The letterby zoruatrainer66ChaptersLate nightThe beginning of changeThe questionThe doubtingThe coldLate nightLuna's moon hung high in the sky, it was close to eleven at night, the wind gently carried fallen leaves as though they were its children rocking and swaying them to its mournful lullaby as it blew through the trees, the moonlight was bright tonight, there was a sense of calm and peace in the air, ponies could be heard from afar as they walked home or enjoyed a night time stroll. The moonlight shone ever so brighter through the window of a building unlike any other in Equestria, the beam of light shined into a study of sorts, onto the desk of a mare. That mare was writing a letter that would be sent in the morning, as she finished her letter, she thought of how the recipient would react to her telling of her experience during the changeling attack last week. The changeling queen's plan was perfectly executed and thought out, she was about to secure victory for her changelings, she had every thing under control, until her disguise was torn to pieces, that is. She and her changelings were violently expelled from Canterlot by a love spell, the real wedding took place three days later. Now, four days after the wedding, the mare was about to leave her study to go to her bed when suddenly a flash of emerald green and sweltering heat filled the room, she whipped around with her horn glowing, ready to attack the changeling she thought was there. Only to find a scroll on her desk. This scroll was old and weathered, it had tears and holes around the edges, but what caught her attention was the bindings of the scroll, it had a tattered black silk ribbon held in place by a teal wax seal of a pony split down the middle by a line, the left half, was what appeared to be a Alicorn, and the right half appeared to be a Earth Pony. Still wary after the attack, she checked for curses, finding none she cracked the seal and began to read, it was in shaky horn-writing, she thanked Luna for making the moonlight bright tonight. To you Dear Reader, I wish I could tell you this in person, but in my deteriorating state I can barely hold this quill in my magic, let alone travel. I ask you to not destroy this letter, and to take this letter at face value, with an unbiased opinion, until you are done reading anyway. In this letter are my apology for my actions and the story of the changelings origins, as well as why I attacked Canterlot. First off, for what it's worth, I am sorry for the actions I took last week, I was blinded by power, I had every thing I needed, everything I wanted! I was finally full... That haze of power and the knowledge that my plan was going perfectly caused me to get lost along the way, I turned arrogant and cruel, that arrogance and cruelty made for my downfall by Twilight Sparkle, she saw through my ruse immediately, the others were fooled into thinking that was just pre-wedding jitters, but not Twilight. I was exposed at the last second. I had Equestria in my reach and in come Mi Amore Cadenza and Twilight Sparkle. I was shocked, I had imprisoned them both in the Crystal Cave below Canterlot! We argued and then we fought, every thing was under control until Cadance got to Shining Armor. They were carried into the air by their combined magic, they released a spell fueled by love and hate. Me and my changelings were launched out of Canterlot, when I landed I was carried to the Nest. Then I found out I was poisoned with hate. Being poisoned by hate is like having cancer, my body is so weak, the only way for me to heal is with enough love, my changelings have already used all that we have trying to save me, but it is to late... I am going to die, so I might as well apologize and get some weight off my back. My story begins three-thousand twenty-six years ago, I was born in the middle of the worst blizzard since the founding of Equestria, I was born a Flutter Pony, a race that disappeared along with Flutter Valley, I had a silver coat, and turquoise mane and tail. My wings were those of the Blue Morphos and my eyes were turquoise. When I was eight my father passed away, a month after that without warning, the three volcanoes that surrounded Flutter Valley erupted... We gathered as much food as we could and evacuated to Willow-Wisp Caverns, these caverns were the home of an ancient and powerful flame that was green as a emerald and never went out. Every decade this fire would birth a will-o-wisp. This fire also provided warmth and warded off sickness, it was deep underground in the middle of a lake on an island big enough to hold our entire population. My mother, the queen at the time, was grieving the loss of the city, and praying for our survival. Me and the other children were scared and we were grouped together and put closer to the center of the island, we were mesmerized by the flames, when we looked into it we forgot about our troubles and fears. We got lost in a trance that lasted for minutes, the adults were just thankful that we weren't scared anymore. What the adults didn't know was the danger that fire posed... Author's Note This is my first fic, if you like it you know what to do! The beginning of changeThe days passed slowly for the Flutter Ponies, having stocked on food to last for a year with the then current population of three hundred, we were safe, sheltered and warm. There was plenty of food and water, we were in relatively high spirits, sure we lost our homes but we were alive, and we would be for as long as we had food. The supply of food would last us until the eruptions stopped, or at least we thought so, what we forgot to consider was pregnant mares who would give birth soon, we had a severe oversight in our prediction of a years worth of food. Eight months in the food was running short, we had only a month left of food, my mother had sent scouts to the surface to see if we could escape to Equestria, when they returned they said that the volcanoes were still spewing lava and the entrance was blocked by a lava flow. My mother was shocked, never had an event like this occurred, the three volcanoes had been thought to be minor in threat but apparently they were much more than we imagined. Reports from Equestria at the time called it "the worst natural disaster in recorded history!", the volcanoes had been continuously spewing lava for nearly a year! At the time my mother had received this sad news of being imprisoned in a cave, I was playing with the younger children(they were starting to show signs of malnutrition as mother had started to ration the food when she found we only had three months left of food) and a couple of the older fillies, we played tag and kick the ball(it was made of twine and fabric) we couldn't play hide and seek as the island was to flat, so instead we played made up games that would get increasingly silly as time went on. A week after the news came, we received news from a sentry by the caves entrance, the lava flow that was blocking us from leaving had stopped. When we got to the entrance all was silent as we ascended into a fiery orange light, when we reached the mouth of the cave what we saw I will never forget, the palace was ruined, the city was in flames, Flutter Valley was gone... In it's place was a fiery hell of lava fields, the sky was black as night, filled with falling ash and rising embers, my mother ordered us all back immediately, when we arrived at the island she broke down into tears, seeing their queen sad made her subjects sad, but it was me who cried the most seeing my mother, who had always been calm under pressure and strong when all else were weak was crying, our home was gone and so was our hope of getting out alive, the ashes would suffocate us if we stayed to long outside. We could not fly because the embers would burn our delicate wings and the ash would make it harder to use them, which would exhaust us and slow our speed, we were officially trapped, we couldn't send for help as we had no magic, my mother cried for ten days, I cried right beside her, when we recovered, I went and sat next to the fire, as I did whenever something was troubling me, this time when i sat down, the fire crackled as if it was speaking. That was impossible, fires couldn't talk! I put it off as my sleep deprived mind playing tricks on me. I laid down and was just about to fall asleep when I heard it again. " Do you want to survive this unfortunate turn of events?" The Emerald Flame asked. " What!?" I mutter in my addled state, "who's there?" I say getting to my hooves. " Do you wish to survive this ordeal, along with your people?" It asked in a demanding crackle. " Who's there!" I ask looking around but seeing no one, I start to panic, as I'm about to run, the flame asks its question once more. " Do you wish for you and your people to survive?" It said in its demanding tone. Realizing that the Fire is speaking I turn around and see that it has two large silver eyes trained on me, I cower at the sight as I slowly regain the position I had left. " Did you just ask me if I wanted my people to be saved?" I said to the fire, not really believing what I heard. " Yes" it spoke with clarity. Author's Note Sorry if the story seems sketchy here, I am beat and not quite wide awake. The questionI sat in stunned silence for what felt like a minute. The fire had said yes and was looking at me, waiting for my answer. After I got over the shock of a talking fire I thought about its question, did I want to save my people? I was nearing my ninth birthday, soon I would be of age to take the title of princess, my mother didn't want me to be spoiled and mean so she withheld the title to keep me from abusing power, oh how I have failed her... Oh I went on a tangent for a bit, so I was sitting there thinking about the question, as much as a eight year old could think on such matters, in one hoof was the fact that we were running low on food, we would soon starve and die, on the other hoof what could this fire do to deliver us from our situation? I chose to ask this question. " What can you do to help us?" I asked with curiosity. " I can give your people a chance to survive, you will be able to breathe the toxic air outside as if it were just a snow storm, you will be able to fly without fear of the ash snow weighing on your wings, and most important of all, you will hunger for food no longer." The fire said in rushed crackles. " Not being hungry any more would be nice, but how would you do this?" I ask curious as to how one could possibly have the power to make us not ever need to eat again. " All you have to do is step in my flame and I can give you a chance to survive in this place of destruction, just step in my flames and let all your troubles burn away." It said in a whisper, as it spoke i began to feel sleepy again, my eyes half-lidded, I curled up by the fire, as I did so it spoke once more " when you awake, think on my question and on your answer. I will be awaiting your return" When I woke up I was laying near my mother, she was looking at me with her kind, sad eyes, concern plain on her face. As I stirred she gave a sigh of relief, she craned her neck down and nuzzled me softly " you've been asleep for two days, I thought you would never wake up again, I found you near the flame, what were you doing?" She said with concern. " Mom?" I ask groggily, "did you hear anyone speaking to me?" " All I heard was the fire crackling dear, is something wrong?!" She said hurriedly. " Mother I'm fine, just tired, but there was something I wanted to tell you. I can't remember what it was." My head was foggy, all I could remember was getting tired in front of the flame, and hearing it crackle... " I guess it was my imagination." I say, getting up. I walk to the edge of the lake, get a drink of water and then lay down beside my mother. She still has stains on her face. I notice some new stains as well." Mother were you crying again?" I ask quietly. " Of course not dear, why do you ask?" She says hesitantly, I could tell she was lying. " Mom, don't lie to me I can see the stains on your coat." I whisper, I was starting to tear up. To me my mother was the world, to see that she was crying put tremors through my heart. It hurt to see my mom cry, she was so kind and strong, she once saved a colt from being crushed by a run-away cart by stopping it with her body. The colt got away fine but my mother had three cracked ribs and a broken leg, every day of her recovery that colt and his family sat by her bed and talked to her. Telling her stories of their experiences and having small talk, the colt thanked her every day. I slept and lay by her the entire time. Me and the colt became friends fast, his name was Flash Fly, he had a coat so bright it almost glowed yellow, a mane and tail as green as a forest, and the wings of a glassworks butterfly. My friend had died trying to evacuate, the Flame had helped calm me when I found out. All I had to do to calm down was go sit by it, and talk about the experiences we had together. You know, if all that happened hadn't happened, I'm pretty sure I would have married him later on in life, he was kind and gentle, he listened to my opinions and problems without bias or indifference, but I guess you could chalk that up to childhood innocence, huh? Either way I had developed a crush on him, he was my first crush, Flash Fly. Always there to listen and comfort, joke and play. Oh, look at that I'm crying, now some of the ink is going to smudge. I'm sorry, I haven't thought about him in nearly five-hundred years, ruling the changelings is a time consuming job, I haven't just had the time to think about things like this in fifteen-hundred years. Anyways, back to the story... The doubting"I thought I wiped those off" she said quietly. "Well you didn't." I said."Mom what were you crying for?" I ask softly, anything that can make my mom cry must be special to her,"here let me help." I say as I get up and walk to the side of her head(she was as big as an Alicorn, and I was still a filly). I snuggle up to the side of her head, then I proceed to try rubbing the tear tracks away with my hoof. When that doesn't work, I try to think of other ways to get rid of the offending stains, I think of a way, but it was a little intimate, I had only ever seen father lick my mothers face, to me that amounted to a kiss. My face reddened a little bit as I imagined my father kissing Mom, I shook my head and cleared my thoughts then asked "um, Mom? Is it alright if I... um... lick them away?" "Of course dear, what's wrong?" She says confused at my tone in asking the question. "Oh, it's just that I never saw anypony but Him lick your face." Mom had asked that I don't say father or dad around her. I didn't know the reason, I thought it was some sort of ritual or tradition."I thought it was like a kiss?" I said confusedly. "Oh it's not a kiss, it's just that nopony else ever needed to." She explains, "of course you can lick them off, here." She then leans down to my eye level so I can proceed. I lick one side and then walk to the other side of her head and do the same. "There, all done." I say with a quick nuzzle at the end. I then huddle between her forelegs and get comfortable,"Mom?" I ask, as i remember something that has been bothering me. "Yes dear?" She responds. I stay quiet for a while before I gather my courage to ask the question."H-how long?" "Hmm?" She looks towards me, " Dear, what do you mean how long?" She asks with confusion. "I mean, how long do we have?" I say quietly,"how long until we run out of food? How long until we all... die..." I started to sniffle then, I had thought about it before but I never asked till then."I don't wanna die mom... I don't wanna... die." I said sobbing between words. She gasps, "shh, shhhh... dear, why are you crying? We're not gonna die. We have enough food to last until help comes. We'll live, you'll see, in a month, we'll be out of this cave and in a nice house with a warm bed and good food, maybe your friends will move where we do." She then huddled me into her chest and shushes me until I calm down. "But what if help doesn't come? What if we run out of food? What will we do when we... starve?" I get back into my sullen mood, I start to sniffle and whimper, thoughts of the pain of hunger and weakness of exhaustion slipping me further along the slope of misery. "Now none of that!" I flinch a little as my mom uses her strict voice, she rarely ever uses that tone, when she does you know she's angry."I will not have you thinking such things do you hear me? If you cry over those things what will I do?" She then tears up."what do I do when you are crying about things you don't need to be worried about?" She nuzzles me, pulling me closer with her neck. "You don't need to worry about those things honey, I do. I'm the queen, it's my burden not yours. I need to worry, about getting help, food and water, and keeping us alive and safe. You just need to worry about keeping the other children happy and not to think about those things, ok?" She asks, calming me and gaining nod of agreement. "Yes momma, I won't worry about that anymore." "It's just that, I noticed everyone is getting thinner, and I heard the guards talking about how we won't get out." I tell her, "and I just don't want my friends to die mom! If they die I won't have anypony to play with, and their families will be sad..." "Oh, honey, you don't need to worry. Like I said, we'll be out of here in no time." She said cheerfully. Author's Note Sorry about the long wait, there's been a lot of trauma and drama with my family, my nephew died, my other nephew might get lost to social services, and my older sister and step-dad are fighting over something that occurred a while ago. Top that off with heavy school work and you get a lot of writers block. Again I'm sorry for the wait but circumstances demand my attention. The coldTwo weeks passed slowly for me, and as those weeks passed I fell deeper into the hole of sadness. Watching from the sidelines as the older ponies starved themselves or gave more comfortable spots to rest to the young, telling their stories as they prepared to die, and withered away, watching as parents lost their parents and children lost their grandparents. Every death was a blow to the heart, as ponies I knew were dead and dying, starving and weak. Children had it the worst, especially the new born foals and younger children, this was no way to live! Confused and scared. hungry and thinning. This was no way to live... 'At least this island is warm'I thought as I looked towards the Emerald flame at the center of the island.'that fire lets us bury our dead at least.'funeral pyres were getting common now, at first it was those who could not be saved from their injuries or infections. Now it was the elderly and the weak or sick, starving themselves so us younger and stronger ponies could live longer. The latest to go was Flash Fly's Grandma. An elderly mare who always greeted you with a smile and a tray of cookies, me not having grandparents I looked to her as mine. Knowing she was gone was like a needle in my heart that hurt with every beat. Being the Queen's daughter meant getting to know the ponies of the kingdom. Seeing so many friends dying or sad and hungry felt terrible, like watching the world die. Every death was as painful as the last. Every life lost was a broken heart, my mother fared no better. One day, while walking towards my mother I heard a cry from nearby, Trotting over I saw an infant laying on the ground crying out with hunger. Getting closer to the foal quietly I was stopped by a large white hoof, I looked up to see my mother standing behind me. She smiled wanly and walked towards the foal. Taking it in her hooves she cradled it and hushed it until it was sleeping, then she handed the foal to me and walked off to find the parents. Looking down at the foal in my hooves I remembered a conversation about something. Thinking on this as I held the child. Something about my people and a way to save them, my eyes widening as I concentrated on this memory. It was foggy and unclear, all I remembered was a deep voice saying it could help me. After trying and failing to remember I saw my mother walking over looking sad and lost, for all the world to see she was crying, Placing the foal on my back I trotted over to my mom and hugged her close. Pulling me closer and hugging me for dear life she whimpered, "It's not fair... Why do we have to suffer? Why do we have to die? What did we do to deserve this!?" she cried out, tears streaming down her face. "This foals parents are dead... and they left behind their child. This Is no way for this foal to live." she stated quietly. Staring at the sleeping foal in my hooves, she brought me closer and nuzzled us both. weeping for the lost and crying for those who came next. I sat with her and cried my piece, sad for the foal with no parents, mad at the world for our situation, and scared for my mom and myself, what would we do when we were the only ones left. Author's Note Sorry! Long time-no-write, and no excuses.
Late nightLuna's moon hung high in the sky, it was close to eleven at night, the wind gently carried fallen leaves as though they were its children rocking and swaying them to its mournful lullaby as it blew through the trees, the moonlight was bright tonight, there was a sense of calm and peace in the air, ponies could be heard from afar as they walked home or enjoyed a night time stroll. The moonlight shone ever so brighter through the window of a building unlike any other in Equestria, the beam of light shined into a study of sorts, onto the desk of a mare. That mare was writing a letter that would be sent in the morning, as she finished her letter, she thought of how the recipient would react to her telling of her experience during the changeling attack last week. The changeling queen's plan was perfectly executed and thought out, she was about to secure victory for her changelings, she had every thing under control, until her disguise was torn to pieces, that is. She and her changelings were violently expelled from Canterlot by a love spell, the real wedding took place three days later. Now, four days after the wedding, the mare was about to leave her study to go to her bed when suddenly a flash of emerald green and sweltering heat filled the room, she whipped around with her horn glowing, ready to attack the changeling she thought was there. Only to find a scroll on her desk. This scroll was old and weathered, it had tears and holes around the edges, but what caught her attention was the bindings of the scroll, it had a tattered black silk ribbon held in place by a teal wax seal of a pony split down the middle by a line, the left half, was what appeared to be a Alicorn, and the right half appeared to be a Earth Pony. Still wary after the attack, she checked for curses, finding none she cracked the seal and began to read, it was in shaky horn-writing, she thanked Luna for making the moonlight bright tonight. To you Dear Reader, I wish I could tell you this in person, but in my deteriorating state I can barely hold this quill in my magic, let alone travel. I ask you to not destroy this letter, and to take this letter at face value, with an unbiased opinion, until you are done reading anyway. In this letter are my apology for my actions and the story of the changelings origins, as well as why I attacked Canterlot. First off, for what it's worth, I am sorry for the actions I took last week, I was blinded by power, I had every thing I needed, everything I wanted! I was finally full... That haze of power and the knowledge that my plan was going perfectly caused me to get lost along the way, I turned arrogant and cruel, that arrogance and cruelty made for my downfall by Twilight Sparkle, she saw through my ruse immediately, the others were fooled into thinking that was just pre-wedding jitters, but not Twilight. I was exposed at the last second. I had Equestria in my reach and in come Mi Amore Cadenza and Twilight Sparkle. I was shocked, I had imprisoned them both in the Crystal Cave below Canterlot! We argued and then we fought, every thing was under control until Cadance got to Shining Armor. They were carried into the air by their combined magic, they released a spell fueled by love and hate. Me and my changelings were launched out of Canterlot, when I landed I was carried to the Nest. Then I found out I was poisoned with hate. Being poisoned by hate is like having cancer, my body is so weak, the only way for me to heal is with enough love, my changelings have already used all that we have trying to save me, but it is to late... I am going to die, so I might as well apologize and get some weight off my back. My story begins three-thousand twenty-six years ago, I was born in the middle of the worst blizzard since the founding of Equestria, I was born a Flutter Pony, a race that disappeared along with Flutter Valley, I had a silver coat, and turquoise mane and tail. My wings were those of the Blue Morphos and my eyes were turquoise. When I was eight my father passed away, a month after that without warning, the three volcanoes that surrounded Flutter Valley erupted... We gathered as much food as we could and evacuated to Willow-Wisp Caverns, these caverns were the home of an ancient and powerful flame that was green as a emerald and never went out. Every decade this fire would birth a will-o-wisp. This fire also provided warmth and warded off sickness, it was deep underground in the middle of a lake on an island big enough to hold our entire population. My mother, the queen at the time, was grieving the loss of the city, and praying for our survival. Me and the other children were scared and we were grouped together and put closer to the center of the island, we were mesmerized by the flames, when we looked into it we forgot about our troubles and fears. We got lost in a trance that lasted for minutes, the adults were just thankful that we weren't scared anymore. What the adults didn't know was the danger that fire posed... Author's Note This is my first fic, if you like it you know what to do!
The beginning of changeThe days passed slowly for the Flutter Ponies, having stocked on food to last for a year with the then current population of three hundred, we were safe, sheltered and warm. There was plenty of food and water, we were in relatively high spirits, sure we lost our homes but we were alive, and we would be for as long as we had food. The supply of food would last us until the eruptions stopped, or at least we thought so, what we forgot to consider was pregnant mares who would give birth soon, we had a severe oversight in our prediction of a years worth of food. Eight months in the food was running short, we had only a month left of food, my mother had sent scouts to the surface to see if we could escape to Equestria, when they returned they said that the volcanoes were still spewing lava and the entrance was blocked by a lava flow. My mother was shocked, never had an event like this occurred, the three volcanoes had been thought to be minor in threat but apparently they were much more than we imagined. Reports from Equestria at the time called it "the worst natural disaster in recorded history!", the volcanoes had been continuously spewing lava for nearly a year! At the time my mother had received this sad news of being imprisoned in a cave, I was playing with the younger children(they were starting to show signs of malnutrition as mother had started to ration the food when she found we only had three months left of food) and a couple of the older fillies, we played tag and kick the ball(it was made of twine and fabric) we couldn't play hide and seek as the island was to flat, so instead we played made up games that would get increasingly silly as time went on. A week after the news came, we received news from a sentry by the caves entrance, the lava flow that was blocking us from leaving had stopped. When we got to the entrance all was silent as we ascended into a fiery orange light, when we reached the mouth of the cave what we saw I will never forget, the palace was ruined, the city was in flames, Flutter Valley was gone... In it's place was a fiery hell of lava fields, the sky was black as night, filled with falling ash and rising embers, my mother ordered us all back immediately, when we arrived at the island she broke down into tears, seeing their queen sad made her subjects sad, but it was me who cried the most seeing my mother, who had always been calm under pressure and strong when all else were weak was crying, our home was gone and so was our hope of getting out alive, the ashes would suffocate us if we stayed to long outside. We could not fly because the embers would burn our delicate wings and the ash would make it harder to use them, which would exhaust us and slow our speed, we were officially trapped, we couldn't send for help as we had no magic, my mother cried for ten days, I cried right beside her, when we recovered, I went and sat next to the fire, as I did whenever something was troubling me, this time when i sat down, the fire crackled as if it was speaking. That was impossible, fires couldn't talk! I put it off as my sleep deprived mind playing tricks on me. I laid down and was just about to fall asleep when I heard it again. " Do you want to survive this unfortunate turn of events?" The Emerald Flame asked. " What!?" I mutter in my addled state, "who's there?" I say getting to my hooves. " Do you wish to survive this ordeal, along with your people?" It asked in a demanding crackle. " Who's there!" I ask looking around but seeing no one, I start to panic, as I'm about to run, the flame asks its question once more. " Do you wish for you and your people to survive?" It said in its demanding tone. Realizing that the Fire is speaking I turn around and see that it has two large silver eyes trained on me, I cower at the sight as I slowly regain the position I had left. " Did you just ask me if I wanted my people to be saved?" I said to the fire, not really believing what I heard. " Yes" it spoke with clarity. Author's Note Sorry if the story seems sketchy here, I am beat and not quite wide awake.
The questionI sat in stunned silence for what felt like a minute. The fire had said yes and was looking at me, waiting for my answer. After I got over the shock of a talking fire I thought about its question, did I want to save my people? I was nearing my ninth birthday, soon I would be of age to take the title of princess, my mother didn't want me to be spoiled and mean so she withheld the title to keep me from abusing power, oh how I have failed her... Oh I went on a tangent for a bit, so I was sitting there thinking about the question, as much as a eight year old could think on such matters, in one hoof was the fact that we were running low on food, we would soon starve and die, on the other hoof what could this fire do to deliver us from our situation? I chose to ask this question. " What can you do to help us?" I asked with curiosity. " I can give your people a chance to survive, you will be able to breathe the toxic air outside as if it were just a snow storm, you will be able to fly without fear of the ash snow weighing on your wings, and most important of all, you will hunger for food no longer." The fire said in rushed crackles. " Not being hungry any more would be nice, but how would you do this?" I ask curious as to how one could possibly have the power to make us not ever need to eat again. " All you have to do is step in my flame and I can give you a chance to survive in this place of destruction, just step in my flames and let all your troubles burn away." It said in a whisper, as it spoke i began to feel sleepy again, my eyes half-lidded, I curled up by the fire, as I did so it spoke once more " when you awake, think on my question and on your answer. I will be awaiting your return" When I woke up I was laying near my mother, she was looking at me with her kind, sad eyes, concern plain on her face. As I stirred she gave a sigh of relief, she craned her neck down and nuzzled me softly " you've been asleep for two days, I thought you would never wake up again, I found you near the flame, what were you doing?" She said with concern. " Mom?" I ask groggily, "did you hear anyone speaking to me?" " All I heard was the fire crackling dear, is something wrong?!" She said hurriedly. " Mother I'm fine, just tired, but there was something I wanted to tell you. I can't remember what it was." My head was foggy, all I could remember was getting tired in front of the flame, and hearing it crackle... " I guess it was my imagination." I say, getting up. I walk to the edge of the lake, get a drink of water and then lay down beside my mother. She still has stains on her face. I notice some new stains as well." Mother were you crying again?" I ask quietly. " Of course not dear, why do you ask?" She says hesitantly, I could tell she was lying. " Mom, don't lie to me I can see the stains on your coat." I whisper, I was starting to tear up. To me my mother was the world, to see that she was crying put tremors through my heart. It hurt to see my mom cry, she was so kind and strong, she once saved a colt from being crushed by a run-away cart by stopping it with her body. The colt got away fine but my mother had three cracked ribs and a broken leg, every day of her recovery that colt and his family sat by her bed and talked to her. Telling her stories of their experiences and having small talk, the colt thanked her every day. I slept and lay by her the entire time. Me and the colt became friends fast, his name was Flash Fly, he had a coat so bright it almost glowed yellow, a mane and tail as green as a forest, and the wings of a glassworks butterfly. My friend had died trying to evacuate, the Flame had helped calm me when I found out. All I had to do to calm down was go sit by it, and talk about the experiences we had together. You know, if all that happened hadn't happened, I'm pretty sure I would have married him later on in life, he was kind and gentle, he listened to my opinions and problems without bias or indifference, but I guess you could chalk that up to childhood innocence, huh? Either way I had developed a crush on him, he was my first crush, Flash Fly. Always there to listen and comfort, joke and play. Oh, look at that I'm crying, now some of the ink is going to smudge. I'm sorry, I haven't thought about him in nearly five-hundred years, ruling the changelings is a time consuming job, I haven't just had the time to think about things like this in fifteen-hundred years. Anyways, back to the story...
The doubting"I thought I wiped those off" she said quietly. "Well you didn't." I said."Mom what were you crying for?" I ask softly, anything that can make my mom cry must be special to her,"here let me help." I say as I get up and walk to the side of her head(she was as big as an Alicorn, and I was still a filly). I snuggle up to the side of her head, then I proceed to try rubbing the tear tracks away with my hoof. When that doesn't work, I try to think of other ways to get rid of the offending stains, I think of a way, but it was a little intimate, I had only ever seen father lick my mothers face, to me that amounted to a kiss. My face reddened a little bit as I imagined my father kissing Mom, I shook my head and cleared my thoughts then asked "um, Mom? Is it alright if I... um... lick them away?" "Of course dear, what's wrong?" She says confused at my tone in asking the question. "Oh, it's just that I never saw anypony but Him lick your face." Mom had asked that I don't say father or dad around her. I didn't know the reason, I thought it was some sort of ritual or tradition."I thought it was like a kiss?" I said confusedly. "Oh it's not a kiss, it's just that nopony else ever needed to." She explains, "of course you can lick them off, here." She then leans down to my eye level so I can proceed. I lick one side and then walk to the other side of her head and do the same. "There, all done." I say with a quick nuzzle at the end. I then huddle between her forelegs and get comfortable,"Mom?" I ask, as i remember something that has been bothering me. "Yes dear?" She responds. I stay quiet for a while before I gather my courage to ask the question."H-how long?" "Hmm?" She looks towards me, " Dear, what do you mean how long?" She asks with confusion. "I mean, how long do we have?" I say quietly,"how long until we run out of food? How long until we all... die..." I started to sniffle then, I had thought about it before but I never asked till then."I don't wanna die mom... I don't wanna... die." I said sobbing between words. She gasps, "shh, shhhh... dear, why are you crying? We're not gonna die. We have enough food to last until help comes. We'll live, you'll see, in a month, we'll be out of this cave and in a nice house with a warm bed and good food, maybe your friends will move where we do." She then huddled me into her chest and shushes me until I calm down. "But what if help doesn't come? What if we run out of food? What will we do when we... starve?" I get back into my sullen mood, I start to sniffle and whimper, thoughts of the pain of hunger and weakness of exhaustion slipping me further along the slope of misery. "Now none of that!" I flinch a little as my mom uses her strict voice, she rarely ever uses that tone, when she does you know she's angry."I will not have you thinking such things do you hear me? If you cry over those things what will I do?" She then tears up."what do I do when you are crying about things you don't need to be worried about?" She nuzzles me, pulling me closer with her neck. "You don't need to worry about those things honey, I do. I'm the queen, it's my burden not yours. I need to worry, about getting help, food and water, and keeping us alive and safe. You just need to worry about keeping the other children happy and not to think about those things, ok?" She asks, calming me and gaining nod of agreement. "Yes momma, I won't worry about that anymore." "It's just that, I noticed everyone is getting thinner, and I heard the guards talking about how we won't get out." I tell her, "and I just don't want my friends to die mom! If they die I won't have anypony to play with, and their families will be sad..." "Oh, honey, you don't need to worry. Like I said, we'll be out of here in no time." She said cheerfully. Author's Note Sorry about the long wait, there's been a lot of trauma and drama with my family, my nephew died, my other nephew might get lost to social services, and my older sister and step-dad are fighting over something that occurred a while ago. Top that off with heavy school work and you get a lot of writers block. Again I'm sorry for the wait but circumstances demand my attention.
The coldTwo weeks passed slowly for me, and as those weeks passed I fell deeper into the hole of sadness. Watching from the sidelines as the older ponies starved themselves or gave more comfortable spots to rest to the young, telling their stories as they prepared to die, and withered away, watching as parents lost their parents and children lost their grandparents. Every death was a blow to the heart, as ponies I knew were dead and dying, starving and weak. Children had it the worst, especially the new born foals and younger children, this was no way to live! Confused and scared. hungry and thinning. This was no way to live... 'At least this island is warm'I thought as I looked towards the Emerald flame at the center of the island.'that fire lets us bury our dead at least.'funeral pyres were getting common now, at first it was those who could not be saved from their injuries or infections. Now it was the elderly and the weak or sick, starving themselves so us younger and stronger ponies could live longer. The latest to go was Flash Fly's Grandma. An elderly mare who always greeted you with a smile and a tray of cookies, me not having grandparents I looked to her as mine. Knowing she was gone was like a needle in my heart that hurt with every beat. Being the Queen's daughter meant getting to know the ponies of the kingdom. Seeing so many friends dying or sad and hungry felt terrible, like watching the world die. Every death was as painful as the last. Every life lost was a broken heart, my mother fared no better. One day, while walking towards my mother I heard a cry from nearby, Trotting over I saw an infant laying on the ground crying out with hunger. Getting closer to the foal quietly I was stopped by a large white hoof, I looked up to see my mother standing behind me. She smiled wanly and walked towards the foal. Taking it in her hooves she cradled it and hushed it until it was sleeping, then she handed the foal to me and walked off to find the parents. Looking down at the foal in my hooves I remembered a conversation about something. Thinking on this as I held the child. Something about my people and a way to save them, my eyes widening as I concentrated on this memory. It was foggy and unclear, all I remembered was a deep voice saying it could help me. After trying and failing to remember I saw my mother walking over looking sad and lost, for all the world to see she was crying, Placing the foal on my back I trotted over to my mom and hugged her close. Pulling me closer and hugging me for dear life she whimpered, "It's not fair... Why do we have to suffer? Why do we have to die? What did we do to deserve this!?" she cried out, tears streaming down her face. "This foals parents are dead... and they left behind their child. This Is no way for this foal to live." she stated quietly. Staring at the sleeping foal in my hooves, she brought me closer and nuzzled us both. weeping for the lost and crying for those who came next. I sat with her and cried my piece, sad for the foal with no parents, mad at the world for our situation, and scared for my mom and myself, what would we do when we were the only ones left. Author's Note Sorry! Long time-no-write, and no excuses.
