Crossed Paths

The rooster began to crow as the sun rose over the sleepy village of West Haven. A young man tossed and turned trying to block out the sound, to little avail. He grumbled as he got out from under the sheets of his bed. The boy grabbed a brush and started to tame his unruly sandy blond hair. He made his way from his bedroom to the kitchen of his family's hut. There his mother had already made a large breakfast of eggs, ham, bacon, a stack of toast, and a fruit salad.

    “Morning Eric,” she said as she stoked the fireplace.

    “'Orning, mum,” Eric said, his tongue still thick with sleep, as he rubbed the last of the weariness from his eyes.

    “Eat up, Mr Jenson wants to see you bright and early this morning. Says were running out of horseshoes and there's a merchant on his way to pick up a whole crate full.” Eric nodded piling eggs and bacon onto his plate.

    “Yes, another exciting day of pumping bellows and chopping wood,” he grumbled between bites of bacon.

    “I know that the work is dull when you start out on an apprenticeship, but you should consider yourself lucky young man, your father would have given his left leg to be an apprentice to a blacksmith instead of a farmer,” his mother said gently scolding him.

    “I know I know, speaking of which, is dad going to need a hand on the farm today?” Eric asked taking a swig of orange juice to wash down the his meal.

    “No, not really since the harvest won't be for another few days. I however could use an extra hand around the house today. The thatch is wearing thin in a few places, and I'd rather not have the rain seeping in during the next storm. And we could also use some wood around here, so if you could cut a few more logs when you get back that would be nice.” Eric nodded finishing his breakfast.

    “Got it mum, I hurry back after I'm done with Mr Jenson.” 'But not before I talk to Emily about the surprise,' Eric thought to himself, picturing Emily's light blue eyes filling with wonder. He had recently found a wonderful a cliff face with a breathtaking view that he wanted to share with her.

    “Alright then I'll see you then. Oh and could you feed Matilda?” Eric's mother called after him.

    “Got it mum,” and with that Eric was out the door. He ran around back to the to the stable, making his way over to Matilda's pen. “Hey girl how are you this morning,” Matilda just stared at him. “You know girl,” Eric grabbed a bale of hay. “The trader says that there are talking cows out in the villages by the oceans. Could you believe that?” Matilda just continued to stare at him. “Ya, I think its a lot of manure myself, but hey what do I know? I'm just a blacksmith’s apprentice,” he brought the hay bale into the pen and removed the rope. “Eat up girl,” and with that he gave the cow a pat on the flank and made his way into town.

    His family's hut was a good mile out from the rest of the village, making for a brisk walk each morning. Eric rather enjoyed having some time to be alone with his thoughts, though his father always grumbled about it. The morning air was brisk, and the grass and some of the tree leaves were still covered with dew. Eric took it all in, knowing that in a few months winter would make such walks unbearably cold.

    Soon he saw the first of the huts that made up the town. West Haven was a rather sleepy little hamlet, a small collection of a few dozen huts and a town hall. Eric made his way down to his masters hut. He could already hear him hammering away at his anvil.

    “Morning Master Jenson,” Eric said.

    “Ah there's my lazy apprentice,” Mr Jenson said, not looking up from the horseshoe he was working on.

    Eric rolled his eyes, “Very sorry Master, but some of us do this little thing called sleeping. You know? That little thing that most normal people do at night, instead of working?”

    Mr Jenson grunted, “Never heard of it boy, and it sounds like a waste of time when we have an order to fill.”

    Eric had meant for the comment to be a joke, but there were times where it was difficult to tell if his master was being serious or was just messing with him.

    “Now I need some more wood chopped, we're running low.”

    “Aye aye master,” and with a mocking salute Eric went out back to begin his day.

    A few hours later Eric had finished chopping the firewood, pumped the bellows, fetched water, and helped hammer out some of the horseshoe for the order. By now his stomach was making all sorts of noises in protest, demanding to be filled.

    “Alright, I'm going to need you to head out to the scrap pile in the ruins, we're starting to run low on materials,” Eric perked up at this. While the old ruins were a bit dangerous, they would provide a great way to break up the monotony of a normal work day. “Here, go buy yourself some lunch from your girlfriend,” Mr Jenson said as he gave Eric a small bundle of coins.

    Eric blushed as he took the coins, “She's not my girlfriend.”

    Mr Jenson snorted, “Oh really? With the way you go all moon-eyed whenever you see her you could have fooled me.”

    “I don't go moon-eyed, I look at her the same way anyone else would look at her.”

    Mr Jenson just rolled his eyes, “Fine boy, you don't go moon-eyed, now get out of here, those materials aren't going to gather themselves.” By the time he had finished the sentence Eric was already gone.

    The town was much livelier now, people were walking about with goods in their arms, others were stopping to chat with a friend or to haggle over the price of a pig. Eric waved to a few of the villagers as he made his way down to the town bakery.

    “Hello there,” he called as he opened the door.

    A girl with brown long brown hair and light blue eyes stood behind the counter. Her gaze immediately brightened as she saw just who had walked in the door. “Eric hi! Hows the apprenticing going?”

    “Oh you know, same old same old. How are things in here?”

    “Same old same old. Though father is experimenting again, would you like to try his latest results?”

    “Heck if its anything like the honey bread from last time I might just buy out your entire stock.”

    “That was a good batch, though I'm not so sure about this one myself,” Emily said as she went into the kitchen.

    “Couldn't be worse than the time he tried to use acorns,” Eric called after her.

    “Ugh don't remind me! Nobody would buy them, so we had to eat the rest of the batch,” Emily called back. “So how are things on the farm?”

    “Eh, its alright, dad's trying to get some harvesting done before the the trader comes to town, not the harvest, just you know, something to get us a few extra bits for the winter.”

    Emily came back with a platter of loaves, “Ugh why do you work with that pony?”

    Eric shrugged, “We don't really care who we trade with, bits are bits at the end of the day. So about that bread.” Eric hated talking about the trader with Emily, while most people in the town didn't like the ponies, only a few were outright hostile to them.

    “Right, here.” She handed Eric a loaf of the bread. Eric looked it over, it looked like normal bread expect it had what looked liked small bits of herbs baked into it. He then proceeded to sniff the loaf, and gave it a few experimental squeezes. Emily smirked, “Oh just take a bite already you goof.”

    Eric threw a grin her way and ripped of a chunk of the bread and popped it into his mouth. He chewed for a minute, a thoughtful expression adorning his face. Emily watched as he made some rather over exaggerated chewing sounds, “Oh just swallow it you doof.” He laughed behind his mouthful of bread and complied. “So what do you think?”

    “Well I think I rather liked it,” Eric said.

    “Oh really?”

    “Yup, I rather like the different herbs that your father used, they complemented each other rather nicely. Though I'm not sure how I feel about the actual dough. It tasted...” Eric thought for a moment, “not bad really just, different.”

    Emily nodded, “The dough that he normally uses is too hard for the herbs, they burned on the first batch.”

    “Right, well I think I'll buy one loaf, and some butter to go along with it, if you have it.”

    “Coming right up,” Emily back into the kitchen for a second. “Here you go, one loaf of bread and container of mother's famous butter.”

    “And here is your three pennies,” Eric paused for a second, nerves almost getting the better of him, but he pushed onwards, “ and an invitation.”

    “An invitation? To what, if I may ask? The fall festival isn't for another month and a half at least,” she leaned over the counter, light dancing playfully in her eyes.

    Eric gulped, building up his courage once more, “I was out looking for one of our sheep last night, since it had wandered away from the flock, and I stumbled into this clearing, and which had wildflowers of all colors, a few butterflies as well, and...” he stopped himself, and regathered his words. “Anyway it has a cliff that overlooks the Ruin's Valley and the sun sets in the most beautiful way. So I wanted to know if you'd like to go watch it. Just you and me. You know if you'd want to.”

    Emily watched as Eric gasped for words, a smile creeping on to her lips slowly. She tapped her finger to her lips, letting out a small “humming” sound as though she was deep in thought. All the while Eric just stood there, watching her, and sweating more profusely than during work that morning.

    “Weelll,” Emily said after a minute of thinking dragging out the word. “ It would be nice to watch the sunset, and that does sound like an amazing view.”

    “So, you'll come?”

    “Yes, I think it would be a wonderful way to spend an evening.”

    “Great!” Eric's smile spread from ear to ear. “I'll come around six to pick you up!”

    “You better not forget,” Emily replied, her hands on her hips.

    “Don't worry, I won't!” Eric gathered up his bread and butter and started toward the door. “See you tonight!” And with that he was out the door.

    Eric was practically skipping down the street, humming a tune. He had been building up his courage for a month, trying to find just the right time to ask Emily to accompany him to the cliff side. He had been gathering materials from the ruins, things people had over looked, old plates a bronze candle stand, and a synthetic blue ground covering that had some how survived the ages.

    “Hoy! Is that an Eric I spy, or do my eyes deceive me?” Eric turned around looking for the source of the voice.

    “Chun you son of a gun! Where are you?” Eric said before he spotted a figure on the top of a building. The figure leapt from the roof and rolled to a stop in front of Eric.

    The boy was rather tall a good head above Eric, he had brown hair, green eyes and his clothes were covered in dirt. “Mind helping a guy up,” the boy extend a hand.

    Eric laughed as he helped his friend to his feet, “Chun! I thought you were out on an expedition with your father,you weren’t supposed to be back for another few days!” Eric always loved the stories Chun brought back from his Magi training with his father.

    “Well all the better that I'm back early, no? Or do you hate having me around that much?” Chun gave him a mock hurt look.

    “You know that I love the stories from your expeditions,” Eric said, giving his friend a punch in the arm.

    “Ah so you just love me for my tales then! Well I suppose they are rather fantastic, so I forgive you,” Chun said, grinning with his arms behind his head. “Ooh is that bread from you know who?”

    Eric blushed, “No, well I mean, yes, but not as a gift.”

    “Ah so them I'm guessing your still the same spineless coward that I left here. Unable to talk to anyone of the female persuasion.”

    Eric blushed a few shaded deeper, “I can talk to her. In fact I just asked her out on a date.”

    Chun's eyes widened in mock shock, “Do my ears deceive me? You, Eric Patterson, asked a girl out for a date. Well it seems that I was wrong, you are no longer a spineless wimp.”

    “Well, it wasn't exactly a date, I suppose. I just asked her to come to the cliff side that I had found to watch the sunset. I didn't say it was a date.”

    “But it was implied?”

    “Maybe? I thought so, but I don't know,” Eric looked at his feet, mindlessly nudging some pebbles with his shoe.

    Chun looked at Eric for a minute then shrugged, “Well I suppose its a start then, got to start somewhere. Anyway shouldn't you be on the clock for old mister Cranky Pants?”

    “Ya, I'm on my way to the ruins to pick up some scrap metal for Master Jenson, we were running a bit low.”

    “Cool, then I catch up with you tomorrow, I'll trade you my stories for yours.”

    “Deal,” the two grabbed each others forearm’s and embraced for a second before they parted and went their separate ways. Eric broke of a chunk of bread, and dipped it in the butter, smiling. 'Today is turning out to be pretty fantastic,' he thought to himself as he made his way to the ruins. He followed the dirt trail out of town, soon reaching the remains of an asphalt road. He made his way down the road while singing a tune, imagining the perfect evening with Emily.

    It wasn't long before he reached the first of the old ruined buildings, a concrete shell, all the paint and wood peeled and rotted. The windows had no glass in them, and even the concrete was missing chunks in places. Eric went inside, and there in the center of the room was a pile of supplies used by his village whenever they went to explore the old ruins.

    Eric grabbed one of the medic kits, double checked the contents then threw it into one of the backpacks. He then grabbed a hardhat with a flashlight attached and stuck it on his head. Finally he got a map of the local area, on which the people of his village had taken countless notes on over the years, indicating where the different stashes of supplies were located and which areas of the ruins had been explored. Eric double checked the straps on his pack, and when he was satisfied with them, he stepped back out of the building.

    He made his way down the the asphalt path once more. The years had taken their toll on the road, turning it into little more than a dark gravel road. As he made his way down the path he passed the remains of several other buildings. Many had been two or three stories tall, though mother nature had brought them low, knocking their remains onto the path. Old rotted beams and, in some cases, large chunks of concrete made traversing the ruins a difficult task. Eric had long since gotten used to it though, it was almost a second home for him. He was far more worried about the creatures that made the ruins their home, like wolves or manticores.

    It wasn't long before he made it to the metal supply building. Eric pulled out the key that he kept on a necklace, and unlocked the door. He pushed it open, the door groaned the entire way, its rusty hinges complaining. Eric made his way over to a massive pile of pipes, old girders, and countless utensils, some completely covered in rust, others looking like they were freshly crafted.

    Eric pulled out a burlap sack and started to sort through the metal, taking an equal amount of big and small items. As he was deciding between grabbing a partial rusted spoon and a hand full of washers and bolts, a sound caught his ear. The ruins were normally silent, except for the occasional rustling of a rat or the frantic calls of a bird. This was the first time that he had heard another voice in the ruins.

    Eric stopped, ears straining for another sound. He heard the sound of foot falls outside, and a faint voice calling, “Help! Please, anybody!” Cautiously, Eric grabbed a length of rusty piping and made his way out of the building and into the streets listening for where the voice was coming from. “Please, I'm not sure how much farther I can go.” He made his way through the ruins, stepping cautiously. While he hadn't heard of a monster that called for help, strange creatures made the ruins their home, and just because he had never heard of it doesn't mean it didn't exist.

    He wandered through the ruins for another minute, but he couldn't figure out where the person, or monster, was. “Hello?” Eric called throwing caution to the wind. “I heard someone calling, where are you?”

    “I'm over here!” the voice called back almost immediately.

    “Are you hurt?” he replied, trying to keep him talking.

    “Yes, I think I twisted my leg, maybe broke it.”

    “Its okay I have have medical supplies, you'll be alright,” he was getting closer to the source of the voice, it seemed to be coming from just behind an old wooden building. He climbed over the fallen timbers into a decrepit courtyard. There by the remains of the water fountain was a unicorn, its body was a dark purple and its mane looked light blue, though it was difficult to tell because of all the grime and dirt covering it.

    He looked up at Eric his eyes filling with hope, “Oh thank Celestia! I didn't - I was certain I would - I was so -” the pony let out a small sob as tears started to form at the corner of his eyes.

    Eric hesitated, “Your a...” Eric shook his head. “Hang on, I'll be right there.” He swiftly made his way across the courtyard toward the pony.

    “Th-thank you so much, I didn't know what I would do. I-I've already been walking for days, I've lost count by now.”

    “Right, right, just show me which leg is broken,” Eric said pulling out the medic pack.

    “Oh, r-right, heh. The back right one,” the unicorn said raising his leg. It also gave Eric a good look at his cutie mark, three six pointed star bursts, one red, one blue, and one green. Eric took out some gauze and a splint from the medic bag along with a glass container.

    “Hang on, this cream might burn a little but it will help the swelling,” he said as he applied a bit of the cream to the ponies hind leg. He tensed for a second as the cream took effect. “There, now lets get you wrapped.”

    “Is it broken?” the pony asked.

    “I don't think so, it doesn't feel like its broken, but I'm not really sure. We don't see many of your kind around our village, just the trader that stops in every so often.”

    Silence settled between the two as Eric finished applying the bandage to the pony's leg. “I'm Star Burst by the way,” the pony said as he stood up, testing his weight.

“I’m Eric Patterson,” he replied. “There, that should be fine, just try to keep off of that leg and you should be better in a few weeks or so. Good luck on your journey,” he said as he packed up his bag and made to leave.

    “You’re not going to leave me here, are you?” Star Burst asked somewhat alarmed.

“Well I have to get back to my village and deliver some scrap to my Master, so ya I am. Safe trails! ”He called over his shoulder as he made his way out over the rubble. Then a sound stopped him in his tracks, a deep low rumbling. Both Star and Eric looked around trying to pinpoint the noise. “Manticore,” Eric muttered to himself, just as a bat winged lion jump out over a pile of rubble pinning Star Burst to the ground.

    Without thinking Eric quickly grabbed a chunk of rubble and hurled it at the manticore, hitting it square in the eye. The manticore reared in pain, letting Star Burst scramble out from under it. The manticore then turned and faced Eric. It leapt at him and pinned him to the rubble, and roared in his face. Instinctively Eric swung the his length of pipe at its head, making a crunching sound on impact. The manticore reared once more, but this time left a paw on its prey's body, keeping Eric pinned, it raised the other paw ready to strike and crush him in turn. But before it could land the blow, a chunk of earth hit it in the back, turning its attention once more from its prey.

    “Over here you... big... lion... thing!” a large chunk of earth was hovering over Star, held up by a light green aura, as he taunted the manticore. The beast let out an irritated roar and lept once more for the pony. Star hastily threw the chunk of earth, missing the manticore. He jumped to the side, letting out a small cry of pain as he tried to push off with his injured leg. While he was able to get out of the way of the manticore, the lion hybrid lashed out with its tail, hitting him with the flat of the stinger and knocking him to the ground. The manticore let out a low rumble of satisfaction as it slowly walked up to him.

    Eric hurled a few more pieces of debris at it, but this time the manticore would not be distracted from its prey. Star tried to get back up but before he could get back on his hooves, the manticore pushed him back to the ground with one of its paws. It unsheathed its claws on its other paw and rose it above its head.

    “Banzai!” the manticore looked up to see Eric leaping through the air towards it, pipe clenched in both hands. He landed on the winged lion and began to lash at it with his pipe, landing blow after blow on the creature. The manticore roared and threw him off, then lept out of the courtyard, leaving the two lying on the ground.

    They lay there for a minute, catching their breath, both were expecting the manticore to come back. Once a few minutes had passed the two got back up.

    “So,” Star said, “I'm not entirely sure Mother Fluttershy would have approved of how we handled that.” The two shared a look and then as though a dam burst, began laughing like maniacs.

    “Alright, alright,” Eric said once he regained a bit of his composure, “we should leave in-case it had a mate or something.”

    “I don't think it did, its been hunting me for the past few days and I haven't seen another one.”

    “Wait, its been tracking you for that long!”

    “Ya, how do you think I injured my leg?”

    Eric just shrugged, “Tripping over some concrete?”

    Star Burst started to fall into another round of laughter, but was cut short when his leg gave out. “Your village wouldn't be nearby, would it?”

    “It’s about an hour’s walk, hour and half with your limp. Its better than nothing though. I’ll grab a few things and we’ll get going,” Eric said grabbing his pipe and started to make his way over the rubble.

    Star winced, “Great.” And with that he slowly limped after Eric, “Hey wait for me!”

    Once Eric had gathered his bags and replaced his gear at the supply building they made their way back to the village. For a while they walked in silence, neither one sure of what to say to the other. Soon Eric broke the silence, “So, we have a trader coming into town soon, he knows his way around these parts better than most people. You can wait a few days in the village, and take off with him. He should be able to get you to wherever you’re going safely. Sound like a good idea to you?”

    Star averted his gaze from Eric, “Couldn't I just stay in your village? I'm a hard worker, or I will be once my leg is healed.”

     Eric shook his head, “Probably not, we have a lot of people who have... less than kind thoughts about ponies in general. It would be best that you leave as soon as possible.”

    Star's ears drooped, “Oh.” The silence grew awkward as they continued down the path.

    Soon the first few huts of the village came into sight. “Almost there,” Eric said.

    “Finally, I wasn't sure how much longer my leg was going to be able to hold out,” Star replied, relief evident in his voice.

    As the duo walked further into the village a few curious pairs of eyes followed the pair as they went along. “Um, why are they staring at us?” Star Burst asked, ears flat against his head.

    “When I said we don't see a lot of your kind I meant it, you’re the second pony most people have seen.”

    “Really?”

    “Really. Now come on I have to drop off this scrap, then we'll find a place for you to sleep for the night.”

    When they got to Master Jenson's workshop Eric stopped Star Burst, “Wait here, I'll be right back.”

    “Are you sure? I could just-”

    “Yes, I am,” Eric cut Star off as he went around back.

    Star's ears when flat against his head as he sat there, pawing the ground. “Alright, I'll just sit here,” he called after him.

    “What kept you boy?” Mr. Jenson said as he heard footsteps, as he threw another log into the forge.

    “Sorry Master I ran into some trouble when I was getting the scrap.”

    Mr Jenson gave a small huff. “Trouble, just what kind of-” his sentence cut off as he turned around, eyes now riveted on Eric's forehead. “Boy what's that on your forehead?” Mr. Jenson's voice was quiet.

    “My forehead?” Eric slowly raised a hand to his forehead.

    “Don't touch it!” quick as a whip Mr. Jenson grabbed Eric's hand before it could reach his forehead. “Where is it?”

    “M-master?” Eric's eyes were wide, he had never seen his master like this.

    “You don't know, no of course not. The pony, where is it?” his voice was low and dangerous.

    “How did you-”

    “Where is it!” Mr. Jenson practically shouted.

    Eric tried to flinch back, but his master's grip was tempered by years of working with his hammer and bellows. “Out front, I had him wait there, Master what is going on?”

    Mr. Jenson dragged Eric out of the workshop and around front. He came to a halt when he saw Star Burst. His eyes immediately went to Star's cutie mark. “Damn it,” the words came out light and airy like breath.

    “Master please, what is going on?” Eric was on the edge of tears, unsure of what had his master in such a state.

    Star looked on in confusion, his gaze switching between Eric and Mr. Jenson. “Um, whats going on?” he asked echoing Eric’s confusion.

    “You would know, you filthy pony!” Mr. Jenson practically spat the word. “Your laid your mark upon him!”

    “My mark?” Star's gaze turned up to Eric's forehead. “How did my cutie mark get on your forehead?”

    Eric, still confused tried to put a hand to his forehead. “Don't touch it boy!” Mr. Jenson slapped his hand down once more. “We've got to get you and that thing,” he pointed at Star Burst, “to the village elder, she will have a better understanding of what to do.” He grabbed Star Burst by the horn, and pulled them both toward the center of the village.

    Star winced as he was dragged along by his horn, “I know you said they weren't going to exactly be friendly, but I didn't expect this!”

    “Fuck what I said! What did you do to me!” Eric shouted back, caught between rage and fear.

    “I don't know! Nothing like this has ever,” Star sucked air in between his teeth as he put too much weight on his injured leg. “Happened before.”

    “Quiet the both of ya! Not a word until we see the elder,” Mr. Jenson barked at them. They both clammed up quickly, with Star Burst making the occasional grunt of pain. All eyes were on Mr. Jenson leading the two of them through town, and the murmuring began.

    “Who's the pony?”

    “Did Mr. Jenson take on a pony as an apprentice?”

    “Why's that Eric lad got a mark on his noggin?”

    When they reached the center of town Mr. Jenson hammered on the door of a the smallest hut. “Elder Anazi! Elder Anazi!”

    Crowd gathered around the hut, some deathly silent, unnerved by the scene; some murmuring to their neighbors, others were glaring at the unicorn. After a few moments the door creaked open, and the crowd grew silent. The only sound left in the plaza was the sound of the Elder's cane as she made her way out of the hut. Lines on her face grew deeper as she frowned at sight in front of her. “My, what a commotion.”

    “Elder Anazi, please this boy has been cursed!” Mr. Jenson pointed to the mark on Eric's forehead.

    “Cursed you say, we'll lets take a look shall we?” Elder Anazi walked up to Eric, practically nose to nose as she examined the mark on his forehead. Her gaze shifted for a second to quickly glance at Star Burst before her attention went back to Eric. “Oh my,” she whispered under her breath.

    “Elder? Am I cursed? What's going to happen to me?”

    “Settle my child, settle. You have not been cursed,” the crowd gave out a collective sigh. “But this is no blessing either, at least not among our people.” The murmuring started once more. Elder Anazi addressed the crowd, “This is not the first time one of our people has been marked by one of the three tribes. The last occurrence was over 70 years ago when I was but a small child. A girl, who’s name I can not remember, possessed a kind heart and brave soul was fetching water down by the stream. As she did this she noticed a creature struggling to keep afloat, being pulled down the river. Without thinking of the consequences she lept into the the river to save the creature, and hauled it to dry land.”

    The creature was a pony, a pegasus to be exact. She brought the pony back to our village to tend to its wounds, thats when we saw the mark on her forehead. The pony explained that because the girl had saved its life they were now pair-bonded. That the girl was part pony and part human.”

    Eric’s pulse raced as he realized what was going to happen to him.

    “We could not allow anyone with pony blood to stay in our village, as they may bring ruin to us as they did to all of humanity so many years ago.” The Elder turned to Eric, “Eric Patterson, son of David Patterson and Lily Robinson, you will be given the same sentence that was passed down by Elder Andrew. You are hereby banished from our village. Forever..” Everyone went deathly silent, and Eric's expression became one of fear and confusion. “We shall give you the night to say goodbye to your family and to gather supplies, but you must be gone by sunrise. I am sorry my child.”

    Eric nodded numbly, and slowly made his way from the elder's hut. The crowd parted as though his touch would cause them to gain a cursed mark as well. As he walked through the crowd, he saw Emily, her gaze was hard and cold, then she turned from him and walked back to her father s bakery. He wanted to call after her, to tell her that this was a mistake, but he was unable to form the words.

Star slowly got up and followed Eric through the crowd, he too felt their eyes on him, but there was no pity in them for him, just hatred.

    Eric slowly made his way back home in a daze, with Star right behind him, both unsure of what to think or say to the other. The walk home felt like an eternity, the silence that the two shared was deafening. When they made it to Eric's house Star waited out in a nearby the field, unsure of how he would be treated. Eric payed him no mind and walked in and slowly walked to his room.

    “Eric? Is that you what are you doing home so early?” Eric's mother spotted him as he walked past her sewing room. Eric turned to face her, “And what is that mark on your head?” With that comment the weight of what had happened finally fell on Eric and he started to cry.

    David Patterson was on his way home, his hoe propped over his shoulder, when he noticed the pony. At first he wasn't sure what to make of it, ponyfolk were rare, especially around these parts. “Good evening,” he called to him giving him a small wave. The pony looked up from the grass he was munching on and gave him a small nod. “Its rare that we see one of your folk out in these parts. What brings you here?”

    The pony swallowed the grass and answered, “I was being hunted by a manticore, it had injured my leg and I was certain that it was going to catch me. Then a boy from your village saved me and brought me back here. Now he's been banished because my cutie mark appeared on his forehead. He showed me kindness and in return I took everything he had from him,” he finished shakily, fighting back sobs.

    David stopped in his tracks, “And who was it that saved you, exactly?”

    “Eric, Eric Patterson.”

    David stood frozen his face slowly turning white, then he dropped his hoe and sped off for home. He burst in through the front door to find his son and wife huddled on the old couch they had salvaged from the ruins, both of them in tears. When they looked up to see who had made such a dramatic entrance he caught sight of the mark on Eric's forehead, the same one as on the pony. For a moment David stood in the doorway shocked, his mind attempting to process this revelation.

    “Dad?” Eric said tears still in his eyes. He was unsure of why his father had appeared so suddenly. Then his father took off just as fast as he had arrived.

    Eric and his mother looked at where his father had been standing just moments ago unsure of what to make of what they had just witnessed. A few minutes later he returned, carrying Star Burst over his shoulders. He roughly deposited him on the cottage floor in front of Eric and his mother. “Remove it! Remove your mark from him you damn pony!” Eric's father shouted.

    Star Burst just laid there for a moment teeth clenched and eyes shut in pain, recovering from being dropped on his bad leg. “I can't, I don't even know how it got there in the first place,” Star said, pushing the word through clenched teeth.

    David wanted to shout at the pony again, call him a liar, say that he had some twisted reason for doing this to his family. But he looked at the creature that lay at his feet and knew that none of it was true. He picked Star up and stood him on his hooves, and looked him in the eye. “If you can't take your accursed mark from him then you will protect him. You ponies brought these monsters to our lands and so you will protect my only son from them. Do you understand me?”

    “I do.”

    “Swear it to me pony, swear it by both our God and yours.”

    “I swear by your lord God, and by Celestia and Luna I won't leave his side,” the fire light reflected in his eyes as he said the oath. “He saved my life after all, this is the least can do for him.”

    Eric's father held the gaze for a moment more then nodded, “Good, then we have much to do to prepare for tomorrow.”

    Star slowly got to his feet, making sure not to put too much pressure on his back leg. “Right, what do you want me to do.”

    Eric's father gave him a hard glare, “You may head out behind the house, there is a stable there that you may sleep in for the night.”

    Star's face drooped, “Oh, right. I'll just...” he slowly made for the door limping the whole way. He made his way around the the hut, and toward the small wooden stable where Matilda stood. The cow looked up from her chaff for a moment and gave a moo. “Ya, I've had a bit of a rough day,” Star replied. She seemed to nod and moved over, giving Star a place the lay down. “Thanks,” he smiled at her and laid down in the hay, settling in for the night.

    It wasn't long until Star was shaken awake. “Come on you, its time for us to head out.” Star rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “Come on, the sun is about to rise.”

    “Right right sorry,” Star let out a yawn and glanced up at Eric, and noticed that his eyes were red. “Did you get any sleep?”

    “I have one last night with my family and you think I would waste it with sleep?” Eric's voice had an edge to it.

    Star cringed, “Right. Is there anything I can help with?”

    Eric dropped a rather large burlap bag at his feet, “Carry this, we don't have saddle bags so you'll have to levitate it, or carry it in your mouth.”

    “Got it,” Star's light blue aura surrounded the bag.

    Eric was certain that the last time Star had done magic the aura had been a green color. He shook his head, dismissing the trivial quandary and hefted another hefty bag over his own shoulder. “Lets go,” and with those words the two made their way down the path.

    The forest seemed eerily quiet as the pair made their way down the dirt path, the only sound being their feet and hooves and the rustling of leaves in the breeze. When they arrived at the village, Eric made his way for the path that lead out to the old asphalt road. “So where do you plan on going?” Both Eric and Star stopped in their tracks, looking for the source of the voice. “Up here you two,” Eric looked up to find Chun sitting on the same roof that he had leapt from just the day before.

    “Chun what are you doing here! If anybody found out you might be banished too!” Eric whispered urgently.

    Chun slid down from the roof, landing without a sound, “I doubt that, I am the magi's son after all. Who would call for the rain in the summer if they banished me? Besides I how else am I going to say goodbye to my best friend?”

    Eric gave Chun a smile, “Thanks, I'm going to miss you.”

    “And I you my friend, besides we both know you’re only going to miss me for my stories,” the two shared a quick laugh before Chun's expression grew serious. “I hate to be so grim, but do you even know what you are going to do now?”

    “Ya my parents and I talked about it. I'm going to follow the road east, there are some villages out that way, so maybe I can find a way to continue my apprenticeship. At the very least someone might take me on as a farm hand,” Eric shrugged.

    “Good you at least have an idea of where you’re going. Now I have one last thing to give you,” Chun pulled something from his pockets and dropped it in Eric's hands. “A parting gift, to bring you luck on the road.”

    It was a cloudy gem, about as long as Eric's hand and as he looked closer at it, he noticed there was a dim white glow at its center. “What is this?”

    “Old magic if I had to guess, I found it a few months back on one of journey's with father. I've been holding onto it, to figure out just what it might be, but I think you might have a better chance of doing that by going out into the world. Besides if worst comes to worst I’m sure that it will fetch a decent price with a trader.”

    Eric stared at the gem for a moment, “I don't know what to say.”

    “Most people would say thank you,” Chun chuckled.

    Eric also let a small chuckle escape and then pulled his best friend into a hug, “Thank you.”

    “No worries my friend. Now then,” Chun ended the embrace and turned to Star Burst, “I'm counting on you to watch over my main man over here. Keep him safe, help him find food, watch out for monsters, that kind of thing. Being a farmer's son and a blacksmith's apprentice doesn’t prepare you for some things in this world, you understand?” Star Burst nodded. “Good. Now I have to go, the sun has almost raised,” and with that Chun ran off for home.

Eric watched his friend go and then make once more for the dirt road that lead away from the town, with Star slowly hobbling after him.