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// Prologue 
// Story: Tales of The Wasteland Wanderer 
// by BlakeCorman 
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Tales of the Wasteland Wanderer


Prologue


        Pyro Comet stood facing the door to the slave wagon he was in, chains holding his four legs tightly in place. He saw nothing outside the wooden wagon, and simply waited as it bumped along on the uneven road leading to what he knew would be his end. He had broken the most sacred rule of his people; he had revealed himself. 
        He stood stoically facing the door as thoughts of recent events ran through his head. Of all the plantations, he had to fall in love at the front door of the most ferocious of all the plantation owners. He had fallen for her when he first laid eyes on her, the day she and her filly had been brought in. He had kept his eyes on her for the first couple of weeks, and it only served to deepen his infatuation. She was kind, gentle, and had a way of caring for everyone. He started getting closer to her, and, as he did so, she started to feel the same. They kept it as quiet as they could for almost a year, but then he had messed up: he had let her take him to bed. The next morning, he had done his best to reassure himself that nothing would come of it, and, for a few months, he truly believed it. 
But then she told him the worst news of all; she was pregnant. He panicked and was forced to tell her the truth, one that she, very surprisingly, took well. Almost too well…. They spent the next several months doing everything they could to make everything look normal, but it was no use. In the end, he was forced to give up the only thing that would keep the child safe; his onyx bracer. He gave her the bracer in the dead of night, his secret ripping itself away from him in the same moment. He embraced her and the filly he had come to think of as daughter, hugging them tightly before dashing away towards the handler’s barracks. With a small spark from his unorthodox magic, he set the building ablaze.
The handlers ran out of the building, putting the fire out quicker than Pyro Comet had intended, and they spotted him as he tried to escape into the night. He was no match for the swiftness of griffon wings, and they had him in chains within the hour. He was brought before the plantation owner, who simply nodded his head behind him and said, “To the gallows.”
That is how Comet found himself being marched up the steps of the wooden deathtrap. He never let his head droop as he was led to stand on the trap door and noose. As the noose was wrapped around his neck, the owner walked towards him and asked, “Any last words?” Comet’s only response was to close his eyes and hold his head higher in defiance. The cruel master simply “humphed,” and walked away. As he felt a heavy weight step up towards the lever that would bring his life to an end, a single tear escaped between his eyelids. If only I could be sure they would be safe, he thought to himself. Almost immediately, images of a bright red stallion with a blue and yellow mane filled his mind. 
Although he had never met the stallion before in his life, he had no doubt as to the identity of said stallion: it was his son. He saw his son stand before monsters and demons, go toe-to-toe with kings and queens, and even defy beings just below the status of ‘god.’ Thank you, he prayed to whatever higher power had sent him the visions. 
I’m sorry.
Comet’s eyes snapped open at the sound of the voice, swinging his head around to see who had spoken. There was no one near him besides the executioner, and he was becoming more and more sure that the voice had come from inside his head. He looked forwards once more with a puzzled look on his face, and finally found what he was searching for. There, standing behind all other beings present, stood a figure just inside the light of the few torches. It stood upright, adorned in all black, except its purple shirt. It stared straight at him, and the wind picked up, blowing the being’s hair and jacket around, only adding to its mysteriousness. As they stared at each other, tears began leak from its brown eyes. I’m so sorry, the voice sounded in Comet’s head again. 
Comet was blown away. He could not wrap his head around what was before him…but he didn’t have time to figure it out. A small grin played its way across his features for the first time that night. He nodded his head towards the being, raising his chin back up in defiance. As he stared at the being, his thoughts went back to his son. The executioner grasped the lever, preparing to throw it forward. He had time for one last thought as the planks gave way under his feet. I love you, my son, and he knew no more….



Not far away, a soft green mare sat in the corner of the small mud hut meant for slaves. She sat stroking the mane of her daughter, a pale blue filly, staring at the only object that had ever meant anything to her; a small onyx bracer, inlaid with a yellow gem. As she stared, she felt a sharp pain in her stomach, and she looked towards the small life growing inside her, lifting her hoof from her daughter’s head to briefly rub the area. She felt a feeling of warmth spread through her hoof, the one holding on to the bracer. She lurched her head back up to find that the bracer had changed. In its place, a silver collar now sat….