The Spark

by Sketch-Pad

IV - It's a Start

After Code Red and I had made our way out of the vent, we gave each other a more proper front hug and he thanked me again. He walked me out of his room and towards his living area, where his mother was sitting, curled up on the couch. She stared at him for a moment, then glanced at me, and then looked back at him again. She burst into tears, And bounced off of her couch and jumped on her son, wrapping her hooves around him. I smiled at them, starting to back away so I could leave them be to settle down.

Before I was able to leave his mother stopped me, insisting that she could never make up for what I did and that I would always be welcome around her house. She gave me a tight hug before returning to hug Code Red again. As she did this, I took it upon myself to leave their room, closing the door quietly behind me with a single click as I left their apartment.

After leaving their apartment I walked down towards my own, walking inside after using the key. The complex was fairly dark, so I figured that everyone had gone to bed. It was quite late into the evening and I figured that it was well past midnight. I lit my horn dimly, providing me with enough light to see only about another body length in front of me. I walked towards my room, glancing up at a clock hanging in the hallway as I did so. The time read about 2:10 in the morning. I kept walking past the clock, sliding into my room quietly.

I closed the door behind me and rested my rump against the door as I glanced around my room again, this time in the dark. I sighed and turned off the light from my horn, my eyes fixated on my bed. I took a few steps towards it before I jumped onto it, then wiggled my way inside of the blankets, wrapping them around me tightly using my magic. I pulled the sheets out from the ends of the bed to wrap myself like a burrito, feeling snug and warm and personally, I felt quite safe. I pulled the sheets over my head, but not before sliding two pillows towards me. I used one to rest my head upon, and the other to wrap my forelegs around and hug against myself tightly.

I closed my eyes in my dark nest, quickly allowing sleep to capture me and my thoughts.

---

When my eyes opened, I didn't know where I was. Everything was black; in fact, it was darker than the world I had left behind. I was standing and I felt very much wide awake. So then why couldn't I see anything?

That suddenly changed when there was a large flash from somewhere in the darkness, filling everything with light. I looked away and closed my eyes as the warmth from the light reached me for a few moments, and once it left me I slowly blinked my eyes opened. I looked at the direction that the light had come from, still finding it there, but now it appeared that the light had turned into a round, orange, white, and yellow glowing orb. Its light did not spread too far, but it was strong enough for myself to view my body. The small orb hovered in front of me, and as it drew closer to my face I could see that it was no larger than my hoof.

The orb hovered in front of my face for a few seconds, before it circled around my head and then around my body. I watched it as best as I could, but it began to move away from me as I smiled at it. Furrowing my eyebrows I took a step towards the orb, which proceeded to move away from me. Being given the hunch that I needed to follow it, I took more steps towards, it and found that it kept about the same distance away from me as I moved towards it.

I followed the orb curiously, watching it flicker and emanate a very faint mist as I continued to walk. My hooves made no noise as I walked in the darkness, and I could hear no other noise. I did not know how long I followed the orb, but at a certain point it froze and stopped in front of me. It flickered, and then suddenly it vanished into the darkness. What was this? Was I just dreaming? As suddenly as it disappeared, I found the invisible ground beneath me disappear. I began to fall into nothingness, my mane whipping around my face as I fell, head first, straight down. The orb appeared again, though this time next to me. I glanced at it as we accelerated downwards, watching as it left a trail of white mist behind it.

"Terra," I heard an echo-y voice say from around me. In fact, it sounded like it came from within my head. "Terra North," It said again. It came from a mare, but she sounded older and quite regal. I had no idea who it was.

I glanced at the orb again and watched as it began to stretch itself out, turning itself into a new shape. I could feel my eyes grow wide as it continued to change, finally setting on the shape of a large mare. The figure was still glowing white so I could not make out any of the details, however, two large white wings grew from the back of the mare, stretching out before they gave a large flap. This action launched the white mare forwards, allowing me to spot its long, white horn on its forehead. It flew itself in front of me, before stopping far in front of me. The mare faced herself towards me, hovering as I still continued to launch towards her. She spread her wings out in front of me and created a large, bright light that was as warm and as radiant as the sun. This light engulfed me, surrounded me and gave me a large hug. I could feel its heat all over my skin, through my mane and filling me from inside.

The light soon faded away, and I find myself laying back on my bed, wrapped in my blanket. I groaned, burying my face into the pillow I held. It was a dream alright, but it was so odd. It felt too real. And who was that mare that I saw? She was certainty nopony that I knew.

Fumbling around my bed I knew that it was most likely morning and time for breakfast. I attempted to remove myself from my bed, but I ended up rolling out of it, twisted in my blanket and crashing onto the floor with a loud thud. I moaned again, flailing my legs around to free myself from the blanket. I lay on the ground, my legs in the air and curved over my body. I rolled on to my side and stood up. I shook my mane and lazily made my way towards the bathroom to locate a brush with a desire to somewhat attempt to make my mane look at least a little less wild. Once I was satisfied with my mane I left the bathroom and glanced at my mother who was saying something to my dad.

My eyebrows lowered once I had laid eyes on him and I looked away towards the door.

"I'm going to the cafeteria for breakfast," I muttered.

"Oh, alright. We were planning on heading down there once your brothers woke up. We should be there soon," My mother replied.

"You can wait if you would like or we can meet you down there," My father added.

I glared at him, "That's okay. I'll probably just sit with my friends," I turned my back to him and began to make my way towards the door. I heard my Father stutter, and shortly after he did so my mother whispered something to him. I flicked my ear in annoyance and promptly left the apartment.

I made my way down to the cafeteria in near silence, slightly unsure of exactly where I was going. Down the elevator and through the great hall, and it should be this room right here. Nope, that is not the cafeteria. Just in front of the doorway, it smelled too much like sweat. So that must mean the cafeteria was right here? Yes! I strode inside with a little uneasy smile, hunting for my friends. Where were they? I spotted Cherry eating alone in the corner, her cheeks bright red and her eyes fluttering back and forth, glancing around the rest of the room uneasily. I couldn't help but smile as I made my way over to her. She obviously didn't see me coming, because she jumped when I spoke to her.

"Cherry, what on earth are you doing?"

She stared at me. "Oh nothing, nothing at all, I was just enjoying my meal. You know, eating." She spoke quickly and then forced a smile.

"Cherry, come on I know you better than that," I told her. "What's going on?"

She let out a very heavy sigh and stared at her tray of food that had barely been touched. "Well, you know the stallion that I introduced you to the other day? Shock Blitz? Well, he uh," She paused, her face turning pink again as she tried to fight a smile. "He offered to help me train."

"Oh really? So you two are dating now?" I teased.

"No, no, no, I don't think so, he can't like me. . . I think he's just being nice. Besides he has loads of other mares chasing after him. If you watched the room when he came into the room, almost every mare stops and watches him. Surely I don't stand out enough for him to take an interest in me."

"Well, you never know. Colts have very interesting ways of thinking."

She laughed. "I suppose so. But at the same time, I don't want to grow attached to him, especially if he doesn't grow attached to me."

I gave her a reassuring smile. "Cherry, he has clearly developed some sort of attachment to you already! From what I've seen he hangs around you more than I've seen him hang around any other mare. Just give him a chance. What's the worst that could happen?"

"I could die."

I stared at her, furrowing my eyebrows at her. Once I processed what she said, I couldn't help but start laughing. She echoed my laughter until we grew sore. I sighed and left to go and get some food for myself. I grabbed less food than I did the first time I was in the cafeteria, but all the same, It was probably still a lot of food. The orange pony I saw mentioned something about having to be given rations starting in a few days. Something about not eating too much and leaving enough for everypony. I grabbed an apple and a large bowl of hot oats, as well as a few other greens. When I returned to the table, Code Red had made an appearance and was chatting with Cherry. It sounded like they were chatting about Code Red's adventures in the vent.

"What, you really found a way to crawl into the vent system?" Cherry asked.

"Well, yeah. When I'm upset I can get pretty determined," He said with a little smile.

Cherry nodded, "Yeah, I can see you being that type of pony."

Code Red lowered his head at his comment but lifted his head again once he noticed me. "I probably wouldn't have come out if Terra hadn't gone inside after me and found me," He said with another little smile.

Cherry turned her head towards me, a goofy look on her face. "How did you know he was in the vent anyways?"

I shrugged. "I saw him go into his apartment so I knew he was there. I eventually asked his mother if I could just see his room and sure enough, there were little signs that he had been in his room," I laughed and looked back at Code Red, "You sure know how to hide your tracks."

He smiled, a little color in his face.

"After looking around the room I spotted the vent. I didn't know if you had actually gone inside, but I figured I should take a chance. So I crawled up and found him."

Cherry had a large smile on her face. It was actually a little scary. "That's actually a little cute if you ask me," She said, which made me furrow my brow and blush at the same time. Code Red was a great stallion, but I didn't like him in a romantic way. He was just a friend. "But Code Red, I am very glad to know that you're safe. Actually, you should probably go and get some food if you've been in there for a few days."

Code Red nodded, and then made his way towards the food line. I looked back at Cherry with a smile.

"You know, who I haven't seen yet?" I mentioned.

"Who else is there?"

"Jockey. You know, the green stallion with a silver mane from my district?"

She blushed, "Oh, oops."

"He went into his room, and I know his family saw him, but I don't know what happened after that."

"Well if his family saw him he probably shouldn't hide for too long," Cherry remarked.

"Sure, but I saw my dad and I hid under my bed for three days," I added.

"Yeah, that's probably different though. You have a rocky relationship with him."

I laughed. "Yeah, that's true."

Code Red returned carrying a large tray of food on his back. I helped him move his food onto the table as he took a seat. After he did so, the three of us sat there eating, chatting about random little things like the shape of this room. We talked a lot about the place that we were in, actually, wondering where in Equestria we were and how they made something this big and weren't noticed by Discord or his troops. At one point Shock Blitz came by and had a conversation with Cherry, where Code Red and I just sat there watching them with little grins on our faces. As soon as her love interest left, she noticed and became as red as a tomato. Or a cherry, in her case.

We had long finished our meal when we decided to get up from our seats. Cherry and I decided that we wanted to go and see if we could find Jockey. Code Red said that he wanted to go and say hi to Gaelan and then explore. We let him leave after placing our dishes in the dishes cart.

Cherry and I made our way up to his room fairly quietly. A few people waved hello at Cherry, and she smiled and greeted everyone who did. We made it to Jockey's door and I gave it a good knock. No answer. Cherry knocked. No answer. We looked at each other with confused looks. Was there really nopony home? Maybe the door was unlocked? Using my magic I turned the doorknob and sure enough, the room was left unlocked. Cherry and I strode into his apartment, which to our surprise carried a faint fragrance of vanilla. We stopped in the living room, staring at the scene before us.

Jockey sat on his sofa, his back turned towards us, facing the wall that also doubled as a television. Both of his ears were pointed straight towards it, his body in high attention mode. The footage on the screen only added to the creepiness. It was split into screens of twelve, and on closer inspection, it was one for each district. Small numbers were in the upper left corner of each one. Why was he watching each district? I looked closer. District one, nine, and ten were calm. Almost all of the others were chaotic. Ponies were fighting with peacekeepers and the places were a mess. Houses were broken or crumbling, or at least more than they were otherwise. Some had become simple piles of rubble. Ponies that had been pushing Peacekeepers to hard were becoming beaten or overwhelmed. There were fires, there was determination, there was fear. The ones that were difficult to watch were districts three, seven, and twelve. But the one in the worst state, was no doubt, District Six.

I watched my district with a heavy heart, seeing ponies I knew running, fighting, and standing up to the many peacekeepers that were there. And in the center of it all was a pony I started to despise. She was commanding the troops, covered in gleaming silver armor. Other guards stood next to her, killing any pony easily who dared to get close to her. Standing there, in the center of it all, was Moon Breeze.

I couldn't believe it. I couldn't bear it. Why was she doing this? Did Discord brainwash her? Something wasn't right.

"Terra," I heard a new voice appear from behind me. I lowered my ears and turned to see who it was. To my surprise, it was Princess Luna. "I was told that I would find you here."

She walked up to stand next to me, looking at the screens with almost no emotion. "I did not wish for you to learn about it this way, but it appears that there was nothing I could do to prevent it."

"What is this?" I asked, my voice shaking.

"The princesses and I asked Jockey shortly after his arrival if he would be willing to monitor the districts. He agreed to it. We asked him to study the peacekeepers and their war generals, to look for weak spots. It was difficult for him at first, of course, but I have rarely seen a stallion as strong as he is."

"Is his mom okay with this?" Cherry asked.

"Of course. We wanted to check with her first before we asked him," Luna responded. "I wish to speak to you two privately, please. Follow me."

Luna turned and walked towards the door, Cherry close on her tail. I turned and glanced back at Jockey, my chest tightening. Was he really as strong as Luna said he was? Or was he hiding his pain? Cherry called out to me from the door. I flicked my ear at her, moving up behind the couch and giving the green stallion a hug from behind. He flinched, but he quickly relaxed. I could feel every muscle in his body lighten up. I wanted to say something to him, but I didn't know what. The only thing that came out was "I'm sorry." He lifted his hoof up and gently placed it over mine, exhaling. I hugged him a little tighter before letting him go and returning to Cherry and Luna.

Cherry walked close to me, watching me with sad eyes. I wondered if we were both thinking the same thing. I wondered if we both knew that this place would not all be smiles and laughter for long.

---

Luna led us down to the first floor, and through a corridor, I had not seen before. It led to a round room, where a round table stood in the center. Around this table sat 10 chairs, each tall and made of a shining crystal I hadn't seen before. There were several other ponies in the room. A pink, purple, and gold alicorn sat in one of the chairs, chatting with a much younger pale pink alicorn that was leaning excitedly on the side of the chair. A second lilac and purple unicorn stood, chatting with a familiar face in the corner. It was my half Changeling stylist, Glimmer. A second, half Changeling pony was next to her, this one much larger and male. He was pale green with two horns next to his ears. His mane was a dark purple, shaped like a mohawk with the dragonfly-wing pattern with a tail to match. There was the same bug-like shell that lined his torso, but he had large, almost butterfly-like wings that extended from behind his shoulders. The gems that lined his chest were a soft purple, and his eyes gleamed with a sky blue hue. It made me wonder if the two of them were related. Rainbow Dash and a stallion I hadn't seen were sitting on opposite ends of the table. Rainbow Dash was giving the stallion evil looks.

Princess Luna cleared her throat and all of the ponies turned to face us, except for Dash. Glimmer smiled and trotted over to say hello to me and let me know that we would talk later. The other Changeling pony walked away with her down the hallway, practically joined at the hip. The pale pink alicorn whispered something to the older alicorn it was next to, and the mare nodded and told her to run off and play with her friends. She stopped and said goodbye to Princess Luna, hugging her foreleg happily.

Luna walked and sat down in the largest chair, The pink alicorn on her right and the purple alicorn taking her place to the left of her. There were five total empty seats.

"Where is Shining Armor?" Princess Luna asked. "He was planning on being here for this."

"Oh, he went to give a special lesson to the Unicorn Academy. He's trying to teach the Star Level his shield spell," The pink alicorn responded. "If he finishes early he might show up towards the end."

"Very well," She nodded and turned to face the Cherry and me, who were still staring at the three alicorns in front of us. "You two may take a seat," She said with a little friendly smile.

"I-I thought there were four alicorns," Cherry mentioned. The ponies all looked at each other before the purple one began to speak.

"There used to be, four, yes. Princess Celestia was the fourth and was seen as the leader of the group. It was her idea to move as many ponies as they could into the Crystal Empire and build this facility. She did everything she could to protect the ponies of her nation. She fought with Discord, sacrificing her life on the front lines. She knew the risks. She was leading a small group into the capitol, attempting to finish Discord off and take back her kingdom when she died. Apple Jack was with her, and she said that she died by the claws of Discord. During that battle, most of the group was killed, and Apple Jack eventually lost her hind legs because of it. Celestia gave her last breath so the rest of her party could escape," The purple princess lowered her ears and sighed.

Rainbow Dash placed a hoof on the purple pony's shoulder.

"I'm sorry," the purple pony muttered, dropping her head.

Princess Luna cleared her throat again. "Yes, it's still sad to think of, even after all these years," She sighed. "Well, hopefully, we will not have to endure something like that again." She tried to lighten the mood by starting with introductions. "You've met Rainbow Dash, over there, and to my right is Princess Twilight Sparkle. You've met myself, but to my left is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, or Cadence, for short. Her husband, Shining Armor, is not here at the moment. And lastly, there is Soarin, second in command to Rainbow Dash. We are the highest members of this facility, and we have brought you here to ask for your aid."

Princess Twilight began to speak, pulling up a list from somewhere under the table. "Cherry Cloud, we would like to train you to be a flight officer. In this position, you will help strategize in battles and will be trained in all forms of combat. You may be asked to lead troops into battle from time to time. You seemed to qualify best for this job."

"That's... That's amazing!" Cherry replied.

Twilight continued to speak. "Shock Blitz has been asked to be your personal mentor with your combat skills. Other officers like Rainbow Dash and Soarin, will train you to have the mind of a fighter and a strategist." She turned to face me," Terra North, we would like you to be the face of the operations. This means that you will be the voice to the districts and you will rally them to fight our cause. You will also be trained in various fields of combat, but not as many as Cherry Cloud. Can you do that?"

I looked down at the table. Could I? Why did it have to be me? "Why does it have to be me?" I asked. "What about the other ponies from the games that are here? Gaelan or Code Red?"

"Code Red will meet with us at a later time. We have plans for him to help with weaponry and technology. His mind will prove most useful to us there. Gaelan will be spending most of his time in recovery for at least a month, learning how to adapt to flying with his new wing. Therefore we are going to ask him to help out in the medical bay. He may accompany infield missions as a medic."

"But," I tried to start.

"You are the only person who can do this. You are the best person for this job," Princess Cadence began to speak. "You turned off the arena. You wore the cutie mark of Twilight Sparkle throughout the duration of the games. A mark that was hidden for years but the sight of it brought back hope. The whole nation has seen you, Terra, and the whole Nation already looks up to you. You have demonstrated that you understand the elements of harmony; kindness, laughter, loyalty, honesty, generosity, and magic. The ponies of the districts have seen this too. If you do this you could light the fire that will finally burn down the capitol. With you, we could finally take down Discord and return home,"

"All you need is my face?" I asked shyly.

"Sort of. We can tell you what to say and how to act, but to a certain degree this whole operation could depend on you," Princess Luna added.

"That's a lot of pressure when you put it like that!" Cherry shouted, standing out of her chair. "We just got out of the games less than a week ago. That's a lot to ask of her." She looked at me, as I had sunken low into my chair, my head dropped and my ears lowered, like I was hiding. "Even if it's true and she is the only one who can do something like that, it seems like more than you're asking of any of us."

"It is. It's a difficult position, but if any pony could do it, Terra can. Because if she can't, we don't know what we can do," Twilight added.

"Twilight! Don't force her into the position. She needs to decide for herself if this is something she can do or not. A decision that big may take a few days, maybe weeks," Cadence jumped in, defending me.

"Well, sure, but if she takes too long we may lose our opportunity to act. We need to move as soon as we can while the embers from the games are still hot."

They two alicorns began to argue back and forth over the table. It was loud and troubling. Cadence was correct; Twilight made it sound like I had no other choice. If I said no, thousands of ponies could die and Discord's terrible rule will still reign. But if I said yes, I could die, or I could get ponies killed anyway. I don't know how to lead, I don't know if I could do it. It's too much pressure. I could feel tears bubble up in my eyes. I didn't want to cry. Why was I crying?

"SILENCE!" Luna shouted, the walls shaking slightly as her voice boomed throughout the room. Every pony froze and everything was silent. You could hear no heartbeat, nopony breathing. It was almost eerie. "Terra?" she asked in a calm, soft voice.

I looked up at her reluctantly, small tears in my eyes.

"You two may leave. Terra, please take your time on your decision. If you do decide you cannot bear this burden, we will come up with another plan. it's not the end of the world. Regardless, I hope you would consider both options heavily."

With that, I stood out of my chair and sped walked out of the room. I hung my head low, trying to hide the tears that were attempting to force their way out. Once I had left the hallway and reached the main hall, I broke into a gallop towards the elevator. I ran inside moments before it closed, finding myself inside with another pony. The pony was the same one that was talking with Princess Cadence earlier.

"Miss Terra? Are you alright?" She asked in a sweet, calm voice.

"I'm fine," I shakily muttered.

"Well, I don't think you are if you're crying." She walked up to me and I could feel her give me a small hug. "Whatever is wrong, I'm sure you will figure it out. You're amazing and powerful and smart. You can do it."

"How...How do you know?" I asked, turning my head to look at her.

"My mommy talks about you all the time. She says that you could save us all one day if you wanted to. I've also seen videos of you fighting in those games that I'm technically not supposed to watch," She lowered her voice to a whisper. "Don't tell, Daddy says I'm too young to watch them."

"Your secret's safe with me," I said softly. I reached my floor and went to get out of the elevator. Just after I left, I stopped to ask her one last question. "By the way, what's your name?"

"Flurry Heart!"

And with that, the doors closed and the elevator continued up a floor.

I blinked at the door, then made my way into my apartment and under my bed. I took all of the pillows on my bed with me, laying on them and hugging them. I curled up under there again, hiding my face in the pillow and sobbing. I wanted someone just to hold me, and I didn't think I was close enough for anyone. I haven't been held by my mom in ages and I could talk to my older brother but he couldn't hold me. My friends would listen, but going to any of the guys might seem awkward. Cherry was an option, sure, but the longer I sat the more I realized I missed only one stallion.

I missed my old coltfriend, Circuit.

Author's Note:

Yes, I'm alive.

Comments

[Sketch-Pad]

6223193 Its up!
I'm so sorry it took so long. I was busy this summer, and then I got 100% technology grounded at one point. I had it half finished right before I was grounded, I just wasn't able to do anything until now. I've been thinking a lot about this and what I want to do. You know, plan ahead deaths and play with Ideas.
In case you haven't noticed, I'm also trying to lengthen my chapters :)

[Silverstreak]

And so the drama builds Intersting way if bringing up there 'jobs' to say. Also with Celestia dead you ruined my hopes that discord had her prisoner and using her magic to power the games
Other than that you did fine by me with with chapter length.

[sugarush13]

Ohh, suspence I can't wait for another chapter