//------------------------------//
// The Sheltering 
// Story: A Cause to Die For 
// by Jonah Fun 
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Mika lay there between two houses, in the dark of night. The moon and the stars shone brightly down on the different assortment of homes and shops Ponyville had on display. A couple of lovers idly strolled through the centre of town, lost in each other’s eyes. Mika had never seen such ponies like this, and watched them with fascination as they made little in-jokes and comments on the beauty of the night, all of which he couldn’t hear, yet the expressions on their faces told him was really being said. Something that was near-illegal to say in Saddale.
Twilight saw the amazed expression on the boy’s face as she came home from one of her friend’s parties. For a moment she did nothing, her memories with the conversation with him earlier flooding back into her mind. She still had no idea how this boy thought, or why he was out this late. She was opening her mouth to talk when he noticed the boy’s eyes fill with terror. A shriek came from where the lovers once contently drifted, along with a low, tough voice;
“Give the necklace to me. NOW.” Twilight noticed movement. She looked to see Mika galloping towards the thief, who, pointing a knife at the 2 cowering lovers, continued:
“Or else someone is going to get hurt.” At that moment, Mika smashed his forelegs down on the mugger’s head. He was instantly knocked out. “STAY AWAY FROM THEM!!!” he cried at the body. The lovers ran away, keeping close together as they did so. Twilight readied her horn and ran over to help the boy, but found the thief unconscious. Twilight turned to the boy who had just taken down a stallion in one hit, the boy who ran into danger without a second thought, the boy who was out at night with no guardian to look after him, whose dead eyes only opened to a couple of lovebirds...
And the words that had been niggling her all day poured out like rain.
“Who are you?!” She almost shouted at the boy. Mika turned, noticing her for the first time. Lights around the town centre were beginning to be lit, people wondering what commotion had taken place near their homes. Mika stared into her eyes, and contemplated the question himself. Who was he? Why had he followed Keckla’s cart? Why had he stopped the thief? Why did he just waste his day walking around town looking for someone who’d probably want nothing to do with him anymore? What was the point of it all? There wasn’t one. He should’ve died all those years ago in the fire. Tears welled to his eyes as his face slowly dropped with these thoughts.
Twilight, alarmed by these tears, realised she was probably the cause of the upset and panicked, trying to think of a way to apologize. The thief stirred. As if it were an alarm clock, Twilight heard this and realised the reality around them. The thief was clearly a thief, Twilight wouldn’t get into trouble because she was thought as the aggressor and Mika wouldn’t be in trouble for knocking him out, either. Probably. But, the boy would be taken away and put into a home. That couldn’t happen. Ponyville homes weren’t prepared for this type of foal. Rather, he wasn’t prepared for them. Twilight looked at the boy again, a certainness in her eyes.
“Follow me. Now.” She ordered, before galloping away. Mika followed but never took his eyes off the ground where they had strayed. No-one had seen them. They reached her home in no time at all. Mika looked up at questionable structure. Twilight’s house was, quite literally, and overgrown tree house. The roof was blocked out by hoards of leaves and at the bottom of the house there was a door cut out of the bark with a warm glow coming from its window. Twilight opened the door, and they trotted inside. Inside, where the fire was warmly lit and a small baby dragon was snoring very loudly. Inside, where the walls were lined with books all neatly organized alphabetically by the surnames of their authors. Inside, where the light bounced off the walls and encompassed the room and the two green leather chairs and brown wooden table lay comfortably on rainbow carpet underneath. Mika looked up expecting to see leaves, but was instead greeted by a ceiling which looked a lot like the inside of a tree when it’s cut clean in half. Sure, he had been at Keckla’s grey quarters for most of his life, but he had never truly been in a home before. He was filled with a sense of belonging and happiness by just being there, and he would never be able to fully explain why. No-pony ever could.
“Haha, ohhh Spike.” Sighed Twilight as she caringly walked over to him. “So what’s your name kid?” His name? What game was this pony playing...
“Mika, mamm.” Mika wasn’t actually his name, he had no idea what his true name was. But it was a name that Keckla had given her and he had nothing better to use. Mika watched as she tenderly lifted Spike using her magic. She chuckled at his comment.
“Mamm? Where do you think you are, the Wonderbolt Academy? Call me Twilight.” She said as she began to trot towards the spiral set of stairs. Mika hadn’t noticed them before; they led upwards and trailed off behind the wall and the rows of books. She glanced back; “Come on.” Mika started after her and soon caught up.
“And where are you from Mika?” Mika was letting his guard down a bit much at this point, and as he realised this the steel barriers re-affirmed themselves on his eyes and his voice became more formal again;
“That’s none of your business, mamm” Her reply was immediate;
“Ohh, sorry, I was just making conversation.” She sounded genuine. But then so did Keckla when she talked to Simian. They had reached the end of the staircase to a corridor which led off to 3 doorways; one to the left, one to the right, and one dead centre at the end. They were all red and windowless doors. Twilight, who was still carrying Spike, gently pushed open the door with her left forehoof. Mika then noticed the stars above her right leg. 
“What are those?” he asked. Twilight looked at him and followed his eyes to her cutie mark. She looked up in shock.
“You mean this?” she asked disbelievingly. The boy nodded. She was endlessly fascinated by this boy. He was parentless, strong, had an erratic personality and he had no idea what a cutie mark was. This was thanks to Saddale again, no ponies truly ever find their cutie mark should they live there, as no-one’s true purpose in life is to cause pain and suffering while laughing all the way. Even if it were, there’s nothing remotely cute about someone like that. 
“This,” she began, hesitating in surprise, “is my cutie mark. It represents my skill at all things magic.” She turned and put Spike into his crib, but not before brushing his teeth and setting his bed for him, showing off her magical skill at the same time. Mika didn’t allow his face the awe he was feeling inside. Spike sucked on one of his claws as he lay cutely in his crib. Twilight turned to Mika. 
“Now to find you a bed. Come.” She went to the room’s exit, and Mika followed, wishing he was somewhere he was used to, yet never wanting leave here. Twilight was not too shabby at caring for infants, as she had constantly supported Spike throughout her life. On the other hand, Spike had supported her as well, it had been a 2-way relationship. With Mika it was going to be a very different case, Twilight could tell. They were by the two doors in the corridor that stood opposite to one another. Twilight opened the door on their right. It was a guest bedroom, and it was very basic. A single bed lay at the end of the room, a wardrobe on the right of it and a bare shelf on the left. The duvet on the bed was a blank grey, the floor boards it rested on were characterless wooden planks. “This is your room.” She stared at the boy’s face with the greatest of intensity, searching for that one flicker of emotion. She found none; the boy’s face remained stone-like. He didn’t even seem to notice the few other features of the room and just calmly entered the bed.
“Good night.” He stated, staring at the wall. Twilight turned dimed the candles in the room with her magic. “Sweet dreams.” She said upon closing the door. Mika had never heard the saying before, but he put it to the back of his mind, not willing to be tricked by the pony he barely knew. He yawned, and reflected on the day that had instantly changed his life forever. He sighed and closed his eyes, wondering if there was any point in waking up tomorrow.
To escape his nightmares was a reason he would consider only after that night.



Synther approached what would be his home for the foreseeable future. It was a small, but nice place. He didn’t really care about space too much; he just wanted a place to slump his head every night. And this was the perfect place to do so. The ceiling was arched over him, and from where he slept he could hear the river that flowed near Ponyville, but again, this didn’t bother him. He had grown accustomed to nature quicker than he would’ve thought. He looked to the sky. It wasn’t starry or mystical, it was just empty. Synther frowned and sighed. He decided against dinner, he wasn’t hungry and he was too tired to cook anything. Instead he just lay back and closed his eyes, quickly becoming enveloped into slumber, which in turn led to sleep.