//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 - Black Past part 2 // Story: A Thieve's Redemption // by Gsbrill //------------------------------// The bright white square on the wall began to shift and the image of a small room with white walls and a bed in the middle appeared. On the bed was a pegasus mare with a light blue coat and fire red mane. She was lying down on her back with her hind legs spread. Three other ponies were in the room, completely covered in white vests with holes for their wings. The mare moaned in pain and the other ponies seemed to be focused into some sort of surgical procedure. Then, she let out one last moan, louder than the others before, and relaxed. The sound of crying filled the room and a baby foal was placed on her hooves, still dirty with blood. Her face was covered in sweat but she had a wide smile. /-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ “Aww, it’s so cute” Fluttershy said from the back of the room. “Princess, I don’t mean to be disrespectful or anything” Ember called from inside the cage, blushing slightly “but you really didn’t have to go back so much” “Of course I had to, you told me to show everything from the beginning so there it is” I answered calmly. Fluttershy blushed furiously having noticed that the “foal” in the projection was right there. “What about your father? Where is he?” Pinkie asked. One of the other three ponies took of his mask and smiled at the foal. He had a white coat and a bang of his green mane fell from the white cap. “That’s him. He’s a doctor and insisted on being the one to take care of my birth” Ember answered. “Ah don’t mean to offend or anything but aint both your parents pegasus? How come you’re an earth pony?” Applejack asked and Ember opened his mouth to answer, but I spoke first. “Actually Applejack, that’s possible, and it’s not even that rare. Earth ponies, pegasus and unicorns are technically one single race. The genes for the occurrence of the wings and horn can manifest or not depending on the parents’ genes, but the rest is just chance. Take Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake for example, a unicorn and a pegasus that were both born from earth ponies.” “Say what now?” Applejack said and stared confused at me. “What she means is that it is possible for pegasus to give birth to earth ponies and vice versa” Ember Said. Applejack looked at him and his parents in the projection. The similarity was undeniable. /-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ The screen moved again, and now Ember looked a few years older. His parents were dropping him of at a building that appeared to be a school. He had a strange contraption on his back, composed of a cylinder with a tube that led to an oval balloon shaped object. It was attached to him like a backpack. I asked what it was. “That’s my cloudwalker. You probably know that but earth ponies can’t walk on clouds so my parents bought me that thing so I could live like a normal pegasus with them. Or that’s what they thought at least” The image changed again. Ember was sitting alone in a bench made of clouds. The other kids were playing around in a playground by the school. /-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ “I think you can guess what happened to the boy without wings. We all know how foals can be jerks and how they pick on each other for the silliest things. I was like a cripple to them” “But why didn’t you just talk to them? I’m sure you could make some friends if you tried!” Pinkie said. She didn’t seem to understand how hard it could be for somepony to make friends. I on the other hoof knew that quite well. “You’ve never been to Cloudsdale have you? Even the kids are told to be competitive since kindergarten. Even the teachers didn’t try much to help me get along with the others” /-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ The image shifted again and Ember was with his parents again, this time at home. “How was the first day at school? Did you make a lot of friends?” His mother asked with a broad smile. Her eyes were blood red just like his. “Yeah, sure. I made some friends. Is daddy going to come home today?” “Probably not, he’s got the night shift at the hospital again. He’s doing an emergency procedure on a kid that tried to pull off a sonic rainboom at flight camp. It’s the third time this month. What’s with kids these days?” /-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ “Why did you lie to your mother? She could try to help you!” Pinkie spoke with a mix of anger and confusion. “I didn’t want to bother her with that. Just me being unable to fly was already enough for her to deal with, and she already had to fly me around everywhere, since my father was busy all the time with his job. But that’s all past now.” /-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ The image shifted many more times, but it was always the same. Ember was almost always by himself. The only ponies that approached him did it to mock him as if he had a condition. Years passed in a few minutes, but little changed. Ember looked pained reliving those times but it had to be done if he wanted a fair trial. What came next was apparently just another day like all the others we had seen. There was the same pony alone in a bench at school, looking down at the ground. But another pony approached him. It was a pegasus mare with a black coat and a long gray mane and two bat wings for her cutie mark. She spoke to him casually. “Hey, you’re that kid with no wings right? Whatcha doin here by yourself?” No answer. “Don’t you have any friends?” Ember lowered his head even more. “Sorry, looks like I poked an old wound there. Look, I’m really bad at this but…” she looked around uneasily “I just moved here and I don’t really know anypony so, maybe you’d want to hang out with me?” Ember looked at her without knowing what to say and just stood silent for a few seconds. She began walking away as she spoke. “Well… sorry for bothering you. I think you don’t need my company.” “Wait!” He shouted without even noticing “Yes, I want to “hang out with you” whatever that means. My name is Ember, what’s your name?” She walked towards him and extended a hoof, smiling. “I’m Nightshade” /-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ “Looks like you found a friend! It wasn’t so difficult was it now?” Pinkie said enthusiastically, only to look at Ember and find him looking down at the ground with a stare of pure anger. “I’d be better alone than with that bastard” He spat angrily, leaving everypony, especially Pinkie and me completely confused. /-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ The projection kept on going. The images now showed Ember and Nightshade together most of the time. Ember seemed happier, although he still didn’t speak to nopony else at school. Nightshade was a great flyer and so she quickly made many other friends, but was with Ember most of the time. The image now showed the two of them on a small cloud at the edge of Cloudsdale. Ember sat at the cloud while Nightshade flew around doing various tricks in the air. “Hey Shade” “What?” “Why don’t I have wings like all the others? Why do my parents send me to flight camp even if I can’t fly?” “No idea. Maybe they’ll appear, I don’t know. You could wake up in the morning and see that you’ve grown a pair of wings someday. I don’t know how this stuff works” “Then I’ll be able to fly with you!” He seemed very enthusiastic about the idea. She laughed out loud. “Maybe, but even if you grew wings you’d have to work real hard just to keep up with me” She emphasized this by dashing down towards him and moving out of the way in the last second, then landing by his side. “Well you’ll see! One day I’ll be able to fly just as well as you! Then I’ll join the Wonderbolts!” He tried to maintain a straight face but it didn’t last much, as the two of them burst into laughter right away. After the laughter died down, Nightshade spoke in a more serious tone. “You know Ember, you’re a nice pony. I don’t know why you don’t talk to anypony else. You could make some more friends you know” His smile vanished and he looked down at the ground. “No I can’t. The other pegasus just mock me all the time. You’re the only nice pony in this town, and I don’t need anypony else. Just promise you won’t leave me right?” Ember probably didn’t notice but her black coat became slightly stained with red. “Geez kid, you say some weird things sometimes. But I promise alright. Don’t worry about that. Now we better get going before both our parents call the police after us” He smiled and the two of them got up and began walking away. I wondered what was it that Ember wanted to show us that could possibly turn him into a criminal. Another shift in the image, but the place was once again the same cloud on the edge of Cloudsdale. This time Ember and Nightshade weren’t alone, and it was dark at night. There were four other pegasus with them, all around the same age as the two. Ember had his back turned on the edge of the cloud, and was curled up on the ground. Nightshade was in front of him, followed by the other ponies. “Aren’t you gonna say anything? Are you going to make me beat you up again?” Nightshade screamed at him, while the only thing he could do was cry in pain. His body was covered in small bruises. Ember murmured something. “I can’t hear you! Speak up!” She shouted angrily. “Why are you doing this to me?” He spoke between sobs at a barely audible volume. “Why? Because I can! Do I need any other reason?” “I thought we were friends!” He managed to get up and scream at her, making her step back for a second. “News flash kid: I LIED! Ponies lie, you better get used to it! I’ve got new friends now, and they’re not some worthless wingless pegasus!” The other ponies behind her laughed enthusiastically, while she spat insults at him. She walked forward and he backed up as she did. She stared angrily, but not at him. Not even once she made eye contact with him, but the ones behind her couldn’t see that. He stopped when he reached the edge of the cloud. Anymore and he would fall down thousands of feet down. She stopped, suddenly realizing where she had put him, and that one more step would be deadly for sure. The other ponies were screaming. “Beat him up!” “Yeah, break one of his legs, no one will even care!” “Just do it already!” One of the other ponies pushed her forward as he said it. The push was enough to make her stumble on him, throwing him right of the cloud. The last thing that could be seen before everything blacked out was Nightshade screaming his name at the border of the cloud and trying to jump down as the other ponies held her down. /-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ “Wait, what happened then? Nopony could survive a fall like that” Rainbow Dash asked. “I survived. Barely. The cloudwalker had a failsafe mechanism made to break the fall if I fell from a cloud to another so I wouldn’t pierce right through them. It only worked partially. I broke my two hind legs and went into a coma for a week” Ember answered dryly /-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ The image came back. Ember was now in an old and torn up bed, in a room just as old. He was alone and the only thing in the room other than the bed was a jar with a dead plant. He looked around and tried to get up, cringing in pain when he tried moving the broken legs. “You really shouldn’t do that. They’re both broken and it’s going to be at least a month until you can walk again” “Who’s there?!” He hid under the blanket and looked around for the source of the voice. A strange earth pony walked through the door. He had a white coat and mane. His eyes were white too, and he had a strange ethereal look. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you. I couldn’t, even if I wanted to. My name’s Silver Quill. You’re Ember am I right?” “How do you know my name?” He sounded just as afraid as he was curious. “I’ve been watching you for a while now. Sorry for what happened at Cloudsdale. You’ve been asleep for a week now” Ember looked at him and the memories seemed to come back to him like a flood, as thick tears streaked down his face. “I want my parents! Where am I?” He screamed between sobs. “Sorry kid, I can’t help you with that. You fell from Cloudsdale and now you’re stuck here on the ground with the other earth ponies and unicorns. This is an orphanage, one of the kids found you laying down at the ground nearby and brought you here. And I suggest you keep your voice down, this isn’t exactly the place where you’d want to be” He wiped did his best to wipe his tears, and after a few minutes the flow reduced to a bearable level. He looked confused at the stranger in front of him. “What’s wrong with here?” “Let’s just say that the kids aren’t here exactly to find new parents. They’re here to be sold to anypony willing to pay for them. And it aint much I tell you. As soon as you get up from that bed you’ll be on your way to a coal mine or something like that” “No! I want to go back home! Please don’t take me away!” He screamed desperately. “SHUT UP KID! Listen to me if you want to get out of here! I’m the only one who can help you out of this. But you have to do what I say” “Alright” He mumbled, even less than a whisper. “Good. And one last thing” “What is it?” Silver Quill then slowly levitated away from the ground, and flew right through a wall, only to get back into the room right away, through the same wall. “I’m a ghost. Don’t expect any physical help from me” The next scenes covered Ember’s escape from the orphanage, where he found and got back the broken cloudwalker, and then the next years of his life, composed basically of stealing and running. Always the same; and never any companion other than Silver Quill. He grew up, years passed, but his life didn’t change at all. The images stopped when Ember and Silver Quill were right before the sign that read Ponyville. /-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ Celestia simply stopped talking to me and I had no idea what to do. Rarity and Fluttershy were crying together, apparently more pained by what they had seen than Ember himself. Applejack seemed quite shaken, while Rainbow Dash just stared at Ember in disbelief. Pinkie had put a hoof through the bars and had a leg around his shoulders in an attempt of a hug, which he accepted gladly, and smiled warmly at him. “I knew it! I knew I had seen you somewhere else, you were at flight camp too! And what was that guy at the end?” Rainbow Dash burst all of a sudden. “He’s what he said. A ghost. And he has been my only companion for the last years.” Ember answered dryly. “Well, that was certainly… enlightening to say the least” I spoke while trying to keep a minimum composure “but now I have to give my verdict. I have never been presented with a situation quite like this one before, and…” I stopped and smiled. How didn’t I think of this before? “And?” Ember asked impatiently. “And, I already know it. Ember, you have committed many crimes against not only dozens of ponies all over Equestria, but you also robbed a magic artifact that belonged to the royal vault” he bit his lip and frowned, waiting for the worst but still maintaining his dignity “but I cannot judge you solely based on those facts. You have suffered from various traumas ever since your youth and only performed said crimes on behalf of survival. With that said, I cannot arrest you, but I also cannot let you free” “So what the hay is going to happen to me?” He seemed confused at his present situation and I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t enjoying this at least a little. “You will be sentenced to two years of guarded freedom” “And who is going to guard me?” “I have already chosen the pony. It is somepony in who I trust completely. And I am completely sure of her valor and competence, since she is even one of the Elements of Harmony” I finished with a content smile. “You don’t mean…” Ember said smiling just as wide. “Pinkie, do you accept this?” I asked her, already knowing the answer. But what I didn’t expect was the bone crushing hug that followed it. “Thank you thank you thank you!” She repeated as she crushed all the air out of my lungs. When she was finished, I took a long deep breath and tried to stay on my feet. “So are we gettin him out of that cage or what?” Applejack asked. “About that, there was supposed to be a guard here with the keys. Where is he?” I asked Pinkie. “Well, I might have dropped a tiny little piece of the ceiling on top of him. He’s right under you. Oh and we don’t really need the keys” She sounded like a kid who stole a cookie from the jar. I pulled the guard from the debris and luckily he was still alive and fine. Pinkie pulled a small detonator from her bag and Ember screamed in terror. “Wait Pinkie DON’T!” /-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ It wasn’t really that bad. I felt a bit shaken of course, but that’s what you could expect of a pony that had just been forced to see the most painful events of his entire life displayed in front of him like a movie. I believe that part of it was because I had finally managed to move on after all those years, but most of it was probably because somepony was there with me all the time, with a leg across my shoulders. And I couldn’t possibly expect the decision of the princess, not only to not arrest me, but to leave me in the hooves of the one pony that I hoped I could pass the rest of my life with. The day couldn’t get any better. And then Pinkie had to get that detonator again. A loud bang filled the room as the bars that made the improvised cage flew around. Luckily nopony got impaled by one of them. A cloud of dust had filled the air, and I fell down on my back coughing. Before I could think of getting up, I felt something push against my face followed by a pleasing warm sensation, that I had never felt before. As the dust settled down I could see what it was. Pinkie was pinning me down to the ground, and it took me a few seconds to process what exactly was happening. As she pressed her lips against mine. Pinkie was kissing me. I got up and pushed my face against hers, returning the kiss. It was a wonderful sensation, and for a while we were both lost in the bliss of the moment. I believe we stood there for nearly a minute, but it felt like hours. When it ended, we stared at each other’s eyes with smiles on our faces. Then I remembered we weren’t quite alone. All of Pinkie’s friends, even the Princess, had a deep blush in their faces, and tried to avoid eye to eye contact as much as possible. But I could swear that the red pegasus with the pink mane had been yellow a few minutes ago. Silence reigned for nearly two minutes until the princess spoke. “Errrm… I believe that we should go then, we already had too much events for just one day. I still have to tell the other guards that there is no war going on and take this one to the hospital.” she grabbed the fainted guard with her magic “And you Pinkie, keep an eye on this one at all times! I don’t want to catch him stealing ever again, or I’ll have to arrest him for real!” “Yes Sir!” Pinkie saluted her like a soldier. Each one of them left for their respective houses, leaving me and Pinkie alone. I let out a deep sigh, relieved that it was all finally over. “What’s wrong?” Pinkie asked. “Nothing. Actually, is just the opposite. I’m free! For the first time in my entire life I’m not running away anymore. And we’ll get to spend some more time together. Heck, we’re obligated to be together!” The two of us laughed. “So what are you going to do now?” “I don’t think the princess is going to let me stay at the library anymore, so I’ll have to find a new job and a place to stay.” I looked at Pinkie and for some reason she was blushing strongly. “Actually, I was thinking. There’s a room at Sugarcube Corner if you want to. There’s only one little detail.” “What is it?” “It’s my room” /-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ It was already late at night and Pinkie and I were walking through the streets of Ponyville, on our way to the bakery. I had one of my wings wrapped around her shoulder and leaning onto her because of my wounded leg. We walked for a while without saying a single word, just smiling at each other. I was the first to break the silence. “I’ve been thinking about something.” “What?” “After seeing all that, watching my own life again, I’ve thought about my parents. Did they forget me? Are they still on Cloudsdale? Did they have another son?” “I’m sure they didn’t forget you!” “I don’t know. I’ve been gone for nearly ten years now. But I think it’s fair that I tell them I’m alive” “What do you mean?” “What I said. I’m going to Cloudsdale” I let go of her and tried to stand on my own, nearly falling down to the ground when my wounded leg moved “After this leg heals up.” /-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/ I watched from above as the two ponies walked together. It was the first time I had seen Ember so happy. He had finally found somepony for him, and now I was just part of his past. He didn’t need me anymore. “Hey! Quill! Don’t think I can’t see you up there!” Ember shouted and Pinkie waved a hoof at me “Get down here!” “Oh, hi there Ember. Looks like it all turned out just fine in the end then. For the two of you.” “Oh just shut up. It’s all thanks to you and I know it. I want to thank you. And sorry about the whole imaginary friend thing, I never thought you were actually a ghost. I never asked but, who were you? When you were alive I mean.” For a moment I looked up and the memories came back to me. My life, my family, my death, everything flashed before me, all the ponies I met, all the things I did, and I was lost in thought. “Quill? You alright there?” Pinkie asked, pulling me out of my daydream. “Oh, sorry, I got lost in thought. I think I should let you be then.” I began floating away from them. “What are you talking about? Come on, we’re going home.” Quill called me and I stopped in the air. “You don’t need me anymore, I should let you live your life.” “And you’re part of it whether you want it or not. You coming or what?” Pinkie and Ember motioned for me to follow, and went on. I floated behind them, without noticing the dumb smile on my face. Looks like I’ll be staying a bit longer. “And we still want to know your story” Ember asked and Pinkie nodded in confirmation. “I’ll tell you some of these days” “Then tell us at least how you died” “Now is not the best time. Trust me; I don’t want to spoil the mood”