“I heard she crawled out from, the darkest crags of the mountains.” A gasp echoed from three young foals as they poked their heads out from under their ragged covers.
“Oh yea?” replied a pepper colored colt, “I hear that she’s really a dragon, here to torment us all before she gobbles…us UP!” A lavender filly squeaked and jumped under her covers, shivering violently.
“She gobbles foals?!” was all her quavering voice could muster.
Out of the shadows a glint of light twinkled for a fraction of a second and the youngest of all the ponies jumped from the darkest shadow growling and snarling, showing off her teeth to the captive audience. The act made only better by the unnatural canines possessed solely by this young pegasi.
“That’s right little ones,” she cackled in a dark voice, “I’m going to fatten you up, clip your wings to hang on my wall and then…I SHALL DEVOUR YOU ALL!” She roared, grinning the entire time. The foals screamed in unison, diving to hide under their pillows or beds, while the youngest smiled happily enjoying her only moment in the spot light.
“EVES STORM!” barked one of the older ponies, a colt that blazed brilliant orange with a gold-red mane. “Stop terrorizing the others. After all the times they bully and pick on you, you decide to do the same thing back? That makes you just as bad as they are.” He frowned looking disapprovingly at her, watching her glee deflate into the repressed and lonely stance she normally carried herself with. Her eyes seemed to empty of its night sky shimmer. She was the newest to come to the Windsoar Young Fliers Sanctuary, an orphanage for young pegasi found on the streets of Windsoar. The city itself was double the size of Cloudsdale, and nearly as large as the floating ponytropolis of Las Pegasus.
“Now, what aren’t we going to do?” Firebrand asked in a hopeful tone. Eve glanced up at him, her hair covering one of her eyes as the other brimmed with angry tears. She stood and huffed, flicking her hair over her shoulder.
“Don’t be a bully, I know, I know.” She snorted and trotted off bucking the door open and walking off into the play yard. She could still hear Firebrand calming down all the other ponies. “It’s not my fault their just a bunch of finicky foals! Getting all scared about Scorn Wing ‘the terrible’.” Scorn wing, the ‘house mother’ of the orphanage. She was the cruelest of any pegasi; rude, rough, abusive even. Telling all the young ponies how awful they were and how lucky it was to have her as a ‘mother’.
Eve sat and sighed lying on a comfy tuft of cloud to gaze into a small pool of water that had been left by this night storm. She could see her reflection as it stared back, her mane and tail shimmering a lovely shade of deep navy blue that attempted to spike and flow at the same time. Thankfully she still had her most precious and only possession, a blue star sapphire barrette that tied back her mane brilliantly. Her fur dark pale cobalt to match her pure silver eye with flecks of blue shimmering between the pools of silver. Biting her lip softly, she looked at her flank, still no cutie mark. She was the youngest, the smallest, and the last pony without her cutie mark.
“It’s okay; I still scared those babies!.” She smiled halfheartedly, laying her head upon the cloud bed she had made for herself. “One day…one day I’ll show all those ponies, I’ll be a somepony!” Thunder rumbled in the distance as she nuzzled the cloud, curling up into a ball and falling fast asleep into a land of dreams that would carry her far from this desolate excuse of a home.
Her dream filled with a choking fog, as crickets began their song and frogs harmonized. A tall angry figure trotted through it all, her bones creaking with every step and her eyes glowing so brightly that it lit the old pony’s path. Her skin clung to her bones and her wings rattled when they unfolded.
“Children, oh my little darlings! Where are yoooouuu?” Eve cowered from the frightening form of Scorn Wing as the monster terrorized her dreams. Taking a deep breath she could feel an inner strength fill her, give her strength and power. She smiled taking a step from the bushes only to realize the growth of her stature. She was a fully grown pegasi now ready to face the monster that was Scorn Wing.
“Eve…” A soft yet strong voice echoed through the gloom. “You must confront your fears…not destroy them” Eve narrowed her eyes, ears pinning back but all she caught was a shadow moving unnaturally fast before the sky. What or who was that? Eve shook her head; no she had to destroy the tyrant of the Orphanage! Pawing at the earth she charged forward, teeth bared, wings pinned tight to her side. Scorn Wing cackled and leaping into the air her wings creating echoes of thunder. With a sudden buck of her hind legs Eve kicked off the ground and soared after her with the hopes of permanently grounding her.
“SCORN! Never again will you hurt another innocent-“
“Eve…EVE…EVE! Wake up, it’s time for breakfast.” Eves eyes slowly fluttered open, her mouth dry and gritty as sand.
“Fire...brand?” She murmured trying to shake the sleep and her dream from her mind, yet still that voice, that foreboding voice echoing from that strange shadow. Slowly she rose to her hooves and followed Firebrand off to breakfast, which probably was going to consist of old grass and hay. Perhaps if they were lucky they might get a wilted daisy here or there but they came few and far between for any meal. Most of the foals would create a group meal and just share it all. Making sure the smallest and weakest ate first and the strongest ate last. Firebrand stopped at the door and sighed, looking down at Eve,
“I’m sorry, about last night. I didn’t mean for you to sleep in the yard… you have a bed Eve please sleep there so that the night chills don’t make you sick. Be strong Eve, fortune always favors the bold.” She could only smile back up at the colt. He always knew how to cheer up anypony.
Author's Note
Comments and Constructive Criticism welcome, hope you enjoyed the beginning of this tale.
Firebrand grinned and pushed the doors open, before the two sat a long table where at least thirty young pegasus colts and fillies ate breakfast. Eve frowned and bowed her head a bit; most of the foals tossed her sidelong glares or snorted threateningly.
“Go on Eve, you should try and at least make a friend before taking on ‘the big scary dragon’ shouldn’t you?” Firebrand joked, moving off to the far side of the room where the older pony table resided. Eve took a deep breath, puffing her chest to help keep her confidence, and began trotting to her normal seat nearest the abandoned right of the table. Graffiti from crayons and markers covered her section of the table with insults and crudely drawn pictures of her falling from the clouds and to the earth.
“Ugh, children,” she groaned distastefully looking even more unsatisfied at the plate of food waiting for her. Most of it was two molded slices of bread with dead dandelions sandwiched between, plus a side of weeds, crabgrass to be specific. She leaned her muzzle in close and took a tentative sniff before immediately backpedaling, not even a griffon could make her eat this mule food.
“Not hungry are we, brat?” Eve froze and swallowed sharply. That gravely brimstone voice, Eve could almost feel her that old pony’s eyes burning into the back of her main. Then there was that hideous toothy smile with rot and pieces of something caught between those removable chompers.
“Y...yes, Ms. Wing,” She said spinning around with lightning like speed and smiling as big as she could. The old pony bore sharp yellow eyes, her Mane and tail, now a graying fiery orange to match her still crimson coat, which seemed to have life of its own.
“Are you sticking that spoiled little muzzle of yours up at my delicious cooking?” The room around them fell silent some ponies had their hooves in their mouths to stop from laughing or gasping. Others looked on in shock and fear; the oldest ponies narrowed their eyes and glared at their so called caretaker shouting at a young filly.
Eve looked from hoof to hoof trying to think up something to say, her voice caught in her throat before finally she spat back the first thing that came to mind.
“No, Scorn Wing I-“ Everypony gasped, no one was allowed to call the orphanage caretaker by her full name they were always supposed to address her as Ms. Or Ms. Wing if they wanted to try and stay within her small excuse for good graces. Scorn Wing gave a deep guttural growl and smashed her front hooves into the ground before Eve, though by some miracle the filly held her ground.
“WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME EVES STORM?! SAY IT SO EVERYPONY CAN HEAR!” Scorn Wing bared her teeth and leered at her, all Eve could do was just stare at the imposing pony seemingly frozen in place. “WELL?!”
“I said,” Eve stared in a small voice, building in confidence bit by bit. “I said Scorn Wing!” She stood tall and proud, the only every foal that had called the caretaker by her name had vanished without a trace, Eve knew she could be next. “Scorn Wing, the Terrible!” She said louder as everypony watched in horror. Firebrand stood and began to speak but Scorn Wing shot him a look of venom, silencing him instantly.
“Is that what you think of me Eves Storm? Is that what everypony thinks of me?!” The crowd of ponies shook their heads and many shouted back.
“No Ms. Wing, we love you and we adore you,” they said in a rehearsed tone smiling those awful fake smiles. Scorn Wing smiled victoriously and looked to Eve.
“Looks as though your all alone little foal, do you think me evil or do you wish to apologize and finish the wonderful meal I made for you?” Eve glanced back over her shoulder; Firebrand looked scared as he tried to convey her need to apologize. She closed her eyes and turned back to face the horrid beast.
“You’re Scorn Wing, the dragon, the terrible, and the cruelest pony ever born!” She jumped up on the table, tossing her plate to the ground and shattering it. “And I think your cooking is horrid and gross, I hate you and anypony who doesn’t have the guts to stand up to you.” Eve growled back flashing her teeth and strange fangs and for the fraction of a second, she thought she could see fear in Scorn Wings eyes. The mare spun and kicked her hard, bucking her across the room and into the main door of the dining room.
Eve felt her skull collide with its solid frame sending stars dancing before her eyes and knocking the air from her lungs. When she hit the floor all she could do was gasp and try and stand, feeling a sharp pain in her left wing, it was obvious she had landed funny on it.
“ANYPONY ELSE?” Scorn Wing shouted, her voice booming with rage throughout the entire room. Eve groaned, standing again, noticing that Firebrand was suddenly at her side. He whispered in her ear, his voice agitated and fearful.
“Eve, for your sake stay down. You’ve made your point, don’t be crazy and try and take her on again!” She chuckled in a raspy tone.
“No Firebrand, I have to stand up to her cause no pony will. If I can show that a little runt foal like me can stand up to a dragon…who’s to say it won’t inspire others that come after me? I won’t lay here! I plan to stand on my own four hooves for what I believe in until both them and my wings cannot hold me any longer!” Staggering to her hooves, she raised her head, a bloody gash on her forehead. “I’m not done with you yet, Scorn Wing ‘the terrible’!” The mare snarled and swooped onto the table, pawing roughly across its surface.
“I’m going to throw you from the clouds you insubordinate filly, and watch you fall the all the way to earth!”
“Not if you can’t catch me,” she laughed back smoothly. A couple of the foals cheered for Eve, watching her shove the main door open and gallop off into the streets of Windsoar. Pegasi stared at the foal oddly, other flying out of her way as she galloped for the Great Tower of Storms. Scorn wing was quick on her flank, flying high above to tail the foal until she grew tired.
As Eve ran she beat her wings hard against the rushing air trying to gain flight but every time she only gained a few feet of altitude before falling back to her furiously moving legs. She could hear Scorn Wing laughing from above her at her attempts to gain flight, but Eve was set on freedom. She bolted into the heavy stormed that surrounded the tower and the factories that made such wild acts of nature.
First came the rain, pelting her in the face and obscuring her view, followed by the loud roar of the thunder and the crash of lightning. Eve’s heart was pounding faster as faster, reaching the stairs and not even hesitating to gallop upward. Scorn Wing dove and landed expertly atop the towers soaked platform where only the greatest fliers of Windsoar were tested. Getting rid of a foal in this mess would be all too simple.
When Eve finally reached the top she collapsed and gasped for air, her legs shaking and wings twitching with cramps. Her head fell into a puddle, drenching her more and making her cough up water.
“Your mine now Eves Storm!” Scorn Wing cackled as she took a step closer. Eve jumped to her hooves and stood there; cold, wet, and tired; all she wanted to do was sleep.
“No…never, you can’t own me!” She shouted, jumping at the menace, Scorn Wing flew to meet her. Out of a large black cloud, lighting struck between the two sending them both over the city’s cloudy edge. Eve just screamed, the wind howling loudly around her ears. She could feel her wing feathers singed from the lightning, yet still she flapped them. “SWEET LUNA, MAY MY WINGS CATCH WIND!” She yowled, tears streaming from her face as the earth came up to meet her.
Author's Note
Constructive Criticism and comments welcome.
