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

"Hey, get up! We're gonna be late!"

Scootaloo was trying to wake up Heartfire. It was the day: final exams. This day determined whether or not they were to live proudly as pegasi of Cloudsdale.

Heartfire groaned. "Three more minutes. It's only the final exam..."

"ONLY the final exam!? Heartfire, you'd sleep in on the apocalypse," she huffed. She stomped a hoof on the ground. "Fine, be late. I'm not going to fail because of your laziness." And at that, she left the room.

Heartfire sat up groggily. It was her fault he was tired in the first place. If she hadn't kept him up all night... He smiled. She had been right about one thing. She did know how to relax him, and it always worked.

He hopped out of bed and fluttered his wings. His legs were a little stiff, but otherwise, he should be able to fly just fine. He surveyed the room. The blanket was on the floor, pillows were piled into one corner of the bed, and the sheets were crumpled up into weird shapes on the bed, all evidence of the previous night's... activities. Heartfire grinned, the memories of last night dancing into his head. He turned toward the window. It was time to leave for the exam. He couldn't fail. He flew out the window and headed for the Parade Grounds.

As he neared the Grounds, the instructor was giving his instructions to the line of ponies ready for the exam. Since he had arrived last, he took his position at the end of the line. As the instructor neared him, he stood at attention.

"Clear, fly, fall, complete. That is how you pass this final," He put his face right in Heartfire's. "Got it?"

"Sir, yes sir!" Heartfire responded, as if on instinct. As the instructor trotted away, he caught Scootaloo's glance. She was smiling. He smiled back, and mouthed the words, "Are you ready?" She mouthed back, "Fuck yeah!" He grinned, and turned his attention back to the instructor. He listened as ponies' names were called, and watched as they completed their routines. It seemed simple enough. Clear the clouds, fly through the rings, and fly upwards, pull in your wings, and fall 20 feet, pulling up right before impact. Simple enough.

The other ponies did fine, until he called her up.

"Aurora! Get up here."

The yellow pony took her place at the starting line, full confidence taking over her expressions. He smiled, knowing that she'd pass, no problem. The instructor blew his whistle, and she took off. She cleared the clouds with ease, and flew through the rings like they weren't there. She then flew upwards, pulled in her wings, and fell. As she opened her wings to stop her fall, there was a loud SNAP! She fell the rest of the way, landing in the clouds. All three judges pointed down; she had failed.

No one else seemed to care, and he watched as she got up and started limping away.

The next pony went through his routine flawlessly, and the next, and the next. Heartfire flew through his routine flawlessly, bringing a gust of wind with him as he fell. He opened his broad, grey wings, and was finished. Then up came a tall, brown pegasus. He recognized the pony right away. It was Orion. If he had seen what happened to Aurora, then Heartfire knew that this wouldn't end well.

He watched as Orion flew straight towards Aurora, landed on the cloud next to her, and glared at the judges. They weren't fazed. They just pointed downwards, failing him.

"Scootaloo. Clear, fly, fall, complete." Heartfire watched as she nodded and took off. She cleared the clouds expertly and with ease, but as she was flying through the rings, he saw her look at Orion, and he smiled weakly back to her.

She tripped.

In the middle of her routine, she got distracted, and she tripped.

Heartfire watched in horror as she tumbled into the clouds at the same time that the judges pointed their damned hooves downward. She looked at him, smiled feebly, and walked away, with Orion and a broken Aurora.

...

Heartfire awoke with a start. The other ponies in the room were looking at him.

"Wha- what happened?" He sat up, head still throbbing. It felt like he hit his head on something, and when he rubbed his hoof through his mane, he felt a bump on the back of his head. He winced at the touch.

Silent helped him up. "After we all agreed to help you, you passed out, hitting your head on the wall. We tried to wake you up, but you kept shouting. When we asked him what was happening, he said you were remembering."

Heartfire looked at her, confused. "Who said that?"

She pointed behind him. "He did."

He turned to see a tall, grey pony standing behind him. He had a curly mane, but it seemed to straighten out and darken at the tips. He was a unicorn, but his horn seemed to be sprouting another, smaller horn from it. Heartfire stood up and gave him a light punch in the chest. "What are you doing here, Dominic?"

Dominic pointed at Joanna. "She called me, told me you needed help. What's going on?"

Silent spoke up. "He needs our help with his past." When Dominic just stared at her, she elaborated. "He thinks there are clues in his memories."

"Clues to what?" He looked at Heartfire, and so did everypony else. Heartfire looked around the room, at the looks from his friends, then dropped his head.

"Something big," he said, "Something important. It feels like I'm being warned about something, the way the memories burn themselves into my mind. I don't know what it is yet, but I feel that I need to find out."

Dominic nodded. "Then I'm in. I'll help you figure it out, and whatever this is leading to, I'll help you."

Heartfire smiled. "Thanks, stallion." He turned to his friends. "Thank you all. Without you, I'd still be in those streets, drunk, ignoring what was going on in my head. Without you guys, I'd never have discovered the few clues that we have now. I'd still be lost. Thank you."

Silent fluttered up to him, leaning up against him. "You've always got me here for you. Remember that." At that, she hugged him and moved away, allowing Iron Coat to pass by.

"We need to get your scrawny ass ready for the upcoming shit storm." He punched Heartfire's shoulder. "Got that, soldier?"

"Got it, Cap'n," Heartfire said, rubbing his shoulder where the buff pony had punched him. Iron Coat leaned forward, and Joanna hopped off his back.

"Well, you ready to figure this shit out? We got your back." The other ponies nodded in agreement. "How about it, stallion? You ready?"

Heartfire nodded his head, then turned towards Joe and Artsy, who had been listening.

"Joe, you talk to almost everypony. Can you find out some information for me?"

Joe nodded in response, though the look on his face was of confusion. Heartfire trotted up to him and whispered in his ear. When he was finished, Joe just looked at Heartfire. He nodded, then looked at Artsy. She smiled at him, and he smiled in return. Joe stood up with Artsy, turned, and headed out the door. Artsy followed closely behind. When Joe whistled, Iron Coat jumped up and headed towards the door.

"I forgot, they're my ride!" He caught up to the couple as the chariot arrived, and with the quiet flapping of wings, they were gone, on their ways home.

Heartfire hovered in the middle of the room for a bit, then slowly descended back to the floor. He looked towards the stitched doll in the corner of the room. "Spectra, I know you've been listening. You can come out now."

The doll sprang to life, standing up in it's own. It's mouth didn't move, but a voice could still be heard from it.

"Of course I was here. You expected otherwise?" The doll moved across the room and jumped onto Joanna's back. "Hey Joanna, long time no see!"

Joanna smiled at the doll. "Good to see you Spectra. How've you been?"

"Fine enough. Living in Heartfire's house is interesting enough, that is, when he's not gone, drunk in the streets." The pony doll moved across the room, towards Heartfire. "I'm with you too. I'm not sure how much a ghost posessing a pony doll can do, but I'll do what I can!"

Heartfire picked up the doll and hugged it. "Thanks. I'll need all the help I can get." He released the doll, who did a fake 'gasping for air' thing. Heartfire smiled, then turned to Dominic. "Are you okay?"

Dominic was staring at the doll with an awe-struck look on his face. "H-how... how is that possible?"

Joanna stepped in. "That's right, you didn't know! Well, I think you deserve to know about this." She sat Dominic down and went through the story as Spectra lay in front of Dominic.

"A couple of years ago, I had a friend named Spectra Enlighten. She was a green pegasus with a long, flowing, purple mane. We were best friends. We would spent every day together, hanging out, talking about colts and about things we wanted to do once we left Canterlot. She wanted to be a medium, channeling the dead through her to find out people's fortunes or fates. She practiced every day, speaking to all kinds of spirits, learning many things about the world, some that she didn't want to know." She smiled weakly at the doll, which seemed to be asleep. "But one day something went wrong. She was digging for information on a particular client, one who's fat was becoming harder and harder to read. She searched deeper and deeper into the nether world, scraped until she thought she had found what she needed. As she subconsciously pulled the spirit closer, she realized what it was, only too late: a demon. Before she knew it, the demon had taken her over, burning her from the inside." Tears began to well up in Joanna's eyes, and she had to stop. Heartfire trotted over and placed a hoof on her shoulder as she sobbed. He looked to Dominic, a sorrowful look on his face. "The fire station was too late to intercede. By the time that they arrived, the tent that Spectra did her readings in had burned to ashes, along with her and all of her stuff. The only thing left was this doll. Joanna took the doll, and shortly after, we discovered that Spectra had moved her consciousness into the doll, protecting herself from the fire and the nether realm."

Dominic looked at the doll in front of him, amazed. "She really went through all that?"

Heartfire nodded. Dominic trotted over to Joanna and hugged her. "I'm sorry for what happened. At least she's still here, right?"

Joanna looked at him, her eyes puffy from crying. "Yeah, I guess, but it still sucks."

"Yeah, I know, but look at her. Do you think she wants you to be crying like this?"

"No. Not really."

"Well then, stop crying. We need you strong to help Heartfire. Even Spectra wants to help. That sounds good, yes?"

She nodded her head, smiling a bit. "Yeah, it does. Besides," she said, slyly looking at Heartfire, "I don't need another doll walking around!"

Heartfire smiled, then winced in pain as a memory burned into his mind, bringing him to his knees.