//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Names // Story: Chronicles of the Glow // by Rusty Parker //------------------------------// Chronicles of the Glow Written by: Rusty Parker Edited by: Wanderwing ========================================================================= 2 Names Keeping low to the ground, the cyan unicorn made his way around the corner, not wanting the falling of his hooves on the stone to make any noise. He kept his eyes trained forward, looking through the hedge that encircled the park as he moved slowly around the interior. He did his best to avoid brushing up against the bushes, doing everything he could to keep them from moving. With the tall brick wall on one side and only the narrow area between the hedges, though, he couldn’t hope to keep his movement from transferring to the bush. He tried none the less, only hoping that nopony would notice. Inhaling slowly, he brought himself to a stop somewhat in the center of the small passageway he had discovered. He looked over his shoulder nervously, not knowing whether the location was safe. Was there anypony even out there? Could he really have gotten away? His mind raced as his curiosity soon began to overtake his worry. He decided that there was no real risk in taking a peak through the bushes, barely able to bear not knowing any longer. He sat down and, very slowly, moved the branches of the bush away, trying to clear an area for him to see through. With some shuffling of leaves, he winced, but was able to see at the very least. There were a few ponies passing by, their legs the only thing visible on them other than the tips of their tails through the bush. He pulled his head out, sighing in relief at having gone unnoticed. He had apparently gotten away, though he hadn’t been too sure up till now. He pulled his hooves away from the bush, slowly, not wanting them to move too quickly when he released them. They were practically spring loaded, and if he simply let them go they’d surely make enough sound and movement to give him away. His thoughts were interrupted by a flurry of yellow flying through the bush where he was still holding the branches apart. “I found you!” it yelled, as the orange manned colt pined himself against the wall in fear. The branches he’d been holding not a second ago whipped together, smacking the yellow and gray assailant out of view. He blinked twice before realizing what had happened, and was through the bush the moment his fear subsided. “Ditzy!” he shouted, unsure of if she was alright. She had backed up a few feet, and was rubbing her snout with a single hoof, her eyes closed. “Are you alright, Ditzy? Are you hurt?” he asked, his voice cracking as he tried to remain calm. “I’m so sorry! Please don’t be mad, you scared me!” he blurted out, not able to contain the fear in his heart. She was whimpering under her breath, looking down with tears brimming in her eyes. Oh no, he thought, she’s not alright. I hurt her, my only friend and I-. She fell backwards, her hoofs in the air as she laughed uncontrollably. She was barely able to breath, her laughter keeping her from inhaling much air. “Y-you jumped,” she was able to let out before being overtaken by laughter again. She let it out, finally continuing when it subsided, “You jumped! You jumped so far back I thought you‘d break the wall!” She let out another burst of laughter, the thought bringing her becoming no less comical as she stated it. He thought back to it, and began to laugh too. It was pretty ridiculous, getting that frightened from a game of hide and seek. The laughter soon subsided, and the orange headed colt looked toward the clock tower, concerned suddenly about the time. It was about six thirty-seven. It would be dark around eight, and he looked toward Ditzy with a frown. “We can’t play anymore, Ditzy. We have to go back to the shop… It’ll be dark soon.” he let out in a low voice, looking down at her with sad eyes. Ditzy got up, rolling over onto her hooves. She nudged him with her shoulder reassuringly. “Don’t worry, me and Daddy will be back sometime soon, I’m sure,” said Ditzy, subconsciously knowing the colt’s reason for being upset about this. She offered him a smile, and he returned it. They both began to walk back toward the center of town, where the shop was located. The buildings around them were all single story, and they were able to see their destination from where they were simply by looking up. They walked for a while before a thought came to Ditzy. “Say, you haven’t told me your name yet. What is it?” she asked, suddenly stopping as she came to this realization. The colt stopped in his tracks, looking up at the clock tower with a blank face. How was he going to explain this? He knew their town was very different, knew it had its reasons, but he still felt that in telling her, he’d be talking down on his fellow ponies. “I…” he trailed off, still looking up at the tower. “I don’t have a name.” Ditzy tilted her head, plainly confused. From the corner of his eye the colt saw this, and turned to her, inhaling for an explanation. “Beacon is a very different place than Canterlot or Ponyville, we have different ways of doing things…” he began, stopping as he thought of how he should explain this further. Ditzy still looked confused, her head seeming to tilt a little further to the side with every word. “Your daddy told you about how we have monsters in the forest, right?” he asked. She nodded slowly, still not quite sure where this was going. “Well, those monsters are still out there. We can’t leave, and others can’t come in. Being a unicorn or an earth pony here is like being in a trap,” he explained. Ditzy looked back at her wings, and flapped them twice. She turned back to her unnamed friend with a frown. “Well, because of that we’re stuck here. Those monsters, they keep pushing, and if we don’t push back, we’ll be doomed,” he said, looking down to the ground now. He had sat down, and as he began, his eyes still were locked on the ground, “We aren’t given our names until we can prove ourselves to be useful,” he looked up to her, “We have to get our cutie marks as soon as possible, and it was decided a long time ago that we don’t get to have names until we do.” “But that’s wrong! Everypony needs a name, how could they take that away from you?” Ditzy exclaimed, tears welling in her eyes. She looked over to her pale, gray, and completely blank flank. While looking at it still, she said in a low whisper “I have a name…” Her eyes returned to her now concerned friend, who was up on his hooves looking at her with a pained expression. “Don’t be upset Ditzy,” the colt almost whispered as he rose a hoof gently to her shoulder. “We live with this, and it’s not like there’s no reason,” he said, offering her a slight smile. “You can call me Orange Cyan, by the way.” “Orange… Cyan?” she asked, confusion obvious as she tilted her head once more in thought. The colt got the message, and playfully shook his bright orange mane. “Oh…” Ditzy said slowly, as the connection was made in her head. She looked over him now and realized that his coat was a deep, dark cyan. She reached out a hoof, and tussled his mane lightly, “Orange,” she stated, moving her hoof down to his snout, “Cyan!” she exclaimed excitedly. A wide smile spread over his face. “That’s right,” he said, closing his eyes and smiling now with all his white teeth showing before he continued. “All of us are known by our colors until we get our actual names.” He opened his eyes and looked around, now concerned once more for the time. Ditzy broke into laughter at this, unable to contain herself. The colt felt like he had just missed the punch line of a joke, and turned to her with an awkward smile on his face. His eyes darted several times from Ditzy to the clock tower. “What’s so-” “You ponies around here are always looking up every time a minute passes by!” she interrupted through her laughter. The colt smiled, and joined in on the laughter. After a short while, they both calmed down enough to be able to keep walking back to the Glow Emporium. As they approached, the looming clock tower seemed to grow taller and taller. Ditzy thought all the while they walked. She was trying to think still of how this little colt, this Orange Cyan was so… What was the word she was searching for? Accepting? Okay with it? Happy? She didn’t know how to describe it. He is so able to cheer up, she thought. Her thoughts now were something that she had to be put off for another day, though, as the gem shop’s big glowing sign came into view around the next corner. … “So Blitzy, we haven’t had much time to talk in a while, how have things in Canterlot been?” asked the large, blue and yellow unicorn as he used his magic to work some magical energy into the final customer of the day’s gem. The green crystal wasn’t giving off any light anymore due to the lacking of magical energies, and it needed to be recharged. “Pretty decent I’d guess, things seem to be, well, calm,” answered Blitzy, looking down at the gem as it began to flicker to life. The customer let out smile as it did, relieved that her front porch wouldn’t go unlit in the looming night. “Things don’t really change around there, you know how it is. Always the same,” he added as the customer lifted the gem with her mouth. “Thank you, Shine,” she said through her closed mouth as she turned around and headed for the street. The sun was already on its decline toward the western horizon, and shadows began to grow long. Soon, the forest’s shadow of darkness would engulf the entire town. “Any time, Miss,” he called after her as she rounded the corner. It wasn’t a second later that two young ponies, a colt and a filly, came stampeding in. Shine lifted an eyebrow at the orange colt, giving him a questioning stare. “Cuttin’ it a little close, aren’t we?” he asked, looking down at him. The colt looked back up with worried eyes. “Uh… well… yea but…” he stammered out, not wanting to argue now of all times. The stallion looming over him only stared on. The colt looked down, knowing there was no fighting it. “I’m sorry daddy,” he finally let out. His father let out a sigh, and averted his eyes to the dwindling light outside. “Well, you’re here safe and I guess that’s all that really matters” said Spit Shine as he pulled his son toward him in a comforting embrace. “Just… be careful. Me and your mother wouldn’t be able to live with ourselves if you got hurt,” he said, looking down at him. Or worse he thought silently, not wanting to worry anyone in the room. Ditzy had climbed on top of her father’s back and was now looking around his head at the scene play out, a smile on her face. Blitzy looked back at her and nuzzled her gently. “The same goes for you,” he said. She giggled uncontrollably, both from the nuzzling and the joking tone in his voice. The whole scene was cute, to say the least. As she approached from the full shelves of organized gems, the red and white filly had a large smile on her face. “Thanks for the shipment, Blitzy,” she said, gesturing toward the gems. She had organized them based on two factors, size and color. The larger gems sat on the lower shelves, while the smaller were up higher. They appeared as stripes of color from this far away, and to Blitzy, it looked almost like rainbow. “We were starting to run low,” she added. “Don’t mention it. It’s my job,” he said proudly as he looked over to her. The cyan colt was by her side in no time, not having a day where he was away from his sister this much in his memory. Blitzy was happy to see that his friends had such a tightly knit little family. He wished he could say the same for his own, though at least he had Ditzy. “Sis, sis! We played hide and seek at the park!” the colt shouted excitedly. She gave him a smile, happy that he and Ditzy were able to have fun. “That’s great!” she answered. “Mom’s upstairs making dinner,” she stated, turning to the shops open entrance. Outside, everything was coated in a warm orange glow, the sun’s setting imminent. She turned to Blitzy and Ditzy, a little upset. “I guess you can’t stay though, huh?” she asked the stallion. He gave a frown. “Afraid not, little one,” he answered. Both brother and sister visibly withered, not wanting them to leave. The colt looked over to his father with pleading eyes. “Can’t they stay the night? I’m sure there’s enough space…” the colt trailed off, not knowing how to validate his argument. “And… and mom’s cooking is really good…” he said, looking down to the ground now. He in some way wanted to have some reason that they should stay. “I’m sorry, Orange Cyan. I’ve got a lot of deliveries to do in the morning,” he said to the colt before turning to a pleading Ditzy, “And Ditzy here has to go to flight school,” he stated. Looking upset, she got down from his back and walked over to the colt, where upon she wrapped him in an embrace. It lasted for several moments before she let go. “We’ll come back soon… I hope,” she said reassuringly. The colt smiled at this, and nodded. “Alright then… I’ll miss you,” he let out. She was his one friend, and she wasn’t going to be gone for just a couple days. His mother spoke of Blitzy on occasion, how he was a Wonderbolt, and how he was always busy. Despite that, this was the first day he’d met Blitzy, in all the six years he had lived. How could he be sure they’d ever return? “Come on, Ditzy,” said Blitzy, “We should be going now. They still have to close down the shop, and it’s going to be dark in a matter of minutes,” Ditzy went unspeaking to her father and climbed back up to his back. She wrapped her front hooves around his neck, and tightened the back pair to his sides. She was still too young to be able to fly the long distance back to Canterlot, and thus had to be carried. Glitter walked into the room quite timely, only seconds before they were out the door. “Dinner’s done,” she said to her family, who nodded. She turned to Blitzy then, and walked up to him. “Come back soon,” she said, a slight frown showing on her face. “We will, I promise. This time I mean it,” he said, remembering that he’d done just the same when he first left the town around seven and a half years ago. He didn’t know why he never came back, maybe it was the factor of being in love, maybe it was to escape his old life. It didn’t matter anymore, and so he had no reason to stay away. He wouldn’t break another promise to Glitter. She smiled, seeing the honesty in his eyes. “Good,” she said before giving him a hug. “There’s more than one reason to now anyway,” she stated, gesturing toward the colt behind her. Blitzy smiled, and started out the door. Yes, that’s very true, he thought. Now there are a multitude of reasons to come back. Glitter’s a good friend, and he was sure that Ditzy would want to see that little colt again soon, but of all things, he would be back over worry. Glitter was always calm, but now the beasts of the night had nearly broken her down mentally. “I’ll see you all soon then, goodbye!” He said, looking over his shoulder. In unison, the whole family said, “Goodbye!” as Blitzy reached outside, beat his wings a few times, and took off. This place, he thought as his altitude rose, was going to need more help than ever before. If Glitter could get this stressed, it showed just how bad things really were. He didn’t know what those monsters were up to, but whatever it was, it could never be good. Maybe all they wanted was an easy meal, or maybe they needed something in town. Who knew what the dark magic in them could possibly drive them to do? His mind flowing with thoughts of what could be causing the incident with the shadow beasts, he flew off toward Canterlot, the day turning to night before he reached the city. … Dark figures darted from the forest, heading deep into the town that lay before them. Each bore a dark, color distorting shroud of energy that enveloped their entire body. They were nearly invisible in the black of the night, the tall trees blocking light from the moon most of the time in the town. One stopped before the clock tower, sniffing the ground in the area. The cat like beast looked up to the base of the tower in front of it. It reached out an enormous paw, and with little effect, scratched at the base of the tower. It hardly left a mark, and after several minutes of this, the beast growled. The great cat… if you could even call it a cat anymore, pulled its body low to the ground, claws extended. It prepared to pounce, its muscles flexing in its hind legs, forcing the veins below to the surface. From a small, slit of a window which would only allow a thin fillies hoof through, Glitter observed this beast with tired eyes. “What are you looking for?” she whispered to herself, not wanting to wake her now sleeping family. Not a second later, the beast pounced, impacting the solid structure with a resounding thud that sent shivers down Glitter’s spine. The sound of flesh and bone impacting stone was a little louder than one would come to expect, and caused her to recoil. She had lost sight of the beast, the gleam of light on the now mirror-like glass blocking her vision of the outside world. The creature howled out in pain, forcing Glitter’s ears to retract to the side of her head. They raised slowly, and by the time she was able to see out the window again, the shadow beast was gone. The tower still was untouched, save the red stained point of impact. During dinner, her little colt could barely get his food chewed. He wanted to tell her everything about his day, and how he couldn’t wait to see Ditzy again. Her daughter smiled the whole time, not wanting to cut in and leave him feeling upset. Glitter had beamed at this, both of her children were so happy. It was a ray of hope in this bleak town, where everyone simply went about their business and never slowed down to talk to anyone. Glitter turned around, looking toward the beds across the room. There was no movement from either, and as she let out a sigh of relief, Glitter returned her attention back to the night outside. It was good that her family could sleep, they all needed their rest. “Ha,” she let out almost silently, knowing that she should be with them. That was the problem though, no matter how long she lay in bed, her eyes shut, she just couldn’t get herself to sleep. There was a screech in the distance, no doubt another one of these shadow beasts trying to do something similar to what she had just seen. These buildings were built for impact, but that didn’t stop Glitter from getting worried about it. She let out a deep sigh, lowering her head from the window. Canterlot wouldn’t listen to her, and she knew it. Blitzy knew it. Even her own husband knew it. What could she do? It was plain that there was something going on with the shadow beasts, she had just bore witness to a prime example of that, but how could she do anything about it? She was just “that gem shop pony” to the rest of the town. How could she realize something like this being out of place? How could things possibly change in their neat little town, unaffected for two hundred years? Well, things were changing. The beasts were changing, the feel of life was changing, and tension was building. It was the very fear of what the change would bring fueling her worry that made the others uneasy. The difference was, she seemed to be the only one, her husband aside, who didn’t want to simple sweep it under the carpet and pretend it didn’t exist. Glitter turned away now, heading toward her bed. She didn’t expect to get any actual deep sleep, but at the very least she could hope for an hour or so of rest. She got into bed, pulling the covers over herself slowly as not to awaken her husband. She lay there, the sounds of the beasts in the distance being as white noise as she stared up at the gem hanging on the wall above the head of the bed. For what felt like hours she simply stared at the gem, not thinking about any one topic for longer than a couple of minutes. She didn’t feel herself close her eyes, didn’t notice everything go black, but eventually she slipped off into sleep. … “And that class, is the story of ‘The Mare in the Moon‘,” announced Kalk to a crowd of both tired and anxious fillies and colts. It was finally Friday afternoon, the first they would ever experience where they’d be relieved the week was over, and he decided to end the class on a more interesting topic to get them through. A tragic story of a pony having to banish her beloved sister to the moon could grab the attention of almost any young mind, and thus he felt it was necessary to use it for this particular time of the week. Despite this, there were no questions from any of them, save one. The white haired filly he had come to love in the past few days was eager as ever to ask a question, despite the looks the others gave her. She was always shooting her hoof into the air, asking how something or another worked, or why certain things happened. He did his usual gesture, nodding toward her in acknowledgement. “Doesn’t she get… lonely?” she asked in her usual low voice, still acting like she was trying to hide while still asking her question. Some fillies in the class looked at her confused, not knowing who the “she” in question was. The filly got the message, and stammered out an answer “I-I m-mean the M-Mare in the Moon,” she managed to get herself to say, her voice shaking. Kalk couldn’t help but smile at this. Most of them wouldn’t think of the princess, Luna, as being anything more than a monster. This one though, she realized that there were two sides of this story. “Yes, I’d imagine she does,” he answered, his smile fading. “She was just another pony, like any of you here now. I can only imagine being so alone for so long,” Kalk said, looking across the now silent room, thought flowing through his mind as his face locked out the emotions he felt. The result was a blank stare into space. He continued, “You know, in a couple of years, it’ll have been the one thousandth anniversary of the day she was sent to the moon.” The class was in utter silence, an effect Kalk tended to have when he got serious about a topic. This was where he excelled at being a teacher, truly. He could always grab the attention of the class. The filly who asked the question looked down, her eyes shut in something he hoped he’d never see about such a topic in a student; empathy. It was gone in a matter of seconds though, and as if it was never there, she raised her head, a smile on her face. Kalk raised his eyes to the clock, which read two thirty. There was still a half hour left of class, and he was out of things for them to do. “Well then class, I am happy to inform you all that your first week of school is now complete. Congratulations!” he stated jokingly. There was a chuckle in the back of the room, but not much else. “Now then, I don’t make a habit of letting you out early, but this was your first week. I think I can make an exception, today only,” he said, the group quickly perking up at the thought of being able to get out early. “However,” he said, freezing them as they rose, “let me first let you all know what the plan is for next week,” he commanded. The class was a little confused, but one certain orange headed colt perked straight up at this, eager to hear what would be in store for him. “We will be splitting up into groups based on whether we are earth ponies, pegasus ponies, or unicorns. Each will be assigned to a teacher, and we will get started on teaching you each about your abilities. I will be teaching magic for all you unicorns, and as for the other two teachers, well I guess you’ll have to find out!” he announced, causing the class to go into an uproar of excitement. “Now then, you may go home. We’ll meet here Monday to discuss where everypony will be going,” he said, the class resuming their motion. They all filed out of their seats, leaving as quickly as possible as if trying to avoid Kalk holding them back another minute. The crowd congregated at the door leading out of the classroom. As they slowly filed out into the hall, Kalk noticed something out of place. Something that, to his knowledge, wasn’t there when he first introduced himself to the class. A cutie mark. No one had spoken up about anything of the sort in class, and he thought he knew why. White Violet hadn‘t shown much of her actual self in class, despite the fact that she was always asking questions. Something was wrong, she was upset and that was certain, but he couldn’t figure out why. It must have been more than a little empathy she felt for Nightmare Moon. Now that the thought returned, he had never actually seen her interact with any of the others. Instinct caught up with him and he was out the door soon after the last of them disappeared from sight. His student could be in turmoil underneath it all, and he had to do something. He didn’t bother closing the door to his room, almost running now out the school’s front door. Upon reaching the outside world, he saw her, wings extended and hooves lifting off the ground. He didn’t even have enough time to call out to her. She flew off into the distance, her young wings surprisingly strong in the turbulent wind. Kalk walked down the road, his eyes trained on her the whole time. She flew to the clock tower, circling around it once. Upon reaching the opposite side to where Kalk was, she vanished. There was no doubt about it, something was wrong with her. There wasn’t anyone who still went to the clock tower’s interior, as there was no point to it. It was empty, dusty and dreary. The only one to go was a janitor, and then only to check on the clock’s mechanisms and see if there were any problems. Not only that, she had a cutie mark, and instead of telling anyone or letting it even be seen, she rushed off to the most deselect place in town. Where were her parents? Did she even have any? Come to think of it, Kalk had never seen or heard anything about the filly’s family at all. He should have caught wind of this earlier, should have paid more attention to the little details. He didn’t waste any more time, Kalk rushed off to the center of town, not wanting to leave the situation unattended any longer than he already had. … A small hoof watch lay on the floorboards of the clock tower’s top floor, the brimming light shinning from the gems hung around the room reflecting off it’s bronze surface. About seven feet from the floor, well above head level, their hung the various mechanisms that ran the clock. Gears and sprockets turned every second, resulting in a low, echoing “tick”. Outside the nearby window, the dark canopy of trees rose high enough to block the view of the mountains on the other side of the forest. As she looked out into the infinite blackness, the filly who lay before the window simply stared. Moving the watch back and forth with her hoof, she considered what she should do about her name. It was just the other day that she was able to discover her ability, a strange coincidence considering she had come here only to get away from everything. Who would have thought that she’d discover her passion in a dark, dingy place like this? Something about the way the gears turned, the way she was inside this giant machine just brought joy to her. Below her now unmoving hoof, the watch ticked on the same beat as the clock asphyxiated to the side of the building. She smiled with pleasure, proud of her work. Despite her happiness, though, she still couldn’t think of what to do. She certainly couldn’t name herself, that wasn’t the way it worked. It was always up to… Well, it was supposed to be up to her parents. As she looked onward, she remembered “The Mare in the Moon”, recalling how lonely the princess must be feeling right now. Well she wasn’t the only one. She lifted her head to the sky, her white mane flowing into her vision as her eyes rose. What am I going to do now? I can’t keep this up much longer… The others are going to find out sometime or another. As the mixture of thoughts brewed in her mind, her eyes fell back down to the bronze watch she had set down before herself. She was smart, and she was strong, these last two years had been proof of that. But now, with school and her past gaining on her haunches, how could she hope to go on? She wouldn’t leave this place, this Beacon. She had promised to never give up on it. But if the others found out, they’d send her off to Canterlot, or Ponyville, or Celestia knows where! She shut her eyes, bring her chin down on her watch. She let out a deep sigh, tired of thinking everything that was going on out. Her mind emptied, and a new thought entered. A plea, a need for something. She couldn’t stop herself from letting it out, her voice low and in a raspy whisper. “I wish you could be here to tell me what to do now. I’m… I’m…” she was able to get out before she couldn’t hold it back any longer. Tears flowed down her face, several pelting to the floor, but one landing on the face of the watch. She opened her eyes briefly, looking down at it, the liquid moving slowly over its glass surface. She began to shut her eyes again slowly as she began to sob. She pulled a hoof over her eyes, soaking the light violet fur in doing so. Her ears suddenly shot bolt upright, her eyes now wide open as a distant sound grew louder. She didn’t hesitate a moment longer, her hooves moving faster than she could think of where to go, she ran into the corner of the room, and realizing there was nowhere to go and hide here, she turned around bolting for the window from which she had come in. She turned to the staircase, the sound of hoof steps still resounding loudly as a shadow began to creep its way in front of the gem that kept the stairs well lit. She began to flap her wings, not thinking about who it could be but only thinking that she needed to get away. A thought hit her like a rock. The watch! She had left the watch over by the other window across the room! The filly bolted for it, not thinking at all of fear or what would happen. She needed that watch, it was the most important thing in the world to her. She had just gotten it working again, and with where it came from, there wouldn’t be a chance to replace it. Even a watch of the same model and made by the same pony in the same place wouldn’t come close to being able to replace it. That watch was the only one that would ever matter, it was irreplaceable. She reached it grabbing it with her teeth, and turning to fly out the window she had almost flown out of. “Wait, please just wait! I only want to talk,” a familiar voice called out, freezing her in mid gallop. She turned, now being directly in front of the staircase, the shadow of the pony before her fading as it stretched into the light of the overhanging gems. It was Mister Kalk, and to her shock, he didn’t seem to be surprised that she was here. “Oh no,” he said in an almost inaudible voice, moving slowly toward her. He reached a hoof out to her, and she flinched away. This brought a frown to his face. “Why are you here? What do you want from me?” the filly shot down his throat as he tried to speak, her voice fading to a high pitch tone. He lowered his hoof, looking down at her with sad eyes. The filly looked around frantically, checking to make sure it was just him there. She backed up lowering herself close to the ground, ready to make a run for the window if she needed to. He may be her teacher, but she wouldn’t let him take her away from this place. “H-how did you even know?” Kalk sat there, thinking about what to do next. “I’m here to help you,” he said finally in the most gentle voice he could offer. The filly looked at him confused. “What do you mean ‘help me’? I don’t need any help…” She said, the tears that began to brew in her eyes again contradicting her statement. “It’s okay, I mean it,” said Kalk, taking a step forward. The filly again flinched, wrapping her white tail around herself as if it would serve as a sort of shield. “We can make it through this…” he said, trying to show her that he wasn’t going to do anything to try and hurt her. He took another step forward. “No! Just don’t… I don’t want to leave!” she wailed out, not able to withhold her inner emotion any longer. It was exploding before, her mental wall just couldn’t stand up against it any longer. Tears now flowed down her cheeks yet again, their already wet surfaces reflecting a small amount of light. “Leave? Now what makes you think I’d make you leave?” he said, taking another step forward. The distance between them was very short now, only a foot or two, and to his relief, she didn’t flinch away this time. She stared up at him with a mixture of confusion and sorrow. “Y-you….you wouldn’t? But…” the filly whispered, unable to speak at this point. She sat there with something new in her eyes, hope. Kalk closed the distance between them calmly, not moving too fast. He wrapped a hoof around her head, and pulled her into his coat. The poor little filly began to sob deeply, not able to control the pent up emotion. Kalk nuzzled her gently, letting her get it all out. Kalk understood now. He knew what was wrong. He knew why she had hid her cutie mark, why she couldn’t let anyone know. He knew why she had shown so much empathy for princess Luna, the apparent monster sent to the moon for eternity. For whatever reason, she didn’t want to be dragged away from this place, didn’t want to have to be forced out of the place that has always been her home. But there was something else there. something even more daunting that, in all likelihood, hadn’t even occurred to her. She didn’t have a name to go with her cutie mark, and how could someone so alone as her ever get her name? The gears above their heads ticked as Kalk thought long and hard, not knowing quite what he’d do about this situation next. He looked over to the fallen hoof watch, the face gleaming with the fluid which now flowed from the filly’s eyes. He looked over to her flank, and instantly made the connection. Her cutie mark was a bronze pocket watch with a chain. In the near silence, the only thing other than the gasps between sobs that he could hear was the ticking off the seconds. He knew what he’d do now, and though it was a big commitment, he felt it the only right thing to do. Kalk brought his hoof to her head, slowly pulling it along her hair in a brushing motion. He closed his eyes, a tear slowly making its way down his cheek. “Shh, Everything’s going to be alright,” he whispered gently into her ear. His chin now rested on her head, and he slowly continued the motion of his hoof as the other held her close. “How do you know?” the filly wailed, not able to control her emotion still. The tear fell from Kalk’s cheek, landing on her forehead. “Because I’m never going to let anypony take you away. You don’t have to live in fear anymore.“ he said as she continued to cry into his coat. The sobbing had subsided, but tears still flowed openly from her eyes. “You’ll never be alone again, Tick,” he said in a low whisper. The filly pulled away from him, looking up to him with wide eyes. She just stared at him, unable to believe what she had just heard. “B-but… you… and you need to be…” she said in disbelief, thinking that what she heard had to have been a mistake. No one could do something like this for her. To give someone their name, you have to be their… parent. For him to do this, he’d have to be… adopting her. She couldn’t comprehend it, was he really doing this for her? For the filly she barely knew? “That’s right, my little filly. Your name, from this day forward, is Tick,” Kalk said, tears now brimming in his own eyes. He promised himself he wouldn’t do something like this again, getting attached to someone. In the end it always hurt when something happened. But this little filly, he just couldn’t leave her alone. He had to be there for her, whether it would hurt in the end or not. She lost her parents, and at such a young age, she needed all the help she could get. Tick leapt on him, pushing him over on his back and hugged his tightly. “Thank you! Thank you so much!” she wailed out, crying this time in thanks and happiness. She brought her eyes up from his coat, looking into his eyes. “I won’t disappoint you! I swear, I’ll be the best I can be! I won’t give up and I’ll work hard and I’ll-” “You don’t need to do anything,” Kalk said, leaving her dead silent. “How could I not be proud of you with what you’ve come through already?” She looked at him, finally smiling , and pulled herself close to him. Whatever was going to come, suddenly she felt she would have the strength to face it. She could do it. She could carry out her mother’s will, and keep the fire that lit Beacon thriving. ========================================================================= In the midst of nothing, a gleaming light came into view. It was not something often seen, not something very well remembered. The twin red lights glimmered lightly as they fluctuated. In looking into it, the reflection because clear. This was the one who saw. This was the one who could not see. This was her. Droplets of water fell to the liquid mirror, and destroyed her image upon it. The water didn’t stop falling for some time to come.