Destiny

Chapter 2: Memory

Darkness... Is the only thing I could see. The feeling of claustrophobia was creeping ever so slowly all over my body. At the same time the uneasy feeling of being inside of an infinite void was straggling right behind.

Was I to spend the rest of eternity here. This didn't feel like that Holy Place mother always blabbered on about. Neither that Dark Place she warned us..er i mean "me" of.

So was it an In-Between Place. Is there really such a place like this.

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of a foreign yet familiar voice. It..it was singing, and quite beautifully might I add. The words flooded my senses and bliss took over.My eyes closed shut and listened for what seemed like an eternity. I opened my eyes to see Rune floating from the darkness heading towards me.

A smile came over my face. He was fixed, no rips, tears, or even marks where he was torn apart. It was like nothing had ever happened to him.

Perfect like the day I got him. It's probably the only memory of my childhood where I can trully say I was happy. Well at least the beggining was.A bright light shined off into the distance getting closer and closer growing in size shunning the darkness away, and in an instant I was living that day once again.

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The day was December 9th... my 6th birthday. Every year mother and father Noir Lulamoon would throw me a special get together. It was strictly only meant for family and close friends, or should I say business partners of my mothers. Nopony else was allowed to attend. I was still at a young age but even than i was tired sick of it.

The morning felt like it always did. Took a shower, brushed my teeth, and combed my birthday all while fighting off Lexi who felt as if she was queen of the household and that she deserved to get everything she wanted.

I walked downstairs a bit ticked off. The day just started and already it was going lousy. I got to the bottom expecting the traditional Lulamoon Birthday Breakfast which was the only thing I looked foward to this day, but instead was greeted with open arms by my father and told to get in my best looking dress. He had a surprise just for me. Today I was to be treated like a real life princess, and taken to a special location to have the time of her life.

Remembering back father was the only one in my family who actually treated me like I belonged. The hugs he would give me every afternoon right after returning from school. Father had many nicknames for me but his favorite were Princess, honey, and his little sakura. He would read my favorite stories every night and when he was done he'd tuck me in followed by a kiss on my forehead, but i'm getting ahead of myself.

I was shocked by his words. Why did I have to put on my best dress so early in the morning. How special was this place we would be going to. Were we trully going out somewhere, but we always stayed home for my birthday. That's how my mother kept it, she didn't want her daughter socializing with some nopony riff-raff.

I ran up to my room with the biggest smile i'd ever given. I can't believe we're going out this year,/i] I thought to myself.

"Twerp where are you off to with such a ridiculous looking smile?

That was Lexi's mocking little nickname she had for me. Her words just flew over me as I ignored her comment and walked into my room.

Father is simply amazing It's like he's psychic, read my mind, and knew I wanted more for my birthday.
The question that was racing through my mind was how did he convince mother to go off her yearly plan that she kept in check year after year.

The best dress I had was a dark purple formal gown that was given to me from my grandmother from my father side of the family. It was a gift I was given the year before. The pattern was of the night sky. With a matching head peice that had a small sappire embeded in the middle in the shape of a star. It was perfect.

After putting on the gown I walked up to the edge of the staircase and saw Lexi, Father, and mother standing at the bottom staring straight at me. Father gave a warm smile as I took each step down the stairs. He was impressed saying I was the most beautiful princess he had ever seen. His Little princess.

Mother and Lexi on the other hoof couldn't care less. Mother hurried me up which upset father. He didn't understand why she treated me so poorly. I was her daughter and she should love me to the ends of the earth but with her it was the complete oppisite.

The face he gave told the whole story on how he felt. He sighed and gave me a smile reassuring me that everthing was still fine and not to worry or let it get me down.

We all walked out of our home and entered the family carriage. Which had a light blue tint and silver outlining. Where were we going I wonder if it will be fun when we get there. It was a surprise after all, and what a surprise it turned out to be.

After 40 minutes of riding through Canterlot the carriage came to a stop and out the window was an amusement park. The sign in the entrence read.

Straight from the Griffin Kingdom Comes The Amusement Park to end all Amusement parks.

The Amazing Sky Form and Daring Nightingale Lullaby present to you

MIDNIGHT MELODY

I was simply awestruck. This place was simply amazing. Rides as far as the eyes could see and i wanted to ride them all.

Getting off the carriage I couldn't contain my overwhelming sense of glee. I began to jump around like a little silly filly. All the way to the entrence. We paid for our entry and the tickets to get on the rides and pay for food in some but not all food stands.

Father chucked as he spoke "So princess, which ride first?"

Looking around I found the perfect ride to try out. It wasn't to kiddy but at the same time wasn't to dangerous. The name of this ride was Slithering Serpent. It was a rollercoaster that spanned all around the amusement park.

A huge sigh came from father. He was deathly afreaid of heights but if it was what i wanted he wouldn't mind.

Turning towards mother and Lexi I could see them give a looke of disgust as they walked away. Of course they wouldn't join me even on my birthday.

Father caught on to my dissapointment and said this means more fun for us honey.

That immediately retuened the smile back on my face. He knew exactly how to cheer me up.

The wait in line took no time at all. Me and father were quite surprised. It was only 30 minutes after arriving and we were already zipping all across the park.

I screamed at the top of my lungs in delights as father screamed in terror.The ride lasted a good 10 minutes before finally coming to a halt. Aww that's it I said witha bit of disappointmen as father gave a sigh of relief.

Again, I said with much enthusiasm, and with that father's relief was gone.

Three hours had passed and we were getting off our fourth go at the Slithering Serpent. The ride was taking it's toll on father so i decided it was time to get something to eat. We'd missed lunch by a whole third of an afternoon and our tummies were rumbling.

We looked around until a small stand that sold father and I's favorite thing to eat spicy hayfries came into view.

For thirty minutes we ate and talked about our favorite part about the rollercoaster. Mine were the loopty loops close to the end of the ride, and his favorite part was getting off. This made me and him laugh. Father was always silly.

Finishing up I decided it was fathers turn to choose our next activity of the day.

His decision didn't come until a flyer flew and smacked hime right on his muzzle. The flyer gave information on the time for the main event Midnight Melody.

There was a 4 O'clock showing which was 30 minutes away from now. The only problem was thai it was on the oppisite side of the park.

Looking at each other we gave a great big smile. An idea had popped into both of our minds. Without giving it a second thought we got up off our seats and dashed our way towards the show. It was a race I was determined to win. Father may be older but I was faster.

The whole way there I could remember our laughing as we passed other ponies who must have thought we were complete lunatics. Even passing by mother who looked absolutely furious, but we didn't care. All that mattered to us was our race.

Father ended up winning the race just by a hair. I think he cheated but I wasn't going to debate it. We both had fun and that's all I wanted.

We made it with 15 minutes to spare. We got our tickets, bought some snacks and took our seats. The excitement was killing us.

Soon after taking our seats the show had began. The beginning of the show started off soft with the sounds of water flowing down a stream giving everypony the effect of being right next to this imaginary stream. The added rays of blue covering the entire audience gave it a sense of realism.

The Orchestra in front of the stage began to play a soft melody mimicing the sounds of the stream. Leaves of bright pink begain to fall from the ceiling. Cherry blossoms or Sakura was their name. A beautiful leaf that came from the cherry blossom tree that only grew in The Griffin Kingom.

These leaves were a great significance in one of my favorite stories father would always read to me before I would head off to dream land. It was of a young griffoniness who would wait for a griffin under an old Sakura Tree. Each night she would count the number of leaves that fell from the tree before he had arrived.

I was never able to stay awake to hear the rest of the story but of the parts I did hear were simply beautiful.

The first performer to appear was a pegasus wearing an outfit that seemed to be symbolizing the leaves which were still falling from the ceiling. She glided down gracefully following their movements. My eyes had been fixated on that one performer that I hadn't noticed the others. They finally caught my attention when one flew right across my gaze.

The music grew gradually as everything in the show started picking up. Once the opening scene had finished and the two main stars were presented I knew for a fact that this was the story father would read to me before i slept.
With each passing minute the show was pulling me closer and closer making me believe that I was the star.

The stunts were amazing each one keeping me at the edge of my seat. One stunt in particular caught me off guard. The part of the story was where the griffoniness Sakura Flor and the griffin Tempered Rune were forbidden from seeing each other. He being of royal blood and she being a lowly pesant.

It was their fifth meeting under the sakura tree. Each time they spent together they got to know more about one another. Like how Sakura's favorite time of the year was spring between the months of March and May. She was always graced with luck, or how the prince had always wanted to become an artist and capture the beauty this world had to offer.

After a few hours spent under the tree the princes private guards would arrive to take him back to the palace. He would try his hardest to hold on to his beloved but to no avail. That's when she would cast a spell turning her body into sakura leaves. It was a clone used to confuse the guards. They would fall for it with one charging towards it. The sakura leaves would envelope the auditorium. Everypony "Ooooooo'd" and "ahhhhhh'd". It was trully spectacular giving me chills that ran down my back. Exactly what I had imagined every night this story was read to me. The music had tied in perfectly with the scene as well.

After two hours of this amazing show it was over. With the Prince and now Princess married and living happily ever after. Father had tears running down his face as he stood up to cheer the finale.

We left the auditorium with smiles and filled with warm feelings in our hearts.

The day was coming to an end and soon we would have to head home. I didn't want this day to end it was everything I had ever wanted, so many wonderful memories were made in just one day.

As we trotted away from the showI saw a game that had three prizes. For the small was a baby red dragon partly inside it's egg. Medium was a stuffed phoenix standing proud as they always do, and lastly for the large prize was a stuffed blue bear that had a star pattern all over his body. That's the one that stood out the most. I was determined to win it at any cost. All I had to do is throw a soft red ball at a set of three pins staked up on one another and knocking them over with out using magic. The price to pay was three tickets. Luckily that's all we had left. We gave the stalion behind the counter the last of our tickets and he provided the our three attempts.

I grabbed the ball with my hooves and threw it straight at the pins but missed just by a hair. The next throw was a different story. It was more erratic and misssed by a longshoot knocking over a chair that sat roughly 5 feet away from the pins. The look of dissapointment came over my face. The doubt was taking over when father came up to me and said "don't worry honey if we do this together we're sure to win that bear."

Together we grabbed the ball and chucked it as hard as we could towards those pins. *Smash* the bottom left pin went flying towards the back as did the bottom right, but one was left on the table. Spinning slightly only to slow it's movements as it stationed itself in the middle of the table as if taunting father and me.

Tears were beginning to form when I heard a small crash from under the table. The stalion behind the counter had noticed my saddness and ever so slightly kicked the table making the last pin fall.

He smiled as he handed me that plush bear. I was so happy I jumped the conter and gave him a big hug and thanked him for his generosity.

We gave our goodbyes as we trotted away from his stand. Father turned to me and asked "what are you going to name him?"

I had no clue on what I was going to name name him until genius struck. As of today he shall be known as Rune the Valiant, Protector of me Trixie Lulamoon.

Father chuckled and smiled he loved the name I'd given my little bear. It's quite fitting were his words.

After a half an hour we made it back to the entrence where mother and Lexi were waiting unamused at how long we had taken to get back. It had already gotten dark and mother wanted to get home as quickly as possible. The carriage wasn't far away so we all began to trott to it's location.

Halfway there a pegasus came up behind mother holding a knife demanding all of the bits we had. Lexi screamed and tried to push the stalion off but it was useless. She was thrashed to the ground smacking her head and knocking her out.

Father saw this and ran up to the stalion shoving him right off of mother and onto ther ground. He fell to the ground where he stuck his head and knocked unconscious, but this paid a heavy price.

The knife he was carrying in his hooves was thrust into fathers chest. Blood began to flow from the wound slowly then gradually gaining the amount that came out. His breath was getting heavier with each passing second.

I let go of Rune. Time had begun to slow down. Everything around me was coming to a gradual stop. In my mind I could only hear please don't let this be true, let it be a dream a horrible horrible dream, but it wasn't. It was reality and it was happening right in front of me. Once Rune hit the ground everything went back to normal and I was thrown back into reality.

"FATHER!!! No, No, No please be okay." These were the only words I could speak.

Crying my eyes out I turned to mother and asked for help, but what she did next I will never forgive. She ran away.

Not even giving it a second chance. She was gone. I could do nothing as I watched as the life in my fathers eyes began to fade away. He was going to die and I was powerless to save him.

He turned to me and lifted his hoof holding my cheek. I held his hoof as tight as I could. Wiping my tears away he spoke his final words "Princess i'm sorry this had to happen especially on your birthday. i wanted today to be a memory you'd keep in the happiest places in your hear forever, but now because this that memory will be tainted in sadness. I want to be there to see you grow into the beautiful mare I know you will become. I want you to promise me something.."

"Yes anything father.." I said still holding on hoping in some way he'd be okay, but I wasn't to be.

"Don't let anypony out there tell bring you down. You are meant to be somepony amazing, loved, revered, great and even powerful. I believe in you honey, princess, my little sakura..." his eyes began to close slowly and then they shut, forever. Father was gone.

"Fa... father.. wake up don't go I.. I don't want you to leave.. please come back.. Please open you eyes and tell me everything is going to be okay... I.. miss you.. Rune misses you.. pl.. Please don't leave.. forever. I love you father." Tears were racing down my cheeks I stuffed my face into my fathers chest and layed there. A while later She came back with help but by then it was to late.

Father had left this earth and wasn't coming back. In an instant a bright light began to shine and once again. It grew until I was thrown back into the dark emply void.

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Why was that the memory I had to relive while inside this darkness? Was this my own personal Tartarus, a sort of limbo created to torture me for eternity. I just wanted all this pain to end. For it to all go away.

Without warning a loud voiced echoed. It broke through the silence. It was of mothers screaming and begging for me to come back. That's when the bright light shined for the last time taking me back to my body where I awoke in a dark room strapped to a machine. My body was bandaged up and I could bearly move at all.

I was back in the world of the living. Given one more chance at life. Laying there I woundered if it made the right choice letting me live. Why must I come back to this world that has wronged me so much at such a young age.That is how I remained for the rest of the night.