The Cutters

by Priceless911

The Sinner and the Star

The mother awoke to the sound of flapping wings. When she looked beside her, she saw her young colt flapping his wings as hard as he could to lift himself off the ground. As he did his mother smiled, “Scy? What are you doing?”
Continuing to try, the foal replied, “I'm trying to fly, mama, I wanna be like you so we don’t have to travel on the ground anymore.”
Serenity smiled, “We need to keep a low profile Scy, so even if you could fly, it would still be wise to travel on the ground. Now get your saddlebag on, its time to go.”
As the colt picked up his saddlebag he asked, “So where are we going today mama?”
Serenity replied, “I want to see what’s on the forbidden side of the forest, so we are on our way there.”
The colt smiled as he replied, “Whoo sounds spooky… this is gonna be fun, I just know it!”
Serenity smiled as she replied, “well I wanted to do something different this time since you are turning five this weekend.”

The colt started jumping around in excitement as he replied, “YAY! I want a big party with balloons and tons of presents and a big cake that is three… no, ten times bigger then that tree over there.”
Feeling bad about her sons impossible hopes, Serenity lowered her head, “Scy, please don’t get your hopes up… you know I can’t get that stuff for you.”
Now Scy felt bad for making his mother think about that so he smiled as he sat down infront of her, “Mommy? It’s ok… I know we can’t carry all that stuff in my bag anyway. I'll be happy just being here with you… or maybe we can go into town? I promise I won’t ask for anything, please.”
Serenity giggled at her hopeful colt as she replied, “well alright if you promise to be good and don’t talk to anypony, then we will pass through Manehattan.”
The exited colt cheered with joy as he began skipping merrily down the road, “YAY!!! We’re going into town! We’re going into town! YAY!!!”

Serenity felt both a since of joy and sadness at the same time. She was happy that she could bring such joy to her foal, but she was sad that he was so thrilled just to visit a city. With her reputation, the most they ever saw were small farm towns and travelling merchants. To avoid any danger she had sheltered him from the basic things that most colts his age know. How to treat neighbors, how to make friends, she couldn’t even remember if he had ever met a filly his age before or not. All he knew was what he taught him about surviving in the wild, bartering with merchants, and the little schooling that she gave him from time to time. Yet this little colt was happy with what he had. He never asked for anything that he wanted which also disappointed her, and he always carried on with a smile of content. But what hurt her the most, was when he asked about his father, and she couldn’t even give him an answer. Yet the two were happy, and she knew that one day she would have to give him the things that all colts his age deserved.

With her joy-filled son leading the way, Serenity spoke “Sright Scy, time for your lessons are you ready?”
The colt looked back at his mother and replied with a sharp, quick, and playful, ”Yep.”
Serenity smiled, “Ok first letter, A”
The colt replied, “Apple.”
“Ok, B”
“Ball”
“C?”
“Carrot… and the next one is Dirt.”
Serenity smiled, “Alright Mr. Smarty-Pants, I'll mix them up then. L.”
“Letter.”
“Alright, J.”
“Ummm… Jump!”
“Good, how about K?”
“Castle.”
Serenity shook her head, “Wrong, Castle starts with a C… not a K.”
“The colt turned and started trotting backwards in front of his mother as he replied, “Wah? But K makes the kk sound?”
“Yes but C makes the kk sound too.”
The colt turned and started trotting forward again as he pouted, “Why are letters so confusing?”
Serenity smiled, “You’ll get the hang of it soon, all it takes is practice. Now how about S?”
“S…”
“SINNER!!!!”

Both Serenity and her foal stopped in their tracks as an elderly mare came trotting onto the road from the forest, “You!!! A sinner! I can smell the blood on your hooves mare! You are filled with Sin, and that Sin will one day lead you to your grave!”
Serenity Braced herself for a fight as her young foal ran and hid behind her front hooves, “M...mommy? Who is that?”
The elderly mare gasped, “A… a colt?... a curse? No… a gift? One to bring both destruction, then salvation. One from which this world will never understand, not value until it’s too late, this gift of the sinner.”
Out of confusion, Serenity spoke up, “Listen here miss, my foal and I have done nothing to disturb you, so If you would kindly keep going and mind your own business, then I'll overlook your hatful remarks towards me and my son.”
The elderly mare continued speaking utter nonsense as she stood blocking the road, “The sinner speaks, though the sinner doesn’t know her gift… her reconciliation for her crimes… long after her death. The sinner will never know till she is long gone.”
Scy whispered to his mother, “M-mommy? Her eyes… they’re scaring me.”
Serenity then looked at the unknown mare’s eyes, “You’re blind?”
The elderly mare looked over the travelers’ heads as she trotted past them while she babbled, “The sinner is quick to judge… quick to judge be the sinner with the gift… the gift she must lose, and lose she will. The gift of destruction and salvation.”

As the elderly mare continued down the road aimlessly speaking in complete nonsense, “Scy asked, “Mommy? Who was that? Why was she so scary if she didn’t want to hurt us?”
Serenity replied, as she put her hoof on his head, “Sometimes when a pony gets really old their mind starts to slip away from them. I think that old mare had a rough life and lost what grip on reality she had left. It’s a shame, to think that she must bear that burden for the rest of her life.”
The colt looked up at his mother from between her front hooves, “Will you ever be like that?”
Serenity smiled, “Someday, maybe.”
The colt then replied, “Well if that ever happens to you… then I'll take care of you.”
Serenity smiled, “I may just hold you to that. But for now I say we need to find some food”
Feeling a small bit of concern for their encounter with the blind mare, Serenity couldn’t help but feel that there was some meaning to the mares words. A sinner who smelt of blood, no doubt she was talking about her past, back when she carried the name Scy, and back when The Reaper was what everypony in the world new her as. However, it’s been years since she carried that name, despite the fact that she still wears the cloak and carries the scythe. She hoped that she would leave that name and that life behind.

Later that evening, after finding an apple tree and stocking up on enough apples to last them for a couple of days, the two ponies set up a campsite just outside the boarder to the forbidden zone of the Everfree Forest. Like usual, Serenity found a place to hide her scythe and needles so nopony would recognize her while they slept. However, right as she started tucking them away, she felt a presence around her; quickly pointing her scythe at the closest tree line, she yelled, “SCY!”
As the colt sat trying to start a campfire, he heard his mother’s instruction and reacted the way he was taught by running to her side and hiding behind her. Serenity held her scythe at the ready as she yelled, “I know you’re there! Stop hiding and show yourselves!”
After she yelled, a number of Equestrian Royal Guards emerged from behind the brush as one spoke, “Calm down miss, we aren’t here to hurt you or your foal. It’s safe to lower your weapon.”
Now that she knew who was in charge of the squad of soldiers, Serenity pointed her scythe at the stallion and replied, “I'll be the judge of that. What do you want?”

The soldier calmly stepped towards her and replied, “My apologies miss, I'm only here to warn you. We have recently had numerous reports of random manticore attacks in this area. Have you or your son seen anything suspicious?”
Serenity sighed, “So you decided to be the princesses little exterminators huh… Well I haven’t seen any manticore around here and even if I did, it’s not uncommon for them to attack travelers who enter their territory.”
The soldier replied, “Yea, but it is uncommon for them to travel outside their territory and attack ponies at random.”
Serenity was curious, “are you sure it’s a manticore and not a bandit?”
The soldier replied, “Bandits usually rob the corpse they leave behind, besides we have eye witnesses saying that it was in fact a large manticore, possibly the alpha male of this forest. Have you seen or heard of it?”
Serenity lowered her scythe as she replied, “No I haven’t, now I would suggest you move along. My foal and I have traveled a long way today and we would like some rest.”
The solders nodded his head and replied, “Of course ma’am sorry for the disturbance. Move out! Let’s try to find this thing before dawn!”
Shortly after the Royal Guards vanished into the night, Serenity and Scy decided to lay down and go to sleep.

The next morning seemed like any other, “Scy woke and was drawing pictures in the sand while his mother smiled, “Alright Scy, it’s time to go… we’ve got a lot of ground to cover before we pass through the forbidden zone of the forest and reach Manehattan.”
The colt put his saddlebag on and asked, “Mommy? Why do they call it the forbidden zone?”
As the two started traveling, she replied, “Well a long time ago, the royal sisters, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia lived in a castle that sat out here. Then it was said that a big dragon came to the castle hoping to claim all the jewels in the kingdom. Shortly after, the princesses left the castle and founded Canterlot then made that their new home. As for the dragon, he took all the gems for himself and attacked anypony who came near the castle. Therefore, they made this part of the forest forbidden. However the dragon eventually was defeat by a mysterious hero who gave his life using a special spell that very few knew but since the castle was way out here while Canterlot had grown into a prosperous city, the royal sisters just decided to stay in their new home and leave this one as is. They didn’t even bother renaming the forbidden zone again since it seemed easier to just let the ponies live in safer areas then the Everfree Forest.”

The colt looked at his mother, “Mysterious hero? What was his name?”
Serenity smiled playfully, “Now if I told you that then he wouldn’t be so mysterious now would he?”
Scy smiled, “Well… I could always pretend I didn’t know him… then he would still be mysterious.”
Serenity shook her head, “You think you’re the smartest pony in the world don’t you?”
The colt playfully smiled, “Yep…”
“Well Mr. Smarty-pants, do you know which way to the castle?”
“Nope…”
Serenity smiled, “Well we’re lucky you’re not leading the way then aren’t we?”
The colt smiled, “One day I'll be the mysterious hero then I will be able to lead the way.”
Serenity smiled, “Well then hero, get some apples out of your saddlebag and let’s have breakfast… but remember we have to saves some for tonight too.”
The colt pulled an apple out of the bag and held it in the air in a statue like pose, “Da dad da daaa!!!! Hero Scy! And his hero apple!!! The breakfast of… um… Heroes!”
Serenity leagued at her son’s imagination, it was moments like this, that she admired the most.

Throughout the day, the two ponies stumbled upon many buildings that seemed new, but completely abandoned. They even wondered through The Castle of The Alicorn Sisters that still had banners and furniture from the days when the royal sisters lived there. Nevertheless, as the day grew dim, the two settled down, made a campfire, and sat next to it discussing the places they saw throughout the day. “Mommy? Why do princesses live in houses that big? Aren’t they scared they might get lost?”
Serenity smiled, “Princesses are usually surrounded by guards to help them if they ever get lost.”
“But why do they need guards? Can’t they protect themselves?”
Serenity nodded their heads, “Well, princesses aren’t supposed to protect themselves, they have to protect everypony else, that’s why the guards are with them.”
“Oh so they protect everypony else while the guards pro…”
Scy froze in place and grew quiet, as Serenity saw the scarred look on his face; she started to feel it too. They were being watched, but not by any ponies, but something bigger… Much bigger.

Serenity slowly pulled a needle from her sheath and held it under her cloak so whatever was watching wouldn’t notice. Then she looked at her son and whispered, “Scy… listen to me very carefully. Whatever is watching us is trying to sneak around behind me, so when it jumps out at me, I want you to run away as fast as you can. Do you hear me? As fast as you can and don’t come back until I call for you, ok?”
The scared foal tried to whisper back, “but ma…”
“No buts… this is for your own protection. I can’t protect us both at the same time so I'll let him come after me and I'll take him out on my ow…”
Before Serenity could finish her sentence, a gigantic manticore jumped out of the bushes behind them and tried to grab Serenity. Luckily, she was expecting the attack so she was able to dodge him, but she wasn’t expecting the manticore to be so massive so when she turned to toss the needle into its face, the manticore’s claws caught the tip and knocked it from her hoof as she jumped from his path.

As soon as the manticore landed on the ground, Scy did as he was told and galloped into the forest as his mother stayed to fight. The large beast was about to start chasing his small prey but before he did Serenity charged the monster with her scythe in the air making herself an easy target so the manticore would try to get her instead. With irritation, the manticore turned toward the mare and swung his paw backward hitting the scythe and causing Serenity to lose her balance before the gigantic paw came back and hit her body tossing her through the air and causing her to drop her scythe as she hit a tree nearly fifty feet away. The large manticore started to approach the stunned pony as she sat up and looked around for her scythe, but by the time she found it, she was too late. The large creature was standing over it with no opening for her to grab it. Serenity nervously stared at the large beast as it sneered at her. Serenity tried to reach for another needle but as she did, the manticore put its paw against her pinning her against the tree making it impossible to move. Then just as she felt this was the end, the creature roared in pain as it turned and looked at one of its hind legs. Both Serenity and the Manticore were so focused on each other that they didn’t notice Scy sprinting towards them with her dropped needle and stabbing the beast on his hind leg.

The enraged manticore used his left wing to hit the courageous little colt and knock him through the air hitting a number of tree branches before being stopped by a large tree and falling to the ground. When the foal tried to stand up, he felt an intense pain from his wing. The pain riddled foal griped his wing and started crying as he realized it was broken The large manticore was now focused on one thing and one thing only, getting payback for the needle in his leg. As the manticore turned around and began walking towards the crying colt, he stepped on Serenity’s scythe breaking the shaft and making the weapon useless. Now free and willing to protect her foal, Serenity finished pulling the needle but when she threw it, she was too dazed from the impact so it missed the large creature completely. Now with only one needle left, Serenity pulled it from its sheath and charged at the manticore in an attempt to use it as a dagger. However the large beast new she would make this attempt so he turned around and hit her as hard as he could throwing her into the air and causing her to hit the ground hard enough to stun her to a point to where she couldn’t stand straight. As the terrified colt laid on the ground holding his wing in pain, he started making empty threats, “S-stay back!... I'm w-warning you!... I… I'm not kidding!...”

The large beast approached the young colt as he continued crying in both pain and terror, “S-stop!... G-get away!... If y-you don’t I… You… Um… You will be sorry!... NO! GET AWAY!!! STAY AWAY FROM ME!!! MOMMY!!!”
At that moment, something very strange started to happen. The young colt started to feel a slight tingling feeling in the bottom of his hooves. When he looked down he could see very faint sparks at the points where his hooves met the ground, “W-what?”
Not seeing the sparks the manticore raised his front paws in the air exposing his claws, but before he brought them down on his prey, a small cloud appeared over the colt head, right between his claws and Scy. The manticore stared confusingly at the cloud as the colt did the same, “What? W-what’s that?”
All of a sudden small strings of lightning started to emerge from the cloud as its size began to grow bigger and bigger. As the cloud increased in size, the tingling feeling in the colt’s hooves had stretched from there all over his body as the small sparks on his hooves became long arcs from his ankles. Now it seemed that the electricity from his hooves and the rest of his body began arcing from the top of his mane and into the cloud over his head, which was now almost three times his size.

Serenity stood up and watched the spectacle from a distance, she had no idea what was happening, but the first thought in her mind was that her son was in danger. Stumbling and swaying to her hooves, she stood up and tried making her way toward the terrified foal as fast as she could, falling down numerous times in her dazed state. Now the cloud was five times the foals size as he tried to understand, “What’s happening to me!?! WHY IS THIS!?! MOMMY!!!”
With that last shriek, the cloud above his head sent out an electrical shockwave that scattered out in all directions in a sphere shaped orb. The bright light was so intense that the small foal vanished in the intensity of the light. All Serenity could see of the sight was the manticore’s body disintegrate and turn to ash in the intensity of the shockwave as the tree’s and earth caught in the orb did the same. Serenity tried all she could to charge into the sphere to save her son, but the intensity of the shockwave tossed her away from the sphere and too far to do anything about it. The only thing she could do when she hit the ground was cover her eyes, and hope for the best.

Though it was only about a minute, it seemed like an hour before the large glowing orb finally started to shrink and vanish into the cloud from which it came. When Serenity uncovered her eyes, everything that was caught inside the large glowing orb, was turned to ash. The trees, the ground, even the manticore was destroyed by the large glowing sphere, leaving behind nothing, not even a bone or feather. Still dizzy, Serenity tried to make her way to the massive crater that was left behind by the bright orb. When she got there she was amazed to see her son lying in the center, but when she tried to get close to the crater, a large string of electricity jumped out of the charged soil and hit her, pushing her back from the edges of the crater. Serenity looked closely at her son, he seemed fine other than the broken wing. He had no scorched or damaged feathers, his saddlebag was nowhere to be seen, destroyed by the light but with no harm to his body where it was on him. He seemed to be breathing fine, but not being able to get close enough to him made this a very unbearable for the worried mother. “Scy!... SCY!... SCY!!! WAKE UP!!!”
The foal didn’t respond. With the electricity stored in the soil, long arcs of lightning were jumping all over the ground, but they didn’t seem to faze him at all, then she noticed the reason why. As she carefully examined her son from a distance, she could see his cutie mark appear on his flank, it was a black star with lighting stretching from a cloud in the center to each point. She knew then and there that this wasn’t caused by an unknown phenomenon, he did it himself. Her young foal just discovered a power that was his special talent.

Just then, she started hearing flapping in the distance, knowing that it could be another manticore approaching the blinding light; Scy stumbled into the nearest shadow and concealed herself as she did years prior. As she hid herself, Serenity watched as a royal carriage landed just outside the crater. As soon as the carriage landed on the ground, Princess Luna the princess of the night stepped off it and started investigating the site. As she looked around, one of the soldiers following the carriage called to her, “Your majesty! There is something in the center of this crater! It’s a foal!”
Trying to rush to the foal side, the soldier was tossed to the ground after a bolt of lightning jumped from inside the crater and hit him in his chest. As soon as Princess Luna saw this, she called to the rest of her soldiers, “Do not approach the crater! Stay back!”
Princess Luna slowly made her way towards the crater’s edge until she got close enough to be shocked by an arc of electricity. After taking a step back, Princess Luna used her magic to pick up the foal and carry him from the center of the crater to its edge. The whole time the foal was being carried; arcs of electricity jumped from the crater and made contact with the young foal’s body; however, the foal was still not moving at all. It was as if the electricity wasn’t even fazing him.

After laying the unconscious foal on the ground, Princess Luna reached up to feel his pulse, but as she did another arc of electricity jumped from the foal’s body and shocked her. Seeing this made it entirely clear, this foal was the cause of the destruction here. The flash and the massive electrical charge were created at will by this unconscious colt, and it was this reason that he had his cutie mark too. Princess Luna could see that the foal was still breathing so she used her magic to place the foal onto the carriage as one of her solders spoke, “Your majesty? Is it wise to take him with us? We don’t know who he is or how he got out here in the first place.”
Princess Luna pointed at the colt’s double-jointed wing and replied, “Whoever he is, he needs medical attention. I won’t allow a foal with such a gift be overlooked when he’s in need. I'm going to take him to a hospital in Canterlot. Place a guard here and send others to search the area for any witnesses or his parents. If you find them bring them to me I want to speak with them.”
The soldier nodded his head as he replied, “Yes your majesty, you heard her stallions! Search the area and find this colt’s parents! Do not harm them just escort them to their son if you find them!”

As the carriage carrying her son flew away into the night, Serenity felt too weak to chase after it, so she managed to keep herself hidden as she recovered what’s left of her weapons and traveled to Canterlot on hoof. By the time she arrived, the sun had just risen and all the ponies were speaking of rumors of last night’s flash, “Did ya hear, the flash in the forest was caused by some unknown pony.”
“I heard it was a foal, a little filly with no name.”
“No it was a colt, and the reason he has no name is because he hasn’t woken up yet.”
“But what was the light? And how could a colt create something like that?
“Maybe it was a spell.”
“Impossible, the colt is a pegasus, not a unicorn.”
“Then what was it?”
“The princess said it was something called a Lightning orb.”
“The lighting orb? But I thought all who attempted such a feat met their own end?”
“Somehow this colt did it… and survived.”
“Must be either a strong colt, or one lucky soul.”

As the rumors seemed to fly all over the place, Not one pony knew where he was being kept or who he was. Therefore, Serenity started searching for information wherever she could until after three days of searching she found out the colt had been released from the hospital and is in the care of Commander Chrome Mist, High commander of the Equestrian Royal Guards. Serenity now knew what she wanted to do next, later that day she tracked down the manor that Commander Mist lived in and knocked on the door. As the door opened, an elderly butler opened it, “Yes… may I help you madam?”
Serenity asked, “Is this the establishment where I can find a Commander Mist?”
The butler nodded his head, “Yes I believe so… however Lord Mist isn’t in at the moment, he and young Master Bolt are out.”
“Master Bolt?”
The butler nodded, “Yes… young Master Star Bolt came to us just yesterday. The poor foal has no memory of his life before an accident that befell him in the Everfree Forest. So Lord Mist was asked to take him in and raise him until his parents are located.”
Serenity sighed, “I see… well thank you sir, I'm sorry for taking tour time.”
“Not at all madam, would you like to leave a message for Lord Mist?”
Serenity shook her head, “no… I think I'll try again later thank you.”
The butler bowed respectfully as he replied, “As you wish madam, have a nice day.”

Serenity knew that if she was going to get her son back, she needed to do it quietly, with news of the colt’s life spreading like wildfire; she didn’t want to attract attention to herself. Just because he knew a special technique doesn’t change the fact that he is the son of the infamous Reaper, whether he remembers it or not. That night, long after the sun went down, Serenity returned to the manor only this time she didn’t knock on the door. Using the shadows to conceal herself she managed to sneak over the property wall and to the second floor balcony. As she looked inside the large bedroom, she could see her son lying in the bed. Continuing to keep herself quiet, she opened the doors and slipped inside undetected. Then Serenity approached the bed with the intent on waking her son up. However, as she approached him she paused and looked around the room. He had only been there for a few days and already the commander had setup a bedroom for him, complete with a few toys and schoolbooks.

Seeing the setup that the young foal had in the room made her think to herself, “He doesn’t remember me… he… wouldn’t know me even if I told him who he was and who I am. Here… he has a good home. Here he can grow up safe, just like all the other colts his age. Maybe… its better this way. A colt needs a home, somepony who will take care of him, and a chance to have a future doing good for others around him. He has all those things here, and if Commander Mist is as noble as I’ve heard, then he will raise Scy well… I mean… Star Bolt.”
The mare looked at her son and put her hoof on his cheek as she kissed his forehead, tears started to roll down her face, “Good bye my little hero… I hope we will get to meet again one day. Till then, I can only watch you from a distance. I… I love you… and… and I'll always watch over you… my… my little Star.”
With tears rolling down her face, Serenity could only turn around and trot onto the balcony. As she closed the door, Star Bolt opened his eyes and stretched, but when he did, he could see the silhouette of his mother on the balcony. Looking at the figure in confusion the colt asked himself, “Who? Who is that?”
Then as he watched her, Serenity dove off the balcony and out of his sight. Thinking he was just dreaming, the colt turned over and went back to sleep.

Later that night Serenity flew away from Canterlot and to the highest point on Cloudsdale. As she sat there looking over Equestria, she started to think about her life. She thought about when she traveled with the nomads. Then the tragedy that kill them all involving her first love. She thought about her first mission, and how it wasn’t long before she met Traipse on the battlefield. She thought about Blade and her crazy stunt with the catapult, then all the fuss over that book that Traipse destroyed. She started to think about their journey to Eden and the monster that awaited them there. She thought about the love she felt for Traipse after realizing that she had fallen for him. Then she thought about the decision she made to leave her team behind to keep her foal safe. Thinking about these memories and her recent action she started to mumble to herself, “I lived a good life… right? I made some reliable friends, helped a few leaders, saved a few lives… but in the end, I always leave what I cherish the most… is this my curse for cheating death as a foal? Is this a curse for the lives I’ve taken? Or… is this a test?”
Serenity sighed as she reached into her saddlebag and pulled out her broken Scythe. As she observed the blade, she ran her hoof along the red lightning bolt that was engraved and painted into the weapon. “This is and will always be the symbol of The Reaper. And… I will never be at peace so long that I have it. I should just send it to Tri… I have no use for it anymore. I have nopony to protect, I’ve given up on everything, and everypony else thus far… I suppose there is just one more thing to give up now.”

Comments

[GodOFInsaNity666]

dude that link with your other story made me damn near cry . . . for scy

[Priceless911]

3042400
yep i wish i could find an artist to make an image that has all of Star Bolt's major accomplishments (the royal gaurd exam, promotion to commander, the cloudsdale battle, the battle of canterlot, est.) with Scy in the background watching over him like a good mother would. (w/o him knowing of course) it would be an image that just thinking about brings a tear to my eye.
there is one more ch left for this one but i won't start on it till i finish the king's war since it will kinda spoil a surprise for the end of that one.

[Priceless911]

3169583
thx ^^ sadly dark and dramatic are my best ideas lol.
Since little is mentioned about the time befor NNM I felt that this was a sort of "Dark Ages" for Equestria, and something very common in the dark ages was war, and injustice. so I decided to show examples of what tragedy, pain and injustice can bring to a world in conflict, Thus the cutters were born.
im glade you like my writing and I hope you enjoy this story even though its not finished just yet.