Kickstart My Heart

by dragonpony111

Chapter 0: A Mother’s Dilemma

Running… running is all that she had been doing for what seemed like an eternity, not unusual when you’re in the Everfree Forest, a dark place that can mess with the minds of even the bravest ponies. The mother was just doing what she was told. She had not wanted to venture into this mysterious forest in the first place, but had to in hopes of finding her lost filly that wandered in. The mother and her husband had followed their daughter into the forest, the low hanging fog making it impossible to see more than a few feet ahead. Though eventually, they found her, by following the hoof marks on the trees and the sounds of wooden thuds; their filly couldn’t talk yet, but loved to kick any and everything she could, and would use this to communicate to her parents something had her upset.

The filly was found walking back and forth between two trees with the most frightened look in her eyes, kicking a tree each time she turned around. Her mother ran over to her and said:

“There there Kickstart, mommy and daddy are here, now let’s go home, back to our nice warm beds.”

The mother kneels down to let the shivering filly climb into her saddlebag, but as she stands up she and her husband hear the growls of timberwolves. Both of them try not to make a move or sound, hoping the wolves didn’t notice them and would pass on by. Though luck was not on their side, as the growls became louder both ponies could see their glowing green eyes staring at them from the darkness, noticing five pairs of eyes in total. They were surrounded on all sides except for one, but that only lead deeper into the Everfree Forest. The husband then whispers to his wife:

“Just take our daughter and go, run as far away as fast as you can, I’ll distract them and lead them off, you just focus on getting our filly home safe...”

Before he can even finish his sentence, one of the timberwolves lets out a loud roar and charges at him; he turns around and lands a powerful kick with his hind legs right on the wolf’s forehead, causing it to crumble apart. The mother takes her one opportunity and bolts off deeper into the forest. She just keeps running and running, but as she looks back she notices that two of the wolves had followed her, and were chasing her relentlessly. This only drives her harder to keep running. To try and lose them she starts bobbing and weaving through the trees, this causes one of the pursuing wolves to smack right into one and burst into pieces. Due to exhaustion and the weight of her filly slowing her down, the other wolf gradually closes the distance between them, eventually leaping at the galloping mother, and with his powerful mouth he latches on to her left hind leg, sinking his teeth in deeply. The pony lets out a painful yell, and then uses her other hind leg to kick the timberwolf several times in the head, eventually knocking him unconscious, allowing the wounded pony to free herself.

It had already started raining but the frightened mare hadn’t noticed, she just kept limping on as fast as she could. After some time the fog started to lift and the mother could make out a clearing in the forest which contained a large house. The pony looked back at her hind leg, which was bleeding profusely and nearly impossible to walk on. Now she knew she couldn’t keep this up much longer, and had to make a choice; either leave her filly behind at the home or attempt to keep on and find her husband. As dreadful of a thought it was, she went with the realistic choice and decided to abandon her filly at the house, hoping who ever owned it would take her in and care for her. By now the weather had really kicked up and the rain was pouring down hard, making it harder to see the house off in the distance. The mother limped on over to the front porch of the house, struggling to fight the cold stinging rain. When she makes it to the porch she notices a pile of cardboard boxes and found one that wasn’t too wet from the rain, she then drags it over to the door.

She then dumps her filly out of her saddle bag and into the box; her filly looks back up at her frightened and confused, not knowing what was about to happen. The mother then pulls out a quill and parchment, which were both damp but dry enough to write with, and she scribbles out a message. She folds up the parchment and places it in the box. She then turns to her daughter and places her right hoof on her forehead; then with tears in her eyes she tells her:

“Goodbye my dear Kickstart, I just want you to know your mom and dad love so very much and always will. I have to leave you now, but as much as I don’t want to it is the only way. Please be good to whoever takes you in. I’ll try and come back for you if I can but it’s not something I can promise.”

The mother then approaches the door, and as weak as she is she manages to give it two strong kicks with her good hind leg. Then she walks back over to the box, gives her filly one last goodbye kiss, and uses the last of her energy to limp out into the rain and back into the forest. She looks back as she can hear her daughter frantically neighing, and sees her feeble attempts at trying to kick her way out of the box. This only saddens the mother’s heart even more, forcing her to look away, and eventually the cries of her filly fade away until they can no longer be heard. She limps for as long as she can back into the Everfree Forest, and after a few minutes she collapses and passes out from the loss of blood and exhaustion.

Author's Note:

Feedback please!!!

Comments

[Fire Angel]

So far so good. I didn't see anything that needed to be fixed. Im looking forward to you finishing it.

[LeviTheBossGuy]

You man....*claps*