The sun baked the ground. Nothing had grown in Equestria for many moons. The land that was once a beautiful and lush land was now barren and deserted. A single pony stood at the peak of a dry hill, looking out at her devastated home. Her once beautiful home decimated. And it was all her fault. All because of that stupid prophecy. She had fought it all her life and there was a spark in her that still fought it. Even until the end. Now the spark was fading along with her life. Once she died, the curse would go to another pony. As her vision turned to black she could feel the curse leaving her. The spark rose defiantly and as her life slipped away she cast a spell that released the spark along with the curse. The last thought she had was that at least she had done some good. Now the next victim of the curse stood a fighting chance against it. But then again, who could stand up against the curse.

Princess Celestia woke with a scream. The dream still vivid in her mind. Equestria devastated. She ran to her window and stared at the stars. All of them were a deep crimson color. The old prophecy was appearing again. The signs had all come. The curse was upon Equestria again. Celestia sighed. She had hoped that the curse would have been destroyed after the last host fought against it. Now she would have to do the unthinkable. The new host of the curse could not be allowed to destroy Equestria again. And Celestia would do anything to protect it from this threat.

Luna also saw the signs. She knew there was work to be done that night and flew into the night unnoticed by the guards or her sister. She had to get to the new host before Celestia did.

Nara galloped through the rain throwing up mist as she ran. The royal guards were somewhere behind her. She could hear them. Hear their breath and hoof beats. Nara had also seen the signs and knew what they meant. How could she not know when the pony they were looking for was the filly wrapped protectively in her bag. The filly with the curse and the mark that came with it. The black eye. Even now she could feel the eye looking at her. There was an evil behind that eye. The evil that Celestia wanted to destroy.

The rain ran down Nara’s face and some of the drops tasted of salt. The guards were getting closer and Nara couldn’t run forever. The rain was so thick now that she couldn’t see her hoof in front of her face if she even tried. Nara was on her last stretch of energy and the guards where only a few paces behind her when she ran into open air and fell into the waiting river below.

Luna had been following the group from above and saw the fall. She saw the guards search to no avail for the mother and her child. After they had left, Luna went down to search for the mother. She found the mother’s body entangled in the sharp rocks protruding from the river. Weakly the mother raised her head and looked at the princess of the night. With all the effort she could muster she uttered a single word.

“Spark.”

Luna gently closed the glazed eyes of the mother and looked at the small filly in her pack. The filly stared back with her bright green eye and her pitch black one. In the black eye was a defiance. A spark. Luna understood that spark and gently lifted the filly up. The filly was a pure white unicorn with a beautiful golden mane. Luna knew that she could never hurt such a beauty and wouldn’t let her sister either. Luna took the small filly and flew off into the majesty of the night, determined to give the filly every chance she could to defeat the curse. A spark was in her. That spark was strong and when there’s a spark, there’s hope.

The guard came to Celestia's throne room early the next morning. Exhausted, he bowed before the princess. The princess gestured for him to speak. The guard collected his thoughts and his breath before beginning. "Princess, we searched everywhere. We were in pursuit of the target but she ran of a cliff and into the river. We went down to check on her but by then she had passed on. There was no sign of any other pony. Unless they flew, no one else was there.

The princess sighed. Hopefully that had been the host but you could never know. The mark was different for each host. She thanked the guard and gestured for him to leave. Hopefully the threat was gone. However, now she needed to attend to other matters. Luna, for instance, was taking in an orphan unicorn filly as her student. At least there was some joyous news for the day.

Luna had much to do to prepare for Celestia. Her sister was coming to see the pupil she had just found for herself. Celestia must never know of the filly's lineage though. The filly was now standing in front of the mirror on wobbly legs. Luna sighted. This wasn't going to be easy do disguise her. She was fine until you saw her eye. What to do about that eye. Ironically, it was the filly that solved the problem. She had toppled over into a hamper of shimmering cloth, a gift from Rarity, and a piece had fallen over her black eye like an eye patch. Luna smiled at the simplicity and quickly set to work making an eye patch out of the shimmering cloth. The work was simple yet elegant and it added a bit of mystery to the filly's looks. The filly was now ready to face the world and more importantly, Celestia.

Celestia looked at the white unicorn with the shimmering eye patch curiously. Luna had explained that the filly had been in a terrible accident that had injured her eye. The eye could now, under no circumstances, be exposed to any light. The filly was a cute little thing and smiled sweetly at her. Celestia smiled right back. This unicorn was surely a sign of hope in these troubling times. She was so proud of her sister for taking on a student. It had already been agreed that all the princesses would help in the little filly's education. Luna had been hesitant on the matter but Celestia had insisted. As soon as the filly was old enough, her education would begin.

Author's Note

This is the first part of the story. I hope you enjoyed!