When a unicorn family discovers a small filly lost in the woods shortly after a tradgedy, they feel as if their prayers have been answered. But the filly wants more, and will find what she is looking for in an unexpected way.
After the miscarriage of their little brother, two unicorn foals run away into a forest near their home of Baltimare and discover a little filly, cold and alone. And while the family agrees to take care of her, they still know that this filly will have a hard time living with the ponies. For she is a pragon, the last of her kind.
But the filly, afraid to show her face in public for fear of being discriminated against, yearns for a family that she never knew, and discovers just how to show that she shouldn't be judged from just her appearance, when she saves all of Equestria with a power that no pony without a horn should have.
The small, dark green unicorn colt sat alone in his bedroom, gazing out his window at the dark, rain-washed streets below. The whole scene seemed almost peaceful to him, and he would have felt the same sereneness as the scene before him if it was not for the events that happened the day prior. He turned his head away from the window and closed his eyes, sighing.
He felt like a huge part of his life had been thrown away, down in the trash, for no pony to ever see it again. His mother told him that it just never would have happened, that the foal just wasn't right. But the colt, Track Wheels, felt as if a huge part of his heart had been ripped out of him, leaving him to bleed his sorrow. Even his own older sister, whom he saw as a mentor, pushed down her usual cheeriness and put it under lock and key. Track Wheels needed to see her smile, to get reassurance from the yellow unicorn, but he got nothing.
"I could've had a brother," He thought to himself. "I would've been a big brother, a mentor, just like Lula hearts is to me. Or was. I don't know if I will ever see her smile again." Indeed, it seemed as if all the life was sucked out of that small, Baltimare apartment.
Track Wheels felt like he couldn't take it for long. The sorrow, the sadness, the heart broken smell to the air (if heartbroken had a smell), and the melancholy feel was enough to make Track Wheels feel like he was trapped in an endless cycle of gloom.
Slowly, a small tear spilled out of his right eye. he wiped it away, for even though no one was watching, he did not want ponies to see him cry. He was, after all, a tough skate boarder.
He paced around the dark corners of his room, thinking off all the fun times him and his brother could have shared.
Suddenly, his eyes fell on the rain coat that his father had bought him when the family went on their trip to rainbow falls and it rained the whole way there.
The coat worked wonders keeping him dry, and if it worked then, it should work now. Levitating coat over to him with a yellow aura, he slipped it on over his head and pulled up the hoodie, preparing for his trek outside.
He slowly opened his door and stuck his head out into the small, cramped hallway, hoping that he would not awake his sleeping parents. He carefully closed the door behind him and trotted quietly into the tiny living room cluttered with baby things that would never be used.
He was about to open the front door when he heard a small voice behind him.
"Track Wheels, what in Equestria are you doing?" he whirled around to see his sister standing in the doorway that led from the bedrooms to the living room. Her long, pink, red streaked hair was down opposed to her normal ponytails, and she seemed fully awake and not sleepy like Track Wheels had just awoken her.
Track Wheels felt frozen in place. If he told Lula Hearts what he was about to do and she disapproved, then she would most certainly tell their parents and he would be grounded for the month, or worse, the rest of his life!
Yet he couldn't NOT tell her, for she would bug him to no end until she found out the truth. Either way, Track Wheels was sunk.
"I was just, uh, about to head out for a little walk, and, um..."
"In the middle of the night!?!?" Lula Hearts said. Track Wheels nodded, fearing that it would be the end of his life as he knew it. His sister was just too over-protective, supported by her double heart cutie mark showing off her caring personality. "Can I come with you?" She asked.
Wait a minute. Did he hear that right? Lula wants to do something irresponsible with him? "Seriously?" Track Wheels asked her. "You want to come?" Lula Hearts blushed, then nodded.
"I couldn't sleep. I just, kept thinking about..." Lula stopped. She didn't need to say it. Track Wheels could understand perfectly what she meant, for he felt the same thing. His sister was not one to stay on one topic for a very long time, but lately she seemed like a different Lula. Which wasn't surprising, since she had to endure both the lost of their still-born baby brother and the bullies at her new middle school. Track Wheels looked up to her for that, being able to stand tall even with the bullies, but now that he has seen the vulnerable, cautious side to his sister, it made him even sadder than before. And besides, it would be nice to have his older sister with him while he walked.
"Sure, yeah, I guess," He said. Lula smiled and rushed into her bedroom, coming out with a matching rain coat to Track Wheel's. She opened the door with her magic and they ran outside, in the dead of night.
Lula Hearts was not sure where her and her little brother would go. Baltimare was a very dangerous place a night, especially for little foals like her and her brother, but she knew that she needed to get out of that apartment. The feeling of depression was killing her, and she wanted to make it end once and for all. But even out here, miles from their home, the oppressive feeling still lingered, like it was clinging to their very souls, threatening to do them in. She shook her head, trying to rid herself of such ridiculous ideas. They where not going to die.
Not like...
They where going to name him Silver Lining. She could remember when they first found out the gender, and they named him right then and there.
They where at the hospital, waiting already what seemed like hours to Lula, but where actually only ten minutes. Lula became fidgety and anxious, not wanting to wait another second.
They where going to do an Ultrasound on her mothers belly, which already had swollen up to the size of a water melon at that time. Judging by her book on foals, Lula Hearts could tell that at about this time of the pregnancy, they should be able to tell the gender. She was literally bursting with excitement, and when they where called up she almost tripped because she was running. Her mother only laughed at her.
After her mother had stretched out on the hospital bed and the doctor spread the blue gel on her stomach, the picture came up on the screen behind the doctor. Lula just stared at it, seeing her baby brother for the first time. She could see his heart beating, and his little horn stuck up from his head just like hers. She felt in love with the baby already.
"Would you like to know the gender?" The doctor asked. Lula nodded fiercely and her mother laughed.
"Yes. We would like to know," She said. The doctor looked closely at the screen and said,
"A colt."
Lula was jolted out of the flashback when they came upon the forest that bordered the town. Track Wheels had stopped dead in his tracks in front of her. Had she really been so caught up with her thoughts that she didn't notice that they where approaching the forest? And why hadn't Track said anything? He never really liked the forest either, even though he claimed to be a super tough skate boarding pony. Perhaps he was lost in his own thoughts as well.
Track Wheels looked up at Lula Hearts with the same color red eyes as her own, a mix of uncertainty and bravery plastered on his face.
She knew the look all to well.
"Oh no, Track Wheels, we are NOT going in there."
"Aw come on, Lula. Like that dark forest is really any different than our dark apartment." She realized that he was right. That forest seemed happier and cheerier than their own home, as weird as that sounds. Plus, ponies take walks on the trails in there all the time. It shouldn't be that bad, right?
Right?
Track Wheels really just wanted to go into the forest because it matched his mood. Dark and cold, unforgiving. He felt that way right now. Mournful, blue, and bitter to all that was around him. He felt like he wanted to punch something, like that tree coming up on his left. Sure, he was a little scared. The forest was no place for two foals to be wandering into it at night, while it was raining, but it was far less intimidating than the Everfree.
CRACK!
"What was that!?!" Track Wheels said aloud. He looked down and saw that he just merely stepped on a twig. Lula Hearts giggled but one look from Track and she shut up. He shook his head and continued to walk froward. A bird fluttered out of a tree and this time Lula jumped out of her skin. Track laughed and laughed and laughed. Lula sat down and crossed her hooves, sticking her lip out at her little brother.
"Not funny, Track Wheels," She said.
"Yes it is," Track said, rolling his eyes. "Besides. It's, revenge!" Lula and Track laughed together, and for a moment, all of their worries and pains melted away with the rain, pooling at their hooves and begging to come back, but the laughter refused.
Suddenly, the two foals heard a sound, like that of a newborn foal crying. It was soft and pitiful, and rougher sounding than a pony's.
Lula Hearts rushed towards where she heard the tiny sound. Track Wheels called after her, but he knew that Lula's caring nature would not make her question anything if it sounded like a foal crying.
Yet Lula knew that the sound did not sound much like a foal. It was deeper, rougher sounding, and the tone made it seem out of place, lost, like a foal crying for her mother.
The sound grew louder, and Lula felt that she was nearing the little thing.
The little filly lay there, in the wet of the grass and leaves that was the forest floor. The foal felt as if she had just awoken from a very long nap, and reached out for her mother, who made no reply. This only caused the little foal to cry harder, to no avail. Her mother was simply not there. The cold was not making her any happier. It drenched her soft, silken fur and she started to shiver uncontrollably. Why was she here? Where was her mother? Her sisters?
She knew that they would come for her. She hoped and prayed, if a foal could pray. She wanted to hear their voices, see their manes flowing in the wind, but this was a different place from when she first felt her eyes close. The filly whimpered and screamed, closing her big brown eyes as a memory came to her.
A large white mare stood over her, and fire raged behind her. She smiled and the filly smiled back to. But she could tell that there was something else hiding behind her mother's eyes. Another emotion, but the filly was still to young to understand it.
The filly reached out for her mother again, but found it to be in vain.
Lula stood over what appeared to be a white filly, covered in leaves and crying from the cold. A tear fell out of Lula's eyes. Who would do this to a little filly? Who would leave her out here?
Lula sniffled and reached down, pulling a wet leaf off of the foal with her teeth. She looked down again after spitting the leaf out and gasped, fully realizing what she was seeing.
The crying filly, reaching her tiny white hooves in the air, appearing to search for something or somepony, had little tufts of fur coming from her chest and her ears. She also had small wings like that of a dragon, starting off blue at the tips and then descending into a deep green. She had a mane that started black then changed color that went down to purple, pink, then a rusty orange. And her tail was like that of a snake's, ending with a tuft of fur the same color as her mane.
The Filly cried more, opening her eyes. Lula could tell that they where a deep brown.
Lula stooped down and scooped the filly up in her arms, holding the shivering foal close to her chest. "Shh. Shh, little one," She said. "Shh..."
Track Wheels suddenly bounded right next to Lula. "Lula Hearts! What in Equestria are you doin-" He stopped in mid sentence after he noticed the small filly that was held tight in Lula's arms. The colt just stood there, staring at the little bundle of white fur wrapped tight in his sister's embrace. The filly stopped crying and turned to look at Track Wheels. They locked eyes.
Track looked into the foal's deep brown eyes and his heart felt like it was torn in half. Those eyes hid sorrow and pain behind them. Eyes with a past.
"We can't just leave her out here, Track," Lula said. "We, we just can't." A single tear rolled down her face and fell to the ground below her. The foal looked up at her and started to cry, clearly distressed by her savior's mournful behavior.
"We have to take her back home with us," Track stated. "And we need to leave. Now." Lula was surprised by her brother's sudden sternness. But she just nodded, a red curl falling out of place from underneath her hoodie.
"Yes," she said. She choked on her words. "We, we must take her home."
The little filly looked between the two ponies. She could not understand what they said, but she knew that they where going to help her. Possibly even help her find her mother.
All of a sudden, the rain stopped immediately.
Lula and Track looked bewildered, since they knew that they rain was supposed to continue through the night according to Baltimore's pegasi weather team.
But the little Filly that Lula Hearts held in close embrace knew why the rain stopped.
But she wouldn't understand it in long time.
This mare is not my mother.
The foal knew this. She knew with all her heart that the mare, and the colt, where not her mothers. (If a colt could be a mother, that is). But she felt safe wrapped up in the yellow mare's arms. The heat from her body warmed her up, causing the shivers to go away, but yet she still cried for a mother that simply was not there.
The filly had never seen ponies like them before. Their large horns protruding from the middle of their heads seemed alien like to her. All she knew where wings, fur, feathers, and... scales? Yes. She remembered scales. They where from a large beast that she knew. But who? The filly tried to remember, but couldn't. She cried out harder, upset with her own self for forgetting. (Foals do not have a very good memory). Who was her mother?
She couldn't remember. Did she have sisters?
She could feel the memories slipping away from her, being lost in the sands of time.
She cried harder.
"Oh, no, no, no," She heard the yellow mare say. "Shh. Don't be upset." The green colt stared at her as they walked through the forest.
"Shh. Go to sleep, little one," The yellow mare said again. She started to hum.
The filly could feel the vibrations coming from her savior's vocal cords. She leaned in closer to listen. Being closer to the mare's chest, however, was proving to be warmer for the young foal. The combined heat and the soothing song slowly lulled the filly to sleep.
Lula would not put the foal down even as they entered the apartment. The filly had fallen asleep on their way here, and Track Wheels saw no point in telling his older sister to put the foal down if it had fallen asleep in her arms. It? Track Wheels thought. Did I really just call the filly, a it?
Or was it a pony filly at all? Sure, it looked like it was pony in some places, like pony hooves and snout, but reptilian in others. Really, Track Wheels had no words for what the filly was. She was as alien to them as they must seem to her.
Where had she come from anyway? Who would abandon such a tiny thing in the middle of the forest? Who gave birth to such a thing? No! Track Wheels thought. I will not think like that.
"We need to tell mom and dad," Lula said. Track nodded. If they brought a filly home surely they would need to tell their parents. His mother, a light pink unicorn, might be willing, but his gruffer, sterner, light green earth-pony father might not be so nice. But still, they needed to know.
He knocked on their door. He heard his father grumble. "W-what? Who is it?" Track Wheels sighed.
"It's me, dad," He said. "Can, can you and mom come out here please?"
"In the middle of the night? Track Wheels, seriously?" His mother asked. Track Wheels looked to his sister in the living room, and she only nodded.
"Yes," Track Wheels said. "Right now, mom." He could hear the shifting covers as both of his parents got out of the bed. The door suddenly glowed with his mother's dark-pink aura and it opened.
They came out into the hallway.
"Now Track Wheels. What could be so important that you had to wake us up in the-"
But Track Wheels only pointed in his sister's direction. His parents turned their heads to look at their daughter, and gasped at the sight before them.
She tossed and turned in her sleep. A small cry escaped her lips, as the familiar scene before her played out over and over again. "No!" She cried out. "No!"
The white mare with the mane like flames stood over her, smiling. Though the scene behind her was more gruesome than the face that stood over her.
Fire. Fire burned. The screams of the dying and weak rang in her ears. Smoke filled the air.
The white mare reached down and touched her face, stroking it, giving her comfort.
"Goodbye, My Nima..."
Silver Lining bolted upright in her bed. She looked around in the dark room. She saw no fires. Heard no screams of the mournful. She was in her room, and all was quiet.
She sucked in a breath and let it out. This was the third time this week that she had that same dream. Was there no end to her misery? When will it stop?
She reached up with her white hooves to rub the tiredness out of her eyes. There was no way that she would be going back to sleep now. How could she? That awful dream could come back to haunt her. Maybe reading a book will help?
Silver lining carefully slipped out from under the covers, taking care not to wake her sleeping older sister on the other side of the tiny room. Her sister snored. A sound barley audible to a pony but to Silver's ears was loud and clear. She rolled her eyes at her slumbering sister.
She had a bit of an attitude for a half-pony at the age of five.
She slowly crept into the living room, the ember's in the fire place now just starting to cool after that evening's fire. She searched through the bookshelves that came up to her eyes, but then she realized that the particular book that she was looking for was three shelves above her. Sighing, she unfurled her small wings and fluttered up to the shelf to grab the book she wanted.
Settling down on the couch, the small filly opened up the book to the page she wanted.
This book, a book on mythical creatures and monsters (in a world of talking neon ponies) was one of Silver Lining's most prized possessions. It did, after all, have a chapter on Pragons.
The mythical creature Pragonis Draconem, or "Pragon", is a mythological beast that is half pony, half dragon. Many theories speculate that the creature was just an olden-pony myth from ancient times, that the legend died out after the Dragon-Pony war when the many tribes where destroyed, while others claim that the Pragon was a real creature, evolved when Dragons and Ponies could mate before the war, and is now extinct. There is no evidence to support that a Pragon could be living today.
"Well, I'm proof," Silver Lining said. That passage, like so many others in the section, made her feel lonely. Could she really be the last of her kind? Or maybe she was just abandoned that night that her brother and sister, Track Wheels and Lula Hearts, found her, and there where more?
But seeing as how she was the only Pragon in Baltimare she truly didn't believe it, Baltimare really being one of the only places that she has ever known.
As a filly of five, there where many things that Silver Lining did not quite understand. She was still so young, and her family knew this. The ponies of Equestria where quite the superstitious bunch, always blaming something new and different as causing something bad and or being bad because they where different. This was something that the young Pragon did not understand. Thus the cloak that is hanging on the coat rack near the door in the living room was bought. Silver Lining was not sure why she needed the cloak, but she knew that she always wore it in public. Covering her tail, her wings, everything.
Maybe Silver Lining was starting to understand.
For she felt ashamed of showing herself without the cloak, even though her family were the only ones to see her without it.
And maybe she was starting to understand why it started to snow outside even though the weather team said that the night was supposed to be clear.
Because things like that only happens when she's sad.
The two bright-yellow eyes stared down at her. She saw no fire. Heard no wails. She felt calm. This pony, a tall, dark-green mare with a light green mane tied up in a bun, showed her kindness. "Shh, shh, Nima." She said. She started to sing. A chorus of ponies behind her joined in, each stepping into view. One was black with flame hair and the same yellow eyes as the mare before her. The other was a light blue so light that it was almost white, with a mane that cascaded down like waves and brown eyes like her own. They smiled at her, revealing sets of sharp fangs. The filly reached her hoof out to them, hoping to touch them, but the they faded away to black. She was all alone. But then, suddenly, the fire, the wails, the ear-splitting cries filled the air around her, and she screamed.
The young Pragon awoke with a start, her hooves still clutching the book. Had she really fallen asleep? And that dream, it was different. Not the same dream she kept having over and over. This one was different. She knew those ponies. She was sure of it. She felt it deep down in her heart. And they seemed to know her, too. And they used that strange name, Nima. Who is Nima? Who are those ponies? Why did the dream seem so, real?
A single tear fell out of Silver's eye. Even after 5 years, she still did not have the answers.
The blizzard outside intensified.
Still no answers.
The wind howled.
No answers.
The icicles formed.
And even though Silver might have known why she had the dreams, she still had no answers.
Silver Lining sat down on the bench outside of her mother's new flower shop. "I'll just be in here, honey, if you need me." The unicorn called out to her seven year-old foal.
"Okay, mom. I'm fine." But she was not fine. The move to Canterlot, so her mother could get better business, had taken its tole on Silver. She reached down and pulled the cloak lower on her face, even though Celestia's hot summer sun was boiling her. There were hardly any ponies out on the street thanks to that same heat, but more where inside her mother's rather cooler shop. Silver would rather stay outside.
A mother and her colt passed by the bench on their way to the shop. Silver took note of them, a light orange pegasus mare and a gray pegasus colt, but made no move to come out from under her shield to greet them. That is, until the colt greeted her instead.
"Hi! Watcha' doin' out here in the sun? It's so hot out!" Silver lining looked up to see the gray pegasus colt hovering a few inches away from her face. She looked away, afraid that he would take notice of her pupil shape. "Whats the matter? Luna got your tongue?"
"Uh..."
"So you CAN speak! Good. Glad to know you're not the silent type." He flew next to Silver and plopped down beside her on the bench. She pressed herself against the railing and prayed to the celestial bodies above that he would leave her alone.
"My name is Thunderhead. What's yours?" He stuck out his hoof in front of Silver's face to shake it. But she just reached up and pushed it away.
"Silver Lining. And I like to be alone."
"Cool. Me too!" The colt scooted a little closer to her, much to Silver's dismay. "Hey! Do you like to play Bird repeater?"
Silver looked at the gray colt. "Play what?"
"Bird repeater! Its a game where you whistle and see which bird whistles back!"
"That sounds pretty boring."
"Its not! Watch!" Thunderhead whistled a familiar bird song. That of a robin. He waited a few moments before whistling again. Then, a bird answered back. "See! I told you. It's fun!"
Silver did have to admit that it was pretty fun, but something in that bird's song made her heart tear in half. It seemed so free, so full of life. The opposite of Silver Lining.
"Thunderhead!" A mare called. "It's time to go!"
"Okay mom!" Silver watched as the gray, black and yellow maned, green-eyed colt flew away with his mother. "Bye Silver Lining!"
"Bye, Thunderhead!" She called back. Her heart sunk.
She had made her first friend, and now he was gone.
~
Thunderhead had lived in Canterlot his whole life. Though being a pegasus in a town that is dominated by unicorns and earth ponies can be challenging. Not many flying buddies.
Though at first the filly on the bench seemed like an earth pony (He could not see her wings beneath the cloak) he quickly made out the slight raises on her sides that looked like wings. He wanted to make friends with that filly right away.
In his mind, it seemed to have gone well. Though his tactic of making friends often did not work out like he always hopes it would. Like the time he tried to make a friend with an earth pony colt named Apple Tart that was visiting Canterlot from Appleoosa.
The conversation went something like this:
"Hi! My name is Thunderhead. What's yours?"
"Uh, Apple Tart."
"Where are ya' from?"
"Um... Appleloosa."
"Cool! What's it like."
"Dry."
"Cool."
"Go away."
"Why?"
"Please."
"Why?"
"Ah don't like ta' be around other ponies."
"Aw come on. Be my friend!"
"MOM!"
And Thunderhead went home that day friendless once again. But that filly was the first one that he had tried to make friends with that did not tell him to out and out "Go away." His hoped where renewed. Maybe now he would finally have a friend!
But Silver Lining was an apprehensive filly, not one to try and make friends herself. She was afraid that if anypony found out that she was a Pragon, then she would be shunned and laughed at.
The loneliness had taken its tole on Silver Lining, though.
If she had a friend, she was determined to keep it. Even that friend would never be able to see what she really looked like underneath her cloak.
But did she have the courage to do so?
That night, it rained. Against the weather team's wishes.
And Silver Lining didn't care.
"Silver, are you sure that you want to come with me?"
"Yes."
"But what about your cloak?"
"I'll keep it on. It won't matter."
"But my friends will ask you why you wear it. What will you say then?"
"It's none of their beeswax."
"That's my sister!"
Track Wheels and Silver Lining where walking side by side together down town towards one of Track's favorite places: the Skating rink. He had asked Silver Lining to come along many times before, but she declined. Ever since yesterday, however, Silver had a change in attitude. She wanted to go. She needed to. Though her older brother never understood why.
But Silver Lining was hoping to see the gray colt again. Perhaps a place where many kids hung out would be the perfect place to start.
Track Wheels levitated his sister on his shoulders. She giggled and screamed, holding down the cloak with her hooves. And off they went.
"Silver Lining! Is that you?" Silver turned to see the gray colt fly up to her, smiling with glee. "I never thought I would see you here!"
"Uh yeah, well."
"Who's that?" He pointed to Track Wheels, who was standing a few inches behind his little sister.
"My, brother," Silver Lining stated.
"And he's a unicorn?"
"Yes, I am," Track Wheels said, pushing Silver Lining to the side. "My name is Track Wheels. And who. Are. You?" Track leaned in close to the colt. Thunderhead looked ready to bolt. (If you haven't figured out by now, Track Wheels is a little over protective of his little sister)
Silver Lining covered her face with her hoof and sighed. Her older brother often embarrassed her.
She glanced out the window and froze.
It was the white mare. Silver Lining gasped, receiving weird looks from her brother and new friend. "It's you..." She whispered.
