An Ember In The Ashes

by dragonfan810

Rating: teen
Tags: Original Character, Spike, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Adventure, Main 6, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Sad, Other
Length: 4300

The story of a Pegasus judged his whole life and cast out for his cutie mark

The story of a Pegasus judged his whole life and cast out for his cutie mark.
When Brimstone finally gets his cutie mark, it is not what he expected and gets him attacked and chased away everywhere he goes. He becomes an outcast and completely separates himself from pony kind. That is until his travels bring him to a small town. He wears a cloak to conceal his mark and is adamant about staying aloof. After all, that's all Brimstone is right? At least that's what everyone thinks he is, a regular aloof Pegasus. When a group of six ponies, and one dragon, (most of them reluctantly) gives him their trust, he finally feels at home after a while and decides it is finally time to tell them his true name... To finally show something he has never showed to anypony before... His cutie mark. But what happens when his past catches up to him... And Brimstone finds out that his first friends may have not trusted him much in the first place. He realizes that he might never gain their trust again, especially when they do nothing in his one time of need.

(This is my first real story so please give me tips and if you see something wrong please let me know nicely, thank you.)

Published 2015-05-27 16:10:03 UTC
Last updated 2015-09-09 20:51:52 UTC

Prologue

He was different. Everypony knew it... He knew it.

The, not- so little for his young age, Pegasus sat with his back towards the other young fillies and colts of his school as they pranced and giggled around the playground. With only a few more minutes left of recess, the aloof colt felt hope that nopony would bother him today.

Ever since that first day, when his deceased foster mother found him... He was different. Ponies who are different are treated different, that's how it worked in his 'home.' Some days the abuse was verbal, some days it was physical, and some days both. Then there was the one who got under his skin like nopony else could.

"Hey!" A familiar voice called out.

A light brown earth pony with a dark brown mane entered his vision.

"How's my favorite fat ass blank flank doing?"

The large Pegasus colt grumbled, "Just cause I'm larger and stronger than you doesn't mean I'm fat Quake..."

And what did the adults do about it?

Quake glowered for a second then his face bore a cruel smirk, "Well I'm an earth pony and you're a Pegasus, last time I checked pegasi were slim and aerodynamic, and you are not." Quake stopped for a moment and saw the colt was being unresponsive. To remedy that, Quake shoved his own face into his victim’s. Despite them being the same age and Quake being an earth pony, the colt towered over his assailant. "You know what that means right?" Quake chuckled, "You're not even a real Pegasus, Brimshit." The colt's eyes snapped wide open. Not only did Quake just make a mockery out of his name, but also broke his very core, his pride as a Pegasus. This was the last straw; he was done with Quake, and slugged him in the eye, the sound of cracking bones barely audible as Quake flew backwards.

Nothing... Why?

They were both escorted to the principal’s office immediately after going to the nurse for Quake. The principle gave them a stern gaze and scolded them, "What in Equestria happened!?" He broke his stern gaze for a moment and looked at Quake's eye. Seeing this as an opportunity, Quake quickly exaggerated his pain and spoke in a dramatic voice, "Well I was just trying to be friendly with Brimstone here, and I guess he got angry for no reason, and instead of asking me nicely to go, he hit me right in the eye!" Brimstone spoke up against Quake, not wanting him to be left unpunished, "That’s not true... He was being cruel..." The principle sighed. "I'm sorry Brimstone, but the other students and teachers saw you two talking, then they said you punched him. I'll decide on your punishment later, both of you go back to class."

Because he was himself, he was very different, strange, unnatural in their eyes, not much was known about him,and the unknown brought fear. Fear brought discriminatory action and irrational thoughts. For Brimstone's superstitious town, fear banded them together against the unknown, against him, even the few rational ponies thought the same way, even if they didn't believe as strongly.

The next day as Brimstone walked onto the school property something charged into his side. He barely moved but it took him by surprise and prevented him from breathing for a few moments. He looked to the side, staring into the glowering eyes of Quake, his face scrunched in pure rage.

Quake's eye was swollen shut and there were thin lines of black and blue branching from his eye socket. "It's school property Brimshit, you can't hurt me..." Even though he had just rammed into Brimstone no physical harm had been done besides for him losing his breath, and there was no proof of that.

"Ya know," Quake started, "I've always wondered where your parents were..." Brimstone flinched as Quake continued "oh, right, I forgot, they left you. Not that I can blame them, I mean just look at you. You're barely a Pegasus, you're way too big, you're teeth are shar--" Quake was interrupted as two well-placed punches connected to his chest and stomach. A crack and snap could be heard and he fell to the ground wheezing and gasping for air. Each breath was painfully forced, his chest and rib cage were obviously shattered leaving shards of bone to stab his lungs and heart each time they expanded.
Before Quake could recover, a forceful hoof was brought down right between his shoulder blades. His scream was loud and painful enough so that teachers came running. As soon as they processed what was happening all the staff were trying to pull Brimstone away with little effect as he kept beating on Quake, even managing to rip chunks of flesh out from Quake's body with his sharp teeth. After a few minutes Brimstone calmed down and saw the bruised, bleeding, and broken Quake in front of him. There was blood gushing from his nose, mouth, ears and even a little from his eyes. He was so distracted that he almost missed the white light coming from his flank. All the school staff backed away and as he looked at his flank his excitement disappeared. His cutie mark... It was a symbol of Tartarus...

Brimstone just stood there frozen from surprise and fear. As he looked at the face of the school staff, there were mixed emotions on each of their faces as they tried to keep the curious colts and fillies from seeing the mangled body of Quake. Fear, surprise, anger, and so many more emotions were flashing across everypony's faces. But Brimstone's attention was turned away as a terrifying thought crossed his mind. What happened to Quake, was he alive? Brimstone looked around quickly his eyes resting on Quake. A wave of unexpected relief washed over him after seeing the colt's body rising and falling slowly. Brimstone then ran away, towards the main town, knowing he had to get food and water before word spread. He dove into his foster parent's home gathering supplies in an old bag. As he turned to leave though, he merely stood looking at the walls uttering final goodbyes until he heard commotion outside. When Brimstone heard it he immediately checked the time.

Not much time had passed, but it was enough to let a crowd of angry ponies gather. He jumped out the door taking the crowd by surprise as he pushed through causing any unicorns to stop their combustion magic.

Brimstone sighed, "Crud..." There was a wall of angry ponies.

A few ponies yelled out, "Kill the demon colt!"

"Send it back to Tartarus where it belongs!"

"Feed the demon to Cerberus!"

"Don't get ahead of yourselves everypony." A sky- blue earth pony walked through the crowd, followed by four more earth ponies. Every pony cleared a path for them as they marched towards Brimstone, his gold eyes glistening and his dark blue mane and tail were swaying in a light breeze.

"I was told that you beat Quake within an inch of his life. Is that true, Brimstone?"

"Yes Mayor Fissure..." Brimstone tried to look away but found himself unable to break away from Fissure's stare.

"Within an inch of his life!" Fissure yelled, his voice radiating authority. "We have a death penalty for murder, not for assault! Brimstone will be jailed until our doctors can determinate if Quake will survive! If he dies then Brimstone dies! So then brimstone, will you come with me, you will not be killed."

"Unless he dies..." Brimstone muttered then glared fiercely, "I will not go..."

"Brimstone, if you do not come I'll let these ponies have their way with you..."

"No!" Brimstone yelled and pushed away from Fissure. He spread his wings. Brimstone had never truly flown before, he'd lifted off the ground and hovered or glided, but never flown. However it seemed that flying was his only choice. He galloped ahead picking up speed and getting ready to launch into the air.

"Capture him alive!" Fissure yelled.

A few yards away from the edge of the sea of ponies Brimstone flapped his powerful wings bent his front legs, lifted his hind legs and smashed them on the ground at the same time that he pushed off with his forelegs, it wasn’t a very fluid motion, he'd have to practice if he lived, and he flew high into the air. Pegasi surrounded him and unicorns shot beams of concentrated magic at him as the storm of pegasi attacked.

Brimstone was bombarded by the ponies and no matter how many he managed to shake off there were more. That is until the unicorns started shooting again. Some magical beams hit the pegasi and others scattered to avoid them. Only two pegasi remained who didn't flee because being afraid of getting hit with one of the non- lethal beems. Brimstone kicked one of them in the throat and the stallion fell to the ground, dead. Brimstone expected to feel sorrow... Maybe even some remorse. But no, all he felt was excitement, anger, and exhilaration and a single thought in his mind. He wanted to do it again, even if it was unintentional. After all it was his life or their's. After biting the other pony's neck and ripping his throat out, the dead pony caught on his bag, breaking it and getting rid of his food.

Another brave Pegasus charged at him, this time ready to kill. Brimstone looked at the pony, a mare this time, with blood dripping off his fangs and out of his mouth. He charged at her quickly and bit around her eye. He swung and lurched until the chunk of flesh that he was holding onto, including the eye, was torn off and sent her plummeting to the ground. Brimstone rushed away with the flesh in his mouth.

After a few days of rough flying Brimstone found a town. He needed to eat something besides that small chunk of flesh that he ate out of desperation. Unfortunately, he forgot about the blood that was staining his coat. He was driven out and had to sneak in at night to steal food. At every other village, even after cleaning himself, his cutie mark made the other ponies become aggressive. Eventually he decided to take a hooded black cloak to cover his face and cutie mark. It was time to start his new life as a wanderer. He would no longer tell ponies his true name. From now on he would go by other names. And even though it would always be his real name, he was no longer Brimstone... He'd give a fake name if somepony asked. But he could not afford to be that pony anymore.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading hope you enjoyed.

Chapter 2: Stupid old outdated map!

"Hello?"

Brimstone just lied there with his hood and his hooves over his head.

"So you're the one Pinkie threw this party for?" The same voice questioned.

Brimstone looked up. Standing in front of him was a slanderer unicorn mare with... Wings? No that couldn't be... She would have to be a princess... He got up and examined her as five other mares gathered around them. He recognized Apple Jack and Pinkie who were smiling, though Apple Jack's looked forced. There was a cyan Pegasus with a rainbow colored mane who was looking at him suspiciously, a white mare with a purple mane who was giving a polite smile, a yellow Pegasus with a pink mane who hid behind the cyan one each time he made eye contact.

"I'm Twilight Sparkle." She gestured to the other ponies, "They're my friends, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity. You've already met Apple Jack and Pinkie Pie if I'm not mistaken?"

Apple Jack raised an eyebrow and nodded. She and Rainbow Dash were still suspicious of the mysterious, seemingly secretive newcomer.

"I'm Red Wing." Brimstone stated

Rainbow Dash perked up at this, though still apprehensive, "So you're a Pegasus then?"

Brimstone nodded trying to speak as little as possible.

"Riddle me this... Is that an alicorn?" He pointed to Twilight.

"Yes I am." Twilight answered.

"And she's also the princess of friendship!" Pinkie addled.

"So why didn't my map say there was a princess here?" Brimstone tried to hide his fear and annoyance as he held the map out. Twilight read the map.

"Well this is an outdated map... It was made before I became a princess." Twilight explained.

Brimstone grumbled and got up. "I'm leaving to set up camp."

Brimstone walked out the door, threw the map to the ground and stomped on it. Once it's now many pieces were thoroughly stomped into the ground he turned around breathing heavily.

"Stupid, old, outdated map! Led me to an alicorn princess! A bucking alicorn princess!" He continues to berate the inanimate object until he noticed six ponies by the door which had been open the whole time. All of them were giving him a look that clearly said 'what the buck.' Even the yellow Pegasus poked her head out to look at the scene and bore the same expression.

"What are you lookin' at!?" Brimstone spoke loudly in a voice that was just short of yelling, "All of you ponies are crazy! You're all insane!"

As he trotted away Rainbow Dash looked at her friends with an eyebrow raised. "We're crazy?"

The mane six sat in their respective chairs in Twilight's castle.

"Ah'm tellin' ya.' There's somethin' off 'bout that pony..." Applejack narrowed her eyes a bit.

"Well... he did seem a bit odd..." Rarity pointed out, "I mean, did you see how he reacted when he saw Twilight?"

"I know right! He punched a map," Pinkie Pie started to giggle, which quickly escalated into a loud laugh, "A MAP! He yelled at it too! I mean, craaaaaaazyyyyyyy!"

"Well... um... I don't know... maybe he's just nervous..." Fluttershy said barely above a whisper.

"He doesn't seem nervous to me! What nervous pony would purposely intimidate three innocent fillies and discourage them from getting their cutie marks!?" Applejack raised her voice unintentionally.

"He scared the Cutie Mark Crusaders?" Rarity questioned.

"Yup."

"Did he hurt them?"

"Well, um... No..."

"Then I see no cause to worry too much just yet, Applejack."

"But what ah'm sayin' is that we don't know anythin' about him, he could potentially hurt somepony."

"I agree with A.J. We shouldn't wait around to see what that pony might do we don't know anything about him, and he doesn't exactly seem friendly." Rainbow Dash added.

"Applejack, Rainbow Dash," The lavender alicorn spoke for the first time since the meeting started, "I think we all understand your concerns but we should give this pony a chance. As long as we keep an eye on him, everything should be fine."

"Wait, Applejack said he was saying cutie marks are bad right?" Rainbow Dash looked towards the earth pony.

"Yea he basically did." Applejack nodded.

"What if he was sent by Starlight Glimmer?"

"Well," Twilight spoke up, "we'll have to wait and see then, because it is our job to spread the magic of friendship, and we will not fail our job."

"But..."

"Also, since you two are so worried about him doing something bad, both of you are going to stay with him tomorrow." Twilight gestured to Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

"WHAT!?" They both yelled simultaneously.'

"We don't even know where that pony is!" Rainbow Dash stated.

"Then you can look for him in the morning, it's getting late. Maybe he'll open up to us if we are friendly."

"But for the time being we still don't know what he will do."

"Listen, I don't trust him much more than you do, but we have to give him a chance."

With a reluctant 'fine' from both A.J. and Rainbow Dash, the meeting was concluded.

Brimstone walked towards the gloomy forest settling deep enough in the forest to not be seen but close enough to the edge that he could see ponyville. He found a large normal looking bush that he could hide in and walked over to it.

"What is wrong with these ponies? I've never had friends, I've never wanted friends, and I've never needed friends!" Brimstone muttered to himself. "I've been fine without friends!" Brimstone yawned and lied down drifting off to sleep, "I'm better off... without... anypony..." Barely a second later, the pegasus was asleep. A cool breeze whistled through the forest and tickled his ear. He wouldn't dream tonight. He never did. But maybe he wouldn't have a nightmare. The smell of dirt, sap, and flowers was blocking everything out. It was peaceful and relaxing. The corners of Brimstone's mouth straightened instead of curling down in a seemingly permanent frown. Maybe he would hope for a dream.

Author's Note

WOO! It's done!!! Finally :P hope everyone enjoys, time to write the next chapter!

Chapter 3: Rotten Wolves

The morning after the meeting A.J. and R.D. headed out to look for Brimstone or 'Red Wing' as they knew him. Rainbow Dash took the right side of ponyville and Applejack took the left side. After both parts were thoroughly searched, both ponies met in front of town hall.

"Any luck?"

"No, you?"

"Oh yeaaah I found him, I was just messing with you when I asked 'any luck.' In fact he dug up the mirror pool and there is now a hundred of him!" The Rainbow- maned pegasus exclaimed sarcastically.

` "Y' know, maybe we should check the Everfree forest." Applejack said, ignoring her friend's statement.

"Everypony in Ponyville knows not to go there."

"But he is new here."

"Why would he even think to go in there? That place is a creepy forest."

"He's a creepy pony."

"Touché."

"Well c'mon now Dash, no time to lose." Applejack walked towards the forest with a reluctant Rainbow Dash in tow.

Brimstone woke up from a strong smell. It smelled like decay and rot. He had no time to even think or open his eyes before something large and hard hit him, the force making him fly back into a tree. There was a loud crack, and it took him a moment to realize that it was the tree, not hist bones. Brimstone opened his eyes just in time to put his forearm up to defend his head from massive jaws which would have crushed his skull like a grape. He bucked the canine type creature in the chest making it let go of his mangled, broken forelimb. Beside for the one that just attacked him there was another one running towards him, and a pair of glowing green eyes that were bigger then either of the other wolves'. Brimstone let out a roar as he charged towards the wolf. Then let out another roar, this time from pain, as the other wolf bit into his shoulder.

The two mares were walking towards the forest. They wouldn't arrive at the forest for another fifteen minutes or so at their pace. After all neither of them were in a rush to see Brimstone again. That is, until they heard a roar of pain. The duo looked at each other, the roar came from the Everfree forest. Somepony, probably Brimstone, or as they knew him, Red Wing, was in trouble. They rushed ahead at full speed towards the sound.

Brimstone kicked at the canine until he was roughly flung to the ground and felt it's teeth slide out of the fresh wound. Both wolves pounced on him and he desperately held them back. His shoulder was sore and started to give way.

"Well, this is it I guess..." Brimstone muttered as the wolves' snapping jaws grew closer to his neck.

Suddenly a multi- colored blur shot in front of him, knocking one of the wolves off. A rope wrapped around the other one's muzzle and legs causing it to fall. Brimstone, though surprised, took the opportunity to get up. The two mares quickly destroyed the wolves, reducing them to two piles of leaves and sticks.

"You alright Red Wing?" Rainbow Dash inspected him, her eyes landing on his mangled shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Brimstone grunted as he moved, "What were those things?"

"Those were timber wolves." Rainbow Dash answered, "And that wound is not fine."

"Yea, we need ta' get ya to the hospital." Applejack examined the wound, "Yer shoulder is bleed'n an awful lot... But we can keep you from losing to much more blood if we wrap your cloak around your wound, it's already torn from the attack."

She reached for the black cloak and Brimstone's hoof was immediately there to roughly swipe it away.

"Do. Not. Touch. My. Cloak. Ever." Brimstone practically growled the words.

Applejack took a step back, surprised, "Fine... let's get to the hospital."

They walked in silence to the hospital, slowed due to Brimstone's injury. By the time they arrived Brimstone was feeling light- headed and was checked in right away. The nurse tried to bring him a hospital gown to replace his cloak but Applejack advised against it. As the doctors prepared, the mix of anesthetics and loss of blood caused Brimstone to lose consciousness and slip into a dream... A memory.

Author's Note

I am sooooooo so sorry for lack of updates and the short chapter, life has been busy.

Chapter 1: So Much For Lying Low...

Brimstone studied the old outdated map as he walked, his black hooded cloak that was covering his head and cutie mark just barely touching the ground and swaying in a light breeze.

"Well..." He muttered, "If the map is right, the town should be close..." He looked up and saw a large red barn, slightly farther away on the horizon was a small town. "Let's see... A nice small town, not very crowded... Ponyville. Well at least I won't draw attention from many ponies, maybe I'll even stay for a while..."

Brimstone arrived at the land with the barn. It was a farm called sweet apple acres. He walked around looking for someone he could buy apples from. Suddenly three fillies zoomed under his hoofs as he was taking a step causing him to trip landing with his forelegs awkwardly crossed under him.

"Um... Are you okay Mister?"

Brimstone opened his eyes. Standing in front of him were three fillies. There was an orange pegasus with tiny wings and a purple mane. A white unicorn with a light pink and purple mane and a yellow earth pony with a red mane and a pink bow.

"Sorry we bumped into you." The white unicorn spoke up, "I don't think I've seen you before. I'm Sweetie Bell, that's Scootaloo and that's Applebloom. We're the Cutie Mark Crusaders!"

"What the heck is that?" Brimstone questioned.

This time Scootaloo spoke up, "We're a group who goes on missions together to try and find our cutie marks!" All three of the fillies showed their blank flanks and Brimstone rose to his full height with a glare making the fillies afraid.

"Tell me, does anyone tease you about your lack of cutie marks?"

The fillies nodded.

"I was in the same situation... stand up for yourselves because no one else will." Brimstone narrowed his eyes, "However sometimes a cutie mark is a curse, do not wish for them, little fillies, I would do anything to be a 'blank flank' again." With another intimidating glance Brimstone walked away, leaving the shocked fillies frozen in silence.

Within minutes Brimstone saw an orange mare with a light yellow mane who was bucking trees to harvest apples. Brimstone walked over to her.

"Hello." He stated.

The mare looked at him and smiled, "Well hi there! Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres!" She took his hoof and shook it... Very hard. Even after she let go he had to grab his foreleg to stop it from shaking.

"So," the mare picked up a basket of apples and headed towards the barn, "what can ah' get ya?"

"Just a dozen apples, please." Brimstone handed her some bits and the mare gave him twelve apples.

"Say, I've never seen you around before, the name's Apple Jack, what's yours?"

"Call me Red Wing."

"Well it's been a pleasure, ah hope you enjoy living here and making friends."

Brimstone chuckled as the C.M.C. walked up to Apple Jack and whispered something in her ear. A.J. eyed him suspiciously for a moment then looked calm again. Brimstone's chuckle grew to a slightly mentally unstable laugh.

"Friends?" He snickered, "I don't have any, and I never will."

Brimstone wandered the town. Eventually a pink mare spotted him. She hung from the sky somehow and talked fast. They exchanged names, her's was Pinkie Pie, and split away. What Brimstone saw after was terrifying to him. There was a castle, a princess castle. That meant he was in danger. He wanted to run but decided that it was safe for the time being. He found a shop called Sugarcube Corner and decided to check it out. When he entered there was a crowd of ponies who all yelled surprise. Brimstone staggered back as Pinkie Pie pushed her face into his.

"Were you surprised!? Huh!? Were you, were you!?"

Brimstone just tried to back away when realized the door was closed and wouldn't open.

"Ugh... So much for lying low..." He sighed and Pinkie Pie was now somehow on the ceiling, "Especially with these crazy ponies..."

What Brimstone failed to notice was a lavender alicorn among the crowd, greeting everypony... And she was coming towards him.

Author's Note

Well here's chapter 1. Sorry it's so short, chapter 2 will be longer.
Thanks for reading! :pinkiehappy: