Essential Edge
The tale begins as my father galloped away from home, each thunder of his hooves spearing him forward as if he was attacking the very air in front of him. Pebbles flew up behind him, each hit of his limbs on the ground sending them skyward. The pale gray dust would be swept up by the wind, chasing after him as it traveled down the same path.
Between the golden stalks of wheat, each spearing skyward on either side of the dirt trail, flashes of blue are visible. The deep cerulean pattern ripples across his back as his mane struggles to hold onto his body. A much smaller, and knobbier cerulean trail can easily been seen despite the gray settling on it as the wind pushes the dirt back over his flanks.
Edgeburn pays it no mind, his attention far ahead of him, where he can't see quite yet, but where he intends to be shortly. He lets the dirt blow back across his vibrant tail, and doesn't even flinch when it settles into his deep ashen coat. The only thing on him of any concern is a bag of shoes, each weighing a ton to the young colt.
But Edgeburn's jaw was hard set, and it gripped the burlap sack quite easily as he began to round the bend among the giant fields of wheat. Even with his ears pinned back for speed, it wasn't long before he could hear the distinct laughter of his target. His speed almost doubled, and his ears perked up, taking the wind's onslaught full force for any hope of hearing what he feared lay ahead.
“What? Are you crying now? So you fell down, stop whining!” The voice came from the orange colt that lay just a few lengths away now. Bumper Crop, the meanest Unicorn colt for days, his being the only unicorn colt for days didn't help much either. The orange colt's two- toned red and yellow hair made him look like fire, and he had brought more than a few sparks forward with his horn the last time Edgeburn had seen him mad.
One summer to try and get into Celestia's school for gifted unicorns and several failed exams later, Bumper had come back mean, angry, and with more than enough magic to toss poor Bushfire's cat clean into the water-tower. Tinder still hadn't forgiven him, but the cat slipped away every time Bumper showed up since.
“C'mon Bloss, you can stop crying now, you know it wouldn't have ended like this if you didn't try to say your wings are better than my magic. Especially when you can't even fly yet!” He finished his tirade with a loud laugh, tilting his head back. “huh” he mouthed as he caught motion out of the corner of his eye.
“MMUMPER!”Edgeburn had been moments away from smacking the ever-loving-Celestia-praised daylights out of him when he was spotted. The sack was swinging down, read to clock him on the head hard enough to not warrant a second swing. His muffled word hung in the air for a minute before Edgeburn felt a sickening feeling.
“Whoa there Burnie, whats all this about?” Bumper asked with a sneer as he grabbed Edgeburn and his bag mid air with a good levitation spell. The orange colt kept up his wicked smile as he saw his newly captured prey.
“If I didn't know better, I’d say you were about to hit me... well it's a good thing I caught you, or you'd be in trouble wouldn't you? I'll let you go this one time, me and your sis will be done in just a minute.” Bumper said turning around while holding Edgeburn in his grasp still.
The dark colored colt smiled as Bumper turned around, and saw his teary-eyed sister looking at him with a smile.
“Edgie, the hero! Now you're in for it!” Fireblossom said in her sickeningly sweet voice. Just at that moment, Edgeburn had pulled with all his strength, every last ounce just to move his neck against Bumper's magic, but it had been worth it. With that final pull, the cord in his mouth was pulled loose, and out of the bottom of the bag came four heavy horseshoes.
Bumper's skull soon made their acquaintance and just to be polite his legs and the ground did the same. Edgeburn would have said he hit the ground like a sack of bricks but the bricks don't normally look like they're about to grow a second horn.
“Run for it Fireblossom, get outta here!” Edgeburn yelled as soon as he felt the other colt's grip leave him. Without hesitation his little sister did just that, her hooves tripping over themselves at first but soon she was racing down the path, her little wings buzzing as if they could give her a hoof.
“Not so... fast.” Bumper's words weren't too steady but Edgeburn already saw him lifting a rock and coating it with his signature magic. While most wouldn't suspect, Bumper's Rubber Tree cutie mark didn't mean he was good with plants, it meant he could make things bounce with his magic, and he was a better shot than a hungry snake to boot.
Edgeburn moved to block the way between him and his sister as the rocks in front of Bumper rose in a pale magenta aura. He braced himself as he saw Bumper rear up and bash each stone down at the ground, then up at him. The pain was unlike anything he'd ever encountered, even worse then when the nurse told him not to look before she put the needle in his fetlock. Each one hit him squarely in the chest, bouncing off into the fields around them but not before leaving what would surely be big welts under his coat.
Bumper smiled as Edgeburn's head descended, harsh breaths coming out of it as the young colt struggled to stand. “Nice dodge there Burnie, that was so good, I think I’ll let you recoup for a minute, I’m going to go catch up with Bloss, I'm sure she'll play nice once she see's you're not arou-”
Edgeburn stumbled lightly, his right fore-hoof landing inside something with a small plop. He looked down with a smile as his father's shoe seemed to fix itself around his smaller hoof. Bumper had begun to speak while he was looking down, and now as the colt went to walk past him, Edgeburn heard his sister's name uttered.
The blow Edgeburn had brought down upon Bumper was ear shattering, the older colt not having enough time to slow the hit with levitation relied on his default spell, his rubber. The hit connected with the force of an angry brother, then bounced back, sending his leg windmilling back. Bumper however, got it worse, it still imparted all of it's force on his face, but then, bounced his snout down so hard it hit the ground.
A small cracking was all Edgeburn heard before he was sure that Bumper wasn't getting up, he was crying far too much to fight. Pain, unbelievable pain was racing up his leg, and Edgeburn looked down to see why. His foreleg was backwards, at an angle it should never be. He instinctively tried to move it only to hear another crack, and his vision become filled with black as his eyes forced themselves shut.
In the distance he faintly could hear hooves racing towards them, and he feared that maybe one of Bumper's friends from the school had run across Fireblossom and she needed him now more than ever. But then a simple sound graced his lips, one he had heard many times before and dreaded hearing ever since.
“No” that one word, with that worried sound behind it, Edgeburn felt his life flash before his eyes, everything he'd done wrong in his twelve years laid bare. Had it really been worth it if this was the outcome? With a firm nod of his head, and remembering Fireblossom's words as he appeared, he was sure it was. He was more than happy if his ma killed him for getting hurt again.
“Edgeburn E. Wheatstalk! What have you done!?” She cried above him before he realized there was a set of wing-beats close by.
“Boy, you sure tussled something fierce, C'mon Pristine, we gotta get these lads to the hospital or at least the farmhouse, I think Edgeburn broke his foreleg.” His dad said starting to scoop first Bumper up, then him, using his wings to help.
Edgeburn was about ready to rest, the pain in his arm making him whimper with each jolt of his dad's steps, but one last sound got through to him.
“Hey Edgie, big brother? Are you awake? Awe, no fair, wake up, you have to tell me what you did to Poo-brain back there, how'd you get it?”
“Get whatzit now?” he offered his little sis.
“You're cutie mark! You got your Cutie Mark!” Edgeburn smiled before dropping his head.