A Flare of Light

by NightSky

Remembrance

Time slowed to a crawl as Flare saw his father fall. He had stopped and opened his mouth to say something, but instead he looked to the sky with a strange look on his face, like he had seen a long lost friend. Then he simply went limp, collapsing like water poured onto the ground.

Flare was at his father's side in an instant, and Crystal was there shortly thereafter. He pulled his father into his arms and stared into his eyes, but they did not stare back. He was gone. A tear rolled off of Flare's scaled cheek; he was still in his dragon form. "Dad..." he struggled to form the word. Flare closed his eyes, and out of desperation, attempted to use magic to revive his father, forcing any magic he had into his father, but this was in vain. Flare realized that neither he or Crystal were capable of reviving him, and a sense of failure as strong as a hurricane fulled him. He broke down sobbing, and Crystal joined him; they spent just over an hour sitting there, sobbing as they held Strike's broken body.

When their sobs had begun to subside, Flare looked up at his mother. "What...what do we do now?"

Crystal looked at him with a tear filled eye. "Bring him back to the cave...I know what we'll do."

And with that, Crystal rose, turned, and flew back, leaving Flare alone with his father's body. He stood, draping the body carefully on his back, and sagely made his way down the path to the cave.

When he arrived, he saw Crystal had accumulated a large amount of sand. "What will we do with that?" Flare asked.

"We make a memorial for him," Crystal said, "I saw mothers do this if one of there children died young. Set you father over there," She indicated a spot with one clawed finger, "and have him look peaceful, like he was sleeping." This was another side of Crystal that Flare had never seen before, the side without emotion, that simply said what needed to be done and did its part. Flare glanced at his mother worriedly then followed her instructions.

Flare moved his father to the indicated spot, and laid him there. He carefully arranged his father so he looked curled up, sleeping peacefully, with a calm look on his face like he was having a good dream.

"He looks...happy." Flare turned to look at his mother, and he shared a sad smile with her. She looked...adrift. Lost in her thoughts.

After about a minute, Crystal snapped out of her trance-like state and went over to the pile of sand she had accumulated, picked up a handful of it, and poured it gently over Strike's body. Beginning to understand what his mother had in mind, he assisted his mother in covering the body with sand until there was a fairly large dome of it covering the spot where his father was lying. Crystal smoothed the sand with her hand, making it as flawless as she could. When she was finished, she rose and looked out the cave entrance. The sun had set and the moon had begun to rise.

"Have you figured out what comes next?" She asked Flare, still watching the night.

Flare nodded, and they each moved to position themselves around the pile of sand.

Then they both let loose a torrent of flames upon it.

Both Crystal and Flare breathed fire with all of their might into the dome, careful not to disrupt its shape but still with enough power to achieve their goal. They maintained the flames for as long as they could, but eventually their flames subsided with exhaustion. As the smoke faded, they gleamed sadly at the results of their work.

The dome was no longer made of sand, but glass. The flames had heated the sand enough to turn it to glass, but not damage its contents. Within its center was Strike, still curled in his dreamlike state.

"We should leave an inscription." Crystal suggested. Flare nodded in agreement.

The dome still radiated heat like a bonfire, but Flare did not care. He approached the dome and knelt down. With one clawed finger, he carved into the front of the dome:

Here lies the body of Lightning Strike, a brave unicorn who was able to set aside his way of life for the ones he loved. He was able to look through a being's physical appearance and love them for who they were. For that, he shall be remembered.

"How were you able to make the sand pure enough to become clear glass?" Flare asked as he observed how flawlessly clear the glass was.

"Magic," Crystal said, deadpan, "I learned of how to do this when my mother and I did this for my brother. He was killed by being struck by a bolt of lightning."

Flare felt his jaw drop. He had never known that his mother had any siblings. He looked into her deep blue eyes and saw only pain and sorrow. Realizing how hurt she must be for having to bury a second loved one, he stood and went to his mother, rose up on his hind legs, and wrapped both his arms around her neck, trying to comfort her.

It was her turn to cry, and she simply collapsed; all of the sadness and pain she hid had finally come out, crashing through her like a colossal wave. Flare had to move slightly to avoid being crushed by her, but otherwise he remained by his mothers side as she cried the night away.

____________________

Flare awoke the next morning still embracing his mother. She had cried for hours last night, but eventually the tears faded and they both faded into sleep.

As gently as possible, he released his hold of her and slipped out from her side. He moved over to his fathers glass tomb and spent the next hour looking over every detail of his father, so that when the time soon came for him to leave, he would be able to remember his father. He still had the necklace strike had given him, but he still found comfort in seeing his father look so calm.

He heard his mother begin to stir. She opened her eyes and looked around the cave as if something was missing. Then she remembered the events of the past few days and Flare half expected her to break down in tears again. But all she did was sigh sadly and look over at Flare. "I miss him already."

"That makes two of us." Flare said. His mother and him locked eyes for a few moments. Eyes are windows to the soul, that couldn't have been more true. Flare saw sadness in his mothers eyes, but underneath it, there was strength and hope.

The day passed slowly and silently, but eventually Flare had to break the silence to keep his sanity in order.

"Mom, when you told me stories about other dragons, most of them were greedy and stole often. Why didn't you ever act like that?" Flare asked, trying to return to normal. But deep down he knew that things would never be normal again.

Crystal look surprised, although Flare was unsure about what. "Male dragons are very greedy when they grow up, always wanting things of value. But female dragons, once they have offspring or something to care for, begin to lose their sense of greed and focus more on being able to provide for what they care for. Once I met your father and had you, I lost my sense of selfishness and only worried about what happened to you."

Flare was silent. He honestly didn't know what he expected for an answer.

Crystal cleared her throat and looked as if she was having difficulty thinking. "I have taught you about how dragons hiberate for a century at a time, and I am due for my hibernation soon...very soon."

Flare looked suspiciously at his mother. "What you you saying?"

Crystal let out a deep sigh and looked Flare straight in the eye. "What I am saying is that I doubt I have a day left before I enter hibernation. I can feel my instinct pulling at my consciousness. I don't know how long I will be able to stay awake."

Flare just stared at his mother, emotionless. Normally he would break down sobbing at this, but he had cried so much over the past two days that he was beginning to grow accustomed to the sadness and loss. He showed nothing on the outside, but his soul twisted at the prospect of losing both his parents within days of each other.

Crystal walked over to him, filled with concern over his lack of reaction. She pulled him to her and embraced him. "Baby, I know it's been hard for you lately, but you have to stay strong. You have the strength of a dragon, don't hesitate to use it."

Flare, looked up his mother. "But what do I do when you leave?"

Crystal thought for a moment before answering. "When I hibernate, go to the town below, and find your place there. Surely they can make room for you there." She said, full of reassurance.

They remained beside each other for the remainder of the day, but as the day began to fade, Flare looked up at his mother again. Her eyes were half closed. Flare looked into her closing eyes, filled with alarm.

"Mom..." Flare whispered.

"I'm sorry, baby." Crystal drowsily. She didn't have much time left.

"Mom," Flare was desperate, trying to pick what his finally words to his mother should be, "Mom, in case I don't see you when you wake up, I want you to know how much I love you."

"I know, baby, I know." She said. "I'm proud of you..."

Then her eyelid slid fully down with a click like a pebble falling on stone, and she was gone.

____________________

Princess Celestia snapped back to reality from the realm of her thoughts. Her glanced around her large throne room to see if she could spot what startled her. None of her guards seemed to notice her spasm, but she doubted that they would show it if they had. They are always so emotionless. Celestia thought to herself.

It soon dawned on her that the source of the disruption was not in the room, but in Celestia's mind.

Celestia had always been able to sense the songs of the animals in her kingdom. The harmonious choir of the birds, the powerful beat of the dragons, the varying notes of ponies, and even the strange, threatening melodies of the creatures in the Everfree forest. She had felt new prescences enter her kingdom constantly as creatures were born, and she had learned to deal with that.

But she felt a new presence that perplexed her, for it did not belong to any of the species that she knew of. It had a strong beat, like that of a dragon, but it also had a culmination of different emotions, like that of a pony. Strongest among these emotions were loss and sadness, and that worried Celestia. She was accustomed to sadness in the kingdom, but the pure amount of it emulating from this creature was palpable. Under this, though, she sensed hope, and that lessened her worries, knowing that this creature, whatever it was, had enough determination to survive.

But when Luna returned from the moon, she resumed her control of the night, so Celestia's powers were weaker at night. Her sun had just set, so her abilities to search deeper into this new creature were no more. I shall carry on my investigation in the morning. She thought to herself as she rose from her throne. The two grey guards at the base of her throne snapped back to attention. As she walked down from her throne, she spoke to them. "Hurricane, Thorn, escort me back to my quarters," she raised her voice so the other guards in the room could hear, "As for the rest of you, you are dismissed for the night unless you have watch duty."

She promptly turned and left the room, the two guards falling in at her sides, still remaining emotionless. The other guards in the room began to casually move out another exit.

As they moved through the halls of the castle, Celestia suddenly made a connection. That presence wasn't a child, it was older. Maybe this is the creature Twilight informed me of with the dragon! This changed everything. She needed to send word to her sister to warn her. When she arrived at the large doors to her bedchambers, she turned to the two guards.

"Awaken me immediatly when my sister returns from her current assignment. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am!" The guards replied in unison, loudly enough to echo down the stone hall.

"Good. Dismissed." She said as she turned and entered her bedchambers.

She quickly went over to her desk, picked up a letter and quill, and jotted downa a note for Luna.

Sister,

Be cautious when you get to the cave, I believe that the mother dragon has already entered hibenation, but the offspring is strange, he appears to be a new species. He is undergoing a great deal of suffering now, so please try to be comforting with it.

Celestia.

She quickly sent the note, hoping it got to her sister before she reached the cave. Don't want to scare the poor thing even more then it already is. I should have simply gone myself. Oh well...

____________________

Flare sat at his mothers side, leaning against her sleeping form, his mind adrift, trying to decide what to do next. He had spent the past few hours watching the flowing pictures on the necklace he was given by his parents.

I should leave here, go to the town and try to fit in. Flare thought to himself. It is what my parents would have wanted.

But as soon as Flare had begun to form a plan, a voice boomed from the cave entrance.

"WHAT BEINGS RESIDE IN THIS CAVE?!"

It echoed off of the walls, disorienting Flare for a moment. Flare snapped his head around to the cave opening when he regained his senses, and his heart skipped a beat.

Standing at the opening were five figures. Four of which appeared to be soldiers of some type. They were pegusi, white in color, with golden armor. They all had the same expressionless look on their faces, but Flare looked into each of their eyes and saw malevolence in all four of them. One of them had a black pauldron on his shoulder with a symbol upon it. Flare guessed that it meant he was of higher rank charge of the other three.

But it was the fifth figure, standing in the center, who had emitted the call who caught Flares attention. She stood taller then her guards, although her expression wasn't much nicer. She was tall, with a beautifully slender body. She had a mane that flowed and sparkled like she was bending the night sky around her. She was dark blue in color, with beautiful aqua colored eyes. The mark on her flank was that of a crescent moon with darkness around it like she had sat in black paint. She had both a horn and wings. She had a black crown upon her head and a chest plate with the same symbol as on her flank. She was quite different from her guards.

Suddenly, with a flash of light, a piece of parchment appeared from out of nowhere, landing in front of the alicorn.

Using magic, she lifted the paper to read it, and when she did, her expression softened considerably. When she looked back up from the note, Flare saw that the emotionless mask she had been wearing before had faded, and as she looked around and saw first the dome containing his father's body, then his hibernating mother, it was replaced by a look of sympathy.

"Forgive me, I did not intend on being so...rude. My name is Luna" She said, looking back to Flare.

Why me? Flare thought as he looked at Luna, realizing that his previous plans had just been vetoed.

Comments

[Ambassador_Derpius]

This was a great chapter and very sad but yay contact with ponies!

[Freeze2270]

YES AN UPDATE! NOW TO READING :D