I was galloping across the frozen tundra, my wings spread, a sword in my mouth. Before me had stood a huge wolf, larger than a manticore. It snarled, barking viciously at me, but I wasn’t afraid. I had slashed at it with my keen blade, catching it on the ankle. With a howl, it had reared and charged, vicious teeth snapping at my tail. With a flap of my wings I had soared into the sky, leaving the beast to smash it’s head into the nearby mountain. I had turned my sword downward and dove. It was time to finish this.
“Spark, wake up!” A large ruler smacked the table in front of me and I sat up with a jolt. Dusty Tome’s face swam before mine and I scrambled to get away from those huge eyes, magnified by ten in his thick glasses. The chair I was sitting in tipped backward, dropping me hard on the floor.
“Sorry, Mr. Tome,” I groaned, rubbing my sore back, “I must of dozed off.”
“You must have dozed off.” he corrected me. I groaned again.
“Where were we?” I asked.
“Ah, right, the Windigos! As I was saying, the three tribe leaders met to discuss arrangements. Do you remember their names?” As I righted the chair and took a seat at his desk once more, I repeated the names just as I had done so a million times before.
“Princess Platinum, Commander Hurricane and Chancellor Puddinghead.”
“Correct. Now, let me continue.” I did just that. Leaning on a forehoof, I stared out the window to my right. The snow flew by, as always. I guess that’s just one result of living in a frozen wasteland. Outside the snowponies of my village trotted around, conducting their business in their wooly jackets. The breed of ponies had changed over the years, their bodies rounder, their legs stronger, their coats shaggier. Being a pegasus, this is extremely frustrating for me, seeing as I’m too heavy to get off the ground.
“Spark are you listening?”
“Sorry, what?”
“I said, could you check my appointments for the day.”
“Oh, right,” I pulled over my scheduling book and opened it up, “nothing today, but you’ve got a meeting with Chestnut Sweetdough tomorrow.” He nodded, levitating a book off of one of his many shelves. After a moment of reading, he snapped it closed, his eyes lighting up with remembrance.
“Oh! I forgot!” he exclaimed, “I’m receiving a delivery in just an hour! I need you to run up there and accept it, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course,” I sighed, standing up and stretching my stiff legs. As I left the study, my fur was tugged about in the wind. Today was especially windy. I headed down the main road, my hooves crunching on the thick layer of snow. I headed towards the market where the deliveries were made, but I was halted as a young earth pony, about my age, and a posse of assorted ponies stepped out of the alley.
“Hey, Spark,” he said, “What’s up? Where have you been?”
“Oh, um, hey, Brom,” I said, “I’ve just been really busy, working for Mr. Tome.”
“Yeah, whatever,” he said, flicking his blue tail, “I need you to get me something.”
“Again?” I asked, “But I just got you those fireworks on Tuesday.” Brom shoved his face into mine.
“So, I wasn’t asking about the fireworks, I was telling you to get me something.”
I gulped. “Okay, what do you need?”
“I need some of Candied Apple’s apple pie.”
“How am I supposed to get you that?”
“I don’t know, figure something out.” He turned and walked away, his gang following him, each of them staring me down as they passed by. My gut wrenched. Candied Apple was such a sweet mare! How was I supposed to get her apple pie? I supposed I could pay for it, but I had been saving up for a certain book and I wasn’t quite sure I wanted to spend it on that. I was still contemplating as I reached the market.
“Hey, Spark!” A little unicorn filly waved from a stall, clinging to her Clover the Clever doll, “What are you here for today?”
“Oh, hey, Cindy, I’m just looking for a package for Mr. Tome,” I laughed, “Do you know where it is?”
“I do,” she giggled, “but I won’t tell you unless you let me ride on your back!”
“Fine,” I said, kneeling down, “Hop on.” She jumped onto my back and I raised my wings to support her.
“Okay,” she said, “that way!” I smiled, and began trotting through the snow, using extra bounce. She laughed and squealed the whole way to her mother’s clothing shop.
“Alright no,” I said, “I brought you over here, now where’s my package?”
“I don’t know, but mommy does,” She sprang from my back and galloped away, her doll flying behind her. I shook my head and chuckled, then trotted over to the store. The bell on the door rang as I entered and Cindy’s mother, Millie, looked up from her sewing.
“Hello, Spark,” she said warmly, “How can I help you?”
“I’m looking for a package for Mr. Tome,” I said, “Do you know where it is?”
“Oh, I got a message earlier today that the pegasi who were delivering it couldn’t make it through the storm. They’re dropping it off down the mountain in Sun Grove.”
“Oh, great,” I sighed, “Thanks anyway, Millie.” She nodded. I turned, folding my useless wings, and began the long trek down the mountain. Pretty soon, the wind picked up and I had to duck my head against the blinding snow. I imagined myself with a sword belted to my side, in search of some ancient artifact, the likes of which the world had never seen. After about an hour or so, the snow beneath my hooves faded away, turning into cold grey rock. Pine trees popped up on either side of the path. My thick coat felt warm, no longer the comfortable cool temperature it usually was.
I finally emerged from the pine forest, trotting into a little clearing that we called Sun Grove. The light beat upon my back and I began to feel uncomfortably warm. This place was the favorite of some of the ponies in the village, but I hated it. Why would anypony want to be anywhere as warm as this? A few pegasi were sitting around a small crate.
“Hi,” I called, waving a wing, “I’m here for the delivery. My name’s Spark, I’m Dusty Tome’s assistant.”
“Oh, hey,” one of them said. “Here, just sign for it here.” She pushed me a scroll and a quill. I scribbled my name on the scroll, then went to push the crate.
“Here,” a second pegasus said, “you can take the cloud sled we brought it on. We’ve got a ton of them back in the city.” I thanked him and allowed them to hitch it to my back. I glanced back up at the mountain.
“Here we go,” I sighed. I began pulling.
“You can just fly it up there,” the first one said, rolling her eyes.
Her friend rammed his shoulder into her. “Shut up, Breeze!” he hissed, “Don’t you remember what I told you?”
“Oh, oops.” I glanced over my shoulder, ears flat against my head to catch sight of Breeze blushing profusely. I gave them my best smile, although it came off as rather pathetic.
“Oh, don’t worry about me,” I laughed, my voice cracking. I cleared my throat and continued, “I’m used to it.”
“Well, good luck then,” Breeze said awkwardly, glancing at her friends. I turned back to the path ahead. My throat tightened, I cleared it again and took a deep breath. Why was it so hard to move my legs. After a bit of effort, I placed my front hoof forward and began heading back to the village. Curse these stupid wings, this rotund body. I hadn’t flown since before I got my cutie mark - a glowing lantern. I could hear the flutter of feathers behind me but I kept going. It was fine, like I had told the pegasi, I was used to it. I didn’t need to be able to fly, I didn’t need to be that special. I didn’t need to be special, period. There were enough special ponies in the world. There need to be a few normal ponies for society to function. At least, that’s what I’ve always told myself.
Suddenly, something snapped me out of my thoughts. I hadn’t realized I was this high up the mountain. The village was just over this hill. But something was wrong. I could smell smoke, thick and black and see it curling through the blinding snow. I galloped over the crest of the hill. A wave of heat hit me in the face. Before me was an jumble of collapsing and flaming houses. I fell to my knees. The horror of what I was seeing was too much. This had to be a dream. My heart in my throat, I choked on the words that wanted to come out. Life as I knew it was over.