The Beat to My Heart (The Fall of Queen Celestia Book 1)

by Sylpheed Dashstep

Act I; Scene I: The Good Times

I ran, gasping for breath as the dust storm raged over the wasteland once known as Equestria. The dust was clogging up my airways and I was just barely fast enough to grab the cloth hanging from the side of my tattered black saddle bags and use it to cover my mouth and nose, clearing the air signifigantly enough for me to breathe without getting deprived of oxygen. I continued to stumble along, finding a cave soon enough and falling into the shelter it provided from the dust storm. I started up a fire using the spare parts from old, run-down buildings in the last city I passed. There was supposedly only one city left standing in the aftermath of the rising of Queen Celestia, but I wasn't heading there, I was heading to the start of it all, Canterlot Castle.

Looking at the scars running up and down my body though, as well as the darkened veins which I knew meant blood poisoning, I doubted that I would reach the castle, but I could try. And that was better than doing nothing. I lay in the back of the cave, the fire to my left side, my belongings on my right as I thought up random things. The year was 2,013. The date, December twenty-third. I was now sixteen years old, and today was the day I would die. I laughed at this thought and my mind slowly began to drift from conciousness as my thoughts began to drift to my life a year ago. The one time I had allowed myself to be happy in almost half a year, and then things went to hell.

I fell asleep with those thoughts in my head, thinking of what could have happened. Thinking of the future I could have had. Thinking of how unfortunate I was. But also thinking of how fortunate I was to meet Spoon on that date that would forever be etched into my mind. December 2nd.

---

I was sitting in Ms. Cherilee's class, waiting impatiently for the recess bell to ring so the other kids would go outside so I could be left alone to work on my music. The kid next to me, Snails I think his name was, began trying to talk to me. I had developed a sort of natural reaction to avoid conversation by this time in my life. I just simply pulled out my notebook and began writing something. It didn't matter what, if they saw me writing, they left me alone, they were just that kind. I did like I always did when a conversation popped up and began writing, not really paying attention to what it was, just me writing things and ideas down.

Snails just kind of turned around and began talking to his best friend Snips again, completely ignoring that I had blown him off. I enjoyed it though. I never really did like conversation. The bell rang and all of the kids jumped out of their seats, eager to get outside, with the Cutie Mark Crusaders leading the pack. I smiled a little as I thought back to all the times they had tried to get me to join their little club, but I politely refused each time. I didn't need a club to find my special talent, I already knew what it was, I just hadn't done anything to prove it yet and earn it.

I leaned over my notebook and began writing musical notes down untill a dark pink hoof landed on my desk, blocking my view. My eyes followed the hoof to the face of it's owner to see Ms. Cherilee there.

"Hi, Ms. Cherilee," I said.

"Alex," she said sternly, "you really need to go outside, it's not healthy for a filly to stay inside all day. Now go." I got up and grabbed my notebook, but she grabbed it from me and said, "No, you go outside and play with the other students."

I sighed and gave up, heading out into the bright day. I looked at all of the bright, smiling faces, and felt so alone. I knew almost nopony out here and it made me feel empty inside. I just pushed the feeling aside and walked over to the tree in the schoolyard, sitting on my flank under cold, dead branches.

"I know how you feel," I said and patted the tree.

"So do you always talk to yourself," a voice to my right asked.

"No, I don't always...," my sentence trailed off as I turned and saw Silver Spoon sitting beside me. "What exactly are you here to torture me about this time," I asked.

She raised her hooved defensively and said, "Hey, hey calm down, don't accuse me of things before I do them Blank Flank."

I raised an eyebrow and asked, "So you're not over here to torture me about not having a Cutie Mark? That's a new one."

She sighed and turned away from me and I barely caught her next statement, "Well if you're going to be like that."

I felt guilt run through my body and it took me a few minutes to respond, "I'm sorry Silver Spoon, so what did you come over here for?"

She looked over at the swings where Diamond Tiara was sitting with a colt and smiling and I quickly picked up what had happened. I sighed and began to tap on the tree, creating a rythm that sounded a little slower than what I was used to making and listening to. I looked over at Spoon to see her giving me a curious look and I quickly stopped tapping the rythm and blushed, folding my hooves over my stomach.

"No, no keep on going, it was actually kind of nice," she said, giving me a tiny smile.

I returned her smile and said, "No, I'd rather not. I haven't performed in front of an audience in almost half a year now and it's nice. As a musician that performes at clubs, I didn't really get a lot of quiet, but out here, in a town almost nopony knows...I've been enjoying the quiet and seclusion."

She put on a smile that I could tell was forced and said, "Well, it must be nice for you to hide. I wish I could have been a big shot star."

Her face softened into a look of sadness and I put a reassuring hoof on her shoulder and said, "Trust me on this, you don't want that. When you're big and famous, you don't have any time to yourself. Your whole life is one big plan moving from one performance to the other."

She hugged me and I froze up, not really expecting this from her. The one who had made fun of me since I moved to this town. The one who had seemed to have hated me the most. And she was hugging me.

I hesitantly returned the hug and I pulled away after a few seconds, revealing to her that I had a few tears falling down my cheeks.

"W-why are you crying," she asked.

"Because," I said, "I haven't actually had an actual conversation with another pony in a few months. And I never realized how alone I felt. I jsut kind of pushed everything away." I realized who I was talking to and I pulled my feelings back again, retreating into my hole pit of unawareness and said, "You probably don't want to hear my sob stories though." After a few seconds I said, "You'd best go find somepony else to talk to rather than me, I'm probably going to make your image look bad."

She snorted and said, "You're pretty clueless you know." I gave her a questioning look and she said, "I only kept up that image for Tiara. She was my only friend, well, the only one who actually cared for me. Everypony else only used me to get closer to her. But she's gone now, taken from me by that colt she's with. So now I'm alone again."

I realized then that she was sort of like me. Alone, afraid, and in need of a friend.

I hugged her and said, "Well I'll be your friend, you don't have to keep up and act or pretend to be anything around me, and I promise, you'll never be alone again."

---

I awoke to the sound of a pack of wolves howling to the night sky Celestia had made. It was nothing compared to what her sister had done, but she tried her hardest to make up for killing Luna.

It had started as another of their little fights, but escalated quickly and Celestias anger had flared, setting off the mental connection she had with her guards and making them rampage thorugh Equestria, killing everypony that moved. That had been the worst day of anyponies life. The day that the world fell silent as the survivors called it. After that, nopony dared to go outside. They didn't want to move, didn't want to work, but eventually lives went on in silence and secrecy, for nopony wanted the guards to find them.

Nopony except me that is. I was determined to take as many of them down as I could. They had destroyed everything I had. My hopes, my chances, my life. Everything dissapeared on that day.

I got up and walked to the entrance of the cave, making sure the dust storm had ended before I walked out of the relative safeness of the cave and into the searing heat of the wasteland. I swayed and saw a figure in the distance. An armored figure. I began to move for the figure, hoping I had enough energy to fight and kill one last enemy before I died.

Because of my broken mind, I never noticed the hole open right in front ofme and my body nor my mind never registered it when I simply fell into the darkness of the pit, landing into the hooves of a stallion I only faintly recognized before I passed out again from exaustion and disease.

---

The guard thorught he had seen something stumbling for him on the horizon so he bent and pulled his sword out of its sheath, turning back to see nothing. Only the dusty horizon of the once great kingdom that had fell. With difficulty yes, but it fell nonetheless.

He slipped the sword back into the sheath and continued his examination of this quadrant, before returning to his general and telling him that nothing had changed on the wasteland. The general saw something in the cadets eyes, but he ignored it and sent an update to the Queen.

Your Royal Queen Celestia,

There has been no change in the wilderness of section 243-5 of the Empire over the past week. We will keep monitoring and tell you if we find any new discoveries.

Your faithful servant,

Genral Fang

He didn't notice his cadet sneak out of the tent as he was writing this. None of the Admirals noticed the cadet move out of the camp and out to the wasteland. Nopony was there to see him take off his helmet, revealing a brown coat as well as an even darker brown mane.

He pulled out an object from the side of his armor and gave a satisfied sigh at the pocket that nopony would ever notice. "Ah perception fields, you gotta love them."

The object in his hooves began to give off a pulsating sound as he pushed a button on the side of it and began to scan it across the wasteland. Something in his pocket began to vibrate and he pulled the object out, flipping it open and putting it to his ear.

"Doctor, I can see the information, there are life forms under the wasteland, a whole city," a voice said.

"You bet there are," he said and cracked a smile.

Author's Note:

And here begins a brand new adventure. I have to say I'm proud this one didn't start out as rocky as Old Wounds did, but it still has some minor errors and I wish I could change some things, but that would mess up the entire plot. So errors will stay.
~Sylpheed Dashstep

Comments

[JetGrey]

You have a great idea here - and I would like to see it shine. However, you really must be willing to rewrite, to change, to grow. Also - most readers don't have an easy or fun time dealing with a first-person narrative - to make that work well requires even more effort on the writer's part to put them in inside the character's head.

Don't give up though. Keep at it, working on a story I see has its sweet moments and a flicker of mystery. Refine it, try to find an editor if you can. I'm rooting for you!

[Sylpheed Dashstep]

2368819 Thanks! This is only my second story, so I'm still working to being more than just a good or (below) average writer.

[Trebass]

Just a word of advice: Double spacing between paragraphs makes it more attractive to the reader. And in making it more attractive, it keeps the reader hooked more.