Chronicles of the Glow

by Rusty Parker

Chapter 1: Beacon

Shivering viciously, a young colt wrapped himself in a blanket, fear taking over his usually calm demeanor. The night outside was dense with darkness. The blackness of it was almost tangible, and for all the poor colt knew, it was. He looked around the room, seeing his parents sleeping nearby while another lump beneath his blanket began to shift in its sleep. The gemstones that kept the room lit to almost the point of daylight shone brightly as he looked all around the room, searching for the horrid beast whom had so vividly broken into the building only seconds ago.

“It was… a nightmare?” he whispered to himself, trying not to wake his family. A scratching noise at the wall quickly followed by a low and malicious growl rang out from the wall behind him. The colt gasped deeply, his eyes widening as he found himself up on his hooves in no time at all
He was on the opposite side of the room in an instant, fearing for his very life that perhaps his dream had been a reality. That wasn’t the case though, as he soon came to realize the sounds had came from outside the wall his back had been against.

The lump below the blanket began to rise, the blanket falling to the bed as the figure beneath it lifted two hooves into the air. A nearly silent, high pitched yawn followed as the filly beneath turned around to face her brother, still quivering from the sudden surge of fear. “Brother, what’s wrong?” she said, beginning to rub her right eye socket with her hoof as she looked lazily around the room.

The colt opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by a loud roar in the distance. The colt’s hooves didn’t need any prompting to cover his ears and pull his head down to the ground. He began to shake again, his eyes sealed closed as if the very action of opening them in the slightest would be the end of him. The filly, however, simply widened her eyes and shook her head a little, not wanting her brother to see her own fear. She was on her hooves in almost the instant she was able to regain her composure. Crossing the room quickly, she nuzzled the cheek of the orange and cyan colt who still couldn’t bear the thought of looking up.

“W-why can’t we live in peace like the rest of Equestria?” The colt cried out, tears seeping through his clutched eyelids. “Why do we have to,” he sniffled, the tears now openly flowing down his cheeks as his strength wilted in the presence of the coming waterfall. Opening his eyes and looking, pleadingly, at his sister, he repeated himself “Why do we have to sta-” She kissed him on the forehead, silencing him with her reassuring smile. His hooves were around her in no time at all, his weeping no longer able to be contained. His tears soaked her white mane, but she didn’t mind.

“That’s it, Orange Cyan. Let it out,” she said, running a white hoof down his orange mane. “I know, I know,” she reassured, doing her very best not to let him know how much this place made her feel contained and enslaved by the veritable plethora of monsters.

“But why?” he persisted, still soaking his sister’s coat. He finally managed to look up at her, though the tears still poured and he had to keep sniffling to breath.

She chewed it over in her mind, wondering if she should tell the weeping unicorn in her arms just how stranded they were. She couldn’t bear to see him like this. She closed her eyes, inhaling in preparation for whatever reaction her brother may provide. “Look, its…” She didn’t find the time to finish her sentence as another beast outside was now screeching out. The high pitched wail caused both to cling to each other more tightly, both fearing for an instant that it was inside. Silence ensued, and both brother and sister met each other’s eyes.

Though he was still horrified, the colt was no longer crying. His face was wet, and he felt like he would lose his dinner any second now, but the worst of it was gone for the moment. His sister, recognizing the queasy look in his face, took a single step back, giving him some space to breath and catch himself before he hurled. He was able to stop the fluids within from emerging, but he still felt sickly. His sister let out a sigh of relief, looking at him with reemerging fatigue. She let out a long yawn.

The fright in them both had pretty well subsided, and the slightly taller filly looked down into her brother’s face and gave a weak smile. “I think your teacher would be better suited for this when you go to school tomorrow,” she said as the colt took in and processed what she was saying. His eyes widened and he bounced into the air. His eagerness for the coming morning returned in its fullest. The filly raised a hoof to her forehead as she realized the tornado of energy the colt was now filled with. He continued to bounce up and down happily, not a trace of the sorrow or fright that had been almost the only trait he was able to show.

“School, school, school!” he shouted, unable to contain himself. He soon found his sister’s hoof pressed not so gently into his mouth in what was probably the only way to get his attention without hurting him. She took her hoof away from him, shaking off some saliva and motioned toward the two sleeping unicorns across the room, which quickly made him come to grips with what he was doing. He looked at them worried that his burst of excitement had woken them, but neither shifted in their bed. An enormous smile still adorned his face as he began to walk in stride back to the bed.

They were both in bed quickly, not wanting to insight their parent’s punishment should they be caught up at this hour. They lay there for a while, neither sleeping but both trying. The colt turned to face his sister with his dreary eyes as he began to speak in a hushed whisper, “Sister?”

“Yes my insane, completely insane, little brother?” She responded keeping her eyes closed as she let out yet another yawn. It must have been contagious, as he did the same almost immediately.

“Thank you so much,” he said halfway through his yawn. He turned back over and soon enough he was snoozing soundly. The red and white filly couldn’t help but smile as she herself nodded off to sleep.

In the bed on the opposite side of the room, the mare that lay beside her husband couldn’t help but be happy that her two little unicorns were so good together. She didn’t move, not wanting them to know she was awake the entire time. Those two can be put into the worst situation in the world, and still manage to help each other out. A mother of such wonderful young ones couldn’t help but be proud. She closed her eyes, and began to drift into thought. The noises from outside continued to reach them, but no longer bothered any of them all that much. Those beast can make all the noise they want, she thought. Those two have a light between each other brighter than any gemstone could ever hope to glow. The monsters would never stand a chance she thought, smiling inwardly to herself.

“Everypony, quite down please,” the single gray stallion said above the group of young colts and fillies as he walked in from the back office. His cutie mark was of a mathematical equation: an “x” plus a “y” with an equals sign, but no answer, his mane a bright blue, streaked with white hair. He had been making last minute preparations for class today, and by the time he reached his new students, the room was in an uproar. The first day of school was setting in, and as he looked over them, the stallion knew all too well that if he didn’t do something to quite down the class, they could go on for hours. His voice wasn’t enough to get their attention over their own conversations, and despite what others would do, he didn’t yell. He didn’t even in the slightest get angry. No, he simply smiled as his horn began to glow.

A single orange and cyan colt in the front row was baffled at how anypony could so calmly approach the situation. He along with a white manned pegasus were the only two amongst the group of eleven who weren’t talking, and the only two who took notice to the presence of the stallion. Having been lead into the morning class for the first time, the colt had felt so excited. He had happily bounced along as his elder sister, who was in the classroom down the hall, led him to this room. Upon reaching it, all his energy poured out of him. The crowd of other ponies his age was a sight he’d never expected. Still, he didn’t fail to feel energetic at finally being able to go to school just like his big sister.

Suddenly, everything went silent in the classroom, bursting the colt’s bubble of thought. Nopony in the room said a word as they looked around in fright. He soon came to notice why. The room was dark… as dark as the night. The unicorn in front of the room had dropped the blinds, and covered the overhanging gemstones with cloth.

“Well well, it seems I’ve managed to grab your attention,” said the gray coated stallion in the front of the room. There was not a sound as light returned to the room. “And yet, I wonder why that is? Why do you all listen so well to the dark? Why is it that only this could get your attention?” he asked in a somewhat creepy voice, and looked around the room, staring each individual pony in the eye. He came face to face with the orange manned colt, who didn’t hold back in answering.

“Because there are monsters that come out at night, when it’s dark out. Really scary ones,” he said, looking the older unicorn in the eye.

“That is absolutely correct!” he said, a smile now breaking over his previously serious poker face. This warmed the young unicorn with a sense of accomplishment. “However, that begs the question… Why?” he asked, and looked around the room again for anypony who may be able to answer. “Why do the monsters come out at night, and not during the day? Why do they want to hurt ponies that have never done them any harm?” Nopony dared even to try at answering this one, for they were never told it. This was something they were not allowed to talk about, something they had to find out when they were older.

Well, I guess we are older now, thought the orange manned colt. The unicorn in front began to speak again, “So, not one of you has heard from a sibling any rumors of why these monsters do what they do?” Everypony shook their head, honestly having never been told anything about the beasts. That is, other than the factor of light being the only thing that ponies could hope to protect themselves with. “How about this then, do any of you have a theory of what might, and I mean might, make them act the way they do?” He asked a little more kindly than before, with less force in his voice.

The white manned pegasus raised her hoof, wings erected as she waited for the prompt to provide her theory. The old teacher smiled inwardly as he nodded her way. She began her answer with a stammer, “W-we-well, I don’t know if this is what really might be going on but…” she put her head down, not wanting anypony to see her. She couldn’t bear the thought of all the eyes in the room being on her. The teacher took note of this.

“It’s okay, there are no wrong answers here miss,” he said, smiling at her bravery. Even though she was horrified of speaking up with so many ponies around, she still dared to try. The unicorn could really appreciate that in a student. She blushed with embarrassment, and continued her explanation.

“A-anyway, umm, I think they may only come out in the dark because…” she paused looking around before regaining her composure and kept going, “Because they are afraid of the light.” The stallion was smiling ear to ear as she answered. This one little pegasus, whom was so shy as to barely be able to speak her mind amongst her pears, had figured it all out. This year is going to be interesting, he almost said out loud.

He waited a moment before continuing, “Yes. You’ve hit the nail on the head there. They most certainly are afraid of the light,” he said, still smiling as he came to a stop in the middle of the area between his desk and the students’. The pegasus perked right up, smiling with all her teeth as the teacher continued, “Alright, let me explain the whole reason that you’ve been kept away from your whole lives.”

“Wait!” an earth pony with a yellow coat said before the teacher could continue. He looked at her accusingly, but she continued anyway. “What’s your name!?! We gotta be able tah call you somthin!” she said, not quite noticing how loudly she spoke or how unprompted it was for her to interrupt the teacher. He simply laughed though, not showing a sign of being angry.

“By Celestia, I must have forgotten to actually introduce myself.” he said, smiling thinly at his class, “I’m Kalk, and I will be your teacher for this year!”

The orange colt waited outside the school building for his sister rather impatiently. He had spoken out on various occasions during Mister Kalk’s class, but outside the classroom he felt… exposed. There was nopony there to keep judging eyes off of him, and from what he could tell the class distained his constant insight through the lesson. One even gave a disgruntled moan when he spoke up to answer a question. If he could manage to shrivel up and disappear from sight right now, that would still be better to him than having all those hating eyes on him. He shook his head, trying to keep himself from crying.

The colt needed a distraction, something to keep himself from thinking of the other ponies in his class. He looked around him at the various structures in town, able to see most everything from his vantage point on the hill of which the school sat. Beacon wasn’t an enormous place, but it certainly was packed together. There wasn’t much room for anything else to be built in the town. Structures across the town were low and strongly built with only a few exceptions. This was to prevent the beasts from causing constant structural damage at night, or at least, that’s what the colt’s father had always told him.

The big white building behind him reached up three stories, and was the highest point in Beacon other than the clock tower. The tower was about eight stories high, visible from where ever you were. The time wasn’t something anypony forgot about in this place. The clock towers of other towns may be slightly important to the community as a whole, but here it was absolutely crucial for everyday life. If anypony lost track of time, there was the enormous red-bricked tower, constantly counting down to the hour where the sun would set. This was one of the only places where not following your curfew was a death sentence.

Beyond those two buildings, though, there really wasn’t much that brought interest to the town. There was a small park, with a very small pond, but that was the only place that wasn’t packed with buildings. It looked nice, sure, with its smart use of construction to pack in as many buildings as possible, but it definitely wasn’t where you found your eyes wandering to first. No, that honor belonged to the surrounding forest. The town was built in a clearing in the dead center of a forest of immense darkness. The trees stood hundreds of feet tall, with canopies so dense that no light reached the forest floor. One could stare out at it for hours and still only see a single tree into the forest before losing sight of everything else beyond.

This was the place where the monsters lived, their home, and it completely surrounded Beacon. They were stranded, the ponies of this town, with no way in or out except by wings. His sister was right, Kalk really had answered his question for him, even without him having the need to ask. As if on cue with his thought, there she was, emerging from her after school meeting with the student board. She approached him with happiness adorn on her face, having had an excellent first day back from the looks of it. The colt stood up, having managed to get an annoying numb leg while he sat. He found himself falling forward on his face, unable to stabilize on the limp leg.

The filly giggled at her little brother, but not harshly. They always played around with each other, and this was no different. He smiled as he got to his feet, almost hoping to seem like it was on purpose that he fell. The filly’s giggle quelled to a simple smile and they hugged, happy to see one another after such a long day. “So, how was your first day of school?” she asked, curious to how her little brother had managed to deal with the new variation in his life.

“It… it was fun but…” he paused, looking down at his hooves as the memory of the others’ judgment returned.

“But?” his sister asked, knowing now that something must have gone wrong.

“But nopony likes me…” he said in a nearly silent voice. His sister gave him the look that told him she wanted to know why, a raised eyebrow with a half frown. He explained, “They all see me answer questions and ad to what Mister Kalk was saying, but they always snort or groan when I do. They looked at me with hate in their eyes… like I’m one of the monsters that came out of the forest!” he said sorrowfully, not wanting to believe it was true. His sister frowned as she took a step forward and wrapped a hoof around him. She pulled him close and looked down at him from her two inch higher vantage point.

“You’ll meet somepony who will be your friend in there, little Orange Cyan, I know it,” she said smiling, “how can anypony hate such a nice, sweet and innocent little colt like you?” she asked in a voice that imitated how adults acted near newborn fillies or colts. He pushed away, not wanting anything to do with the silly notion. “Awe, don’t be that way!” she teased in an unrealistically high pitched voice, lightening up the mood a little. The colt couldn’t contain it. He just had to let out that smile she always made him have. He hid it immediately, not wanting her to feel successful yet again, but she had already seen it was there. She could only smile at having bested her brother at their little game.

“Let’s just go already” he said, rolling his eyes as they both set out for the area of town near the clock tower where they lived.

The Glow Emporium, the gem shop in Beacon, was always bustling with activity. The streets weren’t all that wide, only allowing three ponies to fit by each other at the same time, but that didn’t stop a crowd from forming. It was near the town center, directly underneath the clock tower. Standing two stories tall, the building both housed the owners and allowed them to do business with those who needed their services.

It was here that Glitter and her husband, Spit Shine, ran their local business. Glitter’s cutie mark was a shining red gemstone, a calling card to her ability of being able to enchant any gems she came across. Spit Shine had a similar cutie mark, though his was deep blue and he was better at fixing broken gems or recharging those that ran out of juice. They were the givers of light for all of Beacon, and as such they were always busy.

As Glitter waited anxiously at the counter, selling her glowing rocks as quickly as possible, she wondered how her children’s first day back to school had gone. The thought didn’t have much time to materialize though, as yet another customer walked up to the counter. He was a tall pegasus with a letter adorned on his purple flank, and was accompanied by a blonde and gray filly. She came to realize just who the stallion was, and greeted him appropriately, “Good afternoon Blitzy, been a while, hasn’t it?”

“More than I’ve come to realize. How have things been around here the past few years?” The yellow manned stallion asked, having not been in Beacon for a long time. Glitter smiled at her old friend and walked out from behind the counter.

“Apparently!” she said, looking down at the adorable filly who stuck to her father’s haunches like glue. “Why didn’t you tell me you had a daughter?” she asked while bring her eyes back to Blitzy. He laughed, rubbing his mane with one of his hooves. Glitter pulled her eyes up to the ceiling, and began to speak, “Things have been going well,” she said, bring her eyes back to him, “or as well as they get around here. The kids are happy, if fearful at times,” she said, a little bit upset about the grim reality.

“I know, my friend. It can’t have been easy having to stay here,” the pegasus reassured, placing a hoof on her shoulder. He took it away, looked down at his daughter, and smiled. He pulled her around him, putting her in complete visibility. She cringed a bit at first, but reluctantly allowed herself to relax, if only because her father had given her that smile. “This is my daughter, Dit-”

“Mom!” yelled an excited young colt from behind him, interrupting his statement abruptly. The orange manned colt ran up to his mother bouncing all the way wanting to tell her everything he had learned on his very first day of school. His sister soon followed, just happy to see her brother had cheered up. “Mom, I learned so much at school today!” he yelped out, oblivious to the presence of the pegasi beside his mother.

She gave Blitzy a sheepish smile and explained, “This is my son, and the red and white unicorn over there is his older sister,” she stated, pointing a hoof toward her first born, who was helping out a customer in her place. She was always trying to help out in any way she could, even though she was so young. Blitzy laughed at the adorable little colt’s happiness at having been in school. The colt took notice, and turned to see the two pegasi he didn’t even notice before. When your bottom floor’s a shop, it’s hard for you to tell if someone’s a guest or just another customer. He turned to them, and smiled with all his teeth.

The filly beside the stallion walked forward now, intrigued by the presence of others her age. “Hi!” she said, leaving Glitter a little stunned. She hadn’t spoken this whole time, but now was almost as excited as the colt before her. Both parents looked at each other, and laughed out loud.

“That’s Ditzy Doo for you, always shy around adults but never amongst her peers,” stated Blitzy, as his daughter now openly smiled. “Why don’t you two go off to play for a little bit?” he asked, looking relieved that Ditzy had finally opened herself up. “We have some important things to talk about, and I don’t want you two to have to get bored,” he stated. The colt looked to his mother, who nodded as if to say it was alright. He leapt up and was off with Ditzy before long.

“Don’t go too far you two!” shouted Glitter after them, “It’ll be dark in a few hours!”

“Alright Mom!” the colt yelled back as they both rounded the corner into the street. Glitter looked over to Spit Shine, who somehow felt her eyes on her. He looked back over, saw Blitzy, and nodded at her. He understood that the two had much to discuss, and with his daughter here to help him, he had no problem taking over for the moment.

“Let’s go upstairs. There’s a lot that’s been going on, and I think you should bring the news back to Canterlot with you,” she said, motioning toward the door to their upstairs home. He nodded, and they both went toward the door. Glitter’s horn glowed slightly as she turned the knob and pushed open the door, her invisible magical energies reaching out to the door and applying the kinetic force. She closed the door behind them as they both walked up the stairs, her horn’s glow subsiding as she locked the bolt and released it.

“So, what’s so important that you can’t say it in public?” asked Blitzy as they both came to the kitchen table where they sat across from each other.

“It’s not that I can’t say it in public, it’s just…” she trailed off, thinking for a moment how to describe it, “I don’t want anypony to get scared about it. We all know what’s been going on around here, don’t get me wrong, but this isn’t something that the community likes to think about too much,” she said not too calmly. “The shadow beasts have been… changing.”

“Ah,” he said in acknowledgement, now realizing just how stressed the unicorn was.

She nodded, inhaling for the coming speech. She let out her breath, and began, “They have been coming into the town more and more. They usually wouldn’t come too close to here, but now they’ve taken a sudden interest. Beacon is filled with light all the time, so the fact is that they’re risking a lot,” she said looking up at him from the table, “They want something! And I don’t mean just somepony to eat for lunch. The dark magic in that forest is driving them here for something.”

Blitzy chewed over what she said for a while before deciding what to say, his hoof on his chin. He came to his conclusion and lowered his hoof as he began to speak, “Are you sure?” he asked, not too positive what to think. She looked up at him, one eye half closed and annoyance painted on her face. He got the picture, “Well, what then? What would those mindless beasts be after?” he questioned, truly trying to consider it now.

“Look, I don’t know, okay!” Glitter half yelled, trying not to draw attention from those down stairs. She couldn’t stand it. There was something going on here, and she knew it for certain. The shadow beasts were never this organized, never this thorough in a search. Hey, they never even came near the town for fear of the lights. She was able to calm herself somehow, though not all that much. She hadn’t even noticed she was standing, and sat down while trying to breathe a little more.

The purple stallion across from her was shocked at how this was affecting her. Glitter was usually the essence of calm, never angry about anything out rightly. She felt that really wrong, and if he knew her, she was most likely right. “Alright, I get it. I know you, this would have to be serious for you to get so upset about it,” he said calmly, not wanting to push her. “I’ll bring the news to Canterlot and let everypony know what’s going on here, but I cannot guarantee they’ll believe me. I may be a former Wonderbolt, but you know that a lot of ponies are gonna think we’re both crazy.”

Glitter let out a long, drawn out sigh, exhaustion apparent in her rugged breath. It was plain to see that the thought alone was keeping her up at night. “That’s all we can do about, I guess,” she let out. Her chin was now resting on the table, eyes focused downward. “Nopony wants to accept that something bad might happen,” she let out softly, almost in a whisper as the reality of the situation set in. There was a deafening silence in the room, with Glitter not wanting to raise her chin from the table, her eyes still locked on the texture in the wood.

Blitzy waited a bit, giving the unicorn some space before he spoke. He decided that it‘d be best to talk about something they could both smile about, not wanting to stress out the mare anymore than she already was. “You know, that colt of yours is probably gonna be one hey of a unicorn!” he said smiling. “So much energy in him, I thought I could almost see the excitement pouring out of him.”

“Ha, you got that right,” she said, thankful to not have to talk about all the doom and gloom in Beacon any longer. She lifted her chin from the table, and continued, “You should see him with his sister! They’re always doing every little thing to help each other out.”

The pegasus could only smile, happy to see his friend in a lifted mood. Though he knew the worry was still behind her current thoughts, he’d do what he could to help her through it. “And that beautiful little red manned filly of yours! I haven’t seen her since she was a newborn,” he said, closing his eyes to picture the little hoof-held filly he recalled meeting before he moved away.

The conversation continued for a while like this, neither wanting to cause the other anymore worry than they already had.

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Emptiness. Deep, endless, pure emptiness. Staring into the infinite void, there was nothing more that could be conceived of. Nothing could be seen, and in the shadows, nothing could be felt. All was numb, and just the same, nothing was the result of a choice. Emotions fluctuated, but never came of the will. Joy was present at times, but only as a past event, something having been long past. Now, lurking in the web of darkness, there was nothing to do but latch to that feeling…

Light laughter filled the forest, coming and going with the beasts.