This is my first story that I have published. I appreciate any feedback so long as its helpful. Thank you'd or your time.
It was seventeen days into the siege of Canterlot. Nine years after Celestia and Luna's assassinations. Ten since I had been elected Chancellor of the Commonwealth. Twenty since I had returned home from The War. Now I was engage in another war. A worse war. And I was loosing.
There was another explosion that rocked the underground compound. That one had felt much closer. What did that mean? Where they closer? Would the griffons get here first? I prayed to a god I no longer believed in, I prayed that the zebras would get here first. The griffons, I had heard of them raping and pillaging the villages they attacked. I feared for my life. Zebras however, they took captives. I could live as a captive.
I sat behind my desk in the bunker as flakes from the ceiling dropped onto it. I brushed them to the cold, grey floor. Outside the bombs descended onto Canterlot, decimating my already war-torn city. I sank into my chair and stared at the wall. Sighing, I felt a small tear trickle down my face. My city, my country, was all gone.
My wife was outside the door, crying into the shoulder of my trusted lieutenant, Flash Sentry. We had fought minutes earlier. She wanted to flee the city, to escape down the mountain, make a new life, to raise the life that slowly grew inside her. But I can't leave. I am the Chancellor. Without me ponykind was leaderless. Sometimes though- sometimes leaders have to make sacrifices. Sometimes that sacrifice is others, sometimes its themselves. I removed a piece of stationary and a pencil, scribbling down a note to Flash, thanking him for everything he had done for me. Then I thanked my wife for her support. The tears were falling freely now. I confessed all my shortcomings and faults, and said that I had always tried to do right, that I had fought for Equestria.
But Equestria would survive without me, as it had for the centuries before. Twilight was wise now. She could lead. I prayed she could.
Sentry was a good colt, I knew deep down, and a honorable one. His wife and himself would be able care for her and the filly.
How had things become so very very wrong so very very fast? It wasn't a month ago that I had sat in my chambers drinking tea with Fancy Pants and Rarity discussing the latest politics. It should have been perfect... But no, not anymore.
Now I sat in a hole in the ground, scared for my life as bombs ravaged my city. My home.
But this wasn't my home. This wasn't even my talent! I was a painter! I wasn't supposed to lead a country! How had I become so mixed up in this? The War had pushed me here I suppose. It had ripped away my art and thrust me into politics. I couldn't stand watching ponies die. Hearing their screams. Hearing my wife sob. Listening to the echoes of bombs destroying a once-great nation. I couldn't stand hearing it... And being so helpless.
Slowly I reached into my desk and removed the small revolver that Sentry had given me for my birthday, two days before. "In case they manage to get in," he had said to me. I lifted the barrel to my temple with my magic and closed my eyes. I had a contingency that he knew Flash would carry out. A method of escape: Operation: Lightning Run. I written the name on the note. Flash would know that to do. They'd use the catacombs to escape into the sewers, from there to the lakes within the mountain, and then put through a designated cave mouth. How had things gotten so very, very, wrong?
Now Equestria's enemies stood at my front door.
As I squeezed the trigger, fighting the voice inside my head that urged me to fight on, I thought back. Back to when I was a child.
To the happiest day of my life... Back to Ponyville...
To the day I got my Cutie Mark.
Fifty-Five years ago...
****
Today. Today I'd do it. I knew I would. I'd find my talent.
My mother called out from the bottom floor, "Paint! Come down here! Your breakfast is getting cold!" I looked in the mirror, my hair was a mess. I turned and yelled, "Coming mother!" I grabbed my saddle bag and headed downstairs.
Today I'd find my talent.
I ran down the stairs to my mother. My mother an I were a study in contrast physically. Where I was short with a light brown coat and black mane, my mother was tall with a yellow coat and green hair. My mother said I got my looks from my father.
I had never met my father, he had died sometime before I was actually born.
My father had been a lumberjack in the Everfree before such work was outlawed by the Commonwealth Court. He had been working on falling a tree when a pack of timberwolves appeared from a bush and slaughtered him. My uncle had told me that there had not been a lot left to bury.
Today breakfast smelt particularly good. My mother was am amazing cook. She could have made any food I could have dreamt up. But that was never her talent. My mother, in fact, did not have a talent; she was one of the rare ponies who simply never found out what they were good at. As such she could only gain jobs as unskilled labor. If she did have a talent though, she would have been a chef.
"What's for breakfast?" I asked trying to get a peek at the stove.
Mother giggled and replied, "Hay bacon and wheat." She gave me a small wink. It was my favorite.
When I was young I didn't have a lot. My mother supported me and she always gave me a treat when she could. Today was a treat. Hay bacon was cheap, but it was still expensive enough that we couldn't afford it regularly. I was truly excited about this day so far. My mother and I chatted for a bit. Then she packed her purse and left for her work. I had a while before I actually had to at school so I thought I'd go for a small walk through the park.
It was there that something amazing happened. I saw a rainbow tear across the sky. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen and a single thought crossed my mind.
"I have to paint this."
I had my talent.
Author's Note
This is my first story I've ever published. I would greatly appreciate any helpful criticism or advice you can give me. Thank you for your time.
