//------------------------------//
// Zero's Legacy 
// Story: Land of Misery 
// by UnKnownSalvation 
//------------------------------//


Ch. 4: Zero's Legacy

"If you must know, I might as well start as far back as I can remember. I was born in Libertas, I think."
"You think? Didn't you parents tell you where you were born?"
Zero immediately looked away with distress and didn't answer the question right away. Twilight wondered what she said wrong.
"I… never met my parents. I was an orphan." Twilight wasn't expecting such an answer, but now she was fully interested in Zero's tale.
"An orphan?!" Twilight asked in astonishment.
"Yep; from what I was told, I was left on the doorstep and stayed at the orphanage 'til I got my cutie mark and Suvnet found me. I can still remember the name: Bright Future Orphanage. What a clever little lie. It was in the small town of Eastmare."
"How did you get you cutie mark?"
Zero looked back on the memory with a smile, as he began reminiscing those cherish moments.
"I was the last one in my age group to get one. There were even ponies younger than me who had theirs, but how I got this green thing, I still laugh at it sometimes. I had a friend named Speed Breaker, a pegasus who, as his name would tell you, was an extremely fast flyer. Though he added "Breaker" to make himself seem cooler than he really was, Speed and I were the best of friends, as it was rare that you saw only one of us. We were basically brothers. THAT'S how close we were! Now the day we became friends, I had been at the orphanage for a good while, but I never really got along with anyone, mainly due to my anger issues that I had."
"Anger issues?" Twilight asked incredulous.
"Yep; I wasn't the hardest pony to get mad, but it's gotten better over the years. I was very impulsive and still am." Zero replied.
"So when did you meet this "Speed"?" Twilight asked with curiosity.
"It was lunch time." Zero's horn flashed, as he played the memory before Twilight, so she could see it as Zero had remembered it…
()()()()() Flashback: 2 1/2 years ago-Eastmare, Libertas ()()()()()
'We were all eating, when the pony running the orphanage, Mrs. Care, announced a new arrival…'
Mrs. Care was a pink pony, with a red mane and a bow attached to it.
"Children, I have good news! We have a new colt that arrived today, so everyone give a warm welcome to Speed!"
As she said his name, a small, shy blue pegasus came through the door. His mane and tail were black and his eyes were lime green. Every pony in the room just clapped their hooves together to make it seem like they were interested.
"Why don't you go and find a seat with the others?" Speed goes and sits next to a small Zero, who was sitting by himself.
"Hey there!" Speed greeted the colt.
Zero was silent to Speed's friendly greeting.
"What's your name?" asked Speed.
But Zero still gave Speed the silent treatment. The young pegasus sat down, as Mrs. Care gives him a plate. Speed quickly eats the food, as the young Zero looks on.
"You didn't talk very much."
"I was a loner. I was very shy and I didn't like to talk much. But Speed brought the fun loving colt out with just a positive attitude."
As Speed continued to eat like a bottomless pit, a couple of colts walk up behind him.
"You like that food don't you?"
Speed stopped eating his meal and turned around to see two colts confronting him. The leading pony was yellow, scrawny looking unicorn while his cohort was bulky and black with white mane and no tail. The big pony then picked up Speed and threw him to the ground with both front hooves.
"Then you're going to love my hoof sandwich!"
Just then, Zero jumped out of his seat and dropkicks the big pony's head, sending him over the table behind him. He then landed on his hind hooves and delivered a roundhouse kick to the side of the retreating yellow pony's side.
"WOW! How did you do that?!" asked Speed.
Zero looked at Speed and began to walk away.
"Wait, what's your name?!" Speed looked sad until Zero finally said something.
"Valor." Speed looked up when he heard Zero speak.
"What?"
"You asked what my name was, didn't you?" Zero/Valor asked, as he walked out of the room. Speed got up and followed him.
"Who were those bullies?"
"Big Bam and Smooth Talker. Every place has its bullies, I guess."
"So Valor, how did you do all that?"
"Sometimes, you learn skills from experience."
"You mean you've fought them before?"
"Yep, which surprised me that they weren't aware that I was sitting about five feet from them."
"Maybe the bullies here just don't have the brains to be good bullies?" Speed laughed at his own joke, while Valor just chuckled.
"Maybe."
()()()()() End Flashback ()()()()()
"Valor?" Twilight asked Zero.
"Back then, I went by a different name: Valor. That was the name that I was left with, the only thing I have from my parents."
"You mean Zero is not your real name?"
"You'll know why I threw away that name. We just need to get there." Twilight's suspicion of Zero just grew, now knowing that he was lying about who he really was.
"After that, we became the closest of friends, until the day I got my cutie mark. Everything changed on that day: the day I was adopted by Suvnet." Zero played another memory for Twilight…
()()()()() Flashback: Last year… ()()()()()
'Speed and I were doing what we did best: causing mayhem.'
"Come on Val!" Said a small, dark blue pegasus, as he landed on a rooftop, his cutie mark in the shape of three black, white, and blue lightning bolts. He was followed by a little; red unicorn; with messy; brown mane, a tail and a blank flank: little Zero.
"Ok Val! Today, we even the score with those jerks!"
"It's time they got a taste of being bullied!"
'You know bullying bullies isn't the answer to everything right?'
'You expect two colts to know better? You may need to lower your expectations a bit. Also I think you ask a lot of questions.'
'If I don't, then how will I know anything?' Zero thought it over.
'You got me there.'
"Oh, this is going to be good!" Speed said, rubbing his hooves together evilly.
"Yeah, it's about time they "cleaned" up their attitudes. Over eight years of bullying is about to end." The two chuckled. "Ok, we need them to chase you to the old boathouse by the lake. I'll be there, waiting to spring the trap."
"Ok, I'll see you there! I'll get their attention in about three minutes." With that, Valor took off for the boathouse.
'So your plan to spring a trap is how you got your cutie mark?'
'Not at all, Twilight. I got my cutie mark from what happened on the way. As I was running to get to the boathouse on the rooftops, I heard something in the distance on the other side of the roof…'
"Runaway carriage!"
Valor turned around to see the runaway carriage rolling down the street. He looked to where it was heading, to see an oblivious old pony crossing the street.
"Oh no." Valor looked around to see a clothesline on part of the roof. "That could work…"
As Speed was approaching the boathouse, he saw that Valor wasn't in position.
"Val, where are you? Looks like we'll have to abort." Speed said, as he flew up to spot his friend. He finally sees Valor preparing to launch a small but heavy box with the clothesline.
'Your plan is kind of flawed.'
'Oh it gets better. Watch.'
Just as the box was in position, the string goes over the box and launches Valor instead. Speed finds Valor, just as he's sent flying.
"Grandma!" A little folly shouted, as Valor goes flying by over their heads. Just as the carriage is about to hit the old pony, Valor hit the carriage shoulder first, with enough force that it just misses the old pony and tips over, injuring no one.
"Wow that hurt!" Valor said, as he grabbed his shoulder.
'Why didn't anyone else stop the cart? Where were the guards or the police?'
'I lived in a town of around five hundred ponies. It's rare that anything bad ever really happened.'
"Thank you, young one." Valor looked up to see the old pony looking over him. They are soon joined by everyone who just witnessed what happened.
"Valor! Dude, you are the craziest colt ever!" Speed said, as he landed on his hooves to help his friend.
"Valor, huh? It could only take some pony with valor to do something like that to save an elderly pony like me." The elder said, as Valor picked himself up. Valor rubbed the back of his neck, knowing that what happened was an accident.
"Give me a hoof, my bro!" Speed said, as he stuck out his hoof.
Valor smiled, as he bumped his hoof with Speed's. Suddenly, Valor glowed brighter than the sun, blinding every pony in visual range. Once the glow dissipated, every pony could see and much to their shock, they saw two Speeds.
"Val… Dude…"
"What?" Valor asked, confused by his friend's reaction until he looked at his hoof with amazement and panicked when he saw his new wings.
"WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?!" Valor shouted in disbelief.
All the ponies were speechless. The little red unicorn was now a blue pegasus. The only thing that was different was the voice and the horn that Valor still had. As Valor continued to look over his body to see everything had changed, he glowed again, but much less bright and returned to his normal form, with one little exception: his new cutie mark.
()()()()() End Flashback ()()()()()
"So you got your cutie mark from your ability? Why did it activate then but never before?"
"I don't know. Maybe he didn't have his cutie mark, but that wouldn't explain all the other ponies that did that my hooves came in contact with."
"So you have no idea why it happened then?"
"Nope and I still don't. It all started from a freak accident."
"What happened next?"
"Suvnet, a powerful unicorn standing in the crowd, was just passing through, when he saw what had happened. He said that he was a close friend of my father and he knew what I could do. He said I was a descendant of the Surge family line: A family of ponies with the ability to copy and absorb the abilities and characteristics of others. He said my family was a family of heroes that helped the world from the shadows, often posing as others who were fit for positions or other things but couldn't take it themselves. I guess you could say I'm the first to not follow in my father's hoof prints."
"So your family helped others by posing as them? That could mean that history could be wrong about so much!"
"I know. It's scary to think that one family has fooled so many over the years. I asked Suvnet where my father was and his response might as well have been him throwing a pie in my face. He said my father went missing years ago after my mother died. He saw the pain in my face and offered to train me how to use magic and control my power. Shortly afterwards, we left. I changed my name to Zero Amare because if my own dad didn't want me, then I didn't want anything he gave me that I didn't have to keep. It's also why I don't call Power Mirror by its true name: Power Surge."
"Where did you get "Amare" from?"
"I named it after one of the caregivers at the orphanage. She was the closest thing I had to a mother, though my memory of her now is kind of foggy…"
"What happened to Speed?"
"He didn't take my leaving well. I sent letters to the orphanage, but I only got one response: 'Speed is no longer living at the Bright Future Orphanage.' After that, I had no idea what happened to him."
"Wow! Maybe he was adopted!"
"Maybe, but the letter never said what happened to him, so I guess anything is possible.
"So what happened during your training?"
"It was hard, Twilight. There wasn't a day where I wasn't pushed to my limits on what I could do. Though I learned slowly, I mastered a lot in the last year, all the way up 'til Suvnet's betrayal and leaving me here on this rock."
"Wow, Princess Celestia was never tough on me, as she let me learn at my own pace. How did you get through it all?"
"Honestly, I don't know. After all the fainting from exhaustion, the pain, and plenty of yelling, I just felt that I couldn't stop 'til I found my own place in this world. Not the same place that was repeated for centuries."
"So you decided to make a path unlike those before you?"
"Exactly. I'm probably the first in my family to grow up without a real one or a real place to call home, but I want to actually mean something to the world. I guess all things have to start from somewhere, right?" Zero asked with a small smile. Twilight nodded and smiled in response.
"So what do we do now?" asked Twilight
"Now we need to head for Miracle City." Twilight was taken aback by the pleasant sounding name.
"Miracle City? You said that was a place of horror!" Zero shook his head.
"True, but it's also a place of lies. All the cities look fine and have pleasant names, but the small towns look like train wrecks." Zero stood on his hooves and magically put his bag on. "And if you don't believe me, then we're making one detour. Can you walk?"
"Detour? To where?" Twilight asked, as she tried to stand, but the pain forced her back down. Zero magically picked her up and placed her on his back again.
"The mountain village of Shutter…"