Darkness crept over the hills, peeking its head over their crests to bathe the mountain side in its pale glow. The warm sunlight was replaced with the cold kiss of night. The water that cascaded down from the rocky ceiling glistened under the moon's caress and pooled at the base in a rippling mirror filled with stars and sparkles. As the warm wind of fall became cold and crisp, the mountain came to life. Animals picked themselves out of their burrows while their neighbors began to settle down. Owls opened their glowing amber eyes and gave the short crop of woods its first song of the evening. With the last stretches of dusk slipping away along the opposite horizon, a pair of bright blue eyes poked out of the mouth of a cave up on the mountain. The pair were followed by a grey and black head and a mess of curly blue hair.
Mottled Shadow stepped out onto the lip of the cliff and peered down over the valley. It seemed to stretch on into forever before him. He could almost reach out and touch the breast of the moon as it slowly made its ascent across the midnight sky. A canvas filled with twinkling stars and brilliant stretches of color opened up above him. Mot sat and soaked in the image, filling his breath with the sharp breeze about the cave.
The world shattered beneath a large horn. It blared out from within the bowels of the mountain before the distinct rumble of earth. A dragged, weary groan came from behind him and the distinctive sound of rocks clattering against the stone floor followed. Stalactites quivered, Mot's heart shook with the force, even the stars seemed to shift as the great locomotive whipped out of the tunnel around the bend and went zooming off into the night, its distinct stark light being forced out and then torn away in the same instant. The mountain settled again and the ambient silence around them, the ponies' ever present king, came about them like a familiar blanket. With a careful sigh and a short frown, Mottled Shadow picked himself up and turned back to the cave.
The adults moved from their nests to wandering about the cave. They chatted quietly with themselves as the foals romped about. A little silver filly went running from a colt with sunset orange fur. While they romped, the colt's mother looked on with a frown. She sat perched atop a shelf along the cave wall. Her hooves tucked under her pale breast, she watched her foal with a quirk in her smile and a fallen ear. As the two drew close to the edge, her swift, thin wings snapped out and carried her to them. "Don't get too close," she ushered the two back, receiving small groans from the young ones. "To the back of the cave; get." Her wings wrapped around the golden colt and ushered him away.
"Evening Rose," a black mare pushed at the pony's wings, freeing the foal to run back to his friend. "He's going to be okay if you just let him be."
"That's easy for you to say." Her eyes narrowed and her frown drew. "Mot's two shades of grey. He isn't going to stand out."
"Roar's had seven years to stand out." Her friend rolled her eyes. "I don't see any angry mobs at our cliff."
Mottled Shadow stepped around the bend to peer at the adults. His gaze shifted down to Roar as he went galloping away from the laughing silver filly. With his ears perked, he observed the colt. The dark wings pulled tight against his dark orange body, his bright gold mane. The color of the sunset. "I don't see anything wrong with him." His eyes flicked back toward his mother.
Dark Note gave a start and pinned her ears back. Evening Rose looked around, her brow furrowing. "Oh, Mot, uhm..."
"Of course there's nothing wrong with Roar." Dark Note stepped toward him and drew him in. "He's a bright little colt and he's going to do great things. I know it." She put a hoof down on her son and drew him in.
"You mean leading the same useless existence we all do?" The three looked up to a scowling grey face.
"She means by helping the Colony to thrive!" Evening Rose snapped, her ears flying back. "That's-"
"-all we can do." Another stallion approached, standing mirror image to Silver Vice. The two shared colors, both proud heads lifting high. "What other purpose do any of us have?"
"Being ourselves, for one." Dark Note's muzzle scrunched.
Silver Vice rolled his eyes. "Oh please, after you discover your cutie mark, there's nothing left to live for."
"I never want to find mine." The silver filly threw her head into the circle and beamed up at the adults. Her violet eyes fell around Mot and color flushed to her cheeks. "I want to be free forever."
"Mirror," a dark blue stallion drew her in. "Finding your cutie mark is a beautiful process. It's discovering who you are. The deepest parts of you."
"And then sitting on that for the rest of your life while you waste away in this cave."
"Silver Vice!" The mares snapped.
"Well it's true." His white tail flicked behind him. Stepping away, he let his wings slip out and trail dramatically across the floor. Mottled Shadow followed him across to the mouth of the cave. "You can't pretend we live in some perfect world. Dark Note, when was the last time I heard you sing?" The two of them met gazes. "Some of us get lucky. We're blessed with talents we can use. That we can exhibit. But Evening Rose, what was the last flower you so much as saw?" His back arched as he turned, the sound of his hoofstep drowning away in the blaring of the horn. Blinding white light bleaching the hills around them and snapping away in a split second. Pebbles on the floor rattled and the world shivered under the weight of the train. Silence settled around them again, hanging over their heads with the rush of the river and the cooing of night birds in the distance. "We're so busy worrying about keeping secret that we never even bother to wonder why we're a secret in the first place."
A hoof pressed against Mot's shoulder. He let himself be pulled into his mother's chest and brushed his cheek against her soft fur. His head slowly fell and he stared down at the rocks at his hooves. "Well... Why are we a secret?" Mirror lifted her hoof and stomped it back down. "I mean... There's all those fields right there. All those hills. Why are we in this cave when there's so much space?"
"Because we have to protect ourselves." Roajel trotted toward the cliff. Behind him were two other stallions. "Pool, we're going to hunt, care to join?" His pale hoof extended to the navy stallion.
"Why hunt when we have a steady supply of food just above our heads?" Silver rolled his eyes and turned away, trotting out into the autumn breeze. A wisp of his tail caught in the wind disappeared down the side of the mountain. Mottled Shadow looked up to see the stallions sidestep him for the cliff.
"Can I come?"
Cysgod's short, raspy voice chimed in from deeper inside the cave. "Why not let him? The colt's got nothing else to aspire to." Roajel and Pool shot the cranky old mare a quick look. "You two didn't when you were his age." She shrugged and peeled off from the wall to wander deeper down to talk with the mares.
"I don't see why he can't." Roajel extended a long, dark wing and laid it gently across Mottled Shadow's shoulders. "So long as you promise to do exactly as we say." There was a rumble to his voice that stirred Mot's heart. He puffed out his chest and raised his chin, bright blue eyes flashing excitedly.
"I promise." Ears as perked as they could be, Mottled Shadow gave a hop and went scampering outside the cliff, clambering over rocks and stones to catch up to the other ponies. They wrapped around the mountain toward the waterfall. Its great tumbling roar grew louder and a thin spray of cool mist clung to Mot's fur. It trickled down to chill his skin. He shivered at the water's touch and shied away, giving the fall as much girth as he could. Loose stones shifted under his hooves and trickled down the side. They clicked audibly, some disappearing into the grassy bottom below.
A loud, hissing shift burst out from under Mot's hooves. Rocks gave way and went tumbling down the mountain. There was a pitch in gravity as the earth fell away beneath him and Mot scrambled toward the cliffside. Stomach churning, head reeling, everything in him tensed as he skid down across the edge. His eyes screwed shut and his wings snapped open, filling with air and tearing him away from the cliff. The autumn wind kicked up around him and tossed him back, throwing him away from the others.
Mottled Shadow kicked and spun. Frantic huffs escaped him as his wings bent and twisted. "Mot!" The stallions spun and twisted away from him as he was carried away. Shapes and figures blurred into an endless whirl of motion. A pale white form began galloping along the cliff. The others stayed, a silver shape leaping up the mountain and disappearing above him.
"Mom!" The word screamed through Mot's head. Each hoof struck out, frantically clawing at the air. Pain lit down his side, his wings twisting and wrenching out from his shoulders. "Mommy!" He kicked and found the cliff suddenly at his side. Pounding hooves on the trail met his ears before he was pitched down, the wind scraping him against the mountain and the sparse twigs and bushes that grew out of the crags. He dug his hooves into the dirt, gritting his teeth. "Mo-"
Pressure burst around the front of his neck. Long, flat teeth dug into his fur and bunched his shoulders, hauling him out of the air. His wings buckle and more earth hits him, biting into his legs and pressing flat against his belly. Roajel stood over Mottled Shadow. His eyes glinted in the pale moonlight as Silver Vice turned away. Pool and Knight Soul peered from a distance, still at their post by the water fall. A few mares and foals trickled out of the cave to see Mottled Shadow shakily stand.
A streak of black against the grey hills behind them went running up to Mot. His vision suddenly filled with soft fur and a tight arm around his shoulders. His hooves lifted off the ground with Dark Note's hug.
"Are you okay?" Her face pulled away to peer down at him. "Were you hurt? Are you bleeding?" Narrowed eyes frantically searched through Mot's spotted coat. She pulled at his fur, tugged his tail, pressed every inch of his head for injury. Blood rushed to his ears and pounded just behind them, leaving him weary and dizzy.
"Mom, I'm fine." He shoved her hooves away and fixed his mane, frowning. "I'm fine. I promise." Out of the corner of his eye, a pale blue colt clasped his hooves and mouthed the word mommy, rolling his eyes and falling to the floor. Color rushed to Mot's cheeks. "I'm not a little foal." Dark Note looked up to Roajel, standing politely by.
"You are a foal though, and you could've been spotted." She growled the words to the stallion. Her voice dropped low, her ears pinned back. "Somepony should've been watching you."
"He volunteered to come. I cannot be responsible for everything the foals do."
"You didn't have to let him out of the cave."
"You were right there, why didn't you protest?"
"I thought you were going to be watching him."
Sparks shot between them, their scrunched faces muzzle to muzzle. Mottled Shadow slunk away, his ears falling back. The rest of the ponies drew back into the cave as a shiver ran through the mountain. The distinctive blare of the horn sounded out, echoing across the valley and setting Mot's heart pounding. He shook his pounding head and picked his way back up the path, glancing behind him to the couple. Their voices almost drowned away the silence. Their ruthless king hissed down around them with the deafening sound of the horn. The train bulleted out of the tunnel, the air exploding out in a whirlwind of howling, streaming cyclones. It dispersed quickly, settling again in ambient silence. The short reprieve set off the couple. Dark Note whipped around, marching past Mot into the cave while Roajel turned his back and slowly trotted back down the path. Mottled Shadow watched his mother go. His mouth drew into a thin line, his eyes flicking from the stallion to the cave mouth and back. A low whine escaped him and he turned, galloping down the cliff.
He opened his mouth to speak when Roajel's thick rumble cut him off, "Go back home, Mottled Shadow." He stopped short, his wings in mid shift.
"B-but-"
"Your mother doesn't want you following us... Me." His tall white head almost glowed in the moonlight, centered before that brilliant pale orb that glinted around him and shined in Mot's eyes. He dared a glance up to see that ghostly pale face marred with a growing purple mark. With each passing minute, the bruise seemed to grow until it covered Roajel's swollen cheek. A pair of grey eyes met Mot's for an instant and he paused, turning away. "Your mom's right, I can't keep a proper eye on you. It's too dangerous for you to be out here. You can't even fly right."
A star twinkled above them, shooting across the deep black canvas. Mottled Shadow watched it veer away and disappear into space. He let his head sink down, looking over the rocks and stones. He scraped his hoof over a pebble and kicked it down the mountain. It clinked against another and shifted again, sliding down with a soft, quiet whoosh of sound.
Roajel moved to step forward. He frowned and watched the colt out of the corner of his eye, brow softening. With a sigh, he turned and pressed gently on Mot's shoulder. "Hey, I'm proud of you." Their eyes met, grey against blue. "You managed to catch some air." He grined and lifted his chin, ears perking. "Maybe tomorrow night we can practice flying?"
"Really?" Mot gasped, leaping up. His hooves braced on Roajel's chest and his face light up. "You mean it?"
"Sure." He tousled the youngster's mane. "But tonight, you'd best not upset your mom." He let him down and turned to the cave, blushing softly. "I don't wanna rock the boat." He chuckled nervously. "I'll go and bring you back some roots to munch on and you go sweet talk your mother for me. Maybe she'll let you come after you've had some wing lessons." He winked and started back down the path.
Mottled Shadow leaped up, flapping his wings and scrambling back toward the cave. "Mom, Mom!" His whispers shouted through the soft wind. His grin brightened the whole side of the mountain.