Heart of Shadow: Passing the Torch

by TheCrimsonDM

Chapter Five: Burning Rainbows

Passing the Torch
Chapter Five: Burning Rainbows
Written by TheCrimsonDM

The group of friends moved out of the clubhouse soon after their discussion. There was one place where they knew they could always hang out and have a good time; The Sugarcube Corner. The trip into town took awhile but the trip was a marry one none the less and time flew by for the four friends. After arriving at the sweets shop they decided to get a seat and wait for the current manager to come and serve them, it never took too long for her to show up.

A short, round, and bouncy pink pony trotted up to the group’s table and her happy smile made everyponies heart warm up as usual. The pink mare’s curly pink mane bounced with every step. She stopped at the table and smiled at the group before asking, “So what can I do for you all today?”

Amber smiled and said, “You know, the usual, Aunt Pinkie.”

“Same here,” called out Color Splash.

Sophie jumped off the chair and wrapped her hooves around Pinkie Pie before saying, “I didn’t get to give you a hug this morning.”

Pinkie returned the hug, and Amber saw the happiest pony in all of Equestria right in that very moment. Pinkie Pie had never been as happy as she was whenever she was with her kids, and Amber truly believed that Pinkie made a wonderful mom. Pinkie held Sophie close and said, “I’m so sorry, Soph. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

Sophie pulled away and smiled. Hushpuppy crossed his forelegs and mumbled something under his breath. Pinkie Pie looked over and smiled even more before saying, “I heard that mister.”

With a sudden swiftness Pinkie wrapped both of her legs around him and squeezed him tightly. Hushpuppy’s face began turning a light shade of pink and he looked away saying, “Mom, I’m too old for this.”

“Hush, I gave birth to the both of you so that means that I can hug you anytime that I want to,” Pinkie Pie explained cheerfully.

“You’re embarrassing me,” Hushpuppy said quietly.

“Too bad, that’s my job as your mother is to embarrass you,” Pinkie Pie retorted.

Color Splash gave a smile in slight approval before asking, “Didn’t Fluttershy want to have kids?”

Pinkie Pie let go of Hushpuppy and rolled her eyes as she explained, “Do you honestly think that I would let her ruin that perfect body of hers by having kids?” Pinkie then looked dead serious and said, “No, I wouldn’t.” She then bounced into the air and smiled brightly. “I was already a little round, what were two kids going to do me that wasn’t going to happen naturally?”

“Hmm, so you’re just selfish?” Amber light asked.

“Yep,” Pinkie Pie replied merrily.

After that bit of conversation Pinkie Pie retreated to the counter and grabbed everyponies favorite meals. A giant cupcake for Sophie along with a strawberry smoothie, a plate of cookies for Color Splash and a hot cup of creamy coffee, a few donuts alongside a cup of black coffee for Hushpuppy, and finally a piece of chocolate cake with a oat smoothie for Amber. Out of everypony here Amber didn’t really enjoy sweets but she did enjoy trying out anything that Pinkie Pie made, even if it was often times too sweet to finish eating.

After eating everypony went outside and looked at the setting sun. It was getting late and everypony was going to need to head home soon. Color Splash smiled and offered to take Sophie home. Nopony argued and so those two were off after saying their goodbyes. This left Hushpuppy alone with Amber Light and an awkward silence quickly grew between the two of them.

Finally when Amber couldn’t take it anymore she looked him in the eyes and asked, “What’s wrong?”

He looked away and mumbled something under his breath. Amber Light continued staring at him with a stern expression until her finally said, “I was just wondering if you knew why my jacket was torn up yesterday?”

Amber Light shook her head and said, “Nope, what did you fall or something?”

He turned and walked away while saying, “Darkness found me when I was alone. I guess it’s nothing big though considering how black this world is, but I was hoping that maybe there was at least a candle to light my way.”

“What?” Amber Light asked.

She didn’t receive a response though as Hushpuppy just wandered off alone. Amber sat on the steps for a few minutes trying to figure out what Hushpuppy was getting at, he usually spoke in metaphors so what did he mean by darkness found him? His jacket had been ripped up by something, and apparently it was something dark? Hushpuppy’s hints sounded more like hints at some monster or another, but there weren’t monsters in Ponyville, the only thing that was an even kinda threat was Blackout and she was never violent, just annoying. Unless…

Suddenly Amber sprang to her hooves and charged off in the direction that Hushpuppy had walked away. How could she have not seen it sooner? There was Tartarus to pay if Blackout did anything to Hushpuppy. Amber prayed that she wouldn’t be too late.

***

Amber continued running at a full gallop until she saw Hushpuppy standing straight and looking at the ground. She smiled as she slowed down and tried to find the right way to ask him about what had happened to his jacket. Suddenly a gray pegasus slammed into Hushpuppy’s side sending him down hard onto the ground! Amber froze and her heart skipped a beat as she watched Blackout hovering in the air and looking down at Hushpuppy with a wicked smirk across her face.

“So you got that jacket of yours repaired after last time, to bad too, because now I have to ruin it all over again,” Blackout said.

“Please, don’t,” Hushpuppy pleaded with his legs over his head.

“Oh don’t tell me that you’re crying already, I need to push you around a little more before you start doing that or else it’s not any fun.”

Amber stomped her way forward, determination set in, and righteous anger filled her soul. Blackout just hovered in the air and said, “Get up, that way I knock you down all over again, or do you just want me to kick you while you’re down.”

Hushpuppy began to rise when with a sudden force Amber Light yelled, “STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!”

Hushpuppy stopped trying to rise and instead he looked up at Amber Light with tear filled eyes, his face looked a little dirty. Blackout just stared at Amber with an evil grin before saying, “Did you tell your giant friend here that I was bulling you? You know that just means I’m going to have to be harder on you now.”

“I didn’t tell her anything,” Hushpuppy cried out.

Amber Light marched over to Blackout but the pegasus flew just out of reach on her approach. Amber growled before saying, “I’m going to tell Rainbow Dash on you. Then what do you think will happen?”

Blackout grinned and said, “So what, you can’t stop me on your own? Is that it? You have to act like a little baby and tell my mom because you can’t even protect your friends, you really are pathetic.”

“That’s it, I’m sick of your crap. We’re doing this right freaking now!” Amber Light said while stomping a hoof for extra emphasis.

Blackout grinned madly and said, “Now that’s more like it, stretch.”

Blackout instantly shot into the air and after getting thirty feet into the air she swung herself around and came flying back down, hoof raised. Amber Light knew that she needed to bring her opponent down quickly, and there was only one effective way to do this. Amber’s horn suddenly began glowing, and with it a slight pain shot through her horn, and suddenly a blast of fire shot out threatening to engulf the flying menace. Blackout dodged to the side and suddenly let out a howl of pain before shooting down into the ground.

Amber Light watched with amusement as Blackout began beating at the flaming tip of her right wing. Just as Blackout managed to put the fire out Amber Light heard the air crackle and pop and suddenly a rainbow colored streak landed next to Blackout. The only two words that came out of Amber’s mouth then were, “Oh,” and, “Crap.”

The sky blue pegasus and her rainbow colored mane stared with a quiet rage at Amber Light before looking softly at her daughter and asking, “Are you okay, honey?”

“Mom,” Blackout sniffled, “She lit me on fire. I don’t know why she would do something like that?”

“Because you were being a bully,” Amber Light called out.

Rainbow Dash stared back at Amber Light and suddenly Amber’s heart froze. Rainbow Dash stood up, and resembling death incarnate she began walking towards Amber Light. “So you decided that you would light her on fire! Just because she was picking on you a little? Do you know what I’m going to do now?”

Amber shook her head speechless and terrified, and Rainbow Dash, even being smaller then her still managed to stick her muzzle into Amber Light’s face and say, “I’m talking to your mom, to your teacher, and to Fluttershy about this. I don’t have to kill you for hurting my baby, they’ll do that for me.” Rainbow Dash swiftly turned and went to Blackout.

“Come on, let’s go home to your siblings,” Rainbow Dash said, and with that the two were gone.

Amber Light stared at them for a moment and her fear was quickly replaced by anger as she realized what Rainbow Dash was going to do. “Oh come on, how is that fair?” Amber looked down at Hushpuppy and helped him stand up before asking him, “What am I supposed to do about that? I was defending you, and now I’m going to get in trouble?”

“I’m sorry,” Hushpuppy apologized quietly. “Thank you for saving me though… but please don’t tell my parents about this.”

Amber looked down at Hushpuppy in silence for a moment, but then she raised a hoof up and wiped away a few of his tears. “I can’t promise that I won’t tell them if they ask, but I’ll try to keep it a secret. I can understand not wanting to worry them.”

He smiled softly at her and then turned away to walk home, and Amber followed him. She didn’t want to leave him alone after an event like that after all. She just knew that no matter what she did, this was going to come back to bite her in the flank somehow. Why did Blackout have to be such a bully, it was one thing to hurt ponies with words, but to hurt them physically like this… this wasn’t fair to anypony.

***

The walk back to Fluttershy’s cottage went by slowly and quietly, Amber Light’s anger had cooled off a lot by now, but she was still worried about Hushpuppy. The orange sky only served to remind her that she still needed to head home herself, her mother’s one rule about getting home was to be home before sunset, and she didn’t want to break this rule… again. Fluttershy’s cottage looked nice, quiet, and peaceful with one problem. Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle were standing outside the front door and giving dirty looks to Amber Light.

“So,” said Twilight, “Is there anything you want to tell me?”

Amber Light opened her mouth but Fluttershy quickly spoke, “Hushy!” Fluttershy flew over at lightning speeds and wrapped her legs around Hushpuppy while saying, “You look terrible. Did Amber do this to you sweetie?”

Amber Light’s jaw dropped, hit the ground, and sunk through the earth only to come out on the other side of the planet. Shock took away any amount of anger that she might have had left as she asked, “What?”

Fluttershy glared at Amber Light and said, “I know what you did. Rainbow Dash told me about how you were bulling Hushy, and then when her daughter tried to stop you, you set her on fire! How could you?” A few angry tears began running down Fluttershy’s cheeks and somehow Amber Light felt guilty, even though she knew that none of what Fluttershy had said was true.

Amber looked away and said, “I was not doing any of that… well I did light Blackout on fire, but that’s because she was-“

“What in Equestria were you thinking?” Twilight nearly shouted. “Do you have any idea of how mad Rainbow Dash was? I thought that I taught you better than that.”

“Blackout was being mean again!” Amber defended.

“Oh and what could she have possibly done to make you attack her with magic?” Twilight inquired.

Amber looked over at Hushpuppy, she saw the hurt look in his eyes and she swallowed hard. “I can’t tell you what she did.”

“Why is that?” Twilight asked.

Fluttershy stepped in saying, “Because she can’t defend her actions. That’s why. And just look at my little baby, he’s covered in dirt and he’s been crying again.”

Twilight just glared at Amber Light for a moment in silence before saying, “You know what, don’t even bother trying to explain, Amber. I’m going to need to think about this… I can’t just have you using the things that I’ve taught you to hurt ponies. I’ll need to think about things for a while, but until I say otherwise you shouldn’t come by the castle, or the library.”

Suddenly Amber’s shock gave way to crushing despair, and she began begging, “No, please, Twilight. I’m sorry, I won’t do it again, I promise.”

“Amber, this is serious, you could’ve injured Blackout. You do realize that right?”

Amber Light closed her eyes felt her heart breaking inside. She quietly said, “I-I-I know, but I was just trying to do good. I promise.”

“I don’t see how any of what you did could be seen as good,” Twilight said flatly.

Amber’s knees became weak and she just wanted to cry, she couldn’t believe that this was actually happening. She just wanted to do good, to help her friends, the last thing she wanted was to lose her teacher like this. Amber looked over at Hushpuppy and saw him whispering something with his eyes shut, although Amber couldn’t hear what he was saying, it looked like he was saying the same thing over and over again. Fluttershy’s eyes grew wide and she looked at Hushpuppy and asked, “Is that true?”

He nodded.

Fluttershy looked at Twilight with a serious expression and said, “Twilight, you need to know what really happened.”

“Well she won’t tell me will she?” Twilight spat back while staring at Amber Light with a penetrating stare.

“Hushpuppy just told me that Blackout has been… Blackout’s been beating him up,” Fluttershy said her voice was shaky.

Twilight looked over at her and asked, “What?” after a moment Twilight added, “I… I can’t believe that Rainbow Dash would just let that kind of behavior pass by unchecked.”

“I don’t think that Rainbow Dash knows,” Fluttershy said.

“See, I told you that I was trying to do good. I’m sorry that I lit her on fire but she came at me and I had to defend myself somehow,” Amber Light defended.

Twilight closed her eyes and thought in silence for a very long moment before finally opening them and saying, “I’m sorry about what I said. But that doesn’t change the fact that you still set her on fire… I’m going to need to teach you some defensive spells that won’t hurt anypony. I guess in a way this is my fault, I’ve spent too much time trying to teach you how to defend yourself against monsters and even greater threats, but I don’t think you need to know how to defeat nightmare spawn as much as you need to know how to neutralize a target safely.”

Amber looked down at her with sad eyes and trying her hardest not to cry she asked, “So, you won’t quit being my teacher?”

Twilight’s eyes shot wide for a moment and then quickly softened. Twilight quickly embraced Amber Light and said, “Of course not, I’m sorry if you thought that was even a possibility. I would never just abandon you, I was only wanting you to learn a lesson, one that as it turns out you didn’t need to. I promise that I will always be you’re teacher so long as you want me to.”

Amber returned the embrace and said, “Thanks. I was really scared there for a minute.”

“Tomorrow we will start you on your new lessons,” Twilight explained softly.

Amber nodded in agreement.

“So,” A new yet oh so familiar mare began saying, “You were just defending one of your cousins. I can hardly blame you for that, you know.”

Amber looked up and saw a soft blue unicorn mare with a long mane of silver and white blue. The mare gave Amber a kind and gentle smile, Amber returned the smile and said, “Mom, what are you doing here?”

“Rainbow Dash went to me first and chewed me out for not raising you right. I nearly shot a lightning bolt at her when she called you a… never mind, that’s not the important part,” Amber’s mom said.

Hushpuppy looked at his mom and asked, “What’s our aunt doing here?”

Fluttershy quietly explained, “Trixie came over here after Rainbow Dash… talked to her. Though now it looks like I’ll need to talk to Rainbow Dash. Oh dear this is going to turn into a giant mess isn’t it?”

Trixie walked over to Amber who was still being hugged by Twilight and wrapped her legs around the both of them and said, “So I’m not going to ground you for this, I actually support your actions. But I think that Twilight needs to teach you how to deal with situations like these.”

“I’m going to,” Twilight said.

“Good, because if you don’t then I’ll have to try my own hooves at it, and I already have a whole group of foals that need my attention,” She explained.

“Yes, we know,” Amber Light replied while trying to break out of her mother’s grip.

“Not so fast,” Trixie said, “Where’s my hug and kiss?”

“Ugh, I’m not doing that in front of everypony,” Amber said.

“Then I’m not letting go.”

“Why am I being held too?” Twilight asked.

“Because you were already here and now it’s too late to escape,” Trixie explained playfully.

A long moment went by before Amber finally kissed her mother on the cheek and said, “There, you happy you giant weirdo.”

Trixie let go of the two of them and smiled before saying, “Yes that makes me very happy, and by the way, I’m not the giant pony here.”

Amber growled and looked away. It wasn’t her fault that she was so tall, she didn’t ask to become a giant pony after all.

***

Everything calmed down after that and everypony began to head back home. Fluttershy was understandably still pissed about her only son being hurt by Blackout. For awhile Amber, Trixie, and Twilight walked home together, the older mares talked about things from when they were young, but eventually Twilight separated and left Amber alone with her mom. They passed by Pinkie Pie who was finally going home after having closed the shop, she looked happy and cheerful until she saw Amber Light and suddenly she looked serious. Trixie told Pinkie to head home and see her wife, and kids, but didn’t explain why. With the way Pinkie Pie charged off, there wasn’t time to explain, despite the pink pony’s age, or thickness, Pinkie Pie was fast.

The rest of the walk was quiet until Amber thought about trying to find a way to cheer up her friend, and one came to her. “Hey, mom,” Amber said.

“Yes, Amber?”

“Do you think I could have a sleep over soon?” Amber Light asked.

“Who do you want to invite?” Trixie asked.

“Just, Sophie, Hushpuppy, and Colors,” Amber Light explained.

Trixie was quiet for a moment while she considered it, her reply wasn’t what Amber had hoped for. “I’ll think about it, that’s a lot of ponies for our tiny house.”

“Please, we can all stay in my room, or the living room. Please,” Amber begged.

Trixie let out a sigh. “I will think about it, okay? I’m probably going to say yes, considering it’s just the two of us right now.”

“Awesome!” Amber Light exclaimed, and suddenly the thoughts about what to do for the sleep over began pouring through her mind.

Comments

[Starfire Skyblaze]

i really like it so far

keep up the good work