Waning Light

by Whitehooves

Sticks and Stones

        Maria kicked up clouds of dust as she skidded beneath a crate, ricketty and worn, as beams of light streamed through the holes in the old box. She narrowly avoided being kicked, the bristly hairs tickling her ear as she slid beneath the lumbering stallion.

        As splinters rained about the hooves of the ginger coated courier, he let forth a hail of wild language. However the colourful language only fell upon the ears of those around him, for the crazed ball had already rounded the corner and disappeared like wisps of fog on a sunny morning. Street traders wizzed either side of her as the filly galloped down narrow, twisting streets. Nothing was going to stop her today.

        A joyous smile permeated her face. Her mane, like lilac light of the evening sun streaming through stained glass, flowed around the outline of her face. It framed her glowing golden eyes as she careened between the busy hub-ub of the town in the hills. It was a rare occasion where her parents had given her the freedom to explore and play on her own, and she wasn’t going to waste it. Not on the sights of the city, she had places to be. Though spending time with friends, playing down side alleys, taunting older fillies and colts, or just enjoying the sun that shone strong and warm this time of year would have been wonderful; she had one destination in mind. One she had memorised over the few times she had travelled it. Committed it to memory.

        Her cousin was someone that always had a smile on, warm as the summer sun. Whereas everypony treated her like a filly, below them, her cousin didn’t. He understood. Standing in front of his door, she examined the mottled wood for the upteenth time.The worn paint was peeling and bleached slightly, allowing the knots and whirls within the grain to show through.

        Tapping on the front door, her hooves rang hollow against the solid, looming giant. Despite being tall for her age, she was still dwarfed by the door. Receiving not a whisper from within the structure, she tilted her head closer. Normally he responded instantly to her ‘special’ knock. With more force she knocked again, striking the door several times, only causing it to shake and ring. It had never done thing before. It was wood, and this only happened to metal doors.

        She shrank back, ears drooping again her skull, eyes darting about trying to conceive of what was happening. The further she retreated the louder the door rang, slowly making the building that encased it vibrate. Cracks shot across the facade of the structure. Fearing for her life, she ran, screaming as loud as she could. Fissures chased her up the street, causing the ground to buckle, and in places even overtook her.

        Having to leap between boulders just to keep moving forward, she leapt into the air aiming for a rock jutting out of the ground. As she came down upon it, it gave way.

        Sitting bolt upright, Maria drew a deep breath as her eyes were drawn to the darkness that lay around her. The loud echo of her dreams still rung in her ears, but quieter now. Looking about she noticed the alarm clock rattling away beside her cot. Finally the deep clouds of sleep parted from her consciousness as she went to silence the noise.

        Raising herself from the covers, Maria clambered from her cot; the muffled sounds of a waking town greeting her. Cans rattled, steel roofs creaked as they warmed in the sun, and voices wafted on the breeze; the street traders revealing their wares to the thinned, early crowds.

        On the landing a sublime smell brushed her nostrils and drew her downstairs. In the kitchen sat her cousin, Dusty Strides, a soft auburn pegasus with hair a speckled yellow mop draped over his deep set features. His hair had been receding at his temples for a while, always joking that it was Maria’s kiss every morning that was causing it. His deep azure eyes welcoming her as they always had, since the first day she had come to live with him.

        Laying on the simple table in front of him was a fresh, warm loaf of bread. Two fresh slices sat on a plate, a marble glaze of butter melting into them. Rather than engage his bleary housemate, Maria’s cousin simply slid the plate across the table to rest next to an empty chair.

        Without a thought for decorum, Maria wolfed into the meal down before proceeding to lick the plate clean. She let not a crumb be wasted.

        Having allowed the animal to finish, the placid pegasus rose from his chair and carried the plate to the sink, if you could call it that. In reality it was a small bowl carved from a knotted wooden log.

        As the plate was dropped into the basin, Maria piped up. “When are you actually planning on getting a job? I know there’s not a great deal of work, but you never know what you might find out there.” It was easy for her to criticize him, her having a job and all. The house was theirs now, her parents had ensured that for them. Even so, there was food bills and other expenses, it all added up.

        The azure pools disappeared behind a scowl as Dusty kicked at the ground. She saw just how deeply the remark had cut him. From a grumble, Dusty’s voice rose to cut through the silence. “I’ve been trying, you know that. I’ve been down on the docks trying to help with the lifting, but you know what the competition is like. Six or seven competing for every job; it’s hard every time.” Clearly the struggle had been a real drain on him. He really hadn’t had real work, all the while he was relying on Maria to support both of them. If nothing else it was a blow to both his pride and self-esteem.

        Scuffing his hooves as he turned away from her, Dusty shuffled to the cupboards lining the small kitchen. Opening the one under the sink, he retreated into it. The whole of his upper body disappeared into the darkness. Were it not for the stormy mood in the room, Maria would most likely laughed at her cousin at that moment. “I know cousin, I’m sorry. It’s just I’m away all day and I don’t know-” Maria started but was cut off as her cousin returned from his darkened abode, a grin pasted on his face as a box was laid under his wing. “Wha...What’s that?” The box was filled with a veritable array of treats from who knew where.

        Eyes flickering with joy, he giggled like a little filly. “I wanted to keep it a secret a little while, get you something nice to celebrate it. Enjoy” The white tips of his primary feathers let the box rest on the table next to her hoof. Maria gave him a quizzical look, so he continued. “I was helping down at The White Star piers and just got chatting to this lad the others were avoiding. Understandable really, was a right pain in the flank. Thought he was so much better than me, but when he realised that I didn’t work for White Star he relaxed a bit. He helped me coil ropes from the ferry, went to the bar for a while, chatted and he offered to help me a bit more. ‘Coarse it turns out his old man only White Star doesn’t it. Was talking to lil’ Brown Dwarf the whole time! Heads off for a bit to talk to his old man and only goes and gets me a full time job. It’s neither special nor well paid, but it’s a job.. and I get paid!” The pride on his face was plain for Maria to see.

        All she was able to do was stammer forth incoherent ramblings, completely taken aback by the gesture.

        “It’s alright Peach. Things have been hard recently but it’ll get easier from now on.”

        Maria’s face had darkened slightly, “How many times must I tell you. Do. Not. Call me that.” The pale pony flinching at each word.

        “ I know, I’m sorry I just slip up sometimes and-”. The stallion sighed as his thoughts trailed off.

        “Celestia be damned I miss them. I haven’t visited them in a while, will you go with me soon?”

        “Of course,” started the mottled pegasus. Nudging the box towards the pale his cousin, “but now you really should be heading off to work.”

        Glancing to the clock above the wall Maria’s face dropped slightly, she turned as she grabbed the small box of treats. As she made for the door she gave her cousin a quick embrace, dropping the box into her saddlebag before throwing over her back and shouting her goodbyes to her cousin, whistling gently to himself in the kitchen.
        
        The sun caught the steel rooves that littered between more modest rural houses of Rio De Neigherro as Maria walked out, the more impressive glass structures near the coast beckoning to anyone of the wealth there. The cast of from the rich and famous living up the coast to the North in Las Pegasus trying to escape the bustling city of dreams.

        The breeze blowing off the sea brought with it the smell of the breakfasts of the town, enticing Maria down into the town. Turning away from the town, she trotted with the breeze towards the hills, enjoying the warmth as the sun washed its rays over her back as she moved quickly to have time for her pre-work ritual.

        High in the hills above Neigherro, the statue of Helios the fire ∂aemon rested. A simian monolith dating back beyond memory, a symbol of fire from the pre-Equestian era. Shouldering the glowing ball of the heavens every equinox to signal the changing of the seasons.

        The beacon in the hills Maria headed for every morning before work, to a place very few knew of and even less went.

        Leaving behind the noises of the town, as she ascended into the hills a new sound grew. A distant rumbling building to a great rolling thunder as the tan mare rounded a corner, and before her a verdant meadow unfolded. Thick clouds of spray erupted from a waterfall that cascaded into the stream flowing through it.

        This was a place Maria had come to love, relax in, and even gather her lunch most days. Had she she not been given any. However, nothing drew her here as much as the waterfall. It allowed her to clean herself up, cool off, or just get lost in her own thoughts.

        Like many things shown to her as she grew up, her sandy saviour had shared it with her. A secret shared amongst loved ones, or those lucky enough to have stumbled upon it.

        In Maria’s eyes it was a good luck charm, having been one of the reason she’d secured her job that had fed them many winters. Coming every day to maintain the clean appearance she regarded as important.
        
        Removing her saddlebags, she stepped under the tepid deluge, allowing the weight of the falling water to knock the knots and aches of the week from her muscles.

        From the dark recesses of the undergrowth, a streak of red shifted in the bracken. The black portals to the fiery colt’s soul danced over the form of the young mare as she bathed in the glittering water, hating every moment she held his gaze. Guilt filling him every time he watched her without her knowledge, not even within the first dozen times it had happened now.

        Truth was he’d been attracted to her from the start, the first time he had strolled back up the little path his father had shown him when he was a tiny colt. Plucking up the courage after so many years, he had seen her there picking flowers the day he returned. The prospect of a new job had been enough, if not all for nought, as she had rooted him to the spot in the shadows of the trees.

        After all those years of misspent youth and hardship, the tan mare joined everything good that the falls meant to him.

        Whenever he was feeling down, he would return to the falls praying she would be there. So often she was not, so he would sit in the meadow and sleep.

        Coming out of his reverie, he turned from the scene he enjoyed so much. Beneath the jade canopy, the bolt of red returned down the path he’d ascended.

        Content with having cleaned himself a few days prior, the colt was not concerned with repeating the motions, not while she was there. He couldn’t talk to her, he never had. How would he be able to bathe with her still there.

        As the mottled light gave way to brilliant sunshine, the forest opened onto the humble dwellings in the foothills. They were small and simple, wooden with thatched roofs similar to his childhood home he thought.

        Each street brought with it a new set of smells, some far better than others. The rumble of his stomach rang the same thought of just how hungry he was  as he passed various stalls and shops, until he paused outside a bakery.

        Meekly, he walked up to the shop front. The chestnut eyes of the unicorn roved upon the potential client. “Good day sir, what takes your fancy?”, seeds of doubt in her eyes before she’d even spoken.
        
        “What's tasty this morning?”, was all he could draw forth. Memories of previous events replayed in his mind. Very few were pretty.

        The eyelids of the mare half-lidded as she slid the tray onto the counter. “Depends what you like?”, the look causing the temperature in the face of the colt to shoot right up. He has always been able to hide this well thanks to his thick coat of neon red fur, however he didn’t hide the surprised look that had blossomed on his face. Laughing, the temptress turned from the counter. “Don’t flatter yourself, handsome. You’re not the sort of pony I’m into.” Capping the statement of with a look over her shoulder, a wry smile plastered on her lips.

        The look went unnoticed on its intended victim. The only remnant of him the scarlet glow surrounding two loaves floating away, the clattering of hooves drowned out by the holler of “THIIIIIEF!”

        Heads span in various states of confusion and contempt, several giving chase as a muffled apology echoed back up the street.

        Darting into an alley, the yellow mane flailed in the wind as the colt fled. The chase was always the worst, he thought. Actually that wasn’t true, the part after was what he dreaded most. It could always go so many different ways.

        Further down the alleyway, a pile of rubbish bags blocked the path ahead. Rather than be caught he darted left towards the wall. Kicking into the air, he sent himself sailing straight towards the piles of trash.

        To their surprise, the ruby streak bounced back off the wall away from the rubbish as he drew level with it. With a double stride and a kick, the colt flew up the opposite wall, having gained height that very few outside of the pegasus race could have matched. The two earth ponies certainly couldn’t, despite being at least a decade older while still in their prime. The ending was already determined the moment they drew close to the young buck. They plowed straight into the smoldering heaps of garbage. Landing heavily on the other side, the cinnamon troublemaker granted a few seconds of his success to enjoying one of the stolen treats. However the other one would have to be dealt with later as other tempted heroes joined chase after being given time to get their thoughts together.

While those who were earthbound aided in the rescue of the decidedly dirtier initial pursuers, those who could easily bypass the obstruction came swiftly with daggers in their eyes. The intended target was well on the way to moving through a fair portion of the ramshackled district.

Drawing ragged breaths, the ball of crimson fury was drawing on the edge of his limit as desperation began to set in. He needed a way out and swiftly. Though he had removed earth ponies and unicorn alike from the equation, that still meant that pegasi were a now much larger part of the equation. To shake them he needed to come up with something fast. Having lived by mouth and hoof for most of his mature life, he knew a lot of the layout of the district like an internal city of his own creation. To lose them he would have to break eye contact, and to do that he would need to take to the rooftops briefly.

As he kicked up the pace to near overload, he took to a broken wall. The crumbling rock splintered slightly as it took the weight of the unicorn indignantly. The wall exploded into a cloud of fine dust as the force of the thieving unicorn driving skywards caused it to give way.

The dust billowed at his hooves as he slammed down on the solid concrete roof, a reprieve from the potential metal roofs that were so dangerous to put pressure on. Desire drove the drained colt onwards, darting towards a ledge that ran along a building adjacent to the one he resided on. His rapid movements were matched by the pegasi as the chase moved from the weaving streets to the terraced roofs of the favela. The escape was hampered by limited length that each leap could extend. The small back streets and alleys aided in his continued evasion, but the routes he could take were limited.

For his plan to work, he had to draw the last ounces of strength from his body. He drove upwards, the roof being near a nose too far. He almost fell short, but the cackle of a fervent mare-do-well kicked his mind into action and drew him up to the next short path. His eyes bulged as he reached the edge, nearly falling into the abyss beyond.

The glint in the eye of one keen mare told him they knew he was trapped, and she was right. As he turned to meet their glare, he bit into the second loaf. It was a final buck you to them, and he drew all the energy he could from the tiny amount of nourishment.

Each streak of beating wings slowed down as the hunt drew near conclusion, the final outcome already a certain.

In a sweeping arc, the bread roll was launched into the air, released from its telekinetic bonds. In doing so, the crimson ball pitched backwards, light pouring from his eyes as the strength that had filled him during the chase drained from his body into his horn. He pitched backwards over the parapet into the void beyond, with a flash of scarlet inferno surrounding around a sphere of purest dark, and the colt was gone. Nothing but the licks of flame that crackled in the air and the bun that bounced off the dome of one crestfallen stallion remained.