Four ponies are born with cutie marks and special powers that even Celestia doesn't know what to make of. So they are taken to the orphanage until more is decided.
Four ponies are born with their cutie marks, one being an alicorn. They are taken to Celestia's orphanage until more is found out.
Sorry for short description, but I don't want to spoil anything. Hope you enjoy!
I remember the night the first male alicorn was born in over a thousand years. It was a dark night, Luna’s stars shown bright in the sky. Crickets chirped as the silence of night was broken by the screams of a pained birth. A young couple, a male unicorn with the cutie mark of a key named Lock Smith, and a white pegasus with the cutie mark of a wave named Rip Tide, were huddled in there small cottage. Rip Tide cried out as another contraction gripped her. Lock Smith pressed a cool cloth to her forehead and tried to help relax his wife. She screamed again as the midwife spoke, giving Rip Tide instruction. Finally, you could hear the sounds of a young foal entered the world.
The midwife gasped and backed up, away from the foal. She had a look of shock on her face as she stared at the foal now on the bed. She took in all the details. The wings of a pegasus, the body of an earth pony, the horn of the unicorn, the pure white coat, the golden yellow mane, and finally, the cutie mark that adorned his flank. The foal slowly opened his eyes and looked upon the midwife. His eyes were completely white, luminescent like stars. The foal stared at the midwife as his eyes slowly turned to a pair of normal blue eyes, the same color as the midwife’s. He yawned and laid his head to sleep.
Finally, the midwife noticed Rip Tide’s panicked voice. “Earthed Joy, what is it? What’s wrong with my foal? Earthed Joy, WHAT’S WRONG?!”
The panicked mare seemed to regain her calm as Lock Smith came around to see the foal. He gasped at the foal and whispered softly in awe. “Sweet Celestia…”
Rip Tide started to cry softly, her tears sliding down her snout. She said between her sobs, “Please.. Lock Smith.. WHAT’S WRONG WITH OUR FOAL?!”
Lock Smith broke his gaze from their foal and smiled at his wife. “He’s fine, sweetie. But he’s.. special.”
“What do you mean?” Rip Tide asked, confused, her snout still wet from tears. “What’s wrong with him?”
“He is an alicorn.” Earthed Joy said, slowly walking back to Rip Tide and the filly. “And he has his cutie mark.”
Rip Tide’s eyes widened with shock. “W-what does that mean..? What will happen to him?”
“I’m sorry, Rip Tide,” Earthed Joy said softly, “ but your foal will no longer be yours. Princess Celestia will want him. He is the only known male of the alicorn race. And he also has his cutie mark. She will want him to stay with her. There is a chance that he will grow up never knowing you two to be his true parents. I’m sorry..”
Rip Tide’s body shook as she sobbed. Finally, she locked eyes with her husband, and said softly, with determination in her voice, “Princess Celestia will not take him. I will not allow our Conquest to be taken.”
“Conquest?” Lock Smith asked, raising his eyebrow.
Rip Tide nodded. “He will be known as Conquest for he is destined for great things. Him having a cutie mark proves that. And he is the last male of the alicorn race. He is destined for greatness.”
Rip Tide paused, letting this sink in to her husband. Lock Smith nodded and Rip Tide asked, more softly, “What is his cutie mark?” “A bow with a nocked arrow, my dear.” Lock Smith replied.
They shared a small moment before they heard shouting outside their home. Bewildered and afraid they looked around. They noticed that Earthed Joy was no longer in their small bedroom. They listened longer and were able to make out the voice that was shouting. It was Earthed Joy. She was shouting, “Come and see!”
Lock Smith looked to Rip Tide with fear on his face. He didn’t want to lose their foal. Rip Tide nodded. She shared the feeling. She sighed and tried to sit up but was too exhausted. Lock Smith nuzzled her and whispered, “You need your rest Rip Tide. We can leave once you have regained some strength.”
“I’m afraid you can’t do that just yet.”
Alarmed, Rip Tide and Lock Smith looked to the voice. Celestia was standing in the doorway of their room. There was also another pony accompanying her. The mare was assisting a young filly. Locksmith bowed but Rip Tide stared at Celestia, defiance in her eyes. Rip Tide growled at Celestia and said through gritted teeth, “Don’t you dare touch my foal.”
Celestia sighed. “I’m sorry Rip Tide, but you leave me no other choice. This is for the benefit of the alicorn race.”
Her horn lit up and Lock Smith and Rip Tide stopped moving. The mare next to Celestia brought the young filly towards Rip Tide and lifted the filly onto the bed. Then she took the sleeping foal and returned to Celestia’s side.
“Neither of you will remember the alicorn that you birthed. Instead you will see this young filly as your own. You will forget I was here and remember a perfect birth for this filly.” Celestia said, allowing the mind magic to finish molding the two ponies brains.
“Please…. Don’t take our Conquest…” Rip Tide whispered as the mind magic finished reprogramming her brain.
Celestia nodded and smiled softly. “He will keep his birth name, but you will not remember it.” Turning to the mare next to her, she said, “Come, let us go Marigold.”
With that they left, wiping the minds of any pony that saw them or heard of the birth of an alicorn. They flew through the sky for a while, the night protecting them from being seen as they made their way back to Canterlot.
When Canterlot came into sight, Marigold spoke softly, “Princess, do you think this was wise? I mean, we could have let them keep the foal until he was grown, couldn’t we?”
Celestia shook her head. “No Marigold, we couldn’t. An alicorn needs to be taken care of differently. Also, he was born with a cutie mark. We need to find out why. It would be easier to do that if he was in our care. I regret taking him from his parents, but I had to do what must be done.”
Marigold nodded and stayed silent as they flew into Canterlot. She branched away from Celestia and flew to the orphanage to drop off the foal. She made her way into the quiet building, being careful not to wake the other fillies and foals. Marigold laid Conquest in an empty bed and smiled at him as she tucked him in. She whispered softly, “Sleep well, Conquest. I have a feeling that your life here will be hard. Enjoy the serenity of Princess Luna’s night and dream well.”
With that she leaned down and gently kissed the foal in his head, avoiding his horn. Marigold sighed softly. As an orphan herself, she hated having to help Celestia take Conquest away. Marigold started for the dorr. Turning back and casting a sad glance at the sleeping foal, she muttered, "I'm sorry Conquest.."
Conquest stirred to the sounds of scuffling and growls. He rose and looked to the source of the noise. In the doorway was two pegasus struggling with a dark red earth pony. She had a black mane and red eyes. She also had a cutie mark of a sword. She growled angrily at the two pegasus and pushed again, knocking one down. Conquest glanced around, quickly noticing the fillies and foals around him, most were still asleep. He turned his attention to the scene as the pegasus were able to push the red filly into the building and shut the door. The filly glared at it and hmfphed.
Conquest slid out of his bed and started for the filly. She turned and noticed him moving towards her. She started walking towards him and he stopped.
As she moved towards him, Conquest said, “Hello, I am Conquest. What’s your name?”
She pushed past him and hopped onto his bed, ignoring him. Conquest turned and smirked. His horn lit up as a pale aura surrounded the red filly. He frowned as she shrugged it off, his magic failing to move her.
She glared angrily at him and growled menacingly, “Quit that, you magic-using little bitch before I rip your fucking horn off.”
Conquest raised an eyebrow and glanced around to the sleeping forms of the other orphans. Some of them stirred when she had spoken. Concentrating, Conquest placed a bubble around him and the filly so to not to wake the others. Turning to the earth filly he spoke again, more firmly, and said, “My name is Conquest. What is your name?”
She glared him and spoke softly, “I don’t have one.”
Conquest nodded. It probably happened a lot, an orphan brought in without a name. “You and me are special I think.” Conquest started, “We are about the same age and yet we are marked, whereas the other fillies and foals around us that are our age have no such mark. They also blubber in their sleep like babies, and perhaps they are, and yet we can speak to each other. You seem to even be able to put up a fight already.” She humpfhed but Conquest continued. “And I am able to use magic. Now I don’t know if that is normal for our ages but from what I can deduce it isn’t. “ Conquest paused then said softly, “I also remember my birth.”
The filly nodded to him and murmured, “I can too.”
Somewhere in Stalliongrad, the previous night..
“Shut the fuck up you stupid bitch!” A large stallion shouted at his crying wife, her coat dark with sweat. She whimpered again as another contraction gripped her. The stallion’s hoof collided with the mare’s eye as he screamed at her again. She silenced, her tears streaming down her snout, her left eye swollen shut. The stallion’s name was Iron Hoof. He was a dark grey earth pony with a black mane and red eyes. His cheeks were reddened from the alcohol in his system. He worked the metal for railroads, got paid, spent the money on booze, went home and beat and raped his wife almost daily. The pregnant mare, on the verge of giving birth, was named Unlucky Lucy. She had fallen in love with Iron Hoof when they were younger. She was a light green unicorn with a pale blue mane. Iron Hoof threw his empty bottle at the wall and turned to get another bottle from the kitchen. As soon as he left the room, Unlucky Lucy concentrated on making a barrier. She had to give birth to her filly, no matter what. For years Lucy had lost her fillies to her abusive husband, and so she promised herself this one would be born, no matter what. Hopefully, the filly would help Iron Hoof quit drinking and his abusive behavior. Iron Hoof appeared in the doorway, but was stopped by a light green barrier. He screamed at his wife as she prepared herself for birthing. She screamed as she pushed, feeling the filly leaving her body and entering this world.
Iron Hoof screamed again as he slammed his front hoof repeatedly against the barrier, his drunken rage giving him adrenaline and energy. “Quit that you magic-using little bitch before I rip your fucking horn off.”
Lucy screamed as she finished birthing her filly. Weakened from the birth, her spell finally failed. Iron Hoof moved into the room, rage apparent on his face.
Lucy pleaded with her husband softly, “Please baby.. don’t do this. Think of our filly.”
Iron Hoof glanced at the filly. Her head was turned towards him, her eyes open and staring at him. They were glowing white and slowly they changed to his red eyes. She glared at him. He scowled as he noticed that her coat was a dark red, almost like blood.
He turned to his wife and growled, “You fucking bitch. You birthed a freak! And its coat is red! That isn’t my fucking filly you stupid little whorse.” He moved towards his pleading, sobbing wife. He then proceeded to hit her, each punch striking her, until she stopped crying, stopped moving. He stepped back, breathing heavily as he stared in horror at the broken body of his wife.
“I didn’t mean to… Lucy get up!” He nudged her limp leg. He whimpered softly.
He looked around, seeing if anypony saw anything. The filly moved below him, drawing his attention. He looked down and met a glare of hatred. Iron Hoofs felt anger returning. Who was she to judge him? She was new to this world and already he hated her.
“What are you looking at you freak?!” Iron Hoofs screamed at the filly.
He raised a hoof, preparing to strike the filly, but the filly attacked him, striking him in the throat with her front hooves. He gasped and reeled back choking, his windpipe collapsed by the filly. He collapsed and tried to move away from the filly.
Iron Hoof stared at the now advancing filly in horror, and gurgled out, “What… are… you?”
That’s when Iron Hoof noticed the cutie mark on the fillies flank. It was a gleaming sword that looked like it had been made for intimidation, for it had a large blade and spikes cropping out from the blade. Iron Hoof turned back to the filly now in front of him and glared at her. Finally, he wheezed out a laugh and coughed.
“Figures you would be some kind of warpony…” Iron Hoof’s words were interrupted abruptly as the filly brought both of her front hooves down on her father’s skull. The sickening crack rang out. The filly turned and moved to the body of her mother and laid down next to her. The room was quiet except for the breathing of a small newborn filly.
That morning, a knock sounded on the front door of the small cottage, and a soft voice was heard, “Lucy, it’s me!” There was a pause followed by another knock. “Lucy? I’m coming in, okay?”
The door opened and sunlight poured in. A yellow mare moved in and wrinkled her nose, the smell of blood having become putrid overnight.
“Lucy?” the mare whispered. She moved to towards the back bedroom, where the smell became stronger. She pushed open the door and gasped, her eyes widening as she stared upon the horror of the previous night. She stepped back and nearly vomited as she realized she was stepping in the blood of Iron Hoof. She turned and bolted outside. She vomited once she made it out of the house. Looking around and wiping her mouth, she noticed two guard pegasus moving down the street, merrily talking to each other. The mare galloped towards them and screamed.
They turned their attention to the frantic mare and she screamed again, “Come and see! It’s horrible!”
They followed quickly as the yellow mare turned and rushed to the small cottage she had just been in. A couple of ponies wandered over, their attention grabbed by the screaming mare, and watched as she stopped in front of the cottage.
The yellow mare nodded shakily to the guards and nodded towards the open door. “In there..” She whispered, fear in her voice.
The guards exchanged looks and slowly entered the cottage. The putrid smell of blood and death pricked their noses and they exchanged another look and started moving slowly through the house. They approached the bedroom where the bodies of Iron Hoof and Unlucky Lucy was, the smell becoming stronger, causing the two pegasus to wrinkle their nose. The door was half closed, concealing the hideous scene. One of the pegasus pushed open the door and they stared in horror at what lay on the other side. They slowly made their way into the room, avoiding the bodies and blood, looking for some clue to tell them what had happened.
“Do you hear that?” the first guard whispered, looking for the source of the sound.
Both of the guards paused. They could hear it now. It was a soft whimpering. They followed the sound and gasped as they saw the filly lying pressed against her mother.
“Sweet Celestia..” The other guard said. He made his way over to the filly. Looking back to the other guard, he asked softly, “What should we do with her?”
“We need to take her to orphanage.” The guard said softly, stepping over Iron Hoof’s body. He gently lifted the small filly, only to drop her, surprised as she kicked him in the face. She backed herself up, pressing against the lifeless body of her mother and growling at the guards.
Later, at the orphanage..
“… and I was taken here.” The blood red filly finished. Conquest nodded, sympathetic. The filly had described her whole life to Conquest, starting with the first words she heard out of the womb. Conquest looked around, noticing other fillies and foals starting to move around, waking. He quickly dispelled the bubble and moved to whisper into the filly’s ear.
”I think you do have a name.” Conquest whispered. The filly turned and looked at him, confused. Conquest continued, “Your father called you a warpony. I think War might just be a suitable name.”
Conquest moved past her and started to make his bed as the filly smiled.
”Yeah.. I think I like the sounds of that.” War said, a smirk forming.
Conquest glanced up from the simple toy and looked at War, sighing. He walked over to her and took the block from her. She was having problems with a simple shape matching toy.
“Like this.” Conquest stated as he slid the triangle into the appropriate hole. He took the square block from the ground and held it to her. “You try.”
She glared at him and snatched the block from him. She placed the block against the circular hole and pushed. She growled as she tried again with no success. Conquest reached for the block so that he could help her before her temper got the best of her... again. She screamed again and thrust the wooden block through the toy. Conquest sighed and pulled his hoof away. He looked at the destroyed toys littered around them and sighed. After finding out how violent War was, most of the orphans had left to play somewhere else, somewhere preferably safer it seemed.
“I give up! What the buck is the point of this game?! This is bucking stupid!” War exclaimed, throwing the broken toy to the floor with the others. Conquest sighed. He had been trying to get her to excel at a game that didn’t end with a destroyed toy.
“Come on, let’s go outside.” Conquest said, standing. He started for the door, not bothering to wait for War. “Maybe there is something we can do outside.” He said, turning his neck as he spoke to the angry filly. She had abandoned the piles of discarded or broken toys. He turned back and they pushed open the door of the orphanage, sunlight bathing the field where other orphans were playing. Conquest watched as an older colt slammed into another one, knocking the ball away from him. He glanced at War, who seemed to be enthralled by the game. She watched with awe as the colts fought for control over the ball.
“That seems like fun... I wonder what they’re playing...” War said softly.
“It’s called hoofball if I’m correct,” said a voice from behind them. Conquest twisted his neck to look at the speaker. He was a sickly color pegasus. His coat was a greenish hue, and he had a dull yellow mane. Bags were visible under his dull grey eyes and you could see his ribs. Conquest noticed that he was about their age, and had a cutie mark of scales.
War started walking to the mare overseeing the game and called back, “I’m going to go play. I’ll be back.”
The sickly pegasus moved to stand beside Conquest as they watched War argue with the mare about joining. Finally the mare called a stop for the game.
“This young filly would like to play. Please be careful with her.” The mare said loudly to the two groups of colts as they shuffled over to see the mare.
War chuckled and said with a evil little twinkle in her eye, “Oh don’t worry about me. I’ma play just as rough.”
She smiled and joined the group to the left. They fanned out and the game started again. Conquest and the pegasus watched the game, Conquest smiling as War launched herself at the colt with the ball, knocking him of his hoofs. He glanced at the pegasus besides him.
“So how long have you been here?” Conquest asked, tearing the pegasus’s gaze from the game.
”I just got here today actually. Is this a common game here?” He said, looking back to the game of hoofball.
Conquest watched the game with little interest. “Your guess is as good as mine. This is my first day here as well. My name is Conquest by the way.”
The pegasus nodded and remained silent. The silence stretched between them as the two watched the game until the pegasus blurted out, “I don’t have a name.”
Conquest nodded. It wasn’t uncommon for an orphan to not have a name. “War didn’t have a name either. I helped her with hers.” The pegasus pawed the ground and softly said, “Can you help me with mine…?
Conquest glanced back to the game as War knocked two colts over at once; making it seem like a domino effect, then looked back to the pegasus. “Do you remember anything from when you were born?”
The pegasus nodded and took a deep breath and started, “If I remember correctly, I was born in Manehattan…”
Somewhere on the streets of Manehattan..
“That’s right baby. Push.” Enduring Winds whispered softly to the mare he loved. She grunted as she felt another set of contractions grip her. He nuzzled against her, trying to calm her as she pushed. They were behind a dumpster in a dark alley. Their home wasn’t far, being a cardboard structure. Enduring Winds had tried hard to keep them on their feet, but with a crippled wing he could only do so much. He felt so useless. Then when Rosebud shown signs of pregnancy, she had to quit her work, leaving Enduring Winds as the sole provider. Things quickly spiraled down from there. They lost their home, and had very few friends, most of which weren’t in a better situation.
So when they had heard there were some job opportunities in Manehattan they had quickly moved up here. However, they had no need for a crippled pegasus and a pregnant mare. That’s what had led them to their current situation, and now they were having a foal that they couldn’t provide for. Rosebud pushed and they heard the cry of their foal and a light illuminated the features of the dark alley way. It was a soft light, and Enduring Winds eyes widened as he say the source. His foal’s eyes were glowing luminescent as the foal looked into his eyes. The baby colt’s glowing eyes slowly dulled, taking the appearance of Enduring Winds’ grey eyes. The colt then gave a shuddering breath, closed his eyes, and went still. Enduring Winds sighed softly. Deep down, he knew that they couldn’t raise a foal. He looked over the still body of his foal. It was a pegasus like him, his ribs were clearly visible. He noticed that the foal had a cutie mark of measuring scales. He frowned. That was… strange.
“How is the foal? Is it alright?” Rosebud whispered.
Enduring Winds looked up and slowly shook his head. Rosebud choked back a sob.
“Come on. We need to go baby. We need to go. Soon…” Enduring Winds gulped. “Soon he will start to smell and that will attract attention. Given the famine, I think it’ll attract more then guards.” He shuddered. There had been rumors of hungry ponies turning on others as a food source. He would rather not find if that was truth or not.
“We can’t just leave him...” Rosebud sobbed a she nuzzled the limp body of her foal.
Enduring Winds wrapped his marefriend in his undamaged wing and whispered softly in her ear, urging her, “Please baby… we have to go… Come on.”
Enduring Winds led Rosebud away sobbing leaving the motionless foal behind. The alley was eerily quiet, only the sound of scampering rats breaking silence. A rat scampered up to the foal and sniffed him as a few more rats came to investigate. The foal gasped a breath, startling the rats. As they scampered away, the foal let out a sad wail.
“Mother… Please don’t leave me!” He wailed, his eyes filling with tears.
Quick Blade walked along the streets, making his rounds. He had been a Royal Guard for years, but this part of Manehattan always unsettled him. It was a part that had a high poverty rate, and theft was common here. He could sympathize with them, having come from a poor family himself. The fact that most of the theft was food, he generally left it alone. The population liked him because of it, and usually told him first of any violent crimes that arise. So he was surprised when he heard a wail from the alleyway around the corner. He broke into a gallop and rushed into the alleyway, searching for the source.
“Mother… Please don’t leave me!” the source wailed. Quick Blade galloped deeper into the alley, passing a dumpster and hearing sniffing to his right. He turned to see a newborn foal pegasus sniffling and tears gently pouring from his face. Quick Blade’s horn lit up as he tried to lift the foal up. He frowned. The spell had failed. He moved to stand next to the foal and tried again. Again it failed. Using a foreleg, he scooped the frail pegasus up and pressed him gently to his breast.
“Come little one, I know just where to take you.”
War trotted back to them smiling. “Well, that was fun.” She said, interrupting the pegasus. Conquest looked past her to the field where the game had been previously being played. The mare was attending to a young colt. His back leg was bent wrong and he was wailing, tears pouring from his eyes. Conquest focused back to the smiling War.
“Who won the game?” Conquest asked, glancing behind her again. The other colts looked pretty beaten up. War smiled wider. “I have no idea!”
War then did something that Conquest and the sickly pegasus would learn to fear later in their life. She started giggling and let out a girlish squeal. Conquest raised an eyebrow and the pegasus shuffled his hoofs uncomfortably.
“Does she usually do that? I mean… that.” The pegasus said, nodding to the giggling War. “I wouldn’t have thought she giggled.”
Conquest nodded. “I didn’t think she did either. Anyway..” Conquest said slowly, looking away from the bizarre sight and looked back to the pegasus. “Continue your story.”
“Umm…” the pegasus mumbled, staring at War. “After the guard found me, he took me to someplace with more guards. He said he had to find a flyer and took me with him to find somepony named Smooth Glider. After he did, the pegasus took me and flew me here. We arrived not that long ago actually. So... um, did you think of a name?” The pegasus asked.
“Hmmmm…” Conquest rubbed his head as he thought. “You said that your father had said something about a famine? Why not Famine?”
The sickly pegasus stared at Conquest. “Really? That’s all you could.. You know what?” The pegasus said, getting bolder. “Buck it. Why the Tartarus not?”
Conquest and Famine shared a smile as War snickered still. Famine looked at her then back to Conquest. He coughed and said, “Umm, should we get her help?”
Conquest chuckled. “There is no help for her.” He noticed the mare was glaring daggers at War and, thinking it be easier for them if they weren’t in direct line of sight with the very bloodthirsty looking mare, he said, “But we should go inside before somepony decides that War needs to be punished.”
War sobered up and smiled darkly. “Oh let them try.”
Conquest turned and started for the house and Famine rolled his eyes and turned and started following the white Alicorn. War called, “Hey, wait for me motherbuckers!” Ignoring the sharp call from the mare, she trotted quickly to catch the other two.