shouted, seething with anger as he threw Flintlock across the room like a ragdoll into the cabinets above the sink. After the impact the young unicorn tumbled to the ground knocked out cold.
The guards had looks of astonishment and disappointment about their faces. They were all useless while the Priest settled the matter with complete ease.
The angry clergy exited the home carrying the unconscious unicorn in his magic with the guards in tow. The unlucky earth pony had to carry his unconscious unicorn companion on his back for the rest of the trip.
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Flintlock awoke slowly trying to readjust his vision, amethyst chains on each limb suspending him in the air. Soon he regained his sight, looking around he notice that the chains were being emitted from four unicorn priestesses, each humming lightly, a dreadful tune.
He regarded the ground below him in fear of falling. In looking, he noticed a lucent magenta colored magic circle was formed with strange characters that he had only seen in ancient books left to him by his parents.
The High Priest spoke out to the ponies, “Mares and Gentlecolts of the village, today we begin the ceremonies."
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