Equus Equilibrium

The wind howled and the rain slammed itself down upon the ground, the terrifying power of lightning adding to the already grim atmosphere. But that was not what had the attention of four ponies, all varying in age. A small colt that had just recently been born was announcing his outrage at being torn away from his mother's warm embrace. The mother of this colt, however, didn't have enough strength left inside of her to do anything. Two ponies worked at trying to keep the mother alive, knowing that birthing the colt had been extremely strenuous. The small and helpless colt had been placed inside of a small wooden basket, his crying slightly subsided, but still present. The colt itself was as gray as ash with a jet black mane almost as black as the night that surrounded the barn that they were all inside of.

"Stay with me, Tory! Just keep your thoughts on the colt! You know he needs you in his life, just hang in there for him! For him, Tory, for him! Keep your eyes open for your colt, okay? You can do it. I believe in you, Tory."

Two voices could be heard from the basket, along with a wheezing of another pony. But the small colt didn't understand what was going on, so he just whimpered, wanting to go back to the only home he knew. This new world was strange and scary. He didn't want anything to do with it at all. The colt looked over at a hulking figure staring down at him with a smile, despite the fact that two ponies were freaking out over somepony.

The figure, still smiling, said in a deep voice, "You're going to do great things. I just know it... the prophet said that you would bring about a great change in our world. Just looking at you, I can tell it's the truth. You hold greatness inside of you."

The colt didn't understand these noises that the figure made, but they were frightening nevertheless. He whimpered a bit again, not knowing what to do. He softly shook his little hooves around, as that was all he could do besides crying an whimpering. The figure went away, leaving the colt to his own devices. Despite how scary he was, the thing had been keeping him company. Without the figure there, he started crying, not wanting to be alone. He felt as if he was going to be alone for a long time and that it had something to do with the wheezing thing in the background. But he didn't know why he felt this way. He barely understood anything at this point. His gaze shifted to the strange, yet soft, thing that he was laying on. It was nice, but it was a color he had never seen before... except in his dreams. He had dreamed of a great thing above him... it was a bright color, very nice to look at. In his dream, he had called it blue. Yes, the blanket was blue. It reminded him of the big thing above him. Well, not right now. It was just darkness along with a flickering orange light that slightly illuminated said darkness.

The deep-voiced figure spoke up in the background, "You cannot let her die, Scylia! Bring her back damnit! Please, bring my wife back to me!"

A lighter voice could be heard in response, "I can't do it Gareth. She's already gone... but right now, we need to keep that colt alive. I know how you feel. My husband died in the war... I know what it's like to lose somepony. Do you think you can hold it together long enough to help your son?"

There was a slight hesitation on the air, but the deep voice finally broke the silence, "Yes... yes, I think I can do it. Let's get my wife and my son out of here. The soldiers could come by at any moment. No one in the high council can know of this birth. This child is the one of the prophecy. We'll have to move to the new land... away from everything. The council cannot find us."

The colt, who was now quiet, could hear hoofsteps coming closer to him. Three figures loomed over him now, simply staring down at him. He felt a little afraid again, but at least he wasn't alone anymore. He didn't like it when he was alone.

An even lighter voice could be heard from the figure on the left, sounding a bit young, "Do you think that he'll make it, brother?"

The massive figure smiled, saying, "Yes, I think that he will make it. He will do more than just make it. He will go farther than any of us could ever imagine. But he cannot know about his destiny until he is older. There's no point in putting too much pressure on the kid," there was a pause for a moment, then, "you know, me and Tory never got to name him."

The light voice on the right, though not as light as the one on the left said, "Well, what do you want to name him?"

The two on the right and left looked expectantly at the massive figure in the middle, "I think I'll name him... Garth. My wife had mentioned it to me, but I had thought that it was a little too close to my name. I think that she would've liked that name. Garth..." his face lowered, getting closer to the now curious colt, "you may be the child of prophecy, but you're also my son. I won't let you get hurt. Change the world for your mother... make us proud."

All the little colt could do was coo and grab at the large pony's nose, giggling a bit as he did so. This got a few laughs from the somewhat small crowd, but it didn't last long. Soon, the colt was alone again and all he had to keep him company was the sight of being carried by some strange light to two red things. The red things opened to reveal the dark and scary outside world. With a brilliant flash of light, the little colt's eyes widened. What followed was a huge noise unlike any he had ever heard before. This didn't scare him, though. Strangely enough, he felt happy and safe under these lights. After a while, he closed his eyes and fell asleep to the sound of the lights. He dreamed of the blue thing above him again... the sky.