His mind barren, the river of thought growing stagnant and still. The burning, simmering hatred, showing yet as life is drawn from his very body. Not a thing in this world bringing him closer to fulfillment than the thought of his own demise. Yet, how exactly had this stallion's life been cut from him so abruptly?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~5 Years Earlier~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Celestia rules alone, Luna falling ill shortly after the death of one mare, her name being Fear. Her lone rule leaves her with a saddened look, much like the one she wore when she had banished Luna to the moon. Now, however, the sister she so dearly loved, was fighting for her life against a sickness that not even Zecora recognized.
A purplish gray stallion walks slowly down a Canterlot alley, his ribcage visible as skin hugged tight to the bone. The death of one close, had made this stallion stop eating altogether. A darkness was in his eyes, as well as the entire look of the gait he held, the darkness showing magnified as the pouring rain pelted the ground around him. The moon a constant reminder of the night his life had been shattered, a constant reminder as to why he was never to smile again. Every step he takes causes a slight limp of his left forehoof as a deep wound drips blood slowly out and is washed away by the rain. The rain itself, causing an eerie feeling in this single small alleyway next to the place he used to call home, a two story manor that once acted as a castle to him in some sense.
The scene fades into black as a pegasi appears, talking to no pony at all. Rainbow Dash, yet the words she spoke were not her own as the voice prattles on toward it's point.
"Do you ever wonder why it is that thoughts turn so dark and tormenting? Why life becomes so dark after a seemingly small accident or act goes out of our control? Why such small acts can destroy a pony so easily, when it was seemingly so meaningless? Such, is life. The unending questions toward pain, love, and heartbreak. Perhaps, this short, "story", will help answer, or maybe, it'll cause even more questions to formulate. Only one way to know."
The scene comes back into view as the stallion stopped walking, sitting alone next to the only place close to his heart, SugarCube Corner. He speaks but a few words, "Pinkie... I'm sorry... I wasn't there..." Then, at that moment, his body could take the strain no longer, and he collapsed in the pouring rain, unable to move as life clung to him by a thin thread of pain. Rooting deep inside his heart a pain he had never felt before, even as he had lost his own sister to a pair of stallions just three years before, had begun to take over his mind and being as he moped and hoped for a different change to take place. A sort of wish he held close to his heart and mind, to bring back his dear sister, Fear (Mayflower), and his loving wife, Pinkie Pie. His wife, had passed during his three year rehabilitation from the mental instability caused by the thoughts of blaming himself for his sister's death. Now, a spiraling depression with the roots deep inside of his heart. Unerring in his path of self destruction, unwilling to go anywhere than where he presently lay.
A pair of Celestia's guards patrolled the skies as the storm continued it's torrential downpour upon the city. One of these guards, knew this self-destructive stallion quote well, and himself, kept a part of himself hidden from all. The guards look around them in the sky and then turn their heads down toward the city, looking in every street and alleyway as they passed over the city. Suddenly, one of the guards makes a signal with his hoof and they both make a mad dash for the same alleyway. Silently, but surely, they make quick progress toward this single stallion, one being much quicker than the other.
"Do you think he's alright? He looks as if he's- The other stallion stops and puts a hoof up, signalling him to stop as well.
"I can handle this, you may continue your patrol." The senior guard spoke with a respectable tone in his voice, continuing toward the ground after the younger guard had saluted him and went higher into the sky, following orders without question.
The stallion lay shivering in the alleyway, still in a comatose state as the guard came closer to the ground. In a single motion, the guard had gone from being above the tallest building in the city, to being on the ground. A speed yet matched by anypony in the guard, or in Equestria. He removes his helmet and sets it at his neck, the straps keeping it from falling to the ground as he steps closer to the stallion, draping a cloak from his saddle bag over top of the stallion. The guard picks up the stallion and lays him on his back, running carefully into an inn called Restless Spirits. The moment he enters this inn, everypony stares at him, his long, wavy white mane tied off in a ponytail behind his head. His tail was done in much the same way, the only difference being the fact that his tail was in several large braids.
"This stallion needs a bed, we won't require anything else other than a meal to eat in the morning."
"Light Runner, I should have known you'd show up tonight. No matter, you know where the room is. Would you like a bedroll to sleep in yourself? " As the barpony speaks, the guard throws a bag of bits at the counter, totaling up to 600 bits in all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Later that night~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The stallion had been dried off for a while now, still in a sort of comatose state as he mumbled incoherently from time to time. Showing signs of recovery as he begins to shuffle around on the bed while he slept, still shivering from the cold. The bed he laid upon, could hardly be called a bed. The wooden framework was rough and rugged, crudely made. The blanket was a thin cloth sheet, the pillow wasn't any different. It's at this time, that Runner notices the wound on the stallion's leg, and tears part of the cloth from the garments under his armor, and wraps it tightly around it, stopping the blood's steady flow.
Runner goes down to the bar area shortly after to let the stallion rest, and so he could talk to the barpony. "Sake, then, maybe we could actually conversate normally for once." He looks to the barpony and begins to speak as the barpony grabs a glass. "This weather, it isn't planned. We've had no control over weather since the princess fell ill."
The barpony shook his head, " I see that, if you had control, Sweet Apple Acres in Ponyville, wouldn't have been flooded so terribly. Also, some bad news, we haven't had a drop of Sake in years, but i'll get you something else. On the house."
He nods his head, looking toward the door as a tall cloaked figure stepped in, his black mane hanging down out of the hood. "I never would of thought that you'd show your face here. You vermin."
A deep growl was heard as the cloaked figure started talking, "Those words, they sound exactly as venomous as the ones that were spoken by your now fully grown colt. Cloud Watcher is it?" He pulls the hood down, his mane nearly reaching his legs, stopping just before his shoulders.
The barpony stopped in his tracks as he heard the second voice, shortly before hearing a loud crash from upstairs, and hearing quick but balanced hoofsteps on the ceiling. "Is that... "
From upstairs, a voice is heard coming down the hallway, "Sombra.... You're done..." A hatred in Cloud Watcher's voice as he nears the stairs and rosy pink tendrils reach down from the stairs, "Fear... I'll avenge!"
Sombra laughs deeply as Light Runner disappears, appearing just milliseconds later in front of the menace.
"My son, will not be harmed. You will both be contained." Runner's dark eyes begin to glow as Sombra is encased in a golden light, unable to move anything but his head, his magic rendered useless by the light he was encased in.
"You... In my way!" Cloud Watcher tackles Runner to the ground, fully aware of who it was he was attacking. Yet, unaware of the relation this pony had to him.