Heartfire's Tale: Flashbacks and Nightmares (Part 1)

He stumbled around a bit longer, fighting back the tears that came with the memory of the orange pegasus.

"Why did shey have to takes you? Why!?"

Heartfire tripped over something and fell, landing in the gutter. He propped himself up, sitting in the gutter, sobbing. As he looked down at the stagnant rain water, he stared at the pony he no longer recognized. His mane was unkempt and matted, his eyes and cheeks puffy from crying. He had bags under his eyes from the lack of sleep, and his eyes were red and watery. He was a mess.

"Heartfire?"

He turned to see a purple pegasus with flaming purple and pink hair standing behind him. He blinked at her, recognizing the voice, but only vaguely.

"Celestia, what happened to you?"

Again he blinked, confused.

"Come on," said the purple pony, "Let's get you home." She lifted him up and draped him over her back.

As they trotted towards Heartfire's home, another memory sent a jolt of pain through his body, causing him to whimper.

The purple pony gave him a concerned look, then went back to her thoughts of a blue earth stallion.

...

"Alright! You are here because you have trained to be the pride and joy of Cloudsdale! Tomorrow is your final flight exam, before you're sent off to represent this floating city in the best way possible!"

Heartfire stood at attention, his hooves planted firmly in the clouds. He looked straight ahead as the instructor paced back and forth in front of the line of pegasi.

"You all know the drill: Clear, fly, fall, complete. Go home, get some rest, and be ready for tomorrow. Make me proud." And at that, he dismissed the ponies.

Heartfire relaxed and turned towards home.

"Heartfire!" He heard a call behind him. He turned to see a small grey pegasus with blonde hair flying towards him at full speed. Heartfire shut his eyes and braced himself for impact, waiting for the attack. When nothing happened, he opened his eyes to see the filly sitting on the cloud in front of him, looking up at him. He relaxed, lowering his guard.

"Hi Overl-"

"GLOMP!" She tackled him, wrapping her arms around his neck in a big hug. Heartfire flailed his legs, but to no avail. He was pinned onto his back.

Overlap, the small grey pony now sitting on his chest, just smiled at him, barely containing herself.

"Oh my Celestia! Heartfire! You looked great! How do you think you'll do tomorrow?"

Heartfire just lay there, still dazed from the tackle/hug. He looked at the filly on his chest and smiled. "Oh, hi there Overlap. How are you?"

Overlap beamed. "I'm doing great! I just learned how to loop the loop!"

"That's awesome! Show me sometime, okay? I kinda gotta get home and rest for the exam tomorrow."

The filly frowned. "Aw, come on! Lemme show you! Just a small one. Please?"

He laughed. "Alright, alright, fine. Let's see this."

She squealed. "Yay! Okay, now, sit right here. I'm gonna go get ready." She flew off of Heartfire, allowing him to get up, and landed a couple of feet in front of him. She stretched her legs, flexed her wings, and took off.

She flew forward rather shakily for a bit, but then righted herself in mid flight. As she reached the end of the cloud, she arced upwards, pulling backwards into a loop. As she reached the apex of her flight she looked up, or rather, down, and saw how far she was from the ground. She became frightened, and lost control. She veered off course, heading for the ground, and Heartfire.

"Heartfire! Move!" She shouted, knowing she was going to crash.

Heartfire just stood there, seemingly frozen in shock. Overlap braced for impact, as Heartfire spread his forelegs apart to catch her.