The Tragic Spark
“… The End”, a gray maned stallion spoke stroking his frayed facial hair as he moved forward down the dirt path he walked; cutting through a dense forest. He wore a brown, hooded cloak that covered most of his face and was followed by a small band of similarly dressed ponies.
“That was a great story Master, I’m sure the children will love it!”, though hidden by his cloak, it was clear that this one was younger and from what could be seen he was a dark yellow color.
“I’m no one’s master… but thank you, I’ve been saving this story for a special occasion and there was recently a birth to the town so I can tell the children and they’ll tell the baby when it grows”, he was breaking into a smile when suddenly his muzzle twitched and he took off full speed down the dirt path.
“Master! Master what’s wrong?!”, the rest of the cloaked figures took off after him and came to a stop at the edge of the forest where they found their leader silently looking below at the remnants of a town that was engulfed in flames, lighting the darkness of the new moon.
“I don’t hear screams”, he said coldly.
“Master, does that mean?”
“Yes, more than likely they are all dead… let’s go, we’ll salvage what we can and bury anyone we find.”
“They were good ponies, they at least deserve a proper burial”, a more gruff voice spoke.
The pack walked through the decimated town; fires still raged and the streets were sparsely littered with corpses. Through the eyes of the old stallion there could be seen all the things that once were. He saw the small market, now with the stalls broken, crushed, and charred by the fires that slowly consumed the remnants of the once happy and prosperous town. He became lost in his thoughts, seeing images of the ponies he had gotten to know pass around him like they were still alive and going about their daily lives. He remembered the young couple that excitedly told him about their coming child; the mare with, her modest peach coat and a long, straight, evergreen mane and her husband the dark gray stallion with the crystalline white mane. He watched that precious memory play out over the ruins, his mind filling in the gaps missing from the scenery: the stallion with his usual jolly demeanor and the mare with her dignified but loving attitude, they spoke on and on about all the hope they had for their child but he couldn’t hear them speak. Even in his memories their voices were too distant to be heard and a tear left his eye as he spotted the unmistakable white of the young stallion’s mane in the distance. He motioned to his follower and they were at the scene within moments. He pushed aside some rubble and uncovered his face: his jolly expression was replaced with a calm one and blood trickled out of his mouth. A wooden beam lay on his back and the rest of his body laid crushed along with it, he spotted his wife mere feet away it was clear that he tried to hold up their collapsing house long enough for his wife to escape. She was balanced on her head and stooped over in a protective position. The most horrible thing about the scene was the dark gray, newborn foal with a neon green mane sitting next the corpse of the mare: its eyes were reddened and dark circles formed under them; it was hopelessly poking and prodding at the mare, attempting to wake her from some sort of sleep. The old stallion picked up the unicorn foal: its face was dirtied by tears and splattered with semi-dried blood.
“Master, Master is something wrong with it? It- it’s not crying…”
“I can think of very few reasons why it isn’t crying… we found the last survivor of this town and we will raise him. It’s what our friends would have wanted.”, he removed his cloak and wrapped it around foal; revealing his mint green colored coat and his cutie mark of vines wrapped around a rusted sword.
“Who would do such a thing?”, a female voice asked.
“Look closely at the bodies”, the gruff voice answered. The mare reeled back in horror as she saw deep gashes on most of the bodies.
“Griffins? But I thought the war was over? ”, She cried.
“War is never over, not as long as there remain those who felt it should have gone differently”, their leader spoke as he finished returned to face them with the foal.
“You heard the stallion! Get these bodies into some graves and offer them your prayers!”, the rest of the band scrambled off to execute their orders, leaving only three ponies.
“Master, what will we name him?”
The old stallion tried to think of something his parents would have called him, briefly an echo of their voices passed through his memory and told him the exact name for him, “His name is Light Bearer, welcome him as a new disciple of the old one”
“Pleasure to meet you Light Bearer, think of me like your big brother”, the youthful voice said.
“I hope you can think of us all as your family someday”, the female voice said softly.
~
High on a mountain, the scenery was painted white by the sun’s light passing through the clouds. Snow blanketed the area surrounding a large monastery: it was a dark stone color, a long flight of stairs led up to it, and it appeared to have towers at its four corners with blue flames at the top. Inside a gray colt was in his room reading an old, worn book, when a dark yellow stallion with a purple mane burst in.
“Hey buddy you ready for today?”, he asked.
“I don’t know Royal Banner, I’m a little nervous about it”
“Come on, you’re one of the most talented unicorns I’ve ever seen and I told you, just call me Banner… you’re my little brother after all”
“But Rune says I have to call all the higher disciples by their full name”
“Easy for him to say, his name is short. Still though, we’re in your room so it’s okay to call me Banner, or even big bro”, he said proudly.
“Okay Banner but it’s not the magic that I’m worried about, Rune’s been teaching me all the magic since I could walk but”, he put down the book and looked at the stallion: his small spectacles balancing on the end of his muzzle, “Maybe I should go out into the world and you know just live like a normal colt”
Banner’s face betrayed his calm demeanor and changed into one of worry, “So you want to choose the Earth Walker as your path?”
“This whole place was founded on the principle of the old one’s love but I feel like so many below don’t feel it like we do so I want to go down and show them”
“That’s really dangerous… not everyone down there is as kind as us”
“Maybe they can be”
Banner walked over and caught the colt in an embrace, “Sometimes I wish we raised you to be a little more selfish… *sigh* come on, Master is waiting”
The colt walked behind Banner as they passed by the decorative tapestries that adorned the halls, they passed many cloaked figures along the way: some that stopped to say hello and offer their praise to the youngest member.
“Hey Banner, why do you call him ‘Master’? Emerald Sheath hates it when you call him that”
“I’ve called him that ever since I first joined… besides Emerald Sheath is sort of a mouth full”
They came to a large room where there were three levels with stone steps towards the farthest corner back: each level had chairs. The highest level had three chairs; below it the other levels had two chairs, each spaced out further than ones above it like a pyramid. In the space they left was a book, bordered in gold, with a red cover, and a blue tassel that peeked out of the bottom. Above them all was a tapestry that displayed vines wrapping around a rusted sword. In front of each chair was a small podium with symbols: presumably their cutie marks. Banner gave the colt a stern pat on the back and left for the empty seat at the bottom left, with a billowing flag as the podium symbol. At the top, the center seat was slightly elevated and they all rose as Emerald Sheath motioned from the seat.
“Light Bearer, under recommendation from brother Royal Banner and brother Rune, we have decided to offer you the ‘Choice’ ahead of your time”, hushed whispers overtook the room.
“Is this wise Emerald?”, a magenta maned pegasus mare spoke from the seat next to him. She brought her steely silver hoof to her mouth in a flustered movement, “He isn’t even an adolescent yet, by normal standards he’d still be in school”
“He’s more than ready for the ‘Choice’, I’ve been overseeing his education for years now and he has proven that we have nothing left to teach him. He still has much to learn but that much he must learn on his own.”, Rune sat to the right of Emerald, his face was permanently frozen in a stern expression, his navy blue mane combed back neatly, and his sand colored coat beginning to show his age.
“But…”, the mare persisted.
“Techni Color, he’s right… I know you feel protective of him but despite his age he has reached the required level of instruction to undergo the ‘Choice’. I for one am very proud of this fact, he has been raised within these walls for the entirety of his short life and has studied our ways more diligently than nearly all of the hopeful disciples that have come to us in my years as the ‘Guardian of the After Field’, he may very well take my place in the future but before all that I must ask you my young friend: are you ready to choose?”
“Yes, I know my choice and I have prepared my tribute”, Light bowed and magically presented a scroll to Emerald, wrapped in a sky blue aura that matched his eyes.
“To choose means also to create: in order to choose a path to walk you must create something to offer rest of our order. Ponies have created many things over the years: earth ponies have offered techniques for metal works and small scale farming. Pegasi have created potions and special clouds to shroud our sacred land. Unicorns have created our large collection of spells and enchantments. What have you created?”
“I offer my magic, derived from our teachings as our other spells are. The magic we use is that of emotions: dangerous as it may twist its user and drive them mad, leashed by our command over the love in ourselves. We share origins with the darkest magic known to our kind, yet we sit on the opposite spectrum. Under the teachings of our order I have created a spell to be added to our great book. I have named it ‘The Heart’s Eye’”
Emerald took the scroll into his magical grasp and examined it, “You have made it possible to share thoughts, emotions, and memories with others… truly as worthy use of magic. Your offering is accepted, now you may make your choice”
Light looked up at their faces, “I choose to walk the among my fellow ponies below”
Audible gasps escaped everypony in attendance except for Banner and Emerald. Techni Color rose to her hooves.
“No pony has chosen the path of the Earth Walker in nearly a millennia…”
“It’s for that reason that I want to go, we live up here without interacting with anyone for things other than supplies, they probably don’t even know we exist”
Rune got up and walked towards him, “Light, are you sure that you want to go? If you do I won’t argue but if you stay and become a Guardian like Emerald, even if you’re chosen over me, I can guarantee that I will follow you loyally”
“I have to go, I want to spread the love that was taught here to everyone down below”
“I will permit it, I however have one stipulation”, all eyes turned to Emerald as he used his magic to lower himself from his seat to the colt, “I will make use of your spell to show you what it’s like down there and if you can withstand the visions you are allowed to go”
He swallowed hard and nodded. Emerald’s horn became engulfed in bright green light, his eyes began to glow, and he lowered his head so his horn touched Light. Light’s eyes began to glow and his horn started to glow with his own blue color and their magic intertwined. When Light regained his sight he was standing in the middle of vibrant town with happy ponies moving around. Out of the corner of his eye he saw an evergreen mane and tried to follow but couldn’t move.
“Right, I’m just a spectator”, surprisingly he began moving in that direction after her. He came to a stop and there was a mare and stallion standing next to each other, they felt oddly familiar to him. They were both unicorns and turned to him, speaking with a smile on their faces. He felt a tear roll down his cheek, “Mother? … Father?”
Suddenly he found himself in the same position in town but now the happy sight was being swallowed by flames, chunks of town already missing, and bodies littering ground. His eyes swelled with more tears and he began to sob as the memory took him on a journey. He ran through the burned town, dug through the rubble to find his father, saw his dead mother, and saw himself as a foal: painted crimson by what could only be her blood. When he finally came back to his senses he was still in the room with everyone, huddled over and sobbing uncontrollably. He heaved and shuddered violently while trying to control his breathing again.
“Do you still want to go out into the world? Anything, no matter how beautiful, can be gone in an instant”, Emerald seemed pained by his own words.
“W-was that my mother?”, he said while still shaking.
“Yes, both of your parents were there, that was the memory of the night we found you… that town remains in ruins at the foot of this mountain.”
“She-she-she was beautiful”, Emerald raised his brow in slight confusion, “If nothing else, no matter how horrible… I saw her and my father, I saw them when they were alive and happy… that’s all I’ve ever wanted: to meet them, to see them, and I did so if it was very brief”
Emerald softened into a smile, “Your choice is accepted, after witnessing this I’m sure your heart can endure all of the world’s cruelty without becoming cold. Prepare the Specters; we are seeing him off before nightfall!”
Light finished packing some books and supplies for his journey: he made his way outside where his fellow disciples were waiting. They all gave him a tender hug and he took his place at the top of the staircase.
“Does anyone have words to offer for our brother?”, Emerald asked.
“I want to express my pride”, Rune called as he stepped forward, “As a teacher: a student of mine has chosen the most difficult of the paths laid before him for the sake of spreading our teachings and for that I couldn’t be more proud. As one of his father figures: I feel moved to tears, he is but a child not even old enough to legally live on his own, but I will support everything he chooses”, he came over to Light and brought him into a tight hug, “I’ll miss you Light”
Banner came over to Light, “You’ve been my best friend for years and I hate to see you go…”, tears formed in his eyes, “Make some friends down there little brother, find yourself a family, and get married and have lots of kids… I know I’m getting ahead of myself but I can’t watch out for you anymore… so… be careful”
Color just ran up to him and cried while hugging him. When she let go Emerald raised a horn to his lips and blew: a thunderous sound exploded forth and the flames in the towers came to life, shooting out one fireball each that changed direction midflight, and landed next to Light; taking the shaped of fire horses.
“These are the Specters: they are bound to you until you reach your destination, serving as protectors and guides. Have a safe journey brother Light Bearer”
~
In the city of Manehattan, still in the grips of winter, a young pegasus was laying down for bed: he was a pure blue colored colt with a powder blue colored mane. Outside his window was the gently falling snow; winter was his favorite time of year because his father would stop working for a time and they would spend entire days together. His room was adorned with posters of the Wonderbolts and Daring Do. He was just about to fall asleep when he saw his father pass by the hallway of their apartment. He got out of bed and sleepily made his way into the hall.
“Dad?”, he said as he rubbed his eye, “ Where are you going?”
“I have the night shift at the station tonight”, he was a gruff indigo stallion with a dirty blonde mane and a geyser for a cutie mark, “Don’t worry I’ll be back by morning kiddo, then how about we go see the Wonderbolts perform? I think they’re still in town for a few more days…”
The sleepiness left the colt’s eyes and an expression of joy spread across his face; the Wonderbolts set to the falling snow would be the greatest way to begin their Hearth’s Warming Eve count down, “Do you mean it?! Oh my gosh tomorrow is going to be great! There’s no way I can go to sleep after this… can I stay up?!”
“Hmm… I don’t know… I don’t think I could take an exhausted colt to the Wonderbolts… they might fall asleep…”, he raised his eyebrow at his son.
“Okay I get it… can I have a snack at least?”, he pleaded.
“Fine, there’re some cookies on the counter and milk in the fridge, two max are we clear?”
“Yes sir”, he responded: crest fallen.
“That’s my boy, get some sleep cause tomorrow is going to be a day to remember!”, he left and closed the door behind him.
The young pegasus got a glass of milk and two cookies like his father said, slowly moving back towards his room. He stopped just short of his room to look at the door opposite his own: it was left ajar so he went inside and sat next to the bed.
“Hey mom, did you hear? Dad’s taking me to see the Wonderbolts tomorrow… I might get to meet Jet Stream! He’s my favorite. I wish you could come along but I know you can’t… I don’t remember you at all but I feel kinda empty since you’re not here… dad tells me a lot about you. He says I have your mane and that I’m really hard headed like you then he laughs and says how much he misses arguing with you…”, he finished his snack and got up, “Good night mom… I love you”
He got back into his room but not before gazing at the picture on the table in the hall: taken just after he was born when his mother and father were in a hospital room. A power blue maned pegasus mare holding a small bundle in her hooves. This picture was always a comfort to him, he never knew her since she died of complications days after he was born, the strain of his birth was too much for her and after a few joyous days of life as a family she died. Some fathers would blame the child for the passing of their love, raising them only to remind everyday of what they took away but his father was different. In his line of work there is always the possibility of death so he treasures life: he saw his son as the personification of their love instead of the one who took his love from him. He always wanted to be a fun father and let his worrywart of a wife be the voice of reason but with his wife gone he played both parts as best he could and did everything in his power to make sure his son wanted for nothing. His eyes trained on his mother, he often tried to picture her walking around and doing something he imagined she would do but he could never get the voice right. He snapped out of his delusions and cleaned up after himself, slipping back to his room. He settled back into his bed and slowly drifted off to sleep; letting dreams of a perfect day run away with him.
~
Far across the town in the less populated area three earth ponies made their way through the snowy streets. Two were fully grown and one, a small colt, trailed behind as his small legs struggled through the snow drifts and ice. The stallion at the front had a dirty blonde mane and a light brown coat that was stained and scratched in certain places; he had five-o-clock shadow, a ragged scarf, and a worn wool cap on his head. The mare had a long, messy, pink mane: her light red coat was adorned with visible stains and scratches. She wore a very thin jacket that was too big for her, with tears and holes along its sides. Behind them was the colt with a red cap; his silver mane poking out of the front, he had the largest jacket by far which was still noticeably worn apart from being too big, but kept him from shivering. His bright dandelion colored coat contrasted the glum expression on his face. Suddenly the stallion sprinted forward to the door of a boarded up building; he turned and raised his hind legs, bringing them down with all his might. He bucked open the door and waved over to his companions. They took off to where he was and entered the building; the stallion took a moment to look around nervously before closing the doors.
“It’s not the Maritrot but it’s better than we’ve had in a while.”, the stallion’s voice was raspy and deep but somehow a little comforting, “Give me the matches huh? I think I saw a trashcan in the next room”
“Here… Gonna need any help there?”, the mare had a melodic voice with a southern drawl.
“I’ve got it… take Quake upstairs and find us a place ta sleep”, he said as he left for the next room.
“*sigh* Come on Quake, let’s find a cozy place ta hunker down fer the night”, she took the colt by the hoof and made her way up the stairs.
“… Mama… did I do somethin’ bad?”
Tears formed in her eyes as she looked into his soulful green eyes, “No darlin’ you didn’t do anything bad”
“Then why is pa always mad?”
“He ain’t mad darlin’… he’s… he’s just a little sad that we don’t have a place to live”
“Why?”
“He wants us ta have better things… you know be happy”
“Do we need things ta be happy?”
“That’s enough”, both turned to see the stallion standing in the doorway of their makeshift bedroom, “I don’t want you worrying him with these things… he’s a colt, he deserves to act like one”
“He asked…”
“*sigh* Quake, listen to me when a say this”, he brought Quake in and stooped over to meet him eye to eye, “I’m a stallion, stallions have to be brave and strong, but before all that a stallion needs to take care of his family… I don’t much money… but whenever we can I’ll do whatever I can to keep you and your mom happy and safe”, he left briefly and dragged in a trash can that was set ablaze, “let’s get some sleep”
They cuddled together and soon drifted off to sleep, Quake slept in between his mother and father. He looked carefully at his father’s face: he had long watched the dark circles under his eyes grow over time and his voice became harsher as each day passed. He smiled less and less but at every turn he would try to give his son anything he could, recently he found the jacket he was wearing, giving it to him without a second thought. His mother cooked whatever they could find; making sure that Quake got the largest portions so he would grow into a healthy stallion. They slept more comfortably than they had in a good long time, Manehattan was only the most recent of the cities they wandered, and the others were like blurs of his life: his father always managed to find work somewhere in town although it never paid well. One job in particular he remembered: his father would always come back to their hobble covered in soot and dust, after finding work in the town mine, his voice got more and more horse until they finally left.
Having slept briefly; Quake stirred from his sleep with nature loudly calling, he got out of his position between his parents and started out of the room and down the hall. An ominous feeling washed over him as he left. He made it to the end of the hall and used the bucket they had found earlier, when he was done he reached for a handle but found nothing: years on the street and he could never remember that there was no plumbing. He started back to the room that felt so distant but as he walked he began to feel warmth, not subtle, it was sudden and fierce. He looked forward and was met with a wall of flames that had spread from the room he shared with his parents. Shock and fear anchored him to the floor: for that instance he had no concept of the passage of time, whether he was standing there for seconds or hours he did not know. The sound of crashing rubble brought him back to his senses and he heard a voice calling to him.
“Quaaaaaaaaaaakke!!!”, he recognized this voice as his father.
The fire had spread too far into the building but Quake ran to the doorway to see his father desperately holding up a part of the roof that was collapsing while his mother lay pinned underneath a fallen beam. His father’s foreleg was obviously in pain as the fire ate at his flesh, leaving blisters and exposed muscle.
“Quake! I’m glad you’re safe; you have to get out of here… I’ll find a way to get us out but you have to leave now!!”
An alarm blared from outside, bells were ringing frantically and a dark cloud was pushed over the building and a troop of masked, uniformed pegasi stomped wildly causing a torrents of rain to wash over it. Fate was cruel that night: the building was being torn down because of the astounding amount of fire safety violations; the entire structure was a large pile of kindling, waiting for a stray lightning bolt or spark to light it. The rain did little to stem the fire but one of the pegasi heard shouting from inside the building and raced down, entering through the nearest window. He stepped out from his entering room into the hallway and saw a colt sobbing near a doorway. Running up from behind he caught a glimpse of the father desperately holding up the rubble and the mother trying to calm her son.
“Quake… darlin’. it’s gonna be all- oh thank goodness”, she spotted the fire stallion standing in the door way and motioned to her husband.
“You… I don’t know your name… but get him out of here!!”, the stallion grumbled as the floor beneath his hooves began to splinter.
“Let me help you fir-“
“I said get him out of here!!!!!”
The masked stallion nodded obediently, grabbing the crying colt and speeding him out to the street bellow. He set him down and shook the soot from his mane, “Listen to me, take long deep breaths: I’m going to go back in there and I swear on my life I’ll get your parents out”, he sped back up to the scene and tried lifting the beam that pinned the mare.
“Iron Hoof, Iron Hoof… get out while you can”, the mare called.
“This smoke must have made you lose your fucking mind if you think I’m walking out of here without you!”
“Sir I can’t move the beam, if we’re going to leave it has to be now!!”
“I’m not going anywhere without her… I already failed him every other way I’m not going to let him lose his mother too”
“Sir if we don’t leave now he’ll lose you both”
Iron Hoof looked the pegasus in the eyes, “Do you have any idea of how empty a child feels without their mother? How sad? How incomplete? I don’t want that for him, he eats scraps, he wear rags, and sleeps in gutters and I can’t do a thing about it because no one will hire me… this… this is the one thing I can do for him”
“I understand”, the pegasus returned to struggling against the large beam, “If I had the chance to save someone I love, no matter how slim… I’d take it”, he began to hear the sound of wood giving way; he excitedly looked at the beam, hoping to see cracks, he saw the beam still intact and the floor under Iron’s hooves cracking.
Iron’s eye watered and he looked down at his wife: she looked back at him with a sympathetic smile, “I’m sorry Morning, I’m always dragging you and everyone else down with me”
“Shut it… were about to die… you can stop blaming everything on yourself”
“I’m sorry… I love you”
The pegasi wouldn’t give up even as the floor gave way and the ceiling crumbled, meeting like the snapping jaws of this great fiery beast; punctuating their brief and forlorn lives.
Quake watched from the street as the building collapsed and none of the three inside emerged. He held out hope that the pegasus would emerge like a triumphant hero but minutes passed as the fire was finishing the remains of the building and with it everyone and everything he loved. The last image he saw was a pegasus, dressed like the other one, moving towards him and picking him up. He awoke in an office he didn’t recognize: a silvery pegasus walked over towards him, it felt like a blur with muffled sound and all he took from it was that his parents were dead and he was headed to an orphanage.
The blue pegasus sat eagerly on his bed; listening for the opening of his front door. He wore his prized Jet Stream shirt, hoping to get it signed at the show. He listened intently and lightly shivering when he heard hoof steps approaching, then a knock at the door. Puzzled and believing that his father merely forgot his keys, he stopped just before opening the door. He flapped his little wings as hard as he could and flew up to the peep hole where he saw a light gray stallion with black patches: the most prominent over his left eye, and a black mane. He recognized the stallion as one of his father’s friends and coworkers, thus he opened the door.
“Uncle Stormy?”
“Hey Rain, how are you doing kid?”, the stallion stepped in with a forced smile.
“I’m doing great! Dad’s gonna take me to see the Wonderbolts… wanna come?”
“That… there’s actually something I need to talk to you about…”