The Signs of an Angel

After all this time

The terrors are here still.

The rain keeps falling

though the sky is clear

The fire's dying out

No 'will' can save me.

/ Let me tell you a story. Believe it, or don't. Take it as the ravings of some madpony nearing his death. I don't care, just read it. /

She tosses and turns, she shivers and she shakes. The nightly tremors that course this filly's mind, seemingly coming to fruition every waking hour. The filly wakes to a voice, her father's, calling her name quite angrily. She begins to move the meager covering blanket from herself, baring the many bruises and scars she has received due to her father's harsh "punishment" for being useless.

"Fear! Get down here now, you little rodent!" The castle of Crystal seemed to shake with every word he spoke.

Fear quickened her pace and fell from her bed, hitting her muzzle on the cold floor. "Ow..." She stands and rubs her muzzle with her hoof as she slowly walked toward the halls, the dark, un-reflective crystal halls. As she walked she could hear her father yelling more unpleasantries toward her. The "guards" often try to comfort her, but they all succumb to the same fates as the last. Her father would slowly kill them, pushing a sharp crystal slowly through their back, and puncture their hearts. Death, is all the reward you received by comforting this hurting filly.

As Fear reaches the end of the hallway, she arrives at a tall staircase going down. She cautiously trots halfway down the stairs before her hoof slips. She tumbles down the stairs, her head or ribs, hitting each step as she went down.

Her father, Sombra, enters the room with a sneer. "Such an idiot, you can't even traverse the stairs correctly!? Your uncle Gale was more useful than you, and he "cared for you" more than I do." He got just about in her face and spoke again, "Too bad he's dead. Oh wait, that's right, I killed him!" He laughs loudly and pulls his head away from her.

His laughing caused Fear to shout, "Shut. Up!" She hid her head behind her hooves, afraid of the reaction her father would have.

Sombra stopped laughing, "Did I just hear you command me, to shut my mouth?" He picks her up harshly by her mane holding her so he could look into her eyes, "You believe that YOU, an unneeded filly, has the right to command me? The right to anything?" He waits a moment, expecting a response.

Fear closes her eyes, unable to speak, let alone speak to her "father." Sombra soon gets annoyed and brings his hoof hard across her  face three times and drops her to the floor. He turns and walks away, a triumphant look on his face. As Fear lands a loud snap could be heard as her horn makes contact with the floor. Blood begins to quickly seep out from the horn's original place at her forehead. Fear opens a single eye and sees her horn moving away, as she sees this she feels a searing and uncontrollable pain from her forehead. Everything goes black.

/The punishment you've just heard, went on for 8 more years.  Causing her to become blind in her left eye due to a "punishment." This "punishment" was done with a dagger, and it caught across her left eye, leaving a deep scar./

          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 8 Years Later ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sombra, becoming impatient while waiting for his 18 year old daughter, calls out to her in his home. "Daughter, I will not call you again!"

The mare trots slowly out of her room, limping to the left with each step. She comes to the top of the stairs and cautiously traverses them, she nearly misses a step but is caught by a guard, with a two-toned green mane.

"I've got you, don't worry Fear." He smiles and moves his mane from his eyes as he guides her the rest of the way down the stairs, "You going to be okay?"

"Y-you... know he'll kill you...?" Fear looks to the guard, surprised at his kindness as her hooves leave the last step. When she looks to her left down the hallway her father had called her from, she begins to get a pulsating pain from the  shattered horn on her forehead. Her hoof goes to her forehead and she starts to get dizzy, a hoof still on her shoulder.

"I'll walk with you to the doorway, to make sure you get there okay. Among other things." As he finishes speaking, his voice becomes a little darker sounding.

She nods her head, unaware of the tone of his voice, "Th-thank you... Very much.." They walk down the hallway and can hear Sombra mumbling, knowing he's about to yell again. "I should... go in.."

"Alright, be safe Fear." He bows his head and stands by the door, silently breathing as she enters the room. He keeps focused on the room, so he can hear every word being said.

"You've failed to respond quickly enough, again! What are you going to do for this bloodline when you can't even come when you're called!?" He grabs her by her mane and throws her into the table that's in front of him.

A second later the door slams open and the guard from outside the door along with two others, charge at Sombra. He breaks off from the other two and goes straight for Fear, picking her up and jumping through a window. "I hate heights!" The guards helmet comes off in the air as he holds her away from the ground, ready to take the impact at any moment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A light blue pegasi is flying down the path toward the castle, his eyes darting back and forth as though he were looking for something. As he is nearing the castle he hears the sound of shattering glass and speeds up. As he comes closer to the castle he sees a unicorn holding somepony, falling to the ground. "No! He'll die if he makes impact like that!" He speeds up even more, making several near impact saves from hitting into trees as he flies near the speed of legends. He reaches them mere seconds before impact, being dragged down to the ground as he catches them, it knocking the air from his lungs. They land with a hard thud on the ground, the fedora no longer being on the head of the pegasi, "Ah damn! Now I have to get another one."

The Unicorn looks to Fear, making she she is alright. Surprised to still be alive, He looks to the pegasi breathing heavily and begins to speak, "Thank you... I didn't expect to live from that one, I just wanted her to get away from... here. My name's Vale, but i'm called Cloud Watcher by some. Such an irritating name, just for the fact that I like to look up into the clouds."

Breathing heavily the pegasi responds, "The name's Stormdrift, and you're an idiot! You both could have died you know!"