The Maimed and The Broken
The skies were clear and the streets were quiet, there wasn't anything fun to see outside on that day in Ponyville. The real action, however, was taking place inside one of the houses.
There was a comfy chair in each end of the room, both of them occupied by a pony. The room was dark, the windows closed with the curtains covering all but a small corner of them. The dim light of a table lamp was the only thing that let the two ponies in the house see one another. The room may have been quiet, but if tension was a thing that could be heard, then the room would sound like a battlefield.
One of the ponies was a blue-maned and blue-tailed unicorn with a white coat and a bright star for a cutie mark. The other was a pegasus with a dark-blue coat and a mane and tail of black and white colors. His cutie mark resembled a feline's eye.
What was so peculiar about these two was that, as of late, every time somepony wanted to address them as a unicorn or pegasus, they would stutter for a moment. It was no surprise, really. After all, a unicorn isn't too much of a unicorn if he can't even use magic in his adult years. The same could be said about a pegasus who can't fly...and yet, it was not a lack of skill that made these two unable to do what they were born to do.
Sunwell Dawnstar. Once a very gifted unicorn that knew most spellbooks like the back of his...erm...in any case - very well. Everything was going well for the unicorn. He was one of the most promising students in the School of the Magically Gifted, and he would always walk the corridors proudly and hold his head up high, and even though he might seem a bit arrogant at times, he had every reason to think highly of himself, for he was indeed, as the professors said themselves: "A Magical Prodigy"
Sadly, this was just another case of one's pride being his own downfall.
Convinced that he was the most talented unicorn to ever set hoof in the school, he decided that he was destined to perform a rare spell that no other pony had managed to perform before. The task was dangerous, but he managed to convince the professors to let him have a go at it.
Many ponies gathered in the classroom in order to see something that only Princess Celestia and Luna could have ever bore witness to, for none even knew if the spell was ever successfully cast before, let alone, what it does. Unfortunately, fate had other plans, and the ponies that had eagerly come to see something beautiful, soon found themselves thinking they were lucky to have escaped from that catastrophe alive...if they even managed to do so, i.e.
The light from Sunwell's horn surrounded the whole room. Just as everypony started to think that the spell was about to be a great success, a large explosion took place and covered the room in fire, leaving those still conscious running for their lives.
Either because of the fact that he could no longer cast spells because of his broken horn, or because he had heavily injured or even killed several ponies, as well as causing more collateral damage than anyone in the school's history, Sunwell didn't even feel the need to report back to the professors to realize that he was no longer welcome in this place.
The other pony's tale was slightly less depressing, but tragic, nonetheless.
Duskwing Nighteye. Once a flier so talented that the Wonderbolts themselves had kept an eye on him for quite some time. A very peculiar thing about this pony was the fact that he was an amazing flier, despite nopony ever even catching a glimpse of him practicing his flying skills. Come to think of it, barely anypony ever even saw him when he wasn't in the middle of a race. His name and his cutie mark might shed more light on the matter.
Duskwing was a pony that loved the night like no other, and when Nightmare Moon threatened to make it stay forever, he actually wasn't too concerned. He would always do his training at night, for that was the time when he felt truly alive. Just as his cutie mark suggests, he had a rare talent that let him see in the darkness as though it was clear as day.
As he trained, he became so attuned to the night that he could navigate through the Everfree Forest with unimpaired speed, even in the most pitch-black of darkness.
Unlike Dawnstar, he was modest of his potential, making him a pleasant conversation partner and a good friend to most of the pegasi of Cloudsdale. He and some of the top fliers would often race together, and it was no rare sight to see him finish the race with his hooves already touching Rainbow's tail.
One day, him and a few other daredevils decided to raise the stakes of their race. There was a tornado scheduled for that day, and the pegasi decided to fly in the same direction as it went, starting the race off only a few hundred steps away from the strong wind that would suck them in.
As the race went on, all went well, until the moment one of the pegasi got caught in a wire that the tornado had sent flying in her direction. She struggled to break free, but the more she tried, the worse it got. Due to the loud wind, most pegasi didn't hear her screams and kept racing. Duskwing was the only one that heard her and had the courage and altruism to go back for her, thus abandoning any chance of winning the race, not to mention risking with his life.
He managed to free her and push her out of the danger at the nick of time, but he himself wasn't fortunate enough to escape nature's wrath. The tornado sucked him in and only sent him flying out of it after half a minute. By then, he had already lost his wing. Barely surviving the fall, he was carried to the hospital by the same pegasus that he had saved earlier that day.
Weeks later, he recovered and exited the hospital on his own hooves. His racing days were over, that was no secret, he even needed help finding his way back to Cloudsdale. He was eventually lifted up to his home in a hot air balloon in the company of princess Twilight Sparkle herself. She was happy to help after Rainbow Dash had told her of his selfless exploit.
The balloon had reached the edge of Cloudsdale, and Duskwing was about ready to jump out, but he soon realized that he had lost more than just his wing on that fateful day...he had lost his home, as well. He barely even got to say thanks before he fell through the cloud he had thought to be a solid surface.
Another fall like that may have been fatal for him. Luckily, he managed to navigate his way into a hay stack. One wing wasn't enough to allow him to fly, but it was enough to allow him to glide for a short period.
***
Up until this day, Duskwing and Sunwell hadn't even spoken to one another before. They had only walked around the streets with expressions so grim that it even made the ponies around them feel a bit less cheerful.
Two ponies with just about nothing in common, united by two similar tragedies...could they possibly hope to come to some sort of agreement?
None of them were too happy about this forced opportunity. Sunwell in particular. His hooves grabbed the edges of his chair tighter with every moment he spent glowering at his silent conversation partner, whereas Duskwing only sat there with an expression saying "what did I do?" as he tapped his hooves against each other.
Eventually, the angry glare got to him. The silence had lasted long enough, and he decided that it was time to break it.
"Alright, look, I've got about as much reason to be here as you, so could you just stop with the staring already?" Duskwing's words didn't seem to be affecting Sunwell. "...Please?" The silence continued, and Sunwell's stare only got less pleasant. "Like it or not, we're in this together, buddy."
"Don't..." Sunwell yelled so loud his voice cracked. "Call me that! You and I have nothing in common!"
"If only that were true," Duskwing replied as he put his one hoof over where his wing used to be, and the other on his forehead. "And apparently there's more in common between us than you think...or, at least that's what the ponies that trapped us in here said," Duskwing said as he looked at the ponies trying to peek in through the corner of the window. "Care to help me figure out what exactly is it?" he asked as he turned back towards the other pony in the room.
"Hah!" Sunwell laughed in an arrogant tone. "There's nothing to discuss here. They were wrong! Why, the very thought of somepony thinking that I could have something in common with a pegasus that can't even finish a race without losing a wing, it's..."
"Excuse me?" An intimidating voice stopped Sunwell's monologue. Duskwing's tone had no trace of it's former composure.
Sunwell looked back at him with a slightly bemused expression. At that point he realized that he may have went too far. "I..."
"What did you just say?" Duskwing continued in the same unfriendly tone as he got up from his chair and started walking towards the earth pony with the unusual accessory on his forehead.
"Nothing...it's, erm...nothing...carry on," Sunwell almost looked scared. It was very unlike him to stutter in the middle of his sentences. He avoided eye contact with Duskwing, he leaned against his hoof and looked away, hoping that Duskwing would turn around, but he only came closer.
As Duskwing came close enough to breather upon the other pony, Sunwell was forced to reestablish eye contact as he began to sink deeper and deeper into his chair.
"You!" Duskwing pointed at the coward. "As I lost my wing, I managed to save another from the same or an even worse fate. You, on the other hoof, were the cause of one of the biggest tragedies in Equestria's history. You injured, you killed and you destroyed, and you did it all because of your stubborn pride! All because you wanted to prove to everyone what they already knew! And yet you openly accuse me of being the more pathetic one out of the two of us?!"
By the time Duskwing was done, Sunwell had nearly become one with the chair. The sweat running down his temples only served as glue to keep them together. As Duskwing started walking back, he sprung out of his chair like a filly off of a trampoline.
Duskwing's calm tone returned as he sat back down. "Maybe you should choose your words more carefully next time."
"Yes, well, I suppose my lecture was a bit..." Sunwell rubbed the back of his head while thinking of a proper word. "Impetuous...Shall we start over?"
"Gladly," Duskwing happily replied. "We already know each other's story, so I suppose there's little need for formalities."
"I second that," Sunwell nodded.
"Right then, as I already said - I've got about as much reason to be here as you, so the sooner we get this over with, the better."
"And just what exactly is this?"
"This whole mess that we're in, of course!" What kinda question is that? Duskwing thought to himself.
A brief moment of silence claimed the room.
"So..." Sunwell made himself more comfortable. "Any ideas?" He didn't seem too eager to do anything.
"Well, the way I see it, we have two options. One - we actually try and make the best of this and try to communicate, find out more about each other, give each other suggestions on how could we improve our current outcast lives...who knows, we might even learn something from each other," Duskwing explained in a playful tone.
"Eugh," Sunwell cringed. "What's the other option?"
"We could join hooves and march out of that door with fake smiles, which we would have to wear for the rest of our lives in order to keep the other ponies fooled and thinking that our lives are actually better now," Duskwing replied in a tone even more childish than before. He clearly wasn't being serious.
Sunwell's face turned a bit pale from the thought. "Well, when you put it that way, the first option sounds like a fool-proof plan."
"Right then..." Duskwing clapped his hooves together and straightened his back. "First things first, we need to establish the exact reason why we're always so frustrated."
Sunwell had already opened his mouth, ready to say something, but Duskwing held his hoof up and continued, "Allow me to clarify. Broken horn, one wing, I know that much, but that's not what I meant. If I'm not mistaken, then you, like me, only ever imagined your future as a strong magic user, but the sudden accident completely ruined your plans for the next few decades, am I right?"
Sunwell did not reply, he only widened his eyes a bit and looked at Duskwing with an intrigued expression.
"Because of this, we no longer see a future for ourselves. We no longer have a purpose, a goal, a meaning, only broken hopes and shattered dreams." Duskwing seemed to taken by this whole thing. His tone was full of enthusiasm. "That, my friend, is the actual reason why we're always so depressed!"
Sunwell didn't seem to mind Duskwing calling him his friend this time. On the contrary, he seemed rather aroused by his speech.
"Isn't that right?" Duskwing leaned towards his conversation partner as he quietly asked his question.
"Indeed..." Sunwell quietly replied after a short while. His deduction skills are sound.
"In that case..." Duskwing straightened his back again. "There's only one way we can still turn our lives around..." He leaned towards Sunwell again and looked into his eyes without moving an inch as he spoke in a dramatic tone, "We need to make a new future for ourselves."
After hearing Duskwing talk like that, Sunwell did not dare question him, and yet, he had to. He retorted without giving it much thought, "Bah! What future?!" He threw his right foreleg across the air in front of his head. "There is no future for a magician that can't even use magic!"
"But you're still a pony." A few simple words wiped the disgusted look right off of Sunwell's face. "Look outside," Duskwing said as he pointed towards the window, scaring off the ones trying to peek through it. Not realizing what they were talking about, they assumed that they were bothering them.
"Look at how many earth ponies walk the streets of Ponyville with wide smiles on their faces." Duskwing turned back towards Sunwell. "Are you going to say that all of those ponies also have no future?"
Mere minutes had passed since the beginning of their conversation, but already the wisest one of the two ponies found himself repeatedly thinking that his choice of words was poor. "Touche..." Sunwell slowly replied.
"I know that they realized this long ago, and that they had imagined their future as an earth pony from the very start, but it is never too late! You may not be able to change your past, but your future is still up to you! And it need not be a life where drinking your morning coffee is the most exciting thing that ever happens to you."
Sunwell leaned against his hoof and began to recall his life over the last few weeks. Indeed, it wasn't the kind of life one could only dream of, and it most certainly wasn't the kind of life he would like to keep living for another half a century.
Alas, no matter how much thought he gave it, he simply could not imagine it any other way. "And what do you propose?" He turned to Duskwing for an answer. Unlike the other times he did so, this time he asked without a trace of disgust or impatience in his tone. This time he asked not because he felt like he had to, but because he really wanted to hear his opinion. Duskwing only raised an eyebrow as a response.
"Yes, I'm looking to you for answers now." He leaned towards the crippled pegasus and spoke in an almost desperate tone, "I may be wise, but my wisdom has begun to decay since the day I lost my magic, and out of the two of us, you're clearly the one that has a better functioning mind right now...What would you do in my place?"
Duskwing did not wonder for long. Oddly enough, he knew exactly what he would do before Sunwell even finished asking the question. something occurred to him the moment Sunwell said his wisdom had begun to decay.
"You may have been stripped of your magic, but your wisdom need not go to waste...it can be passed on."
"I beg your pardon?" Sunwell widened his eyes and raised his eyebrows.
"You might not be able to cast the spells you've learned over the years, but the knowledge of how to cast them is still there, locked within your mind! All you need to do is let it out!"
"You mean..." Sunwell's face started to light up.
Duskwing nodded. "You could become a professor at the School for the Magically Gifted...Two birds with one stone."
"Make a new future for myself as well as make up for the damage I've caused..." Sunwell seemed lost in his thoughts. "It almost seems too good to be true..." He gazed at the ceiling like a day-dreaming student, already picturing his new future. It seemed like he could keep at this for a good while, but Duskwing wasn't that keen on waiting.
"Now how's about you return the favor?" Sunwell didn't seem to hear a word he said. "Hey!"
"Oh, erm...sorry about that, got a bit carried away, he he..." He rubbed the back of his head as he quietly laughed about his own embarrassing moment. "What was it you were saying?"
"How's about you return the favor?" Duskwing calmly repeated.
"I beg your pardon?"
"I helped you figure out what to do with your remaining days. Any chance you could help me come up with something for myself?"
Sunwell paused for a moment. He placed his chin on his foreleg, which was balanced on one side of his chair, and stared at the window. He instantly noticed a small filly fluttering her wings as she desperately tried to catch a glimpse of what was going on. That sight instantly gave Sunwell the answer he was looking for.
"Why not do the same?"
"Come again?" Duskwing asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I mean, sure, casting spells is more knowledge based, whereas flying mostly relies on hard training and practice, but mostly is only as far as it goes!"
The roles had switched, and this time Sunwell was the enthusiastic speaker, and Duskwing - the patient listener that started rubbing his chin as soon as he began to understand just what the other was trying to tell him.
"Every flier has a strategy...A technique! A way in which they differ from others. For better or worse...and it's no secret that you were never among the worst ones...You might never be able to walk the clouds again, but you can still help another reach them quicker."
Duskwing did not reply right away, he just started rubbing his chin more intensively as he gave it more thought.
"Every flier has their secrets...they're no longer of any use to you, perhaps it's time to pass them on, hmm?"
"I think you may be right..." Duskwing agreed, but he still seemed hesitant in his tone.
"I happen to know of a certain filly - orange coat, purple mane, likes to ride a scooter...You must have seen her!"
Duskwing finally released his chin. His face lit up as he recalled seeing a pony that matched Sunwell's description.
"No matter how hard she tries, she can never get more than just a few inches off the earth. I like to believe that the fault is not in her wings, that maybe she could still get to see the land and skies as only a pegasus could...perhaps you could make that happen?"
Duskwing seemed very fond of this idea. "Now that you mention it, I have noticed a certain flaw in her flying methods. A tiny mistake she keeps making every time she flaps her wings...I've been meaning to tell her this for some time, but..."
"There you have it!" Sunwell interrupted with a loud tone as he got up from his chair. "Now, if you don't mind," he continued as he started walking towards the exit.
Duskwing's confused look followed Sunwell all the way up to the moment he began reaching for the door handle. "So that's it, then?"
"I do believe so, yes," Sunwell gave a firm reply.
"All this time, that's all there was to it..." Both Duskwing and Sunwell paused for a moment. "Don't you feel..."
"Stupid?" Sunwell took over his sentence. "Ashamed? Embarrassed that someone of my standards couldn't solve this simple riddle on my own for all these weeks?" He looked behind him, forming eye contact with the ex-pegasus. "I do...but what difference does it make at this point? Does it really matter what I feel like?" he unwillingly admitted and turned his sights back to the door.
Duskwing got up from his chair and slowly walked over to join the other pony by the door. "It does matter."
"Why?" Sunwell asked right away, shifting his head away from the handle.
"Because if you didn't, then it would mean that you wouldn't have learned anything here today. You could plan your future another few decades ahead, but if something you did not foresee would turn your life around again..."
"Then we would be right back where we started..."
The two ponies stared at the door for some time, lost in their thoughts.
"There's more than just one lesson to be learned here today," Duskwing quietly added. "One for today...and one for the days to come."
"You're right...All this thinking, all this planning...We could spend our whole lives thinking that we have our entire life planned out, but all it needs is just one unexpected turn and all those years spent planning could go to waste at the blink of an eye..." Sunwell felt sad after his sudden realization.
Duskwing placed his hoof on his shoulder at that moment...Up until that day, the only pony that had ever done that was Sunwell's father...and many years had passed since the last time Sunwell had even heard anything from him. Would it have been any other pony, he would have brushed the hoof off before it even got a chance to land, but right now, he didn't mind at all.
"No matter how well we plan, the future is something we can never figure out."
"Makes me wonder whether it's better to not plan at all..." Sunwell quietly added without lifting his head up.
"Perhaps," Duskwing freely replied, drawing Sunwell's attention to him. "But who am I to say?" He smiled at the other pony, who then smiled back at him.
Duskwing took his hoof off of Sunwell's shoulder and put it next to his hoof which was still on the handle of the door.
"Are you ready?"
"I would like to think so."
As the handle pressed itself down, both ponies laughed a heartfelt laugh.
Author's Note
You know those people who lose something and then start saying that they have nothing left? Those people usually have things that many others could only dream about...I suppose I have them to thank for the idea of this story. 
