Thirty Minute Ponies

by Arcainum

Faith

Prompt # 83: The Crusaders go crusading

“And this, children, is the most important statue of all!”

The gaggle of colts and fillies gathered at Red Ink’s hooves all stopped and gazed up in a mixture of fear and awe, a collective “Oooooooooh” filling the clearing in the park.

Red smiled to himself. This was his favourite part of the lesson, and he looked forward to it every year. What he taught, and what it meant for ponies throughout Equestria, filled him with pride.

“This statue is important because it represents that which we hold dearest to our hearts as a nation - friendship and determination. Now, can anyone tell me why it represents these things?”

An excitable hoof pierced the air with uncanny speed.

“Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, I know!”

Red chuckled. Quick Wit, as usual. His parents’ optimistic naming tendencies had proven prophetic as his school life had progressed, to the point where Red was considering moving him up a year. But that was a thought for another time. “Yes, Quick. Go ahead.”

“Um, because they never gave way, and they never gave in!”

“Very good, Quick! Straight from the Charter! The question is, do you know what it means?”

There was a pause. Red allowed himself a momentary glimmer of smugness, then immediately felt bad for relishing victory over a student. “Anyone? Can anypony tell me the meaning behind the Charter?”

Uncomfortable silence, broken only by the shuffling of hooves and the rustling of the gardens around them.

“Well, I suppose that means-”

“Um…”

Red blinked, surprised by the interruption. The voice was unfamiliar, yet…

Ah.

Red peered through the ranks of his class until he caught the flash of purple mane that indicated his most promising student. Hiding, as usual, the poor thing. He couldn’t blame her, due to her unfortunate…Well. Children were cruel, and did not fully understand the concepts taught by the document that so justly ruled their lives.

“Blue? Do you have something to say?”

“Um… I… I think I might, um, know what the Charter means… um… maybe…”

Red’s heart sank, as it did every time he spoke to her. Still Blue was a dear, one of the kindest and most loving fillies he had ever taught, but fate had dealt her the harshest of hands and she was too young, far too young, to deal with it. Triad knew she tried, though.

“Go on, Blue.”

“O-Okay. Um… I think the Charter is less, um, a list of rules and more, um, a way of life. It tells us how they lived and how we should strive to, um, follow their example.”

“Very good, Blue. That’s exactly right. Now-”

“And, um, that way is to always keep searching.”

Red stared. She was still talking. This was unprecedented. In three years, he had been unable to coax more than a sentence or two at a time from Blue and yet here she was, interrupting him.

“They saw how the world was and they realised it was unfair. So they searched and they, um, searched, and in the end they found the truth… That, um, our lives aren’t laid out for us by a name, and that we’re not defined by something vague and “special.” It’s, um, what we do with ourselves, and how we live our lives, that makes us who we are, and that’s… um… that’s…”

Red held up a hoof, nodding for her to stop. He could already feel the tears welling and he didn’t trust himself to listen any further. She was… perfect. She was so in tune with everything that made the Triad what they were that it shook him to his core. He would have to talk to her parents.

“Thank you, Blue, that was-”

“And, um, that, in the end…” Blue took a deep, trembling breath, then finished her proclamation with a final, desperate whisper, “… is the ultimate crusade. The crusade to find ourselves.”

Silence. Red took a slow step forward. The class parted, opening a path between him and the tiny white unicorn filly, her face hidden behind a wall of carefully-groomed mane. As he neared and she turned away in shame at her outburst, he could see the hated mark on her flank, the perfect tri-coloured triangle that symbolised everything Equestria was but took the form of everything it wasn’t. He reached her side, and knelt. She cautiously peeked from behind her mane, fearing retribution.

He looked into her eyes and said, “There is no shame in your curse, Still Blue. None. Whatever the Charter says about you, whatever ponies may say to you… It has made you the best of us. Always remember that.”

Biting his lip, he stood and wordlessly trotted towards the garden’s exit, beckoning limply for the class to follow him. They did so, muttering amongst themselves and casting glances at the shivering Blue. Eventually, she was alone.

She cried, briefly, cried for the life that had been denied to her and the freedom that, since she had first realised her calling, she could never regain. Her blurring vision found itself travelling to the statue and she sniffed, willing the tears to stop. Slowly, she trotted to the statue’s base.

She swallowed and, not sure of why, began to speak. “If… if you’re up there somewhere… I’m sorry. I wasn’t strong enough to find my own path. “ She glanced back at her flank, then back to the figures of legend above her. “But… I’ll get stronger. I’ll start my crusade… even if it’s already over.”

She turned and moved to follow her classmates’ trail, to follow them in their quest for identity and purpose. Behind her loomed the statues.

One unicorn. One pegasus. One earth pony.

Flanks blank and proud.

~~~~~

Notes: I... really don't know what to say about this one. I really like it. There's a story in there somewhere.

Comments

[Psykosis]

Dude, you need to stop making these, because every other chapter makes me wish they were full blown stories and I want to read more of this story right here, but you're not gonna write it and that makes me sad.

[RTStephens]

Huh. I like the idea that the crusaders never gained their cutie marks but inspired others to keep searching for that certain something that made them special. The never-ending crusade.

Neat and thought provoking.

[Ezn]

Feels...

I've been reading backwards and now I see why you wrote more in this universe. It's a fascinating idea.

These are the kinds of short fics I really enjoy -- the ones that show a brief scene in some fascinating universe that your imagination just runs away with after you finish reading.