Fire was ultimately fair. Soldiers, of unquestionable character, in protective garments and breathing apparatus, threw things in without regard for what they were, to be burned up. Anything the strangers really wanted to keep they were allowed, making special note of whatever was clutched or clung.The soot and ash would be processed later. What ever metal remained, melted. As soldiers continued throwing the articles wood,plastic,what not, and smelly rags into the flames they failed to notice an earth pony watching from the shadows listlessly. As one article was reveled and about to be chucked over the edge into the flames, and billowing darkness of smoke, the shadow became animated with agitation and galloped forward quicker than lightning.
“Mine!MINE!!!!! You can’t have it! It’s mine!!!Cough.Cough.” As he grabbed the article, a book, from a pony tearing the cover off in the process, spinning around till he was on the edge of the precipice perched on his hind legs.
”This isn’t,cough,cough, real! This isn’t me! ISN”T! ISN’T! ISN’T!NOPE!!!HA!HAH!HAW!” another fit of coughing as he stood there precariously shaking his head and mane wildly."A mad dream!"he screamed.
”NOT ,cough, real, nope, can’t be real!!!” A manic grin went across his face.”I’m…cough,I’m not standing here right now! Yes! That’s it! I remember! Some dream; cough to wake up? I know! My book is real!”He held the book out, its torn cover where he had grabbed it from the guards.”I can feel the fire behind me!I can smell the smoke, cough, plastic! So that must be the way out…cough.So I’ll just follow my book,and just like a dream…and I’ll be out!!!cough.”
The guards who were throwing items and articles and clothing stood in shocked silence at this mad pony twitching, his eyes watery as they rolled around like marbles, his ears laid flat on against his head popping up individually and laying down again. As if he didn't know how to use his face. This stallion might actually throw himself into a fire!
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“I can’t go back, can I?”
“No. It’s,uh, a one way trip. As time goes on, you’ll begin to remember less and less of it.”All Wishes said.
The pony clutched the book tighter to his trunk. Closed tightened, shedding a single tear.
“Hey! Don’t be sad.”All Wishes said. “Things are going to look pretty good to you tomorrow morning! I promise! All snug and warmly…a tangle of legs…”he said with a grin and a chuckle that the earth pony didn’t like and followed by a sigh through his nose. “A name will be needed. A name to be cried out to the arching sky! What might that name be?”
The earth pony opened his eyes, then opened his mouth closed it then and put his hoof to his chin and thought.
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“Hey! Pony!!!!”
He turned and was startled to see a floating pot before his face, sputtering sparks smoke and flame, a desperate Unicorn stallion beyond.
“That’s him, doctor!” said the Pegasus from the bar earlier. “I knew his story was fishy!”
”Tell me about them…”the unicorn whispered to more knowledgeable one who had just trotted from behind, the doctor ,from before, wheezing and out of breath.
“Tribal/ primitive. Hunters and gathers.” said the unicorn panting.
That was all he needed to know.
“Be careful!” the doctor said putting a hoof on All Wishes shoulder. “He looks feverish, hysteric and the smoke causing his head to fill with with unbalanced miasma!”
All Wishes started a prayer in his mind, then a darkness came! Such a darkness.The moon was passing over the sun. Stay calm.
It had been announced in the papers for weeks. A necessary calibration Celestia had to perform, thanks to her sisters fit centuries ago!
The darkness, it interrupted his mind. The sun was hidden, to the unicorns perspective, Celestia, the all seeing goddess, had been blinded, from this excluded!The darkness felt confining, stifling. The smoke didn't help.
All Wishes coughed involuntarily. “Please.Alert clarity of thought me!Some, any, help!”were the Unicorn’s thoughts.
A light, a spark!
The words came raw, shaped by him remembering his diplomatic meetings with griffins, like dough being kneaded they had to sound coherent at least!
“We are both meat!”he said.”By this fire, we are made equals: You and I!" All Wishes proclaimed.
"This pot, passing between us, is a sealing of an agreement, a promise, to a greater power. I swear by it!
I swear by this fire, because you say it is the only thing that is real to you, tried by fire.
By a greater power: I promise.
I promise you will be great! You will have descendants. Come over here, beyond this flaming pot. Come over with us, to life!” The unicorn stallion smiled.The statement punctuated by coughing, his eyes watering.
The pony hesitated.
“Being alive is very good!”
“cough I don’t believe in you, phantom! This book! This book is what I believe in! Sometimes you have to rebuke a nightmare for it to end! Sometimes you have to die to self to live!cough.” said the earth pony tensing his body to jump.