Night Dust: The Child Prodigy (prototype story)

Chapter 3

Growth

The next day, Night Dust woke up bright and early to a sunny sky that shined through his outside window, he hopped excitedly out of bed and trottered downstairs and into the dining room to see his Father reading the C.E paper. Bullet Stain turned his head toward him and smiled warmly at him, “Morning Son, sleep well?”

Night Dust nodded his head as he climbed onto a chair and sat at the table, “Yup, I had this super duper dream where I fought this big dragon, it was big and scary, but I beat the monster to the ground and saved the Princess of the Crystal Emp….. Epire….. Impi?”

Bullet chuckled softly as he corrected his mistake, “Em-pire, say it with M, then Pire, see?” he explained.

Night Dust motioned his lips and repeated, “Em-Pi-er….. Empire,” he looked up at his dad, who nodded and continued reading the paper.

At that moment, Sunny Sweet entered the dining room with a nightgown on, and cheery look in her eyes. “Good morning, you two,” She yawned as she made herself a small breakfast and poured herself a glass of Orange Juice.

“Hiya Mum,” Night-Dust piped, she gave him a short smile as she eyed Bullet Stain, who stood up from his chair and gave her a kiss.

“Morning Dear, sleep well?” he asked.

She nodded as she stretched her wings and back and gave a little groan, “mmmmm, yeah, just gaining a bit of my energy back, s’all.”

Night Dust stood up from his chair and walked to the kitchen cupboards, he opened the pantry door and laid his eye’s on his favourite cereal, ‘Flaky Foal Frosties,’ he pulled the product out and carried it to the kitchen table, his father pulled out a bowl for him and folded his paper on the kitchen bench as he glanced at his watch.

“Well, I have to get going; Today’s the day we head outside of the magic barrier,” he called out as he headed for the front door.

“Ok sweetie, just be careful out there, promise?” Sunny called back.

“Sure thing.” He replied.

Night Dust happily ate his breakfast as his mother gazed at him with awe, she sighed happily as she day dreamed of the family, they all sat on a grassy hill overlooking a crystal blue lake, the moonbeams shined down on the sparkling water, as several falling stars flew past the sky.

Night Dust took a mouthful of cereal, but froze as he stared at his mother who looked happily dazed, he glanced around the room in confusion and swallowed, he waved his hoof in front of her eye’s until she finally awoke. She laughed nervously as he stared at her with curiosity, she cheekily shook his spikey mane as he retorted in a friendly manner, “Awww, c’mon, mum, I just did my mane this morning,” He brushed his mane to its original look, as she giggled at him.

“C’mon mister, its almost time for pre-school.” She said cheerily, Night Dust beamed at her as he rushed upstairs, grabbed his bag, and put on his favorite hat, it was blue and white striped cap with the symbol of victory stamped on the front. Sunny waited at the front door as he happily hopped down the steps and out onto the street, she shook her head as she locked the door behind her, and followed after him.

Night Dust tugged his mother gently by her wing as she chuckled from the sudden jerk, “C’mon mom, my friends are waiting for me,” he shouted as he trotted several steps ahead of her.

“Slow down, just wait for me won’t you?!” She called after him; she never thought that he would be so happy to go back to school so eagerly, "He came home full of joy and stories of him and his friends, I didn't think it would work for him" she thought to herself.

As they neared the Fun Centre, Night Dust caught a glimpse of a black cloud near the end of the street, it had menacing green eyes with purple flames emitting from it, "Mum, what is that thing?" he called to her.

Sunny looked at where he was pointing, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary, "What thing, dear?"

"That thing right ov-" he stopped when he realized that it had vanished without a trace, "huh.... what... was that?" he thought to himself.

"Are you ok, Night Dust?" Sunny asked in concern.

He shook his head and banished the thought from his mind, "yeah.... never mind, I'm ok." he said.

-Foals and Fillies Fun Center-

He entered the fun room just as Rose Stem had placed a book gently on the ground, he could see her horn glow faintly with a purple aura, it vanished once she opened her eyes, she glanced in his direction and beamed excitedly at him. "Hey Night Dust, welcome back," she said, "its great to see you, my father and my brother are outside, putting out some play things." she explained, she waved at Sunny, who smiled and waved back at them.

"Your mum is pretty you know," she commented, Night Dust stared at her in surprise.

"Y-yeah, I guess she is," he stammered, he really loved his mother a lot and thought she was a very nice looking pony, but it was the first time he ever heard a filly his age call her pretty, Rose smiled a little as she took him by the hoof and led him outside, Ace rode on Mr Walker's back as he placed the last of the construction toys in a sand box.

Ace turned around at the sound of the back door opening and saw Rose with Night Dust, he jumped off and landed right in front of Night Dust, "Boo!" he flinched and gave a sudden squeal, Ace stiffled a laugh as hard as he could, but burst out as he toppled on his back cackling, "You, ha ha ha ha, shoulda seen the look on ya ha ha ha ha...... face, it, wooo, was, hee hee hee hee...."

Night Dust breathed heavily, as he tried to get ahold of himself, Rose patted him on the back, and glared at Ace, who nervously shrugged at her with a small grin.

"Uhhhh, gosh, that was pretty tricky of you." he said assertively at Ace, he picked himself up and lightly punched his shoulder.

"Eh, you gotta get use to scary stuff if ya ever wanna be a grown pony."

"Scaring him isn't the way to do that," Rose said with a low tone.

"If anything, he should learn to face his paranoia in the same way you two will learn." Mr Walker said, the trio stared at him, as he took his glasses off and wiped them clean.

"Fear is a natural part of life all ponies shall have to go through, but one should not feel any shame to encounter the trial of overcoming fear." he explained, Ace yawned, clearly not paying attention to what was to come next, Rose simply rolled her eye's, acting as if she knew everything that was going to happen, but Night Dust listened intently to what he had to say, "The first step is to know what drive's you to be fearful of what haunts your imagination, what is the last thing that gave you a chill that you can't stop thinking about?"

Night Dust thought hard and remembered the black smoke from the end of the street, it didn't scare him, but he did feel a sense of fear, hate, rage and sadness, if his mother hadn't seen it when he did, maybe somepony else did, "I saw this black puffy smoke thing, it was rather big, and had purplish like lightning coming from it, but....." he stopped suddenly, Ace and Rose looked at him with curious faces, Mr Walker lowered his head and thought hard.

"Black smoke..... Purple Lightning...... uh?!" images flashed in his head as he saw the Crystal Unicorn, King Sombra, stand triumphant at the balcony of the Crystal Palace, his menacing eye's emitted a purple flame, his armor was coated red as blood and his voice boomed like a lightning storm,

"Slaves, Work Harder, Work Faster, and no slacking, as your rightful King, I expect nothing but work for the perfect Kingdom!!" he yelled.

Earth stared helplessly at him as his neck was chained and pulled by other slave worker's, he shook his head as Rose was just about to hit him with a book, "Father, are you ok?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." he stood up quickly and headed back inside, "I'm.... sorry Night Dust, it seems my knowledge of the type of fear your encountering is inefficient," he said.

Night Dust tilted his head in confusion, Rose sighed and stepped in, "He means he doesn't know much of what the Black Cloud you saw is, so it seems like you're going to figure it out for yourself." she explained. Night Dust hung his head in disappointment, he wanted to know what that strange cloud was, but if Mr Walker didn't know, who would?

-Outside the Foals and Fillies Fun Center-

The day had passed, and Night Dust, Ace and Rose stood on the front port of the Fun Center as they waited for Sunny, the other families had already come around to collect their everypony, Sunny had left a note with Mr Walker saying she would be a little late in picking him up due to an important matter she had to attend.

As they waited, street lights began to awaken, and the evening breeze gently brushed Night Dust's mane. Rose sat quietly as she levitated several flowers and began to accessorize, Ace slacked against the wall chewing on a piece of grass, and kicking at several stones, Night Dust stayed standing and began to whistle a small song, the leaves of the wind lay in the wind as his soft, comforting nostalgic tune drifted across the sky. Rose and Ace looked up at him, mesmerized with his talent to pass the time with a beautiful tune of memories.

Night Dust finished his tune slowly and softly, and noticed that Rose and Ace were both staring at him in awe, he scratched his mane a little and made a slight chuckle, "I, uh, do that when I have to wait sometimes," he said.

They kept staring at him, making him feel a uneasy, until Rose finally said, "That was..... amazing."

Ace nodded slightly and shook his head to snap him out of his trance, "Th.. That was just unbelievable, I mean, where did you whistle like that?!" he asked.

Night Dust kicked at the ground and mumbled a few words, "It was, uhm......., m... my mum."

Rose sighed softly and closed her eye's, "You must have a wonderful mother to teach you to whistle this amazing," she said dreamily, Night Dust laughed innocently, he never thought she'd be the type of filly to be easily impressed, or even a foal like Ace to give him such a big compliment.

He spotted a Mare from the corner of his eye, and saw his mother walking up the path to the center, "Mum, over here!" he exclaimed happily, she smiled at him sweetly as he collided into her arms for a hug, Rose smiled and Ace rolled his eyes, but grinned when she wasn't looking.

"Did you have fun with your friends?" she asked, Night dust nodded and beamed at her, she noticed Rose and Ace, as they waved at her, she waved back, and pulled him off her, "C'mon you, its time to head home," he nodded happily and waved goodbye to his friends.

Night Dust's Home, Late Evening

Night Dust had finished brushing his teeth after a long bath and a helping of some his mother great cooking, he trottered to the other side of the hallway to his room humming to himself quietly, he passed the stair railing as he overheard his parents talking, he didn't usually listen to what they said to each other, but just as passed the railing closet to the living room, he could hear their serious tones, he stopped and listened to what they were saying.

"I think we should tell him in the morning, besides, I think it'll keep him up if he know's what we will tell him." he heard his father say.

"Yeah, I think its for the best, ooooooh, this will be so exciting ." his mother said, as she tried her best not to squeal, his father often told him that she had a bad habit of squealing over the most excitable things, but he always liked that about her.

Night Dust hurried to his room as questions started to fill his mind, "I wonder what they what they're hiding," he thought to himself, he climbed into bed and tried to sleep it off, but more and more questions came to him than answers could find themselves, he shook his head and buried his in the pillow, hoping to know what would happen tomorrow.