A Tale of Heroic Tribulation

by Dark Tempest

Prologue

The little carriage bobbed along a path, being led by a dark-coated pegasus as he was leading his family along in the transport.

Stormrider bounced in the carriage with her mother, a white pegasus who played her violin surprisingly well whilst their transport moved so. The little gray filly looked forward to watch her father pull the carriage along the winding road, then she looked ahead to watch the ever-encroaching view of a giant mountainside city loom closer. Not understanding where exactly or how far away the city really was, Stormrider reached with a hoof towards it, cooing. Her mother giggled and continued to play as she watched her daughter's curiosity.

Stormrider's father called back as he listened to his wife and life mate play her tune: "Your music is beautiful, love. How do you play so well in there?" A quiet giggle escaped Stormrider's mother before she replied. "You have to remember that I have practiced all my life. Just like I am teaching our little Stormy."

At the mention of the tiny filly's name, Stormrider yawned and shifted in her spot, her mind elsewhere (as was natural for one so young). Then, as if like clockwork, her father stopped walking abruptly, his ears twitching to the left side, as if he had heard something.

"Honey... Take Stormy and hide her..."

Stormrider's mother heeded her beloved's advice and hid the little filly under a sheet before asking her to be very quiet. Stormrider made a whining noise before quieting down, her little hooves reaching for her mother's muzzle.

Stormrider's mother nuzzled her filly's hooves before dropping the sheet, ensuring her daughter was safe before galloping outside of the carriage to join her husband.

The next several minutes were spent in silence, Stormrider straining her ears to listen for her mother. All of a sudden, the silence was broken by a piercing scream that would haunt her for the rest of her life: a cry of pain from her mother.

Stormrider, after a few minutes, managed to force off the light blanket, fluttering her tiny wings as she struggled to stand up. After she had managed to balance on her teeny hooves, she wobbled to the back of the carriage, where the back was open and down.

As the tiny gray Pegasus tried to climb down the wooden plank, she tripped, sending her tiny body falling to the ground faster than intended.

Fortunately for Stormrider, she had been fluttering her wings, which caused her to lose momentum, allowing her to land on the dirt road with surprising grace. The filly looked about with curiosity, searching for the parents which were so dear to her. Instead of finding them, however, she found nothing but drying blood puddles with trails leading away towards the roadside, toward one of the forests which surrounded the pathways.

In one of the blood puddles laid a violin... Stormrider's mother's acoustic violin, a rosewood instrument which was handcrafted by her mother herself, laid there in surprisingly good condition, considering the blood the stringed instrument was soaked in, its bow lying next to it.

Stormrider picked up the violin (though with extreme difficulty, as it was as tall as she was), and began to play her own tune, using every ounce of her knowledge. She played a somber, melodious tune, as if trying to call her parents back to her. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she played, and when it seemed as if forever had been since her mother had last spoke to her, and she felt as if she would never see her mother again, she broke down. She cried, cried for parents that would return to her.

Parents that she would not remember.

Stormrider sat there for nearly a day and a night, falling asleep once or twice, due to her required naps, but she did not move from that spot, expectantly waiting for her mother and her father to return to her.

Then, as if all hope was to be lost to her, she spotted a couple of ponies traversing the road toward her, as if they too were travelers heading towards Canterlot. The duo were not her parents however, and they froze in shock as they trotted closer, realizing the situation of the carriage.

The little filly watched as the two mares looked at one another before galloping up to her, one of them calling for the carriage owners, the other taking Stormrider into her forelegs, swaying her gently back and forth.

What Stormrider did not realize that day, was that she was going to be taken in by those two mares, who happened to be a recently wedded couple that were going back to their home in Canterlot.

The filly cooed up at the mare, and the mare somehow understood the small one's noises: she was hungry.

As Stormrider was given a bottle of warm milk (which had been in a baby bag on the carriage), the two mares discussed what to do with the little filly.

"We should take her to Canterlot, raise her ourselves," one mare asked. The second mare was a bit reluctant in her reply: "Shouldn't we at least look for her parents?"

The couple had a short debate, which was settled by the first mare as she drew the line: "We can't just leave her here on the side of the road! Do you not see the state of the carriage? Of the filly?"

The second mare did not argue with the logical explanation, and ultimately agreed that they were to take the filly in.

The mares quickly fashioned a carrier to hold Stormrider in, and they took her and her violin towards Canterlot, a place that would be known as home for the little filly.

Little did she know, was that she was going to become a mare with a talent for song and music, as well a traveler.

Stormrider would become a bard.

Comments

[PonySlayer]

I like it so far :3

[NobleValor]

Well, I have to know more about THIS!